a cordial for the cavaliers howell, james, 1594?-1666. 1661 approx. 7 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a45431 wing h56a estc r39505 18424534 ocm 18424534 107586 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a45431) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 107586) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1634:37) a cordial for the cavaliers howell, james, 1594?-1666. 1 broadside. sold by henry marsh ..., [london?] : 1661. dated and signed at end: 20 julii 1661. j. h. [i.e. james howell]. reproduction of original in the harvard university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng great britain -history -charles ii, 1660-1685. great britain -politics and government -1660-1688. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-01 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2004-01 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a cordial for the cavaliers . worthy , and deserving gentlemen , in the affairs and traverses of this life , it is a tru rule ( and 't is a comfortable one ) that he who dischargeth a good conscience , hath enough of his own wherewith to reward himself , though he receive no compensation from any where else : the world knowes , and envie it self doth acknowledge , that in the late confusions , ( which were of that length that might have shaken the firmest spirits in their loyalty ) you have discharg'd a good conscience three wayes , towards your creator , towards your country , and towards your king ; your religion bound you to the one , nature to the other , and your alleageance to to the third ; and although many of you have not yet receiv'd what you expected for the two last , yet touching the first ( whereunto the other also conduce ) you are sure to have such a reward one day , that will not only be above all merit , but beyond all imagination in the kingdom of eternitie . adde hereunto that i hold your condition to be farr from being desperat , but that you may receive rewards , at least som consideration from the other two , viz from your king and country ; for the present parliament , which represents your whole country , being compos'd of so many wise , and well-weighed gentlemen ( whereof divers have been co-sufferers with you ) will , as it is well hoped , out of a sense thereof , have such reflections upon your sufferings and services , both active and passive , that they will enable his majestie , whom the law stiles , the fountain of honour and bounty , and whereof indeed no other power should partake with him , i say it may well be hoped , that this parliament , before their recesse , will put his majestie in a capacity , and humbly advise him , if not to reward you , yet to relieve your present wants in such a measure , that the steed may not starve while the grasse growes . you know well that the king hath been among us but a little more then the compasse of one year , and his grandfather henry the great of france , was above seven years ( which is an age in our law ) before he could requite those who stuck to him not much above twenty months , in making him master of the flowerdeluces ; you know the vast debts his majestie hath payed both by sea and land , which yet were not his own , nor his kingdoms , but of that accursed usurping commonwealth , which exhausted more of the publick treasure , then all the kings of this land , since gold and silver were first coind in it ; you know he is so shortned , that he hath not yet provided bread for all of his own house ; he is in such a condition , that he cannot give his royal aunt that treatment which might be expected ; he hath not wherewith to go his progresse : consider what vast expences his fleets at sea , his lifeguard , with other garrisons do stand him in ; as also what debts he drew upon himself so many years beyond the seas , for his necessary subsistence , &c. now , whereas some object he hath rewarded roundheads , truly i believe if a catalogue were made of those upon whom he hath conferr'd honour or office since his return , there will be found above twenty cavaliers for one of any other upon whom he hath set any marks of favour . 't is true , albeit he came not in by the presbyterian , yet he could not have come in without him so peaceably , though some alledge that what the presbyterian did , was not as much out of a love to the king , as out of a hatred he bore to the independent , who may be said to have us'd the presbyterian as the fox useth to deal with the badger , who having found out his chamber in the earth , he so berayeth it , that the badger comes thither no more , and so the fox makes himself master of the hole . whereas som except against his majesties lenity , and indulgence , let them know that mercy is the inseparable inmate of a magnanimous breast , and that the noblest way of revenge is to forget , and scorn injuries ; i have read in storie , that one thing which made lewis the twelf of france most famous was a speech which drop'd from him , when being advis'd by som of his counsell to punish such and such as were profess'd enemies unto him while he was duke of orleans , he answer'd , that the king of france doth not use to revenge the injuries of the duke of orleans ; no more ( with most humble submission be it spoken ) doth king charles resent much the wrongs that were done to charles stuart . therefore , noble cavaliers , possess your souls with patience , we have a most gracious king who is in the meridian of his yeers , and will live to revvard all in time . in the confus'd medley of mundane affairs , the proverb often is verified , some have the happ , but some stick still in the gapp , some have the fortune of preferment , some not , and 't will be so to the worlds end . the author hereof though during the many yeers that he was in prison for his loyaltie , had 3. sworn over his head in an office of credit that hee shold have had de jure , yet it nothing discomposeth him , being more then in hope of a compensation some other vvay . and as vve have a gracious , so have vve a glorious king , the most glorious that ever vvore these three crovvns , for all the eyes of christendom are fix'd upon him vvith a kind of astonishment and admiration ▪ and not only of christendom , but of all the world besides , for 't is vvritten that the great turk should say , if he were to change his religion , he would fall to worship the god of king charles of england , who hath done such miracles for him , such miracles that no story can parallel : and certainly , god almighty must needs love him for whom he doth miracles : vvhich that his divine majestie may continue to do , are the incessant prayers of 20 iulii 1661. i. h. sold by ●enry marsh at the princes armes in chancery-lane , 1661. the vote, or a poeme royall, presented to his maiestie for a new-yeares-gift. by way of discourse 'twixt the poet, and his muse. calendis ianuariis 1642. howell, james, 1594?-1666. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a86640 of text r212574 in the english short title catalog (thomason e238_7). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 15 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 8 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a86640 wing h3128 thomason e238_7 estc r212574 99871178 99871178 158225 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a86640) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 158225) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 41:e238[7]) the vote, or a poeme royall, presented to his maiestie for a new-yeares-gift. by way of discourse 'twixt the poet, and his muse. calendis ianuariis 1642. howell, james, 1594?-1666. [2], 11, [1] p. printed by thomas badger, london, : 1642. signed on p. 11: iames howell. an imprint variant of the edition with humphrey mosley given as publisher in imprint. annotation on thomason copy: "by james howell". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng charles -i, -king of england, 1600-1649 -poetry -early works to 1800. a86640 r212574 (thomason e238_7). civilwar no the vote, or a poeme royall,: presented to his maiestie for a new-yeares-gift. by way of discourse 'twixt the poet, and his muse. calendis howell, james 1642 2249 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. 2007-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-04 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-05 pip willcox sampled and proofread 2007-05 pip willcox text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the vote , or a poeme royall , presented to his maiestie for a new-yeares-gift . by way of discourse 'twixt the poet , and his muse . calendis januariis 1642. london , printed by thomas badger , 1642. poema στρηνετικον . the world 's bright eye , times measurer , begun through watry capricorne his course to run , old ianus hastned on , his temples bovnd with ivy , his gray haires with hollie crownd ; when in a serious quest , my thoughts did muse , what gift , as best becomming , i should chuse , to britaines monarch ( my dread soveraigne ) bring which might supply a new-yeares offering . i rummag'd all my stores , and search'd my cells where nought appear'd , god wot , but bagatells : no farre fetch'd indian gemme , cut out of rock , or fishd in shels were trusted under lock , no peece which angelo's strong fancy hitt , or titians pensil , or rare hyliards witt , no ermines , or black-sables , no such skinnes , as the grim tartar hunts , or takes in ginnes : no medails , or rich stuff of tyrian dye , no costly boules of frosted argentry , no curious land-skip , or some marble peece dig'd up in delphos , or else-where in greece , no roman perfumes , buffs , or cordouans made drunk with ambar by moreno's hands , no arras , or rich carpets freighted o're the surging seas from asia's doubtfull shore , no lions cub , or beast of strange aspect , which in numidia's fiery womb had slept , no old toledo blades , or damaskins , no pistols , or some rare-spring'd carrabins , no spanish ginet , or choyce stallion sent , from naples , or hot afrique's continent , in fine , i nothing found , i could descry worthy the hands of caesar or his eye . my wits were at a stand , when , loe , my muse ( none of the quire , but such as they do use for laundresses or handmaids of meane rank i knew sometimes on po and isis banks ) did softly buzz . muse . then let me something bring , my hansell the new-yeare to charles my king , may usher in bifronted ianus — poet . thou fond foole-hardy muse , thou silly thing , which 'mongst the shrubbs & reeds do'st use to sing , dar'st thou peck up , and the tall cedar clime , and venture on a king with gingling rime ? though all thy words were perle , thy letters gold , and cut in rubies , or cast in a mould of diamonds , yet still thy lines would be to meane a gift for such a majestie . muse . i 'le try ; and hope to passe without disdaine in new-yeares-gifts the mind stands for the maine , the sophy , finding 't was well meant , did daigne few dropps of running water from a swayne , then sure 't will please my liege , if i him bring , some gentle dropps from the castalian spring . though rarities i want of such account , yet have i something on the forked mount . nor i' st the first , or third accesse i made to caesar's feet , and thence departed glad . for as the sun with his male heat doth render nile's muddy slime fruitfull , and apt t' engender , and dayly to produce newe kinds of creatures of various shapes , and thousand differing features , so is my fancy quickned by the glance of his benigne aspect and countenance , it makes me pregnant , and to superfaete , such is the vigor of his beames and heate . once in a vocall forest i did sing , and made the oke to stand for charles my king , the best of trees , whereof ( it is no vant the greatest schooles of europe ring and chant ) there you shall also find dame arhetine , great henries daughter , and great britaines queene , her name engraven in a laurell tree , and so transmitted to eternity . for now i heare that grove speake's besides mine , the language of the loire , the po , and rhyne , ( and to my prince ( my sweet black prince ) of late , i did a youthfull subject dedicate . ) nor do i doubt but that in time , my trees will yeeld me fruit to pay apollo's fees , to offer up whole hecatombes of praise to caesar , if on me he cast his rayes . and if my lamp have oyle , i may compile the moderne annals of great albion's isle , to vindicat the truth of charles his raigne , from scribling pamphletors , who story staine with loose imperfect passages , and thrust lame things upon the world , t'ane up in trust . i have had audience ( in another straine ) of europes greatest kings , when german maine and the cantabrian waves i crossd , i drank of tagus , seine , and sate at tybers bank , through scylla & charybdis i have steerd , where restlesse aetna , belching flames , appeerd , by greece , once palla's garden , then i pass't , now all ore spread with ignorance and wast . nor hath faire europe her vast bounds throughout an academe of note i found not out . but now i hope in a successefull prore , the fates have fix'd me on sweet englands shore , and by these various wandrings true i found , earth is the common mother , every ground may be one's countrey , for by birth each man is in this vvorld a cosmopolitan a free-borne burgesse , and receives thereby his denization from nativity : nor is this vvorld , at best , but a huge inn , and men the rambling passengers , wherin some warm lodgings find , & that as soone as out of nature's closets they see no one , and find the table ready layd ; but some must for their commons trudg , and shift for roome : vvith easie pace some clime promotions hill , some in the dale , do what they can , stick still . some through false glasses smiling fortune spy , vvho still keeps off , though she appeares hard by : some like the ostrich , with their wings do flutter , but cannot fly , or soare above the gutter , some quickly fetch and double good-hopes cape , some ne're can do'tthough the same cours they shape : so that poore mortals are so many balls tossd , some o're line , some under fortune's walls . and it is heavens high pleasure man should lye obnoxious to this partiality , that by industrious ways he should contend , nature's short pittance to improve and mend . and industry ne're fail'd , at last , t' advance her patient sonnes above the reach of chance . poet . but whither rov'st thou thus ? well ; since i see thou art so strongly bent , and of a gracious looke so confident , go , and throw down thy selfe at caesars feet , and in thy best attire thy soveraigne greet , go , an auspicious and most blissefull year , wish him , as e're shin'd o're this hemispheare , good may the entrance , better the middle be , and the conclusion best of all the three , of joy ungrudg'd may each day be a debter , and evry morne still usher in a better , may the soft gliding nones and evry ide , with all the calends stil some good betide , may cynthia with kind looks , & phoebus's rayes , one cleere his nights , the other guild his dayes . free limbs , unphysick'd health , due appetite , which no sauce else but hunger may excite , sound sleepes , and sanguine dreames , which represent , symptomes of health , and the next dayes content ; cheerfull and vacant thoughts , not always bound to counsell , or in deep ideas drown'd : ( though such late traverses and tumults might turne to a lump of care the ayriest wight ) and since , while fragile flesh doth us array the humors still are combating for sway , ( which were they free of this reluctancy and counterpoys'd man would immortall be ) may sanguine ore the rest predominat in him , and their malignant flux abate . may his great queen ( in whose imperious eye raigne's such a world of winning majesty ) like the rich olive , or falernian vine , swell with more gemms of cions masculine ; and as her fruit sprung from the rose and luce , ( the best of stemmes earth yet did e're produce ) is tyed already by a sanguine lace to all the kings of europe's highborne race , so may they shoot , their youthfull branches o're , the surging seas , and graffe with evry shore . may home-comerce , and trade encrease from farre , that both the indies meet within his barres , and bring in mounts of coyne his mint's to feed , and banquers ( trafique's chiefe supporters ) breed , which may enrich his kingdomes , court and towne , and ballast still the coffers of the the crowne , for kingdoms are as ships , the prince his chests the ballast , which if empty , when distress't vvith stormes , their holds are lightly trimm'd , the keele can run no steedy cours , but tosse and reele . may his imperiall chamber alwayes ply to his desires , her wealth to multiply , that she may prize his royall favour more than al the wares fetch'd frō the great mogor , may the great senat with the subjects right put in the counter-scale , the regall might the flowrs of th'crown , that they may propp each other , and like the grecian's twin live , love together . for the chief glory of a people is the power of their king , as their is his . may he be still within him selfe at home , that no just passion make the reason rome , yet passions have their turnes , to rouse the soule , and stirre her slumbring spirits not controule , for as the ocean besides ebb and flood , ( vvhich nature 's greatest clerk ner'e understood ) is not for sayle , if an impregning wind fills not the flagging canvas , so a mind too calme , is not for action , if desire heat's not it selfe at passion's quickning fire , for nature is allow'd sometimes to muster her passions , so they only blow , not bluster . may iustice still in her true scales appeare , and honor fix'd in no unworthy spheare , unto whose palace all accesse should have through vertues temple , not through plutos cave . may his true subjects hearts be his chiefe fort , their purse his treasure , and their love his port their prayers , as sweet incense , to draw downe myriads of blessings on his queene and crowne . and now that his glad presence , did asswage , that fearefull tempest in the north did rage , may those frogg-vapours in the irish skie , be scatter'd by the beames of majesty , that the hibernian lyre give such a sound , may on our coasts with joyfull ecchos bound . and when this fatall planet leaves to lowre , vvhich to to long on monarchies doth powre his direfull influence , may peace once more descend from heaven on our tottering shore , and ride in triumph both on land and maine , and with her milke-white steedes draw charles his waine , that so for those saturnian times of old , an age of pearle may come in lieu of gold . be all his thoughts borne perfect , and his hopes , in their events fall out beyond their scopes , vertue still guide his course , and if there be a thing as fortune him accompanie . may no ill genius haunt him , but by 's side , the best protecting angell ever bide . may he go on to vindicate the right of holy things , and make the temple bright , to keep that faith , that sacred truth entire which he receiv'd from salomon his sire . and since we all must hence , by th'iron decree , stamp'd 'mongst the black records of destinie , late may his life , his glory ne're weare out , till the great yeare of plato wheele about . so prayeth the worst of poets , to the best of princes , yet the most loyall of his votaries and vassalls , iames howell . a arthetine , id est , vertuous . anagram of henrieta . b the parlament . c hippocrates . d king iames . a perfect description of the people and countrey of scotland weldon, anthony, sir, d. 1649? this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a65394 of text r33573 in the english short title catalog (wing w1277a). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 13 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 12 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a65394 wing w1277a estc r33573 13523605 ocm 13523605 99948 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a65394) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 99948) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1559:17) a perfect description of the people and countrey of scotland weldon, anthony, sir, d. 1649? howell, james, 1594?-1666. [2], 21 p. printed for rich. lownds, london : 1659. variously attributed to weldon and to james howell. reproduction of original in the harvard university library. eng scotland -anecdotes. a65394 r33573 (wing w1277a). civilwar no a perfect description of the people and countrey of scotland weldon, anthony, sir 1659 2527 2 0 0 0 0 0 8 b the rate of 8 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2004-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-12 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-01 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2005-01 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a perfect description of the people and countrey of scotland . london . printed for rich. lownds . 1659. a perfect description of scotland . first for the country , i must confess it is good for those that possess it , and too bad for others , to be at the charge to conquer it . the air might be wholsom , but for the stinking people that inhabit it . the ground might be fruitful , had they wit to manure it . their beasts be generally smal , women only excepted , of which sort there are none greater in the whole world . there is great store of fowl too , as foul-houses , foul-sheets , foul-linen , foul-dishes and pots , foul-trenchers , and napkins ; with which sort , we have bin forcaed to say , as the children did with their fowl in the wilderness . they have good store of fish too , and good for those that can eat it raw ; but if it come once into their hands , it is worse than if it were three days old : for their butter and cheese , i will not meddle withal at this time , nor no man else at any time that loves his life . they have great store of deer , but they are so far from the place where i have been , that i had rather believe , than go to disprove it : i confess , all the deer i met withal , was dear lodgings , dear horse-meat , and dear tobaco , and english beer . as for fruit , for their grandsire adams sake , they never planted any ; and for other trees , had christ been betrayed in this country , ( as doubtless he should , had he come as a stranger ) judas had sooner found the grace of repentance , than a tree to hang himself on . they have many hills , wherein they say is much treasure , but they shew none of it ; nature hath only discovered to them some mines of coal , to shew to what end he created them . i saw little grass , but in their pottage : the thistle is not given them of nought , for it is the fairest flower in their garden . the word hay is heathen-greek unto them ; neither man nor beast knows what it means . corn is reasonable plenty at this time , for since they heard of the kings comming , it hath been as unlawful for the common people to eate wheat , as it was in the old time for any , but the priests , to eat shew bread . they prayed much for his comming , and long fasted for his welfare ; but in the more plain sense , that he might fare the better : all his followers were welcome , but his guard ; for those they say , are like paraoh's leane-kine , and threaten dearth wheresoever they come : they could perswade the footmen , that oaten-cakes would make them long-winded ; & the children of the chappel they have brought to eat of them , for the maintenance of their voyces . they say our cooks are too sawcy , and for grooms & coachmen , they wish them to give to their horses , no worse than they eat themselves ; they commend the brave minds of the pentioners , and the gentlemen of the bed-chambers , which choose rather to go to taverns , than to be alwaies eating of the kings provision ; they likewise do commend the yeomen of the buttery and cellar , for their readiness , and silence , in that they will hear 20 knocks , before they will answer one . they perswade the trumpetters , that fasting is good for men of that quality ; for emptiness , they say , causes wind , and wind causes a trumpet to sound well . the bringing of heraulds , they say , was a needless charge , they all know their pedegrees well enough , and the harbengers might have been spared , sit●ence they brought so many beds with them ; & of two evils , since the least should be chosen , they wish the beds might remain with them , and poor harbengers keep their places , and do their office , as they return : his hangings they desire might likewise be left as reliques , to put them in minde of his majesty ; and they promise to dispense with the wooden images , but for those graven images in his new beautified chappel , they threaten to pull down soon after his departure , and to make of them a burnt-offering , to appease the indignation they imagined conceived against them in the brest of the almighty , for suffering such idolatry to enter into their kingdom ; the organ , i think will find mercy , because ( as they say ) there is some affinity between them and the bag-pipes . the shipper that brought the singing men , with their papistical vestments , complains that he hath been much troubled with a strange singing in his head , ever since they came aboard his ship . for remedy whereof the parson of the parish hath perswaded him to sell that prophane vessel , and to distribute the money among the faithful brethren . for his majesties entertainment , i must needs ingeniously confess , he was received into the parish of edenburg ( for a city i cannot call it ) with great shouts of joy , but no shews of charge for pageants ; they hold them idolatrous things , and not fit to be used in so reformed a place ; from the castle they gave him some pieces of ordinance , which surely he gave them , since he was king of engl. and at the entrance of the town , they presented him with a golden bason , which was carried before him on mens shoulders to his palace , i think , from whence it came . his majesty was conveyed by the younkers of the town , which were about 100 halberds , ( dearly shall they rue it , in regard of the charge ) to the cross , and so to the high church , where the only bell they had , stood on tip-toe to behold his sweet face ; where i must intreat you to spare him , for an hour i lost him . in the mean time to report the speeches of the people , concerning his never exampled entertainment , were to make his discourse too tedious unto you , as the sermon was to those that were constrained to endure it . after the preachment , he was conducted by the same halberds , unto his palace , of which i forbear to speak , because it was a place sanctified by his divine majesty , only i wish it had been better walled , for my friends sake that waited on him . now i will begin briefly to speak of the people , according to their degrees and qualities ; for the lords spiritual , they may well be termed so indeed ; for they are neither fish nor flesh , but what it shall please their earthly god , the king , to make them . obedience is better than sacrifice , and therefore they make a mock at martyrdom , saying , that christ was to dye for them , and not they for him . they will rather subscribe , than surrender , and rather dispence with small things , than trouble themselves with great disputation ; they will rather acknowledge the king to be their head , then want wherewith to pamper their bodies . they have taken great pains and trouble to compass their bishopricks , and they will not leave them for a trifle ; for the deacons , whose defects will not lift them up to dignities , all their study is to disgrace them that have gotten the least degree above them ; and because they cannot bishop , they proclaim they never heard of any . the scriptures , say they , speak of deacons and elders , but not a word of bishops . their discourses are full of detraction ; their sermons nothing but railing ; and their conclusions nothing but heresies and treasons . for their religion they have , i confess they have it above reach , and god willing i will never reach for it . they christen without the cross , marry without the ring , receive the sacrament without reverence , dye without repentance , and bury without divine service ; they keep no holy-days , nor acknowledge any saint but s. andrew , who they said , got that honour by presenting christ with an oaten cake , after his forty days fast . they say likewise , that he that translated the bible , was the son of a maulster , because it speaks of a miracle done by barley loves , whereas they swear they were oaten-cakes , and that no other bread of that quantity could have sufficed so nany thousands . they use no prayer at all , for they say it is needless , god knows their minds without pratling ; and what he doth , he loves to do it freely . their sabbaths exercise , is a preaching in the forenoon , and a persecuting in the afternoon ; they go to church in the forenoon to hear the law , and to the crags and mountains in the afternoon to louze themselves . they hold their noses if you talk of bear-baiting , and stop their ears , if you speak of a play : fornication they hold but a pastime , wherein mans ability is approved , & a womans fertility discovered ; at adultery they shake their heads ; theft they rail at ; murther they wink at ; & blasphemy they laugh at ; they think it impossible to lose the way to heaven if they can but leave rome behind them . to be opposite to the pope , is to be presently with god ; to conclude , i am perswaded , that if god and his angels , at the last day , should come down in their whitest garments , they would run away , and cry , the children of the chappel are come again to torment us , let us flie from the abomination of these boys , and hide our selves in the mountains . for the lords temporal and spiritual , temporizing gentlemen , if i were apt to speak of any , i could not speak much of them ; only i must let you know , they are not scottishmen , for assoon as they fall from the breast of the beast their mother , their careful sire posts them away for france , which as they pass , the sea sucks from them that which they have suckt from their rude dams ; there they gather new flesh new blood , new manners , and there they learn to put on their cloaths , and then return into their countries , to wear them out ; there they learn to stand , to speak , and to discourse , and congee , to court women , and to complement with men . they spared for no cost to honour the king , nor for no complemental courtesie to welcom their country-men ; their followers are their fellows , their wives their slaves , their horses their masters , & their swords their judges ; by reason whereof , they have but few laborers , and those not very rich : their parliaments hold but three days , their statutes three lines , and their suits are determined in a manner in three words , or very few more , &c. the wonders of their kingdom are these ; the lord chancellor , he is believed ; the master of the rolls , well spoken of ; and the whole councel , who are the judges for all causes , are free from suspition of corruption . the country , although it be mountainous , affords no monsters , but women , of which , the greatest sort , ( as countesses , and ladies ) are kept like lions in iron grates ; the merchants wives are also prisoners , but not in so strong a hold ; they have wooden cages , like our boar franks , through which , sometimes peeping to catch the air , we are almost choaked with the sight of them ; the greatest madness amongst the men , is jealousie ; in that they fear what no man that hath but two of his sences will take from them . the ladies are of opinion , that susanna could not be chast , because she bathed so often . pride is a thing bred in their bones , and their flesh naturally abhors cleanliness ; their breath commonly stinks of pottage , their linen of piss , their hands of pigs turds , their body of sweat , and their splay-feet never offend in socks . to be chained in marriage with one of them , were to be tyed to a dead carkass , and cast into a stinking ditch ; formosity and a dainty face , are things they dream not of . the oyntments they most frequently use amongst them , are brimstone and butter for the scab , and oyl of bays , and stave-sacre . i protest , i had rather be the meanest servant of the two of my pupils chamber-maid , than to be the master minion to the fairest countess i have yet discovered . the sin of curiosity of oyntments , is but newly crept into the kingdom , and i do not think will long continue . to draw you down by degrees from the citizens wives , to the country gentlewomen , and convey you to common dames in sea-coal lane , that converse with rags ▪ and marrow-bones , are things of mineral race ; every whore in houndsditch is an helena ; and the greasie bauds in turnbal-street , are greekish dames , in comparison of these . and therefore to conclude , the men of old did no more wonder , that the great messias should be born in so poor a town as bethlem in judea , than i do wonder , that so brave a prince as king james , should be born in so stinking a town as edenburg , in lowsie scotland . finis . the instruments of a king: or, a short discourse of the svvord. the scepter. the crowne. ... howell, james, 1594?-1666. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a86626 of text r5326 in the english short title catalog (thomason e464_7). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 22 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 8 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a86626 wing h3083 thomason e464_7 estc r5326 99872836 99872836 162233 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a86626) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 162233) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 74:e464[7]) the instruments of a king: or, a short discourse of the svvord. the scepter. the crowne. ... howell, james, 1594?-1666. howell, james, 1594?-1666. [4], 11, [1] p. [s.n.], london : printed in the yeare, 1648. signed at end: jam. howell. the words "the svvord. .. the crowne." are bracketed together on the title page. annotation on thomason copy: "sept ye 18th". also issued as part of "some of mr. howell's minor works" (wing 3115) on umi microfilm set "early english books, 1641-1700" reel 715:8. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng monarchy -england -early works to 1800. kings and rulers -early works to 1800. a86626 r5326 (thomason e464_7). civilwar no the instruments of a king: or, a short discourse of the svvord. the scepter. the crowne. ...: howell, james 1648 3813 3 5 0 0 0 0 21 c the rate of 21 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-04 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-05 robyn anspach sampled and proofread 2007-05 robyn anspach text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the instrvments of a king : or , a short discovrse of the svvord . the scepter . the crowne . satis habet rex ad poenam , quod deum expectet ultorem . 't is punishment enough for th' king , that god will him to judgment bring . london . printed in the yeare , 1648. the author's apology . i am no lawyer otherwise then what nature hath made me , so every man , as he is born the child of reason , is a lawyer , and a logitian also who was the first kind of lawyer : this discoursive faculty of reason comes with us into the world accompanied with certaine generall notions and principles to distinguish right from wrong , and falshood from truth : but touching this following discourse , because it relates something to law , the authour would not have adventured to have exposed it to the world , if , besides those common innate notions of reason , and some private notes of his owne , he had not inform'd & ascertain'd his judgment by conference with some professed lawyers , and those the eminentest in the land , touching the truth of what it treats of ; therefore he dares humbly aver that it containes nothing but what is consonant to the fundamentall and fixed constitutions , to the knowne clear lawes of this kingdome . j. ● . the instruments of a king . in a successive hereditary kingdome , as england is known and acknowledged to be by all parties now in opposition , there are 3 things which are inalienable from the person of the king : they are , 1. the crowne . 2. the scepter . 3. the sword . the one , he is to carry on his head , the other in his hand , and the third at his side ; and they may be tearmed all three the ensignes or peculiar instruments of a king : by the first , he reignes , by the second he makes lawes , by the third he maintaines them : and the two first are but bables without the last . 1. touching the crowne or royall diadem of england , there is none , whether presbyterian , independent , protestant , or others now in action , but confesse that it descends by a right hereditary line , ( though through divers races , and some of them conquerours ) upon the head of charles the first now regnant : 't is his owne by inherent birthright and nature , by gods law , and the law of the land , and these parliament-men at their first sitting did agnize subjection unto him accordingly , and recognize him for their soveraigne liege lord : nay , the roman catholick denies not this , for though there were bulls sent to dispense with the english subjects for their allegiance to queen elizabeth , yet the pope did this against her as he took her for a heretique , not an usurpresse , though he knew well enough that she had been declared illegitimate by the act of an english parliament . this imperiall crowne of england is adorned and deck'd with many faire flowers , which are called , royall prerogatives ; and they are of such a transcendent nature , that they are unforfeitable , individuall , and untransferable to any other : the king can only summon and dissolve parliaments : the king can onely pardon ( for when he is crowned , he is sworn to rule in mercy as well as in justice : ) the king can onely coyn money , and enhance or decry the value of it : the power of electing officers of state , of justices of peace , and assise is in the king ; he can only grant soveraign commissions : the king can only wage war , and make out-landish leagues : the king may make all the courts of justice ambulatory with his person , as they were used of old ; 't is true , the court of common pleas must be sedentary in some certain place for such a time ; but that expired , 't is removeable at his pleasure : the king can only employ ambassadours and treat with forain states , &c. these , with other royal prerogatives which i shall touch hereafter , are those rare and wholsome flowers wherewith the crowne of england is embellished , nor can they stick anywhere else but in the crowne , and all confesse the crowne is as much the king's , as any private man's cap is his own . the second regall instrument is the scepter , which may be called an inseparable companion , or a necessary appendix to the crowne ; this invests the king with the sole authority of making lawes , for before his confirmation all results and determinations of parliament are but bills or {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , they are but abortive things , and meer embryos ; nay , they have no life at all in them till the king puts breath and vigour into them : and the antient custome was for the king to touch them with his scepter , then they are lawes , and have a virtue in them to impose an obligation of universall obedience upon all sorts of people , it being an undeniable maxime , that nothing can be generally binding without the king's royall assent , nor doth the law of england take notice of any thing without it : this being done , they are ever after stil'd the king's lawes , and the judges are said to deliver the king's judgments , which agrees with the holy text , the king by judgment shall stablish the land : nay , the law presumes the king to be alwaies the sole judge paramount , and lord chief justice of england , for he whom he pleaseth to depute for his chiefest justice , is but stil'd lord chief justice of the king's bench , not lord chief justice of england , which title is peculiar to the king himself , and observable it is , that whereas he grants commissions and parents to the lord chancellour ( who is no other then keeper of his conscience ) and to all other judges , he names the chief justice of his own bench by a short writ only containing two or three lines : now , though the king be liable to the law , and is contented to be within their verge , because they are chiefly his owne productions , yet he is still their protector , moderator , and soveraigne , which attributes are incommunicable to any other conjunctly or separately . thus the king with his scepter , and by the mature advice of his two houses of parl. which are his highest councel & court , hath the sole power of making laws ; other courts of judicature doe but expound them and distribute them by his appointment , they have but juris dati dictionem or declarationem , and herein , i meane for the exposition of the lawes the twelve judges are to be believed before the whole kingdom besides . they are as the areopagites in athens , the chief presidents in france and spaine in an extraordinary junta , as the cape-syndiques in the rota's of rome , and the republique of venice whose judgments in point of interpreting lawes are incontroulable , and preferred before the opinion of the whole senate whence they received their being ; and who hath still power to repeal them , though not to expound them . in france they have a law-maxime , arrest donné en robbe rouge est irrevocable , which is , a scarlet sentence is irrevocable , meaning when all the judges are met in their robes , and the client against whom the cause goes , may chafe and chomp upon the bit , and say what he will for the space of 24 howers against his judges , but if ever after he traduces them , he is punishable : it is no otherwise here where every ignorant peevish client , every puny barister , specially if he become a member of the house will be ready to arraign and vie knowledge with all the reverend judges in the land , whose judgement in points of law shold be only tripodicall and sterling : so that he may be truly call'd a just king , and to rule according to law , who rules according to the opinion of his judges ; therfore , under favor , i do not see how his majestie for his part could be call'd injust when he leavied the ship-money , considering he had the judges for it . i now take the sword in hand , which is the third instrument of a king , ( and which this short discours chiefly points at ) it is aswell as the two first , incommunicable and inalienable from his person ; nothing concernes his honor more both at home and abroad ; the crown and the scepter are but unweildy and impotent naked indefensible things without it . there 's none so simple as to think there's meant hereby an ordinary single sword , such as ev'ry one carrieth by his side , or som imaginary thing or chymera of a sword ; no , 't is the polemical publique sword of the whole kingdom , 't is an aggregative compound sword , and 't is moulded of bell-metall ; for 't is made up of all the ammunition and armes small and great , of all the military strengths both by land and sea , of all the forts , castles and tenable places within and round about the whole i le : the kings of england have had this sword by vertue of their royall signory from all times , the laws have girded it to their sides , they have employed it for repelling all forren force , for revenging all forren wrongs or affronts , for quelling all intestine tumults , and for protecting the weal of the whole body politike at home : the peeple were never capable of this sword , the fundamentall constitutions of this kingdom deny it them ; 't is all one to put the sword in a mad mans hand , as in the peeples ; or for them to have a disposing power in whose hands it shall be . such was the case once of the french sword , in that notorious insurrection call'd to this day la jaqueris de beauvoisin , when the pesants and mechanics had a design to wrest it out of the kings hand , and to depresse all the peers & gentry of the kingdom ; & the busines had gone very far , had not the prelats stuck close to the nobility ; but afterwards poor hare-brain'd things they desire the king upon bended knees to take it againe ; such popular puffs have blowen often in poland , naples and other places , where while they sought and fought for liberty by retrenching the regall power , they fool'd themselfs into a slavery unawares , and found the rule right , that excess of freedom turns to thraldom , and ushers in all confusions . if one shold go back to the nonage of the world , when governers and rulers began first , one will find the peeple desir'd to live under kings for their own advantage , that they might be restrain'd from wild exorbitant liberty , and kept in unity ; now unity is as requisit for the welbeing of all naturall things , as entity is for their being , and 't is a receiv'd maxim in policy , that nothing preserves unity more exactly then royall government : besides 't is known to be the noblest sort of sway ; in so much that by the law of nations , if subjects of equall degrees , and under differing princes shold meet , the subjects of a king shold take predency of those under any republique , and those of a successif kingdom , of those that are under an electif . but to take up the sword again . i say that the sword of public power & authoritie is fit only to hang at the kings side , & so indeed shold the great seal hang only at his girdle , because 't is the key of the kingdom : which makes me think of what i read of charlemain , how he had the imperiall seal emboss'd alwaies upon the pommell of his sword , and his reason was , that he was ready to maintain whatsoever he signed , and sealed . the civilians , who are not in all points so great friends to monarchy as the common law of england is , say , there are six lura regalia , six regall rights , viz. 1. potestas iudicatoria , 2. potestas vitae & necis , 3. armamenta , 4. bona adespota , 5. census , 6. monetarum valor : to wit , power of judicature , power of life and death , all kind of arming , masterlesse goods , sessements , and the value of money . among these regalias , we find that arming , which in effect is nought else but the kings sword , is among the chiefest ; and 't is as proper and peculiar to his person , as either crown or scepter . by these two he drawes a loose voluntary love and opinion onely from his subjects , but by the sword he drawes reverence and awe , which are the chiefest ingredients of allegiance , it being a maxime , that the best mixture of government is made of feare and love . with this sword he conferrs honor , he dubbs knights , he creates magistrats , the lord deputy of ireland , the lord mayor of london with all other corporations have their swords from him , and when he entreth any place corporat , we know the first thing that is presented him is the sword : with this sword he shields and preserves all his peeple that ev'ry one may sit quietly under his own vine , sleep securely in his own house , and enjoy sweetly the fruits of his labours . nor doth the point of this sword reach only to ev'ry corner of his own dominions , but it extends beyond the seas to gard his subjects from oppression , and denial of justice , as well as to vindicate the publike wrongs , make good the interests of his crown , and to assist his confederates ; this is the sword that edward the third tied the flower deluces unto ( which stick still unto it , ) when having sent to france to demand that crown by maternall right , the counsell there sent him word that the crown of france was not tied to a d●staff , to which scoffing answer he replied that then he wold tie it to his sword , and he was as good as his word . nor is this publike sword concredited or intrusted by the peeple in a fiduciary conditionall way to the king , but it is properly and peculiarly belonging unto him , as an inseparable concomitant , perpetuall usher and attendant to his crowne . the king , we know , useth to maintain all garrisons upon his own charge , not the peeples ; he fortifies upon his own charge , not the peeples : and though i will not averr , that the king may impresse any of his subjects , unlesse it be upon an actuall invasion by sea , or a sudden irruption into his kingdom by land , as the scots have often don , yet at any time the king may raise volunteers , and those who have received his money , the law makes it felony , if they forsake his service . thus we see there 's nothing that conduceth more to the glory , and indeed the very essence of a king then the sword , which is the armes and military strength of his kingdome ; wherfore under favor , there cannot be a greater point of dishonor to a king then to be disarmed , then to have his sword taken from him , or dispos'd of and intrusted to any but those whom he shall appoint ; for as à minori ad majus the argument often holds , if a privat gentleman chance to be disarm'd upon a quarrell , 't is held the utmost of disgraces , much greater and more public is the dishonor that falls upon a king , if after some traverses of difference 'twixt him and his subjects , they shold offer to disarme him , or demand his sword of him : when the eagle parted with his talons , and the lion with his teeth and ongles , the apolog tells us how contemptible afterwards the one grew to be among birds , the other among beasts . for a king to part with the sword politic is to render himself such a ridiculous king , as that logg of wood was which jupiter let down among the froggs for their king at the importunity of their croaking ; 't is to make him a king of clouts , or as the spaniard hath it , rey de havas , a bean-king , such as we use to choose in sport at twelf-night . but my hopes are , that the two present houses of parlement ( for now they may be call'd so , because they begin to parley with their king , ) wil be more tender of the honor of their soverain liege lord , which , together with all his rights and dignities , by severall solemn oaths , and by their own binding instruments of protestation and covenant , ( not yet revok'd ) they are sworn to maintain , and that they will demand nothing of him which may savour of aspertè or force , but what may hold water hereafter : but now , touching the militia or sword of the kingdom , i think , under favor , the king cannot transfer it to any other ; for that were to desert the protection of his people , which is point-blank against his coronation oath and his office : what forren prince or state will send either ambassador , resident or agent to him , when they understand his sword is taken from him ? what reformed forren church wil acknowledg him defender of the faith , when they hear of this ? nay , they who wish england no good will , will go neer to paint him out , as not long since another king was , with a fair velvet scabbard , a specious golden hilt and chape , but the blade within was of wood . i hope that they who sway now , will make better use of their successes : many of them know 't is as difficult a thing to use a victory well , as to get one ; there is as much prudence requir'd in the one , as prowesse in the other ; they wil be wiser sure then turn it to the dishonor of their king : it being a certaine rule , that the glory of a nation all the world over depends upon the glory of their king , and if he be any way obscur'd , the whole kingdom is under an eclipse . i have observed , that among other characters of gallantry , which forren writers appropriat to the english nation , one is , that they use to be most zealous to preserve the honor of their king ; i trust that they who are now upp will return to the steps of their progenitors , both in this particular and divers other ; that their successes may serve to sweeten and moderat things , and suppresse the popular sword which still rages ; and it had been heartily wished that a suspension of arms had preceded this treaty , which useth to be the ordinary fore-runner , and a necessarie antecedent to all treaties ; for while acts of hostility continue , som ill favour'd newes may intervene which may imbitter and disturb all : nor can it be expected that the proceedings will goe on with that candor and confidence , while the old rancor is still in action ; 't is impossible a sore shold heale till the inflamation be taken away ; to cast water into a wound instead of oyle is not the way to cure it : or to cast oyle upon a fire instead of water is not the way to quench it ; poor england hath had a consuming fire within her bowells many yeeres , she is also mortally wounded in all her members , that she is still in a high fever , which hath made her rave and speak idle a long time ; and 't is like to turn to a hectic if not timely prevented . i p●ay god she may have no occasion to make use of the same complaint as alexander the great made when he was expiring his last , perii turba medicorum : too many physitians have undon me . to conclude in a word , there is but one only way , under favor , to put a period to all these fearfull confusions ; it is , to put the great master-wheele in order , and in its due place again , and then all the inferior wheels will move regularly ; let the king be restor'd , and ev'ry one will com to his own , all interests will be satisfied , all things quickly rectified ; till this be done , 't is as absurd to attempt the setling of peace , as if one shold go about to set a watch by the gnomon of an horizontall diall when the sun is in a cloud . dolor capitis est caput doloris . jam. howell . 16. septemb. 1648. som sober inspections made into those ingredients that went to the composition of a late cordial, call'd a cordial for the cavaliers for the satisfaction of som, who mis-apprehended the author. howell, james, 1594?-1666. 1661 approx. 19 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 9 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-08 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a44755 wing h3118 estc r14207 11843341 ocm 11843341 49800 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a44755) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 49800) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 498:8) som sober inspections made into those ingredients that went to the composition of a late cordial, call'd a cordial for the cavaliers for the satisfaction of som, who mis-apprehended the author. howell, james, 1594?-1666. howell, james, 1594?-1666. cordial for the cavaliers. [2], 14 p. printed for henry brome ..., london : 1661. a reply to sir roger l'estrange's a caveat to the cavaliers. includes (p. 10-14) the text of "a cordial for the cavaliers" signed: j.h. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng l'estrange, roger, -sir, 1616-1704. -caveat to the cavaliers. great britain -politics and government -1642-1660. 2004-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-03 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-06 amanda watson sampled and proofread 2004-06 amanda watson text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-07 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion som sober inspections made into those ingredients that went to the composition of a late cordial , call'd a cordial for the cavaliers . for the satisfaction of som , who mis-apprehended the author . london : printed for henry brome , at the gun in ivy lane , 1661. so● i 〈…〉 s m●de into those ingredients that went to the c 〈…〉 of a l●●e c 〈…〉 ll , call'd a cordial for the cavaliers . the author in the first place begi●● wi●h very re 〈…〉 l epi 〈…〉 〈◊〉 the ca●●lie●s , p 〈…〉 g them i● 〈◊〉 of the ●ig●e●t re 〈…〉 d that 〈…〉 e 〈◊〉 is capable of , which they m●y w●ll e●pect , for shewing themselfs , in such 〈…〉 e 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 , so good c 〈…〉 , so good s●●j●cts , ●nd so good 〈◊〉 , towards their c 〈…〉 , th●ir ki●g , ●nd their c 〈…〉 . then the author de 〈…〉 by d●g●ees to the other re 〈…〉 s , which they t●ey may cl●im 〈◊〉 due , from their king and c 〈…〉 y , 〈…〉 g ●●em , that their condition is far from being d 〈…〉 t , which words are equivalent , as if he h 〈…〉 said they might rest c●nfident , that they s 〈…〉 〈◊〉 r 〈…〉 s f●om the other t●● , therfo●e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inti 〈…〉 n ●o his majesty , and the pa●lement , in order theru 〈…〉 , which hath produc'd no small effects since , for divers cavaliers , whose wants wer● apparant and pressing , have bin releev'd , i say , ther is an intimation that the service of the cavaliers being for the public good , 't is reason , ( all the reason in the world , ) they shold be satisf●ed o●● of the p●bl●c 〈◊〉 , ●he●of the commons in parlement are the dispensers , therfore it is in them , to furnish his majesty to that end , and 't is soly in the king to give public rewards , in allusion whereunto , his majesty ●ath bin pleas'd to say , th●t n●ne sh●●d 〈…〉 e the 〈◊〉 to re●●rd the cavali●rs but he ●imself . and 〈…〉 y , ●nder favour , never any ▪ so 〈…〉 in p●ince 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and honorable ground to conse● 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 no story can shew that ever any stuck so stoutly to their prince and principl●● ●s the l●●e cavaliers did , or e●●● shew'd a clearer affecti●n , for they expo●'d their lifes and livelihoods for him , when , in the eye of ●uman● judgment , hi● case was desperat , the 〈…〉 bels ●aving all the imag●●●ble advantag●● that could ●e , for they had the ci●y , the sea , and the s●●t on their side , yet the cavaliers , transported by the fr●● 〈◊〉 of loyal ▪ hearts adher'd unto him s●ill , 〈◊〉 ●ith 〈…〉 nding the hug● disprop●●tion , a●d in t 〈…〉 y 〈◊〉 〈…〉 ngth ; ●●y ▪ though they knew ▪ he had no money to pay them , and truly ther 's no nation can parallel such a love ; the german will speak high words of his love to the keysar , the sp●niard , and french will cry out vivele roy , but not one of them will stir a f●ot for king or keysar , without money , for their pay , and hopes of som recompence besides ; which the spaniard ▪ useth ●o claim as his due by the name of ay●●l● de costas ; to this purpose ther is a notable passage that happen'd twixt p 〈…〉 the second and a t●ledo cap●ain , who being return'd from the wars of the netherlands , went to see the king , who was then at the escurial . it was the captains chance to meet him ( incognito ) as he was a hunting ther , being alone , and strayed from his servants , the king saluting the captain a●k'd him where he was going ? he said , that he was lately returned from flanders , with his wounds and sca●s about him to give d●n pbelippe 〈◊〉 account of his se●●ices , and to demand a reward of him ; the king ask'd , whether he had his sala●y payed him ? 〈◊〉 , quoth he , i must confess i ●●ve th●ugh i stayed somtimes long enough for i● , but i am come now for an ay●d● de costas , for som reward besides ; but , put case the king will not do it ▪ th● captain answer'd , voto a di●●●u●b●s● mi mula en el culo , if he will no● let him kis● my m●●e in the t●yl ; thereupon the king with a smile ask'd his name , who told him he was call'd captain rodrigo del rio ; the king said senior captain rodrigo i see you are a stout man , the counsel of war sits to morrow , where if you make your addresses , and bring with you a sufficient certificat of your services , i shall procure you admittance to the king and counsel , by giving your name to the door-keeper before hand ; the next day the captain being let in , and seeing the king with all the counsel bare about him , the king told him , well captain , do you remember what you said yesterday , and what the king shold do to your mule , if he gave you no reward extraordinary ? the captain being nothing at all daunted , said , truly sir , my mule is ready at the court-gate , if ther be occasion . the king liking the stoutness of the man commanded 400. crowns to be given him , and 2000. rialls for an annual pension during life : the condition of the english cavaliers is much more considerable , for the spanish captain had all his arreares pay'd him , which our cavaliers have not ; now , ther is no a●tizan or labourer whatsoever that deserves his hire , more then the soldier , who besides his hard duties and toyle , ventures both life and lim for his wages . then comes the author of the cordiall in an humble way , to speak of his majesties condition at present , how lightly the coffers of the crown are yet ballasted , what vast summes have bin taken out of them to discharge such indispensable arrears , and how unable he is to do what he so heartily intends , with what convenient speed he may ; then he gives a touch at some roundheads that were rais'd , who , computed with the civaliers , are not one for twenty , which , under favor , holds tru , take all professions together ; for go to the church ther are twenty five bishops for one ; go to deans , canons , prebends , ther is forty to one ; go to the parochial ministers , wherof ther be above 9000. in the land , ther is above fifty to one ; go to the universities , how many heads of houses , and fellows of colledges have bin thrust out , and cavaliers put in their rooms ? go to the city , scarce any roundhead hath receav'd favor . the lieutenant of the tower and six commissioners of the custom house , with divers other officers , all cavaliers ; go to the twelve judges ther are ten to two ; go to the sargeants , with other officers at law , go to the army and life-guard ; go to the court above and below stairs , the odds more then twenty to one holds for the cavalier : t is tru , fom few are crept in into offices , but 't is for their mon y , whereof i beleeve the king hath no knowledg ( and 't is only god almighty is omniscious . ) touching those lords of the privy-counsel , i take leave to say , that we stood without the curtain and could not see what was contriv'd within , for his majesties coming over , where the consultation of the said privy counsellors with other choice lords and persons ( that were the kings confidents to that end ) did very much avail to bring the business about ; though indeed , as the case then stood , it may be said that no humane wit or power , but it was pure omnipoten ce which did the work : but let it not offend any to remember , that divers great kings have bin enforc'd to raise and reward those that were once their very enemies for a time ; the kings of france , at the pacification of nants , and the treaty of loudun , were , by article , to confer honors , in lieu of punishments , upon divers who in open field fought against them ; and the last king was to remove his bosomest counsellor from him , as sillery , and others ; that hee shold approve of all actions pass'd as done for his service , &c. and all this by public edict , which was verified by parlement . in such a posture , it seems , were things in our edward the seconds time , when dining in westminster-hall upon a great festival , ther came a minstrell-woman on horse-back to shew som sports , and going about the table she left a paper behind , as stow hath it in his survey of london page 521. as also daniel in his history of edward the second , which paper was as followeth , our soverain lord the king hath nothing courteously respected his knights that , in his fathers time , and also in his own , have put forth their persons to divers perils , and have utterly lost or greatly diminish'd their substances , to the honor of the said king , and he hath enrich'd abundantly such as have not born the weight , as yet , of the businesse . the author of the cordial proceeds then to his majesties great clemency , wherat som seem to except ; 't is tru in som cases , that he who spares the guilty wrongs the innocent ; and 't is as tru , that th innocence of a cavalier is to be prefer'd before the repentance of a roundhead ; but the world knows what rules of mercy his father ( of ever blessed memory ) prescribes him in his sacred legacies ; moreover , ther 's a world of examples how , after a civil war , such acts of indemnity , such amnestia's and general pardons were granted of necessity , for if the law were permitted to pass in such cases , the king might hang up half his subjects ; yet , it cannot be denyed , but that it is a very sad case , that one shold have my horses in his stables , my hangings and housh old-stuff in his house my oxen in his plough , my books in his study , my jewels upon his wifes fingers , which he had rob'd me of , with other things , and that i shold not have the benefit of the law to recover them ; yet , touching that , let it be also consider'd how many hundred cavaliers have bin restor'd since to their real estates , and offices , which , though it cannot be call'd properly a reward , yet it is a cleer benefit we receav'd by the kings coming , which benefit we were in despair of but twenty moneths since . then the author goes on with som encouragements , not as if he went about to read a lecture of patience , it being not only an unseasonable thing , but a peece of impertinency , to preach patience to those who are upon point of sinking or starving ; as , god wot , too many of the royalists are ; only he gives a hint , that they shold stil keep up their spirits , ther being no doubt but that his majesty being so so●sible of their condition , and the parlement being made up of so many worthy and discerning gentlemen , they will put him in a capacity to take them into due and speedy consideration , as it is well hoped they will do upon their re-accesse , 10 which purpose that cordial may do more good then they are aware . to conclude , he who with a sober and wellbiass'd judgment will examine that cordial , will find , that ther is never a line , word , or syllable therin , but breaths out the spirit of a perfect cavalier , as above twenty other several peeces of the same author publish'd upon emergent occasions , do breath besides , ther is no fretful drug , or the least corrosive dram in it , but all gentle lenitifs , therfore he wonders how it should stir up such malignant humors in any , unless it were in them , who having somthing lying upon the stomack , made wrong use of that cordial to cast it up . in fine , the author of that cordial is very confident , that ther will be such a noble consideration had of the cavaliers , that they shall have cause to say to his majesty , as the grave of fustemburg said to charles the fift after the wars of saxony , who having don notable exploits in that war , and the emperour acknowledging it , sir , said he , if ther be occasion again , i will feed upon one arm , and fight with the other , to do your majesty service . for the fuller infomatrion of the reader , the cordial it self followes . a cordial for the cavaliers . worthy , and deserving gentlemen , in the affairs and traverses of this life , it is a tru rule ( and 't is a comfortable one ) . that he who dischargeth a good conscience , of his own , wherewith to reward himself , though he receive no compensation from any where else : the world knows , and envy it self doth acknowledg , that in the late confusions ( which were of that length that might have shaken the firmest spirits in their loyalty ) you have discharg'd a good conscience three ways , towards your creator , towards your country , and towards your king ; your religion bound you to the one , nature to the other , and your alleageance to the third ; and although many of you have not yet receiv'd what you expected for the two last , yet touching the first ( wherunto the other conduce ) you are sure to have such a reward one day , that will not onely be above all merit , but beyond all imagination , in the kingdom of eternity . adde hereunto , that i hold your condition to be far from being desperat , but that you may receive rewards , at least som consideration from the other two , viz from your king and country ; for the present parlement , which represents your whole country , being compos'd of so many wise , and well-weighed gentlemen ( wherof divers hath bin co sufferers with you ) will , as it is well hoped , out of a sense therof , have such reflections upon your sufferings and services , both active and passive , that they will enable his majesty , whom the law stiles , the fountain of honor and bounty , and wherof indeed no other power shold partake with him , i say it may well be hoped , that this parlement , before their recess , will put his majesty in a capacity , and humbly advise him , if not to reward you , yet to relieve your present wants in such a measure , that the steed may not starve , while the grass grows . you know well that the king hath bin among us but a little more then the compass of one year , and his grandfather henry the great of france , was above 7 years ( which is an age in our law ) before he could requite those , who stuck to him not much above 20 months , in making him master of the elowerdeluces ; you know the vast debts his majesty hath pay'd both by sea and land , which yet were not his own , nor his kingdoms , but of that accursed usurping commonwealth , which exhausted more of the publick treasure , then all the kings of this land , since gold and silver was first coind in its you know he is so shortned , that he hath not yet provided bread for all of his own house ; he is in such a condition , that he cannot give his royal aunt that treatment which might be expected ; he hath not wherwith to go his progress : consider what vast expences his fleets at sea , his life-guard , with other garrisons do stand him in , as also what debts he drew upon himself so many years beyond the seas , for his necessary subsistence , &c. novv , vvhereas som object he hath revvarded roundheads , truly i believe if a catalogue vvere made of those upon vvhom he hath confer'd honor or office since his return , ther vvill be found above tvventy cavaliers for one of any other upon vvhom he hath set any marks of favour . 't is tru , albeit he came not in by the presbyterian , yet he could not have come in without him so peaceably , though som alledg that vvhat the presbyterian did , vvas not as much out of a love to the king , as out of a hatred he bore to the independent , vvho may be said to have us'd the presbyterian a● the fox useth to deal vvith the badger , vvho having found out his chamber in the earth , 〈◊〉 ●o betrayeth it , that the badger comes thither no more , and so the fox makes himself master of the hole . wheras som except against his majesties lenity , and indulgence , let them know that mercy is the inseparable inmate of a magnanimous brest , and that the noblest way of revenge is to forget , and scorn injuries ; i have read in story , that one thing which made lewis the twelf of france most famous was a speech which drop'd from him , when being advis'd by som of his counsell to punish such and such as were profess'd enemies unto him while he was duke of orleans , he answer'd , that the king of france doth not use to revenge the injuries of the duke of orleans ; no more ( with most humble submission be it spoken ) doth king charles rese●t much the wrongs that were done to charles stuart . therfore , noble cavaliers , possess your souls with patience , we have a most gracious king who is in the meridian of his years , and will live to reward all in time . in the confus'd medley of mundane affairs , the proverb often is verified , some have the happ , but some stick still in the gapp , som have the fortune of preferment , som not , and 't will be so to the worlds end . the author hereof though during the many yeers that he was in prison for his loyalty , had three sworn over his head in an office of credit that he shold have had de jure , yet it nothing discomposeth him , being more then in h●pe of a compensation som other way . and as we have a gracious , so have we a glorious king , the most glorious that ever wore these three crowns , for all the eyes of christendom are fix'd upon him with a kind of astonishment and admiration , and not only of christendom , but of all the world besides , for 't is written that the great t●●k shold say , if he were to change his religion , he wold fall to worship the god of king charles of england , who hath do●● such miracles for him , such miracles that no story can parallel : and certainly , god almighty must needs love him for whom he doth miracles : which that his divine majesty may continue to do , are the incessant prayers of 20 iul●● 1●61 . j. h. finis . down-right dealing, or the despised protestant speaking plain english to the kings most excellent majesty the honourable houses of parliament. the city of london. the army. and all other peace-desiring commons of this divided and self-destroying kingdome. / written by j.h. an impartiall observer of the present transactions of the court, city, and camp. howell, james, 1594?-1666. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a74776 of text r202555 in the english short title catalog (thomason e408_17). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 24 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 9 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a74776 thomason e408_17 estc r202555 99862793 99862793 114969 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a74776) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 114969) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 64:e408[17]) down-right dealing, or the despised protestant speaking plain english to the kings most excellent majesty the honourable houses of parliament. the city of london. the army. and all other peace-desiring commons of this divided and self-destroying kingdome. / written by j.h. an impartiall observer of the present transactions of the court, city, and camp. howell, james, 1594?-1666. 16 p. s.n.], [london : printed in the year of discoveries. 1647. j.h. = james howell. place of publication from wing. annotation on thomason copy: "7ber [i.e. september] 24". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng great britain -politics and government -1642-1649 -early works to 1800. great britian -history -civil war, 1642-1649 -peace -early works to 1800. london (england) -history -17th century. a74776 r202555 (thomason e408_17). civilwar no down-right dealing, or the despised protestant speaking plain english: to the kings most excellent majesty the honourable houses of parliam howell, james 1647 4417 17 0 0 0 0 0 38 d the rate of 38 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the d category of texts with between 35 and 100 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-05 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-09 elspeth healey sampled and proofread 2007-09 elspeth healey text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion down-right dealing , or the despised protestant speaking plain english to the kings most excellent majesty the honourable houses of parliament . the city of london . the army . and all other peace-desiring commons of this divided and self-destroying kingdome . written by j. h. an impartiall observer of the present transactions of the court , city , and camp . a kingdome , city , or house , divided against it self cannot stand . printed in the year of discoveries . 1647. to the reader . reader , what ere thou chancest to be , i neither fear , nor care : the frown of the mighty ; the fleer of the froward , nor the censure of the severe , shall neither distaste , nor deter me from publishing these few following pages : onely to prevent prejudicacy , know , that these are not the fruits of discontent , nor blessinge● of fact●●●… neither are they intended to kindle that fire , which already ( though seemingly smother'd ) blazes too fast , but rather to quench it : it may be one will tax me of arrogancy , another of simplicity , a third of singularity , 't is no matter for that , what j have writ , i have writ , truth it is j am sure , and more j beleeve then some will be willing to hear , let him that is the most guilty be the least offended , least they make the proverb true , and prove his own discoverer . all j desire is that who ever shall vouchsafe to peruse these following pages , would do it seriously and judge impartially , and then let them praise or dispraise , frown or smile , i care not : to the kings most excellent majesty . most gracious soveraign , let it not be thought a crime unpardonable , if one of the poorest of your subjects ( presuming on your clemency ) doth offer unto your majesty what he hath observed to be destructive to the peace of this poor kingdome , and dangerous ( if not speedily prevented ) to undermine not onely the honour and safety of your majesty and royall posterity , but also the supporters thereof ; ( to wit ) the law of the kingdome , and peace of the people ; in the ruin whereof your majesty and posterity must certainly bear the greatest share , and sustain the greatest losse ; the law of the kingdome , and the peoples peace , being altogether essentiall with the honour and kingly domination , of your majesty , and without which , both king and people must necessarily run into confusion , the truth hereof your majestie hath had experimentall knowledge of for these late years , and at this day cannot want examples to demonstrate the truth of this particular . now forasmuch as what is past recall , is also past cure , since what might have been commanded cannot now be entreated , since power cannot , policy must , since rage cannot prevaile , let reason reconcile , make necessity a ve●●…e , and rather conquer by courtesie , then compell by soveraignty . and now most gracious and great prince , suffer this humble but serious capitulation ▪ can it consist with wisdome ▪ if it be according to god ) to esteem any thing to great or good to be parted withall ▪ for the 〈…〉 ence , for the making up so large a breath ? for the stopping the torrent of such a doluge of crimson confusions , as have already and do dayly again threaten to break in upon your kingdomes ? a good sheep-heard will give his life for his sheep , a gracious king for his people ▪ and will not your majesty part with a superfluous sprig , a meer pun●●●…o , or thread bare excressence of honour or power for the saving of your poor people ? what man would not lose one member to save all the rest ? are you so far in love with the shaddow that to preserve it , you will hazzard the losse , nay ruin of the substance ? are you so far in love with some few ( perhaps flatterers ) if ●…ot traytors ) that to be mercifull to them , you will be unmercifull and unjust too , to all the kingdome ; certainly most gracious soveraign , there may be wisdome in so doing , but it cannot proceed from god , neither can it conduce to the good of your self , posterity of people ; surely , if your people were made for you , you were likewise made for them , one for the good of the other , and not one to destroy another ; you were made a soveraign that they might be subjects , not slaves , that you might protect them , not devour them ; that you might do justice and execute judgement , to the poor and to the rich impartially , not suffer the rich and mighty to eate up the poor and devour the widdow : the magistrate ( that is of god ) is not a terrour to good works , but to the evill , not a persecuter of the people of god but a protector and preserver of them , and what magistrate ▪ soever shall pretend to have received a power from god , if he imploy it not in all things according to gods end , he will certainly come to naught , he shall perish , and those whom he hath cast down and endeavoured to destroy , shall rise up against him , and he shall not be able to stand in that day , but shall ●lee● before them ▪ to conclude , if your majesty ( according to your so often reiterated expressions in your declarations ) do really intend to take all oppertunities to save this poor kingdome in a right sense , now is the time to manifest your self herein and by some self denying testimony effectually act for the re-establishing the poor commons of england in their ancient birth rights , and securing them therein , providing for a due execution of justice , and countenancing of godliness in your dominions , which being speedily , cordially , and effectually done , your majesty need not doubt but to finde , your present losse to produce a future gaine , by the increase both of your power and love of your people , which will cause such a mutuall confidence betwixt you and your subjects , as will both comfort your heart and strengthen your hands against the secret complotments of foes at home , or publike attempts of enemies abroad , and cause all your now discontented , and distrushing people to be united , and with one heart and assent to cry ▪ long live our gracious soveraign , &c. to the parliament . grave senators , after seven yeare sufferings , and tedious expectation to be delivered from our then declared pressures and grievances , give us leave , ( for loosers should have leave to speak ) to tell you , we cannot but with bitterness of spirit declare , that we wonder by what strange and unheard of presidents , this parliament hath acted ; there having been never before any visible rule for such actions , in or by any parliament . but leaving things that are past cure , let us come to expostulate with you about future security . can it , think you , consist with the peace and wel-fare of the kingdome , especially considering the state and temper of the people , and the present exigences of the state . that you who should be acting joyntly for the securing of the kings authority , and subjects liberty , should be divided into factions and acting for your own particular interests ? is this to discharge that trust which you have in the presence of god sworn to perform ? surely so long as you thus continue to beate and bandy one against another , to pull down one faction to set up a second ; a second to set up a third ; to hang one theef that you may make another ; so long as you are thus selvish and partial in sparing men , ( i was about , nay i will say , knaves ) because they will side with you in carrying on your own designs , so long we cannot hope for any good either by you or from you , so long we are confident ( what ere you may pretend ) you intend no good to the king or kingdome , neither can any thing you do , compose or perfect that great work which you were called to and undertook , ( to wiy ) to ease us of our burthens , and establish justice with righteousness ; since 't is a meer contradiction ; and contrary to sense or reason for us to think that ever we can be eased of oppression by oppression , or obtain justice by injustice : 't is true your great oppressions of late years may make us forget our former petty sufferings , but never settle us in a true course of freedome , nor secure us for the future from injustice . therefore to conclude unless you do immediately lay aside all by-respects and your own interests , and unanimously joyn and act for the securing of the kingdome , and give a speedy testimony thereof , by your walking in the parts of justice and righteousness ; unless you do immediately administer justice and execute judgement impartially and endeavour to settle a firm and lasting peace , whereby the king may be with due honour invested , and the kingdome in its just liberty secured ; truely the kingdome shall not onely have been by you already exposed to many hazzards , ( besides the large expence of blood and treasure ) but shall for the future be necessitated , to curse the time that ever they entrusted you ; and be forced in justice to prosecute you as persons which had power , but not wills to restore them to their ancient liberties , and that which might have been an honour to you and your posterities in the generatons to come , will be recorded as a brand of obloquie , that such a parliament sate seven yeares , to enrich themselves , enslave , the whole nation . to the city . grave citizens , in whom wisdome was once chiefly resident , though now ( it is to be feared ) a great stranger ; how comes it to passe that such a spirit of giddiness possesses you ? what , have you found out new wayes to make your selves famous ? ( i fear miserable . ) you that were the glory of the nations , the envy of your foes , and the admiration of strangers , are now become the amazement of your friends , the scorn of your enemies , and a by-word to all nations ▪ cast but an eye upon your follies , and see into what a condition your division , nay , your prlde hath brought you : you that exalted your selves almost above the heavens , are now fallen , if possible , lower than the earth ; your towring pride is now buried in the dust of division ; you have been long time in travaile with joy , and now are delivered of sorrow : i wish you could yet see in this your day the things that belong unto your peace ; what , hath the love of money , eaten up your love towards one another ? hath your earnest pursuite of religion , forst religion to a squat ; truely you have hunted fairly , you have strove so much for religion in the church that it is to be feared you have lost it in your hearts ; these are the fruits of division , your presbytery , and independency , your outward formes and formall circumstances ; what , have you strove so long for the shaddow that you have lost the substance ; have you forgot that it is neither circumcisiou nor uncircumcision that availeth ought , but a new creature ; have you forgot that love is the fulfilling of the law , and a gospell duty : surely , this division is of the devill and not of god , for god is love , and his people are carried out with a spirit of love , and not of hatred and contention , envie and emulation . therefore dear friends and fellow citizens , i beseech you lay your condition ro heart , examine the ground of your division , and you will finde it to be the pride of your hearts , your self-conceitedness , &c. and cloath your selves in self-abhorrency , let him that would be the greatest be the least among you , let him that would or thinks himself wise , be a fool for christs sake , learn to bear with one another , labour to see that you are members of one body , united unto one head , and love one another , and administer unto the necessities one of another , so shall your love encrease and your divisions dye , but if you shall continue to widen the gap , confusion will enter , and what will ye do in that day ? to the army . gentlemen , actions are alwayes honourable that are compassed by just wayes , and aim at good ends , for wee ought not to do evill to produce good , neither should there be publike pretences made use of to advantage or secure private interests , i hope the contrary now , but yet i fear the event ; when the fabrick is larger then the foundation , there is great danger in the building ; so when the undertaking is greater then the power of the undertakers , truely 't is to be feared there will be more hurt then good , more detriment then advantage acrue to the persons concerned therein . gentlemen , your undertakings and engagements thereupon i have seriously observed , and impartially scanned , i find the end good , but the manner and prosecution hitherto , hath not been so good as i could wish ; and the temper , nay , necessity of the kingdome doth require : you engaged , if i mistake not , not to give over , nor look back untill you had to the utmost of your powers made provision ( not onely for your selves , and own interests as souldiers ) but as commoners ; and with your selves , all the free commons of england , that they and you together might be for the future protected and secured from all violence and oppression whatsoever , and in whomsoever and that there might be a due administration of justice and judgement , with righteousness : now give me leave to demand the cause of your retreat from the pursuance of this so honourable action ? how comes it to passe , i hear so many private whispers among you ; that you have nothing to do to meddle with any thing that concerns the kingdome , but meerly what concerns your selves , and your own particular actings : was it just or lawfull for you to enter into an ingagement , to perform that , which you now seem to dis-own , as unlawfull : surely , either there wanted a serious consideration at first , or else interests hath abated your resolutions at last ; which if either , how dishonourable it will be to your selves , how destructive to the kingdome , be your own judges . if the welfare of the people be the supream law , as you have sometimes granted , yea affirmed ; then whatsoever is contrary or standeth in opposition to that , is destructive to that main end , and therefore not onely to be avoided at present , but prevented for the future . but oppression and injustice particular interests , &c. are direct in opposition to the welfare of the people and altogether destructive , therefore to be prevented and removed . and certainly what cannot be repelled by policy , maybe by power , for if there be not a sufficient means left for the attaining the end , it is altogether vain and to no purpose . but to every end there is a sufficient means , therefore if the welfare of the people cannot be secured by one means , it may by another , if not by policy , then by power according to the parliaments ow● language to the king , the kingdome must not be without a means to preserve it selfe . and truely if the kingdome hath a means to preserve it self against the king , being then acting against the welfare of the kingdome ; it hath a power likewise to secure it self against the parliament , and army too , if they shall act , in the same way , and shall not prosecute the main end ( to wit ) the peoples welfare . how comes it to passe i beseech you that there is such sidings among you ? one great man favours another , and stomacks his opposer ; and let him be never so bad , so he will side insecuring some great persons particular interests in power among you , he shall not only scape scot-free , but be countenanced and protected among you : little theeves are hangd and great ones let go . is this to be single hearted ? will you that have taxed the king and parliament of partiality , be partiall too ? what a blemish will this be to all your former actions ? that you should now fawn upon those for favour , who would have rejoyced to have seen both you and the kingdome weltring in flouds of blood and confusion ; and who , it is to be feared by your too great indulgence and credulity , are plotting your destruction . i beseech you gentlemen consider , you stand upon a sandy place , which will , if not carefully looked to , devoure you , lay aside all interests and be what you have pretended to be , let not your own honour or promotions be onely aimed at , but have sole respect unto the peace of the kingdome . i have with sorrow observed . that there are , i may say too many among you , too great in power , who are swaid by passion not reason , who speak much against injustice in others , but never knew what it was to be just them selves ; men neither of discretion nor religion , what ere they may pretend , who do vehemently act for to gain applause and the favour of great men , and not for any love to the peace of the kingdome : now it is very unlikely that ever such a man can do ( or at least intends ) a generall good , unless it may advantage his own interest . i beseech you observe and beware of such persons , you may easily finde them ; for such persons in your councells will do you more hurt then all your other enemies , be not deluded by pretences though never so specious ; those persons that plead so much for delay , and argue so critically , intend no good to you , but carry on a dangerous design against you and the whole kingdome . and you may assure your selves the adversary , with whom you now run a contest , could never have gained so much time , nor brought you to such an exigency , had they not been encouraged , nay , assisted by some that have too much power and influence in your councell . gentlemen , the eyes of the kingdome are upon you ; and unless you answer their expectations and perform your promises and engagements , and that speedily ; truly , you will stand at as great a distance in their affections as others have done before you ; lose not this opportunity , seek the peace of the kingdome now , and seek your selves afterward , lest while you contend so earnestly for a shaddow , you lose the substance , be for pure justice without respect of persons , and let the kingdome see , that you will not favour or disfavour any person for siding with or against you , or for being of this or the other judgement . but that all persons of each party shall receive from you equall respect , according to their merit . but if you shall appear partiall to some , and severe to others ; if you shall do the works your selves , which you condemn in others : if you shall pretend to free us from one form of slavery to involve us in another , assure your selves , division and confusion will follow , and a worm will rise from your own bowels which will certainly devour you and consume your former glory . read and practice , prevent . farewel . to my fellow commons which desire peace . moderation in a multitude is ( rara avis in terra ) especially in england , of late years ▪ where rage , not reason , hath had the rule and soveraignty ; when the reynes of the bridle are thrown in the neck the unruly beast runneth where he listeth ; and truly such hath been the practice of you my fellow-commons for this seven years almost ; although you have received many a curb , and oft bit of the bridle for it , yet still like a head-strong horse you are stubborn and untamed , fearing neither switch nor spur ; and it is to be feared you will still persist until you are quite tyred ; to prevent which give me leave to expostulate with you a little ; it hath been often said , that misery is a schoolmaster to wisdom , and that wit is the best when it is dearly payd for , and truly i beleeve you have payd enough for it , hath not the plundering of your estates , the burning of your houses , the murdering of your children , the inslaving of your persons , taught you to hate war and love peace ? how comes it to pass then that there are so many murmurings amongst you , one part for the king , another for the parliament , another for the army , another for neither ; what are you frantick ? hath reason given place to rage , wisdom to folly , meekness to madness ? have you been so patient under seven years sufferings by war , and cannot you contain your selves one year in peace ; what , like children , all at an instant or none at all ? just like a fool that because he could not be rich in one day , would be a beggar all his life . certainly a spirit of fury ( i may say folly ) hath bewirched you , and put you upon the purchase of perpetual desolation to your selves and posterities ; and you with eagerness pursue it , in despite of those that would prevent it . in a word ; know therefore , unless you do with patience wait for the establishing of that peace which you desire , and give limits to your unlimited contentions , unless you lay aside your prejudicacy and censuring until you see the event , unless you seriously apply your selvs to make up the breach between your selves and your soveraign , the parliament , army , and city , and one another , and every one in his place and relation set his hand to the reducing of things to their proper center , unless both magistrates and people do i say with one accord , seek peace and establish judgment and righteousness , in vain are and will be all these mutterings and commotions , and do what they and you can , confusion and desolation wil break in upon them and you , and then when it is too late you may repent , but not prevent your destruction . this is the sence of him that sees great cause to fear this wil be the end of all this division if providence do not interpose very suddenly . postscript . i beseech you labour to love one another , and to be faithful each to other . let soveraigns seek the good of their subjects , and subjects the honour and peace of their soveraigns . let parliaments be faithful , and people peaceable : let souldiers be valiant for justice , but not factious for preferment ; let king , parliament , city , army , and people unite and joyn in the bonds of love , and leave judging , suspecting and reviling one another . then shal you see and enjoy a happy peace and the fruits thereof ; then shal the lamb lie down with the lion ; then shal not the voyce of the oppressed be heard in our streets , but joy , peace , plenty , and the most wished delights that are , or can be imaginable , or desired , be freely communicated unto you by the hand of jehovah , who is the god of peace , and hath annexed a blessing to the lovers thereof . farewel . thine , if thou studiest the peace of england . j. h. finis . an inquisition after blood. to the parliament in statu quo nunc, and to the army regnant; or any other whether royallist, presbyterian, independent or leveller, whom it may concern. howell, james, 1594?-1666. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a86624 of text r15284 in the english short title catalog (thomason e531_23). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 25 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 8 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a86624 wing h3080 thomason e531_23 estc r15284 99859832 99859832 111931 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a86624) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 111931) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 82:e531[23]) an inquisition after blood. to the parliament in statu quo nunc, and to the army regnant; or any other whether royallist, presbyterian, independent or leveller, whom it may concern. howell, james, 1594?-1666. [2], 13, [1] p. s.n.], [london : printed in the yeer, 1649. attributed to james howell. place of publication from wing. annotation on thomason copy: "july 17th". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng great britain -history -civil war, 1642-1649 -early works to 1800. great britain -politics and government -1642-1649 -early works to 1800. a86624 r15284 (thomason e531_23). civilwar no an inquisition after blood.: to the parliament in statu quo nunc, and to the army regnant; or any other whether royallist, presbyterian, in howell, james 1649 4403 5 0 0 0 0 0 11 c the rate of 11 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-04 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-05 angela berkley sampled and proofread 2007-05 angela berkley text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an inquisition after blood . to the parliament in statu quo nunc , and to the army regnant ; or any other whether royallist , presbyterian , independent or leveller , whom it may concern . blood is a crying sin , but that of kings cryes loudest for revenge , and ruine brings . printed in the yeer , 1649. an inquisition after blood . the scope of this short discourse is to make some researches after truth , and to rectifie the world accordingly in point of opinion , specially touching the first author and aggressor of the late ugly war in england , which brought with it such an inundation of blood , and so let in so huge a torrent of mischiefs to rush upon us . there be many , and they not only presbyterians and independents , but cavaliers also , who think that the king had taken the guilt of all this blood upon himselfe , in regard of that concession he passed in the preamble of the late treaty at the isle of wight ; the aime of this paper is to cleere that point , but in so temperate a way , that i hope 't will give no cause of exception , much lesse of offence to any : the blood that 's sought after here , shall not be mingled with gaule , much lesse with anie venome at all . we know there is no principle either in divinity , law , or phylosophie , but may be wrested to a wrong sense ; there is no truth so demonstrative and cleere , but may be subject to cavillations ; no tenet so plaine , but perverse inferences may be drawne out of it ; such a fate befell that preambular concession his majesty passed at the transactions of the late treaty , in that he acknowledg'd therein that the two houses of parliament were necessitated to undertake a war in their owne just and lawfull defence , &c. and that therefore all oaths , declarations , or other public instruments against the houses of parliament , or any for adhering to them , &c. be declared null , suppressed , and forbidden . 't is true , his majesty passed this grant , but with this weighty consideration , as it had reference to two ends . first , to smoothen and facilitate things thereby to ope a passage , and pave the way to a happy peace , which this poor iland did so thirst after , having been so long glutted with civill blood . secondly , that it might conduce to the further security , and the indemnifying of the two houses of parlement , with all their instruments , assistants , and adherents , and so rid them of all jealousies , and fear ( of future dangers ) which still lodg'd within them . now touching the expressions and words of this grant , they were not his owne , nor did he give order for the dictating or penning thereof ; the king was not the author of them , but an assenter only unto them : nor was he or his party accus'd , or as much as mentioned in any of them , to draw the least guilt upon themselves . besides , he pass'd them as he doth all lawes and acts of parlement , which in case of absence another may do for him in his politic capacity , therefore they cannot prejudice his person any way . i am loth to say that he condescended to this grant , — cùm strict a novacula supra , when the razor was as it were at his throat , when ther was an army of about thirty thousand effect if horse and foot that were in motion against him , when his person had continued under a black long lingring restraint , and dangerous menacing petitions and papers daily obtruded against him . moreover , his majesty pass'd this concession with these two provisos and reservations , first , that it should be of no vertu or validity at all , till the whole treaty were intirely consummated . secondly , that he might when he pleas'd inlarge and cleer the truth with the reservedness of his meaning herein , by public declaration : now the treaty being confusedly huddled up , without discussing , or as much as receiving any proposition from himself as was capitulated , ( and reciprocal proposals are of the essence of all treaties ) it could neither bind him , or turne any way to his disadvantage : therfore under favour , ther was too much hast us'd by the parlement , to draw that hipothetick or provisional concession to the form of an act so suddenly after in the very heat of the treaty , without his majesties knowledge , or the least intimation of his pleasure . add hereunto , that this grant was but a meer preambular proposition , 't was not of the essence of the treaty it self : and as the philosophers and schoolemen tell us , there is no valid proof can be drawn out of proemes , introductions or corallaries in any science , but out of the positive assertions and body of the text , which is only argument-proof ; so in the constitutions and lawes of england , as also in all accusations and charges , forerunning prefaces and preambles ( which commonly weak causes want most ) are not pleadable : and though they use to be first in place , like gentlemen-ushers , yet are they last in dignity , as also in framing , nor had they ever the force of lawes , but may be term'd their attendants to make way for them . besides , ther 's not a syllable in this preface which repeales or connives at any former law of the land , therefore those lawes that so strictly inhibit english subjects to raise armes against their liege lord the king , and those lawes è contrario , which exempt from all dangers , penalties or molestation any subject that adheres to the person of the king in any cause or quarrell whatsoever , are still in force . furthermore , this introductory concession of the kings , wherein he is contented to declare , that the two houses were necessitated to take armes for their defence , may be said to have relation to the necessity , à parte pòst , not à parte antè : self-defence is the universall law of nature , and it extends to all other creatures , as well as the rationall : as the sluent roman orator in that sentence of his , which is accounted among the critiques the excellentest that ever drop'd from him ; est enim haec non scripta , sed nata lex , quam non didicimus , accepimus , legimus , verùm ex natura ipsa arripuimus , hausimus , expressimus , ad quam non docti , sed facti , non instituti , sed imbuti sumus , ut si vita nostra in &c. for this ( meaning self-defence ) is not a written , but a law born with us ; a law which we have not learnt , receiv'd or read , but that which we have suck'd , drawn forth , and wrung out of nature her self ; a law to which we are not taught , but made unto , wherewith we are not instructed , but indued withall , that if our lifes be in jeopardy , &c. we may repell force by force . therefore when the house of parliament had drawn upon them a necessity of self-defence ( and i could have wish'd it had been against any other but their own soveraign prince ) his majesty was contented to acknowledge that necessity . as for example : a man of war meets with a marchant man at sea , he makes towards him , and assaults him ; the marchant man having a good stout vessell under him , and resolute generous seamen , bears up against him , gives him a whole broad side , and shoots him 'twixt wind and water ; so there happens a furious fight betwixt them , which being ended , the marchant cannot deny but that the man of war , though the first assailant , was necessitated to fight , and that justly in his own defence , which necessity he drew upon himself , and so was excusable , à posteriori , not à priori ; as the civilians speak of a clandestine marriage , fieri non debuit , sed factum valet ; it ought not to have been , but being done 't is valid : whereunto relates another saying , multa sunt quae non nisi peracta approbantur . there are many things which are not allowable till they are pass'd . the kings of france have had sundry civill warrs , many bloudy encounters and clashes with their subjects , specially the last king lewis the thirteenth , which turn'd all at last to his advantage ; among other treaties upon that of loudu● , he was by force of article to publish an edict , dons lequel le roy approuvoit tout le passé comme ayant esté fait pour son service , &c. whrein the king approv'd of all that was pass'd , as done for his service , &c. and these concessions and extenuations are usuall at the close of most civill warrs ; but there was never any further advantage made of them , then to make the adverse party more capable of grace and pardon , to enable them to bear up against the brunt of lawes , and secure them more firmly from all afterclaps ; they were pass'd in order to an act of abolition , to a generall pardon , and consequently to a reestablishment of peace ; now , peace and vvarr ( we know ) are like vvater and ice , they engender one another : but i do not remember to have read either in the french story , or any other , that such royall concessions at the period of any intestin war were ever wrung so hard , as to draw any inference from them , to cast therby the guilt of blood or indeed the least stain of dishonor upon the king ; for royall indulgences and grants of this nature are like nurses breasts , if you presse them gently there will milk come forth , if you wring them too hard you will draw forth blood in lieu of milk : and i have observed , that upon the conclusion of such treaties in france , both parties wold hugg and mutually embrace one another in a gallant way of national humanity ; all rancor , all plundrings , sequestration , and imprisonment , wold cease , nor wold any be prosecuted , much lesse made away afterwards in cold bloud . touching the comencer of this monstrous war of ours , the world knows too well , that the first man of bloud was blewcap , who shew'd subjects the way , how to present their king with petitions upon the pikes point , and what visible judgements have fallen upon him since by such confusions of discord and pestilence at home , and irreparable dishonour abroad , let the world judge . the irish took his rise from him : and whereas it hath been often suggested , that his majesty had fore-knowledge thereof , among a world of convincing arguments which may cleer him in this particular , the lord maguair upon the ladder , and another upon the scaffold , when they were ready to breath their last , and to appear before the tribunall of heaven , did absolutely acquit him , and that spontaneously of their own accord , being unsought unto , but only out of a love to truth , and the discharge of a good conscience : but touching those c●uentous irish warrs , in regard there was nothing whereof more advantage was made against his late majesty , to imbitter and poison the hearts of his subjects against him then that rebellion , i will take leave to wind up the main causes of them upon a small bottome . 1. they who kept intelligence and complied with the scot , in his first and second insurrection . 2. they who dismiss'd the first irish commissioners ( who came of purpose to attend our parlement with some grievances ) with such a short unpolitic harsh answer . 3. they who took off straffords head , ( which had it stood on , that rebellion had never been ) and afterwards retarded the dispatch of the earl of leicester from going over to be lord-lievtenant . 4. lastly , they who hindred part of that disbanded army of 8000. men rais'd there by the earl of strafford , which his majesty , in regard they were souldiers of fortune , and loose casheer'd men , to prevent the mischiefs that might befall that kingdome by their insolencies , had promised the two spanish ambassadors , the marquesses of velada and malvezzi , then resident in this court : which souldiers rise up first of any , and put fire to the tumult to find something to do . they , i say , who did all this , may be justly said to have been the true causes of that horrid insurrection in ireland ; and consequently 't is easie to judge upon the account of whose souls must be laid the blood of those hundred and odd thousand poor christians who perished in that war : and had it been possible to have brought o're their bodies unputrified to england , and to have cast them at the lower house door , and in the presence of some members , which are now either secluded , or gone to give account in another world , i believe their noses would have gush'd out with blood for discovery of the true murtherers . touching this last fire-brand of war , which was thrown into england , who they were that kindled it first , the consciences of those indifferent & unblassed men are fittest to be judges , who have been curious to observe with impartiall eyes , the carriage of things from the beginning . i confesse 't was a fatall infortunate thing , that the king should put such a distance 'twixt his person and his parliament , but a more fatall and barbarous thing it was , that he should be driven away from it , that there should be a desperate designe to surprize his person , that ven with his myrmidons , and bourges with his bandogs , ( for so they call'd the riffraff of the city they brought along with them ) should rabble him away , with above four parts in five of the lords , and neere upon two parts in three of the commons : yet 't is fit it should be remembred , what reiterated messages his majesty sent from time to time afterward , that he was alwaies ready to return , provided there might be a course taken to secure his person , with those peers & others who were rioted away from the houses ; 't is fit it shold be remembred , that there was not the least motion of war at all , till hotham kept his majesty out of his own town kingston upon hul , where being attended by a few of his meniall servants , he came only to visit her , which act of hotham's by shutting the gates against him was voted warrantable by the house of commons , and it may be call'd the first thunderbolt of war : 't is fit it should be remembred , that a while after there was a compleat army of 10000. effect if horse and foot inrolled in and about london to fetch him to his parliament by force , and remove ill counsellors from about him , ( long before he put up his royall standard ) and the generall nam'd to live and die with them : and very observable it is , how that generalls father was executed for a traytor , for but attempting such a thing upon queen elizabeth , i meane to remove ill counsellors from about her by force . 't is also to be observed , that the same army which was rais'd to bring him to his parliament , was continued to a clean contrary end two yeers afterwards to keep him from his parlement . 't is fit it should be remembred , who interdicted trade first , and brought in forraigners to help them , and whose commissions of warre were neere upon two moneths date before the kings . 't is fit it should be remebred how his majesty in all his declarations and public instruments made alwaies deep protestations , that 't was not against his parliament he raised armes , but against some seditious members , against whom he had onely desired the common benefit of the law , but could not obtaine it . 't is fit to remember , that after any good successes or advantage of his , he still courted both parlement and city to an accommodation ; how upon the treaty at uxbridge , with much importunity for the generall advantage and comfort of his people and to prepare matters more fitly for a peace , he desired there might be freedom of trade from town to town , and a cessation of all acts of hostility for the time , that the inflamation being allayd , the wound might be cur'd the sooner : all which was denied him . 't is fit to remember how a noble lord at that time told the parlements commissioners in his majesties name , at the most unhappy rupture of the said treaty , that when he was at the highest he wold be ready to treat with them , and fight with them when he was at the lowest : 't is fit the pres●●● army shold remember how often both in their propos●●● , and public declarations they have inform'd the world , and deeply protested that their principall aime was to restore his majestie to honor , freedom and safety , whereunto they were formerly bound , both by their own protestation and covenant , that the two commanders in chief pawn'd unto him their soules thereupon . let them remember , that since he was first snatch't away to their custody , he never displeas'd them in the least particular , but in all his overtures for peace , and all his propositions he had regard still that the army shold be satisfied : let it be remembred , that to settle a blessed peace to preserve his subjects from rapine and ruine , and to give contentment to his parlement , he did in effect freely part with his sword , scepter , and crown , and ev'ry thing that was personall to him : let it be remembred with what an admired temper , with what prudence and constancie with what moderation and mansuetude hee comported himselfe since his deep afflictions , insomuch that those commissioners and others who resorted unto him , and had had their hearts so averse unto him before , return'd his converts , crying him up to be one of the sanctifiedst persons upon earth : and will not the blood of such a prince cry aloud for vengeance ? let it be remembred , that though there be some precedents of deposing kings in this kingdome , and elsewhere , when there was a competition for the right title to the crown by some other of the blood royall , yet 't is a thing not only unsampled , but unheard of in any age , that a king of england whose title was without the least scruple , shold be summon'd and arraign'd , tryed , condemn'd , and executed in his own kingdom , by his own subjects , and by the name of their own king , to whom they had sworn alleagiance . the meanest barister that hath but tasted the laws of the land can tell you , that it is an unquestionable fundamentall maxime , the king can do no wrong , because he acts by the mediation of his agents and ministers , he heares with other mens eares , he sees with other mens eyes , he consults with other mens braines , he executes with other mens hands , and judges with other mens consciences ; therefore his officers counsellors or favorits are punishable , not 〈◊〉 and i know not one yet whom he hath spar'd , but sacrificed to justice . the crown of england is of so coruscant and pure a mettall , that it cannot receive the least taint or blemish ; and if there were any before in the person of the prince , it takes them all away and makes him to be rectus in c●r●a . this as in many others may be exemplified in henry the seventh , and the late queen elizabeth : when the first came to the crown 't was mention'd in parlement , that the attainder might be taken off him , under which he lay all the time he liv'd an exile in france ; it was then by the whole house of parlement resolv'd upon the question , that it was unnecessary , because the crown purg'd all . so likewise when queen elizabeth was brought as it were from the scaffold to the throne ; though she was under a former attainder , yet 't was thought superflous to take it off , for the crown was lieth away al spots , and darteth such a brightnesse , such resplendent beams of majesty , that quite dispel al former clouds : so that put case king iames died a violent death , and his son had been accessary to it ( which is as base a lie as ever the devil belch'd out ) yet his accesse to the crown had purg'd all . this businesse about the playster which was applied to king iames , was sifted & winnow'd as narrowly as possibly a thing could be in former parlements , yet when it was exhibited as an article against the duke of buckingham , 't was term'd but a presumption or misdemeanure of a high nature : and 't is strange that these new accusers shold make that a parricide in the king , which was found but a presumption in the duke , who in case it had been so , must needs have been the chiefest accessary . and as the antient crown and royall diadem of england is made of such pure allay , and cast in so dainty a mould , that it can receive no taint , or contract the least speck of enormity and foulenesse in it self , so it doth endow the person of the prince that weares it with such high prerogatives , that it exempts him from all sorts of publique blemishes , from all attainders , empeachments , summons , arraignments and tryalls ; nor is there or ever was any law or precedent in this land , to lay any crime or capitall charge against him , though touching civill matters , touching propertie of meum and tuum , he may be impleaded by the meanest vassall that hath sworn fealty to him ; as the subjects of france , and spain may against their kings , though never so absolute monarchs . in the constitutions of england , there are two incontroulable maximes , whereof the meanest mootman that hath but saluted littleton cannot be ignorant : the first is , rex in suis dominiis neque habet parem , nec superiorem . the king in his own dominions hath neither peer , or superior . the other is satis habet rex ad poenam quod deum expectet ultorem : 't is punishment enough for a king that god will take revenge of him . therefore if it be the fundamentall constitution of the land , that all just tryalls must be by peers , and the law proclaimes the king to have none in his own dominions , i leave the world to judge , what capacity or power those men had to arraigne the late king , to be in effect his accusers and judges ; and that an exorbitant unsampled tribunall shold be erected , with power and purpose to condemn all that came before it , to cleer none , and that sentence of death shold passe without conviction or law upon him that was the head and protector of all the lawes . lastly , that they who by their own confession represent but the common people , should assume power to cut off him who immediately represented god , — cui dabit partes scelus expiandi iupiter ? — well , we have seen such portentous things , that former ages never beheld , nor will future ages ever be witnesse of the like : nay , posterity , after a century or two will hold what is now really acted to be but romances : and now with thoughts full of consternation and horror ; with a heartfull of amazement and trembling for the flagrant and crying sins of this forlorn nation , which hath drawn such an endlesse warr , and an unheard of slaverie upon it self , i will conclude with this short prayer , which carrieth with it as much of universall charity , as of particular : god amend all , and me first . finis . ah, ha; tumulus, thalamus: two counter-poems, the first, an elegy upon edward late earl of dorset; the second, an epithalamium to the lord m. of [dor]chester. howell, james, 1594?-1666. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a86613 of text r15372 in the english short title catalog (thomason e228_1). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 12 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 9 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a86613 wing h3054 thomason e228_1 estc r15372 99859850 99859850 111950 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a86613) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 111950) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 39:e228[1]) ah, ha; tumulus, thalamus: two counter-poems, the first, an elegy upon edward late earl of dorset; the second, an epithalamium to the lord m. of [dor]chester. howell, james, 1594?-1666. [16] p. printed for humphrey moseley, and are to be sold at his shop at the prince's armes in st paul's church-yard., london, : 1653. first poem signed: i. h., i.e. james howell. the syllable "dor" on the title page is set off by a series of brackets; it is intended to represent the first syllable of both "dorset" and "dorchester.". signatures: [a]⁴ b⁴. annotation on thomason copy: "may 12"; the 3 in imprint date has been altered to a 4. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng dorset, edward sackville, -earl of, 1591-1652 -poetry. dorchester, henry pierrepont, -marquis of, 1606-1680 -poetry. elegiac poetry, english -17th century. a86613 r15372 (thomason e228_1). civilwar no ah, ha; tumulus, thalamus:: two counter-poems, the first, an elegy upon edward late earl of dorset; the second, an epithalamium to the lord howell, james 1653 1685 2 0 0 0 0 0 12 c the rate of 12 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-04 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-05 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2007-05 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion ah , ha ; tumulus , thalamus : two counter-poems , the first , an elegy upon edward late earl of dorset ; the second , an epithalamivm to the lord m. of dorchester . invicem cedunt dolor & voluptas , funera , taedae , sorrow may endure for a night , but joy cometh in the morning . london , printed for humphrey moseley , and are to be sold at his shop at the prince's armes in st paul's church-yard . 1654. an advertizement to the reader . in regard ther are divers imperfect and spurious copies of these two poems dispersed abroad , i obtain'd leave of the author to commit them to the press assuring the reader that these are concordant with the originalls . h. m. an elegy upon the most accomplish'd , and heroic lord edward , earl of dorset , lord chamberlain to his late majesty of great britain , and knight of the most noble order of the garter , &c. alluding to the quality of the times , his admired perfections , his goodly person , his antient pedigree , his coat of armes crested with a star , the condition of mortality , the passion of the author closing with an epitaph . an elegy upon the late earl of dorset . lords have bin long declining , ( we well know ) and making their last testaments , but now they are desunct , they are extinguish'd all , and never like to rise by this lords fall ; a lord , whose intellectualls alone might make a house of peers , and prop a throne , had not so dire a fate hung o're the crown , that privilege prerogative should drown ; where e're he sate he sway'd , & courts did awe , gave bishops gospell , and the judges law with such exalted reasons , which did flow so cleer and strong , that made astraea bow to his opinion , for where he did side advantag'd more than half the bench beside . but is great sakvile dead ? do we him lack , and will not all the elements wear black ? whereof he was compos'd a perfect man as ever nature in one frame did span . such highborn thoughts , a soul so large and free , so clear a judgment , and vast memory , so princely hospitable and brave mind we must not think in hast on earth to find , unless the times would turn to gold agen , and nature get new strength in forming men . his person with it such a state did bring that made a court as if he had bin king , no wonder , since he was so neer a kin to norfolks duke , and the great mayden queen . he courage had enough by conquering one to have confounded that whole nation , those parts which single do in some appear were all concentred here in one bright sphear , for brain , toung , spirit , heart , and personage to mould up such a lord will ask an age , but how durst pale white-liver'd death seaze on so dauntles and heroic a champion ? yes , to dye once is that uncancell'd debt which nature claymes , and rayseth by eschet on all mankind by an old statute past primo adami , which will alwaies last without repeal , nor can a second lease be had of life when the first term doth cease . mount noble soul , among the starrs take place , and make a new one of so bright a race may jove out-shine , that venus still may be in a benign conjunction with thee , to check that planet which on lords hath lowr'd , and such malign influxes lately powr'd ; be now a star thy self for those which here did on thy crest , and upper robes appear , for thy director take that star we read which to thy saviours birth three kings did lead . a corollary . thus have i blubber'd out some tears and verse on this renowned heroe , and his herse , and could my eyes have drop'd down perls upon 't in lieu of teares , god knowes , i would have don 't , but teares are real , perls for their emblems go , the first are fitter to express my wo ; let this small mite suffize untill i may a larger tribut to his ashes pay , in the mean time this epitaph shall shut , and to my elegy a period put . here lie's a grandee by birth , parts , and mind , who hardly left his parallell behind , here lie's the man of men , who should have been an emperour , had fate or fortune seen . totus in lachrymas solutus sic singultivit i. h. upon the nuptialls of that princely pair henry lord marquess of dorchester , and the lady katherine stanley , daughter to the late heroic earl of derby , an epithalamium by way of dialog 'twixt philemon and sylvius . alluding to their 1. complexions , he sanguin , she black and fair . 2. coats of arms , both field-argent , his a lion rampant in an orb of cinqfoyls . 3. countries . 4. pedigrees . going on with an hymenaeum , or vote , comprized in four musicall stanzas , the three first ayrie and poeticall , the last serious . the dialogue . philemon . vvhat object 's that which i behold dazzling my eyes with gemms and gold ? her face , me thinks , darts such a ray that adds more brightnes to the day , her breath perfumes the place , her curls and hair like indian spice aromatize the air , a sparkling white and black breaks from her sight like to the diamonds redoubling light , as she doth walk the very ground and stone turn to field-argent which she treads upon ; a mortal sure she cannot be but some transcending deitie ; my dearest sylvius pray unfold who 's that rare creature i behold ? sylvius . she is a princess and a bride goes to the temple to be ti'd in nuptiall bonds , her starrs will not permit that at the vestall fires she longer sit ; she 's derbie's royall bloud , derby le gran , and now she travells to the i le of man , she of the princely orenge is a branch imp'd on the high trimovillan stem of france , two of the fairest kingdomes strove , and try'd their utmost to compleat this lovely bride . 't is she which makes 'twixt gemms and gold that constellation you behold . philemon . but who 's that comely sanguine peer which on her heart-side walks so neer ? he likewise makes all argent as he goes , look at his feet how thick the cinqfoyl grows . sylvius . t is wise and wealthy pierrpont , who renowns with titles , three of englands chiefest towns , a precious pond'rous lord , whose fole estate a jury of new barons might create , patron of virtue , chivalry , and arts 'cause he himself excells in all these parts ; 't is he who by the hand doth hold that demi-goddess you behold . philemon . is 't so ? then my autumnall muse shall sing an hymenaeum , and fetch back her spring , this subject a fresh vigor doth inspire , and heats my brain with an unusuall fire . an hymenaeum , or bridal-sonet , consisting of four stanzas , and to be sung by three voices , according to a choice air set thereunto by mr. william webb . 1. chorus may all felicity betide this princely bridegroom , and his bride . may those delights this morn shall bring be endless as their nuptiall ring , may they be constant , and exceed each others wishes , hopes , and creed , may the three regions of the air powr showrs of blessings on this pair , may sol and cynthia with their rayes , silver their nights and gild their dayes . 2. chorus ▪ all joyes attend and best of fate this noble marques and his mate . 2. yee gentle nymphs of trent and dee make hast to this solemnity , your streames and beds now meet in one by this high-sprung conjunction , ye wood-nymphs who green garlands wear in shirewood launds , and delamer , yee dames of helicon attend , and graces your sweet presence lend , lucina com , and pray ther be employment in due time for thee . chorus . may all felicity betide this noble bridegroom , and his bride . 3. may they such gallant males produce both to the rose and flowerdeluce , that englands chivalry and french may multiply , and bourgeon hence , whose branches shooting o're the main may knit , and blossome here again , that pierrponts lion and cinqfoyl may ramp and root in every soyl ; nor may this noble race wear out till plato's great year wheel about . chorus . may all felicity betide this noble bridegroom , and his bride . 4. stanza closing with a serious graduall vote . may all the elements conspire to make them bless'd in their desire , may all the stars on them reflect their mildest looks in trine aspect , may all the angels them defend from every thing doth ill portend , may angells , stars , and elements affoord them such compleat contents that they have nothing els to wish but a perseverance of bliss . chorus . all joyes attend and best of fate this noble marquess and his mate . idem i. ● . finis . parables reflecting upon the times howell, james, 1594?-1666. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a70279 of text r11502 in the english short title catalog (wing h3099). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 34 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 9 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a70279 wing h3099 estc r11502 12254158 ocm 12254158 57275-01 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a70279) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 57275-01) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 149:9 or 239:e67, no 16) parables reflecting upon the times howell, james, 1594?-1666. 16 p. [s.n.], printed at paris : 1643. political allegory dealing with events between 1603 and 1640. attributed to james howell. cf. nuc pre-1956. title page vignette. reproduction of original in huntington library and thomason collection, british library. eng allegories. great britain -history -early stuarts, 1603-1649 -fiction. a70279 r11502 (wing h3099). civilwar no parables, reflecting upon the times· howell, james 1643 5788 4 15 0 0 0 0 33 c the rate of 33 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-02 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-03 olivia bottum sampled and proofread 2004-03 olivia bottum text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion parables , reflecting upon the times . printed at paris , mdcxliii . to the choicest of my noble friends , sir — d. knight . sir , amongst many other barbarismes which like an impetuous torrent have lately rush'd in upon us , the interception and opening of letters is none of the least , for it hath quite bereft all ingenious spirits of that correspondencie and sweet communication of fancie , which hath been alwayes esteemed the best fuell of affection , and the very marrow of friendship . and truely , in my judgement , this custom may be termed not onely a barbarisme , but the basest kind of burglary that can be , 't is worse then picking of a lock , or breaking into a roome by violence for he who doth so , robs us peradventur of some outward pelf or baggage offortune ; but he who breaks open ones private letter or seale , may be said to plunder his very brains , and rob him of his most precious meditations . we are reduced here to that servile condition , or rather to such a height of slavery , that we have nothing left which may entitle us free rationall creatures ; the thought it self cannot say 't is free , much lesse the tongue or pen . which makes me impart unto you the traverses of these turbulent times , under the following fables . i know you are an exquisite astronomer . i know the deep inspection you have in all parts of philosophy , i know you are a good herald , and i have found in your study sundry books of architecture , and comments upon vitruvius . the unfolding of these apologues will put you to it in all these , and will require your second , if not your third thoughts , and when you have concocted them well , i beleeve , ( else i am much deceived in your genius ) they will afford you some entertainment , and doe the arrand upon which they are sent , which is , to communicate unto you the most materiall passages of this long'd for parlement , & of these sad confusions , which have so unhing'd , distorted , transvers'd , tumbled and dislocated all things , that england may be termed now , in comparison of what it was , no other then an anagram of a kingdom . one thing i promise you , in the perusall of these parables , that you shall find no gingles in them , or any thing sordid or scurrilous , the common dialect and disease of these times . so i leave you to the gard and guidance of god and vertue , who doe still advance their votaries , maugre the frownes of chance . your constant servant , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} the great conjunction , or , parlement of stars . vpon a time , the stars complained to apollo , that he displayed his beames too much upon some malignant planets ; that the moone had too great a share of his influence , and that he was carryed away too much by her motion : they complained also , that the constellation of libra ( which holds the ballance of justice ) had but a dim light , and that the astrean court was grown altogether destructive , with divers other grievances . apollo hereupon , commanded mercury to summon a generall synod , where some out of every asterisme throughout the whole firmament were to meet ; apollo told them , i am placed here by the finger of the almighty , to be monarch of the skie , to be the measurer of time , and i goe upon his errand round about the world every foure and tweny houres : i am also the fountaine of heate and light , which , though i use to dispence and diffuse in equall proportions throughout the whole universe ; yet there is difference 'twixt objects : a castle hath more of my light then a cottage , and the cedar hath more of me then the shrub : but touching the moon , ( the second great luminary ) i would have you know , that she is dearest unto mee , therefore let none repine that i cherish her with my beames , and confer more light on her then any other . touching the malignant planets , or any other star , of what magnitude soever , that moves not in a regular motion , or hath run any excentrique exorbitant course , or that would have made me to move out of the zodiak , i put them over unto you , that upon due examination and proof , they may be unspher'd or extinguished . but i would have this done with moderation ; i would have you to keep as neer as you can betweene the tropiques and temperate zones : i would have things reduced to their true principles , reformed , not ruin'd ; i would have the spirit of malice and lying , the spirit of partiality and injustice , the spirit of tyranny and rigour , the base spirit of feare and jealousie to be farre from this glorious syderean synod ; i would have all private interests reflecting upon revenge or profit , to be utterly banished hence : moreover , i would not have you to make grievances , where no grievances are , or dangers , where no dangers are ; i would have no creation of dangers ; i would have you to husband time as parsimoniously as you can , lest by keeping too long together , and amusing the world with such tedious hopes of redresse of grievances , you prove your selfe the greatest grievance at last , and so from starres , become comets : lastly , i would have you be cautious how you tamper with my soveraigne power , and chop logicke with mee in that point ; you know what became of him , who once presumed to meddle with my chariot . hereupon the whole host of heaven being constellated thus into one great body , fell into a serious deliberation of things ; and apollo himselfe continued his presence , and sate amongst them in his full lustre , but in the meane time , whilest they were in the midst of their consultations , many odde aspects , oppositions , and conjunctions hapned betweene them : for some of the sporades , but specially those mongrel small vulgar stars , which make up the galaxia ( the milkie way in heaven ) gather in a tumultuous disorderly manner about the body of apollo , and commit many strange insolencies , which caused apollo ( taking young phosphorous the morning-star with him ) to retire himselfe , and in a just indignation to withdraw his light from the synod : so all began to be involv'd in a strange kind of confusion and obscurity ; they groaped in the dark , not knowing which way to move , or what course to take , all things went cancer-like retrograde , because the sunne detained his beames and irradiations from them . morall . such as the sunne is in the frmament , a monarch is in his kingdome : for , as the wisest of men saith ; in the light of the kings countenance there is life ; and i believe that to be the morall of this astrean fable . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} or , the great councell of birds . upon a time the birds met in councell , for redresse of some extravagancies that had flowne unto the volatill empire ; nor was it the first time that birds met thus ; for the phrygian fabler tells us of divers meetings of theirs : and after him we read that apollonius thyaneus , undertook the interpretation of their language , and to be their drogoman . they thus assembled in one great covie by the call of the eagle their unquestioned hereditary king , and by vertue of his royall authority , complaints were brought , that divers cormorants and harpies , with other birds of prey , had got in amongst them , who did much annoy and invade the publique liberty : sundry other birds were questioned , which caused some to take a timely flight into another ayre . as they were thus consulting for advancement of the common good , many rooks , horne-owles and sea-gulls flock'd together , and fluttered about the place they were assembled in , where they kept a hideous noyse , and committed many outrages , and nothing could satisfie them , but the griffons head , which was therefore chopt off , and offered up as a sacrifice to make them leave their chattering , and to appease their fury for the time . they fell foule afterwards upon the pies , who were used to be much reverenced , and to sit upon the highest pearch in that great assembly : they called them idolatrous and inauspitious birds , they hated their mixt colour , repined at their long traine , they tore their white feathers , and were ready to peck out their very eyes : they did what they could to put them in owles feathers ( as the poore sheep was in the woolfs skin ) to make them the more hated , and to be star'd and hooted at wheresoever they passed . the pies being thus scar'd , presented a petition to the royall eagle , and to this his great counsell , that they might be secured to repaire safely thither to sit and consult , according to the ancient lawes of the volatill empire continued so many ages without controllment or question : in which petition they inserted a protest or caveat , that no publique act should passe in the interim . this supplication , both for matter and form , was excepted against , and cryed up to be high treason , specially that indefinite protest they had made , that no act whatsoever should be of any validity without them , which was alledged to derogate from the high law-making power of that great counsell , and rended to retard and disturb the great affairs which were then in agitation : so the poore pies , as if by that petition they had like the black-bird voyded lime to catch themselves , for turdus cacat sibi malum , were suddenly hurried away into a cage , and after ten long moneths canvassing of the point , they were unpearch'd , and rendred for ever uncapable to be members of that court , they were struck dumb and voice-lesse , and suddenly blowne up away thence , though without any force of powder , as once was plotted against them . but this was done when a thin number of the adverse birds had kept still together , and stuck close against them , and after that the bill concerning them had been once ejected , which they humbly conceived by the ancient order of that court could not be re-admitted in the same session . they petitioned from the place they were cooped in , that for heavens sake , for the honour of that noble counsell , for truth and justice sake , they being as free-born denisons of the ayrie region , as any other volatills whatsoever , their charge might be perfected , that so they might be brought to a legall triall and not forced to languish in such captivitie . they pleaded to have done nothing but what they had precedents for : and touching the caveat they had inserted , it was a thing usuall in every inferiour court of judicature , and had they forborn to have done it , they had 〈◊〉 their own nest , and done wrong to their successors . it was affirmed they had been members of that body politique , long before those lower pearch'd birds , who now would cast them out ; and that they had been their best friends to introduce them to have any thing to doe in that generall counsell : they prayed they might not be so cruelly used , as the solan goose , and redshanke had used them , who were not content to braile and clip their wings onely , but to seare them so , that they should never grow again ; to handle them so unmercifully , was not the way to make their adversaries birds of paradice : in fine , they advised them to remember what the sick kite's mother answered him , when he desired her to pray to the gods for him , how canst thou , said she , expect any good from the gods , whose temples thou hast so violated ? at last , upon the importunity and pitifulnesse of their petitions , the accusation of treason , which kept such a noyse at first , being declined against them , they were released in the morning , but cooped up again before night : and after the revolution of foure full moones , they were restored again to a conditionall liberty , under which they remaine till this day . there wants not some , who affirm , that in that great counsell of birds , there were some decoyes ( and 't is well known where decoyes were first bred ) who called in , not onely these mongrill obstreperous birds from abroad to commit such outrages as were spoken of before , but drew after them also many of the greatest birds , who sate in that assembly , to follow them whither they listed : others , who were of a more generous extraction , disdained to be such buzzards , as to be carried away hood-wincked in that manner , to be birds of their feather . thus a visible faction was hatched in this great counsell , as if the said decoyes had disgorged and let fall some graines of hemlock seeds amongst them to distemper their braines . or , as if some spinturnix , that fatall incendiary bird , or some ill-boding scritch-owle , which as stories tell us appeared once at rome , in a famous , though unfortunate great councell ( when there was a schisme in the popedome ) had appeared likewise here . there wanted not also amongst them some amphibious birds , as the barnacle , which is neither fish nor fowle ; and the cunning batt , who sometimes professeth himself a bird , sometimes a mouse . i will not say there were any paphlagonian birds amongst them , who are known to have double hearts : but 't is certaine , that in this confusion there were some malevolent birds , and many of them so young , that they were scarce fledg'd , who like the waspe in the fable , conspired to fire the eagles nest , ( and a waspe may sometimes doe mischiefe to an eagle , as a mouse to an elephant . ) moreover , some of these light brained birds flew so high , that they seemed to arrogate to themselves , and exercise royall power , but foolishly ; for we know what became of the crow upon the ram's back , when she thought to imitate the eagle : and it was observed that they were most eager to attempt those high insolences against jove's bird , who had been stark naked , and as bare as cootes , unlesse he had feathered them ; so that the little ant was more gratefull to esops bird , then those birds were to the eagle , their liege lord . but the high-borne bird with the two golden wings , the noble faulcons , the martlets , the ravens , the swan , the chough , and all the ancient birds of the mountains remained faithfull and firme to the eagle , and scorned to be carried away by such decoyes ; as also the generous ostriches , who unlesse they had had an extraordinary stomach , could not have digested such yron pills as were offered them . amongst other great birds which banded against the eagle , the flying dragons , green and white , were busy , specially the white ; and for the green , considering he was an ancient bird of the mountains , and that his progenitors had been so renowned for their rare loyalty to the crown , every one wondred that he should be drawn so far by the foresayed decoyes , as to be the first of his race that should clap his wings against his soveraign liege lord . the foresaid destractions continued still , and increased more and more in that generall convolation of birds ; therefore the turtle would stay there no longer , there was so much gall amongst them : the pelican flew away , he saw piety so vilified ; the dove was weary of their company , she found no simplicity and plain dealing amongst them : and the kings-fisher , the halcyon , ( the embleme of peace ) quite forsook them , he found so much jarring , dissentions , and bandings on all sides ; the swallow also , who had so ancient and honourable a ranke amongst them , got into another ayre , he fore-saw the weather was like to be so foul : and lastly , philomela , the queen of volatills , who was partner of the eagle's nest , abandoned them quite , and put a sea 'twixt her and them ; nay , the eagle himself withdrew his royall presence from them ; so the decoyes afore-said carried all before them , and comported themselves by their orders in that hight , as if like the lapwing , every one had a crowne on his head ; they so inchanted in a manner , all the common sort of oppidan , rurall , and sea-birds , and infused such a credulity into them , that they believed them to have an inerring spirit , and what came from them , was as true as the pentateuch : moreover , it was shrewdly suspected , that there was a pernicious plot amongst them to let in the stork , who is never seen to stay long in any monarchie . morall . moderation is that golden rule whereby all great counsells should square their deliberations , and nothing can tend more to their honour or dishonour , in point of wisdome : moreover , in a successive hereditary monarchy , when subjects assume regall power , and barre the holy church of her rights , and that reverence which is due to her chief professors , it is the most compendious way to bring all things to confusion , and consequently to an inevitable ruine ; or some fatall change . and this i hold to be the chiefest morall of this apologue of birds . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , the gathering together , or parlement of flowers . upon a time , the flowers assembled , and met in one generall counsell , by the authority and summons of the soveraign rose , their undoubted naturall king , who had taken the lilly for his royall spouse . the dew of heaven fell plentifully upon this happy conjunction , which made them to bourgeon , to propagate and prosper exceedingly , in so much , that the sweet fragrant odor which they did cast , diffused it self over all the earth . to this meeting came the violet , the gilliflower , rosemary , the tulyp , lavender and thyme , the cinquefoyle ( though of a forren growth ) had an honourable ranke amongst them , and as some observed got too much credit with the royall rose . the flowers of the field were admitted also to this great counsell ; the couslip , the honysuckle and daisie had their delegates there present , to consult of a reformation of certain abuses which had taken rooting in the common wealth of flowers , and being all under the rose , they had priviledge to speak all things with freedome ; complaints were made that much cockle and darnell , with other noxious herbs and tares were crept in amongst them , that the poppie did pullulat too much , with divers other grievances . the successe of this senat , this great bed or posie of living flowers , was like to prove very prosperous , but that the herb briony , wormwood , wolfebane , rue , and melampod ( the emblems of sedition , malice , feare , ambition and iealousie ) thrust in amongst them , and much distempered their proceedings : these brought in with them the burr , which exceedingly retarded and intangled all businesses ; and it was thought , that the thistle was too meddling amongst them , which made matters grow to that acrimony and confusion , as if the herb morsus diaboli had got in amongst them . amongst many other good-morrowes , they propounded to the rose , that he should part with his prickles , and transmit his strength that way to be disposed of by them ; the rose liked not this bold request of theirs , though couched in very smooth language , but answered , i have hitherto condescended to every thing you have propounded , much more then any of my predecessors ever did ; but touching these prickles , which god and nature hath given mee , and are inherent in me and my stock from the beginning , though they be but excressencies , yet you know they fortifie and arme me , armat spina rosam , and by them i protect you and your rights from violence , and what protection i pray can there be without strength ? therefore i will by no means part with them to enfeeble my regall power , but will retain them still , and bequeath them to my posterity , which i would be loth to betray in this point ; nor doe i much value what that silly insected animal , the king of bees tells me sometimes , when humming up and down my leaves , he would buzze this fond belief into me , how it added much to his majestie , that nature gives him no sting , as all other bees have because he should rely altogether upon the love and loyalty of his subjects . no ; i will take warning by the eagle , the king of volatills , and by the lyon , king of quadrupedals , who ( as the prince of moralists reports ) when by fayre insinuations the one had parted with his tallons , the other with his teeth and ongles , wherein their might , and consequently their majesty consisted , grew afterwards contemptible to all creatures , and quite lost that naturall alleaigeance and awe which was due unto the one from all birds , and to the other , from all beasts of field and forest . morall . every naturall borne monarch , hath an inherent inalienable strength in himselfe , which is the common militia of his kingdome ; for , though the peoples love ( which oftentimes is got by an apple , and lost by a peare ) be a good cittadell , yet there must be a concurrence of some visible settled force besides , which no earthly power may dispose of without his royall commands : and for him to transmit this strength to any other , is the only way to render him inglorious and despicable , both at home and abroad ▪ and thus you have the spirit of these flowers , and morall of the fabl . the assembly of architects there was an ancient goodly palace , composed of divers pieces , and partition'd into sundry chambers , halls and courts which were supported by mixt pillars , partly corinthian , partly ionique , but principally by the dorique , the king of columnes , having the firmest pedestall : some tooke exceptions , and alledged , that some of the said courts were too high , and some of the chambers in this structure were too wide . the lord of this palace call'd together the best masons and architects , to advise with him ( not without him ) for mending of those faults , the better contrivance of the roomes , and to reduce the building to a just proportion . they solemnely met , and falling to consultation hereof , they found that the chamber which was spangled with stars , and where his private councell of state did use to sit , were too wide ; they thought that the court erected on the north side , and that learned court where ecclesiasticall matters were scanned , was too high ; these , with that peculiar court which was erected for the support of honour , they went about in lieu of rectifying , to ruinate and raze to the very ground ; and some of these masons ( for indeed they were rather masons then true architects ) were so precise and over criticall , that they seem'd to find fault with the position of the chappell that belong'd to this palace , because , forsooth it stood east and west , which situation , only in regard it was ancient , they held to be a superstitious posture ; they seem'd to repine at the decencie , riches and ornaments of it ▪ with divers other frivolous exceptions . the lord of the palace said little to that , but touching the errors and disproportions in the foresaid courts and chambers , he was very willing they should be amended , and reduced to a true dimension and symmetrie ; and that all other roomes should be searched , and swept cleane : but hee would be loth to see those ancient pieces quite demolish'd , for that would hazard the fall of the maine fabrique , his princely hereditary patrimony ( descended upon him from so many wise oeconomists and royall progenitors ) in regard of the juncture and contignation those parts had with the whole frame . to mend a thing by demolishing it , is as curing a sicke body by knocking him in the head : he told them it was easier far to pull downe , then build up ; one may batter to pieces in one houre , that which cannot be built in age : that everlasting villaine , who burnt the ephesian temple , destroyed , as it were in a trice , what was a rearing up ten long olympiads : he wish'd them further to be very cautious how they meddled with the angulars and basis of that royall structure ; for so they might prove as wise as those architects , who tooke out some of the foundation stones , to repaire the roofe . lastly , he told them , that if they intended to pull downe any part of his now standing palace , they should be well advised before hand of the fashion whereof those new pieces should be , which they purposed to reare up in the roome of the old . morall . innovations are of dangerous consequence in all things , specially in a settled well temper'd state ; therefore there should be great heed taken , before any ancient court of judicature , erected as a pillar to support justice by the wisedome of our progenitors , be quite put downe ; for it may shake the whole frame of government , and introduce a change ; and changes in government are commonly fatall , for seldome comes a better . and this i hold to be the aime of this apologue . the insurrection of the winds . it fortuned , that the winds banded against eolus : and boreas ( the north-wind ) began to bluster first , and would blow where he listed , he grew so boisterous , that as he is call'd scopa viarum , the high-way beesome , he seem'd to sweep all before him southward , insomuch , that uniting all his strength into one body , hee made towards eolus in a hostile armed manner , and so obtained of him what he desired . after his example ( and an odde example it was ) the west-wind , his fellow subject rose up , alledging , that though he blew from the left-side of heaven , yet hee deserved to be as much favoured as boreas . in regard he drove a far richer trade , and blew upon a more fertile countrey , which brought in much more benefit to the rest of eolus his dominions ; therefore hee would have his liberties also assur'd him , which hee pretended were as ancient as the others : and he puft with such an impetuous violence , that his blasts brought with them ( god wot ) divers showres of blood , and whole cataracts of calamities ▪ and as it is observed in the course of naturall things , that one mischiefe seldome marcheth alone , but ushers in another , and hath alwayes its concomitants , so these north and western gusts , as one wave useth to drive on another , made all the winds in the compasse , both colaterall and cardinall , to rise up and rebell against eolus , even under that very clime , and in those horizons , where he kept his principall residence and royall court . and this popular wind ( for 't was no other , take it all joyntly in one puffe ) did rage with that vehemencie , that it turn'd every where into fearefull flames of fire , ( issuing out of a kind of ignis fatuus , which by its repercussions , and furious arietations , did a world of mischiefe , as if it had been that incendiary prester wind , or rather an haraucana , that indian gust , which alwayes brings the divell along with it ( as those savages believe ) had blowne here , for , surely god was not in this wind . yet some were so simple , to thinke that this wind proceeded from divine inspirations ; nay , they came to that height of prophanenesse , as to father it upon the holy ghost , though nothing could be more different to his sweet motions , nothing so directly opposite to his soft gentle breeses and eventilations ; for no holy consecrated thing could stand before this diabolicall wind , downe went all crosses it met withall ; it batter'd downe church and chappell windowes ( and i feare the walls and steeples will next to wracke ) it was so violent , that it overturn'd all stone tables that stood eastward ; it blew away all the decent vests and ornaments of the church ; the bishops mitre ▪ ( an order contemporary with christianity it selfe ) did quake like an aspen leafe before it ; nay , it shrewdly shooke the very imperiall scepter , and crowne which stood on eolus his head , so that he was like to become ludibrium ventorum . but the highest deity of heaven , he who walketh upon the wings of the wind , and makes weight for them , and gathereth them in his fist when he pleaseth , hating such an odious rebellion , rebuked these tumultuous winds , he caused a contagious ayre , to rush in and mingle with them , and infect them with new diseases ; besides whispers of jealousies , doubts and diffidence blew and buzz'd more and more amongst them , so that they could not trust one another , insomuch , that it made them to fall into confusion amongst themselves , which is the common fate of all rebellions . so eolus recovered his monarchy , and as they say , there is no wind but blowes some body good ; so this turn'd much to the advantage of eolus , for he grew ever after more firme and better establish'd in his regall power , because hee put a competent guard in those climes whence all these boistrous winds burst forth , and so secur'd himselfe ever after , that they could not blow where they listed . rebellion suppress'd , makes the prince the stronger : and so you have the principall morall all of this parable in briefe . postscript . sir , i long to receive your opinion of these rambling pieces of fancy , you may , peradventure , have more , when the times are open : surely the wind will not hold still in this unluckie hole , for it is too violent to last : it begins ( thanks be to god ) to sift already , and amongst those multitudes , who expect the change , i am one that lyeth at the cape of good hope , though a long time under hatches . howsoever , though all the winds in the compasse blow upon me , i am arm'd and resolv'd to beare the brunt , and to welcome the will of god . if you desire a further intimation of things , i referre you to a discourse , call'd the true informer , who will give you no vulgar satisfaction , so i am yours as at first inalterable . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a70279e-340 the prince finch , &c mechanick mariners . e. straff. bishops . scot . holland . m. hert. e. south . e. westm. e. worce . e. dover . wales . digbies . e. pemb. e. warw. arondelle . her majesty m. ham . cot . plut. a discours of dunkirk, with some reflexes upon the late surrender therof, &c. and other additions by a knowing and very worthy person. howell, james, 1594?-1666. 1664 approx. 32 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 19 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-05 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a44711 wing h3063 estc r14155 11843266 ocm 11843266 49796 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a44711) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 49796) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 498:6) a discours of dunkirk, with some reflexes upon the late surrender therof, &c. and other additions by a knowing and very worthy person. howell, james, 1594?-1666. [2], 34 p. printed by j.c. for samuel speed, london : 1664. signed: jam. howell. reproduction of original in bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng dunkerque (france) -history. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-01 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-02 jonathan blaney sampled and proofread 2004-02 jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a discours of dunkirk , with some reflexes upon the late surrender therof , &c. and other additions , by a knowing and very worthy person . london : printed by j. c. for samuel speed , at the rainbow in fleetstreet . 1664. a discours of dunkirk . it can hardly be parallelld in story , that any place of such defence , as dunkirk pretends to be , had more various turns of fortune , and change of masters in so short a revolution of time ; for this is the fift new-master that dunkirk hath had in less then the compass of xx yeers , wherof fower of them got her by force ; which makes the world much question the strength and tenableness therof . the late surrender that england made of this town to the french , though it was a pure act of state , ( therfore not disputable by any ) yet being a business of that general concernment , and so open to the eye of the world , it hath ministred matter of much talk , and banding of opinions among the critiques of the times , as well forreners as others . the dessein of this small tract is to set down the arguments pro and contra , relating to this great action : for according to the rule of the schools , contraria juxta se posita magis elucescunt ; contraries put cross grow more cleer . and as out of the collision of flint and steel , ther issues forth fire , so by confrontation , and clash of argument , truth comes to appear more perspicuous . the affirmatif arguments for detaining of dunkirk . 1. it stood convenient to invade flanders , france , and some territories of the hollanders . 2. it might have served for a nursery of training up soldiers . 3. it had secured navigation , and the traffic of his majesties subjects . 4. it might have bin brought to have bin a porto franco , a free port , and so have advancd trade . 5. it had bin a repute for england to have kept it , and a disparagement to part with it . this i beleeve is all that can be said for the affirmatif part . before arguments be producd to the contrary , t is expedient that this distinction should precede , viz. that there are forren possessions or places of two sorts . 1. ther are some that are got by the discovery of the marchant , where finding the clime temperat , the soyle healthful , and proper , by the help of industry , to produce some staple commodities that may feed trade , and be fit for sale or barter , he takes firm footing , puts in his spade , and plants . such transmarin possessions carry many advantages with them ; they increase shipping and seamen ; they disburden the kingdome of superfluous peeple ; they nourish and improve mutual commerce , and all this while consume nothing of the publique tresure , but are able to subsist of themselfs , the souverain prince giving only his royal protection , encouragement and countenance , with fit governors therunto : virginia , maryland , the bermudas , barbados , with others of the caribbe islands , and divers more in the indies , are places of this nature , as jamayca , &c. and ther are great hopes that in afric tanger will prove so , with other extraordinary advantages besides . 2. but there are other forren possessions which cannot support themselfs either by benefit of trade , or contributions of the adjacent country , but are meerly maintained by praesidial forces or garison , and by the exported tresure of the possessing prince . england in ages passd hath had divers forren places of this quality , but t was dayly found , that they still exhausted her tresure and armories ; they encreasd her cares and trouble ; they begot jelousies in her neighbours ; they disturbd her repose and quietude at home , england slept best when she was without any such . and in the procedure of this discourse , i beleeve dunkirk will appeer to be a place of that nature . this distinction going before , we will now take the affirmatif arguments for keeping of dunkirk in their order . touching the first three , t is tru that dunkirk by the site therof , stands for a convenient inlet into flanders , and the territories annexd ; but for france and the united provinces , ther is another prince's country interposd before an army can enter any of them , but may be interrupted , unless leave be granted ; and to force a passage would be an infringement of the peace by the one party ; and to permit a passage may be a breach of article by the other part , being in friendship with both . but touching the foresaid nations , ther be choice of other places , and bold coasts far cheaper for england , and more accessible , and easie to be made use of for an invasion in case of a war , without keeping such a costly key as dunkirk , yet not knowing when we shold have occasion to make use of it , in regard his majesty is at present in good terms with the said nations , and like to continue so for the future , his inclinations propending naturally rather to peace then war , according to the genius of his two blessed immediat predecessors . now the keeping still of dunkirk wold have inevitably drawn a war upon us , and perchance from all the three . and let this surlice for an answer in part to the first three arguments , till we proceed further . touching the other argument , viz. that dunkirk might have served for a seminary of soldiers which england might have made use of in time of need ; to this t is answerd , that the hundred and thirty thousand pounds sterling that went yeerly to maintain those soldiers in dunkirk , ( and towards the fortifying therof ) which exported mony may be said to be like the soul of judas , which never came back again , as the italian hath it ; i say , that huge sum wold be far better spent at home within the land to maintain a military actual strength for security of prince and peeple against any civil insurrection , by constant regiments of horse and foot ashore , and a squadron of iusty men of war at sea , both which the moneys that were transported weekly to dunkirk , will be able to keep in constant pay . touching the fift argument , viz. that the keeping of dunkirk wold have securd navigation and traffic ; t is answered , that the next yeer after that england had a garison and governour in dunkirk , the town of ostend & those of biscay did us more mischief far then dunkirk ever had done in so short a time : for the dunkirk-men of war going to those places , ther were ships of ours of greater bulks , and richer burdens taken then before ; the strength and soule of dunkirk passing as it were by a kind of transmigration into those places . moreover , observable it is , that when queen elizabeth was advisd by the hollanders to take dunkirk , the matter being referrd to her privy council , after much deliberation it was resolved , that england was better without dunkirk then with it , and that for divers reasons of state ; one whereof was , that it wold be a means that english ships of a greater burden wold be built , and cause her marchant-men to go better armd abroad , and with stouter vessels , which in case of necessity might serve the public . touching security of trade ; t is well known that england hath ports and castles of her own , to make her seas narrow enough for her , to check and give law to any that shall sayle in her channels , and consequently to defend her marchants and others without the help of dunkirk : but touching trade it self , now that dunkirk is in other hands , it will be much more advantagious unto england in point of trade ; for while we kept it , ther was scarce any commerce at all in that town , or the country about it ; and far less now since the french have had it . touching the making of dunkirk a free-port ( or a kind of sound as that in the baltik ) t is but a sandy conceit , for the nations round about being but ill inclind unto us in this particular , we shold not have bin able to have beaten any considerable trade into the inland countries unless we had forcd it , which could not have bin done without a violation of the peace . besides , how much this wold have prejudicd our so long settled staples in dort , and hamborough , let any man judge : but the truth is , dunkirk is not a place proper for a free port , because t is made a port rather by chance then by nature ; for t is observd that the harbour which goes from mardike to dunkirk , together with the splinter , is accidentally causd by the great scowre that proceeds from the check , or reverberations and eadies which the stream receaves that runs from the west twixt dover and callis , by the cliffs which jett out from the english shore ; and the shore on that side being all sand , was easily in tract of time worn into a harbour . but such harbours have bin known to alter as the points of the cliffs did wear out and vary , or as the sands did fill , or were washd away : wherof divers examples may be producd , as the port of stavere● in friseland , which was once a town of much traffik , but now is become a poor place , the haven being choakd up with sand . adde hereunto , that scarce any boat can come to dunkirk upon low water , but the keele will be grating upon the sands all along ; nor can any ship of any great burden come near her but upon a spring-tyde . t is also a wild kind of harbor lying open to the sea , without any windings or high-land shelter : so that let the wind blow from what point of the compass it will , the ships riding there are exposd to the fury of it , and upon the dragging of an anchor , wrecks do commonly follow upon the adjoyning strand . touching the punctilios of honor that england may hazard in parting with dunkirk , t is answerd , that t was nothing dishonorable for england to give away that which she never got : for indeed t was the french king who got it ; he had a royal army of effectif men both horse and foot to beleager it ; t was his musket that kill'd marquiss de leda the brave governor ; ther was only a brigade of english auxiliaries , who , t is tru , performed their parts very gallantly , and did contribute much to the service : but t was the french king with whom the town did capitulat ; t was to him she opend her gates , and gave up her keys ; t was he who did ride conquerer into the place , where he put up his standard , causd te deum to be sung , and so took full possession of it . t is tru , a little after , according to private articles with cromwel , he left there an english garison , and a scotch governor , who had then dependence of service upon him , as having bin bred in his court ; now , the gallican civilians say , that cromwel to whom the article was made being dead , and the government of england quite alterd , ( from a kind of commonwealth to a kingdom ) the french king was not obliged to perform it longer , for in some cases , pactum moritur cum persona . moreover , touching point of honor , it had bin ( under favour ) rather a kind of dishonour that england shold still hold dunkirk : for first , it had been to continue the fame of an infamous rebel , in regard the world held dunkirk to be an acquest of his. adde herunto that the honor of england among the wisest nations began to be questiond both in point of prudence and providence , for her to export and expend such a vast tresure to hold so dry a place , ( the benefit wherof made such poor returns ) and not to accept of 400 thousand pounds sterling en argent comptant , specially now that there is such a general complaint of scarcity of coyn in england ; wheras hen. 8. though a high boysterous prince , had not much above the third part of such a sum for tournay and terwyn , and that to be paid in twelve yeers by the french. furthermore , by the opinion of the knowingst commanders who had sometimes servd in flanders , & having bin quarterd a long time in dunkirk , knew evry inch of the unsortifiable and sandy loose instable soyl about it ; i say , by the positive opinion of old experienced english officers , dunkirk was not a place tenable , she was not leager-proof ; for if she had bin so , she would not have changd masters so often in 18 years ; i say , dunkirk was not tenable in case a numerous storming resolut army had stood before it , ( unless such another numerous army had bin in the town to oppose it ) but that half that mony which was given for it might have servd to have regaind it , and a private sudden league might have bin struck to that effect twixt the french , spaniard & hollander , or any two of them , who wold have concurred in hot tertio : for they did all malign us that we kept such footing in flanders . nor could ther ever have bin a perfect cordial peace twixt us , and any of the said three nations while we kept dunkirk , but it wold have still ministred matter of jelousy , of quarrels about contributions , of plottings ever and anon how to make us weary of holding it ; which made one say , that the english settling in dunkirk , was like the mouse who made her neast in the cats ear . adde herunto that t is well known ( though not by all ) that in the late treary and transactions of peace twixt france and spain , ther was a private article relating to dunkirk , which bound both the kings in reciprocal ties , to the prejudice of england in this particular . we know that england hath had from time to time divers extraneous possessions of this nature ; yet they were but as fethers in her cap , never any did quit cost , or by any real advantages countervail her trouble , expences , and hazards in keeping them . now among all such , the town of callis bears the nearest analogy and similitude with dunkirk : but first we will give a touch only at the other in order of time . the first forren thing that england ever had , was normandy , which came to be her inheritance ; a rich and copious country , yet we could never make that country subsist of it self , but our mony , men , and arms went still over to secure it . william the conqueror , though her native duke , did ( as an authentique historian hath it ) angliam deglubere , he did shear england to keep it ; rufus his son did angliam excoriare , he did fley england to preserve it ; his granchild did angliam emulgere usque ad sanguinem , he did milk england till the blood came forth to defend normandy , being forcd to raise 13 castles to protect it against the incursions of the confining french ; insomuch that when the duke of york was regent , a computation being made of the charge in keeping normandy , t was found in the chamber of accounts , that the expences from the beginning in keeping that province exceeded the revenues thereof three hundred forty and eight thousand pounds , which was a prodigious sum in those days . the next forren country that came to truckle under england , was aquitane , guyen , and gascony , the most exuberant and fertillst provinces of all france , yet they could never countervail the cost , but they still draind moneys , and multitudes of men out of england , who at their returns in steed of spoils and wealth , brought nothing but poverty , and so increasd the number of beggers and thiefs . the town of bourdeaux her self , though a rich mercantile city , did hardly defray the salary of the english praesidiary forces that were in it ; and fronsack castle alone did cost 1000 l. per ann . as the record hath it ; as also , that it was deliverd in parlement 7 ric. 2. that gascony with other places we held then in france , stood england in above the revenues therof , 24000 l. a yeer . the benefit we receavd by taking footing in armorica , or little britaine , may appeer by a few examples ; for t was declard in parlement 3 hen. 2. that ad defensionem britanniae non sufficiebat the saurus totius angliae . the town and castle of brest alone cost ric. 2 , 12000 marks a yeer , and the 9 of his raign it stood in 13118 l. 18 s. 6 d. as the record hath it . touching tournay ( and terwya ) hen. 8. spent most of that mighty tresure his parsimonious father left him , in getting and keeping it : but finding the charge so excessive , he sold it to the french for a far smaller sum then was had for dunkirk : for he had but 150000 l. for it , and that to be paid in twelve yeers , wherof some part is not paid to this day . and touching the town of bulloigne , his son edw. 6. sold it , not many yeers after , but for 100000 l. we are now come to callis , which notwithstanding the contributory territories about it be far more large then those adjoyning to dunkirk , and that the transfretation thence to england be shorter half in half , yet it stands upon good record , that from edw. 3. who first got it , to the 2 of queen mary who lost it , it cost england 337400 l. 9 s. 4 l. concerning ireland , which comes in the rank of forren acquests , though it be a fruitful felf-sufficient country , and as one said , a good fat goose to pluck , yet the revenues therof never counter-balancd the charge till the earl of staffords time , who maybe said to be the first which made ireland a nown substantif to stand by it self , without any support of tresure from england . nor could queen eliz. though cryed up for a great housewife , bring it to subsist of it self , no not in time of peace , but still moneys were sent over from the exchequer in westminster , which may be seen upon exact record : but in time of war , the example of sir john perrot may serve for all , who in his two years government there , spent england 116368 l. the last forren places which england had , were the cautionary towns of flushing , brill , and the ramakins ; but when the 80000 l. for which they were hypothequd or pawnd was paid king james , t was found that almost the whole sum had bin drunk up in paying the english garisons all the while . from these premises this conclusion may be deducd , that no outlandish or transmarin possessions ( except those lately in the indies pointed at before , which are supported by the merchant ) did ever make england thrive , but they were a cause of perpetual issues of tresure , which is the great artery of any country , wherby england may be said to have spent her very blood and vital spirits upon them from time to time . now , the reason may well be , that such excentrique possessions did not prosper with england , in regard that by the primitive institution of god and nature , the i le of great britain is a compleat distinct mass of earth , and an empire of it self ; she may be said to be as the spaniard saith of her , comola tortuga en su concha , like a tortoise in her shell , who is so prodigiously armd , ( but for defence only ) and the divine providence accordingly hath made great britain more apposit and proper to defend , then to extend her self further . and to that defensive end she hath those two properties which the philosopher requires in a strong self-preserving country , viz. an easie egress for the natives who know her shallows and shelfs of sands , her flats and rocks , &c. and a hard ingress for the stranger who knows them not . moreover , great britain hath the advantage of having the best shipping of any other for her own defence ; for no country hath such tough oke as she hath for k●ee-timber , and for other naval uses : her peeple also have a natural dexterity and aptitude to navigation , with a courage extraordinary that way . adde herunto , that the position of her seas , with the straightness therof in point of distance from her neighbours , is such , and her ports upon those seas are so advantagiously situated , that none can pass or repass through her sleeve or channels , but she may controul them without the help of dunkirk , or any other coadjuvant place on her opposit coasts , specially at such a monstrous rate : for according to the cautious old saying , a man may buy gold too dear . to conclude : wheras some do insist much on point of honor by parting with dunkirk , in the judgment of the most serious and well-weighd men , it had bin taken rather as a dishonor for a king of great britain to distrust his strength so much , as not to be able to gard his own seas and subjects as his royal progenitors did , without the adventitious help of a forren place got by so notorious a regicide , with an aim & intent to enable him the more to have still kept him out . and it may be well remembred , that his present majesty of england appeerd then against the taking of it ; to which purpose the dukes of york and glocester were actually in arms in the field for opposing it ; and it was the duke of york who gave the first charge , and did notable execution . lastly , it may well stand with the reach of tru policy , and the interest of england , to leave the town of dunkirk like a bone twixt france and spain , as very probably t is like to prove in time . moreover , this so neer approach of the french begins alredy to make some impressions of jelousie in the hollanders , being awakend by the old proverb , ayez le francois pour ton amy , non pas pour ton voisin ; have the french for thy frend , not for thy neighbor if thou canst chuse . thus have we twisted this great business upon a small bottome , for the satisfaction of evry true childe of reason , and confutation of those who , being transported by aery conceits , cry it down for an unpolitik act of state. jam. howell . nevv additions concerning the harbour at dunkirk . the sea retreats upon every ebb and low water at the least one english mile back from the harbour , so that the harbour is all dry , and a man may go along the deepest part of the said harbour with his shooes dry a mile towards the sea. and at the highest spring-tyde there is no deeper water at the coming in , or at the going out of the habour at the utmost , but 15 english foot . insomuch , that no ships or vessels can go out , or come into the said harbour , which go deeper then 11 or 12 foot ; and when the ships or vessels which go deep 11 or 12 foot , that must be just at the highest spring-tyde , within an hours time before the water begins to ebb or fall , and that the weather and sea be smooth and calm , otherwise if the sea be rough and tumbling , the ships or vessels by the cappling of the sea will strike to the ground , and break themselves in an hundred pieces , as very often is seen , if they take not great heed . the ground within and without the harbour is hard all over , and the ships or vessels within must lie at every ebb of the water upon the hard ground , in danger to crack and break themselves by their own weight , with that of their ordnance and lading . and every frigat , ship or vessel of about 180 or 200 tun in burthen , with their cargos , and ordnance , and provision in it , goes at the least 12 or 13 foot deep : insomuch that dunkirk is onely a harbour for small vessels and boats , such as their first and former trade of fishing and drying of herrings was ; and nothing at all fit for any men of war , or ships of consequence . the splinter or schourtien of mardike , which is a creek along the sea there , about an english mile in length , accidentally occasioned by the current of the sea all along the shore , or coast , is of a much deeper water , and of more consequence then the harbour of dunkirk but it lies so open to the sea , that by hard winds and stress of weather no ships can possibly ride there in winter but are in danger to break their cables , and be cast upon the shore by any westerly winds . the splinter or schourtien goes not to the harbour of dunkirk , but is by one mile or more short of the harbour : but if any ships will go from thence to dunkirk , they must pass over a hard s●ndy bank , where no ships can go over which goe deeper then 8 or 9 foot at the highest spring-tyde ; and that must be with a calm water , or smooth sea. and for to gain two foot deeper , all ships that are of any considerable burthen , must go round about , and backwards by the sea to come into dunkirk at the highest spring-tyde , over the sand-banks , which are a great many , all about , two or three leagues broad near the said harbour and sea-shore , and very moveable , and altering upon every stress of weather , so that most great ships or men of war going from thence are put to the trouble to provide themselves with an extraordinary pilot , or costerer , as they call him , by reason of the said shelfs and banks of sands , between which the hollands men of war were used to lie at anchor , but in summer only . captain cadde and others have made several sea-maps of the said sandy banks for their better information , which are printed , and may be had for 6 or 8 d. apiece . dunkirk is not worth the tenth part of the charges which a garison must needs cost to keep the said town , if the king of england , the king of france , or the states of holland should possess it . and indeed it is not fitting for any to hold , excepting it be for the king of spain , whose country lies round about it , being a fit port for his subjects , & their in ward commerce , and commodity of trading , because the king of spain needs not have any greater garison therein then two , three or four companies of foot-souldiers to keep the inhabitants in obedience . moreover , dunkirk is inclosed , bounded and confined between graveling , bourborgh , linken , wynox-bergen , honscatey , furne and newport : so that the garisons in dunkirk can go no further , nor have any contribution beyond it out of any friends or enemies country ; being so narrowly encompassed , that it is not possible to maintain and nourish the tenth part of the garison with victuals , if they be not supplyed from abroad ever and anon . now , if dunkirk should have a bold and ventrous enemy coming from or along the sea-shore , the said enemy may lodge himself the first night between the fort rouge and the harbour , and be master of the said harbour the first night , so that no vessel can go out , nor come in , or subsist in the said harbour , but may be be battered in pieces : whereby 't is no hard matter to destroy also the brick-wall between the town and the harbour level to the ground , and so take the town that way by a ship-bridge over the said harbour , or at low water , in spight of all their fortifications round about it . but to think to make there a kind of sound , as that in the baltik sea between elsenore and elsenborg , which are but one league distance the one from the other , is but a shallow imagination : for england could not do it when she had calis by reason of the great distance the one from the other , which is seven leagues from dover ; and much less likely is such a thing to be done between dover and dunkirk , being twelve leagues distant the one from the other : besides , the impeachment of the many shallows , and ill-favoured banks under water in the sea , & the contrary courses of the streams , occasioned by the said banks , make commonly the passage more confused and incertain by many hours difference in sayling . j. haes donke . finis . there is lately published , a most excellent discourse concerning the precedency of kings ; wherein the reasons and arguments of the three greatest monarchs of christendome , who claim a several right thereunto , are faithfully collected and rendred . whereunto is adjoyned a distinct treatise of ambassadors . fol. price 7 s. the conduct and character of count nicholas serini , protestant generalissimo of the auxiliaries in hungary , the most prudent and resolved champion of christendome . price one shilling . pharamond : an excellent new romance , written by the author of cassandra and cleopatra . fol. price 10 s. the villain , a tragedy , by t. porter , esq price 1 s. the ungrateful favourite , a comedy , by a person of honour . price one shilling . parsons law , or a view of advowson's . 8. bibles in latine in 12. genealogies of the bible in all volumes . holdsworth's sermons , 4. purchas of bees , 4. wise-mans crown , or the glory of the rosie-cross , by j. heydon , 8. painting of the ancients , 4. white on the sabbath , 4. buchanus body of divinity , 4. greenbill on ezekiel , second part , 4. holiokes doctrine of life , 4. oughtred of proportions , 8. henry the fourth of france his life , by the bishop of rodez , 8. these , with variety of all sorts of books , are to be sold by samuel speed , at the rainbow in fleetstreet . finis . mercurius hibernicus, or, a discourse of the late insurrection in ireland displaying (1) the true causes of it ..., (2) the course that was taken to suppresse it, (3) the reasons that drew on a cessation of arms, and other compliances since : as also, touching those auxiliaries which are transported thence to serve in the present warre. howell, james, 1594?-1666. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a44735 of text r5988 in the english short title catalog (wing h3094). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 35 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 17 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a44735 wing h3094 estc r5988 12086924 ocm 12086924 53765 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a44735) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 53765) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 73:12 or 237:e52, no 17) mercurius hibernicus, or, a discourse of the late insurrection in ireland displaying (1) the true causes of it ..., (2) the course that was taken to suppresse it, (3) the reasons that drew on a cessation of arms, and other compliances since : as also, touching those auxiliaries which are transported thence to serve in the present warre. howell, james, 1594?-1666. [4], 28 p. [s.n.], printed at bristoll : 1644. written by j. howell. cf. halkett & laing (2nd ed.) dedication signed: philerenus [i.e., james howell]. different ed. of mercurius hibernicus, or, a discourse of the late insurrection in ireland on reel 535:19. reproduction of original in huntington library, and thomason collection, british library. eng ireland -history -rebellion of 1641. a44735 r5988 (wing h3094). civilwar no mercurius hibernicus: or, a discourse of the late insurrection in ireland, displaying, 1. the true causes of it (till now not so fully disco howell, james 1644 6140 6 0 0 0 0 0 10 c the rate of 10 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-12 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2004-12 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-01 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion mercurius hibernicus : or , a discourse of the late insurrection in ireland , displaying , 1. the true causes of it ( till now not so fully discovered . ) 2. the course that was taken to suppresse it . 3. the reasons that drew on a cessation of arms , and other compliances since . as also touching those auxiliaries which are transported thence to serve in the present warre . — patremque mercurium blandae quis negat esse lyrae . printed at bristoll , 1644. mercurius hibernicus , his advertisement to the wel-temperd reader . there is a mongrell race of mercuries lately sprung up , but i claime no acquaintance with them , much lesse any kinred . they have commonly but one weeks time for their conception and birth ; and then are they but like those ephemeran creatures , which pliny speakes of , that are borne in the morning , grow up till noon , and perish the same night : i hope to be longer liv'd then so , because i was longer a getting , there was more time and matter went to my generation . there is a tale how the true mercury indeed , descended once in a disguise , to see how he was esteem'd on earth ; and entring one day into a painters shop , he found there divers pictures of apollo , jupiter , mars , with others , and spying his owne hanging in a corner hard by he asked what the price of that pourtrait might be , the painter answered , that if he bought any of the rest , he would give him that into the bargaine for nothing : mercury hereupon shaking his white caducean , flung out in indignation , and flew up to heaven . should mercury chance to descend now from his spheare ▪ i think he would be much more offended to find himself personated by every petty impertinent pamphleter ; yet i beleeve he would not take it ill that aulicus assumes his shape , nor that the harp , who owes her first invention to him , should be made now his crest . to my honourable friend master e. p. sir , if you please to cast your eyes upon the following discourse , i beleeve it will afford you some satisfaction , and enlighten you more in the irish affaires . the alleagiance i owe to truth , was the midwife that brought it forth , and i make bold to make choyce of you for my gossip , because i am your true servant philerenus . mercurius hibernicus . there is not any thing since these wars begun , whereof there hath been more advantage made , to traduce and blemish his majesties actions , to alienate and imbitter the affections of his people , to incite them to armes , and enharden them in the quarrell , than of the irish affaires ; whether one cast his eyes upon the beginning and procedure of that warre ( which some by a most mōstrous impudence would patronize upon their majesties ) or upon the late cessation , and the transport of auxiliaries since from thence . there are some that in broken peeces have written of all three , but not in one entire discourse , as this is : nor hath any hitherto hit upon those reasons and inferences that shall be displayed herein . but he who adventures to judge of affaires of state , specially of traverses of warre , as of pacifications , of truces , suspensions of armes , parlies , and such like , must well observe the quality of the times , the successe and circumstance of matters past , the posture and pressure of things present ( and upon the place ) the inducement or enforcement of causes , the gaining of time , the necessity of preventing greater mischiefes ( whereunto true policy prometheus like hath alwayes an eye ) with other advantages . the late cessation of armes in ireland was an affaire of this nature ; a true act of state , and of as high a consequence as could be : which cessation is now become the common subject of every mans discourse , or rather the discourse of every common subject all the three kingdomes over : and not onely the subject of their discourse , but of their censure also ; nor of their censure onely , but of their reproach and obloquy . for the world is come now to that passe , that the foot must judge the head , the very cobler must pry into the cabinet counsels of his king ; nay , the distaffe is ready ever and anon to arraigne the scepter ; spinstresses are become states-women , and every peasan turned politician ; such a fond irregular humour reignes generally of late yeeres amongst the english nation . now the designe of this small discourse , though the subject require a farre greater volume , is , to vindicate his majesties most pious intentions in condescending to this late suspension of arms in his kingdome of ireland ; and to make it appeare to any rationall ingenious capacity , ( not pre-occupied or purblinded with passion ) that there was more of honour and necessity , more of prudence and piety in the said cessation , than there was either in the pacification or peace that was made with the scot . but to proceed herein the more methodically , i will lay downe , first , the reall and true radicall causes of the late two-yeers irish insurrection . secondly , the course his majesty used to suppresse it . lastly , those indispensable impulsive reasons and invincible necessity which enforced his majesty to condescend to a cessation . touching the grounds of the said insurrection , we may remember when his majesty out of a pious designe ( as his late majesty also had ) to settle an uniformity of serving god in all his three kingdomes , sent our liturgie to his subjects of scotland ; some of that nation made such an advantage hereof , that though it was a thing onely recommended , not commanded or pressed upon them , and so cald in suddenly againe by a most gracious proclamation , accompanied with a generall pardon : yet they would not rest there , but they would take the opportunity hereby to demolish bishops , and the whole hierarchy of the church ( which was no grievance at all till then ) to which end , they put themselves in actuall arms , and obtained at last what they listed ; which they had not dared to have done , had they not been sure to have as good friends in england as they had in scotland ( as lesley himselfe confessed to sir william berkley at newcastle ) for some of the chiefest inconformists here , had not onely intelligence with them , but had been of their cabinet-counsels in moulding the plot : though some would east this war upon the french cardinall , to vindicate the invasiō we made upon his masters dominions in the iste of rets ; as also for some advātage the english use to do the spaniard in transporting his treasure to dunkerk , with other offices . others would cast it upō the jesuit , that he should project it first , to force his majesty to have recourse to his roman catholick subjects for ayd , that so they might , by such supererogatory service ingratiate thēselves the more into his favour . the irish hearing how well their next neighbours had sped by way of arms , it filled them full of thoughts & apprehensiōs of feare & jealousie , that the scot would prove more powerfull hereby , and consequently more able to do them hurt , and to attempt wayes to restrain them of that connivency , which they were allowed in poynt of religion : now there is no nation upon earth that the irish hate in that perfectiō , & with a greater antipathy , than the scot , or from whom they conceive greater danger : for whereas they have an old prophesie amongst them , which one shall heare up and downe in every mouth , that the day will come when the irish shall weep upon english mens graves , they feare that this prophesie will be verified and fulfilled in the scot , above any other nation . moreover , the irish entred into consideration , that they also had sundry grievances and grounds of complaint , both touching their estates and consciences , which they pretended to be farre greater than those of the scots . for they fell to think , that if the scot was suffered to introduce a new religion , it was reason they should not be so pinched in the exercise of their old , which they glory never to have altered . and for temporall matters ( wherein the scot had no grievance at all to speak of ) the new plantations which had been lately afoot , to be made in conaught and other places ; the concealed lands and defective titles which were daily found out ; the new customes which were imposed , and the incapacity they had to any preferment or office in church and state ( with o●her things ) they cōceived these to be grievances of a farre greater nature , and that deserved redresse much more than any the scot had . to this end , they sent over commissioners to attend this parliament in england , with certaine propositions , but those commissioners were dismissed hence with a short and unsavoury answer , which bred worse blood in the nation than was formerly gathered ; and this , with that leading case of the scot , may be said to be the first incitements that made them rise . in the course of humane actions , we daily find it to be a true rule , exempla movent , examples move , and make strong impressions upon the fancy ; precepts are not so powerfull as precedents . the said example of scotland , wrought wonderfully upon the imagination of the irish , and filled them ( as i touched before ) with thoughts of emulation , that they deserved altogether to have as good usage as the scot , their country being farre more beneficiall , and consequently , more importing the english nation . but these were but confused imperfect notions , which began to receive more vigour and forme after the death of the earle of strafford , who had kept them under so exact an obedience , though some censure him to have screwed up the strings of the harp too high ; insomuch that the taking off of the earl of straffords head , may be said to be the second incitement to the heads of that insurrection to stirre . adde hereunto , that the irish understanding with what acrimony the roman catholicks in england were proceeded against since the sitting of our parliament , and what further designes were afoot against them , and not onely against them , but for ranversing the protestant religion it selfe , as it is now practised ( which some shallow-braind scismaticks doe throw into the same scales with popery . ) they thought it was high time for them to forecast what should become of them , & how they should be handled in poynt of conscience , when a new deputy of the parliaments election ( approbation at least ) should come over . therefore they fell to consult of some meanes of timely prevention : and this was another motive ( and it was a shrewd one ) which pusht on the irish to take up armes . lastly , that army of 8000. men , which the earle of strafford had raised to be transported to england for suppressing the scot , being by the advice of our parliament here , disbanded ; the country was annoyed by some of those stragling souldiers , as not one in twenty of the irish , will from the sword to the spade , or from the pike to the plough againe . therefore the two marquesses that were ambassadours here , then for spaine , having propounded to have some numbers of those disbanded forces , for the service of their master ; his majesty by the mature advice of his privy counsell , to occurre the mischiefs that might arise to his kingdom of ireland by those loose casheered souldiers , yeelded to the ambassadours motion , who sent notice here of to spaine accordingly , and so provided shipping for their transport , and impressed mony to advance the businesse ; but as they were in the heat of that work , his majesty being then in scotland , there was a suddē stop made of those promised troops , who had depended long upon the spaniards service , as the spaniard had done on theirs . and this was the last , though not the least fatall cause of that horrid insurrection : all which particulars well considered , it had been no hard matter to have been a prophet , and standing upon the top of holy-head , to have foreseen those black clouds engendring in the irish aire , which broke out afterwards into such fearfull tempests of blood . out of these premises , it is easie for any common understanding , not transported with passion and private interest , to draw this conclusion . that they who complied with the scot in his insurrection ; they who dismissed the irish commissioners with such a short unpolitick answer , they who took off the earle of straffords head , and delayed afterwards the dispatching of the earle of leicester ; they who hindered those disbanded troops in ireland to goe for spaine , may be justly said to have bin the true causes of the late insurrection of the irish ; and consequently , it is easie to know upon the account of whose soules must be laid the blood of those hundred and odde thousands poore christians , who perished in that war ; so that had it been possible to have brought over their bodies unputrified to england , and to have cast them at the doores , and in the presence of some men i beleeve they would have gushed out afresh into blood , for discovery of the true murtherers . the grounds of this insurrection being thus discovered , let us examine what meanes his majesty used for the suppression of it . he made his addresse presently to his great counsell , the english parliament then assembled , which queen elizabeth and her progenitors did seldome use to doe , but onely to their privy counsell in such cases , who had the discussing and transacting of all forreigne affaires ; for in mannaging matters of state , specially those of war , which must be carried with all the secrecy that may be , trop grand nombre , est encombre , as the frenchman saith , too great a number of counsellours may be an incumber , and expose their results and resolutions to discovery and other disadvantages , whereas in military proceedings the work should be afoot before the counsels be blazed abroad . well , his majesty transmitted this businesse to the parliament of england , who totally undertaking it , and wedding as it were the quarrell ( as i remember they did that of the palatinate a little before by solemne vote ; the like was done by the parliament of scotland also , by a publike joynt declaration , which in regard there came nothing of it , tended little to the honour of either nation abroad ) his majesty gave his royall assent to any propositions or acts for raising of men , mony and armes to performe the work . but hereby no man is so simple as to think his majesty should absolutely give over his own personall care and protection of that his kingdome , it being a rule , that a king can no more desert the protection of his owne people , then they their subjection to him . in all his declarations there was nothing that he endeard and inculcated more often , and with greater aggravation and earnestnesse unto them , then the care of his poore subjects their fellow-protestants in ireland : nay , he resented their condition so f●rre , and took the businesse so to heart , that he offered to passe over in person for their reliefe : and who can deny but this was a magnanimous and king-like resolution ? which the scots by publike act of counsell , did highly approve of , and declared it to be an argument of care and courage in his majesty . and questionlesse it had done infinite good in the opinion of them that have felt the pulse of the irish people , who are daily ore-heard to groan , how they have bin any time these 400. yeeres under the english . crowne , and yet never saw but two of their kings all the while upō irish ground , though there be but a salt ditch of a few hours sail to passe over . and much more welcome should his majesty , now regnant , be amongst them , who , by generall tradition , they confesse and hold to come on the paternall side from fergus ( by legall and lineall descent ) who was an irish prince , and after king of scotland , whereas the title of all our former kings and queens was stumbled at alwayes by the vulger . his majesty finding that this royall proffer of engaging his owne person , was rejected with a kind of scorn , coucht in smooth language , though the m●ine businesse concerned himselfe neerest , and indeed solely himselfe , that kingdome being his owne hereditary right . understanding also , what base sinister use there was made of this insurrection by some trayterous malevolent persons , who , to cast aspersions upon his majesty , and to poyson the hearts of his people , besides publike infamous reports , counterfeited certaine commissions in his majesties name to authorize the businesse , as if he were privy to it , though i dare pawn my soul his ( or her majesty ) knew no more of it then the great mogor did . finding also that the commissioners imployed hence for the managing and composing matters in that kingdome , though nominated by the parliament , and by their recommendation authorized by his majesty , did not observe their instructions , and yet were connived at . understanding also , what an inhumane designe there was between them and the scot , in lieu of suppressing an insurrection to eradicat and extinguish a whole nation to make booty of their l●nds , ( which hopes the london adventurers did hugge , and began to divide the beares skin before he was taken , as his majesty told them ) an attempt the spaniard not any other christian state ever intended against the worst of savages ; the conceit whereof infused such a desperate courage , eagernesse and valour into the irish , that it made them turn necessity into a kind of vertue . moreover , his majesty taking notice that those royall subsidies , with other vast contributions whereunto he had given way , with the sums of particular adventurers ( amongst whom some aliens ( hollanders ) were taken in , besides the scot , to share the country ) were misapplyed , being visibly imployed , rather to feed and english rebelliō then to suppresse an irish : nay , understanding that those charitable collections which were made for the reliefe of those distressed protestants , who being stripped of all their livelihood in ireland , were forced to fly over to england , were converted to other uses , and the charity not dispensed according to the givers intention . hearing also that those 5000. men which had been levyed and assigned to goe under the lord wharton , the lord of kerry , sir faithfull fortescue and others were diverted from going to the west of ireland , and imployed to make up the earl of essex army : and having notice besides that the earl of warwicke had stayd certaine ships going thither with supplies , and that there was an attempt to send for over to england some of those scottish forces which were in vlster , without his privity . lastly , his majesty finding himself unfitted , and indeed disabled to reach those his distressed subjects , his owne royall arme ▪ all his navall strength , revenues and magazines being out of his hands ; and having as hard a game to play still with the scot , and as pernicious a fire to quench in england , as any of his progenitors ever had : receiving intelligence also daily from his protestant nobility and gentry thence , in what a desperate case the whole kingdome stood , together with the report of the committee that attended his majesty from them expresly for that service , who amongst other deplorable passages in their petition , represented , that all means by which comfort and life should be conveyed unto that gasping kingdome , seemed to be totally obstructed , and that unlesse timely reliefe were afforded , his loyall subjects there must yeeld their fortunes for a prey , their lives for a sacrifice , and their religion for a scorne to the mercilesse rebels . his majesty ( as it was high time for him ) taking into his princely thoughts those wofull complaints and cryes of his poore subjects , condescended at last to appoint some persons of honour to heare what the irish could say for themselves , as they had often petitioned ; and god forbid but the king of ireland should receive his subjects petitions , as well as the king of scotland . but his majesty being unsatisfied with what they propounded then , the lord marquesse of ormond marched with cōsiderable forces against them , and though he came off with honour , yet no reliefe at all cōming thither for many moneths after from the parliament here , who had undertaken the businesse , and had received all the summes and subsidies , with other unknown contributions to that end , matters grew daily worse and worse . to sum up all , his majesty receiving expresse and positive advice from his lord justices and counsell of state there , that the whole kingdome was upon poynt of utter perdition , which was co-intimated the same time to the parliament here , by a speciall letter to the speaker ; i say his majesty finding that he had neither power of himselfe , it being transmitted to others ; and that those trustees did misapply that power and trust he had invested in them ( for the time ) to make good their undertaking for preservation of that his fruitfull kingdome ; being impelled by all these forcible reasons , his majesty sent a commission to the lord marquesse of ormond his lieutenant generall ( a most known sincere protestant ) to hearken to a treaty according to their petition ; and if any thing was amisse in that treaty in poynt of honour ( as it shall appeare by comparing it with others , there was none ) we know whom to thank . for out of these premises also , doth result this second conclusion . that they who misapplied those moneys , and mis-imployed those men which were levyed with his majesties royall assent for the reduction of ireland : they who set afoot that most sanguinary designe of extirpating , at least of enslaving a whole ancient nation , who were planted there by the hand of providence from the beginning : they who hindred his majesties transfretation thither to take cognizance of his own affairs and expose the countenance of his own royall person for composing of things : they , they may be said to be the true causes of that unavoidable necessity ( and as the heathen poet sings , the gods themselves cannot resist necessity ) which enforced his majesty to capitulate with the irish , and assent to a cessation . it was the saying of one of the bravest roman emperours , and it was often used by henry the great of france , her majesties father , that he had rather save the life of one loyall subject then kill a hundred enemies : it may well be thought that one of the prevalentst inducements that moved his majesty ( besides those formerly mentioned ) to condescend to this irish cessation , was a sense he had of the effusion of his owne poor subjects blood , the hazard of the utter extirpation of the protestants there , and a totall irrecoverable losse of that kingdome , as was advertised both in the petition of the protestants themselves , the relation of the committee imployed thither to that purpose , and the expresse letters of the lord justices and counsell there . to prove now , that this cessation of arms in ireland was more honourable and fuller of piety , prudence and necessity , then either the pacification or peace with the scot . i hope , these few ensuing arguments ( above divers others which cannot be inserted here , in regard of the fore intended brevity of this discourse ) will serve the turne . 1. imprimis , when the pacification was made with scotland , his majesty was there personally present , attended on by the floure of his english nobility , gentry and servants , and the enemy was hard by ready to face him . at the concluding of the irish cessation , his majesty was not there personally present , but it was agitated and agreed on by his commissioner , and it hath been held alwayes lesse dishonourable for a king to capitulate in this kind with his owne subjects by his deputy , then in his owne person , for the further off he is , the lesse reflects upon him . 2. upon the pacification and peace with scotland , there was an amnestia , a generall pardon , and an abolition of all by-passed offences published , there were honours and offices conferred upon the chiefest sticklers in the war . at the cessation in ireland there was no such thing . 3. when the pacification and peace was made with the scots , there was mony given unto them , as it is too well knowne . but upon the setling of this cessation , the irish gave his majesty a considerable summe as an argument of their submission and gratitude , besides the maintainance of some of his garrisons in the interim ; and so much partly in poynt of honour . 4. at the concluding of the pacification and peace with scotland , there was a vigorous fresh , unfoiled english army afoot , and in perfect equipage ; there wanted neither ammunition , armes , money , cloaths , victuals or any thing that might put heart into the souldier and elevate his spirits . but the protestant army in ireland had not any of all these in any competent proportion , but were ready to perish , though there had been no other enemy then hunger and cold : and this implies a farre greater necessity for the said cessation . 5. in ireland there was imminent danger of an instant losse of the whole kingdome , and consequently , the utter subversion of the protestant religion there , as was certified both to king & parliament by sundry letters & petitions which stand upon record : there was no such danger in the affairs of scotland , either in respect of religion or kingdome ; therefore there was more piety shown in preserving the one , and prudence in preserving the other in ireland , by plucking both ( as it were ) out of the very jawes of destruction by the said cessation . we know that in the medley of mundane casualties , of two evils , the least is to be chosen , and a small inconvenience is to be borne withall , to prevent a greater . if one make research into the french story , he will find , that many kinds of pacifications and suspensions of armes were covenanted twixt that king and some of his subjects , trenching farre more upon regall dignity then this in ireland . the spaniard was forced to declare the hollanders free-states , before they could be brought to treat of a truce : and now the catalans screw him up almost to as high conditions . but what need i rove abroad so far ? it is well known , nor is it out of the memory of man , that in ireland it selfe there have been cessations , all circumstances well weighed , more prejudiciall to majesty then this . but that which i heare murmured at most as the effect of this cessation , is the transport of some of those souldiers to england for recruting his majesties armies , though the greatest number of them be perfect and rigid protestants , and were those whom our parliament it selfe imployed against the irish . but put case they were all papists , must his majesty therefore be held a favourer of popery ? the late king of france might have been said as well to have been a favourer of protestants , because in all his wars he imployed them most of any in places of greatest trust , against the house of austria ; whereas all the world knows , that he perfectly hated them in the generall , and one of the reaches of policy he had , was to spend and waste them in the warres . was it ever knowne but a soveraigne prince might use the bodies & strength of his own naturall-born subjects , and liege men for his owne defence ? when his person hath been sought and aimed at in open field by small and great shot , and all other engines of hostility and violence : when he is in danger to be surprized or besieged in that place where he keeps his court : when all the flowers of his crowne ( his royall prerogatives which are descended upō him from so many successive progenitors ) are like to be plucked off and trampled under foot : when there is a visible plot to alter and overturn that religion he was born , baptized & bred in : when he is in danger to be forced to infringe that solemn sacramentall oath he took at his coronation to maintain the said religion , with the rights & rites of the holy anglican church , which some brain-sick scismaticks would transform to a kirk and her discipline , to some chimericall forme of government they know not what . francis the first , and other christian princes , made use of the turke upon lesse occasions ; and if one may make use of a horse , or any other bruit animall , or any inanimat engine or instrument for his owne defence against man , much more may man be used against man , much more may one rationall creature be usd against another though for destructive ends in a good cause , specially when they are cōmanded by a soveraigne head , which is the maine thing that goes to justifie a warre . now touching the roman catholicks , whether english , welsh , irish , or scottish , which repair to his majesties armies either for service or security , he looks not upon them as papists , but as his subjects , not upō their religion , but their alleagiance , and in that quality he entertaines them : nor can the papist be denied the character of a good subject , all the while he conformes himselfe to the lawes in generall , & to those lawes also that are particularly enacted against him , & so keeps himself within the bounds of his civil obedience : as long as he continues so , he may challenge protection from his prince by way of right , and if his prince by some accident be not in case to protect him , he is to give him leave to defend himselfe the best he can , for the law of nature allowes every one to defend himselfe , and there is no positive law of man can annull the law of nature . now if the subject may thus claime protection from his prince , it followeth , the prince by way of reciprocation may require assistance , service and supplies from the subject upon all publike occasions , as to suppresse at this time a new race of recusants , which have done more hurt then ever the old did , and are like to prove more dangerous to his crowne and regall authority then any forraigne enemy . but whosoever will truly observe the genious , and trace the actions of this fatall faction which now swayes with that boundlesse , exorbitant , arbitrary and antinomian power , will find , that it is one of their prime peeces of policy , to traduce and falsifie any thing that is not conducible to their owne ends : yet what comes from them must be so magisteriall , it must be so unquestionably and incontroulably true and lawfull , that it must be beleeved with an implicite faith , as proceeding from an in-erring oracle ( as if these zealots were above the common condition of mankind , to whom errour is as heriditary as any other infirmity ) though the thing it selfe encroach never so grosly both upon the common liberty , the states and soules of men . but if any thing beare the stamp of royall authority , be it never so just and tending to peace and the publike good , yea , though it be indifferent to either side , it is presently countermanded , cryed down , and stifled ; or it is calumniated and aspersed with obloquies , false glosses and misprisions ; and this is become now the common theam wherewith their pulpits ring . which makes me think , that these upstart politicians have not long to reigne ; for , as the common proverb saith , fraud and frost end foule , and are short lived , so that policy , those counsels which are grounded upon scandals , reproaches and lyes , will quickly moulder & totter away , and bring their authors at last to deserved infamy and shame , and make them find a tombe in their owne ruines . adde hereunto as further badges of their nature , that black irreconcilable malice and desire of revenge which rageth in them , the aversnesse they have to any sweetnesse of conformity and union , the violent thirst they have of blood , which makes me think on that distique of prudentius , who seemed to be a prophet as well as poet ( a true vates ) in displaying the humours of these fiery dogmatists , this all-confounding faction which now hath the vogue , to the punishment , i will not say yet , the perdition of this poore island . sic mores produnt animum , & mihi credite , junctus semper cum falso est dogmatè coedis amor . thus in english : manners betray the mind , and credit me , ther 's alwayes thirst of blood with heresie . finis . a brief account of the royal matches or matrimonial alliances vvhich the kings of england have made from time to time since the year 800 to this present 1662 collected by a careful collation of history with records. howell, james, 1594?-1666. 1662 approx. 12 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a44707 wing h3057 estc r41276 31354760 ocm 31354760 110252 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a44707) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 110252) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1740:14) a brief account of the royal matches or matrimonial alliances vvhich the kings of england have made from time to time since the year 800 to this present 1662 collected by a careful collation of history with records. howell, james, 1594?-1666. [2], 6 p. printed by j.g. for h. brome ..., london : mdclxii [1662] imperfect: print show-through. reproduction of original in the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng marriages of royalty and nobility. great britain -kings and rulers. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-01 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2004-01 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a brief account of the royal matches or matrimonial alliances , vvhich the kings of england have made from time to time since the year 800. to this present 1662. collected by a careful collation of history with records . london , printed by i. g. for . h. brome at the gun in ivy-lane , mdclxii . a preamble . the saxons having succeeded the romans in the sway of this country , as they changed the name thereof from britain to england , so the government also came to be altered , and diffused to an heptarchy or septemvirat , for there rul'd here seven kings at once ( such as they were ) for the space of 400. years and more , during which time as the government was confus'd , so the history is full of distraction and incertitudes , there being scarce any authentic record to be found for asserting any thing ; in somuch that what is written of that heptarchy is believed rather in courtesie , or by an implicit faith then otherwise . but since egbert king of the west saxons came by his prowess and policy to be sole king of england , which was above 800. years since , the current of history runs more cleer , and the renown of the succeeding kings rang lowder beyond the seas , which made forren princes to seek alliances and confederations with us . therefore touching the present design , we will take our rise from that time when england came to be a monarchy , and first of king ethelwolph the son of the foresaid egbert , anno dom. 837. king ethelwolph the second english monark , having visited pope gregory the fourth at rome , and returning through france , married the lady judith , called in those dayes the perl of beuty , daughter to charles the bald , who was then emperor and king of france . king edward the outlaw ( as they call'd him ) married the lady agatha daughter to the emperor hen. 2. king athelstans sister was married to otho the emperor . the lady margaret daughter to king edmund ironside coming to be queen regnant , was married to malcolme the third king of scotland , anno 1026. whence king james and his progenitors are lineally descended . king canutus ( the first of the three danish kings which raigned here about 26. years ) married the lady emma sister to the duke of normandy , and guinhilda his daughter by her was married to the emperor hen. 3. king edward the confessor , or st. edward took a wife at home ( as all the rest of the saxon kings did , except the above-mentioned ) viz. the lady editha daughter to the earl godwyn . we come now to the norman and english kings after the conquest . king william the first , or the conqueror married the lady maude daughter to the earl of flanders . king william the second called rufus had no wife , but divers natural children , among whom the lord bertran was most advanced . king henry the first married . the lady matilda or maude , daughter to malcolme king of scotland by margaret sister to edgar atheling , whereby the saxon or english blood royal was restored , he had by her maude the empress , but left 14. natural children besides , viz. seven sons , and seven daughters . king stephen married the lady matilda the late duke of bullens daughter , but had no issue lived ; he left two natural sons , whereof the one was made earl of norfolk , the other abbot of westminster . king henry the second son of maude the empress ( by ieffrey plantaginet her second husband ) married elenor the divorced wife of lewis the seventh king of france , by whom he had divers children , and left besides some natural children by rosamund . king richard the first married the lady berengania daughter to the king of navarre . king iohn married three wives , two at home , and one abroad , viz. alice daughter to the earl of morton , and avice daughter to the earle of gloucester , and having no issue of neither , he married isabel heiress to the duke of angoulesme in france , of whom he had hen. 3. ( who succeeded him ) and richard who was earl of gloucester , and crown'd king of the romans . king henry the third married elenor daughter to raymond earl of province in france , by whom was edward the first , the scourge of the scots , and edmund crouchback duke of lancaster , who was the ground of the feud 'twixt the two roses . king edward the first married two wives , the first was eleanor daughter to ferdinand k. of spain , by whom he had four sons , and nine daughters ; his second wife was margaret eldest daughter of philip the hardy king of france . king edward the second of caernarvon ( the first install'd prince of wales ) married isabel daughter of philip le bel ▪ king of france . king edward the third married . philippa daugher to the earl of henault , by whom he had seven sons , and five daughters , the eldest was the black prince , who married at home , viz. the lady joan daughter to the earl of kent , though twice a widow ; he had two base sons , sir robert clarendon , and sir john sounder . richard the second married two wives , viz. the lady anne daughter to the emperor charles the fourth . his second wife was isabel daughter to charles the sixth king of france . king henry the fourth married two wives , the first at home , viz. the lady mary daughter of humphrey bohun earl of hereford , &c. his second wife was joan daughter to charles king of navarre . king henry the fifth married yhe lady katharine daughter to charles the sixth of france , who being left a young widow married owen tewdor of wales , who was grandfather to hen. 7. and thereby restored the british royal blood , uniting it with the english. king henry the sixth was married to margaret daughter to reyner earl of anjou , and king of jerusalem , scicily , and aragon . king edward the fourth married elizabeth widow of sir john grey . richard the third married the lady anne daughter of richard nevil earle of warwick , widow to ed. prince of wales , son of hen. 6. king henry the seventh married the lady elizabeth daughter to edw. the fourth , heir to the house of york , who united the two roses . king henry the eight had six wives , whereof three were katharines , two were forreners , the other four born within the realm ; of which wives , he was divorced from two , and two were beheaded . his first wife was katharine daughter of ferdinand king of spain , a most pious lady , from whom after 20. years cohabitation he got to be divorced . the second , anne daughter of sir tho. bullen earl of wiltshire , and ormond . the third was jane seymor daughter to the earl of hartford . the foursh was anne of cleve , from whom he was divorced . the fifth was katharine widow to the lord latimer , and daughter to tho. howard duke of norfolk beheaded and buried in the tower with anne of bullen . the sixt was katharine parr , sister to the marquess of northampton . queen mary was married to philip the second king of spain . king iames married the lady anne daughter to frederick the third king of denmark . king charls the first married the lady henrietta maria youngest daughter to henry the great of france , which was the eighth royal alliance that was 'twixt england and france . king charls the second married the lady katherine sole daughter to don john the fourth king of portugal , and sister to don alonso the sixth now regnant . there was a matrimonial alliance once before 'twixt the blood royal of england and portugal , which was about anno 1376. between iohn the first , king of portugal , and the lady philippa daughter to iohn of gaunt duke of lancaster ; king iohn had five sons by her , the two eldest with the father were all three knights of the garter at one time ; the youngest son was henry , who being a speculative studious prince was much addicted to the mathematicks , and specially to the art of navigation , which induced him to set forth some ships for discovery of new countries , and his design succeeded so well , that in the first voyage , he discovered the azores & other islands in the atlantick sea , next the coasts of gu●ney , cape verd , and so at last the passage by the promontory , or cape of good hope to the east indies , which discoveries have proved so gainful and glorious to that nation ever since . by the former alliance , it may be said that portugal married with england , by this england hath married with portugal . and as the former was the fortunatest alliance that portugal ever made by their own confession to this day ; so may this prove to england : may all the blessings of heaven be poured down upon it according to the due and daily devotions of all true-hearted subjects , and particularly of i. h. finis . a trance, or, newes from hell brought fresh to towne by mercurius acheronticus. howell, james, 1594?-1666. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a44758 of text r15285 in the english short title catalog (wing h3120). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 36 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 10 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a44758 wing h3120 estc r15285 12854698 ocm 12854698 94590 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a44758) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 94590) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 384:16, 715:8f) a trance, or, newes from hell brought fresh to towne by mercurius acheronticus. howell, james, 1594?-1666. 19 p. [s.n.], london : 1649. copy on reel 715:8 is fifth item in a collection published under title: some of mr. howell's minor works, reflecting upon the times. reproduction of original in huntington library and bodleian library, oxford. eng a44758 r15285 (wing h3120). civilwar no a trance: or, nevves from hell, brought fresh to tovvne by mercurius acheronticus. howell, james 1648 6467 3 5 0 0 0 0 12 c the rate of 12 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-12 mona logarbo and andrew kuster sampled and proofread 2004-12 mona logarbo and andrew kuster text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-01 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a trance : or , newes from hell , brought fresh to tovvne by mercurius acheronticus . london , printed , ann : dom. 1649. paraenesis angliae . o england , england if thou bee'st not given quite over to a reprobate sense ; if the least sparke of grace , the least ray of reason , be yet remaining in thee , be warn'd , be warn'd by this trance , by the dreadfull objects , the hideous and horrid apparitions thereof : if no temporall respects can win thee , let the apprehensions of eternall ruin work upon thee : if the hopes of heaven cannot prevail with thee , let the torments of hell deterr thee , which are represented to the very life unto thee in this ensuing vision . be not accessary to thy owne destruction , to thy own damnation ; let not thy children be deluded any longer with chymeras of more liberty , and advancement of common good . 't is true , to love one's countrey ( which is the specious pretence of all these insurrections ) is a commendable thing , yet it is but a pagan precept ; to feare god , to honour his priests , to give caesar his due , not to do evill that good may come of it , these are all christian precepts , and scripture principles . as the author was in a trance , so sure thou art in a fit of madnes : poor thing , thou want'st a physitian to cure thee , rather than a divine to confute thee : return then , o return to thy wits , to thy old english temper again , els 't is high time for thee to make thy last will , and that the bell should ring out to invite thy neighbours to the funerall of thy liberty ; and because i have already half promis'd , i will lay this epitaph upon thee : {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . to englands imperiall chamber , the renowned city of london : to the right honourable the lord mayor , the right worshipfull the sheriffs , the court of aldermen , and common-councell , the noble company of merchant-adventurers , and home-corporations ; to all the hopefull apprentices , and all other inhabitants , inmates , or aliens , within the said spacious city and suburbs , is addressed what followeth . perditio tua ex te , l : o london , understand thy woe , thou art thy self thy greatest foe ; be warn'd , be wise , prevent the fates , destruction bounceth at thy gates , and know , there is no earthly thing can make thee happy , but thy king . think with what honour the first dagger came into thy shield , the times are now the same . a trance . the proeme . svch is the force of fancy , so large is the reach , so boundlesse is the prerogative of humane imagination , that though the small concave of a scull some two or three spans compasse be her ordinary and naturall habitation , yet the whole globe of the earth , nor all the elementary world can totally confine her , but she will at pleasure clime up to the skies , and make a scale of the starrs to conduct her to the empyrean heaven ; thence she can descend in a trice to the great abysse , and take a survey of the kingdom of darknesse ; and though it be a maxime among divines that ab orconulla redemptio , there 's no return out of hell , and that the passage back thence is irremeable , yet the imagination of man hath this privilege , that she can make egresses and regresses , she can enter , and come off cleer thence when she list , and all this if need be in an instant ; wherein she seemes to partake of that admired quality which is inherent in that most comfortable creature the light , who is held the soveraign of all sensible qualities among the philosophers , and to come neerest to the nature of a spirit , which creature requires but an instantaneous moment and point of time to performe his office of illumination , and dilate himself throughout the hemisphear ▪ whence some inferre that he is not corporeall , in regard it is an unquestioned principle in nature that all bodies require a succession of time in their motion : but there is this difference twixt the imagination and light , that there be some places whereinto light cannot enter , but there is no part of the vnivers so impervious , where the imagination may not make his accesses and recesses at pleasure ; as will appeare by the following example . it fortun'd very lately that i was in a trance , a strange kind of extasie surpriz'd me on a sudden , which lasted a good while ; during the time , me thought i was transported to the remotest place , and of the greatest distance that possibly could be from heaven ; me thought i was in hell , in hell , god blesse us , among the devils , and damned spirits ; i had neither that golden branch , nor the help of a sybilla cumana to conduct me up and down as the trojan prince had , but me thought a spirit did lead me gently and softly all along till i came to plutoes palace , where a speciall counsell was held to take a strict examination what service the three furies , alecto , tisyphone , and megaera , with other inferiour fiends that were their assistants , had done on earth , towards the advancement of the kingdom of darknes , since their last mission thither , which was presently upon the apparance of the last blazing star in the yeare 1618. pluto vouchsafed to be present and preside at this counsell , and to be chaireman himself , to which purpose he had a strong legion of cacodaemons for his guard , but the businesse was prepared and facilitated for his hearing before hand by a committee appointed of purpose for that end , whence i inferred that committees were first hatcht in hell , especially some of those that we have now adaies . the three ghastly daughters of night appeard with dreadfull fiery countenances before puto , in lieu of aire they evaporated huge flakes of fire , which they tooke in , and let out with the accents of their words , huge bunches of snakes with their tailes rooted in their sculls hung dangling and waving about their heads like dischevelld haire : a furious contestation fell between them who should be proloquutrix , but in regard that alecto and tisyphone had given an account of their former missions , the one of the league in france , the other of the revolt of the hollander , it came now in due turn that megaera should have the priority of speech , so the youngest of the tartarian girls began as followes ; may your high acherontic majestie vouchsafe to understand , that since the last happy comet , which by the parallax was found to be in the heaven , appeard , we have for 30 yeares together been more active , and more eager in your majesties service than ever we were ; we have incited the affections of the foolish inhabitants of the earth to war , and to worry one another like wolves in most places ; to effect which our practice hath been to bring the beggerliest and toughest people upon the richest and softest ; we brought the swead upon the german , the catalan upon the castillian , the tartar upon the chinois , the scot upon the english , and now lastly , the turke upon the venetian , and the cosaque upon the pole ; we have continued a lingring bloudy war in germany for thirty yeares together , which entangled into it most of the neighbouring states ; we have thrust divers princes out of their ancient inheritances , among others the duke of lorain , and the palsgrave of the rhin ; we brought two grand turks to be strangled which never happened before ; we have often puzzled italy , we have made the kings of spaine and france , though brothers to bandy so fierce one against the other , as if the one had been an infidell , the other a jew ; but sir , the most advantagious and signall services we have done to your infernall majestie have been in the iles of great britaine and ireland : for whereas we divided our selves before , and went singly among other people , we went jointly thither all three , because we might be sure to bring our ends home to our aime . the nation fittest for us to work first upon was the scot , who have been so obedient to their kings , that of above a hundred they brag of , scarce two parts of three dyed in their beds ; we did suscitate them first against their native king , and to appeare in a daring hostile manner before him upon the borders ; at which time it cost us a great deale of labour so to besot the english , to abase their courage , and entangle them with factions ( having sure confidents among them to that end ) that they durst not present them battell , and this sir was an important peece of service , for had they fought then , or had they been sensible afterwards of the nationall dishonor they received at that time , their king being in the field , and consequently had they stucke to him afterwards to have vindicated it , all those wars we have fomented since might have been prevented : we shortly after transmitted the same spirit of insurrection into ireland , who being encouraged by the good successes the scot had ( for he had what he list , yet could he not sit quiet ) and the irish commissioners being but harshly entertained by this english parlement who intended to send over a deputy that should pinch them more than they were before in their consciences , besides in that they revoked that leave which the king had granted under hand and seale to the spanish ambassadors to have some part of straffords army in ireland ( which were our prime instruments for the rebellion ) to go for spaine , with other incentives , we stird the irish also to rise in bloud , which they did to some purpose . then came we to worke upon the english , whom we found as fit to receive our impression as flax is to take fire , in regard of their long surfet of peace and plenty . we broke up one parlement because most of the members thereof were not for our turn ; the first thing we did in this parlement was to indue them with a faculty to create feares and jealousies whereof we have made excellent use , and although all those feares and jealousies appeare since to the common people , and city of london , more plain than their nose on their faces to be but forgeries , yet we have so infatuated their intellectualls that we make them still adore the iuventors of them . and to give your stygian majestie among divers others one more pregnant and undeniable demonstration what footing you have got you in that island , we have within these few yeares raised more pythonesses ( which the vulgar call witches there ) than ever were in that island since your majesty tempted eve : and we enabled our pythonesses to send their imps abroad in pursuit of your service . we stood at the kings elbo when he passed that happy act of continuance , and and a scot was our cheifest engine to work that ; the city of london stood us also in excellent stead to bring our designes about ; we made the riff-raff of that city , as v. with his myrmydons , and b. with his bandogs ( for so they called the rakells they had raised ) to rabble the king out of town ; we brought also into london the silly swaines of the countrey in whole swarmes upon they knew not what ; vve were in kinton field , and made the youthfull generall of the kings cavalry de gayeté de coeur to pursue the parlements cavalry so far , as the day was lost by it , whereas if he had stuck glose to the infantry the businesse had been dispatch'd then on the kings side , and so your majesties service since had been frustrated ; vve were at marston moore , and made the same generall so impatient that he could not forbeare fighting till the next day , else he had taken all the roundhead army in a pound ; vve took great paines at leycester that the king should not march northward , but fortifie the place and go backe to naseby where we had our imps that bestird themselves notably ; vve so manag'd the businesse afterwards that we made the king , because he is a profest enemy to your majesty , to go disguis'd in a servingmans habit to his countrey-men the scots , and we prevail'd so far with them that they delivered him over as a sacrifice , and betraid him like iudas to the english who have crucified ever since like iewes , by tossing , and tumbling him up and down , and by compulsory meanes to work upon his conscience , and stretching it upon the tenter ; vve made pembrock castle , and colchester , with other single ( or rather simple ) counties to rise of purpose to betray themselves : in summe , we have reduced that kingdom to a new conformity with this of your majesties , to a sweet chaos of all confusion , we have brought the sway solely into the common peoples hands ; and never did common people more truly act the part , and discover the genious of a common people more lively , whose nature is still thursting after novelties and utopian reformations , though they foole themselves thereby into a baser kind of slavery , finding when 't is too late those sprecious idaeas , and confused formes of government they apprehended before , and hugg'd in their own conceits to be meet absurdities , when they come to the application and practice of them . and sir , the most advantagious instruments we have used to bring all this about , have been the pulpit and the presse ; by these we diffus'd those surmises and suppositious feares formerly spoken of , to intoxicate the braines of the people : in stead of lights we put firebrands into their churches , who , as we did dictate unto them , did bawle out nothing but sedition and bloud , we have made some of them to bring divers to have as good an opinion of the alchoran as of their liturgie ; we have made secular ordinances to batter down all ancient ecclesiastick canons ; we have made them to unsaint all those whom they call apostles in heaven , and to rob their churches on earth ; we have made them put division twixt the trinity it self ; we have made their pulpiteers to preach the law and your kingdome in the church , but the gospell and heaven in the chamber ; we have brought them to keep their fast day more solemnly then the sabboth , upon which , we have made them not only to sit in counsell , but to put in execution all designs of bloud . but the main , and most materiall thing we have made use of , was spirituall pride , your majesties old acquaintance , which we have infused into the mind of every mecanique and countrey swaine , who will boldly now undertake to expound any text of scripture , new or ol , dupon the warrant of their owne braines , and by the light of their own fires ; insomuch that we have made that book which they call the bible , that was ordained first for their salvation , to be the chiefest instrument of their damnation vve have brought these exotic words , plundering and storming , which were never known among them before , and that once abominable word , excise , to be now familiar among them , they are made all three free denizons , and legitimated among them ; vve have rais'd an army of the dreggs of the people , though of precious stuffe to your majesty , and so puffed them with the pride of their good successes , and so flesh'd them in bloud , that they are no more tender of a mans or womans life then they are of a dog or a cats ; we have made those that came petitioners for peace to be murthered , and those that came for vvar to be thanked and hugged ; vve have reduced them to such slavery as to make the very countenances of men to be commented upon , and their very thoughts to be plundred ; we have made the mother to betray her child , the child the father , the husband his wife , the servant his master ; vve have brought a perfect tyranny ore their very soules and bodies ; upon the one , by tedious and endlesse imprisonment , with the forfeiture of all their livelihoods before conviction or charge ; upon the other , by forcing them to swallow contradictory oaths . on that foolish superstitious day call'd christmas , with other festivalls , we have brought them to shut up their churches , and open their shops , so that in time they will forget the very memory of their saviours incarnation ; we have brought them to have as little reverence of their temples as of their tap-houses , and to hold the church to be but a charnell-house of rotten bones ; and though they cringe , and knee , and stand bare before any wrangling bench of common pleas , yet we have so stiffned their joints , and made their heads so tender in that which they call gods house , that they can neither bow the one there , nor scarce uncover the other ; we have fil'd lately the tribunals in westminster hall with favourers of your cause , which makes some of them look rather like iuglers than iudges ; we have made the fundamentals of law to be term'd but formalities ; we have caus'd magna charta to be torne to a thousand flitters , and stretched the privilege of the commons so wide , that it hath swallowed up all other ; we have grub'd up and cast away those hopefull plants that grew in their two seminaries of learning , and set in their room grafts of our own choice . and sir , your precious children , and our deare brethren , the angels of the army , have comported themselves notably for the improvement of your majesties service in all these things , into whom we have infus'd such principles that machiavill himself were he alive there , would be accounted a baby in comparison of them . among divers other wholsome maximes , we have instill'd this into their braines , that villanies must be supported by villaines , and mischief cannot be safe but by attempting greater ; we have made the wealth of town and countrey , of poore and rich , to glitter in plunder upon their backs ; we make them to command free-quarter of those who who were fitter to aske them almes ; we have made them to rifle the monuments of the dead , to rob the lazaretto , to strip the orphane and widow , to violate and pillage all things that were dedicated to god ; we have made them wreek their revenge upon the very vegetables , to make socks of surplices , to water their beasts at the font , to feed them on the communion table , and to terme the thing they call a sacrament , a two penny banquet : sir , we have turn'd supposed superstition to absolute prophanesse , government to confusion , and freedome to pure slavery ; we have brought their king to live in a manner upon charity , and his queen to beg of the french friers , and his children to be a kind of runnagates up and downe the world ; we have so intoxicated that deare daughter of yours the city of london , that she knowes not which way to turn her self ; and whereas her apprentices did rise up like tigers against their king , they are now become as so many silly sheepe against our army ; we have puzzled them with such vertiginous fancies and feares among themselves , that one neighbour dare not trust the other . to conclude sir , we have eclips'd the glory of the english nation , we have made them by all people far and near that ever had knowledge of them , to be pittied by some , to be derided by others , to be scorn'd of all , and to become the very taile of all nations ; in fine sir , we have brought that kingdom to such a passe of confusion , that it is a fit place only for your imperial phlegetontic majesty to inhabit ; and sir , there 's never a crosse now there fright you , unlesse it be upon their coines of gold and silver , wheron they leave crosses to be still in honour of your plutonian highnesse , as you are dis , and god of riches . megaera having thus given up her account in behalf of her self and her two sisters , they all bowed their snaky heads down to their feet , which were toed with scorpions , before the black throne of pluto , who giving a humme that made all hell to tremble , answered thus : my pretious and most trusty tartarean daughters , we highly approve of the supererogatory service you have done us for the propagation of the stygian empire upon earth , and specially in great brittany : we have sued a long time to have a lease of that iland ( touching scotland we have no mind to go thither our self ) and we hope to obtaine it ; therefore when you have visited those of that nation whom you have sent hither already to people this p●t , i would have you returne thither , and prepare that place for one of my principall habitations : the proper'st instrument you are to employ , is the army , and you must continue to infuse such principles into their heads , that they never desist till they have quite thrust out religionem ex solo , regem ex solio , and dominium ex salo . nec sic recedant odia , vivaces agat violentus iras animus , & saevus furor eterna bella pace sublata gerat . make rebell to fight against rebell , independant against presbyterian , london against the army , and all against the cavalier , till that nation be wholly extinguish'd , that one may not be left to pisse against a wall ; let them never rest till they have made an end of the king who is our greatest enemy ; let those idolatrous bishops which in that idle legend their gospell are call'd angells , be utterly extirpated , and the very name of them banish'd for ever , as the tarquins were once at rome ; let not a church or chappell , or any consecrated place stand in the whole isle , i intend to have a new almanack of saints made at my comming , for i have some star-gazers there already fit for my purpose ; make haste , for feare a peace be shuffled up on a sudden , and acquit your selves of your duties , and i may chance get you scotland for your reward . the three furies with a most profound reverence replied , may it please your majestie , your ferriman charon is hourely so pester'd with such multitudes of english and scots round-heads , that we were forced to stay a long time ere we could get a passage hither , and we feare we shall be so hindred againe ; therefore we most humbly desire for our expedition , that your highnesse would vouchsafe to give us a speciall warrant to be serv'd first with a non obstante when we come to the bankes of styx . you shall deare daughters , saith pluto , and my warrant shall be adressed to a new journey-man , an english tarpaling that came thither lately to serve charon , upon whom i will lay my commands of purpose to attend you upon all occasions . having all this while listned unto what passed 'twixt pluto and his furies , my spirit lead me up and downe hell to see the various sorts of torments that are there , which indeed are innumerable : the first i beheld was ixion , tied with vipers to a wheele , and whirld about perpetually , i might perceive a multitude of lesser wheeles newly made thereabouts , whereunto great numbers of english , and divers of my acquaintance were bound ; hard by i might discerne a huge company of windmils , and bodies tied with ugly snakes at every wing , turning round perpetually ; a little further there were a great many broken by millstones , who were whirld with them perpetually about ; in another place i might perceive black whirlepooles full of tormented soules turning incessantly about : i asked what might be the reason of so many whirling tortures , my good spirit answered , all these except ixions wheele are new torments appointed for english roundheads , who have destroy'd from foundation to top , all government both of church and state ; and as their brains turn'd round there , after every wind of doctrin , so their souls turn here in perpetuall paines of rotation : a little further i spied prometheus removed thither from caucasis , with a ravenous vulture tearing and feeding upon his liver , which as one part was eaten , renewed presently after , and abundance of new commers were tormented in the same manner , these i was told were english men also that are punished like prometheus , because as he is tortured so for stealing fire from heaven , so those fierie zelots of england would presumptuously pry into the secret , and cabinet counsels of god almighty , and dive into those high points of predestination , election , and reprobation , being not contented sapere ad sobrietatem , but expect ever and anon to have new lights and flashes of illuminations . then came i to the bottomlesse tub which danaus daughters were a filling , a numberlesse company of other such tubs were there , and english women and men were incessantly labouring to fill them up with the stenchy black waters of acheron : those i was told were those over-curious people in england which would be never satisfied with christian knowledge , and had no other devotion then to be alwaies learning and never comming to the truth , as these restlesse fillers never come to the bottome ; then i beheld the most horrid tortures of those giants that would have thust iove out of heaven , and a world of english among them , who partaked of the same punishments , because they had conspired upon earth to dethrone their lawfull king ; not far further i might espie glowing fiery tubs made pulpit like , and i was told they were prepared for those profane and presumptuous mecanicks and other lay men , who use to preach in london , and abuse the sacred oracles of god ; and vzza was not far off tormented there for being so bold with the arke ; a little thereabouts i saw hoopes of iron were made garter-like , of hot glowing steele , these i was told were designed for those perjured knights of st george in england , to weare upon their legs , when they come thither for breaking in the late war that solemn oath they had taken at their instalement , to defend the honour and quarrells , the rights and dignities of their soveraigne ; a little distant i might see divers brasse hoopes glowing with fire , and they were scarfe-like , i was told they were ordained for those knights of the bath to weare for ribbands next their skins when they came thither , for infringing that sacred oath they made at their election , which was , to love their soveraigne above all earthly creatures , and for his right and dignity to live and die ; a little beyond i saw a copper table , with chaires of the same , all candent hot , i was told those were for perjured english privy concellors , who had bro●k their oath to the king , which they took to be true and faithfull servants unto him , and if they knew or understood any manner of thing to be attempted , done , or spoken against his majesties person , honour , crown , or dignity , they swore to let and withstand the same to the uttermost of their power , and cause it to be revealed , either to himself , or any other of his privy councell ; some few paces off i might descry a little round place like a porters lodgeat court with a fane on the top of it , where was a new kind of exquisite torment provided , but i could not discerne it by reason of the smoake ; for once a secretary of state and his son in england , who though they were of differing opinions in every thing else , yet jump'd in this , to destroy their king and countrey ; hard by , i saw a little furnace so candent glowing hot that it look'd of the colour of a rubie or carbuncle , i was told that was to clap in the master of the kings jewell-house when he comes thither , for being so perfidious and so perjurious to his master ; i asked whether there were any other infernall tortures besides fire , yes i was answered , for to speake of fire to a people habituated to a cold clime , were not only to make them to slight hell , but to invite them to come to it ; so my spirit brought me northward a little , and shew'd me a huge lough , where there were frosted mountaines up and down , and i might discover among them a world of blewcaps lying in beds of ice with their noses and toes nipt , the icesicles stucke to their fingers ends like hornes , and a bleak hispid wind blew incessantly upon them , they made the most pitious noise that me thought i heard in all hell ; for they wawld , screechd , and howld out ever and anone this note , weae is me , wea is me , that ever i betrayd my gid king . among all these damned soules , i desired to see what punishment an atheist had : my spirit answered me , there were no athiests in hell at all , they were so on earth before they came hither , and here they sensibly find and acknowledge there is a god by his iustice and iudgement : for there is here paena sensus , and paena damni ; the outward torments you behold is not so grievous as the inferiour regrets and agonies the soules have to have lost heaven , whereof they were once capable , and to be eternally forsaken by their creator ; adde hereunto that they know these torments to be endlesse , easelesse , and remedilesse : besides these qualities that are incident to the damned soules , they have neither patience towards themselves in their owne suffrances , nor pitty towards others , but their nature is so accursed , that they wish their neighbors torments to be greater then their own : besides , their torments never lessen either by tract of time or degree of sence , but they persever alwaies the same ; they are still fresh , and the soule able to beare them . i saw that everlasting villaine who committed the first sacrilege we read of , by burning dianas temple , and his torments were as fresh and violent upon him as they were the first day he was thrown in thither ; iudas was in the same degree and strength of torture as the first moment he fell thither ; iack cade , wat tyler , iack straw kit the tanner did fry there as fresh as they did that instant they were cast thither : amongst whom it made my heart to melt within me to see some of their new-com'd countreymen amongst them , whereof i knew divers : and though society useth to be some solace to men in misery , yet they conceived no comfort at all by these fresh companions . it is high time for us now said my good guiding angell to be gone to the other world , so we directed our course towards the ferry upon styx ; lord , what varities of lurid , and ugly squalid countenances did i behold as i passed ! there was one sort of torment i had not seene before , there were divers that hung by their tongues upon posts up and down ; i asked what they were , answer was made , that they were english divines , and lawyers , who against their knowledge , as well as their consciences , did seduce the ignorant people of england in the late civill warre . a little further i might see abundance of committee-men and others , slopping up drops of moulten lead in lieu of french-barley broath , with a rabble of apprentices sweeping the gutters of hell , with brooms tufted with addars and snakes , because they resorting to the wars , had thereby broke their indentures with their masters , and their oaths of supremacy to their prince . passing then along towards the ferry , a world of hideous shapes presented themselves unto me ; there i saw corroding cares , panick feares , pining grief , lethargy , sleep , ugly rebellion , revengefull malice , snakie discord , and spirituall pride , the sin that first peopled hell : couches of toads , adders , and scorpions in a corner hard by , i ask'd for whom they were prepared , i was answered , for some english evangelizing , anabaptisticall , and legislative ladies , which make writing of notes at sermons , and religion a meere vaile to cover their hypocrisie ; so having me thought by a miraculous providence charm'd cerberus by pointing at him with the signe of the crosse upon the fingers , we passed quietly by him , and being come to the ferry , i found true what pluto had said before , that there was a new english tarpaulin entertained by charon , but he was in a most cruell torture , for his body was covered thicke all over with pitch and tarre , which burnt and flam'd round about him : and here the trance left me . having thus come out of this sad swound , i began by a serious recollection of my self to recall to my thoughts those dismall and dreadfull objects that had appeared unto me ; for though i was in hell i did not taste of lethe all the while , so that i did not forget any thing that i had seen ; all things seem'd to appeare unto me so really , that if i had been of that opinion ( wherof many have been ) that devills are nothing else but the ill affections , the exorbitant passions , and perturbances of the mind , it had been able to have convinced me . the reader may easily imagine what apprehensions of horror these apparitions left in my braine : for as a river being by an inundation swell'd out of her wonted channell leaves along the neighbouring medowes seggs and sands , and much riff-raff stuffe behind her upon her return to her former bed ; so did this extasis , with that deluge of objects wherewith it overwhelm'd my braine , leave behind it blacke sudds , and gastly thoughts with in me , which have done me no hurt i thank god for it , it being a true rule that malum cognitum facilius evitatur : and i wish they may produce the same effects in the reader as they did in the author . vve find in the sacred oracles that dives in his discourse from hell with abraham , wish'd that some body might be sent from the dead to informe and reclaime his brothers upon earth , because the words of a dead man would gaine more credit with them then any others . let the readers of this trance make account that the author was such a one ; for he hath been buried many years , and so let it work within him accordingly . finis . the process, and pleadings in the court of spain upon the death of anthonie ascham resident for the parliament of england, and of john baptista riva his interpreter, who were kill'd by john guillim, william spark, valentine progers, jo. halsal, william arnet, henrie progers. who are all in close prison in madrid for the said fact, except henry progers, who fled to the venetian ambassador's hous, and so escaped. / sent from madrid from a person of qualitie and made english. hierro, agustín de, 17th cent. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a86339 of text r202579 in the english short title catalog (thomason e636_3). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 40 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 10 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a86339 wing h1944 thomason e636_3 estc r202579 99862809 99862809 114986 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a86339) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 114986) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 98:e636[3]) the process, and pleadings in the court of spain upon the death of anthonie ascham resident for the parliament of england, and of john baptista riva his interpreter, who were kill'd by john guillim, william spark, valentine progers, jo. halsal, william arnet, henrie progers. who are all in close prison in madrid for the said fact, except henry progers, who fled to the venetian ambassador's hous, and so escaped. / sent from madrid from a person of qualitie and made english. hierro, agustín de, 17th cent. howell, james, 1594?-1666. r. w. [4], 15, [1] p. printed by william du-gard, printer to the council of state, london : 1651. a translation, by james howell, of an unidentified work by agustín de hierro, whose name appears on a3r. dedication signed: r.w. the words "john guillim, .. henrie progers." are bracketed together on title page. annotation on thomason copy: "july. 9th". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng ascham, antony, d. 1650. riva, john baptista, d. 1650. guillim, john, 17th cent. spark, william. progers, valentine. arnet, william. progers, henry. halsal, john. great britain -foreign relations -spain -early works to 1800. spain -foreign relations -great britain -early works to 1800. a86339 r202579 (thomason e636_3). civilwar no the process, and pleadings in the court of spain upon the death of anthonie ascham resident for the parliament of england, and of john bapti hierro, agustín de 1651 6648 3 0 0 0 0 0 5 b the rate of 5 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-05 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-07 angela berkley sampled and proofread 2007-07 angela berkley text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the process , and pleadings in the court of spain upon the death of anthonie ascham resident for the parlament of england , and of john baptista riva his interpreter , who were kill'd by john guillim , william spark , valentine progers , jo. halsal , william arnet , henrie progers . who are all in close prison in madrid for the said fact , except henry progers , who fled to the venetian ambassador's hous , and so escaped . sent from madrid from a person of qualitie and made english . london , printed by william du-gard , printer to the council of state . 1651. to his truly honored friend sr w. butler knight . sir ! your desires to mee are equivalent to decrees , which i shall bee alwayes readie to put in execution , as far as i can , and never bee found in a contempt ; therefore , according to the contents of your last , i have sent you by this post the plea , concerning the english gentlemen that are under close restraint here in the king's prison , for the death of mr ascham , and your old acquaintance john baptista riva his interpreter ; wee cannot conjecture yet what will becom of them , for the church stand's firm for them ; and you well know what predominant influences the church hath in this clime . the lord cottington , and sir edward hide are parted , and departed from this court , the first to vallodolid , the other for flanders , and since that time mr fisher appear's abroad in som lustre with his coach and lackies , whereas before hee kept retir'd and invisible . catalunia is like to bee reduc'd this summer , for there are mightie forces both by land and sea to that purpose . no more now , but that i am alwaies your readie and most real servant r. w. madrid this 8th of maie , 1651. the whole discours analys'd . this plea doth partition it self into sundrie particulars . 1. the manner and circumstance of the fact is punctually related , with the names and distinction of the actors . 2. the atrocitie and hainousness of the fact is aggravated , beeing committed upon the person of a publick minister of state , viz. the ambassador or resident of england , whose person should merit more particular respect in the catholick court in regard of the precedencies which were alwayes given in england to the spanish ambassadors . 3. divers testimonies are produc'd how that the persons and office of ambassadors are sacred , &c. 4. it is proved that this publick minister had the safe conduct , and consequently the protection of his catholick majestie , which make's the offence reflect upon him , and is punishable by his own royal justice , and so the delinquents are not to bee transmitted elswhere for their punishment . 5. a parallel twixt the death of ascham and abner , who had king david's safe conduct . 6. the holie church cannot protect so proditorious a murther , as it is prov'd by forcible reasons . 7. important arguments for a sudden execution of justice upon the offenders , &c. the learned and elaborate charge of doctor don augustin de hierro , knight of the order of calatrava , and fiscal ( or attorney general ) of the council roial against don john guillim , william spark , valentine progers , and william arnet , jo. halsal , englishmen , who saie they are , and are detained in the roial prison of this court , for having traiterously , and upon propens malice kill'd anthonie ascham ambassador , or resident of the parlament of england , who came and entred into this court by virtue of the safe conduct of the king our lord ( whom god preserv ) and john baptista riva a genuës , beeing interpreter , or secretarie of the said resident . the immunitie of the church , which they pretend , cannot avail them , nor ought the plea of that immunitie hinder the imposing and executing upon the said delinquents the punishment that correspond's with their offences , as will bee proved in the ensuing charge . the accusation or charge . the disaster and death of charls stuart king of england hapned the 9. of febr. 1649. the parlament of england governing the kingdom afterwards , sent an embassage to the king our lord ( whom god guard ) and besoldus saith , that qui à belli ducibus , gubernatoribúsque provinciarum liberis mittuntur , sunt legati . those who from generals of war , and free governors of provinces are sent anie where , are ambassadors . i could produce a cloud of authors upon this argument , who treat of and declare , who have capacitie to send ambassadors , as the earl of fontanar don christoval de benevente in his advertencies to princes and ambassadors , the dissertations of don john vella , conrado bruno , and the count don juan antonio de vera in his book , call'd the ambassador , do amply aver : but whether the person sent lately by the parlament of england was an ambassador or agent , or resident , as the delinquents term him , or most properly an orator ( for hee came to deprecate peace ) whether hee was all these , or anie of these it matter 's not ; for anie of these may style him a legate , and make him deserv that title ; and the same securitie is due to all those titles , as hotoman upon this theme resolv's the point , with others . 2. this ambassador , or resident sent by the parlament of england , call'd anthonie ascham , arrived at the bay of calis the 24 of march , 1650. with an interpreter , and three or four servants , and not meeting there with the duke of medina celi , hee went in quest of him to the port santa maria , and did let him know that hee was sent by the parlament of england in qualitie of an agent to the court of spain . the duke lodg'd him thereupon , and according to his accustomed attention and prudence , by which hee alwayes operate's , sent to tell him , that in regard it was the first negotiation between spain and the parlament of england , hee could do nothing in the business , till hee had first given an account to his majestie , as hee did the 27 of march , which came to madrid the second of april , and the same daie the king referred the letter to his council ; and the fourth of april there was order sent to the duke , to treat him as resident , and see him convoi'd to the court accordingly in safetie . the twentieth of april the resident ( having been sick before ) began his journey , beeing accompanied by the camp-master d. diego de moreda , and the second of june they came to toledo , whence the camp-master sent to the court for further order , and order was sent that hee should pursue his journey , and that the resident might take a hous where hee pleas'd in the court : so they arriv'd at court sundaie following at five in the evening , and munday next after , at six in the morning john baptista riva , who was ( hee sayed a genuës went in company of a servant of the camp-master , to hieronymo de la torre knight of the order of calatrava , and secretarie of state , the said riva complain'd of the illness and incommoditie of the lodging : but when the resident and his train lighted at their lodging , 't was observ'd there passed by som that went muffled , thereabouts , who were over-heard to say , essos son , these are they : so riva delivered the secretarie two letters from the parlament , saying that the resident came under the protection of his majestie . the secretarie answered , they had don ill not to have given account at the verie point of their arrival , the resident beeing the person hee was , & being in the catholick court hee was secure enough ; and hee would advertis his majestie of his coming accordingly , which hee did within a quarter of an hour , charging the camp-master's servant , that hee should tell his master , to continue in assisting the resident ; but an hour and half before this , the fore-mentioned delinquents , did proditoriously , out of propens malice , murther the said resident , and the said john baptista riva , according to the circumstances which shall follow . now these men well knew , that the said resident came to treat of peace , and they spontaneously confess they knew it , and that hee entred into this court , by order from his majestie , and with his pass-port ; so that besides , the treacherie and malice of the act , they committed capital treason , crimen laesae majestatis in primo capite : now for everie offence , there is a corresponding punishment , and for this certainly there is undoubted pain of death ; therefore they have made themselvs unworthy of the immunitie of the church , which they pretend . the business briefly doth branch it self into two articles . first , the grievousness of the delict is to be considered , and the qualitie of the person upon whom it was committed , one , who had a safe conduct from his majestie , therefore it is crimen laesae majestatis , and perpetrated in a most trecherous and malicious manner . secondly , the church cannot give them sanctuarie , therefore the pain of death is to be executed upon them according to the merit of the delict ; in declaring the circumstances , whereof i will leav all curiosities , and go to the pitch of the business , without extending my self to any extravagant impertinencies . the first article . touching the necessity and utilite of embassies , besoldus prosecut's this subject at large , together with pascalio benavente , & marsellaert , in their learned dissertations . but pedro erodo may be said to comprehend all , in these elegant words . legatorum munus perquam utile est , ac perquam necessarium , nam sine iis nec foedera iniri possunt , nec belli leges , pacisque dici , inimicitiae essent immortales , insidiae , caedes , incendiáque ubique essent . the function of ambassadors is most profitable and necessary , for without them , there can no confederation be made , nor any lawes of peace or warr enacted , enmities would prove immortall , slaughterings , perfidiousness ; deceipt and combustions would be every where . this so necessary and profitable a ministerie , was justlie called santo officio y ministerio de los angeles , the holy office , and ministerie of angels ; and the persons of those , who did exercise it , were held for sacred in all men's opinions . sancti habebantur legati , eorúmque corpora sancta sunt . ambassadors were held holy , and their bodies are holy , saith marcus varro ; therefore they should be protected from all humane injurie . cicero also sayeth , sentio jus legatorum tum hominum praesidio munitum esse , tum etiam divino jure vallatum : i hold the right of ambassadors not only to be fortified with humane safe-guard , but entrenched with divine safetie ; i could muster up a whole squadron of autors , both modern and ancient upon this subject , specially king don alonso , who mak's this security of ambassadors his own , and defend's it so ; and this securitie is due to any ambassadour , though he be suspected and fals , as frier don goncalez resolve's the point in his historie of china , and besoldus also , and although the said ambassador com to deceiv and collude , or that he bee an enemie , yet having a safe conduct , he is to be protected , as the count de la roca sayeth , fides enim quando promittitur , etiam hosti servanda est contra quem hellum geritur , quantò magis amico pro quo pugnatur . and if this securitie be due to an ambassador , that com's to intrap , yea , to an enemie , how much more to an english friend , in whose countrie the ambassador of spain hath , and alwaies hath had the pre-eminence of the ambassadors of all other princes . now that england should still be our friend , in statu quo nunc , and that peace should bee continued with her , proceed's from right , for peace is not only made with the king , but with the kingdom also , and although the first exspire's , the last remain's . for , put case that a peace be concluded with a countrie , without including the king , either by carelesness , or som other accident , yet the peace stand's good , for so the polish magistates answered the emperor ferdinand the 2. faltando el rey , se conservan con el reyno , the king failing , yet peace is to be conserv'd with the kingdom . so bodin hold's , and urgeth a pregnant example to this purpose , lib. de repub. cap. 4. fol. 63. where he allegeth the answer , which the ambassadors of france made to edward the fourth , king of england , desiring aid from france against som rising subjects of his , by virtue of the league between them , which answer was , that the king of france could not help him ; for confederations twixt france and england , were made twixt the kings and kingdoms , so that though king edward was dispossessed thereof , yet the league and amity remain'd still with the kingdom , and with the king regnant . just so the peace twixt the kings and kingdoms of spain with england , though charles stuart , the king , be wanting , yet it may be kept intire with the kingdom : and his majestie himself insinuat's so much unto us , continuing still his ambassador in england ; for when a peace is established twixt kings and kingdoms , people , persons , and vassals , though the king fail , and the kingdom receiv a differing form of government , yet the peace hold's good still , becaus it aim'd principally at the people and persons of both nations , and upon these terms , the peace was renewed twixt spain and england , 1630. as the french mercurie relate's . therefore these delinquents fail'd much in the foresaid reverence , due to the sacred persons of ambassadors , as also to the safe conduct of his matie , by laying violent hands upon his person much more by murthering him : joab did treacherouslie kill abner who came with david's safe conduct , whereupon david said to all the people that were about him , scindite vestimenta vestra , and reinforcing his sorrow , levavit david vocem suam , & flevit super tumulum abner , flevit autem & omnis populus ; david lifted up his voice upon abner's tomb , and wept , yea , all the people wept : moreover david erected a tomb for abner , beeing so treacherously kill'd , notwithstanding that hee had his safe conduct , and the privilege of an ambassador . the romanes rais'd statues to ambassadors that were kill'd . interfecto legato statua debetur , saith besoldus , through all his chapter of legations . moreover it is observable that david did not onely weep , but hee burst out into this deprecation , si ante occasum solis gustavero panem vel aliud quidquam , if before the setting of the sun , i taste bread or anie thing els , &c. now , this sorrow of david did much pleas the people , populus audivit , & placuerunt iis cuncta quae secerat rex in conspectu totius populi : as the holie text hath it , the people heard , and were pleas'd with everie thing that david did . here it is to bee observed , that the people were to bee satisfied herein ; nor was a bare sorrow onely satisfactorie for this murther , but a due punishment must expiate the offence , which in regard that david himself could not do it in his life time , hee left it in charge to his son solomon in these words , facies ergò juxta sapientiam tuam , & effudit sanguinem belli in pace ; thou shalt do according to thy own wisdom ( exaggerating his speech with a reason ) and hee shed the bloud of war in peace . so his catholick majestie ( god guard him ) hath don out of a resentment hee had of this treacherous murther , by recommending the business to so great a tribunal ; facietis ergò juxta sapientiam vestram , effudit sanguinem belli in pace ; proceed according to your own high prudence , by punishing these delinquents , who have murtherd the ambassador of the parlament of england , though hee came with a roial pasport , and so shed the bloud of war in time of peace . moreover this death of the ambassador , by hindering the procedure of his embassie is no single offence , but it reflect's upon manie . as the great civilian saith ; si quis autem legationem impedit , non unius , sed multornm profectum avertit , & sicut multis nocet , à multis arguendus est . whosoever shall impede an embassie , hee avert's not the benefit of one man , but of many , and as hee hurt 's manie , so hee is to bee argued by manie . now manie are the accusers of these men , manie are interressed in the business , and most especially the king , our liege lord , who gave a passport , and allowed of the ambassador , and of the parlament of england that sent him : therefore these men had need to have manie lives to lose , for to satisfie so manie whom the business concern's ; so magalotti hath it , that the punishment is to bee double , in regard of the persons concern'd . but hence may result a question , whether the punishment bee to bee inflicted where the delict was perpetrated , and the king's securitie violated , or whether the murtherers bee to bee sent to the ambassador's master , whom hee represent's : this was an old difference twixt romulus and tacius , who reign'd together as pedro aerodo relate's the business briefly , yet elegantly . romulus was of opinion that the offenders were to bee sent to the ambassador's master . but this transferring of the offendor to the partie offended , was alwaies held to proceed rather from vrbanitie then justice , as it appear's in the case of rincon and fregoso , which is amply related in the annals of the emperor charls the fifth , it was a loud clamorous business , whereof all the corners of christendom did ring , and everie chronicler hath it , therefore i will not molest you with so trite a thing . tacius was of differing sentiment ; for hee would have the delict to bee punish'd where it was perpetrated , and the reasons which the doctors give , is , becaus the lord of the territorie is the more interressed , and obliged to punish the offence on the partie , to vindicate his own wrongs , as in this caus his catholick majestie is most injur'd , becaus his roial passport is violated , and why should hee have recours to a forrein power , to desire justice , when by the law of nations hee may avenge the affront at home by his own . and it is most fitting they should receiv punishment in this court , rather then anywhere els , where in regard of the greatness of our king , there are continually so many ambassadors residing , whose securitie may bee much confirmed by the exemplarie punishment of these delinquents , and in particular , the verie ambassadors of england themselvs who are sojourning here now , though opposites to the dead ambassador , in regard of the dissentions now in england , all which must bee don by a just infliction of punishment . but the delinquents think to scape by the immunities of the church , where they fled , and sheltered themselvs from so grievous and atrocious a crime , aggravated by so manie circumstances , by so manie accusers and interessed persons ; nor according to their defence , do they confess to have committed anie offence or sin at all ; but they vaunt to have performed an heroick act . now 't is a rule that jactantia aggravat peccatum ; boasting of mischief , make 's the sin the wors . st augustin in defineing sin , saith , that it is dictum , factum vel concupitum contra legem aeternam , a thing spoken , don , or wish'd against the eternal law ; him followed thomas aquinas , and citing gregorio de valentia , father granados pursueth the opinion , and vasquez . sin also is defin'd transgressio legis , a transgression of the law , now the delict of murther is opposite to all laws , both divine and humane ; as also to violate the securitie of an ambassador , much more to murther him , is condemn'd by all laws of heaven and earth ; therefore this can bee no other then a delict , and much more precisely a sin , and a sin non nominandum , an infandous sin , much less an heroick action , or exploit of gallantrie . the second article . that these delinquents cannot make themselvs capable of the protection of anie sanctuarie , will bee justified by two mediums , in form of a syllogizing argument . hee who commit's crimen laesae majestatis , a crime of high treason , cannot have the protection of the church ; but these delinquents have committed a crime of high treason ; ergò , they cannot have the protection of the church . the second argument is of no less force . hee who commit's a treacherous murther cannot have the protection of the church ; but these delinquents have committed a treacherous murther ; ergò they cannot have the benefit of the church . for proof of the first , ambrosinus , bosius , and julius clarus their opinions are cleer , gambacarta , diana and others concur with them ; among other high treasons they instance in killing the kings eldest son , his brother , or anie of the race roial , or the king's wife ( becaus shee is the one half of him ) or a privie counsellor of his , &c. as also hee who violate's the king's salvo conducto , whereon they insist much . now touching that large bull of gregory the 14th touching the immunities of the church , it is the opinion of all the civil doctors on this side the alps , that it is not available in all provinces , nay , it hath been petition'd against by divers , and to this daie , it is not put generally in practice , they are the words of evia de bolanos in his curia filippica , it was petition'd against in portugal , nor could this bull take footing in spain , which never had such exorbitant privileges , but observed the common canonical right , which make's more for the reverence of the church . and whereas it may bee alleg'd that the said safe conduct was not to bee observed by the said delinquents , becaus it was not publish'd and that it binde's onely from that time ; whereas it may bee alleg'd also that the king's safe conduct is onely by roial letters , or som publick instrument ; all this is of little or no validitie at all ; for the delinquents voluntarily confess , that they had notice by letters from england , that this resident was to com to treat of peace ; and correspond with spain . the delinquents besides may aver , that the observation of this salvo conducto did not aim at them beeing no vassals here ; but this argument is of little vigor likewise , for all people , whether vassals or no vassals are oblig'd to observ the laws in the territories of that prince where they sojourn ; and if this law take's hold on the natural vassals of anie countrie , much more on strangers , who must not bee encouraged by anie immunitie to com , and offend in another countrey , without incurring the same severitie of law . nor will it will serv their turn , to saie that all treasons are either in odium or contemptum regis , neither whereof could induce them to that act , becaus they were militant in his majestie's armie , and serv'd him with all exact fidelitie , for all this concur'd in joab , for hee was ever faithful , and a confident of king david's , and son to his sister serviah . for proof of the second argument of our discours , viz. that hee who commit's a treacherous , or proditorious murther , cannot have the protection of the church ; the determination of his holiness clement the 8th shall serv , who saith , that not onely hee who kill's one proditoriously , but hee who kill's a reconciled enemie , is deprived of the benefit of sanctuarie ; now these delinquents destroi'd this publick minister of state per insidias , appensatè , animo deliberato , & proditoriè , fraudulently , by forecast , with a deliberate minde , and proditoriously , therefore they are far from deserving the shelter of the holie church . the sacred scripture take's us out of all doubt by the act of holie and religious solomon , when in execution of the just commandement of david his father hee consulted how to punish joab for having slain abner , who had david's safe conduct , for which hee fled to the church and to the altar , fugit ergò joab in tabernaculum domini & apprehendit cornu altaris , and banaias , who had the charge of executing him , returning with this news to solomon , hee answered vade interfice eum , go and kill him ; banaias going again to joab , told him the king's command , and bid him com out , joab replied , i will not com out , but i will die here ; thereupon banaias going back to solomon to inform him what joab had said , the king rejoin'd : fac sicut locutus est & interfice eum , do as hee hath said and kill him . so banaias the son of jehoida went up to the altar , and assaulting joab , hee kill'd him ; now 't is a great question among the theologues whether solomon sinned in doing this : abulensis excuseth him giving this reason ; quia non illi profecit tenuisse aram , quia nullum homicida insidiator habet praesidium , becaus the altar could not profit him , in regard that no treacherous manslayer hath anie protection ; add hereunto what gaspar sanchez and ruperto allege touching the same fact , nihil debet illi fides altaris , qui per dolum occidendò proximum omnem fidem perdidit ; the faith of the altar oweth him nothing , who lost all faith in slaying his neighbor feloniously . but cajetan with others finde no way how to excuse solomon touching this business , in regard that hee might by his praetorian troops , and veterane souldiers have taken him both from the altar and the tabernacle , and so without anie note of violating religion , hee might have dispatch'd him in som prophane place , as the priest joiada commanded athalia to bee taken out of the temple , and kill'd without . this is a great and precise lesson for the lords alcaldes , for they need not fear to put these men to death ; in regard they are not now materially in the church . to prove the minor of the second syllogism , viz. that these men did fraudulently , of set purpose , with a deliberate minde , and proditoriously murther the ambassador of the parlament of england shall bee thus prov'd . certain men espied the said ambassador , lighting at his lodging the same night hee came , the next daie william spark , and henry progers ( who is fled ) spoke with john baptista riva the ambassador's servant , and henry going down , said to william , let 's go here below ( where the other three delinquents were ) and said , let 's kill the resident for a destroier of our nation ; so they swore among themselvs , that if one died , all would die with him in so heroick an act : whence this circumstance may bee drawn , that this murther was committed by former consultation , and with a deliberate minde : what is formerly related , is confessed by the delinquents themselvs , and that they came to perform this exploit two by two ; for beeing com to the lodging , two remain'd at the foot of the stairs , two on the top , and two entred . william spark went in first , seeing two sitting at the table , hee pulld off his hat , and said , i kiss your hands , which is the resident ? and when they knew who hee was , don john guillim came , and snatching him by the hair , with a naked dagger hee gave him a thrust that overthrew him ; then came william sparks , and gave him another , so that they gave him five stabs in all , john baptista riva thinking to retire to his chamber , there went four of them after him , and gave him four wounds , whereof hee presently expired , whereby it appear's most evidently , that the murther of the ambassador was committed , per insidias , appensatè , animo deliberato , & proditoriè , therefore the church cannot protect them . it was don proditoriously ; in regard that prodere est unum actibus ostendere , & aliud in mente gerere , unde homicidium proditorium est caedes hominis nibil tale suspicantis , as augustin barbosa affirm's . just so was abner kil'd by joab , according to the text , he killed abner in a dishonourable way , viz. fraudulently , when he spoke to him peaceably , therefore joab deserv'd to be depriv'd of the immunitie of the temple ; and just so was this ambassador kill'd , and it may well bee thought , they deserv not the shelter of the sanctuarie , as joab did not . but me think's i here the delinquents , to extenuate their delict , whisper that they kill'd the said ambassador for an heretick , for a disturber of the publick peace , who particularly fomented the death of the king , and the change of gouernment , and they did operate this to vindicate the death of their king , upon a regicide , an enemie to his countrie , and on an impostor . moreover , one of the delinquents saith , that in this rebellion hee kill'd a brother of his , with whom hee had particular enmitie , to these arguments i may say , as john garcia said in his gloss . nobilit . adducuntar leviuscula quaedam argumenta quae meritò subtaceri poterant , sed satisfaciendum est doctis pariter ac indoctis . certain light arguments are alleged , which might have been spar'd , but wee must satisfie the unlearned , as well as the learned , and concerning the first , they say , they kill'd the ambassador for an heritick , so was their king , who they pretend hee had help'd to murther ; but the catholick church never held yet , that it was lawfull to kill a man , only for his religion ; besides this ambassador had a royall pass-port , and was attended all the way from the sea-side by his majestie's servant ; and ministers of any religion may have pass-ports for their safetie as john huss had , and as charls the emperour gave luther . they say , this ambassador came to seduce and deceiv by a book of his which was found among his papers , and a medall which hee had , which had on the one side nebart , and on the other xii . and the word obstricti , and they say it signifie's those xii . which gain'd nebart , and occasion'd the warrs : hence they inferr , that hee came to deceiv , there was also found a crown stab'd with a poniard . this same argument joab propounded to david , when hee said , ignoras abner filium ner , quoniam ad hoc venit ad te , ut deciperet te , ut sciret exitum tuum , & introitum tuum , & nosse omnia quae agis , thou know'st not abner the son of ner , for hee is com hither to deceiv thee , to know thy going out , and thy coming in , and to prie into all things thou do'st , as the sacred text tell's , but this could not excuse joab for killing abner , who came hither all the way with a safe conduct , and it is the prerogative only of that prince who gave him the safe conduct , to know the cause of his coming . to com now to a conclusive point , and finall period of this plea , the punishment of these men for having fraudulently , by propense malice , with a deliberate mind , and proditoriously murthered the ambassador of the parlament of england , according to the foregoing circumstances , and by their own spontaneous confessions , i say the speedy chastisement of these men to death ( notwithstanding the depending process , touching the immunitie of the church ) is required by six parties that are interessed therein . viz. 1. by god himselfe . 2. by the king . 3. by his subjects . 4. by the publick cause . 5. by the fiscall of the council . first , god require's it , who watcheth over all crimes specially those of blood , which crie out for vengeance more then anie , therefore the procrastination hereof would be offensive to his divine majestie . secondly , the king ( whom god preserve ) require's speedie execution , in regard som grave doctors do doubt whither it was a sin in david to delay the punishment of joab till after his death , by bequeathing the execution of justice to his son solomon , as a legacie . thirdly , the subjects of the king , our liege lord , require a hastning of the punishment , becaus it trouble's them to see hard before the king's eyes , and in his catholick court , so horrid and sudden a murther committed . quando accidunt aliqua mala & horrenda quae sunt penitus inopinata , solent homines nimiùm turbati , etiamsi ad illos mala illa non pertineant , quia ergo mors abner erat malum quoddam rarum & inopinatum , subitò illo audito turbati sunt omnes israëlitae , when som horrid , unexpected , and unusuall mischiefs happen , people use to be strangely troubled , though it nothing belong's unto them , therefore because abner's death was a kind of extraordinarie sudden mischief , all israël was troubled at it , as abulensis speake's upon the 2 of kings . fourthly , the publick caus requir's a sudden execution of justice upon these delinquents , becaus they murthered two men by fraud ; quorum opera utilis videbatur futura reipublicae , whose negociation was to bee profitable to the common-wealth , as gaspar sanchez sayeth . lastly , the fiscal require's justice for god , for the king , for his fellow-subjects , for the publick-caus , and for himself , who conclude's with cokier in his treatie de legato . ac perde has animas , patriam bonus eripe noxâ . to shut up all , the justified ▪ an● cries out for speedie justice , in regard that these delinquents murthered an ambassador of the parlament of england , now to everie ambassador , there is owing an extraordinarie respect , specially to the ambassadors of england ; they slew him , though they knew that hee had his majestie's safe conduct , they slew him in the catholick court , where the right of nations useth to be kept inviolable , and more solemnly then anywhere else , whereby they committed not only a soul trecherous murther , but treason in a high degree against his majestie ; they surprised the ambassador and his secretarie at dinner , a harmless hour , they came in like friends ; wherefore it may justly be inferr'd , that this murther was committed , por insidias ▪ animo deliberato , appensatè & proditoriès by fraud , with a deliberate mind , by fore-cast , and trecherously ; touching the circumstances , their own spontaneous confessions make them good ; therefore both god , the king , all the vassals of this court , the publick-caus , and the fiscal of the council , demand a speedie and actual execution of justice upon them , notwithstanding the depending process , and pretentions touching the immunities of the church . salva in omnibus , &c. such was the charge in the court of spain , which was delivered , with much aggravation , by the said doctor hieronymo hierro , knight of the order of calatrava , against john guillim , william spark , valentin progers , jo. halsal , william arnet , and henrie progers , who are detain'd still in prison , for killing anthonie ascham , resident for the parlament of england , and john baptista riva his interpreter , all except henrie progers , who being formerly known to the venetian ambassador , fled to his hous for protection , and so made an escape ; the suit is still depending , and no resolution taken , in regard the church stand's so earnestly for them , in so much that it is not known when it will be determined . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a86339e-910 stylo novo . the pre-eminence and pedigree of parlement whereunto is added a vindication of som passages reflecting upon the author in a book call'd the popish royal favorite, pen'd and published by mr. prynne wherein he stiles him no frend [sic] to parlements, and a malignant, pag. 42 : with a clearing of som occurrences in spain at his maiesties being there, cited by the said master prynne out of the vocal forest / by j.h. ... howell, james, 1594?-1666. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a44745 of text r41000 in the english short title catalog (wing h3106b). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 38 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 12 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a44745 wing h3106b estc r41000 19569727 ocm 19569727 109114 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a44745) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 109114) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1690:5) the pre-eminence and pedigree of parlement whereunto is added a vindication of som passages reflecting upon the author in a book call'd the popish royal favorite, pen'd and published by mr. prynne wherein he stiles him no frend [sic] to parlements, and a malignant, pag. 42 : with a clearing of som occurrences in spain at his maiesties being there, cited by the said master prynne out of the vocal forest / by j.h. ... howell, james, 1594?-1666. prynne, william, 1600-1669. popish royall favourite. 23 p. printed by r.r. for humphrey moseley, london : 1645. reproduction of original in the university of illinois (urbana-champaign campus). library. eng england and wales. -parliament. representative government and representation -england. great britain -politics and government. a44745 r41000 (wing h3106b). civilwar no the pre-eminence and pedigree of parlement. wherunto is added a vindication of som passages reflecting upon the author, in a book call'd the howell, james 1645 6857 1 5 0 0 0 0 9 b the rate of 9 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2002-03 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2002-04 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-05 tcp staff (michigan) sampled and proofread 2002-05 allison liefer text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-06 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the preeminence and pedigree of parlement . wherunto is added a vindication of som passages reflecting upon the author , in a book call'd the popish royal favorite , pen'd and published by mr. prynne ; wherin he stiles him , no frend to parlements , and a malignant , pag. 42. with a clearing of som occurrences in spain at his maiesties being there , cited by the said master prynne out of the vocal forest . by j. h. esquire one of the clerks of his maiesties most honorable privy-councel . published by special order . london , printed by r. r. for humphrey moseley . 1645. to my worthily honored frend , sir w. s. knight . sir , i have many thanks to give you for the book you pleased to send me , called the popish royal favorite ; and according to your advice ( which i value in a high degree ) i put pen to paper , and somthing you may see i have don ( though in a poor pamphleting way ) to clear my self of those aspersions that are cast upon me therin . but truly sir , i was never so unfit for such a task ; all my papers , manuscripts , and notes , having bin long since seized upon and kept from me . adde hereunto , that besides this long pressure and languishment of twenty three moneths close restraint ( the sense wherof , i find hath much stupified my spirits ) it pleased god to visit me lately with a dangerous fit of sicknes , a high burning feaver , with the new disease , whereof my body as well as my mind , is yet somwhat crazy : so that ( take all afflictions together ) i may truly say , i have passed the ordeal , the fiery tryal . but it hath pleased god to reprieve me to see better days i hope ; for out of this fatal black cloud , which now oresets this poor island , i hope ther will break a glorious sun-shine of peace and firm happines : to effect which , had i a jury , a grand-jury of lives , i would sacrifice them all , and triumph in the oblation . so i most affectionately kisse your hands , and rest your faithful ( though afflicted ) servant , from the prison of the fleet . j. h. the pre-eminence of parlement . sectio prima . i am a free-born subject of the realm of england ; whereby i claim as my native inheritance , an undoubted right , propriety , and portion in the laws of the land : and this distinguisheth me from a slave . i claim also an interest and common right in the high national court of parlement , and in the power , the priviledges and jurisdiction thereof , which i put in equal ballance with the laws , in regard it is the fountain whence they spring : and this i hold also to be a principal part of my birth-right ; which great councel i honour , respect , value , and love in as high a degree as can be ; as being the bulwark of our liberties , the main boundary and bank which keep us from slavery , from the inundations of tyrannical rule , and unbounded will-government . and i hold my self obliged in a tye of indispensable obedience to conform and submit my self to whatsoever shall be transacted , concluded , and constituted by its authority in church or state ; whether it be by making , enlarging , altering , diminishing , disanulling , repealing , or reviving of any law , statute , act , or ordinance whatsoever , either touching matters ecclesiastical , civil , common , capital , criminal , martial , maritine , municipal , or any other ; of all , which , the transcendent and uncontrolable jurisdiction of that court is capable to take cognizance . amongst the three things which the athenian captain thank'd the gods for , one was , that he was born a grecian , and not a barbarian . for such was the vanity of the greeks , and after them of the romans , in the flourish of their monarchy , to arrogate all civility to themselves , and to term all the world besides barbarians : so i may say to have cause to rejoyce , that i was born a vassal to the crown of england ; that i was born under so well moulded and tempered a government , which endows the subject with such liberties and infranchisements that bear up his natural courage , and keep him still in heart ; such liberties that fence and secure him eternally from the gripes and tallons of tyranny : and all this may be imputed to the authority and wisdom of this high court of parlement , wherin ther is such a rare co-ordination of power ( though the soverainty remain still entire , and untransferable in the person of the prince ) ther is , i say , such a wholsom mixture 'twixt monarchy , optimacy , and democracy ; 'twixt prince , peers , and communalty , during the time of consultation , that of so many distinct parts , by a rare co-operation and unanimity , they make but one body politic , ( like that sheaf of arrows in the emblem ) one entire concentrical peece ; and the results of their deliberations , but as so many harmonious diapasons arising from different strings . and what greater immunity and happines can ther be to a peeple , then to be liable to no laws but what they make themselves ? to be subject to no contribution , assessement , or any pecuniary levy whatsoever , but what they vote , and voluntarily yeeld unto themselves ? for in this compacted politic body , there be all degrees of peeple represented ; both the mechanick , tradesman , merchant , and yeoman , have their inclusive vote , as well as the gentry , in the persons of their trustees , their knights and burgesses , in passing of all things . nor is this soverain surintendent councel an epitome of this kingdom onely , but it may be said to have a representation of the whole universe ; as i heard a fluent well-worded knight deliver the last parlement , who compared the beautiful composure of that high court , to the great work of god , the world it self : the king to the sun , the nobles to the fixed stars , the itinerant judges and other officers ( that go upon messages 'twixt both houses ) to the planets ; the clergy to the element of fire ; the commons , to the solid body of earth , and the rest of the elements . and to pursue this comparison a little farther ; as the heavenly bodies , when three of them meet in conjunction , do use to produce som admirable effects in the elementary world : so when these three states convene and assemble in one solemn great junto , som notable and extraordinary things are brought forth , tending to the welfare of the whole kingdom , our microcosm . he that is never so little versed in the annales of this isle , will find that it hath bin her fate to be four times conquered . i exclude the scot ; for the situation of his countrey , and the quality of the clime hath bin such an advantage and security to him , that neither the roman eagles would flie thither , for fear of freezing their wings ; nor any other nation attempt the work . these so many conquests must needs bring with them many tumblings and tossings , many disturbances and changes in government ; yet i have observed , that notwithstanding these tumblings , it retained still the form of a monarchy , and somthing there was alwayes that had an analogy with the great assembly the parlement . the first conquest i find was made by claudius caefar ; at which time ( as som well observe ) the roman ensignes and the standard of christ came in together . it is well known what laws the roman had ; he had his comitia , which bore a resemblance with our convention in parlement ; the place of their meeting was called praetorium , and the laws which they enacted , plebescita . the saxon conquest succeeded next , which were the english , ther being no name in welsh or irish for an englishman , but saxon , to this day . they governed by parlement , though it were under other names ; as michel sinoth , michel gemote , and witenage mote . there are records above a thousand yeers old , of these parlements , in the raigns of king ina , offa , ethelbert , and the rest of the seven kings during the heptarchy . the british kings also , who retain'd a great while som part of the isle unconquered , governed and made laws by a kind of parlementary way ; witnes the famous laws of prince howel , called howel dha , ( the good prince howel ) wherof ther are yet extant som welsh records . parlements were also used after the heptarchy by king kenulphus , alphred , and others ; witnes that renowned parlement held at grately by king athelstan . the third conquest was by the danes , and they govern'd also by such general assemblies , ( as they do to this day ) witnes that great and so much celebrated parlement held by that mighty monarch canutus , who was king of england , denmark , norway , and mher regions 150 yeers before the compiling of otagna charta ; and this the learned in the laws do hold to be one of the special'st , and most authentic peeces of antiquity we have extant . edward the consessor made all his laws thus , ( and he was a great legis-lator ) which the norman conquerour ( who liking none of his sons , made god almighty his heir , bequeathing unto him this island for a legacy ) did ratifie and establish , and digested them into one entire methodical systeme , which being violated by rusus , ( who came to such a disastrous end , as to be shot to death in lieu of a buck for his sacriledges ) were restor'd by henry the first , and so they continued in force till king john , whose raign is renowned for first confirming magna charta , the foundation of our liberties ever since : which may be compar'd to divers outlandish graffs set upon one english stock , or to a posie of sundry fragrant flowers ; for the choicest of the british , the roman , saxon , danish , and norman laws , being cull'd and pick'd out , and gathered as it were into one bundle , out of them the foresaid grand charter was extracted : and the establishment of this great charter was the work of a parlement . nor are the laws of this island onely , and the freedom of the subject conserved by parlement , but all the best policed countreys of europ have the like . the germanes have their diets , the danes and swedes the riicks dachs ; the spaniard calls his parlement las cortes , and the french have ( or should have at least ) their assembly of three states , though it be grown now in a manner obsolete , because the authority therof was ( by accident ) devolv'd to the king . and very remarkable it is , how this hapned ; for when the english had taken such large footing in most parts of france , having advanced as far as orleans , and driven their then king charls the seventh to bourges in berry ; the assembly of the three states in these pressures , being not able to meet after the usual manner in full parlement , because the countrey was unpassable , the enemy having made such firm invasions up and down through the very bowels of the kingdom ; that power which formerly was inherent in the parlementary assembly , of making laws , of assessing the subject with taxes , subsidiary levies , and other impositions , was transmitted to the king during the war ; which continuing many yeers , that intrusted power by length of time grew as it were habitual in him , and could never after be re-assumed and taken from him ; so that ever since , his edicts countervail acts of parlement . and that which made the busines more feasable for the king , was , that the burthen fell most upon the communalty ( the clergy and nobility not feeling the weight of it ) who were willing to see the peasan pull'd down a little , because not many yeers before in that notable rebellion , call'd la jaquerie de beauvoisin , which was suppressed by charls the wise , the common peeple put themselves boldly in arms against the nobility and gentry , to lessen their power . add hereunto as an advantage to the work , that the next succeeding king lewis the eleventh , was a close cunning prince , and could well tell how to play his game , and draw water to his own mill ; for amongst all the rest , he was said to be the first that put the kings of france , hors de page , out of their minority , or from being pages any more , though thereby he brought the poor peasans to be worse then lacquays . with the fall , or at least the discontinuance of that usual parliamentary assembly of the three states , the liberty of the french nation utterly fell ; the poor roturier and vineyard-man , with the rest of the yeomanry , being reduced ever since to such an abject ●●●nin condition , that they serve but as sponges for the king to squeeze when he list . neverthelesse , as that king hath an advantage hereby one way , to monarchize more absolutely , and never to want money , but to ballast his purse when he will : so ther is another mighty inconvenience ariseth to him and his whole kingdom another way ; for this illegal peeling of the poor peasan hath so dejected him , and cowed his native courage so much by the sense of poverty ( which brings along with it a narrownes of soul ) that he is little useful for the war : which puts the french king to make other nations mercenary to him , to fill up his infantry : insomuch , that the kingdom of france may be not unfitly compared to a body that hath all its blood drawn up into the arms , brest and back , and scarce any left from the girdle downwards , to cherish and bear up the lower parts , and keep them from starving . all this seriously considered , ther cannot be a more proper and pregnant example then this of our next neighbours , to prove how infinitely necessary the parlement is , to assert , to prop up , and preserve the publike liberty , and national rights of a peeple , with the incolumity and welfare of a countrey . nor doth the subject onely reap benefit thus by parlement , but the prince ( if it be well consider'd ) hath equal advantage thereby ; it rendereth him a king of free and able men , which is far more glorious then to be a king of slaves , beggars , and bankrupts ; men that by their freedom , and competency of wealth , are kept still in heart to do him service against any forrain force . and it is a true maxime in all states , that 't is lesse danger and dishonour for the prince to be poor , then his peeple : rich subjects can make their king rich when they please ; if he gain their hearts , he will quickly get their purses : parlement encreaseth love and good intelligence 'twixt him and his peeple ; it acquaints him with the reality of things , and with the true state and diseases of his kingdom ; it brings him to the knowledg of his better sort of subjects , and of their abilities , which he may employ accordingly upon all occasions ; it provides for his royal issve , payes his debts , finds means to fill his coffers : and it is no ill observation . the parlementary-moneys ( the great aid ) have prospered best with the kings of england ; it exceedingly raiseth his repute abroad , and enableth him to keep his foes in fear , his subjects in awe , his neighbours and confederates in security , the three main things which go to aggrandize a prince , and render him glorious . in sum , it is the parlement that supports , and bears up the honour of his crown , and settles his throne in safety , which is the chief end of all their consultations : for whosoever is entrusted to be a member of this high court , carrieth with him a double capacity ; he sits there as a pairiot , and as a subject : as he is the one , the countrey is his object , his duty being to vindicate the publike liberty , to make wholsom laws , to put his hand to the pump , and stop the leaks of the great vessel of the state : to pry into and punish corruption and oppression , to improve and advance trade , to have the grievances of the place he serves for redressed , and cast about how to find somthing that may tend to the advantage of it . but he must not forget that he sits there also as a subject , and according to that capacity , he must apply himself to do his soveraigns busines , to provide not onely for his publike , but his personal wants ; to bear up the lustre and glory of his court ; to consider what occasions of extraordinary expences he may have , by encrease of royal issue , or maintenance of any of them abroad ; to enable him to vindicate any affront or indignity that might be offered to his person , crown , or dignity , by any forrain state or kingdom ; to consult what may enlarge his honour , contentment and pleasure . and as the french tacitus ( comines ) hath it , the english nation was used to be more forward and zealous in this particular then any other , according to that ancient elequent speech of a great lawyer , domus regis vigilia defendit omnium , otium illius labor omnium , deliciae illius industria omnium , vacatio illius occupatio omnium , salus illius periculum omnium , honor illius objectum omnium . every one should stand centinel to defend the kings houses , his safety should be the danger of all , his pleasures the industry of all , his ease should be the labour of all , his honour the object of all . out of these premisses this conclusion may be easily deduced , that , the principal fountain whence the king derives his happines and safety , is his parlement : it is that great conduit-pipe which conveighs unto him his peeples bounty and gratitude ; the truest looking-glasse wherin he discerns their loves ; now the subjects love hath bin alwayes accounted the prime cittadel of a prince . in his parlement he appears as the sun in the meridian , in the altitude of his glory , in his highest state royal , as the law tels us . therfore whosoever is avers or disaffected to this soveraign law-making court , cannot have his heart well planted within him : he can be neither good subject , nor good patriot ; and therfore unworthy to breathe english air , or have any benefit , advantage , or protection from the laws . sectio secunda . by that which hath been spoken , which is the language of my heart , i hope no indifferent judicious reader will doubt of the cordial affection , of the high respects and due reverence i bear to parlement , as being the wholsomest constitution ( and don by the highest and happiest reach of policy ) that ever was established in this island , to perpetuate the happines therof : therfore i must tell that gentleman who was author of a book entituled the popish royal favorite , ( lately printed and exposed to the world ) that he offers me very hard measure ; nay , he doth me apparant wrong , to terme me therein no frend to parlement , and a malignant ; a character , which as i deserve it not , so i disdain it . for the first part of his charge , i would have him know , that i am as much a frend , and as real an affectionate humble servant and votary to the parlement , as possibly he can be , and will live and die with these affections about me : and i could wish , that he were secretary of my thoughts a while ; or if i may take the boldnes to apply that comparison his late majestie used in a famous speech to one of his parlements , i could wish there were a crystal window in my brest , through which the world might espie the inward motions and palpitations of my heart ; then would he be certified of the sincerity of this protestation . for the second part of his charge , to be a malignant , i must confesse to have som malignity that lurks within me , much against my will ; but it is no malignity of mind , it is amongst the humours , not in my intellectuals . and i beleeve , there is no natural man , let him have his humours never so well ballanced , but hath som of this malignity raigning within him ; for as long as we are composed of the four elements , whence these humours are derived , and with whom they symbolize in qualities ; which elements the philosophers hold to be in a restlesse contention amongst themselves ( and the stoick thought that the world subsisted by this innatemutual strife ) as long , i say , as the four humours , in imitation of their principles ( the elements ) are in perpetual reluctancy and combate for praedominancy , ther must be some malignity lodg'd within us , as adusted choler , and the like ; wherof i had late experience in a dangerous fit of sicknes it pleased god to lay upon me , which the physitians told me proceeded from the malignant hypocondriacal effects of melancholy ; having been so long in this saturnine black condition of close imprisonment , and buried a live between the wals of this fatal fleet . these kinds of malignities , i confesse are very rife in me , and they are not onely incident , but connatural to every man according to his complexion : and were it not for this incessant strugling and enmity amongst the humours for mastery , which produceth such malignant effects in us , our souls would be loth ever to depart from our bodies , or to abandon this mansion of clay . now what malignity my accuser means , i know not ; if he means malignity of spirit , as som antipathy or ill impression upon the mind , arising from disaffection , hatred , or rancor , with a desire of som destructive revenge , he is mightily deceiv'd in me ; i maligne or hate no creature that ever god made , but the devil , who is the author of all malignity ; and therefore is most commonly called in french le malin asprit the malignant spirit . every night before i go to bed , i have the grace , i thank god for it , to forgive all the world , and not to harbour , or let roost in my bosom the least malignant thought ; yet none can deny , but the aspersions which this my accuser casts upon me , were enough to make me a malignant towards him ; yet it could never have the power to do it : for i have prevail'd with my self to forgive him this his wrong censure of me , issuing rather from his notknowledge of me , then from malice ; for we never mingled speech , or saw one another in our lives , to my remembrance : which makes me wonder the more , that a professor of the law , as he is , should pronounce such a positive sentence against me so slightly . but me thinks i over-hear him say , that the precedent discourse of parlement is involv'd in generals , and the tropique axiome tels us , that dolus versatur in universalibus , there is double dealing in universals : his meaning is , that i am no friend to this present parlement ( though he speaks in the plural number parlements ) and consequently , he concludes me a malignant ; therin , i must tell him also , that i am traduc'd , and i am confident it will be never prov'd against me , from any actions , words , or letters ( though divers of mine have bin intercepted ) or any other misdemeanor , though som things are father'd upon me which never drop'd from my quill . alas , how unworthy and uncapable am i to censure the proceedings of that great senate , that high synedrion , wherin the wisdom of the whole state is epitomized ? it were a presumption in me , of the highest nature that could be : it is enough for me to pray for the prosperous successe of their consultations : and as i hold it my duty , so i have good reason so to do , in regard i am to have my share in the happines ; and could the utmost of my poor endeavours , by any ministerial humble office ( and somtimes the meanest boat-swain may help to preserve the ship from sinking ) be so happy , as to contribute any thing to advance that great work ( which i am in despair to do , while i am thus under hatches in this fleet ) i would esteem it the greatest honour that possibly could befal me , as i hold it now to be my greatest disaster , to have faln so heavily under an affliction of this nature , and to be made a sacrifice to publike fame , then which ther is no other proof , nor that yet urg'd against me , or any thing else produc'd after so long , so long captivity , which hath brought me to such a low ebbe , and put me so far behind in the course of my poor fortunes , and indeed more then half undon me . for although my whole life ( since i was left to my self to swim , as they say , without bladders ) has bin nothing else but a continued succession of crosses , and that there are but few red letters found ( god wot ) in the almanack of my age , ( for which i account not my self a whit the less happy ; ) yet this crosse has carried with it a greater weight ; it hath bin of a larger extent , longer continuance , and lighted heavier upon me then any other ; and as i have present parience to bear it , so i hope for subsequent grace to make use of it accordingly , that my old motto may be still confirmed , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . he produceth my attestation for som passages in spain , at his majesties being there , and he quotes me right , which obligeth me to him : and i hope all his quotations , wherin he is so extraordinarily copious and elaborate in all his works , are so ; yet i must tell him , that those interchangeable letters which passed between his majesty and the pope , which were originally couch'd in latine , the language wherin all nations treat with rome , and the empire with all the prinees therof ; those letters , i say , are adulterated in many places , which i impute not to him , but to the french chronicler , from whom he took them in trust . the truth of that busines is this : the world knows ther was a tedious treaty of an alliance 'twixt the infanta dona maria ( who now is empresse ) and his mijesty , which in regard of the slow affected pace of the spaniard , lasted about ten yeers , as that in henry the sevenths time , 'twixt prince arthur and ( afterwards ) queen katherine , was spun out above seven : to quicken , or rather to consummate the work , his majesty made that adventurous journey through the whole continent of france into spain ; which voyage , though ther was a great deal of gallantry in it ( whereof all posterity will ring , until it turn at last to a romance ) yet it prov'd the bane of the busines , which 't is not the arrand of so poor a pamphlet as this to unfold . his majesty being ther arriv'd , the ignorant common peeple cryed out , the prince of wales came thither to make himself a christian . the pope writ to the inquisitor general , and others , to use all industry they could to reduce him to the roman religion ; and one of olivares first complements to him , was , that he doubted not but that . his highnes came thither to change his religion : wherunto he made a short answer , that he came not thither for a religion , but for a wife . ther were extraordinary processions made , and other artifices us'd by protraction of things to make him stay ther of purpose till the spring following , to work upon him the better : and the infanta her self desir'd him ( which was esteem'd the greatest favour he received from her all the while ) to visit the nun of carion ; hoping that the said nun , who was so much cryed up for miracles , might have wrought one upon him ; but her art failed her , nor was his highnesse so weak a subject to work upon , according to his late majesties speech to doctor mawe and wren , who when they came to kisse his hands , before they went to spain to attend the prince their master , he wished them to have a care of buckingham ; as touching his son charls , he apprehended no fear at all of him ; for he knew him to be so well grounded a protestant , that nothing could shake him in his religion . the arabian proverb is , that the sun never soiles in his passage , though his beams reverberate never so strongly , and dwell never so long upon the myry lake of maeotis , the black turf'd moors of holland , the aguish woose of kent and essex , or any other place , be it never so dirty . though spain be a hot country , yet one may passe and repasse through the very center of it , and never be sun-burnt , if he carry with him a bongrace , and such a one his majesty had . well , after his majesties arrival to madrid , the treaty of marriage went on still , ( though he told them at his first coming , that he came not thither like an ambassadour , to treat of marriage ; but as a prince , to fetch home a wife ; ) and in regard they were of different religions , it could not be done without a dispensation from the pope , and the pope would grant none , unless som capitulations were stipulated in favour of the romish catholikes in england , ( the same in substance were agreed on with france . ) well , when the dispensation came , which was negotiated solely by the king of spains ministers ; because his majesty would have as little to do as might be with rome , pope gregory the fifteenth , who died a little after , sent his majesty a letter , which was delivered by the nuncio , wherof an answer was sent a while after : which letters were imprinted and exposed to the view of the world , because his mijesty would not have peeple whisper , that the busines was carried in a clandestine manner . and truely besides this , i do not know of any letter , or message , or complement , that ever pass'd 'twixt his majesty and the pope , afore or after ; som addresses peradventure might be made to the cardinals , to whom the drawing of those matrimonial dispatches was referred , to quicken the work ; but this was onely by way of civil negotiation . now touching that responsory letter from his majesty , it was no other then a complement in the severest interpretation , and such formalities passe 'twixt the crown of england , and the great turk , and divers heathen princes . the pope writ first , and no man can deny , but by all moral rules , and in common humane civility . his majesty was , bound to answer it , specially considering how punctual they are in those countries to correspond in this kind , how exact they are in repairing visits , and the performance of such ceremonies : and had this compliance bin omitted , it might have made very ill impressions , as the posture of things stood then ; for it had prejudiced the great work in hand , i mean , the match , which was then in the heat and height of agitation : his majesties person was there engag'd , and so it was no time to give the least offence . they that are never so little vers'd in busines abroad , do know that ther must be addresses , compliances , and formalities of this nature ( according to the italian proverb , that one must somtimes light a candle to the devil ) us'd in the carriage of matters of state , as this great busines was , wheron the eyes of all christendom were so greedily fix'd : a busines which was like to bring with it such an universall good , as the restitution of the palatinate , the quenching of those hideous fires in germany , and the establishing of a peace through all the christian world . i hope none will take offence , that in this particular which comes within the compas of my knowledg , being upon the stage when this scene was acted , i do this right to the king my master , in displaying the truth , and putting her forth in her own colours , a rare thing in these dayes . touching the vocal forest , an allegorical discourse , that goes abroad under my name , a good while before the beginning of this parlement , which this gentleman cites ( and that very faithfully ) i understand there be som that mutter at certain passages therin , by putting ill glosses upon the text , and taking with the left hand what i offer with the right : ( nor is it a wonder for trees which lie open , and stand exposed to all weathers , to be nipt ) but i desire this favour , which in common justice , i am sure in the court of chancery , cannot be denied me , it being the priviledg of evry author , and a received maxime through the world , cujus est condere , ejus est interpretari ; i say , i crave this favour , to have leave to expound my own text , and i doubt not then but to rectifie any one in his opinion of me , and that in lieu of the plums which i give him from those trees , he will not throw the stones at me . moreover , i desire those that are over critical censurers of that peece , to know , that as in divinity it is a rule , scriptura parabolica non est argumentativa ; so it is in all other kind of knowledg . parables ( wherof that discourse is composed ) though pressed never so hard , prove nothing . ther is another rule also , that parables must be gently used , like a nurses brest ; which if you presse too hard , you shall have blood in stead of milk . but as the author of the vocal forest thinks he hath done , neither his countrey , nor the common-wealth of learning any prejudice thereby ; ( that maiden fancy having received so good entertainment and respect abroad , as to be translated into divers languages , and to gain the public approbation of som famous universities . ) so he makes this humble protest unto all the world , that though the designe of that discourse was partly satyrical ( which peradventure induc'd the author to shrowd it of purpose under the shadows of trees ; and wher should satyres be , but amongst trees ? ) yet it never entred into his imagination to let fall from him the least thing that might give any offence to the high and honourable court of parlement , wherof he had the honor to be once a member , and hopes he may be thought worthy again : and were he guilty of such an offence , or piacle rather , he thinks he should never forgive himself , though he were appointed his own judge . if ther occur any passage therin , that may admit a hard construction , let the reader observe , that the author doth not positively assert , or passe a judgment on any thing in that discourse which consists principally of concise , cursory narrations of the choisest occurrences and criticisms of state , according as the pulse of time did beat then : and matters of state , as all other sublunary things , are subject to alterations , contingencies and change , which makes the opinions and minds of men vary accordingly ; not one amongst twenty is the same man to day as he was four yeers ago , in point of judgment , which turns and alters according to the circumstance and successe of things : and it is a true saving , wherof we find common experience , posterior dies est prioris magister . the day following is the former dayes schoolmaster . ther 's another aphorism , the wisdom of one day is soolishnes to another , and 't will be so as long as ther is a man left in the world . i will conclude with this modest request to that gentleman of the long robe ; that having unpassionately perus'd what i have written in this small discourse , in penning wherof my conscience guided my quill all along as well as my hand , he would please to be so charitable and just , as to revers that harsh sentence upon me , to be no frend to parlements , and a malignant . finis . the pre-eminance and pedigree of parlement whereunto is added a vindication of some passages reflecting upon the author in a book call'd the popish royall favorite, pen'd and published by mr. prynne wherein he stiles him no frend [sic] to parlements and a malignant, pag. 42 : with a clearing of som occurences in spain at his majesties being there, cited by the said master prynne out of the vocal forest / by j.h., esq., one of the clerks of his maiesties most honourable privy-councel. howell, james, 1594?-1666. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a44747 of text r28696 in the english short title catalog (wing h3107). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 38 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 12 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a44747 wing h3107 estc r28696 10741374 ocm 10741374 45605 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a44747) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 45605) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1405:2) the pre-eminance and pedigree of parlement whereunto is added a vindication of some passages reflecting upon the author in a book call'd the popish royall favorite, pen'd and published by mr. prynne wherein he stiles him no frend [sic] to parlements and a malignant, pag. 42 : with a clearing of som occurences in spain at his majesties being there, cited by the said master prynne out of the vocal forest / by j.h., esq., one of the clerks of his maiesties most honourable privy-councel. howell, james, 1594?-1666. prynne, william, 1600-1669. popish royall favourite. 23 p. : port. printed by w.w. for humphrey moseley, london : 1649. also appears as part of dendrologia (wing h3061) at reel 636:5. reproduction of original in the harvard university library. eng england and wales. -parliament. great britain -history -charles i, 1625-1649 -biography. a44747 r28696 (wing h3107). civilwar no the pre-eminence and pedigree of parlement whereunto is added a vindication of some passages reflecting upon the author in a book call'd the howell, james 1649 6862 13 5 0 0 0 0 26 c the rate of 26 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-12 mona logarbo and john latta sampled and proofread 2004-12 mona logarbo and john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-01 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion natus maij 29. ano 1630. aetatis suae 19. the pre-eminence and pedigree of parlement . wherunto is added a vindication of some passages reflecting upon the author , in a booke call'd the popish royall favorite , pen'd and published by mr. prynne ; wherein he stiles him , no frend to parlements , and a malignant , pag. 42. with a clearing of som occurrences in spain at his maiesties being there , cited by the said master prynne out of the vocal forest . by j. h. esq one of the clerks of his maiesties most honorable privy-councel . published by speciall order . london printed by w. w. for humphrey moseley , 1649. to my worthily honored frend , sir w. s. knight . sir , i have many thanks to give you for the book you pleased to send me , called the popish royall favorite ; and according to your advice ( which i value in a high degree ) i put pen to paper , and some thing you may see i have don ( though in a poor pamphleting way ) to clear my self of those aspersions that are cast upon me therin . but truly sir , i was never so unfit for such a task ; al my papers , manuscripts , and notes , having been long since seized upon and kept from me . add hereunto , that besides this long pressure and languishment of twenty three moneths close restraint ( the sense whereof , i find hath much stupified my spirits ) it pleased god to visit me lately with a dangerous fit of sicknes , a high burning fever , with the new disease , wherof my body as well as my mind , is yet somwhat crazy : so that ( take all afflictions together ) i may truly say , i have passed the ordeal , the fiery tryal . but it hath pleased god to reprieve me to see better days i hope ; for out of this fatal black cloud , which now oresets this poor island , i hope ther will break a glorious sun-shine of peace and firm happines : to effect which , had i a jury , a grand-jury of lives , i would sacrifice them all , and triumph in the oblation . so i most affectionately kisse your hands , and rest from the prison of the fleet . your faithful ( though afflicted ) servant , j. h. the pre-eminence of parlement . sectio prima . i am a free-born subject of the realm of england ; wherby i claim as my native inheritance , an undoubted right , propriety , and portion in the laws of the land : and this distinguisheth me from a slave . i claim also an interest and common right in the high national court of parlement , and in the power , the priviledges and jurisdiction therof , which i put in equal ballance with the laws , in regard it is the fountain whence they spring : and this i hold also to be a principal part of my birth-right ; which great councel i honour , respect , value , and love in as high a degree as can be ; as being the bulwark of our liberties , the main boundary and bank which keep us from slavery , from the inundations of tyrannical rule , and unbounded wil-government . and i hold my self obliged in a tye of indispensable obedience to conform and submit my self to whatsoever shall be transacted , concluded , and constituted by its authority in church or state ; whether it be by making , enlarging , altering , diminishing , disanulling , repealing , or reviving of any law , statute , act , or ordinance whatsoever , either touching matters ecclesiasticall , civil , common , capital , criminal , martial , maritine , municipal , or any other ; of all which , the transcendent and uncontrolable jurisdiction of that court is capable to take cognizance . amongst the three things which the athenian captain thank'd the gods for , one was , that he was born a grecian , and not a barbarian . for such was the vanity of the greeks , and after them of the romans , in the flourish of their monarchy , to arrogate all civility to themselves , and to term all the world besides barbarians : so i may say to have cause to rejoyce , that i was born a vassall to the crown of england ; that i was born under so well moulded and tempered a government , which indows the subject with such liberties and infranchisements that bear up his natural courage , and keep him still in heart ; such liberties that fence and secure him eternally from the gripes and tallons of tyranny : and all this may be imputed to the authority and wisdom of this high court of parlement , wherin ther is such a rare co ordination of power ( though the soverainty remaine still entire , and untransferable in the person of the prince ) ther is , i say , such a wholsom mixture 'twixt monarchy , optimacy , and democracy ; 'twixt prince , peers , and communalty , during the time of consultation , that of so many distinct parts , by a rare co-operation and unanimity , they make but one body politic , ( like that sheaf of arrows in the emblem ) one entire concentrical peece ; and the results of their deliberations , but as so many harmonious diapasons arising from different strings . and what greater immunity and happines can ther be to a people , than to be liable to no laws but what they make themselves ? to be subject to no contribution , assessement , or any pecuniary levy whatsoever , but what they vote , and voluntarily yeeld unto themselves ? for in this compacted politic body , ther be all degrees of people represented ; both the mechanick , tradesman , merchant , and yeoman , have their inclusive vote , as well as the gentry , in the persons of their trustees , their knights and burgesses , in passing of all things . nor is this soverain surintendent councell an epitome of this kingdom onely , but it may be said to have a representation of the whole universe ; as i heard a fluent well-worded knight deliver the last parlement , who compared the beautifull composure of that high court , to the great vvorke of god , the world it self : the king to the sun , the nobles to the fixed stars , the itinerant judges and other officers ( that go upon messages ' twixt both houses ) to the panets ; the clergy to the element of fire ; the commons , to the solid body of earth , and the rest of the elements . and to pursue this comparison a little farther ; as the heavenly bodies , when three of them meet in conjunction , do use to produce som admirable effects in the elementary world : so when these three states convene and assemble in one solemn great junto , some notable and extraordinary things are brought forth , tending to the welfare of the whole kingdom , our microcosm . he that is never so little versed in the annales of this isle , will find that it hath bin her fate to be sour times conquered . i exclude the scot ; for the situation of his countrey , and the quality of the clime hath bin such an advantage and security to him , that neither the roman eagles would fly thither , for fear of freezing their wings ; nor any other nation attempt the work . these so many conquests must needs bring with them many tumblings and tossings , many disturbances and changes in government ; yet i have observed , that notwithstanding these tumblings , it retained still the form of a monarchy , and somthing ther was alwaies that had an analogy with the great assembly the parlement . the first conquest i find was made by claudius caesar ; at which time ( as som well observe ) the roman ensigns and the standard of christ came in together . it is well known what laws the roman had ; he had his comitia , which bore a resemblance with our convention in parlement ; the place of their meetings was called praetorium , and the laws which they enacted , plebiscita . the saxon conquest succeeded next , which were the english , ther being no name in welsh or irish for an englishman , but saxon , to this day . they governed by parlement , though it were under other names ; as michel sinoth , michel gemote , and witenage mote . ther are records above a thousand yeers old , of these parlements , in the raigns of king ina , offa , ethelbert , and the rest of the seven kings during the heptarchy . the british kings also , who retain'd a great while som part of the isle unconquered , governed and made laws by a kind of parlementary way ; witness the famous laws of prince howel , called howel dha , ( the good prince howel ) wherof ther are yet extant som welsh records . parlements were also used after the heptarchy by king kenulphus , alphred , and others ; witness that renowned parlement held at grately by king athelstan . the third conquest was by the danes , and they govern'd also by such general assemblies , ( as they do to this day ) witness that great and so much celebrated parlement held by that mighty monarch canutus , who was king of england , denmark , norway , and other regions 150 yeers before the compiling of magna charta ; and this the learned in the laws do hold to be one of the specialest , and most authentic peeces of antiquity we have extant . edward the confessor made all his laws thus , ( and he was a great legis-lator ) which the norman conquerour ( who liking none of his sons , made god almighty his heir , bequeathing unto him this island for a legacy ) did ratifie and establish , and digested them into one entire methodical systeme , which being violated by rufus , ( who came to such a disastrous end , as to be shot to death in lieu of a buck for his sacriledges ) were restor'd by henry the first , and so they continued in force till king john , whose raign is renowned for first confirming magna charta , the foundation of our liberties ever since : which may be compar'd to divers outlandish graffs set upon one english stock , or to a posie of sundry fragrant flowers ; for the choisest of the british , the roman , saxon , danish , and norman laws , being cull'd and pick'd out , and gathered as it were into one bundle , out of them the foresaid grand charter was extracted : and the establishment of this great charter was the work of a parlement . nor are the laws of this island onely , and the freedom of the subject conserved by parlement , but al the best policed countryes of europ have the like . the germanes have their diets , the danes and swedes the riicks dachs ; the spaniard calls his parlement las cortes , and the french have ( or should have at least ) their assembly of three states , though it be grown now in a manner obsolete , because the authority therof was ( by accident ) devolv'd to the king and very remarkable it is , how this hapned ; forwhen the english had taken such large sooting in most parts of france , having advanced as far as orleans , and driven their then king charls the seventh to bourges in berry : the assembly of the three states in these pressures , being not able to meet after the usual manner in full parlement , because the country was unpassable the enemy having made such firm invasions up and down through the very bowels of the kingdom ; that power which formerly was inherent in the parlementary assembly , of making laws , of assessing the subject with taxes , subsidiary levies , and other impositions , was transmitted to the king during the vvar ; which continuing many yeers , that intrusted power by length of time grew as it were habitual in him , and could never after be re-assumed and taken from him ; so that ever since , his edicts countervail acts of parlement . and that which made the busines more seasable for the king , was , that the burthen fell most upon the communalty ( the clergy and nobility not feeling the weight of it ) who were willing to see the peasan pull'd down a little , because not many yeers before in that notable rebellion , call'd la iaquerie de beauvoisin , which was suppressed by charls the wise , the common people put themselves boldly in arms against the nobility and gentry , to lessen their power . add hereunto as an advantage to the work , that the next succeeding king lewis the eleventh , was a close cunning prince , and could well tell how to play his game , and draw water to his owne mill ; for amongst all the rest , he was said to be the first that put the kings of france , hors de page , out of their minority , or from being pages any more , though therby he brought the poor peasans to be worse than lacquays . vvith the fall , or at least the discontinuance , of that usuall parlementary assembly of the three states , the liberty of the french nation utterly fell ; the poor roturier and vineyard-man , with the rest of the yeomanry , being reduced ever since to such an abject asinin condition , that they serve but as sponges for the king to squeeze when he list . nevertheles , as that king hath an advantage hereby one way , to monarchize more absolutely , and never to want money , but to ballast his purse when he will : so ther is another mighty inconvenience ariseth to him and his whole kingdom another way ; for this illegal peeling of the poor peasan hath so dejected him , and cowed his native courage so much by the sense of poverty ( which brings along with it a narrownes of soul ) that he is little useful for the vvar : which puts the french king to make other nations mercenary to him , to fill up his infantry : insomuch , that the kingdom of france may be not unfitly compared to a body that hath all its blood drawn up into the arms , brest and back , and scarce any left from the girdle downwards , to cherish and bear up the lower parts , and keep them from starving . all this seriously considered , ther cannot be a more proper and pregnant example than this of our next neighbours , to prove how infinitely necessary the parlement is , to assert , to prop up , and preserve the public liberty , and national rights of a people , with the incolumity and welfare of a countrey . nor doth the subject onely reap benefit thus by parlement , but the prince ( if it be well consider'd ) hath equall advantage therby ; it rendreth him a king of free and able men , which is far more glorious than to be a king of slaves , beggers , and bankrupts men that by their freedom , and competency of 〈◊〉 are kept still in heart to doe him service against any forrain force . and it is a true maxim in all states , that 't is lesse danger and dishonour for the prince to be poor , than his people : rich subjects can make their king rich when they please ; if he gaine their hearts , he will quickly get their purses : parlement encreaseth love and good intelligence ' twixt him and his people ; it acquaints him with the reality of things , and with the true state and diseases of his kingdome ; it brings him to the knowledg of his better sort of subjects , and of their abilities , which he may employ accordingly upon all occasions ; it provides for his royall issue , payes his debts , finds means to fill his coffers : and it is no ill observation , the parlementary-moneys ( the great aid ) have prospered best with the kings of england ; it exceedingly raiseth his repute abroad , and enableth him to keep his foes in feare , his subjects in awe , his neighbours and confederates in security , the three main things which go to aggrandize a prince , and render him glorious . in sum , it is the parlement that supports , and bears up the honour of his crown , and settles his throne in safety , which is the chief end of all their consultations ; for whosoever is intrusted to be a member of this high court , carrieth with him a double capacity ; he fits there as a patriot , and as a subject : as he is the one , the countrey is his object , his duty being to vindicate the publike liberty , to make wholsom laws , to put his hand to the pump , and stop the leaks of the great vessell of the state : to pry into and punish corruption and oppression , to improve and advance trade , to have the grievances of the place he serves for redressed , and cast about how to find somthing that may tend to the advantage of it . but he must not forget that he sits ther also as a s●●●●ct , and according to that capacity , he must apply himse●● to do his soveraigns busines , to provide not onely ●●r his publike , but his personal wants ; to bear up the lustre and glory of his court ; to consider what occasions of extraordinary expences he may have , by encrease of royall issue , or maintenance of any of them abroad ; to enable him to vindicate any affront or indignity that might be offered to his person , crown , or dignity , by any forrain state or kingdom ; to consult what may enlarge his honour , contentment and pleasure . and as the french tacitus ( comines ) hath it , the english nation was used to be more forward and zealous in this particular than any other , according to that ancient eloquent speech of a great lawyers , domus regis vigilia defendit omnium , otium illius labor omnium , deliciae illius industria omnium , vacatio illius occupatio omnium ▪ salus illius periculum omnium , honor illius objectum omnium . every one should stand centinell to defend the kings houses , his safety should be the danger of all , his pleasures the industry of all , his ease should be the labour of all , his honour the object of all . out of these premisses this conclusion may be easily deduced , that , the principal founntain whence the king derives his happines and safety , is his parlement : it is that great conduit-pipe which conveighs unto him his peoples bounty and gratitude ; the truest looking-glasse wherein he discerns their loves ; now the subjects love hath bin alwayes accounted the prime cittadel of a prince . in his parlement he appears as the sun in the meridian , in the altitude of his glory , in his highest state royal , as the law tels us . therfore whosoever is avers or disaffected to this soveraign law making court , cannot have his heart well planted within him : he can be neither good subject , nor good patriot ; and therfore unworthy to breathe english air , or have any benefit , advantage , or protection from the laws . sectio secunda . by that which hath been spoken , which is the language of my heart , i hope no indifferent judicious reader will doubt of the cordiall affection , of the high respects and due reverence i bear to parlement , as being the wholsomest constitution ( and done by the highest and happiest reach of policy ) that ever was established in this island , to perpetuate the happines therof : therfore i must tell that gentleman who was author of a book entituled the popish royall favorite , ( lately printed and exposed to the world ) that he offers me very hard measure ; nay , he doth me apparent wrong , to tearm me therin no frend to parlement , and a malignant ; a character , which as i deserve it not , so i disdain it . for the first part of his charge , i would have him know , that i am as much a frend , and as real an affectionate humble servant & votary to the parlement , as possibly he can be , and will live and die with these affections about me : and i could wish , that he were secretary of my thoughts a while ; or if i may take the boldnes to apply that comparison his late majestie used in a famous speech to one of his parlements , i could wish ther were a crystall vvindow in my brest , through which the world might espie the inward motions and palpitations of my heart ; then would he be certified of the sincerity of this protestation . for the second part of his charge , to be a malignant , i must confesse to have som malignity that lurks within me , much against my will , but it is no malignity of mind , it is amongst the humours , not in my intellectuals . and i beleeve , there is no naturall man , let him have his humours never so well ballanced , but hath som of this malignity reigning within him ; for as long as we are composed of the four elements , whence these humours are derived , and with whom they symbolize in qualities ; which elements the philosophers hold to be in a restlesse contention amongst themselves ( and the stoick thought that the world subsisted by this innate mutuall strife ) as long , i say , as the four humours , in imitation of their principles ( the elements ) are in perpetuall reluctancy and combate for praedominancy , ther must be some malignity lodg'd within us , as adusted choler , and the like ; whereof i had late experience in a dangerous fit of sicknes it pleased god to lay upon me , which the physitians told me proceeded from the malignant hypocondriacal effects of melancholy ; having been so long in this saturnine black condition of close imprisonment , and buried a live between the vvals of this fatal fleet . these kinds of malignities , i confes are very rife in me , and they are not onely incident , but connaturall to every man according to his complexion : and were it not for this incessant strugling and enmity amongst the humours for mastery , which produceth such malignant effects in us , our souls would be loth ever to depart from our bodies , or to abandon this mansion of clay . now what malignity my accuser means , i know not ; if he means malignity of spirit , as som antipathy or ill impression upon the mind , arising from disaffection , hatred , or rancor , with a desire of some destructive revenge , he is mightily deceiv'd in me ; i malign or hate no creature that ever god made , but the devill , who is the author of all malignity ; and therfore is most commonly called in french le malin asprit the malignant spirit . every night before i go to bed , i have the grace , i thank god for it , to forgive all the world , and not to harbour , or let roost in my bosom the least malignant thought ; yet none can deny , but the aspersions which this my accuser casts upon me , were enough to make me a malignant towards him ; yet it could never have the power to do it : for i have prevail'd with my self to forgive him this his wrong censure of me , issuing rather from his not-knowledg of me , than from malice ; for we never mingled speech , or saw one another in our lives , to my remembrance : which makes me wonder the more , that a professor of the law , as he is , should pronounce such a positive sentence against me so slightly . but me thinks i over-hear him say , that the precedent discourse of parlement is involv'd in generals , and the topique axiom tels us , that dolus versatur in universalibus , ther is double dealing in universals : his meaning is , that i am no friend to this present parlement ( though he speaks in the plural number parlements ) and consequently , he concludes me a malignant . therin , i must tell him also , that i am traduc'd , and i am confident it will be never prov'd against me , from any actions , words , or letters ( though divers of mine have bin intercepted ) or any other misdemeanor , though som things are father'd upon me which never drop'd from my quill . alas , how unworthy and uncapable am i to censure the proceedings of that great senate , that high synedrion , wherin the wisdom of the whole state is epitomized ? it were a presumption in me , of the highest nature that could be : it is enough for me to pray for the prosperous success of their consultations : and as i hold it my duty , so i have good reason so to do , in regard i am to have my share in the happines ; and could the utmost of my poor endeavours , by any ministerial humble office ( and somtimes the meanest boatswain may help to preserve the ship from sinking ) be so happy , as to contribute any thing to advance that great work ( which i am in despair to do , while i am thus under hatches in this fleet ) i would esteem it the greatest honour that possibly could befall me , as i hold it now to be my greatest disaster , to have faln so heavily under an affliction of this nature , and to be made a sacrifice to publike fame , than which ther is no other proof , nor that yet urg'd against me , or any thing else produc'd after so long , so long captivity , which hath brought me to such a low ebbe , and put me so far behind in the course of my poor fortunes , and indeed more than half undon me . for although my whole life ( since i was left to my self to swim , as they say , without bladders ) has bin nothing else but a continued succession of crosses , and that ther are but few red letters found ( god wot ) in the almanack of my age , ( for which i account not my self a whit the lesse happy ; ) yet this cross has carried with it a greater weight ; it hath bin of a larger extent , longer continuance , and lighted heavier upon me than any other ; and as i have present patience to bear it , so i hope for subsequent grace to make use of it accordingly , that my old motto may be still confirmed , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . he produceth my attestation for som passages in spain , at his majesties being ther , and he quotes me aright , which obligeth me to him : and i hope all his quotations , wherin he is so extraordinarily copious and elaborate in all his works , are so ; yet i must tell him , that those interchangeable letters which passed between his majesty and the pope , which were originally couch'd in latine , the language wherin all nations treat with rome , and the empire with all the princes thereof ; those letters , i say , are adulterated in many places , which i impute not to him , but to the french chroniclen , from whom he took them in trust . the truth of that busines is this : the world knows ther was a tedious treaty of an alliance 'twixt the infanta dona maria ( who now is empresse ) and his majesty , which in regard of the slow affected pace of the spaniard , lasted about ten yeers , as that in henry the sevenths time , 'twixt prince arthur and ( afterwards ) queen katherine , was spun out above seven : to quicken , or rather to consummate the work , his majesty made that adventurous journey through the whole continent of france into spain ; which voyage , though ther was a great deal of gallantry in it ( whereof all posterity will ring , untill it turn at last to a romance ) yet it prov'd the bane of the busines , which 't is not the arrand of so poor a pamphlet as this to unfold . his majesty being ther arriv'd , the ignorant common people cryed out , the prince of wales came thither to make himself a christian . the pope writ to the inquisitor general , and others , to use all industry they could to reduce him to the roman religion ; and one of olivares first complements to him , was , that he doubted not but that his highnes came thither to change his religion : wherunto he made a short answer , that he came not thither for a religion , but for a wife . ther were extraordinay processions made , and other artifices us'd by protraction of things to make him stay ther of purpose till the spring folllowing , to work upon him the better : and the infanta her self desir'd him ( which was esteem'd the greatest favour he received from her all the while ) to visit the nun of carion ; hoping that the said nun , who was so much cryed up for miracles , might have wrought one upon him ; but her art failed her , nor was his highnesse so weak a subject to worke upon , according to his late majesties speech to doctor mawe and wren , who when they came to kisse his hands , before they went to spain to attend the prince their master , he wished them to have a care of buckingham ; as touching his son charls , he apprehended no fear at all of him ; for he knew him to be so well grounded a protestant , that nothing could shake him in his religion . the arabian proverb is , that the sun never soiles in his passage , though his beams reverberate never so strongly , and dwell never so long upon the myry lake of maeotis , the black turf'd moors of holland , the aguish woose of kent and essex , or any other place , be it never so dirty . though spain be a hot country , yet one may passe and repasse through the very center of it , and never be sun-burnt , if he carry with him a bongrace , and such a one his majesty had . well , after his majesties arrival to madrid , the treaty of marriage went on still , ( though hee told them at his first coming , that he came not thither like an ambassadour , to treat of marriage ; but as a prince , to fetch home a wife ; ) and in regard they were of different religions , it could not be done without a dispensation from the pope , and the pope would grant none , unlesse some capitulations were stipulated in favour of the romish catholics in england , ( the same in substance were agreed on with france . well , when the dispensation came , which was negotiated solely by the king of spains ministers ; because his majesty would have as little to do as might be with rome , pope gregory the fifteenth , who died a little after , sent his majesty a letter , which was delivered by the nuncio , wherof an answer was sent a while after : which letters were imprinted and exposed to the view of the world , because his majesty would not have people whisper , that the busines was carried in a clandestine manner . and truly besides this , i do not know of any letter , or message , or complement , that ever pass'd 'twixt his majesty and the pope , afore or after ; som addresses peradventure might be made to the cardinals , to whom the drawing of those matrimonial dispatches was referred , to quicken the work ; but this was only by way of civil negotiation . now touching that responsory letter from his majesty , it was not other than a complement in the severest interpretation , and such formalities pass 'twixt the crown of england , and the great turk , and divers heathen princes . the pope writ first , and no man can deny , but by all moral rules , and in common humane civility his majesty was bound to answer it , specially considering how punctual they are in those countries to correspond in this kind , how exact they are in repaying visits , and the performance of such ceremonies : and had this compliance bin omitted , it might have made very ill impressions , as the posture of things stood then ; for it had prejudiced the great work in hand , i mean , the match , which was then in the heat and hight of agitation : his majesties person was ther engag'd , and so it was no time to give the least offence . they that are never so little vers'd in business abroad , do know that ther must be addresses , compliances , and formalities of this nature ( according to the italian proverb , that one must somtimes light a candle to the devil ) us'd in the carriage of matters of state , as this great business was , wheron the eyes of all christendom were so greedily fix'd : a business which was like to bring with it such an universall good , as the restitution of the palatinate , the quenching of those hideous fiers in germany , and the establishing of a peace through all the christian world . i hope none will take offence , that in this particular which comes within the compas of my knowledg , being upon the stage when this scene was acted , i do this right to the king my master , in displaying the truth , and putting her forth in her own colours , a rare thing in these dayes . touching the vocal forest , an allegorical discourse , that goes abroad under my name , a good while before the beginning of this parlement , which this gentleman cites ( and that very faithfully ) i understand ther be som that mutter at certain passages therin , by putting ill glosses upon the text , and taking with the left hand what i offer with the right : ( nor is it a wonder for trees which lye open , and stand exposed to all weathers , to be nipt ) but i desire this favour , which in common justice , i am sure in the court of chancery , cannot be denied me , it being the priviledg of evry author , and a received maxim through the world , cujus est condere , ejus est interpretari ; i say , i crave this favour , to have leave to expound my own text , and i doubt not then but to rectifie any one in his opinion of me , and that in lieu of the plums which i give him from those trees , he will not throw the stones at me . moreover , i desire those that are over critical censurers of that peece , to know , that as in divinity it is a rule , scriptura parabolica non est argumentativa ; so it is in all other kind of knowledg , parables ( wherof that discourse is composed ) though pressed never so hard , prove nothi●g . ther is another rule also , that parables must be gently used , like a nurses brest ; which if you press too hard , you shall have bloud in stead of milk . but as the author of the vocal forest thinks he hath done , neither his countrey , nor the common-wealth of learning any prejudice therby ; ( that maiden fancy having received so good entertainment and respect abroad , as to bee translated into divers languages , and to gain the public approbation of som famous universities . ) so hee makes this humble protest unto all the world , that though the design of that discourse was partly satyrical ( which peradventure induc'd the author to shrowd it of purpose under the shadows of trees ; and wher should satyres be , but amongst trees ? ) yet it never entred into his imagination to let fall from him the least thing that might give any offence to the high and honorable court of parlement , wherof he had the honor to be once a member , and hopes he may be thought worthy again : and were he guilty of such an offence , or piacle rather , he thinks he should never forgive himself , though he were appointed his own judge . if ther occur any passage therin , that may admit a hard construction , let the reader observe , that the author doth not positively assert , or passe a judgement on any thing in that discourse which consists principally of concise , cursory narrations of the choisest occurrences and criticisms of state , according as the pulse of time did beat then : and matters of state , as al● other sublunary things , are subject to alterations , contingencies and change , which makes the opinions an● minds of men vary accordingly ; not one among● twenty is the same man to day as he was four yeer● ago , in point of judgement , which turns and alter● according to the circumstance and successe of things ▪ and it is a true saying , whereof we find common experience , posterior dies est prioris magister . the da● following is the former dayes schoolmaster . then another aphorism , the wisdome of one day is foolis●nes to another , and 't will be so as long as ther is man left in the world . i will conclude with this modest request to that gentleman of the long robe ; that having unpassionately perus'd what i have written in this small discourse , in penning wherof my conscience guided my quill all along as well as my hand , he would please to be so charitable and just , as to reverse that harsh sentence upon me , to be no frend to parlements , and a malignant . finis . a winter dreame. howell, james, 1594?-1666. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a86641 of text r205786 in the english short title catalog (thomason e472_16). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 43 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 12 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a86641 wing h3129 thomason e472_16 estc r205786 99865063 99865063 117298 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a86641) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 117298) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 75:e472[16]) a winter dreame. howell, james, 1594?-1666. [2], 20, [2] p. [s.n.], [london] : printed anno domini quando rex anglorum vecti victitabat captivus 1649. [1648] attributed to james howell. place of publication from wing. the imprint includes a chronogram which gives the date as 1649. with a final blank leaf. annotation on thomason copy: "nouemb: 26. 1648". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng great britain -history -civil war, 1642-1649 -fiction -early works to 1800. a86641 r205786 (thomason e472_16). civilwar no a winter dreame.: howell, james 1648 8066 10 0 0 0 0 0 12 c the rate of 12 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-05 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-06 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2007-06 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a winter dreame . quae me suspensum insomnia terrent ? virg. saepe futurarum praesagia somnia rerum . emblems of england, scotland and wales printed anno domini quando rex anglorum vecti victitabat captivus , 1649. the printer to the reader . because the interpretation of this dream may be obvious to all pacities , i have presumed , with the authors leave , to prefix here the names of those countreys he hints at . 1. the states of holland . 2. high germany . 3. the kingdom of naples . 4. the republic of venice . 5. the kingdoms of spain . 6. the kingdom of france . 7. the kingdoms of england , and the confusions thereof by way of apolog. 8. the scots . a winter dream . it was in the dead of a long winter night , when no eyes were open but watchmen , and centinell's , that i was fallen soundly asleep , the cinq out-ports were shut up closer then usually , and my sences so treble lock'd , that the moon , had she descended from her watry orb , might have don much more to me then she did to endymion when he lay snoaring upon the brow of latmus hill ; nay , ( be it spoken without prophanenesse ) if a rib had bin taken out of me that night , to have made a new model of a woman , i shold hardly have felt it . yet , though the cousin-german of death had so strongly seiz'd thus upon the exterior parts of this poore tabernacle of flesh , my inward were never more actif , and fuller of employments then they were that night . pictus imaginibus , formisque fugacibus adstat morpheus , & variis fingit nova vultibus ora . me thought my soul made a sallie abroad into the world , and fetch'd a vast compas ; she seem'd to soar up and slice the air , to crosse seas , clammer up huge hills , and never rested till she had arriv'd at the antipodes : now som of the most judicious geometricians and chorographers hold , that the whole masse of the earth being round like the rest of her fellow elements , ther be places , and poizing parts of the continent , there be peninsulas , promontories and ilands upon the other face of the earth that correspond and concenter with all those regions and iles that are upon this superficies which we tread ; countries that symbolize with them in qualities , in temperature of air and clime , as well as in nature of soile ; the inhabitants also of those places which are so perpendicularly opposit , do sympathize one with another in disposition , complexions and humors , though the astronomers wold have their east to be our west , and so all things vice versa in point of position , which division of the heaven is only mans institution . but to give an account of the strange progres my soule made that night ; the first country she lighted on was a very low flat countrey , and it was such an odd amphibious countrey , being so indented up and down with rivers and armes of the sea , that i made a question whither i shold call it water or land ; yet though the sea be invited and usher'd in into som places , he is churlistly pen'd out in som other : so that though he foam and swell , and appeer as high walls hard by , yet they keep him out , maugre all his roaring and swelling . as i wandred up and down in this watry region , i might behold from a streight long dike whereon i stood , a strange kind of forrest , for the trees mov'd up and down ; they look'd afar off as if they had bin blasted by thunder ; for they had no leafs at all ; but making a neerer approach unto them , i found they were a nomberlesse company of ship masts , and before them appeer'd a great town incorporated up and down with water ; as i mus'd with my self upon the sight of all this , i concluded , that the inhabitants of that countrey were notable industrious peeple , who could give law so to the angry ocean , and occupie those places where the great leviathan should tumble and take his pastime in ; as my thought ran thus , i met with a man , whom i conjectur'd to be 'twixt a marchant and a mariner , his salutation was so homely ; the air also was so foggie that me thought it stuck like cobbwebs in his mustachos ; & he was so dull in point of motion , as if his veines had bin filld with buttermilk in lieu of blood : i began to mingle words with him , and to expostulate somthing about that countrey and peeple ; and then i found a great deal of downright civilities in him : he told me that they were the only men who did miracles of late yeers ; those innumerable piles of stones you see before you in such comely neat fabriques , is a place ( said he ) that from a fish market in effect is com to be one of the greatest marts in this part of the world , which hath made her swell thrice bigger then she was 50. yeers ago ; and as you behold this floating forrest of masts before her mole , so if you could see the foundations of her houses , you shold see another great forrest , being rear'd from under ground upon fair piles of timber , which if they chance to sink in this marshy soyl , we have an art to scrue them up again . we have for 70. yeers and above without any intermission , except a short-liv'd truce that once was made , wrastled with one of the greatest potentates upon earth , and born up stoutly against him , gramercy our two next neighbour kings , and their reason of state , with the advantage of our situation . we have fought our selfs into a free state , and now quite out of that ancient alleageance we ow'd him ; and though we pay 20. times more in taxes of all sorts then we did to him , yet we are contented : we have turn'd war into a trade , and that which useth to beggar others , hath benefited us : besides , we have bin and are still the rendevous of most discontented subjects , when by the motions of unquiet consciences in points of religion , or by the fury of the sword , they are forc'd to quit their own countreys , who bring their arts of manufacture , and moveables , hither ; in so much that our lombards are full of their goods , and our banks superabound with their gold and silver which they bring hither in specie . to secure our selfs , and cut the enemy more work , and to engage our confiderats in a war with him , we have kindled fires in evry corner ; and now that they are together by the eares , we have bin content lately , being long woo'd thereunto , to make a peace with that king to whom we once acknowledged vassalage ; which king out of a height of spirit , hath spent 500. times more upon us for our reduction , then all our countrey is worth ; but now he hath bin well contented to renounce and abjure all claimes and rights of soverainty over us ; in so much , that being now without an enemy , we hope in a short time to be masters of all the comerce in this part of the world , and to eat our neighbours out of trade in their own comodities : we fear nothing but that exces of wealth , and a surfet of ease may make us careles and breed quarrells among our selfs , and that our generall , being married to a great kings daughter , may — here he suddenly broke the threed of his discourse , and got hastily away , being hal'd by a ship that was sailing hard by . hereupon my soul took wing again , and cut her way through that foggy condens'd aire , till she lighted on a fair , spacious , cleare continent , a generous and rich soile mantled up and downe with large woods , where , as i rang'd to and fro , i might see divers faire houses , townes , palaces and castles , looking like so many carkases , for no humane soule appear'd in them ; me thought i felt my heart melting within me in a soft resentment of the case of so gallant a countrey , and as i stood at amaze , and in a kind of astonishment , a goodly personage makes towards me , whom both for his comportment , and countenance , i perceiv'd to be of a finer mould then that companion i had met withall before : by the trace of his looks i guessed he might be som nobleman that had bin ruin'd by som disaster : having acosted him with a fitting distance , he began in a masculin strong winded language full of aspirations and tough collision of consonants , to tell me as followeth : sir , i find you are a stranger in this countrey , because you stand so agast at the devastations of such a fair piece of the continent , then know sir , because i beleeve you are curious to carry away with you the causes thereof , that these ruthfull objects which you behold , are the effects of a long lingring war , and of the fury of the sword , a cruentous civill war that hath rag'd here ubove 30. yeares : one of the grounds of it was the infortunate undertaking of a prince , who liv'd not far off in an affluence of all earthly felicity ; he had the greatest lady to his wife , the best purse of money , the fairest stable of horse , and choicest library of books of any other of his neighbour princes . but being by desperate and aspiring counsells put upon a kingdome , while he was catching at the shadow of a crowne , he lost the substance of all his own ancient possessions : by the many powerfull alliances he had ( which was the cause he was pitched upon ) the feud continued long ; for among others a northern king took advantage to rush in , who did a world of mischiefs , but in a few yeers that king and he found their graves in their own ruins neer upon the some time ; but now , may heaven have due thanks for it , there is a peace concluded , a peace which hath bin 14. long yeers a moulding , and will i hope , be shortly put in execution ; yet 't is with this fatall disadvantage , that the said northerne people , besides a masse of ready money we are to give them , are to have firme footing , and a warm nest ever in this countrey hereafter , so that i fear we shall hear from them too often : upon these words this noble personage fetch'd a deep sigh , but in such a ge●erous manner , that he seem'd to breake and check it before it came halfe forth . thence my soule taking her flight o're divers huge and horrid cacuminous mountaines , at last i found my selfe in a great populous towne , but her buildings were miserably battered up and downe , she had a world of palaces , castles , convents and goodly churches : as i stepped out of curiosity into one of them , upon the west side there was a huge grate , where a creature all in white beckned at me , making my approach to the grate , i found her to be a nun , a lovely creature she was , for i could not distinguish which was whiter , her hue or her habit , her vaile o● her face , it made me remember ( though in a dream my self ) that saying , if dreams and wishes had been tru , there had not been found a tru maid to make a nun of ever since a cloyster'd life began first among women ; i asked her the reason how so many ugly devastations should befall so beautifull a city , she in a dolorous gentle tone , and ruthfull accents , the tears trickling down her cheeks like so many pearles , ( such pearly teares that wold have dissolv'd a diamond ) sobb'd out unto me this speech : gentle sir , 't is far beyond any expressions of mine , and indeed beyond humane imagination to conceive the late calamities which have befallen this faire though infortunate city , a pernicious popular rebellion broke out here upon a sudden into most horrid barbarismes , a fate that hangs over most rich popular places that swim in luxe and plenty ; but touching the grounds thereof , one may say that rebellion entred into this city , as sin first entred into the world by an apple : for our king now in his great extremities having almost halfe the world banding against him , and putting but a small tax upon a basket of fruit to last only for a time , this fruit-tax did put the peeples teeth so on edge , that it made them gnash against the government , and rush into armes ; but they are sensible now of their own follies , for i thinke never any place suffered more in so short a time : the civill combustions abroad in other kingdomes may be said to be but small squibs compar'd to those horrid flakes of fire which have rag'd here , and much adoe we had to keep our vestall fire free from the fury of it : in lesse then the revolution of a yeer it consum'd above fourscore thousand soules within the walls of this city ; but 't is not the first time of forty , that this luxurious foolish peeple hath sma●ted for their insurrections and insolencies , and that this mad horse hath o'rethrowne his rider , and drawn a worse upon his back ; who instead of a saddle , put a packsaddle and panniers upon him : but indeed the voluptuousnesse of this peeple was growne ripe for the judgement of heaven ; she was then beginning to expostulat with me about the state of my countrey , and i had a mighty mind to satisfie her , for i could have corresponded with her in the relation of as strange things , but the lady abadesse calling her away , she departed in an instant , obedience seem'd to be there so precise and punctuall . i steer'd my course thence through a most delicious countrey to another city that lay in the very bosome of the sea , she was at first nothing els but a kind of posie made up of dainty green hillocks , tied together by above 400. bridges , and so coagulated into a curious citie ; though she be espous'd to neptune very solemnly once evry yeer , yet she still reserves her maydenhead , and beares the title of the virgin citie in that part of the world ; but i found her tugging mainly with a huge giant that wold ravish her ; he hath shrewdly set on her skirts , and a great shame it is , that she is not now assisted by her neighbours , & that they shold be together by the eares when they shold do so necessary a work , considering how that great giant is their common enemy ; and hath lately vow'd seven yeers warrs against her ; specially considering , that if he comes once to ravish her , he will quickly ruin them ; she to her high honor be it spoken ) being their only rampart against the incursion of the said giant , and by consequence their greatest security . from this maiden citie , mee thought , i was in a trice carried over a long gulf , and so through a midland sea , into another kingdome , where i felt the clime hotter by some degrees ; a rough hew'n soile , for the most part , it was , full of craggie barren hills ; but where there were valleys and water enough , the countrey was extraordinarily fruitfull , whereby nature ( it seems ) made her a compensation for the sterility of the rest . yet notwithstanding the hardship of the soyl , i found her full of abbeys , monasteries , hermitages , convents , churches , and other places of devotion ; as i rov'd there a while , i encountred a grave man in a long black cloak , by the fashion whereof , and by the brimms of his hat , i perceived him to be a jesuit ; i clos'd with him , and question'd with him about that countrey : he told me the king of that countrey was the greatest potentat of that part of the world ; and , to draw power to a greater unitie , they of our order could be well contented , that he were universall head over temporalls , because 't is most probable to be effected by him , as we have already one universall head over spiritualls : this is the monark of the mines , i mean of gold and silver , who furnishes all the world , but most of all his own enemies with money , which money foments all the warrs in this part of the world : never did any earthly monark thrive so much in so short a tract of time ; but of late yeers he hath bin illfavouredly shaken by the revolt and utter defection of two sorts of subjects , who are now in actuall armes against him on both sides of him at his own doors . there hath bin also a long deadly feud 'twixt the next tramontan kingdom and him , though the queen that rules there be his own sister , an unnaturall odious thing : but it seems god almighty hath a quarrell of late yeers with all earthly potentats ; for in so short a time there never happen'd such strange shocks and revolutions : the great emperour of ethiopia hath bin outed , he and all his children by a petty companion : the king of china a greater emperour then he , hath lost almost all that huge monarchy by the incursion of the tartar , who broke ore the wall upon him ; the grand turk hath bin strangled , with 30. of his concubines ; the emperur of muscovy hath bin content to beg his life of his own vassalls , & to see before his face divers of his chief officers hack'd to peeces , & their heads cut off & steep'd in strong water , to make them burn more bright in the market place . besides the above mentioned , this king hath also divers enemies more , yet he bears up against them all indifferently well , though with infinite expence of treasure : and the church , specially our society , hath stuck close unto him in these his exigents : whence may be inferr'd , that let men repine as long as they will at the possessions of the church , they are the best anchors to a state in a storme , and in time of need to preserve it from sinking ; besides acts of charity wold be quite lost among men , did not the wealth of the church keep life in them : hereupon drawing a huge paire of beads from under his cloak , he began to aske me of my religion ; i told him i had a long journey to go , so that i could not stay to wait on him longer ; so we parted , and me thought i was very glad , to be rid of him so well . my soule then made another flight over an assembly of hideous high hills , and lighted under another clyme , on a rich and copious countrey resembling the form of a losenge , but me thought , i never saw so many poor peeple in my life ; i encountred a peasan , and asked him what the reason was , that there shold be so much poverty in a countrey where there was so much plenty : sir , they keep the commonalty poor in pure policy here ; for being a peeple , as the world observes us to be , that are more humerous then others , and that love variety and change , if we were suffered to be pamper'd with wealth , we wold ever and anon rise up in tumults , and so this kingdome shold never be quiet , but subject to intestine broyles , and so to the hazard of any invasion : but there was of late a devillish cardinall , whose humour being as sanguin as his habit , and working upon the weaknes of his master , hath made us not onely poore , but stark beggars , and we are like to continue so by an eternall war , wherein he hath plung'd this poore kingdom , which war must be maintained with our very vitall spirits : but as dejected and indigent as we are , yet upon the death of that ambitious cardinall , we had risen up against this , who hath the vogue now , ( with whom he hath left his principles ) had not the fearfull example of our next transmarin western neighbours , and the knowledge we have of a worse kind of slavery , of those endles arbitrary taxes , and horrid confusions they have fool'd themselfs lately into , utterly deterr'd us , though we have twenty times more reason to rise then ever they had : yet our great city hath shew'd her teeth , and gnash'd them ilfavouredly of late , but we find she hath drawn water only for her owne mill , we fare little the better , yet we hope it will conduce to peace , which hath been so long in agitation . i cannot remember how i parted with that peasan , but in an instant i was landed upon a large island , and me thought , 't was the temperat'st region i had been in all the while ; the heat of the sun there is as harmles as his light , the evening serenes are as wholsome there , as the morning dew ; the dog-daies as innocuous as any of the two equinoxes . as i rang'd to and fro that fair iland , i spied a huge city whose length did far exceed her latitude , but neither for length or latitude did she seem to beare any politicall proportion with that iland : she look'd , me thought , like the jesuits hat whom i had met withall before , whose brimms were bigger then the crowne , or like a petticoat , whose fringe was longer then the body . as i did cast my eyes upwards , me thought i discern'd a strange inscription in the aire which hung just over the midst of that citie written in such huge visible characters , that any one might have read it , which was this : woe be to the bloody city . hereupon a reverend bishop presented himselfe to my view , his gray haires , and grave aspect struck in mee an extraordinary reverence of him : so performing those complements which were fitting , i asked him of the condition of the pla●e , he in a submisse sad tone , with clouds of melancholy waving up and downe his lookes , told me ; sir , this iland was reputed few years since to have been in the completest condition of happinesse of any part on earth , insomuch that she was repin'd at for her prosperity and peace by all her neighbours , who were plung'd in warre round about her , but now she is fallen into as deep a gulf of misery , and servitude , as she was in a height of felicity and freedom before : touching the grounds of this change , i cannot impute it to any other then to a surfet of happinesse ; now there is no surfet so dangerous as that of happines : there are such horrid divisions here , that if they were a foot in hell , they were able to destroy the kingdom of satan : truly sir , there are crep'd in more opinions among us about matters of religion , then the pagans had of old of the summum bonum , which varro saith were 300. the understandings of poor men were never so puzzled & distracted ; a great while there were two opposit powers who swayed here in a kind of equality that people knew not whom to obey , many thousands complied with both , as the men of calecut who adore god and the devill , ( tantum squantum , as it is in the indian language ) the one for love , the other for feare : there is a monstrous kind of wild liberty here that ever was upon earth ; that which was complained of as a stalking horse to draw on our miseries at first , is now only in practice , which is meer arbitrary rule ; for now both law , religion , and allegiance are here arbitrary : touching the last , 't is quite lost , 't is permitted that any one may prate , preach , or print what they will in derogation of their anointed king : which word king was once a monosyllable of some weight in this i le , but 't is as little regarded now as the word pope ( among som ) which was also a mighty monosyllable once among us : the rule of the law is , that the king can do no wrong , there is a contrary rule now crept in , that the king can receive no wrong ; and truly sir , 't is a great judgement both upon prince and peeple , upon the one , that the love of his vassalls shold be so alienated from him ; upon the other , that their hearts shold be so poysond , and certainly 't is the effects of an ill spirit ; both the one and the other in all probability tend to the ruine of this kingdom . i will illustrat this unto you , sir , by an apologue as followeth . there happen'd a shrewd commotion & distemper in the body naturall 'twixt the head and the members ; not onely the noble parts ( som of them ) but the common inferior organs also banded against him in a high way of unnaturall presumption ; the heart , which is the source of life , with the pericardiū about it , did swell against him ; the liver , which is the shop of sanguification , gather'd ill blood ▪ all the humors turn'd to choler against him ; the arms lift up themselfs against him , neither back , hams or knees wold bow to him , nay the very feet offer'd to kick him ; the foure and twenty ribs , the reines , the hypocondrium , the diaphragma , the miseraie , & emulgent veins were fil'd with corrupt blood against him : yea the hypogastrium and the bowells made an intestin war against him . while the feud lasted , it hapned that these tumultuary members fell out among themselfs ; the hand wold have all the fingers equall , nay the toes wold be of even length , & the rest of the subservient members wold be independent : they grew so foolish , that they wold have the fondament to be where the mouth is , the brest where the back , the belly where the braine , and the yard where the nose , the sholders shold be no more said to be backwards , nor the leggs downwards ; a bloody quarrell fell 'twixt the heart and liver , which of them receiv'd the first formation , and whither of the two be the chiefest officine of sanguification ; which question bred so much gaul 'twixt the aristotelians & the galenists ; while this spleen & strange tympany of pride lasted , it cau'sd such an ebullition and heat in the masse of bloud , that it put the microcosm , the whole body in a high burning feaver or frenzy rather , which in a very short time grew to be a heptic , and so all perish'd by a fatall consumption . i fear the same fate attends this infortunate iland , for such as was the condition of that naturall head , this apolog speaks of , the same is the case of the politic head and body of this iland ; never was soverain prince so banded against by his own subjects , never was the patience of a prince so put upon the tenter ; he is still no lesse then a captif , his children are in banishment in one countrey , his queen in another , the greatest queen of bloud upon earth ; a queen that brought with her the greatest portion that ever queen did in treasure ; yet in twenty yeers and upwards , her jointure hath not bin setled as it shold be ; nor hath she bin crown'd all this while according to matrimoniall articles ; notwithstanding that , for the comfort of this nation , and the establishment of the throne , she hath brought forth so many hopefull princes . but now sir ; because i see you are so attentive , and seem to be much mov'd at this discourse , as i have discover'd unto you the generall cause of our calamities , which was not onely a satiety , but a surfeit of happinesse , so i will descend now to a more particular cause of them ; it was a northern nation that brought these cataracts of mischief : upon us ; and you know the old saying , out of the north all ill comes forth . far be it from me to charge the whole nation herewith ; no , but onely some pernicious instruments that had insinuated themselfs , and incorporated among us , and sway'd both in our court and counsells : they had a hand in every monopoly ; they had out of our exchequer , and customs neer upon 400000. crowns in yeerly pensions , viis & modis ; yet they could not be content , but they must puzzle the peace and policy of this church and state : and though they are people of differing intellectualls , differing lawes , customes , and manners unto us , yet for matter of conscience they wold bring our necks into their yoak , as if they had a greater talent of reason , & cleerer illuminations , as if they understood scripture better , and were better acquainted with god almighty then we , who brought them first from paganisme to christianity , and also to be reformed christians : but it seems , matters have little thriven with them ; nay the visible hand of heaven hath bin heavily upon them divers wayes since they did lift their hands against their native king ; for notwithstanding the vast summs they had hence , yet is the generality of them as beggarly as ever they were ; besides , the civill sword hath rag'd there as furiously as here , and did as much execution among them . moreover the pestilence hath beene more violent , and sweeping in their chief town then ever it was since they were a peeple . and now lately ther 's the notablest dishonour befaln them that possibly could light upon a nation , in that 7000. of ours ▪ shold upon eeven ground encounter , kill , slay , rout and utterly discomfit thrice as many of theirs , though as well appointed and arm'd as men could be : and truly sir , the advantages that accru to this nation are not a few by that exploit ; for of late yeers that nation was cried up abroad to be a more martiall peeple then we , and to have baffled us in open field in divers traverses : besides , i hope a small matter will pay now their arrerages here , and elswhere ; but principally , i hope they will not be so busie hereafter in our court and counsell , as they have been formerly . another cause of our calamity is a strange race of peeple sprung up among our selfs , who were confederat with those of the north ; they wold make gods house cleane , and put out the candle of all ancient learning & knowledg ; they would sweep it only by the light of an ignis fatuus : but 't is visibly found that they have brought much more rubbage into it ; and wheras in reforming this house , they shold rather find out the gr●●● that is lost , they go about to take away the mite that 's left , and so put christs spouse to live on meer almes : true it is , there is a kind of zeal that burns in them , ( & i could wish there were so much piety ) but this zeal burns with too much violence and presumption , which is no good symptom of spirituall health , it being a rule , that as the naturall heat , so the spirituall shold be moderat , els it commonly turns to a frenzy : and that is the thing which causeth such a giddines and distraction in their braines ; this ( proceeding from the suggestions of an ill spirit ) puffs them up with so much mentall pride ; for the devill is so ●●nning a wrastler , that he oftentimes lifts men up to give them the greater fall : they think they have an inerring spirit , and that their diall must needs go tru , howsoever the sun goes : they wold make the gospell , as the caddies make the alchoran , to decide all civill temporall matters under the large notion of slander , whereof they to be the judges , and so in time to hook in all things to their classis : i believe if these men were dissected when they are dead , there would be a great deale of quick-silver found in their braines . proh superi , quantum mortalia pectora caecae noctis habent ! — but i could pitty the giddinesse of their braines , had they not so much gaules in their breasts , were they not so thirsting after blood , so full of poison and irreconcileable malice ; in so much that it may be very well thought , these men are a kin to that race which sprung out of the serpents teeth : these are they which have seduced our great counsell , and led this foolish city by the nose to begin and foment this ugly war , insomuch that if those numberlesse bodies which have perish'd in these commotions , were cast into her streets , and before her doores , many thousand citizens noses wold bleed of pure guilt . not to hold you long , these are the men , who have baffled common sense , blasted the beams of nature , and offered violence to reason ; these are they who have infatuated most of the peeple of this iland ; so that whereas in times past , tom call'd her the i le of angells , she may be term'd now the i le of gulls , or more properly the i le of doggs , or rather indeed the i le of wolfs , there is such a true lycanthropy com in among us : i am loth to call her the iland of devills , though she hath bin branded so abroad . to conclude sir , the glory of this isle is quite blasted ; 't is tru they speake of peace , but while the king speakes to them of it , they make themselfs ready for battell ; i much fear , that ixion-like , we imbrace a cloud for peace , out of which ther will issue out centaures , and monsters , as sprung out of that cloud . touching that ancient'st holy order whereof you see me to be ; i well hoped , that in regard they pretended to reform things only , they wold not have quite extirpated , but regulated only this order : it had bin enough to brayle our wings , not to have sear'd them : to have lopp'd & prun'd , not to have destroid root & branch of that ancient tree which was planted by the hands of the apostles themselfs : in fine sir , we are a lost peeple , 't is no other daedalus , but the high deity of heaven can clue us out of this labyrinth of confusions , can extricat us out of this maze of miseries : the philosopher saith , 't is impossible for man to quadrat a circle ; so 't is not in the power of man , but of god alone , to make a loyall subject of a roundhead : among other things that strangers report of this iland , they say that winter here hath too many teares in his eyes : helas sir , 't is impossible he shold have too many now , to bewaile the lamentable base slavery , that a free-born peeple is com to : and though they are grown so tame as to kisse the rod that whips them , yet their taskmasters wil not throw it into the fire . truly sir , as my tongue is too feeble to expresse our miseries , so the plummet of the best understanding is too short to fadom the depth of them . with this , the grave venerable bishop giving me his benediction , fetcht such a sigh , that wold have rended a rock asunder ; and suddenly vanish'd ( me thought ) out of my sight up towards heaven . i presently after awoke about the dawnings of the day , when one could hardly discern dog from wolf ; and my soule , my animula-vagula blandula , being re-entred through the horn gate of sleep into her former mansion , half tyr'd after so long a peregrination ; and having rub'd my eyes , distended my limms , and return'd to a full expergefaction , i began to call my self to account touching those world of objects my fancy had represented unto me that night ; and when by way of reminisence i fell to examine and ruminate upon them ; lord , what a masse of ideas ran in my head ! but when i call'd to mind the last countrey my soule wandred in , me thought i felt my heart like a lump of lead within me , when i considerd how pat every circumstance might be applied to the present condition of england : i was meditating with my self what kind of dream this might be ; whereupon i thought upon the common division that philosophers make of dreames , that they are either divine , diabolicall , naturall , or humane . for the first , they are visions more properly or revelations , whereof there are divers examples in the holy oracles of god , but the puddled cranies of my brain are not roomes clean enough to entertain such : touching the second kind , which com by the impulses of the devill , i have heard of divers of them , as when one did rise up out of his sleep , and fetcht a poyniard to stab his bedfellow , which he had don , had he not bin awake ; another went to the next chamber abed to his mother , and wold have ravish'd her ; but i thank god this dream of mine was not of that kind ? touching the third species of dreames ; which are naturall dreames , they are according to the humor which predominats ; if melancholy sway , we dream of black darksom devious places ; if phlegm , of waters ; if choler , of frayes , fightings and troubles ; if sanguin predominat , we dream of green fields , gardens , and other pleasant representations ; and the physitian comes often to know the quality of a disease by the nocturnall objects of the patients fancy . humane dreams relate to the actions of the day past , or of the day following , & som representations are clear & even ; others are amphibious , mongrell , distorted and squalid objects , according to the species of things in troubled matters ; and the object is cleer or otherwise , according to the tenuity or the grossnes of the vapors which ascend from the ventricle up to the brain . touching my dream , i think it was of this last kind ; for i was discoursing of , and condoling the sad distempers of our times the day before : i pray god som part of it prove not propheticall ; for , although the frenchman sayeth , songes sont mensonges , dreames are delusions , and that they turn to contraries , yet the spaniard hath a saying , et ciego sonnavaque via , yera lo que querria . the blind man dreamt he did see light , the thing he wish'd for happen'd right . insomuch that some dreams oftentimes prove tru ; as s. austin makes mention of a rich merchant in milan , who being dead , one of his creditors comes to his son to demand such a sum of money which he had lent his father ; the son was confident 't was paid , but not finding the creditors receipt , he was impleaded and like to be cast in the sute , had not his fathers ghost appeared to him , and directed him to the place where the acquittance was , which he found the next day accordingly . galen speaks of one that dreamt he had a wooden leg , and the next day he was taken with a dead palsie in one whole side . such a dream was that of william rufus , when he thought he had felt a cold gust passing through his bowells ; and the next day he was slain in the guts , by the glance of an arrow , in new forrest , a place where he and his father had committed so many sacrileges . i have read in artimed●rus , of a woman that dreamt she had seen the pictures of three faces in the moone like her self , and she was brought to bed of three daughters a little after , who all died within the compas of a moneth . another dreamt , that xanthus water ran red , and the next day he fell a spitting of blood . to this i will add another fore-telling dream , whereof i have read , which was thus : two young gentlemen being travelling abroad in strange countreyes , and being come to a great towne , the one lay far in the citie , the other in an hostry without the walls in the suburbs : he in the city did dream in the dead of night , that his friend which he had left in the suburbs rush'd into his chamber panting and blowing , being pursued by others ; he dreamt so againe , and the third time he might see his friends ghost appeering at his beds side with blood trickling down his throat , and a poyniard in his brest , telling him ; dear friend , i am come now to take my last farewell of thee , and if thou rise betimes , thou shalt meet me in the way going to be buried ; the next morning his friend going with his host towards the inn in the suburbs where he left his friend , they met with a cart laden with dung in the way , which being staid and search'd , the dead body was found naked in the dung . i will conclude with a notable dreame that osman the great turk had , not many yeers since , a few dayes before the was murthered by his janizaries , 1623. he dreamt , that being mounted upon a huge camell , he could not make him go , though he switch'd and spur'd him never so much ; at last the camell overthrew him , and being upon the ground , onely the bridle was left in his hand , but the body of the camell was vanished : the mufti not being illuminated enough to interpret this dream , a santon who was a kind of idiot , told him , the camell represented the ottoman empire , which he not being able to govern , he should be o'erthrown , which two dayes after proved tru . by these , and a cloud of examples more , we may conclude , that dreams are not altogether impertinent , but somthing may be gathered out of them ; though the application and meaning of them be denied to man , unlesse by speciall illumination . somnia venturi sunt praescia saepe diei . by dreames we oft may guesse at the next dayes successe . thus have you a rough account of a rambling noctivagation up & down the world : i may boldly say , that neither sir john mandevile , or coryat himself travell'd more in so short a time : whence you see what nimble postillions the animal spirits are ; and with what incredible celerity the imagination can crosse the line , cut the tropiques , and passe to the other hemisphere of the world ; which shewes , that humane soules have somthing in them of the almighty , that their faculties have a kind of ubiquitary freedom , though the body be never so under restraint , as the authors is . the last countrey that 's here aim'd at is knowne already ; i leave the application of the rest to the discerning reader , to whom only this dream is address'd . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a86641e-280 ●msterdam . bella scot-anglica. a brief of all the battells, and martiall encounters which have happened 'twixt england and scotland, from all times to the present. vvherunto is annexed a corollary, declaring the causes whereby the scot is come of late years to be so heightned in his spirits; with some prophecies which are much cryed up, as reflecting upon the fate of both nations. howell, james, 1594?-1666. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a86615 of text r15335 in the english short title catalog (thomason e435_25). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 51 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 12 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a86615 wing h3056 thomason e435_25 estc r15335 99859842 99859842 111941 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a86615) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 111941) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 68:e435[25]) bella scot-anglica. a brief of all the battells, and martiall encounters which have happened 'twixt england and scotland, from all times to the present. vvherunto is annexed a corollary, declaring the causes whereby the scot is come of late years to be so heightned in his spirits; with some prophecies which are much cryed up, as reflecting upon the fate of both nations. howell, james, 1594?-1666. [2], 19, 18-19, [1] p. s.n.], [london : printed in the yeare 1648. anonymous. attributed to james howell. place of publication from wing. variant: title has "hightned". annotation on thomason copy: "aprill 13th". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng england -military relations -scotland -early works to 1800. scotland -military relations -england -early works to 1800. scotland -history -prophecies -early works to 1800. a86615 r15335 (thomason e435_25). civilwar no bella scot-anglica.: a brief of all the battells, and martiall encounters which have happened 'twixt england and scotland, from all times t howell, james 1648 8488 16 0 0 0 0 0 19 c the rate of 19 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-04 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-08 john latta sampled and proofread 2008-08 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion bella scot-anglica . a brief of all the battells , and martiall encounters which have happened 'twixt england and scotland , from all times to this present . vvherunto is annexed a corollary , declaring the causes whereby the scot is come of late years to be so hightned in his spirits ; with some prophecies which are much cryed up , as reflecting upon the fate of both nations . printed in the yeare 1648. bella scot-anglica . a briefe of all the battels and martiall encounters , which have happen'd 'twixt england and scotland , from all times to this present , &c. the proeme . the design of this short discourse , is to relate the quarrels , and sundry traverses of warre , which have passed from time to time between england and scotland , extracted out of the most approved and impartiall historians , as well scottish , as english , french , and others . out of which premisses are deduced these conclusions ; first , that scotland hath been alwayes apt and forward to apprehend any occasion to invade and visit her neighbour england . secondly , that when she was at the highest pitch of strength , and had the greatest advantages against her , when she had active and martiall kings for her generalls , and the french for her firm confederates , with other coadjutors and auxiliaries , she could never be a match no , not by many degrees , for england , whether you respect the int●insick power of the country , or the innated prowesse of the people : all which will clearly appeare by the circumstances and successe of divers battells and interchangeable exploits , which being indifferently ballanc'd it will be found ▪ that if scotland did sometimes beat england with the scabbard , england may bee truly sayd to have beaten her more often with the blade . i will not look back and rake the ashes of antiquity so far , as to speak of the sociall warre they entred into with the ancient brittaines and picts against the english , when they began to take first firme footing in england . nor , of that so famous battell 'twixt athelstan and them , at which time they had a great army of danes joyned with them ; when being above twice more in number then the english , king athelstan carried away a compleat victory by a kind of back-blow ( parthian like ) for the two armies being ready to joyne , the english made semblance to fly away , leaving all their baggage behinde , and much matter for booty , which as the scots and danes were sharing , the english suddenly wheeled about by the advantage of a woody hill , and finding them in disarray , and the souldiers laden with pillage , they rushed upon them with that resolution , that above fourty thousand of them fell , and as buchanan their prime chronologer recordeth , the flower of their nobility perished that day . but i intend not to involve my discourse in these mistie times , but will take my rise from the norman conquest , for indeed the historie of great brittaine being over clouded with so many incertainties , casteth but a dim light before those times , whereas since , she shines with such a lustre , that what stands upon record may be asserted for cleere and undeniable truth . at that time , i mean the time of the conquest , scotland did england a very good office by preserving the english blood-royall ( which not long after returned to the crowne in henry the second ) but it was casually : for prince edgar and his mother , with his two sisters , intending to goe for denmarke , ( some say for hungarie ) and being by distresse of weather driven upon the scottish coasts , they were hospitably received by malcoline , then king of scotland ; at which time civility with the english tongue took first footing in the scottish court , as the french did amongst the english . will . the second . the first dart of war that was thrown 'twixt england and scotland after the conquest was in will . rufus his raign , when the scots having made divers incursions into the english pa●e , moubray earle of northumberland was sent against them , who encountring their king malcoline with his eldest son in the field , they were both slain , and the whole army overthrown . afterwards the scots choosing the dead kings brother , king william went in person and depos'd him , causing edward the second , son of the slain king , to be crowned , and making him to sweare fealty and homage to england ; but the scots obtain'd the favour of king william , that neither english or norman should beare any office of state in scotland . king stephen . king stephen having oblig'd the scots by many high favours , by giving cumberland to david their king , and making his eldest son earle of huntington ; yet so ingratefull did they prove that they provok'd him to send thurston then archb. of yorke with such an army , that meeting with the king himselfe in the head of his forces , he utterly discomfited him , with the death of 10000. of his men . henry the second . henry the second , though the pulse of those times did beat high , and that he was distracted with a world of con●●●ions yet employing the york-shire knights , humphrey vile ; scutvill and vescy , they with their victorious armes tooke the scots king in the field and tendred him prisoner at northampton , whence king henry carried him along to attend him in his warres in france . richard the first . richard coeur de lion caused william king of scotland to carry the sword before him at his second coronation at his return from the holy land : at which time king rich. passed a royall charter , that whensoever the king of scotland was summond to the english court , the bishop of durham , and sheriffe of northumberland , should receive him at tweede , and accompany him to teis , from teis the archbishop of yorke should attend him to the borders of that county , and so the bish. and sheriffs of other counties , untill he came to the english court . king john . king iohn one of the weakest princes , and the most forlorne that ever england had considering how the pope and all the world did bandy against him , and what fearefull exigents he was reduced unto , yet finding alexander the second then king of scotland to give sanctuary to his fugitive clergy , and foment others against him , made an expedition thither himselfe but the two armies being ready to buckle , the scot seing fire and sword to gape upon him , submitted himselfe , and subscribed to such termes as the conqueror propounded . edvvard the first . now come i to the scourge , or , as his tombe in westminster tells me , the hammer of the scotts-men . edwardus primus scotorum malleus hic est . he causeth balioll to come to newcastle to sweare fealty and homage to him , who after flying to the french king , edward was so netled for this his defection , that though he had a farre greater arrand in france , yet he chose rather to employ edmund earle of lancaster thither , and to march himselfe to scotland in the front of a puissant army ; where the scots in farre greater numbers shewed their teeth only but durst not bite . king edward summons balioll to berwicke when he resubmitted himself with all the nobles in open parliament which he held there ; and for caution brought the king himselfe along with him , leaving the earle of surrey warden of scotland . not long after the scots revolted againe notwithstanding their king was in england , having one wallie for their ring-leader , who did much mischiefe on the frontiers . and their insolency grew to that hight , that besides their inrodes , they began to rhime upon him . what this edward with his land shanks ? but he payed them for their rhiming with a vengeance ; he goeth againe in person and at ●●nkirk battaile kild out right 200. of their nobles and gentry , with 40. thousand common souldiers . then he summons a parliament at edenburgh where all the nobles sweare him fealty againe ; he carrieth away the ragman roll , the blacke crosse , and the stone wherein they say the fate of their kingdome is fixed . then was there offer'd a third provocation , when le bruce was crowned king of scotland . the earle of pembrooke was sent against him , who utterly defeated him at iohnston . hereupon le bruce flyeth to the popes pantofle making him lord paramount of scotland , which moved king edward notwithstanding the menaces and fulminations of the pope who wished him to forbeare the scots ( because they were an exempt nation belonging to the roman chappell ) to make a fourth expedition thither where he constrained le bruce to fly to norway , where he blew on his nayles while k. edward lived . and ▪ so eager was this great king in pursuite of this action , that falling sickly upon the way , he said , if i die before i enter scotland , i charge you to go on couragiously , and carry my body round about the country ; but it pleased god to reprieve him untill he had done his businesse himselfe . edvvard the second . but here comes a cooling-card for the english , edward the second ▪ whose greatest honor was to be son to a peerles father , and father to an incomparable son , rosa spinam , spina rosam genuit . in his time all went to wrack especially in scotland . at bannocks battaile gilbert de clare earle of glocester , and 40 barons more , with 700 knights and gentlemen , and as some stories record above 40000. more were slaine . which defeat was imputed principally to the ill choice of ground the english had taken . the scots had behind them rocks , hills , and woods to fly into if necessity required , before them loughs , and moores , that the assailant could not march further . adde hereunto the pusillanimity of the king ( and the spirits of men are much raysed by their leader ) who was sayd to fly first : and better it is for a lion to lead sheepe , then for a sheepe to lead a company of lions . the scots hereupon were so agog that they enter ireland with an army under the conduct of edward bruce the kings brother , who landing at karig fergus ransack'd all the north parts , where he tooke such firme footing , that he proclaym'd himselfe king of ireland , though he had onely over-ranne ulster . at which time there was such a direfull famine , that in some places of ireland dead bodies were digged up , and their flesh boyled in their sculls to be eaten , as the story tells . but two yeares after , sir io. bremingham then chiefe justice , with the archbishop of armagh , went with such a power against this upstart king , that at dundalke they got a most compleat victory , one manpas as it seemed having kild the king hand to hand , for both their dead bodies were found together , and manpas covering the kings body . in england another army was sent against the scots , called the yorke army , which was also overthrowne at milton upon swayle . nevertheles the king would venture once more in person , and with a numerous army invaded scotland ; the scots fly into the woods , and places of fastnes ; and for want of provision in that hungry country , the english were forced to retire , but in the retraict they were so pursued that they lost all their ammunition , which was attributed to the treason of sir andrew harkley . but your criticall annalists ascribe it to the poverty of spirit in the royall head , who being become hatefull to god , and man first for perjury , by infringing the oath he made to his barons ; then by disobedience to his father who in his death bed charged him upon his blessing to abandon piers gaveston , whom nevertheless he still doted upon with the spencers , by whose counsels hee guided himselfe , and it was alwaies seen that princes of an ill destiny follow the worst counsells . edvvard the third . but here comes a spirit who will soundly vindicate his fathers affronts . edward the third , a prince that was the soonest a man , and the longest that lasted so of any in the whole catalogue of english kings ; yet being but young when the diadem first begirt his temples , after an encounter at stanhope park , where great multitudes of scots appeared , but vanished away like meteors , skulking in woods and mountains . in the parliament held at northampton , the king of scotland was released of his homage ; but some years after , when the young king began to understand himself , hee sent an army with balioll , whom he caused to be crowned at scone ; and afterwards there was a battell fought at hallidowne , where the english made the scots a bridge of gold to fly over , for they betook themselves all to their heeles . king balioll being thus restored , scotland became feuditary to england againe . but a few years after king ed. being deeply engag'd in his french wars , and thinking hoc agere , the scots presuming his absence would prove advantagious to them , make cursorie sallies out of scotland , and plunder all before them in the north , by the instigation of the french . but the queen and the lords of the north make such a levy of martiall forces , that they entred scotland like thunder , and at a mighty battell one copland takes the king prisoner , whom , pleading the law of arms he would not deliver the queen , untill the king had sent order from france . this overthrow was given upon saturday , and upon saturday six weeks before the battell of cressy had bin fought , with another against the duke of brittain ; in all which king edward prov'd victorious . and being triumphantly return'd from france , with the flower-de-luces upon his sword , and redoubted now by all the princes of the christian world having a triumverate of kings his prisoners , one would think the scot would have bin quiet but they still provoked him so far , that in the dead of winter ( and king ed. was a prince for all weathers ) he went thither in person himself , tooke berwick , and had all scotlond resign'd unto him , by the king himselfe , and the nobles who joyntly swore fealty and homage to him . richard the second . now the grand-childe of this great king ( who turn'd the wheele of his times every where up and downe the christian world as he pleased ) mounts the stage . the scots begin to infest the borders , and doe other acts of hostility being actually assisted by the french king , who sent thither his admirall with a 1000. men at armes , and 60. sayle with furniture to arme 10000. men more . king richard musters up an army worthy of a king , and rusheth into scotland like a whirle-wind as farre as dondee , and neither scot or french appeared to make oppos●tion . the scots ( as the french annales say ) not symbolizing with the humour of the french grew weary of them , and casheered them , but they kept jean de viene , the great admirall prisoner in a manner , untill the french king had payed his ransome , which he did , otherwise his admirall might have laine at dead anchor there all his life-time . but being returned to france , lest he should seem to shew no fruits at all of his voyage , he informs the king , that hee had pried into the uttermost intrinsique strength , both of scotland and england , and found that scotland was able to put in the field about 30000 men , and 5000. horse , and england 60000. foot , and 8000. horse , this relation induced charles the frantique to attempt the invasion of england the yeare following , with a formidable army , and fleet , which was to make sayle from the sluce , and for land-forces far exceeded the invincible armada of the yeare 88. but the admirals account was found false , and to have reckoned much without his host , for as the french historians report . king richard had levied neere upon 100000. foot and 20000. horse . henry the fourth . in hen. the fourth's time the tumultuous scot stirs againe , and pillers about the marches at last he composeth the body of an army , whom hen. hotspurre encountred , and kil'd more enemies then he had men in his own army . sir robert umphreyvile being vice-admirall , takes 14. great ships laden with corn , together with the great galeon of scotland , hard by lith , which so abated the price of corn , that hee was commonly called sir rob. mend market . a little after the young prince of wales hurld himselfe seven daies march into scotland , and did what he would . henry the fift . henry the fift that man of men , and mirrour of chivalrie ( and the strangest convert that ever was ) being come to the crown , he falls like a politician to worke in erecting forts on the frontiers of scotland , which he did without controule . after he took the young king james the first , prisoner , in a very hot incounter , and carried him up and down with him in the french warres . henry the sixt . henry the sixt for some gallant parts in the aforesaid young king james the first of scotland , married him to the lady lane , daughter to the earle of somerset his neece ; but he proved afterwards hatefully ingratefull , and perfidious to king henry , banding all his main forces against him but he was shamefully repell'd and beaten by sir ralph gray , and the knights of the north . edvvard the fourth . and no lesse ingratefull and treacherous was iames the third in edward the fourths time who desiring in mariage cicilia the kings daughter , it was condescended unto so farre that he had part of her portion advanc'd him ; yet he fell to acts of hostility and frames an army , which the duke of glocester with 15000 men ill favourdly beat ( though they were twice more in number ) and got berwicke againe . henry the seventh . now come i to that great magus of his dayes henry the seventh who was said to be hanted with walking spirits simuell warbecke , and perkins , whom hee chased away by sprinkling of bloud . the scots entertained warbecke , though they knew him to be an impostor , and raised an army for him . the earle of surry and bishop foxe , were sent against it , who drive the king and warbecke with the whole army before them six dayes march into the country , at last the scots king sent a defiance for a battell , which being to be fought the next day , the scot steales away the night before in a silent march . hereupon a peace was concluded , provided that warbecke should bee banished scotland , whom notwithstonding they furnished with ships , to goe to try his fortune with the cornish rebels . henry the eight . and now come i to the glory of his dayes ( especially two thirds of them ) henry the 8. for never did prince rise with a greater lustre in englands hemispheare , and set in a darker clowd . and being extreamly busied in the warres of france , who should disturb him but his own brothervin-law , iames the fourth , excited by the french , who contributed great summes of money towards the support of the warre ; the king sends presently from france to the earle of surry to make head against them ; at first the earle sent sir vvilliam bullmer with 200. archers upon the borders to observe their motion . the lord humes , entreth with 8000. men , and as he thought to returne with his booty , sir vvilliam bulmer having reinforced his 200 , to 1000. fell upon the 8000. scots , with that fury , that he kil'd 500. took so many prisoners , and intercepted the whole booty . this made the young kings blood boyle within him for revenge , and composing a royall army of the utmost strength of scotland went in the head thereof himselfe . the earle of surry was not idle , but raised an army of 26000 men , and his son then admirall came to him from newcastle with 1000. old sea souldiers . the two amies met in flodden , where after many hot incounters victory fluttered a long while with doubtfull wings , at last the king himselfe , with the archb. of st. andrews his brother , were slain , with 12. earles , and 14. barrons , and 12000 gentlemen and others , and there fell of the english but 1500. only , nor could the scots rescue the body of their king , but to mend the matter a little , gave out it was not the kings body , but one elfinston attired like to him , to encourage the army . but afterwards , though they acknowledged it was his body , yet would not henry the 8 , permit him to have the due rites of princely buriall , because he had so perjuriously violated his faith with him . some few years after the duke of albany rays'd an army , but he was prevented to do any hurt by the lord roos and dacres , who made bonefires of above 80. villages without seeing the face of an enemy , no sooner were they returned , but newes came , that the duke of albany had by this time in perfect equipage an army of 30000. men . hereupon the lord treasurer and admirall , were sent to finde him out , but both armies being come to sight of each other , the scots not enduring well the countenance of the english forces , ran away and shamefully disbanded , so that if the lord generall had had then commission ample enough , they might have given a fatall blow to scotland , as they themselves confessed , but by the intercession of the queen dowager , hen. the eights sister , they obtained truce . after this king hen. condiscended to meet iames the fift at york , but he fayled , sending certain commissioners , and so cunning was the scot , that their commission , and private instructions looked two wayes , and as they were treating , tydings came , that the scots had rushed into , and rifled the marches most barbarously . hereupon the earl of norfolke was sent with 20000. men , who for 8. daies did what he would within the bowels of the country . anothor army was sent undet the command of the lord dacres and wharton , who gave them such a mortall blow , that eight earls were taken prisoners , and 200. gentlemen , and 800. more , and the stories concurre , that there was scarce a souldier , but had at least his two prisoners , this was solmemosse battell . yet for all this such is the inclination of the english to bee at peace with their neighbours , that a match was concluded , and ratified by act of parliament , with a speciall instrument under the scots noble-mens hands between prince edward , and the young queen mary , yet by the cunning negotiation of the french , the scot fell off . hereupon old king henry , who could digest no indignities , sent 200. ships laden with souldiers to the frith , under the earl of hereford , who marched as far as edinburgh , burnt the town , and part of the castle , returning with revenge and rich bootie . a while after the scots understanding the king was gone to france , thought to serve themselves of that advantage , and to fall upon the borders , but the earl of hereford repelled them , edvvard the sixt . edward the sixt , though yet in his minority , seemed to be sensible of the affront the scot had put upon him for a wife , though his father had vindicated it pritty well , but as the case stood , nothing could concerne england more , then to hinder that the french of any in the world should have her . and now am i come to the last true battell that was fought 'twixt england and scotland since the conquest . the duke of sommerset was appointed generall , the earle of vvarwicke his lieutenant generall , the lord clinton admirall had 60. shipps of warre , which were to hold course with the land-forces . so from barwicke , with a sober army they entred scotland , consisting of about 13000. foot and 1200. men at arms , 2500. light horse , 16. peeces of ordnance , every peece having a guard of pioners , who came in all to 1400. they had marched as far as musselborough , far within the country , and with infinite pains did they surmount the naturall and artificiall difficulties of the wayes , three small castles they seized upon in their march without offering any act of violence to small or great . they understood the regent of scotland did far exceed them in number and there came recruits hourely to him , for the fire crosse was carried about by the heralds through all parts , which is two firebrands upon the point of a spear , that all above 16. and under 60 should resort to the generall rendezvous so that the historians on both sides leave the number of them indefinite to this day , but they all agree , that they were at least twice as many and they had twice as many ordnance , yet notwithstanding many other advantage it pleased god to give the english a compleat victory ( and victories are the decrees of heaven , when there is no tribunall on earth to determine the quarrell . this hapned precisely the same day that flodden field battell was fought 34. years before . there were 14000. slain out-right , whereof there were 3000. kirk-men ; fryars and monks , above 1500. taken prisoners , whereof young huntly , and other great lords were of the number ; the spoiles of the field 30000 jacks and 30. peeces of ordnance were shipped for england , and the english plundred the country up and down 5. daies march further . to these exploits at home may be added a smart blow the english gave the scots in ireland , in sir io. perrots government , for some 2000. redshanks being come over by the burks means , like a swarm of catterpillers they proll'd and pill'd up and down , sir ri. bingham then governour of connaught , made head against them , with a small contemptible number , and at the river of earne neer slego , slew them all out-right , so that not one soule escaped , to return to scotland with newes what became of the rest . touching these late traverses of warre 'twixt england and scotland 't is true that infortunate england hath drawne upon her selfe a great deale of dishonour in the opinion of the world abroad , specially among those who understand not the true carriage of things ; for these late rushings in of the scot cannot be so properly call'd invasions a●invitations , by some spurious and most unworthy degenerous englishmen , who from a long time had plotted the bringing of them in , and it was the most pernicious and basest treason that ever was practis'd against poore england : but to give a full and satisfactory relation of this warre , i will deduce the busines from the beginning . before this unlucky storme fell 'twixt england and scotland there were certain clowds issuing from the vapors of divers discontented braines , plainly discern'd to hover up and downe a long time in both kingdomes specially in that northerne region : the first which appeard was , when some yeers after his majesties accesse to the crowne , there was an act of revocation passed , where some things which had insensibly slipped away from the crowne , and other things which were illegally snatch'd from the church were resum'd , and reannex'd to both ; which lighting upon some of the great ones , they were over heard to murmure though this was done with as much moderation as possibly could be , and by the mature advice of the counsell of state there , with the free opinion of the approved'st lawyers of that kingdome , and from hence issued the first symptome of discontentment . not long after his majesty being inform'd of the meane and servile condition of the ministers of that kingdome , which have the charge of the conscience , and service of god , and make up a considerable part of the free borne subjects ; his majesty understanding what poore pittances they receiv'd for their subsistence , and for those small stipends also , or rather almes of benevolence , they depended upon the pleasure of the laiks , his majesty by a speciall commission to that end found away to augment and acertain that allowance , and free them from that slavish kind of clientele and dependency they had upon the seculars ; whence may bee inferr'd what monsters of ingratitude those men shew'd themselves to be afterwards , by exasperating and poysoning the hearts of the people against their soveraigne in their virulent and seditious preachments , and inviting them to armes . not long after , when the poore husbandman and owners of corn were bound to pay tithes to lay persons call'd there the lords of the ●rection , were much incommodated by them , because they could not take in their corn till the parson had fetch'd away his tithe , who sometimes to shew his power or spleen peradventure would defer of purpose the taking in thereof , whereby the whole crop , by not taking advantage of the weather , would oftimes suffer : his majesty for the redresse of this grievance , appointed commissioners who found a way to purchase those tiths , and bring the impropriators to take a pecuniary certain rent counterveylable unto them : hereupon the laie lords and gentlemen finding that the respect and dependency wherby the ministers and owners of corn were formerly oblig'd unto them to be hereby lessen'd did tacitly discover much animosity and displeasure : moreover his majestie when he went thither to be crown'd having conferr'd honours upon some whom he had found industrious to promote his service , envie ( which is alwayes the canker of honour ) began to raign among divers of them which did turne visibly afterwards to discontentments . these were the conceal'd and private grounds , now the open and avowed causes were the introduction of our liturgy , the booke of canons , ordination and consecration with the high commission court among them : and it hath bin found since that those things were introduc'd by the cunning of those discontented spirits , that thereby there might be some grounds to suscitat the people to rise , which plot of theirs tooke effect . adde hereunto that after the king of swedens death divers scots commanders came over , and made a florish in our english court , but being souldiers of fortune , and finding no trading here , they went to scotland and joyn'd counsells with those discontented spirits to beget a warre that they might be in action . the only pretence they tooke for their rising then , was our common prayer booke , hereupon his majesty sent a proclamation to be published wherein he declar'd that 't was not his purpose to presse the practise of that book upon any ones conscience , therefore he was willing to discharge them from the use and exercise of it , and to abolish all acts that tended to that end and that all things should be in statu quo prius . but this would not suffice , for they went on to fish in these troubled waters , having a designe to drayne all the episcopall sees in the kingdome , and turn them to laic land : hereupon they entred into a holy league which they term'd covenant , without his majesties privity , and this was point blank against an act of parliament 1585. which utterly prohibits all leagues , covenants or bands whatsoever without the kings consent : hereupon the body of an army was raised , and one lesley was made generall , so they marched to dunce hill within five miles of berwicke where the rendevouz was : they gave out they came with a petition to his majesty , though they brought it upon the pikes point . there were many noble english hearts which swell'd high at this insolency of the scot , and therefore went with wonderfull alacrity to attend his majesty to barwick , but there were others who were luke-warme in the businesse , and those of the greatest ones , which the scots knew wel enough , for there was nothing trans-acted or said in the kings cabinet counsell or bed-chamber , but there was intelligence given them : hereupon a pacification was shuffled up , and so both the armyes were dispersed . the king being returned to london , grew more and more sensible of these indignities of his subjects of scotland , and having called a parliament expresly for that purpose in england , some of the cheife members thereof were so intoxicated by the scot , that they did not only not resent this bravado he had done to england , but seemed to approve of his actions . his majesty finding the pulse of his parliament beat so faintly for enabling him to vindicate these indignities upon the scot , dissolv'd it , and propos'd the businesse to his privy counsell , who not only advis'd him , but supplyed him with noble summes to repaire his honour by war ; hereupon the former forces were rallied , and made up into the body of an army : the scot was not idle all this while , but reunited his former army , whereof there was a good part undisbanded ( contrary to article ) and choosing rather to make another country the theater of the war then his own , he got over the tweed , and found all passages open , and as it were made for him al the way til he came to the tine , & though there were considerable troupes of horse and foot at newcastle , yet they never offer'd as much as to face him all the way ; at nea●burg there was a small dispute , but the english infantry would not fight , so newcastle gates flew open to her inveterate enemy , without any resistance at all , where he had more freinds than foes , and the english generals rather then to be put to unworthy compositions retired in disorder : whither this happened either by secret faction , or want of affection in in the souldier , or by the faults of the generall , i will not determine ; but sure i am it was dishonourable enough to poor england , who was bought and sold in this expedition . this was the first entrance the scot made into england since these unhappy wars ; but this invitation was private , the last was publick , being voted by the english commons , and they rush'd in , in the dead of winter ; notwithstanding that his majesty had taken a toylsome journey not long before to sit amongst them himselfe in parliament , where he condescended to every thing they could imaginably desire , and they acknowledging his unparaleld grace , desired that act to be reviv'd whereby it was treason in the highest degree that could be , for any of the subjects of scotland of what degree or condition foever to levy any mlitary forces without his majesties expresse commission , and this they did to expresse their gratitude : as they said . but the yeare came scarce about before they had moulded another army , not only without , but expresly against his royall commission , and counter-command , and would intrude themselves to be vmpires twixt him and his english subjects whither he would or no ; so in they rush'd againe in dead of winter , and for martiall exployts , the little credit they got by storming of newcastle was nothing countervaylable to that which they lost before hereford , where the welsh-men bang'd them to some purpose from before the town , and made their generall to trusse up his pack and away , sending him a fat sow with pigs after her , and a blew bonnet upon her head for his break-fast . corollarie . thus have i run over , and faithfull related by collation of many authors , with their concurrent testimonies , those trave●es of warre which have passed betwixt the english and scots since the conquest , having omitted many circumstances which might have tended further to the glory of england , to avoyd prolixity , for i intended at first that this discourse should be like a skein of silke wound up close upon a small bottome , which a freer hand might put upon the loom and draw to a large peice . any man of a clear and unpassionate judgement will hence inferre that the scots have been alwayes farre inferiour to the english ( except in these latter unlucky invasions ) in poynt of true prowesse , and national power : in some examples you may finde how the english carryed away more captives then they were souldiers of themselves , driving them as sheep before them most of the battails they fought were in scotland herself , when the english had been tir'd with long marches , over uncouth , and strange places , being ignorant of the advenues , and advantages of them . indeed in edward the seconds reign they got three battails , and one at the fag end of hen. the 8. wherein sir ralph evers was slaine , but it was more by stratagem than strength , and besides the english might have been said to have fought rather against the heaven and elements then men , having wind and sun in their faces , but that might have been tearmed more properly a petty defeat then victory , for there fell not above 200. but what use did the scot ever make of those victories , though the north parts have many places of fastnesse , and tenable , yet i reade not of any place they kept except barwick ; all the rest of their warres were but tumultuary sallies , and predatory devastations , and pilfrings . but the english have taken foure of their kings captives , killed two of them in the field , carried away their crown ( which they give out to be greater and more weighty than that of england ) their ragman-roll , the blacke crosse , with other instruments of soveraignty , and did sundry acts equivalent to a conquest . they pierced the very heart of the kingdom , and the scot may be said to have onely trod upon englands toe , for they never came farther than the walls of yorke , till the reigne of this thing that cals it selfe parliament . but if one should aske me why the english having made such firme invasions from time to time into the very bowels of scotland , did not reduce it to a vassallage and perfect provincial obedience , as well as to make their kings fuedetary in which state they continued towards england near upon five hundred yeares ? my answer shall be the same that suetonius gives in behalfe of the romans , who notwithstanding they lorded over the rest of brittany four hundred and odde yeares , yet they never went about to conquer scotland , because they knew the prize would not have countervail'd the paines , by reason of the cragginesse of the countrey and incommodity of habitation , therefore they thought it enough that adrians wall which extended from tinmouth to solway frith , near upon fourscore miles should be the westerne bounds of their empire . out of the precedent examples we may also gather , that the scot hath been alwayes of a genius apt and forward to stir against england upon any the least occasion . for of those five and twenty kings and queens that have been since the conquest , onely five have been free of their insolencies : yet did england never begin with them till she was justly provoked thereunto , nor could alliances nor leagues , or any tyes of treaty confirmed by solemne oathes ( which are those religious bonds that passe 'twixt god and the soul ) detain the scotish kings from puzling and disturbing england , when her kings were most distracted in warres with france , and the better halfe of her strength imployed abroad , so that the scots may be said to have been from time to time as goads in englands sides , or a thorne in her toe ; and france leaguing meerly for his own advantage with them , may be said to have made use of scotland as the fox did of the cats foot to pull the apple out of the fire for his own eating : yet for all these eager and irrefragable combinations 'twixt the french and her against england , england ever bore up , and made her party good , and that in a victorious way against both , and for scotland she may be said to have given her blowes for phillips . but it seemes that italian was well versed in the scotishmens humours , who understanding of the late vnion between the two kingdomes , said that england had got no great catch by the addition of scotland , she had onely got a wolfe by the eares , who must be held very fast , else he will run away to france . some there are who much magnifie and cry up the scots of late yeares , for great souldiers , tacitly derogating thereby from the english , as if they should stand in some apprehension of fear of them ; but i cannot imagine upon what grounds they should do it ; true it is , that since the revolt of the hollander , and these seventy yeares tumults in the netherlands , some of them are much improved in the art of warre , and knowledge of armes from what they were ; they have also pushed on their fortunes in the warres of denmarke , sweden , russia , germany ; and france ; for poland , their profession there is to trusse packes rather than traile pikes . by reason of the quality of the soile and clime they have tough and hardy bodies , and it may adde to their courage that they venture for a better countrey , in regard they cannot go to a worse than their own . now it must be granted that the greatest advantage wherewith nature doth recompence a mountainous and sterile soile above a luxurious and easie , is , to make it produce suffering bodies ; which made the romans●e ninescore yeares conquering of spain , when they were but nine conquering of france . for the first , 't is answered , that if the scot hath made sallies abroad into other countries of late yeares , the english also have done the like , and are in some places in greater numbers , as in the low-countries , where at this day they treble the number of the scots , so that the netherlands may be said to be a military yard for the english as well : and he that is never so little versed in the moderne stories will finde that the foundation of that state hath been chiefly cimented with english bloud . for the east countrey , 't is true , there are many able scots leaders , and there are also many english of abilities and fame . to the second , if the scots are a hardy people because of their cragges and mountaines : i answer that the welch and cornish with them that dwell about the northerne alpes in england , are as mountainous as they , and i believe have as suffering and sturdy bodies ; which makes the world yield it for a maxime , that no prince of christendom hath a better choice to make souldiers of than the king of great britain . i will conclude with certain prophesies the scots do much speak of . the first is out of polychronicon , where the authour ranulphus cistrensis relates the words of a certain anchorite who lived in king egelbert his time , now near upon 900. yeares ago , and the words are these , angli , quia proditioni , ebrietati , & negligentiae domus dei dedit● sunt , primum per d●nos , deinde per normanos , tertiùm per scotos , quos vilissimos habent , conterentur : varium erit saeculum , & varietas mentium , designabitur varietate vestium . 1. the englishmen for that they wonneth themselves to treason , to drunkennesse , and wretchlesnesse of gods house ; first by the danes , then by the normans , and lastly by the scots , whom they holden least in esteem , shallen be overthrown , 't will be an instable age , and the variablenesse of mens mindes shall appear by the variablenesse of their vestments . the danish and norman conquest have happened since , and the third is to follow in the same manner , say they , not by succession , but by the sword . 2. the second are those prophesies of merlin , who much tampers with the single lion , and of the feats that he should do , which they say , is meant of their lion within a double treasure rampant , mars counterflowred . 3. then come they to the stone wherein they say , the fortune of their kingdom is fixed , which hath lain in westminster , now near upon five hundred yeares . ni fallat fatum , scoti quocunque locatum invenient lapidem regnare tenentur ibidem . if fate failes not , the scots , where ere they finde this stone , there they shall reigne and rule man-kinde . which they interpret also must be by the sword not by succession . 4. then do they apply to themselves a prophesie that the irish have very frequent amongst them , which is , that the day will come , when the irish shall weep over the englishmens graves . 5. lastly , that which is so common in the english mens monthes . [ lincolne was , london is , and yorke shall be ] which they say , shall be at last the seat of the british empire , to be erected there by them . but i am none of those that afford much faith to rambling prophesies , but will conclude with a late much cried up wise-man , ( sir w. r. ) that prophesies are as seeds sown in the vast field of time , whereof not one grain of a thousand comes to grow up : yet these prophesies may serve as so many prospectives for england , to behold , though a far off in a mist , the danger and destiny which may befall her , from this growing nation if not timely prevented . 6. hereunto may be added another very old and il-favoured one , which shall fore run her fall . gens tua te prodit , proh anglia , scotia rodit ▪ — o england , thine own people thee betray , and scotland makes of thee a prey . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a86615e-130 charles the 6. of france , called le phreatique . a letter to the earle of pembrooke concerning the times, and the sad condition both of prince and people. howell, james, 1594?-1666. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a44726 of text r39278 in the english short title catalog (wing h3086). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 24 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 8 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a44726 wing h3086 estc r39278 18320522 ocm 18320522 107350 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a44726) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 107350) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1636:14) a letter to the earle of pembrooke concerning the times, and the sad condition both of prince and people. howell, james, 1594?-1666. 14 p. s.n.], [london : 1648. attributed to howell by wing and nuc pre-1956 imprints. place of publication suggested by wing. dated by thomason: 14 march 1648. wing "second" edition. imperfect: faded, with print show-through and slight loss of print. reproduction of original in the trinity college library, cambridge university. eng great britain -politics and government -1642-1649. a44726 r39278 (wing h3086). civilwar no a letter to the earle of pembrooke: concerning the times, and the sad condition both of prince and people. howell, james 1648 4378 12 0 0 0 0 0 27 c the rate of 27 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-01 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-02 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2004-02 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion to the earle of pembrooke : concerning the times , and the sa●● condition both of prince and people . the land mourneth because of oaths . printed in the yeare , 1648. to the right honourable , philip earle of pembrook , and mountgomery , knight of the most noble order of the garter , and one of his majesties most honourable privy counsell , &c. my lord , this letter requires no apology , much lesse any pardon , but may expect rather a good reception , and thanks , when your lordship hath seriously perused the contents , and ruminated well upon the matter it treats of , with your second and third thoughts , which usually carry with them a greater advantage of wisedome : it concernes not your body , or temporall estate , but things reflecting upon the noblest part of you , your soule , which being a beame of immortality , and a type of the almighty , is incomparably more precious , and rendreth all other earthly things to be but bables and transitory trifles . now , the strongest tye , the solemnest engagement and stipulation that can be betwixt the soule and her creator , is an oath . i doe not understand common tumultuary rash oaths , proceeding from an ill habit , or heat of passion upon sudden contingencies , for such oaths bind one to nought else but to repentance : no , i mean serious and legall oaths , taken with a calm prepared spirit , either for the asserting of truth , and conviction of falshood , or for fidelity in the execution of some office or binding to civill obedience and loyaltie , which is one of the essentiall parts of a christian . such publick oaths legally made with the royall assent of the soveraigne , whom they receive both legalitie and life , else they are invalid and unwarrantable ; as they are religious acts in their own nature , so is the taking and observance of them part of gods honor ▪ & there can be nothing more derogatory to the high majesty and holinesse of his name , nothing more dangerous , destructive , & damnable to humane souls , then the infringment and eluding of them , or omission in the performance of them . which makes the turks , of whom christians in this particular may learn a tender peece of humanity , to be so cautious , that they seldome or never administer an oath to greek , jew , or any other nation ; and the reason is , that if that party sworn doth take that oath upon hopes of some advantage , or for evading of danger or punishment , and afterwards rescinds it , they think themselves to be involved in the perjury , and accessary to his damnation : our civill law hath a canon consonant to this , which is , mortale peccatum est ei praestare juramentum , quem scio verisimiliter violaturum ; 't is a mortall sin to administer an oath to him who i probably know will break it ; to this may allude another wholesome saying , a false oath is damnable , a true oath dangerous , none at all the safest . how much then have they to answer for , who of late years have fram'd such formidable coercive generall oaths , to serve them for engines of state , to lay battery to the consciences and soules of poor men , and those without the assent of the soveraign , and opposite point blank to former oaths they themselves had taken : these kind of oaths the city hath swallowed lately in grosse , and the country in detaile , which makes me confidently beleeve , that if ever that saying of the holy prophet , the land mourns for oaths , was applyable to any part of the habitable earth , it may be now applied to this desperate island but now i come to the maine of my purpose , and to those oaths your lordship hath taken , before this distracted time , which , the world knowes , and your conscience can testifie , were divers ; they were all of them solemn , and some of them sacramentall oaths ( and indeed , every solemn oath among the ancients was held a sacrament : ) they all implyed , and imposed an indispensible fidelity , truth and loyalty from you to your soveraigne prince , your liege lord and master the king : i will m●ke some instances : your lordship took an oath when knight of the bath , to love your soveraigne above all earthly creatures , and for his right and dignity to live and dye : by the oath of supremacy you swear to beare faith and true alleagiance to the kings highnesse , and to your power to defend all iurisdictions , priviledges , preheminences , and authorities belonging to his highnesse . your lordship took an oath when privie counsellor , to be a true and faithfull servant unto him , and if you knew or understood of any manner of thing to be attempted , done , or spoken against his majesties person , honour , crown , or dignity , you sweare to let , and withstand the same , to the uttermost of your power , and either cause it to be revealed to himselfe , or to others of his privy counsell : the oaths you took when bedchamber man , and l. chamberlain bind you as strictly to his person . your lordship may also call to memory when you were installed knight of the garter , ( whereof you are now the oldest living , except a k. of denmark ) you solemnly swore to defend the honour , and quarrels , the rights and lordship of your soveraigne : now the record tells us that the chiefest ground of instituting that order by that heroicke prince edward the third , was , that he might have choice gallant men , who by oath and honour should adhere unto him in all dangers , and difficulties , and that by way of reciprocation , he should protect and defend them ▪ which made alfonso duke of calabria , so much importune henry the eight to install him one of the knights of the garter , that he might ingage king harry to protect him against charles the eighth , who threatned then the conquest of naples . how your lordship hath acquitted your selfe of the performance of these oaths , your conscience ( that bosome record ) can make the best affidavit ; some of them oblige you to live and dye with king charles , but what oaths or any thing like an oath binds you to live and dye with the house of commons , as your lordship often gives out you will , i am yet to learne : unlesse that house which hath not power as much as to administer an oath , ( much lesse to make one ) can absolve you from your former oaths , or haply by their omnipotence dispence with you for the observance of them . touching the politicall capacity of the king , i feare that will be a weak plea for your lordship before the tribunall of heaven , and they who whisper such chimeras into your eares abuse you in grosse ; but put case there were such a thing as politicall capacity distinct from the personall ; which to a true rationall man is one of the grossest buls that can be , yet these forementioned oaths relate most of them meerly unto the kings person , the individuall person of king charles , as you are his domestick counsellor , and cubicular servant . my lord , i take leave to tell your lordship ( and the spectator sees sometimes more then the gamester , that the world extreamly marvels at you , more then others , and it makes those who wish you best to be transformed to wonder , that your lordship should be the first of your race who decerted the crowne , which one of your progenitors said , he would still follow , though it were thrown upon a hedge : had your princely brother been living , he would have been sooner torne by wild horses , than have binded against it , or abandoned the king his master , and fallen to such grosse idolatry as to worship the beast with many heads . the world also stands astonished , that you should confederate to bring into the bowels of the land , and make elogiums of that hungry people which have been from all times so crosse and fatall to the english nation , and particularly to your own honour : many thousands doe wonder that your lordship should be brought to persecute with so much animosity and hatred , that reverend order in gods church which is contemporary with christianity it selfe , and whereunto you had once designed , and devoted one of your dearest sonnes so solemnly . my lord , if this monster of reformation ( which is like an infernall spirit , clad in white , and hath a cloven head as well as feet ) prevailes , you shall find the same destiny will attend poore england , as did bohemia which was one of the flourishingst kingdoms upon this part of the earth ; the common people there , repin'd at the hierarchy and riches of the church , thereupon a parliament was pack'd , where bishop were demolished ; what followed ? the nobles and gentry went down next and afterwards the crown it selfe ; and so it became a popular confus'd anarchicall state , and a stage of bloud a long time ; so that at last , when this magot had done working in the braines of the foolish people , they were glad to have recourse to monarchy againe , after a world of calamities ; though it degenerated from a successive kingdome to an elective . me thinks , my lord , under favour , that those notorious visible judgements which have fallen upon these refiners of reform'd religion should unbeguile your lordship , and open your eyes : for the hand of heaven never appeared so clearly in any humane actions : your lordship may well remember what became of the hothams , and sir alexander cary , who were the two fatall wretches that began the war first , one in the north , the other in the south ; your lordship may be also pleased to remember what became of brooks the lord , and hambden ; the first whereof was dispatched by a deaf and dumb man out of an ancient church which he was battering , and that suddenly also , for he fell stone dead in the twinkling of an eye ; now , one of the greatest cavils he had against our lythirgie was a clause of a prayer there against sudden death , besides the fagge end of his grace in that journey was , that if the design was not pleasing to god , he might perish in the action : for the other wiseaker , he be sprinkled with his bloud ▪ and received his death upon the same clod of earth in buckingham shire , where he had first assembled the poore country people like so many geese to drive them gagling in a mutiny to london , with the protestation in their caps , which hath been since torn in flitters , and is now grown obsolet and quite out of use . touching pym and stroud , those two worthy champions of the vtopian cause , the first being opened , his stomack and guts were found to be full of pellets of bloud ; the other had little or no brain at all left in his skul being dead , & lesse when he was living : for hollis who carried the first scandalous remonstrance ( that work of night , & the verdict of a sterv'd jury ) to welcome the king from scotland and was the first of the five members who were impeached by his majesty ; he hath been since , your lordship knowes , the chiefe of the eleven members impeached by themselves , but with this difference , that they had justice against him , though the king could get none : but now that st. hollis with the rest are a kind of runnagates beyond the seas , scorn'd by all mankind , and baffled every where , yea , even by the boors of holland , and not daring to peep in any populous town but by owle-light . moreover , i beleeve your lordship hath good cause to remember , that the same kind of riotous rascals which rabled the king out of town , did drive away the speaker in like manner with many of the● membfps , amongst whom your lordship was fairly on his way , to seek shelter of their janizaries : your lordship must needs find what deadly fewds fall dayly 'twixt the presbyterian and independent , the two fiery brands that have put this poore isle so long in combustion . but 't is worthy your lordships speciall notice , how your dear brethren the scots ( whom your lordship so highly magnified in some of your publike speeches ) who were at first brought in for hirelings against the king for them , offer themselves now to come in against them for the king ; your lordship cannot be ignorant of the sundry clashes that have been 'twixt the city and their memberships , and 'twixt their memberships and their men of war , who have often wav'd and disobeyed their commands : how this tatterdemallian army hath reduc'd this cow'd city , the cheated country , and their once all-commanding masters to a perfect passe of slavery , to a true asinin condition ; they crow over all the ancient nobility and gentry of the kingdome , though there be not found amongst them all but two knights ; and 't is well knowne there be hundred of private gentlemen in the kingdome , the poorest of whom , is able to buy this whole host , with the generall himselfe , and all the commanders : but 't is not the first time , that the kings and nobility of england have been baffled by petty comp●nions : i have read of iack straw , wat tyler and ket the tanner , with divers others that did so , but being suppressed , it tended to the advantage of the king at last ; and what a world of examples are there in our story , that those noblemen who banded against the crown , the revenge of heaven ever found them out early or late , at last . these , with a black cloud of reciprocall judgements more , which have come home to these reformers very dores , shew , that the hand of divine justice is in 't , and the holy prophet tells us , when gods judgements are upon earth , then the inhabitants should learn iustice . touching your lordship in particular , you have not , under favour , escap'd without some already , and i wish more may not follow ; your lordship may remember you lost one son at bridgenorth , your deer daughter at oxford , your son-in-law at newbury , your daughter-in-law at the charter-house of an infamous disease , how sickly your eldest son hath been ; how part of your house was burnt in the country , with others , which i will not now mention . i will conclude this point with an observation of the most monstrous number of witches that have swarm'd since these wars , against the king , more ( i dare say ) then have been in this island since the devill tempted eve ; for in two counties only , there hath been neer upon three hundred arraign'd , and eightscore executed ; what a barbarous devilish office one had , under colour of examination , to torment poor silly women with watchings , pinchings , and other artifices to find them for witches : how others by a new invention of villany were connived at for seizing upon young children , and hurrying them on ship-board , where they were so transform'd , that their parents could not know them , and so were carried over for new schismaticall plantations . my lord , there is no villany that can en●er into the imagination of man , hath been left here uncommitted ; no crime , from the highest treason , to the meanest trespasse , but these reformers are guilty of . what horred acts of prophanesse have been perpetrated up and down ! the monuments of the dead have been rifled ! horses have been watred at the church font , and sed upon the holy table ! widowes , orphanes , and hospitalls , have been commonly robbed , and gods house hath been plundred more then any . with what infandous blasphemies hath the pulpits rung , one crying out , that this parliament was as necessary for our reformation , as the comming of christ was for our redemption : another belching out , that if god almighty did not prosper this cause , 't were fitting he should change places with the devill : another , that the worst things our saviour did , was the making of the dominicall prayer , and saving the thief upon the crosse . o immortall god , is it possible that england should produce such monsters , or rather such infernall fiends shap'd with humane bodies ! yet your lordship sides with these men , though they be enemies to the crosse , to the church , and to the very name of iesus christ ; i 'le instance onely in two , who were esteem'd the oracles of this holy reformation , peters and saltmarsh ; the first is known by thousands to be an infamous , jugling , and scandalous villain , among other feats , he got the mother and daughter with child , as it was offered to be publikely proved : i could speake much of the other , but being dead , let it suffice that he dyed mad and desperate . these were accounted the two apostles of the times . my lord , 't is high time for you to recollect your selfe , to enter into the private closet of your thoughts , and summon them all to counsel upon your pillow ; consider well the slavish condition your dear countrey is in , weigh well the sad case your liege lord and master is in , how he is bereav'd of his queen , his children , his servants , his liberty , and of every thing in which there is any comfort ; observe well , how neverthelesse , god almighty works in him , by inspiring him with equality and calmnesse of mind , with patience , prudence , and constancy ; how he makes his very crosses to stoop unto him , when his subjects will not : consider the monstrousnesse of the propositions that are tendred him , wherein no losse then crown scepter , and sword , which are things in-alienable from majesty , are in effect demanded ; nay , they would not onely have him transmit , and resign his very intellectuals unto them ; but they would have him make a sacrifice of his soule , by forcing him to violate that solemn sacramentall oath he took at his coronation , when he was no minor , but come to a full maturity of reason and judgement : make it your own case , my lord , and that 's the best way to judge of his : think upon the multiplicitie of solemn astringing oaths your lordship hath taken , most whereof directly and solely enjoyn faith and loyalty to his person ; oh my lord ! wrong not your soule so much , in comparison of whom your body is but a ragge of rottennesse . consider that acts of loyaltie to the crown , are the fairest columns to beare up a noblemans name to future ages , and register it in the temple of immortality . reconcile your self therfore speedily unto your liege lord and master , think upon the infinite private obligations you have had both to sire and son : the father kiss'd you often , kisse you now the sun lest he be too angry ; and kings , you will find , my lord , are like the sun in the heavens , which may be clouded for a time , yet is he still in his spheare , and will break out again , and shine as gloriously as ever ; let me tell your lordship , that the people begin to grow extream weary of their physitians , they find the remedy to be far worse then their former disease ; nay , they stick not to call some of them meer quacksalvers , rather then physitians ; some go further , and say , they are no more parliament , then a pye-powder court at bartholomew-faire , there being all the essentiall parts of a true parliament wanting in this , as fairnesse of elections , freedome of speech , fulnesse of members , nor have they any head at all ; besides , they have broken all the fundamentall rules and priviledges of parliament , and dishonoured that high court more then any thing else : they have ravish'd magna charta , which they are sworne to maintain , taken away our birth-right , and transgressed all the laws of heaven and earth : lastly , they have most perjuriously betrayed the trust the king reposed in them , the trust their countrey reposed in them ; so that if reason and law were now in date , by the breach of their priviledges , and by betraying the double trust that is put in them , they have dissolved themselves ipso facto , i cannot tell how many thousand times , notwithstanding that monstrous grant of the kings , that fatall act of continuance ; and truely , my lord , i am not to this day satisfied of the legality ( though i am satisfied of the forciblenesse ) of that act , whether it was in his majesties power to passe it or no ; for the law ever presupposeth these clauses in all con●essions of grace , in all patents , charters , and grants whatsoever the king passeth , salvo jure regio , salvo jure coronae . to conclude , as i presume to give your lordship these humble cautions , and advice in particular , so i offer it to all other of your rank , office , and orders , who have souls to save , and who by solemn indispensable oaths have ingaged them to be true and loyall to the person of king charles . touching his politicall capacity , which fancy hath been exploded in other parliaments ( except in that mad infamous parliament , where it was first hatched ) and acts p●ssed that it should be high and horrible treason to seperate or distinguish the person of the king , from his power ; i believe , as i said before , this will not serve their turne at the dreadfull bar of divine justice in the other world : indeed that rule of the pagans makes for them , si iusjurandum violandum est 〈…〉 dis causa violandum est , if an oath be any way frangible ▪ tis frangible for a kingdome : we find by wofull experience , that according to this maxime , they have made themselves all kings , by violation of so many oaths ; they have monopolized the whole power and wealth of the kingdome into their own hands ; they cut , shuffle , deal , and turn up what trump they please , being judges and parties in every thing . my lord , he who presents these humble advertisements to your lordship , is one who is inclin'd to the parliament of england in as high a degree of affection as possibly a free-born subject can be ; one besides , who wisheth your lordships good , with the preservation of your safety and honour , more really , then he whom you intrust with your secretest affairs , or the white iew of the upper house who hath infused such pernicious principles into you ; moreover , one who hath some drops of bloud running in his veines , which may claime kindred with your lordship : and lastly , he is one , who would kisse your feet , in lieu of your hands , if your lordship would be so sensible of the most desperate case of your poor country , as to employ the interests , the opinion and power you have , to restore the king your master by english wayes , rather then a hungry forrain people , who are like to bring nothing but destruction in the van , confusion in the reare , and rapine in the middle , should have the honour of so glorious a work , my lord , so , humbly hoping your lordship will not take with the left hand , what i offer with the right , i rest , your most truely devoted servant . finis . the nuptialls of peleus and thetis. consisting of a mask and a comedy, or the the [sic] great royall ball, acted lately in paris six times by the king in person. the duke of anjou. the duke of yorke. with divers other noble men. also by the princess royall henrette marie. the princess of conty. the dutchess of roquelaure. the dutchess of crequy. with many other ladies of honour. howell, james, 1594?-1666. 1654 approx. 79 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 32 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a86630 wing h3097 thomason e228_3 estc r7256 99873101 99873101 125555 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a86630) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 125555) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 39:e228[3]) the nuptialls of peleus and thetis. consisting of a mask and a comedy, or the the [sic] great royall ball, acted lately in paris six times by the king in person. the duke of anjou. the duke of yorke. with divers other noble men. also by the princess royall henrette marie. the princess of conty. the dutchess of roquelaure. the dutchess of crequy. with many other ladies of honour. howell, james, 1594?-1666. [8], 26; [2], 25, [1] p. printed for henry herringman, and are to be sold at his shop at the ancor in the lower walke of the new exchange., london, : 1654. the comedy has a separate dated title page, pagination and register. possibly translated from the tedide of diamante gabrielli. cf. bm, v. 107, col. 922. annotation on thomason copy: "may 25". reproduction of the original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng buti, francesco, d. 1682. -nozze di peleo e di theti. gabrielli, diamante. -tedide. 2007-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-04 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-05 jonathan blaney sampled and proofread 2007-05 jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the nvptialls of pelevs and thetis . consisting of a mask and a comedy , or the the great royall ball , acted lately in paris six times by the king in person . the duke of anjou . the duke of yorke . with divers other noble men . also by the princess royall henrette marie . the princess of conty . the dutchess of roqvelaure . the dutchess of crequy . with many other ladies of honour . london , printed for henry herringman , and are to be sold at his shop at the ancor in the lower walke of the new exchange . 1654. the stanzas of the royall ball , with the argument of every scene of the comedy , which gives occasion to every entry in the ball . the argument . peleus king of thessaly being enamored with thetis , and crossed by two potent rivalls , jupiter and neptune , doth so carry the business by the counsells of chiron , and by the succour of prometheus , that both the gods are at the end excluded of their pretentions ; neptune desists by reason of his old age , and jupiter being the elder of the two , but much more considerable , doth voluntarily renounce his interest . whereupon thetis being plainely perswaded of the constancy , and fidelity of her lover , gives her consent to marry him , so the nuptialls are celebrated with a great concourse of gods and goddesses . prometheus also having done good service in the business , and to put a period to his troubles , is there also present , and brings with him the liberall and mechanick arts which hee had invented ; discord also would faine have been there , but that she was ashamed to appeare upon the theatre , having been chac'd out of france , and it had been to no purpose for her to disturb so ioyfull a meeting . the singers . two rivers of thessaly . epidan and onochone jupiter neptune juno mercury peleus king of thessaly thetis chiron prometheus a quire of water-nymphs a quire of syrens & tritons a quire of priests of man . a quire of all the deities . the dancers . apollo , and the nine muses . magicians . fishers of corrall the furies of jelously savage men and women . the dryads or wood-nymphs . cavaliers of thessaly chirons academists peleus his courtiers thetis young maids of honor the liberall & servile arts love iuno hymen hercules the harmony of the sphears . to the most excellent , and high-born lady , the lady katherine marchionesse of dorchester , &c. madam ; i believe , no discerning reader will question my judgement in point of election , nor accuse my election of much presumption in dedicating this princely new piece to your ladiship . touching the first , the fancy comming from that country which doth challenge as much interest in your illustrious blood as england , i humbly conceived it might well become your ladiship to be patronesse thereof . touching the second reason , it having been not onely represented , but acted so many times ( and reserv'd yet for entertaining pimentel the spanish ambassador ) by a great king in person , with such a number of princes , princesses , nobles , and above a hundred representators besides , so that the charge of the scene and shewes amounted to half a million of french liures ; but above all , it being an invention so cryed up , so well contriv'd and trac'd , so full of wit , and variety of musicall airs , with other gentilesses ; i deem'd it would be a thing not unworthy of your ladiships private entertainment . lastly , madam , the fancy being so fresh , and sutable to the season , it comes to usher in a happy and healthfull spring to your honor , attended with affluences of all felicity present and future , according to the humble and pregnant votes of my most highly honored lady , your thrice-obedient and devoted servitor jam . hovvel . the first of may 1654. the prologue . apollo and the nine muses , epidan and onochone rivers of thessaly , a quire of water-nymphs . at the opening of the theater , apollo and the muses appeare upon the top of a mountaine , on both sides thereof run two rivers of thessaly , and the water-nymphs being separated in two quires , fall into the prayse of apollo , inviting him to come downe and give a happy augury to the loves of peleus ; the said mountaine stoopes by little and little , whereupon the rivers and nymphs retiring , apollo and the muses fill the stage , and compose the first entry of the ball . the first entry . apollo and the nine muses . the king represents apollo , madam henriette princesse of england . represents erato . madamoisella ofvilleroy . represents clio. the dutchesse of crequy represents euterpe . the dutchesse of roquelaure represents thalia . the princesse of conty represents vrania . madam de monlovet represents terpsicore . madam de saint simon represents calliope . madam d'olonne represents melpomene . madamoiselle de gourdon represents polyhimney . the nvptials of peleus and thetis ; or ; the great royall ball . the king of france representing apollo . more bright and better made then all the gods , superior to the rest of dëities by ods , my forespeaker with immortal beams is crown'd , victorious beauties i raise from the ground , i after glory alwaies run , not after daphne whom i shun . that fierce destructive python i did quell , that ugly horrid serpent hatch'd in hell , rebellion , which had poyson'd farre and neare faire france i chac'd from off this hemispheare : i rather had this monster slay , then with my daphne sport and play . yet it must be at last , early or late i must a femall court , it is my fate , and though i am all god , yet there 's a shee , whom with love glances i must deifie . and what nymph , goddesse , queen , or muse to be my daphne would refuse . madam henriette the princesse of england , representing the muse erato , which fell to her by lott . my stemm is more then of a mortall race ; for to great henries granchild all give place : my innocent and young aspect , inspires both pitty and respect ; and he who loudly would complain of princes falls and peoples raign , of angry starrs , and destiny , let him but cast his eyes on me . madamoiselle de villeroy representing clio , the inventresse of history . i turn this charming look sometimes to doomsday book ; these eyes , where in his throne love sits , make many mone ; my rosy cheeks , my quickening fire , madd the beholders with desire : and though i am but a young thing , blown as it were but in this spring ; my office is the history to tell of what a thousand yeers ago befell . madam the dutchess of crequy , representing euterpe , the inventresse of musique . the mouth of fame doth tell , in mine the graces dwell : so red , so small , loves queen had not , nor ere was seen ; a hundred beauties more i have in banke and store ; yet none esteemes them lesse : i nature rather blesse for those inward parts i have , which will last me to my grave . though i with musique use to cheer the mind , yet in my pipes no foulenesse you shall finde . m. the dutchesse of roquelaure , representing thalia , the inventresse of comedy . there is no heart so free but it will yeeld to me ; i have the true supremacy of beauty both in front and eye : my glances able are for to recover the sickest amorist , the palest lover : my comedies , if that you listen well , are able to redeem a soul from hell . madame the princesse of conty , representing vrania the inventresse of astronomy . the starres in their carreer are not so bright and cleer as is my minde , which 'bove the elements doth soar to view those high syderian tents . this port , this countenance , and eyes shew i did drop down from the skyes . i study their aspects and influence , their motions , & what good descends from thence . madam de montlouet representing terpsicore inventresse of dances and masks . if for a mortall i am taken , you may perchance be there mistaken , i dart a ray will pierce the heart , and make the center of it smart : i carry such a majesty , which represents divinity : the graces all in me do dwell , contending which shall bear the bell : i doe preside in maskes and dances , wounding the looker with my glances . m. the dutchess of san simon representing calliope , the inventresse of heroick poesy . beauty a treasure of high rate is my companion and my mate ; of vertues i have such a store , that could enrich a thousand more : i raise my spirits to enhance , ( when i am in poetique trance ) by high heroick verse the acts of noble champions and their facts : the sock i scorn , the buskin me doth raise to immortality . madam d' olonne representing melpomene , the inventresse of tragaedy . although my countenance be grave , yet pleasure and delights i have ▪ i look on death and destiny , yet are my straines divinity : the passages of vertue i rehearse , though in an elegiack tragick verse . madamoiselle de gourdon representing polhymny , the inventresse of vocall musique . a hundred objects i do see , although at my nativity they say i hooded was , my song will carry one to heaven along , the various postures i do show will make the gods themselves to bow ; i am the glory of our hills , where joy both heart and spirit fills . the first act . the first scnee , where appears a grott open on both sides . chiron , peleus , a dumb quire of magicians . chiron adviseth peleus either to abandon love , or not to lose higher hopes ; perswading him , that the old age of his rivals , might happily give him some assurance , yet he exhorts him for preventing the violence that jupiter might perchance offer to thetis , to go upon mount caucasus , and implore the help of prometheus , who with the fire he stole from heaven , had brought thence all the great and sublime sorts of knowledge ; and prometheus would be glad to oblige peleus in such an occasion to crosse the passion of jupiter , who made him endure such cruell torments ; peleus approves of chirons counsell , whereupon the magicians , as they dance , use a charm , carrying him away in a flying chair . the second entry . magicians . the count of lude , the marquis of villequire , and of genlis , the lords bontemps and cabou , the lords verbec , baptista , and lambert . the count of lude representing a magician . let my heart go loose more then to one , if i do love but three , i leasure have to sell love by retale ; i cry ; i sigh , and ready am to hang , yet then i vanish in the height of passion . the marquis of villequier representing a magician . the beauty which me charmes is like the spring , wee ought to love each other , she is fierce , and so am i . a young sorceresse may well become a magician of twenty years . the marquis of genlis representing a musician . who can make scruple of my art and skill , my reasons in due time have energie enough ; if i look fair in any part , i' st not a trick of magique art ? the second scene , which opens within a perspective where a sea is seen . thetis , neptune , a quire of syrens ▪ and tritons , a quire of dumb fishers for corrall . thetis appears upon a great shell attended by a halfe demy water god , being encompassed by a fair troop of corrall fishers ; on the other side neptune appears upon another great shell drawn by four sea horses , and begins to vent his passion to thetis ; but when he perceives that she despiseth him , he suddenly leaves her , and retires with all his train in choler , and striking the sea with his trident , he rais'd such a horrible tempest , that thetis with all her corrall fishers was forced to descend , who being very joyfull to escape the storm , make a dance among themselves to cheer and entertain her with delight . the third entry . a half sea-god leading thetis attended by twelve fishers of corrall . mounsieur the count of st. aignan prime gentleman of the kings chamber , is the half sea-god . the fishers of corrall . the duke of anjou the kings onely brother , the duke of york , the duke danville , the count de g'viche , the little count of aignan , the marquis of mirepoix , mounsieur saintot , mounsieur de la chesnay , the lord bruneau , s. fre. l'anglois , and raynal . the count saint aignan representing a demy sea-god , beginns . i have enhanc'd my gallantries so high , that neptunes court is glorified thereby . they equall the exploits of paladins , whose fame the earth with ecchos dims , what a poor thing it is to be a demy-god by land or sea ? yet i am one , i 'de have it known , it is no stain but a renown , in the fair field of love for to be so where joy & sadness , flowers and weeds do grow : and for the water-nymphs none can express better then i whether th' are fish or flesh . a madrigall . with a nymph both fair and cruell ; the fates have call'd me to a duell my torments endlesse are , my brest with the sea surges have like rest . the duke of anjou representing a fisherman . 1. in my fine hooks ther 's danger , then beware i am a fairer fisherman by far , then love himself my hook and line can catch a creature though divine . 2. husbands their cares do double , lest one day i fish within their ponds and catch the prey , so subtill is my wit , that none can see where i do fish those things which flow from me . 3. i will launce out when age improves my flanks , in the mean time i keep upon the banks for corrall on vermilian lipps i fish , and who will hinder me to have my wish ? the duke of yorke representing a fisherman . t' is not for me to fish for corrall here , i to another coast my course must steer , a fatall ground which seas surround . there i must fish upon an angry main , more then two crowns and scepters to regain . the duke damville representing a fisherman for corrall . i have the same bait , hook and line i had when i could scarce tell nine , a few there are though nere so fair , if i am set can ' scape my flaxen net . the count of guiche representing a fisherman . upon the side of a still peacefull pond i use to fish , and dare not go beyond ; the time will come that i may also seek the rivers banks , and happly a sea-creek . the little count of aignon representing a fisherman . as streight and slender as a rush i use to cast my line , and push it on , but i do onely catch small things , i cannot yet attach great wel-grown fishes , one might make good cheer with those i cannot take . the maaquis of mirepoix representing a fisherman . of this sweet trade of fishing i intend to be one day a master , and so mend my fortunes , now , the greatest skill of a true fisherman is to be still , and patient for a while , to make no hast so he may compasse well his ends at last . the third scene . thetis , jupiter , juno , a dumb quire of the furies of jealousie ▪ jupiter being encompassed with pomp and majesty , descends from the air in midst of a great cloud , and propounds to thetis all the tender & passionate things which might oblige her to be his spouse ; but shee refuseth this honor out of high respects she ow'd to juno , who had been so carefull of her education ; whereupon jupiter was upon point of carrying her away ; but as he was wrapping her within the cloud wherein he descended , iuno comes in a whirlwind not so violent as her rage ; and after a loud fit of scolding , having brought the furies along with her , the earth open'd and disgorgeth a huge horrid monster ; at sight hereof iupiter letting go his prey , and putting off his design till a more convenient time , returnes to heaven . in the mean time the furies extreamly well pleased to have so opportunely done such a piece of service to iuno , dance all before her , whereupon the goddesse iuno having thanked thetis for her vertuous resistance , takes the furies up with her in the same whirlwind which brought her down to persecute iupiter in his repose , and in his glory . the fourth entry . the king , the duke of ioyeuse , the marquis of genlis , mounsieur bontemps , the lords de lorge , verpre , beauchamp , mollier , le vacher , desairs , dolnist , baptiste . for the king representing a fury . spain , fly from this yong fury , fly away , she comes to daunt thee , and with torch in hand through every corner she doth force her way , to find thee out , 'gainst her thou canst not stand . she persecutes the bad , and makes them read their guilt within their looks , nay , the same time they mischief work , and do commit the crime , she glides into the conscience fear and dread . the duke of joyeuse representing a fury . believe me not , to trust in me forbear , a fained sweetnesse on my front i wear , of me there may be some mistakes , for i do hide my claws and snakes . the marquis of genlis representing another fury . my face is lovely , sweet and debonnair , such as an honest fury ought to bear . my heart some poyson may contain , yet serpents lodge not in my brain . the second act . the first scene . which represents the top of caucasus . prometheus , peleus , a quire of dumb men , and savage wmen . peleus being conducted by savage men and women , meets with prometheus upon a rock with his eagle which gnawes upon his heart , and having made a light comparison of their torments , prometheus assures him that the oracle of delphos had foretold that thetis should bear a son greater then his father ; and that iupiter also without doubt should be constrained to renounce his pretention , and that mercury having been sent in his behalf to iupiter , to acquaint him with the saying of the oracle , the businesse should end to his contentment : peleus hereupon returnes to thessaly extreamly comforted , and the savages upon hopes that prometheus should be freed from his torment , and that peleus should obtain his hearts desire , could not more lively expresse their joy then by a dance . the fifth entry . the lords of chesnay , and joyeux , the lords la marre , monglas , laleu , raynall , roddier , all savages . wee value beautious cheeks , and how they must be used we also know , nor such rude savages are we , but civiliz'd we soon may be . the second scene . which discovers a place of gold and stones . jupiter , mercury , a dumb quire of wood-nymphs . jupiter meets with mercury in this fair palace which he had caus'd to be prepar'd in the secret place about caucasus , to celebrate his nuptialls there without the knowledge of iuno , and devising the means how to conduct thither the new spouse ; mercury gave him notice what the oracle had said ; iupiter being therewith surpriz'd , and fearing that the same distaster might befall him there , which had happen'd 'twixt him and saturn , makes love to yield to ambition , and retires to heaven after he had commanded mercury to make it known that he would think on 't no more , nor do an act so injurious to his authority ; the dryades being land-nymphs , fell to be jealous of the good fortune of thetis a sea-goddesse , being there as spies to give account to juno of all the purposes of jupiter , and they expresse by a dance the joy they conceived that jupiter had altered his resolutions . the sixth entry . dryades or wood-nymphs . the king , the dukes of joyeuse , and of roquelaure , the marquis of genlis , mounsier bontemps , the lords of lorges , desairs , le vaiser , verpre , beauchamp , molier , d'olivet . for the king representing a dryade . 1. a nymph as great as generous , in oaks as green as pretious i lead a happy traine : my youthfull branches taper so , as if to heaven they would grow , and starres salute would fain : they spread and shoot so bravely out , that they the glory of their root will not betray . 2. by their rind you well may know with what strength and sap these grow , and whence it springs . they may be fit caesars to make , or alexanders for to shake , with thousand earthly kings . 3. about this proud and royall tree others do grow , but modestly they creepe more humble then the grasse , so that one day 't wil come to passe , this tree of heaven may be made unto the europian world a shade . the duke of ioyeuse representing another wood-nymph . while the seasons , rude and cold , i wonder none with me makes bold my wood hath this rare quality , it shall burn , warme , and make no noyse at all . the duke of roquelaure representing also a dryade . 1. some hold me for a merry wench , and that i care not much for continence , i am the greatest babler i confesse , and imitate vergonda by my tresse . 2. there is no forrest but doth feel the strokes of my victorious steel , as soone as i doe haunt a cops of wood , to bring the axe among them were as good . 3. i have my vanities , besides my age by right of impudence sometimes doth rage , and if a tree cleffed may chance , they presently impute the cause to me . 4. but to conclude , sweet nymphs , my pleasures shall never hurt yours , therefore doubt not at all ; to my beloved trunk i le so adhere , that for to injure others none shall feare . the marriage of genlis representing the last dryade . within the bottom of a grove a satyre thereabouts did rove , who held my honor at a bay , but hard it was for to display whether a reall satyre , or one clad like satyres , or indeed a true dryad . the third scene . which represents a theater , and at the end of a prospective , a statue of god mars . a quire of mars his priests , with another dumb quire of thessalian knights . the cavaliers of the principall city of thessalia being afflicted for the cruelty of thetis against peleus their monarch , do bring in a combat at barriers to the honor of mars : in the mean time they offered sacrifices on the other side to the same god , with supplications , that he would imploy his credit with venus for the returne of peleus , and for mollifying the heart of thetis ; at this same time the statue of mars having spoken and foretold all good auguries , the knights quit their armes and dance . the seventh entry . a combat at barriers by the knights of thessaly . the count of saint aignan chiefe of the defendants . defendants young beaufort , san maury , desens , derville . m. beaufort chiefe of the appellants . appellants gamard , clinchant , ourdanlt , de hallus . for the count sant aignan representing a thessalian knight . attend me lawrells , this combat 's made to gain the glory of those irons which hold me captive , therefore i must be more bold then any , and employ my trusty blade . what force can lance or sword against me then afford ? the third act . first scene . which represents the portall of thetis palace . peleus , chiron , a quire of chiron's academists . peleus being returned from caucasus , and living with chiron , doth resolve by his advises to present himselfe to thetis , and to make his addresse to her with amorous patheticall prayers , which he might do the more confidently by reason of jupiter's declaration , wherein hee resolved not to think any more on her ; the disciples of the said chiron , the inventor and master of many differing professions frame a dance to expresse the joy they conceived for the return of peleus . the eight entry . chiron making his academy to dance for the entertainment of peleus . mounsieur hesselin master of chirons academists . the academists habited like indians . the king , the lords saintot , bon● emps , and cabou , the lords mollier , bruneau , langlois , beaucham , le vacher , baptiste , d'olvet , and de lorges . chiron the centaure who was to be represented by mounsieur hesselin . be not my friends at all astonished to see a man onely for back and head , he happy is who is a beast backward , and not above the brest . i find no incommodity that i am such a prodigy , half a man somtimes may need half a horse for better speed . when i have moraliz'd by sense , ( within my cell ) neat and distinct unto the stable , i withdraw me thence , from reason taking pleasure in instinct . the master of the academy represented by master hesselin . if that my pride appear , i reason have , for i instruct all gallant men and brave , lucre makes me not mercenary , but i do teach all frank and free , if 'mong my schollers * one be pleas'd to pay , i can afford the rest a good long day . for the king representing an academist . this young academist doth learn so well his part , that all the rest he doth excel ; his present ( and his future ) grandeur show all mortall his high vertues are below . this master piece to perfect , it seems that fortune with nature did cooperate . the bodies exercise is his delight against his own in many an eager fight ; he beaten hath the iron , and made them fly a fair presage of future victory he greater things prepares ; and spain shall find how dextrous he will prove in every kind . he cannot broke any should him exceed , whether he runnes , or leaps , or mounts the steed , in dancing neatly none surpasse him shall , the world admires him , only the ladies are wary , nor dare they what they thinke declare . the second scene thetis , peleus , a dumb quire of peleus courtiers , and the little maids of honor of thetis court . peleus doth all he can to gain the good grace of thetis , but she continues still in the same rigor , and as proteus daughter , takes advantage of the priviledge of her birth to deceive peleus by various shapes , yet he faints not in the pursuit , but begins to adde boldnesse to affection : at last thetis transformes her selfe to a rock , which peleus embraceth , and protesteth to perish rather then forsake her ; at this last proof of constancy and love , thetis yeelds , and accepts him for her husband ; hereupon all peleus court falls into an excesss of gladnesse , which makes the courtiers to fall a dancing . the ninth entry . courtiers . the duke of candale , the marquis of villequier , and of genlis the count . for the king who should have represented a courtier . this youthfull courtier hath so high a look , as if for some great king himselfe he took , he 's forward , bold , and cannot be alone , nothing doth please him more then to come on : he sure will something do : the charge we see he hath is honourable , and for his age very considerable , some lofty spirits would be glad with lesse , but he doth farre more glorious things professe , sure he will something do . he ordinary titles doth excell , he would do better , though he now doth well , had he no processe with a neerally , which yet doth set an edge on majesty , sure he will something do the duke of candale , representing a courtier . the court would not so splendid be and brave , were i not there , nor halfe that lustre have : we are the ' ffects of one another , we laugh , and play and sport together , the courtier may do fortune a good turne as well as she to him — the marquis of villequier , representing another courtier . fortune and love are two odd things , the one is blinde , to'ther hath wings , it is a tedious task and doubtfull gain the true good-will of either to obtain ; for me , i like the lover , who doth go by way of storming , and ends quickly so . i will not knock too long at one hearts dore , lest in the mean time i lose hundreds more . the marquis of genlis representing a courtier also . in the court a number te●ds to divers projects , divers ends , all opposed to one another , the sisters oft do cross the brother , touching my selfe , i hope to expedit my businesse by my charming face and witt . the last scene . thetis , peleus , a quier of all the deities , prometheus , a dumb quier of loves , hercules , hymen , juno , dumb personag●s , a so a dumb quier of the liberall and mechanick arts , a celestiall harmony . thetis and peleus appear , being seated upon a high throne , whereof the upper part changeth to a prospective of the firmament where the loves are seated ; and the other part of the scene formeth it selfe into a cloud , athwart whereof all the dieties do glitter , being invited to the marriage : hercules brings with him prometheus freed by jupiters order ; in the mean time , juno and hymen accompanyed by the intelligences that compose the celestiall harmony , descending in a great engine , all which being joyned to the liberall and mechanick arts , which were the invention of prometheus who conducted them thither , a great dance is formed on earth below , while the little loves make another in the heavens above at the same time . the last entry . the liberall arts . madam de brancas , madamoiselle de mancini , madamoiselle de mortsmart , madamoiselle de la riviere bonnevill , madamoiselle de fovilloux , madomoiselle destree , madamoiselle de la loupe . madam brancas represents geometry . i trace the earth all over by account , as farre as pindus or parnassus mount ; i corinth view , where every one cannot arrive , 't is i alone who can by land-skips , mapps , and instruments , measure all regions , and their vast extents . madamoiselle mancini , representing musique . in me a comely spritfull grace , makes vnisons throughout my face : a charming harmony moves betwixt lips and eye : sometimes i melt , bring sadnesses and smarts , which shews i am not welcome to all hearts . madamoiselle de mortmart , representing logique . my youth , my hue , my eyes do prove , the strongest reason in the school of love is beauty , 't will convince the most austere , and make a fool of a philosopher : i pray let this serve for an argument , i merit on parnassus hill a tent . madamoiselle d' estre , representing astronomy . my mind is not so mussled 'mong the clouds , but i can know the causes which by crouds puzzle us here below ; the starres when i was born , did smile at my nativity , the heavens did powre their graces in such store , that ever since it makes me them adore . madamoiselle delle rivere bonnevill represents grammar . though young and innocent , i have some fitts of the green sicknesse , yet i well may sit among these sisters , to my a. b. c. ther 's not an art but 't is an obligee : the ground-work i do lay , cut out , and trace , therefore on phocis hill let me have place . madam de fovilloux representing rhetorick . i usefull am at court , hearts will not yield i snatch away , and so do winne the field , i conquer with my tongue which i do file , when i a charming beauty would beguile . madamoiselle de la loupe representing arithmetick . my youthfull charms make many hearts with grones , and sighes , and sobs to smart beyond computing , yet could i to number them my selfe apply , but that thereof i make a smal account , they to so many cyphers do amount . madam de commenge representing iuno . having immortall beauty in my face , where roses bloom , and lillies still have place , what reason is there i should jealous be ? poor mortalls be not so deceiv'd in me ; i jealousie do scorn with foul disdain , i 'le neither give nor take it , 't is a grain of cursed , seed that naturally doth bear a dry black leaf , which will the heart strings teare . hymen represented by the duke of ioyeuse . i am as serious , as cupid is a sot , i turn his flames to vertue every jot , madam de puy knowes well no blonden is so frequent with chast maids though full of wish . the duke damville representing hercules . in the behalf of love whose pleasing bait , have done me such good offices and bad , i must begin my labours , and go clad on venus shrine , and altars for to wait ; i find my veines and passions all as hot my heart as vigorous as 't was at first , ther 's nothing in me that 's decay'd a jot , for glory also i ne're more did thirst : only my feet are not so quick , as when i deceive did my host , and may agen . the mechanique arts . the king represents represents warre , the count st. aignan represents agriculture , de verpre represents navigation , de lorges represents hunting , le vacher represents a goldsmith , beauchamp represents a painter , d' olivet represents chirurgery . the king representing warre . peace , sure thou 'lt come at last so much desir'd , who hast to heaven thy self so long retir'd and we must be thankfull to warre for thee . behold she comes , and she to me is sent to make me have a timely sentiment of europes dolefull case , lo , she doth bring lawrels & palms , fit presents for a king . ye charming femals , from your eyes it is , that warrs and tumults rise you dart the thunderbolts of strife , you have your trumpets , drum and fife , venus we know is mars his wife . the count saint aignan represents agriculture or husbandry . by toyling much both night and day in mars his field , & venus dales , i glory have obtain'd , they say , having still propitious gales ; i have got laurells , but the bloom is pass'd , the fruit is not yet come . a quire of loves . the duke of anjou the kings brother , the count of guiche , the marquis of villeroy , the little count of saint aignan , little rassent page of the chamber , laleu , donart and aubry . for mounsieur , representing the first love . ladies , from this tender spray there may some danger come one day , ye with caresses flatter him , he you , ye kiss , & hugg him , but you 'l find it true , it is a lions cubb which you do stroke , who with his paw in time may make you smoke ; he sports with you , he smiles and mocks , playes with your jewells , fancies , locks , but take yee heed , for he at length will gather more encrease of strength ; yet , i foresee he will wean quite himself from all such soft delight ; and marching in the steps of his great sires make glory the sole queen of his desires . the count of guyche representing another love . all those loves i do behold brighter then the burnish'd gold , are nothing if compar'd with me , whether fire , or light they be , i do discover in effect i am all love , when i reflect upon my self — the marquis of villeroy representing another love . i peep to hear what lovers say , when they whisper sport or play ; and sometimes lay traps in their way . for the little count of saint aignan representing another love . if hee be as discreet as is his mother , he will neglect the love of any other , but if the father he be like unto , he mistresses will have & beauties wooe . for litle rassent representing another love . our talents are diversified , each one hath his perfections aside ; for me , till i have wings , 't is meet i fence my self with feet . finis . the nuptials of peleus and thetis . a new italian comedy , whence the preceding mask was extracted ; made english by a nearer adherence to the original , then to the french translation . — non seria semper . london . printed for henry herringman , at the anchor . the prologue . apollo and the muses upon the pierian mount ; quires of water-nymphs upon the banks of epidano and onochono , rivers of thessaly . the nymphs to apollo . o living treasure of the glorious sky , who by thy piercing all surveying eye dost in thy golden armor conquer night , and so in triumph usher'st in the light : among the glittering stars thou dost not shine with greater lustre , then amongst the nine aonian sisters ▪ o descend and daign , great god , ( leaving a while olympian raign ) to feast with us : a joyful augury vouchsafe to peleus passions , whose pure brest may justly merit hymen for his guest . to the eternal lawes of love , the highest gods and saints above are subject : monarchies and scepters yield ▪ to love , and crown him victor in the field : act i. scene i. chiron , peleus , a quire of dumb magicians . chiron . why do you thus your self torment ? peleus . chiron , how shall i find content ? chiron . pursue your hopes , and onward go ▪ peleus . is 't possible i should do so ? when on my heart a beauty lies that is descended from the skies ; a beauty that 's all moving and immense , that hath o're me such an omnipotence ? moreover , i two rivals have , no less then gods , who me outbrave for neptune with his trident , and great jove are my competitors for thetis love . chiron . peleus , why do you thus your self torment ? peleus . chiron , where is it i should find content ? chiron . then follow your fair hopes , and onward go . peleus . how is it possible i should do so ? chiron . listen to me , gray hairs do but in vain attempt young beauties , they will them disdain though they be gods : neptune is rich in yeers as well as treasure , thetis will him jeer . for jove , besides his age , his rapes and wiles , how he so many ladies did beguile will make her shun him : but if you desire to compass your designes , and quench your fire , behold those magies that with charmed flight will guide you safely to prometheus sight , who being bold and wise , is th'only man who in this enterprise you pleasure can : he is no friend to jove , who him torments with such eternal pangs , therefore he will , to help you , exercise his utmost skil . wherefore take my advice , and hence away to india , through the air cut out your way . delay is alwayes dangerous to lovers , he ne're obtain'd his ends who hums and hovers . peleus . this aiery journey i will undertake , but though herein fortune my friend i make yet are my hopes but smal , i have a hint , that thetis's cruel , and her heart is flint . chiron . when modest beauties to excuses fall , you must not presently it rigor call . the heart oft-times desires what lips deny , for a huge distance doth betwixt them lye . peleus . could it unto my love-sick thoughts appear that what you say hereto is true and clear , those pangs i suffer in my brest would turn to case , delight and rest . but fall what will my fate portends . i still will glory in my ends , which an unmeasurable joy distils , and my so high-swoln heart with comfort fils . chiron , peleus . let a true lover never lose his hope or courage when he wooes : the more his suff'rance is , the more sweetness is kept for him in store . in cupids gentle kingdom nothing is impossible , but one may gain his wish . chiron . go on then happily , for who doth know but that your constancy may tell you so ? peleus . on , on , then to my magies i will go . the second scene . thetis , neptune , a quire of tritons , and meremaids , with a quire of corral-fishers . the quire of tritons and meremaids . at such a splendid glorious show , what heart but would turn fire and tow ? a pomp so rare , a sight so fair , is able to perfume the air : nor morn nor sun did ever view so bright and ravishing a hue . at such a splendid glorious show , what heart but would turn fire and tow ? neptune . there is no fence i find , love will invade my mind . in these moist fields my rivers run in vain , to quench my fire , or tepifie my pain ; though i in midst of waters lye , yet do i melt , dissolve and fry ; but thetis , you at last will find it true , to be more fool unto your self , then you are cruel unto me . will you refuse the richest of the gods , him who doth use to give those gems that beauties do adorn , thence , where the queen of love her self was born ? thetis . aurora commonly doth rise cheerful and smiling to our eyes but suddenly we oftentimes do see , she fals a weeping upon flower and tree . if you desire the cause i should unfold , it is because her * consort is so old . neptune . thetis , be not deceiv'd , though i be gray , my waters still are green , and so they may be wholsomer then springs , which by and by pon the least drowth grow shallower and dry . youth is unstable , heady , rash ; but age is constant , cautious , provident , and sage . thetis . i do confess , that you discourse , and reason like a quaint amorist , although the season of love in you be past . it was for love the heavens made youth , for which the gods above have journeyed down to earth ; no other age is fit a female beauty to engage . neptune . perfidious thing , i plainly now do find , thou art unto another more inclin'd . come winds and tempests , and with my lament your blasts unite ; come , come incontinent , let hispid blust'ring boreas from the north , bring all the haracanes and whirlwinds forth , blow off , and banish from my kingdom quite this impious girle so full of hate and spite . revenge the quarrel of your king , and with your vengeance justice bring : shall she in my dominions dwel , who hath inflam'd my heart with fire from hel ? chorus . ingrateful , rash , and foolish nymph , canst thou slight thus the greatest of the gods below ▪ the grief will be thine own when thou art wiser growne . neglected amorists may learn from hence , against blind cupids arrowes a true fence ▪ disdain of beauty a revenge may be , though not of love th'expected remedy : the third scene . thetis , juno , jupiter , a quire of the furies of jealousie : thetis now that the fury of the wind hath left so sweet a calm behind : now that the storm is gone , i pray let me alone to vent unto my self my moan . oh me , i find that ambushes are laid . to take me and entrap poor silly maid : what will become of thee my heart ? th'art like to suffer many a smart . oh me , oh me , poor heart what will become of thee ? thy chastity love studies to surprize . he 's sly and cunning , though not alwayes wise ; he armour hath of every sort for to assault a female fort : he prayes , complains , and pines , he menaceth and whines now , if another god should joyn with him , who can me then essoyn ? oh me , oh me , poor heart what will become of thee ? jupiter . what can blest heaven me avail , if still of my desire i fail ? celestial joies , if they to sorrow turne , far worse then all tartarean tortures burn ▪ o thetis , thou alone hast made me quit my throne , thou giv'st him law , who gods doth aw● it is my destiny and luck , by thee for to be deadly struck ; and that which is the greatest wonder , thy beauti 's stronger then my thunder . but come , o come , my fair , increase my blisse , and let 's cohabit both in pardise . thetis . o no , not so . jupiter . come and be partner of my throne which hymen offers thee alone ; that empire love hath thee design'd , come , come my fair , be not unkind . thetis . o no , not so ▪ the heavens forbid i should be said , ( poor innocent and silly maid ) ▪ for to be such a rebel as to wrong her * bed who train'd me all along from my first cradle : i had rather dy a thousand deaths , and scorch in tartary . jupiter . if you will use such slight apologies , to him who can command both lair and skies ; to cleer your error , and my pain asswage , i must use force , my dear , but far from rage . cloud , gently take her up . thetis . oh me . jupiter . what ails my soul ? thetis . aime , who helps me ? jupiter . what mortal creature 's hee can thee reprize from me ? juno . disloyal jove , is it my hapless fate thou should'st so oft thy faith thus violate ? but since in heaven no justice can be found , or piety among the stars , the ground shall ope , and styx shall belch forth furies fell : come then appear , ye gastly dames of hell ; and help to vindicate the justness of my fate . jupiter . farewel my thetis , so enchanting bright , but know i do not thee abandon quite . thetis to juno . great goddesse , i no pardon crave of thee , but pity ; though infortunate i be , yet i am guiltless , and from foulnesse free . juno . such hazzards to escape is no offence , much less misfortune or incontinence . thetis and juno . sweet gratitude doth alwayes rest in a' well born gentle brest : the gods desire no more for those blessings in such store , which on us mortals ev'ry hour they in silver showres do pour . act ii. scene i. peleus , promethus , a quire of dumb men , and savage women . peleus . infortunate prometheus , how thine eternal torments are like mine ! prometheus . ah , who is he ▪ thus speaks to me ? peleus t is peleus king of thessaly , who may thy mate for torture be . prometheus i from the body of the sun stole fire e're scarce the world begun . peleus and i some fiery glances took from thetis all inchanting look . prometheus jove chastneth my temerity by this voracious * bird you see . peleus prometheus , it is jove the very same torments likewise with jealousie my flame . prometheus but yours one day may find allay . peleus but when , and how ? prometheus ah , ah , my torments grow . peleus o cruel pangs some truce and respit give , prometheus may with counsel me relieve . prometheus i have receiv'd advice from mercury , the * thunderer will thetis fly , and his ambition place ( as you shal prove ) before her beauty , or his flames of love ; to credit this you may be bold , for by the oracle it is foretold . peleus if it be true what issues from that vioce , my soul shal carols sing , my heart rejoice there never was so coy and cruel she , but only sought by one , may conquered be . prometheus go , go , return where thou didst leave thy heart , thou shalt find ease for thy corroding smart . in the vast sea of love who e're doth sail must lose no wind , and then he may prevail . peleus for this sweet counsel thou hast given me , may heaven , o prometheus , set thee free . prometheus the thunderer may be lesse cruel unto me . prometheus , peleus o dear , and solacing , sweet blissful hope , how comforting art thou to those who cope with rigid beauties ? thou dost periods put to black despair ; the gods did justly shut thee out of hell ; thy breath though ne're so small would ease the damned souls in pluto's hall . peleus to the savages and you my faithful guides unto this place , enjoy the comforts also i embrace ; be all partakers of my hopes , and share some of my joyes , which past expressions are . the second scene . jupiter , mercury , a quire of dumb dryads , or woo'd nymphs . jupiter well , what did the oracle at delphos say touching my love to thetis , tell me , pray . mercury apollo from the tripod did pronounce , the * son of thetis ( all will see ) shall greater then his father be . jupiter how can that be ? unless the fates renew in me my * sire's example , and make 't true . mercury that which prometheus told me also is no less infallible and true then this . jupiter then i do find that it doth me behove to leave commanding heaven , or not to love . mercury which do you most desire , to serve or domineer ? jupiter i hold love's golden fetter , then any empire better , the one doth thousand sweets instil , th'other the brain with cumbers fill . mercury permit me , mighty jove , to tell you 't is folly of a mortal still to wish , under the vail of good , to meet the bad , which goes in vertues habit often clad . but you which o're the spheers do sway , and such coruscant beams display ; can you be so transported , as endure that a blind lying boy should you allure , who will vapour every where , that he did fetter jupiter . thetis , suppose , an idle wench should prove : have you not goddesses enough above ? if you olympus loose , where will you find throughout the world a kingdom of that kind ? jupiter in your discourse you go so strongly on that makes me half of your opinion . mercury nor can you any true content obtain whilst you are compast with a double pain . juno pursues you with her furies here , and thetis may perhaps flye from you there ; the one is doubtful , th'other is jealous still , both may confederate to crosse your will . jupiter 't is true , that juno me pursues , and raiseth furies by whole crews . mercury she every where doth stir and wheel about , she doth disturb all heaven to find you out . jupiter then mercury , go and proclaime from pole to pole that i disclaim thetis , and will no more my honour maim . go speedily . mercury jove , i wil fly . jove fair wood nymphs let this day be festival that i my wonted freedom did recal , which impious fate and beauty did conspire to captivate with false and fatuous fire . fair wood nymphs let this day by all be kept hereafter festival . the third scene . a quire of priests , a dumb quire of cavaliers at barriers . the quire of priests . great god of war , the prop , defence and stay of empires , intercede that peleus may ( by favor of that * goddesse whom alone thou do'st adore , and art to serve so prone ) return to sway again fair thessaly : behold that amourous warrier with mild eye . and you brave champions propitious make our vowes and altars ; let the welkin quake with the high clashings of your barriers . peleus at his return will pay you your arrears . one of the priests . but stay a little , stay , our oracle will something say . the oracle at last the king of thessaly shall home return with mirth and glee . the quire of priests o newes more rare then indian pearle , and sweeter far then that hyblean juice the attic bee stov'd in her cell for joves nativity ; and will king peleus come agen ? then thessaly shall swarm with men . o newes more rare then indian pearle , and richer far . act iii. scene i. peleus , chiron , a dumb quire of chirons , academists , or disciples . peleus . for him who parts from his delight time makes too quick and rapid flight , but who is travelling to see his love , each moment unto him an age doth prove . hope still with doubts , fruition with fear is commonly attended every where . chiron . i with my companions here did think to find you full of cheer . now that you are a champion o're the gods , of whom for faith and love you have such odds ; why do you thus afflict your self with pain ? faint heart did ne're a ladies favour gain . chiron . sometimes my spirits are alert and high , then they begin to languish presently ; because i fear that thetis heart may marble prove ; hence comes my smart . chiron . you are deceiv'd ; when thetis knowledg had you left fair greece , and undertook so bad and hazardous a journey to find ease , the fury of your passion to appease ; she with a pitying paleness then was struck , and sighing said , the stars send him good luck . go , lay close siege , and let her see you are resolv'd for battery . the female who believes she's truly lov'd , need not by too long prayers to be mov'd . peleus . your counsel 's good : now with alacrity i will both love and fortune try ; and of the business you shall quickly see i 'l make a shaft or bolt . but where is she ? chiron . i 'l go in quest of her . in the mean time let my disciples dance , we will be fortunate in spite of chance : the second scene . thetis , peleus , a quire of peleus courtiers . thetis love , if you will enter like a friend , lay down your armes , let peace attend your purposes , and so you may be welcome , and so win the day . if boisterously you me assault , come not neer me , but make a halt : be sure not to torment my heart , or with your passions make it smart . peleus . o thetis , you desire to shun that which your self to me have done . thetis ohime . peleus . my dear , what do you fear ? thetis ohime , when you were far from hence love did do much for you ; but now you are so neer , i fear with violence he will assault me with his bow . i pray retire . peleus . will you with such a heart of flint and steel convert those pleasing passions which i feel to pangs ? shall he still languish with tears , with doubtfulness and anguish , who loves your eyes more then the stars or skies ? thetis these words an amorous pleasure do instil into my brest , my thoughts with fancies swill ; fool that i am , i who have made a vow to any love enchantments ne're to bow ; i who two gods for marriage did refuse , shall i yeild now and love-sick grow ? i pray retire . peleus . from those fair eyes i will not part , who have infus'd into my heart grief , and content , with constancy ; all trophies of your chastity , and of my faith : where ere you go i will adore your shadow too and fro . thetis to her self 'gainst such a charming violence if i can find no guard or fence , i 'l have recourse for quenching of this fire unto the arts of proteus my great sire . peleus will then desist , unless he fall in love with lions , monsters , rocks and all . peleus . dear , what 's that you whisper ? thetis may your laments find their contents . peleus oh pleasing accents ! thetis . but peleus now i wil you disabuse , they are fain'd fancies which you thus amuse when you made me the object of your mind you took me for a nymph , but you shall find i am a ravenous lion , a hard rock , a monster that wears clouds in lieu of smock . peleus . my sweetest friend , what do you now intend ? thetis . i 'l wrap my self within that cloud : peleus do not do so , for i shall cry aloud . o heaven bless me , what do i see ! can such a beauteous creature turn to be a beast of such immane ferocity ? you cannot fright me , or make an escape , my thetis i 'l pursue in any shape . what do i see ? this shape becomes you well , and shewes that you are cruel , fierce and fell . but all this cunning will not serve your turn , the more you horrid are , the more i burn . a sacrifice of sighes and groans i 'l offer though you change to stones . dear , take your shape again , and ease me of this pungent pain . thetis . o god , the more i monstrous make my self in show , the more my spirits melt , and gentle grow . i am almost in love . peleus almost ! that word my panting brest doth pierce , and shewes you still are cruel , fell and fierce , in lieu of solacing my love-swoln mind , it leaves a double agony behind , ohime , what lions , monsters thus oppose my vertuous love , and make themselvs my foes ? thetis to her self . i know not where to turne , my spirits are in such a strange confusion , yet i dare not say i love as yet ; my hot desire i will suppress and quench this raging fire . the tongue shall give my heart the ly ; i 'l make no haste , though i must yeild at last , there is no remedy . peleus dear thetis , cast on him a pitying eye , whose brest for thee with candent coles doth fry . thetis to her self . distracted soul , 't is too too true , i must bid now virginity adieu . but sure my lips and faltring tongue doth err , oh did my heart do so ; i must prefer the heart before the tongue , because the last ▪ less noble is ; i' th heart dame nature plac'd the pure arterial and illustrious blood ; i fear that i am too well understood . by peleus . ohime , by soft degrees i find that cunning little god , though blind , doth make his way into my brest , maugre my self , i must make him my guest . yet i must try once more this boy to mock , and turn my self into a senseless rock : peleus have i again lost thetis ? is she gone ? must i to stones and rocks make now my moan ? o precious cristal rock , thou now dost hold a gem more rich then diamond or gold ; i fear that at the foot of this hard rock my hope will shipwrack by a fatal shock . but for strong water made of mercury , i 'l try with tears this rock to mollifie . my heat is such , 't will me to ashes turn , then will i make this precious rock my urne . the rock vanisheth ▪ whereupon thetis resumes her shape and speaks . love , lo , i yield , i can no more resist thy all subduing power , or persist in my first purposes , thy dart hath split in two my tender heart . who have no hearts at all are only fit to cope with thee , and fence away thy hit . lo peleus i am thine . peleus in a kind of rapture . hold heart , do not too wide thy self dilate , lest by excess of joy i draw my fate too soon upon me , and so dye ere i make use of victory . and you my faithful followers rejoice , and cleave the air with your triumphing voice : you have been sharers of my misery , now you shall share of my prosperity . the last scene . thetis , peleus , prometheus , a quire of deities , * hercules , juno , hymen , with the liberal and servile arts . thetis and peleus now our desires do flame with equal fires . and there doth nothing want but constancy , for to complete both our felicity . peleus . thetis , thou art my chiefest good . thetis and you my heart and precious bloud . thetis and peleus behold the gods are come to be our guests , and learn of us what it is to be blest . prometheus peleus , we now are both from tortures free ; you hymen help'd , and hercules help'd mee . and to oblige us further , they are here to mingle joy with us , and make good cheer . the quire of deities to them who languish in pain and anguish , love gives at last a sweet repast . thetis , peleus , prometheus just heaven ne're fails , and powers above to recompence a vertuous constant love ; grief , cares , and pain turn all at last to gain . by this we find adversity to be the surest road to true felicity . finis . machine-generated and other supplemental data notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a86630e-21480 * [ king . ] notes for div a86630e-30550 * titan . * juno . a cloud appears . juno with the help of the fishers and furies redeem her notes for div a86630e-33920 * a vultur preying upon his heart which still renewes . * jove . * achilles . * saturn thrust out of 〈◊〉 by jupiter his son . * venus . notes for div a86630e-36580 a cloud appears , wherein thetis enters . the cloud vanishes and thetis turns her self into a lion she transforms her self into a monster . thetis resumes her self . thetis doth metamorphose her self into a rock . he embraceth the rock , and weeps upon it . the courtiers ▪ sing . * who had freed prometheus . known defects for a86630.xml defect summary 4 missing or defective tokens 2 duplicate missing known defects on page a86630-005-a untranscribed duplicate on page 5-a, word 954 known defects on page a86630-005-b untranscribed duplicate on page 5-b, word 954 known defects on page a86630-014-a incomplete or missing word on page 14-a, word 5046: bon● known defects on page a86630-015-b incomplete or missing word on page 15-b, word 5909: te●ds known defects on page a86630-016-a incomplete or missing word on page 16-a, word 5982: personag●s known defects on page a86630-023-a incomplete or missing word on page 23-a, word 9091: aw● organon salutis an instrument to cleanse the stomach : as also divers new experiments of the virtue of tobacco and coffee, how much they conduce to preserve humane health / by w.r. ... w. r. (walter rumsey), 1584-1660. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a57896 of text r5405 in the english short title catalog (wing r2280a). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 68 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 41 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a57896 wing r2280a estc r5405 12270499 ocm 12270499 58229 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a57896) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 58229) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 925:4) organon salutis an instrument to cleanse the stomach : as also divers new experiments of the virtue of tobacco and coffee, how much they conduce to preserve humane health / by w.r. ... w. r. (walter rumsey), 1584-1660. blount, henry, sir, 1602-1682. howell, james, 1594?-1666. [24], 56 p. printed by r. hodgkinsonne for d. pakeman ..., london : 1657. reproduction of original in huntington library. includes letters form henry blount and james howell. eng medicine -early works to 1800. tobacco -early works to 1800. coffee -early works to 1800. a57896 r5405 (wing r2280a). civilwar no organon salutis. an instrument to cleanse the stomach, as also divers new experiments of the virtue of tobacco and coffee: how much they con w. r 1657 12941 25 0 0 0 0 0 19 c the rate of 19 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2003-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-11 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-12 rina kor sampled and proofread 2003-12 rina kor text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion organon salutis . an instrument to cleanse the stomach , as also divers new experiments of the virtue of tobacco and coffee : how much they conduce to preserve humane health . by w. r. of grays inne , esq. experto credo . london , printed by r hodgkinsonne , for d. pakeman , living at the rainbow in fleetstreet , neer the inner temple gate , 1657. to the right honourable , henry , lord marquess of dorchester , &c. as apollo among the planets , so , i may say , your lordship is among peers : in the vast firmament of learning you out shine them all : and understanding that , among other scientificall speculations , your lordship hath been addicted to the study of physick ( wherein you have made such an admired progresse , that you have attained , not only the theory , but the practise thereof ) i am bold to dedicate this small piece to your lordship ; wherein there are divers new physicall experiments , for the universall health of mankinde : therefore i presume no discerning reader will adjudge this addresse to be improper . moreover , ther 's another reason that induced me hereunto , which was , that i knew your lordship to have been pleased to admit your self to gray's inne , and make it your musaeum , or place of retirement , ( which i hold to be one of the greatest honours that society ever received ) and being a member thereof my self , i adventured to make this dedication ; for which nevertheless i crave your pardon , and rest , my highly honoured lord , your obedient , and most humble servant , w● . rumsey . to my worshipfull and much honored friend , sir henry blount knight . sir , my miseries ( in matter of my health ) made me in my old age ( being now seventy two yeers old ) to remember what i learned in my youth at school , in reading of tullies office , ( that is ) after taking notice of my own body , to observe what did doe me good , or harm , before i should use the help of physitians : this made me to collect what i have written in this book , for mine own private use . many of my friends urged me to leave the same to be printed for the benefit of others ; which i was loath to doe , in respect it is a novelty , not prescribed by others , untill i understood by you , that it was well accepted in foreign parts by persons of great quality and knowledge , which came by the same relations of yours unto them . i lately understood that your discovery , in your excellent book of travels , hath brought the use of the turkes physick , of cophie in great request in england , whereof i have made use , in another form than is used by boyling of it in turkie , and being less loathsome and troublesome ; wherefore i thought meet to send this book to you , and to referre it to your iudgement , whether it be fit to be published in print . if you let it to passe under your protection , i little care what others speak of it , and rest sir , your loving friend and servant w● . rumsey . the answer of sir henry blount knight , to the preceding letter of his worthy friend iudge rumsey . sir , i present you with many thanks for your excellent physick treatise , and for your favour in the direction of it to me ; but for your printing of it , all mankinde is to give you thanks . for certainly all ages and nations have ever held a gratefull memory of the inventors of any devise or engine , to the publique advantage of humane life : for , as it is the goodnesse of god that gives us life ; so , of all men , they are most subservient to that goodnesse , who help to make that life long and comfortable ; amongst whom this your whalebone instrument will assuredly cause your name to stand . it hath already ( though crept out by stealth ) gained much credit abroad , in forrain countreys ; where i have known persons of eminent quality to hold it in great esteem . and besides the undenyed reputation ( where rightly used ) it gains , in the experience & practise thereof , it cannot in a rationall discourse , but have much preeminence above the usuall way of physick . for doubtlesse mens diseases arise from the stomach ; whose impurities obstruct the passages of life , poysoning and fermenting the whole moisture of mans body , till it becomes like a house which having it vaults and sinks furred up and stopt , soon growes so full of putrifaction and stink as cannot be endured : in which case physitians are like men who should advise to cast into such a house mirrhe , musk , amber-greece , or other pretious stuffe , in hopes to amend the uncleannesse thereof : and to magnifie that course as rationall , they make learned discourses of the drugges and the severall degrees of heat or cold , with their specifique virtues , which countenanced under strange names and authors , prevail to be made tryall of . but at last , when the simple master of the house ( after much fruitless trouble and expence ) finds no effect , but that the corruption and stench is grown more abhominable : then come you with this engine , like some discreet person , who with a broom and a little water , without charge , in half an hours time , makes a cleaner house , than the others , with all their parade , cost , and trouble could ever doe : but as for the two remarkable simples , which you most imploy ; that is tobacco and cophie , a man may guess at their rare efficacie , who observes how universally they take with mankinde , and yet have not the advantage of any pleasing taste wherewith to tempt and debauch our palat , as wine and other such pernicious things have ; for at the first-tobacco is most horrid , and cophie insipid , yet doe they both so generall prevail , that bread it self is not of so universall use . the tartars and arabs , two great nations , have little or no use of bread , yet they , the turks , persians , and most of the eastern world , have hourly use of tobacco and cophie , but especially of cophie : for , besides the innumerable store of cophie houses , there is not a private fire without it all day long : they all acknowledge how it freeth them from crudities , caused by ill dyet , or moist lodging ; insomuch as they , using cophie morning and evening , have no consumptions , which ever come of moisture ; no lethargies in aged people , or rickets in children ; and but few qualmes in women with child ; but especially they hold it of singular prevention against stone and gout . when a turk is sick , he fasts and takes cophie , and if that will not doe , he makes his will , and thinks of no other physick . and as for your way of taking both cophie and tobacco , the rarity of the invention consists in leaving the old way : for the water of the one , and the smoke of the other may be of inconvenience to many ; but your way in both takes in the virtue of the simples , without any additionall mischeif . and as for tobacco , not in smoke , but swallowed down , there is not observed a more sure or sudden remedy for a cough or the stone , amongst all that men have found out . and whereas most medicinall books are usually but bare transcriptions from former writers ; and so nothing but hear-say upon hear say , with monstrous addition of untruth upon untruth , till upon try all not one receipt in an hundred makes good what it promiseth . yours is all of your own constant experience on your self and others ; which in your personall recovery , and healthfull old age , gives a fair pledge to all who please to follow so considerable an example . thus , sir , with my best thanks i present you the love and service of him who is your affectionate friend and servant , henry blount . to his highly esteemed friend and compatriot judge rumsey , upon his provang , or rare pectorall instrument , and his rare experiments of cophie , and tobacco . sir , since i knew the world , i have known divers sorts of instruments : the first that i was acquainted withall , was aristotles organon , or instrument at oxford : another was the great happy instrument at munster : the third was the instrument which was made after the dissolution of the late long parliament ; that in oxford was instrumentum logicae , the instrument of logick ; that in munster was instrumentum pacis , the instrument of peace ; the last was instrumentum politicum , the instrument of policy . now your instrument is most properly called the instrument of health and may take place among the rest . without controversie it was an invention very happily lighted upon , and obligeth all mankinde to give you thanks : for he who findes out any thing conducing to humane health , is the best cosmopolite , the best among the citizens of the world ; health heing the most precious jewel of nature , without which we cannot well discharge our duties to god or man . but indeed there 's no perfection of health in this life , where wee converse with the elements ; the best is a valetudinary kinde of disposition ; and this proceeds from the perpetuall conflict of the humors within us for predomination ▪ which were they equally ballanced , and in peace , methuselah's yeers would be but a short life among us . now this combate , and malignity of the humors ariseth from the stomach ; which , like a boyling pot on the fire , is still boyling within us , and hath much froth ; whence , if the concoction be not very good , there are ilfavoured fumes , and fuliginous evaporations that ascend into the head ; where being distill'd , they descend in catarrhes and defluxions sometimes upon the optiques , and that may be called the gout in the eyes ; if they fall upon the teeth , it may be call'd the gout in the mouth ; if into the hands , 't is chiragra ; if in the hip , sciatica ; if in the knees , gonagra ; if in the feet , podagra . now sir , your instrument serves to take away the grounds of these distempers , by rummaging and scouring the stomach , and make it expectorate that froth , or phlegmy stuffe which lodgeth there , and that in a more gentle manner than any drugge . 't is true that rhubarbe is good against choler , agarick against phlegme , and hellebore against melancholy ; but they use to stirre the humors so violently by their nauseousnesse , that their operation is a sicknesse of it self all the while . your instrument causeth no such thing , nor leaves any lurking dreggs behinde , as drugges use to doe . touching coffee , i concurre with them in opinion , who hold it to be that black broth which was us'd of old in lacedemon , whereof the poets sing ; surely it must needs be salutiferous , because so many sagacious , and the wittiest sort of nations use it so much ; as they who have conversed with shashes and turbants doe well know . but besides the exsiccant quality it hath to dry up the crudities of the stomach , as also to comfort the brain , to fortifie the sight with its steem , and prevent dropsies , gouts , the scurvie , together with the spleen , and hypocondriacall windes ( all which it doth without any violence or distemper at all ) i say , besides all these qualities , 't is found already , that this coffee drink hath caused a greater sobriety among the nations : for whereas formerly apprentices and clerks with others , used to take their mornings draught in ale , beer , or wine , which by the dizziness they cause in the brain , make many unfit for businesse , they use now to play the good-fellows in this wakefull and civill drink : therefore that worthy gentleman , mr. mudiford , who introduced the practise hereof first to london , deserves much respect of the whole nation ▪ concerning tobacco , which the spaniards call la yerva santa , the holy herb ; in regard of the sundry virtues it hath : without doubt'tis also a wholsom vegetal , if rightly applyed , and seasonably taken , it helps concoction , makes one void rhume , break winde , and keeps the body open : a leaf or two steeped in white wine , or beer over night , is a vomit that never fayles ; it is a good companion to sedentary men , and students when they are stupified by long reading or writing , by dissipating those vapours which use to o're-cloud the brain : the smoak of it is passing good against all contagious aires ; in so much that if one takes two or three puffs in the morning , before he goes abroad ▪ there 's no infectious air can fasten upon him ; for it keeps out all other sents , according to the axiome , intus existens prohibet alienum . but sir , i finde that you have made other experiments of these two simples , which though not so gustfull , conduce much to humane health : and touching your provang , or whale-bone instrument , let me tell you , that it hath purchased much repute abroad among forreiners ; in so much that some , in imitation of yours , have found a way to make such an instrument of ductible gold , and you know what a cordiall gold is . i have been told of another kind of new instrument , that will conveniently reach from the mouth , to let in the smoke of tobacco at the fundament , and it hath done much good . certainly there are in natures cabinet , many boxes yet undiscovered ; there are divers mysteries and magnalia's yet unknown ; there be sundry effects which she would produce , but she wants the hand of art to co-operate , and help her , as it were by the way of midwifery : the world must needs confesse that you have done her a great good office herein . so , with my hearty kinde respects unto you , wishing that some happy occasion were offered , whereby i might be instrumentall unto you , i rest , worthy sir , your most affectionate friend and compatriot , james howell . chap. i. the miserable case of mankinde . i. we cannot live without daily food ; and from that food there ariseth not only our nourishment , but also severall superfluous matters following , which are the principall causes of all diseases which cannot be absolutely helped , although much mitigated by any temperate dyet . ii. in the stomach undigested meat , flegme , and evill humors , from whence proceed choler and melancholy , &c. and by consequence the stone , gout , and many other infirmities . iii. also in the stomach , winde ; from whence cometh the wind-cholick , and vapours , which disturb the head , and breed headaches , &c. iv. in the guts , stoppages of wind , and of digested excrements ; which disturb the whole bodie . v. in the uritory passages , stoppages of wind , and all moist things ▪ wherewith we nourish nature ; which breeds the stone and stranguries , &c. vi . in the veins and other parts of the body are corrupt humors , which nature draweth , with the quintessence of our food , for maintenance of the severall parts of the body ; from whence commeth the gout , and infirmities in the eyes , and other parts of the body ; which when strength of nature cannot expell outwardly , then the same returns upon the inward noble parts , to destroy man . vii . excessivenesse of heat and cold in several parts of the body ; which breeds agues and feavers : so that a man cannot easily help the one , without offending the other . viii . when nature , by reason of age , or some other accident , falleth to expell these evills , although physick may do much to take away the enemies of nature , yet the same also taketh away the vitall spirits , to the destruction of man ; so that means must be found , otherwise to doe the same . that in the speaking of my opinion to all these points , i follow the method of my profession in the law , to open and argue my conceit in every part of the case , and cite experiences like judgements thereupon , and leave others to argue the contrary at their pleasure , without any reply , and leave the successe to justifie the truth of what i publish , chap. ii. materialls to be used as remedies for severall occasions following . 1. a whalebone instrument , wch may be made from two foot in length or more , to a yard long , after this form , to be used for all ages , according to the stature of their bodies . it may be made after the form of a long feather out of a goose wing , with a small button of fine linnen , or silk , to the bignesse of a cherry-stone , fastened at the one end , which goeth into the body , and with a string fastened at the other end , that a man may use it , and draw it out at pleasure . these are commonly sold in london , and especially at the long shops in westminster-hall . if it be kept in water , it will be as gentle as may be desired . it must be stirred gently , and alwayes used after some meat and drink , as any man liketh best , and findeth occasion for a vomit . 2. electuary of cophy . take equall quantity of butter and sallet-oyle , melt them well together , but not boyle them : then stirre them well that they may incorporate together : then melt therewith three times as much hony , and stirre it well together ▪ then add thereunto powder of turkish cophie , to make it a thick electuary . 3. infusion of tobacco . take a quarter of a pound of tobacco , and a quart of ale , white-wine , or sider , and three or four spoonfulls of hony , and two pennyworth of mace ; and infusé these by a soft fire , in a close earthen pot , to the consumption of almost the one half : then strain it , and keep it in a close bottle . if it be kept long , then once every week let it be warmed by the fire , to keep it from vinowing . 4. cordials . bake a pot of apples or pears pared and cored , with houshould bread : then lay a thin laying of hony in the bottome of an earthen pot : lay thereupon a laying of the baked apples , one inch thick : lay thereupon a thin laying of the powder of enulacampane roots , and a little pounded nutmeg , and ginger : lay thereupon ▪ severall layings of hony , baked apples , and powders , as before , to fill the pot . cover the same with paste , and bake the same with houshold bread : quinces , orenges and lemmon pills may be added thereunto , to bake . when the same is so baked , if you mingle therewith rosewater , and sugar pounded , altogether , it will be more pleasant . 5. oyntments . infuse in a close earthen pot by a soft fire , or boyl in a s●illet , a quarter of a pound of tobacco in a pinte of sallet-oyle or fresh butter , without salt , untill the tobacco grow so brittle , that it may be bruised with the finger : then strain it ; then add thereunto pounded nutmeg and cloves , before it be fully infused ▪ to make it sweet : then strain this and keep it for your use . note , that if it be afterwards melted with burgundie-pi●ch or frankincense , it may be made thicker at pleasure . 6. suppositers . take equall quantity of frankincense and rosin ; melt them well together ; then add thereunto as much of the said oyntment , as shall leave it to be of a sufficient consistence to be a suppositer , which will quickly be seen by laying it in cold water , and making it into rolls : if it be too soft , melt it again with more frankincense and rosin , and so it may be made softer , with adding more of the said oyntment . rosin only thus used will serve the turn . 7. plaisters . melt the said suppositers made of rosin and frankincense , with like equall quantities of burgundie or stone pitch and wax , which may then be cast into cold water : then work them in your hands , and make them up into rolls , and use it at your pleasure . you may make them softer or harder , as before . 8. aliter . also the same may be melted again , whereunto may be added verdigrease to eat dead flesh : also white-lead or red-lead may be used to cool and heal , &c. which i leave to the compounders of plaisters ; but i know by constant experience , that this oyntment and plaisters doe admirable things upon all occasions , as well as any other oyntments or plaisters which are ordinarily sold in the shops . 9. sinapismus . this mustard plaister is made after severall forms , but for a plain way , take equall quantity of sharp mustard and black ordinary sope , with store of fine pounded pepper to make it thick : if it be in summer you may ad thereunto the pounded leaves of spearwort , which growes in moorish grounds , and pound them altogether , and apply it to the place grieved . the leaves of spearwort pounded will work the like effect : also you may take six cantharides flies , and pound them very fine , and make them to a thick paste with vinegar and leven of bread ; but never use any of these to above the breadth of six pence . although these things be made after a rude and plain manner , yet the same are cheap , and without offence to be used , which i leave to be made more curiously by the apothecaries . chap. iii we cannot live without daily food , and from that food there ariseth not only our nourishment , but also several superfluous matters , following , which are the principall causes of all diseases ; which cannot be absolutely helped , although much mitigated by any temperate diet . 1. how necessary our food is , every man knoweth ; how it is our portion , and gods goodness in this life , see ecclesiastes cap. 2. and cap. 5. and how miserable a mans life is without a good stomach to his meat , see ecclesiasticus cap. 30. 2. that from the superfluities of that meat , after the concoction of it in our stomachs , there remains certain superfluous matters , which are like barm upon drink , and froth upon the best boyled meat , is the generall opinion of physitians : and that the same are the principall causes of all diseases , which is plainly set forth ●y gratorolus in his chapter of exercises . 3. that the increase of these superfluities may be much mitigated by temperate dyet and exercises , as the opinion of all honest and godly men , whereof a man may see good directions in ecclesiasticus , cap. 31. but how impossible it , is for a man by a strickt diet , although he observes the rules of lesius , to help this evill , a man may read at large in doctor primrose his book of vulgar errors in physick ▪ lib. 3. cap. 3. &c. and many learned physitians doe maintain , that there is lesse danger in a little over liberall , than in an over sparing diet ; whereof see hippocrates aphorisms , lib. 1. aphor. 5. &c , and rantzovius , and many others maintain the same , and lemnius de occultis in many places maintaineth the same ; in so much that he spendeth a whole chapter to maintain , that after a light breakfast , a man shall be more able to eat a more liberall dinner ; and there is good reason for it ; for that when nature hath no food to feed upon , then it feedeth upon the corrupt humors , which breeds unrecoverable diseases and a generall decay of nature , for want of sustenance . i leave this to every mans age and experience ; but i finde it expedient for all men , rather to eat often sparingly , than to eat much at usuall meals , and especially at supper . chap. iv. in the stomach undigested meat , fleagm and evill humors , from whence proceeds choler and melancholy , &c ▪ and by consequence the stone , and many other infirmities . 1. tthat after the disposition of the meat in the stomach , there remains part of the meat undigested , it is too well known to moderate surfeiters , and very often to foul and weak stomachs , and to old age : as for the time when the stomach hath disposed of what it can digest , that is after sleep ; so heurinus upon hippocrates aphorismes ; and then a man must look to it , to remedy himself or suffer great evils . 2. that superfluous matters doe arise after the concoction and digestion of our meat , hath been shewed before , cap. 3. that those matters are at first flegme , which , being baked with the heat of the stomach , breed choler , &c. and by consequence the stone , is the generall opinion of learned physitians ; and vanthelmont ( a rare late writer ) describeth the same in many places , and sheweth how the humors are not of such severall natures , as they are ordinarily distinguished , but originally are flegme , and then baked to higher degrees , and get other names , as choler , &c. 3. the seat of these humors are in the stomach , but principally in the mouth of the stomach , which is the principall seat of life , which vanthelmont describeth excellently ; where he saith , that in the stomach , but especially in the mouth thereof , as in the very center point and root , is evidently setled the beginning of life , of digestion of meat , and of the disposition thereof to maintain life , what then soever the philosophers ( or physitians ) did talk or think to be of great moment concerning the heart , whether they will or no , they have made it common to the stomach . 4. common experience shewes this to be true in very many men , who can neither eat or drink in the morning , but loath the same , and are troubled with waterish humors , but cannot get away the same with all their fasting and physick . 5. how to avoid these superfluous humors , is our great labour , for otherwise they are the occasions of diseases , as is said before ; and besides that , while they are in the body , they make our bodies like unseasonable vessells , which doe spoyl the good meat which we doe put in our stomachs for our nourishments , so that it cannot be well digested ; which made hippocrates to deliver the aphorismes , lib. 2. aphor. 2. corpora impura , &c. that the more sustenance is taken into unpure bodies , the more mischief happens unto them . how far then doe they erre , who having foul dodies , doe endeavour to help themselves with caudles and cordialls before their bodies be cleansed , and made fit to receive the same ? 6. labour and exercise have been accounted , and are the best ordinary means to wear out these corrupt humors , and to help digestion thereof , for which purpose rantzovius cap. 9. and grator in his chapter of exercise , have written much out of many authors ; yet for all that it must be with this limitation ( dum vires , &c. ) while youth and strength of body doth last , and before old age come , or the body groweth weak with infirmities : and let a man be never so lusty and strong , yet nevertheless excessivenesse of humors in the body doe often kill the strongest and most laborious men , whereof we have daily many fearfull examples , which made rantzovius , cap. 18. say well , that the retaining of corrupt meat in the stomach , is a strong destruction of the body ; and cap. 50. saith , that the plague it self cannot invade that man , who hath not corrupt humors . how farre then doe they erre , who think to weare out these humors by fasting and exercise , when it may be quickly done otherwise , with so little labour and trouble as before , cap 2 n. 1. and hereafter , n. 8. &c. i leave it to every mans judgement ? and leave careless men to perish in their own negligent wayes . 7. lemnius de occultis hath written a whole chapter of the rattle which men have in their throats before they die , and ascribes it to the contractions of the vitall spirits , &c. and so it may be well enough ; for that a mans breath is stopped by flegme and undigested humors , which come from the mouth of the stomach into the throat , as well as an halter doth stop it outwardly . 8. when all means are tried to avoid both corrupt humors and corrupt meat in the stomach , vomiting of it up is accounted the best means by rantzovius and heurinus , and many learned physitians commend it exceedingly , and say that the egyptians and caldeans used it twice every moneth : and fernelius saith , that it purgeth not only the stomach , but also all the other parts of the body , to the very heart . and finally , that as all evill humors doe come out of the stomach to disturb all parts of the body , by certain secret passages : so if the stomach be made clean by vomiting , the same corrupt humors return into the stomach again by the same passages , to be avoided by the ordinary passages of nature , which otherwise cannot be purged downwards ; whereof a man may read it at large in rantzovius , cap. 18. and fernelius there , lib. 3. cap. 3. and parent his notable book of chyrurgery and physick , and many others . 9. how dangerous it is to procure vomiting by the ordinary course of physick , i leave it untill you come to the eighth following pointe cap 10. but how to doe it otherwise with little or no offence or disturbance unto nature , and without observing of any curious diet , or hindrance to a man in his vocations or journeys ; that is my principall labour , for which purpose i shall shew this easie and safe way following . 10. whether it be in time of health or sickness , whensoever you finde any evill disposition in the stomach , eat a convenient meal of what meat and drink you please , then walk a little while after it : then sit down with your body bending , and thrust the said whalebone instrument into your stomach , stirring it very gently , which will make you vomit ; then drink a good draught of drink , and so use the instrument as oft as you please , but never doe this upon any empty stomach . 11. to make the stomach more apt to vomit , and to prepare the humors thereunto before you eat and drink , take the bigness of a nutmeg , or more of the said electuary of cophie , &c. into your mouth ; then take drink to drive it down ; then eat and drink , and walk , and use the instrument as before . there may be more or less of the said electuary taken at any time before meat , as a man findes it to be most agreeable to the constitution and strength of his body , without any curious observance of diet or fire , or hindrance for a man to goe or travell about his business . 12. some may think it strange to procure vomit with this instrument , rather than by physick ; but look upon rantzovius , cap. 18. and other books , and there you shall finde them , to direct , that if a vomit will not work , you must help the same with putting a feather into the throat ; and many use a rosemary branch : but these things doe not goe into the bottom of the stomach to stir up the humors ( as the whalebone instrument doth ) which i leave to every mans experience . 13. many objections have been made against this course , which neverthelesse i doe not finde by experience , that the same are of any weight , to alter what is before directed . 14. as to that which physick books say , that vomiting more often than twice a moneth is dangerous , and may bring a man to an habit of vomiting , and so weaken the stomach , whereunto i doe agree , if it be done by physick , whose opperations are contrary to nature , as fernelius saith . but this way i prescribe is naturall , which may appear in little children who are at nurse , and are never accounted healthy but when they vomit often . also the dog is taught by nature to vomit , and all manner of hawkes cast their castings every morning , otherwise they are not in health . and the councell in ecclesiasticus , cap 31. doth not extend only unto superfluity of meat , but also to superfluity of humors ▪ and divers old commentators of that place affi●m it , to extend as a councel to help and strengthen weak stomachs . 15. others say , what good doth the meat when it is vomited up again , and that whosoever doe use it , have not the benefit of nature downwards ? whereunto i say , by experience , that all the meat doth not come up , but part of it , which is in the upper regiment of the stomach , and doth carry with it the corrupt humors of the stomach , which doth swim upon the top of the meat , and nature being eased of that burthen , doth work the residue of the meat more freely downwards , which may be found by experience ; and also nature draweth quickly the quintessence of the meat to the nourishment of the body , to avoid all corrupt humors , so that the body & minde shall be more strong and free for all occasions , and shall be with far lesse trouble , charge , and danger , than to doe the same by physick . 16. in respect i have spoken so much of vomiting , i will add the opinion of learned fernelius there , where he saith , that if after a vomit , the pulse being full and strong , pleasant sleep commeth easie , and free breathing , a good appetite , and the rest of the body lighter ; then the vomit is commendable , otherwise not , and very hurtfull : i leave the experience hereof to every mans judgement who useth it . 17. that although by vomiting , as aforesaid , a man shall avoid much thick flegme , yet by the often using of the said electuary of cophie , &c. although a man shall by ordinary coughing avoid great pieces of blew congealed fleagme , which i could not see avoided by any other means . if a man will take a spoonfull of the said infusion of tobacco in his mornings draught of ale or beer , it will add much good for this purpose , without lothsomness or trouble to the body . 18. lastly , i have often found , that if a man taketh from two spoonfull to twelve , according as a man findeth by experience to be agreeable to his age and constitution , of the said infusion of tobacco , cap. 2. n. 4. and drink it in a cup with ale or beer , the same is very good vomit : and divers lately have made the like infusion in posset drink ; but i finde no great difference in the operation thereof . observe when it doth work to drink good store of posset or other drink after it . chap. v. in the stomach wind , from whence commeth the wind-collick and vapours , which disturb the head , and breed head-aches , &c. 1. the principall cause of wind in the stomach is either undigested meat or undigested humors . clear the stomach with vomiting , as before , and then you shall be clear from wind . 2. when a man is troubled with wind in the stomach , let him put the instrument into his stomach , as before , a man shall finde great belching , and ease of the wind ; and especially if a man take a little of the said electuary of cophie , as before , before you put in the instrument , and then drink after it , as before , and then use the instrument without stirring of it to procure vomiting . 3. afterwards eat of the said cordiall made of enulacampane , &c. cap. 2. n. 4. which is a plain cheap cordiall , and is admirable good to comfort the stomach upon all occasions . that any cordiall or powders may be added or mingled with this electuary , with very good effect . 4. because men cannot ordinarily have the said composition , i thought fit to add one thing more , made with great ease , and of admirable use , as well for the wind , as also to dissolve tough flegme and humors in the stomach , as also to comfort the stomach , that is , take enulacampane roots dried , pounded , and sifted , mingle therewith as much sugar as shall please your taste , to take away the bitterness of the roots : then add thereunto a small quantity of pounded nutmeg and ginger : mingle all these together with a sufficient quantity of sallet-oyl , hony , or other pleasant syrope , to the thickness of an electuary . take into your mouth , from the bigness of a nutmeg to the bigness of a figge , every morning or oftner at pleasure ; then drink after it to wash it down , if you please ; but if you will not drink , then this cordiall will lie in the upper part of the stomach , and much comfort the same ; but herein i leave it to every mans observation and experience , to observe what doth best agree with his own body . 5. i have also found good use of taking a spoonfull of powders of nutmeg and ginger , with a spoonfull of hot waters for that purpose . chap. vi in the guts stoppages of wind , and of digested excrements , which disturb the whole body . 1. the stoppage of excrements in the guts are the occasion of many evils . gratorolus ▪ fol. 180. saith , all physitians doe agree , that health is principally preserved with , keeping the body conveniently loose : and let them all say what they will , unless the fore dore and the back dore of the body be kept open , as occasion serveth , the body will be quickly destroyed , with much reluctation and trouble . and how impossible it is to purge downwards , what is not first digested in the stomach , all men know , and authors agree . 2. this maketh physitians to be so ready upon all occasions , and sickness , to give pills potions , and glisters , &c. which are made of many and costly compositions , and require much observances of dyet , and aire , &c. but in the end breed infinite inconveniences , as may appear hereafter , cap. 10. 3. to spare all this cost and curiositie , whosoever will use the said electuary of cophie : and then a man may keep himself conveniently loose at his pleasure . but if a man be desirous for this electuary to work stronger , then one may add thereunto a small quantity of sena epithamum , or rubarb ( which physitians account to be safe physick for old men , children , and women with child . ) and then if a man take a pipe of tobacco in the morning , he shall finde good use thereof . 4. in respect divers men are loth to take any physick into their mouths , and especially little children are not able , when they are sickly and very pale with wormes , the said suppositers , cap 2. n. 6. being taken from the roll , and warmed in a mans hand , or by the fire , and used to what bigness a man pleaseth , but ordinarily to the bignesse of the fore joint of your little finger , and cast it into could water to harden , and after anointed with the said oyle of tobacco , and use it at your pleasure , with good success . although it be not a quick worker , yet the same brings no danger of the piles of ulcers in the fundament , by 〈◊〉 using thereof , as other suppositers doe ( but rather heal the same ▪ in the making of these suppositers , ●e 〈◊〉 and powder of commin seed , may be added to very good purpose for the wind . 5. if the same be used to little children , it will much conduce for their health , and to avoid wormes , to have their bellies well anointed by the fire with the said oyl of tobacco , when they use these suppositers . 6. if a man hath not a convenient loose stool , then let him put in another like suppositer presently . this may be used every morning or at any other time , as occasion serveth . 7. as the suppositers commonly used doe bring the danger of the piles and ulcers , so glisters oftentimes prove very dangerous , by working upwards the clean contrary way , which doctor primrose confefleth : and when a glister will not work , then they must have the help of a suppositer , as wecker confesseth . 8. in respect i have spoken so much of the use of tobacco , to work upwards and downwards , let a man read doctor primrose , in his book of vulgar errors in physick , who maintaineth the same , and also where he maintaineth , that if a physitian prescribes a vomit or a purge , which works contrary effects , he ought to be blamed , by reason of some inward and unknown causes . and for the admirable use of tobacco taken inwardly , or used outwardly , a man may read many excellent things in wickers antidotary , in so much as he calleth it the panacea , or generall remedy for all diseases and griefs , besides the excessive taking of it in smoak , which i leave to the censure of democritus junior : besides that , it doth over heat the body , and bake the undigested humors in the mouth of the stomach to the destruction of man . chap. vii . in the uritory passages , stoppages of wind , and all moist things , wherewith we nourish nature , which breeds the stone and the strangurie . &c , 1. as the stone proceedeth from the said corrupt humors , so the vomiting thereof doth much conduce to stay the growing thereof . also if you make a toste of manchet bread , with saletoyle , and then toste it again with hony , and eat it , and drink a good draught of beer or white-wine after it . the constant use hereof is very good to preserve a man from the stone , as i found by many experiences . 2. i have spoken so much before concerning the means of vomiting and purging , and how much the same doe conduce to preserve a man from the stone , that i need not say any more thereof : yet i must once again , upon certain evidence , say , that the often using of the said electuary of cophie , and tosts , doth exceedingly conduce to the help and cure of the stone ; together with a temperate dyet , but especially at suppers . 3. i have heard lately from men of good credit , that there is an excellent remedy for the stone in the kidnies , by drinking of the liquor in the tanners pits ; and for the stone in the bladder , by using of the same liquor there with a syringe : which i leave to further experience ; and will not trouble my self with it , while i may drink good ale , &c. and help my self otherwise , as aforesaid . chap. viii . in the veins , and other parts of the body , are corrupt humors , which nature draweth , with the quintessence of our food for maintenance of the several parts of the body ; from whence commeth the gout , and infirmities in the eyes , and other parts of the body ; which when strength of nature cannot expell outwardly , then the same return upon the inward noble parts to destroy man . 1. that those humors come out of the stomach to the severall parts of the body ; and that those humors return to the stomach again , to be avoided by the ordinary passages of nature , and especially by vomit , doth appear , by that which is before spoken . 2. the gout is the principall , and reputed unrecoverable disease , which commeth from those humors , and runneth up and down into severall parts of the body , to seek some vent to get out of the body : in which case , although i will not presume to say , that the gout can be absolutely cured , yet i dare say , that it may be much eased , so that a man may live long , without much trouble of that disease . 3. although vomiting is the principall means to avoid the matter of the gout , as aforesaid ; yet there be other outward means to draw the goutie humor which remaineth in the joynts ; which may stand well with hippocrates his aphorism , where he saith , that where nature swelleth , and offereth to vent it self , there it is to be avoided in convenient places . 4. many be the wayes and means which are prescribed in physick books : but that which , after many experiences , i found best , is , to apply a sinapismus , or mustard plaster , as before ; and that before and afterwards to apply one of the dropaces , or pitch plaster , as cap. 2. numb. 7. which the learned heurinus in his method doth commend exceedingly ; and doth much condemne the neglect thereof ; which he thinketh to be for no other cause , but because it is cheap . 5. it must be applyed in convenient places , as i cited before out of hippocrates . which places i found to be most convenient , and with lesse offence ( are these , that is ) if the pain be in the feet , between the great and little toes , where the toes doe part : if in the heel or ancle , to the sinews of both sides of the shinne bone , over against the lower part of the calf of the legge : if in the knee or legge , a little below the kneepanne , and , as before , by the calf of the legge : if in the fingers , upon the back of the hand , between the fore-finger , and little-finger , where the fingers part : if in the wrist or arme , to the inner part of the wrist : if in the neck , &c. then to the nape , or hinder part of the neck . 6. this mustard plaister is to be used in this manner first , a convenient large plaister made of frankincense , pitch &c. as before , is to be applyed to one of the said places for at least six hours ; then make a lesser plaister of about an inch , and not above two inches in breadth , of the said mustard plaister ; and apply it to one of the said places , as occasion shall require : let the same stay there for about eight hours , until the place blister and grow red : then take away the mustard plaister , and lay the other plaister thereupon . if the place doe blister , prick the same , to let out the water . take this plaister from the place applyed , once every twelve hours , or oftener : w●pe the place affected , and plaister , and so continue the same untill the place doth heal . thus i have seen it often used , and never miss admirable effects ; and without this course i have found all to be labour in vain . 7. although men generally conceive the gout to be only a waterish humor , yet , by the use of the means aforesaid , i have drawn out of the feet and hands , humors of the thicknesse of white of egges ; and when it had stood a quarter of an hour , it grew to be a substance , like leather ; so that i could scarce tear it with the strength of both my hands : which i verily beleeve is the humor which congeals in the hands , and makes crooked and knotty hands . 8. although this will draw the waterish and salt humors out of the joynts ; yet there is an easie convenient way to draw it out of the stomach , to prevent it from coming to the joynts , ( that is ) take about the bignesse of a nutmeg of the said electuary of cophie , as before , every morning when a man is rising out of his bed : then take into your mouth about an inch in length of the stalk of a tobacco leaf well dryed , and a little cinnamon , to take away the loathsome taste thereof ; which will draw the rhume out of the mouth ; and as it doth moisten , bite it ; and sometimes a little of the juice of it may be let into the stomach ; and then drink some drink to drive it down : this a man may doe while he is putting on of his clothes , and oftener , as a man findeth it to agree with his body , without offence . but tobacco leaves , or the stalkes thereof , undryed are loathsome and troublesome , howsoever the same are prescribed by wecker's antidotaries . i have known some being troubled with the pox , have received great benefit by often drawing of waterish humors with tobacco , &c. as before : but i leave them to mother cornelius tub. 9. i doe know that there are infinite numbers of bathes and pultices prescribed for the gout ; but i have often found , that boyled turnips made to a pultice , and the water wherein they were boyled for a bathe , will serve as well as any others . look more thereof chap. 11. numb. 20. the end thereof . 10. also i have found a very good pultice , by beating of the white of egges to a froth ; and then to mingle therewith ordinary soap , and apply it to the grieved place . but if any skinne be broken it will burn , unlesse one of the pitch plaisters be laid on the place under the pultice . 11. also if there be any swelling or heat , after these plaisters , take greene hemlock and vinegar pounded to green sauce , and binde it to the place , or lay the leaves of burres under the said pitch plaister , to the place grieved . 12. he that will not use these means to draw the humos out of the body , but repercussive means to drive the same back into his body , may shorten his dayes , and breed many diseases , as i have known it to happen often times . 13. also the malignancy of these humors may be known by this ; for by the said application for the gout i have often seen , that besides abundance of waterish humors , and thick humors drawn out , as aforesaid , of severall parts of the body , but especially out of the knees , there came out thence an excessive heat , with much smoak , as if it were out of a boyling pot . chap. ix . excessivenesse of heat and cold in severall parts of the body , which breeds agues and feavers ; so that a man cannot easily help the one , without offending of the other . 1. this is a strange thing , but commonly seen , as in agues , when a man hath sometimes an hot fit , and sometimes a cold fit , with little intermission of times . and men commonly complain that they have a hot liver and a cold stomach . doctor primrose hath handled this question among the vulgar errors in physick ; and makes it plain , that although the liver be alwaies hot of it self , which over heateth the bottom of the stomach ; yet the stomach is cold by accident , by reason of the noisome humors , like barm or froth , which come into the uppermost part of the stomach , by evill digestion . 2. there be many julips and curious medicines prescribed by physitians to remedy this evill ; and especially in burning feavers ; and these are of great use . but to spare much trouble herein , in hot diseases , and upon surfeits , let a man drink oftentimes great store of cold water , and eat a convenient quantity of broth , bread , and butter , and cheese , and then vomit with the whalebone instrument , as before . a man shall thereby avoid the corrupt humors in the stomach ; and then a man shall quickly avoid these infirmities , and bring the body to a good temper ; after which a man may drink strong drink , and wine , &c. with little offence . 3. i have known so much good done to all men of all ages , who would first in the morning drink at least half a pinte of cold water ; whereunto sugar may be added , together with the juice of oranges and lemmons , to make it pleasant . that i must say , that i never found any thing of more use for the health of man ; but i am afraid i labour in vain , in respect that most men doe abhorre it , as present poyson ( as doctor primrose saith , ) yet he sheweth the excellency thereof , by many experiences , and the authorities of many ancient and modern learned authors . for all this i have found many doctors of physick ( with whom i have conferred hereof ) to speak much against it ; whereat i doe not much marvail ; for that , if that be practised , which i have alledged in this chapter , there will be little use to be made of their physick , and of the shopps of the apothecaries . 4. i must adde one thing more for the use of good fellows , who use much drinking , &c. let them first drink cold water , as before , to cool their liver , and bottome of their stomachs : then the drinking of strong drink , &c. will comfort the upper part of their stomachs ; and much hinder the vapours , which fume up to their heads , from the excessive heat of their stomachs : and their drinking of water after the taking of tobacco is very good . 5. i have known divers men doe swallow small white pibble stones , to cool the heat of their stomachs ; which i conceive to be in imitation of long winged hawks : i have used the same my self , and they doe passe thorough a man downwards ; but i found little benefit thereby . 6. i have known others that used to swallow small bullets of lead ; which giveth me occasion to report a strange history , which i know to be true . an old souldier , and a commander in queen elizabeth's time , in the low countries , was drinking of healthes amongst his companions , and at every health he did drink a pistoll bullet , to the number of eighteen ; which continued in his belly for neer the space of two years , with much pain and grief : he acquainted a physition with this case , who did hang the souldier by the heels , by a beam in the chamber ; and then all the bullets dropped out of his mouth again ; but the same were somewhat worn in his belly . this souldier is yet living , and in good health , and about fourscore and ten years of age . 7. i have spoken so much of the cooling of the stomach , that it may be expected i should write somewhat of warming of cold stomachs : but i finde every man so ready to take tobacco , and to drink wines , and strong drinks , that i need say no more thereof ; but , as i have said before , so i say still , keepe the stomach clean , with the said whalebone instrument , when you finde any disturbance or loathsomnesse therein : and keep the lower parts conveniently loose , with the said suppositers : and draw out the humors which trouble the outward parts , with the said plaisters , &c. and keep the body in a temperate heat , as before ; and avoid intemperancy in dyet ; then there will be little use of physick . chap. x. when nature by reason of age , or some other accident , faileth to expell these evils , although physick may doe much to take away the enemies of nature , yet the same also taketh away the vitall spirits , to the destruction of man ; so that means must be found otherwise to doe the same . 1. i know divers have carpt exceedingly against all physitians , and their whole profession and medicines , whereof a man may read much in cornelius agrippa , de vanitate scientiarum , and democritus iunior , and many others cited by him , and the late booke of mr. biggs , intituled , the vanity of the craft of physick . but i much honour and admire the skill and knowledge of such of them as are honest and learned . 2. as for emporiques , mountebanks , quacksalvers , and the like , every place is too full of them , which will cure all diseases with one antidote . dr. primrose hath well discovered the errors of the people concerning them , &c. 3. that the common course of purgative physick is dangerous , by reason of the venemous qualities of the medicines , appeareth by that which is said before , and by the authority of fernelius and rantzovius , and all modest physitians : and the often use thereof is very inconvenient , as those authors , and doctor primrose ingeniously confesse : and that when ordinary physick faileth , the best way is to leave the patient to god and nature . 4. what infinite number of medicines , and what strange compositions are for every disease , & with what costly materials the same are made , every man may see in weckerus his antidotarium basiliense , and divers others dispensatories ; besides a great deal of curious observations must be used at the taking thereof . 5. what diversities of opinions there are about the compounding and administring of these medicines , and the ordering of the patient to use them , whether they be naturall things , after the form of the galenists , or chimicall , after the prescripts of the paracelsians ; or mixt , as doctor primrose , and the wiser sort conceived , there are as many controversies amongst them , as there were ever between the pope and luther , about matters of religion . then what shall the poor sick patient doe , especially , if there be a colledge of such physitians called to consult about this desperate case , but stand quaking like a poor condemned prisoner at the barre , expecting to have his finall judgement , to be sent to the place of execution . chap. xi . additions of severall intervenient remedies for most parts of the body . 1. for scabs and lice in the head , rub the scabby place with the said infusion of tobacco . 2. for sore or decaying eyes , take fine linnen clothes , and moisten them in the said infusion of tobacco , and binde them to your eyes , as you are going to bed , for the space of five or six nights , one after the other . i have known very many , who were almost blinde , cured in a short space by this means ; and never any missed . 3. there happened a strange cure to a servant of mine , who was stark blinde for three quarters of a year , which i thought meet to discover . as he was led by his wife ( a poor woman ) wished her to breath often in the morning fasting in both his eyes by turns , one after the other , which she did accordingly ; this made him to have a great itch in his eyes , which made him rub his eyes often , and with his nayles he drew some slime out of his eyes ; so that at three dayes end he began to see , and shortly after he perfectly recovered his eye-sight . this was about twenty yeers past , and he is now perfectly well and of 66. yeers of age . 4. if a man will take a linnen ragge , or brown paper , and moisten it in the said infusion of tobacco , and put it in his nose , & draw his breath upwards , it will purge the head and eyes ; and if there be any ulcers , in the nose ( as most men have , who are troubled with the poxe ) it will much help them . 5. if a man doth bleed over much at the nose , let a man stand behinde the party troubled , and with both his thumbs presse hard both sides of the upper part of the back-bone upon the neck , it will presently stopp the blood . 6. for deafnesse and noyse in the eares , drop the said oyle of tobacco cap. 2. n. 7. into the eares often , but especially at your going to bed : stop them with a paste made of figgs and mustard ▪ seed pounded , and sifted , and mingled with the said oyle , which being used without the oyle will be troublesome ; and be sure to keep your eares very warm with a cap. 7. although i doe not know any present cure for the toothache ; yet i say , that whosoever will use the stalks of tobacco as before , it will doe him much good , and be a great occasion to fasten the teeth : also if the said sinapismus , and pitch plaister be applyed behinde the lower part of the eare , it will doe much good . 8. the headache commeth principally from the fumes of the stomach , whosoever will cleer the stomack as before , but especially use to drink water in the mornings , and before meals as before , it will be a principall means to keep a man from the head-ache . 9. he who will use to drink cold water as before , it will preserve him from the toad-evill , and especiallly before drinking of wine , &c. and then wine and stronge drinks will be lesse offensive to a man . 10. i know some that have lain sick of the small-pox , and their breath almost stopped ; yet by the use of the whalebone-instrument , as before the blisters of the pox were broken in the throat , and they vomitted and were cured . 11. one was in a deep consumption , and when all physick failed , by using the whalebone-instrument as before , there was an imposthume broken in the stomach , and the party perfectly cured , after many physitians had given him over . 12. it often happens that men have great i che in bones close by the throat , and in the ▪ upper part of the back-bone by the neck , and sometimes lice come out of the same , if the said pitch-plaisters be applyed thereunto , it will draw much water therehence , and cure the same . 13. i have seen wennes in the throat , and the kings-evill often cured , with the application of the said pitch-plaister , mingled with verdigrease without breaking the skinne . 14. i have known many children very sick of the worms , unto whom some of the infusion of tobacco was given in drink , and their bellyes were annoynted with the said oyle of tobacco , holding them to the fire , and then using the said suppositers , whereby they avoyded great store of worms and were perfectly cured . 15. for the winde in the stomach , look before cap. 5. but for the winde in the guts , the said suppositers mingled with powdered cummin-seed , is an admirable remedy for it . 16. it is a common evill to old age to have weake knees , especially when men doe ride in cold weather : for remedy whereof let a man have a plaister made of the said pitch-plaister , applyed to cover the pans of both knees , and continued , which will doe very much good . 17. it is a common evill to have ulcers and caukers in leggs , especially in old age , for remedy whereof , keep the stomach clean as before , and the using of the tobacco stalks as before , will doe much good : but for outward applications , let linnen cloth be made wet in the said infusion of tobacco , and apply it to the sore place : i have known some have the flesh consumed from the bones , and the bones scraped with a knife , and being very old , yet cured by this means , and the flesh restored again . 18. for the gout in the feet , i refer it to what hath been spoken before : but for a common pain which men have in the bottome of their feet , whether they have the gout or no , let a man lay to the sore place one of the said pitch-plaisters , and then put in his shoes the warm water wherein powder beef , or cow-heels were boyled , or tobacco and ale or urine well boyled , and wherein store of bay-salt is dissolved , and let him walk as well as he can , he shall finde very much good ; so that the shoes be big and large : i have seen more by the using hereof ; than by any baths or oyntments , or any other outward means , saving the drawing out of the humor as aforesaid . cap. 8. 19. some may question , whether the having of the gout , be a great means to cure all diseases : i will not presume to decide the question , but say , that i have found much benefit thereby , with little trouble , and leave every man to his own sense ; for whereas i had preserved my self from the gout , for above one yeer , partly by repercussive medicines in my shoes , and partly by attractive remedies in drawing the humors into my mouth as before : in the end i had a great noyse and deafness in my eares , pains , and strange dreams in my sleep , much disturbance in my stomach , great heat and itching over all my body , &c. but when the gout came again upon me , i was cleered from all these evills ; so that i might say , ( silentia cuncta tranquilla sunt omnia ) saving , that when i had the gout again , i did quickly and easily rid my self thereof , by drawing out the humors as i have before declared , which makes me believe that these humors were vented from all parts of the body , as men doe usually draine quagmires . 20. lastly , seeing i have spoken so much of this disease of the gout , to be a generall cure , for all other diseases , i think meet to add somewhat concerning what dyet a man should use , when he hath the gout . before a man hath the gout , a temperate dyet is best to preserve a man from it , but especially ▪ to avoyd the moderate use of strong sharp drinks and wines , hot spices , salt meats , tobacco , &c. but when a man hath the gout , and is desirous to be rid thereof quickly , a man may make a more liberall use of these things , which will urge nature to make more speedy vent , of the corrupt humors , from all parts of the body , into some outward part of the body , to be drawn out by outward applications as aforesaid , this may seem to be a paradex but constant experience hath made me to presume to write so much : and then whether it be better to endure a little pain and labor for a short time , which bringeth so much good to all the body , and as i conceive prolongeth health , or to leave the body to be continually troubled with languishing diseases , and to run up and down to the bathe , physitians , and apochecaries , to their great charge and expence , i leave it to every mans judgement ; and for a mans better satisfaction herein , he may read the witty & eloquent apologie of learned rilibaldus in praise of the gout . thus i have made an end , of shewing a great part of the miserable case of mens bodies , which comes to them by unavoydable course of nature , with shewing my well wishes to remedy the same , hoping that this may move some honest and learned physitians to make more additions of more artificiall medicines thereunto , for relieving of mens miseries in those cases : but i am afraid of another greater misery , spoken of by the learned physitian in his preface gratorolus , wherein he doth much lament the miserable negligence of mankinde , who never ▪ thinks of the preserving of health untill it be too late , after the losse thereof : and for my part i shall end with that honest wish ( optandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano ) that in every man there may be an honest and sound soul in a sound body : and so we shall all make a good end . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a57896e-1130 note . notes for div a57896e-1270 note . notes for div a57896e-1630 1. point . notes for div a57896e-1880 2. point . vomiting . remedy ▪ instrument . ☞ ☞ notes for div a57896e-2510 3. point . note . notes for div a57896e-2650 4. point . note . notes for div a57896e-2920 5. point . notes for div a57896e-3010 6. point . note . notes for div a57896e-3300 7. point . notes for div a57896e-3450 8. point . notes for div a57896e-3670 9. point . head . eyes . nose . eares . teeth . head-ache . throat . belly and guts , &c. winde . knees and leggs . leggs . feet . conclusion . two discourses lately revievv'd and enrich'd by the author one, the pre-eminence and pedegree [sic] of parlement, whereunto is added a vindication of some passages reflecting upon the author in a book call'd the popish royall favorit, penn'd and published by master prynne ..., with a clearing of some occurrences in spayne at his majesties being there, cited by the said master prynne out of the vocall forrest ... : the second, englands teares / by james howell ... pre-eminence and pedigree of parlement howell, james, 1594?-1666. 1644 approx. 80 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 16 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-05 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a44762 wing h3124 estc r16765 13623391 ocm 13623391 100858 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a44762) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 100858) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 791:9) two discourses lately revievv'd and enrich'd by the author one, the pre-eminence and pedegree [sic] of parlement, whereunto is added a vindication of some passages reflecting upon the author in a book call'd the popish royall favorit, penn'd and published by master prynne ..., with a clearing of some occurrences in spayne at his majesties being there, cited by the said master prynne out of the vocall forrest ... : the second, englands teares / by james howell ... pre-eminence and pedigree of parlement howell, james, 1594?-1666. howell, james, 1594?-1666. englands teares for the present wars. [5], 12, [2], 11, [1] p. : ill. ... by richard heron, printed at london : 1644. "englands teares for the present wars" has special t.p. and separate paging. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng prynne, william, 1600-1669. -popish royall favourite. howell, james, 1594?-1666. -vocall forrest. england and wales. -parliament. great britain -politics and government -1625-1649. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-01 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-02 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2004-02 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion two discourses , lately revievv'd and enrich'd by the author . one , the pre-eminence and pedegree of parlement . whereunto is added a vindication of some passages reflecting upon the author , in a book call'd the popish royall favorit , penn'd and published by master prynne ; wherein he styles him , no friend to parlements , and a malignant , pag. 42. with a clearing of some occurrences in spayne at his majesties being there , cited by the said master prynne out of the vocall forrest , whereunto the collaterall landskippe refers . the second , englands teares . by iames howell esq r one of the clerks of his majesties most hon ble privy-councell . printed at london according to order , by richard heron. 1644. the printer to the reader . reader , these two discourses , one , the pre-eminence and pedegree of parlement , the other englands teares , i present again to your view : they went abroad singly before , but i have conjoyn'd them now in one peece , for your better accommodation . they have bin surreptitiously printed in oxford , and els where , but mistaken in divers places ; they come forth now , not only corrected , but enrich'd by the authour himselfe . when they were expos'd first to the world , they found extraordinary good acceptance , and have been very much sought for since , as well for the richnesse of the stile and matter , as for the gallant worth of the author , which is so well known at home and abroad . r. h. to my worthily honored friend , sir w. s. knight . sir , i have many thanks to give you for the book you pleased to send me , called the popish royall favorite ; and according to your advice ( which i value in a high degree ) i put pen to paper , and something you may see i have done ( though in a poore pamphleting way ) to cleare my selfe of those aspersions that are cast upon me therein . but truly sir , i was never so unfit for such a task ; all my papers , manuscripts , and notes , having been long since seized upon and kept from me . adde hereunto , that besides this long pressure and languishment of twenty three moneths close restraint ( the sense wherof , i find hath much stupified my spirits ) it pleased god to visit me lately with a dangerous fit of sicknes , a high burning feaver , with the new disease , whereof my body as well as my mind is yet somewhat crazie : so that ( take all afflictions together ) i may truly say , i have passed the ordeal , the fiery tryall . but it hath pleased god to reprieve me to see better dayes i hope ; for out of this fatall black cloud , which now oresets this poore island , i hope there will breake a glorious sun-shine of peace and firme happinesse : to effect which , had i a jury , a grand-jury of lives , i would sacrifice them all , and triumph in the oblation . so i most affectionately kisse your hands , and rest your faithfull ( though afflicted ) servant , iames howell . from the prison of the fleet. the pre-eminence of parlement . sectio prima . i am a free-born subject of the realm of england ; whereby i claim as my native inheritance , an undoubted right , propriety , and portion in the laws of the land ; and this distinguisheth me from a slave . i claim also an interest and common right in the high nationall court of parlement , and in the power , the priviledges and jurisdiction thereof , which i put in equall ballance with the laws , in regard it is the fountain whence they spring ; and this i hold also to be a principall part of my birth-right , which great councell i honor , respect , value , and love in as high a degree as can be ; as being the bulwark of our liberties , the main boundary and banke which keeps us from slavery , from the inundations of tyrannicall rule , and unbounded will-government . and i hold my self obliged in a tye of indispensable obedience , to conform and submit my self to whatsoever shall be transacted , concluded , and constituted by its authority in church or state ; whether it be by making , enlarging , altering , diminishing , disanulling , repealing , or reviving of any law , statute , act , or ordinance whatsoever , either touching matters ecclesiasticall , civill , common , capitall , criminall , martiall , maritime , municipall , or any other ; of all which , the transcendent and uncontrollable jurisdiction of that court is capable to take cognizance . amongst the three things which the athenian captain thank'd the gods for , one was , that he was born a grecian , and not a barbarian . for such was the vanity of the greeks , and after them , of the romans , in the flourish of their monarchy , to arrogate all civility to themselves , and to terme all the world besides barbarians : so i may say to have cause to rejoyce , that i was born a vassall to the crown of england ; that i was born under so well moulded and tempered a government , which endows the subject with such liberties and infranchisements that bear up his naturall courage , and keep him still in heart ; such liberties that fence and secure him eternally from the gripes and tallons of tyranny : and all this may be imputed to the authority and wisedome of this high court of parlement , wherein there is such a rare co-ordination of power ( though the soveraignty remain still entire , and untransferrable in the person of the prince ) there is such a wholsome mixture 'twixt monarchy , optimacy , and democracy ; 'twixt prince , peers , and communalty , during the time of consultation , that of so many distinct parts , by a rare cooperation and unanimity , they make but one body politick , ( like that sheafe of arrows in the emblem ) one entire concentricall peece , and the results of their deliberations , but as so many harmonious diapasons arising from different strings . and what greater immunity and happinesse can there be to a people , than to be liable to no laws but what they make themselves ? to be subject to no contribution , assessement , or any pecuniary levy whatsoever , but what they vote , and voluntarily yeeld unto themselves ? for in this compacted politick body , there be all degrees of people represented ; both the mechanick , tradesman , merchant , and yeoman , have their inclusive vote , as well as the gentry , in the persons of their trustees , their knights and burgesses , in passing of all things . nor is this soveraign surintendent councell an epitome of this kingdom only , but it m●y be said to have a representation of the whole universe ; as i heard a fluent well-worded knight deliver the last parliament , who compared the beautifull composure of that high court , to the great work of god , the world it self : the king is as the sun , the nobles the fixed stars , the itinerant judges and other officers ( that go upon messages 'twixt both houses ) to the planets ; the clergy to the element of fire ; the commons , to the solid body of earth , and the rest of the elements . and to pursue this comparison a little farther ; as the heavenly bodies , when three of them meet in conjunction , do use to produce some admirable effects in the elementary world : so when these three states convene and assemble in one solemne great iunta , some notable and extraordinary things are brought forth , tending to the welfare of the whole kingdom , our microcosme . he that is never so little versed in the annales of this islle , will find that it hath bin her fate to be four times conquered . i exclude the scot ; for the scituation of his country , and the quality of the clime hath been such an advantage and security to him , that neither the roman eagles would fly thither , for fear of freezing their wings ; nor any other nation attempt the work . these so many conquests must needs bring with them many tumblings and toffings , many disturbances and changes in government ; yet i have observed , that notwithstanding these tumblings , it retained still the forme of a monarchy , and something there was always that had an analogy with the great assembly the parlement . the first conquest i finde was made by claudius caes●r ; at which time ( as some well observe ) the roman ensignes , and the standard of christ came in together . it is well known what laws the roman had ; he had his comitia , which bore a resemblance with our convention in parlement ; the place of their meeting was called praetorium , and the laws which they enacted , pleboscita . the saxon conquest succeeded next , which were the english , there being no name in welsh or irish for an english man , but saxon , to this day . they governed by parlement , though it were under other names ; as michel sinoth , michel gemote , and witenage mote . there are records above a thousand years old , of these parlements , in the raigns of king ina , offa , ethelbert , and the rest of the seven kings during the heptarchy . the british kings also , who retaind a great while some part of the isle unconquered , governed and made laws by a kind of parlementary way ; witnes the famous laws of prince howell , called howell dha , ( the good prince howell ) whereof there are yet extant some welsh records . parlements were also used after the heptarchy by king kenulphus , alphred , and others ; witnesse that renowned parlement held at grately by king athelstan . the third conquest was by the danes , and they govern'd also by such generall assemblies , ( as they do to this day ) witnesse that great and so much celebrated parlement held by that mighty monarch canutus , who was king of england , denmark , norway , and other regions 150 years before the compiling of magna charta ; and this the learned in the laws do hold to be one of the specialst , and most authentick peeces of antiquity we have extant . edward the confessor made all his laws thus , ( and he was a great legis-lator , ) which the norman conquerour ( who liking none of his sons , made god almighty his heir , bequeathing unto him this island for a legacy ) did ratifie and establish , and digested them into one entire methodicall systeme , which being violated by rufus , ( who came to such a disastrous end as to be shot to death in lieu of a buck for his sacriledges ) were restor'd by henry the first , and so they continued in force till king iohn ; whose raign is renowned for first confirming magna charta , the foundation of our liberties ever since : which may be compar'd to divers outlandish graffs set upon one english stock ; or to a posie of sundry fragrant flowers ; for the choicest of the british , the roman , saxon , danish , and norman laws , being cull'd and pick'd out , and gathered as it were into one bundle , out of them the foresaid grand charter was extracted : and the establishment of this great charter was the work of a parlement . nor are the lawes of this island only , and the freedome of the subject conserved by parlement , but all the best policed countries of europe have the like . the germanes have their diets , the danes and swedes their rijcks dachs ; the spaniard calls his parlement , las c●rtes and the french have , ( or should have at least ) their assembly of three states , though it be growne now in a manner obsolete , because the authority thereof was ( by accident ) devolv'd to the king. and very remarkable it is , how this happened ; for when the english had taken such large footing in most parts of france , having advanced as far as orleans , and driven their then king charles the seventh , to bourges in berry ; the assembly of the three states in these pressures , being not able to meet after the usuall manner in full parlement , because the countrey was unpassable , the enemy having made such firme invasions up and down through the very bowels of the kingdome ; that power which formerly was inhaerent in the parlementary assembly , of making lawes , of assessing the subject with taxes , subsidiary levies , and other impositions , was transmitted to the king during the war ; which continuing many years , that intrusted power by length of time grew as it were habituall in him , and could never after be re-assumed and taken from him ; so that ever since , his ediots countervaile acts of parlement . and that which made the businesse more feasable for the king , was , that the burthen fell most upon the communalty ( the clergy and nobility not feeling the weight of it ) who were willing to see the peasan pull'd downe a little , because not many years before , in that notable rebellion , call'd la laquerie de beauvoisin , which was suppressed by charles the wise , the common people put themselves boldly in arms against the nobility and gentry , to lessen their power . adde hereunto as an advantage to the worke , that the next succeeding king lewis the eleventh , was a close cunning prince , and could well tell how to play his game , and draw water to his own mill ; for amongst all the rest , he was said to be the first that put the kings of france , hors de page , out of their minority , or from being pages any more , though thereby he brought the poore peasans to be worse than lacquays . with the fall , or at least the discontinuance of that usuall parlementary assembly of the three states , the liberty of the french nation utterly fell ; the poore ●oturier and vineyard-man , with the rest of the yeomanary , being reduced ever since to such an abject asinin condition , that they serve but as sponges for the king to squeeze when he list . neverthelesse , as that king hath an advantage hereby one way , to monarchize more absolutely , and never to want money , but to ballast his purse when he will : so there is another mighty inconvenience ariseth to him and his whole kingdome another way ; for this illegall peeling of the poore peasan hath so dejected him , and cowed his native courage so much by the sense of poverty ( which brings along with it a narrownesse of soule ) that he is little usefull for the warre : which put 's the french king to make other nations mercenary to him , to fill up his infantery : insomuch , that the kingdome of france may be not unfitly compared to a body that hath all it's bloud drawn up in to the arms , breast and back , and scarce any lest from the girdle downwards , to cherish and bear up the lower parts , and keep them from starving . all this seriously considered , there cannot be a more proper and pregnant example than this of our next neighbours , to prove how infinitely necessary the parlement is , to assert , to prop up , and preserve the publike liberty , and nationall rights of a people , with the incolumity and well-fare of a countrey . nor doth the subject only reap benefit thus by parlement , but the prince , ( if it be well consider'd ) hath equall advantage thereby ; it rendreth him a king of free and able men , which is far more glorious than to be a king of slaves , beggars , and bankrupts ; men that by their freedome , and competency of wealth , are kept still in heart to do him service against any forraine force . and it is a true maxime in all states , that 't is lesse danger and dishonour for the prince to be poore , than his people : rich subjects can make their king rich when they please ; if he gain their hearts , he will quickly get their purses . parlement encreaseth love and good intelligence twixt him and his people ; it acquaints him with the reality of things , and with the true state and diseases of his kingdom ; it brings him to the knowledge of his better sort of subjects , and of their abilities , which he may employ accordingly upon all occasions ; it provides for his royall issue , payes his debts , fines means to fill his coffers : and it is no ill observation , that parlement-monyes ( the great aid ) have prospered best with the kings of england ; it exceedingly raiseth his repute abroad , and enableth him to keep his foes in feare , his subject● in awe , his neighbours and confederates in security , the three main things which go to aggrandize a prince , and render him glorious . in summe , it is the parlement that supports , and bears up the honour of his crown , and settles his throne in safety , which is the chiefe end of all their consultations : for whosoever is entrusted to be a member of this high court , carrieth with him a double capacity ; he sits there as a patriot , and as a subject : as he is the one , the country is his object , his duty being to vindicate the publike liberty , to make wholsome lawes , to put his hand to the pump , and stop the leaks of the great vessell of the state , to pry into , and punish corruption and oppression , to improve and advance trade , to have the grievances of the place he serves for redressed , and cast about how to find something that may tend to the advantage of it . but he must not forget that he sits there also as a subject , and according to that capacity , he must apply himselfe to do his soveraigns businesse , to provide not only for his publike , but his personall wants ; to beare up the lustre and glory of his court ; to consider what occasions of extraordinary expences he may have , by encrease of royall issue , or maintenance of any of them abroad ; to enable him to vindicate any affront or indignity that might be offered to his person , crown , or dignity , by any forraine state or kingdome ; to consult what may enlarge his honour , contentment , and pleasure . and as the french tacitus ( comines ) hath it , the english nation was used to be more forward and zealous in this particular than any other ; according to that ancient eloquent speech of a great lawyer , domus regis vigilia defendit omnium , otium illius labor omnium , deliciae illius industria omnium , vacatio illius occupatio omnium , salus illius periculum omnium , honor illius objectum omnium every one should stand centinell to defend the kings houses , his safety should be the danger of all , his pleasures the industry of all , his ease should be the labour of all , his honour the object of all . out of these premisses this conclusion may be easily deduced , that , the principall fountaine whence the king derives his happinesse and safety , is his parlement ; it is that great conduit-pipe which conveighes unto him his peoples bounty and gratitude ; the truest looking-glasse wherein he discernes their loves ; now the subjects love hath been alwayes accounted the prime cittadell of a prince . in his parlement he appears as the sun in the meridian , in the altitude of his glory , in his highest state royall , as the law tels us . therefore whosoever is averse or disaffected to this soveraigne law-making court , cannot have his heart well planted within him : he can be neither good subject , nor good patriot ; and therefore unworthy to breathe english ayre , or have any benefit , advantage , or protection from the lawes . sectio secunda . by that which hath been spoken , which is the language of my heart , i hope no indifferent judicious reader will doubt of the cordiall affection , of the high respects and due reverence i beare to parlement , as being the wholsomest constitution , ( and done by the highest and happiest reach of policy ) that ever was established in this island ; to perpetuate the happinesse thereof , therefore i must tell that gentleman , who was author of a booke entituled the popish royall favorite , ( lately printed and exposed to the world ) that he offers me very hard measure ; nay , he doth me apparant wrong , to terme me therein , no friend to parlement , and a malignant ; a character , which as i deserve it not , so i disdain it . for the first part of his charge , i lwoud have him know , that i am as much a friend and as reall an affectionate humble servant and votary to the parlement as possibly he can be , and will live and dye with these affections about me : and i could wish , that he were secretary of my thoughts a while , or if i may take the boldnesse to apply that comparison his late majesty used in a famous speech to one of his parlements , i could wish there were a chrystall window in my breast , through which the world might espye the inward motions and palpitations of my heart , then would he be certified of the sincerity of this protestation . for the second part of his charge , to be a maligna●t , i must confesse to have some malignity that lurks within me much against my will ; but it is no malignity of minde , it is amongst the humours , not in my intellectuals . and i beleeve , there is no naturall man , let him have his humours never so well ballanced , but hath some of this malignity raigning within him ; for as long as we are composed of the foure elements , whence these humors are derived , and with whom they symbolize in qualities ; which elements the philosophers hold to be in a restlesse contention amongst themselves ( and the stoicke thought that the world subsisted by this innated mutuall strife ) as long i say , as the foure humors , in imitation of their principles ( the elements ) are in perpetuall reluctancy and combate for praedominancy , there must be some malignity lodg'd within us , as adusted choler , and the like ; whereof i had late experience , in a dangerous fit of sicknesse it pleased god to lay upon me , which the physitians told me proceeded from the malignant hypocondriacall effects of melancholy ; having been so long in this saturnine black condition of close imprisonment , and buried alive between the wals of this fatall fleet. these kinds of malignities , i confesse are very rife in me , and they are not only incident , but connaturall to every man according to his complexion : and were it not for this incessant strugling and enmity amongst the humors for mastery , which produceth such malignant effects in us , our soules would be loth ever to depart from our bodies , or to abandon this mansion of clay . now what malignity my accuser means , i know not ; if he means malignity of spirit , as some antipathy or ill impression upon the minde , arising fromdisaffection , hatred , or rancor , with a desire of some destructive revenge , he is mightily deceiv'd in me : i maligne or hate no creature that ever god made , but the devill , who is the author of all malignity ; and therefore is most commonly called in french le malin esprit the malignant spirit . every night before i go to bed , i have the grace , i thanke god for it , to forgive all the world , and not to harbour , or let roost in my bosome the least malignant thought ; yet none can deny , but the publike aspersions which this my accuser casts upon me , were enough to make me a malignant towards him ; yet it could never have the power to do it : for i have prevail'd with my selfe to forgive him this his wrong censure of me , issuing rather from his not knowledge of me , than from malice , for we never mingled speech or saw one another in our lives to my remembrance : which makes me wonder the more , that a professor of the law , as he is , should ronounce such a positive sentence against me so slightly . but me thinks pi over-hear him say , that the precedent discourse of parlement is involv'd in generals , and the topique axiome tels us , that dolus versatur in universalibus there is double dealing in universals : his meaning is , that i am no friend to this present parlement ( though he speaks in the plurall number parlements ) and consequently , he concludes me a malignant ; therein , i must tell him also , that i am traduc'd , and i am confident it will be never p●ov'd against me , from any actions , words , or letters ( though diuers of mine have bin intercepted ) or any other misdemeanor , though some things ●re ●ather'd upon me which never drop'd from my quill . alas , how unworthy and uncapable am i to censure the proceedings of that great senate , that high synedrion , wherein the wisedome of the whole state is epitomized ? it were a presumption in me , of the highest nature that could be : it is enough for me to pray for the prosperous successe of their consultations : and as i hold it my duty , so i have good reason so to do , in regard i am to have my share in the happinesse ; and could the utmost of my poore endeavours , by any ministeriall humble office ( and sometimes the meanest boat-swain may help to preserve the ship from sinking ) be so happy , as to contribute any thing to advance that great worke ( which i am in despaire to do , while i am thus under hatches in this fleet , ) i would esteem it the greatest honor that possibly could befall me , as i hold it now to be my greatest disaster , to have fallen so heavily under an affliction of this nature , and to be made a sacrifice to publike fame , than which there is no other proofe , nor that yet urg'd against me , or any thing else produc'd after so long , so long captivity , which hath brought me to such a low ebbe , and put me so far behind in the course of my poore fortunes , and indeed more than halfe undone me . for although my whole life ( since i was left to my selfe to swim , as they say , without bladders ) has bin nothing else but a continued succession of crosses , and that there are but few red letters found ( god wot ) in the almanacke of my age , ( for which i account not my selfe a whit the lesse happy ; ) yet this crosse has carried with it a greater weight , it hath bin of a larger extent , longer continuance , and lighted heavier upon me than any other ; and as i have present patience to beare it , so i hope for subsequent grace to make use of it accordingly , that my old motto may be still confirmed , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . he produceth my attestation for some passages in spaine , at his majesties being there , and he quotes me right , which obligeth me to him ; and i hope all his quotations , wherein he is so extraordinarily copious and elaborate in all his workes , are so ; yet i must tell him , that those interchangeable letters which passed between his majesty and the pope , which were originally couch'd in latine , the language wherein all nations treate with rome , and the empire with all the princes thereof , those letters i say , are adulterated in many places , which i impute not to him , but to the french chronicler , from whom he tooke them in trust . the truth of that businesse is this : the world knowes there was a tedious treaty of an alliance 'twixt the infanta dona maria ( who now is empresse ) and his majesty , which in regard of the slow affected pace of the spaniard , lasted above ten years , as that in henry the sevenths time , 'twixt prince arthur , and ( afterwards ) queen katherine , was spun out above seven : to quicken , or rather to consummate the work , his majesty made that adventurous journey through the whole continent of france , into spaine ; which voyage , though there was a great deale of gallantry in it ( whereof all posterity will ring , untill it turne at last to a romance ) yet it prov'd the bane of the businesse , which 't is not the errand of so poore a pamphlet as this to unfold . his majesty being there arriv'd , the ignorant common people cried out , the prince of wales came thither to make himselfe a christian. the pope writ to the inquisitor generall , and others , to use all industry they could to reduce him to the romane religion ; and one of olivares first complements to him , was , that he doubted ●ot but that his highnesse came thither to change his religion : whereunto he made a short answer , that he came not thither for a religion , but for a wife . there were extraordinary processions made , and other artifices us'd by protraction of things , to make him stay there of purpose till the spring following , to worke upon him the better : and the infanta her selfe desir'd him ( which was esteem'd the greatest favour he received from her all the while ) to visit the nunne of carion ; hoping that the sayd nunne , who was so much cried up for miracles , might have wrought one upon him ; but her art failed her , nor was his highnesse so weake a subject to work upon , according to his late majesties speech to doctor mawe and wren , who when they came to kisse his hands , before they went to spaine to attend the prince their master , he wished them to have a care of buckingham , as touching his sonne charles , he apprehended no feare at all of him ; for he knew him to be so well grounded a protestant , that nothing could shake him in his religion . the arabian proverbe is , that the sun never soiles in his passage , though his beames reverberate never so strongly , and dwell never so long upon the myry lake of maeotis , the black turfd moores of holland , the aguish woose of kent and essex , or any other place , be it never so di●ty ; though spaine be a hot countrey , yet one may passe and repasse through the very center of it , and never be sun-burnt , if he carry with him a bongrace , and such a one his majesty had . well , after his majesties arrivall to madrid , the treaty of marriage went on still , ( though he told them at his first comming , that he came not thither like an embassador , to treat of marriage , but as a prince , to fetch home a wife ; ) and in regard they were of different religions , it could not be done without a dispensation from the pope , & the pope would grant none , unlesse some capitulations were stipulated in favour of the romish catholikes in england , ( the same in substance were agreed on with france . ) well , when the dispensation came , which was negotiated solely by the king of spains ministers ; because his majesty would have as little to do as might be with rome , pope gregory the fifteenth , who died a little after , sent his majesty a letter , which was delivered by the nuncio , whereof an answer was sent a while after : which letters were imprinted and exposed to the view of the world ; because his majesty would not have people whisper , that the businesse was carried in a clandestine manner . and truly besides this , i do not know of any letter , or message , or complement , that ever pass'd 'twixt his majesty and the pope , afore or after ; some addresses peradventure might be made to the cardinalls , to whom the drawing of those matrimoniall dispatches was referred , to quicken the work , but this was only by way of civill negotiation . now touching that responsory letter from his majesty , it was no other than a complement in the severest interpretation , and such formalities passe 'twixt the crown of england , and the great turke , and divers heathen princes . the pope writ first , and no man can deny , but by all morall rules , and in common humane civility his majesty was bound to answer it , specially considering how punctuall they are in those countries to correspond in this kind , how exact they are in repayring visits , and the performance of such ceremonies ; and had this compliance been omitted , it might have made very ill impressions , as the posture of things stood then ; for it had prejudiced the great work in hand , i mean , the match , which was then in the heat and height of agitation : his majesties person was there engag'd , and so it was no time to give the least offence . they that are never so little vers'd in businesse abroad , do know that there must be addresses , compliances , and formalities of this nature ( according to the italian proverbe , that one must sometimes light a candle to the devill ) us'd in the carriage of matters of state , as this great businesse was , whereon the eyes of all christendome were so greedily fix'd ; a businesse which was like to bring with it such an universall good , as the restitution of the palatinate , the quenching of those hideous fires in germany , and the establishing of a peace through all the christian world. i hope none will take offence , that in this particular which comes within the compasse of my knowledge , being upon the stage when this scene was acted , i do this right to the king my master , in displaying the truth , and putting her forth in her own colours , a rare thing in these dayes . touching the vocall forrest , an allegoricall discourse , that goes abroad under my name , a good while before the beginning of this parlement , which this gentleman cites ( and that very faithfully . ) i understand there be some that mutter at certain passages therein , by putting ill glosses upon the text , and taking with the left hand , what i offer with the right : ( nor is it a wonder for trees which lys open , and stand exposed to all weathers to be nipt ) but i desire this favour , which in common justice , i am sure in the court of chancery cannot be denyed me , it being the priviledge of every author , and a received maxime through the world , cujus est condere , ejus est interpretari ; i say , i crave this favour , to have leave to expound my own text , and i doubt not then but to rectifie any one in his opinion of me , and that in lieu of the plums which i give him from those trees , he will not throw the stones at me . moreover , i desire those that are over criticall censurers of that peece , to know , that as in divinity it is a rule , scripturae parabolica non est argumenativa ; so it is in all other kind of knowledge . parables ( whereof that discourse is composed ) though pressed never so hard , prove nothing . there is another rule also , that parables must be gently used , like a nurses breast ; which if you presse too hard , you shall have bloud in stead of milke . but as the author of the vocall forrest thinks he hath done , neither his countrey , nor the common-wealth of learning any prejudice thereby ( that maiden fancy having received so good entertainment and respect abroad , as to be translated into divers languages , and to gain the publick approbation of some famous universities ) so he makes this humble protest unto all the world , that though the designe of that discourse was partly satyricall ( which peradventure induc'd the author to shrowd it of purpose under the shadowes of trees , and where should satyres be but amongst trees ? ) yet it never entred into his imagination to let fall from him the least thing that might give any offence to the high and honorable court of parlement , wherof he had the honor to be once a member , and hopes he may be thought worthy again ; and were he guilty of such an offence , or piacle rather , he thinks he should never forgive himselfe , though he were appointed his own judge . if there occurre any passage therein ▪ that may admit a hard construction , let the reader observe , that the author doth not positively assert , or passe a judgement on any thing in that discourse , which consists principally of concise , cursory narrations , of the choisest occurrences and criticismes of state , according as the pulse of time did beat then : and matters of state , as all other sublunary things , are subject to alterations , contigencies and change , which makes the opinions and minds of men vary accordingly ; not one amongst twenty is the same man to day as he was four years ago , in point of judgement , which turns and alters according to the circumstance and successe of things : and it is a true saying , whereof we find common experience , posterior dies est prioris magister the day following is the former dayes schoolmaster . ther 's another aphorisme , the wisedome of one day is the foolishnesse of another , and 't will be so as long as there is a man left in the world . i will conclude with this modest request to that gentleman of the long robe ; that having unpassionately perus'd what i have written in this small discourse , in penning whereof , my conscience guided my quill all along as well as my hand , he would please to be so charitable and just , as to reverse that harsh sentence upon me , to be no friend to parlements , and a malignant . finis . englands teares , for the present vvars , which for the natvre of the quarell , the quality of strength , the diversity of battailes , skirmiges , encounters , and sieges , ( happened in so short a compasse of time , ) cannot be paralleld by any precedent age. hei mihi , quàm miserè rugit leo , lilia languent , heu , lyra , quàm maestos pulsat hiberna sonos . printed at london , according to order , by richard heron , 1644. to my imperiall chamber , the city of london . renowned city , if any showers of adversity fall on me , some of the drops thereof must needs dash on thy streets . it is not a shower but a furious storme that powr's upon me now , accompanied with fearfull cracks of thunder and unusuall fulgurations . the fatall cloud wherein this storm lay long engendring , though , when it began to condense first , it appeared but as big as a hand , yet by degrees it hath spread to such a vast expansion , that it hath diffus'd it selfe through all my regions , and obscur'd that fair face of heaven , which was used to shine upon me ; if it last long , 't is impossible but we both should perish . peace may , but war must destroy . i see poverty posting apace , and ready to knock at thy gates ; that gastly herbenger of death the pestilence appears already within and without thy walls ; and me thinks i spie meager-fac'd famine a farre off making towards thee ; nor can all thy elaborat circumvallations , and trenches , or any art of enginry , keepe him out of thy line of communication if this hold . therefore my dear daughter , think , oh think upon some timely prevention , 't is the counsell , and request of thy most afflicted mother england . englands teares . oh ! that my head did flow with waters ; oh , that my eyes were limbecks through which might distill drops and essences of bloud ! oh that i could melt away and dissolve all in to teares more brackish than those seas that surround me ! oh that i could weepe my selfe blind to prevent the seeing of those mountains of mischiefs that are like to fall down upon me ! oh , that i could rend the rocks that gird me about , and with my ejaculations tear and dissipate those black dismall cloud● which hang over me ! oh , that i could cleave the ayre with my cries , that they might find passage up to heaven , and fetch down the moon ( that ●atry planet ) to weep and wayle with me , or make old saturne descend from his spheare , to partake with me in my melancholy , and bring along with him the mournfull pleiades , to make a full consort and sing lachrymae with me , for that wofull taking , that desperat● case , that most deplorable condition i have plung'd my selfe into unawares , by thi● unnaturall selfe-destroying warre , by this intricate odd kind of enigmaticall war wherein both parties are so entangled ( like a skeine of ravell'd silk ) that they know not how to unwind and untwist themselves , but by violent and destructive wayes , by tearing my entrailes , by exhausting my vitall spirits , by breaking my very hear●●strings to cure the malady . oh , i am deadly sick , and as that famous chancelor o● france spoke of the civill warrs of his countrey , that france was sick of an unknow● disease ; so if hippocrates himselfe were living , he could not be able to tell the tr●● symptomes of mine , though he felt my pulse , and made inspection into my wate● never so exactly ; onely in the generall he may discover a strange kinde of infecti●● that hath seised upon the affections of my people ; but for the disease it selfe it wi●● gravell him to judge of it : nor can there be any prediction made of it , it is so sharp which make some tell me that i cannot grow better , but by growing yet worse ; th●● there is no way to stanch this flux of bloud , but by opening some more of the m●●ster veines : that it is not enough for me to have drunke so deep of this cup of affl●●ction , but i must swallow up the dregs and all . oh , passenger stop thy pace , and if there be any sparkles of humane compa●●sion glowing in thy bosome , stay a while and hear my plaints , and i know they w● not only strike a resentment , but a horror into thee ; for they are of such a natur● that they are able to penetrate a breast of brasse , to mollifie a heart hoop'd with adamant , to wring tears out of a statue of marble . i that have bin alway accounted the queen of isles , the darling of nature , and neptune minion ; i that have bin stil'd by the character of the first daughter of the church , that have converted eight severall nations ; i that made the morning beams of christianity shine upon scotland , upon ireland , and a good part of france ; i that did irradiat denmarque , swethland and norway with the light thereof ; i that brought the saxons , with other germanes high and low ▪ from paganisme , to the knowledge of the gospell ; i that had the first christian king that ever was ( e●●ius ) and the first reformed king ( the eight henry ) to raigne over me ; i out of whos● bowells sprung the first christian emperour that ever was , constantine ; i that had five severall kings , viz. iohn king of france , david king of scotland , peter king of boheme , and two i●rish kings my captifs in lesse than one year ; i under whose banner that great emperour maximilian tooke it an honor to serve in person , and receive pay from mee and quarter his arms with mine ; i that had the lyon rampant of scotland lately added to fill up my scutchen , and had reduc'd ireland , after so many costly intermissive wars , to such a perfect passe of obedience , and settlement of customs & crown revenues ; i that to the astonishment and envy of the world , preserved my own dominions free and flourishing , when all my neighbour countries were a fire before my face ; i that did so wonderfully flourish and improve in commerce domestique and forren both by land and sea ; i that did so abound with bullion , with buildings , with all sort of bravery that heart could wish ; in summe , i that did live in that height of happines , in that affluence of all earthly felicity , that some thought i had yet remaining some ●ngots of that old gold whereof the first age of the world was made : behold , behold , i am now become the object of pitty to some , of scorne to others , of laughter to all people ; my children abroad are driven to disadvow me for fear of being jeerd , they dare not own me for their mother , neither upon the rialto of venice , the berle of ausburg , the new bridge of paris , the cambios of spaine , or upon the quoys of holand , for feare of being baffled and hooted at . me thinkes i see my next neighbour france , ( through whose bowells my gray-goose wing flew so oft ) making mowes at ●ne , and saying , that whereas she was wont to be the chiefe theater where fortune us'd ●o play her pranks , she hath now removed her stage hither ; she laughes at me that i ●hould let the common people the citty rabble , ( and now lately the females ) to ●●ow their strength so much . me thinks i see the spanyard standing at a gaze , and crossing himselfe to see mee so ●olish as to execute the designes of my enemies upon my selfe . the italian admires 〈◊〉 see a people argue themselves thus into arms , and to be so active in their own ruine ; ●he german drinks carouses that he hath now a co-partner in his miseries ; the swed joyces in a manner to see me bring in a forren nation to be my champion ; the ●etherlander strikes his hand upon his breast , and protests that he wisheth me as well once the duke of burgundy did france , when he swoare , he lov'd france so well , ●at for one king he wish'd she had twenty . me thikns i see the turke nodding with his turban , and telling me that i should ●hank heaven for that distance which is betwixt us , else he would swallow me all up ●t one morsell ; only the hollander my bosome friend seems to resent my hard condi●ion , yet he thinks it no ill favoured sight to see his shops and lombards every where ●●ll of my plundered goods , to find my trade cast into his hands , and that he can un●ersell me in my own native commodities , to see my gold brought over in such heaps , ●y those that flie from me with all they have for their security ; in fine , me thinks i ●ear all my neighbours about me bargaining for my skin , while thus like an unruly ●orse , i run headlong to dash out my own brains . o cursed jealousie , the source of all my sorrowes , the ground of all my inexpressible miseries ! is it not enough for thee to creep in twixt the husband and the wife , twixt the lemmon and his mate , twixt parents and children , twixt kindred and friends ; hast thou not scope enough to sway in private families , in staple societies , and corporations , in common counsells , but thou must get in , twixt king and parlement , twixt the ●ead and the members ( twixt the members amongst themselves ? ) but thou must get a twixt prince and people , but thou must cast up so deep a trench twixt the soveraign ●nd the subject . avant , avant thou hollow-eyed snake-haird monster , hence away ●nto the abisse below , into the bottomlesse gulfe , thy proper mansion ; sit there in thy haire , and preside o're the counsells of hell amongst the cacodaemons , and never ascend again to turne my high law-making court into a councell of warre , to turne my best antidote into poyson , and throw so many scruples into that soveraign physick which was us'd to cure me of all d●stempers . but when i well consider the constitution of this elementary world , and finde man ●o be part of it , when i think on those light and changeable ingredients that go to his composition , i conclude , that men will be men while there is a world , and as long as the moon their next neighbour towards heaven hath an influxive power to make impressions upon their humors , they will be ever greedy and covetous of novelties and mutation ; the common people will be still common people , they will sometime or other shew what they are , and vent their instable passions . and when i consider further the distractions , the tossings , turmoylings and tumblings of other regions round about me , as well as mi●e own , i conclude also , that kingdoms and states and cities and all body politiques are as subject to convulsions , to calentures , and consumptions , aswell as the fraile bodies of men , and must have an evacuation for their corrupt humors , they must be phlebotomiz'd ; i have often felt this kind of phlebo●omy , i have had also shrewd purges and pills often given me , which did not onely work upon my superfluous humors , but wasted sometimes my very vitall spirits ; yet i had electuaries and cordiall● given me afterwards , which fetched me up again ; insomuch that this present tragedy is but vetus fabula novi histriones it is but an old play represented by new actors , i have often had the like . therefore let no man wonder at these traverses and humor of change in me . i remember there was as much wondring at the demolishing of my 600 and odd monasteries , nunneries & abbeis for ●●ing held to be hives of drones , as there is now at the pulling downe of my crosses organs and windowes , ; there was as much wondring when the pope fell hire , a● 〈◊〉 that the prelates are like to fall ; the world wondred as much when the m●sse was disliked , as men wonder now the liturgy should be distasted ; and god grant that people do not take at last a surfet of that most divine ordinance of preaching , for no violent thing lasts long ; and though there should be no satiety in holy things , yet such is the depraved condition of man , he is naturally such a changeling , that the over frequency and commonnesse of any thing , be it never so good , breeds in tract of time a kind of contempt in him , it breeds a fulnesse and nauseousnes in him . the first reformation of my church began at court , and so was the more feasable , and it was brought to passe without a warre ; the scene is now otherwise , it is far more sanguinary and fuller of actors ; never had a tragedy acts of more variety in so short a time ; there was never such a confus'd mysterious civill war as this , there was never so many bodies of strength on sea and shore , never such choice arms and artillerie , never such a numerous cavalrie on both sides , never so many sieges , never a greater eagernes and confidence , there was never such an amphibolous quarrell as this , both parties declaring themselves for the king , and making use of his name in all their remonstrances to justifie their actions , the affect on , and understandings of people were never so confounded and puzled , not knowing where to acquiesce , by reason of such counter-commands . one side calls the resisting of royall commands loyalty , the other termes loyalty , the opposing of parlementary orders and ordinances . both parties would have peace , the one would have it with honor , the other with truth , ( and god forbid but both should go together ) but , int●a●a ring or ego , in the mean time i , poore i am sure do suffer by both , the one taking away what the other leav's , if the one polls me , the other shaves me , and god grant they fall not a flaying of me at last . insomuch that whosoever will be curious to rea● the future story of this intricate warre ( if it be possible to compile a story of it ) he will find himselfe much stagger'd , and put to kind of a riddle before he understand it ; for touching the intricacy of it , touching the strange nature , or rather the unnaturalnesse of it , it cannot be parallel'd by any precedent example : in my chronicles i am sure no age can match it , as i will make it briefly appear , by comparing it with all the warres that ever embroil'd me , which i finde to be of three sorts , either by the invasion of forreners , the insurrection of my commons , or by the confederacy of my peers and princes of the bloud . i will not ●ake the ashes of antiquity so far as to speak of that deluge of bloud i spilt before i would take the roman legions for my garrison ; i am loth to set down how the saxons us'd me , and how the danes us'd them , nor how i had one whol brave race of people ( the picts i mean ) quite extinguished in me , i will begin with the norman expedition , and indeed to make recearches of matters before , is but to grop● in the dark , but i have authentick annales and records for things since . the norman came in with the slaughter of neer upon sixty eight thousand combatants upon the place , a battaile so memorable , that the very ground which sucked in the bloud retaines the name of it to this day . the dane not long after strook in to recover his pretended right , with the sacking of my second great city of yorke , and the ●iring of her , with the slaughter of 3000 of my children in one afternoon , yet he was sent away without his arrand . in the raigne of rufus i was made of his colour , red with bloud both by the welsh and the scot , who lost his king malcolme in the battaile of alnwick . all my eight henries were infested with some civill broyles , except my fift henry the greatest of them , who had work enough cut him out in france , and hee plied his work so well that he put that crown upon his sons head . all my edwards also had some home-bred insurrection or other ; indeed two of my three richards had alwayes quietnesse at home , though the first did go the furthest off from me , and was longest absent of any ; and the third , though he came in by bloud , yet the short time of his three yeares vsurpership he was without any , and prov'd one of my best law-givers , yet his life ended in bloud , for having come in like a fox , he dyed like a calfe . touching my second richard , and second edward , there were never any of my kings came to a more tragique end , and the greatest stains that black my story are the violent deaths they suffered by the hands of their own ( regicide ) subjects . the two sister queens that swayed my scepter had also some domestique commotions ; and now my charles hath them to the height , insomuch that of those five and twenty monarques who have worne my d●adems since the norman entred , there was only foure , viz. the forementioned henry , and richards , with king iames scaped free from all intestin broyles ! oh how it torments my soule to remember how my barons did teare my bowells ! what an ocean of bloud the two roses cost me before they were conjoyned , for during the time that i came to be a monster with two heads ( made so by their division ) i mean during the time that i had two kings at once , edward the fourih , and henry the sixt within me , in five years space i had twelve battails fought within my entrails , wherin i lost neer upō fourscore princes of the royal stem , and parted with more of my spirits than there were spent in winning of france . the world knowes how free and prodigall i have bin of my bloud abroad in divers places , i watered the holy land with much of it ; against my co-islander the scot i had above twenty pitch'd battails , tooke many , and kil'd some of his kings in the field ▪ the flower de lyces cost me dear defore i brought them over upon my sword ; and the reduction of ireland from time to time to civility , and to an exact rule of alleageance wasted my children in great numbers . i never grudg'd to venture my bloud this way , for i ever had glorious returns for it ; and my sons dyed in the bed of honour : but for them to glut themselves with one anothers bloud ; for them to lacerat and rip up ( viper-like ) the wombe that brought them forth , to teare the paps that gave them suck , can there be a greater piacle against nature her selfe , can there be a more execrable and horrid thing ? if a stranger had us'd mee thus it would not have griev'd me half so much ; it is better to be stung with a nettle , than prick'd by a rose ; i had rather suffe● by an enemy , than by my own naturall born off-spring . those former home-wag● wars , whereof there hapned above fourscore ( smal & great ) since the norman cam● in , were but as fires of flax in comparison of this horrid combustion , which mak● both my church & state to suffer so much . one may finde those wars epitomiz● in small volumes , but a whole library cannot contain this . they were but scratches being compar'd to the deep wounds which prince , peere , and people have receiv'd by this ; such wounds , that it seems no gentle c●t●plasmes can cure them , they must be ●anc'd aed canteriz'd , and the huge scars they will leave behinde them will , i feare , make me appear so deformed and ugly to all posterity , that i am halfe in despaire to recover my former beauty ever again . the deep stains these wars will leave upon me , all the water of the severn , trent or thames will hardly wash away . the sun yet hath not run twice his course through the zodia● , since the two-edged ●word of war hath rag'd & done many horrid executions within me , since that hellish invention of powder hath thundred in every corner , since it hath darkned torn , & infected my well-tempered aire , since i have weltered in my own bloud , and bin made ● kind of cockpit , a theater of death to my own children ; and in so short a circumvolution of time , i may confidently affirm take battailes , re-encounters , skir●ishes , with sieges both winter and summer , there never hapned so many in any countrey ; not do i see any appeara●ce , the more is my misery , of any period to be ●ut to these distractions , every day is spectator of some new tragedy , and there●ations that are hourely blaz'd abroad sound sometimes well on the one side , some●●mes on the other , like a peale of bels in windy weather ( though oftentimes in a ●hole volley of news you shall hardly finde one true r port ) which makes me feare 〈◊〉 the all disposing deity of heaven continueth the successes of both parties in a ●inde of equality , to prolong my miseries . ita serior , ut diu me sentiam mori , i am ●ounded with that dexterity , th●t the sence and agonies of my sufferings are like to ●e extended to the uttermost lengt● of time and possibility of n●ture . but , o passenger , if thou art desirous to know the cause of these fatall discompo●●res , of this inextricable war , truly i must deal plainly , i cannot resolve thee herein 〈◊〉 any full satisfaction . grievances there were i must confesse , and some incongrui●es in my civill government ( wherein some say the crosier , some say the distaffe ●as too busie ) but i little thought , god wot , that those grievances required a redresse ●●is way . do'st thou ask me whither religion was the c●use ? god ●orbid ; that in●●cent and holy matron had rather go c●ad in the snowie white robes of meeknesse 〈◊〉 longanimity , than in the purple m●ntle of bloud , her practise hath bee●e to ●●ercome by a passive fortitude without reaction , and to triumph in t●e milk-white ●●ory chariot o● inn●cency and p●tience , not to be ●urried away with the fiery ●●eels of war ; dei lar●●es not les armes ( ●s my next neig●bour hath it ) grones not guns , 〈◊〉 nor swords , prayers not partis●ns were us'd to be her weapons unlesse in c●se of 〈◊〉 and impendent d●nger , in case of invincible necessity , and visible actuall una●●ydable extinguis●ment , and then the arms she useth most is the target to shroud 〈◊〉 selfe under , and fence away th● blow ▪ she leaves all other weapons , to the 〈◊〉 to propagate and exp●nd it selfe . thi● gentle grave l●●y ▪ though the rubricks of 〈◊〉 service be in red characters , yet she is no lover of bloud ▪ she is an embracer of 〈◊〉 , and the sole object of her 〈◊〉 is the god of peace , in who●e highest ●ame , in the name i●h●vah , as the rabbies observe , all the letters are quies●●nt . that sacred comforter , which inspi●es her ambassadors , uses to ascend in form of a dov● , not in the likenesse of a 〈…〉 , and he that brings him downe so , may be sayd to sin agai●●t the 〈…〉 ; to be●t religion into the braines with a pol●axe , is to 〈…〉 , to o●●er him victims of humane bloud ; therefore 〈…〉 wro●g r● igion if i should cast this war upon her : yet me think●s i 〈…〉 lame●● that shee was not also without her 〈…〉 gove●●ors ( for want of moderation ) could not 〈…〉 t●e church , but ●hey must pu● themse●ves 〈…〉 up to the turr●ts of civill p●licy , many o● her preachers 〈…〉 ●ome to the cou●t , some to th● country ; some would h ve nothing 〈…〉 , o●●ers nothing 〈◊〉 priviledge ▪ some won'd giveth 〈…〉 , some to feed zeal , would famish the understanding ; others 〈…〉 underst●nding , and tickle the outward eare ( wit● ess●ies and flourishes of 〈◊〉 ) would 〈…〉 the soul of her true food , &c. but the principal thing ●●ear that reverend l●dy , ( that queen of souls , & turn key of heaven ) m ke 〈…〉 of , is 〈◊〉 that se●mlesse garment of unity and love which our s viour left 〈…〉 and rent into so many sci●sures and sect● by those that would make 〈…〉 which she wore in h●r infancy , to serv● her in 〈…〉 . i hear her cry out ●t the monstrous exorbitant liberty that almo●● every c●pricious mechanique takes to ●imselfe to s●ape and form what religion h● list : for the world is come ●ow to 〈◊〉 passe , ●h●t the t●ylor and shoomaker may 〈◊〉 wh●t religion they please ; 〈…〉 and ●apster m●y breach what religio● they p●e●se ; the druggest and apothe●●ry m y ming e her as they please ; the h●●berd●sher m●y put her upon w●at block ●e p●eases ; the armourer and cutler 〈◊〉 fur●●sh her as they please ; the dyer m●y put w●at col ur , the painter may 〈◊〉 what face upon her be please ; the dr●p●r and mercer may measure her as th●● please ; the w●●●er may cast her upon wha● 〈…〉 please ; the boatswain and 〈◊〉 m●y bring her to what dock they please ; the bar●er may trim her as he plea●● the gard ●er may lop her as he please ; the blackesmith may forge what religion 〈◊〉 please , and so every mechanic according to his profession and fancy may forme he● he please . me thinks i hear that venerable matron complaine further , how her 〈◊〉 in some places are become meer beacons to summon men to arms ; how in 〈◊〉 of lights , her churches up and down are full of firebrands ; how every capri●● of the brain is term'd now tendernesse of conscience , which well examined is thi●g but some fond fa●cy , or fanatick frenzie rather of some shallow-braind 〈◊〉 for whereas others h●ve bin us'd to run mad for excesse of knowledge , some of children grow mad now a daies out of too much ignorance . it stands upon reco●● my story , that when the norman had taken firm footing within me , he did demo● many churches and chappels in new-forrest , to make it fitter for his pleasur● venery ▪ but amongst other judgements which fell upon this sacriledge , one was 〈◊〉 tame sowle grew wilde ; i fear god almighty is more angry with me now than & that i am guilty of a worse profanes ; for not my fowl , but my folk & peop●● ●rown halfe wild in many places , they would not worry one another so in that wol●ish belluine manner else , they would not precipitate themselves else into such a mixt ●●ungrell war , a war that passeth all understanding ; they would not cut their owne ●hroats , hang , drown , and do themselves away in such a desperate sort , which is now ●rown so common , that self-murther is scarce accounted any newes ; which makes ●trangers cry out , that i am all turn'd into a kind of great bedlam , that barbary is come ●●to the midst of me ; that my children are grown so savage , so flesh'd in bloud , and ●ecome so inhumane and obdurate , that with the same tendernesse of sence they can 〈◊〉 a man fall , as see a horse , or some other bruit animall , they have so lost all reve●ence to the image of their creatour , which was us'd to be more valued in me , than ●mongst any other nation . but i hope my king and great councell will take a course to bring them to their ●ld english temper againe , to cure me of this vertigo , and preserve me from ruine ; 〈◊〉 such is my desperate case , that as there is more difficultie , so it would be a grea●●r honour for them to prevent my destruction , and pull me out of this plunge , than 〈◊〉 adde unto me a whole new kingdome ; for true wisdome hath alwayes gloried ●uch in conservation , as in conquest . the roman , though his ambition of conquering had no horizon , yet he us'd to tri●mph more ( as multitudes of examples might be produc'd ) at the composing of an in●stine war , than for any new acquest , or forren atchievement whatsoever ; and though 〈◊〉 was a great martiall man , and lov'd fighting as well as any other , yet his maxime 〈◊〉 , that no peace could be so bad , but it was preferrable to the best war. it seemes the ●●lian his successour retaines the same genius to this day , by the late peace , ( notwith●●anding the many knots that were in the thing ) which he concluded : for although 〈◊〉 absolute princes were interessed in the quarrell , and that they had all just preten●●s , and were heated and heightned in their designes , yet rather than they would dila●●t the entrailes of their owne mother ( faire italy ) and expose her thereby to be ra●h'd by tramontanes , they met half way , and complyed with one another in a 〈◊〉 kind of freedome , though every one bore his share in some inconvenience . oh at my children would be mov'd by this so seasonable example of the italian , who ●mongst other of his characters , is said to be wise , à priori , before the blow is given . ●esire my gracious soveraigne to think , that it was never held inglorious or deroga●ie for a king to be guided and to steere his course by the compasse of his great ●ouncell , and to make his understanding descend , and condescend to their advice ; ●●was it ever held dishonourable for subjects to yeeld and bow to their king , ( to be ●●lowes , not oakes ) and if any mistake should happen , to take it upon themselves , ra●●●r than any should reflect upon their soveraigne . and if , in case of difference , he ●●illing to meet them halfe way , 't were handsome they went three parts before to ●ent him . therefore i conjure them both , in the name of the great deitie of hea●●d , ( who transvolves king domes , and tumbleth downe kings in his indignation ) that they 〈◊〉 think of some speedie way to stop the issue of b●oud ; for to deale plainly with 〈◊〉 see far greater reason to conclude this war , than ever there was to 〈…〉 let them consider well they are but outward church rites and ceremonies they fight for , as the rigidst sort of reformers confesse , the lutheran ( the first reformist ) hath many more conformable to the church of rome , which hee hath continued above ●hese 120 yeares , yet is he as far from rome as the first day he left her , and as free from ●anger of relapse into poperie as amsterdam herselfe ; and must i , unhappie i , be ●acerated and torne in peeces thus for shadowes and ceremonies ? o let not posteritie ●ind it upon record , that the unparallel'd act of grace for the continuance of this , be ●ore hurtfull to me , than the untimely dissolution of all parlements pass'd . i know ●here is a clashing 'twixt prerogative and priviledge , but i must put them in mind of ●he misfortune that befell the flock of sheep and the bell-weather , whereof the first ●ed in a common , the latter in an inclosure , and thinking to break into one anothers ●asture ( as all creatures naturally desire change ) and being to passe over a narrow-nar●ow bridge which sever'd them , they met in the middle and justled one another so ●ong , till both fell into the ditch . and now that i have begun , i will warne them by ●nother fable of the spanish mule , who having by accident gone out of the great road , ●nd carried her rider thorow a by-path upon the top of a huge steepie rock , stopp'd upon a sudden , and being not able to turne and go backward , by reason of the narrow●esse of the path , nor forward , in regard of a huge rockie precipice , she gently put ●ne foot behind the other , and recoyl'd in that manner untill she had found the great ●oad againe . i desire my high councell to consider , that the royall prerogative is like the sea , which as navigators observe , and the civilians hold , what it loseth at one time or in one place , gets alwayes in some other ; that subjects banding against their king , are like the earthen pitchers in the fable justling with the great brasse kettle . i desire my deare king to consider , that the priviledge of parlement , the lawes and liberties of the subject , is the firmest support of his crown , that his great councell is the truest glasse wherein he may discerne his peoples love , and his own happinesse ; it were wsdome that both did strike saile in so dangerous a storme , to avoyd shipwrack ; i am loth to say , what consultations , what plots , and machinations are fomenting and ●orging abroad against me , by that time i have enfeebled and wasted my selfe , and lost the flower of my best children in these wofull broyles . mee thinks i spie the iesuit sitting in his cell and laughing in his sleeve at me , and crying out , the devill part the fray , for they do but execute my designes . oh , i feele a cold quame come over my heart , that i faint , i can speak no longer ; yet i will straine my selfe to breath out this one invocation , which shall be my conclusion . sweet peace , most benigne and amiable goddesse , how comes it to passe that thou hast so abandon'd earth , and taking thy flight to heaven , as once astraea did , dost reject the sighs and neglect the sacrifices of poore mortals ? was that flaming vsher of gods vengeance which appear'd six and twentie yeares since in the heavens ▪ the herald that fetch'd thee away ? for ever since poore europe hath been harass'd , and pitifully rent up and downe with 〈◊〉 wars ▪ and now i am become th● last scene ▪ gentle peace , thou which makest heaven and earth to triumph , which gladdest not only the heart of man , but makest the verie medo●●s ●nd 〈◊〉 the forr●sts and woods the hils an● h●●ses to reioyce ; thou which goest alwayes 〈◊〉 by plentie and pleasure , thou w●ich fill●st the 〈…〉 , the grasiers folds , the tradesm●ns shop , th● vintners cell●rs ▪ 〈…〉 desk ▪ the me●chants m●g●●i●es , the prin●es 〈◊〉 , how comes it 〈…〉 throne to bellona , 〈◊〉 d●stroying 〈…〉 y●oman wan●s h●●ds a●d horse to p●ow up 〈…〉 the morning dew with his anhel●d sweat , shakes at his work 〈…〉 p●undring ; the tradesm●n shuts up his shop 〈…〉 would ; the merchant w●lks to the exchange only to learne new ● , not to negotia●e . behold how my best sort of children are w●arie of their lives , e●●her for 〈◊〉 endl●sse exacti●ns , or remedilesse unthought-on imprisonments , a●d ill by an 〈◊〉 confus'd power which the nec●ssitie of this fatall war hath drawn upon them . sw●et 〈…〉 which wast us'd to mak● princes courts to triumph with tilt and tournements , and other gallantries , to make them receive lustre by forren amb●ssadours ; to make the arts and science● flour●sh ; to make cities and suburbs shine with good y structures to make the countrey ring with the hun s-mans horn , and the shepherds pipe , the high-wayes with carriers bels ; ●ow comes it to passe that bloud-thirstie discord now usurps thy place , and fl ●gs about her snak s in everie cor●er , that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the double-edg'd ●word of civill war doth r●ge and cu● on both sides in so horrid and inhumane a manner ? behold , my prince his court is now full of nothing but buff coats , spanners and musket rests ; both townes and countr●y , and my high-wayes eccho w th nothing but with t e sound of d●ums and tru●pets ; hea●k how pitif●lly my lions roare , how dejectedly my roses and flower de luces hang downe their heads , what dol●full straines my harp gives . o consider my case most blisfull queene ▪ d●scend , desc●nd againe in thy ivorie chariot ? resume thy throne , crowne thy temples with thy won●●d laurell and olive , bar up ianus gates , and make new halcionian dayes to shine in this hem●sp●ere ; dispell those clouds which hover'twixt my king and his highest councell , chase away all jealousies and ombrages of mistrust , that my great law-making court be forc'd to turne no more to polemicall committees , and to a councell of war ( unlesse it be for some forren conquest , ) but that they may come againe into the old parlementarie road , to the path of their predecessours , to consult of meanes how to sweep away those cobwebs that hang in the courts of iustice , and to make the lawes run in their right channell ; to retrench excessive fees , and find remedies for the future , that the poore client be not so peel'd by his lawyer , and made to suffer by such monstrous delayes , that one may go from one tropique to the other , & crosse the equinoctiall twentie times , before his sute be ended ; that they may think on a course to restraine gold and silver from travelling without license , with other staple commodities , and to punish those that transport hides for calf-skins ; to advance native commodities and manufactures , to improve and ballance trade , and settle it so , that it may stand upon its owne bottome , and not by any accidentall wayes , as of late yeares a glut of trade was cast upon me by the wars 'twixt france and the house of austria , and others . that this trade of mine ( my chiefest sinew ) be not cast into the hands of aliens , who eat me out in many places in my own commodities ; that it be prevented hereafter , ●hat one town be not permitted to ingrosse and ingulph all ( like the spleene , ●hat by its swelling sucks both bloud and moisture from the rest of the members ) but that my trade and wealth m●y by some wholsome policie be diffus'd up and down my cities in a more equ●ll distribution . that they may advise of a way to relieve the orphan , who suffers more for his minority in mee , than any where else ; that the poore insolvent subject be not so buried alive , and made to rot in prison , notwithstanding his apparant known disability , whereas were he ●bro●d , he might be usefull to the common-wealth some way or other , and come haply afterwards to an ability to pay . to regulate the businesse of drain'd lands , which well manag'd , would tend very much both to enlarge and enrich my quarters . to secure the dominion of my seas , the fairest flower of my crown , which is now almost quite lost . to preserve my woods , whereof , if this coursehold , their will hardly be found in some places enough to make a tooth-pick . to settle the revenues , and supply the wants of my crown ; for the wants of the crown & the grievances of the subject have bin always used to go hand in hand in my parlements . and now , that my neighbour princes ( specially they of france and spain ) have of late years enhanc'd the revenue royall , at least to the third part more than it w●s , it were a disp●ragement to me , that my king should not bear up in equal proportion ▪ and point of greatnesse this way , considering that he hath more of the royall stem to maintain , than any of his progenitors ever h●d . lastly , that they may settle a way to regulate all exorbitant fancies of novelists , in the exercise of holy religion : it being an undeni●ble m●xime , th●t where there is no obedience , subordination , and restrictive lawes to curb the change●ble humours and extravagancies of mens braines there can be no pe●ce or piety : if the fire be not kept within the tunnell of the chimney , and that some be appointed to sweep down the soot with a high hand ( which may be done otherwise than by shooting up of muskets ) the whole house will be in d●nger of burning . oh me , i feel the pangs of death assail mee , let some good body go toll the bell ; and as one of my kings , ( wil. rufus ) the night before he was slain in new-forrest , for the expi●tion of his fathers sacriledge , did dreame that a cold winde did passe through his bowels , so me thinks , i feele a b●eake cold northern blast blowing upon me , w●ich i fe●r will make an end of me : it is a miracle if i scape , 't is only the high hand of providence can preserve me . if i and my monarchy miscarry , i desire that my epitaph may be written ( in regard i know him to have bin a long time not only sensible , but a sharer with me in point of suffering ) by my dearly beloved child iames howell . to the discerning reader . he that with a well-weigh'd judgement observeth the passions of this last discourse , must needs conclude , that th● author ( besides his own hard condition of two years close impri●sonment ) hath a deep sence of the common calamities of this hi● country in generall , which makes him break out into such patheti● expressions . and because he might do it with more freedom , an● lesse presumption , he makes england her selfe to breath out hi● disordered passions . we know a mother hath a prerogative by a● uncontrollable edict of nature to speak home unto her children , & sometimes in a chiding round way ( though with tears in her eyes ) to give them advice : the same doth england in this discourse but with all the tendernesse and indifferency that may be to bot● parties now in arms. therefore the author humbly hopes tha● no exception , much lesse any offence , will be taken at her complaints , or counsell . mollia commotum frangunt documenta furorem prov. finis . i. h. the trve informer who in the following discovrse or colloqvie discovereth unto the vvorld the chiefe causes of the sa[]d distempers in great britanny and ireland / deduced from their originals ; and also a letter writ by serjeant-major kirle to a friend at vvinsor. howell, james, 1594?-1666. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a44760 of text r30343 in the english short title catalog (wing h3122a). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 117 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 23 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a44760 wing h3122a estc r30343 11298699 ocm 11298699 47342 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a44760) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 47342) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1464:9) the trve informer who in the following discovrse or colloqvie discovereth unto the vvorld the chiefe causes of the sa[]d distempers in great britanny and ireland / deduced from their originals ; and also a letter writ by serjeant-major kirle to a friend at vvinsor. howell, james, 1594?-1666. kirle, robert. 43 p. [s.n], [london] printed : mdcxliii [1643] attributed by wing, nuc pre-1956 to howell. letter signed: r.k. reproduction of original in the harvard university library. eng great britain -politics and government -1642-1660. ireland -politics and government -17th century. a44760 r30343 (wing h3122a). civilwar no the trve informer, who in the following discovrse, or colloqvie, discovereth unto the vvorld the chiefe causes of the sa[]d distempers in gr howell, james 1643 21827 8 10 0 0 0 0 8 b the rate of 8 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-01 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-02 jonathan blaney sampled and proofread 2004-02 jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the trve informer , who in the following discovrse , or colloqvie , discovereth unto the world the chiefe causes of the sad distempers in great brittany and ireland , deduced from their originals . magna est veritas , & prevalebit . and also , a letter writ by serjeant-major kirle , to a friend at vvinsor . printed in the yeare , m. dc . xliii . an interlocutory discourse betwixt patricius and peregrin , touching the distractions of the times , with the causes of them . patricius . gentle sir , you are well met , and welcome to england , i am heartily glad of your safe arrivall , hoping now to apprehend some happy opportunity whereby i may requite part of those worthy favours i received from you in divers places t'other side of the sea . peregrin . sir , i am as joyfull to see you , as any friend i have upon the earth ; but touching favours , they deserve not such an acknowledgment , i must confesse my selfe to be far in the arreare to you , therefore you teach me what to speake in that point : but amongst other offices of friendship you have beene pleased to do me from time to time , i give you many thanks for the faithfull correspondence you have held with me since the time of our separation by intercourse of letters , the best sort of fuell to warme affection and to keep life in that noble vertue friendship , which they say abroad , is in danger to perish under this cold insulary clime for want of practise . patr. truely , sir , you should have had an account of matters hence more amply and frequently , but that of late it hath beene usuall , and allowed by authority , to intercept and breake open any letters ; but private men need not complaine so much , since the dispatches of ambassadors , whose packets should be held as sacred as their persons , have beene commonly open'd , besides some outrages offered their houses and servants ; nay , since their majesties letters under the cabine signet have beene broke up , and other counterfeit ones printed and published in their names . pereg. indeed i must confesse , the report hereof hath kept a great noyse abroad ; and england hath suffered much in point of nationall repute in this particular ; for even among barbarians it is held a kinde of sacriledge to open letters ; nay , it is held a baser kind of burglary , than to breake into a house , chamber , or closet : for this is a plundring of outward things only , but hee who breaks open ones letters , which are the idea's of the minde , may bee said to rip up his brest , to plunder and rifle his very braine , and rob him of his most precious and secretest thoughts . patr. well , let us leave this dista stefull subject ; when these fatall commotions cease , this custome , i hope , will be abhorred in england : but now , that you are newly arrived , and so happily met , i pray bee pleased to make me partaker of some forraigne newes , and how the squares goe betwixt france and spaine , those two great wheeles , that draw after their motion ( some more , some lesse ) all the rest of the westerne world : and when you have done , i will give you account of the state of things in england . pereg. i thought you had so abounded with domestick newes , that you had had no list or leisure to heare any forraigne ; but to obey your commands , you know that i have beene any time this six yeares a wanderer up and downe the world ; and truly i could not set foot on any christian shore that was in a perfect condition of peace , but it was engag'd either in a direct , auxiliary , or collaterall warre , or standing upon its guard in continuall apprehensions and alarmes of feare : for , since that last flaming usher of gods vengeance , that direfull comet of the yeare 1618. appear'd in the heavens , some malignant and angry ill-aspected star hath had the predominance ever since , and by its malignant influxes , made strange unusuall impressions upon the humours of subjects , by inciting them to such insurrections , revolts , and tumults ; which caused a jewish rabbi to say lately , that it seemes the grand turke thrives extraordinarily in his devotions , it being one of his prime prayers to mahomet , that he should prevaile with god almighty to continue dissentions still among christian princes . and truly as the case stands , one may say , that the christian world is all in pieces ; you know well with what fearefull fits of a high burning feaver poore germany hath beene long shaken , which hath wrought a lethargie in some of her members , by wasting of the vitall spirits , which should diffuse themselves equally through that great body ; and how she still fostereth a cold northerne guest within her bosome , and is 〈◊〉 annuall feare of a worse from the levant : in the netherlands one shal● heare the half-sterved souldier murmure in every corner , and railing ●gainst his king , and ready to mutiny for want of pay . in france you shall see the poore asinine peasant half weary of his life , his face being so pitifully ground , ever and anon with new taxes . you know there are two soveraigne princes , who have a long time wandred up and downe in exile , being outed out of their own antient patrimoniall territories , and little hope yet god wot , of restoring them . the world knowes how savoy is become of late a kinde of province to france . nay , spaine , who hath beene so dexterous to put her neighbours together by the eares , and to foment warre a farre off , to keepe her owne home secure , is now her selfe in the midst of two fearefull fires , kindled on both sides of her by quite-revolted subjects , the portugues and catalan , and is so puzzled , she cannot tell what saint to pray unto . the venetian also , with the pope , and all the princes of italy are arming apace ; the hollander only , salamander-like , thrives in these flames ; and as i have heard of some , that by a long habituall custome , could feed on poyson , and turne it to nourishment , so hanse alone growes fat by these wars . and being weary of eating my bread in such a distracted world abroad , and hopeing to take some sweet repose in england , i finde that she is in as bad a case , if not worse , than any other . so much newes i give you in a lump , i will be more particular with you some other time , if you please to spare me now . patr. i heare , not without much resentment , these pithy expressions you have been pleased to make of the torn estate of europe abroad , and since you mention that blazing star , i remember what a noble knight told me some yeares agoe , that the astronomers , who lay sentinel to watch the motion and aspect of that comet , observed , that haveing pointed at divers climats , at last it seem'd to looke directly to these north-west islands , in which posture it spent it selfe , and so extinguished ; as if thereby it meant to tell the world , that these islands should be the stage whereupon the last act of the tragedie should be plai'd . and how many scenes have passed already , both here and in ireland , we know , god wot , by too too wofull experience . pereg. there is a saying , when your neighbours house is on fire , by its light you may see in what danger your owne stands . and was england so blinde , as not to take warning by so many fearful combustions abroad : when i took my leave last of her , i left her in such a compleat condition of happinesse , both in court , countrey , citie and sea , that she was the envie of all europe , in so much , that that golden verse might be fitly applied to her then golden times : mollia securae peragebant otia gentes . the court was never so glorious , being hansell'd every yeer almost with a new royall off-spring ; the gentrie no where more gallant and sportfull ; the citizen never more gorgeous and rich , and so abounding with treasure , bullion and buildings , that no age can parallel ; commerce inward and outward was never at that height ; the customes increasing every yeer to admiration ; the narrow seas were never guarded with braver ships , nor the navie royall for number of vessels and magazines of all sorts of materials was ever so well replenished ; the universities had never such golden dayes ; and lastly , the church did so flourish , that amongst the rest of the reformed churches of christendom , i have heard her call'd the church triumphant . besides , ireland was arriv'd almost to the same degree of prosperitie , for all the arrerages of the crown were paid , and not a peny sent hence for many yeers to maintain the standing armie there , or for any other publique charge , as formerly ; traffique came to that monstrous height , that in few yeeres the crown-customes came to be five times higher . in fine , ireland was brought not onely to subsist of her selfe , but inabled to contribute towards the filling of the english exchequer , and to make some retribution of those vast expences the crown of england hath been at any time these 400 yeers , to reduce her to civilitie ; her bogs were almost all dri'd up , and made good land , her mudwals turn'd apace to bricke in divers places ; so that one sommer that i fortun'd to be there , above 50. new bricke-houses were built in one town . but it hath been the fate of that island to be oftentimes neer a condition of a setled happinesse , and yet to have some odde accident still intervene to crosse it . in conclusion , there wanted nothing to make england and her united crownes so exactly blessed , that she might have assumed the title of one of the fortunate islands . good lord , how comes it to passe , that she is now fallen into such horrid distempers , and like a distracted bodie , laying hands upon her selfe , would thrust the sword of civill war into her own bowels ? i beseech you , sir , impart unto me the true cause of this change ; for i know none so capable to do it as your selfe . patr. infandum peregrine , jubes renovare dolorem . first , sir , in the generall you know , that it is with the regions upon earth , as it is with those of the ayre● sometimes we have a clear azur'd skie , with soft gentle ventilations , and a sweet serenitie throughout the whole hemisphete ; at other times we know the face of the heavens is overcast with frownes , with frog vapours , and thicke cloudes of various shapes , which look like monsters , hovering up and down , and break at last into thunder and fulgurations , and so disquiet and raise a kinde of war in the aereal common wealth . just so in the regions that are dispers'd up and down this earthly globe , & peopled with men ( which are but a composition of the elements ) you have sometimes a gentle calme of peace and quietude , with a generall tranquillitie all the countrey over ; at other times you have ugly mishapen cloudes of jealousies , feares and discontentments do rise up , which break out at last into acts of disobedience , rebellion , and furie . and as those aereall meteors and monsters above are ingendered of those watery fogges and mists which are drawn up out of fenny and rotten low grounds here upon earth ; so in the region of the minde , the ill vapours which ascend to the brain from rotten and impostumated hearts , from desperate and male-contented humorists are the causes of all civill commotions and distempers in state . but they have much to answer for in the world to come ( though they escape it in this ) who for any private interest or respect whatsoever , either of promotion , vain glorie , revenge , malice , or envie , will embroyle and plunge their own native countrey in any publike ingagement or civill war , by putting a partition-wall betwixt their soveraigne prince and their fellow subjects . truly , in mine opinion , these may be called the worst kinde of betrayers of their countries : but i am too farre transported from satisfying your request in relating the true causes of these calamities : i will now fall to worke , and bring you to the very source of them . there is a packe of perverse people ( composed for the most part of the scummy and simplest sort ) multiplied in england , who by a kinde of naturall inclination , are opposite so point blanke to monarchie in state , and hierarchie in church , that if they were in heaven ( whither 't is to be feared they run a great hazard ever to enter , it being a rule , that he who is rotten hearted to his king , can never be right hearted to his creatour ) i say , if these men were in heaven , they would go near to repine at the monarchicall power of god almighty himselfe , and at the degrees of angels , and the postures of holinesse in the church triumphant . they call every crotchet of the brain , tendernesse of conscience : which being well examined , is nothing else but a meer spirit of contradiction and disobedience ( to all higher powers ) which posseseth them . there are no constitutions either ecclesiasticall or civill can please them , but they could cast both into such a mould , which their crack'd braines would fain devise , yet are never able to bring to any perfection ; they are ever labouring to bring religion to the dock , to be new trimm'd , but they would take down her fore-caste , and scarce allow her the kings armes to adorn her ; they are great listners after any court newes , and pricke up their eares when any thing is spoken of king , queen , or privie counsellour , and are alwayes ready though upon loose trust , to take up any report whereby they may whisper in conventicles and corners , and so traduce the government . these great zealots use to look upon themselves most cōmonly through multiplying glasses , which make them appear to be such huge santons , that it renders them not onely uncharitable in their opinions of others , but lucifcrian-like proud in their own conceit , insomuch that they seem to scorne all the world besides , believing that they are the onely elect , whose soules worke according to the motion of the spirit ; that they are the children of promise , whose faces alone look towards heaven ; they are more pleased with some new reach or fancie , ( that may puzzle the pericranium ) than a frenchman is with some new fashion in cloathing ; they are nearest to the nature of the jew of any people upon earth , and will converse with him sooner than with some sort of christians ; and as in the pharisaicall disposition they symbolise with the jew , so in some of their positions they jumpe pat with the iesuit ; for though they are both in the extremes , and as contrary one to the other as the scales of a diameter , yet their opinions and practices are concentrique to depresse regall power ; both of them would binde their kings in chaines , and the nobles in linkes of iron ; they both deny all passive obedience , and as the one would have the morter of the temple tempered with bloud , so the other would beat religion into the brain with the pole-axe . their greatest master-piece of policie is to forge counterfeit newes , and to divulge and disperse it as farre as they can , to amuse the world , for the advancement of their designes , and strengthening of their partie : but the iesuit doth it more cunningly and modestly , for he fetcheth his newes from farre , so that before the falshood of it can be controll'd , his worke is commonly done , and the newes forgotten ; but these later polititians use to raise lyes hard by home , so that the grosnesse and palpablenesse of them is presently discovered . besides , to avoid the extremes of the other , these later seem fall into flat prophanenesse , for they may be called a kinde of enemies to the very name , crosse , and church of christ . touching the first , they repine at any reverence to be done unto it , though spontaneous , not coercive . for the second , which was held from the beginning to be the badge and banner of a christian , they crie it up to be the marke of the beast ; and for the last , they would have it to be neither beautifull , holy , nor amiable , which are the three main properties which god requires in his house . to conclude , when any comes to be season'd with this sower leaven , he seemes to degenerate presently from the nature and garbe of a gentleman , and fals to be of a sordid and low disposition , narrow hearted , and close handed ; to be timorous , cunning and jealous , and farre from the common freedom , and sweetnesse of morall societie , and from all generous and loyall thoughts towards his king and countrey . these , these have been the chiefest machinators , and engineers of these unhappy divisions , who viper like have torne the entrailes of their own mother , their dear countrey ; but there were other externe concurrent causes , and to finde them out , i must look northward , for there the cloud began to condense first ; you know sir , the scotish nation were ever used to have their king personally resident amongst them ; and though his late majestie by reason of his age , bountie , and long breeding there , with other advantages , drew such extraordinary respect from them , that they continued in good conformitie ; yet since his death , they have been overheard to mutter at the remotenesse and absence of their king , and that they should become now a kinde of province by reason of such a distance : some of their nobles and gentrie found not at the english court , nor at his majesties coronation in edenburgh that countenance , familiaritie , benefit , and honours , which haply they expected , and 't is well known who he was , that having been denied to be lorded , took a pet , and went discontented to his countrey , hoping that some title added to the wealth he had got abroad , should have purchased him more respect . these discontented parties tamper'd with the mercenary preachers up and down scotland , to obtrude to the people what doctrines they put into their mouthes , so that the pulpits every where rung of nothing but of invectives against certain obliquities and soloecismes ( and i cannot tell what ) in government , and many glances they had upon the english church ; yet all this while there was not matter enough for an insurrection , nor to dispose the peoples hearts to a mutinie , untill by the policie ( as some affirmed ) of the said discontented partie , the english lyturgie was sent thither : this by the incitement of those fiery pulpiteers , was cried up to be the greatest idoll that possibly could be brought into their kirk , insomuch that when it was first offer'd to be read , the women and baser sort of mechanickes threw stooles and stones at the bishops heads , and were ready to tear them in pieces : and here began the storme . his majestie having notice hereof , sent a most gracious proclamation , signifying , that whereas he had recommended that book to be practic'd amongst them , wherein he himselfe served god almightie twice a day , he did it out of a pious endeavour to breed an uniformitie of publike divine service in all his dominions , specially in that his native kingdom . but since it had produced such dangerous effects , he was contented to revoke it absolutely ; for it was never his purpose to presse the practise of the said book upon the consciences of any , he did onely commend , not absolutely command the use of it : therefore he exhorted and required that every one unto whom it had given any scandall , should returne to his pristine obedience , and serve god as formerly , offering here with a gracious pardon , and to passe an act of amnestia for an abolition of all faults passed . peregr . and would not this suffice ? in naturall motions we finde that the cause being taken away , the effect ceaseth , and will not this hold in civill actions ? patr. no , this would not serve the turne , but there was a further reach in it , and for an inch to take an ell : you know , the scots since their single lion came to quarter with our three , are much elevated in their spirits , more respected , employed and trusted abroad , and heightened in their resolutions and aimes , and will questionlesse be dayly more and more . you have heard of a mine that reach'd from our exchecquer to edenburgh . and i beleive you have not forgot boccolinies balance , that was shewed us in italie , wherein lorenzo de medici weighed all the states of christendom , and throwing in england amongst the rest , you know how much he made her to weigh lesse by this addition . the former proclamation i say , and pardon would not suffice , but they took opportunitie to fish in those troubled waters , and vent their spleen further , by an utter extirpation of episcopacie , and by trampling the mitre under their feet , hoping to have some of the birds plumes , being pluckt , to feather their own nests ; and they brought their worke about . good lord , what a deal of dirt was presently thrown into the bishops faces by every rurall petty clerke ! what infamous ballads were sung , what a thicke cloud of epidemicall hatred hung suddenly over them , so farre , that a dog with blacke and white spots was called a bishop amongst them up and down the streets . the chiefest contrivers of this uproar , finding their designe to go on so well , and perceiving the whole countrey so eagerly bent against bishops , ( and what artifices and suggestions were us'd to render them so odious is incredible ) but finding withall his majestic unwilling to alter the government his father ( of so fresh and famous memorie ) had left him , and to which he had been sworne at his coronation , they put themselves in armes , and rais'd forces to beat down the mitre , with the sword , if the scepter would not do it . to the frontiers they came with a great armie , ( not halfe so great as was bruited ) pretending they came as petitioners ( though they brought their petition upon their pikes point . ) some of the great ones about the king grew cold in the action : and what a pacification was then shuffled up , and how a parliament was called thereupon in scotland , with other passages , is a fitter subject for a storie than a discourse . peregr . i could have wish'd two things , that either his majestie had given them battail then , having the flower of his nobilitie and gentrie with him , who i understood came with all chearfulnesse and promptitude to attend him , or else that after the said pacification , his majestie had shaken off all jealousies , and with a royall freedom and a commanding confidence gone amongst them to hansell their new parliament house at edenburgh ; for it is probable , it had averted those showers and cataracts of miseries which have fallen upon us since : but i pray sir , proceed . patr. as they say , there is no winde but blowes some bodie good , so it was thought , this northerne cloud did england some advantage , for a parliament was summon'd hereupon ; a parliament do i call it ? it was rather an embryo of a parliament , an ephemeran of 20 dayes . in this sitting his majestie declared unto both houses the indignities he had received by his scotch subjects , and therefore purpos'd a supply to be made of 12 subsidies to suppresse that rebellion ; and in lieu thereof he was willing to forbear and utterly abolish the ship money , which he had reason to thinke legall at first , being advised thereunto by noy his attourney generall , who had such a mighty repute in the law ; yet he would not rest there , but he advised further with his learned councell , who concurred in opinion with noy ; nor would he rest there also , but he had the approbation of all the iudges singly , and afterwards the major part of all the twelve , joyntly upon a demurre . this was enough to induce his conscience to hold it legall all this while ; it was clearly proved that the monies levied this way , were employed to no other but the intended service , the guarding of the narrow seas ; and not onely for that , but to preserve his right of dominion in them , being the fairest flower of his crown , which was not onely discoursed of abroad , but began to be questioned : and touching danger , how could england be but in apparent dangers ? considering how all her next neighbours were in actuall hostilitie , which made huge fleets of men of war , both french , dunkerkers , hamburgers and hollanders to sail ever and anon in her channels , and hard before her royall chambers : nor came there one penny of that publike contribution to his private coffers , but he added much of his own demeanes for the maintenance of a royall fleet every sommer : yet he was ready to passe any bill for the utter abolishing of the said ship money , and for redressing of any other grievances , provided they would enable him to suppresse this scots rebellion : some say the house was inclinable to comply with his majesties demands , but ( as the ill spirit would have it ) that parliament was suddenly broke up , and i would that they who gave that counsell had been in arabia , or beyond the line , in their way to madagascar , who neverthelesse have got to be in high request with this present parliament . his majestie being reduced to these streights , and resenting still the insolence of the scot , proposed the businesse to his privie councell , who suddenly made up a considerable and most noble sum for his present supply , whereunto divers of his domesticke servants and officers did contribute . amongst others who were active herein , the earle of strafford bestirr'd himselfe notably , and having got a parliament to be called in ireland , he went over , and with incredible celeritie raised 8000 men , who procured money of the parliament to maintain them , and got over those angry seas again in the compasse of lesse than six weekes . you may infer hence to what an exact uncontrollable obedience he had reduced that kingdom , as to bring about so great a worke with such a suddennesse and facilitie . an armie was also raised here , which marched to the north , and there fed upon the kings pay a whole sommer . the scot was not idle all this while ; but having punctuall intelligence of every thing that passed at court , as farre as what was debated in the cabinet counsell , and spoken in the bed-chamber , ( and herein amongst many others , he had infinite advantage of us ) he armed also , and preferring to make england the stage of the war , rather than his own countrey , and to invade rather than to be invaded , he got over the tweed , and found the passage open , and as it were made for him all the way till he came to the tine , and though there was a considerable armie of horse and foot at newcastle , yet they never offered so much as to face him all the while . at newburgh indeed there was a small skirmish ; but the english foot would not fight , so newcastle gates flew open to the scot without any resistance at all , where it is thought he had more friends than foes , and who were their friends for this invasion , i hope time , and the tribunall of justice will one day discover . his majestie being then at yorke , summoned all his nobles to appear , to advise with them in this exigence : commissioners were appointed on both sides , who met at rippon , and how the hearts and courage of some of the english barons did boil within them , to be brought to so disadvantageous a treatie with the scot , you may well imagine . so the treatie began , which the scot would not conforme himselfe unto , unlesse he were made first rectus in curia , and the proclamation wherein he was declared traitour , revoked ; alleadging it would be dishonourable for his majestie to treat with rebels . this treatie was ad●ourned to london , where this present parliament was summoned ( which was one of the chiefest errands of the scot , as some thinke , and thus farre by these sad and short degrees , have i faithfully led you along to know the true originals of our calamities . peregr . truly sir , i must tell you , that to my knowledge these unhappy traverses with scotland , have made the english suffer abroad very much in point of nationall honour ; therefore i wonder much that all this while there is none set a worke to make a solid apologie for england in some communicable language , ( either in french or latin ) to rectifie the world into the truth of the thing , and to vindicate her , how she was bought and sold in this expedition , considering what a partie the scot had here , and how his comming in , was rather an invitation than an invasion , and i believe if it had been in many parts of the world besides , some of the commanders had gone to the pot . patr. it is the practise of some states i know , to make sacrifice of some eminent minister , for publike mistakes : but to follow the thred of of my discourse . the parliament being sate , his majestie told them , that he was resolved to cast himselfe wholly upon the affection and fidelitie of his people , whereof they were the representative bodie ; therefore he wished them to go roundly on to close up the ruptures that were made by this unfortunate war , and that the two armies , one domestique , the other forreigne , which were gnawing the very bowels of the kingdom , might be dismissed . touching grievances of any kinde ( and what state was there ever so pure , but some corruption might creep into it ? ) he was very ready to redresse them : concerning the ship-money , he was willing to passe a bill for the utter abolition of it , and to establish the propertie of the subject ; therefore he wished them not to spend too much time about that . and for monopolies , he desired to have a list of them , and he would damne them all in one proclamation : touching ill counsellours , either in westminster hall , or white hall , either in church or state , he was resolved to protect none , therefore he wished that all jealousies and mis-understandings might vanish : this , with sundry other straines of princely grace he delivered unto them , but withall he told them , that they should be very cautious how they shook the frame of government too farre , in regard it was like a watch , which being put asunder , can never be made up again , if the least pin be left out . so there were great hopes of a calme , after that cold northerne storme , and that we should be suddenly rid of the scot , but that was least intended , untill some designes were brought about . the earle of strafford , the archbishop of canterbury , the iudges , and divers monopolists are clapt up , and you know who took a timely flight to the other side of the sea : and in lieu of these , the bishop of lineolne is enlarged , bastwick , burton , and prynne are brought into london , with a kinde of hosanna . his majestie gave way to all this , and to comply further with them , he took as it were into his bosome , i mean , he admitted to his privie counsell those parliament lords , who were held the greatest zelots amongst them , that they might be witnesses of his secretest actions ; and to one of them he gave one of the considerablest offices of the kingdom , by the resignation of another most deserving lord , upon whom they could never fasten misdemeanour ; yet this great new officer will come neither to the same oratorie , chappell , or church , to joyne in prayer with his royall master , nor communicate with him in any publike exercise of devotion ; and may not this be called a true recusancie ? to another he gave one of the prime and most reposefull offices about his own person at court , and thereby he might be said to have given a staffe to beat himselfe . moreover , partly to give his subjects an evidence how firmely he was rooted in his religion , and how much he desired the strengthening of it abroad ; the treatie of marriage went on 'twixt his eldest daughter and the young prince of orange . hereunto may be added as a speciall argument of compliance and grace , the passing of the bill for a trienniall parliament ; and lastly , ( which is the greatest evidence that possibly can be imagined , of that reall trust and confidence he reposed in them ) he passed the act of continuance . peregr . touching the trienniall parliament , there come some wholesome fruit out of it , for it will keep all officers in awe , and excite the nobilitie , and young gentrie of the kingdom to studie , and understand the government of the land , and be able to sit and serve their countrey in this great senate ; but for this act of continuance , i understand it not ; parliaments are good physicke , but ill meat ; they say abroad that england is turned hereby from a monarchie to a democracie , to a perpetuall kinde of dictatorship ; and whereas in former times there was an heptarchie of seven kings in her , they say now she hath seventy times seven . but in lieu of these unparallell'd acts of grace and trust to the parliament , what did the parliament for the king all this while ? patr. they promised , specially upon the passing of the last act , that they would make him the most glorious , the best beloved , and richest king that ever reigned in england : and this they did with deep protestings and asseverations . but there intervened an ill favoured accident which did much hurt , viz. a discourse ( for truly i thinke it was no more ) which some green heads held to bring up the northerne armie , to checke the puritan partie , and the rabble of the citie : this kept a mighty noise , and you know who fled upon it , and much use was made of it to make that cloud of jealousie which was but of the breadth of an hand before , to appear as big as a mountain . yet his maiestie continued still in passing acts of grace , and complying with them in every thing . he put over unto them the earle of strafford , who after a long costly triall ( wherein he carried himselfe with as much acutenesse , dexteritie , and eloquence , as humane brain could be capable of for his defence ) he was condemned to the scaffold , and so made a sacrifice to the scot , who stayed chiefly for his head , which besides those vast summes of money , was given him to boot . peregr . touching the earle of strafford , 't is true he was full of abilitie , elocution , and confidence , and understood the lawes of england as well as any , yet there were two things , i heard , wherein his wisdom was questioned ; first , that having a charge readie against his chiefest accusers , yet he suffered them to have the prioritie of sute , which if he had got , he had thereby made them parties , and so incapable to be produced against him . secondly , that during the time of his triall , he applied not himselfe with that compliance to his iury as well as to his iudges , for he was observed to comply onely with the lords , and not with the house of commons . patr. howsoever , as some say , his death was resolved upon , ( si non per viam iustitiae , saltem per viam expedientiae ) which appeares in regard the proceedings against him are by a clause in the act not to be produced for a leading case or example to future ages and inferiour courts . i blush to tell you how much the rabble of the citie thirsted after his bloud , how they were suffer'd to strut up and down the streets before the royall court , and the parliament it selfe , with impunitie ; they cried out , that if the common law fail'd , club law should knocke him down , and their insolencie came to that height , that the names of those lords that would not doom him to death , should be given them to fix upon posts up and down ; and this was the first tumult that happened this parliament , whereof so many followed after their example , being not onely conniv'd at , but backed by authoritie , for there were prohibitions sent from the parliament , to hinder all processe against some of them . these myrmidons , as they termed themselves , were ready at a watch-word , so that one might say there was a kinde of discipline in disorder . peregr . were there any troubled for delivering their votes in the houses ? i thought that freedom of opinion and speech , were one of the prime priviledges of that great nationall senate . patr. yes , those that were the minions of the house before became now the subjects of popular malice and distraction , because against the dictamen of their consciences , they would not vote the earle of strafford to death , and renounce their owne judgements , and captivate it to the sense of others , yet they stood firme to their first grounds , that hee was a delinquent in a high nature , and incapable ever to beare o ffice in any of his majesties dominions . per. i perceive sir by your speeches , that one of the chiefest causes of these combustions may be imputed to the citie of london , which may be called the metropolis of all these evils , and i little wonder at it , for it hath beene alwayes incident to all great townes , when they grow rich and populous , to fall into acts of insolence , and to spurne at government ; where so many pots ( so many braines ) are a boyling , there must needs be a great deale of froth , but let her looke to her self , for majestie hath long armes , and may reach her at last . but the truth is , that london beares no proportion with the size of this island , for either one should be larger , or the other lesse : london may be well compared to the liver of a cramm'd italian goose , whose fatning emacerates the rest of the whole body , and makes it grow leane and languish , and she may well be termed a goose now more than ever , for her feathers are pluck'd apace ; but now that you have done with the earle of strafford , what is become of all the rest who were committed ? pat. they are still in durance , and have continued so these two yeares and upward , yet are not proceeded against , nor brought to their answer to this very day , though al thecourts of justice have been open ever since . many hundreds more of the best sort of subjects have beene suddenly clapt up , and no cause at all mentioned in many of their commitments , and new prisons made of purpose for them , where they may be said to be buried alive , and so forgotten , as if there were no such men in the world : and how this can stand with magna charta , with the petition of right ( to vindicate which , there was so much paines taken the last parliament ) let any man of a sane judgement determine , yet one of the judges , who hath an empeachment of high treason still lying dormant against him , though he be not rectus in curia himselfe , is suffered to sit as judge upon the highest tribunall of england , whereas another for a pretended misdemeanour onely is barr'd from sitting there . others who were at first cryed up and branded to be the most infamous projectors and monopoliz●s of the land , are not only got loose , but crept into favour , and made use of . per. hath the house of commons power to commit any but their owne members without conference with the lords ? or hath any order or ordinance of one of the houses singly , or of both conjunctly , to enjoyne a virtuall binding power of generall obedience without the royall consent . pat. the power of parliament , when king , peeres and commons , which is the whole kingdome digested into one volume , is indefinite ; but what either of both houses can do of themselves singly , or joyntly , without the king who is the life of the law , i dare not determine : especially when a visible faction reignes amongst them . — tantas componere lites nonopis est nostroe — but for mine owne opinion , i think it is as impossible for them to make a law without the king , as it was for paracelsas to make a man without coition , either for abolishment of old , or establishment of new lawes . the results of parliament without the royall consent , are as matches without fire ; and it is an incontroulable principle , that the old law must be our guide , till new be made , nor is any act of the subject justifiable , but what is warrantable by the old . but to proceed in the true discovery of these domestick scistures , my lord of strafford being gone , we hop'd faire weather would follow , ( he who was the cause of the tempest , being throwne over-boord ) but unluckie mists of jealousie grew thicker and thicker ; yet the scots were dismist , having had fidlers fare , meat , drinke , and money , for eleven long moneths together . so his majestie went to scotland , where the parliment there , did but aske and have any thing , though it be the unquestionable prerogative of majestie to grant or denie petitions , and to satisfie his conscience before any councell . but during his sojourne there , this formidable hideous rebellion broke out in ireland , which though it may be said to be but an old play newly reviv'd , yet the scene was never so tragicall and bloody as now : for the barbarismes that have been committed there have been fo sanguinarie , and monstrously salvage , that i thinke posterity will hold them hyperbolicall . the irish themselves affirm there concurr'd causes to kindle this fire . one was the taking off straffords head , ( who aw'd them more then any deputy ever did ) and that one of his accusations should be to have used the papists there too favourably . secondly , the rigorous proceedings and intended courses against the papists here in england . lastly , the stopping of that regiment of irish , who was promised by his majesties royall word and letter to the king of spaine , who relying upon that imployment , rather than to beg , steale , or sterve , turned rebels : and that which hath aggravated the rebellion all this while , and heightned much the spirit of the irish , is the introduction of the scot , whom they hate in perfection above all people els , and the designe spoken of in our parliament , to make an absolute conquest , and nationall eradication of them , which hath made them to make vertue of necessity , and to be valiant against their wills . per. indeed i heard that act of staying the irish regiment , considering how the marquesses de valada , and malvezzi , and don alonso de cardenas , who were all three ambassadours here for the king of spaine at that time , having by relyance upon the sacred word and letter of a king , imprested money , and provided shipping for their transport , and been at above 10000. crowns charges , i say this act was very much censured abroad , to the dishonor of his majesty , and our reproch . patr. i am very sorry to heare it . well sir . his majesty by his presence having setled scotland , was at his returne to london received with much joy , and exultation , but though he was brought in with a hosanna at one end of the towne , he found a crucifige at the other : for at westminster there was a remonstrance fram'd , a worke of many weeks , and voted in the dead of night , when most of the moderate , and well-thoughted members were retired to their rest , wherein with as much industry and artifice as could be , the least moat in government was exposed to publike view , from the first day of his majesties inauguration to that very houre : which remonstrance as it did no good to the publike ; but fill peoples heads with doubts , and their hearts with gall and retard the procedure of all businesse besides , so you may wel think , it could expect but cold entertainment with his majesty , who hoped his great councell according to their often deep protestations , had done something for his welcome home , that might have made him the best beloved king that ever was amongst his people . per. 't is true , there is no government upon earth , made up of men , but is subject to corruption , there is no court of judicature so cleane , but some cobwebs may gather in it , unlesse an act of parliament could be made to free and exempt men from infirmities and errour ; it cannot be denyed , but scotland might have something to complaine of ( though i thinke least of any ) and so leapt first into the poole to bee cured ; and what she fish'd besides in those troubled waters 't is too well knowne . england also no doubt might have some grievances , which his majestie freely offered , not only to redresse for the present , but to free her of all feares for the future , from falling into relapses of that kinde ; but to redresse grievances by armes , by plunging the whole countrey into an intestine warre , this makes the remedy worse then the malady , it is as if one would goe about to cure a sick body by breaking his head , or let him blood by giving him a dash on the nose ; it is as mad a trick as his was who set the whol house a fire to roast his egs . but truly sir , in my opinion ; his majesty at his returne from scotland might have justly expected some acts of compliance and gratitude from his parliament , considering what unparalleld acts of grace he had passed before . pat. his majesty did not rest there , but complyed further with them by condeseending to an act for putting down the star-chamber-court , the high commission , the court of honour ; nay , he was contented his owne privie councell should be regulated , and his forrests bounded not according to ancient prerogative , but late custome ; nay further , he passed a bill for the unvoting , and utter exclusion of the spirituall lords from the parliament for ever , whereby it cannot be denyed , but by the casheering of twenty five votes at a clap , and by excluding the recusant lords besides ( who subsist most by his grace ) hee did not a little enervate his owne prerogative . adde hereunto that having placed two worthy gentlemen lieutenants of the tower , he removed them both one after another , and was content to put in one of their election : and lastly , he trusted them with his greatest strength of all , with his navie royall , and called home that knowing knight who had the guard of the narrow seas so many yeares . per. truly sir , i never remember to have heard or read of such notable acts of grace and confidence from any king : but would not all this suffice ? pat. no , but they demanded all the land souldiery and military strength of the kingdome to be disposed of by them , and to be put into what posture , and in what equipage , and under what commanders they pleas'd ; and this was the first thing his majesty ever denyed them , yet he would have granted them this also for a limited time , but that would not serve the turn ; hereupon his majestie grew a little sensible , how they inch'd every day more and more upon his royall prerogatives and intending to go to his town of hull to see his magazine , he was in an hostile manner kept out , canons mounted , pistols cockt , and leveld at him . but whether that knight did this out of his fidelitie to the parliament , or out of an apprehension of fear that some about the king , being mov'd with the barbarousnesse of the action would have pistol'd him , i will not determine . peregr . i have read of divers affronts of this kinde , that were offer'd to the french kings , rochel shut her gates more than once against henry the great , and for the king now regnant , they did not onely shut him out of many of his townes , but upon the gates of some of them , they writ in legible characters roy sans foy , ville sans peur , a faithlesse king , a fearlesse town . yet in the greatest heat of those warres , there was never any town refus'd to let in her king , provided he came attended onely with his own train , and besides other people abroad , i heard the scoi's nation did abhor that act at hull . but i pray sir go on . patr. his majestie being thus shut out of one town , he might justly suspect , that an attempt might be made to shut him in , in some other ; therefore he made a motion to the yorke shire gentlemen , to have a guard for the preservation of his person , which was done accordingly . but i am come too forward , i must go backe and tell you how the king was driven from westminster . when his majestie was returned from scotland , he retir'd to hampton court , whence upon the lord maior's and the cities humble sollicitation , he came backe to white-hall to keep his christmas . but when the bill against bishops was in agitation , which businesse lasted near upon 10 weekes , a crue of bold sturdie mechanicks , and mariners , came from the citie and ruffled before white-hall , and westminster-hall , and would have violated the abbie of westminster , so that for many nights a court of guard was forced to be kept in the bodie of that church , ( the chiefest sanctuarie of the kingdom . ) moreover , his maiestie having impeached some of the members of both houses , of high treason , and being denied to have them delivered up , he went himselfe to the lower house to demand them , assuring the house they should have as fair and legall a triall as ever men had . but as it pleased god , they were not there , but retir'd to london for refuge ; the londoners grew starke wilde thereupon , and notice being sent to all the adjacent counties , this act of the kings ( though it wanted no precedents of former times ) was aggravated in the highest degree that possibly could be . hence you may easily inferre , what small security his majesty had at white-hall , and what indignities hee might have exposed himselfe unto , by that which had passed already from the rabble , who had vilified and cryed tush at his proclamations , and disgorg'd other rebellious speeches with impunity , therefore hee retired to hampton court ( as we read , our saviour withdrew himselfe once from the multitude ) thence to windsor castle , whence accompanying her majestie , with his eldest daughter to the sea side for holland , and having commanded the prince to attend him against his returne at greenwich , the prince had beene surpriz'd and brought to london , had not the king come a little before . thence he removed to yorke , where hee kept his court all the sommer . but to returne to london , the very next day after their majesties departure , the countrey about , especially bucking hamshire being incited by the citie and parliament , came in great swarmes , and joyning with the london mechanicks , they ruffled up and downe the streets , and kept such a racket , making the fearfullest riot that ever i believe was heard of in parliament time : so those members which formerly were fled into the citie , were brought to the house in a kinde of triumph , being garded by land and water in warlike manner by these champions : after this , sundry troopes of horse came from all the shires neare adjoyning to the parliament , and buckingham men were the first , who while they expressed their love to their knight , forgot their sworne oath to their king , and instead of feathers they carried a printed pretestation in their hats , as the londoners had done a little before upon the pikes point . per. this kept a foule noise beyond sea i remember , so that upon the rialto in venice , it was sung up and downe , that a midsommer moon ( though it was then midst of winter ) did raigne amongst the english , and you must thinke that it hath made the venetian to shrinke in his shoulders , and to looke but il favourably upon us , since wee 'l have none of his currans . but sir , i heard much of that protestation , i pray what was the substance of it , pat. it was penn'd , and injoyn'd by the parliament for every one to take , and it consisted of many parts , the first was , to maintaine the true protestant religion against all popish innovations , which word popish ( as some think ) was scrued in of purpose for a loop-hole to let in any other innovation ) the second was to maintaine the prerogative and honour of the king ; then the power and priviledge of parliaments ; and lastly , the propriety and liberty of the subject ; for the two first parts of this protestation , the people up and downe seemed to have uttrly forgotten them , and continue so still , as if their consciences had beene tyed only to the two last , and never was there a poore people so besotted , never was reason and common sense so baffled in any part of the world . and now will i goe to attend his majestie at yorke , where as i told you before , being loth to part with his sword , ( though he had half parted with his scepter before ) by denying the parliament an indefinite time to dispose of the militia , ( alleadging , that as the word , so the thing was new ) he sends forth his commissions of array according to the old law of england , which declares it to be the undoubted right , and royall signiory of the king , to arme or disarme any subject . the parliament sends out clean counter-mands for executing the said militia ; so by this clashing twixt the commission of array and the militia , the first flash of this odious unnaturall war may be said to break out . the pulse of the parliament beat's yet higher , they send an admirall to the sea , not onely without , but expresly against the kings speciall command . they had taken unto them a military gard from the citie for their protection , without his majesties consent , who by the advice of the lord keeper and others , had offered them a very strong gard of constables and other officers to attend them , which the laws usually allow ; yet the raising of that gard in yorkshire for the safegard of his majesties person , was interpreted to be levying of warre against the parliament , and so made a sufficient ground for them to raise an armie , to appoint a generall , with whom they made publike declarations to live and die . and they assumed power to conferre a new appellation of honour upon him , as if any could conferre honour but the king ! and this army was to be maintained out of the next contribution of all sorts of people ; so a great masse of money and plate , was brought into the guild-hall , the semstresse brought in her silver thimble , the chamber maid her bodkin , the cook his spoones , and the uintner his bowles , and every one something to the advancement of so good a worke , as to wage war directly against the sacred person of their soveraigne , and to put the whole countrey into a combustion . per. surely it is impossible that a rationall christian people should grow so simple and sottish , as to be so far transported , without some colourable cause , therefore i pray tell me what that might be ? patr. the cause is made specious enough , and varnished over wonderfull cunningly ; the people are made to believe they are in danger , and a prevention of that danger is promised , and by these plausible wayes the understanding is wrought upon , and an affection to the cause is usher'd in , by aggravation of this danger , as one would draw a thred through a needles eye : this huge bug-bear danger , was like a monster of many heads , the two chiefest were these , that there was a plot to let in the pope ; and to cast the civil government into a french frame ; it is incredible to thinke how the pulpits up and down london did ring of this , by brain-sicke lecturers , of whom some were come from new england , others were pick'd out of purpose , and sent for from their own flocke in the countrey , to possesse , or rather to poyson the hearts of the londoners , to puzzle their intellectuals , and to intoxicate their braines by their powerfull gifts ; it was punishable to preach of peace , or of caesars right , but the common subiect of the pulpit was either blasphemie against god , disobedience against the king , or incitements to sedition , good lord , what windy , frothy stuffe came from these fanaticke braines ! these phrenetici nebulones , ( for king james gives them no better character in his {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ) who may be said to be mad out of too much ignorance ; who neverthelesse are come to that height of prophanenesse and pride , that they presume to father all their doctrines , all their non-sence raptures and ravings upon the holy spirit . nor did the pulpit onely helpe to kindle this fire , but the presse also did contribute much fewell ; what base scurrilous pamphlets were cried up and down the streets , and dispersed in the countrey ? what palpable and horrid lyes were daily printed ? how they multiplied in every corner in such plentie , that one might say there was a superfaetation of lyes , which continue unto this day ! one while the king of denmarke was comming over from the sound ; another while the king of france had an huge armie about calais design'd for england ; another while there was an armie of irish rebels comming over with the privitie of the king ; another while a plot was cried up and down to burne london ; another while there were subterranean invisible troopes mustered under ground in wales , and thousands of papists armed in lancashire , & divers reports of this nature were daily blown up , and though the authors of them were worthles & mean futilous persons , yet the reports themselves had that credit as to be entertain'd and canvas'd in the high court of parliament . but these false rumours produc'd one politicke effect ( and it was the end indeed for which they were dispers'd ) they did atemorize , and fill the peoples hearts with feares , and so dispose of them to uproares and to part with money . peregr . i know there be sundry sorts of feares ; there are conscientious feares , there are pannik feares , there are pusillanimous feares , and there are politck feares . the first sort of fear proceeds from guilt of conscience , which turnes often to phrensie . the second sort of fear may be call'd a kinde of chymera , 't is some sudden surprizall or consternation arising from an unexpected strange accident . pusillanimous fear makes a mountain of a molehill , and proceeds from povertie of spirit , and want of courage , and is a passion of abject and degenerous mindes , and may be call'd cowardise , and this fear is alwayes accompanied with jealousie . politicke fear , is a created forg'd fear wrought in another , to bring some designe about ; and as we finde the astronomers ( the comparison is too good ) do imagine such and such shapes and circles in the heavens , as zodiak , equinoctiall , colures and tropiques , with others , though there be no such things really in nature , to make their conclusions good ; so the politician doth often devise and invent false imaginarie feares , to make his proceedings more plausible amongst the silly vulgar , and thereby to compasse his ends and as the sun useth to appear farre bigger to us in the morning than at noon , when he is exalted to his meridian , and the reason the philosophers use to give , is the interposition of the vapours which are commonly in the lower region , through which we look upon him , as we finde a piece of silver look bigger in a bucket of water than elsewhere , so the politician uses to cast strange mists of fear , and fogges of jealousie before the simple peoples eyes , to make the danger seem bigger : but truly sir , this is one of the basest kindes of policie ; nor can i believe there be any such politicians amongst the cabalists of your parliament ; who pretend to be so busie about gods worke , a glorious reformation ; and you know there is a good text for it , that god needeth not the wicked man , he scornes to be beholding to lyers to bring about his purposes : but i pray sir , deal freely with me , do you imagine there was a designe to bring in the masse again ? patr. the masse ? you may say , there was a plot to bring in mahomet as soon , to bring in the alchoran , or talmud as soon , for i dare pawn my soul , the king is as cordiall a protestant , as any that breathes under his three crownes , which besides his publike deep protestations , and his constant quotidian exemplary open practise , many other convinceing private reasons induce me to believe , and it is in vain to thinke the pope can take footing here to any purpose without the kings leave . you know as well as i sir , that of all the reformed churches in christendom , the lutheran retaines most of the roman , both in his positions and practise , and comes much nearer unto him than we do , yet i have observed , that from the first day of his reformation , to this , he is as averse , and as farre off from rome , as the rigidest calvinist that is ; and shall i thinke , because there are some humble and handsome postures , and decent vestures revived in ourchurch , for they were never abolished , because the communion table stands in the east end where it ever stood since christianitie came in all our cathedrals , which should be a rule to all interiour churches , which yet the seperatist cries out to be an innovation : because her majestie hath a few simple capuchins , fewer than was allowed by the matrimoniall capitulations , whither to retire sometimes : because schismatickes were proceeded against with more care , and the government of the church borne up lately with more countenance , shall i believe that the pope must presently come in ? shall i believe the weaknesse of our religion to be such , as to be so easily shaken and overturn'd ? yet i believe there was a pernicious plot to introduce a new religion , but what i pray ? not poperie , but presbyterie , and with it to bring in the doctrine of buchanan and knox , for civill government , and so to cast our church and state into a scots mould . peregr . indeed , i heard the english much censur'd abroad for enslaving as it were their understanding and judgement in points of religion to the scot , whom they made christians , and reformed christians first , and now for the english to run to them for a religion , and that the uniformite should proceed from them , they having disdain'd us formerly , what a disparagement is it thinke you to the anglican church ? this with other odde traverses , as the ecclipsing the glorie of the king , and bringing him backe to a kinde of minoritie , the tampering with his conscience , i will not say , the straining of it so farre , the depriving him of all kinde of propertie , the depressing of his regall power , wherein the honour of a nation con●●sts , and which the english were us'd to uphold more than any other , for no king hath more awfull attributes from his subjects , as , sacred soveraigne , gracious and most excellent majestie , nor any king so often prayed for , for in your morning lyturgie he is five times prayed for , whereas other princes are mentioned but once or twice at most in theirs , i say this , with interception of letters , some incivilities offered ambassadors , and the bold lavish speechees that were spoken of the greatest queenes in christendome , and his majesties late withdrawing his royall protection from some of his merchant-subiects in other countries , hath made the english loose much ground in point of esteeme abroad , and to be the discourse , i will not say the scorne of other people . they sticke not to say , that there is now a worse maladie fallen upon their mindes , then fell upon their bodies about an age since by the sweating sicknesse , which was peculiar only unto them , and found them out under all climes . others say , there is a {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} amongst them , that they are turn'd to wolves , ( as you know it is a common thing in lapland , ) and that the old adage is verifyed in them , homo homini lupus . nay our next neighbours give out , that the saying was never truer then now , rex anglorum , rex diabolorum . nor is it a small disrepute to the english , that the word cavallier , which is an attribute that no prince in christendome will disdain , and is the common appellation of the nobilitie and gentry in most parts of the world , is now us'd , not only in libels and frivilous pamphlets , but in publike parliamentary declarations , for a terme of reproach . but truly sir , what you have related touching the pulpit and the presse , transformes me into wonder , and i should want faith to believe it , did you not speake it upon your knowledge ; but the english when they fall to worke upon a new humour , use to overdo all people . patr. you have not yet the tith of what i could give you , you would little think that coachmen , and feltmakers , and weavers were permitted to preach up and downe without controlement , and vent their venome against church and state , to cry down our hierarchie and liturgie , by most base and reviling speeches . per. touching your lyturgie , i have heard it censured abroad by the rigidest calvinists of geneva and dort , yet i never heard any other character given of it , but that it is a most pious , pathetick , and perfect piece of devotion , both for the matter and forme of it , which i have beene a little curious to observe . it begins with some choise passages of holy scripture , and a previous declaration or monitory to excite us to the worke in hand ; the first addresse we make to god is by an humble and joynt confession which is applyable to any conscience , and comprehends in it all kind of sins . then followeth a pronuntiation of gods promises and pronesse to pardon and absolve us ; wee goe on to the lords prayer , which having beene dictated by our saviour himselfe , we often use , and is as amber throwne in amongst our frankincense , to make the sacrifice more precious and pleasing unto god . then we proceed to some choice psalmes , and other portions of holy scripture taken out of the old and new testament ; then we fall to the symbole of saith , where of we make a solemne joynt confession in such a posture as shews a readinesse and resolution in us to defend it : and so to the letany , wherein the poore penitent peccant soule may be said to breath out her self into the bosome of her saviour by tender ejaculations , by panting groanes , and eviscerated ingeminations , and there is no sinne , no temptation whatsoever that humane frailtie is subject unto , but you shall finde a deliverance from it there ; it is so full of christian charity that there is no condition of people , but are remembred and prayed for there . then we proceed by holy alternatif interlocutions ( whereby we heare our selves speak as well as the minister ) to some effectuall short prayers ; because in long prayers the minde is subject to wander , as some zelots now a dayes use to bring their hearers into a wildernesse by their prayers , and into a labyrinth by their sermons . then goe we on to the decalogue , and if it be in a cathedrall , there is time enough for the hearer to examine himselfe , while the musicke playes , where and when he broke any of gods holy commandements , and ask particular forgivenesse accordingly ; then after other choice portions of scripture , and passages relating to our redemption , and endearing unto us the merits of it , with a more particular confession of our faith , we are dismissed with a benediction : so that this lyturgie may be called an instrument of many strings , whereon the sighing soule sends up various notes unto heaven . it is a posie made up of divers flowers , to make it the more fragrant in the nostrills of god . now touching your bishops i never knew yet any protestant church but could be content to have them , had they meanes to maintaine the dignitie , which the churches of france with others have not in regard the reformation began first among the people , not at court , as here it did in england : for unlesse there be some supervisers of gods house , endowed with eminent authoritie to check the fond fancies , and quench the false fatuous fires of every private spirit , and unlesse it be such an authoritie that may draw unto it a holy kinde of awe and obedience , what can be expected but confusion and atheisme ? you know what became of the israelites when the wonted reverence to the ark , and the ephod , and the priest , began to languish amongst them : for the braine of man is like a garden , which unlesse it be senced about with a wall or hedge , is subject you know to be annoyed by all kinde of beasts which will be ready to runne into it ; so the braine unlesse it be restrain'd and bounded in holy things by rules of canonicall authority , a thousand wilde opinions , and extravagant fancies will hourely rush into it : nor was there ever any field so subject to produce cockle and darnell , as the braine is rank and ready to bring forth tares of scisme and heresie of a thousand sorts , unlesse after the first culture the sickle of authority be applyed to grub up all such noisome weeds . pat. yet this most ancient dignitie of bishops is traduced and vilified by every shallow-pated petty clerke , and not so much out of a true zeale , as out of envie that they are not the like . and touching our lyturgie , whereof you have beene pleas'd to give so exact a character , people are come to that height of impiety , that in some places it hath beene drowned , in other places burnt , in some places torn in peeces to serve for the basest uses , nay it hath beene preached publikely in pulpit , that it is a peece forged in the divels shop , and yet the impious foule mouthd babbler never was so much as questioned for it . nor did the church only eccho with these blasphemies ; but the presse was as pregnant to produce every day some monster either against ecclesiasticall , or secular government . i am ashamed to tell you how some bold pamphleters in a discourse of a sheet or two , would presume to question , to dispute of , and determine the extent of monarchik jurisdiction , what sturdie doubts , what saucie quaeries they put , what odd frivolous distinctions they fram'd , that the king though he was gods anointed , yet he was mans appointed : that he had the commanding , not the disposing power : that he was set to rule over , not to over rule the people ; that he was king by humane choice , not by divine charter ; that he was not king by the grace of god , so much as by the suffrage of the people ; that he was a creature and production of the parliament : that he had no implicite trust , nor peculiar propertie in any thing ; that populus est potior rege : that grex lege , lex . est rege potentior ; that the king was singulis major , universis minor , whereas a successive monarch — uno minor est love — sometimes they would bring instances from the states of holland , sometimes from the republike of venice , and apply them to absolute and independant royaltie ; but i finde that the discourse and inferences of these grand statists were bottomed upon foure false foundations , viz. that the king of whom they speake must be either a minor , an idiot , an insufferable tyrant , or that the kingdome they mean , is elective ; none of all which is appliable , either to our most gracious and excellently quallified king , or to his renowned kingdom , which hath been alwayes reputed an ancient successive monarchie , governed by one supreme , undeposeable and independent head , having the dignitie , the royall state , and power of an imperiall crown , and being responsible to none but to god almightie and his own conscience for his actions , and unto whom a bodie politicke compacted of prelates , peeres , and all degrees of people is naturally subject ; but this is a theme of that transcendencie , that it requires a serious and solid tractat , rather than such a slender discourse as this to handle . but i pray excuse me sir , that i have stept aside thus from the road of my main narration ; i told you before , how the clashing 'twixt the commission of array , and the militia , put all things in disarray throughout the whole kingdom ; the parliament as they had taken the first militarie guard , so they began to arme first , and was it not high time then for his majestie to do something think you ? yet he assayed by all wayes imaginable to prevent a war , and to conquer by a passive fortitude , by cunctation , and longanimitie . how many overtures for an accommodation did he make ? how many proclamations of pardon ? how many elaborate declarations breathing nothing but clemencie , sweetnesse and truth did drop from his own imperious invincible pen , which will remain upon record unto all ages , as so many monuments to his eternall glorie ? yet some ill spirit stept still in , between his grace and the abused subject , for by the peremptorie order of parliament ( o monstrous thing ! ) the said proclamations of grace , and other his majesties declarations were prohibited to be read , fearing that the strength and truth of them would have had a virtue to unblinde , or rather unbewitch ( for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft ) , the poor besotted people ? what deep protestations , and holy vowes did he reiterate , that the main of his designes was to preserve the true procestant religion , the known lawes of the land , and the just priviledges of parliament ? how often did he dehort and wooe the citie of london ( his imperial chamber ) from such violent courses , so that she may justly be upbraided with the same words , as the prince of peace upbraided jerusalem withall : london , london , how often would i have gathered thee , as an hen doth her chickens under her wings , yet thou wouldest not ? how often did he descend to acknowledge the manner of demanding the one and five members in his publike remonstrances ? and if there was an errour in his proceedings , how oft did he desire his great councell to direct him in a course how to go on in the empeachment ? which they never did , but would reserve the priviledge to themselves to be judge and partie . peregr . can your parliament protect high treason ? i am sure the character of an ambassadour cannot , which the late french ambassadour ( who for his time play'd his cards more cunningly than ever count gondomer did ) knew well ; and therefore , as i heard some french men say , he got letters of revocation before his designed time : but it seemes strange to me , that the king who is the protectour of the law , and fountain of justice , cannot have the benefit of the law himselfe , which the meanest of his vassals can claim by right of inheritance ; 't is strange , i say , that the law should be a dead letter to him who is the life of the law , but that for omission of some puntillio in the forme of the processe , the charge of high treason should be so slightly wav'd , speçially treason of so universall concernmen● , that it may be call'd a complication of many treasons ; for if in every petty state it be high treason to treat onely with any forraigne power without the privitie of the prince , it must needs be treason of an higher nature actually to bring them in ; and hereof i could alleadge you many pregnant instances , antient and moderne , but that i do not desire to interrupt you in your relation . patr. the parliament , as i told you before , armed apace , it was not fitting then his majestie should sit idle ; therefore he summons those nobles and others , who had an immediate relation unto him by office or service , to attend him at yorke , according to their particular obligation and oath : but it seemes the parliament assumed power to dispence with those oathes , and excuse their attendance , which dispensation prevailed with some ( tender ) consciences ; yet the great seal posted to court , and after it most of the nobles of the land , and the flower of the gentrie , with many of the prime members of the commons house ; so that were it not for the locall priviledge , the parliament , for number of members , might be said to be ever since about the king : these nobles and gentlemen resenting his majesties case , and what practices there were on foot to alter the government both of church and state , not onely advised his majestie to a royall war for defence of his crown and dignitie , but contributed very cheerfully , and have stood constant to the worke ever since . peregr . they have good reason for it , for the securitie of the nobilitie and gentrie depends upon the strength of the crown , otherwise popular government would rush in like a torrent upon them . but surely those nobles , and those parliament gentlemen , and others , some of whom i understand , were reputed the wisest and best weigh'd men for experience and parts thorowout the whole kingdom , and were cried up in other parliaments to be the most zealous patriots for the proprietie and freedom of the subject , would never have stucke so firmely to his majestie , had they not known the bottome of his designes , that it was farre from his thoughts to bring in the pope or french government ; for thereby they should have betrayed their own posteritie , and made their children slaves . patr. to my knowledge , these nobles and gentlemen are still the very same as they were in former parliaments , wherein they were so cried up for the truest lovers of their countrey , and best common-wealths men ; yet now they are branded , and voted to be seducers and traitors , because according to their oathes and consciences , they adhere to the king their master and liege-lord , for maintenance of that religion they were baptized and bred in . those most orthodox and painfull divines , which till the parliament began , were accounted the precisest sort of protestants , are now cried down for papists , though they continue still the very same men , both for opinions and preaching , and are no more papists , than i am a pytbagorean . in fine , a true english protestant is put now in the same scale with a papist , and made synonyma's . and truly these unhappy schismatickes could not devise how to cast a greater infamie upon the english protestant , than they have done of late by these monstrous imputations ; they would fasten upon him such opinions which never entred into his thoughts , they would know ones heart better than himselfe , and so would be greater kardiognostickes than god almightie . but to draw to a conclusion ; the parliaments armie multiplied apace in london , the kings but slowly in the north , so that when he displayed his royall standard at nottingham , his forces were not any thing considerable , so that if the parliaments generall had then advanced towards him from northamptou , he had put him to a very great strait ; they encreased something at derby and stafford , but when hee was come to shrewsbury , the welch-men came running downe the mountaines in such multitudes , that their example did much animate the english ; so that his army in lesse than a moneth that the court continued in shrewesbury , came to neere upon twenty thousand horse and foot ; nor was it a small advantage to his majesties affaires , that the nephew-princes came over so opportunely . the first encounter prince rupert had with the parliaments forces was at worcester , where he defeated the flower of their cavalrie , and gave them a smart blow . at shrewsbury his majestie tooke a resolution to march with his whole armie towards london , but after seven dayes march he understood the parliaments forces were within six miles side long of him , and so many miles he went out of his road to find them out , and face them : upon a sunday morning he was himself betimes on edge-hill , where the enemies colours plainly appear'd in the vale before keinton ; it was past two in the after-noon before all his infantery could get to the bottom , who upon sight of the enemies colours ran as merrily down the hil , as if they had gone to a morris-dance . so his majestie himselfe being generalissimo , gave command the great ordnance should flie for a defiance : so the battell began , which lasted above three houres ; and as some french and dutch commanders told me , they never remembred to have seene a more furious fight for the time in all the german warres . prince rupert pursued the enemies horse like a whirle-winde neere upon three miles , and had there beene day enough , when he came back to the infanterie , in all probabilitie a totall defeat had beene given them : so that the same accident may bee said to fall out here , as happened in that famous battell at lewis , in henry the thirds time , where the prince of wales ( afterwards edward the first ) was so eager , and went so far ( by excesse of courage ) from the body of the army in pursuance of the londoners . his majestie ( to his deserved and never-dying glory ) comported himself like another caesar all the while , by riding about and encouraging the souldiers , by exposing his person often to the reach of a musket-buller , and lying in the field all that bleake night in his coach . notwithstanding that many lying pamphlets were purposely printed here , to make the world believe , that he had retired himselfe all the time of the fight ; what partiall reports were made in the guild-hall to the londoners , and by what persons , i am ashamed to tell you : but that his majestie was victorious that day ( a day which i never thought to have seene in england ) there be many convincing arguments to prove it ; for besides the great odds of men which fell on their side , and cannons they lost , some of their ordnance were naild by the kings troopes the next morning after , in the very face of their armie . moreover the king advanced forward the next day to his former road , and tooke banbury presently after ; but the parliamenteers went backwards , and so from that day to this , his majestie continueth master of the field . 't is true , that in some places , as at farnham , winchester , and chichester , they have prevailed since , but no considerable part of the royall army was there to make opposition ; and i blush to tell you , how unworthily the law of armes was violated in all those places . perig . good lord , how can the soules of those men that were in the parliaments army at keinton battell , dispense with the oaths of supremacie and alleageance , besides the protestation you speak of , they have taken to preserve the person , honour , and prerogative of the king , when they thus actually bandy against his person , and appeare in battell with all the engines of hostility against him . pat. i would be loth to exchange consciences with them , and boggle so with god almighty ; but these men by a new kind of metaphysick have found out a way to abstract the person of the king from his office to make his soveraigntie a kinde of platonick idea hovering in the aire , while they visibly attempt to asiail and destroy his person ( and progeny ) by small and great shot , and seek him out amongst his life guard with fire , and sword ; yet they give out they fight not only not against him , but for him , and that their army is more loyall to him than his owne ; who , they say , fight only for the name king , though they have his person really amongst them , commanding and directing : thus they make him a strange kind of amphibium , they make him in one instant a king and no king of the same individuum ; a power which the casuists affirm god almighty never assumd to himself , to do any thing that implys a contradiction . pereg. noble sir , you make my heart to pant within me , by the pathetick relation you have beene pleased to make mee of these ruthfull times ; but one thing seemes to me to be no lesse than a miracle , how his majestie hath beene able to subsist all this while , considering the infinite advantages the adverse partie hath had of him ; for they have all the tenable places and townes of strength , both by land and sea ; they have the navie royall , they have all the ammunition and armes of the crowne , they have all the imposts and customes , poundage and tonnage ( which they levie contrary to their former protestation before the bill be passed ) they have the exchequer at their devotion , and all the revenue of the king , queene and prince , and lastly , they have the citie of london , which may be called a magazin of money and men , where there is a ready supply and superfluitie of all things , that may feed , clothe , or make men gay to put them in heart and resolution : truly considering all these advantages , with divers others on their side , and the disadvantages on the kings , it turnes me into a lump of astonishment , how his majestie could beare up all this while , and keepe together so many armies , and be still master of the field . pat. i confesse sir , it is a just subject for wonderment , and we must ascribe it principally to god almighty , who is the protectour of his anointed , for his hand hath manifestly appear'd in the conduct of his affaires , he hath beene the pilot , who hath sate at the helme ever since this storme began , and will doubtlesse continue to steere his course till he waft him to safe harbour againe ; adde hereunto , that his majestie for his owne part , hath beene wonderfully stirring , and indefatigable both for his body and minde ; and what notable things her majestie hath done , and what she hath suffered , is fitter for a chronicle , then such a simple discourse . hereunto may be added besides , that his majestie hath three parts of foure of the pceres , and prime gentry of the kingdome firme unto him , and they will venture hard , before they will come under a popular government and corporations ; or let in knox or calvin to undermine this church and state . pereg. truly sir amongst other countries , i extreamely longed to see england , and am no sooner come , but i am surfetted of her alreadie , i doubt the old prophecie touching this island is come now to be verified . that the churchman was , the lawer is , and the souldier shall be . i am afraid the english have seene their best dayes ; for i finde a generall kind of infatuation , a totall eclipse of reason amongst most of them ; and commonly a generall infatuation precedes the perdition of a people , like a fish , that putrifieth first in the head ; they say abroad , t is the scots turne now to be a great nation . therefore i will trusse up my baggage and over againe , after i have enjoied you some daies , and received your commands . patr. dear sir , if you seriously resolve to crosse the seas again so soon , i may chance bear you companie , for as you have since the short time of your sojourne here judiciously observed a nationall defection of reason in the people of this island , which makes her so active in her own ruine ; so by longer experience , and by infallible symptomes , i finde a strange kinde of vertigo to have seized upon her , which i fear will turne to the falling sicknesse , or such a phrensie , that will make her to dash out her own braines ; nor are her miseries , i fear , come yet to the full ; it is the method of the almightie , when he pleases to punish a people , to begin with roddes , to go on with scourges , and if they will not do , he hath scorpions for them ; therefore , i will breathe anywhere sooner than here : for what securitie or contentment can one receive in that countrey , where religion and justice , the two grand doriqne columnes which support every state , are fallen down ? which makes all conditions of men , all professions and trades to go here daily to utter ruine . the church man growes every day more despicable , as if he had no propertie in any thing , nor is there any way left him to recover his tithe , but by costly troublesome sutes . the civilian , a brave learned profession , hath already made his last will ; and the common lawyers case is little better ; the courtier cannot get his pension ; the gentleman cannot recover his rents , but either they are sequestred by an high hand of unexampted power , or else the poor tenant is so heavily assess'd or plundered , that he is disabled to pay them in ; all kinde of commerce both domesticke and forraigne visibly decayes , and fals more and more , into the hands of strangers ( to the no small dishonour of the wisedome of this nation ; ) nor can the tradesman recover his debts , parliamentary protections continue still in such numbers , so that it is a greater priviledge now to be a footman to the meanest of the lower house , than to be of the kings bed-chamber : prentises run away from their masters , and against their fathers intent turne souldiers , and for money , which is the soul of trade , i believe since the beginning of this parliament , above one halfe of the treasure of the kingdom is either conveyed to the other side of the sea , or buried under ground , whence it must be new digg'd up again . moreover , all things are here grown arbitrary , ( yet that word took off the earle of straffords head ) religion , law , and alleageance is grown arbitrary ; nor dares the iudge upon the tribunall ( according to his oath ) do justice , but he is over-awed by ordinance , or else the least intimation of the sense of the lower house is sufficient to enjoyne him the contrary , so that now , more than ever , it may be said here , — terras astraa reliquit . peace also hath rov'd up and down this island , and cannot get a place to lay her head on ; she hoped to have had entertainment in yorkshire , by the agreement of the best gentlemen in the country ; but an ordinance of parliament beat her out of doores , then she thought to rest in cheshire , and by a solemne covenant she was promised to be preserved there ; the principall agents of that covenant having protested every one upon the word of a gentleman , and as they did desire to prosper , both themselves , their tenants and friends , should strictly observe it ; but the like ordinance of parliament battered down that agreement . then she thought to take footing in the west , and first in dorsetshire , then in cornwall and devonshire , and by the holy tie of the blessed sacrament , she was promised to be preserved there ; but another ordinance of parliament is pursuing her , to dispense with the commissioners of the said agreement for their oathes . lastly , his majestie is mainly endeavouring to bring her in again thorowout the whole land ; but the furious , phrenetique schismatickes will have none of her ; for as one of them ( besides a thousand instances more ) preach'd in one of the most populous congregations about the citie , it were better that london streets ran with bloud , and that dead carkasses were piled up as high as the battlements of pauls , than peace should be now brought in . and now that peace is shut out , learning is upon point of despair , her colledges are become courts of guard , and mars lieth in mercuries bed . honour also , with her court , lieth in the dust ; the cobler may confront the knight , the boor the baron , and there is no judiciall way of satisfaction ; which makes monarchie fear she hath no long time of abode here , publike faith also , though she had but newly set up for her selfe , is suddenly become bankrupt , and how could she choose ? for more of the kingdomes treasure hath been spent within these thirty moneths , than was spent in four-score yeares before ; but she hopes to piece up her selfe again , by the ruines of the church ; but let her take heed of that , for those goods have been fatall to many thousand families in this kingdom : yet she thinkes much , that those publike summes which were given to suppresse one rebellion ( in ireland ) should be imployed to maintain another rebellion ( in england ) and lastly , me thinkes , i see religion in torne ragged weeds , and with slubber'd eyes , sitting upon weeping crosse , and wringing her hands , to see her chiefest temple ( pauls church ) where god almightie was us'd to be serv'd constantly thrice a day , and was the rendezvouz , & as it were the mother church , standing open to receive all commers and strangers , to be now shut up , and made onely a thorow-fare for porters ; to see those scaffolds , the expence of so many thousand pounds , to lie a rotting ; to see her chiefest lights like to be extinguished ; to see her famous learned divines dragg'd to prison , and utterly depriv'd of the benefit of the common law , their inheritance : me thinkes , i say , i see religion packing up , and preparing to leave this island quite , crying out , that this is a countrey fitter for atheists than christians to live in ; for god almightie is here made the greatest malignant , in regard his house is plunder'd more than any . there is no court left to reforme heresie , no court to punish any church officer , and to make him attend his cure , no court to punish fornication , adulterie , or incest ; me thinkes i hear her crie out against these her grand reformers ( or refiners rather ) that they have put division 'twixt all degrees of persons . they have put division 'twixt husband and wife , 'twixt mother and childe : the son seekes his fathers bloud in open field , one brother seekes to cut the others throat ; they have put division 'twixt master and servant , 'twixt land-lord and tenant ; nay , they have a long time put a sea of separation 'twixt king and queen ; and they labour more and more to put division 'twixt the head and the members , 'twixt his majestie and his politicall spouse , his kingdom ; and lastly , they have plung'd one of the flourishingst kingdomes of europe in a war without end ; for though a peace may be plaster'd over for the time , i fear it wil be but like a fire cover'd with ashes , which will break out again , as long as these fierie schismatickes have any strength in this island , so that all the premisses considered , if turke or tartar , or all the infernall spirits and cacodaemons of hell had broken in amongst us , they could not have done poor england more mischiefe . sir , i pray excuse this homely imperfect relation , i have a thousand things more to impart unto you when we may breathe freer aire ; for here we are come to that slaverie , that one is in danger to have his very thoughts plundered ; therefore if you please to accept of my companie , i will over with you by gods helpe , as soon as it may stand with your conveniencie , but you must not discover me to be an englishman abroad , for so i may be jear'd at and kickt in the streets ; i will go under another name , and am fix'd in this resolution , never to breathe english aire again , untill the king recovers his scepter , and the people their senses . a letter writ by sergeant-major kirle , to a friend at windsor . sir , you were pleased to command a constant account from me , as the onely requitall you would receive for admitting me an officer in the parliament armie ; and though divers things have come from us , which have been either doubted or contradicted , and seem to have no other credit than the close committee ; yet what i am now about to tell you , shall run none of those dangers , but that with a great deal of confidence you may report , both in publique to the house , and in private ●o my friends , that i am now at oxford ; nor shall your wonder last long , for by that time i have declared upon what grounds at first i undertook that service , and upon what reasons i have since deserted it , i shall without doubt ( where there is charitie or reason ) free my selfe from the imputation of dishonour , and undeceive others that are , as i was , seduced . about the time these distempers began here , i returned from serving the swede in germanie , and the states of holland ; in both which countries , i cannot without vanitie say , i did nothing to the dishonour of mine own : as this absence made me ignorant of the condition of the kingdom , so it rendred me more inclinable to receive an imployment from the parliament : for though neither my youth , nor this profession are curious after the affaires of state ; yet so common were the grievances in that unhappy conjuncture of time , when i went abroad , that i retain'd the same impressions in me at my comming home , especially when i saw the complaints remain , but did not know that the causes were taken away : thus possessed with prejudice , it was no hard thing for me to believe , that the pretences of war , ( in themso specious ) and the imployment therein , to be full of honour , justice , and pietie ; and that there needed not the importunitie of my nearest friends , or an argument from the necessitie their former severitie had cast upon me , nor an invitation from your selfe , to seek for the preferferment you speedily procured me . how i behaved my selse , while i was of your mind , and in that service , will be best judged by those , that know that from a lieutenant i was soone preferred to be captaine of a troop raised to my hand : and shortly after , to be sergeant-major to the earle of stamfords regiment of horse : what prisoners i took , what contribution i brought in , what places and townes i secured , appeares by the testimony given of me , and the thankes i received from you . it is not therefore necessity has made me leave you to goe to the king , from whom you have taken not only his revenues which should give him bread , but the benevolences ( as far as in you lies ) of his people that should maintaine his army . it is not ambition , to forsake a certaine benefit for an uncertaine imployment , and ( in justice ) as doubtfull a pardon : it is not malice for any particular neglect or injury , for i must confesse no man received greater kindnesse from his superiour officers , or more ample thankes from your selves then i have done ; no civill humane respect , but a perfect discoverie of those false lights , that have hitherto misled me , and the deepe apprehension of the horrour which attends the persevering in such errours . i must confesse ( though you would little thinke it ) that master sedgwicke , chaplaine to that regiment , first opened my eyes , and moved me to that reflection upon my self , which set me since in the right way ; not by his perswasions or conversion , ( for i can assure you , you may still confide in him ) but by the spirit ( not that pretended to of meeknesse and peace , but ) of fury and madnesse ; he revealed the mystery of this war , and in his inspired rage , brake the shell , religion , safety of the king , libertie and proprietie ; and shewed us the kernell , atheisme , anarchie , arbitrary government and confusion what was meant else by his sawcie and impertinent talking to god almightie , whom he seemed rather to command than intreat ? what was meant else by his traducing the king and cursing him , while he seemed to pray for him ? and presently with a tone as gentle as his language magnifie the worthies the estates assembled in parliament ; what was meant else by incouraging violence , and sharing in things plundered ? nor had one man given me a just prejudice of the cause , but that i saw the whole lump of these pseudo clergie , seasoned with the same leaven , who hate ( and so instruct the people ) an innocent ceremony , but thirst after blood ; who abhorre learning and bishops , but adore ignorance and division ; who while they are severe ( and therein they doe well ) against drunkennesse and adultery , they make robbery , rebellion , sacriledge , and murder become vertues , because they are in order to effect their designes ; and truly i had not trusted my eares , if the same and much more had not beene confirmed by my eyes ; for those few regiments then with us were a perfect modell of the whole armie , and most certaine i am , that all the officers of no one company were all of the same opinion what religion they fought for : some loved the booke of common-prayer and bishops , others were zealous for extemporary prayers and elders , another thought bishops so many elders , and elders so many bishops , and therefore they fought to set jesus christ in his throne , meaning independencie : some liked the chaplaine of the regiment , another thought his corporall preached better ; some had so much of the spirit they wanted courage , and when they should fight , thought it better to pray , or els declared it was revealed unto them they should be beaten , and to fulfill the prophecy , threw downe their armes ; and one would thinke , that every companie had been raised out of the severall congregations of amsterdam ; who wanted not scripture for every mutinie ; who plunder and call it gods providence , who if they cannot prove any of qualitie to be a papist , yet as he is a gentleman he shal want grace ; and that is title enough to possesse the estates of all that are more richer than themselves : and in truth had it not beene for this perswasion , you might have made riots , but not a war ; for under the promise of malignants estates are included , not onely those that directly take part with the king , but all those too that shall not concur with you in all things : hence it is that those were thought meritorious , who voted bishops out of the house of peeres , but are become malignants , because they will not put them out of the church : hence some that contributed with a large hand to this war , received marks of favour , but are become malignants , because they will not give all that they are worth : hence those that in tumults cried for justice were worthy of thanks , but are become malignants , because they will not helpe to depose the king . i shall not need to tell what dishonourable and indirect meanes have beene used to these ends , what burdens have beene laid upon weak consciences of some men by divines , what preferment have beene promised to some , what threatnings have beene used to others ; the sending of horses , monie , plate , shall expiate for past sins , or cover others which by their busie emissaries they have found out , and will otherwise discover : he that has power in his countrie and will use it for you may oppresse his neighbour , who must not sue him because he is in their service , and if he would be revenged ; it is no hard thing to procure a warrant and the sergeants man , and lay him up till he find an accusation , to produce one he never meanes to prove . i could instance in divers , who have beene by these allurements , invited to this war , and so to the ruine both of themselves and families ; nor can i forget that more obvious artifice , which has made the presse the fruitfull mother of many bastards ; when the taking three scouts in an alehouse , has beene made at london , a castle and the defeat of a regiment , and cler. parl. has made the pamphlet sell for a truth : when a defeat has beene voted a victory , and to amuse the people an order has beene made , that god should be thanked for it , and indeed the officers at last found that to tell truth when they had the worst , sometimes endangered their casheering , alwaies procured them an ill opinion , and when they saved the labour of doing the contrary , they were the better used , and therefore of late have justly wracked betwixt this scylla and charibdis , while they rather complied with their humour then obeyed truth , so that religion is but the reverent name for blood and ruine : and it is most evident , it was onely used as a disguise , that we might with the more ease devoure one another , which nature otherwise would forbid us to doe . next to this nothing wrought more upon me , then that strange mysterie , that fighting for the safety of the king was shooting at him ; as at edge-bill and elsewhere , where i thanke god i was not ; for sure the apprehension is so horrid unto me , that had i been in that action , the wounds of my conscience would never have beene healed . i am told the lawes are very severe not only against those that raise armes against the crowne , and offer violence to the person of the king , but extend even to the intentions , words and thoughts : certaine i am , religion and nature ranke treason and rebellion among the fowlest sinnes , and followes them with the worst of punishments ; and doubtlesse ravailliac might as well have excused his bloody fact , by saying the king was in his way , when he stabbed him , as those that justifie these late actions , by saying his majestie was among their enemies , when he was on his owne ground and amongst his own servants . and who ever shall consider what his majestie has done before this war began , in reparation of these errours past , what calumnies and reproaches he hath suffered since ( injuries not to be born by private spirits how beyond hope and expectation his armie rise from being despised to be justly feared ; and lastly , what royall promises , and sacred protestations he has so often and so solemnly made , cannot but renounce charitie and honour , or else he must believe and trust his majestie , resent his sufferings , and acknowledge the miraculous hand of god in his preservation . but i confesse the reason of complaining against you for using the king no better , seemes to grow lesse , whilest the subject is in a much worse condition . lawes we have indeed , but they are so little exercised , that shortly they will be buried in the places of those late risen fundamentals , which no man yet could ere discover where they lay ; when for the libertie of the subject , there is such good provision made , that whereas one gaole was enough for a whole countie , now there is more than one almost in every parish ; when the superscription of a letter ( and may be that fained too ) the information of a malitious neighbour , a fear , a jealousie , deprives many of their libertie , some of their lives ; most of their healths and fortunes ; when the petitioning for lawes established , and for peace ( without which we can enjoy neither lawes nor truth ) are become ( with the crime of loyaltie ) the onely things punished ; and with such a severitie that as no condition , so no age is spared ; the youth entring into the world , and having undergone the labour of an apprentiship , instead of being made free of the citie , are to serve again in a prison ; and those reverend aldermen , who have gone through the severall offices of london with honour , stooping under the weight of many yeares , and the infirmities thereof , have been drawn from their hospitable houses , ( and some from their beds , where extreme age had kept them many yeares before ) to loathsome prisons , from thence at midnight in cold and stormie weather , in a little boat to gravesend , and from thence to the unwholesome aire of some port-town , that they might not live long , to bewayle that banishment from their dear wives and children . and herein i acknowledge the greatest justice , for proprietie has no priviledge above libertie ; for being lately at london i found prisons and plundering went hand in hand , and it is worth the observing how these disbursements like hastie weeds , grew on a sudden to so great an height ; as first a gentle benevolence , then subscription , then sending in plate , next taxations by an order , at last the twentieth part by an ordinance ; besides those smaller diversions of under-writing for ireland , and spending it in this war , of gathering for the distressed protestants of that nation , and bestowing that charitie upon the ministers of our own , whose seditious sermons , had brought a just povertie upon them ; of sequestring estates and benefices , of taking portions , and keeping orphans upon publique faith , of seizing the stockes of churches , till by the same publique faith , they build or repair the same ; and doubtlesse were not my thoughts more for the generall , than my private interest , i might easily and by authoritie grow rich with the spoiles of that proprietie you seem to defend , and as others be gallant with the overplus taken for the twentieth part ; who likewise by an order take the coach-horses of persons of qualitie , and use them afterwards in their visits , and to tavernes for the service of the common-wealth . i had not made instance in so many particulars , but to justifie my selfe thereby to all the world for what i have now done , which upon these considerations will be rather approved than condemned , by any that have not wholly given up their reason unto faction , for doubtlesse dishonour is fixt upon levitie , ambition , cowardize , upon the persisting in that course which by conscience is declared unjust & irreligious . the breach of articles renders void all covenants , much more when that which is contracted for , is not onely altered but subverted . they were but pretences not realities i have hitherto served under , & justice and honour commands me to leave them . some souldiers take honour in so large a sense , that if they took pay under the turke they would not desert him : the comparison is not amisse : but sure where there is such an indifferencie , as to serve any for pay , religion is no part of their honour , but if they be of the mahometan perswasion , i shall not blame them to be true to that service , no more than i do those here , if their consciences tell them decencie and order is antichristian , and authoritie and magistracie heathenish : for certain i am , there is nothing more base and unworthy a gentleman and a christian , than to forsake the dictates of his own reason and conscience , to persist in an erroneous way , because he has already entred into it : if this false opinion of honour should be received as orthodox , it will be in the power of every subtle sophister , and cheating mountebanke , to ingage men for ever in ignoble actions , because they brought them once to an opinion that conduced thereunto . and lastly , whereas the end of war is peace , what hope can there be of a reconciliation , or that those that have got the regal and supreme power into their hands , should ever leave that which they have usurped , to resume that which they were borne to ; or that the officers of that armie should consent to a peace as long as they can have supplies of money : since that then a great part from being colonels and captaines , must again betake themselves to their aprons and shops , and instead of receiving pay , must bethinke themselves how to satisfie their beguiled creditours : for my part , i am borne to no inconsiderable fortune , and as i abhorre my name should be branded with treason , or that forfeited by a confiscation , so am i as loath we should ever be reduced to have a paritie in either ( which is aimed at ) or have both buried in the ruines of this miserable nation . i do protest , had none of these promises wrought upon me , yet the very sight of his majesties armie would have done it ; the discipline , unanimitic , and exact obedience thereof , the excellent conversation of so many gallant and noble personages who know no other emulation than that of honour , who dare do any thing but what is base , and ( on my soul ) daily expresse heartie desires of peace ( not out of any defect in the armie ) but to prevent the ruine , and procure the happinesse of their countrey . to conclude , what english gentlemen that ever heard of the ancient honour of this kingdom , or would preserve that of himselfe and familie , can tamely see our courage ( terrible sometimes to forreigne nations ) basely degenerate into a rebellion against our naturall prince , to whom malice it selfe can object no crime , and therefore casts upon him the faults of others , and since it cannot touch his person , quarrels at his crown : you see him powerfull at the head of his armie , and may see him glorious in his throne of peace , you ought not to doubt his justice , and ( if you will ) you may ( as i have done ) obtain his mercie . sir , i have freely told you my sense , if it hath any proportion to yours and so incline you to that effect it hath wrought in me , i shall take it ( next to the condition i am in ) as the greatest happinesse , and if i be so fortunate , since in these dangerous times you cannot safely convey it by letters , let me know it by your publishing this , whereby also you may happily benefit others , and certainly oblige your humble servant , r. k. finis . st paul's late progres upon earth, about a divorce 'twixt christ and the church of rome, by reason of her dissolutenes and excesses. with the causes of these present commotions 'twixt the pope, and the princes of italy. a new way of invention agreeable to the times. published by james howell, armig. divortio celeste. english. pallavicino, ferrante, 1615-1644. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a90668 of text r203120 in the english short title catalog (thomason e1174_2). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 135 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 87 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a90668 wing p212 thomason e1174_2 estc r203120 99863193 99863193 115379 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a90668) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 115379) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 166:e1174[2]) st paul's late progres upon earth, about a divorce 'twixt christ and the church of rome, by reason of her dissolutenes and excesses. with the causes of these present commotions 'twixt the pope, and the princes of italy. a new way of invention agreeable to the times. published by james howell, armig. divortio celeste. english. pallavicino, ferrante, 1615-1644. howell, james, 1594?-1666. [22], 148, [6] p. printed by richard heron for matthew walbancke at grayes-inne gate, london : 1644. a translation of: pallavicino, ferrante. il divortio celeste. the first leaf and the last leaf are blank. a reissue, with cancel title page, of the edition lacking howell's name on title page. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng catholic church -controversial literature -early works to 1800. catholic church -government -early works to 1800. a90668 r203120 (thomason e1174_2). civilwar no st paul's late progres upon earth,: about a divorce 'twixt christ and the church of rome, by reason of her dissolutenes and excesses. with pallavicino, ferrante 1644 23369 18 5 0 0 0 0 10 c the rate of 10 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-05 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-07 robyn anspach sampled and proofread 2007-07 robyn anspach text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion st paul's late progres vpon earth , about a divorce 'twixt christ and the church of rome , by reason of her dissolu●enes and excesses . with the causes of these present commotions 'twixt the pope , and the princes of italy . a new way of invention agreeable to the times . published by james howell , armig. london , printed by richard heron for matthew walbancke at grayes-inne gate . 1644. the argvment of the whole worke . christ , in regard he perceives the church of rome ( his spouse ) to prostitute her selfe to the lusts of divers popes , and particularly of vrban the eight , resolveth to be divorced from her , and to cohabit no longer with an adulteresse . the reasons are distinctly handled , which induce christ to such a resolution , viz. the repute she hath lost amongst most nations ; the wealth she consumes ever and anon to satisfie the greedy appetite of her adulterers ; and lastly , the dishonour which the sonne of god receives from that dissolutenesse which is so impudently practis'd in his house , rome being now become as it were a common bordell . the divine iustice being satisfied with these reasons , determines the divorce ; but his pleasure is , that , according to his wonted circumspection for the example of man , a processe bee first form'd of the offences of the said spouse : thereupon his majesty commands saint paul to repaire to earth for this purpose . saint paul being descended in this lower world , arrives in lucca , in parma , in florence , in venice ; and lastly , in the territories of the church , and so in rome her selfe ; where having discern'd the abuses , and heard by sundry sorts of complaints the misdemeanors of the church , he perfects the plea , and afterwards for some accidents befallen him , he is forc'd to get away from rome by flight , and so returnes to heaven , where , ther being nothing wanting to the full justification of christs complaint , the decree for a divorce issues out . from this separation which christ made with his church , it comes to passe , that there are no more any legitimat children engendred , to wit , holy men , and persons truly honest : as on the contrary side , by the commerce she hath with adulterers , are generated such bastards in christianity , as hypocrites , in whose number the iesuites are understood , and others , who under a specious vayle of holinesse , and religion , are in effect the worst , and most perverse race of people upon earth : the same divorce being published through all the vniverse , marcus effesus , martin luther , and others , runne immediately , and offer their church for a spouse to christ ; but our saviour calling to minde the wrong done him by the church of rome , chose rather to live single , than ever after to joyne in matrimony with the most perfidious nature of man . to my worthily honored friend , sir paul pindar , knight . sir , saint paul having descended lately to view italy , and other places , as you may trace him in the following discourse , he would not take his flight backe to heaven before he had given you a visit , who have so well deserved of his church here , the goodliest pile of stones in christendome of that kinde . of all the men of our times , you are one of the greatest examples of piety and solid integrity , which discovers a noble soule to dwell within you ; so that , me thinks , i see saint paul saluting and solacing you , that those constant works of charity you daily doe ( and them in such a manner , that the left hand knowes not what the right doth ) will be as a triumphant chariot to carry you one day up to heaven , to partake of the same beatitude with him . amongst those multitudes that honour you , i am one , and have done so a long time ; and as a small testimony hereof , i send you this new kinde of discourse , composed lately by a noble personage in italian , of which language you are so great a master . for the first part of this discourse , which consists of a kinde of dialogue 'twixt the two first persons of the holy trinity , there are examples of that kinde in some of the fathers of the primitive church ; as apollinarius , and nazianzen , and lately grotius hath the like in his tragedy of christs passion , which may serve to free it from all exception : so i most affectionately kisse your hands , and am your very humble and ready servant , iames howell . fleet 25. of march . to my very noble friend , sir paul neale , knight . saint paul cannot re-ascend to heaven , before he gives you also a salute : my lord , your father , having been so great a light , and a star of the highest magnitude in the firmament of the church . if you please to goe along with him in this his progresse , by the guidance of this discourse , you shall discover many things that are not vulgar , by a curious mixture of church and state affaires : you shall feele herein the pulse of italy , how it beates at this time , since the beginning of these late warres 'twixt the pope and some princes , with the grounds , procedure , and successe of the said warres , together with the interest and grievances , pretences and quarrels of every prince against rome . i must confesse , my genius hath often prompted me , that i was never cut out for a translater , there being a kinde of servility therein : for it must needs be somewhat tedious to one that hath any free-borne thoughts , and genuine conceptions of his owne ( whereof i have a few , though poore ones ) to enchaine himselfe to the sense of another . moreover , translations at the best , specially in languages which have an advantage one of the other , as the italian hath of the english , which may be said to differ as silke doth from clotb , the common weare of both countries where they are spoken , though cloth be the more substantiall ( as the english , by reason 't is so knotted with consonants , is more sinewy and stronger then the italian ) yet silke is the smoother and sliker : i say , translations are like the wrong side of a turkey carpet , which is fuller of thrummes and knots , and not so eeven as the right side . or i may say , translations are like wines ( as i speake elsewhere ) t'ane off the lees , and powred into other vessels , which must needs lose something of their first strength and brisknesse , which in the powring ( or passage rather ) evaporates into ayre . touching this present translation , i may say , it is a thing i did , when i did nothing ; 't was to finde something to passe away the slow houres of this sad condition of imprisonment , wherein i have been so long plung'd . i pray take this as a small token of the true respects i owe you , and to my noble lady , whose hands i humbly kisse , wishing you both , as the season invites me , with a good new-yeare ( which begins but now in law ) a holy lent , and a healthfull spring . fleet 25. of march . your much obliged and ready servant , i. h. the contents of the severall sections into which this discours is partition'd . section 1. gods reasoning with christ , touching a reconcilement with the church of rome . sec. 2. christs answer , wherein are expressed the distastes that have been given him by the church of rome , and so requires a divorce . sec. 3. the commands imposed upon saint paul , to repaire to earth , to heare the grievances of mortals , and to frame an exact processe of the life and demeanures of the romane church . sec. the complaints of the republicke of lucca . sec. 5. the grievances of the duke of parma . sec. 6. the discontentments of the gran-duke of florence . sec. 7. a caution given the republicke of venice , touching perpetuity of legacies , and the multiplicity of pensions they give the court of rome . sec. 8. reasons alleadged by the signiory of venice , why she undertakes the punishing of ecclesiasticall delinquents . sec. 9. the complaint of venice , why that ancient elogy of hers , which was engraven in the vatican was defac'd . sec. 10. a narration of the oppressions which the secular subjects doe groane under in the state of the church . sec. 11. the judgement of an armenian and a turke , upon the church of rome . sec. 12. the confession of a dying cardinall . sec. 13. motives for the late marriage 'twixt the cardinall of savoy , and the young princesse his neece . sec. 14. touching prohibited books . sec. 15. a character given by an angell , of the capricious soule of urban the eight . sec. 16. a relation what paul negotiated in rome , and how he left his sword behinde him . sec. 17. the complaint of a nun , who describes the infelicity of that condition of life . sec. 18. a cursory relation of these late distempers in italy . the authors caution to the tender conscienc'd christian . the author who composed this present booke , hath peradventure more religious thoughts , and fuller of piety than thou canst imagine hereby , o serupulous christian : but the malignity of the times is come to that height , that he is cryed up in a manner for a hereticke , who consents not to the operations ( whatsoever they be ) of the court of rome . the cause hereof is thy simplicity , which confounding in one , the authority , and the affections of popes , canst not distinguish , which are the operations of the one ▪ and which are the operations of the other . the bishop of rome may erre as he is a man ; and being subject to errour , who dare maintaine but he may be reprehended ? christ , who knew no sinne , could be content to be crucified ; and a bishop , who is composed of peccable humanity , and who perhaps sinnes every day , must thinke it strange ▪ if he be but censur'd by any just reproofe ? david was not so dainty ; the most ancient pillars of the primitive church , who were went with humble retribution of thanks , not with proud disdaine , to listen unto the zealous corrections of others . poore st bernard , if he had corrected the exorbitances of these times , with that liberty , as he inveighed against the abuses of his owne , assuredly his name should be seene registred in the index of prohibited books , rather than in the catalogue of saints . but such dangers cannot dastardize me , neither am i induc'd to write this to justifie my owne intentions , it being sufficient for me , that god onely knowes the intrinsicals of my meaning . but i thought fit , o scrupulous christian , to offer thee this present booke , as an instrument , which haply may have power to unbeguile thy simplicity from those too credulous opinions , whence the presumption of some , is fomented to disturbe italy , and to scandalize all such that have a right understanding in christianity . if things which bring profit with them , doe use to be gratefull , i despaire not altogether of thy good acceptance of this . i know that at first sight , the title will appeare unto thee somewhat irreligious , and the argument not savouring of much piety ; but the palate must not be iudge of the physicke . i desire thee not to frame any judgement upon 't , till thou hast perus'd the whole booke , wherein if any thing conduce to make thee despise the true catholicke religion , or her tenets , i am content thou should'st condemne both the worke and the author : but if thou be taught to detest onely the ill practises of those that infringe the law of christ , thou must not impute any prophanenesse to that zeale which deplores the abuses in religion . many were condemn'd for heretickes , who have writ against the rites of the church of rome , but he must not incurre the same censure , who writes onely against them , that doe not rightly observe those rites ; for there is a great deale of difference 'twixt the blaming of externe observances , and the violation of religion her self . o but thou wilt say , this booke is against the bishop of rome ; thou must distinguish , o scrupulous reader , 't is against the affections of the said bishop : i reverence the authority , but christ hath not oblig'd me to reverence any earthly exorbitant passions of his . and if others doe lawfully take the sword in hand against such passions , i hope it is veniall for me to take the pen . nor thinke it strange , that i have imagined a colloquy 'twixt the persons of the holy trinity ; for 't is the stile of sacred writ , to accommodate it selfe to humane capacity . live happy . the heavenly divorce occasioned by the loosenesse of the roman spouse . the preface . thou deceiv'st thy selfe , o misbeleeving man , if thou art perswaded that thy impieties mount not up above the stars , to disturbe the repose of heaven . turne thy eyes ( if thou hast not altogether lost thy faith in holy writ ) and thou shalt see the son of god dragg'd and nayl'd upon a crosse , by the sin of one man , who might in some kind have made himselfe excusable for his transgression , in regard it was his first fault ; as also because he was then but a novice in the world . but what shall we say now ? iniquity being found to be so multiplyed , and spread through the whole vniverse , that to sin , and consequently to offend god , cannot be said to be a thing accidentall , but the very naturall property of man . o perverse world ! which under the title of naturall propertie , dost lessen that wicked transgression , which was enough to bring down from life to death thy own creator . if thou then giv'st credit to this , wonder not to heare those new changes , which being stirr'd in christ , by the faylings of the roman spouse , have produc'd those strange effects , which thou shalt find represented in this book . saint pauls late progres upon earth . sect. 1. the eternall father doth reason with his son , and asks whence proceeds the originall of his distaste with the roman church his spouse , perswading him to a reconcilement . not by the embassie of an angel , as at other times , o eternall word , but it is necessary now , that by this paternall voice , the will of heaven be manifested . in a busines that presseth so much , 't is fitting the father should discourse freely with his son , & that the son should hearken with attention to that which concernes the glory of his throne . 't is a good while since , o my only begotten son , that i observ'd that amorous flame which was us'd to be so ardent towards the church of rome , thy spouse , to go cooling within thy heart . were it fitting for the deity to wonder , i would without doubt much wonder at so great an alteration in the person of the eternall word . i know well 't was he , who for the love of his spouse , went under a servile shape , as far as upon the crosse , to expose his life , to gaine valuable merits to purchase her affections . 't was he , i say , who lov'd before he was belov'd , who dyed , not for any other greater necessity , than to make it appeare that he was a lover . is it possible then , that that love being turn'd to dislike , he should now live discontented with a spouse obtained by his own bloud , and got by so many martyrs ? i deny not , o son , that the time was when the divine iustice exhorted you never to turne your eyes of love upon the ingratefull nature of man , who was introduc'd to the world with contempt of his creator . but since thy love prevail'd over the rigor of just revenge ; since for the accomplishment of thy benigne desire , the divine providence decreed a reconciliation , what new reason doth now estrange from her thy affection , and disquiets all heaven with this alienation ? remember , o son , the contentment of this empyrean heaven , when the roman church being advanced to be thy bride , ther sprung dayly such a numerous and blessed off spring out of those reciprocall embraces betwixt you , that i hoped to see heaven peopled in a short space , and the end of humane creation fulfill'd . but now what is become of that happy time ? that time when thy beloved , vying with thee for love , did correspond dayly with the death thou didst undergoe for her , and by the suffrance of so many thousand innocent martyrs , who in counterchange of thy bloud , did continually expose their veins to be opened , and pierc'd by the merciles instruments of tyrants . son , i patronize not her cause , i recount not her merits pass'd , to sweeten thereby the bitternes of this present distast : but it is very true , that if any ill spirit , daring per adventure to tempt the deity it self , hath sowed any tares amongst you , i should be sorry , that once so delightful a spouse , lying now under the cloud of a sudden disdain , should by this repudiation find her bed widdowed , and her womb barren . this would tend too much to the prejudice of peopling this heaven , with equall advantage to hell it's enemy . and if this be , what fruit can thy passions pass'd produce ? this , this in conclusion is that spouse for whom thou didst make no reckoning of this empyrean , of the decorum belonging to thy divinity , of life it self . what conceits will people frame to themselves , to see thee so repenting ? forget not , o son , that it becomes not the deity to repent . sect. ii. the eternall word answers the father : he unfolds in generall the cause of his disgust with the roman spouse , and pleads for a divorce . repentance , o everlasting father , entered into this heaven , ever since the time that thy majesty having granted a being to man , he was necessitated afterwards to be destroyed for his wickednes . and so this creature proving so ungratefull for divine favours , not long after his creation , deserved those dolefull words from his creator ; paenitet me fecisse hominem , i repent me to have made man . nor doth that clash awhit with the immutability of his most gracious nature , since it was decreed so from the beginning , that his disfavours should necessarily succeed the demerits of man . then what wonder is it ? if i being grievously offended with the ingratitude of this apostat , have chang'd my love into dislike , and that i repent to have exalted him so high with the expence of my own bloud ? it belong'd to you , o father , to create man , to me it belong'd to redeem him , and to both of us , to be sorry , that he hath shew'd himself so unworthy either of your creation , or my redemption . but to reduce my self particularly to the church of rome , my spouse , i beseech your majesty to cast your eyes upon her a while , and doubtles you will find my disdain to be just , and this alienation to be necessary . behold her , o father , most vily prostituted to the lusts even of those to whō the holy ghost hath consign'd her to be govern'd : behold , how she continually hugg's in her bosom these adulterers , who using her like a lawfull husband , do corrupt her , and together with my honor , contaminat her customes . let thy divine eyes see , how gay she goes in gold , how embellished with gems , how full of excesse and luxe : the spouse of christ was never us'd to go so , untill the time that she began to study how to please her adulterers but what excesses doth she not commit now adayes , by letting the reins so loose to a reprobat sense ! what dissolutnes ! what impudence , al shamefulnes being lost , doth she not give way unto in my own house ! yet nevertheles , to affront me the more , she goes still by the character of my spouse ; her adulterers , by the title of my servants , and those which trample upon the dignity of my name , by the stile of my ministers . the time was , when i call'd the temple in jerusalem , a den of theeves , because i found it full of buyers , brokers , and sellers : what may i now call the roman church , which harbours such a multitude of those that do not buy but plunder ; of those that do not sell but powre out so wastfully to fulfill their own lusts and ambition , that , which being bought with my bloud is so unworthily provided for them ? these are they , o father , which my spouse idolatrizeth ; and i being mock'd and vilipended , must suffer them to sit in my throne , to receive the honour of faithfull innocents . i will not discourse of the use of my substance , which being bequeath'd by the piety of ancient christians for the sustenance of poore beleevers , is now reduc'd to the property of one alone , and he so insatiable , that he seems to take away the credit of that miracle describ'd in the gospell : that christ with so little bread , and few fishes did satisfie so many thousand persons , wheras now adayes , 't is found , that he cannot fulfill the gourmandizing-appetit of one only bishop , with so many millions of gold . let your majesty behold vrban the eight , how he hath swallowed all the wealth of the church , which he imployes only to nourish the pride , the avarice , and tyranny of his nephewes ; and this in such a height of scandall , that it is publiquely reported , that julian the apostat , who robb'd the church of all her riches , was more beneficiall to the increase of christianity , then the pious constantin , who , endowing her with such large incomes , ministred fuell to foment such pernicious abuses . but i marvell not at it , in regard when i was upon earth , my self , my garments were parted , even by them who crucified me . but i am not a little aggriev'd , that the dishonest pranks of my spouse are now more than openly apparant to all the vnivers : the publick murmurings of people do grieve me : her infamy runs through the mouths and pens of every one , though she study never so much to cover it . some call her a greedy babylon , others a nest of hypocrisie , others the school of wickednes , the refuge of all impieties , the publick brothell , where without any modesty are practis'd the basest kinds of lusts in the world . can divine honor therfore cohabit with such an opprobrious adultres without spotting it self ? the time was , o father , that i drank the bitter cup of passion for my spouse ; but now her deformities have so nauseated my stomack , that i cannot swallow another . i died then for her , because i might rise up glorious again : i will not live with her now , because she daily practiseth the losse of my repute and honor , i should become the scorne of people , should i by a longer dissimulation beare with her exorbitances ; her demerits cannot admit any reconciliation : i desire therefore a divorce ; nor do i hope will your majesty deny it me , in regard the whole trinity would be partaker of my dishonor . sect. iii. the almighty father being perswaded by the reasons of the son , is disposed to satisfie him ; but to proceed with the wonted circumspection of divine iustice , he commands saint paul to transfer himself-to earth , to understand the complaints of mortals , and to forme a diligent processe of the actions of the roman spouse accordingly : and he speaks to him as followeth ; paul , great are the discomposures which arise from an unchast woman ; this very heaven cannot glory it self to be free of them ; my only begotten son himself is troubled and aggriev'd at the dishonest actions of the church of rome his spouse . i hop'd she had bin capable of reconcilement , but he holds himself so much offended , and finds her nature to be so perverted , that he thinks her incorrigible ; therefore with a constant resolution he seeks a divorce . what can be denyed to my only son , specially when iustice favoreth his reasons ? but i do not intend to determin any thing upon the busines so hastily , though the eternall word cannot tell an untruth ; and though besides , her loose carriage be not unknown to me . the divine iustice in the fulmination of it's punishments useth to proceed with much caution for the example of man ; therfore , to the end that our decree may have a good foundation , we command thee to betake thy self to earth , to hear what mortals can say , and to frame an exact proces of the life and carriage of the roman spouse . the enterprise will prove somwhat difficult ; because she useth to smother her errors , to persecut those men bitterly , that write against her proceedings : but we assure our selves , that the approv'd vertue of paul , which heretofore knew how to support the persecutions of the wicked for the honor of christ , will not shrink awhit in this imployment . sect. iv. saint paul doth readily obey the lord , and descends to earth in humane disguise . he comes to lucca , where understanding the contumacy of thai republick , he would know the grounds of it , for to commence the preces , and a citizen answers him thus : amongst the popes of our age , vrban the eight , hath bin most prodigall of iubilees and indulgences , untill these his latter yeares . but to shew peradventure , that he hath jurisdiction no lesse over curses , than over benedictions , he hath at last by altering his stile , put forth his hand to dart out excommunications . it was the fortune of this small republick , to beare the brunt of his first censure ; he thereby imitating those who use to try the vertue of poison first upon the lesser sort of animals . the connivency wherby other princes dissembled this our disaster , gave him scope to thunder out the second against the duke of parma : nor must christendome hereafter expect other then excommunications , in regard if the affairs of this world use to succeed one another in equal vicissitudes , it is necessary that excommunications be as frequent as jubiles have been . now touching the grounds of the papall distast with us , they are already sufficiently manifested to the world . i must say ( though very sparingly ) that the originall of every accident sprung from the insupportable licentiousnes of church-men , who did necessitat us to a just resentment . it seem'd strange to the roman bishop , that so small a republick as ours , durst resent the outrages of ecclesiasticks , who should rather comply with them , considering that this state is too narrow to be capable of such insolencies . and so persisting in an obstinat censure , he chuseth rather to see our perdition hastned , than the exorbitances of his clergy moderated . but we being not conscious to have committed any delinquency , which might deserve to exclude us from the face of god , we comfort our selves in this case , with the memory of ` balaam , who injustly curs'd the people of israel : nor have we ever rested since , to procure a right understanding , by the interposition of persons of credit with the cardinall nephewes , that they would be pleas'd to appease his holines displeasure ( expecting still a miracle from the words of some asse , ) but to this houre ther hath nothing come of it . but the barberini are in armes , and this temporall interest they think will inforce us to desire a reconciliation ; as for the rest which concernes the soul , if an excommunication hath power to cut us off from the union of the present church , why should we think it capitall to be separated from so infected a body , and freed so by continuall examples of a sacrilegious life , and from the despaire , wherinto the clericall tyranny would plunge us ? confiding therfore in the justice of our cause , and in the assistance of those wise princes , which cannot away with the ravenousnes of this pope , we hope to receive some fruit of the introducement of these censures , in regard that if this cours would go on , to be master therby of anothers estate ; the world may bewel assur'd , that as jubiles pass'd , were pretexts for some new impost , herafter excommunication will serve for a pretext for some new rapine . sect. v. saint paul having understood the grievances of the luqueses , passeth on to parma , wher in the habit of a fryer having gain'd the affection of the duke , he endeavours to understand from his mouth the disagreement which he hath with the roman church , and the duke answers him thus : the world hath already understood too much , the causes of the quarrell i have with the court of rome , being published not only by my manifests , but by the writings of other particular pens , who have willingly protected the justice of my cause : but since it pleaseth you ( good fryer ) to heare from my own mouth the grounds of these traverses , which have kept such a noise , i will relate them unto you , with that brevity of words , which may suit more with the present encumbrances that trouble me , than with the nature of the busines it self . know then , that the particular urgencies of my house , have erected already in rome a bank call'd the farnes bank , which obligeth my fortunes to contribut an annuall cense to my creditors . now vrban the eight being assailed by some turbulent spirits , in these last periods of his life , thought with himself to build a little new fort , of divers pretences upon this bank , therby to set upon my dutchy of castro but i had good reason to hope now in these my troubles some support rather than any oppression of that seat , of whom the ashes of my progenitors do yet glory to have merited so well ; but all gratitude being utterly extinguish'd in the breasts of ecclesiasticks , charity is also much diminish'd amongst them , which neither moves them to any compassion , nor to be a whit aggriev'd , though they see mountains of miseries heap'd on one's back . a desire to enrich the nephews , the primum mobile in these times of the popes mind , prevail'd over all reason , and the pre-potency of plundring did facilitat the way to dispossesse me of mine own ; nor did the tyranny of vrban the eight stop here ; but he thought that i would take it nothing ill if he did excommunicat me , that being so segregated from the communion of the faithfull , none durst hear my grievance , or reach me a hand . agreat cruelty in a shepheard , that flaying his sheep alive , would not have them have naturall affection to resent the grief . moreover , to varnish the pretext of his censures , he publisheth me for a disobedient son to the universall father of christianity : but whether he is to be acknowledg'd for a father , who enemy-like robb's his children , judge you ? can he pretend to be reverenc'd as successor to saint peter , when diffring from saint peter , he stops his ears to the words of christ , who commandeth him to sheath his sword ? christ did institut a peacefull kingdome ; nor did he ever ordain , that his cause should be handled with armes . neverthelesse , the present bishops make use of them , because they are ready to meddle with any other cause , than that of christ . in the interim ( good fryer ) my fortune is worse than that of malchus ; for if malchus was offended with the weapon of peter , he was heal'd again by the hands of peter : but i find my self hurt by peters sword , yet cannot perceive his hand is disposed to cure me , or to restore me mine own . sect. vi . saint paul being departed from parma , goes to florence , where being brought to the court , he heard the gran-duke much transported with choler , speaking to a counsellor of his in this manner then vrban the eight , intends that the clergy-men shall go exempted from the imposition of the mill-stone , wherunto the interests of my state oblige me to subject without exception any one that lives under my government . and who is he that arrogats temporall authority over anothers jurisdiction ? in the time of christ , secular princes had their tribut ; and shall they be now refus'd in vrban the eights time ? by this means , the credulous simplicity of the laity shall be continually-taught to contribut so many gabels to the clergy , and the clergy shall be free from all taxes to them . and who at any time leaves any possessions to the ecclesiasticks , they must be free from such contributions , which the law of nature awards ev'ry protecting prince ▪ who did ever affirm that the legacies of privat men can derogat from the publick jurisdiction of princes ? these are new statuts , which tear the world in peeces , being introduc'd by those bishops , which together with the evangelicall doctrin , have forgot that christ himself , when he was upon earth , paid tribut to caesar , professing , that he came to fulfill the law , not to abrogat it . and we shall admit into our free states an authority , which beyond the order and example of christ , pretends to have power to controule , and transvolve the dominion of others , yea , to trample upon the princes themselves . is this the paradis that christ promiseth to them who observe his law ? or rather a hell , which they worthily deserve , who beleeve too much in an adulterated church . but i observe , that the ecclesiasticks , by too many stiles , do subject the simple seculars , to pay the contributions of indulgences , of dispensations , of the word of god , of sacrifices of the altar , and in sum of all the sacraments , which the divine bounty hath granted gratis to all the faithfull . but what do i say ? the avarice of the clergy is come to that height , that it doth not permit those poor souls that are under the agonies of death , to depart from this world to the other , till they conjure them under the pretext of pious legacies , to contribut a toll for their safe conduct , and constraining them to bargain for their very graves , they sell them for ready mony , the embraces of our common mother , the earth . and i , in my free state , cannot impose the least toll , as that of the mill-stone upon them . but let vrban the eight practise what he please , let him thunder what excommunications he will upon my gabelleers , i shall learn well enough how to fence away his blowes : i will make the jewes my receivers , nor shall i ever suffer that toscany be oppressed by such rapacious tyrannies , which under the mantle of religion are exercis'd in christendom to rob us of our own . sect. vii . saint paul having from the words of the gran-duke comprehended the cause why he was so mov'd , resolves to steer his cours for venice , wher being scarfe arriv'd , he found casually upon the way a writing , the tenor ▪ wherof was as followeth : a memorandum for the most renowned republick of venice . amongst those princes which reverence rome , your serenity is she , most renowned republick , which being free from all superstitious credulity , do conserve your christian empire from every insidious religion : by a most sage law therfore you did constitut some yeares since , that the clergy should be made incapable to inherit any stable possessions ; for the dead daily multiplying , and consequently , the number of legacies every day increasing , in processe of time , the ecclesiasticks would become masters of all that wealth , which giving a subsistence to all kind of subjects , are destinated for the service of your serenity . whosoever lives free from all passion to the affections of rome , is bound to applaud the maturity of your deliberations in this point : and he who professeth himself a friend to the greatnes of your dominions , must needs ackdowledg , that your high wisdome is warn'd by publick necessity to regulat two other no lesse important abuses . the first consists in the perpetuity of legacies : for what avails it to prohibit , that stable goods passe not under the possession of ecclesiasticks ? when by the multitude of perpetuall legacies , which use to be bequeath'd , and charg'd upon stable possessions , it will fall out in time , that all the rents shall be drunk up so ? and what difference can there be then i pray , 'twixt a perpetuall legacy , and a stable possession ! or what benefit should your subjects receive from the foresaid law ; who though they cannot be dispossed of the propriety of the land , yet they rest depriv'd of the usufruit of it ? this redounds to the greater advantage of the clergy : for while the refiduary seculars of the testator undergo the weight of all publick assessements , by keeping in their hands the fee , the clergy doe in vertue of the annuall legacy sweep away the rents without any burden at all . the zeal of your publick prudence will stir the rather for regulating this abuse , when you will consider , that the perpetuity of legacies was introduc'd at first rather by the cunning of the ecclesiasticks , than for the need of souls in purgatory : for if the pains in purgatory are said to be but temporary , wherfore should the simplicity of people be perswaded to bequeath in the behalf of their souls perpetuall legacies and mansionaries ? moreover , your serenity ought to consider , that the obligation of masses multiplying every day , with the number of legacies , a necessity seems to arise hence , either to increase the number of clergy men , who are useles for publick service , or to defraud the wils of the well-devoted testators , wheron , if the publick eyes would fixe themselves , they should see that the ecclesiasticks do not performe , no not the least part of these daily sacrifices which they are tyed to ; but they salve their consciences , by saying , that the masse being of an infinit value , one masse may supply the necessity of many souls : whence may be inferr'd , that if one masse may supply the necessity of many souls , one masse also may suffice to relieve the urgencies of one soul alone , and the remainder shall be thought a number superfluous , not from the necessity of the souls , but rather from the cheat arising from the avarice of the priest the second abuse consists in the multiplicity of pensions , which are paid annually to rome , from the state of venice . touching this , it comes into my mind to remember your serenity , that the court of rome is like the middle region of the ayre , which is wont to make her thunderbolts against earth , out of the exhalations she drawes from the earth it self : so the roman court is accustom'd to forme it's power for oppression of other states , out of the rents , contributions , and pensions which it receives from those states themselves . and let this suffice for the high wisdome of your serenity , in this point . sect. viii . saint paul sojourning in venice , sees a priest drag'd into prison by order of the secular power , and the cause being ask'd why the temporall authority exercis'd jurisdiction over a person ecclesiastick , a venetian answered him thus : the repub. of venice , nor for any other mens threats , or insinuations ever deviated from that constant path her own prudence hath pointed her out , for her own safety from the beginning . amongst other jurisdictions which she hath alwayes conserv'd in the face of romes pretensions and power ; one is , to have authority to punish the persons of ecclesiastick delinquents , esteeming that dominion to be absolut and universall , which heaven hath afforded her within her own territories . this republick knowes well , that when god did institut soveraign power , he conferr'd it upon saul over all the people , and all the tribes of israel without exception ; and ther was amongst the tribes , you cannot deny , a great number of levits and priests . ought the priests then disswade the people from that obedience which was ordain'd by the divine majesty it self towards their naturall princes ? the sacraments were ordain'd by god , to wash away the pollutions of sin in the soul , but not to deface the characters of subjects on the body ; nor was the law of christ ever incompatible with the jurisdiction of caesar , but in their opinion only , who seek pretences to traduce and calumniat it . the ecclesiasticks , who interpret all things to their own advantage , pretend to under-draw themselves from the secular power by those words of christ , nolite tangere christos meos . but he who is of a sound understanding , discerneth how much they are deceiv'd in the sense of those words : for although the same god forbad murther to all men by an expres commandment , yet it is lawfull for magistrats to take away the lives of malefactors . in the administration of justice , lay-princes also represent god , and for one to pretend to withdraw himself from their authority , is no other thing , then to be unwilling to be under divine obedience . if the ecclesiasticks would interpret scriptures with more reason , then passion , and partiality , they would discern that those words , nolite tangere christos meos , beare no other sense , then to prohibit an injust outrage against those ecclesiasticks ; which for the goodnes of their lives , and innocency of their manners , deserve the title of christs . when a church man is naught , he fals from that title , and so from the priviledg of it : nor can the clergy of these times pretend to be exempted from the power of temporall justice , by those words , unlesse it had been in case that christ had said , nolite tangere anti christos meos . this signory , which can discern things in their true essence , doth not admit the falshood of any interessed opinion , to purblind her own proper understanding : if a clerk may erre temporally against the state , the state thinks it reasonable , that he may be punished temporally , by no other , than by that hand to whō god hath transmitted the care of the state . the danger of a state would be too evident , and the confusion also , if the crimes that are committed against the conservation , and the common tranquillity therof should stand in fear of no other punishment , then what shall come from a forraign prince , who regulating himself by certain politick interests , in lieu of correction , would tolerat perhaps and connive at the crime , to the publick damage , and disturbance therof , and his own advantage . behold , for example , how divers states in italy , wher the pontificiall authority raign 's , are disquieted ever and anon , and corrupted , by reason of the impunity of clericall libertines . and what other thing can be hence expected , but that the ecclesiasticks being exempted totally from secular justice , may arme themselves , and joyn in bands , and turn their cloysters , when they please , to so many castles , that trampling so under foot the authority of their princes , they may stablish another kingdom within a kingdom ? that wisdom which sits at the stern of the republick of venice , will never suffer her own subjects to be able to bandy against her , by the protection and support of any forraign authority . clerks are punished when they offend temporally against the tranquillity of the state , not els . and if it seems strange to the pope , that the venetians assume to themselves temporall jurisdiction over ecclesiasticks ; much more seems it strange to the venetians , that the ecclesiasticks should usurp worldly dominion over the persons of seculars . in the mean time , they know well , that christ professed openly to have no kingdome in this world . sect. ix . saint paul desiring to understand the last differences which have been controverted 'twixt the republick of venice and rome , is inform'd by a noble venetian , in thess words : the church of rome was reverenc'd by us in that manner , which was fitting for christ's lawfull spouse . but she corresponding with little gratitude , hath not only oftentimes conspir'd our ruine , but at last hath thrown out of doors the monument of our services , which have been proclaim'd to the world for so many ages , by the trump of fame , by the true narration of historians , and approv'd in publick elogies by all her precedent bishops . this lyon can hardly endure to have that glory eclips'd , which was alwayes the food of his generous thoughts : and it seems very strange to us , that venice having rescu'd a fugitive pope , and plac'd him in his lost chaire , with the expence of so much venetian gold and bloud , the memory of this high desert should be now thrust out of rome . yet the republick being very unwilling that any incongruity should arise 'twixt her , & the roman church , consented that the crowne of france should be umpire of the difference . but vrban the eight , since he diffreth so much from peter , will not confes when he denyes the truth ; per le voci del gallo . but persevering in an obstinat opinion , not to restore the elogy , is contented by a foolish capricio of his own , to usurp this glorious attestation for the church , that she was ever serv'd by princes of al sorts : so that ancient inscription which was seen registred in the vatican , as a monument of ecclesiasticall gratitude towards venice , that which time it self could not deface all this while , the barberini have annihilated at last , because peradventure that having banish'd all vertue from rome , it displeaseth them to see gratitude lodg'd under the roof of their house : or rather , because the barberini do not hold themselv's beholden for those services , that the church receiv'd from st. mark , because they are more her betrayers , then governors . in the interim , we cannot but be sensible of this ingratitude ; yet we comfort our selves , to see , that the popes disaffection hath no means to do us any hurt , that is able to extend it self further then the wals of his own house . sect. x. saint paul being departed from venice , resolves to go towards the state of the church , and so embarques for ancona . in his voyage he is accompanied with a subject of the church , who after a long absence return'd to see his parents , saint paul asking him of his being , and the cause of his so long exile , declared his miseries in this manner : i was born a subject under the state of the church , and that 's enough , o good fryer , to pronounce me unhappy . the civil government administred in my country by ecclesiasticks , the authority abus'd by them that govern , and custom degenerating daily into cruelty and rapine , have made the subjection insupportable , and the lives of those most miserable , who live under the temporall scepter of the roman ecclesiasticks . my voice cannot sufficiently , expres the corruption of their government . let ev'ry one comprehend by the tyranny they do exercise abroad , what they do at home . i was inforc'd to forsake my house for a tax impos'd upon me for living well . this tax is a new way of confiscating for ev'ry light occasion . when a rich yong man is discovered by greennes of age , and heat of bloud , to be prone to any lightnes ; presently comes a new edict , which will make him lye under a grosse summe of mony . herby it comes often to passe , that a small fillip doth , equall murther , and words are as dangerous as deeds : for all comes under the title of transgression , though the fault be oftentimes be no otherwise than a slip of youthfull lightnes . furthermore , the ministers which govern our state of rome , under colour of zeal to our salvation , are wont to send often certain catchpols , to search mean blind places and cottages , to see whether any subject cohabit with a concubin : every thing lyes under the curiosity of the prowling eyes , and insolent hands of these ragamuffins i wil say no more then this , that under the dominion of other princes , the jews are more gently us'd , then we are under the regiment of ecclesiasticks . nor is it a wonder for some ecclesiasticks of our times , are haply greater enemies to the gospel of christ , then some christians are to the talmud of the hebrewes . sect. xi . the ship that carried saint paul towards ancona , happens by distresse of weather , and contrary winds , to be beaten upon the coasts of dalmatia , and striking into ragusi , saint paul meets there with a maronit passenger , who some few weeks before had come from rome , saint paul begins to mingle speech with him , and asks him of his country , and the motives that induc'd him to come to italy , ●nd what opinion he had form'd within himself of rome , wherunto he thus answers : my country is armenia , and my religion is the christian ; the cause which brought me to italy , was no other then a desire to learn the true tenets of that catholick doctrin , which in our regions is adulterated with such a multiplicity of sects , that they confound one another . the eleventh yeare is now come almost about , that i have breath'd under the climes of europe , and i sojourned most in rome , being led thither by fame , which somtimes useth to represent things otherwise than they are in their own essence . i imagin'd within my self that city to be she , who as she pretends , so she had deserv'd , to be the head of all christian people , as being the school of sanctity , and patterne of all innocence . and truly at first sight , i thought i was not awhit deceiv'd by any extern appearance , which oftentimes doth dazzle and inchant the eyes of the simple . the magnificence of her temples , the grea ▪ number of pardons , such a confluence of people flocking to church , and to the visit of holy places imprinted within me such an opinion of the roman piety ; that when afterwards , i fell to observe the lives and luxury of the cardinals ( little compatible with the doctrin of christ ) i ascrib'd the cause of my mistake rather to mine own ignorance , than to want of religion in others . but when i seriously descended into my self , i thought i was not born sencele . proces of time , and mature reflections made me discern afterwards , that the roman religion consisted most in ceremonies of exterior worship , which were it properly defin'd , might be cal'd , a kind of practise of life in the smaller sort , and an hypocrisie in the greater : for the rest , every action being judiciously examin'd , you will find it tending to objects of privat interest , and temporall benefit . profit and delight are the two poles , wheron the firmament of roman designs doth wheel about . if christ and his law be embrac'd , it is not embrac'd for the true finall end , but as means to compasse some terrene busines , which transform'd me to wonder , while i observ'd , how much christ was vilified amongst the romans , considering how much he serves their turn for the increase of their temporall interests . you shall find all vices reduc'd in this city , as to their proper center , and which is worse , blanch'd over with specious titles of holines . their pomp appears under the name of church decorum , their ambition under the title of majesty , their tyranny under the semblance of zeal : nay , most scandalous lusts are brought into the houses of the greater sort , under the mantle of spirituall recreations . adulation hath founded here her palace , for you shall hear it preach'd most impudently , that the pope cannot erre , notwithstanding , that his actions are the very topps of error . tell me , o reverend fryer , if the pope cannot erre , wherfore are ther decrees and ordinances of councels instituted ? 't were enough for every one to be regulated by his will only , without importuning any synod , or attending any rules from the universall consent of christianity . but to unbowell unto you my true meaning , i hold that the ecclesiasticks now that they see , they cannot fit the customs of the pope to the laws , they procure to fit the laws to his customs . god furgive them , who fomenting a parasiticall doctrin , introduce so many abuses to gods house , so frontles and void of shame ; these being dandled with ambition , have transported saint peters seat from caves , to thrones of gold . these being carried away with avarice , do declare this magnificence to be necessary for the dignity of the church , together with those worldly dominions , so expresly forbidden by christ . poor church , to what a case art thou reduc'd ! the time was , when the clergy were reverenc'd for the sanctity of their lives . for the profoundnes of their learning , for the fame of their miracles . now they raise to themselves respect by worldly rule and greatnes , for nothing els makes thē to be reverenc'd in these dayes . but to compasse this mundangrandeur , which is founded most commonly upon the basis of gold , what unlawfull path is not trodden ? what iniquity is not praetis'd ? the law of christ being turn'd by the ministry of the romans ; to be a law of ruine and rapine . ther is no action exercis'd in the roman church , but you shall find it conjoyn'd with the interests of earthly emolument . o how deplorable are these times , were they paralell'd with those of the ancients , yea , when the world was depriv'd of evangelicall light . then , amongst the pagans , if an alexander rise up , who with an immense kind of cupidity snatcht at every thing , nature who is a friend to counterpoises , created a pholosopher , who glorying in his poverty , contemn'd the possession of all mundan greatnes . but now amongst the christians , if a pope starts up , which with insatiable appetit goes about to grapple all , we do not find that vertue hath that force as to dispose any ecclesiastick , to shew a counter example of that poverty which is commanded him by heaven . good fryer , if you have ever been in the dominions of the church , you will be astonish'd at such abominations , wherwith the worship of god is daily prophan'd . moreover , you shall hear nothing els preach'd in the pulpits but paradoxes , the delight , not the utility of souls being the scope of their matter ; and so the ears being tickled with this doctrin , the collections use to be greater , which under the name of almes is afterwards drawn from the hands of the auditors . but their sacrilegious greedines stops not here , you shall often see many lame miracles publish'd for gain : you shall often see a number of those inspir'd fathers use certain acts of conjuraration , rather , to drain mony out of the purse , then to cast devils out of the body : you shall see somtimes many neglected images , making themselves miraculous upon a sudden , to enrich the ecclesiastick possessors , deluding by this trick the simplicity of those who hold , that the vertue of doing miracles being lost in men , is retir'd now into statues and pictures . in summe , the abuses are so many which are introduc'd by the avarice , and rapacity of the romans , that i prognosticat , that that apparance of religion will be quite extinguish'd ere it be long , and faith it self also as much as remains ; for i have observ'd , that christ did not live long upon earth , when he was put between theeves . ther is an opinion that is current amongst some theologues , that when the host begins to moulder , the divine presence departs immediatly from the eucharist : now , if christ cannot stay , no not the least moment in corrupted bread , how shall we think he can abide to stay amongst a corrupt people ? friend , if your salvation be deare to you , turn face about , and never go to rome ; cast your self rather upon the remotest shoares of india , whither they say all vertue and religion is retir'd , perhaps to be the further off distant from the roman vices . one cannot sojourn in this city , without endangering the christian faith . take example by me , who being come from amongst the mahumetans , to learn how to lead the life of a catholick , do now go away hence with strange kind of confus'd imperfect thoughts to turn turk . sect. xii . the sea being calm'd , saint paul makes sayle , and arrives at ancona , whence he goes to loretto , and while he pass'd in a fryers weed hard by a village , he was earnestly cal'd in to confesse a cardinall that was a dying : he goes in , and hears the confession he made expressed in the words following : father , i feel the pangs of death come upon me , god summons me to satisfie the debt of human frailty . my soul finding her self in these extremes , trembleth to appear before the face of god , in regard she is so full of mundane spots . it is your function , to help me to wash them off , while these eyes of mine shall aford you tears , & this panting spirit , though strugling with the assaults of death , shall endeavour to declare unto you in short periods the sum totall of all my offences pass'd . know then , that i was born to a poor fortune , but nature , who hath also her portion of goods in this world to dispense among mortals , was pleas'd to endow this body with such prerogatives , that my parents might well formalize some hopes within themselves of my greater aduancement at rome . being grown up to twelve yeares , devoting my self not to god , but to ambition , they cloath'd me with the habit of an ecclesiastick , and to stablish the foundation of their hopes the better , they applyed me to the service of a cardinall : wher the end is crooked , the means tending to that end , can hardly prosper . hence comes it to passe , that now adayes in rome , to arrive to the pervers ends of their designs , they do not use for means , learning and vertue , the effects of a true heavenly vocation ; but courtship and flattery , which are the base parts of that interest , that hath an eye alwayes to the worldly advantage of ones self . i applyed my particular study to be a proficient in the garb and fashions of the court , which is no other thing , then to devote ones person to any pleasure of the great ones . he who confesseth , must conceal nothing , but be pleas'd , o father , to comprehend in your imagination all wherin an engag'd , and well respected youth may sin , and suppose it in me , and so my feeble tongue shall be exempted from the labor of long narrations . only this i tell you , that i knew how to gain the entire affection of the prelat , my protector , and he for my sake was not ill look'd upon at court . pensions did raign upon my person , which made me wonder at that which the ancients write , that jove should metamorphose himself into a showre of gold only for danae , when he converts himself so , more often for ganimeds . this my youthfull age was free from those passions , which use ordinarily to transport the minds of young men , viz. to love women : i do not deny to have tryed it , and i suddenly left it off , it seeming to me very strange , that i should pray , who was us'd to be prayed unto ; but i continued not long in that state ▪ my humor alter'd with my age , then i intangled my self in feminine love , and in a short space i tryed what was adultery , fornication , and incest : in the mean time , i arriv'd to that age which is capable of priesthood , then taking orders ▪ i liv'd awhile retir'd within my self , being perswaded to a moderation of life , by that synderesis , that touch of conscience , which comes somtimes by nature , & teacheth some sort of respect to be had to such a sacrament : but at the end , too much familiarity turn'd to contempt ; for wheras at first , i began to sin with some scruple , those scruples quickly flew away from my conscience , and so i came to such a reprobat sence , that fornication , rebellion of the heart , and and celebrating of the masse , was in my person but the act of one houre . father , 't was no sacrament , 't was a devill that then entred into my soul , when i took the character of a priest : it was an infernall spirit that perswaded me not to fear that christ which was daily to passe through my hands : i found my self immediatly disposed to every wickednes : and wheras at first , no other affection molested me , but that of lust , me thought , that all vices assayl'd me in a moment : nor is it to be wondred at ; for if judas found himself disposed to betray christ after he had taken the sop unworthily , though but once , much more must it be suppos'd , that those impious priests must be inclinable to all motion of prophanenes , who every day receive the sacramentated redeemer , peradventure more unworthily than judas : and covetousnes came to be my inseparable companions , fomented chiefly by occasion of that command and authority i began to get in the state of the church ; wher while i exercis'd the office of a shepheard , i learn't quickly the art to shear my sheep close : all that belong'd to the subject , was created , me thought , by nature for the service of my affections ; my favours were still expos'd to the highest offerer ; nor did i ever refuse a present from any hand ; i did wonder at the custom of the priests of the old testament , which rejected many oblations , as unworthy for the saciifice , and so concluded within my self , that because the times and lawes were alter'd , the priests of the new testament ought to receive any thing offred them . but this was the least ; for if the parishioner did not do it voluntarily , i found wayes to snatch it from them . i remember , that amongst other passages , taking occasion once to visit a gentleman , who was within the compas of my jurisdiction , i observed in his house some pictures of good value , and giving him an inkling of my desire , he with many humble complements answered , that he would be very unwilling to dispossesse himself of them ; i kept this deniall in my breast , and having trac'd a way , by means of the holy inquisition , to clap him in prison , he presented unto me those pictures , that he might only be remov'd to a gentler gaole ; and afterwards , for his full liberty , he was forc'd to suffer the better part of his estate to be confiscated . but , feariug that by his appeal to rome , this act of mine might be too narrowly winnow'd , and so i might run a hazard of the precipitation of my fortunes not yet so firmly grounded , to secure my self from after-claps , i cal'd him to me , and rebuking him for his coorse carriage towards me at first , it made me , by right of that incumbency i held over him , to reform all misdemeanors , to teach him how to comply with church-governors for the future . in fine , for the reparation of his losses pass'd , i made him a friendly promise , to point him out a way how he might be made capable to wear an ecclesiastick habit , and so ascend to the dignity of a prelat ; for they under the roman state , amongst the multitudes of their miseries , have no other comfort but this , that they may easily arrive to such a condition as may inable them to revenge upon some others the wrongs they receive themselves . by these means i knew how to feather my nest so well , that i return'd afterwards to rome , to live in the lustre of a conspicuous prelat , by introducing into my house the wonted pomp and exces of the old romans ▪ i parallel'd any other in ornament of rich hangings , of magnificent coaches , in number of grooms and laquays , and specially , in multitude of courtiers , and gelded musitians ; the greatnes of rome being ambitious to shew her self barbarous , yea , in the pomp of eunuchs . eleven youths did undergo the martyrdom of origen , of purpose to devote themselves to the luxury of my pleasures : poor boyes , by what a strange effect doth the lusts of others make you chast ! while i did lead this splendid life , the cardinall , my protector , came to the popedome . by this exaltation , my hopes soar'd very high , nor did ther much time passe , when i saw my person , being a creature of the popes , advanc'd to the dignity of the hat ; so i mounted to the degree of cardinal , wherin i stand now . now if my voice had strength to unmask every particular thing , you would be struck with amazement , to discover a life so impious in the persons of them who glory in the title of christs disciples . i 'le tell you in a word , that from the time i obtain'd the cardinalship , i never kept lent , i never recited my howrs , i never confessed to god , but now , in these extreme agonies of my sicknes : such being the custom almost of all cardinals , who finding themselves in a posture to aspire to the keyes of heaven , do think perchance to be able one day to find a way to enter there , without any necessity of good works . but wo is me , i perceive now to have deviated from the way of heaven ; i discern too well by the light of divine grace ( which knows not by what exces of mercy may please to save me for all this ) that to lead an ecclesiasticall life , as is now accustom'd , is nothing at all to live like a christian : but if pagans , yea atheists perceiving their own errors , have hopes to be saved , why should i despair ? this is the only argument of my hopes , although i think the salvation of an infidell more easie , then that of a perverse christian ; because my soul finds at this very moment , that the understanding is more easily illuminated , then the will humbled and rectified , being too tenacious of her delights in those pleasures , which she must now relinquish with the hat , but father , my spirit fayles me , give me an absolution , for i feel my self upon point of expiring . sect. xiii . saint paul having comforted the dying cardinall ▪ goes to loretto , where he is detain'd some dayes by the rain , there he fals into the friendship of a minister of savoy , who return'd from rome , with a dispensation obtain'd for a marriage 'twixt the prince cardinall maurice , and the princesse his nee●● , and being question'd about it , he makes that following relation : there are not many yeares , that the houseof savoy hath complied according to the custom of princes , with the ambition of the court of rome , by receiving a cardinals hat in the person of prince maurice , not by way of vocation , that he should have this for an ecclesiasticall life , but to secure the posterity of the elder brother , from all aspirings , and 〈◊〉 ▪ jealousies and dangers . this prince then did frame his customs sutable to the life that he had propos'd to himself , and to shun the better the troubles of those warlike spirits , which use to be naturally of his race , he resolv'd to retire himself to rome , esteeming this city the rendevouz of repose , and center of tranquillity , for all church-men . poor prince , he was herein mightily deceiv'd , for he was put to suffer such termes of incivillity from the indiscretions of the barberini , that oftentimes he repented to have underlaid the decorum of his nativity , to the handling of persons so meanly born . the ill satisfaction which he received hapned every day , so that one time breathing out his passions unto me , he said thus : i cannot but blame the roman church , because she useth to confer the papacy most commonly upon men , that for the obscurity of their birth , cannot adapt themselves to treat with princes : wherunto i answered , you cannot blame the church , while she follows the institutions of christ , who conferr'd the ministry of the apostleship upon people of the meanest rank : but they rather are to be blam'd , who with the ministry of the apostleship , receive no more that holy spirit , which at other times did sanctifie and indoctrinat poor fisher-men in the art of catching the benevolence of princes , and the affections of whole entire provinces . so i answered . but the distasts of this prince requir'd further satisfaction ; a fancy took him at last to return to savoy , wher being come , he found the court so rent into faction , by the domestick grudges betwixt the brother tomaso , the cosin mother , and the tutres of the pupill duke , that he concluded within himself , that some princes may be born never to find peace . he was constrain'd , not being able to stand neutrall , to declare himself for the brothers side , wherupon he obtain'd the government of the most important county of nizza . many accidents well known to the world fell out since , from the dis-union of this cosins bloud , the interesses of two crowns , now in enmity interposing , when the stars changing their aspects , turn'd discord into love , and hatred into union . some sparks of amorous complacency began to kindle in the breast of the prince cardinall towards the tender person of his neece ; and he was solicited so far , that at last he resolv'd to renounce the hatt , to get her for his spouse ; nor did the regards of affinity of bloud , or of disparity of years oppose this resolution ; because as the one was held feasable in rome , though with some expence : so the other did not fall under any consideration amongst them , who with the eye of prudence and policy foresee the benefit which will arise out of this marriage , to settle the peace of savoy . matters then being brought to such termes , i , an ancient servant of the house , was imployed to rome , as a messenger of the renunciation , and a procurer of the dispensation , which having obtain'd with more facility , and lesse charge then i could expect , i determin'd at my return , to passe by this holy place , to give heaven thanks for the successefull issue of my negotiation , and for the consolation which i reap by the peace of others . but me thinks , o reverend father ; to see you listen to this story with too austere a look , as if you judg'd it strange for a cardinall of the holy church to renounce the hat , to marry with his own neece . father , excuse me , if you were vers'd in the practises of rome , you would thank the divine providence , and ascribe to an effect transcending human vertue , that that cardinals hat did not infuse into prince maurice his head worse affections than these . sect. xiv . saint paul directs his cours from loretto to rome : in his lodging by the way , he over-hears two persons reasoning one with the other , in this manner : friend , you afflict your self too much for the prohibition which was lately made of your books in rome , if laying aside the heat of passion , you will lend your ears to my words , i shall perchance make you know , that , as the times are , a more desiderable fortnne could not befall the pains of your pen , nor a greater glory to the sweat of your wit . the title of prohibition , considered in it's own essence , is not as ev'ry one imagines , either shamefull or infamous ; for were it so , the tree of life which was prohibited to our first parents , and the terrestriall paradise which was prohibited to all mankind , should partake of the infamy and shame ; as also the holy scripture vulgariz'd , which is prohibited to the simple , and certain reliques which are prohibited to all prophane hands . in summe , all those things which are prohibited , either by nature , or by the law , to our appetit or desires , should be infamous : he is deceiv'd who breaths with such an opinion ; for prohibition of it self can bring with it , neither honor nor dishonor ; but he that considers this point seriously , will find that 't is not the prohibition , but the cause of it that renders a man glorious or infamous ; therfore it behooves you to know why the court of rome hath prohibited your books , and then to frame a judgment , whither such a prohibition may bring you , in the opinion of men of sound understanding , either discredit , or a good name , and so either affliction , or contentment . the causes have bin divers , why rome hath accustom'd from time to time to prohibit books ; the most ancient causes were , a zeal to preserve the purity of religion , and a care that the lives of christians should not be corrupted with those doctrins , that an ill author may suggest : the modern causes are , an aversion that some great ones have , that their vices should be reprehended , and expos'd to publick censure . he that first left the ancient use of the cane , to bring in the quill , did , in my judgment mysteriously allude , that as it is naturall to the quill to fly freely up and down ; so the conceits that go along with it , should partake of the same liberty . that quill which fals upon the dunghill of some base respect , fals from it's own naturall prerogative ; nor can that author be ever famous , who with an opinion inslav'd to the sense of another , discovers himself to have servile intellectuals . but tell me rome , if an author be a lyar , what greater infamy and punishment can befall him , then that his lies be publish'd to the world : if he write truth , why should that truth be kept from the eyes of the people ? we read that christ did open the eyes of the blind ; but we do not read , that he ever made any body blind to bring him to heaven . but shall i tell you my opinion , the ecclesiasticks have wish'd all men blind , since their vices have grown so visible . sect. xv . saint paul arrives at rome , at the gates wherof he meets with an angell standing very melancholy , and he was the guardian angell of urban the eight , he makes himself known to the angell , and expostulates with him , why he had abandoned the care of the popes person , wherunto the angel makes this answer : i stand here , o holy paul , to gard the gates of this city , because it is not in my power any longer to preserve the soul of vrban : it is impossible to bridle his capricio's , nor can any angelicall strength do it ; i having tryed all means imaginable to reduce him to the way of reason , but all in vain ; i will not expose to scorn any longer the divine inspirations , so i intend to take my flight to heaven , to give god an exact account of the deviations of this soul , to supplicat afterwards his divine benignity , that he will be pleas'd to disburden me of the weight of so heavy a charge , which hath in a manner perturb'd the whole peace of my angelicall state . it is a great happines for holy paul to be made an angell ; but he that knew , how heavy the ministry of garding human souls , wherin we angels are imployed , fals out somtimes , specially when we encounter refractory humors in a soul , as in that of vrban the eight , he would peradventure esteem the happines of man to be more , who having travell'd but one age only in this lower world , goes afterwards to enjoy , without any disturbance , the repose of heaven . nor do i repine at the state of others ; but you well know , that he must needs be somwhat mov'd , who sees he cannot serve his own lord in such a manner as he desires . you who have had the incumbency to instruct people , and convert whole nations , know it by experience , how uncoth it is , to observe the humors of men . and now that you have understood the grounds of my grievances , tell me freely whither i complain without cause , for perchance god hath sent you hither , either to correct me , or comfort me . the twentieth yeare runs now , that vrban the eight holds the papacy , whence one may easily calculat how few yeares of his life are left behind , if it be true what is cōmonly spoken , that no pope shall see the dayes of peter . but i , if i may unfold my own thoughts , do beleeve , that he who spoke those words , seem'd to prophecye , that none shall see the church of god in that state of christian perfection , as it was in the days of peter : but be it as it will , the more yeares come on , the faster ev'ry man runs headlong to that pit , which is the center wher all mortals terminat their cours , being drawn down by the weight of that earth wherof humanity is compos'd . most commonly old men , when they come to such a period of yeres , use to check within themselves those spirits which in their youth were us'd to lash out into a thousand inordinat passions , endeavouring , being now as it were abandon'd of the world , to acquire unto themselves by means of a true repentance some sort of shelter in the sanctuary of divine grace , which at all times is ready to receive those that are forlorn . be astonished , o holy paul ! vrban the eight the older he grows , the more loose he leaves the reins to his own senses , and the nearer he approacheth to death , the further he is from good operations : he excessively loves the pleasure of his nephews , nor doth he operat any thing , but what aymes at their interests . he never reflects upon the incumbency of his charge , and if at any time some flying thought represents unto him his own duty , he discerneth well , that a kind of relation passeth 'twixt the papacy , and his person ; but he flattereth himself with this fond conceit , that the papacy is more bound to serve his person , than his person the papacy . he detests in the extreme the memory of his excesses , the most effectuall means that the garding angels use to tame the proudest souls . he will not as much as think on death , or if somtimes he is brought to think on 't , by converting the physick into poyson , he applyes his cogitation presently , in ruminating how he may aggrandize his house before lie goes . if i should tell you how often i found him chymerising within himself , how he might make it possible to render the popedome electif , and to depend no more upon the consistory , but solely upon the person regnant , that he might establish it in his posterity , you would be amazed at those extravagant imaginations , that often possesse the mind , even of the vicar of christ . but would god were pleas'd , that such wishes did terminat altogether in the vanity of the designe . they end commonly in more practicable resolutions , to drain the patrimony of saint peter , for to enrich their own houses with the spoiles of the holy church . but the avidity of vrban stops not here . he little esteems the millions of gold purloyn'd from the altar , to leave his nephews the possession of an independent principallity , wher they may lay up the unsecured trophyes of their own rapines . ther was was ever yet in the world a greater number of those , who wish to be princes , then principalities themselves . hence it comes , that to purchase these from the tenacious hands of others , ther must be force necessarily us'd , because hardly any reasons can be found which may perswade the mind of man to lay down voluntarily the right of a free dominion , which makes vrban the eight , being transported by his passions , to machinat violent means for to invest his nephews in another princes estate . i could tell you some further designs and fury of his . he accounts often upon the kingdome of naples , but he finds the enterprise to be fuller of desire , than hopes : he thinks upon the duchy of milan , lending his eare unto the glosing offers of some minister of a tramontane crown ; but he dares not trust to that , for if others should intervene , he cannot leave all to the barberini . he fixes his eyes upon lucca , but perceiving it a petty state , he doubts whether the benefit will countervaile the charge . he hath a months mind to mirandola , but being feuditary to the empire , and a place that breeds some jealousie 'twixt the neighbouring princes , he is afraid to draw germany or lombardy on his back ; lastly , he turns his eyes to parma , and this enterprize being made lesse difficult by the advantage of some pretences , he purposes to deprive the poor duke ( beginning with castro ) of all his possessions . i put him in mind how much it did misbecome bishops , and other prelats of the holy church , who make profession of a life diffring from swordmen , to change the crosier into musket-rests , rockets into corslets , and their myters to murrions . i put before his eyes , the scandall that would redound to all christendome therby , the scorn that infidels would couceive of it , & the danger the church would incurre , foretold by our saviour , who positively warneth , that every kingdome divided in it self bath it's dissolution near at band : but it is to beat the ayre , to tell vrban of all this , which hath every thing for his aym , but the indemnity of the church . finding that these arguments were of little force , i applyed unto him the spur of nature , alleadging , that the events of war were dubious and dangerous , to raise in him therby some apprehensions of feare , which commonly takes place in old mens breasts : but nature could prevaile little , reason lesse , and the inspiration of an angell nothing at all over the hair-brain'd humors of vrban . he that now entreth rome , sees a pope turn'd armiger , now in his decrepit times , one that takes up arms then , when he should meditat how to lay down his life to nature ; and which his woorse , he thinks all this to be according to the dictamen of reason , so that vrban the eight never doth that which he beleeves , but beleeves in that which he doth , insomuch that at the same time , when he tears italy to peeces , and snatcheth the state of another , he publisheth his actions to be right , his intentions holy , and that all tends to the service of god , and the object of good , as if the formality of good in his idea , were different from that , it is in the opinion of all other men . but i omit many extravagances wherwith this capricious soul hath abus'd my last patience . once he setled a resolution within himself , not to give any satisfaction at all to the princes of christendome , notwithstanding , that i often put him in mind , that this was the basis wheron was founded the conservation of the christian obedience . another time he resolv'd to creat no more cardinals , it may be to merit the more of the church of god , by abolishing so perverse a generation ; but he repented himself afterwards of this , for no other reason , but because i oppos'd him in this resolution . if a tutelar angell can suffer greater contempts , tell me , o thou apostle of god . i find that the reputation of angelicall custody , is too much engag'd in continuing to stand about him thus . therfore in despaire of his amendment , i have given over all care of his person , that i should not delay my return to heaven . sect. xvi . saint paul having understood the complaints of the tutelar angell of urban the eight , enters rome , wher he attends the perfecting of the proces , but an accident befell him , which inforc'd him to fly , as he was going along , another angell comes in his way , whom he encounters with these expressions : you come , o heavenly messenger , peradventure to charge me from his divine majesty , that i should avoid rome . behold , how i have left her already before your comming ; for divine inspirations fore-run the very flight of angels . but now that i am come out of rome , let us repose awhile , and i will relate unto you the unexpected cause of my hasty departure . you know already , o angell of god , that i was sent from heaven to earth to hear the complaints of mortals , and to forme a proces against this adulterous and naughty spouse . i lighted to this purpose in many places , wher having fully understood by all degrees of people her dissolut deportments , to confirm with my own eyes what came from other tongues , i resolv'd at last to come to the city of rome it self . i pass'd too and fro at first in the froc of a fryer ; there , as i went through a little blind hamlet , i was call'd in to confesse a dying cardinall ; which gave me warning , that the habit descrying me to be a religious person , t was likely , that entring so to rome , i might ( according to the custome ) be question'd for the patent of my orders , or the license of my superiors ; i herupon , to evade the telling of any lye , held it expedient to lay down the froc , and take my sword . so i came into rome , intending to lodge in some convent of fryers , who being us'd to thrust themselves into worldly affairs , more than the seculars themselves , i thought i could there very leisurely have a free and exact information of all things , specially , because the freedome of speech is retyr'd now into cloysters for more security , in regard of the extreme rigor which is us'd to punish those who speak any thing against the court . the monastery wher i was lodg'd , was famous for the study of letters , and so it was frequented by many learned men ; ( but the greatest concourse was of strangers , who so abound in rome of all nations ) wher desiring to know what conceit forreners had of that church , i disputed often upon some points of religion . ther hapned to come thither a turk , rather to heare , as i imagine , the noise of the disputation , and see fashions , then to inform his judgment ; so i ask'd him his opinion of christian religion , wherunto beyond all expectation , he answered thus : amongst the turks it is held for certain , that god doth favour those people most , wher he is truly ador'd , so , from the prosperity of the turkish empire , we infer , that our faith is good , and the observance of it not displeasing to god . touching the christian religion , we have an opinion , that she was not naught , untill she was adulterated , and made naught by christians themselves . but in the state she is now in in this city , we beleeve her to be abominable to god almighty , specially , since we see that of late yeares she goes annichilating , and mouldring away by little and little , by her own inward and endlesse discords . such was the conclusion of the turk , which made me , i confesse , to marvell not a little , while i observed , that even those who professe not much knowledge , can deduce from far fetch'd principles , consequences so near the truth . having had his opinion , i went on in making a further scrutiny , and i fell to expostulat with a greek , who was usd to repair to rome for the opportunity of studying in clementin colledge , who answer'd to my interrogatories thus : the roman and greek churches are sisters issued from one father : but the greek is the first born , and i know not by what wiles the roman came to take away her birth-right . for this cause they live in most grievous disgusts one with the other : but the one enjoyes the possession of all her paternall goods , wheras the other lives as esau did ; excluded , and under the dominion of another . touching the particular customs of the roman church , i say nothing ; for he that censures her in this city , shews he knows not his own danger , and he who approves her carriage , understands not the law of christ . with such words the greek satisfied my demands . as touching the opportunity which was offer'd me , to mingle speech with a french-man upon the same subject , i understood his conceit thus : the name of the roman church is reverenc'd by a great part of the kingdome of france ; but the wisdome of our governors hath never permitted the pope to extend that excesse of pre-dominion beyond the alps , which he doth exercise in italy , for our policy is supported by particular gallican rites : and the reason is , because the french being naturally impatient , and now that almost half france ( to withdraw it self from under the roman yoake ) is infected with heresie , certainly if the pope should exercise upon the consciences of that spritfull people the tyranny he doth exercise in italy , the rest of that great kingdome would fall from him quite . such were the expressions of the frenchman , which did stir in me a curiosity by way of opposition , to hear what the spaniard would say . nor was it difficult for me to obtain my desire , by meeting with a nobleman of sevill , who frequenting the same convent , i entred into his friendship , and he rendred me satisfied by such discours . friend , to serve you , i will speak , beyond my custome of this nation , with all ingenuity of heart : the reverence which the spaniards do professe to the roman church , may be considered in two manners , inward and outward . if you ask me of the inward reverence , suppose it to be not unlike that of other people , who have full knowledge of her customs ; ( the spaniards being of a genius apt to esteem things as they are in value ) but if you ask me of the outward reverence , know , that the spanish nation in extern apparance shew themselves very observant of the roman church , because , that having found her alwayes most partiall to the interests of their crowns , they hold themselves oblig'd by termes of gratitude to correspond with her at least in outward observance . my king knows well how available for the depressing of the suspected greatnes of his subjects hath bin the pretext of the holy inquisition : he lives mindfull of that promptitude shew'd in the court of rome , to deny an absolution to the house of borbon , untill he had conform'd it self to the austrian satisfaction ; and lastly , he knows how much to this very houre , the pragmaticall jesuits have serv'd him to dilate in every part , with their own advantage , the bounds of the castilian empire ; so that in contemplation of all these respects , the spaniards hold themselves oblig'd to reverence the roman church , in exterior appearance at least , though she were far worse then she is . here the spaniard did terminat his period , while my diligence , which desisted not to procure all punctuall advertisements , brought me to discourse with an english-man , who gave this modest answer : sir , i am declar'd an enemy of the roman church , therfore my words , i presume , can gain no credit with you , but if you desire to know what respects this church finds northward , read our doctors , and perchance your curiosity will be fully satisfied . thus , o angell of god , i endeavoured in rome to bring to perfection the proces which was committed ●o my charge against the adultresse spouse ; and passing one morning by a church , wher they were casting out a devill , i went in , because of the noise , and then the ill spirit knew my person , and began to cry out , her 's saint paul , her 's saint paul ; truly , he is come in an ill time from heaven , to view the state of that church for which he shed so much sweat : good saint , what motives brought him to this lower world ? was it to see how his labours fructified ? ah , the pure grains of that doctrin which his eloquence sowed in the vineyard of the lord , are turn'd to tares , and become food for ravenous birds , such as these are , who stand about me now , to disconjure me with their hideous noise . vpon this cry , the priests began to fix their looks upon me , wherupon , fearing to be discovered , i softly retyred ; but the words took such impressions in the mind of the exorcist , that he did conjure the spirit by violent threats to manifest who i was , who , not being able to resist the violence , confess'd i was saint paul , who by resumption of humane shape ( he knew not why ) wandred now upon earth . the priest had no sooner knowledge herof , but he presently found means to give notice to the pope ; a little after , my lodging being found out by spies ( wherof the● are a multitude in rome ) i suddenly perceiv'd a courtier making towards me , and breaking into these words : o holy paul , in the name of vrban the eight , i come to do you reverence ; he is well inform'd of the condition of your being here ; he earnestly desires that you would please to favour his house with your presence , for he is ambitious to have a stranger of so high a quality for his guest . the courtier , o angell of god , spoke to me thus in very proper phrase ; for in these times , saints use to be call'd strangers in the state ecclesiastick ; whither i was astonish'd or no , to see my self thus surpriz'd and discover'd , judge you ; i thank'd his beatitude in the best manner i could , for his courteous offer , and excus'd my self not to be able to receive that honor , in regard i was of necessity to depart from rome within a few houres ; when i had dis-intangled my self thus from the courtier , i cal'd my thoughts to counsell , and feeling , that my heart did presage me some sinister accident , i resolv'd upon flight ; and i was gon but few paces further , when the same courtier came again , and told me , thus : vrban the eight doth remand me to you , o holy paul , to second his first invitation , but if in case you are resolv'd not to grace his palace with your presence , i have order to propose another request to you : in your epistles we read , o apostle of god , certain passages which manifestly contradict the humors of our holy father , vrban the eight , he prayes you to mend them , because it is not fitting that paul should gain-say the will of peters successor ; and if you desire to know which are those passages , one amongst the rest is , that , let every soul be subject to the higher powers . vrban the eight would , that from this so universall a proposition , the souls of popes should be exempted ; he thinking it not fitting , that the popes should be subordinat to any other law , but that of their own affections and fancy , for so their actions should not be censur'd by every sensles man , as they are ever and anon now adays : his holines also much desires , that these words be utterly expung'd , which assigning to every bishop in his own incumbencies , do speak in particular . diaconos habeant non turpe lucrum facientes , let them have deacons not given to base lucre . these periods displease in a high measure vrban the eight , for he of necessity must have about him his nephew-cardinals . here the courtier stopp'd , when i poor paul fell to discourse with my self thus : see , thou art in danger to be entrapp'd , notwithstanding that thou hast been confirmed in the state of grace , but what could be expected lesse in rome ? perceiving at last that he attended no answer , i put my self to reason with him thus : o papall messenger , the busines which you propound to me , is of no light moment ; for he who is tender of his own repute , cannot be easily induc'd to un-say himself : you know that my doctrin hath run through the world till this day without alteration , now what will people say to see it now differ from times pass'd ! and who will not perswade himself , that the alteration proceeds rather from the malignity of some convicted heretick , than from pauls pen . moreover , to what purpose will it be to vary apostolicall doctrins , when the popes , without any regard to them , do operat still according to their own fancies ? but now , that his beatitude doth desire this superfluous alteration , i will not fayle to serve him in the best manner that god shall inspire me . the courtier departed with this answer , which he took for a promise ; but i , to reserve my self to execute what god had enjoyn'd me , did immediatly fly away from rome , being warned from heaven so to do . i was scarce out of the city , when i remembred to have left my sword behind , and being in suspense with my self , whether i should return to fetch it or no , i spie comming after me , one who was also a forrener in the same convent wher i had lodg'd , and often shew'd me arguments of love , who comming near me , cryed out , friend , be gone , be gone , i come after you of purpose to tell you , that you were scarce gone , but another courtier came to seek you , and being inform'd of your flight , he carried newes therof to the pope , and a little after the pope himself came to your lodging , who finding not your person , took away your sword , saying in a kind of choller , that if pauls pen refuse to serve me , his sword shall . this sword shall force princes to bend and bow at my feet ; this , this shall conserve castro , subdue parma , and shew the world that ther is no necessity of reason , wher the edge of a slashing sword can make way . giving a thousand thanks to my friend , who knew not what paul , nor what sword the pope spake of , i took my leave of him , and continued my flight , being troubled in my thoughts , that my armes should be left in such a hand , which imployes them to the service of such tyrannicall affections to the universall scandall of christianity . nor knew i well what resolution to take . if it were possible , o angell of god , to bend him to the voice of the almighty , i could wish you to go and inspire him to peace : but vrban hath too too refractory a soul ; therfore i hold it more expedient , that you would please to imploy your inspirations amongst the princes of italy , to incite them to take out of his hand these armes , which were taken from me without reason , and are now drawn out against them without justice . to this end i have fram'd a letter , address'd to the italian princes , wherunto i held it not much necessary to affixe my name ▪ because it is known already i am on earth , and it is of this tenor . saint paul to the christian princes . urban the eight , o princes , transported with the violence of an injust wrath , took possession of my sword , of purpose to make use of it against the quietnes of your states : if you will not resolve to take it out of his hand , i do exhort you in the name of the divine majesty to do it , because it is not fit , that that that blade which is design'd for the conversion of infidels , should be stain'd in your bloud ; nor let that idle scruple amuse you , that he is your shepheard , for the true shepheards do guide their flocks with gentle wands , not with weapons . remember , that isaak suffer'd himself to be slain by the hands of of his father , to be sacrificed to god , not to the fury and passions of his father . and saint peter left a fishers knife behind him , to be us'd against fish , which are not creatures of our element , to intimat to the church , that if at any time she takes up armes , she must imploy them against infidels , which living out of her fold , may be cal'd animals of another element . encourage your selves therfore by this counsell of mine , neither think ye the design difficult ; for although vrban seem furious , yet he that is not habituated to handle weapons , may easily let loose his hold . god inspire your hearts , and prosper your resolutions . this is the tenor , o angell of god , of this letter , which i beseech you to carry ( with your inspirations ) to the hearts of christian princes . i , in the interim , before i return to heaven , must go and visit ierusalem , to kisse again that place , where the very inanimat stones being more gratefull then men , keep yet fresh the memory of divine mercy . sect. xvii . the angell readily offers to do saint pauls will , but first he relates to him what he over-heard in a parlatory of nuns , whither out of curiosity he betook himselfe i shall obey , o holy paul , your instructions , and will instantly carry your letter consign'd to the princes , inspiring them for the recovery of your sword from vrbans hand : but be pleas'd to hear what i lately understood in a parlatory of nuns ; for perchance it will not be impertinent for you to annex this to your proces , expressing the grievances of the unhappiest creatures , living under christs law . you know already , o apostle of god , that i am of those angels , which never descended before to earth , and if in strange countries the curious mind of the passenger desires to satisfie it self , i confes that amongst other things which i desir'd to see , one was a monastery of nuns , who were so much spoken of in heaven , that i took them to be angels on earth . being come therfore to one of the prime cities of italy , , i took the forme of a strange youth , and entred at the privatest hower i could into a monachall parlatory . i found at the windowes a young nun , which had no other busines it seems , but to attend the comming of some body . i was scarce spyed by her , when she ask'd me an account of my country , and what fancy took me to traverse the world up and down in that manner , i , bethinking my self of heaven , answered , my country , most gentle sister , is too far distant from this place , and wherunto few of this region arrive touching the fancy that leads me thus to traverse up and down the world , it is no other , then a curiosity , which often drawes youthfull lightnes to neglect their own profit , and to regard others . foolish youthfulnes , which canst not learn how to value thy countries good but afar off ; then i added , happy are they , who never departing from within the paradise of these holy wals , seem as so many angels alwayes appearing before the face of god . she being as full of spirit as she was , of beauty , answered thus : o how many os us would willingly change our paradise for your peregrination , wherfore then do you complain so causlesly of your travels ? which being no other then the motions of a civill life , it cannot chuse but be so much the sweeter to elevated minds , by how much the higher the motions of their souls are : behold the sun , behold the planets , which never staying still in one place , delight to be continuall travellers in the vnivers . i being much taken with the vivacity of her spirit , replyed : it is true lady , that the sun and the planets are in a kind of continuall peregrination ; but ther are in heaven fixed stars also , which , because haply they are more noble , are superior to the other , and consequently nearer to the throne of the almighty . those nuns then , who to serve god are alwayes permanent in one place , like the fixed stars , may more then any other mortals , comfort themselves with an assurance that they are nearer god . the beautuous mayden sigh'd at these words , and then answered : god , i deny not , dwels nearer to the fixed stars , but not to desperat souls ; and now you discover your self to be a true stranger , that you are not acquainted with our miserable condition . the cruelty of our parents , and the rigor of our destiny hath penn'd us in here for ever ; the church of rome concurring herunto by admitting any pretext whatsoever , bear with me sir , that i speak thus . it is a hard fate to be borne to a perpetuall prison , while 't is seen , that all other living creatures have the whole world to solace themselves in ; and that prison , which it seems the very infants do fly from , when they sally out of their mothers wombs , before they have as it were any sense of life , we are constrain'd to endure , after that nature hath given-us the perfect use of sense , and life , and the knowledge of our own miseries ; the destiny of that mortall must needs be a hard one , who is born to live in restles infelicity . this cloyster , which surrounds our liberty , is not as you imagine , a paradise ; for in paradise there dwels no discontentment ; it is rather a hell , where in the flames of inextinguishible desire , the naturall affections of our humanity are condemn'd to be tortur'd every minute . i will not stand to expresse the cause why our parents are so inhumanly cruell unto us , for it is too well known , that for to spare that dowry which is due to our sex , they condemne us 'twixt these wals , to be depriv'd for ever of any worldly delight , for no other cause , but because we are borne women . yet you must know , that the shutting us thus by force between these stones , cannot deprive us of those carnall affections , which may well be cover'd , but not quench'd in that religious habit which you see about us ; nor can this kind of life conduce to heaven , considering ther is no concurrence of the will , which is so acceptable to the all-knowing lord . we are rather destinated to an abisse , by a cours clean contrary to our genius , being bereft also of that common priviledge , which other souls use to have to go to hell what way they please . in ancient times it was the custom to slay the victimes first , and then sacrifice them to good , because haply the principall seat of the corporeall affections lying in the bloud , 't was not held convenient to offer his divine majesty any holocaust , which was not first purg'd by effusion of that bloud from all earthly passions ; but this is not observ'd in us by our parents , who do make sacrifices of us , with all our bloud and passions about us ▪ then how can we beleeve that it is gratefull to god ? and being not gratefull to him , consider in what a despair our souls are plung'd in , which see themselves shut out of the world here , without any assurance to enter heaven herafter , in regard we have not power to extinguish our naturall affections , and so are in danger to precipitat our selves headlong into hell , through a kind of suppos'd innocence , if christ died to reduce us to such a hard condition , o how better were it for us that he had not died . be not offended , o stranger , at these words , for the toungs of the damned can bring forth nothing but blasphemies : yet we know that christ hath no hand in this our hard condition , for ▪ his death had for it 's principall object the freedome and enlargement of souls , not their captivity . the popes are most in fault , by yeelding to the cruell covetousnes of our parents , to transvert the keyes of paradise iuto the keyes of a prison . it was not christ , no , it was the impiety of herod , that , by reason of the humanation of our saviour caus'd so many innocents to be slain . behold , we are in a case equall to theirs , because we being yet innocent children , under a mark of holines , we are segregated and cut off from the society of the living , ther being no difference 'twixt us and them , but that they died before buriall , and we are buried before death . nor can our innocency , or our fears prevaile any thing ; nor are those priviledges sufficient , which nature hath granted these faces of ours ( for which peradventure you stiled us angels ) to implore from others piety any succour , having found the church of rome so ingratefull , while we consider that the time was when saint peter was freed by an angell out of prison ; but now clean contrary angels are cast into prison by the successors of saint peter . but whither doth the violence of a just passion transport me thus to rave ? helas , the name of angels doth not suit with our condition , and lesse with our operations : for although we are brought innocents hither , yet we cannot preserve our selves long in this monastick life from the motions of desperat passions ; the religion which clap'd us in here is not ador'd , but detested by some of us ; vanity and feminine wantonnes is here in the height ; here dwels curiosity in exces , and desire of knowledge in worldly matters without end ; ambition , envy , discord , and hatred , is never wanting amongst us : lastly , her 's observ'd neither constitution , law , or vow , but out of pure necessity , and unavoydable violence . but what shall i say of that mayden chastity for the conservation wherof we are principally penn'd in here ? i leave that for you to imagine , it being not permitted to femal modesty to make any further expressions in this kind ; i only tell you this , that we procure all means possible to outrage and abuse it , and not without reason , for if this chastity hath bin the principall thing that hath retrench'd our liberties in this manner , we ought to aym and bend our chiefest forces to be reveng'd of our chiefest enemy . and here this beautuous nun blush'd , and broke the thread of her discours . i confssse unto you , o holy paul , that if i had a breast capable of terrene affections , i would doubtles have tenderly resented the misery of this discontented soul ; but compassion is vain , wher ther is no power to comfort ; therfore i held it expedient to take my leave , that i might not imbitter her passions any further ; so at my departure i said , when i came in hither , o most beautuous nuns , i look'd upon you as on so many seraphims ; but hearing the state of your hard condition , i find you to be the unhappiest creatures that live under the law of christ . were it permitted me to help you , i promise you i would batter down these wals , and give you that liberty which others take from you ; but since 't is not lawfull for any to do so , comfort your selves at least , that heaven is reserv'd for your suffrances . and although you protest not to suffer for christ ; yet christ is so mercifull , that he can give beatitudes to those cyreneans , who carry his crosse , though forc'd therunto : and i dare assure you , that if you cannot gain heaven as virgins , you shall gain it at least as martyrs . sect. xviii . paul being arriv'd in messina , doth imbark himself for jerusalem , in the mean time the angell carrieth the letter to the princes , and so takes his flight to heaven , wher having received new orders , he descends in ierusalem , and retrieves saint paul , to whom with the divine commission , he declares the affairs of italy in this manner : i return , o holy paul , from the execution of your commands , i come to give your curiosity an account of the estate of italy , and to your desires , an information of the divine will . know then , that i did invisibly represent to the hearts of christian princes the contents of your letters , and i found them so dispos'd to take your sword from the hand of vrban the eight , their eyes being opened to foresee their own danger , that i had more need to advise them of the means , than excite them to the enterprize . the pontificiall army did display their colours already upon the frontiers of modena , and imperiously demanded passage , to go on to the ruine of parma , when the demand was understood by the confining princes , upon a sudden , the spirit of a sleeping resentment was seen to stir . flying couriers did immediatly fly up and down , and upon a sudden , as it were in a moment , a league was miraculously concluded against the insolent pretences of the pope : now let every one know the difference 'twixt the present army of the church , and the ancient army of the people of israel ; for at the marching of the one , the sea it self divided to let it passe , but at the marching of this , all the world seem'd to close together to hinder the passage . don tadeo , one of the popes nephews , had the supreme direction of this church-army , but with martiall dignity ther joyns not alwayes that generosity which ariseth from birth , or experience . don tadeo , that was not us'd to other atchievments than to those of castro , wherin he had no opposition , when he heard the report of this league , he turn'd his back , wherby he discover'd the nature of a thief , rather than of a souldier . in the interim , the duke of parma could not contain the vigor of his innated hereditary courage , within such short & narrow bounds ; but he unites his cavalry , and puts spurs to his horse , and so entreth like a whirlwind into the papall territories , in scorn of the barberini , and so on towards the wals of rome . the generous prince expected , that either front or rere on the enemies side would have appeared , but at his voice all vanish'd as it were ; nor could the inhabitants of the state ecclesiastick imagine what became of their militia , nor the militia what became of don tadeo , nor don tadeo what became of his heart , or whither it was fled , when god wrought a kind of miracle : for the duke , who a little before found himself at the last period of an irreparable ruine , entreth triumphantly with three thousand horse only into the enemies countrey ; he incamped the first night not far frm vrban fort , which questionles , had it been capable of motion , had followed don tadeo when he fled ; but because of it's naturall immobility , it could not stir an inch from it's own trenches , therfore it stood quiet , and without the least noise , for feare the duke should over-hear , nor was any soul seen to peep out all the while . from the felicity of this beginning , the spirit of the duke being heightned , he resolv'd to push on to the very wals of rome , to present to the pope the crying of-spring of his immoderat passions , all forts and towns at the dukes approach did open their gates to receive him , ratther for a father then a foe ; and alalthough the country could not choose but be damnified by the march of such a tumultuary unfurnish'd army ; yet the vassals of the ecclesiastick state are accustom'd to such hard usage from their own governors , that the dammages which the hostile troops did them seemed but light ; the duke with unexpected fortune advanceth towards rome wher he found nothing but fear and confusion ; i want words to set down the strange effects that the tydings of his approach did produce . questionles , the castle of st angelo had not bin capacious enough to hold all those that ran into it , unles the hearts of the fugitives had bin much lessen'd and shrunk . the pope , and the chiefest of rome , began for more security , to stowe into the said castle their tresure , and all their costly movables , adorning , as one may say , that capitoll , with the triumphs of their cowardize , wher valour was us'd to hang up the trophyes of her victories . in fine , a just sword is formidable , what hand soever doth weld it . that rome , which in ages pass'd could look hannibal , and the gaules in the face , doth now fall into a shaking palsie at the approach of three thousand horse only , which came to vindicat the affronts done to the farneses . in this confusion , ther was not one that would offer to propose the facing of the enemy , every one was so busie to stand upon his gard ; ev'ry gate seem'd a diocesse , each having some bishop appointed to keep it . and such was the timorousnes of the romans , that finding themselves not able to secure their city with wals , and bastions , they went to do it with breviaries , for all preparations rais'd and regulated with fear , do terminat in acts of simple defense . now what would christ have said ? who told his disciples , o you of little faith , why have you doubted ? rebuking the weaknes of their faith , and consequently of their fear , when the boat was toss'd with waves , and upon point of sinking . in such a confusion rome was involv'd at this time , and tydings therof comming to hell , the chiefest cacodaemons began to sit in councell , and one amongst the rest smoak'd out this following speech : brethren , the state of the roman hierarchy is now in apparant danger , it is not fitting we should suffer a friends kingdom to perish , for therby ther would follow some reformation in christianity , which would hinder the peopling of this kingdome ; therfore we must lend our wonted help and counsels , since that the pusillanimity of vrban can do little good : at these words ther starts out a daemon , that was most practis'd in policy amongst them all , and offring to support the common cause , he took a flight to earth , and came invisibly to the soul of vrban , who was in extreme anguish , and us'd this speach : vrban , what dost dost thou ? behold thy temporall dominion is tumbling down , thy mundane greatnes is upon point of extinguishing , what dost thou pawse upon ? fear cannot repair thy losses , nor thy squandred and baffled squadrons thy honor , it is needfull to have recourse to craft . empires use to be conserved by the same artifices they are got . treat of an accommodation , propose hostages , and promise restitution , in the mean time the dukes forces may waste , break thy word , what matters it ? it will not be the first time ; thou art a pope , and so canst dispense with oaths , as thou shalt think most convenient . this parly the demon held with vrban , who immediatly followed his counsell . in fine , hell oftentimes executes that which heaven determines , but for differing ends . the princes of the league might in this confusion , and tremblings of rome , have seized upon the whole state ecclesiastick . the duke of modena might have gain'd the city of ferrara , to which he hath so just pretensions . the duke of florence might have made himself master of the duchy of vrbino , the fees therof appertaining to his house by dotall right . the republick of venice might have vindicated those outrages which have bin so often offer'd her upon her confines . lastly , those colleagu'd princes might have redeem'd from papall tyranny the unhappy vassals throughout all the roman dominion . now the omnipotent majesty saith , since these princes cannot husband the opportunity which heaven offreth them , i decree for the punishment of their irresolution , that the setling of peace be prolong'd , and that in the interim , vrban have means by a new breach of faith to work upon their credulity . so the counsels of hell joyning with the decrees of heaven , vrban the eight , by the mediation of cardinall spada ( sword ) found a way to spin out the busines at length , and to amuse the duque , till his troops ( which could not be idle ) being diminished by these dead delayes , he was inforc'd to abandon the enterprise , having reap'd no other fruit by this march , but the glory to have displayed his colours almost in the face of rome . in this case i left the affairs of italy , when to stay no longer on earth , i reascended to heaven , whither i came in a fit conjuncture of time , for amongst those bliss'full spirits it was discours'd , that a proposition was made in rome , to lay hands upon sixtus his tombe , every one concluding , that these garboiles would much redound to the expence of the church , and consequently , to the exhasting of peters patrimony . and saint peter concurring in the same opinion with the rest , went one day before the lord with his hand upon his cheek , crying out , oh sir , the barberini who have unsheath'd the ecclesiastick sword , in lieu of hurting the enemy , have hit me upon this eare , wherunto the lord said , that he understood well what he alluded unto : the time was , that peter with the armes of the church cut off malchus his eare , and now it is not to be wondred at , if to fulfill the law of retaliation , the barberini with the same armes , cut off a member of saint peters ; this being said , the lord turn'd towards me , and commanding me to him , said , i intend now to come to the expedition of the spouse , therfore go and retrieve paul , and tell him from me , that he consigne the processe to you , which he hath already framed , which you shall cause to be publish'd , that in case she will defend her self , she may produce her proofs ; let paul in the interim continue his sojourne on earth , and make an inquisition upon all cloyster'd regulars , that when the divorce is granted , the world may know who are spurious , and who are my true and legitimat children . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . a caveat to the knowing reader . every language hath certain idiomes , proverbs , and peculiar expressions of it's own , which are not rendible in any other ; therfore he over-acts the office of an interpreter , who doth servilize himself too strictly to words and phrases . i have heard of an excesse amongst limmers , call'd , too much to the life , when one aymes at similitude , more then skill . so in version of languages one may be so over-punctuall in words , that he may marre the matter ; the greatest fidelity that can be in a translator , is to keep entire the true genuine sense and designe the author drives at ; and this was the thing chiefly observ'd in this version . moreover , think it not strange , that ther are some italian words made free denizons of england in this discours , for by such means our language hath grown to be so copious , and grows every day more rich , by adopting , or natularizing rather the choicest forren words of other nations , as a nosegay is us'd to be made out of a tuff of flowers , gather'd from divers beds and banks . i. h. finis . a discours of the empire, and of the election of a king of the romans, the greatest busines of christendom now in agitation as also of the colledg of electors, their particular interests, and who is most likely to be the next emperour / by j.h. howell, james, 1594?-1666. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a44712 of text r4781 in the english short title catalog (wing h3065). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 124 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 67 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a44712 wing h3065 estc r4781 13201221 ocm 13201221 98449 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a44712) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 98449) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 421:14) a discours of the empire, and of the election of a king of the romans, the greatest busines of christendom now in agitation as also of the colledg of electors, their particular interests, and who is most likely to be the next emperour / by j.h. howell, james, 1594?-1666. [7], 109, [17] p. printed by f.l. for charles webb ..., london : 1658. written by james howell. cf. bm. "senesco, non segnesco" printed between author's initials. includes index. reproduction of original in cambridge university library. eng electors (kurfürsten) -early works to 1800. holy roman empire -kings and rulers. holy roman empire -history -1648-1804. germany -history -1517-1871. rome (italy) -history -1420-1798. a44712 r4781 (wing h3065). civilwar no a discours of the empire, and of the election of a king of the romans, the greatest busines of christendom now in agitation. as also of the howell, james 1658 19962 5 5 0 0 0 0 5 b the rate of 5 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-10 ben griffin sampled and proofread 2004-10 ben griffin text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-01 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a discours of the empire , and of the election of a king of the romans , the greatest busines of christendom now in agitation . as also of the colledg of electors , their particular interests , and who is most likely to be the next emperovr . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . j. senesco , non segnesco . h. london , printed by f. l. for charles webb , at the bores-head in s. pauls church-yard 1658. the summ and substance of the ensuing discours as it is divided to seven sections . the proeme , shewing the motives that induc'd the author to undertake this task . the first section , treats of the first rise of the roman empire , and of the sundry rotations , or retrogradations of goverment that hapned in rome , &c. the second section , treats of the septemvirat , or the electors of the roman empire , their primitive constitution , and power ; with their precedence , and offices , &c. the third section , treats of the stile , and title of emperour , or caesar , and of the king of the romans , &c. the fourth section , treats of the diet , or imperial parlement , and the members therof , with the division of germany , and the strength of the empire , &c. the fift section , consists of a parralel 'twixt the empire pass'd , and the present , with the causes first and last of the declination therof , &c. the sixt section , treats of the enlargement of the colledg of electors , from seven , to an octum virat ; and of the contest that 's now 'twixt the count palatin of the rhin , and the duke of bavaria , touching the vicarship of the empire , &c. the seventh section , consists of som reflexes made upon the present conjuncture of things , and the political condition of germany , with a conjecture who is likely to be king of the romans , and consequently the next emperour , &c. a corollary . pauca in multa diffundere est opus ingenii , multa in pauca digerere est opus artis . a discours of the empire , in a letter sent lately to a noble personage . my lord , the election of a king of the romans , and consequently of a western emperour , being now the gran busines in agitation , and wheron the eyes not only of all christendom , but of other princes ( as well turk as tartar ) are more earnestly fix'd than at other times , because of so long a vacancy , and a kind of demurr ; as also for the opposition that france , with all her confederatts , are like to make for secluding , and putting by the house of austria ( especially the young king of hungary ) wherin the german empire hath continued above two hundred and odde yeers . and wheras that after som loose extemperall communications lately upon this subject , your lordshipp desir'd much to be inform'd of the present estate and interests of germany , together with the power and primitive constitution of the septemvirat , or the colledg of electors , with other reflexes upon that point ; being returned home , i fell a rummaging my old papers , and such remarques that i gathered when i was employ'd in some parts of the empire , and to comply with your lordshipps desires ( which shall alwaies be as binding to me as decrees ) i have digested into this short ensuing discours , consisting of seven sections . the first section . treating of the first rise of the roman empire , and the sundry rotations , or retrogradations of goverments that hapned in rome , &c. now for a cleerer illustration of things , and a more regular proceeding , it is not amiss to fetch in matters from their fundamental ( for the furthest way about is somtimes the neerest way home specially in the reserches of truth . ) and to do this , we must go to rome , a city that hath had as many strange traverses of fortune , and turns of goverment , as any other upon earth , having bin eight several times ravish'd and ransack'd by sundry warlike nations . first by brennus the bold britain , then by alaric the goth , afterwards by ge●sericus the vandale , then twice by to●ila the hun , after him by the moores and saracens , then by three christian emperours , viz. by henry the fourth , otho the third , and charles the fift when his general the duke of bourbon breath'd his last in scaling her walls , ( and she was lately like to receive an ill-favour'd shock by the duke of parma ) yet she never fell sans recource as they say , or was ever layed so flat upon her back , but she recovered herself , and rays'd up her crest again , whence it may be inferr'd , that an extraordinary providence , and tutelar genius doth attend that citty ; 't is tru that the translating of the imperial court by constantine , to bizantium ( which he christned afterwards with his own name ) was fatal to rome , when the glory of the tyber and tyrrhene sea pass'd over to the hellespont , yet a spiritual head preserv'd her still in some lustre , in so much that when the pope came to be her master , she might have bin sayed to have bin reduc'd to her first principles , and to have pass'd from one shepheard to another , viz. from romulus , to sylvester ; but ther were a world of vicissitudes and revolutions of goverments interven'd , and pass'd between ; her primitive , and original way of ruling was by kings , but , after a hundred and forty yeers continuance , she surfetted upon that , which surfett may be sayed to have proceeded from the peeples wantones rather than from tarquins lust ; then , she was govern'd a while by consulls , so call'd a consulends carrying a memento of their duty is their names ; then followed the decemvirs who were put down for the same vice that destroyed the kings after that , the supremacy was delated to two tribunes ; then it revolv'd to consulls , then to tribunes again , b●● more than two , which lasted a good tract of time above seventy yeers , then came consuls in again the third time , after that dictators , untill caius iulius caesars time who was the first perpetuall dictator , and a little after the first emperour , though it cost him dear , for he might be sayed to have cimented the foundation of the roman empire with his own bloud being murther'd in the senat by small contemptible tools , yet it remain'd in his progeny to six descents , viz. to domitius nero . thus after so many rotations or retrogradations of goverments , and a kind of cushion dance of several kind of rulers , the imperial was established at last , and the successive emperours were us'd to be chosen by the senat , and then saluted by the army ; but afterwards the legionary soldiers & pretorian bands made emperours sub hasta in the field , and galba was the first who was chosen so , and that with the consent of the senat ; now , it was the most unpolitique act that ever the roman senat committed , which prov'd so fatal to so many of the following emperours who held not their security as much as their lifes from the soldiers , which took them away at plesure ; for after that the election pass'd from the senat to the sword , ther were above thirty emperours that were put to violent deaths , and som of them very tragical , fower murthered themselfs , many also of those that were adopted caesars , and design'd to succeed in the empire were untimely made away , being rays'd to that pitch that they might perish the sooner , as an author sayes . but to go more punctually to work we will muster up here most of those emperours that came to immature and violent deaths ; iulius caesar was assassinated in the senat. octavius the first augustus ( called so ab augendo imperium , from enlarging the territories of the empire ) was made away by his wife livia ; tiberius by macro ; caligula by cassius chereas ; claudius poyson'd by his wife agrippina ; nero and otho slew themselfs ; galba and vitellius were done away by the soldiers ; domitian by stephanus ; commodus by letus , and electus ; pertinax and iulianus by the praetorian bands ; caracalla by macrinus command ; macrinus , heliogabalus , alexander , maximinus , maximus , and balbinns by the soldiers ; hostilianus by gallus and aemilianus , and they by the legions ; valerianus died in parthia ; florianus waas ccessary to his own death ; aurelianus murther'd by his own meniall servants ; gallienus , quintillus , tacitus and probus by the militia , &c. now , that which heighned the spirits of the soldiery to such infolences , was the largesses , and encrease of salary , that the praetorian bands us'd to receave from the new emperour , which pernicious kind of bounty was begun first by claudius caesar , and is now practised by the turk : for evry new sultan useth to enhance the pay of the spahies , and ianizaries to so many aspers more for fear of mutinieng , which in time may be the bane of the ottoman empire , for such hath bin the presumption allready of the sayed ianizaries of late yeers that they have murther'd two of their emperours in lesse than five and twenty yeers . but in the roman empire the military bands came to such an exorbitancy of power , that somtimes they did prostitute , and put the empire to sale by publique outcry , as we read how sulpitianus offerd twenty sestertiums ( which are neer upon eight pounds sterling apeece ) to evry soldier , but iulianus rays'd the market higher , and out-bad him ; but constantine the great ( the first christian emperour and a britain born ) found out the policy to regulat , & lessen the praetorian bands , till at last he quite casheerd them , at least reduc'd them to such a nomber that they could do no hurt . the removal of the imperial court to constantinople , though it prov'd advantagious to the bishop of rome , who had the citty transferr'd unto him by way of a pious donation from constantine about his departure from italy to the levant , as the church annals affirm , though some by way of drollery , and derogation to the pope do say , that he hath the same right to rome , as venice hath to the dominion of the adriatique gulph , and that they are both inserted in one patent , though that patent cannot be found upon any record ; i say though this removall was an advantage to the bishop of rome , yet it prov'd very prejudiciall to italy in general , and to all the western parts of the empire , for many rough-hewn northern nations , that desir'd to come neerer the sun , took the advantage hereby to rush in , not only to italy , and harasse her so often , but like so many fwarms of locusts they cover'd other countreys , ( and some fear'd the like of the late swedish army , had they prosper'd in poland ) the huuns took such firm footing that they gave the name to hungary ; the longobards to insubria , and the territoties about milan ; the goths and vandales piercing the very heart of france overcame spain , and denominated andaluzia , insomuch that the present king of spain doth acknowledg himself to be de la sangre de los godos , to descend from the goths , wherby som wold inferr that he is a german not only by extraction from the house of austria , but also from the gothique race , who were a branch of the teutons , or germans , taking the word in the largest sense ; but more properly may germany challenge the french , and english to be her children , the first comming from the territories of franconia , the other from the lower circle of saxony wherof they bear the names ( saissons ) among the welsh and irish to this day . but to proceed from the main subject , the eastern part of the roman empire bore up many ages after constantine with som lustre in the levant , though the northwest parts suffred many eclipses , being so pittifully dilacerated , and torn by the fury of forein nations ; now the chiefest cause therof may be ascrib'd to the remotenes of the emperours person at constantinople , who by reason of so incommunicable a distance could not reach a timely hand to assist them with auxiliaries ; but about the yeer eight hundred a new kind of auspicious star appeer'd in the west , which was charlemain , whom the germans do claym to be their compatriot , though they go a great way back and fetch him from pharamond , or the first race of the kings who invaded gallia , and by way of conquest call'd it france . charlemain was the gran-child of charles martell , who being maire of the palace , or chief steward and surintendent of the kings court gott his son pepin to be crown'd king of france over the head of chilperic his liege lord and master , martel giving out that he did not follow the ambition of his heart , but the inspirations of heaven in this act ; so the scotts stories tell us that the family of the stewards came to be kings of scotland by taking their surnames from their office , for as charles martell was in france , so the first of them was steward of the kings court in scotland . pepin though a little man did great exploits , for he cross'd the alpes , and recover'd lombardy where a race of goths had bin kings above 200 yeers , and at his return to france conferr'd the exarcbatship , or vicegerency of italy upon the bishop of rome . charlemain his son did higher achievments , for he clammer'd ore the pyreneans and debell'd the saracens in spain , discomfited the saxons , and confirm'd the conquest of italy , so that he was solemnly saluted emperour of the west at rome by the general voice , and wonderfull acclamations of the peeple , and so confirm'd by the popes benediction ( leo the 4th . on christmas day . nicehporus in constantinople storm'd extremely at first ther shold be another emperour besides himself , alledging that he was the sole roman emperour , and accordingly us'd to send his exarques , or viceroyes to govern italy , but not knowing how to remedy it , he complied at last with charlemagne who then kept his court in germany , where he died , and was buried at aquisgrave , leaving ludovicus his son to succeed him , who partitioning the empire afterwards twixt his three sonns did wonderfully enervat and enfeeble it , as a great river cutt out into many armes , and sluces must needs grow weaker and shallower in her first bed . now , though charlemain was an extraordinary heroique , and a magnanimous gallant man as his actions tell us , yet his children for fower descents together did strangely degenerat , and prov'd but poor spirited men , his son lewis was call'd the gentle for his soft nature , charles the bald was of a baser alloy than hee , lewis the stuttring inferior to both , charles the grosse the last emperour and king of france died a most disastrous death ; after him the empire was soly devolv'd to the germans ; charlemain and his dependants enjoy'd it 118 yeers , then it came to the house of saxony who held it 117 yeers , the house of suevia 110 , other families ( wherof the house of the count palatine of the rhin , and of nassaw were somtimes ) held the empire 112 yeers , untill it came to the house of austria , who have held it longer than any one family ever did . now , ther is a remarquable tradition how the house of austria came to that comble of greatnes , which they report thus , rodulph earl of habspurg returning homeward fromhunting one day overtook a priest that had the eucharist under his habit , comming from visiting a sick body , the earl finding he was tyr'd alighted , and help'd the priest a horsback , and holding the bridle in his hand wayted upon him as a lacquay till he came to the church , and replac'd the host upon the altar , the priest sang an extraordinary masse ( where the earl devoutly attended all the while ) and pronouncing the benediction at the end , he cross'd the earl , saying that for so signal , and a sweet act of piety , his house shold be one of the greatest , and most glorious families that ever was upon earth , which prov'd tru , for a while after not only the german empire , but the east , and west indies , with all the dominions of spain , wherof some are the tother side of the world , came to that family . and now , my lord , i will proceed to the septemvirat , or colledg of electors ( wherof i promis'd an account in the beginning ) whose creture the emperour may be sayed to be , for t is their breath that makes him . the second section , touching the septemvirat , or electors of the roman emperour , their primitive constitution , and power with their precedence , and offices , &c. for two hundred yeers after charlemain , who was the restaurator of the occidental parts of the roman monarchy ( which had bin so pittifully shatter'd by the irruption of sundry barbarous peeple , as was sayed before ) and therfore meritoriously stil'd , the first emperour of the west , i say for a long time ther was no certain or regular way of election , and the customs was that the emperour regnant us'd to nominate , & recommend his son , or neerest kinsman to the german princes , but in the yeerabout 1000 after the incarnation , rome began to rayse up her crest , and brussle , by re-demanding and challenging the election of the emperour , alledging , 't was a prerogative of hers de jure antiquo ; the raking up of the ashes of this old right , was like to kindle a great fyre on both side of the hills , for the italian princes stuck to her in the claym ; but otho the third a prudent prince found a way to prevent it , by procuring a cosen of his to be created pope by the name of gregory the fift , who being a german born , was so favorable and indulgent of his own countrey , that he confirm'd the choosing of the vvestern emperour to the german nation , but the romans , with some italian princes stomaching heerat , they depos'd gregory , and chose the bishop of placentia pope in his place , by the title of iohn the ninth : otho took this in so great indignation , that he suddenly rays'd an imperial army , clammer'd or'e the alpes , and made his way by the point of the sword towards rome , which open'd her gates unto him without much difficulty , so he seaz'd upon the person of the new pope , disoculated that counterfait light of the church by plucking out his eyes , and replac'd gregory the fift his cousin in saint peters chair with triumph . otho being victoriously return'd to germany , convoqu'd the chiefest princes , and propos'd unto them the multiplicity of inconveniences , encumbrance , and causes of confusion , that the incertain , and unestablish'd way of choosing an emperour , and his immediat successor , was subject unto , therfore he desir'd them to consider of a more regular way of election ; so after many mature deliberations , and bandings of opinions they fell upon settling a septemvirat , viz. seven princes , in whom a plenary power shold be invested , to elect an emperour , and his next successor ; herupon the colledg of electors was founded , and constituted , but they must be all within the german pale ; addresses were made to the pope about this business , who not only approv'd herof , but was ready to confirm the act , provided that three of the sayed electors were ecclesiastiques ; so the western empire was made purely elective , giving encouragements therby for princes of vertue and merit to aspire . herupon the archbishop of mentz , the archbishop of collen , and the archbishop of tryers were chosen for the three spiritual , and for the secular the palsgrave of the rhin , the duke of saxony , the marquis of brandenburg , and in case their suffrages were equal , the duke of bohemia ( made about 80 yeers after king ) was chosen to have a session among them , and whom he nam'd of those two that they had elected , shold be emperour , so that the bohemian might be call'd rather an umpire than an elector in these transactions . this great act was solemnly voted , and enroll'd in the imperial chamber , and som hundred of yeers after 't was ratified and fortified by the famous aurea bulla , the golden bull , who regulated matters more punctually touching the offices , the precedencies , and other particulars reflecting upon the sayed electors . the archbishop of mentz was made high-chancellor of germany , he of colen high-chancellor of italy , and he of tryers high-chancellor of france ; the duke of saxony was made sacri imperii archi-marascallus , lord high marshall of the sacred empire ; the count palatin of the rhin sacri imperii archidapifer , lord high sewer of the sacred empire ; the marquis of brandenburg was made sacri imperii archicamerarius , lord high chamberlain of the sacred empire ; the duke ( now king of bohemia ) was made sacri imperii archipincerna , lord chief buttler of the sacred empire , all which offices are contracted in this tetrastique . moguntinensis , trierensis , coloniensis , quilibet imperii fit cancellarius horum ; et palatinus dapifer , dux portitor ensis , marchio praepofitus camerae , pincerna bohemus . thus in english , mentz , colen , tryers , let these three each of them an arch-chancellor bee , duke , bear the sword ; count , the first dish take up ; marquis look to the chamber , boheme the cup . so the secular electors are compos'd of a king , a duke , a marquis , and a count . upon an occasion of a new choise , these with the ecclesiastiques were to be summon'd by the archbishop of mentz , to assemble within three months time , and to be garded by the countrey as they passed along , but their retinue was not to exceed two hundred horse , wherof ther shold be but fifty armed . being conven'd , the ecclesiastical electors were to put their hands only on their breasts , the secular princes solemnly upon the book , to choose a fit imperial head for christendome , and they were to do this within the compass of thirty daies , and not to go out of frankford , or the place where they mett in the interim , & iury-like to have no other nutriment but bread and water after the expiration of the sayed thirty dayes . the choice being made by the assembly of electors , the new emperour , according to the tenure of the golden bull the grand charter of the empire ( so call'd because 't was confirm'd by the pope ) is saluted by the title of king of the romans , and not emperour till he be crown'd with three crowns , viz. with the golden crown representing rome , with a sylver crown representing germany , and with an iron crown representing lombardy , which ceremony useth to be perform'd at aquisgrave for all the three places , but he is not to be call'd augustus till confirm'd by the pope . at the first day of the emperours inauguration , the foresayed electors were to give their personal attendance in the emperours court , but now they are dispens'd withall to do it by proxy . before the palace gate ther us'd to stand a heap of oats to the breast of a horse , then comes the duke of saxony mounted , having in his hand a sylver wand , and a sylver measure stood by , which was to weigh two hundred marks , he fills the measure , sticking his wand afterwards in the remainder , and so goes to attend the emperour ; the three arch-bishopps say grace ; the marquis of brandenburg comes also on hors-back with a sylver bason of water , of the value of twelve marks , and a clean towell which , being alighted , he holds to the emperour ; then comes the count palatin of the rhin a hors-back also , and being alighted he carries fower dishes of meat , ev'ry dish of the value of three marks ; then the king of bohemia comes with a napkin on his arm , with a cover'd cupp of twelve marks which he presents . touching the precedence of the electors among themselfs one may judg of it by the maner of their session with the emperour , when he sitts in majesty , which is thus . the arch-bishop of tryers high chancellor of france sitts over against the emperour ; the arch-bishop of moguntia or mentz , as high chancelor of germany sitts on the right hand of the emperour ; the arch-bishop of collen on the left hand ; the king of bohemia hath his seat on the right hand of the arch-bishop of mentz , and next him the count palatin of the rhin ; the duke of saxony fitts on the left hand of the arch-bishop of collen , and by him the marquis of brandenburgh . moreover when they us'd to go in procession with the emperour 't was ordain'd in the golden bull that the arch-bishop of tryers shold go before his imperial majesty , and neer him on both sides one of the ecclesiastical electors ; the king of bohemia was to go alone after the arch-bishops , and after him the elector of saxony with the naked sword of the empire in his hand , having on his right hand the count palatin of the rhin , carrieng the golden apple which denotes the world to be under the roman empire ; and on the left hand of the duke of saxony , the marquess of brandenburgh was to march with a scepter in his hand , then followed the emperour himself . by what hath bin spoken the discern reader may judg who had the priority of place , the count palatin of the rhin or the duke of saxony , a contest that hath gravell'd many . the third section , touching the stile & title of emperour or caesar , and of the king of the romans , &c. concerning the character , and title of emperour , it is of a younger date than that of king , and among the romans it was in the beginning given to him who was commander in chief of the militia , nor was it neer of such a transcendency then as now it is , he was at firstbut tutoyè he was but thou'd when he was spoken unto , but afterwards in regard he had the prerogative to conferr honors , and offices , to grant pardons , and patents of grace , with other obliging motives , the courtiers , especially the churchmen began to magnifie , or rather deifie him with sublime attributs , as we read in symmachus in his epistles to theodosius , and valentinian , wherin his stile unto them is vestra aeternitas , vestrum numen , vestra perennitas , vestra clementia , &c. then he began to be call'd divus imperator ; but touching the title of majestas , which was given ab augendo imperium ( as was touch'd before , ) or as some wold have it a majori statu , it is an attribut of no great antiquity , for it is not found among the old authors , and it came not till henry the seconds time to france who is not us'd to be backward in assuming , and applyengtitle of greatnes to her self . but concerning the dignity of emperour , as heretofore , so is he still accounted the prime potentat and prince paramount among christians , and not only among them , but the turk , next himself accounts the german emperour the greatest monark upon earth , and esteems him accordingly , which appeer'd in the person of david vngnadius , who being not an age since ambassador in constantinople for the christian emperour , and coming for audience to the duana in the seraglio , the perfian ambassador had come before , and got the chair , but vngnadius offering to go away ther was an upper chair put for him . another time upon the celebration of mahomet the thirds circumcision which lasted forty daies & nights , ther being then in constantinople the legats of the greatest monarks upon earth , yet hee who was ambassador at that time for the emperour rodulphus the second had alwayes the first place . some civilians exalt the emperour with divers transcendent titles , wherof one is , dominus totius terrae , the lord of the whole earth ; that caesar is proximus deo ; caesar is next to god almighty ; but though the emperour be accounted the sole supereminent prince in christendom yet ther have bin other kings who assum'd that title besides him ; som of the kings of spain have bin call'd imperatores hesperiae ; king edgar whowas row'd upon the river of dee by fower kings , wherof the scot was one , had this title , which appears upon good record by this bouncing character . ego edgarus altitonantis dei largiflua clementia anglorum basileus omniumque regum insularúmque , oceanique britanniam circumjacentis , cunctarúmque nationum quae infra eam includuntur imperator , et dominus , he was call'd also albionis imperator . i edgar by the bountifull clemency of the highthundring god , king of the english , emperour , and lord of all the kings , islands , and seas circumjacent to britain , and of all the nations included therin , he was stil'd in another place emperour of albion . moreover the realms of england was declared an empire by act of parlement octavo henrici octavi and in divers other acts the crown of england is call'd the imperiall crown , and the city of london the imperiall chamber . now touching the respects that other christian kings owe the emperour , they acknowledge no other but that of precedence only , though henry the second of england in his letter ( which stands upon record ) to frederique barbarossa , and richard the first in his to henry the 6. emperour , seem to acknowledg a kind of subordination by way of complement ; but edward the third of england wold not kisse the emperour lewis of bavaria's feet at their enterview in colen , and the reason he alledg'd , was , because he was rex inunctus habens vitam & membrum in potestate sua , &c. because he was an anointed king having life and limb in his power , &c. which edward , as the german annals attest , ab electoribus fuit vocatus , et nominatus vicarius imperii , he was call'd , and nominated vicar of the empire , and as some have it , was offer'd to be emperrour , in regard of his acquests , and glorious exploits in france , whence he brought the three flower de luces upon his sword , after the french had sent him that geering answer that la couronne de france n'est pas liee a la quenoville , that the crown of france was not tied to a distaff . add herunto that the emperour cannot be call'd so pure , and independent a monark as some other kings , for besides that he is but tenant for life and govern'd by diets which are imperial parlements , the electors may be sayed to be his associats , and to have a share in the goverment ; nay , the emperour by the ancient customs of the empire may be brought to answer in causis pro quibus impetitus fuerit , sayeth the bull , before the count palatin of the rhin , but he can passe no iudgement unlesse the emperour himself be present in imperiali curia . ther want no examples that some emperours have bin depos'd for their mal-administration , an instance shall be made in wenceslaus in the yeer 1400. who was formally degraded by the archbishop of mentz upon a publique theater in the plaines of brubach neer the river of rhin by a judicial sentence , which i thought worthy the inserting here . vvee iehn archbishop of moguntia , prince elector and archchancellor of the german nation , in the name of other princes electors , dukes , landgraves , counts , and other lords , barons , and potentats of the empire , in regard of divers dommageable interests , and for the special importance of all the empire , we do depose , and deprive by common consent , and mature deliberation , wincestaus as negligent , unprofitable , and unworthy of the roman empire ; we degrade him of all the dignities and of all the honors which were due to him from the empire , and we publish him in the presence of all the princes , barons , and potentats of the empire for a prophane person , and unworthy of such an honor , and dignity ; enjoyning evry one of what quality or condition soever he bee , not to yeeld him obedience as emperour , prohibiting evry one to payhim any kind of tribut , fief , or forfeiture , either by right or by covenant , or any office appertaining to the empire , nay , we will that those perquisits be reserv'd untill god doth give us the grace to elect an emperour , that may be for the benefit of the whole empire , and the christian common-weale . and it is well known how often he hath bin admonish'd by the princes electors both in publique and privat , and particularly by ev'ry one of our order that he wold leave his unworthy deportments , and carry himself as his dignity requir'd . concerning the king of the romans , it is but a modern title , peculiar to him who is declar'd heir apparent , or the design'd successor of the empire ; but at first , he who was so chosen was called caesar , and it was the emperour adrian who first cal'd aeliusverus by that title , insomuch that the family of iulius caesar being extinct in the person of domitius nero who was the sixt in descent ( as afore was told ) the name caesar ceas'd to be us'd as the name of a family or blood , but it was us'd as a name meer honorary , and precedent to the empire ; afterwards the design'd successor to the empire was call'd despote , after that he was call'd king of italy , then king of germany , and lastly king of the romans , romischer konig in high dutch , and the emperour himself was only call'd caesar keyser in dutch , wch appellation continueth to this day ; and it was charles the 5 who introduc'd the title of king of the romans , who since is acknowleg'd the immediat , and unquestionable apparent heir and to succeed in the empire , whether it be by resignation , by deprivation , or death , being in proximo fastigio collocatus to the emperour ; nay som civilians hold that the king of the romans may make edicts without the regnant emperour , being bound only as they say , majestatem imperialem comiter observare , making him hereby to owe a duty of reverence , but not of superiority to the keysar or emperour . the 4 section . touching the diet or imperial parlement , and the members therof , with the division of germany , and the strength of the emperour . the german empire is divided to ten circles , viz. austria the high , and low , franconia , bavaria , saxonia , westphalia , the lower circle of saxony , burgundy , the two palatinatts ; the goverment wherof is principally in the emperour , contractedly in the electors , and diffusively in the diet or imperiall parlement , and other courts , wherof the chamber of spire is the supreme , whence ther is no appeal . in the diets , after the emperour , the princes electors are the prime state , among whom the prelats have still the priority ; the second state is compos'd of four arch-bishops , viz. he of magdenkurg ( who is primat of all germany ) he of salzburg , he of besanson , and the arch-bishop of breme , which archbishoprick the kings of denmark have had a long time ; then ther are one and thirty bishops , and eleven abbats , wherof he of fulda is the chief , having above fourscore thousand rich dollers in annuall revenue ; then come the secular princes of the empire , wherof the arch-dukes of austria are first , and they are divided into two branches , viz. of germany and burgundy . the third estate is compos'd of imperial towns which are about sixty five in nomber , som wherof hold soly from the emperour ( which are accounted the most noble , ) and some are relevant from other princes . ther is another sort of towns call'd the hansiatique towns , twixt whom ther is a strong confederacy , and fraternal league in merchantile affairs : they are divided into fower classes , or metropolitan cities , to wit lubeck , colen , brunswick , and danzick , who have a solemn yeerly convention at lubeck where they keep their records . the hans or hansiatique association is of long antiquity ; touching the word , some wold fetch it from hand , because they of the society plight their faith when they enter into the fraternity ; others derive it from the word hansa , which is counsell or advice in the gothique toung ; others wold have it from hander see which signifieth a place neer the sea , and this passeth for the most current etymologie , in regard that all their townes are so situated , or upon som navigable river leading to the sea . the extent of the old hans was from the nerve in liefland , as far as the banks of the rhin , comprehending about 62 townes of trassique , whereof the fower great towns afore nam'd were the several precincts ; the kings of poland , and sweden have sued to be their protector , but they refus'd them , because they were not princes of the empire ; they put off the king of denmarque also with a complement , nor wold they admit of the king of spain when he was most powerfull in the netherlands , though afterwards they desir'd his help when 't was too late ; they refus'd also the duke of anjou , notwithstanding that the world thought at that time he shold have married queen elizabeth of england , who appeer'd for him in this busines , wherby 't was probable , they might have recover'd their old priviledges in england ; so that i do not find that they had any other protector ( unles of late yeers ) but the great master of prussia , and their want of a protector did do them some prejudice in that famous difference they had with queen elizabeth ; the old hans had extraordinary immunities conceded unto them by our henry the third , because they assisted him in his warrs with so many ships , and , as they pretended , the king was not only to pay them for the service of the sayed ships , but for the vessels themselfs in case they miscarried ; now , it fortun'd , that upon their return to germany from serving henry the third ; a great part of their fleet was cast away by distresse of weather , for which according to covenant they demanded reparation ; our king in lieu of money gave them some immunities , and among other acts of grace , they were to pay but one per cent custom , which continued till queen maries time , and by the advice of king philip her husband she enhanc'd the one to twenty percent ; the hans not only complain'd , but clammor'd allowd for breach of their ancient privileges confirm'd unto them by long prescription from thirteen successive kings of england , which they pretended to have pourchas'd with their money ; king philip undertook to accommodat the busines , but queen mary dieng , a ltttle after ( out of a conceit of the lesse of calais , which she sayed upon her death-bed should be found engraven in her heart if she were open'd ) and he retiring hence , there could be nothing done ; complaints being made afterwards to queen elizabeth , she answered , that , as she wold not innovat any thing , so she would protect them still in the immunities , and condition she found them . hereupon their navigation , and traffic was suspended awhile , which prov'd very advantagious to the english , for they tryed what they could do themselfs herein , and after som adventures they thrive so well that they took the whole trade into their own hands , and so divided themselfs to staplers , and merchant adventurers , the one residing constant in one place , the other stirring , and adventuring to divers towns abroad with cloth , and other manufactures ; this so netled the hans , that they devis'd all the wayes they could to draw upon them the ill opinion of other nations ; moreover the hans towns being a body incorporated in the german empire , complain'd to the emperour , who sent over ambassadors to mediat the busines , but they return'd still re infectâ ; herupon the queen caus'd a proclamation to be publish'd , that the merchants of the hans shold be intreated , and us'd as all other strangers within her dominions in point of comerce , without any mark of distinction . this nettled them the more , therupon they bent their forces more eagerly , and in an imperial diet at ratisbon they procur'd that the english merchants who had associated themselfs in corporations both in embden , and other places , shold be adjudg'd monopolists ; whereupon ther was a comitial edict procur'd against them that they shold be exterminated , and banish'd out of all parts of the empire , which was done by the activity of suderman a great civilian ; ther was there at that time for queen elizabeth mr. gilpin , as nimble a man as suderman , and he had the chancellor of embden to countenance and second him , but they could not stop the edict wherby the society of english merchants adventurers were pronounc'd a monopoly ; yet gilpin played his cards so well that he wrought under hand that the sayed imperial ban shold not be publish'd till after the dissolution of the diet , and that in the interim his imperial majesty shold send an ambassador to england to advertise the queen of such proceedings against her merchants ; but this made so little impression on the queen , that the sayed ban grew to be rather ridiculous than formidable ; for the town of embden harbour'd our merchants notwithstanding , and afterwards the town of stode ; but they , being not so able to protect them against the imperial ban removed , and settled themselfs in hamburgh ; after this the queen commanded another proclamation to be publish'd , that the hansiatique merchants shold be allowd to trade into england upon the same conditions and payments as their own subjects did , provided that the english merchants might have the same privileges , to reside , and trade peaceably in stode or hamburgh , or anywhere else within the precincts of the hans ; this incens'd them more , therupon endeavours were made to cut off stode , and hamburgh from being members of the hans , or of the empire , but they suspended this dessein till they saw what successe the great spanish armada shold have which was then preparing in the year 88 , for they had not long before made their addresse to the king of spain which had done them som good offices ; wherfore to this day king philip and his councell were tax'd of a great oversight , that ther was no use made of the hans towns in that great expedition against england . queen elizabeth finding that they of the hans were not contented with that equality she had offer'd to make twixt them , and her own subjects , put out a proclamation that they shold transport neither corn , victuals , arms , timber , masts , cables , metals , and any other materials , or men to spain , or portugal ; and after , the queen growing more redoubted , and famous by the overthrow of the fleet in 88 , the hans began to despair of doing any good ; add herunto that another disafter befell them , which was the taking of 60 sayles of their shipps about the mouth of the river of lisbon by the queens shipps , that went laden with ropas de contrabando , or goods prohibited by her former proclamations into the dominions of spain ; and as these shipps were ready to be discharged , she had intelligence of an extraordinary assembly at lubeck , which had purposely mett to consult of means to be reveng'd of her , therupon she made absolute prize of the sayed 60 shipps , only two were freed to bring home tydings what became of the rest ; herupon the pole sent a ranting ambassador in the behalf of the hans , who spake in a high tone , but the queen herself did suddenly answer him in a higher . these premisses being well considered , it prov'd an advantagious thing for england that this clash fell out betwixt her and the hans , for ever since the english merchants have beaten a peacefull and an un-interrupted trade into high and low germany , with their manufactures of wool , the golden fleece of england , and found also a way through the white sea to archangell , and mosco , which may be sayed to have been the chiefground of that encrease of shipping , mariners , and merchandising which she is come unto . now , ther is one passage in this relation observable , that the hans-towns , do not tie themselfs to obey the bans , and edicts of the imperial diet no further than it conduceth to their own interest , as it appeer'd by the examples of embden , stode and hamburgh , in the traverses of this busines , which towns stuck stil to the english factories , notwithstanding the publique transactions & prohibitions of the diet to the contrary , aeneas sylvius hath a memorable critical saying of the german diets when he sayeth omnes germanorum dietas esse valde faecundas , et quamlibet in ventre habere alteram , ac credible est quia faemineum sit nomen libenter impregnari , pietas est parturire . all the german diets are fruitfull , in regard ev'ry one hath another commonly in its belly , and 't is credible because diet is of the faeminine gender she is more willing to be got with child ; wherunto alluded also the saying of ( charles the fift , viz. that the german diets were like vipers , for as these destroy their damms , so the latter decrees of diets destroy the former . i have dwelt longer upon this particular , than my propos'd brevity requir'd , but the hans being that part of the empire with whom england hath most correspondence in point of negotiation and comerce , i suffred my self to be transported till my pen came to a full period . the fift section . a parallel twixt the empire passd , and the present , with the causes of the declination therof , &c. though by the tru rule of proportion , no parallel canbe made 'twixt the roman empire pass'd , and the present , no more than 'twixt an eagle and a wren , yet because comparisons and examples conduce much to the elucidation of things , somthing shall be said to that point . the roman monarchy when she was at the highest altitude of greatnes , and glory , may be sayed to have had no horizon , while she sate upon her seven hills she may be sayed to have overlook'd the world ; she was once fifty miles in circuit , and five hundred thousant free citizens were computed to be within her walls , by that famous cense which was made that vopiscus relates ; the roman eagle fix'd his talons upon the banks of euphrates eastward , on the nile south , on the danube and the rhin northward , and flew west as farr as the british and german seas ; her annual revenues were then computed at a hundred and fifty millions , wherof the salary of her legionary soldiers amounted to above twenty milions ; some of her generals usually brought ten thousand talents into her aerarium , her exchequer , at their return from abroad , and gabinius twenty thousand ; som of her emperours are recorded to have strew'd the amphitheater with gold sand in their publique spectacles , & triumphs , so she might well have taken then the 5 vowels for her symbole a , e , i , o , v , which signified , aquila , electa , iustè , omnia , vincit . but she may be sayed to have shrunk since from a giantess to a dwarf , insomuch that he who hath the empire now may be sayed to have an eagles feather only in his capp , for he must have somthing of his own to support the sacred caesarian majesty , els he may be put to live upon alms ; take all the tributes of the free towns , they come but to five thousand crowns a yeer , but for any tru fundum , or real estate ther 's none ; he depends meerly upon the plesure of the diet for all publique pecuniary erogations , and taxes ; and wheras we read that charles the fift had once ninety thousand foot , and thirty five thousand effectif horse against solyman , and above that nomber against the lutherans , most of those were leavied in his own dominions , and patrimonial territories , insomuch that if the roman eagles were not imp'd with austrian feathers they wold be as bald as a coot . yet germany or almain , as the knowing statists have delivered their opinions , is a continent of that large expansion , and so well peepled , that take the whole bulk together she is able to rayse two hundred thousand effectif men , and maintain them by a general unanimous contribution . now , my lord , if you desire to know the reason of this so great an alteration and decay of the roman empire , ther were many causes concurr'd therunto , the main cause was touch'd before , viz. the translation of caesars court from rome to constantinople , wherby italy , and the rest of the western parts of the empire were left obvious and as a prey to other nations ; add herunto the dismembring of the empire into east and west , with other accidents pointed at before . but for the declination of the occidental empire founded by charlemain , ther was a greater concurrence of caufes ; first the unhappy partition that lewis the gentle charlemains son , made of the empire to find a-pannage and portions for his sons , wherof he had three ; adde herunto , that when the empire came to be within the german pale , and italy became but a province to germany , being to be dispos'd of by the colledg of electors , they who aspir'd to be emperours , or to have their sons to succeed them us'd to prepossesse , and oblige the electors by donatifs , and indeed no lesse than bribes , as charles the fourth to make his son vvenceslaus capable to succeed him , offer'd them a hundred thousand florins apeece , as aeneas sylvius hath it , but having no ready money to satisfy them , he transferr'd , and pass'd over som imperial townes unto them , wherof the count palatin of the rhin had three for his share at one time , viz. openheim , inquelien , & keyserlausen . it is recorded in the imperial annals that gerardus archbishop of mentz was call'd pro pola imperii , the hucster of the empire , and having conspir'd with others of his complices against albert the first , and design'd to elect another emperour , the sayed gerardus having a hunting horn about him , and being a potent popular man , he winded out these words in hoc cornu complures gesto caesares , in this horn i carry many keysars , viz. caesars ; the empour taking this in indignation , by the speciall benediction of heaven , he was quit with him , and his confederats afterwards , by making them carry doggs about the countrey so many miles , which is acccounted in germany the disgracefullest and most opproprious kind of punishment that can be inflicted upon a nobleman , or gentleman , wheras a boore or plebean is condemn'd according to the quality of his offence to carry only a chair from one county to another ; such a peculiar punishment ther was of old in france , for wheras ther was a law call'd la loy de la chevelure that none shold wear long hair but the nobles , he who had committed any degenerous offence was adjudg'd to have his hair cutt off before the tribunal of iustice , and so was degraded from being a gentleman , his honor going away with his hair , and so made a roturier or yeoman : the story tells us that the emperour frederique barbarossa made hermannus count palatin of the rhin , and ten counts more to carry doggs above one german mile , for the praedations , and ill balancing of dollars , with other insolences they had committed while he was in italy warring with the pope , against whom we read he had twelve pitched battails . such another clash the emperour conradus had with guelphus duke of bavaria , who bore up a good while against him , at last the emperour , recruting his army with italian auxiliaries , shut up the duke in vvinsberga , and beleagred him so close that he was ready to famish ; and the emperour having bin provok'd so farr that he had vow'd to put all to fyre and sword , the duchesse being a comely couragious lady went through the throng of the army into the emperours tent , and made such a flexanimous speech which so melted the emperour , that he publish'd a proclamation , that for her sake all the women of vvinsberga shold have safe conduct to depart and carry away upon their backs as much of their most precious wealth that they could bear . herupon the dutchesse took the duke upon her back , and evry wife by her example her husband , mayds and unmarried women took up their brothers , and kindred , and so all marched out ; the emperour being much taken with this witty peece of humanity , publish'd a generall act of amnestia , and so the duke was redintegrated into his favor . this memorable story i couch'd once into verse , being a task impos'd upon me , and the epigram runns thus . tempore quo bavarum superârat roma guëlghum , seria festivo res fuit acta joco ; conradus victor vvinsbergam oblesserat vrbem , hinc fame , deditio facta , premente , fuit ; matribus at miserans bavaris , sponsaeque guelphi , induperator iis tale diploma dedit ; quaelibet ut mulier tuto cum rebus abiret quas humeris posset sustinuisse suis . cum reliquis comitissa novo diplomate nixa inde viros portant , pondera grata , suos . pendebant collo nati nataeque lacertis sic abiit licita faemina virque fugâ ; hac delectatus caesar pietate , pepercit omnibus , atque novum cum duce faedus init . but to return where we left , another cause of the empours decay , was , that being often reduc'd to som exigents for want of money , they us'd to have recours to the richest imperial towns for a supply , who us'd to lend them money , and the emperours payed them their money back with immunities ; many towns in italy got their necks out of caesars yoak this way , and som of them very cheap , as florence , for it cost her but six thousand crownes , and luca ten thousand ; &c. in so much that the liberties of most of the free citties of italy , much more of high and low germany , sprung out of the necessities of the emperours , wherby their power as well as their glory did daylie decline ; adde herunto that the bishopps of rome feather'd their nests from time to time with the eagles plumes , specially in italy , for besides the city of rome , and the countreys adjacent , such was the high reverence the church had in those daies that many other territories were given to the apostolical see , and since , by well devoted princes , insomuch that the pope is grown herby to he a great temporal prince , for the state of the church extends above three hundred miles in length , and about two hundred miles in breadth ; it contains the dutchy of ferrara , bologna , romania , the marquisat of ancona , sabina , perugia , with a part of toscany , the patrimony of saint peter , and latium ; in these there are above 50 bishopricks ; he doth signorize also over the dutchy of spoleto and the exarchat of ravenna , he hath the towns of benevento in the kingdom of naples , and the county of venisse in france call'd avignon , he hath title good enough to naples also herself , and calabria , but rather than incurr the diplesure of the king of spain his champion , and chief supporter of his chair , he is contented with an annual heriot of a white mule with a pursfull of pistols about her neck ; he pretends also to be lord paramount of sicily , urbin , parma , and masseran , as also of norway , ireland , and england since king iohn did prostrat our crown at pandulpho his legats feet : his dominions reach from one sea to another , viz. from the tyrrhene to the adriatique , and these territories run through the center of italy , which enables the pope to do good or harm to the princes about him , and makes him capable to be an vmpire , or a potent enemy , his authority being mixt twixt secular and spiritual , for he can use the sword , and thunder-bolt of excommunication at plesure ; and ( to return to our chief subject ) most of the countreys pointed at before being feathers of the eagle did much decrease her strength . moreover , as the roman church did this way impair the power of the empire , so the reformed church , and the difference of religion in germany did much enfeeble it ; for those princes who turn'd lutherans daylie encroach'd upon , and impropriated the demeans of the church , which was a great support to the emperour , being more devoted to him ; than to the secnlar princes . but to go a little more particularly to work , we will not rove in asia and afrique where so many mighty parts of the continent fell from the roman empire , nor will we look so farr back in europe as to speak of the defection of spain , france , and great britain , which was the first province that fell from rome , though indeed rome may he sayed to have fallen first from her , being not able by reason of warrs she had in other countreys , to protect the britains against the picts , as england sayes now in point of religion that she had never fallen away from rome , unlesse rome had fallen from her self ; i say we will not look so fart back , but come to more modern times since the empire came within the german pale ; the suisses were one of the last that revolted , who being summon'd to the imperiall chamber at spire , they sent a rough hewn ambassadors totell the imperial councel in these words , domini confaederati heluetii vos vicinos suos salvere jubent , mirantur verò quod tam crebris citationibus , &c. the lords confaederats of switzerland do greet you their neighbours , but they wonder that by your so frequent citations you wold disquiet them , therfore they pray and exhort you , that you would no further molest them . in charles the fifts time the livonians fell off , and he summoning them to their obedience , and menacing to reduce them otherwise by force , they sent him a geering answer , that they beleev'd his horse wold tyre before he could reach the skirts of liefland , as thuanus hath it . a german author hath it upon record , that since the reign of rodolph the first , above two hundred states and princes have un-membred , and emancipated themselfs from the german emperour , who were us'd to obey his summons , & make their apparance accordingly . touching germany it self , 't is tru , that it is a huge continent , and full of princes , which make som compare her to a firmament spangled with stars ; others compare the emperour to a great luminary incircled with the seven planets , meaning the septemvirat , or the colledg of electors , and not improperly , for this agrees with the caesarean arms , which are sol , saturn arm'd , and crown'd mars , and the eagle displayed with two heads ; yet , though therby the emperour be call'd rex regum , these princes are prejudicial to his greatnes , wherof ibraim ambassador to solyman the great turk gave a hint by an ingenuous fable which was thus ; when maximilian the second was chosen emperour , the foresayed ibraim was then at frankfort , who having bin a spectator to the ceremony , and observ'd what great princes attended the emperour that day , and being told that som of them could rayse an army of them selfs , and maintain it against any power , the ambassador smilingly sayed , that he doubted not of the puissance of germany , but he observ'd that the minds and actions , the counsels and interests of the germans were like a beast with many heads , and tayls , which in case of necessity being to pass through a hedg , and ev'ry head seeking to find a particular hole to pass thorough , they were a hindrance one to another , ev'ry head drawing after his own fancy , and so hazarded the destruction both of all the heads body & tayls : but the empire of solyman his great master was like a beast with many tayls , yet she had but one head , which head being to get thorough or over any passage , without any confusion , or difference of fancy , all the tayls , and the whole body follow'd smoothly after . lastly , the fatallst cause of the decay of caesar was the monstrou ; successes of the mahumetan , whose half moon fill'd out of the wane of the roman empire both east and west , it being a sad saying , that whersoever the turks horse sets once his foot , ther 's no christian grasse will ever grow there again . the sixth section , of enlarging the colledg of electors from seven to an octumvirat , and the contest that is now twixt the count palatin of the rhin , and the duke of bavaria touching the vicarship of the empire . the attempting the crown of bohemia by frederiqne count palatin of the rhin , as it prov'd unsuccessfull unto himself and family , so it prov'd fatal to all christendom besides ( as the preceding comet did foretell an. 1618. ) for directly or collaterally it hath bin the cause of all the warrs that happen'd ever since in christendome , which made king iames , as if he had bin prophet as well as prince to say unto his privy councell , upon the first tydings which were brought him that his son-in-law was gone to prague , my lords , this is a sad busines , and the youngest man amongst us shall not live to see the end of it which prov'd tru . the bohemian crown was first offer'd by the revolters to the duke of saxony , but hee out of a political prudence , as well as out of the fidelity and alleageance he ow'd the emperour , declin'd it ; then they reflected upon the count palatin of the rhin as a prince that might be par negotio , and able to go through-stitch with it , in regard of his powerful alliances , the king of great britain being his father-in-law , the king of denmark his onckle , the states of holland his confederatts , and maurice prince of orenge with the duke of bovillon ( who was call'd the old ardenian fox ) being also his oncles , which last three , incited him first unto that great attempt , though he paus'd a good while upon it , and resolv'd twice to decline it , till his lady seem'd to reproch his pusillanimity , telling him , had you sir , the courage to venture upon a king of great britains sole daughter , and will you not venture upon a crown when 't is offer'd you ? the count palatin then was look'd upon as one of the fortunatst princes in germany , having the best lady in his bed , the best stable of horses , the best library of books , the best cellar of wine of any of the rest . maximilian the old duke of bavaria , stuck close to the emperour in this quartell , for by his assistance and conduct an army of 25000. was routed by lesse then fifteen thousand , and the city of prague with the whole kingdom was recover'd for the emperour ; on the otherside by the arms of the king of spain and the conduct of marquis spinola the palatinat was conquer'd , though the princes of the vnion had an army of forty thousand effectif men under , the marquis of ansback and others to defend it , but 't was sayed that dolus versabatur in generalibus , that the generals were corrupted , and that the acquest was made more by spanish pistolls , than by spinola's sword . herupon at a solemn assembly of the electors at ratisbon anno 1623 , the electorship of the rhin , and the archidapifership , with all the prerogatives , and perquisits , the authorities and enfranchisements , and honors annexed therunto was conferr'd upon the duke of bavaria for term of life ; but in another assembly 1628 , which was five yeers after at prague , this great grant was not only confirm'd unto him during his own life , but entayl'd upon his heirs to perpetuity , and withall , the upper palatinat was transferr'd unto him , with the county of cham in consideration of his expences in the wars , which amounted to thirteen million of dollars . but in the treaties at munster and osnabrug anno 1652 , fower and twenty yeers after , this grant was qualified , that in case the gulihelmian line which is the house of bavaria did fayl without masculine issue , the electorship of the rhin , with the archidapifership and all the prerogatives therof shold revert to the rodulphian line which is the palatin , being the elder house of the two . now , concerning the gulielmian or bavarian line ther are but 4 living , wherof two are churchmen , viz. the archbishop of colen , and the bishop of frizing , which can leave no issue behind ; then is ther the now duke of bavaria and his brother , nor are they also likely to get issue , for as the tradition in germany goes maximilian the former duke of bavaria having maried the last emperours sister who was young , and the duke being old and crazy having 5 issues then about his body , ther were some jesuitts that brought such a prolifical cordial from italy that enabled the old duke to get children , but those children shold be impotent and barren , as it hath hitherto prov'd tru , insomuch the palsgrave is in fair hopes to get the electorship of the rhin again in a short time , and then the eighth electorship must be extinguished . besides , publicae tranquillitatis causa , as the instrumentum pacis hath it , for setling a firm and general everlasting peace in germany which had bin so miserably depopulated and torn by the late wars , which had not only scratch'd her face , but rent her very bowels , for about thirty yeers together , as also for diremption of all strife for the future , the count palatin was created the eighth elector , which is term'd in the instrument by a new coynd epithet or logical term simultanea investitura , a joint or contemporary investiture ; and because ther 's an office annexed to ev'ry electorat , he was made arch-treasurer of the empire , which he executed at the election of the last king of the romans , and the coronation of the empresse at ratisbon , by throwing medaills some of gold , some of sylver among the peeple ; under this notion he hath a session and suffrage in the colledg of electors , but he must be content to sitt last of all ; moreover by the said instrument of accommodation at munster , he was to renounce all right pro tempore not only to the upper palatinat , and the county of cham , but he was to part with the bergstrad ( one of the best parts of the lower palatinat ) and re-deliver it to the archbishop of mentz , who had oppignorated , and pawn'd it to his ancestor anno 1463 for a sum of money , but cum pacto perpetuae reluitionis , with a proviso that it might be redeem'd at all times . the emperour ferdinand the third , being not long since dead ther arose a contest , which continues still undecided , 'twixt the elector palatin , and his cosen , and co-elector the duke of bavaria about the vicarship of the roman empire ; and to illustrat this point the better it must be understood that by the fundamental laws of the empire , exemplified in the aurea bulla , it is enacted , that in the absence of the emperour ( who was us'd oft in former times to crosse the alpes to italy ) or after his death during the vacancy or interregnum , ther were two vicars or imperial deputies appointed to manage the affaires of the empire , to witt the count palatin of the rhin , for the jurisdictions of franconia , svevia , and the country about the rhin , and the duke of saxony for those large territories that lay within that circle ; the bavarian alledgeth that this prerogative of vicarship appertain'd unto the count palatin of the rhin ratione electoratus , by vertu of the electorship , & the office of archidapifer or chief sewer of the sacred empire , for which he produceth the golden bull both in the original latin , and also translated into dutch ; hee takes also the great instrument of munster for his buckler , wherin the sayed electorship of the rhin , and the ofice of archsewership with all the prerogatives , perquisits , and appendixes therunto belonging , wherof the vicarship is the chiefest , is totally transferr'd uuto him and his issue male to perpetuity . the count palatin utterly denies that , and positively affirmeth that this office and prerogative of vicariat was conferr'd upon him and practis'd by his progenitors before ever the colledg of electors , and the subsequent aurea bulla was constituted , which bull or magna charta of the german empire was not the donor but confirmer only of that great ancestrial prerogative which inconcussa consuetudine , by an unshaken custom belong'd to his family ; avouching further , that it is an annexum inseparabile comitatus , that it is an heirloome of the county palatin of the rhin , in which county he was formally and plenarily reinvested in the yeer 1652 : he excepts likewise against the translation of the sayed aurea bulla into the teutonique , or high dutch , alleadging it is erroneous in many passages ; and lastly concludes that his progenitors enjoyed this prerogative of vicariat , ratione comitatus , not electoratus , as may be inferr'd out of the politicall reason why that office was conferr'd upon his ancestors wch was in regard of the position of their ditions & territories which lye apposit & proper to have the goverment of those countreys of franconia svevia , &c. because they are situated neer , & som of them conterminant with the rhin . this controversy remains still indecided ; in the interim the protestants of those parts make their addresses to the count palatin , and the roman catholiques to the bavarian as their occasions require , either for renewing or letting of leases , the forfeiture of felons goods , the protection of idiots , and lunatiques , &c. the seventh section . some reflexes made upon the present coniuncture of things , and the political condition of germany , with a coniecture who is likely to be king of the romans , and consequently the next emperour . having allready , my lord , in a succinct , but i hope , some satisfactory way treated of the german empire , of the octumvirat , or colledg of electors , with other matters concident , and homogeneous with this subject , i shall now wind up this small bottome , and conclude with some glances upon the present estate of germany , together with the particular interests therof . your lordship hath read before that the office of emperour , in statu quo nunc , is meerly a title , and like a feather in one's capp , whosoever undertakes it must have pillars of his own to support it ; now among the princes of germany , the duke of saxony , next after the house of austria , is thought to be best able to bear the three imperial crowns , and at the late emperours death he began to be much spoken of , but ( as an observing gentleman , who came lately thence , told mee ) all the peeple that are under his subjection did rise up , and with open mouth protested against it , cryeng out that they wold put themselfs under the protection of another prince , if he wold be the keysar ; now , the reason is , that if the elector of saxe were emperour , he must of necessity enhance their tolls and taxes to support the dignity . the duke of bavaria since he hath bin invested in the upper palatinat , and the county of cham , is grown very considerable , and to be able to counterpoise the saxe in power , their yeerly revenues amounting to above a million of rich dollars apeece ; besides , the bavarian sylver mines have wonderfully thriven of late yeers both for the purenes , and quantity of bullion ; and if maximilian the former duke of bavaria could lay out thirteen millions for the service of the emperour , in consideration wherof he had at first a part of the territories of austria hypothequ'd unto him , and afterwards the upper palts and the county of cham transferr'd unto him , together with the electorship of the rhin in full and valuable satisfaction of the said 13 millions , i say if the former duke was so powerfull , it may be well inferr'd that the present duke is much more , by the new acquests he hath made , and so might be capable of the empire , but notwithstanding that the french is sayed to spurr him on , and that the elector of colen be his oncle , yet 't is not probable he will make any competition with his cousin-germin the king of hungary , his peeple like them of saxony being also very averse therunto , though his peeple be in a surer way of subjection and vassalage unto him , than other germans are , ther being no great ones in his dominions to clash with him . touching the marquis of brandenburg , though he be great master of the teutonique order , and hath such spacious and large territories that he can go upon his own demeans above 500 miles from cleve to the furthest parts of prussia , yet is he thought to be inferiorto the other two in revenues , & wealth , therfore the lesse able to bear the weight of the german empire ; adde herunto that of the eight electors , five are still roman catholiques , so that it is improbable , a protestant shold be chosen , for ther are such ceremonies to be perfotm'd that are incompatible with a protestant , besides the pope wold never confirm such an emperour , and without his confirmation no emperour can be call'd augustus . touching the king of denmark though he be capable of the empire being a kind of german , yet the nature of those kings and peeple hath bin rather to preserve what they have than to extend their country further ; moreover the present king is ingag'd in an open war against the swed ; ther is also a late clash 'twixt him , and the town of hamborough about the huldygen , which is an inauguration to be her protector , as his father was : for hamborough was built upon , and stands still upon the king of denmarks ground ; yet she refuseth to huld him , alledging that she bought him out for great summes of money , and so pretends to be now an imperial free town , and to hold soly from the keyser ; wheras others averre that she is meer hansiatique within the verge of lubeck her neighbour , which is the chiefest of the first precinct of the old hans , as was touch'd before . adde herunto that the last king of denmark hath some particular obligations to the house of austria , his great gran-mother having bin charles the fifts sister . besides , when general tilly was like in the eye of human reson with a veteran victorious army to overcom all holsteyn , ferdinand this king of hungaries gran-father made a friendly , and favourable peace with christian the fourth , who had invaded germany with a considerable army , but with little successe , in the behalf of the count palatin of the rhin his nephew . the swed mought have bad fair for the imperial golden apple had he took firmer footing in poland , and succeeded in his notable designs further ; nay , his army being compos'd of soldiers of fortune , might still by new recreuts as they push'd on their hopes , have prov'd in time as formidable , and fatal to the test of christendome as their ancestors the goths and vandales were of old , who pierc'd the very center of europe to find warmer habitations . nor was the swed altogether incapable to have stood for it in regard of those territories which gustavus got , and annexed to the crown of sweden within the pale of the empire , viz. pomerland , and breme ; but the dane entring into a new warr with him , and the marquis of brandenburg deserting him , and having the house of austria , the pole , the moscovit his actual enemies besides , 't is thought his hopes are blasted for enlarging his dominions at this time , but 't is well if he can now secure sweden it self , much more the new acquests aforesaid in germany ; specially his friends ( viz. england and france ) being so remote from him , and his enemies so neer about him . the french king , though i beleeve he be in despair to have it himself , he being exterus & non germanus , a scranger and no german , and ther being a fundamental law that no forrener be emperour , as ther is a sanction in the conclave among the cardinals , that no tramontane , viz. one born this side the alps can be pope , i say , though the king of france looks not for it himself , yet he spends all the interests he hath , and is like to employ all the power he can with all the artificies besides to cajoll , i will not say , corrupt the electors for the secluding of the young king of hungary , and that the empire shold not be alwayes a prostitut to one family . but france they say hath few real friends in germany among the princes ; 't is true the elector of tryers being perpetual arch-chancelor of france , hath always bin , and is still fleurdelizè , he is flowdeliz'd and frenchified all over , and france alwaies sticks to him also upon all occasions ; 't was about him that ther was such a counterbuff 'twixt lewis the thirteenth , and gustaphus adolphus , because he had invaded part of his territories ; 't was for his sake , besides the still growing greatnesse of spain , that this present warr was denounc'd by sound of herald against the house of austria , by the last french king : moreover , 't is tru that the marquis of brandenburg while he lately adher'd to the swed was devoted to france , but since he hath accommodated matters with the pole , he hath chang'd his interest , and is like to enter into the general league they speak of to be made between the princes of the empire for preserving the common peace of germany against all that shall attempt to disturb it ; and besides the electors themselfs , the duke of brunswick , prince of anbalt , luneberg , lawenburg , the landgrave of hesse , darmstad't , baden , newburgh , wittemburgh , though the last , and some of the other smell rank of the french interest , yet to prevent a new warr in germany they are like to enter into the foresayed patrial league , together with all the imperial and hansiatical towns . touching the palsgrave , or prince palatin of the rhin , 't is tru that ther hath bin a great deal of intimacy , and reciprocal leagues twixt his progenitors , and france , but the last emperour and his son the king of the romans oblig'd him ( and his brother prince rupert ) by many recent civilities ; at the treaties of osnabrug , and munster the emperour wold have his busines to be dispatch'd first , and was very indulgent of him all along the while ; the fower hundred thousand dollars which were assign'd himself , and to make portions and apennages for his younger brothers , the twenty thousand dollars that were awarded the lady dowager his mother pro victalitio , and the ten thousand dollars which were assign'd for dowries to evry one of his sisters , were all granted as the words of the instrument run pro benevolo suae majestatis caesareae affectu ergo domum palatinam , for the benevolent affection his imperial majesty bore to the family of the palatin , which summes the emperour punctually payed ; moreover at the coronation of the empresse , and the creation of the last king of the romans , the prince palatin officiated in person , and ther were many endearments pass'd twixt the emperour , and him ; in so much that 't is thought he will be no back frend to his son the now king of hungary when the busines of election comes to be canvas'd . these premisses , & particular interests being well considered , in the eye of all humane probality 't is thought , that the last emperours son leopoldus ignatius , now king of bohemia and hungary , &c. and being one of the electors himself , and chiefest of the temporals , is like to be the man , and make the fourtinth emperour of a direct austrian line ; and they who think thus , ground their conjectures upon divers reasons deduc'd from the present posture of things . first , because the iunta , or assembly of the princes electors is stil deferr'd , and like to be so , till the sayed king of hungary be come to his majority , which by the german law in this point is at eighteen yeers , and this will be in iune next ; then being out of his bassage , or minority , he is capable both to be king of the romans , and to have a suffrage among the electors as he is king of bohemia , and archbuttler of the sacred empire . secondly , because if the king of hungary have the canvas , and be rejected , ther will be an inevitable warr in germany , which she will avoyd if possible she can , having had not only her face scratch'd , but her very entrails rent asunder for so many yeers by a cruentous lingring warr , and the deep wounds she receav'd thence are not yet consolidated in som places . thirdly , because ther is no prince so potent and proper to bear the weight of this great burden than the king of hungary , or to keep out and encounter the common enemy , to witt , the turk , as hee , for he hath not only most of the dominions of austria , but two kingdomes besides situated on the confines , and serving as ramparts against him by land , as the republique of venice doth by sea ; insomuch that both the danger , as well as security of the house of austria is involv'd with the empire it self , and indeed of all europe . now we shall find all these countreys in the title of the last emperour , which runns as followe's . ferdinandus tertius divinâ favente clementia electus romanorum imperator , semper augustus , ac germaniae , hungariae , bohemiae , dalmatiae , croatiae , slavoniae , &c. rex , archidux austriae , dux burgundiae , bragantiae , stiriae , carinthiae , carniolae , &c. marchio moraviae , dux lucemburgiae , ac superioris & inferioris silesiae , wittemburgiae , & teckae , princeps sveviae , comes haspurgi , & gloritiae , langravius alsatiae , marchio sacri imperii romani , burgaviae , ac superioris , et inferioris lusatiae , dominus marchiae slavonicae , portus naonis , & salinarum , &c. in this accumulation of eight and twenty titles ther are but two that he had from the empire , viz. the stile of emperour , and ring of germany , all the rest are appendixes of the house of austria ; and the king of spaiu who is of the elder house hath many more , being great granchild to the emperour charlesle quint , who made a spontaneous resignation of the empire to ferdinand his second brother , though as a privat author hath it , the second day after his resignation , was the first day of his repentance . now , to rayse up the house of austria to this altitude , six of the greatest families of europe concentred in one , viz. austria , burgundy , castile , aragon , hungary , and portugal , so that it may be call'd a palace six stories high , ( though as emperour he hath not a house to hide his head in ) austriacûm domus armipotens sex fulta columnis . fourthly , because the house of austria hath the good wishes of the pope , and of the iesuitts , who underhand do good offices for him , though the pope dare not appeer publiquely in the busines for fear of giving any distaste to france ; for he may be sayed to hold france , and portugal also , as one doth a dog by the ears , fearing they shold run away from him to patriarks of their own making ; nor hath any king in christendom a greater temptation to fall away from rome , in regard the gallican church , by a late computation which was made , hath above three hundred and forty millions of liures in annual revenue , which , shold he renounce the pope , wold devolve most of it to the crown . moreover , this gentleman told me that the electors , with the princes and cities of empire , are more and more sensible to find the king of france shold appeer so much , and as som write , intrude himself into this busines , by sending ambassadors with such gawdy trains , whose rich liureys are like to be worn out before the election day , so that they had needed to have brought a lantern and candle with them comming so long before day , as one made a pasquill of them in frankfort , who with som difficulty did open her gates unto them , it being an ancient constitution of the empire , that none shold be admitted to lodge in the town where the election is to be held , but the princes electors themselfs and their train , which come to nere upon two thousand horse ; but the germans are more sensible and startled , that the french shold draw such forces to their frontires as to metz , philipsburg , and brisack ( for brisack-bridg makes now france and germany one continued piece , ) as if ther wer a design hereby to controul the electors in their choice , and embroyl germany again in a warr ; which puts the young king of hungary to extraordinary expences , of making new levies , insomuch that he will have by the next spring , as they write , an army of 50 thousand effectif men , to confront the french . but indeed it may be wondred ther shold be any ambition at all , of aspiring to the roman german empire in statu quo nunc , it being but an ayrie bare shadowy title , or a skeleton of part of the old roman monarchy , therfore a late german author confesseth , quod nobis est magnum momentum politicum , exteris est magnum deridiculum , that which we make to be of so high political a consequence , seems to forreners to be but a thing of laughter , alluding to that adoe ther is us'd about the election of an emperour , as in venice to creat a doge who in point of power is no other than tecta di legno a head of wood . nor are those who live under the empire tyed to so strict an obedience , ther is not that exact relation , and reciprocation of subjection , and protection 'twixt the emperour and his vassals , as useth to be 'twixt prince and peeple in other places , where the liegeman is bound to submit , and the liegelord is bound to defend ; touching the later , he spoke like a statist , that sayed , defendere subditos est attributum naturale inhaerens visceribus regiminis , est qualitas infixa ossibus , et indivisibilis , ita utregimen , & protectio unum & idem judicatur indivisible . defence of the subject is a natural attribut inhaering in the very bowels of goverment , 't is a quality infix'd in the very bones therof , insomuch that protection and goverment is adjudg'd to be the self same indivisible thing : 't is not so in the imperial government , wher ther is a looser kind of clientele , and protection ; nor is the submission of the liegeman so absolut , for an imperial ban is not so much obey'd there as an edict in france , a prematica in spain , a proclamation in england , or a placart in the netherlands , wher ther is a more punctual obligation 'twixt prince and peeple , the one to obey , the other to defend their persons , and maintain their privileges ; though som do hold , that a country giving her self to a prince , what privileges soever the peeple reserve to themselfs by contract , they are all lost when they enter into subjection , which by its nature makes a man subordinat to another without any exception , whensoever the publique good is concern'd , and that those privileges by the sayed subjection pass into the nature of concessions of princes afterwards , which they may stretch , restrain , or revoke according to the urgency of their publique occasions ; and when ther is a necessity to do so , the peeple are not allow'd to revolt , or right themselfs by violence ; 't is tru , that in all privat particular treaties the unobservation of the conditions , acquitts the parties from the obligations of the contract , but this doth not reach to soverain princes , when the peeple have once chosen them for their advantage , and security . but to return to our chief matter , the princes , and towns of the empire , though they acknowledg the keyser for their soveraign , yet are they not oblig'd in that strictnes of obedience to him , as their own peeple are to them ; these princes may be sayed to be rather his collegues , and associats in governing rather than snbjects ; it being a rule in germany , that quilibet imperii status in suo territorio tantum possit , quantum imperator in toto imperio , ev'ry state of the empire within his own territory , may do as much as the emperour in the whole empire ; they have power of life and death , they may coyn money , send ambassadors abroad , and make confederacies , and leagues with forren princes , with other territorial prerogatives ; but that power of making leagues was restrain'd in the late treaty at osnabrug , for the instrument sayes , ius faciendi faedera liberum esto , ita tamen ne ejusmodi faedera sint contra imperatorem , & imperium , pacemque ejusdem publicam , let it be free to make confaederacies , provided that the sayed confaederacies be not against the emperour , and the empire , with the publique peace therof ; nay further , the princes of the empire have such a latitude of power that they write se regnare dei gratiâ , that they raign by the grace of god ; and that within the verge of the empire the princes electors are not to give precedence to any other forren prince , or potentat whatsoever ; therefore when charles king of scotland , was a few yeers since at frankfort , the count palatin of the rhin sent him word that he desir'd to give his majesty a visit , but by the constitution of the empire he was not to give priority of place there to any , it being an imperial town , but if his majesty wold please to come to any of his own territories he wold then respect his majesty in that point accordingly . the states of the empire have also a territorial authority , to change their religion at plesure , by a late constitution , where 't is sayed , religionis mutatio est sequela territorialis iurisdictonis , ac inhaeret territorio sicut nebula paludi ; the alteration of religion is a sequele of territorial iurisdiction , and is inhaerent in the territory as a clowd in a pond . by what hath bin spoken it appears what a small extent of power the sacred caesarean majesty hath over those that professe obedience to him ; nay , when ther is a king of the romans 't is a question who hath the greater power the emperour or hee ; for the emperour and the king of the romans may be sayed to be like two sunnes in one firmament , the one declining , the other rising , and the later hath more eyes upon it than the former . by those particulars that have bin pointed at in this section , a conjecture may be made , if not a judgment , who stands fairest to be the next emperour ; but they who harbour some doubts of the king of hungary , have one shrewd argument that he may go without it , which is his late encrease and amplitude of power , for he hath not only the large kingdom of bohemia with the great territories annex'd therunto now as hereditary by way of conquest , but ther is an ovverture , if not an offer and privat treaty a foot that the crown of poland will be entayl'd upon him , and his successors for the future ; though this augmentation of power be good for the christian common-wealth in general , because it enableth the emperour to bear up the better againgst the common enemy the turk , yet not only the electors , but some other princes of the empire conceave some jealousie of this enlargement of the imperial power , not without some apprehensions of fear , that if the eagle shold ranew his bill , and have his feathers come home to make his wings full summ'd again , hee might seaze upon , and make a prey of sundry towns , and territories which divers of the sayed princes hold from the empire but by crazy weak titles ; nay it putts a flea in the venetians ear also , who have bin alwayes jealous of the austrian greatnes , in regard of contiguity of territories they both have in dalmatia , croatia , and other places . but it may be well expected that the princes electors will rather look upon the generall good and incolumity of the christian common-wealth , as their oath doth bind them , which is as astringent , and conjuring kind of oath as possibly the witt of man can draw , or devise , for they are not to be transported by any pact , price , promise , or prayer in the election . which oath runns thus . the solemn oath that 's administred to the princes electors , when they meet for choosing a king of the romans , the spiritual having their hands upon their breasts , the secular upon the book all the while . ego r. sacri imperii princeps elector , juro ad sancta dei evangelia , heic praesentialiter coram me posita , quod ego , per fidem qua deo , & sacro romano imperio sum astrictus , secundum omnem discretionem , & intellectum meum , cum dei adjutorio , eligere volo temporale caput populo christiano , id est , regem romanorum in caesarem promovendum , qui ad hoc existat idoneus , in quantum discretio , & sensus mei me dirigunt , & secundum fidem praedictam , vocemque meam , & votum sive electionem praefatam dabo absque omni pacto , stipendio , precio , seu promisso , vel quocunque modo talia valeant appellari , sic me deus adjuvet , & omnes sancti . ir . prince elector of the sacred empire , do swear by the holy gospell of god put here before me , that i by the faith wherin i am bound to god , and the holy roman empire , will choose according to all my discretion & understanding , with the help of god , a temporal head for christian peeple , to wit , a king of the romans to be promoted to be caesar , one that may be idoneous for it , according as my discretion & senses shal direct me ; and according to my foresayed faith i shall give my voice , and vote , or forenamed choice , without any pact , stipend , price , or promise , or by what names soever such things may be call'd ; so help me god , and all his saints . this tremendous oath is pronounc'd in latin , the language of the empire in all negotiations with forein princes ; though the electors be enjoynd by the great charter of the imperial constitutions , viz. the golden bull , to speak the teutonique or high dutch , the italian , and slavonique languages . the corollary . thus have we cast the roman monarchy as it were into the eagles egg again , as 't is recorded that homers iliads were once put into a nuttshell , and as falconers observe the eagle can lessen her self into a lark by her high soaring , so we may say the roman monarchie hath lessn'd her self by her stooping . therefore this small volume is not unsuitable unto herin point of proportion as the case stands with her now , being shrivell'd a large folio to a decimo sexto , and mouldred away from a castle into a cottage , or rather from a mountain to a mole-hill . such is the method of the all-ruling providence with whom the greatest kingdomes are but as kittlepins which he tipps down at pleasure . ludit in humanis divina potentia rebus 't is he who transvolves monarchies , tumbles down empires , and cantonizeth them into petty common-wealths at pleasure , whereunto the pagan philosopher seem'd to allude when being asked what iupiter did in heaven ? he answered magnas ollas rumpit , et ex frustis earum parvulas componit , he breaks great potts , and of their fragments makes little pitchers ; and remarkable it is how symbolizing in point of sence and similitude , the holy psalmist is with the philosopher herein , when he sayeth tanquam vas figuli conteres eos , thou shalt bruise them in peeces ( viz. the potentates of the earth ) like a potters vessel , which shews the brittlenesse , the lubricity , and unfixednesse of all sublunary things as well political as natural , so that to find out a stability , and permanence , we must travel beyond trismegistus circle , and seek it in the other world . to conclude , having thus cast a few glances upon the ro. german empire , i hope , my noble lord , it will suffice to quitt me of that obligation i owe to your commands , which shall be alwayes to me as favours and i look upon your favours as a considerable part of my happines , which makes me delight so much in the character of holborn calendis ianuarii 1658. your most obedient and ever ready servant , jam. howell . infantium cerebri quadragessimus . an index of the principal matters contain'd in this treatise . a the arms of the empire fol. 64 alarick the goth sacks rome . 5 an extraordinary providence watcheth over rome . 5 austrian family enjoy'd the empire more than any that ever was . 16 arch-bishop of mentz prime elector and arch-chancellor of germany . 21 arch-bishop of colen arch-chancellor of italy . 23 arch-bishop of triers chief chancellor of france . 23 arch-bishop of magdenburg primat of all germany . 39 arch-duke of austria chief prince of germany after the electors . 39 a maga animous speech of the lady elizabeth . 69 augustus a title soly given by the pope . 81 the austrian house● six stories high , and how . 90. b brennus the britain first ransack'd rome . 5 bourbon breathed his last in scaling the walls of rome . 5 bohemian king chief butler of the empire . 23 a ban against the english pronounc'd by the imperial diet , and not obey'd . 45 boores carry chairs , and noble-men doggs for a punishment in germany . 56 brandenburg hath spacious territories . 80 bavaria and the palatin of the same line , this the rodulphian , the other the gulielmian . 71 the bavarian duke grown very potent of late years . 79 brisack bridge makes france and germany one continued peece . 92 c caesars issue enjoy'd the empire for 6 descents . 7 consulary goverment thrice in rome by retrogradation . 6 claudius caesar first began the pernicious way of enhancing the soldiers pay . 9 constantines policy to the soldiers . 10 constantin gives rome to the pope . 10 charlemain the first western emperour . 13 charles martel and his story in brief . 13 charlemains exploits . 14 charlemain proclaim'd emperour in rome upon christmas day . 14 charlemains issue degenerated . 15 the civilians exalt the emperour by high titles . 31 the crown of england called an imperial crown by act of parlement . 33 the crown of france not tyed to a distaff . 34 the comparison of germany to a firmament spangled with stars . 64 count palatin of the rhin arch-treasurer of the empire , and eighth elector . 68 the count palatins interests . 85 d the distance of the roman emperour the cause of the declination in the west . 13 duke of saxony lord high marshal of the empire . 22 duke of brandenburg lord chief chamberlain of the empire . 23 electors how they precede one another . 26 domitius nero the last of the race of iulius caesar . 36 the division of germany . 36 the diets of germany , or imperial parlement . 39 dutchesse of bavaria a couragious lady . 67 duke of bavaria at present impotent of getting children , and the reasons thereof . 71 duke of saxony a potent prince . 78 divers reasons why the young king of bohemia is fittest to be emperour 88 of the king of denmark . 81 e the empire of rome put often to sale by the soldiery . 10 the exorbitances of the roman militia . 10 english and french descended of the germans . 12 the eastern empire . 12 the exarchat of italy given to the pope by king pepin . 14 the empire devolv'd to the germans . 15 electors first constituted . 21 emperours but thou'd at first . 29 the emperours next to god almighty on earth . 32 edgar an emperour , and his high titles . 32 edward the third of england ▪ vicar of the empire , &c. 33 embden a great friend to the english . 45 the english declar'd monopolists in germany . 45 the empire now but a feather in ones cap. 55 the emperours titles . 89 the empire an airy title in statu quo nunc . 92 the electors bound to learn to speak dutch , italian , and the slavonique . 105 f france and portugal like to make patriarks of their own . 91 furthest way about is the nearest way home in the researches of truth . 4 a facetious comparison of the german dietts . 49 a facetious tale of the arch-bishop of mentz . 55 a facetious answer of the lieflanders to charles the fift . 63 the famous siege of winsberga . 57 the title of emperour but an eagles feather in ones cap. 78 g gensericus the vandal sacks rome . 5 galba the first emperour chosen by the soldiers . 7 a geer upon rome and venice . 11 of the goths and vandals . 12 german princes do carry dogs for their punishment . 17 german princes feather themselfs with the eagles plumes . 61 germany able to raise 200 thousand electif men . 54 h hungary took name from the huns . 11 henry the second in france had the first title of majesty . 30 the high power of the king of the romans . 37 hans-towns whence derived . 42 how hamburgh first receiv'd the english staple . 46 a hundred and fifty millions the revenues once of the roman monarchy . 54 how the imperial towns got out of caesars yoak . 59 i iulius caesar cimented the empire with his blood . 7 iulianus bought the empire of the soldiers . 10 imperial towns . 42 immunities payed for monies to the towns of the empire . 59 ibraim the turks ambassador his witty parable . 64 king iames his prophetique saying . 68 k kings continued in rome 140 years . 7 king a more antient title than emperour . 29 kings of spain sometimes called emperours . 32 king of denmark arch-bishop of breme 39 l the late swedish army like to have prov'd such another as that of the goths and vandals of old . 11 lombardy freed of the goths by king pepin . 14 lutherans a great cause of the decay of the empire . 62 the latitude of power which the princes of the empire have . 96 the lubricity of political bodies as well as natural . 108 m the moors and saracens sack rome . 5 the manner of electing an emperour . 25 majesty and other high titles how they began . 30 maximilian duke of bavaria takes prague from the palatin with a lesser army . 69 marq-spinola takes the palatinat . 69 the mahumetan moon fill'd by the wane of the christian empire . 65 of the marquis of brandenburg his interest . 85 n the names of divers of the emperours that were put to violent deaths . 9 a notable saying of charles martel . 13 the names and offices of all the electors . 21 nothing so unlike as the present empire and the old . 53 a notable story of a bavarian dutchess 57 the notable symbolisation of sense 'twixt the psalmist and a pagan philosopher . 108 o one of the cause that may oververthrow the turkish empire . 9 the new ottoman emperour must encrease the ianizaries pay . 9 otho the third the first establisher of the electors . 20 the offers of wenceslaus to the electors to make his son emperour . 55 of the swed . 82 the tremendous oath the electors take . 103 p the present king of spain a goth by descent . 12 pepin a little man , but a great conqueror . 14 pope iohn the ninth , taken prisoner , and his eyes pluck'd out . 20 palatin of the rhin arch-sewer of the roman empire . 22 parallel 'twixt the empire pass'd , and present . 51 palatin of the rhin adjudg'd to carry a dog for his punishment . 57 the pope a great temporal prince . 60 the poor revenues of the empire . 53 q quarrell 'twixt rome and germany for choosing the emperour . 19 quarrel 'twixt queen elizabeth , and the hans-towns . 43 quarrel 'twixt the count palatin and the duke of bavaria touching the vicariat of the empire . 74 quarrel 'twixt the king of denmark , and hamburgh . 81 a thing like a quarrel 'twixt the king of scots and the palsgrave . 97 r the rise of the roman empire . 5 rome eight times ravish'd and ransack'd . 5 the roman emperours held their lifes from the army . 8 the roman monarchy shrunk from a giantess to a dwarf . reasons why the king of hungary is likeliest to be emperour . 88 the revennues of the french church 300 millions of liures and 20. 91 s the several kinds of goverments in rome . 7 the stewards in scotland , and charles martel of france had the same beginning . 13 the septemvirat or the seven electors . 18 staplers their first rise . 43 the suisse one of the last that fell from the empire , &c. 63 the spaniard the popes champion . 61 the small power of the emperour . 53 a sad saying of the turks . 66 the spaniard comes from the elder house of austria . 90 the several interests of the princes of germany . 85 t totila the hun sacks rome . 5 the translation of the empire to constantinople fatal to rome . 5 thirty emperours put to violent deaths by the army . 8 two turkish emperours kill'd in less than 25 years . 9 a tradition remarkable how the house of austria came to be so great . 26 the turk gives place to the emperors ambassadors above all other . 31 the titles of the heirs apparent to the empire from time to time . 37 the territories of the pope 300 miles in length . 60 the pope pretends to be lord paramount of england by king iohns grant . 61 titles of the house of austria . 89 v the vastnes of the old roman monarchy . 54 the vast circumference of rome in vopiscus time 50 miles compass . 54 a very witty embleme of the turks ambassador touching germany . 64 a very witty devise of the dutchess of bavaria to preserve her husband . 58 the vicarship of the empire challeng'd by the count palatin , and his reasons . 74 a very witty way found by a iesuitt to make the old duke of bavaria get children . 71 the upper palatinat , the county of cham , with the electorship conferr'd upon the bavarian . 79 w the wantones of the peeple more than the tarquins , cause of the expulsion of kings . 6 a weak act of the roman senat. 7 the welsh and irish have no other name for an english man , but saisson or saxon. 12 wenceslaus the emperour , depos'd , and the manner how it was . 35 why england fell from the roman emperour , and from the pope . 62 were not the imperial eagles imp'd with austrian feathers they wold be as bare as a coot . gloria honorque deo saeclorûm in saecula sunto . chronogramma . instructions for forreine travell shewing by what cours, and in what compasse of time, one may take an exact survey of the kingdomes and states of christendome, and arrive to the practicall knowledge of the languages, to good purpose. howell, james, 1594?-1666. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a44724 of text r38986 in the english short title catalog (wing h3082). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 167 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 123 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a44724 wing h3082 estc r38986 18203108 ocm 18203108 107053 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a44724) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 107053) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1125:7) instructions for forreine travell shewing by what cours, and in what compasse of time, one may take an exact survey of the kingdomes and states of christendome, and arrive to the practicall knowledge of the languages, to good purpose. howell, james, 1594?-1666. [9], 236 p. printed by t.b. for humprey mosley ..., london : 1642. contains extra engraved t.p. : instrvctions for forraine travell. running title: instructions for forraine travell. signed: iames howell, p. 236. numerous errors in paging. imperfect: print show-through. reproduction of original in the bodleian library. eng europe -description and travel. europe -description and travel -early works to 1800. middle east -description and travel. a44724 r38986 (wing h3082). civilwar no instructions for forreine travell. shewing by what cours, and in what compasse of time, one may take an exact survey of the kingdomes and st howell, james 1642 27166 99 45 0 0 0 0 53 d the rate of 53 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the d category of texts with between 35 and 100 defects per 10,000 words. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-10 ben griffin sampled and proofread 2004-10 ben griffin text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-01 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion instrvctions for forraine travell in motv melos london printed by t : b. for humphrey mosley , at the princes armes , in paules church-yard , ano 1642. instructions for forreine travell . shewing by what cours , and in what compasse of time , one may take an exact survey of the kingdomes and states of christendome , and arrive to the practicall knowledge of the languages , to good purpose . — post motum dulcior inde quies . london , printed by t. b. for humprey mosley , at the princes armes , in paules church-yard . 1642. to the growing glory of great brittaine , prince charles . a parallell 'twixt his highnesse , and the black prince . sir , wales had one glorious prince of haire and hue ( which colour sticks unto him still ) like you : he travell'd far , he won his spurs in france , and tooke the king , the king , ô monstrous chance then his victorious troupes afresh he getherss and with the gray goose-wing his shaftsnew fethers , he beats a march up the pyrene hils , and the cantabrian clime with terro●fils , to re-inthrone don pedro castile's king , of which heroique act all stories ring . your royall sire travell'd so far , and thay of all our princes only made that way . who knowes , great sir , but by just destiny , your bunch of ( youthfull ) plumes may further fly ? but faulcon-like , you may with full summ'd wing the eagle cuff , and from his tallons wring the * prey , or in exchange seize on his ore , and fixe your standard on the indian shore . 't was by b ● charles , france once the empire got , 't was by a c charles the spaniard d●●ue that los , why may not brittaine challenge the next call , and by a charles be made imperiall ? — sic vaticinatur . ia . howell . the substance of this discours . of the advantage , and preheminence of the eye . of forraine travell , and the progresse of learning . what previous abilities are required in a traveller . a caveat touching his religion . precepts for learning the french language . what authors to be made choyce of , for the government and history of france . of books in generall . of historians , and a method to reade them . of private meditation . of poets . an estimat of the expences of a nobleman , or of a private gentleman a broad . advertisements for writing of letters . instructions for travelling in spaine . of barren and fruitful countreys . the strange contrariety 'twixt the french and the spaniard , the reasons natural & accidental . of their cariage , cloathing , and diet , &c. of the spanish language , how to be studied , and of its affinity with the latine . of spanish authors . the advantage of conversing with marchants . precepts for travelling in italy . of the people and language . of the repnblique of venice and other states there . what observations are most usefull in any countrey . a digression into a politicall discours of the princes of europe . of crossing the alpes , and passing through germany . of the court of bruxells , and the netherlands . of the wonderfull stratagems used in those wars . the best authors for the belgick story . of the states of holland , and their admired industry , and navall strength . a discours of the vulgar languages of europe , with their severall dialects . of the richnesse of the english tongue . of the pattuecos a people nere the heart of spaine , never discovered til of late yeares . of the abuse of forrain travell . of s. thomas moore traveller . of ptolomeys travellers , and of the most materiall use of travel . what cours a traveller must take at his returne home . of the parlamentary governement of england , and her happinesse therein above other countreys . of the mathematiques ; of chymistry . instrvctions for forraine travell . section . i. amongst those many advantages , which conduce to enrich the mind with knowledge , to rectify the iudgement , and compose outward manners ; forraine travell is none of the least . but to bee a sedentary traveller only , penn'd up between wals , and to stand poring all day upon a map , upon imaginary circles and scales , is like him , who thought to come to bee a good fencer , by looking on agrippa's book-postures only : as also to run over and traverse the world by heare-say , and traditionall relation , with other mens eyes , and so take all things upon courtesie , is but a confused and imperfect kind of speculation , which leaveth but weake and distrustfull notions behind it ; in regard the eare is not so authen●●q●e a witnesse as the eye ; because the eye , by which as through a cleare christall casement , wee discerne the various works of art and nature , and in one instant comprehend halfe the whole vniverse in so small a roome after so admirable a manner , i say the eye having a more quick and immediat commerce and familiarity with the soule ( being the principall of her cinq ports , and her centinell ) taketh in farre deeper ideas , and so makes firmer and more lasting impressions , conveying the object more faithfully to the memory , where it remaines afterward upon record in particular topicall notes , and indelible characters : for though i confesse with the stagirite , that hearing is the sense of learning ( and of faith also , as the holy text tels me ) yet the sight surpasseth it by many degrees , if you respect the curious workeman-ship of the organ , the readiest roade to the heart , and love's best intelligencer and usher : as also for the penetrative apprehension of the object , with the intuitive vertue and force of affection , it worketh inwardly , as we find upon good record that a heard of sheepe conceived once by the strength of the eye , as likewise for the wonderfull quicknesse of this sense , which is such that i● makes the effect oftentimes fore-run the cause , as we see the lightning , before wee heare the thunder , though thunder be first in nature , being by the violent eruption it makes out of the cloud , the cause of such fulgurations . and although one should reade all the topographers that ever writ of , or anatomiz'd a town or countrey , and mingle discourse with the most exact observers of the government thereof , and labour to draw and draine out of them all they possibly know or can remember ▪ yet one's own ocular view , and personall conversation will still find out something new and unpointed at by any other , either in the cariage or the genius of the people , or in the policy and municipall customes of the countrey , or in the quality of the clime and soyle , and so enable him to discourse more knovvingly and confidently and vvith a kind of authority thereof ; it being an act of parlament in force amongst all nations : that one eye-witnesse is of more validity than ten aur●cular . moreover as every one is said to abound with his owne sense , and that among the race of man-kind , opinions and francies , are found to be as various as the severall faces and voyces ; so in each individuall man there is a differing facultie of observation , of iudgement , of application , vvhich makes that every one is best satisfied , and most faithfully instructed by himselfe , i do not meane soley by himselfe , ( for so he may have a foole to his master ) but books also , and conversation vvith the dead must concurre , for they are likevvise good teachers , and edifie infinitely ; yet the study of living men , and a collation of his ovvn optique observations and judgement vvith theirs , vvork much more strongly , and where these meet ( i meane the living and the dead ) they perfect . and indeed this is the prime use of peregrination , which therefore may be not improperly called a moving academy , or the true peripatetique schoole : this made ulisses to be cryed up so much amongst the gre●ks for their greatest wise man , because he had travelled through many strange countreys , and observed the manners of divers nations , having seene , as it was said and sung of him , more cities than there were houses in athens , which was much in that age of the world : and the greatest of their emperours did use to glory in nothing so often , as that he had surveyed more land with his eye , than other kings could comprehend with their thoughts . amongst other people of the earth , islanders seeme to stand in most need of forraine travell , for they being cut off ( as it were ) from the rest of the citizens of the world , have not those obvious accesses , & contiguity of situation , and other advantages of society , to mingle with those more refined nations , whom learning and knowledge did first vrbanize and polish . and as all other things by a kind of secret instinct of nature follow the motion of the sun , so is it observed that the arts and sciences which are the greatest helps to civility , and all morall endowments as well as intellectuall , have wheel'd about and travell'd in a kind of concomitant motion with that great luminary of heaven : they budded first amongst the brachma●s and gymnosophists in india , then they blossom'd amongst the chaldeans and priests of egypt whence they came down the nile , and crossed over to greece , and there they may bee said to have borne ripe fruit , having taken such firme rooting , and making so long a plantation in athens and else where : afterwards they found the way to italy , and thence they clammer'd over the alpian hils to visit germany and france , whence the britaines with other north-west nations of the lower world fetch'd them over ; and it is not improbable that the next flight they will make , will bee to the savages of the new discovered world ▪ and so turne round , and by this circular perambulation visit the l●vantines again . hence we see what a traveller● learning hath beene having in conformitie of cours , been a kind of companion to ap●llo himselfe : and as the heavenly bodies are said to delight in movement and perpetuall circumgyration , wherein as pythagoras , goras , who by the delphian oracle was pronounced , the wisest man that ever greece bredd , did hold , there was a kind of musique and harmonious concent that issued out of this regular motion , which we cannot perceive , because being borne in it , it is connaturall to us , so it is observed to be the genius of all active and generous spirits , quêis meliore luto finxit praecordia titan , to have been always transported with a desire of travell , and not to be bounded , or confined within the shoares and narrow circumference of an island , without ever-treading any peece of the continent ; whereas on the other side , meane and vulgar spirits , whose soules sore no higher than their sense , love to hover ever about home , lying still as it were at dead anchor , moving no further than the length of the cable , whereunto they are tyed , not daring to lance out into the maine , to see the wonders of the deep : such a one was hee of whom claudian speakes , to have had his birth , breeding , and buriall in one parish ; such slow and sluggish spirits may be said to bee like snailes or tortuises in their shels , crawling always about their own home , or like the cynique , shut up alwayes in a tub. amongst other nations of the world the english are observed to have gained much , and ●mproved themselfes infinitely by voyaging both by land and sea , and of those foure worthies who compassed about the terrestriall globe , i find the major part of them were english , but the scope of this discours is to prescribe precepts for land travell only ( for the other requires another tract apart ) and first , a iove principium — sic feret antennas aura secundatuas . sect. ii. it is very requisit that hee who exposeth himselfe to the hazard of forraine travell , should bee well grounded and settled in his religion , the beginning and basis of all wisdome , and somwhat versed in the controversies 'twixt us and the church of rome , which i presume he hath done in the university , where ( i take it for granted , hee hath been matriculated , and besides his initiation in the arts and sciences , and learn't to chop logick ( & logick though she be no science of her self , but as she is subservient to another , like the shoomakers last , that may bee applyable to any foot , yet no science can bee rightly studied without her method , nor indeed can the termes of art be well understood , or any scholler-like discours fram'd but by her ) where i say , besides these studies , he hath sucked the pure milke of true religion , and orthodoxall truth , and such a one will be rather confirmed , than shaken in the tenets of his faith , when he seeth the sundry fond fantastique formes , which have crept into the solemne service of god , since the primitive times , for the practise of the roman church is worse than her positions , so that i have knowne some , who were wrought upon very far by the one , averted again by the other , i meane by her ceremonies , which in some places are so mimicall , and set forth in such antique postures , that it may be not improperly sayd , whereas religion should go array'd in a grave matron-like habit , they have clad her rather like a wanton courtisane in light dresses : such a one , i meane he that is well instructed in his own religion , may passe under the torrid zone , and not bee sun-burnt , if he carry this bon-grace about him , or like the river danube which scornes to mingle with the muddy streame of sava , though they run both in one channell , or like arethusa , which travelleth many hundred miles through the very bowels of the sea , yet at her journeys end issueth out fresh againe , without the least mixture of saltnesse or brackishnesse : so such a one may passe and repasse through the very midst of the roman see , and shoot the most dangerous gulphe thereof , and yet returne home an untainted protestant ; nay he will be confirmed in zeale to his owne religion , and illuminated the more with the brightnesse of the truth thereof , by the glaring lights and specious glosses , which the other useth to cast ; for opposita juxta se posita magis elucescunt : nay the more he is encompassed with the superstitions , of the contrary , the more he will bee strengthned in his own faith ; like a good well useth to be hotter in winter than summer , per antiperistasin , that is , by the coldnesse of the circumambient ayre , which in a manner besiegeth it round , and so makes the intrinsique heate , unite and concentre it selfe the more strongly to resist the invading enemy . after religion , it is fitting he should be well versed in the topography , government and history of his own country , for some are found foris sapere , and domi caecutire , to be eagles abroad , and stark buzzards at home , being not able to satisfie a stranger by exchange of discours , in any thing touching the state of their owne countrey . to this end it were not amisse to run over cambden , sir iohn smiths common-wealth , with those short pieces of story , as daniel and others who have written of the english kings since the conquest , and extract out of them , what traverses of war , what other passages and entercourses of state have happened 'twixt us and other nations since the last conquest , specially the french our nearest neighbors : it is also very behooffull , that he have a passable understanding of the latine tongue , whereof the italian , the spanish , and french , are but as it were branches of the same tree ; they are but dialects or daughters , and having gain'd the good will of the mother , hee will quickly prevayle with the daughters . that hee understand the use of the map and globe , to find out the longitude and latitude of all places , and to observe and compare the temper of them as hee shall passe along . lastly that hee seriously contemplate within himself , how the eyes of all the world are upon him , as his are upon the world , what his parents , kindred and acquaintance , yea his prince will expect at his returne : that he is now in the very forge of his hopes , either upon making or marring : that ( being of noble extraction ) he is like to be a star of the greatest magnitude in the spheare of his owne countrey , therefore common qualities will not serve his turne , that the higher the building is , the more it requires exquisit forme and symmetry , that nobility without inward ornaments is as faire guilded shels without kernels , or like a sattin doublet with canvas linings , whereas on the other side vertue reflecting upon a noble subject , is as the sun-beames falling upon a rock of cristall , which makes the reverberation stronger and far more resplendent , or as rich goldembrodery , upon a piece of tissue : such thoughts as these will worke much upon an ingenious spirit , and bee as a golden spur , to set him forward , and cheere him in this high roade of vertue , and knowledge . sect. iii. the first countrey that is most requisite for the english to know , is france , in regard of neighboured , of conformity in government in divers things and necessary intelligence of state , and of the use one shall have of that language wheresoever he passe further : and the younger one goeth to france the better , because of the hardnesse of the accent and pronunciation , which will be hardly overcome by one who hath passed his minority , and in this point the french tongue may bee said to be like fortune , who , being a woman , loves youth best . whereas for other tongues , one may attaine to speake them to very good purpose , and get their good will at any age ; the french tongue by reason of the huge difference 'twixt their writing and speaking , will put one often into fits of despaire and passion , as wee read of one of the fathers , who threw away persius against the wals , saying , si non vis intelligi debes negligi , but the learner must not bee daunted awhit at that , but after a little intermission hee must come on more strongly , and with a pertinacity of resolution set upon her again and againe , and woe her as one would do a coy mistres , with a kind of importunity , untill he over-master her . indeed some of riper plants are observed to over-act themselves herein , for while they labour to trencher le mot , to cut the word , as they say , and speake like naturall french-men , and to get the true genuine tone ( and every tongue hath a tone or tune peculiar to her self , specially the french , which hath a whining kind of querulous tone specially amongst the peasantry , which i beleeve proceeded from that pittifull slavery they are brought unto ) i say while they labour for this , they fall a lisping and mincing , and to distort and strain their mouths and voyce , so that they render themselves fantastique and ridiculous ; let it bee sufficient for one of riper yeares , to speake french intelligibly roundly , and congruously without such forc'd affectation . the french tongue like the nation , is a bold and hardy speach , therefore the learner must not be bashfull or meale mouth'd in speaking any thing , whatsoever it is , let it come forth confidently whither true or false sintaxis ; for a bold vivacious spirit hath a very great advantage in attaining the french , or indeed any other language : he must be cautelous not to force any anglicismes upon the french tongue , that is certaine vulgar phrases , proverbs , and complements , which are peculiar to the english , and not vendible or used in french , as i heard of one that could not forbeare a great while to salute his land-lord by bon matin : another would be alwayes complaining at play of his mauvaise fortune : another when at the racket court he had a ball struck into his hazard , hee would ever and anon cry out , estes wous là avec vos ours , are you there with your beares ? which is ridiculous in any other language but english , for every speech hath certaine idiomes , and customary phrases of its own , and the french , of all other , hath a kind of contumacy of phrase , in respect of our manner of speaking , proper to it selfe . he must alwayes have a diary about him , when he is in motion of iourneys , to set down what his eyes meetes , with most remarquable in the day time , out of which he may raise matter of discours at night , and let him take it for a rule , that hee offend lesse who writes many toyes , than he , who omits one serious thing . for the penne maketh the deepest furrowes , and doth fertilize , and enrich the memory more than any thing else , littera scripta manet , sed manant lubrica verba . it were very requisit to have a book of the topographicall description of all places , through which hee passeth ; and i think bertius , or the epitome of ortelius , which are small and portable , would bee the best . at his first comming to any citie he should repaire to the chief church ( if not idolatrous ) to offer up his sacrifice of thanks , that hee is safely arrived thither , and then some have used to get on the top of the highest steeple , where one may view with advantage , all the countrey circumjacent , and the site of the city , with the advenues and approaches about it ; and so take a landskip of it . being come to france , his best cours will be to retire to some vniversity abou● the loire , unfrequented by the english , for the greatest bane of english gentlemen abroad , is too much frequency and communication with their own countrey-men , and there let him apply himselfe seriously to gaine the practicall knowledge of the language , and for the time hoc agere . this hee may do with more advantage , if hee repaires sometimes to the courts of pleading , and to the publique schooles ; for in france they presently fall from the latine , to dispute in the vulgar tongue : so that it were not amisse for him to spend some time in the new academy ; erected lastly by the french cardinall in richelieu , where all the sciences are read in the french tongue , which is done of purpose to refine , and enrich the language . some have used it as a prime help to advance language , to have some ancient nunne for a divota , with whom hee may chat at the grates , when hee hath little else to do , for the nunnes speake a quaint dialect , and besides they have most commonly all the newes that passe , and they will entertaine discours till one bee weary , if hee bestow on them now and then some small bagatels , as english gloves or knifs , or ribands ; and before hee go over , hee must furnish himselfe with such small curiosities ; but this i dare not advise him to , in regard the hazard one way may bee greater , than the advantage the other way . in this retirement he must assigne some peculiar dayes to read the history of the countrey exactly , which is a most usefull and delightfull study : for in history , that great treasury of time , and promptuary of heroique actions , there are words to speake , and works to imitat , with rich and copious matter to raise discours upon : history , next to eternity only triumphs over time , she , only after god almighty can do miracles , for shee can bring back age past , and give life to the dead , to whom she serves as a sacred shrine to keep their names immortall . touching books he must choose them , as hee should do his friends , few , but choyce ones , yet he may have many acquaintance : and as for morall society , the greatest wisdome of a man is discerned in a judicious election of his friends , which are as commentaries upon one's selfe , and are more necessary than fire and water , as the philosophher said : so for speculative and private conversation with authors our dead associates , there must bee must judgement used in the choice of them , specially when there is such a confusion of them , as in france , which as africk peoduceth always somthing new , for i never knew week passe in paris , but it brought forth some new kinds of authors ; but let him take heed of tumultuary , and disjointed authors , as well as of frivolous , and pedantique . and touching bookes , as a a noble speculative lord of this land said , some are to be tasted , only , some chewed , and some swallowed : hereunto i will adde that some are to be dissected and anatomized into epitomes and notes . to this purpose for the generall history of france , serres is one of the best , and for the moderne times d' aubigni , pierre mathieu , and du pleix ; for the politicall and martiall government , du haillan , de la noüe , bodin , and the cabinet ; touching commines , who was contemporary with machiavil , 't was a witty speach of the last queen mother of france , that he made more heretiques in policy , than luther ever did in religion : therefore he requires a reader of riperyears . the most difficult taske in gaining a forrain language is to turne english into it , for to translate another tongue into english , is not halfe so hard nor profitable . in reading hee must couch in a faire alphabetique paper-book the notablest occurrences , such alliances , and encounters of warre ( speciall in the last race of the kings ) that have intervened 'twixt england and france , and set them by themselves in sections . when he meets with any great businesse , hee must observe therein the preceding counsels , the action it selfe the motives of it , and the mould wherein it was cast , the progresse & even of it , which if successeful , he must note by what kind of instruments , cōfederations & cours of policy it was carried , if not , where the difficulties and defects lay . the manner & method in reading of annalists is infinitly advantagious , if one take his rise hansomely from the beginning , and follow the series of the matter , the epoch of the times , and regular succession and contemporarinesse of princes ; otherwise if one read skippingly and by snatches , and not take the threed of the story along , it must needs puzzle and distract the memory , wherein his observations will lye confusedly h●ddled up , like a skeine of intangle silk . for sundayes and holy-dayes , there bee many trea●ises of devotion in the french tongue , full of patheticall ejaculations and heavenly raptures , and his closet must not be without some of these . for he must make account before hand that his closet must bee his church , and chiefest chappel abroad . therefore it were necessary when he fixeth in any place , to have alwayes one in his chamber , whether to retire early and late , to his soliloquies and meditations , the golden keyes wherewith hee must open and shut the day , and let in the night , and deaths cousin-german . peter du moulin hath many fine pieces to this purpose , du plessis , allencour , and others ; and let him bee conversant with such books only upon sundayes , and not mingle humane studies with them . his closet also must be his rendez-vous , whensoever hee is surprized with any fit of pensivenesse ( as thoughts of country and kinred will often affect one ) for no earthly thing exhilerats the heart more , and rayseth the spirits to a greater height of comfort ▪ than conversation with god , than peace with heaven , than spirituall meditation , whereby the soule melts into an inconceavable sweetnesse of delight , and is delivered from all distempers , from all tumultuary , confusion and disturbance of thoughts : and there is none , let him have the humors never so well balanced within him , but is subject unto anxiety of mind somtimes , for while we are composed of foure d●ffering elements , wherewith the humours within us symbolise we must have perpetuall ebbings and flowings of mirth and melancholy , which have their alternatif turnes in us , as naturally as it is for the night to succeed the day : for as the physitians hold there is no perfection of corporall health in this life , but a convalessence at best , which is a medium 'twixt health and sicknesse , so is it in the state of the mind . this extends from the lord to the laquay , from the peasant to the prince , whose crown is oftentimes inlayed with thornes , whose robe is furred with feares , whereof the ermine is no ill embleme , having as many black spots in it as white ; nor is there . any thing so hereditary to mankind as vexation of spirit , which doubtlesse was the ground the pagan philosopher built his opinion upon , that the rationall soule was given to man , for his selfe-punishment and martyrdome , — man often is a tyrant to himselfe , a phalaris . but as when we go abroad , we cannot hinder the birds of the ayre to fly and flutter about our heads , yet we may hinder them to roost or nestle within our haire : so while we travaile in this life , we cannot prevent but myriads of melancholy cogitations , and thoughtfull cares and longings will often seaze upon our imaginations , yet we may hinder these thoughts to build their nests within our bosomes , & to descend from the head to the heart and take footing there ; if they do , i told you , before what 's this best cordiall to expell them thence . there bee some french poets will affoord excellent entertainment , specially du bartas , and 't were not amisse to give a slight salute to ronzard , desportes , and the late theophile : and touching poets , they must be used like flowers , some must be only smelt unto , but some are good to bee thrown into a lambique to be distilled ; whence the memory may carry away the elixi● of them , for true poetry is the quintessence , or rather the luxury of learning . let him runne over also the proverbs of every countrey , and c●ll out the choicest of them , for many of them carry much weight , wit , and caution , with them . and every nation hath certaine proverbs and adages peculiar to it selfe ; neither would it be time ill spent to reade aesope in every tongue , and make it his taske to relate some fable every day to his governor or some other by heart . thus the life of a traveller is spent either in reading , in meditation , or in discours : by the first hee converseth with the dead , by the second with himselfe , by the last with the living , which of all the three is most advantagious for attaining a language , the life whereof consists in societie and communication ; let his chamber be street ward to take in the common cry and language , and see how the town is serv'd , for it will bee no unprofitable diversion to him , but for his closet let it bee in the inner part . sect. iv. having by the retirement aforesaid attained to a conversable knowledge in the french tongue , hee may then adventure upon paris , and the court , and visit ambassadors , and going in the equipage of a young nobleman , hee may entertaine a cook , a laquay , and some young youth for his page , to parley and chide withall , ( whereof he shall have ocasion enough ) and to get some faire lodgings to keep house of himself , and sometimes he may frequent ordinaries , for it will much breake and enbolden him : as for expences , he must make accompt that every servant he hath ( whereof there should be none english but his governour ) every one will stand him in 50 pounds a piece per annum ; and for his owne expences , he cannot allow himselfe lesse than 300 l. i include herein all sorts of exercises , his riding , dancing , fencing , the racket , coach-hire , with other casuall charges , together with his apparell , which if it bee fashionable , it matters not how plaine it is , it being a ridiculous vanity to go gaudy amongst strangers , it is , as if one should light a candle to the sun . the time that he spends in paris , must be chiefly employed to improve himselfe in the exercises afore-said , for there the choycest masters are of any part of christendome . hee must apply himselfe also to know the fashion and garb of the court , observe the person and genius of the prince , enquire of the greatest noble-men , and their pedigree ( which i recommend to his speciall consideration ) of the favorits and prime counsellors of state , the most eminent courtiers , and if there bee any famous man , to seek conversation with him , for it was the saying of a great emperour , that he had rather go fifty miles to heare a wise man , than five to see a faire city . for private gentlemen and cadets , there be divers academies in paris , colledge-like , where for 150 pistols a yeare , which come to about 110 l. sterling per annum of our money , one may be very well accommodated , with lodging and diet for himselfe and a man , and be taught to ride , to fence , to manage armes , to dance , vault , and ply the mathematiques . there are in paris every week commonly some odde , pamphlets and pasquils dispersed , and droped upon down ; for there is no where else that monstrous liberty ( yet london hath exceeded her farre now of late , the more i am sory ) which with the gazets and courants hee should do well to reade weekly , and raise discours thereon , for though there be many triviall passages in them , yet are they couched in very good language , and one shall feele the generall pulse of christendome in them , and know the names of the most famous men that are up and down the world in action . some do use to have a small leger booke fairely bound up table-book-will , wherein when they meet with any person of note and eminency , and journey or pension with him any time , they desire him to write his name , with some short sentence , which they call the 〈◊〉 of remembrance , the perusall whereof will fill one with no unpleasing thoughts of dangers and accidents passed . one thing i must recomend to his speciall care , that he be very punctuall in writing to his friends once a month at least , which hee must do exactly , and not in a carelesse perfunctory way , for letters are the ideas and truest miror of the mind ; they shew the inside of a man , and by them it will be discerned how he improveth himselfe in his courses abroad : there will be plenty of matter to fill his letters withall once a month at least : and by his missives let it appeare that he doth not only remember , but meditate on his friend ; not to scribble a few cursory lines , but to write elaborately and methodically , and thereby hee will quickely come to the habit of writing well : and of all kind of humane meditations , those of ones absent friends be the pleasingst , specially when they are endeared and nourished by correspondence of letters , which by a spirituall kind of power , do enamour , and mingle soules more sweetly than any embraces . section . v. having wintered thus in paris , that hudge ( though durty ) theater of all nations ( and winter is the fittest season to be there ) and plyed his exercises to some perfection , the fittest countrey for him to see next is spaine , and in his iourney thither he shall traverse the whole diameter of france one way , and passing through gascoigne and languedoc , hee shall prepare himselfe by degrees to endure the heate of the spanish clime ; let him not encumber himselfe with much loggage : and for his apparell ; let him as soon as as he enters spaine go after their fashion , for as a spaniard lookes like a bug-beare in france in his own ●ut , so a frenchman appeares ridiculous in spaine : nor would i advise him to cary about him any more money than is absolutly necessary to defray his expences , for some in this particular have beene peny-wise , and pound-foolish , who in hopes of some small benefit in the rates , have left their principall , exposing their persons and purses , to dayly hazard , and inviting ( as it were ) unto them danger for their companion , and feare for their bed-fellow . for although sir thomas more wisheth one to carry always his friends about him , abroad , by which hee meanes pieces of gold : yet too great a number of such friends , is an encomber and may betray him : it will make his iourney all along to be a motus trepidationis . and he that loades himselfe with a charge of money , when he may carry it about him with such security , and ease , in a small piece of paper , i meane a letter of credit , or bill of exchange ▪ is as wise as he , who carried the coach-wheele upon his back , when he might have trilled it before him all along . in spaine hee must bee much more carefull of his diet , abstemious from fruit , more reserved and cautelous in his discours , but entertaine none at all touching religion , unlesse it be with silence ; a punctuall repaire of visits , extraordinary humble in his comportment ; for the spaniards , of all other , love to be respected at their own homes , and cannot abide an ●nsolent cariage in a stranger ; on the other side , courtesie and morigeration , will gaine mightily upon them , and courtesie is the chiefest congnisance of a gentleman , which joyned with discretion , can only travaile all the world over without a passeport , and of all sorts of friends , he is the cheapest who is got by courtesie , and complement only : moreover a respectfull and humble cariage , is a mighty advantage to gaine intelligence and knowledge ; it is the key that opens the breash , and unlocks the heart of any one : he that looked downeward , saw the stars in the water , but he who looked only upward could not see the water in the stars : therefore there is much more to bee got by humility than otherwise . one thing i would disswade him from , which is from the excessive commendation and magnifyng of his own countrey ; for it is too much observed , that the english suffer themselves to be too mvch transported with this subject , to undervalue and vilifie other countreys , for which i have heard them often censured . the earth is the lords , and all the corners thereof , he ereated the mountaines of wales , as well as the wiles of kent , the rugged alpes , as well as the fertile plaines of campagnia , the boggy fennes of frizeland , as well as the daintiest valleys in france ; and to inveigh against , or deride a countrey for the barrenesse thereof , is tacitly to taxe god almighty of improvidence or partiality . and it had beene wished , some had beene more temperate in this theme at their being in the spanish court , in the yeare 1623. for my part , as the great philosopher holds it for a maxime , that mountaignous people , are the most pious ; so are they observed to be the hardiest , as also the barrener a countrey is , the more masculine and warlike the spirits of the inhabitants are , having as it were more of men in them ; witnesse the scythian and goth , and other rough-hewen hungry nations , which so often over-ranne italy , for all her policy and learning ; and herein nature may seeme to recompence the hard condition of a countrey the other way . having passed the pyreneys hee shall palpably discerne ( as i have observed in another larger discours ) the suddenest and strangest difference 'twixt the genius and garb of two people , though distant but by a very small separation , as betwixt any other upon the surface of the earth ; i knowe nature delights and triumphs in dissimilitudes ; but here , shee seemes to have industriously , and of set purpose studied it ; for they differ not onely accidentally and outwardly in their , cloathing , and cariage , in their diet , in their speaches , and customes ; but even essentially in the very faculties of the soule , and operations thereof , and in every thing else , religion and the forme of a rationall creature only excepted ; which made doctor garcia thinke to aske a midwife once , whither the frenchman and spaniard came forth into the world in the same posture from the womb or no . go first to the operations of the soule , the one is active and mercuriall , the other is speculative and saturnine : the one quick and ayry , the other slow and heavy ; the one discoursive and sociable , the other reserved and thougthfull ; the one addicts himselfe for the most part to the study of the law and canons , the other to positive and schoole divinity ; the one is creatura sine praeterito & futuro , the other hath too much of both ; the one is a prometheus , the other an epinetheus ; the one apprehends and forgets quickly , the other doth both slowly , with a judgement more abstruce and better fixed , & in se reconditum ; the one will dispatch the weightiest affaires as hee walke along in the streets , or at meales , the other upon the least occasion of businesse will retire solemnly to a room , and if a fly chance to hum about him , it will discompose his thoughts , and puzzle him : it is a kind of sicknesse for a frenchman to keep a secret long , and all the drugs of egypt cannot get it out of a spaniard . the french capacity , though it apprehend and assent unto the tenets of faith , yet he resteth not there , but examines them by his owne reason , debates the businesse pro & contra , and so is often gravelled upon the quick sands of his own brain , the spaniard cleane contrary by an implicite faith and generall obedience beleeves the canons and determination of the church , and presently subjects his understanding thereunto , he sets bounds to all his wisdome and knowledge , and labours to avoyd all speculation thereon , fearing through the frailty of his intellectuals , to fall into some error . go to their garb and clothing , the one weares long haire , the other short ; the one goes thin and open clad , the other close and warm , so that although the sun should dart down his rayes like lances upon him , yet he could not bee brought to open one button of his doublet ; the one goes gay without , the other underneath ; the one weares his cloake long , the other short ; so , that one might give him a suppositor with his cl●ake about him , if ●eed were ; the one puts on his doublet first , the other last ; the frenchman buttoneth alwayes down-ward , the spaniard upward ; the one goes high-heeled , the other low and flat , yet looks as high as the other ; the one carieth a combe and looking-glasse in his pocket , the other a piece of bayes to wipe off the dust of his shooes : and if the one hath a fancy to stars his mustachos , the other hath a leather bigothero to lye upon them all night ; the first thing the one pawns , being in necessity , is his shirt , the other his cloak , and so by degrees his cassoke goes off , and then his doublet ; the one cares more for the back , and outward appearance , the other prefers the belly ; the one is constant in his fashion , for the other 't is impossible to put him in a constant kind of habit ; — you may as soone cut out a kirtle for the moone . go to their diet , the one drinkes watered wine , the other wine watered ; the one begins his repast , where the other ends ; the one begins with a sallet , and light meat , the other concludeth his repast so ; the one begins with his boyled , the other with his roast ; the frenchman will eate and talke , and sing sometimes , and so his teeth and his tongue go often together , the spaniards teeth only walk , and fals closely to it with as little noyse and as solemnly as if he were at masse . go to their gate , the frenchman walks fast , ( as if he had a sergeant always at his heeles , ) the spaniard slowly , as if hee were newly come out of some quartan ague ; the french go up and down the streets confusedly in clusters , the spaniards if they be above three , they go two by two , as if they were going a procession ; the french laquays march behind , the spaniards before ; the one beckens upon you with his hand cast upward , the other downward ; the frenchman will not stick to pull out a peare or some other thing out of his pocket , and eate it as he goes along the street , the spaniard will starve rather than do so , and would never forgive himselfe , if he should commit such a rudenesse ; the frenchman if he spies a lady of his acquaintance , he will make boldly towards her , salute her with a kisse , and offer to vsher her by the hand or arme , the spaniard upon such an encounter , useth to recoyle backward , with his hands hid under his cloack , and for to touch or kisse her , he holds it a rudenesse beyond all barbarisme , a kind of sacriledge ▪ the frenchmen is best and most proper on horseback , the spaniard a foot ; the one is good for the onset , the other for a retrait ; the one like the wind in the fable , is full of ruffling fury , the other like the sun , when they went to try their strength upon the passengers cloake . the one takes the ball before the bound , a la volee , the other stayeth for the fall ; the one shuffleth the cards better , the other playes his game more cunningly ; your french-man is much the fairer duellist , for when hee goeth to the field , he commonly puts off his doublet and opens his breast ; the spaniard cleane contrary , besides his shirt , hath his doublet quilted , his coat of maile , his cassock , and strives to make himselfe impenetrable . go to their tune , the one delights in the ionique , the other altogether in the dorique . go to their speech , the one speakes oft , the other seldome ; the one fast , the other slowly ; the one mangleth , cuts off , and eates many letters , the other pronounceth all ; the one contracts and enchaines his words , and speakes pressingly and short , the other delights in long breathed accents , which he prolates with such pauses , that before he be at the period of his sentences , one might reach a second thought : the ones mind and tongue go commonly together , ( and the first comes sometimes in the arreare ) the others tongue comes flagging a fourlong after his mind , in such a distance , that they seldome or never meet and justle one another . in sine mercury swayeth ore the one , and saturne ore the other , insomuch that out of the premisses , you may inferre , that there is an intellectuall , politicall , morall and naturall oposition betweene them both in their comportement , fancies , inclinations , humours , and the very understanding , so that one may say , what the one is , the other is not ; and in such a visible discrepancy , that if one were fetched from the remotest parts of the earth , the sunne displayeth his beames upon , yea from the very antipods , hee would agree with either better , than they do one with another . sect. vi . and truly i have many times and oft busied my spirits , and beaten my brains hereupon , by taking information from dead and living men , and by my own practicall observations , to know the true cause of this strange antipathy betwixt two such potent and so neare neighbouring nations , which bringeth with it such mischiefe into the world ; and keepes christendome in a perpetuall alarme : for although the ill spirit bee the principall author thereof , as being the father and fomenter of all discord and hatred ( it being also part of the turkes letany , that warres should continue still betweene these two potent nations ) to hinder the happy fruit that might grow out of their vnion : yet neverthelesse it must bee thought that hee cannot shed this poyson , and sow these cursed tares , unlesse hee had some grounds to work his designe upon . and to fly to the ordinary termes of sympathy and antipathy , i know it is the common refuge of the ignorant , when being not able to conceive the true reason of naturall actions and passions in divers things , they fly to indefinite generality , and very often to these inexplicable termes of sympathy and antipathy . some as doctor garcia , and other philosophicall authors , attribute this opposition to the qualities of the clymes and influences of the stars , which are known to beare sway over all sublunary bodies , insomuch that the position of the heavens ; and constellations , which hang over spaine , being of a different vertue and operation to that of france , the temper and humours of the natives of the one , ought to bee accordingly disagreeing with the other . an opinion which may gaine credit and strength from the authority of the famous hippocrates , who in his book of ayre , water , and climes , affirmeth that the diversity of constellations , cause a diversity of inclinations , of humors and complexions ; and make the bodies whereupon they operate , to receive sundry sorts of impressions . which reason may have much apparance of truth , if one consider the differing fancies of these two nations , as it hath reference to the predominant constellations , which have the vogue , and qualifie the seasons amongst them . for then when the heate beginneth in spaine , the violence thereof lasteth a long time without intension , or remission , or any considerable change , the humour of the spaniard is just so , for if he resolves once upon a thing , he perseveres , he ponders and dwels constantly upon it , without wavering from his first deliberation ; it being one of his prime axiomes , that deliberandum est diu , quod statuendum est semel . it is farre otherwise in france , for be it sommer or winter , autumne orspring , neither the cold nor heate , nor serenity of ayre continueth nere so long , without a sensible vicissitude and change ; so that it may be truly said there in the morning , nescis quid serus vesper trahat . therefore it being granted that all elementary bodies depend upon the motion and vertue of the heavenly ; the people of france must of necessity partake of the inconstancy of the clime , both in their passions and dispositions . but this reason though probable enough , resolves not the question to the full ; for although we should acknowledge , that the celestiall bodies by their influxions , do domineere over sublunary creatures , and ●osse and tumble the humours and the masse of bloud , as they list ; it cannot be said , notwithstanding , that this vertue extends to those actions that depend immediatly upon the absolute empire of the will , with the other faculties and powers of the soule , which are meerely spirituall , as love and hatred , with the like . they that dispute thus , have much reason on their side , yet if we consider well the order and method that our understanding and wils do use in the production of their actions , we shal find , that the influence of the heavenly bodies must have something to do therein , though indirectly and accidentally : for all terrestriall creatures by a graduall kind of subordination , being governed by the heavenly , it must needs follow that whatsoever is naturall in man , as the organs of the body , and all the senses must feele the power of their influence . now is the soule so united and depends so farre upon the senses , that she cannot produce any act , unlesse they ministerially concurre and contribute thereunto , by presenting the matter to her , which is the intelligibles species : whence it necessarily comes to passe , that in regard of this straight league and bond , which is betweene them , she partakes somewhat , and yealds to that dominion , which the starres have over the sensuall appetite , which together with the will , are dispossed off , and incited ( i will not say forced ) by their influxes . and as that famous wisard , the oldest of the trismegisti , did hold , that the intelligences which are affixed to every spheare , doe worke through the organs of the body upon the faculties of the mind , ( an opinion almost as old as the world it selfe ) so it may be said more truly , that by the sensuall appetite , by the frailty and depravation of the will , the heavenly bodies worke very farre●upon the spirituall powers and passions of the soule ; and affect them diversly , though by accident and indirectly , as i said before . the position therefore of the heavens and asterismes , which governe the spanish clime , being different in their vertue and operations to them of france , the minds and fancies of both people , must by a necessary consequence bee also different . yet notwithstanding that this assertion be true , yet it doth not follow , that the influxions of the starres and diversity of climes , are the sole cause of this antipathy and aversenesse , for there are many nations which live under farre more distant and differing climes , which disaffect not one another in that degree , therefore there must be some other concurring accidents and extraordinary motive of this evill . i reade it upon record in the spanish annales , that lewis the eleventh desiring a personall conference with the king of castile , they both met upon the borders , the spaniards came full of iewels and gold chaines and richely apparelled : lewis , though otherwise , a wise and gallant prince , yet had he an humor of his own , to weare in his hat a medaille of lead , which he did at this enterview , nor were his attendants , but regis ad exemplum ▪ but meanely accoutred ; which made the spaniards despise them , and make disdainefull libels of them , which broake out afterwards into much contempt and disaffection , which came to bee aggravated more and more . and if we say that the devill made use of this occasion to engender that violent hatred , which raignes between these two nations , it would not bee much from the purpose , for the least advantage in the world is sufficient for him to iufuse his venom where he finds hearts never so little disposed to receive it , either by naturall or contingent causes . adde hereunto the vast extent of greatnesse the spaniard is come to within these sixe score yeares , by his sundry new acquest , which fils the french full of jealousies , of emulation , and apprehension of feare ; and 't is an old aphorisme , oderunt omnes , quem metuunt . furthermore , another concurring motive may be , that there passe usually over the pyreneys , from gascoigne and bearne great numbers of poore french tatterdimallians , being as it were the scumme of the countrey , which do all the fordid and abject offices to make a purse of money , whereof spaine is fuller than france ▪ from spaine also there come to france many poore spaniards to bee cured of the kings evill ; the common people of both nations measuring the whole by the part ▪ and thinking all to be such , it must needs breed mutuall apprehensions of disdaine and aversion between them ; so that what was at first accidentall seemes in tract of time , and by these degrees to diffuse it selfe like originall sinne f●om father to sonne , and become naturall . but i have beene transported too farre by this speculation , considering that i proposed to my selfe brevity at first in this small discours . sect. vii . and now being come from france to spaine , make accoump for matter of fertility of soyle , that you are come from gods blessing , to the warme sun , who is somewhat too liberall of his beames here ; which makes the ground more barren , and consequently to be a kind of wildernesse in comparison of france , if you respect the number of people , the multitude of townes , hamlets , and houses : for about the the third part of continent of spaine is made up of huge craggie hils and mountaines , amongst which one shall feele in some places more difference in point of temper of heat and cold in the ayre , then 'twixt twixt winter and sommer under other climes . but where spaine hath water and valleis there she is extraordinarily fruitfull such blessings humility carieth alwayes with her . so that spaine yeeldeth to none of her neighbours in perfection of any thing , but only in plenty ; which i beleeve was the ground of a proverbe they have amongst them , no ay cosa mala en espana , sino lo que habla , there is nothing ill in spaine , but that which speakes : and did spaine excell in plenty , as she doth in perfection of what she produceth , specially did she abound in corne , whereof she hath not enough for the fortieth mouth , as also had she men enough whereof , besides the warres , so many colonies draine her , shee would prove formidable to all her neighbours . but let the french glory never so much of their country as being the richest embroidery of nature upon earth , yet the spaniard drinks better wine , eates better fruits , weares finer cloth , hath a better sword by his side , and is better mounted than he . being entred spaine , he must take heed of posting in that hot countrey in the summer time , for it may stirre the masse of bloud too much . when hee comes to madrid ( for i know no other place secure enough for a protestant gentleman to live in , by reason of the residence of our ambassador ) he may take new spanish servants , for i presume he discharged his french when he forsooke paris : there hee shall find the king constant all the seasons of the yeare in the midst of his kingdom , as the heart in the body , or the sun in the firmament , whence the one giveth vigor to the little world , th' other to the great in equall proportion . and the first thing he must fall to , is language , which hee shall find far more easie than the french , for in point of crabbednesse there is as much difference betweene the french and spanish , as 'twixt logique and philosophy , the like may be said of the italian , for a reasonable capacity may attaine both these languages , sooner than french it selfe . there was a spanish doctor , who had a fancy that spanish , italian , and french , were spoken in paradise , that god almighty commanded in spanish , the tempter perswaded in italian , and adam begged pardon in french . i presume by the helpe of his governour he hath made an introduction into the spanish tongue before hee left france , so that in one sommer and winter he may easily come to speake it discoursively , and to good purpose ; being in my judgement the easiest of all languages , by reason of the openesse , and fulnesse of pronunciation , the agreement 'twixt the tongue and the text , and the freedome from apostrophes , which are the knots of a language , as also for the proximity it hath with the latine , for the spanish is nought else but mere latine , take a few morisco words away , which are easily distinguished by their gutturall prounciation , and these excepted , it approacheth nearer & resembleth the latine more than italian , her eldest daughter , for i have beaten my braines to make one sentence good italian and congruous latin , but could never do it , but in spanish it is very feasable , as for example , in this stanza , infausta grecia tu paris gentes , lubricas , sodomiticas , dolosas , machinando fraudes cautelosas , ruinando animas innocentes , &c. which is latin good enough , and yet is it vulgar spanish , intelligible by every plebeian . mariana and acosta , are the most authentique annalists of spaine , and alvares for the moderne story , lope de vegas works wil give good entertainment for verse , and guevara for pure prose : nor shall he be distracted with that confusion of authors , as in france , and else where , for the spaniard writes seldom but soundly , and in a quite differing straine from other nations of christendome , savouring rather of an african fancy , which argues that the moore did much mingle with him . about the fall of the leafe it were not amisse to make a journey to south spaine , to see sevill , and the contratation house of the west indies , and ( if he can ) to get a coppy of the constitutions thereof , which is accounted the greatest mystery in the spanish government , but he must shew himself neither too busie , nor too bold in this search ; and if he be there at the arrivall of the plate-fleet , which usually commeth about that time , he shall see such a grandeza , that the roman monarchy in her highest florish never had the like , nor the gran signior at this day . there he may converse with marchants , and their conversation is much to bee valued , for many of them are very gentile and knowing men in the affaires of the state , by reason of their long sojourne and actuall negotiations , and processes in the countrey : and in a short time , one may suck out of them , what they have been many yeares a gathering : and very materiall it is to know here , as every where else , what commodities the countrey affoordeth most usefull for us , either for necessity or pleasure : and what english commodities are there in greatest request , and what proportions the market usually beareth , for in the commutative part of government and mercantile affaires , lieth the most usefull part of policy 'twixt countrey and countrey ; but this hee shall observe better in italy , where the prince holdeth it no disparagement to co-adventure , and put in his stake with the marchant : so that the old clodian law is now of no force at all amongst them . from south spaine he may returne by granada , murcia and valencia , and so to barcelona , and then take the gallies for italy , for there are divers fleets passe in the yeare from thence with treasure , and crosse the mediterranean to genoa . and it is not amisse to see something by sea , and to embarque in a fleet of gallies will much adde to ones experience , and knowledge in sea affaires , and in the art of navigation which is more usefull and important for englishmen , and indeed for all islanders , than others , because their security depends upon the sea , and upon woodden horses . naviget hinc alia jam mihi linter aqua . sect. viii . having put foot ashoare in genoa , i will not wish him to stay long there , in regard the very worst italian dialect is spoken there , and besides , as it is proverbially said , there are in genoa , mountaines without wood , sea without fish , women without shame , and men without conscience , which makes them to be termed the white moores : and when a iew ( and the iews are held the most mercuriall people in the world , by reason of their so often transmigrations , persecutions , and necessity , which is the mother of wit ) meeteth with a genoway , and is to negotiat with him , he puts his fingers in his eyes , fearing to be over-reached by him , and outmatched in cunning . from thence let him hasten to toscany , to siena , where the prime italian dialect is spoken , and not stirre thence till he be master of the language in some measure . and being now in italy that great limbique of working braines , he must be very circumspect in his cariage , for she is able to turne a saint into a devill , and deprave the best natures , if one will abandon himselfe , and become a prey to dissolut courses and wantonnesse . the italian , being the greatest embracer of pleasures , the greatest courtier of ladies of any other . here he shall find vertue and vice , love and hatred , atheisme and religion in their extremes ; being a witty contemplative people ; and corruptio optimi est pessima . of the best wines you make your tartest vinegar . italy hath beene alwayes accounted the nurse of policy , learning , musique , architecture , and limning , with other perfections , which she disperseth to the rest of europe , nor was the spaniard but a dunce , till he had taken footing in her , and so grew subtilized by co-alition with her people . she is the prime climat of complement , which oftentimes puts such a large distance 'twixt the tongue and the heart , that they are seldome relatives , but they often give the lye one to another ; some will offer to kisse the hands , which they wish were cut off , and would be content to light a candle to the devill , so they may compasse their owne ends : he is not accounted essentially wise , who openeth all the boxes of his breast to any . the italians are for the most part of a speculative complexion ( as i have discovered more amply in another discours ) and he is accounted little lesse than a foole , who is not melancholy once a day ; they are only bountifull to their betters , from whom they may expect a greater benefit ; to others the purse is closest shut , when the mouth openeth widest , nor are you like to get a cup of wine there , unlesse your grapes be known to be in the wine-presse . from siena he may passe to milan , and so through the republiques territories to venice , where he shall behold a thing of wonder , an impossibility in an impossibility , a rich magnificent city seated in the very jaws of neptune , where being built and bred a christian from her very infancy , ( a prerogative she justly glorieth of above all other states , ) she hath continued a virgin ever since , nere upon twelve long ages , under the same forme and face of government , without any visible change or symptome of decay , or the least wrinkle of old age , though , her too neer neighbour , the turk hath often set upon her skirts and sought to deflowre her , wherein he went so farr that he took from her venus joynture , which she had long possessed , and was the sole crown she ever wore . but if one in story observes the cours of her actions , he shall find that she hath subsisted thus long as much by policy as armes , as much by reach of wit , and advantage of treaty , as by open strength , it having beene her practise ever and anon to sow a piece of fox tayle to the skinne of s. marks lyon . here one shall find the most zealous patriots of any , yet some would maintaine ( though i do not ) that the venetians , are but indifferently wise single , though they be very politique when they are together in the senat. having observed in the republique of venice what is , most remarquable ( and there are many things in that government worth the carying away , specially the sight of nova palma , a castle built after the newest rules of fortification ) he may visit the other ancient townes of italy , and so to naples , where he may improve his knowledge in horsmanship , and then repasse through other free states , whereof italy is full : and truly a wonder it is to see how in so small an extent of ground , which take all dimensions together , is not so big as england , there should bee so many absolute and potent princes by sea and land , which i beleeve is the cause of so many dialects in the italian tongue which are above ten in number : as hee traverseth the countrey hee must note the trace , forme and site of any famous structure , the platforms of gardens , aqueducts , grots , sculptures , and such particularities belonging to accommodation or beauty of dwelling , but specially of castles , and fortresses , wherwith italy abounds , the whole countrey being frontier almost all over . section . ix . and with the naturall situation of countreyes , a travellershould observe also the politicalposition thereof , how some are seated like mercury amongst the planets , who for the most part is either in combustion or obscurity , being under brighter beames than his own ; such is savoyand loraine , and other princes of italy , who are between more potent neighbours than themselves , and are like s●reens tossed up and down and never at quiet : and they that are so situated may say , as the mouse once answered the cat , who asking how she did , made answer , i should be far better , if you were further off . how the state of the popedome running from the tirrhene to the adriatique sea , is sited in italy , as france is in europe , in the midst , and so fittest to embroyle or preserve in peace , to disunite or conjoyne the forces of their neighbours , and so most proper to be umpires of all quarrels . how the dominions of spaine are like the planets in the heaven lying in vast uneven distances one from the other : but cleane contrary those of france , are so knit and clustered together , that they may be compared all to one fixed constellation . how germany cut out into so many principal ties , into so many hansiatiqued and imperiall townes , is like a great river sluced into sundry channels , which makes the maine streame farre the weaker ▪ the like may be said of italy . how the signory of venice is the greatest rampart of christendome against the turk by sea , and the hereditary territories of the house of austria , by land , which may be a good reason of state , why the colledge of electors hath continued the empire in that line these 200 years . he must observe the quality of the power of princes , how the cavalry of france , the infantery of spaine , and the english ships , leagued together , are fittest to conquer the world , to pull out the ottoman tyrant out of his seraglio , from betweene the very armes of his fifteen hundred concubines . how the power of the north-east part of the european world is balanced between the dane , the swede , and the pole , &c. and the rest between great britaine , france , and spaine ; as for germany and italy , their power being divided 'twixt so many , they serve only to balance themselves , who if they had one absolute monarch a piece , would prove terrible to all the rest . spaine in point of treasure hath the advantage of them al , she hath a veteran army always afoot ; but she is thinne peopled , she hath many colonies to supply , which lye squandred up and down in disadvantagious unsociable distances , her people are disaffected by most nations , and incompatible with some ; she wants bread , she hath bold accessible coasts , and her west indy fleet , besides the length of the passage , and incertainty of arrivall , is subject to casualties of sea , and danger of interception by enemies : and if england should breake out with her in good earnest into acts of hostility , those islands , which the english have peopled , colonized , and fortified lately ( being warned by saint christopher ) in the carrere to her mines , would be found to be no small disadvantage to her . france swarmes with men , and now ( more than ever ) with soldiers , she is a body well compacted ( though often subject to convulsions , and high fits of feavers , the bloud gathering up by an unequall diffusion into the upper parts ) and it is no small advantage to her , that her forme is circular , so that one part may quickly run , to succour the other : she abounds with corne , and being the thorough fare of christendome , she can never want money ; she hath those three things which the spaniard said would make her eternall , viz. rome , the sea , and counsell ; for she hath the the pope for her friend ( having had his breeding in her twenty years together ) shee hath holland for her arsenall , and richelieu for counsell ; who since he sate at the helme , hath succeeded in every attempt , with that monstrous cours of felicity : they of the religion , are now town-lesse , and arme-lesse , and so are her greatest peeres most of them out of office and provinciall command . so that if one would go to the intrinsique value of things , france will not want much in weight of the vast unweldy bulk , and disjointed body of the spanish monarchie . great britaine being encircled by the sea , and there being an easie going out for the natives , and a dangerous landing for strangers , and having so many invincible castles in motion ( i meane her ships ) and abounding inwardly with all necessaries , and breeding such men , that i may well say , no king whatsoever hath more choyce of able bodies to make soldiers of , having also most of her trade intrinsique , with many other insulary advantages , she need not feare any one earthly power , if she bee true to her selfe ; yet would she be puzzled to cope with any of the other two single , unlesse it be upon the defensive part , but joyning with holland she can give them both the law at sea , and leaguing with any of the other two , she is able to put the third shrewdly to it . now it cannot be denied , but that which giveth the greatest check to the spanish monarchy is france : and there is no lesse truth than caution in that saying , that the yeaue of the conquering of france , is the morning of the conquest of england ( and vice versa . ) it hath not been then without good reason of state , that england since that monstruous height of power that spaine is come to of late , hath endeavoured rather to strengthen france ( to beare up against her ) than to enfeeble her , having contributed both her power and purse to ransome one of her kings , at that time when spaine began to shoot out her braunches so wide : besides , during the last ligue , which raged so long through all the bowels of france with that fury , when there was a designe to cantonize the whole kingdome ; queene elizabeth though offered a part , would not accept of it , for feare of weakning the whole : therefore this chaine of reciprocall conservation , linking them together so strongly ; england may well be taken for a sure confederate of france , while france containes her selfe within her present bounds , but if shee should reduce the spaniard to that desperate passe in the netherlands ▪ as to make him throw the helve after the hatcher , and to relinquish those provinces altogether , it would much alter the case : for nothing could make france more suspectfull to england than the addition of those countreyes , for thereby they would come to be one continued piece , and so england her overthwart neighbour , should bee in a worse case than if the spaniard had them entirely to himselfe . for it would cause her to put her selfe more strongly upon her guard , and so increase her charge and care . to conclude this point , there cannot be a surer maxime and fuller of precaution for the security of england , and her allies , and indeed for all other princes of this part of the world , than barnevelt gave of late yeares , a little before he came to the fatall block . decrescat hispanus , nec crescat francus . but i have been transported too farre by this ticklish digression , which requires an ampler and more serious discours . in fine , with these particulars , a traveller should observe the likenesse and sympathy of distant nations , as the spaniard with the irish , the french with the pole , the german ( specially holsteinmen ) with the english , and in italy there have beene many besides my selfe , that have noted the countenance and condition of some people of italy , specially those that inhabite lombardy , to draw neere unto the ancient brittaines of this island , which argues , that the romanes , who had their legions here so many hundred yeares together , did much mingle and clope with them . amongst other particulars , the old italian tunes and rithmes both in conceipt and cadency , have much affinity with the welsh , ( and the genius of a people is much discovered by their prosody ) for example , vlisse ô lass● , ô dolce amor● muoro , &c. this agrees pat with the fancy of the welch bards , whose greatest acutenesse consists in agnominations and in making one word to tread as it were upon the others heele , and push it forward in like letters , as in the precedent example , whereof many italian authors are full , appeareth . sect. x. he must also observe the number of languages , and difference of dialects , as neere as he can , in every countrey as hee passeth along . the french have three dialects , the wallon ( vulgarly called among themselves romand , ) the provensall , ( whereof the gascon is a subdialect ) and the speech of languedoc : they of bearne and navarre speak a language that hath affinity with the bascuence or the cantabrian tongue in biscaie , and amongst the pyrenean mountaines : the armorican tongue , which they of low brittaine speake ( for there is your bas-breton , and the breton-brittonant or breton gallois , who speakes french ) is a dialect of the old brittish as the word armorica imports , which is a meere welsh word , for if one observe the radicall words in that language they are the same that are now spoken in wales , though they differ much in the composition of their sentences , as doth the cornish : now some of the approvedst ▪ antiquaries positively hold the originall language of the celtae , the true ancient gaules , to be welsh : and amongst other authors they produce no meaner than caesar and tacitus , to confirme this opinion : for caesar saith that the druydes of gaule understood the brittish druyds , who it seemes were of more account for their philosophy , because as he saith , the gaules came usually over to be taught by them , which must bee by conference , for there were few books then : besides tacitus in the life of iulius agricola reporteth , that the language of the brittaines and the gaules little differed , i restraine my selfe to the middle part of france called gallia celtica , for they of aquitaine spake a language that corresponded with the old spanish , they of burgundy and champagny with the german , and most part of provence spake greek , there having beene a famous colony of grecians planted in marseilles : other small differences there are up and down in other provinces of france , as the low norman useth to contract many words , as he will often say , i' ay un pet à faire , for i' ay un petit affaire , and the poictevin will mince the word , and say , ma mese , mon pese , for ma mere , mon pere ; but these differences are not considerable . the spanish or castilian tongue , which is usually called romance , and of late years lengua christiana , ( but it is called so only amongst themselves ) for a spaniard will commonly aske a stranger whether hee can speake christian , that is , castillian ? the spanish ( i say ) hath but one considerable dialect , which is the portugues , which the iewes of europe speake more than any other language , and they hold that the messias shall come out that tribe , that speake the portingal language ; other small differences there are in the pronunciation of the gutturall letters in the castillian , but they are of small moment . they of the kingdome of valencia and catalunia ( goth-land ) speake rather a language mixed of french , and italian : in the mountaines of granada ( the alpuxarras ) they speake morisco , that last part of spaine that was inhabited by the moores , who had possessed it above 700 yeares . but the most ancient speech of spaine seemes to have beene the bascuence or the cantabrian tongue spoken in guipuscoa , the asturias and in some places amongst the pyrenes ; but principally in the province of biscaye , which was never conquered by roman , cartaginian , goth , vandall or moore , which nations overrunne all the rest of spaine , ( though some more , some lesse ) therefore whensoever the king of spaine commeth to any of the territories of biscaye , hee must pull off his shooes upon the frontiers , when he treads the first step , being as it were virgin holy ground . and as it is probable that the bascuence is the primitive language of spaine , so doubtlesse the people of that countrey are a remnant of the very aborigenes , of her first inhabitants . for it is an infallible rule , that if you desire to find out ( the indige●nae ) the ancientest people or language of a countrey , you must go amongst the mountaines and places of fastnesse , as the epirotiques in greece , the heylanders in scotland , the brittaines in wales , with whom ( i meane the last ) the biscayner doth much symbolize in many things , as in the position and quality of ground , in his candor and humanity towards strangers more than any other people of spaine , his cryed up antiquity ; for the spaniards confesse the ancientest race of gentry to have been preserved there : so that a biscayner is capable to be a cavalier of any of the three habits without any scrutiny to be made by the office , whether he be , limpio de la sangre de los moros , that is , cleare of the bloud of the moores or no , 't is enough that he be a montanero , that he be borne amongst the mountaines of biscaye . and many may be the reasons why hilly people keep their standings so well , for being inured to labour , and subject to the inclemency of the heavens , distemperatures of ayre , to short commons , and other incommodities , they prove the hardier and abler men , and happily with the elevation of the ground their spirits are heightned , and so prove more couragious and forward to repel an invading enemy . adde hereunto , that the cragginesse and steepinesse of places up and down is a great advantage to the dwellers , and makes them inaccessible , for they serve as fortresses erected by nature her selfe , to protect them from all incursions : as caesar complaines of some places in scythia , that difficilius erat hostem invenire , quam vincere . and now for further proofe that the cantabrian language is the ancientest of spaine , i thinke it will not be much from the purpose , if i insert here a strange discovery that was made not much above halfe a hundred yeares ago , about the very midle of spaine , of the pattuecos , a people that were never knowne upon the face of the earth before , though spaine hath been a renown'd famous countrey visited and known by many warlik nations : they were discovered by the flight of a faulcon , for the duke of alva hauking on a time neere certaine hils , not farre from salamanca , one of his hauks which he much valued , flew over those mountaines , and his men not being able to find her at first , they were sent back by the duke after her ; these faulkners clammering up and down , from hill to hill and luring all along , they lighted at last upon a large pleasant valley , where they spied a company of naked savage people , locked in between an assembly of huge crags and hils indented and hemmed in ( as it were ) one in another : as simple and savage they were , as the rudest people of any of the two indies , whereof some thought a man on horseback to be one creature with the horse : these savages gazing awhile upon them , flew away at last into their caves , for they were troglodites , and had no dwelling but in the hollowes of the rocks : the faulconers observing well the track of the passage , returned the next day , and told the duke , that in lieu of a hauke , they had found out a new world , a new people never knowne on the continent of spaine , since tubal cain came first thither : a while after , the duke of alva went himselfe with a company of muscateers , and conquered them , for they had no offensive weapon but slings ; they were pythagoreans , and did eat nothing that had life in it , but excellent fruits , rootes and springs there were amongst them ; they worshipped the sun , & new moone , their language was not intelligible by any , yet many of their simple words were pure bascuence , and their gutturall pronunciation the very same , and a gutturall pronunciation is an infallible badge of an ancient language ; and so they were reduced to christianity , but are to this day discernable from other spaniards by their more tawny complexions , which proceeds from the reverberatiō of the sun-beams glancing upon those stony mountaines wherewith they are encircled , and on some sides trebly fenced , which beames reflects upon them with a greater strength and so tannes them . but i did not think to have stayed so long in spain now nor indeed the last time i was there , but he that hath to deale with that nation , must have good store of phlegme and patience , and both for his stay , and successe of businesse , may often reckon without his host . section . xi . bvt these varieties of dialects in france and spaine , are farre lesse in number to those of italy ; nor do i beleeve were there ever so many amongst the greeks , though their countrey was indented and cut out into so many islands , which as they differed in position of place , so there was some reason they should differ something in propriety of speech : there is in italy the toscan , the roman , the venetian , the neapol●tan , the calabrese , the genovese , the luquesse , the milanese , the parmasan , the piemontese , and others in and about abouzzo , and the apennine hils ; and all these have severall dialects and idiomes of speech , and the reason i conceive to be , is the multiplicity of governments , there being in italy , one kingdome , three republiques , and five or six absolute principalities , besides the popedome , and their lawes , being different , their language also groweth to be so , but the prime italian dialect , take accent and elegance together , is lingua toscana in boca romana . the toscan tongue in a roman mouth . there is also a mongrell dialect composed of italian and french , and some spanish words are also in it , which they call franco , that is used in many of the islands of the aegean sea , and reacheth as farre as constantinople , and natolie , and some places in afrique ; and it is the ordinary speech of cōmerce 'twixt christians , iewes , turkes , and greeks in the levant . now for the originall language in italy , as the mesapian and hetruscan tongue , there is not a syllable left anywhere , nor do i know any countrey where the old primitive languages , are so utterly and totally extinguished without the least trace left behind , as in italy . touching the latine tongue , which is one of the ancientest languages of italy , but not so ancient as those i spake of before , the received opinion is , that the inundation of the goths , vandals and longbards , were her first corrupters but it is not so , as the learned bembo , and our no lesse learned brerewood are of opinion ; for as the latine tongue grew to perfection by certaine degrees , and in caesar and cicero's times ( whereof the one for purity , the other for copiousnesse , were the best that ever writ ) she came to the highest flourish together with the empire , so had shee insensible degrees of corruption amongst the vulgar , and intrinsique changes in her selfe before any forrain cause concurred ; for the salian verses , towards the end of the republique , were scarce intelligible , no more were the capitulations of peace 'twixt rome and carthage in polybius his time : and every one knowes what kind of latine stands upon record on the columna rostrata in the capitoll , in memory of the famous navall victory of duillius the consull , which happened but 150 yeares before cicero . as also what latine had the vogue in pla●utus his time : and here it will not be much ou● of the byas , to insert ( in this ogdoastique ) a few verses of the latine which was spoken in that age , which were given me by a worthy polite gentleman , sic est , nam nenum lacient uls manaca , praes est andreas ; ipsus hortitor ergo cluo dividiam estricem ut genii averruncet , & ultra calpar , si pote , lurae insipet omnimodis , calpar , quod nymphis nenum ebrium , at argeliorum zitho , quod nostra haec vincia dapsiliter degulet , ha frux obgraecari ( haut numina poscent ) prodinit , topper morta modo orta necat . so that as before , so after cicero's time , the latine tongue wrought certaine changes in her selfe , before any mixture with strangers , or the intervention of any forraine cause : for as kingdomes and states with all other sublunary things are subject to a tossing and tumbling , to periods and changes , as also all naturall bodies corrupt inwardly and insensibly of themselves , so languages are not exempt from this fate , from those accidents , and revolutions that attend time : for horace complained in his dayes , that words changed as coynes did : yet besides this home bredd change , it cannot be denyed but the latine tongue , had some forraine extrinsique cause to degenerate so farre into italian , as the admission of such multiplicities of strangers to be roman citizens , with the great number of slaves that were brought into the city ; adde herunto at last those swarms of barbarous nations , which in lesse than one hundred yeares thrice over-ran italy , and tooke such footing in her : and as in italy , so likewise in spaine and france , they corrupted the latine tongue , though i beleeve she never tooke any perfect impression amongst the vulgar in those countreyes , albeit the romanes laboured to plant her there , making it their practise ( though not at first : for we reade of some people that petitioned unto them , that they might bee permitted to use the latine tongue ) with the law to bring in their language as a mar●e of conquest . but one may justly as●●e why the latine tongue could receive no growth at all amongst the brittaines , who were so many hundred years under the roman gover●ment , and some of the e●perours living and dying amongst them ? to this ●t may bee answered , that i● brittaine wee reade of no more than foure colonies that ever were planted ; but in spaine there were 29 , and in france 26. but as i cannot cease to wonder that the romans notwithstanding those colonies and legions that had so long cohabitation , and coalition with them , could take no impression at all upon the brittaines in so long a tract of time in point of speech , ( notwithstanding that in some other things there be some resemblances observed 'twixt the people , as i said before ) i wonder as much how such a multitude of greeke words could creep into the welsh language , some whereof for example sake , i have couched in this distique . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . which words englished are , salt , water , birth , fire , the belly , an old woman , to teach , the earth , hony , to heare , the sun , destiny , drunkard . besides divers others , which are both greeke and wels● , both in pronunciation and sense . now for the greek tongue , there is no question , but it was of larger extent than ever the roman was , for these three respects , for the mighty commerce that nation did exercise , for their humour in planting of colonies , for their learning and philosophy , for greek is the scientificalst tongue that ever was , in all which they went beyond the romones : and it is not long ago since in some places of italy her selfe , as calabria and apulia , the liturgy was in the greek tongue . nor is some vulgar greek so farre adulterated , and eloignated from the true greek , as italian is from the latin , for there is yet in some places of the morea true greek spoken vulgarly ( you cannot say so of the latin anywhere ) only they confound these three letters , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , ( eta , iota , upsilon ) and these two dipthongs {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , and {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , all which they pronounce as ioata . as for {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , they pronounce {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , for {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , they say {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} there is also true greek spoken in some parts of the lesser asia , where there is no place upon the surface of the earth , for the proportion , where so many differing languages are spoken , yet most of them are but dialects and subdialects ; so that of those two and twenty tongues , which mithridates is recorded to have understood , above two parts of three , i beleeve , were but dialects . i dare go no further eastward , for it is beyond the bounds of so smalla volume as this , to speak of the levantine tongues , that go from the liver to the heart , from the right hand to the left , as the most spacious arabique , which is spoken ( or learnt ) throughoutal the vast dominions of the mahumetan empire , and is the most fixed language now upon earth , it being death to alter it , or translate the alcoran into any other language , to adde the least title to the first text , or comment upon it ; a rare policy to prevent schismes , and restraine the extravagant , and various restlesse fancies of humane braine . this page is also too narrow to comprehend any thing of the most large slavonique tongue , which above other languages hath this prerogative to have two characters , one resembling the latine , the other the greek , and in many places the liturgy is in both , one for sundayes and holy-dayes , the other for working dayes . there are above forty severall nations , both in europe and asia , which have the slavonick for their vulgar speech , it reacheth from mosco , the court of the great knez , to the turks seraglio in constantinople , and so over the propontey to divers places in asia , i● being the common language of the ianizaries . sect. xii . the german or teutonique tongue also is of mighty extent , for not only the large continent of germany high and low , but the kingdomes of england , scotland , denmarque , s●ethland , norway , island , and some parts of hungary and poland speake it vulgarly . and questionlesse the german is one of the first mother tongues of europe , whereof scaliger would have but eleven , though there be foure or five more , but i find that they who are cryed up for great clearks may erre , as he did in this , as also when hee made prester iohn an african and placed him in ethiopia , in the habassins countrey , whereas it is certaine that he was an asian , and king of tenduc in tartary above two thousand miles distant , besides he was a nestorian by his religion , and it is well known the habassines are iacobites and christians from the girdle upward , and iews downward , admitting both of baptism and circumcision . and so ancient is the german tongue , that goropius becanus flattered himselfe with a fancy , that it was the language which was spoken in paradise , which ortelius also shewed a desire to beleeve ; they grounded this conceipt upon these words , adam , eve , abel , seth , &c. which they would stretch to bee german words ; also that their language came first from asia , because godt , fader , moder , broder , star , are found to signifie the same things both in the german , and persian tongue . there is no language so ful of monosyllables and knotted so with consonants as the german , howsoever she is a full mouthd masculine speech : the speeches of the kingdoms before mentioned , are but dialects derived from her ; and the english is but a subdialect or branch of the saxon dialect , which hath no other name in welsh and irish to this day ; for take an englishman capa pea pea , from head to foot , every member hee hath is dutch . yet since the last conquest much french hath got in , and greatly embellished and smoothed the english , so that there is very much affinity between them , as for example , la fortune me tourmente , la vertu mecontente . or , men desir est infiny , d' entrer en paradis . which sayings are both french and english . of late yeares the english tongue hath much enriched her selfe , by borrowing of some choyce , well sounding and significant words from other languages also ; so that she may be compared to a posie made up of many fragrant choyce flowers : and truly , without interest and passion , let it be spoken , there is in english as true straines of eloquence , as strong and sinewy expressions , as elaborate and solid pieces of fancy , as far fetched reaches of invention , and as full of salt , metaphor's as faithfully poursued similies as aptly applyed , and as well cloathed and girded about ; as in any language whatsoever , both in poesie and prose ; it must be granted that some other languages , for their soft and smooth melting fluency , as having no abruptnesse of consonants , have some advantage of the english ; yet many of their fancies , which amongst themselves they hold to be strong lines and quintessentiall stuffe , being turned to another tongue become flat , and prove oftentimes but meere gingles , but what is witty in english , is so , with advantage , in any language else , unlesse the conceipt be topicall , or personall , and peculiar only to this island . but whither have i been thus transported ? the copiousnesse and pleasure of the argument hath carried mee a little further than i made account , for to bee a {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , to have the knowledge , specially the practicall knowledge ( for the theory is not nere so grateful nor useful ) of many languages is one of the richest and pleasingst kind of notions that is ; and we find upon the best record , that the first blessing which fell down from heaven upon those holy heralds of christianity , the apostles , was the knowledge of many tongues , inspired into them immediatly by god almighty himselfe . for what is imagination , invention and sense , without the faculty of speech without expression ? speech is the instrument by which a foole is distinguished from a philosopher : speech is the index , the interpreter , the ambassador of the mind , and the tongue the vehiculum , the chariot , which conveyeth and carrieth the notions of the mind to reasons palace , and the impregnable tower of truth : and although there be but one way thither , yet there be many sorts of chariots , some more sumptuous and better harnessed than others ; for amongst tongues there be some farre more rich , more copious , and of stronger expressions than others : and amongst tongues there is also a kind of , good fellowship , for they sometimes supply one anothers wants , and mutually borrow and lend . sect. xiii . bvt whether have i wantred ? i had almost forgot where i left my traveller , but now i remember wel it was in italy . and having surveyed italy , that minion of nature , he may crosse the alpes , and see some of the cantons , those rugged repub●iques , and regiments , and then passe through many of the stately proud cities of germany , till hee comes to bruxels , and there he shall behold the face of a constant military court , and provinciall government , with a miscellany of all nations , and if there be any leagers a foot , or armies in motion , it should bee time well spent to see them . for the netherlands have been for many yeares , as one may say , the very cockpit of christendome , the schoole of armes , and rendezvous of all adventurous spirits , and cadets , which makes most nations of europe beholden to them for soldiers . therefore the history of the belgique wars are very worth the reading , for i know none fuller of stratagemes of reaches of pollicy , of variety of successes in so short a time : nor in which more princes have been engaged ( though some more , some lesse ) for reasons of state , nor a warre which hath produced such deplorable effects directly or collaterally , all christendome over , both by sea and land . iean petit in french , is an approved author , guicciardin , don carles coloma in spanish , and sir roger williams in english , with others , there you shall reade of one towne taken by a boat of turfs , and reprized many yeares after by a boat of fagots , another taken by the flight of a ha●k , another by a load of hey , another by a cart full of apples , and many by disguises , either of boores , fryers , or marchands . having spent some small time in brabant and flanders , he may by safe conduct , as is usuall , passe to holland , where he shall find a people planted as it were under the sea , out of whose jawes they force an habitation , with infinite expence and toyle , checking the impetuous cours of the angry ocean , and shewing the world how far industry and art , can curbe and controule nature : and very expedient it is , hee should take an exact survey of the states of the united provinces , because they are accounted the surest confederates of england , and her fastest friends , for interest of religion , for community of danger , and consequently of reciprocall preservation . and it will be a wonderfull thing to see what a mighty subsistence of wealth and a huge navigable power that state in come too , by a rare unparalelled industry : for i dare avouch that the roman common-wealth , ( though she had her head as well knit in her infancy as any that ever was ) did not come neere her , in so short a progresse of time , to such a growth of strength . but it seemes all things conspired to rayse holland to this passe : first , the humour of the people , being patient ▪ and iudustrious , and of a genius more in clinable to a democraticall government than to a monarchy : adde hereunto the quality of the countrey , being every where half cut , and as it were inlayed with water , and thereby much fortified , and made in many places inaccessible ; so that , if need were , holland could turne her selfe into a huge pond when she list . hereunto concurred a further advantage of situation , having behind her the baltique sea , which affoords her all kind of materials for shipping , and for all kind of nutriment and military forces england and france , both swarming with superfluous people , suspectfull of the spanish greatnesse , and so not unwilling to contribute auxiliary strength for mutuall security and conservation . navigation and mercantile negotiation , are the two poles whereon that state doth move , and to both these , it seemes , nature her selfe hath expresly designed both countrey and people ; them be an extraordinary kind of propensity , the countrey by apt position , for having no land to manure , they plow the very bowels of the deep , the wrinkled fore-head of neptune being the furrowes that yealds them encrease . moreover , there being many great rivers that slice and cut the countrey up and down to disgorge themselvs into the ocean , those rivers may be said to pay them tribute , as well as to the sea , which rivers branching themselves into large and bearing streames , do so fitly serve one another , and all the whole , that it may bee said , nature in the frame of humane bodies , did not discover more art , in distributing the veines and arteries , for the easy conveyance of the masse of bloud into each part , as she hath shewed here in dispersing those waters so orderly for trafique . these rivers bring her what the large continent of germany , and other easterne countreys affoord , and shee lying between them and the sea ; furnisheth them with all far fetched indian , african , and spanish commodities . here you shall see the most industrious people upon earth , making a rare vertue of necessity , for the same thing which makes a parrot speake , makes them to labour . for having nothing of their own , yet they abound with all things , and may be said , to live by the idlenesse of some of their neighbours , i am loth to name here who they are . here you shall find a people grow rich also by that which useth to impoverish others , even by warre , for pri●es and booties abroad , go to make a good part of their wealth . yet in conversation they are but heavy , of a homely outside , and slow in action , which slownesse carieth with it a notable per severance , and this may bee imputed to the quality of that mould of earth , whereon they dwell , which may be said to bee a kind of ●●●●ding poole of ayre : and which is known to have such a force of assimilation , that when people of a more vivacious temper , come to mingle with them , at the second generation , they seeme to participate of the soyle and ayre , and degenerate into meere hollanders ; the like is found dayly in horses and dogs , and all other animals . occulta est batavae quaedam vis insita terrae . one remarquable piece of policy i forgot , that hee should observe in the vnited provinces ; viz. why in so small an extent of ground they have so many rich , wel-built and populous townes amongst them ; one of the principall reasons is , because they appropriate some staple materiall commoditie to every one of the great townes , as amsterdam hath the trade of the east and west indies , roterdam the english cloth , dort the rhenish wines , middelborough the french wines , treveres the scots trade , the hage the residence of the prince , and the states , haerlam subsist by knitting and dying , and so forth which is a very laudable cours ▪ not to suffer one place to swallow the wealth an● traffique of the whole , like the spleene in the naturall body , whose swelling makes all the rest of the members languish . sect. xiv . having thus passed the diameter of france , run over spaine , crossed the mediterranean to italy , and observed the multiplicity of governments therein ; having thus climbed the alpes , and traversed the best part of germany , having also taken the length of the belgique lion , ( of all which france for a kingdome , venice for a republique , millan for a duchy , flanders for a county beare the bell ) having i say , travelled through all these places , all which may bee done compleatly in three yeares and foure months , which foure months i allow for itinerary removals and journeys , and the yeares for residence in places ; it wi●l be high time now to hoyse sayle , and steere homwards , where being returned , hee must abhorre all affectation ▪ all forced postures and complements : for forraine travell oftentimes makes many to wander from themselves , as well as from their countrey , and to come back mere mimiques , and so in going farre , to fare worse , and bring backe lesse wit , than they carieth forth , they go out figures ( according to the italian proverb ) and returne cyphers , they retaine the vice of a countrey , and will discours learnedly thereon , but passe by , and forget the good , their memories being herein like haire seeves , that keep up the branne , and let go the fine flowr● ▪ they strive to degenerate as much as they can from englishmen , and all their talke is still forraine , or at least , will bring it to be so , though it be by head and shoulders , magnifying other ▪ nations , and derogating from their own : nor can one hardly exchange three words with them , at an ordinary ▪ ( or else-where ) but presently they are th●other side of the sea , commending either the wines of france , the 〈◊〉 of italy , or the oyle and sallets of spaine . some also there are who by their countenance more than by their cariage , by their diseases , more than by their discourses , discover themselves to have been abroad under hot climats . others have a custome to bee always relating strange things and wonders , ( of the humor of sir iohn mandevile ) and they usually present them to the hearers , through multiplying glasses , and thereby cause the thing to appeare far greater than it is in it self , they make mountaines of mole-hils , like charenton-bridge-eccho , which doubles the sound nine times . such a traveller was he , that reported the indian fly , to be as big as a fox ; china birds , to be as big as some horses , and their mice to be as big as monkeys ; but they have the wit to fetch this far enough off , because the hearer may rather believe it , than make a voyage so far to disprove it . every one knowes the tale of him , who reported hee had seen a cabbage under whose leafes a regiment of souldiers were sheltred from a shower of raine : another who was no traveller ( yet the wiser man ) said , hee had passed by a place where there were 400 brasiers making of a cauldron , 200 within , and 200 without , beating the nayles in ; the traveller asking for what use that huge cauldron was ? he told him , sir it was to boyle your cabbage . such another was the spanish traveller , who was so habituated to hyperbolize , and relate wonders , that he became ridiculous in al companies , so that he was forced at last to give order to his man , when he fell into any excesse this way , and report any thing improbable , he should pul him by the sleeve : the master falling into his wonted hyperboles , spoke of a church in china , that was ten thousand and yards● long ; his man standing behind and pulling him by the sleeve , made him stop suddenly : the company asking , i pray sir , how broad might that church be ? he replyed , but a yard broad , and you may thanke my man for pulling me by the sleeve , else i had made it foure-square for you . others have another kind of hyperbolizing vaine , as they will say , there 's not a woman in italy , but weares an iron girdle next her skin in the absence of her husband , that for a pistoll one may be master of any mans life there ; that there is not a gentleman in france but hath his box of play 〈◊〉 about him ; that in germany every one hath a rouse in his pate , once a day ; that there are few dons in spaine that eat flesh once a week , or that hath not a mistresse besides his wife ; that paris hath more courtizans than london honest women ( which may admit a double sense ; ) that sevill is like a chesse-bord table , having as many moriscos as spaniards ; that venice hath more maquerelles , than marchands ; portugall more iews than christians : whereas i● ▪ is farre otherwise , for the devill is not so black as he 〈◊〉 painted , no more are these noble nations and townes as they are tainted : therefore one should ▪ parcere paucorum diffunder● crimen in omnes . and it is a generous kind of civility to report alwayes the best . furthermore , there is amongst many others ( which were too long to recite here ) an odde kind of anglicisme ▪ wherein some do frequently expresse themselves , as to say your boores of holland , sir ; your iesuites of spaine , sir ; your courtisans of venice , sir : whereunto one answered ( not impertinently ) my courtisans sir ? pox on them all for me , they are none of my courtisans . lastly , some kind of travellers there are , whom their gate and strouting , their bending in the hammes , and shoulders , and looking upon their legs , with frisking and singing do speake them travellers . others by a phantastique kind of ribanding themselvs , by their modes of habit , and cloathing ( and touching variety of cloathing , there be certaine odde ill-favoured old prophecies of this island , which were improper to recite here ) do make themselves knowne to have breathed forraine ayre , like sir thomas moore's ) traveller , whom i will bring here upon the stage . amicus & sodalis est la●us mihi , britanniaque natus , altusque insulâ : at cùm brittannos galliae cultoribus oceanus ingens , lingua , mores dirimant , spernit tamen lalus britannica omnia ; miratur expetitque cuncta gallica togâ superbit ambulans in gallica , amatque multùm gallicas lacernulas , zonâ , locello , atque ense gaudet gallico , et calceis & subligare gallico , totoque denique apparatu gallico , nam & unum habet ministrum , eumque gallicum , sed quem , licet velit , nec ipsa gallia , tractare quiret plus ( opinor ) gallicè , stipendii nihil dat , atque id gallicè , vestitque tritis pannulis , & gallicè hoc , alit cibo parvo & malo , idque gallicè , labore multo exercet , atque hoc gallicè , pugnisque crebrò pulsat , idque gallicè , in coetu , in via , & in foro , & frequentiâ rixatur objurgatque semper gallicè . quid ? gallicè illud ? imò semi-gallicè , sermonem enim , ni●fallor , ille gallicum tam callet omnem , quàm latinum psittacus . crescit tamen ; sibique nimirum placet , verbis tribus si quid loquatur gallicis , aut gallicis si quid nequit vocabulis , conatur id verbis , licèt non gallicis , sono● saltem personare gallico , palato hiante , acutulo quodam ▪ tono , et foemine instar garrientis molliter , sed ore pleno , tanquam id impleant fabae , balbutiens videlicet suaviter , pressis quibusdam literis , galli quibus ineptientes abstinent , nihi●l secus quam vulpe gallus , rupibusque navita ; sic ergo linguam ille & latinam gallicè , et gallicè linguam sonat br●tannicam , et gallicè linguam refert hispan●cam , et gallicè linguam refert lombardicam , et gallicè l●●guam refert g●●manicam , et gallicè omnem praeter unam gallicam , nam gallicam solùm sonat britannicè at quisquis insulâ satu britannica sic patriam insolens fastidie● suam , ut more simiae laboret fingere , et aemulari gallicas ineptias , ex amne gallo ego hunc opinor ●brium . ergo ut ex britanno gallus esse nititur , sic dii jubete , fiat fiat ex gallo capus . sec. xv . bvt such travellers as these may bee termed land-lopers , as the dutchman saith , rather than travellers ; such may be said to go out upon such an arrand , as wee reade saules-son went once out upon ; or like the prodigall son , to feed upon the huskes of strange countreys ; or as we reade , aesope travelled to istria , thence to afric● , and sundry other regions , only to find out the best crabs ; or like him who came from the furthest parts of hungary to england , to eate oysters : these travellers in lieu of the ore of ophir wherwith they should come home richly freighted , may be said to make their returne in apes and owles , in a cargazon of complements and cringes , or some huge monstrous periwigs , which is the golden fleece they bring over with them . such , i say , are a shame to their countrey abroad , and their kinred at home , and to their parents , benonies , the sons of sorrow : and as ionas in the whales belly , travelled much , but saw little , why , because hee was shut up in the body of that great ( aquatique ) beast , so these may be said to have been carried up and downe through many countreys , and after a long pererration to and fro , to returne as wise as they went , because their soules were so ill lodged , and shut up in such stupid bodies : no , an ingenious and discerning traveller will disdaine this , and strive to distinguish 'twixt good and evill , 'twixt that which is gracefull , and what 's phantastique , 'twixt what is to be followed , and what 's to be shunned , and bring home the best : hee will strive to be rather substance without shew , than shew without substance : from the italian he will borrow his reservednesse , not his jealousie and humor of revenge ; from the french his horsemanship and gallantnesse that way , with his confidence , and nothing else : from the spaniard his sobriety , not his lust : from the german ( cleane contrary ) his continency , no : his excesse , the other way : from the netherland his industry , and that 's all : his heart must still remaine english , though i allow him some choyce and change of habit , coelum , non animum mutet — and as the commendablest quality of oyle is to smell of nothing , yet it giveth an excellent relish to many sorts of meats : so he is the discreetest traveller , who savoureth of no affectation ; or strangenesse , of no exotique modes at all , after his returne , either in his cariage or discours , unlesse the subject require it , and the occasion and company aptly serve for him , to discover himselfe , and then an application of his knowledge abroad , will excellently season his matter and serve as golden d●shes to serve it in . if any forrainer be to be imitated in his manner of discours and comportement , it is the italian , who may be said to be a medium 'twixt the gravity of the spaniard , the heavinesse of the dutch , and levity of our next neighbours , for he seemes to allay the one , and quicken the other two ; to serve as a buoy to the one , and a ballast to th'other . france useth to work one good effect upon the english , she useth to take away the mothers milk ( as they say , ) that blush , and bashfull tincture , which useth to rise up in the face upon sudden salutes , and enterchange of complement , and to enharden one with confidence ; for the gentry of france have a kind of loose becomming boldnes , and forward vivacity in their cariage , whereby they seeme to draw respect from their superiours and equals , and make their inferiours keepe a fitting distance . in italy amongst other morall cautions , one may learne not to be over prodigall of speech when there is no need , for with a nod , with a shake of the head , and shrug of the shoulder , they will answer to many questions . one shall learne besides there not to interrupt one in the relation of his tale , or to feed it with odde interlocutions : one shall learne also not to laugh at his own jest , as too many use to do , like a hen , which cannot lay an egge but she must ca●kle . moreover , one shall learne not to ride so furiously as they do ordinarily in england , when there is no necessity at all for it ; for the italians have a proverb , that a gallopping horse is an open sepulcher . and the english generally are observed by all other nations , to ride commonly with that speed , as if they rid for a midwife , or a physitian , or to get a pardon to save one's life as he goeth to execution , when there is no such thing , or any other occasion at all , which makes them call england , the hell of horses . in these hot countreyes also , one shall learne to give over the habit of an odde custome , peculiar to the english alone , and whereby they are distinguished from other nations , which is , to make still towards the chimney , though it bee in the dog-dayes . sect. xvi . language is the greatest outward testimony of travell : yet is it a vaine and verball knowledge that rests only in the tongue ; nor are the observations of the eye any thing profitable , unlesse the mind draw something from the externe object to enrich the soule withall , to informe to build up and unbeguile the inward man , that by the sight of so various objects of art and nature , that by the perlustration of such famous cities , castles , amphitheaters , and palaces ; some glorious and new , some mouldred away , and eaten by the iron-teeth of time , he come to discerne ; the best of all earthly things to bee but frayle and transitory . that this world at the best is but a huge inne , and we but wayfaring men , but pilgrimes , and a company of rambling passengers . that we enter first into this world by travaile , and so passe along , with cries , by weeping crosse : so that it was no improper character the wisest of kings gave of this life to be nought else but a continuall travell : as the author crossing once over the pyrenes , writ to a noble friend of his in this distique , vita peregrinans iter est , sacrapagina monstrat , nunc verè vitam , nam peregrinor , ago . yet amongst these passengers , some find warme lodgings in this inne , with fift beds , the table plentifully f●rnished , and such is the poorenesse of some spirits , and the narrownesse of their soules , and they are so nailed to the earth , that when they are ●lmost at their iourneyes end , when they lyewind-bound at the cape of good hope , and have one foot in the 〈◊〉 ready to go off , with the next gale to another countrey , to their last home : yet , as the orator saith , quò minùs viae restat eò plus viatici quaerunt , the lesse way remaines , the more provision they make still for their journey . other passengers there are , which find but short commons , they are forced to trudge up and down for a roome to lay their heads upon , and would bee well content with a trucklebed , or a mattresse in the garret , for want whereof , they are often constrained to lye in state against their wils in the starre chamber , having the heaven for their canopy , and the brests of their common mother for their pillow . and it is the high pleasure of providence this disparity should be'twixt the citizens of this world , and that the earth should be divided into such unequall portions , to leave place for industry , labour , and wit , the children of necessity , and parents of vertue , for otherwise , few or none would pourchase any ground upon parnassus hill . to see the escuriall in spaine , or the plate-fleet at her first arrivall ; to see saint denis , the late cardinal-palace in richelieu , and other things in france ; to see the citadell of antwerp ; the new towne of amsterdam , and the forrest of masts , which lye perpetually before her ; to see the imperiall , and stately hans towns of germany ; to see the treasurie of saint mark , and arsenall of venice ; the mount of piety in naples ; the dome and castle of milan ; the proud palaces in and about genoua , whereof there are two hundred within two miles of the towne , and not one of the same forme of building ; to see saint peter's church , the vatican , and other magnificent structures in rome , who in the case she stands in , may be said to be but her owne tombe , in comparison of what she hath beene , being fallen from the hils to the plaines . to be able to spake many languages , as the voluble french , the courtly italian , the lofty spanish , the lusty dutch , the powerfull latine , the scientifique and happily compounding greek , the most spacious slavonique , the mysticall hebrew with all her dialects : all this is but vanity and superficiall knowledge , unlesse the inward man be bettered hereby ; unlesse by seeing and perusing the volume of the great world , one l●arne to know the little , which is himselfe , unles o●e learne to governe and check the passions , our domestique enemies , then which nothing can conduce more to gentlenes of mind , to elegancy of manners , and solid wisdome . but principally , unlesse by surveying and admiring his works abroad , one improve himself in the knowledge of his creator , prae quo quisquiliae caetera ; in comparison whereof the best of sublunary blessings are but bables , and this indeed , this vnum necessarium , should be the center to which travell should tend . moreover , one should evertuate himselfe to bring something home , that may accrue to the publique benefit and ad vantage of his countrey , and not to draw water to his own mill only ; for of those three that the orator saith , challenge a share in our nativity , our countrey is the first , and our selfs last . therefore he should pry into the policy and municipall lawes of other states and cities , and be able to render an accompt of their government , and by collation thereof with that of his own , examine well whether any wholesome constitution or custome may be applyable to the frame of his owne countrey . it is recorded in an ancicient greek author , that the famous ptolomey , he who conversed and travelled so much amongst heavenly bodies , culled out a select number of his pregnantest young nobles , and gentlemen to go to greece , italy , carthage and other region● , and the prime instruction they had in charge , was , to observe 〈◊〉 government , as they travelled along , & bring back 〈◊〉 of the wholesomest lawes out of every countrey . being returned , they related that in the roman republique , a most singular veneration was had of the temples , a punctuall obed●ence to governors , and unavoydable punishments inflicted upon malefactors . in carthage , the senat commanded , the nobles executed , and the people obeyed . in athens the rich were not suffered to be extortioners , the poore idle , nor the magistrates ignorant . in rhodes old men were venerable , young men modest , and women solitary and silent . in thebes the nobles did fight , the plebeians labour , and philosophers teach . in sicily iustice was entirely administred , commerce was honestly exercised , and all enjoyed equall priviledges and interest in the state . among the sicionians there were admitted neither physitians to hinder the operations of nature ; nor strangers , to introduce innovations ; nor lawyers , to multiply contentions . these men it seemes di● not go out to see feathers fly in the ayre , or reeds shaken with the wind , they did not go to get complements or cringes , or cariage of bodies , or new modes of cloathing , or to tip the tongue with a little language only , but they searchd into the solidest and usefullest part of humane wisdome , which is policy ; and doubtlesse , that rare wise king made excellent use of their observations , and rewarded them accordingly : and one of the happiest advantages to a monarchy is , to have a discerning and bountifull king when occasion requires , for subjects are accordingly active or idle , as they find their prince able to judge of their merit and endeavours , and so emp●oy them ; for in the common-wealth of letters , and speculative orbe of vertue , the benigne aspect and iufluence of the prince , is as apollo was to the muses , it gives a kind of comfortable heate , and illumination , whereby they are cherished and made vigorous . the most materiall use therefore of forraine travel is to find out something that may bee applyable to the publique utility of one's own countrey , as a noble personage of late yeares did , who observing the uniforme and ●regular way of stone structure up and down italy , hath introduced that forme of building to london and westminster , and else where , which though d●stastfull at first , as all innovations are , for they seeme like bug-beares , or gorgons heads , to the vulgar ; yet they find now the commodity , firmenesse , and beauty therof , the three maine principles of architecture . another seeing their dikes , and draynings in the netherlands , hath been a cause that much hath beene added , to lengthen the skirts of this island . another in imitation of their aqueducts and sluces , and cōveyance of waters abroad , brought ware-water through london streets : and it had been wished so great and renowned a city had not forgot him so soon , considering what infinite advantages redounds to her thereby ; for in other countreys i have seene statues erected to persons in the most eminentest places ( to eternize their memories by way of gratitude ) for inventions of farre lesser consequence to the encouragement of others , for it is an old rule of state , and will be in date to the worlds end , that honor nourisheth arts , and is the golden sp●rre of vertue and industry . sect. xvii . amongst many other fruits of forraine travell , besides the delightfull ideas , and a thousand various thoughts and selfe contentments and selfe contentments and inward solaces , it raiseth in the memory of things past , this is one : that when one hath seene the tally and taillage of france , the milstone of spaine , the assise of holland , the gabels of italy , where one cannot bring an egge , or roote to the market , but the prince his part lyes therinna : when he hath felt the excesse of heat , the dangerous serains , the poverty of soyle in many places , the homelinesse and incommodity of lodging , the course cloathing of the best sort of peasants , their wooden shooes , and straw hats , their canvas breeches , and buckram petticoates , their meager fare , feeding commonly upon grasse , hearbs , and roots , and drinking water , neere the condition of brute animals , who find the cloth always ready layed , & the buttry open : when hee hath observed what a hard shift some make to hewe out a dwelling in the holes of the rocks ; others to dig one under the sea ; when he feeles , how in some climes the heaven is as brasse , in others as a dropping sponge ; in others as a great bellowes , most part of the yeare ; how the earth , in many places is ever and anone sick of a fit of the palsie ; when hee sees the same sun which only cherisheth and gently warmes his countrey men , halfe parboyle and tanne other people , and those rayes which scorch the adusted soyles of calabria and spaine , only varnish and guild the green hony-suckled plaines and hillocks of england ; when he hath observed what hard shifts some make to rub out in this world in divers countreys , what speed nature makes to finish her cours in them ; how their best sort of women after forty , are presently superannuated , and looke like another charing-crosse , or carackes that have passed the line in three voyages to the indies : when hee hath observed all this , at his returne home , hee will blesse god , and love england better ever after , both for the equality of the temper in the clime , where there is no where the like , take all the seasons of the yeare together , ( though some would wish she might bee pushed a little nearer the sun : ) for the free condition of the subject , and equall participation of the wealth of the land , for the unparallelled accommodation of lodging , and security of travell , for the admirable hospitality , for the variety and plenty of all sorts of firme food , for attendance and cleanlinesse , for the rare fertility of shoare and sea , of ayre , earth , and water , for the longevity , well favourednesse and innated honesty of the people : and above all ; for the moderation and decency in celebrating the true service of god , being farre from superstition one way , and from prophanesse the other way , ( though ( with a quaking heart , i speake it ) there have been strange insolencies committed of late ) i say , when hee hath well observed all this , he will sing , as once i did to a noble friend of mine from denmarque , in this sapphique : dulcior fumus patriae , forensi flāmula , vino , praeit unda , terrae herba britānae , mage trāsmarino flore süavis . sect. xviii . having thus tasted of so many waters , and beene salted in the world abroad , and being safely restored to the bosome of his owne countrey , his next cours should bee , to settle himselfe awhile in one of the innes of court , ( which hee may do and yet bee a courtier besides ) to understand something of the common lawes of england , which are the inheritance of every subject , as also of the constitutions and orders of the house of parlament , the most indifferent , most wholesome , and noblest way of government in the world , both in respect of king and people : it being the greatest glory of a king , to be king of a free and well-crested people , and the greatest glory of a people to bee under a crown so embellished with flowers , and sparckling with such ancient and sacred gemmes of royall prerogatives : yet to bee under no law but of their owne making , to bee the setters of the great dyall of the common-wealth themselves . to bee subject to no ordinance , to no contribution or taxe , but what is granted in that great epidemicall counsell , wherein every one from the peere to the plebeian hath an inclusive vote . and if every degree high and low , both in towne and countrey is there represented by their subsistutes ; it were a hard measure ( under correction , i humbly speake it ) if the levites , the best of all professions , who besides the holinesse of their function ( as having charge of the nobler halfe of man , of that which should guide and regulate the understanding in making of all lawes , i meane the conscience ) do make a considerable part of the people of the kingdome , should be thence excluded ; for though it be inconsistent with their calling to have hands to execute , yet they may well have heads to consult in that great nationall senat : it were a hard case , i say , if those great lights , which were used to shine with that brightnesse to the envy ( not the reproach or scandall of any that i know of ) of all other reformed churches , should be now put in wooden candlesticks : that those promotions , endowments , and honors , which our well disposed progenitors provided , to nourish the arts , and serve as spurres to learning and zeale , should now be cut off , as if they served only for stirrops to pride . there being no professions , but have certaine steps of rising up , and degrees of promotion for their encouragement to make men aemulari meliora . and he who hath spent the vigor of his yeares and intellectuals in the lords vineyard , it may well become him ( having served , as it were , his yeare of iubile ) to have his gray haires dignified with some honor and authority , with reward and rest in his old age , and by his long experience and paines to see that other painefull labourers be put into the vine-yard , yet to have his hand often on the plough himselfe . if there bee a theefe in the candle , ( as wee use to say commonly ) there is a way to pull it out ; and not to put out the candle , by clapping an extinguisher presently upon it ; if these lights grow dim , there is a trienniall snuffer for them : if these trees beare not good fruit , or shoot forth any luxuriant boughs , they are sure to feele the pruning iron once every three yeares . in the name of god , let these lights be brought to move within the circumference of their own orbes , and be kept from irregular and eccentrique motions , and i am confident it will render them lesse obnoxious to envy and scandall , and draw upon them a greater opinion of reverence . there is a castle in the grand caire in aegypt , called the nilescope , where there stands a pillar with certaine markes to observe the height of the river of nile , at her annuall inundation ( which fals out precisely about the summer solstice ) if the streame come to bee higher or lower than such markes , it portends dearth , but if at highest floud it rest about the middle , it is an infallible presage of a plentifull yeare : so we may say of these great streames that are appointed to water the lords field , they must not swell too high , nor must they run in too low a channell : and as humility is the fairest gemme that can shine in a prelats miter , so the greatest badge of a well devoted soule , is to reverence the dispensers of the sacred oracles of god , the ghostly fathers , and governors of the church , ( which in analogy to the triumphant in heaven , hath also her degrees of hierarchy . ) for besides revenue there is a veneration , due to this holy function , and it were no hard matter to produce a gran iury of examples both humane and divine , that where this reverence fayled , it hath been a symptome , and an infallible presage of a declining state , or some approaching judgement . but i hope i shall never live to see the day that the noble english nation , who have been so renowned all the world over , and cryed up for their exemplary piety , as well as prowesse , will undervalue themselves so farre , and grow distrustfull or conscious of their owne judgements , their owne wonted worth , and ability so far , as to thinke those nations ( who have not meanes to make the church shine with that lustre ) to be wiser than they , or to out go them in zeale , as to receive laws for the conscience , and forme of serving god from those , who have been far behind them , both in the first reception of christianity and the reformation thereof — proh pudor — i will not say , by what i heard muttered abroad , it will be accounted a nationall diminution , but if it should fo fall out , it is no hard matter to be a prophet , yea , by what hath passed already , to take a plaine prospect of those anarchicall confusions , and fearefull calamities , which will inevitably ensue both in church and state ; unlesse with the pious care which is already taken to hinder the great beast to breake into the vineyard ; there be also a speedy cours taken to fence her from other vermine , and lesser animals ( the belluam multorum capitum ) which begin to brouze her leaves , to throw down her hedges , and so lay her open to wast , spoyle and scorne : vnlesse there bee a cours taken , i say , to suppresse those petty sectaries , which swarme so in every corner , with that connivence ( to the amazement of all the world , and disparagement of so well a policed kingdome ) who by their capricious and various kind of gingling fancies in serving god , do their best to bring in the opinion of the pagan philosopher ( themistius ) delivered once to valens the emperor , that as god almighty had infused into his handmaid nature , a diversity of operations , and that the beauty of the universe consisted in a proportion of so many differing things , so he was delighted to see himselfe served by various and sundry kinds of worship and invocations . in all humblenesse , ( and with submission of censure ) i desire to be dispensed withall for this excursion out of my first intended subject , but i hope the digression will prove no transgression , in regard the quality of the matter is such , that every one hath a share and interest in it , and should be sensible , when that liturgy and church is vilified , wherein he hath received his birth and baptism , and by whose compasse hee steeres his cours to heaven : when the windows come down ( and the chief pillars threatned ) the house must needs be in danger of falling , and he is worthy to be called a niding , one , the pulse of whose soule beates but faintly towards heaven , as having taken but weake impressions of the image of his maker , who will not run and reach his hand to beare up his temple . sec. xix . in the inns of court , where i left my returned traveller , hee will be acquainted with westminster-hall , with the courses of pleading in the courts of iudicature , by which knowledge , he may learne how to preserve his own , for , for want of some experience herein , many have mightily suffered in their estates , and made themselves a prey to their sollicitors and agents : nor indeed is he capable to beare any rule or office in town or countrey , who is utterly unacquainted with iohn an okes , and iohn a stiles , and with their termes . having beene thus settled awhile at home , if businesse and the quality of his life will permit , hee may make one flying journey over againe , and in one summer review all those countreys , which hee had beene forty months a seeing before : and as the second thoughts are held the wisest , so a second survey is more exact , and of a more retentive vertue , and amongst other benefits , it will infinitely improve one in his language . noah's dove brought the branch of olive in her bill , at her second journey ; from the latter end of mars , to the beginning of october , one may leasurely traverse france , crosse the pyreneys , the mediterranean , and the alpes , and so returne either through germany or through france againe , and thence come home through the netherlands : but being ( bis redux ) returned the second time , let him thinke no more of forrain iourneys , unlesse it be by command , and upon publique service . now to find entertainement for his houres of leasure at home , hee may amongst other studies , if his inclination leads him that way , apply himselfe to the most materiall and usefull parts of the mathematiques , as the art of navigation and fortification . the study of the mathematiques is abstruse , and therfore they require a ripe and well-seasoned judgement , they have this property , to make a dull capacity acute , and an acute capacity dull , if he fals unto thē too soon : which makes us to be censured abroad in the method of our studies in england , to make green wits not yet halfe coddled as it were , to fall too early to such profound notiōs in our universities , as putting childrē to stād too soon upon their leggs . for conclusion , in this variety of studies & divertismēts , i will give him this caution , that he fall not into the hands of the alchymist , for though there be a world of rare conclusions , and delightfull experiments ( most usefull and proper for physitians ) to be found in chymistry which makes many to bee so inchanted therewith ( that being got once in , they have not power to get out againe ) yet i never knew any yet , who made the benefit countervaile the charge ; but i have knowne many melt themselves to nothing ( like icarus wings melted , when he attempted the art of flying ) and while they labour so with the sweat of their brows to blow the cole , and bring gold over the helm , they commonly make● shipwrack of their own fortunes . et bona dilapidant omnia pro lapide . and the reason well may be , that 't is doubted , whether such undertakings , bee pleasing to god almighty or no , for though art be nature's ape , and is found to perfect her in some things : yet , it may well bee termed a kind of presumption in man ( by fetching downe the planets and damning them as criminals to certaine mettals ) to attempt the transmutation of one species into another , as it were against the first ordinance of the creator , and the primitive intent of nature , whose hand-maid shee is , in the production of all elementary bodies : therefore to be led into a kind of fooles paradis , and a conceipt of the philosophers-stone , and to spend much money in chymistry , hee shall never have the advise of ▪ iames howell . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a44724e-130 * palatinat . b carolus magnus . c carol . the vision, or, a dialog between the soul and the bodie fancied in a morning-dream. howell, james, 1594?-1666. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a44763 of text r11503 in the english short title catalog (wing h3127). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 156 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 95 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a44763 wing h3127 estc r11503 12254162 ocm 12254162 57277 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a44763) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 57277) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 149:10) the vision, or, a dialog between the soul and the bodie fancied in a morning-dream. howell, james, 1594?-1666. [8], 176, [2] p. printed for william hope ..., london : 1651. "to the knowing reader" (p. [3]) signed: jam. hovvell. title page vignette. reproduction of original in huntington library. eng a44763 r11503 (wing h3127). civilwar no the vision: or a dialog between the soul and the bodie. fancied in a morning-dream. howell, james 1652 28440 88 55 0 0 0 0 50 d the rate of 50 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the d category of texts with between 35 and 100 defects per 10,000 words. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-02 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-03 jonathan blaney sampled and proofread 2004-03 jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the vision : or a dialog between the soul and the bodie . fancied in a morning-dream . svmbolum auth. senesco , non segnesco . london , printed for william hope at the blue ●●chor on the north side of the roya● exchange , anno dom. 1651. to the knowing reader . man is the worlds abridgement , who enrouls within himself a trinitie of souls ; he runs through all creations by degrees , first , he is onely matter on the lees , whence he proceeds to be a vegetal , next sensitive , and so organical : then by divine infusion a third soul , the rational doth the two first controul : but when this soul comes in , and where she dwels distinct from others no dissector tells . and , which no creture else can say , that state enables her to be regenerate ; she then becomes a spirit , and at last a devil or a saint , when she hath cast that clog of flesh , which yet she takes again to perfect her beatitude , or pain ; thus man is first or last allied to all cretures in heven , earth , or hells blackhall this vision may conduce to let us know our present baseness , and our future bliss , if it make any gentle souls to glow , and mend their pace that way , i have my wish jam . hovvell . to the right honourable the ladie elisabeth digbye , &c. madame , could the rational soul , whom philosophy calls the queen of forms , and divinity , the image of the allmighty , be seen by the outward eye of sense , she would ( as plato sometimes spoke of virtue were she so visible ) rayse in us a world of admiration ; we should be so ravish'd with her beauty , and so struck in love , that we would leave all things else to win her favour . an odd humorist vapouring once that women had no souls , was answered by a modest lady , 〈◊〉 sir , you are deceiv'd , for i can p●●duce a good text to the contrary . my soul doth magnifie the lord , and it was a woman that spoke it : no less humorous was he , who would maintain that the salique law was in force in heaven , as well as in france , which excluded women from raigning . but much more civil was a farewell that the count of lemos took of the dutchess of pastrana , who having invited him to see a new palace that she had built , with a stately chappell annex'd , at his departure said , madam , i see your body is fairly housd , but i find that your soul is far better housd than your body . madam , i have the happiness to know your l shp many years ( near upon 4. lifes in the law ) and truly i never knew any whose soul was better lodgd , and furnishd with more virtues and graces , which makes me resolv'd to live and die . your lshps most humble and dutifull servant jam . hovvell . the proem . it was about the summer solstice , when the measurer of time , that glorious luminarie of heven , allowed but little above three hours night to cover this part of the hemisphere , that after my sleep , a second stole gently upon me , which happend about the dawnings of the day , when those grosser sort of soporiferous fumes , that are wont to ascend from the stomack to lock up the outward senses for their natural repose , being dissipated and spent , the purest kind of subtil rarified vapours rise up to the region of the brain , which use to represent more plain and even objects to the imagination , and make the storie and circumstances of dreams more coherent and cleer , though the ●ost lucid fancies that appear u●●●●s in sleep , be but as stars in a cloudie night , or the branches of trees in a thick standing pool ; i say it was about the break of day , that i had an unusual dream , or vision rather ; for , me thought , a little airie , or rather an aethereal kind of spark did hover up and down about my bodie ; it seemed to have a shape yet it had none but a kind of reflexion , it was , me thought , within me , and it was not , but at such a distance , and in that posture , as if it lay centinel . at last , i found it was my soul which useth to make sollices in time of sleep , and fetch vagaries abroad , to practise how she can live apart after the dissolution , when she is separated from the bodie and becomes a spirit . afterwards the fantasma varying , she took a shape , and the nearest resemblance i could make of it , was to a veild nunn with a flaming cross on the left side of her breast , who in dolefull tones and thr●●●●g accents , broke out into these que●●●ous ejaculations . a dialog between the soul and the bodie . soul . ome ! how much reason have i to rue the time that ever i was cloistered up among those walls of clay ; what cause have i to repent that ever i was thrown into that dungeon , that corrupt mass of flesh ? for when i first entered , i bore the image of my creatour in som● lustre , but since that time , 't is scarce discernable on me , in regard of those soul leprous spots and taintures which i have contracted from those frail corporeal organs , which have so pitifully disfigured and transformed me , that i cannot be called the same thing i was at first , the character of my creatour being almost quite lost in me . bodie . dear soul , how comes it to pass that you are in so much anxietie ? how comes it that you are so discomposed , and transported with passion , imputing the cause of your indispositions to me ? alas ! you know well that i am but an unwieldie lump of earth , a meer passive thing of my self . it is you that actuats and animats me , otherwise i could neither think , speak , or do any thing , nay without your impulss i could have no motion at all ; you are the pilot that steers ●his frail bark ; you fit in the box of the chariot , i am but the organ , you are the breath ; you are the intelligence that governs and enlightens this dark orb of mine , so that all my motions are derived from the poles of your commands , it is you that denominates me a man ; therefore , if any thing be amiss , 't is i that have more reason to complain , in regard that being but a meer unwieldie trunk of my self , i am quickened altogether by you , whether you be {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} a continual motion as some philosophers would have you to be , or {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} the perfection from whence all motion proceeds as others term you ; therefore because i am liable also to future punishment as well as you , 't is i that have more cause of complaint , and to repent me of that syneresis and union which is betwixt us : for it had been less danger for me to have been an inanimate thing , and to have had neither vegetal , sensitive , or rational soul , either by traduction or infusion cast into me , for then i had been free from those numberless incommodities which all three are liable unto ; the first being subject to excess of moisture and drought , to blastings and the furie of the meteors ; the second to hunger and thirst with multitudes of diseases ; the third , to wit the rational , not onely to all these , but to vexation of spirit , to corroding cares , to griping thoughts , to a perpetual clashing and combating of the humours , insomuch that man of all creatures is heautontimorumenos , a self-tormenter , a persecutor and crucifier of himself , all which are emanations from the intellectual soul ; which besides useth to puzzle the brain with sturdie doubts , and odd furrnises , touching the mysteries of saving faith , whereas indeed , as sense should vail to reason , so reason should strike sail to faith ; moreover she is forward oftentimes to question the very works of creation , and quarrel with nature the hand-maid of the almighty in the method of her productions , as ( to make one instance for all ) the philosopher was angry with her , because she did not make the stones of the river for bread , as she did the water thereof for drink . soul . 't is true ( to answer the first part of your answer ) that it is my office to inform and actuat you , which operations are emanations from me ; i am , i confess being undivisible , inextensive , without parts and inorganical , tota in toto , & tota in qualibet parte , i am diffused up & down throughout that fabrick of flesh , i am all in the whole , and all in every part ; you have no movement at all without me , but you , yielding more obedience , and being more plyable to the sensual appetit , and the will , than to the dictates and directions of the intellect my principal facultie , have brought me to this pass ; whereas those eyes of yours should be as crystal casements , through which i might behold the glorious firmament , and studie my creator in the volumes of nature , you have made them to intromit , and let out beams of vanity and lightness ; they are foyl'd so thick with earth , that i can scarce discern heaven through them ; those ears of yours , whereas they should let in holy exhortations , and wholsom precepts , you have used them as trunks to receive any idle discourses , and vain sounds , they have delighted more to hear carrolls and catches than hymns and anthems . that mouth , tongue and voice of yours , whereas they were given you for organs to sound out the glory of your creator , and sing halelujahs unto him , you have made them instruments of equivocation , and profaness ; those hands of yours , whereas they were designed to be stretched forth to do deeds of charitie , and to pen divine meditations , you have employed them to work your own revenges , and to scribble idle frivilous fancies ; that throat of yours , whereas it was created for a conduit-pipe to let out pious ejaculations , you have made it the gullet of luxury and excess ; those feet of yours , whereas they were made you to walk in the paths of pietie and vertue , and lead you to gods holy house , you have us'd them to run into the road of all licentiousness ; when i examine your heart , the seat of your affections , whereas you should have made it a closet for your creator to reside in , and kept it sweet and cleanly for that purpose , i find you have made it a cage of unclean birds , of hatred , hypocrisie , choller and spirituall pride , the fuliginous evaporation whereof hath fum'd up into your brain , and infected all the cels thereof , your fantasie hath been extravagant and wild , your memorie hath been like a fierce that hath kept the chaff , and let out the pure grain , you have been more mindfull of bad than good turns ; your understanding hath been full of scepticisms , your will hath clashed with reason , your reason with faith , your faith with heaven ; in fine , when i take you all in a lump , i find you nought else but a bladder puffed up with ayrie passions , and malignant humours , amongst whom i am perpetually crucified as betwixt so many iudases ; insomuch that i may justly say , that you stand as a rotten wall twixt me and the beams of my creator , which would glance upon me with a stronger reverberation , were it not for that foul bulk of matter , that cargazon of all sorts of infirmities which are stowed up in that sluggie and frail vessel . bodie . a frail vessel indeed , yet , under favour , you sit at the helm of it ; but i confess you cannot give me terms low and vile enough in comparison of your self , who are of an infinitly more noble extraction , the rational soul being queen of forms , and the bodie , when she departs from it , the gastliest , and most noisom of things , yet though you be a ray of divinitie , and i but a rag of mortalitie , though you bear god almighties image , & i but adams , though you be in me as a diamond set in horn , though you be by a mysterious heavenly infusion , and i by a seminarie traduction , yet we have the same creator , ( as ants and angels have ) his hands have made me , and fashioned me in the womb , and the holy text tells me , that i am wonderfully made ; nature his subordinate minister took much pains about me , she used great deliberation in the business , for the passed four several successive acts before i was compleated . first there was a conjunction and cooperation of the sexes , which among some require divers years before the work take effect , as the present king of france was two and twentie years a getting ; and the last prince of conde thirteen moneths in the womb . secondly , then followed conception which required a well tempered vessel to conserve the generative sperm by occlusion and constringement of the orifice of the matrix , which sperm being first bloud , and afterwards cream , was by a gentle ebullition coagulated into a cruddie lump , which the womb by its natural heat made fit to receive form , and to be organized , whereupon nature fell a working , to delineate all the members and other parts , beginning with those that are most noble , as the heart , the brain , and the liver , whereof the galenists would have the liver to be first framed , in regard it is the source and shop of bloud ; but the peripatetiques held the heart to have the precedencie , because it is the first thing that lives and the last that dies . thirdly , nature continued in this operation until a perfect shape was introduced , which was the third act , and is called formation , being nought else but a production of an organical shapen bodie out of the spermatical substance caused by the plastick virtue , and vigour of the vital spirits , nor can i tell whether this act was finished in thirtie , fiftie , fourtie two , or fourtie five days after the conception , for the naturalists allow such varietie of times according to the disposition of the matter before the embrion be formed ; moreover , they observe , that nature proceeds with those deliberate pawses , that fourtie days after the conception , the creature is no bigger than a grain of wheat . fourthly , this being done , i was wrapped in three tunicles or membranes , then i was animated with three souls , the first with that of plants , called the vegetative soul , then with a sensitive , wherein i communicate with brute animals , and lastly , with the rational soul , was immitted ; the two first were generated ex radice , as the philosophers term it , viz. from the seeds of the parents , but the last , which is your self , was by immediate infusion from god himself , though neither naturallists nor divines have yet positively determined when this infusion is made ; nor could ever any anatomists , by their curious dissections , and inspections , find yet any organ in the bodie , or crannie and receptacle in the brain , or any distinct place differing from other animals where this rationall soul should reside in the humane body : thus hath man an intellectuall soul he knows not where , and infused he knows not how , nor when , so ignorant he is of the manner of his creation ; this last act is call'd animation , and as the physicians allow animation double the time that formation had , which sometimes happeneth in eight moneths , sometimes in ten , but most commonly in nine : by these degrees and pauses was i made , and casting off my secundine , i came into the world to be a domicile not a dungeon for you , to be a kind of ark to carry you to the port of bliss , to be a tabernacle for you , nay , to be a temple for the holy ghost to dwell in : nor did nature altogether play the bungler in doing her work , for she was pia mater , a pious mother in framing the cells of my brain , and though she set me forth in no great volume , yet by this slenderness & gracilitie of constitution , i have the advantage to carry less corruption about me , for the more flesh , the more corruption ; now , touching those fraylties you speak of , whereunto i am subject , you know they accompanied me to the world , and that i derive them from the protoplast , from the loins of my gransire adam , the rust and canker of whose skin and sin , stick unto me , being moulded of the same matter . soul . 't is true , that you are moulded of earth as adam was , but the earth it self which gave him his composition and denomination , did blush when she went to make him , fore-seeing , as it were his infirmities and propensity to all ill . but i find by this reply of yours , that you are well acquainted with your self , by the account you give me of the method that nature used in your generation ; now , self-acquaintance is , after the knowledge of the creator , the wisest ; it is one of the paths , though a slabbie one , that leads us to the high road towards heaven , ( which is a rougher way than that you found ore the alps and pyrenean mountains ; the speculations whereof would make you truely value and vilifie your self , it should prick those tumours , and timpanies of pride that use to rise up in the humane creature , when he contemplates how near that vessel wherein he slept so long in the bosom of his causes , is to the excrementitious parts . now , out of your discourse may be inferred , that man is that great amphibion of nature , he passeth through the degrees of all creations ; he was first but meer matter , then he grew up to be a vegetall , afterwards a sensitive , then a human creature , in which condition he is capable of a regeneration , and he is to be at last a spirit , good or bad ; now , you have two things that distinguish and specificat you from the first three ; the one is outward , which is that erect upright posture and shape you bear to behold heaven your last and indeed your onely true countrey , this being but a transitory passage to that , whereas your other fellow cretures have their faces looking upon the earth ; the 2 is inward , viz. the faculty of reson , which makes you a compensation for some inconveniences and weaknesses , whereby you are inferior to other elementary creatures ; by reason man tames the libian lion , he puts castles upon the elephants back , makes the huge camel to kneel and take up his burden , by reason he fetches the eagle out of the air , and with his harping-iron draggs up the great leviathan out of the deeps ; by reason he rules and curbs nature her self , making her pliable to his ends ; now all the operations of reason , which are the best of human acts , you derive from me ; but whereas you say that there can be no particular place found out either within you , or without you , more than there is in the sensitive creature where i should reside , you must know , that as the solar light displayeth it self throughout the whole hemisphere , yet it cannot be said to possess any place more than another ; so i , being a beam of immortality , am diffused through that little world of yours to quicken and heat all parts , yet i confine my self to no peculiar cell , and this inorganitie sheweth , that i can live separat from you ( though you by no means without me ) as appears already by some functions that i exercise , and those abstracted speculations that i use without the help or concurrence of matter , and quantitie , which are my instruments onely in ordine ad sensibilia , not intelligibilia : yet i let you know that i have some closets in that fabrick of yours , more choice than others , i am radically in the heart , where the vital spirits have their residence , where the arterial and most illustrious bloud doth run in the left ventricle ; but i am principally in the brain , where the animal spirits inhabit , and whereon i cast my intellectual influences for discourse and reason , which influences , the brain of a brute animal is not capable of , or adapted by nature to receive ; moreover , the veins are branched up & down the body , the bloud is in the veins , the spirits in the bloud , and i am much in the spirits . by this intimacie of communication i am polluted daily more and more , i am infected hereby and leprified with sin , and i fear me , that as the wounds of my saviour appeared upon his bodie after his resurrection , so those gashes and black spots which i have received from you , will appear upon me after my separation ; and whereas you alledge , that you are liable to future punishment as well as i for the aberrations and transgressions of this life , i must tell you , that when after my devorcement from you , i become a spirit , a simple substance and a sphere of my self , the sharpness and activity , the simpleness & subtility of my pain being purely spiritual will be farr more grievous and cruciatory than , any those gross members of yours can be capable of , i shall endure all torments at once with certain knowledge of a succeeding perpetuity , without any hopes of the least discontinuance or relaxation . furthermore , whereas you say that i sit in the box to guide and govern that chariot of yours , t is true i do so , but as the divine philosopher said , that chariot of the body is led by two horses , the one black , the other white , this last which are your good inclinations i can easily rule , but the black one , which are your turbulent wild passions and and obliquities i cannot govern , so that i am afraid he is oftentimes so headstrong & furious that he will at last tumble us both down the precipice of destruction ; lastly whereas you alledge that i sit at the stern of that leaking bark of yours , t' is true i do so , but i sayl in her as one passing upon some part of the danubius , where she meets with the river sava , and the two rivers running in collaterall consortship many miles without intermingling , the boats that row along the stream , have oftentimes , on the one side , a black muddie water , and on the danubs side , a clear stream . in this manner do i sail in that bodie of yours , through good and bad affections , through clear and turbid humours ( though the last be more predominant ) whence such vapours arise , that cause strange tempests in me , and disturb the calm of my mind , which makes me wearie of this habitation , when i think on those pollutions , and black specks wherewith i am contaminated , whereunto my meditations tended lately in these few stanzas of multifarious cadences . lord i cry , lord i fly to thy throne of grace , this world is irksom unto me ; in my mind stings i find of that dismal place where pains still growing young ne'r die ; o thou whose clemencie reacheth to earth from skie set my sins from me as wide as is east from the west , or the court of bliss from the infern abyss , so far let us asunder ever bide ; angels blest , with the rest of that heavenly quire , which halelujas always sing , fain would i mount on high , and those seats aspire where every season is a constant spring ; o thou who thought'st no scorn to be in bethlem born though grand monarch of the sky , through a floud of thy bloud let me safely dive and at that port arrive , where i may ever rest from shipwrack free . faith and hope take your scope , and my pilots be , to waft me to this blisfull bay , gently guid through the tide of mans miserie my bark , that it lose not the way , when landed i shall be at that port , pardon me if i bid you both farewell , onely love reigns above 'mong celestial souls where passion not controuls , nor any thing but charity doth dwel . lord of light in thy sight are those mounts of bliss , which humane brains transcend so far , ear nor ey can descry , nor heart fully wish , or toungs of men and saints declare , those sense-surmounting joys that free from all annoys for those few up-treasur'd lie , which ere sun shone at noon have their names enroll'd in characters of gold through the white volums of eternitie . bodie . you are beholden to my frailties for this and such like meditations , who raise them in you , as rusty steel useth to strike sparks of fire ; sin it self becomes an advantage to us somtimes ; nay , mankind may be said to be beholden to the iews and iudas , because they were the outward instruments that wrought salvation ; for the cross , which they set upon mount ●alvarie for the crucifying of our saviour , was the first christian altar that ever was erected , and it may be well doubted , whether he that hates the altar , shall ever have benefit of the sacrifice , as one said . but i am sorry to hear from you , that your dwelling in me is so tedious unto you , all that i can say , is , i could wish you were better hous'd ; now touching those passions and affections you speak of , ( which are also my inmates ) they are to the soul , as sayls to a ship , they are also as so many gales to fill those sayls , as so many breezes to blow this small vessel of mine , wherein you are embarked to the haven of happiness , and as i said before , they are meer emanations from you ; for there is nothing of motion in me , but what i derive from you ; now touching affections and passions , how uncoth would all human actions be , unless they were sweetned by them : how stupid and slumbering would our spirits be without them ? what a dull thing were generation , if there were no concupiscence ? what comfort would there be in educating children , if there were not a natural love that affected us ? charitie would grow key-cold , if pity did not heat her to action ; and that souldier fights best , who being in the field , is possess'd with the passion of anger , which the philosopher calls the whetstone of fortitude ; he cannot becom a true penitent , that is not affectē with sorrow nor a true convert , who is not affected with hatred of sin . touching other infirmities you charge me withall , you know i have them by natural and hereditary propagation from my first parents , whose corruption was entail'd upon all mankind , which may also excuse , at least extenuat my faults . but besides these resons , i have another that may serve for an apologie in my behalf , which is , that all these members of mine , and that mass of bloud which runs through them , with the cestern of humors , as likewise all the cells of my brain , are guided and governed by the motions of celestial bodies , whose influxes do perpetually invade me , and are irresistible : add hereunto , that there is a malus genius an ill spirit that is always busie about me , and ready to take all advantages to impel me to acts of weakness . all these things being well considered , and weigh'd in a just balance , conclude me to be of my self but a poor passive thing , and to act by the impulses of others . touching those affections and passions you speak of , which are nought else but a conglobation of the spirits , i not onely allow , but am glad of them , they serve as wings to carry me up to heaven ( and you after me ) or as you say , they are as so many gales to send me thither , provided that the one do onely blow , not bluster and raise tempests ; and that the other be not irregular or exorbitant , but directed to their true object : the passions are as so many pleaders wrangling at a bar , and reson , my chiefest facultie , should be their chancelor ; but oftentimes those troops of furious spirits , which passion musters up , and sends up boyling to the brain , are so violent , that those spirits which are under the jurisdiction of reson , are not able to encounter them , though she unite all her forces to that purpose . moreover , whereas you would pin your infirmities upon your first parents , 't is true , that although adam at first was created in a state of integrity and perfection , being he was the epitome of the creation , and a kind of microcosm , a little world of himself , whereunto there may be some allusion in his name , which comprehends the four corners of the world , the word adam being made up of {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , viz. east , west , north and south ; although at first he was compleated to that state , and yet made capable of a higher perfection , which capacitie was no imperfection , but a seale to a higher ; i say , that although he was so accomplish'd to present happiness , yet by the seducement of the ill spirit , he fatally fell from it ; nor was the fault as much in the woman , being the weaker vessel , but in him who was the stronger ; now the tryal of mans universal obedience , being intended in him , and he failing , the guilt thereof falls upon his posteritie , that were all then potentially in his loins , who ever since have brought with them into the world the stains of that original corruption , which yet christians have a way to wash off in the font of baptism , the lavoir of regeneration : yet there is an eve lurking still within the humane body , viz. the will , which is so full of obliquities and fraylties , that while i lie at close ward against one infirmitie , another is ready to wound me ; which makes me so great a sinner , that the indulgences of a whole jubile ( had they such a virtue as some believe they have ) were not able to absolve me . moreover , whereas you averr the stars to bear sway , and to have an incontroulable predominance over all sublunary cretures , and consequently over that body of yours ; it is a truth that cannot be denied , as we find by daily experience , that all elementary cretures depend upon the motion and virtue of the heavenly : but though these influxes from above do by their operation toss and tumble the humors as they lift , and work upon corporeal things in man ; yet notwithstanding , it cannot be said that these operations do extend to those inclinations and actions , that depend immediately upon the empire of the will , with the other faculties and powers of the mind , which are immanent , and meerly spiritual ; yet i confess , if we observe the order and method that the understanding and the will do use in the production of their functions , it will be found , that the influence of the celestial luminaries , and the impressions that they make , must have something to do herein ; but it is indirectly and accidently , in regard that all terrestrial bodies by a gradual kind of subordination being govern'd , as was said before , by the superior , it must be inferred of necessitie , that whatsoever is natural in the humane creture , as the organs of that body of yours , must feel the power of their influences ; in regard that the spiritual faculties are so united , and have such an entercourse with the corporeal organs , that they cannot operate , unless the said organs ministerially concur , and contribute thereunto , by presenting the objects , which are the sensible species ; but i except the abstracted ideas and speculations of the mind ; whence it inevitably comes to pass , that in regard of this strict league , and natural correspondence , which is between them , the inward faculties partake somewhat of , and submits to the dominion that the planets and constellations have over the sensual appetite , which together with the will , are disposed often , and incited , i will not say constrained , by their influxes . out of these premisses this conclusion doth follow , that the stars do operate , and make impressions upon the humane creture ( as well as other productions of the elements ) both outwardly and inwardly , but they serve themselves of those material parts and organs of yours , that are as portholes to let in the influxes which they dart from above to work upon the faculties , to incline and incite them to good or ill , according to their dispositions , though not by way of enforcement , for they have not such a tyrannical and absolute supremacie , but there is a freedom still left to a well-ordered will ; and as there are outward bongraces , to preserve the face from being tanned by the violence of solar heat , so there are intern graces to keep the inward parts from all ill and malignant influences that are lanced from above ; according to the poet , — sapiens dominabitur astris . the wise man sways ore the stars ; therefore it was a very pertinent answer that one gave to a genethliacal astrologer , who having taken much pains to prie into the horoscope for the calculating of his nativitie , and telling the partie , that in regard such and such stars were in conjunction at the hour of his birth , therefore he must be subject to such and such ill humours and dispositions . 't is true , said he , that i was born such a one , but i was born again , meaning his spiritual regeneration : for as we find that a virtuous education doth oftentimes correct the infirmities , and rectifie the obliquities of nature , so there be interior motions of grace , which come from a higher power than the stars , that curb and check the operations which proceed from the supern influxes : yet are the intellectual powers easily inclined to be transported , and snatched away by the sensual appetit , and the natural allurements thereof , for the humane soul is not sui juris , she is not so independent and absolut of her self , but that she may be said to depend upon the totum compositum , upon the bodie in general , by the mediation of whose instruments she imploys her faculties , end exerciseth her actions in order to sensible things . but as the stars in this firmament are whirled away by the over-ruling motion of the primum mobile , the first mover from east to west , yet they have a particular and contrarie motion of their own from west to east , wherein they , proceed notwithstanding , in a constant interrupted pace ; so i may be said to be oftentimes whirld away by the irregular and violent motions of that compositum , that fleshly sphere of yours , yet i go on still in my own motion towards my last goal , and my sovereign good . now whereas the heavens work on inferior bodies , by three instruments , viz. by light , motion , and influence , the first ingendering heat in the ayr by attrition and rarefaction , which is done by a simple or compounded ray , to wit , reflection ; the second , by measuring our times and seasons , both which may be said to be external visible instruments ; the third , which is influence , is a hidden intern qualitie , it produceth metals , causeth fluxes and refluxes , ripens the embrion in the womb , with such like effects , and as it was discoursed before , it operates in the human creture upon his very intellectuals , through the exterior material parts ; yet not by way of compulsion , but inclination , as was said before , therefore the influxes of heaven are no excuse for you , as you alledg , because they are resistable . lastly , touching the malus genius an ill spirit , which you say doth haunt you , and is ever at your elbow , to push you forward to ill actions , and suggest into you bad conceptions , i must tel you there is also a bonus genius or daemon , a good spirit that always attends you , whose infusions , precepts , and cautions if you would obey , you would not onely see the best , and approve of it , but follow and put it in practise . bodie . this discourse doth administer me but small comfort , yet i thank you that you make me know my self better by displaying unto me my own condition , and that magazin of infirmities which are stored up in this little tabernacle of yours , yet i shall never make those infirmities , nor all the effects thereof , were they more in number , greater than my creators mercie , either out of any despondencie of spirit , and despair , in rejecting it as some do , or by presumption , in slighting it as others do : for if the first man , who was immediatly moulded and made by god himself in such a state of perfection , had his frailties ; if samson the strongest man had also his ; if salomon the wisest man had his ; if david , the holiest of men , who had so many advantages , as to be a prophet , and so anointed with oyl above others ; if that prophet who came of the chosen seed , and consequently , was not cast in so corrupt a mold as others , i say , if the prophet david who was a man after gods own heart , a character , the like whereof was never given to any but unto him , i say if such a man , and such men had infirmities in so high a measure , how is it possible but that i should have them in a greater number ? therefore my transgressions are but deeds of my defects , and effects of those general frailties that have attended , and are entail'd upon the best of men . now , touching my corporeal organs and senses which you tax so much , 't is true that my eyes have oftentimes gazed upon earthly vanities , and grass-green objects , yet at other times they have looked upon sky-colour . i have cast them up towards heaven , and fixing them a good while ( with some ejaculations ) upon a part of the deepest azure i could spy , they cur'd me once of a shrewd defluxion ( by which experiment , i also found that such a fixation doth much corroberat the nerves and conserve the sight ) that distil'd into them . i have by them oft admir'd the fair fabrick of the universs , surveing all the parts thereof round about as farr as my opticks could reach , & stood astonisht at their excellencies , as beams streaming from a heavenly creator ( & refracting on the visible world ) on whom their preservation depends , and in whom they were concentred intentionally before they had any existence ; i observe how nature is here and there check'd by him , when i see how he sets bounds to the vast tumbling ocean , and that those mountains of snow , which hang in the ayrie region , & those floud-gates of waters do not fall down and precipitate at once to over-whelm the earth , which is so little a thing in comparison of the vast expansion of the air ; as also in the operation of divers other productions of hers. for if nature did go on still in her own course & constant method of effects and causes , this might induce a belief , that she were governness of all things ; but when we see , that sometimes she hath not her full swing , intending things that she is not able to perfect , but falls short of her purposes , as also that her ordinarie operations are restrained , and grow lame , we must conclude , that there is a predominant power that ore-sways her , and moves the sphere of her activitie as he lift . thus by the opticks of the ey , ( the eminentest of my senses ) i make the {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , the universe my universitie to studie my maker , breaking out often ( when i go into the fields , and find all things subservient to man ) into that ejaculation of the psalmist , oh that men would praise the lord for his goodness , and declare the wonders he doth for the children of men . nor do i by the benefit of the ey read divinitie among sublunarie creatures where every spire of grass may serve for a letter , but i spel my creator among the stars , and indeed there is not any mundane object doth delight and ravish me so much , as to contemplate those glorious lamps of heven in a clear night , wherewith i find my self so much affected , that with emilius i could find in my heart to congratulate the moons deliverie from an eclips ; therefore it may stand well with christianitie , to hold those the best of pagans , that ask blessing of the sun . touching my organs of hearing , 't is true as you say , they serve too often to let in every frivolous tale , or sonet , yet as the philosopher calls the hearing sensum disciplinae , the sence of learning , whereby the soul , as he thought , being at first infusion a kind of rasa tabula , recovers all her notions by way of reminiscence , i have made it often ( let all this be spoken without vanity ) the sense of saving knowledge for faith comes by hearing ; i have set open the anfractuous passages thereof to take in the sacred oracles of god , and the mysteries of salvation , and when i hear a holy anthem it brings all my spirits to my ears in throngs ; a grave elaborat sermon works the like effect , such a sermon as he speak of , who coming out of a church , and being asked whether the sermon was done , yes , said he , 't is done in the church , but it begins now in me : but while my faith is fed , i do not love to have my reson famished , i do not love to be worded to death by such tautological & rambling insipid confused stuff that some enthusiasists use to evaporat , wherein it is as difficult to find any coherence in point of matter or methodical contexture , as it is to make a rope of that sand whereby they prate . my feet 't is true , go too often astray to the by-paths of vanity , but they come back again to the right track , as one going on a journey , and hearing by the way a pack of hounds , he goes and follows the sport a while , and then returns to his road ; i have the grace to direct them often to gods holy house , where with leggs and knees i employ them in the humblest manner of genu-flection , to offer him sacrifices of prayer and prayses ; i reach out my hands sometimes to lend unto the lord , by relieving the poor ( according to my pittance ) knowing that charity doth cover a multitude of sins : my fingers also i find pliable now and then to write divine meditations , whereunto i employ them altogether upon the holy saboth . my mouth , my toung , and heart , also joyn ( be it still spoke without vainness ) at least to ejaculat my guilt and his glory ; and i find the arterial bloud , which is in the least ventricle thereof boyling , me thinks , within me in affection towards him , the exhalations whereof rise up , and fill all the cells of my brain to contemplat his goodness , as will appear unto you in these few ternaries of stanzas . could i screw up my brain so high with soaring raptures that mightfly unto the empyrean skie , how would i laud the lord of light , who fills all things , and every wight with plentie , vigor , and delight . my voice with halelujahs loud should pierce and dissipat the clouds which in the airie region croud ; then through the element of fire unto the stars they should aspire , and so to the seraphic quire . thus earth and skie , with every thing should joyn with me , and carrols sing unto the everlasting king . touching my interior passions , i confess , they have too great a dominion in me , choler , which hath more heat than light in it , doth too often transport me , som fires glow in me , as if they were flown from hell , and such a fire no meaner man than saint paul , though a convert , and one that had been a traveller in the other world , felt within him , impatience and rashness , intemperance , self-conceit , and hatred have reigned in me , i have other odd things ( and indeed all things which attend human weakness ) that i am subject unto , as too much credulitie and lightness ; sadness contracts , and mirth too suddenly dilates my spirits , and makes them break out into violent fits of laughter , which though it be a harmless passion , yet there is none that distorts a man so much , for it extends the fore-head , declines the brow , half shuts the eye , raising a kind of splendor about them , it crumples up the nose , drives back the cheeks , and makes pits in them , it shews the teeth , makes the toung pendant in the mouth , it hindereth the swallowing by contracting and shutting the muscles which serve that action , it gives such girds to the diaphragma that it obstructs the respiration for the time , it contracts all the members , and beats upon the flancks , it puts forth arms , leggs and hands in strange posturs ; it causeth syncopes sometimes , and raiseth an irregular motion in the pulse ; thus this passion disguiseth me too often , & betrays my folly , though one , apologizing for this passion , saith , that laughter doth not as much discover a man to be a fool , but that there is a fool in his companie , which causeth him to laugh . there is so much prodigalitie in me , that i think i shall never be covetous , i shall never be condemned for a rich man , nor be so simple , as to roast meat for others , while i starve my self ; i have other passions that dwell in me , whereof there can be no excess , as hope and love ; by the first i think i shall be long liv'd , for of all the passions there is none so advantagious for health , in regard the spirits therein , which coroborat and quicken all the parts , are moderate , she stops , and keeps them back that they cannot dissipat nor make any vehement agitation or eagerness ; for if the spirits be too active and violent in their operations , they may produce strong actions , but it shortens our daies , because those spirits easily scatter , and so consume the natural moisture , which hope useth not to do . touching the other passion , viz. love , nature herein hath been benign , and bountifull unto me , for she hath given me good store , so that i think i am not in the arrear to any for that , i take much more pleasure in the retaliation of a good turn , than in the revenge of a wrong , &c. this love extends to all my fellow cretures , for it makes an impression of a kind of tenderness in me , when i see any of them go to the slaughter ; insomuch , that i could live a pythagorean , all the daies of my life , upon roots , fruits , pulse and whit-meats , which nature reacheth unto us so gently without any violence ; what a coil there is with so many hounds , horses and men to take away the life of a hare or partridge : what blowing and puffing , what sweating and swearing is us'd in killing a poor dear ? which makes me think upon the mad-man , whom the italian doctor had put naked in a pond up to the navil , and it hapning , that a falconer passed by , luring after his hawk , he asked the mad-man whether he had seen her , the mad-man staring upon him , and asking him divers questions touching his hawks , hounds , & horse , & finding that all that expence and pains was but to kill some poor bird ; he told the falconer , get you gon hence as soon as you can , for if the doctor comes out , and finds you , whereas he hath put me here but to the navil , he will clap you up to the very neck for a greater mad-man . but touching rational cretures which are of my own species , and bear the character of christians , i can hate no man onely for his opinion , difference of fancy and face to me is all one ; it mov's pity rather in me than hatred ; the greek , all the while he hath the same creed with me , though among other tenents , he denies , that the souls of holy men do enjoy the blissfull vision of god , or the souls of wicked men are tormented in hell before the day of judgement ; the melchites or assyrians , the greatest sect of christians in the orient , though among other wrong opinions , they hold , that the holy ghost proceedeth from the father , &c. the russian , though he receive children , after seven years of age , to the communion , and mingleth warm water with the wine in the eucharist , &c. the nestorian , though he hold , that there are two persons in our saviour , as well as two natures , &c. the iacobit , though he signs children before baptism , with the sign of the cross , some in the face , some ●n the arm , some in the breast , which badg of christianitie , they carry with them to their grave , &c. the cophti , or christians of egypt , though they baptize not their children till 40 daies after their birth , and then presently administer the sacrament of the eucharist unto them , &c. the habassins , which are the ethiopians , a vast continent of christians , as bigg as half europe , though they circumcise their children , as well as baptise them , & so are jews from the girdle downward , though the cake of unleavened bread which they administer in the sacrament , have five dents in it , alluding to the five wounds of christ , and that day they communicat , they do not spit till the sun be set ; and the emperour , when in his progress , he comes to the sight of a church , he presently lights down off his dromedary , and crawls a while on his knees , but never remounts , till he be out of the sight of the church , with other ceremonies of theirs , &c. the armenians , who have more priviledges in the turks dominion than any other christians , though they deny the holy ghost to proceed from the son , and receive infants presently after baptism to the communion of the eucharists &c. the maronits that inhabit about mount libanus though they hold that human souls were all created together from the beginning , that the father may dissolve the matrimony of his son or daughter if he mislike it , though they use to create children 5. or 6. years old sub-deacons , and believe that no human creture entereth the kingdom of heaven before the generall ●udgement &c. the anabaptists , ●hough they baptise not their children till they come to years of dis●retion &c. the presbyterian , though ●e be against hierarchy , and the ce●emonies of the church and onely ●n love with the wealth thereof &c. the hollanders though they allow a man to cohabit with a woman all the daies of his life , and if upon his death bed he marry her , t' is time enough to restore her honour , and make the children formerly begot between them legitimate , &c. the roman catholicks , though they invoke saints , and pray for the dead , &c. all these , with sundrie sorts of christians besides , all the while they have the symbole of saving faith , and same apostolical creed with me , all the while they have the decalog , and holy scriptures , i have so much charitie to hold that they differ from me , not as much in religion as in opinion ; ( now opinion is that great ladie which sways the world ) therefore i wish that they might go up the same scale of bliss with me . nor are the swi●s and gritons to be hated , because they permit the lutheran to preach in one end of the church , and the calvinist in the other , yet in thei● moral civilities and negotiations , they live peaceably together . to conclude this discours touching common charitie and love , 't is tru my fellow-cretures , my kindred and friends have a great share of it , but i reserve the quintessence thereof for my creator and saviour , the one being the sea , the other the spring of all felicitie . i love my creator a thousand degrees more than i fear him , which makes me praise him more often than pray unto him ; and for matter of fear ( as i displayed my self elsewhere ) i fear none more than my self , who am indeed my greatest foe , i mean those obliquities and depravations which are my inmates , whereof the ill spirit takes his advantage , ever and anon , to make me run into aberrations , so that i may say , i stand more in fear of my self than of the devil , or death who is the king of fears . now touching this elixer of love that i reserve for my creator , it melted one morning into these stanzas : as the parchd field doth thirst for rain when the dog-star , makes sheep , and swain of an unusual drowth coplain , so thirsts my heart for thee . as the chac'd deer doth pant and bray after some brook , or cooling bay , when hounds have worried her astray so pants my heart for thee . as the forsaken dove doth mone when her beloved mate is gone , and never rests while self-alone , so mones my heart for thee . or as the teeming earth doth mourn in black ( like lover at an urn ) till titan's quickning beams return , so do i mourn , mone , pant & thirst for thee , who art my last and first . soul . i am glad beyond measure to hear these discourses drop from you , first that you make so good use of the objects of this inferior world , as to study your creator in them , proceeding from the effects , to the search of the cause which is the method of philosophy , whereas the theolog proceeds commonly from the cause to the effect . the pagan philosophers by the twilight of nature soard so high , that they came to discover there was a primus motor , an ensentium , an optimus maximus , they came to know that he was ubiquitary and diffus'd through the universs , to give vigor , life and motion to all parts as i do in that bodie of yours , though invisibly , if i may be so bold as assimilat so incomprehensible a greatness to so small a thing ; now there is no finit intellect can form a quidditative apprehension of god , no not the angels themselves . there may be negative conceptions of him , as to say he is immortal , immense , independent , simple , and infinit &c. or there may be relative conceptions had of him , as when we call him creator , governor , king , &c. or there may be positive conceptions of him , as the chiefest good , a pure act , or he may be described by an aggregation of attributs , as , mercifull , wise , pious , &c. but for the comprehensive quidditie of god , it cannot be understood by any created power ; among all these , one of the best wayes to describe him , is by abstracts , as to call him goodness it self , justice it self , power , pity & piety it self , he being the rule of all these ; some of those ancient wisards among the egyptians and grecians came by reach of natural resons , to the knowledge of one incomprehensible guide and conserver of the univers ; specially tresmegistus and socrates , but they durst not broach their opinions publiquely for fear of the fury of the peeple , among whom there was a kind of zeal in those dark times ; plato flew as high as socrates his master in divinitie , and among other passages throughout his works , there is one that is very pregnant , for writing to a friend of his , he saith , when i write to thee seriously ; i begin my epistle with god save thee , when otherwise , the gods save thee ; aristotle , plato's scholler , courted nature onely , groping her secrets ; a great philosopher he was , and no less a sophister , he was the first that entangled philosophy with subtilties , coin'd words and paralogisms , as the classicans did first distract divinitie , so that it was no improper character which one gave , that aristotles school was a great skold ; touching the celestial bodies i love you the better , that you are affected with them so much , that you sometimes speculat and spel your creator among the stars . now some of the rabbins hold , that the word iehovah ( which is the highest name of god almightie , and pronounced publickly in the synagog but once a year ) may be plainly made up among the oriental stars . nay , they affirm , that all the hebrew letters may be found in the firmament , which letters were the true characters of the constellations before the egyptians came with their hieroglyphicks , & that the greeks hois'd up such monsters so near the throne of god , as bears , bulls , lions , goats , rams and scorpions ; together with pitchers and planks of rotten wood . they hold moreover , that the fate and periods of monarchies may be read , not onely in comets , but in those fixd stars that are vertical over them . when medusa's head was vertical to greece , there were divers that presaged her destruction . ierusalem's ruin was read plainly among the stars , some years before . nay , postel , a christian writer , takes god and christ to witness , that in the hebrew characters among the stars , vidit omnia quae in rerum natura constituta sunt , he saw all things that were constituted by nature . doubtless that toung which was spoken in paradise , and by the almightie himself , may have some extraordinarie priviledge and mysteries in it , nor was postel lunatic when he broke out into such a protestation . but the authors of this opinion add unto it this caution , that he who will be a schollar , and a proficient in this sydereal school to spel the stars , and studie this book ( for the heavens are calld so in holy scriptures ) must be an extraordinarie pious , patient and prudent wel-wisd man , so he may find old orpheus words to be tru , when speaking of god he sings , — {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . thy certain order doth run immutable commands aong the starrs : now , touching those ancient notaries of nature , it may be well thought , those large ideas of knowledge they had , were illuminations from heven , whence every good and perfect gift doth descend , therefore erasmus cannot be much blamed for canonizing socrates for a saint , so confident he was of his salvation ; and it were no profaness to say , that as the holy prophets were harbengers to the second person of the trinitie , so the philosphers were the heralds of the first . touching your passions , senses and organs , though the first have been traytors so often unto me within doors , and the other rebells without , yet you apologize indifferently well for them ; age will take off their teeth and ougles in time , for they are no other than wild beasts ; insomuch , that it was not said improperly of him , who having pass'd his gran climacterique , viz. 63 , said , that he was got loose from his unruly passions , as from so many tygars or wolves . but i like it well , that you have so much of hope and love ; touching the first , you say well , it maybe a cause of longevity , because it keeps the spirits in a temperat motion , and preserves them from wasting too fast ; and this may be one reson why kings and soverain princes are not commonly so long liv'd as others , because they have fewer things to hope for , and more things to fear . touching the largeness of your love , that it extends to a tender compassion towards sensitive animals , it is a thing not to be altogether discommended in you ( though it may be smild at by some ) nor are you alone herein , but there be some noble christian authors that are of your disposition , who say , that they could find in their hearts to inveigh against the cruel , bloudy and nasty sacrifices of the jews , had they not served as types of the great oblation for mankind ; nor is your charitable large love towards all those that bear god almighties image , to be blam'd , being well interpreted , specially towards christians , considering that they have the decalog , wherein there are omnia facienda all things to be done , and the dominical prayer , wherein there are omnia petenda all things to be asked for , and lastly the creed , wherein there are omnia credenda all things to be believed ; though the roman church be accus'd to mutilat one of them . 't is true , there have been haeretiques and hetroclits in divinitie from all times , specially in this doting age , and not only in divinitie , but also in philosophy , and policy . the church of christ , like saint peters bark , must expect , in this troublesom world , to be toss'd with cross winds , and somtimes with tempests , which proceed from the light and airy opinions of human brains ; and while they think to make the said bark tite , and stop the leaks , they make more holes in her ; others , going about to exalt the church , do raise her upon the devils back ; and the worst is , that peeple fall out about meer nicities , and extern indifferent forms ; for though they agree in the fundamentals and doctrin , yet they come to exercise mortal hatred one to the other ; but it hath been so from the beginning : what a huge clash did one little vowel made in a great general councel , whether {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , or {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , was more orthodoxal ; and what a huge gulph of separation is made now among christians , whether , in the holy eucharist , we take panem domini , or panem dominum ; there may be garments of divers fashions made of one stuff ; the same faith may admit of divers rites ; and indeed , it is very observable , how the genius of a nation may be discovered by their outward exercise and forms of religion ; the romans , who had large souls , did always delight in magnificence and pomp , in stately fabriques , in rich ornaments , in exquisit music , in curious sculptures and paintings , in solemnities and stately processions ; all these the italians , who are extracted of the romans , as also divers families in spain and france , do exercise in the practice of their religion , thinking nothing too costly and precious for their churches , and that it concerns all arts to contribut their best , and most quintessential pieces for the beautifying thereof , wherein all others , who are under the roman church do imitat her ; but there are other peeple that have souls of another temper , they care not for exterior shews , and appearances of pomp , or for feeding the eyes : and whereas the other nations do deck , trim up , and imbellish religion with the rarest ornaments , and richest jewels and furniture they can find , to set a good face upon her , whereas they house her in the stateliest manner they can , adorning , perfuming and keeping her temples as neat and decent as possible can be , to draw the peeple to a love and frequentation of them ; the other sort of peeple put her in homely plain attire , being loth to spend much money upon her , least if devotion shold produce too much welth , the daughter wold devour the mother . touching the charitable conceit you bear towards those sects of christians which you have nam'd , discovers a candid & charitable nature in you , for though the number of the elect be few , yet to confine them to one clime , and coop them up in one corner of the earth , is a presumption ; yet every one shold be so confident of his own religiō , as to wish that all mankinde were of the same as he. i like it extremely well that you reserve the best and purest motions of love for your creator , who is the source and wide sea , who is the sum and center of all happiness ; this love you may be well assured will not be lost towards him who taketh delight in nothing more than in the good of his cretures , and to see them do well ; he is always more ready to open than they to knock , more ready to hear than they to cry , more ready to bestow than they to begg ; moreover i like well those submissive and decent postures wherein you prostrat your self before him , there can be no exces of humility in your comportment that way , the inward man is known by the outward carriage , and when the members bow without , 't is a signe that the heart doth so also within : i like it well also that your praises are more frequent than your prayers ; prayers bend god , but prayses bind him ; prayer concerns our own interest , but praise aymes principally at his glory , and they who doth truly preform this part of piety , may be saied to discharge the duty of an angell upon earth ; god , who is omniscious , knows all our wants before hand , and what 's fitting for us , therfore to be too importunat and over-tedious in one praier , to eflagitat him with reiterations of the same thing discovers a doubting and diffident heart , therefore it more becomes a christian to be more vehement in prayse rather than in prayer , the one issuing out of the foggy vapours of sin , the other from the pure exhalations of piety and gratitude , which sooner ascend to heaven ; therefore a christian should not stand always knocking and begging at the gates of heaven , but endeavour to bestow some thing upon his creator , and there cannot be a better gift than praise , with expressions of thankfulness and with admiration of his longanimity and love , of his preservation and providence , of his power and greatness ; yet prayer should have a longer preparation than praise , in regard by it we make our addresses immediatly to god in the second person , and familiarly speaks to him as it were face to face ; whereas oblations of praise are commonly in the third person ; therefore under favour i do not much approve of their custom who before and after meat , when their brains are ful of worldly thoughts , and tied to civil compliances do rush rashly into a speech with him in the second person having no time for a fitting praemeditation ; at such times a short ejaculation expressed in the third person ( though it be only mental if the case requiers ) may be more acceptable , and freer from presumption than a long grace , for among those innumerable sins which man is subject unto , the sin in prayer , though least thought upon , is one of the greatest , when without trembling precogitations , god almightie is spoken unto , and thou'd in the vocative case . now , those benedictions , and strains of prayses which are utterd in the nominative and other cases , have a larger scope of boldness , and a greater latitude of notion , they keep at a further distance , and consequently require not so much reverence , and recollection of the thoughts beforehand , but may be extemporal ; 't is one thing to say god be praisd , another thing to say , o god i praise thee : the latter requires much more premeditation , for one presupposeth he is as it were locally and presentially before him , though the first may have as much of the heart , & be as effectual as the other . this makes me to take some paines when i invoke god in the second person by my orison , to obstract my self from all commerce with you for the present , and elevat my self upon the wings of faith in the sublimest posture i can towards heven taking the choicest affections and ideas with me along where i figure to my self a huge mountain of most pure and inexpressible light wherein me thinks i discern a glorious majesty , but the more i look upon him , the more he dazles mine eyes , that i cannot make him a fix'd object , or discover any shape in him , in regard of the refulgencie of his glory ; during this action , i endeavour to mingle with that light , for true love is nothing else but an appetit of vnion , and if i hold my self to be a spark , or part of that light from the beginning , and to be dart thence into that body of yours , and made a soul , may be no extravagant speculation . now touching this last notion , and the other concerning extemporall prayer , it is not utter'd to give the least occasion of scandal to any other soul , but onely to intimat , that there are for acts of devotion , as well as for all things else , fit places and times , where there may be a greater opportunitie for one to summon his spirits , to marshall his irregular thoughts , and raise his affections towards that glorious object , to whom prayer is directed . bodie . dear soul , my spirits are raised to an exceeding great height of comfort , that in the first part of this last discours , you are pleas'd with the method of my devotions , and carriage towards heaven ; that i reserve my purest and most intense affections for my creator , which i shall be most carefull ever to do , — dum spiritus hos regit artus ; he being my sole & soverain good ; and truly , i must tell you , that when by my lubricities , as by too free a genius in the fruition of a friend or otherwise , i chance to have offended him , i can never be friends with my self , till i am reconcil'd to him , and that i conceive his countenance to be turn'd again towards me ; yet , i had once a long fit of dejection of spirit that made me break out into these complaints , which you may well remember , for they were emanations from you . early and late , both night and day , by moon-shine and the sun's bright ray , when spangling starrs emboss'd the skie , and deck'd the world's vast canopy , i sought the lord of life & light , but oh , my lord kept out of sight . as at all times , so every place i made my church , to seek his face ; in forrests , chaces , parks and woods , on mountains , meadowes , fields and flouds , i sought the lord of life and light , but still my lord kept out of sight . on neptun's back , when i could see but few pitch'd planks 'twixt death and mee , in freedom & in bondage long with grones & crys , with pray'r and song , i sought the lord of life & light , but still my lord kept out of sight . in chamber , closet ( swoln with tears ) i sent up vowes for my arrears , in chappel , church and sacrament , the soul's ambrosian nourishment , i sought the lord of life and light , but still my lord kept out of sight . what! is mild heven turn'd to brass , that neither sigh nor sob can pass ! is all commerce 'twixt earth and sky cut off from adam's progeny ? that thus the lord of life & light , shold so , so long keep out of sight ? such passions did my mind assail , such terrors did my spirits quail ; when lo , a beam of grace shot out through the dark clowds of sin and doubt which did such quickning sparkles dart , that pierc'd the centre of my heart ; o how my spirits come again , how ev'ry cranny of my brain was fill'd with heat and wonderment , with joy , and ravishing content , when thus the lord of life & light did re-appeer unto my sight . learn sinners hence , 't is ne're too late , to knock and cry at hevens gate , that begger 's bless'd , who doth not faint , but re-inforceth still his plaint ; the longer that the lord doth hide his face , more brighter wil be his afterbeams of grace . thus at last i made mythridat of that viper , which me thought had gnaw'd so long upon my conscience , which prompted me all the while of my dangerous condition , and exhibited me my quietus est at last . soul . i like it very well , that you make the conscience your guide , and that you use to listen to his counsell ; for he is my dictator , & may be said to have a coordinat power with god himself . therefore it is the chiefest part of a wise christian , to take his conscience for his admonisher here , least he become his accuser hereafter , he is fraenum , and flagrum , he is a bridle before , but a scourge after sin . but i hope , those turbid intervalls of grief and gripings bettered you afterward ; for confession and sorrow without amendment ( as one truely said ) is like the pumping of a ship without stopping the leaks : it is a pithy and ponderous advice that an ancient father gives , commissa dole , dolenda non committe , repent of things committed , and commit not things to be repented ; there is another saying , that administreth both comfort and caution , that if sins present do not delight thee , sins passed will never destroy thee . there is a third which reflects upon god and man ; qui promittit poenitenti veniam non promittit peccanti poenitentiam . he who promiseth pardon to the penitent , doth not promise repentance to the peccant . it behoves you now , that you have passed above seven climacteriques ; and seen above seven and twentie hundred saboths , to make a more exact and frequent account with heaven , for all the noble natural parts must grow less vigorous in you ( and so draw you to your end ) specially the heart , which according to the old egyptian doctrine receives two dramms every yeer till it comes to 50 , and then decreaseth so fast to a 100 , whence turning to its original weight it makes no further progress ; therefore rogus & urna meditanda , you must now meditate on the pile and the pitcher , viz. on your winding-sheet and grave : for death may lie in wait for you in your shadow as you tread it . you must not now thirst so much after humane knowledge , and spend your time in the school of nature , by making such greedie researches into her causes and effects , you must seek after theological verities , you must not so much look after iacobs staff , as after his ladder . but in the search of divine mysteries , let me give you this caution , not to affect scepticism too much , for it may make you guiltie of spiritual pride , the two gran sins which reign in these times . it is a wholesom rule satis est sapere ad sobrietatem . it is enough to be soberly wise , to be contented to be of gods court , not of his councel , specially of his cabinet councel . nor in adiaphorous things must you be to violent , strict and insolent , or hating any to destruction . bodie . well fare you now , and better may you fare hereafter , that you have so much care of me , as it appears by affording me these instructions . it is a while since that i have put them in practice , by imploying my intellectuals to divine operations , and to give you some small instances , i will offer you from among others , a few of the psalms of the holiest of men , and the first instance shall be the verse that should precede all prayers and praises , which i have made to run upon english feet as smoothly and as faithfully as i could , diversifying it in four stanzas , whereof the reader may choose which he please . psalm 19. vers. vlt. 1 o lord my saviour and support , grant that the words and cries my heart doth vent , and toung report be pleasing in thy eys . 2 o let the notions of my mind and words my mouth doth yield , still in thy sight acceptance find my saviour , strength and shield . 3 o lord my saviour strength and might , grant that the thoughts and words be always pleasing in thy sight my mouth and heart affoards . 4 o let the words my lips prolate , and plaints my heart doth pour , find favour at thy mercie gate my saviour , strength and tow'r . now you shall receive some of the penitential psalms , which i hope i have not murthered in the version , as others are said to have done . psalm . 51. 1 some pitie , lord , to me afford of thy abundant grace , for thy great love my sins remove and trespasses deface . 2 wash off the slime of this foul crime , and throughly purge the blot ; for i confess my wickedness , i always see the spot . 3 o lord 'gainst thee and onely thee have i committed ill , that thy words might be counted right and cleer when judged still . 4 lo , in a frame of sin and shame were knit my flesh and bone , when i , alas , an embryon was of sinners i was one . 5 in the inmost parts of contrite hearts thou wisdom do'st demand , and secretlie thou shalt make me tru wisdom understand . 6 with hyssop cleance this foul offence , and purge my soul from ill , so shall i be white in degree to snow on hermon hill . 7 o let me heer news that may cheer my trembling heart with joy , may free from grones , my shatterd bones , broke by thee with annoy . 8 o turn aside thy face , and hide it from my foul offence ; and throughly blot this ugly spot , ere i be sumon'd hence . 9 renew my heart in every part , thy saving grace inspire , so that my brest may be possess'd with flames of heavenly fire . 10 oh do not chace me from thy face , nor of thy spirit deprive , for then should i in misery be worst than thing alive , 11 thy joyes once more to me restore of thy salvation , so shall i preach and sinners teach the way to hevens throne . 12 o lord from bloud that cries so loud fo● vengeance me defend , so shall i still with accents shrill thy noble deeds extend . 13 my lips unseal for to reveal thy wondrous acts of old , so shall my toung the saints among thy righteousness unfold . 14 nor bloud of lambs , or fat of rams are pleasing in thy sight , else would i come with hecatoms didst thou in them delight . 15 the sacrifize which god doth prize are hearts with sorrow bruizd ; a heart broke so and split with wo , lord , thou hast nere refus'd . 16 on sion hill o lord , distill thy gifts in a good hour ; build salems walls and keep from falls thy temple and her towr . here followeth another in a differing cadence and tune . psal. 6. 1 correct me not in rage , nor chastize me in ire , but lord thy wrath asswage , and me with grace inspire , for i am faint , and all my bones , are vex'd with grones of just complaint . 2 my soul doth also swell for griefs that me torment , but , lord , how long , oh tell , wilt thou thy self absent ? return o god , lord of all bliss , for i do kiss thy smarting rod . 3 for in the shades of night , no mortall can thee mind , and in the pit what wight to thank thee canst thou find ? behold my teares , wherewith i drown each night my down , for old arrears . 4 my beauteous daies are past , for griefs that me dismay , and like a flower i fade , and wither quite away , for fear of those that me annoy , and would destroy like deadly foes . psalm . 130. 1 out of the fluds , out of the sudds of sin i roar and cry , lord bow thine ear , 't is time to hear : my groans and agony . 2 if thou observe how oft we swerve from thee , who can abide to stand before thy judgement dore to be arraignd and tri'd ? 3 but there 's with thee rich clemencie and plenteous store of grace , which makes thee lord to be ador'd so much by human race . 4 my soul for thee incessantlie waits as the centinel waits for the day and phoebus ray , nights darkness to repel . let israel then boldly dwell and trust in god above . for there 's with him up to the brim abundant store of love . 6 for it is he can onely free and israel forgive , and of his crimes done at all times an absolution give , soul . i am mightily well pleased that you employ your thoughts and words ( which are the chiefest cretures of the mind ) upon such meditations as these ; it much joye's me that you wind up your spirits to davids harp , a music that is sweet and rich enough to be of consort with that of the spheres , specially if your heart keeps touch with the tone for he is the truest penman of heavenly things , who feeles the joyes thereof , while he is enditing them ; now , in those holy hymns of david's , there is a coincidence of prayer , and prayse , which like two currents falling into one channel , makes the stream the stronger . but to inlarge my self a little further in that point whereon i insisted a little before , touching the studie of divine knowledge , which is the unicum necessarium , i advise you again , now that you have stepp'd a good way in the autumne of your age , and that a little bark of yours hath been toss'd and shatter'd with so many tempests , it were wisdom that you wold think upon your last port , and ballast her accordingly to arrive thither ; therefore whereas you have courted the hand-maids so long , you shold now make your principal applicatiōs to the mistress , you shold devote your self to the theory of divine things , which is the true fruit of the tree of knowledge , whereas the other are but the leafs thereof . now christianity of all other religions hath the hardest and highest reaches , the purest ideas and abstracted furthest from sense , and harshest to flesh and bloud , in regard of sundry transcendencies , and mystical tenents she contains , as the trinity , the incarnation and resurrection , in the re-serches of which points the quickest sight , may be said to be but one degree above blindness , therefore in the discussion and investigation of these , it is fit that you make reson ( whose uttermost ken can reach no higher than the sphere of nature ) to lye succumbent at faiths feet , and so conclude certainties out of impossibilities , and god being omnipotent may in justice demand such beliefs from us . nor must you be too presumptuous by prying into the power , prerogative and nature of the incomprehensible deity ; for if all the fages that ever were yet in the world , could not come to the knowledge of the least star in heaven , so far as to tell what substance she is made of : how is it possible for any humane capacitie to ascend so high , as to the knowledge of the immense majestie which created them ; therefore the safest and certainest knowledge touching god , is to confess , that we cannot know him in any perfection . insomuch that that inscription which was found upon the pagan altar among the greeks was a very modest one , & may be said to be still in date {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , to the unknown god : for the further that a finit intellect doth launch forth into the boundless and bottomless sea of this cōtemplation , the more he is in danger to go astray and loose it self , all human brain being too narrow and uncertain a compass to steer the cours by , though stars and angells contribute their help to direct him ; therefore it is a far securer way for a sober minded christian to sit down in an humble astonishment , and to vent forth this interjection of wonder , o the inscrutableness & immensity of god , his ways are past finding out &c. therefore you must be modest in your indagations this way , and cautious how you go awry into any by-path from the beaten road , and so wander in the wilderness of your own imaginations : for it is the common practise of the devil , when it pleaseth god to give him the reins to punish a nation , to tamper first with their intellectualls , and puzzle the brain with new doubts , and peremptory conceits , till he leads them into a maze of confusions , where at last he seizeth upon them for their spiritual pride . you must take heed of such an insobriety , and insolent zeal , but seek after singleness of heart , rather than after singularity of opinion ; be wary also how you meddle with classical divinity , but leave it to them whose holy function it is to controvert such matters , and doubtles are specially inspired for that purpose , employ your chiefest howers in penning or perusing things that may elevat the thoughts above the elements , and fill them with pious raptures ; but what authors so ever you read whither old or new , whither historical , polemical , or paraenetical , take this rule along with you to believe them for the holy scriptures sake , and the scriptures for themselves . antiquity is venerable , therefore the older the author is , the more to be valued , it being a maxim that may bear sway in divinity as well as in heralday , tutius est cum patribus quàm cum fratribus errare . body . these are wholsom precepts that you give me which i shall conform unto . and whereas in your former discourse you gave me an item of my age , and that having now made a good step in the autumnal part thereof , therefore rogus & urna medstands , it is sitting that the funeral pile and pitcher should be thought upon . truly , were it the custom of christianity , and that when you have left me , i must be reduced to my first principles , i could be well contented that this small bottom of clay whereon the ravell'd and thrumb'd thread of my life hath been wound up so long , should be turned to earth and ashes by fire , which is the noblest of the elements , rather than by letting it putrifie , and be made a feast for ugly worms in the grave so long , and to be digested in their maws . a conceit not altogether so extravagant as he who thought drowning to be the gentlest way of goin● out of the world , when the body b● smooth waving undulations glide● softly to its last home . let it not b● term'd a vanity in me to tell yo● that touching this elementar● world i have bin a good while o● of conceit with it , and had i b●lanc'd account with it , i could wi●lingly pay nature her last debt , an● render this small bag-full of bon● to the earth whence it first came ● know ther be sundry modes ho● this debt is payed , in some life go● out like a lamp when the oil spent , and so takes a gentle fa●well , in others life is puffed out violence , and so it commonly ther streams away in blood , or i● thrust out at the postern door ; in●thers , life is starv'd away , in som● in long lingring hectiques and s● like diseases ; som fall like mellow fruit , others are plucked off ; ther be a thousand wayes to go out , but one way to come into this world : i have liv'd already to see such things that former ages never saw , nor future i beleeve , can ever see ; i will confine my self within the compass of these last fifteen yeers , only , wherin ther have happen'd the most prodigious revolutions , and horridst accidents , not only in europe , but all the earth over , that ever befell mankind since adam cover'd himself with fig-leaves . i will begin with the fyeriest parts , with africa , wher the mighty habassin emperor was met in nostile way , and slain , together with his two sons , in open field , by ● common vassall of his , who had ●aised military forces against him , ●nd so made himself chief of that ●ncient and vast empire of ethio●ia ; the wild tartar rush'd through that four hundred mi●es huge wall , which fever's china from tartary , and so piercing the very bowels of that luxurious and most delicate continent as far as quinz●y ( the celestiall city as they call her ) and besieging the very palace of that most eastern monarch , he caus'd him to set it all on fire , and to do away himsel● violently with his thirty wive● and children , rather then he would become an inglorious captis● the great ottoman emperour , an● head of the musulmans was strangled by his own slaves in the seraglio . the knez org●an duk● of moscovia had some of his prim● nobles , and principall officer hack'd to pieces before his fac● and their heads being thrown int● vessels of strong water , they wer● fixed upon poles , and made t● burn before his court gate . i●naples a bare-footed fisherma● made himself the head of an army in lesse then four daies of 50000 men , and rendred himself as absolute as any monark : two provinciall kingdoms revolted quite from spain , viz. catalonia on the one side , and portugall on the other , renouncing all obedience unto him . the republic of venice soly with her own strength of tresure hath wrastled seven yeers together with the great turk . a king of great britain , the defendor of the faith , and head of the church , had his head chop'd off in a juridicall way . i live in a time that englands chiefest temples are turn'd to stables and ster●oraries , that dogs have bin christened at the font , and horses ●ed on the communion table , with sundry other spectacles , then which if i should live a thousand yeers longer , i think i shold not see more strange and stupendous . soul . all this that you say is too true , but ther is nothing to be wondred at now adaies . it is a good while since that i have given over wondring at anything ; and the greatest wonder is , that peeple have bin so habituated to see such strange things of late yeers that they have quite lost their wondring : but it is the pleasure and permission of the great architect of the world , in whose sight the vastest monarchies are but as so many mole-hils ; hee who transvolves empires and tumbles down diadems as he lifteth , that things should be so : nor is all this and what daily happeneth , but the effects of that branch of our daily prayer , thy will be done . moreover , when i seriously contemplat the frame of this frail inferior world , and find man to be the principall'st part of it ; when ( as i have touch'd else where ) i consider that fluxible stuffe which goes to make him up , and that the humors within him according to the elements are in perpetuall agitation , man will be man still , hee will be subject to changes and innovation ; as long as the moon shines above his head , and hath that dominion over him that he cannot cut a corn , or hair , or lop his tree , without seeking into her age : i say , as long as that instable planet makes impressions upon his brain , and those sluces of blood that run up and down his body , he will bee ever covetous of novelty , and gaping after mutation , specially the common fort of peeple , who will find som time or other to shew what they are : now , touching the moon , they that pry into the influxes and operations of heavenly bodies , do observe that she hath a greater power over this island then upon others , which causeth the brittish seas to swell up above fourscore cubits high in some places ; besides , daily experience shews , that empires , common-wealths and kingdomes , with all kind of civill bodies as well as naturall , are subject to distempers , to hot feavers , to fits of convulsions and vertigoes : they have also their degrees of growth , they have their consistences , declinings and catastrophes : and indeed the world it self which som held to be a great animal , as well as its parts , hath the like , which is now come to its decrepit age , the infancy whereof may be said to have bin from adam to noah , the childhood from noah to abraham , the youth from abraham to david , the manhood from david to christ ; the old age from christ to the consummation : insomuch that the older the world growes , the more subject the parts therof are to distempers , so that it is not to be wondred at , that men grow worse , that charity growes colder , that morosity and peevish inconstant humors reign more then ever , wherunto all revolutions , quarrels , and preli●tions may be attributed , wherby peeple becom active and eager oftentimes in the pursuits of their own ruine , and in li●u of those feathers which they cryed out before were such grievous burdens unto them , they draw sows of lead upon their backs . body . to this the pagan poet hath long since alluded , when he sung ; hoc placet o superi vobis cum vertere cuncta propositum nostris erroribus addere crimen . thus o yee gods , when yee intend to frame new governments , our errors bear the blame . this make some cry out that the times are such that they are able to turne one to an epicurean , who was not such an atheist as to think there was no god , but that the sublunary things of this lower world were too mean for him to take care of ; whereat another poet glanced , when he said , non vacat exiguis rebus adesse lovi . soul . 't is true , ther are some sort of crying black sins that raign now adaies , which are able to eclipse the sun it self , and obscure the whole face of heaven ; therefore i cannot be much blam'd of being weary of your consortship , and that i desire to be enfranchiz'd from that flesh , and made free denison in a better world . body . i confesse , my dear soul , that you have little comfort to sojourn in me , and i as litt●e to sojourn in the world as i said before ; yet though i am not so happy here as i desire , i am not so wretched as i deserve . ther are many odd extravagant humors that raigne now adaies , which make men to wander in the wildernes of their own exorbitant fancies , and leave the beaten road ; now , the vialls of the almighty's vengeance are various , but the sowrest and sorest are those which fall upon the brain , when the ill spirit is permitted to intoxicat the understanding , wherby som in searching after the the truth , do over-reach it as far as others com far short of it . the world was never so full of fancy , not only in d●vine notions , but philosophicall also as now it is . some presumptuous over-weening sciolists to raise the tarrasse of reson , wold ruine the battlements of faith , they wold make the miracles of holy scripture to proceed from naturall causes , they wold make som asptaltique bituminous matter to be the cause of the burning of sodom and gomorra ; they wold impute the drowning of pharoh and his army to a high spring tide ; the passing over of the israelites to a low ebb and eddy water : they admire not the raining of manna in the wildernes , because there is good store found in calabria , and other places ; they cannot believe that lazarus was rais'd from the dead , but they must be satisfied where his soul was all the while ; they censure the miracle of making the blind to see , because he saw men walk like trees , whereas he had never seen trees before , having bin blind from his nativity : they think it strange the● shold be a tree in paradise so soon , in regard the text saies positively that the plants of the fields were not yet grown , because it had not rain'd ; they question whether the handle of goliath's spear was as big as a weavers beam , and whether david had so many hundred thousand talents of treasure : moreover , they cast blemishes upon christian truth because general and great oecumenicall councels did so clash one with another : and that the fathers of the primitive church in divers opinions were not only differing one from the other , but dissonant to themselfs , as among other positions in the computations which they make of the yeers from the creation of the world to the incarnation , wherin they are so discrepant ; nay , they wold derogat from the dictats of the holy ghost himself touching som texts of scripture , because in the second of kings we read michal for merah , as may be perceived by comparing it with the first book of the same history : as also because st matthew hath written zachary for ieremy , chap. 27. likewise that st mark in the first chapter cites a passage out of isaiah which is recorded in malachy : moreover , when he saith that our saviour was crucified on the third hour , whereas st iohn saith , chap. 19. that he was but only condemned by pilat the sixth hour . so likewise where st luke saith , that cainan was the son of arphaxad , and salec the son of cainan , the place is contradicted in genesis 23. where it is said , that salec was not arphaxed's grandchild but his son , no other generation intervening betwixt the two ; and when ●● is said genesis the 11. that the cave which abraham bought was in sichem , being indeed in hebron , and that he bought it of the sonnes of emor the son of sechem , yet moses saith it was of ephron the hittite ; moreover wheras he saith that emor was sichem's son , it is said in genesis 3● . quite contrary , that emor was sichem's father , and not his son . other supercritical spirits wold cast aspersions upon christianity , because constantin the first emperor of that religion was a very lewd man gildas , accusing him to have bin a murtherer , a perjurer , the tyrannicall whelp of the unclean lionness of dannonier's that likewise clovis the first christian king of france was as bad , and that henry the eight , the first reformed king , worse then either of them . ther are others that have another kind of spiritual pride , it being not only sufficient to arrogat from the holy scriptures , to pick ho●es in christianity , & criticize so upon her , but while they go about to magnify man , they detract from the chiefest instruments of gods glory , and his principall attendants the blessed angels , by paraleling mans creation to theirs , and that they were made , as all things els , for man , whom they cry up to be the epitome of the world , and that the principal ministerial function of the angels is to gard him . such as these may be said to be possessed with a giddy kind of spiritual drunkeness , or madness rather ; and touching those of this last conceit , they are like the cobler who drunk himself into a kingdom and thought himself a king while he continued in that humor . nor is religion only troubled with such critiques and detractors , but these times afford such in all sciences , to magnifie their own fancies they slight all antiquity , they will not stick to call plato a dotard , and hippocrates a quack-salver , thinking that they have more sublime notions then any . it is true , that in some sense , restraining it to saving knowledg , a child that understands his primer may be said to be more learned then all the philosophers that ever were , as the least fly , in regard she hath a sensitive soul within her , may be said in som respects to be more noble then the sun because he is inanimat . soul . it is too tru that the present times do swarm with such arrogant and over-curious spirits , though they be full of doubts and still at a loss , going after nothing els but more teaching still , yet they seem to have such a peremptory certitude of their salvation , as if they had seen their names registred in the book of life , expunging thence all other but their own . they cannot modestly beleeve the creed but they must know the very track that our saviour went to hell , they wold string the rainbow and be satisfied what kind of wood it is that the man of the moon carrieth on his back , &c. with a spirit much like this was scaliger possessed , who while he went about to amend the times , and correct errors , committed as gross ones himself as any one author he condemns ; he makes dagon a woman , the emperour of habassia , prester iohn ; what shallow conceits hath he of the depth of the sea , and how poorly was he vers'd in cyclometria , how scurrilously he railes against whole nations , and would understand nothing but what he liked ? body . truly i have bin ever averse to raise frivolous quaeres in any thing specially in the essentialls of faith , or enter into disputes and altercations or heat touching matters indifferent , i was never of their mind that against a cap and a surplis would put on a helmet , and armor ; i have bin contented to follow the first road i was put in towards heaven , moving after the motion of the superior orbs that were plac'd in the firmament of the church , though not altogether in an implicit way ; i have always made reson , and other sciences to truckle under divinity their mistress ; i have taken as much spirituall delight ( let all this be spoken without vanity , or any scandall to other souls ) in other offices and holy duties of the church as in sermons ; which makes me reflect upon a saying of s. lewis the french king , to henry the third of england , who asking him ( in those times of implicit faith ) whether he would go sooner unto the eucharist or to a sermon , he answered . i had rather see my friend then hear him only spoken of ; i have always inclined to love order and degrees of respect , & to abhor confusion , to love decencies rather then slut●isness , nor i hope , shall i be ever of their gang who to avoid superstition do fall into palpable prophaness . soul . i like you humor well touching all these particulars , nor will they offend , i beleeve , any one that is of a s●ne & sober judgment ; & concerning the last thing you spoke of , it makes the church militant to be most like the church triumphant , for in heaven , which is nothing els but one great temple , ther is among the angels ( which are compounded of essence and existence as you and i are of matter and form ) ther is i say a most exact order . they are divided to three hierarchies & in every hierarchy ther are three orders ; the first consists of seraphims , the second of cherubims , the third of thrones . the second consists of dominations , of vertues , and powers ; the third consists of principalities , of archangels , and angels ; now those of the supremest hierarchy partake of divine illuminations in a greater measure then of the inferior , and they one to another in respective manner , who are subordinat unto them ; you and i are created in a capacity to dwell in that temple of eternity , you after the resurrection , and i as soon as i part , with you , to see the face of my creator , and converse with those holy angels by thoughts and looks . body . 't is hard for flesh and blood to beleeve that , considering the immense distance which is twixt this ball of earth and 〈◊〉 empyrean heaven , you should so instantaneously arrive thither to behold the beatificall vision ; for the lowest neighbour to earth of all the celestiall bodies which is the moon , is by the opinion of the best astronomers computed to be 52. semidiameters distant from the earth , every diameter containing nere upon 3500. miles ; so that put case one could fly thither , and mount 100. miles an hour , yet he would be above four months in his journey ; moreover from the first sphere , the primum mobile , put case a millstone should descend thence to the centre , it would be 60. yeers a coming down , though it make 40. miles every hour as the prime of astronomer averrs ; therfore under favor , how is it possible that you should immediatly upon your separation from me post up with such inexcogitable speed up to heaven , and behold the blissfull vision . soul . touching the operations , the movements , and conveyancies of spirits you must know that they are instantaneous , and so wonderfull , that the speculation thereof strikes philosophy dumb ; they need no succession of time or place , as bodies require in their motions , they meet with no stop or resistance at all in their passage : now , if light which is nothing els but dilated fire to the utmost tenuity that can be , and comes neerest to the nature of a spirit of any corporeal creature , if light i say doth exercise its function with such an admirable agility and suddennes as to expand it self from east to west over the whole surface of the hemisphere , what shall we think of spirits that are far fuller of activity : but you must understand , that when i am devested of you , the wall of partition , that interposition is instantly taken away which stood 'twixt me , and my creator , who is the son of the invisible world as that in the firmament which you see with the sensitive optiques here is of this materiall ; therefore i shall immediatly behold that infinitly more glorious sun the veyl of flesh being taken away , i shall be instantly within the temple of glory , wherof every corner is fill'd with the light of his countenance , insomuch that who is once in it , can never be able to go again out of it ; therefore though the blessed angels are employed up and down the world upon his service , yet they are alwayes within the verge of the beatificall vision . body . let it not be held a petulant , or impertinent curiosity in me , if i covet to know , since you now speak of angels , what degrees of difference ther may betwixt them and separated souls in heaven . soul . as they agree in many things , so they also differ in many ; angels and separated souls agree in that both of them are spirits , both of them are intellectual and eternal cretures , they behold the blissful vision ; they are courtiers of heaven , and act meerly by the understanding , the merits of christ was beneficiall to both , it made the one capable of the state of glory , and it confirm'd the other in it that they can never be apostats hereafter ; besides , ( as som hold ) at the day of judgment they are to receive augmentation of bliss by being freed from further employment , cares , and solicitings for men , and continue in an uninterrupted rest . now , as the blessed angels , and separated souls , do thus agree , so they differ also in sundry things ; they differ in their very essentialls ; for the principles of angels are meerly metaphysicall , viz. essence and existence ; but a separated soul continueth still a part of that compositum which formerly consisted of matter and form , and is still apt to be reunited to the body , till then she is not absolutly completed for all that while she changeth not her nature but her state : moreover they differ in the exercise of the understanding , and manner of knowledg , for a separated soul knowes still by discours and ratiocination which an angel doth not ; they also differ in dignity of nature , for angels have larger illuminations , and at the first instant of their creation they beheld the beatificall vision , yet separated souls are capable to mount up to such a height of glory as to bee like them in all things , both in point of vision , adhaesion , and fruitio● . body . but when you are setled in that state of blissfulness , how can i expect that you will desire to bee united again , to re-efform so frail and foul a thing as this body of mine ; why may not i think rather that you will assume some body of a nobler and more refined matter , according to the speculation of him who imagin'd , that rationall soules be they never so pious and pure , mount not up presently after their separation from the corrupt mass of flesh to enjoy the beatificall vision which is the height of all celestiall happiness ; but first they are carried to the body of the moon , or som other star according to their degrees of piety and goodness in this life , where they enter into , and actuar som bodies of a purer mould ; and being refin'd then they reascend to som higher star , and so to som higher then that , till at last they be made capable to behold the lustre of so glorious a majesty in whose sight no impurity can stand ; which fancy may be illustrated by this comparison , that if a prisoner ( as i touch elswhere ) after he hath bin kept close in a dark dungeon for many yeers , should bee taken out and brought suddenly to look upon the sun in the meridian , it would endanger him to bee struck stark blind ; so , no humane polluted soul , sallying out of a dark dirty prison as the body is , would be possibly able to appear before the incomprehensible majesty of god , or be susceptible of the fulgor of his all-glorious countenance , unless he be sitted before hand by certain degrees thereunto which might be done by passing from one star to another ; who , we are told in a good text , differ one from the other in glory , and consequently the creatures that are within them : now , they who please themselfs in this fancy adhere to their opinion who think that every star in heaven is peepled with som kind of creatures , which god almighty hath pleased to place there for his honour and service , it standing not with his providence that the concavities of those vast bodies whereof some are computed to be many hundred of times bigger then the globe of the earth , should be empty and void ; therefore these theorists frame a kind of scale of of creatures ; they place the elementary lowermost , as the most gross : the selenites or lunary peeple are of a finer composition then they , and as one star exceeds one another in height and glory , the creatures that are coloniz'd within them do so accordingly , but the most immateriall , the purest , and the most intellectuall are seated in the sphere of the sun where the almighty hath setled his throne , and they are his nearest attendants : the elementary creatures have more matter then form ; the solar have more form then matter , the inhabitants of the moon with other astraean colonies are of a mix'd nature , and the nearer they approach the body of the sun , who is the fountaine of light and heat , and the glorious eye of the world , the more pure and spirituall they are . soul . all this is but fancy , which although somthing of illumination and sublimity may bee in it , yet there is allo an extravagance in the idea , nor is it any way consonant to the orthodoxal faith , therfore never fear that by assumption of any other , i shall ever quite abandon that body of yours , but i shall reserve not only an aptitude , but a willingness to have you for my tabernacle again , and to bee recompact ; i shall be desirous to be a soul again , till when i shall be only a spirit ; but that bulk of yours shall be refin'd and sublimated to the perfection of celestiall matter , which is the purest and most quintescentiall part of the whole body of matter : it is the region wherein we shall go in equal pace with eternity it self ; therefore as man while he sojournes among the elements , bears a body sutable , congruous , and sympathetique to them ; so when he is exalted and made free citizen of the heavenly jerusalem , which is the true country for which he had a being , he shall be purified and ad●pted to the temper of it ; wherein man shall not only return to his first state of perfection , but to a far higher and greater exaltation of glory ; the {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} shall be no more {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} the body sh●ll be no more a sepulcher which may be the etymology of it here , but it shall becom a perpetuall temple for the holy ghost ; there his understanding shall not be subject to error , nor his will to passion , incertitudes and topiques shall be turn'd to de . monstrations , & faith to intuition ; provided , that he prepare himself accordingly , and in this school of nature make himself capable to remove thither ; provided , that he make use of those means which his creator hath prescrib'd him here , and that he employ his thoughts , words , and actions , to that end ; for man shall have degrees of happiness in heaven according to his works , though not for his works ; which makes me reflect upon a passage that happen'd in the reigne of edilred one of our saxon kings , who having chang'd his crown for a friers coule , and his court for a cloyster , went to visit a favorit of his that had bin a licentious young man , who telling the king that a vision had appear'd unto him the night before of two youths which hee had seen , one at his beds head with a white book thinne written , the other at his beds feet with a large black book blurr'd and very thick written ; the king answered that the meaning of this vision was , that the little book contained all his good works , the other his bad , yet god was so infinitely mercifull , that one good work would cover a multitude of bad ones , for hee never desir'd or absolutely design'd any creature of his for damnation , &c. body . yet ther want not now adaies such busie and profane spirits who rushing into his secret councels , do affirm that he hath by his determinat will preordain'd such and such creatures will they nill they for perdition ; an opinion then which we cannot conceive worse of the devill himself . but , my dear soul , you solace me beyond imagination , that you tell me , i shall bee reunited unto you , & made fit to share of your future beatitude ; yet , this , under correction , is a hard thing for humane capacity to apprehend ; that the very same entire body should bee found out and recompacted , after such putrefactions , after so many changes and revolutions ; where can all the splinters of a bone which a cannon bullet hath shiver'd and shatter'd to pieces bee found again ? where can all the atomes which a corrasive hath eaten from our limbs bee found ? what cohaerence , what rejoinder , is ther ever like to bee between a leg lost in turkey , and an arm lost in india ? the shark and other ravenous fish of the sea ; the tyger , the bear , the crocodile , with other savage beasts of the land use to devoure , to disgest and turn to chylus and so to blood , the bodies of thousands of men , and that blood goes to the generation of other such brute annimals , the wormes do the like in the grave ; burnt bodies are resolv'd into ashes , those ashes are blown into the gutter , that puddled water is carried by common-shores into rivers , those rivers pay tribute to the vast ocean which runs in , and retreats by so many ebbings and flowings , how can it enter into the brain of man that all the parts of these bodies can be retreev'd to make up the same compositum again ? soul . i know that the most searching and sagacious wits that ever were , were all at a loss when they meditated on this transcendent mystery , nor can the common principles of philosophy herein be preserved by any strength of reson , for they are bones that nature cannot disgest : but ( as i told you before ) in the scanning of divine mysteries we must oftentimes inferr certainties out of impossibilities , as also that god is omnipotent , otherwise it were not just for him to require such beliefs at our hands ; moreover , to illustrat unto you a little this article of the resurrection , you must understand that as at the creation ther was a separation of the chaos that huge indigested lump which went to the making of all cretures , so , after the last fire hath reduc'd all to their first principles and calcin'd them to ashes , ther shall be a separation of that confus'd mass of ashes by the same all powerfull hand , ther shall be a kind of second creation , and rallying of the individuall bodies which were formed at first , and every soul shall enjoy her first consort , though much more purified then it was before . body . you raise my heart to an exceeding great height of comfort , me thinks you imp this dull body , with eagles feathers to fly upwards , by telling me that after this transitory life which hangs upon such small filaments of sister threed is cut off , i shall be wrought into you again . soul . to make this point a little more perspicuous unto you , you must consider that matter taken singly by it self hath no distinctive form at all ther is an indifference & homogereous identity runs through the whole bulk of matter ; it is the substantiall form which is the soul that doth give a distinguishing shape and numericall individuation to every body ; now , as long as she continueth the same , the creture is still the same ; for that body of yours though you have not the same flesh about you , nor the same blood in your veines which you had twenty yeers ago , yet is it still the same body as long as i inform it ; for as the bucentoro in venice is held to be still the same vessel though having bin so often upon the carine , new caulk'd , ribb'd and plank'd , she may not have any of the first timber she was built of in the first dock ; in like manner humane bodies continue stil the same as long as the same individuator is in them which is the soul , notwithstanding , that they are in a continuall fluxibility , and a kind of succession of consumption and restauration ; for although the flesh and bloud in no man be the ●ame in his youth as it was in his infancy , nor the same in his manhood that it was in his youth , because they use to wast away by the intern principles of heat , as also to transpire , breathe out and evaporate insensibly through the pores to make still room for fresh nourishment which is concocted and so converted to new bloud , and new flesh , yet is the whole body alwayes numerically , and individually the same , as long as the same soul doth inform and actuat it ; so at the general resurrection what part or parcell so ever of that indifferent●omogeneous huge mass of calcin'd earth and ashes which my creator shal assign me to reinform , it will be the very same that you bear about you now , though much refin'd , and so we shal cohabit eternally , without any future divorce . body . the revolution of plato's great yeer seems to have some analogie with our resurrection , whereof that divine and high soaring philosopher might have a glimps when he held , that after such a period of yeers the world should be repeepled by the same cretures ; which makes me think ( now that you have quickned my spirits ) with these plesing ideas ) upon the witty answer of the tapster at botley , who having fill'd two pots of ale to a poor scholler as he was returning from wales to oxford , and the scholler telling him that he had spent all his money in his journey , but he would pay him the next time they met , the tapster ask'd when that would be , why said the scholler if it be not sooner , we are sure to meet here again at the revolution of platoes great yeer , for at the period of so many thousand yeers all things return to their former state , you and i shall meet here just as we do now , with the same bodies and minds , for so the world hath continued hitherto , and will so renew for ever ; why then said the tapster you and i mett here so many thousand yeers ago , yes said he ; i thank you for putting me in mind of it , for i remember you left then two pots of ale upon the score , pay me for them first , and then i will trust you for these two . soul . it cannot bee denyed but those great students of nature though they were soly guided by her twilights , had many glances of divine illuminations : now touching these mysterious tenets of christian religion , it is with them as with the body of the sun , ther is somwhat in that glorious planet ( according to the comparison of a very ancient father of the church ) which we may behold , if we will b●e contented to see that , we may freely do ti : but ther is somwhat in the sun , that may not be look'd on ; now , if wee bee not satisfied to see what wee may see , we may chance come to s●e nothing at all , for he that gazeth and setleth his optiques too fixedly on the sun , comes to see nothing at all , for he loseth his eyes : so the mysteries of saving faith , ther is much in them that may bee apprehended by the faculty of reson , and by what is reveal'd unto us , but if we will not be contented with that , but pry further , wee may not only be dazzled , but struck stark blind ; therefore wee must contemplat them with reservednes and sobriety : this may bee also paralell'd with the moon ; ther is somwhat in the opacous orb of the moon , that no mortall yet could ever come to the knowledge of it : the astronomers by all their curious inspections , and optic instruments cannot tell what are the spots , what the darkness is , that goes interwoven in the body of the moon , though she be nearest neighbour to us of all the heavenly : but there is somwhat in that planet , which wee can tell what it is , and it is the luminous part , by that it affords us light to know what it is ; so in the high points of salvation , ther be some dark parts that are not comprehensible , and ther be other parts that are comprehensible ; the first we may boldly look upon , but for the other , the dark and abstruse parts , we must close our eyes , and sit down with admiration , and comfort our selves that wee cannot understand them , that ther is somthing in this great work which concerns us , yet 't is impossible to bee comprehended : touching the parts which may be understood , we may look on them with a modest eye of inspection , but the parts that are obscure and cannot be look'd on , wee must not bee overcurious to find prospectives to look into them , but believe them ; let it satisfie us that they cannot be discern'd by mortall eye , in regard it is the pleasure of god not to have them known , let us be contented to bee ignorant of that which god would have us to bee ignorant of , till our faith bee turn'd to intuition , and where the understanding shall be adaequate to truth , as truth is the adaequat object of the understanding , which must be in the other world , in that true region of intellectuall light , where such abstracted speculations that so much puzzle us here , shall be as clear as the sun in the meridian , where we shall conceive the true sense of the ninth of the romans , of the apocalyps of saint iohn , and all other passages of holy scripture without an interpreter , and not to be subject to false judgments , constructions , or glosses . body . what an unutterable kind of joy do i feel running through al the veines of my heart , to hear that this flesh of mine shall rise again to be worn , and actuated by you , and to partake with you of that knowledge , and blissfullness which so far surpass all my senses , and your imagination i believe as yet ! soul . i do not say you shall rise , but you shall be raised , for solus christus resurrexit , alii suscitati , christ only did rise again by the power of his godhead , all others shall be raised ; that same body of yours shall be rais'd the same in substance not in quality , for it will be made purer and freer from corruption ; as i during the time of my separation on i shall not change my nature but my state ; i may be said to have no integrity , but remain as a part of you till our reconjunction , wherunto i shall still incline and propend , because you were the instrument wherby i became first a soul , which may be the cause that all the saints in heaven do so much long after the day of judgement , because they may bee reunited to their bodies , and by that consortship have a fuller fruition of bliss . those eyes of yours shall then receive their reward for their liftings up to heaven , those hands of yours for being instruments of charity ; those eares of yours for their attention to holy duties , those knees of yours for their bendings in gods holy house , that mouth of yours for receiving the blessed sacrament in such humiliation ; that tongue , heart , and brain of yours for their praises and ejaculations , and all other parts of yours that were the interpreters of your piety , shall all then receive their reward in the temple of eternity . body . but after your recesse , and separation from me , let it not bee esteem'd a too overbold curiosity , if i desire to know whether you will give then a finall farewell to earth , and bee seen no more in the elementary world , because ther be so many stories told of spirits that walk to discover hidden tresures , to detect murthers , &c. as also that they have appear'd in churchyards and charnell houses . soul . touching this speculation and doctrine of walking of spirits it hath gravel'd the highest wits both in divinity , and philosophy , they are all put to a nonplus , concerning the latter , they would produce naturall reasons why in cimitiers and other places they somtimes appeer ; and one is by the example of a vegetall body which being burnt and reduc'd into ashes , the form of the same numericall plant by a curious artist may be reviv'd visibly to the eye of the beholder , and made to start up out of those ashes being shut u● in a glasse , and heated in the bot●tome , in regard that the fixed fa● ( though much of the volatil hat● flown away ) remaines there still so a humane body or cadaver bein● reduced to ashes in the grave , b● the heat which the penetrating beams of the sun insuseth therinto , the shape of the said body may be exhal'd up and made to appeer in the air . now touching the theologues , the common opinion is that it pleaseth god almighty to give the devil a priviledg and permit him to assume any shape , that of man not excepted , wherby he deludes , and makes compacts with the weaker sort of peeple to destroy their souls ; for ther is no creture that the devil maligneth , and hates more then mankind , in regard he succeedes him in the beatitude that he lost ; which makes som divines hold , that when that number of angels which fell , and were tumbled down to hell is filled up by humane souls , the day of judgment will come ; but , as i said before , the ill spirit hath power by gods permission to transform himself to sundry shapes and to transfer that power to his petty cacodaemons and imps to beguile and inveagle the simplest sort of mankind , and most commonly women the weaker vessels , who somtimes out of a desire of revenge , and to wreck their malice , somtimes for lucre , and som petty supplies of money use to indent and make pactions with him though alwayes without a witness ; and hereof these times affoord more instances then ever any age did , therefore whosoever denieth ther are such kind of actuall delusions , and ill spirits , sheweth that he himself ( as was said elswhere ) is possessed with the spirit of contradiction and obstinacy ; for ther are no nations new or old but have published laws against such who adoperat , and make use of the devil for the ends afore mentioned , as also for other curiosities and predictions , 〈…〉 against them ; ther are edicts in france , and acts of parlement in england against such who invoke ill spirits , & make any contracts with them , wherof the very instrument and deed hath bin discover'd in divers places with the devils claw for his signature ; together with the injunctions that he layed upon them before hand , which in the romish countreys are , that they must first renounce christ and the extended woman ( meaning the blessed virgin ) they must contemn the sacraments , tread on the cross , spit at the eucharist , &c. as i have noted els where . therefore without any controversy ther are airy spirits that hover up & down perpetually about us ; but when i shall become a spirit which will be immediatly , upon my dissolution from that body of yours , i hope i shall appeer no more in this elementary world , till i attend my saviour at the day of judgment , to fetch you up also to heaven , as soon as we part from one another here you shall return to earth whence you first came , and i to god that gave me , you to your common mother , and i to the father of lights whence as a beam of immortality , i was sent to quicken , organize , and inform that body of yours , and make it capable of heavenly beatitude in time , being refin'd , and fitted first for that purpose ; i thank my saviour , i have that within me which assures me hereof , i am not left to such incertitudes & anxietie that have any thing of despair in them , such that an italian prince expressed when being upon his death bed and comforted by his friends touching the joyes of the other world whereunto he was going , he fetch'd a deep grone & said , oh i know what 's pass'd , but i know not what 's to come ; much like another in the same condition who said dubius vixi , anxius morior , quò vadam nescio , i liv'd doubting , i die anxious , i know not whither i go ; to these may be added an odd speech of a french baron not long since , who meeting two capuchins going barefoot in cold frosty weather with their scrips upon their backs a begging , & knowing them to be gentlemen of a good family , he said , how grosly are these men cosen'd , if ther be no heaven : that of rablais was not so bad as this , who being upon his death bed , and the extreme unction applied unto him , a friend of his who had come to visit him among other passages of consolation wish'd him good speed for he was upon his journey , to a good countrey , viz. to heaven , he answer'd , so it seems , that i am upon a journey , for you see they are lickering my boots already to that purpose : but that which is father'd upon paul the third is beyond all these , when he said upon his death bed that shortly he should be resolved of two things , whether ther be a god , and devil , or whether ther were a heaven and hell ; therefore earth may be said to be worse then hell in one respect , because it bear's atheists , which hell doth not , but rather converts them , in regard they feel god ther by his judgments , and begin to have an historicall faith of him , which here they had not . nor am i of that drowsie opinion to think that i shall sleep all the while among the common mass of souls in som receptacles ordain'd i know not where for that purpose till i be rejoyn'd unto you ; nor doth the religion i am of , admit of any suburbs in hell as purgatory and other places where i must be purified some yeers before i ascend to heaven ; as fray iulian of alcala doth averr upon record ( which is made authentique ) producing other spectators besides himself , that he visibly saw the soul of philip the second going up to heaven in two ruddy clouds some two yeers after his death at such an hour of the night . body . let not my soul bee offended if i bee curious to know somthing touching that most comfortable point of the immortality of the soul ; and this curiosity doth not arise out of any doubt , but a desire to be further confirm'd therein ; because there be some busie spirits that stumble at it , alledging that it is but a new tenet of christian faith not establish'd in the church till the latter lateran councell , and pumping out other quaeres and cavils concerning this article . soul . it is in divinity as in philosophy ; for as it was said long since that in this an impertinent sceptic may blurt out a question which all the sages of greece were they alive , could not answer ; so in divinity , an irresolute , inconformable stubborn spirit may raise doubts that the whole academy of christian learning cannot solve , such pyrrhonians , and perverse spirits have bin in all ages , ther are no principles can tie them ; their braines may bee said to bee like a skein of thrumb'd small threed , any thing will entangle them , and their thoughts like a bush of thornes that takes hold of any thing ; they are never satisfied either in points of faith or the operations of nature , like him who would have found somthing to shear off upon an egge . this may be cal'd one of the truest sorts of superstitions , whose etymologie is super stare to stand too precisely and peremptorily upon a thing , specially things indifferent , and to bee over hot either in the abolition or maintenance of them to the destruction of whole nations , as also in recerches after supererogatory knowledg , and interpretations of scriptures , wherby they would make the holy spirit speak what he never meant ; whereas the moderat , and submiss sober minded he or she are the best proficients in the school of divine knowledg . but wheras you say that you desire to be strengthned and illuminated further touching the imateriality , and consequently the incorruptibleness and immortality of the rational soul , let me tell you that not only christian divines but the best of pagan writers both poets , philosophers , and orators have done her that right . one calls her — divinae particulam aurae . another sings , igneus est olli vigor , & coelestis imago ; another mens infusa deo , mortalis nescia sortis . and cicero among other hath a remarkable saying to this purpose , si erro , credendo animam esse immortalem , libenter erro ; if i err in beleeving the soul to be immortall , i willingly erre . moreover the intellectuall humane soul doth prove her self to be immortall both by her desires , her apprehensions and operations ; her desires are infinit , and still longing after eternity ; now ther is no naturall passion given to any finit creture to bee frustraneous ; her apprehending of notions of eternall truth which are her chiefest employment and most adaequat objects , declare her immortall ; al corruption comes from matter and from the clashing of contraries , now , when the soul is sever'd from the body , she is beyond the sphere of matter , therefore no causes of mortality can reach her , ther is nothing in her that can tend to a not being : her operations also pronounce her immortall , which she doth exercise without the ministery of corporeall organs , for they are rather a clogg to her ; she doth use to spiritualize materiall things in the understanding , to abstract ideas from all individuals ; she is an engin that can apprehend negations , and privations , she can frame collective notions , all which conclude her immateriality , and where no matter is found ther 's no corruption , and wher ther is no corruptibleness ther must be an immortality ; now her prime operations being without any concurrence of matter , she may be concluded immortall by that common principle , modus operandi sequitur modum essendi : for in the world to come the state of the soul shall be a state of pure being , nor will ther be either action or passion in that state ; whence may be inferr'd she shall never perish , in regard that all corruption comes from the action of another thing upon that which is corruptible , therfore that thing must be capable of being made better or worse , now , if a separate soul be in her utmost final estate that she can be made neither , it follows she can never lose the being she hath ; moreover , since the egress out of the body doth not alter her nature but only her condition , it must be granted that she was of the same nature while shee continued incorporated , though in that imprisonment of hers , she was subject to be forg'd as it were by the hammers of materiall objects beating upon her , yet so , as she was still of her self what she was ; therfore when she goes out of the passible ore wherin she suffers by reason of the foulness and impurity of that ore , she immediatly becomes impassible and a fix'd subject of her own nature , that is , a simple pure being ; both which states of the soul may be illustrated in som measure by what we find passeth in the coppelling of a fix'd mettall , for as long as any lead or dross , or any allay remains with it , it continueth melting , flowing , and in motion under the muffle , but as soon as they are parted from it , and that it is become pure without mixture , and single of it self , it contracteth it self to a narrower room , and at that instant ceaseth from all motion , it grows hard , permanent , and resistent to all operations of the fire , and admitteth no change or diminution in it 's subject by any extern violence ; so the rational soul when she departs from the drossy ore of the body and comes be her single self , she becomes as it were exalted gold & to be perfectly by her self ; she can never be liable any more to diminution , to action , passion , or any kind of alteration , but continueth fix'd for ever . add hereunto that every humane soul is still breath'd , and immediatly created by god almighty himself , for though the sacred code tells us that he rested from all his works the sixth day , yet touching rational souls he may be said to be still a perpetuall agent touching their creation , not any creture els to concurr in that work , as he useth to do in the production of mortall and corruptible cretures . therfore ther are none but they whose souls s●ar no higher then their senses , but may feel within them an immortall essence , the apprehension whereof is as irksome to the reprobat , as it is comfortable to the elect. body . let me not be held too bold a sceptic if i desire to know whether you carry with you to the other world the knowledg you had here , and reserve it still ? soul . yes , i shall bring along with me the habit of all the science , and intelligible species that i had here , and get an infinit addition of more , for i shall not arrive to the full use of my understanding till then ; i shall retain also the habit though not the operations of the vegetall and sensitive soules as i did in the time of information when i was embodyed : i shall still know things by ratiocination and discourse , which angels use not to do ; i shall become an indivisible substance exempt from place and time , yet present to both , my activity shall require no application to either of them , but i shall be mistresse of both , comprehending all quantity whatsoever in an indivisible apprehension , ranking all the parts of motion in their compleat order , and knowing at once what is to happen in every one of them , wheras when i was immers'd in the body , and confin'd to the use of exterior senses , i could look but upon one definit place or time at once , needing a long chain of various discourses to comprehend the circumstances of any one singular action . my capacity shall not bee confin'd to the small multitude of objects , which division and time gives way unto , i shall bee a selfe activity , an essence free from all encombrances oftime ; for to bee subject to time , or comprehended in time , is to be one of those moveables whose being consisting in motion taketh up part of time , and useth to be measur'd by time , which belongs to bodies ; but when i shall become a spirit , and have my operations entire , as being nothing but my selfe , i shall bee absolutely free from place and time , though both do glide by me and under me , insomuch that all wch i shal know or do , i shal do it at once with one act of the understanding , therfore i shall not need time to manage and order my thoughts as when i was affix'd to that orb of yours , nor shall i need any extrinsecall mover , or the work of fancy , or any previous speculations residing in the memory ; i shall be a simple and self-subsisting form , a cement , and miroir to my self . body . these high abstracted notions do far transcend the short reach of of my sensitive faculty , but , under favour , you speak only of your activity and encrease of knowledge in the life to come , i would bee glad to hear somthing of the joyes and blissefulnes thereof . soul . these , as they are beyond expression , so are they beyond all imagination , that vast sea of felicity which i am capable to receive , cannot flow into me till those banks of earth be removed ; the joyes of heaven have length without points , breadth without lines , depth without surface , they are even and uninterrupted joyes , and to endeavour to relate them in their perfection , were the same task as to go about to measure the ocean in cockle shels , or compute the number of the sands with pebble stones . touching these faint and fading earthly pleasures , wee covet them when we need them , and the desire languisheth in the fruition ; moreover , worldly things when wee want them wee use to love them most , but lesse when we have them ; meats and drinks they nauseat after fulness , carnall delights cause sadnesse after the enjoyment , all pleasures breed not only a satiety but a disgust , and the contentment terminats with the act : 't is otherwise with celestiall things , they are most lov'd when they are enjoy'd , and most coveted when they are had , they are alwaiesful of what is desir'd , and the desire still lasteth , but it is a desire of complacency and continuance , not an appetite of more , because they are perfect of themselves ; yet there is still a desire , and satiety , but the one findes no want , nor can the other breed a surfet : the higher the pleasure is , the more intense is the fruition , and the oftner repeated , the greater the appetite will be ; whence this inference may be made , that ther can be no proportion at all' twixt the delights of a separate and an embodyed soul . but it must not bee forgotten , that as good soules being become purely spirituall , and beatified as soon as they are separate from the body , do by their simplicity and acutenesse apprehend and enjoy the blisses of heaven in their true nature , beyond the extent of quantity , and above all conceit of fancy : so a damned soul being a simple act also , and nothing but spirit , doth apprehend and endure the torments of hell , with all the activity , subtlenesse and energy that can bee , still receiving new strength and vigor to bee able to lie under the said torments : and as the assurance of a succeeding eternity delights the one , so it doth torture the other . moreover , as the greatest straines of anguish which torments the one , is to have lost heaven , so one of the highest conceptions of joy to the other , is to have escap'd hell ; insomuch that heaven in som sort may be called the hell of the damned , and hell the heaven of the blessed . body . let it not be term'd a presumption in me , if i desire to bee rectified in one point , that considering the humane creature is finite , and temporary , and that all which proceeds from him is so , how can it stand with the justice of allmighty god , whose will is the rule of justice and equity , who also is the source and sea of mercy , how can it stand , i say , with his goodnes , that ther should be such a disproportion betwixt the offence & the punishment , as to punish his poor frail finit creature with infinit and eternall torment ? soul . this hath bin a quaere much scann'd & discuss'd in the very infancy of the church , which made one of the originall fathers therof out of excesse of charity , to thinke that the damned soules , and devils should be sav'd at the day of judgement . but you must consider that though humane transgressions are finite , yet they are committed against an infinite and eternall majesty ; and had the sinner who committed them liv'd eternally , hee would have sinn'd eternally ; besides the reward which is reserved for humane soules is infinite and eternall , therefore it is just the forfaiture therof should be so to the forfaiture of heaven , one dram of whose happinesse is more then the whole masse of all earthly contentments ; one drop of whose abstracted , pure , permanent and immarcessible delights is infinitely more sweet then all those mixt and muddy streames of corporeall and mundane pleasures , then all those no other then vtopian pleasures of this transitory world were they all cast into a li●beck , and the very elixir of them distill'd into one vessell . body . me thinks , i feel that small triangle of flesh which beats towards the left side of my brest dilated with excess of joy to hear this discours touching your immortality , being so infinitly happy that i have so precious a guest within me , specially when i look upon the former discours you made touching the resurrection , and that i shall be also fitted to be reunited unto you in the region of eternity : moreover these patheticall expressions of yours have fill'd me with thoughts of mortification , whereof i shall endeavour to shew som future symptomes ; a salad or posie gather'd in a church-yard shall be more pleasing to me , and that my shirt be dried ther hereafter rather then in a garden ; therefore i desire that you would joyn with the rest of the separated souls in heaven that the time of my reunion with you may be hastned ; and so , good morrow to my soul . vpon this the nun vanish'd into me i know nor how , and diffus'd her self through all the cells of my brain , and through the whole mass of blood among the spirits ; now , it is observ'd that it is the practice of humane souls in time of sleep and the silent listning night to go oftentimes abroad , and exercise their abstracted notions , as also to try here ( as it was touch'd before ) how they can live separate hereafter by these noctivagations . it is recorded of iulius casar that he dream't to have layn one night with his mother , and i may be said to have layn with my soul ; by his mother was interpreted the earth the common parent of all , and it was presag'd of him by that dream that he should be conqueror of the world , which prov'd true ; so i hope this dream may foretell that i shall conquer this little world of mine , for both divines and philosophers make every man a microcosm or little world of himself . and now 't was high time for me to awake , which i did . for , lo , the golden orientall gate sp. of gray-fac'd heaven 'gan to open fair , and phaebus like a bridegroom to his mate came dancing forth , shaking his dewy hair and hurles his glitt'ring beams through gloomy air . so rest to motion , night to day doth yeeld , silence to noise , the stars do quit the field : my cinque ports all fly ope , the phantasie gives way to outward objects , ear and eye resume their office , so doth hand , and lip , i hear the carrmans wheel , the coachmans whip ; the prentice ( with my sense ) his shop unlocks , the milk maid seeks her pail , porters their frocks , all crys and sounds return , except one thing , i hear no bell for mattins toll or ring . being thus awak'd , and staring on the light which silver'd all my face and sight , i clos'd my eyes again to recollect what i had dream't , and make my thoughts reflect vpon themselfs , which here i do expose to every knowing soul ; and may all those ( whose brains apollo with his gentle ray hath moulded of a more refined clay ) that read this dream , therby such profit reap as i did plesure , then they have it cheap . est sensibilium simia somnium . i. h. finis . the ingredients , whereof this discours is compounded , are 1. divinity , 2. metaphysic , 3. philosophy , 4. poesie , &c. the principall points it handleth are the faculties & functions of the soul . the generations and frailties of the body . the influxes and operations of the stars . the wayes of knowing god almighty . the heavenly hierarchies and their degrees . the resurrection . of walking spirits , of the old philosophers . of the state of souls after this life . 〈◊〉 the joyes of heven . 〈◊〉 he torments of hell . 〈◊〉 sceptiques and critiques . 〈◊〉 sund●y sorts of christians throughout the world with many emergencies of new matter . 〈◊〉 the prose goeth interwoven with sompeeces of poesie , and history all along . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a44763e-960 sir k.d. poems on several choice and various subjects occasionally composed by an eminent author ; collected and published by sergeant-major p.f. howell, james, 1594?-1666. 1663 approx. 165 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 86 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a70281 wing h3103 wing f1035 estc r18936 12284157 ocm 12284157 58812 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a70281) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 58812) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 188:12 or 1686:9) poems on several choice and various subjects occasionally composed by an eminent author ; collected and published by sergeant-major p.f. howell, james, 1594?-1666. fisher, payne, 1616-1693. [16], 127 p. printed by ja. cottrel and are to be sold by s. speed ..., london : 1663. written by james howell. cf. bm; dnb. "to the reader" signed: p. fisher. first ed. cf. bm. this item can be found at reels 188:12 and 1686:9. reproduction of original in british library. imperfect: pages 95 and 96 missing in filmed copy. pages 84-107 photographed from huntington library copy and inserted at the end. pages 122 and 123 dark and partially illegible. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-02 andrew kuster sampled and proofread 2005-02 andrew kuster text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion poems on several choice and various subjects . occasionally composed by an eminent author . collected and published by sergeant-major p. f. london : printed by ja : contrel ; and are to be sold by s. speed , at the rain-bow in fleetstreet , near the inner temple-gate . 1663. to the right reverend , and innately noble , dr. henry king , ( many years ) lord bishop of chichester , &c. my lord● there are divers motives ( humbly under favour ) which have induced me to this dedication . the first , that besides those severe and high-solid studies which attend theological speculations , ( wherein your lordship is eminent even to admiration ) 't is evidently known , my lord , that you have not onely a profound judgement , but also a sublime genius in poetical compositions . now , my lord , 't is upon good record , that poets were the first divines and philosophers ; and as a great wit well observeth , poetry is the clearest light to prove that man hath an intellectual soul , and ray of divinity shining in him . the second motive was , my lord , that i finde in the works of this excellent author , some signal passages that discover the particular observance and high veneration not onely he hath ( but many thousands more ) of your lordships dear relations , and your own most unparallel'd merits . the third motive was , my lord , that i might lay hold on this happy opportunity of publickly confessing those obligations i cannot now fairly conceal , nor yet fitly cancel ; that the world as well as your most honourable lordship may be sensible of these overtures of my devoted gratitude ; which till i can exemplifie in a prolixer present , i beseech your lordship to accept this small homage and contracted tender of his humble devoire , who is otherwise unlimited , my lord , and in all ample duty and obedience , your lordships most faithful honourer , and sincerely devoted servant , p. f. to the reader . not to know the author of these poems , were an ignorance beyond barbarism , as 't was said of a famous person in france : yet i held it superfluous to prefix his name in the title-page , he being known and easily distinguished from others by his genius and stile , as a great wit said lately of him , author hic ex calamo notus ut ungue leo. he may be called the prodigie of his age , for the variety of his volumes : for from his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or parly of trees , to his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or parly of beasts , ( not inferiour to the other ) there hath pass'd the press above forty of his works on various subjects ; useful not onely to the present times , but to all posterity . and ' ●is observed , that in all his writings there is something still new , either in the matter , method or fancy , and in an untrodden tract . moreover , one may discover a kinde of vein of poesie to run through 〈◊〉 body of his prose , in the concinnity 〈◊〉 succ●nctness thereof all along . he teacheth a new way of epistolizing ▪ and that famil●ar letters may not onely consist of words , and a bombast of complements , but that they are capable of the highest speculations and solidst kind of knowledge . he chalks out a topical and exact way for forreign travel , not roving in general precepts onely . in all his histories there are the true rules , laws and language of history observed . what infinite advantages may be got by his dictionaries and nomenclature by all professions and nations ! how strongly and indeed unanswerably doth he assert the royal right in divers learned tracts , to the unbeguiling and conversion of many thousands abroad as well as at home ! &c. touching these poems , most of them nere saw publick light before ; for i got them in manuscripts , whereof i thought fit to give the reader an advertisement . de ornatissimo , viroque omni fariàm pererudito acris , & ignei ingenii , polyglotto ad prodigium usque dom. iacobo howell maridanensi , tam ex majorum ceris , quam sui ipsius meritis armigero , &c. sic phaebi deluh●● patent ; sic tota recessus pandit cyrr●a suos , funditque oracnla praegnans anglia , cambri●cae & corti●a rem●gi●t aulae , nempe nou●m aeonidunt proles montaccola fontem ostendit , sacrasque aperit tritonidis aroes howelli generosa domus , celeberrima gentis hoeliae , patriique 〈◊〉 memorabile fundi . tolle coronatas stirps maridunia cristas , howellumque tuum ventura in saecula jactes indigenis peperisse plagis , quâ monstrat avitos insignis fortuna lares , seriesque votusta sanguinis à longo volv●ntis flumina rivo ; ad cujus gavisi olim cristalla sedere grandaevi druides , pa●●lisque studere sub umoris ornorum bardi , & nemorum secondere lustris . vnde patet , nec vana ●ides , genus esse jacobi de seri● druidum , suffusaque 〈◊〉 dudum enthea primae vis spirasse oracula 〈◊〉 . ergo 〈◊〉 majorum vana facessat , nec sibi primores cunctos vetus arroget aevum ; creta panomphaeum quid progenuisse tonantem intumet ? aut veteres sic altercantur , homerus qu● fuerat de sede satus ? quid culta superbit scaligero verona suo ? quid mantua foelix virgilio praecone tumes ? en cambria nobis mantua , deque suis vates educitur oris maeonio nil vate minor , cunabula cujus circum , tot charitum croceis examina turmis mellifluos fecere favos , ea gratia scriptis aurea , libratoque sedet sub carmine nervus , et gravitas fictae non affectata loquelae . scilicet à teneris docti vestigia secli vsque sequi tibi cura fuit ; veterumque labores volvere limatos , avidisque heliconida labris exhaustis vacuare cadis . a harlaeus honoris primitias insignis habet , qui numine dextro tam tibi , quam celebri fratri primordia jecit vrbs quem b bristoliae dudum dignata tiarâ est praesulis , & sacram vel adhuc reminiscitur umbra● . o foelix howelle nimis novisse magistrum harlaeum cujus gens herefordia stirpem jactet , & ingentem tollat per saecula famam ! illius auspiciis solidis , epheba juventus pieriis afflata modis , quum nobile flacci ante oculos saltabat epos ; & plectra lucani pharsalico concinna chely . tum mite terenti inge●●um , & stricto servorum scommata socco , plautinosque sales potâsti impubibus annis ilelluo graecorum laticum . mox sydere vers● ipse novum moliris iter , quâ dule● lycaeum oxoniae plenos reserat siti●●●elbus ●mnes ▪ heic jesu sacrata domus te amplectitur ulnis admissum geminis , & di●t pocula lucis castalio cum lacte dabat . sub sensibus hausto● tum logicos primum gryphos , artesque loquendi digeris , & solide formâ methodoque locatis , venturae vigil instauras fundamina famae . inde sophistaeo magis inspirata su●urro mens tua , te socium nullo opponente creavit collegi veneranda cohors . nec sistitur ingens impetus , humanae qui supra nubila vitae gestit , & aprico foelix feriatur olympo . ergo philosophiae sublimia culmina scandens occultas reseras sedes , ubi scrinia mundi naturaeque arcana habitant : ubi cernitur omnis quid divina velit , vel suaserit ethnica virtus . quicquid socratico manavit ab ordine ; quicquid clara cleantheae praescripsit turba lucernae ; quicquid erycthraeis cynicorum secta studebat gymnasiis ; quicquid dixit , tac●itque loquendo pythagoras howelle tuum est , qui abstrusa latebris eruis ingenio , rerumque oracula pandens , concipis immensos dilato pectore mundos . nec tua fama domi , patriisve morabitur antris , vecta per extremum nonis juvenilibus orbem , et regum consueta aulis , interque potentes europae dominos porrectas sumere laurus . te juvenem cognovit iber ; te celsa philippi regia catholici madriti vidit agentem principis adventu caroli , stupuitque loquentem , tractantemque diu alterni molimina sceptri . inde revertentem borealis syderis atlas ille comes praeses te sunderlandius imis secretis admisit amans , & tanta scientem , callentemque foras , propriis praef●cit habenis . nec patrio requiescis agro , sed caerula suloa● cymbrica , ad ingentem danorum flebiliis aul●● mitteris orator reginae busta sophiae exequiasque dolens , tua circum rostra licestro legato , & danûm procerum stipante corona ▪ quae regio in terris nostro non nota jacobo ? quem pede diffusi penetrantem viscera regni teutonides videre sui ; quem gallia dudum cum batavo , & veneti , & siculi ; & stupuere 〈◊〉 bomaque tot linguas uno sub corde prementem mirati , poterantque levi discrimine , cuncti indigenam dixisse suum . tunc patria dignum te palmis censebat ovans , quum ad tecta senat ▪ prisca ciebat amans , & ter successibus aequis ad sua delegit te parlamenta sedentem . n●c patriae cessabat amor , sed honoribus urgens continuis , credebat adhuc se parva dedisse ni meritis majora daret : sic nobilis audis clericus augusti caroli qua jungeris imis consiliis tu scriba cluens , regnique labores multiplices , aulaeque vices atlantis ad insta● collibras , patrioque humeros supponis olympo . haec pro te dudum dignissi●a , patria feci● ▪ pr● patriâ nec parva facis , favilive rependis officio , quae fecit amor : communia testor commoda , & attritis operosa volumina praelis non uno numeranda die. t● muta movente organa , c vocales fud●re oracula sylvae , et trunci didicere loqui , dodonea quer●us , frondiferi regina chori t●●i brachia pandens tollit ad astra comas , 〈◊〉 superbior exi● a foliis famosa ●uis , quibus , illa fatetur se tibi debendam , conte●taque serta dicandam ●ivica , romuleis nil inferior a triumphls . vtque doces sylvas , & tardo stipite truncos humanos simulare sonos , sic d bruta ferarum guttura conformans , nostrae vernacula linguae distinctasque doces haurire , & reddere voces . exemplum dabit illud opus sublime , priori vix dispar , ubi gliscit amor , pietasque parenti sceptrifero ; & fidei mortales publica ductim de brutis documenta bib ant , trepidentque rebelles excandescentem britonum irritare leonem . nec cessat tua mira manus , celerive remissas indulges calamo ferias , quia vana perosus otia , victuris laetare laboribus , unam vix perdens sine luce diem , testabitur orbi grandius illus opus e bis bino idiomate coctum vtile principibus , populoque orientis & euri orbis , & à toto divisis orbe britannis . heic veluti speculo criticismata cuncta loquelae cantabricae discernit iber ; syrene jacobo ausonios modulante sonos , de finibus exit iralus allectus propriis ; gallusque garummam atque ararim rapido referens sermone , britanglos advolat , alternae miscens commercia linguae . f hisce voluminibus nomenclatura stupendi subjunctum est opus ingenii g proverbia gentis a tenebris memoranda trahens , formasque lequendi priscorum britonum , quorum venerabile semen cambria servat adhuc , primosque à sedibus actos ▪ commemorabit avos : tua cambria clare jacobe cui superum ductu tu post tot secla renascens adderis exempla● , dum sic virtutibus amplis instauras patriam , & virtutes dotibus aequas . egregie nasci laus est : sed gloria major pro patriâ nasci , & primus chronista creari regis ab historiis . et quis dubit●verit amens te titulis minus ire tuis , oneriveque lacertos impariles , qui tanta manu monumenta levâsti , pressaque vix binis portanda volumina rhedis . lector avet majora ? domi quod scripseris olim contempletur opus , plorandaque damna h senatu● praelongi nu●●eret , cunciasque ab origine causas pendeat , & nostri recolet commenta jacobi . si ulteriora petit ? peregrè succinctus ad or as longinquas eat , & te i directore , viarum praescius , europae varias adremiget urbes , conductnsque tuo formet vestigia filo . h●c filo conductus , aquis scopul●sque sedente● europae dominam k venetum mirabitu● 〈◊〉 celsaque parthenopis l regalia culmina 〈◊〉 in chartis majora tuis . tun● versus ad 〈◊〉 austriacas veterum imperium venerabitur 〈◊〉 m teutonidum , & senio certantia vasta 〈◊〉 moenia pannonico toties ditata tributo . inde pedem fessum relegens , per regna feret●r gallica , & hoelios agnoseet ritè labores liligerae septem tractantes lustra tiarae , translatique polo n ludovici busta , suique armandi parvo non designata papyro . sed quid ego gracili calamo , vel carmine eurto hoelianas vanus comprehendere chartas molior , herculeos quum tot recitare labores herculeus labor alter erit ? testabitur anglis vrbs vetus heroum o trinobantia gloria civûm ingemo ditata tuo . testabitur orbi cultius illud opus quo splendit p epistola ●rebr● flexanimo concinna stylo , quo faedera belli et passim momenta togae , faciesque nitenti cernitur europae speculo , & velamine dempto obvia summorum pateant penetralia regum . tantis posteritas cumulabit honoribus , olim vulgatos howelle libros . tantumque labori debebit gen●●●●stra novo , strips aurea cujus , formaque primaevas nil postponenda sorores apello charites , affiataque caelitus aestro pectora , fatidicum fibris spirantia phae●am . a jove principium sumens nam pagina prima sacra sapit , gratoque fluunt condita lepore caetera mellifluos redolentia carmina flores laurigeroque novas tibi contextura corollas . inde per humanae raptus spectacula scaenae quam parvas habi●ura moras mortalia monstras , indignoque licet depressus carcere , mentis remigio super astra volas , supremaque versans , discis ab immenso quam discrepat angulus orbe , et circumfusi quam curta scientia mundi aeterno collata deo. tumet inde papyrus laudibus heroum , & carolum te vate salutat , augurioque pio jamdudum rite potitis induperatoris summos promittit honores quum procul austriacae vol●cres , succumbere gallo q gaudebunt , gallusque anglo parere leoni . heic etiam octavi nitidum sine bile character pingitur henrici , quod latius acta loquetur et genium , quam windsorii monumenta superbi majorum constructa manu . r sacyillia pubes dorsigenis praelustris honos , caput eruet ●mbris auspiciis howelle tuis . his s marchio grand●● pierpontiadum durotrigumque cacumen tollitur , & celsae katharinae stemmata dudum tremoliâ deducta domu . proh celse columna henrice armorum , & sublimibus artibus : ingens pro secli coryphaee tui ! quos fulguris instar antevolas , patrioque creas miracula mundo . hunc chartis howelle sonas , cui gloria vastis digna voluminibus , gravidoque canenda cothurno ; illi dumque litas laudes , aliisque sub isto codice , diffuso spargis tua nomina mundo lataque non propriis claudi praeonia chartis . sic raptim cecini● p. piscato● . poems upon several emergent occasions . the progress of the human soul : or , the whole history of man. man is that great amphibium , which enrouls within himself a trinity of souls : he runs through all creations by degrees ; first , he is onely matter on the lees ; whence he proceeds to be a vegetal ; next sensitive ; ( and so organical . ) then , by divine infusion , a third soul , the rational doth the two first controul : but when this soul comes in , and where she 〈◊〉 distinct from th' other , no dissector tells ▪ now , which no creture els can say , that state makes her ( by grace ) to be regenerate . she then becomes a spirit : so at last a devil , or a saint , when she hath cast that clog of fl●sh , which yet she takes again ▪ to perfect her felicity or pain . thus man from first to last , is kin to all cretures , in heav'n , in earth , and hells black hall. a speculation . that which the smallest star in sky is to the sun in majesty ; what a monks cell is to high-noon , or a new-cheese to a full-moon : no more is man , if one should dare unto an angel him compare . what to the eagle is a gnat , or to leviathan a sprat ; what to the elephant a mouse , or shepherds hut to caesars house : no more is man , if one should dare unto an angel him compare . what to a perl a pebble-stone , or coblers stall unto a throne ; what to the oke the basest shrub , or to noah's ark a bucking-tub : no more is man , if one should dare unto an angel him compare . then let not man , half-child of night , compare with any heavenly wight : he will appeer on that account a mole-hill to olympus mount. yet , let this still his comfort be , he hath a capabilitie to be of heav'n himself : but on this score , if he doth not make earth his heav'n before . of some pious meditations , when prisoner for the king in the fleet. as roses 'mong sharp prickles grow , as crystal's got of ice and snow ; as perls in muddy muscels breed , as gold on barren'st earth doth feed ; as diamonds in craggs and rocks , as ambar cruds 'twixt neptune's shocks : so 'mong those bleak fleet-blasts which fortun● blew , these calm mild strains of meditations grew . a contemplation upon the shortness and shal● 〈◊〉 of human knowledg . if of the smallest star in sky we know not the dimensity : if those pure sparks that stars compose , the highest human wit do pose ; how then , poor shallow man ! canst thou the maker of these glories know ? if we know not the air we draw , nor what keeps winds and waves in aw : if our small sculls cannot contain the flux , and saltness of the main ; if scarce a cause we ken below , how can we the supernal know ? if it be a mysterious thing , why steel shold to the loadstone cling : if we know not why jett should draw , and with such kisses hug a straw : if none can truly yet reveal how sympathetick powders heal : if we scarce know the earth we tred , or half the simples there are bred , with minerals , and thousand things which for mans health and food she brings : if nature 's so obscure , then how can we the god of nature know ? what the batts ey is to the sun , or of a gloworm to the moon ; the same is human intellect , if on our maker we reflect ; whose magnitude is so immense , that it transcends both soul and sense . poor purblind-man , then sit thee still ; let wonderment thy temples fill . keep a due distance : do not pry too neer , lest like the silly fly , while she the wanton with the flame doth play , first fries her wings , then fools her life away . a prophetic poem ( partly accomplished ) to his present majesty then prince , 1640. a parallel 'twixt his highness and the black prince . sir , wales had one glorious prince , for hair and h●●e ( which colour sticks unto him still ) like you ▪ he travell'd far ; he won his spurs in france ; and took the king , the king , o mighty chance ! then his victorious troops afresh he gethers ; and with the gray-goose wing his shafts new fethers . he beats a march up the pyreney hills , and the cantabrian clime with terror fills , to re-inthrone don pedro castills king ; of which heroick act all stories ring . your royal sire travell'd so far , and thay of all our princes onely made that way . who knows , great sir , but by just destiny , your bunch of youthful plumes may further fly : but , faucon-like , you may with full summ'd wing the eagle cuff , and from his talons wring the a prey , or in exchange seize on his ore , and fix your standard on the indian shore . 't was by a b charles , france once the empire 〈◊〉 't was by a c charles , spain also drew that 〈◊〉 ▪ why may not britain challenge the next call , and by a charles be made imperial ? sic vaticinatur j. h. a rapture upon delia. could i but catch those golden rays which phoebus at high noon displays , i 'd set them on a loom , and frame a scarf for delia of the same . could i that wondrous black come near , which cynthia , when she mourns , doth wear ; of a new fashion i wold trace a mask thereof for delia's face . could i but reach that green and blue , which iris decks in such rare hue from her moist bow , i 'd drag them down to make my delia a summer-gown . could i those whitely stars come nigh which makes the milky-way in sky , i 'd poach them , and at moon-shine dress , to make my delia a hougou mess. thus would i diet , thus attire my delia queen of hearts and fire : she shold have ev'ry thing divine , what might befit a seraphine . and 'cause ungirt unblest we often find , one of the lesser zones her waste shold bind . of the tru observation of lent. now lent is come , let us refrain from carnal cretures quick or slaine : let 's curb , and macerat the flesh ; impound , and keep it in distress for forty days , and then we shall have a replevin from the thrall by that bless'd prince , who for this fast will give us angels food at last . but to abstain from bees , hog , goose , and let our appetites go loose to lobsters , crabs , prawns , or such fish , we do not fast , but feast in this . not to let down lamb , kid , or veal ; hen , plover , turkicock or teal , and eat botargo , caviar , anchoves , oisters , and like fare : or to forbear from flesh , fowl , fish , and eat potatoes in a dish done o'er with ambar , or a mess of ringos in a spanish dress : or to refrain from each hot thing which water , earth , or air , doth bring ; and play a hundred pounds at gleek ; or be at saunt when we shold sleep : or to leave play with all high dishes , and feed our thoughts with wanton wishes ; making the soul , like a light wench , vvear patches of concupiscence . this is not to keep lent aright , but play the juggling hypocrit . he keeps lent more , who tames the inward man , then he , who makes the outward feed on bran. before the history of lewis the 13. ( with his cardidinal richlie● ) called lustra ludovici . historiae sacrum . immortal queen , great arbitress of time , bright torch and herald of all-conquering truth , which things , years thousands since , keepst still in prime , and so maintain'st the world in constant youth ; making that morn man first was made of clay , appear to us as fresh as yesterday . rich magazin of patterns , which may serve as spurs to vertu , or as curbs to vice ; which dost brave men-embalm , and them conserve longer then can arabian gums or spice : and of their memories dost mummy make , more firm then that hot lybia's sands do 〈◊〉 ▪ rare garden , and rich orchard , wherein grow fames golden apples , vertues choicest flow'rs ; who twistest garlands for the learned brow , and with thy branches mak'st triumphant bow● ▪ inoculat this bud on thy great tree , that it may bourgeon to eternity . before londinopolis ▪ or , a new history of london : parallell'd with the greatest cities on earth . of london-bridge . when neptun from his billows london spyde , brought proudly thither by a high spring tyde , as through a floating wood , he steer'd along , and dancing castles cluster'd in a throng : when he beheld a mighty bridge give law unto his surges , and their fury aw : when such a shelf of cataracts did roar , as if the thames with nile had chang'd her shoar : vvhen he such massy walls , such tow'rs did eye , such posts , such irons upon his back to lye ; when such vast arches he observ'd , that might nineteen rialto's make for depth and height : when the cae●ulean god these things survay'd , he shook his trident , and astonish'd , said , let the whole earth now all her wonders count , this bridge of wonders is the paramount . the same in latine , which for their weight i also insert . de ponte londinensi , ejusque stupendo situ , & structurâ . cvm londinense● neptunus viderat urbem vectus ibi propriis , atque revectus aquis , d●m densam penetrat sylvam , lucósque ferentes pro ramis funes , pro foliisque cruces : cum superimpositum torrenti in flumine pontem viderat , & rapido ponere jurae freto : cum tantos muros , ferrumina , castra , tot arcus spectat , & haec tergo cuncta jacere suo , arcus qui possent totidem formare rialtos metiri si quis summa , vel ima cupit , haec deus undarum aspiciens , fluxusque retrorsum tundere , & horrendos inde boare sonos , nunc mihi quanta velis terrae miracula pandas , est primus mundi pons , ait , iste stupor . before bishop andrews most holy meditaaions 〈◊〉 prayers . if ever any merited to be the vniversal bishop , this was he. great andrews , who the whole vast sea did 〈◊〉 of learning , and distill'd it in his brain . these pious drops are of the purest kind that trîckled from the limbeck of his mind . before that large and claborat work , called ▪ the german diet ; which , in many princely orations , displays the power and weakness , the plenty and vvant , the antiquity and modernness , the advantages and defects , the glory and reproche , the vertues and vices , of all the countries of christendome . axioma . contraria juxta se posita magis elucescunt . black sidelong put , or standing opposite , doth use to add more lustre unto white . a perl shines brighter in a negro's ear : some ladies look more fair who patches wear : so vice , if counterplac'd , or seated near , makes vertu show more lovely , strong , and clear . this book hath vice and vertu , white and black : 't is like a crystal-glass foyld on the back : 't is like a chessboard , ( or an ermins skin ) checker'd with two extreams , both out and in . it weighs and winnows good from bad , which any of europes kingdoms have , ( and they have many . ) now , if those purer regions of the sky , where ev'ry star's a perfect monarchy ; if the bright moon , and glorious sun above have spots and motes , as optick glasses prove ; how then can these gross earthly regions be , and we that peeple them , from taintures free ? this were for us to arrogat that bliss which adam could not keep in paradis . before my lord of cherberry's history of king hen. 8. vices in kings are like those spots the moon bears in her body , which so plain appeer to all the world : so vertues shine more clear in them , and glitter like the sun at noon . this king had both ; yet counter-balance all , you 'l find th' out-poising grain in vertues scale . he was more king then man : his gallantries surpass'd his frailties ; had his passions bent to him as france did , and his parlement ; or had his set been equal to his rise : of all those glorious kings wore englands crown , he had march'd with the foremost in renown . this learned lord , this lord of vvit and art , this metaphysick lord gives us a glass , vvherein we may discern in ev'ry part this boystrous prince , he cuts him out in brass , in everlasting brass : so that i may avow , old harry never had a monument till now . an analytical character or dissection of hen. 8. this great king may be considered , 1. in his person , and outward proportion . 2. in his properties , and inward disposition . 3. in his political capacity , and actions civil and martial . touching the first , he was of a goodly stature , of a majestic awing presence , of a clear sanguin complexion ; which made him apt to give and take tentations of that sex which was too hard for the first , the strongest and wisest man. he had a competency of spirit to manne that large bulk throughout : for he was vigorous and robust , witness his overthrowing sir william kingstone horse and man in the presence of three queens . his dexterity at tilt , the barriers , and all other heroick exercises at his interviews with the french king , and emperors : for when he appeered in any action , he out-went all others . touching the second , it sub-divides it self into his vertues and vices . for his vertues , by advantage of education , ( being designed for the church ) he was well vers'd in the arts , a good 〈…〉 divine . he had an harmonious soul , for he was a good musitian , having among other things composed two anthems , which were usually sung 〈◊〉 his chappels . touching his vices , being of a replete sanguin constitution , he had more matte● 〈◊〉 the heat of concupiscence to work upon . 〈◊〉 were his two contemporaries , charles the emperour , and francis of france , less peccant in this kind : for they also had their amourettes , their 〈◊〉 debita vasa , and divers natural children . having parted with queen katharin his first wife , and with his cardinal , his sanguin humour came to 〈◊〉 somewhat sanguinary , and inclining to cruel ; 〈◊〉 had the church , the parlement , and the judg●●●● 〈◊〉 what he did . he was too constant to himself 〈◊〉 any thing entred into his head ; which the 〈◊〉 termed wilfulness . he was more prodigal in ●●●●ding , then covetous in getting money , by making himself an actor in some things , which had bee● more for his advantage had he been onely a sp●●●tor . touching the third , he was very knowing in the art of government , being cut out as it were for a kings for he kept all in an exact obedience : and had his passions been as subject to him as were his people , he had been the rarest of kings . he also may be rank'd among the best law-makers . he got divers glorious titles , which his progenitors never had : for he was the first defender of the faith , and promis'd to be stil'd christianissimus . he was the first english king of ireland . he was the first vniter of the ancient britains and the english. he was call'd by the consistory of rome , liberator orbis , when the pope was freed . francis the first acknowledged him , under god , to be the chiefest deliverer of him and his children from spain . he was stil'd prot●ctor of the famous clementine league ; and offered to be patron of the lutherans . nor did he know what it was to be beaten all his life . he had an emperour to serve him in the wars , and he was counted the common vmpire of christendome . in fine , england may be said to have had little or no commerce abroad in point of matters of state , till the reign of this king. of translations , vpon rendring into english a choice venetian ●●●mance , called , eromena , by mr. james howard . some hold translations not unlike to be the wrong-side of a turky tapistry , or wines drawn off the lees , which fill'd in 〈◊〉 loose somewhat of the taste they had in cask . t is tru , each language hath an idiome , which in another couch'd comes not so home . yet i nere saw a piece from venice come had fewer thrums set on our country lome . this wine is still one-ear'd , and brisk , thoug● 〈◊〉 out of italian cask , in english butt . another . fair eromena in italian tire i view'd , and lik'd her fashion wondrous well but in this english habit i admire that still in her the same good grace doth dwell . so have i seen trans-alpin cions grow , and hear rare fruit , remov'd to thames from 〈◊〉 ▪ the dedication to great britain , of that voluminous work , lexicon tetraglotton : or , an english-french-italian-spanish dictionary . renowned albion , natures choice delight , neptunes chief care , and arsenal of might ; who in thy watry orb dost sparkling lie , as cynthia shines in the caerulean skie : or , as a tortoise in her circling shell , dost live secure within thy rocky cell a world within thy self , fit to defend thine own , and fit no further to extend . yet with thy winged coursers dost give law unto the ocean , and his surges aw . the baltick waves , and hyperborean , the vast atlantik , euxin , indian ; the adriatik , tyrrhen , hellespont , the white , the black , the red , all seas are wont to do thee homage , and rich tributes bring unto thy thames by way of offering ; which makes civilians hold , that thy sea-bound reach to the shores of all thy neighbours round ▪ to thee , triumphant isle , i do address this work of oyl and toyl : be patroness of thy own tongue , which here twixt colum●● strong ▪ throughout a massy fabrick all along goes in the van of europes noblest toungs , though they want somewhat of her nerves 〈◊〉 lungs . of the original of the english toung , and her association with the italian , spanish , and french , &c. france , italy and spain , ye sisters three , whose toungs are branches of the latian 〈◊〉 to perfect your odd number be not shy to take a fourth to your society the high teutonik dialect , which bold hengistus with his saxons brought of old among the britains , when by knife and sword , of england he did first create the vvord . nor is 't a small advantage to admit so male a speech to mix with you , and knit : who by her consonants and tougher strains , vvill bring more arteries 'twixt your soft vains : for of all toungs , dutch hath most nerves and bones , except the pole , who hurls his vvords like stones . some fain , that when our protoplastick sire lost paradis by a just kindled ire , he in italian tempted was , in french he fell a begging pardon , but from thence he was thrust out in the high teuton toung vvhence english , though much polish'd since , is sprung . this book is then an inlay'd piece of art ; english the knots which strengthen ev'ry part . four languages are here together fix'd : our lemsters ore with naples silk is mix'd . the loire , the po , the thames , and tagus glide all in one bed , and kiss each others side . the alps and pyrenean mountains meet : the rose and fowrdeluee hang in one street . nay , spain & * redcapt france a league here strike . if'twixt their kings and crowns there were the like , poor europe should not bleed so fast , and call turbans at last unto her funeral . before a great volume of proverbs , in five languages . the peeples voice , the voice of god we call ; and what are proverbs but the peeples 〈◊〉 coyn'd first , and current made by common cho●●e then sure they must have weight and truth with●● they are a publick heritage , entail'd on ev'ry nation , or like hirelomes nail'd , vvhich pass from sire to son , and so from son down to the grandchild till the world be done . they are free-denizons by long descent , vvithout the grace of prince or parlement : the truest commoners , and inmate guests ; we fetch them from the nurse and mothers breast● they can prescription plead 'gainst king or crown ▪ and need no affidavit but their own . we thought it then well worth the pains and 〈◊〉 to muster up these ancients in one host : which here like furbish'd medals we present to all that breathe in christendom and kent . of the strange vertu of vvords , before the great nomenclatura ; wherein are the proper terms in four languages belonging to arts mechanical and liberal : which poem consists of above sixty sentences . words are the souls ambassadors , who go abroad upon her arrands to and fro . they are the sole expounders of the mind , and correspondence keep 'twixt all mankind . they are those airy keys that ope ( and wrest sometimes ) the locks and hinges of the breast . by them the heart makes sallies : vvit and sence belong to them : they are the quintessence of those ideas which the thoughts distil , and so calcine and melt again , until they drop forth into accents in whom lies the salt of fancy , and all faculties . the world was fram'd by the eternal word , vvho to each creature did a name afford ; and such an union made 'twixt words and things , that ev'ry name a nature with it brings . words do involve the greatest mysteries : by them the jew into his cabal pries . the chymik says , in stones , in herbs , in wor●● nature for ev'ry thing a cure affords . nay , some have found the glorious stars to be but letters set in an orthography the fate of kings and empires to foretel , vvith all things els below , could we them spell . that gran distinction between man and 〈◊〉 vve may to language chiefly attribute . the lyon roars , the elephant doth bray ; the bull doth bellow , and the horse doth 〈◊〉 man speaks : 't is only man can words create ▪ and cut the air to sounds articulate by natures special charter . nay , speech ca● make a shrewd discrepance 'twixt man and 〈◊〉 it doth the gentleman from clown discover ; and from a fool the grave philosopher : as solon said to one in judgement weak , i thought thee wise until i heard thee speak . for words in man bear the most critick part : vve speak by nature , but speak well by art. and as good bells we judge of by the sound , so a wise man by words well plac'd is found . therefore it may be call'd no vain pretence , vvhen 'mong the rest the toung would be senee , the toung 's the rudder which mans fancy guides ▪ vvhilst on this worlds tempestuous seas he rides . words are the life of knowledge ; they set free , and bring forth truth by way of midwifry : the activ'st cretures of the teeming brain ; the judges who the inward man arraign : reasons chief engin and artillery to batte● error , and make falshood fly : the canons of the minde , who sometimes bounce nothing but vvar , then peace again pronounce . the rabbins say , such is the strength of vvords , that they make deeper vvounds then spears or swords . this book may then be call'd a magazine of arms and words : it keeps , and doth combine four toungs : 't is like a frame on divers vvheels ; one follows still the other at the heels . the smooth italian , and the nimble frank , the long-lung'd spanish march all in a rank : the english heads them , so commands the van ; and reson good in this meridian . but spain brings up the rear , because we know her counsels are so long , and pace so slow . vpon the great drammatical work of b. 〈◊〉 fletcher , publish'd 1646. what ? now the stage is down , dar'st tho● pear , bold fletcher , on this tott'ring hemisphear ? yes ; poets are like palms , which the more 〈◊〉 one casts upon them , grow more strong & 〈◊〉 't is not joves thunderbolt , or mavors spear , nor roaring neptunes trident poets fear . had now grim ben been breathing , with what 〈◊〉 and high-swoln fury had he lash'd this age ? shakespear with chapman had grown mad , 〈◊〉 the gentle soc , and lofty buskins worn to make their muse welter up to the chin in blood : of fained scanes no need had bin england , like lucians eagle , with an arrow of her own plumes piercing her heart quite thorow had been the tragic scoene , and subject fit to exercise in real truths their wit. yet , none like high-wing'd fletcher had bin found this eagles dismal destiny to sound : rare fletchers quill had soar'd up to the sky , and drawn down gods to see the tragedy . live , famous drammatist , let evry spring make thy bay flourish , and fresh bourgeons bring : and since we cannot have thee tread the stage , vve will applaud thee in thy silent page . to his late majesty , at the dedication unto him of dodonas grove , or the vocal forest : wherein there were many prophetical passages . in times of yore , when earth was yet but clods , trees for their gardians had no less then gods : jove did protect the oke , bacchus the vine ; minerva said , the olive shall be mine : venus the myrtle for her minion took ; apollo would the laurel overlook . my trees need no such patrons ; one mild glance of caesars eye , will best their buds advance . to her majesty , now queen-mother . bourgeon da gran bourbon , qui soubs ses doux rameaux maintint la france en paix apres tant de travaux vint ans entiers , ayant en bonne guerre les princes brouillons mis quatre fois enterr● ▪ i' ay veu souventes fois son nom luysant en 〈◊〉 , mais non pas engravè jusqu ' à present en arb●● , parmi ces bois icy l' on trouvera ( peut estre ) madame , votre nom * taillè en grosse lettre , to prince charles , ( now king. ) to correspond now with the verdant * 〈◊〉 and your green yeers , the top-branch of a 〈◊〉 a bud shot from the rose and flower 〈…〉 the best of stems earth yet did e'er prod●●● vvhat present can i bring that more agrees both with the season , and your yeers , then 〈◊〉 they soon will cast their leafs , and autumn find , but may you shed nor leafs , nor blooms , nor rin● , till muff'd with hoary moss , you do behold fair cions from your self grow tall and old . before the vocal forest , to the knowing reader , touching the progress of learning . science in india first her beams display'd , and with the rising sun her self convay'd through chaldee into egypt ; then she came among the greeks , and so to tyber swam : whence clammering ore the alps , these northwest parts she civiliz'd , and introduc'd the arts. in albions woolly isle , she welcom found , which for her bards and druyds grew renown'd so call'd , because they commonly did use on god and natures works 'mongst trees to muse , and fix their speculations ; for in rind of trees was learning swadled first , i find . th' egyptian priests , and brackmans us'd of old their fancies in dark characters to fold . the greeks and latines us'd to poetize by emblems , fictions , and mythologies : for it was held a pleasing piece of art , things real under shadows to impart . then be not rash in censure , if i strive an ancient way of fancy to revive ; while druyd-like conversing thus with 〈◊〉 under their bloomy shade i historize . trees were ordain'd for shadow , and 〈◊〉 their leafs were the first vestment of 〈◊〉 to the common reader . opinion is that high and mighty dame which rules the world , and in the 〈◊〉 doth frame distast or liking : for in humane race , she makes the fancy various as the face . sometimes the father differs from the son , as doth the gospel from the alcharon , or loyola from calvin , which two brands , in strange combustions hurl fair europes lands so that amongst such atomes of mankind , you scarce can two encounter of one mind . this makes my trees all aspen , 'cause they 〈◊〉 lie ope to ev'ry wind , and vulgar gust : yet , much they fear not any criticks knock , unless they chance to stumble 'mong the bl●●● — ex quovis stipite non fit mercurius . to the critical reader . if satyres here you find , think it not strange ; 't is proper satyres in the woods should range : and for free speech , why may not verse or prose sit under trees as safely as the rose ? yet here is nothing , though a grand inquest you should empannel , but may bide the test : for petty juries , let the reader know , composures of this kind stoop not so low . touching the vertu and vse of familiar letters . love is the life of friendship ; letters are the life of love , the load-stones that by rare attraction make souls meet , and melt , and mix , as when by fire exalted gold we fix . they are those wing'd postillions that can fly from the antartic to the artic sky : the heralds and swift harbengers that move from east to west on embassies of love. they can the trepiks cut , and cross the line , and swim from ganges to the ithone or rhine : from thames to tagus ; thence to yy●● and terminat their journey with the su● they can the cabinets of kings unserue , and hardest intricacies of state unclue . they can the tartar tell what the mogor , or the great turk , doth on the asian shore the knez of them may know , what pres●er doth with his camels in the torrid zone . which made the indian inca think , they 〈◊〉 spirits who in white sheets the air did tea● . the lucky goose sav'd jove's beleagred flili once by her noise , but oftner by her quill . it twice prevented rome was not ore-run by the tough vandal , and the rough-hewn 〈◊〉 letters can plots though moulded under 〈◊〉 disclose , and their fell complices confound : witness that fiery pile which would have blo●● up to the clouds , prince , people , peers , and 〈◊〉 tribunals , church and chappel , and had drid● the thames , though swelling in her highest 〈◊〉 and parboyl'd the poor fish , which from her 〈◊〉 had been toss'd up to the adjoyning lands . lawyers as vultures had soar'd up and down ; prelates like mag-pies in the air had flown , had not the eagles letter brought to light that subterranean horrid work of night . credential letters states and kingdomes tie , and monarchs knit in ligues of amitie ; they are those golden links that do enchain whole nations , though discinded by the main : they are the soul of trade ; they make commerce expand it self throughout the universe . letters may more then history inclose , the choicest learning both in verse and prose . they knowledg can unto our souls display by a more gentle and familiar way . the highest points of state and policy , the most severe parts of philosophy , may be their subject , and their themes enrich as well as privat businesses , in which friends use to correspond , and kindred greet , merchants negotiat , the whole world meet . in seneca's rich letters is inshrin'd what ere the ancient sages left behind : tully makes his the secret symptomes tell of those distempers which proud rome befel , when in her highest flourish she would make her tyber of the ocean homage take . great antonin the emperour did gain more glory by his letters then his raign , his pen out-lasts his pike ; each golden li●e in his epistles doth his name inshrine . aurelius by his letters did the same , and they in chief immortallize his fame . words vanish soon , and vapour into air , while letters on record stand fresh and fair , and tell our nephews who to us were dear , who our choice friends , who our familiars were . the bashful lover when his stammring lips falter , and fear some unadvised slips , may boldly court his mistress with the quill , and his hot passions to her brest instil : the pen can furrow a fond females heart , and pierce it more then cupids feigned dart. letters a kind of magic vertu have , and like strong philtres human souls inslave . speech is the index , letters idea's are of the informing soul : they can declare , and shew the inward man , as we behold a face reflecting in a chrystal mould . they serve the dead and living ; they becom● attorneys and administers . in sum : letters like gordian knots do nations tie , else all commerce and love 'twixt men 〈◊〉 die . to the sagacious reader . ut clavis portam , sic pandit epistola pectus ; clauditur haec cerâ , clauditur illa serâ . as keys do open chests , so letters open brests . vpon a rare and recent persian tragy-history . 1655. this is an age of wonders ; ev'ry clime abounds with prodigies : there is no crime , not a notorious villany or fact , no soul insandous thing , or ugly act , that ever adams sons did perpetrate , but we have flagrant instances of late . for sacriledge , and horrid blasphemy , base lyes , created fears and perjury ; for scripture-pride , extortion , avarice , ( the root of all our ills , and leading vice ) for public frauds , false lights , and fatuous fires ▪ fanatic fancies clad in faiths attire ; for politicians , if one could rake hell , he hardly there could find their parallel . did machiavil , or methro live agen , they would be counted saints match'd with these men : for murther , and the crying sin of blood , the like , but one , was never since the flood . in some , we may for these , and thousand 〈◊〉 , vie villanies with any age before . nor is it europe only that doth breed such monsters , but the asian regions feed as bad ; witness this persian tragedy , compil'd with so much art and energy : as if the soul of ben , of pond'rous ben , did move in you , and guide both brain and 〈◊〉 you make the actors with such passion speak , as if the very lines with blood did reak . go on , brave spark , improve thy talent 〈◊〉 and gain more ground on the pierian hill ▪ an elegie upon edward late earl of dorset , 1651. who died about the time of voting down the house of peers . lords have been long declining , ( we well know ) and making their last testaments : but now they are defunct , they are extinguish'd all , and never like to rise by this lords fall . a lord whose intellectuals alone might make a house of peers , and prop a throne , had not so dire a fate hung ore the crown , that priviledge , prerogative shold drown . where ere he sate he sway'd , and courts did awe , gave bishops gospel , and the judges law with such exalted reasons which did flow so cleer and strong , that made astraea bow to his opinion : for where he did side , advantag'd more then half the bench beside . but is great sackvil dead ? do we him lack ? and will not all the elements wear black ? whereof he was compos'd a perfect man , as ever nature in one frame did span . such high-born thoughts , a soul so large 〈◊〉 so clear a judgement , and vast memory ; so princely hospitable , and brave mind , we must not think in haste on earth to find , unless the times wold turn to gold agen , and nature get new strength in forming men his person with it such a state did bring , that made a court as if he had been king. no wonder , since he was so near a kin to norfolks duke , and the great maiden 〈◊〉 he courage had enough by conquering one , to have confounded that whole nation : those parts which single do in some appear , were all concentred here in one bright sphear for brain , toung , spirit , heart , and person●●● to mould up such a lord will ask an age. but how durst pale white-liverd death seize o● so dauntless and heroick a champion ? yes , to die once is that uncancell'd debt which nature claims , and raiseth by eschet on all mankind by an old statute past primo adami , which will always last without repeal ; nor can a second lease be had of life , when the first term doth cease . mount , noble soul ; among the stars take place , and make a new one of so bright a race may jove out-shine , that venus still may be in a benign conjunction with thee , to check that planet which on lords hath lowr'd , and such malign influxes lately pour'd . be now a star thy self for those which here did on thy crest and upper robe appear : for thy director take the star we read , which to thy saviours birth three kings did lead . a corollary . thus have i blubber'd out some tears and verse on this renowned heroe and his herse : and could my eyes have dropt down perls upon 't in lieu of tears , god knows i would have don 't : but tears are real , pearls for their emblems go , the first are fitter to express my wo. let this small mite suffice , until i may a larger tribut to his ashes pay : in the mean time this epitaph shall shut , and to my elegy a period put . here lies a grandee , by birth , parts , and mind , who hardly left his parallel behind : here lies the man of men , who should have been a king , an emperour , had fortune seen . totus in lachrymas solutus sic singultivit , i. h. an epithalamium vpon the nuptials of that princely pair , 〈◊〉 lo. marquiss of dorchester , and the lady katherine , daughter to the 〈◊〉 earl of darby : in a dialog twixt philemon and sylvius . philemon . what object 's that which i behold dazzling my eyes with gems and gold her face , me thinks , darts such a ray that adds more brightness to the day : her breath perfumes the place , her curls and hair like indian spice aromatize the air. a sparkling white and black breaks from her sight like to the diamonds redoubling light ; as she doth walk the very ground and stone , turn to field argent which she treads upon . a mortal sure she cannot be , but some transcending deity . my dearest sylvius , pray unfold who 's that rare creture i behold ? sylvius . she is a princess and a bride goes to the temple to be tide in nuptial bonds ; her stars will not permit that at the vestal fires she longer sit . she 's derby ' s royal blood , derby le gran , and now she travels to the i le of man. she of the princely orenge is a branch , imp'd on the high trimouillan stem of france , two of the fairest kingdoms strove , and tride their utmost to compleat this lovely bride . 't is she which makes 'twixt gems and gold that constellation you behold . philemon . but who 's that comely sanguin peer which on her heart-side walks so neer ? he likewise makes all argent as he goes : look at his feet how thick the cinqfoyl grows . sylvius . 't is wise and wealthy pierrpoint , who renowns with titles three of englands chiefest towns : a precious pond'rous lord , whose sole estate a jury of new barons might create , patron of vertu , chivalry and arts , cause he himself excels in all these parts . 't is he who by the hand doth hold that demi-goddess you behold . philemon . is 't so ? then my autumnal muse shall 〈◊〉 an hymenaeum , and fetch back her spring this subject a fresh vigor doth inspire , and heats my brain with an unusual fire . an hymenaevm , or bridal-sonet : consisting of four stanzas , and to be sung by 〈◊〉 voyces , according to a choice air set thereupon ▪ by mr. will. webb . 1 chorus . may all felicity betide this princely bridegroom and his bride . may those delights this morn shall bring be endless , as their nuptial ring . may they be constant , and exceed each others wishes , hopes and creed . may the three regions of the air pour showres of blessings on this pair , may sol and cynthia with their rays silver their nights , and gild their days . 2 chorus . all joys attend , and best of fate , this noble marquiss and his mate . an hymenaeum . 2 stanza . ye gentle nymphs of trent and dee make haste to this solemnity : your streams and beds now meet in one by this high-sprung conjunction . ye wood-nymphs who green garlands wear in shirewood launds and delamer ; ye dames of helicon attend , and graces your sweet presence lend ; lucina come , and pray there be employment in due time for thee . chorus . may all felicity betide this noble bridegroom and his bride . an hymenaevm . 3 stanza . may they such gallant males produce , both to the rose and flowerdeluce ; that englands chivalry and french may multiply , and bourgeon hence : whose branches shooting ore the main , may knit and blossome here again , that pierrpoints lyon and cinqfoyl , may ramp and root in every soyl : nor may their noble race wear out till plato's great year wheel about . chorus . may all felicity betide this noble bridegroom and his bride . an hymenaevm . 4 stanza , closing with a serious gradual vote . may all the elements conspire to make them bless'd in their desire . may all the stars on them reflect their mildest looks in trine aspect . may all the angels them defend from every thing doth ill portend . may angels , stars , and elements , afford them such compleat contents , that they have nothing els to wish but a persueverance of bliss . chorus . all joys attend , and best of fare , this noble marquess , and his mate . a poem heroique , presented to his late majesty for a new 〈…〉 the worlds all-lightning ey had now 〈◊〉 through watry capricorn his course 〈◊〉 old janus hastned on , his temples bound with ivy , his gray hairs with holly crown'd , when in a serious quest my thoughts did 〈◊〉 what gift , as best becoming , i should chuse to britains monarch ( my dread soveraig● 〈◊〉 which might supply a new-years offering ; i rummag'd all my stores , search'd all my 〈◊〉 where nought appear'd , god wot , but 〈◊〉 no far-setch'd indian gem cut out of rock , or fish'd in shells were trusted under lock : no piece which angelo's strong fancy hit , or titians pensil , or rare hylliards wit : no ermins , or black sables , no such skins as the grim tartar hunts , or takes in gins ; no medals , or rich stuff of tyrian dy ; no costly bowls of frosted argentry : no curious land-skip , or some marble piece digg'd up in delphos , or els-where in greece . no roman perfumes , buffs or cordovans suppled with amber by moreno's hands : no arras or rich carpets freighted ore the surging seas from asia's doubtful shore . no lyons cub , or beast of strange aspect , which in numidia's fiery womb had slept . no old toledo blades , or damaskins ; no pistols , or some rare-spring'd carrabi●● . no spanish ginet , or choice stallion sent . from naples , or hot africs continent . in fine , i nothing found i could descry worthy the hands of caesar or his ey . my wits were at a stand , when lo , my muse ( none of the quire , but such as they do use for laundresses or handmaids of mean rank , i knew sometimes on po and isis bank ) did softly buz , — muse. — then let me something bring may hanfel the new-year to charles my king , may usher in bifronted janus . poet. thou fond fool-hardy muse , thou silly thing which 'mongst the shrubs & reeds dost use to sing , dar'st thou perk up , and the tall cedar clime , and venture on a king with gingling rime ? though all thy words wer perls , and letters gold , and cut in rubies , or cast in a mould of diamonds , yet still thy lines would be too mean a gift for such a majesty . muse. i 'le try , and hope to pass without disdain , in new-years-gifts the mind stands for the 〈◊〉 the sophy , finding t was well meant , did do●g● few drops of running-water from a swain . then sure , 't wil please my leige if i him bring some gentle drops from the castalian spring . though rarities i want of such account , yet have i something on the forked mount . 't is not the first , or third access i made to caesars feet , and thence departed glad : for as the sun with his male heat doth render nile's muddy slime fruitful , and apt t' engender and daily to produce new kind of cretures of various shapes , and thousand differing featu● so is my fancie quickned by the glance of his benign aspect and countenance , it makes me pregnant , and to superfaete , such is the vigour of his beams and heat . once in a vocal forrest i did sing , and made the oak to stand for charles my king the best of trees , whereof ( it is no vant ) the greatest schools of europe sing and chant . there you shall also finde dame aretine , great henries daughter , and great britains queen ; her name engraven in a lawrel tree , and so transmitted to eternity ; for now i hear that grove speaks besides mine , the language of the loire , the po , and rhine ; and to my prince ( my sweet black prince ) of late i did a youthful subject dedicate : nor do i doubt but that in time my trees will yeild me fruit to pay apollo's fees , to offer up whole hecatombs of praise to caesar , if on them he cast his raies : and if my lamp have oyl , i may compile the modern annals of great albions isle , to vindicate the truth of charles his raign from scribling pamphletors , who story stain with loose imperfect passages , and thrust lame things upon the world , t'ane up in trust . i have had audience ( in another strain ) of europes greatest kings , when german main , and the cantabrian waves i cross'd , i drank of tagus , seine , and sate at tibers bank : through scylla and carybdis i have steer'd , where restless aetna belching flames appeer'd . by greece , once pallas garden , then 〈◊〉 ▪ now all ore-spread with ignorance and 〈◊〉 : nor hath fair europe her vast bounds throughout , an academe of note i found not out . but now , i hope , in a successful prore , the fates have fix'd me on sweet englands shore ; and by these various wandrings tru i found , earth is our common mother , evry ground may be ones country , for by birth each man is in this world a cosmopolitan , a free-born burgess , and receivs thereby his denization from nativity . nor is this lower world but a huge inn , and men the rambling passengers , wherein some , warm lodgings find , and that as soon as out of natures clossets they see noon , and find the table ready laid ; but some must for their commons trot , and trudge for room : with easie pace some clime promotions hill ; some in the dale , do what they can , stick still : some through false glasses fortune smiling spy , who still keeps off , though she appears hard by : some like the ostrich with their wings do flutter , but cannot fly or soar above the gutter : some quickly fetch , and double good-hopes cape ; some nere can do 't , though the same course they shape : so that poor mortals are so many balls toss'd some ore line , some under fortunes walls . and it is heavens high plesure man shouldly obnoxious to this partiality , that by industrious ways he should contend natures short pittance to improve and mend . now industry nere fail'd at last t' advance her patient sons above the reach of chance . poet. but wihther rov'st thou thus — ? well , since i see thou art so strongly bent , and of a gracious look so confident ; go , and throw down thy self at caesars feet , and in thy best attire thy soveraign greet : go , an auspicious and most blissful year wish him , as ere shin'd ore this hemisphear ; good may the entrance , better the middle be , and the conclusion best of all the three . of joy ungrudg'd may each day be a debter , and evry morn still usher in a better ; may the soft-gliding nones , and evry ide , with all the calends , still some good betide ; may cynthia with kind looks , and phoebus rays one clear his nights , the other gild his days : free limbs , unphysik'd health , due appetite , which no sawce els but hunger may excite : sound sleeps , green dreams be his , which represent symptomes of health , and the next days content : chearful and vacant thoughts , not always bound to councel , or in deep idea's drown'd : ( though such late traverses and tumults might turn to a lump of care , the airiest wight . ) and since while fragile flesh doth us array , the humours still are combating for sway ( which , were they free of this reluctancie , and counter-pois'd , man wold immortal be . ) may sanguin ore the rest predominate in him , and their malignant flux abate . may his great queen , in whose imperious ey reigns such a world of winning majesty like the rich olive , or falernian vine , swell with more gems of cions masculine : and as her fruit sprung from the rose and luce , ( the best of stems earth yet did ere produce ) is ti'd already by a sanguin lace , to all the kings of europes high-born race ; so may they shoot their youthful branches ore the surging seas , and graff with evry shore . may home-commerce and trade encrease from far , that both the indies meet within his bars , and bring in mounts of coin his mints to feed , and banquers ( trafics chief supporters ) breed , which may enrich his kingdoms , court & town , and ballast still the coffers of the crown : for kingdoms are as ships , the prince his chests the ballast , which if empty , when distrest with storms , their holds are lightly trimm'd , the keel can run no steady course , but toss and reel . may his imperial chamber always ply to his desires her wealth to multiply , that she may prize his royal favours more then all the wares fetch'd from the great mogor . may the grand senate , with the subjects right , put in the counter-scale the regal might the flowres o' th' crown , that they may prop each other , and like the grecians twin live , love together : for the chief glory of a peeple is the power of their king , as theirs is his. may he be still within himself at home , that no just passion make the reson roam : yet passions have their turns to rouse the soul , and stir her slumb'ring spirits , not controul . for as the ocean beside ebb and flood ( which natures greatest clerk ne're understood ) is not for sail , if an impregning wind fill not the flagging canvas ; so a mind too calm , is not for action , if desire heats not its self at passions quickning fire : for nature is allow'd sometimes to muster her passions , so they onely blow , not blus●er . may justice still in her true scales appear , and honour fix'd in no unworthy sphear , unto whose palace all access shold have through vertues temple , not through pluio's 〈◊〉 . may his tru subjects hearts be his chief fo●● ▪ their purse his tresure , and their love his 〈◊〉 their prayers as sweet incence to draw down myriads of blessings on his queen and crown . and now that his glad presence did asswage that fearful tempest in the north did rage : may those frog-vapours in the irish sky be scatter'd by the beams of majesty , that the hybernian lyre give such a sound , may on our coasts with joyful eccho's bound . and when this fatal planet leaves to lowr , which too too long on monarchies doth powr his direful influence , may peace once more descend from heaven on our tottering shore , and ride in triumph both on land and main , and with her milk-white steeds draw charles his wain : that so for those saturnian times of old , an age of perl may come in lieu of gold. vertu still guide his course ; and if there be a thing as fortune him accompany . may no ill genius haunt him , but by 's side the best protecting-angel ever bide . may he go on to vindicate the right of holy things , and make the temple bright , to keep that faith , that sacred truth entire , which he receiv'd from solomon his sire : and since we all must hence by th' ir'n decree stamp'd in the black records of destiny , late may his life , his glory nere wear out , till the great year of plato wheel about . before the history of naples , called , partheno●e , or , the virgin-city . salve parthenope , decora salve . parthenope , a city bright as gold , or if the earth could bear a richer mold , is come to greet great britain , ( queen of iles ) and to exchange some silks for wool : she smiles to find that cloath shold wear and feel so fine as do her grograns ; she doth half repine that lemsters ore , and spires of fallow'd grass the leafs of mulberries should so surpass which so abound in her , with evry thing which pleasure , wealth , or wonderment can bring , that nature seems to strive how she shold please herself , or vs with rare varieties . there her own eawd to be she may be said , as if the wanton with her self she plaid . let england then strow rushes all the way to welcome in the fair parthenopay : for i dare say , she never yet came ore in such a garb to visit any shore . of the most curious gardens , groves , mounts , arbours , &c. contriv'd , and lately made by the lord vicount killmorry , at dutton-hall in cheshire . a prosopopoeia to cheshire . cheshire , thou shire of men , of mines & mounts , of squires and barons , palatines and counts , of curious groves and arbours , walks & woods , prophetique trees and castles , founts and floods , of stately dee , whereon in times of yore , four kings an english monarch row'd ashore . dee who runs sporting through thy wanton vale ▪ descending proudly from high-crested wales . more rarities thou hast , could they be told then once thy roman legion was of old ; which here i will not venture to inclose , th' are fitter for a volume in rich prose . but now , 'mong thy choice landskips dutt●●-h●ll , for mount , grove , arbour , well , surpasseth all . killmorry mount with morhalls grove , ann's well , and dutton arbour bear away the bell ; a mount , which all the muses might invite , and make them parnasse-hill abandon quite . a grove , which chaste diana with her train , and all the nymphs of greece might entertain a well for vertue , which defiance bids to all , except her neighbour winefrids whose rare sanative waters are so pure that sundry sorts of maladies can cure . oh , could they cure the madness that now raigns , the odd vertigo which distracts the brains of many thousands , that lycanthropy , turns men to wolfs by strange transformity ! a transformation england never knew , till she brought forth this hell-bred ugly crew ; such a prodigious metamorphosis , poor baffled england never felt like this . and as this princely seat so much excels , so do the lord and lady who there dwells ; a brave wise peer , a gallant fruitful dame ; both of a taintless and far-spreading fame , bless'd with an off-spring numerous and fair ; the gerards hence , the needhams have an heir , and duttons too : three ancient families from this prolifique hall now have their rise . in sum : this noble lady and her peer , of any earthly mortals come most neer , in point of happiness and state of bliss , to those white souls who peeple paradis . before that exquisit large peece , a survay of the city and signory of venice . could any state on earth immortal be , venice by her rare government is she . venice , great neptunes minion , still a maid , though by the warlik'st potentats essay'd , yet she retains her virgin-water pure , nor any forraign mixtures can endure , though , syren-like , on shore and sea , her face enchants all those whom once she doth embrace . nor is there any can her beauty prize but he who hath beheld her with his eyes . these following leaves display , if well observ'd , how she so long her maiden-head preserv'd , how for sound prudence she still bore the bell , whence may be drawn this high-fetch'd parallel : venus and venice are , great queens in their degree ; venus is queen of love , venice of policy . a fit of mortification . 1. weak crazy mortal , why dost fear to leave this earthly hemisphear ? where all delights away do pass like thy effigies in a glass , each thing beneath the moon is frail and fickle ; death sweeps away what time cuts with his sickle . 2. this life at best is but an inn , and we the passengers , wherein the cloth is laid to some , before they peep out of dame natures dore , and warm lodgings find , others there are must trudge to find a room , and shift for fare . 3. this life 's at longest but one day : he who in youth posts hence away leaves us i' th' morn ; he who who hath run his race till manhood , parts at noon ; and who at seventy odd forsakes this light , he may be said to take his leave at night . 4. one paest makes up the prince and peasan , though one eat roots , the other feasan : they nothing differ in the stuff , but both extinguish like a snuff . why then , fond man , shold thy soul take dismay to sally out of these gross walls of clay ? a lovers protestation . first shall the heavens bright lamp forget to shine , the stars shall from the azur'd sky decline : first shall the orient with the west shake hand , the centre of the world shall cease to stand : first wolves shall ligue with lambs , the dolphins fly , the lawyer and physitian fees deny : the thames with tagus shall exchange her bed , my mistriss locks with mine shall first turn red : first heaven shall lie below , and hell above , ere i inconstant to my delia prove . vpon himself , having been buried alive for many years in the prison of the fleet , by the state or long parliament for his loyalty . here lies intomb'd a walking thing , whom fortune , with the state did fling between these walls . why ? ask not that ; they both being blind , know not for what ▪ a gradual hymn of a double cadence , tending to the honour of the holy name of god. 1. let the vast universe , and therein evry thing the mighty acts rehearse of their immortal king , his name extol , what to nadir , from zenith stir , 'twixt pole and pole. 2. ye elements that move , and alter evry hour , yet herein constant prove , and symbolize all four : his praise to tell , mix all in one , for air and tone , to sound this peal . 3. earth , which the centre art , and onely standest still , yet move , and bear thy part , resound with ecchoes shrill . thy mines of gold , with precious stones , and unions , his fame uphold . 4. let all thy fragrant flowers grow sweeter by this air ; thy tallest trees and bowers bud forth and blossom fair : beasts wild and tame , whom lodgings yeild , house , dens or field , collaud his name . 5. ye seas with earth that make one globe flow high , and swell , exalt your makers name , in deep his wonders tell : leviathan , and what doth swim neer bank of brim , his glory scan . 6. ye airy regions all , joyn in a sweet concent , blow such a madrigal may reach the firmament : winds , hail , ice , snow , and perly drops that hang on crops , his wonders show . 7. pure element of fire , with holy sparks inflame this sublunary quire , that all one consort frame . their spirits raise to trumpet forth their makers worth , and sound his praise . 8. ye glorious lamps that roul in your coelestial sphears , all under his controul , who you on poles up-bears ; him magnifie , ye planets bright , and fixed lights that deck the skie . 9. o heav'n chrystalline , which by the watry hue dost temper and refine the rest in azur'd blue : his glory sound , thou first mobeel , which mak'st all wheel in circle round . 10. ye glorious souls who raign in sempiternal joy , free from that flesh and pain , which here did you annoy , and him behold , in whom all bliss concentred is ; his laud unfold . 11. bless'd maid which dost surmount all saints and seraphims , and raign'st as paramount , and chief of cherubims ; chaunt out his praise , who in thy womb nine moneths took room , though crown'd with rays . 12. oh let my soul and heart , my mind and memory bear in this hymn a part , and joyn with earth and sky . let evry wight , the whole world ore , laud and adore the lord of light. vpon a beutiful valentine . a sonnet . could i charm the queen of loves to lend a quill of her white doves , o● one of cupids pointed wings , lipt in the fair castalian springs : then wold i write the all-divine perfections of my valentine . as mongst all flowers the rose excels , as amber ▪ mongst the fragrant'st smells , as mongst all minerals the gold , as marble mongst the finest mold , as diamonds mongst jewels bright , as cynthia mongst the lesser lights ; so mong the northern beauties shine , so far excels my valentine . in rome and naples i did view faces of coelestial hue ; venetian dames i have seen many , ( i onely saw them , touch'd not any ) of spanish beauties , dutch and french i have beheld the quintessence ; yet saw i none that could out-shine , or parallel my valentine . th' italians they are coy and quaint , but they grosly daub and paint ; the spanish kind are apt to please , but sav'ring of the same disease ; of dutch and french some few are comely , the french are light , the dutch are homely : let tagus , po , the loire and rhine then vail unto my valentine . here may be seen pure white and red , not by feign'd art , but nature wed ; no simpering smiles , no mimic face , affected jesture , or forc'd face : a fair-smooth front , free from least wrinkle , her eyes ( oy me ) like stars do twinkle . thus all perfections do combine to beutifie my valentine . vpon black eyes , and becoming frowns . a sonnet . black eyes , in your dark orbs doth lie my ill or happy destiny : if with clear looks you me behold , you give me mines and mounts of gold ; if you dart forth disdainful rays , to your own dy you turn my days . black eyes , in your dark orbs by changes dwell my bane or bliss , my paradis or hell. that lamp which all the stars doth blind , yeilds to your lustre in some kind , though you do wear to make you bright no other dress but that of night . he glitters onely in the day , you in the dark your beams display . black eyes , in your two orbs by changes dwell my bane or bliss , my paradis or hell. the cunning thief that lurks for prize , at some dark corner watching lies : so that heart-robbing god doth stand in your black lobbies shaft in hand , to rifle me of what i hold ▪ more precious far then indian gold. black eyes , in your dark orbs by changes dwell my bane or bliss , my paradis or hell. o powerful negromantic eyes , who in your circles strictly pries , will find that cupid with his dart in you doth practise the black art ; and by those spells i am possest , tries his conclusions in my brest . black eyes , in your dark orbs by changes dwell my bane or bliss , my paradis or hell. look on me , though in frowning wise ; some kind of frowns become black eyes as pointed diamonds being set , cast greater lustre out of jet : those pieces we esteem most rare which in night-shadows postur'd are : darkness in churches congregats the sight devotion straies in glaring light . black eyes , in your dark orbs by changes dwell my bane or bliss , my paradis or hell. vpon clorinda's mask . so have i seen the sun in his full pride ore-cast with sullen clouds , and loose his light : so have i seen the brightest stars denide to shew their lustre in some gloomy night : so angels pictures have i seen vail'd ore , that more devoutly men should them adore : so with a mask i saw clorinda hide her face more bright then was the lemnian bride . vpon dr. davies british-grammar . 't was a rough task , believe it , thus to tame a wild and wealthy language , and to frame grammatic toiles to curb her , so that she now speaks by rules , and sings by prosodie : such is the strength of art rough things to shape , and of rude commons rich inclosures make . doubtless much oyl and labour went to couch into methodic rules the rugged dutch : the rabbies pass my reach , but judge i can something of clenard and quintilian ; and for those modern dames i find they three are onely lops cut from the latian tree ; and easie 't was to square them into parts , the tree it self so blossoming with arts. i have been shewn for irish and bascuence , imperfect rules couch'd in an accidence : but i find none of these can take the start of davies , or that prove more men of art , who in exacter method and clear way , the idioms of a language do display . this is the toung the birds sung in of old , and druyds their dark knowledg did unsold : merlin in this his prophecies did vent , which through the world of fame bear such extent . this spoak that son of mars , that britain bold who first 'mongst christian-worthies is inroll'd : this brennus , who , to his desire and glut , this mistress of the world did prostitut . this arviragus and king catarac sole free , when all the world was on romes rack . this lucius who on angels wings did soar to rome , and would wear diadem no more . with thousand hero's more , which shold i tell , this new-year scarce wold serve me : so fare well ▪ upon christmas-day . 1. hail holy tide , wherein a bride , a virgin ( which is more ) brought forth a son , the like was done nere in the world before . 2. hail , spotless maid : who thee upbraid to have been born in sin , do little weigh what in thee lay , before thou didst lie-in . 3. three moneths thy wombe was made the dome of him , whom earth nor air , nor the vast mold of heaven can hold , cause he 's vbiquitair . 4. o would he daign to rest and raign l'th' centre of my heart , and make it still his domicil , and residence in part . 5. but in so foul a cell can he abide to dwell ? yes , when he please to move his harbenger to sweep the room , and with rich odours it perfume of faith , of hope , of love. vpon my honoured friend and f. mr. ben. johnson . and is thy glass run out ? is that oyl spent which light to such strong sinewy labours well ben , i now perceive that all the nine , lent ? though they their utmost forces shold combine , cannot prevail 'gainst nights three daughters , but one still must spin , one twist , the other cut : yet in despight of distaff , clue , and knife , thou in thy strenuous lines hast got a life ; which like thy bays shall flourish evry age while sock or buskin shall ascend the stage . — sic vaticinatur j. h. for the admitting mistriss anne king to be the tenth muse. ladies of helicon , do not repine i add one more unto your number nine to make it even : i among you bring no meaner then the daughter of a king ; fair basil-ana : quickly pass your voice , i know apollo will approve the choice , and gladly her install , for i could name some of less merit goddesses became . a hymn to the blessed trinity . to the first person . to thee , dread soveraign , and dread lord , which out of nought didst me afford essence and life , who mad'st me man , and oh , much more a christian : lo , from the centre of my heart , all laud and glory i impart . hallelujah . to the second . to thee blessed saviour who didst free my soul from satans tyranny , and madst her capable to be an angel of thy hierarchy : from the same centre do i raise all honour and immortal praise . hallelujah . to the third . to thee sweet spirit i return that love wherewith my heart doth burn , and these bless'd notions of my brain i now breath up to thee again : o let them redescend , and still my soul with holy raptures fill . hallelujah . a short ejaculation . o god , who can those passions tell wherewith my heart to thee doth swell ? i cannot better them declare then by the wish made by that rare aurelian bishop , who of old thy oracles in hippo told . if i were thou , and thou wert i , i would resigne the deity : thou sholdst be god , i wold be man ; is 't possible that love more can ? oh pardon , that my soul hath tane so high a flight , and grows prophane . a hym● of mortification . 1. lord i cry , lord i fly to thy throne of grace : this world is irksome unto me : in my mind stings i find of that dismal place , where pains still growing young ner● die . o thou whose clemency reacheth from earth to sky , set my sins from me as wide as is east from the west , or the court of bliss from the infern abyss , so far let us asunder ever bide . 2. angels blest , with the rest of that heavenly quire , which halleluja's always sing : fain wold i mount on high , and those seats aspire , where evry season is a constant spring . o thou who thought'st no scorn to be in bethlem born , though grand monarch of the sky through a flood of thy blood let me safely dive , and at that port arrive , where i may ever rest from shipwrack free . 3. faith and hope , take your scope , and my pilots be to waft me to this blisful bay : gently guide through the tide of mans misery , my bark that it loose not the way . when landed i shall be at that port , pardon me if i bid you both farewel , onely love reigns above 'mong coelestial souls , where passion not controuls , nor any thing but charity doth dwell . 4. lord of light , in thy sight are those mounts of bliss which humane brains transcends so far , ear nor ey can descry , nor heart fully wish , or toungs of men and saints declare those sense-surmounting joys that free from all annoys for those few up-treasur'd lie , which ere sun shone at noon , have their names enroll'd in characters of gold , through the white volume of eternity . a holy raptvre . could i screw up my brain so high with soaring raptures that might fly unto the empirean sky , how would i laud the lord of light , who fills all things , and every wight with plenty , vigour and delight ? my voice with hallelujahs loud shold pierce , and dissipate the clouds , which in the airie region croud . then through the element of fire unto the stars they should aspire , and so to the seraphick quire. thus earth and sky with every thing should joyn with me , and carrols sing unto the everlasting king. an ejaculation to my creator . as the parch'd field doth thirst for rain when the dog-star makes sheep and swain of an unusual drowth complain , so thirsts my heart for thee . as the chac'd deer doth pant and bray after some brook , or cooling bay when hounds have worried her astray , so pants my heart for thee . as the forsaken dove doth mone when her beloved mate is gone , and never rests , while self alone , so mones my heart for thee . or as the teeming earth doth mourn in black ( like lover at an urn ) till titan's quickning beams return , so do i mourn , mone , pant and thirst for thee who art my last and first . vpon a fit of disconsolation , or despondency of spirit . early and late , both night and day , by moon-shine and the suns bright ray , when spangling stars emboss'd the sky , and deck'd the worlds vast canopy , i sought the lord of light and life , but oh my lord kept out of sight . as at all times , so evry place i made my church to seek his face : in forests , chases , parks and wood ▪ on mountains , meadows , fields and 〈◊〉 i sought the lord of life and light ▪ but still my lord kept out of sight . on neptun's back , when i could see but few pitch'd planks 'twixt death and me , in freedom and in bondage long , with groans and cries , with pray'r and song , i sought the lord of life and light , but still my lord kept out of sight . in chamber , closet , ( swoln with tears ) ● sent up vows for my arrears ; in chappel , church and sacrament , ( the souls ambrosian nourishment ) i sought the lord of life and light , but still my lord kept out of sight . what ? is mild heaven turn'd to brass , that neither sigh nor sob can pass ? is all commerce 'twixt earth and sky cut off from adams progeny ? that thus the lord of life and light should so , so long keep out of sight ? such passions did my mind assail , such terrours did my spirits quail , when lo , a beam of grace shot out through the dark clouds of sin and doubt , which did such quickning sparkles dart , that pierc'd the centre of my heart . o how my spirits came again , how evry cranny of my brain was fill'd with heat and wonderment , with●joy and ravishing content , when thus the lord of life and light did re-appeer unto my sight ? learn sinners hence , 't is nere too late . to knock and cry at heavens gate ; that begger 's bless'd who doth not faint , but re-inforceth still his plaint : the longer that the lord doth hide his face , more bright will be his after-beams of grace . vpon the most noble work of the lo. mar. of winchester , by rendring the french gallery of ladies into english. 1. the world of ladies must be honour'd much , that so sublime a personage , that such a noble peer , and pen should thus display their vertues , and expose them to the day . 2. his praises are like those coruscant beams vvhich phoebus on high rocks of crystal streams : the matter and the agent grace each other : so danae did when jove made her a mother . 3. queens , countesses and ladies go , unlock your cabinets , draw forth your richest stock of jewels , and his coronet adorn vvith rubies , perl , and saphyres yet unworn . 4. rise early , gather flow'rs now in the spring , twist wreaths of laurel , and fresh garlands bring to crown the temples of this high-born peer , and make him your apollo ▪ all the yeer . and when his soul shall leave this earthly mine , then offer sacrifice unto his shrine . vpon the untimely death of the lord fra. villars , kill'd neer kingston upon thames . here lies a noble posthumus inhum'd , vvhose youthful breath that sanguin field perfum'd where while his heart with martial flames did swell , among a cru of cannibals he fell . such a hard destiny did post from hence his gallant sire , yet with this difference : one assassin fell'd him , but this brave spray base rebels in whole throngs did rend away . vpon the holy sacrament . 1. hail holy sacrament , the worlds great vvonderment , mysterious banquet , much more rare then manna , or the angels fare ; each crum , though sinners on thee feed , doth cleopatra's perl exceed . oh how my soul doth hunger , thirst and pine after these cates so precious , so divine ! 2. she need not bring her stool as some unbidden fool ; the master of this heavenly feast invites and wooes her for his guest : though deaf and lame , forlorn and blind , yet welcome here she 's sure to find , so that she bring a vestment for the day , and her old tatter'd rags throw quite away . 3. this is bethsaida's pool that can both clense and cool poor leprous and diseased souls , an angel here keeps and controuls , descending gently from the heavens above to stir the waters ; may he also move my mind , and rockie heart so strike and rend , that tears may thence gush out with them to blend . a divine ejacvlation . as to the pole the lilly bends in a sea-compass , and still tends by a magnetic mystery unto the artic point in sky , whereby the doubtful piloteer his course in gloomy nights doth steer ; so the small needle of my heart moves to her maker , who doth dart atomes of love , and so attracts all my affections , which like sparks fly up , and guide my soul by this to the tru centre of her bliss . of the scene , and ingenious composure of a florentine tragi-comedy . florence 'mong cities bears the name of fair for streets and stately structures , site & air : a city , as a late historian says , fit onely to be seen on holy-days . she breeds great wits for high attempts and trust , though often bent on black revenge and lust , we know the purest streams have woose and slime , so vices mix with vertu in this clime ; and there are store of stories in that kind , which as i write , come crowding to my mind : but this of yours will serve for all , which is compil'd with so much art , that doubtful 't is vvhether the toscan actors shew'd more wit in plotting , as you did in penning it . vpon the poems of dr. aylet , an ancient master of the chancery . though the castalian dames ( and all the rest of women-kind ) love youthful spirits best , yet i have known them oftentimes inspire autumnal brains with heats of enthean fire : nay , 't is observ'd in those whom phoebus loves , the more the sense impairs , the soul improves ; he darts on aged trees so bright a stroke , as on the standel of a lustie oke . this work of yours , this mirrour of your minde , is a clear proof hereof , wherein i finde your autumn , spring , and summer still the same , your evening , morn and noon have the like flame of apollinean fire , in such degree may melt the readers into poesie : your fancie with the leaf doth neither fall nor fade , but still is sappy , streight and tall . here are no whimsies , and strong lines that swell , and more of garlick then the lamp do smell ; such as those rambling rimers use to vent , who raise their muse on stilts , and not content to tread on earth , do mount so high a stair , that their conceits prove non-sense , froth and air. here 's no such stuff , but substance and rare sense , sound rules and precepts may be cull'd out hence : your quadrains symphonize with pybracks strains , as if his soul were transient in your brains . your smooth just cadencies , and gentle verse , suit with the pious matter you rehearse , as all will judge , who have their brains well knit , and do not love extravagance of wit. if such your readers be , you need not fly from any sentence to the chancery . the description of a morning expergefaction , after an unusual dream or vision . 1656. so rest to motion , night to day doth yeild , silence to noise , the stars do quit the field , my cinq ports all fly ope , the phantasie gives way to outward objects , ear and eye resume their office , so doth hand and lip ; i hear the carmans wheel , the coachmans whip . the prentice ( with my sense ) his shop unlocks , the milk-maid seeks her pail , porters their frocks ▪ all cries and sounds return , except one thing i hear no bell for mattins toll or ring . being thus awak'd , and staring on the light which silver'd all my face and glaring sight , i clos'd my eyes again , to recollect what i had dreamt , and make my thoughts reflect upon themselves , which here i do expose to evry knowing soul : and may all those ( whose brains apollo with his gentle ray hath moulded of a more refined clay ) that read this dream , thereby such profit reap as i did plesure ; then they have it cheap . est sensibilium simia somnium , j. h. to mrs . e. b. vpon a sudden surprisal . a pelles , prince of painters , did all others in that art exceed ▪ but you surpass him , for he took some pains and time to draw a look ; you in a trice and moments space , have pourtray'd in my heart your face . vpon the nativity of our saviour , christmas-day . 1. wonder of wonders , earth with sky time mingleth with eternity , and matter with immensity . 2. the sun becomes an atom , and a star turns to a candle to light kings from far to see a spectacle so wondrous rare . 3. a virgin bears a son , that son doth bear a world of sin , acquitting mans arrear since guilty adam fig-tree leaves did wear . 4. a majesty both infinit and just offended was , therefore the offering must be such , to expiat frail flesh and dust . 5. when no such victime could be found throughout the whole expansive round of heaven , of air , of sea or ground , 6. the prince of life himself descends to make astraea full amends , and human soul from hell defends . 7. was ever such a love as this , that the eternal heir of bliss should stoop to such a low abyss ? to my dear mother , the vniversity of oxford , before mr. cartwrights poems of christ-church . 1650. alma mater , many do suck thy breasts , but now in some thy milk turns into froth , and spumy scum ▪ in others it converts to rheum and fleam , or some poor wheyish stuff in steed of cream . in some it doth malignant humors breed , and make the head turn round , ( as that side tweed ) which humors vaporing up into the brains , break out to odd fanatik sottish strains ; it makes them dote and rave , fret , fume and foam , and strangely from the text in pulpits roam : when they shold preach of rheims , they prate of rome ; their theme is birch , their preachment is of brome ▪ nor mong thy foorders onely such are found , but who came ore the bridge are much more round . some of thy sons prove bastards , sordid , base , who having suck'd thee throw dirt in thy face : when they have squeez'd thy nipples and chaste paps , they dash thee on the nose with frumps and raps ▪ they grumble at thy commons , buildings , rents , and wold thee bring to farthing decrements . few by the milk sound nutriment now gain , for want of good concoction from the brain . but this choice son of thine is no such brat ; thy milk in him did so coagulat , that it became elixir , as we see , in these smooth streams of fluent poesie . to the rarely ingenious mrs . a. weemes , vpon her supplement to sir philip sydneys arcadia . if a male soul by transmigration can pass to a female , and her spirits man , then sure some sparks of sydneys soul hath flown into your breast , which may in time be blown to flames ; for 't is the course of enthean fire to kindle by degrees , and brains inspire : as buds to blossoms , blossoms turn to fruit , so wits ask time to ripen and recruit . but yours gives time the start , as all may see in this smooth peece of early poesie : which like sparks of one flame may well aspire , if phoebus please , to a sydneyan fire . a sudden rapture vpon the horrid murthering of his late majesty . so fell great britains oke by a wild crew of mongrel shrubs which underneath him grew ; so fell the lyon by a pack of curs , so the rose wither'd twixt a knot of burs . so fell the eagle by a swarm of gnats , so the whale perish'd 'twixt a shoal of sprats . an epitaph vpon charles the first . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . if to subdu himself , if to obtain a conquest ore the passions , be to raign , here lies the greatest king , ( who can say more ? ) of all can come behind , or went before . vpon a cupboard of venice-glasses , sent for a new-years-gift to a choice lady . madame , if on this new-years-gift you cast an eye , you plainly may therein at once descry a twofold quality ; for there will appear a brittle substance , but the object clear . so in the donor , madame , you may see these qualities inherent for to be : his pow'r which brittle little is , helas , his mind sincere , and pure as any glass . the old philospher did wish there were a window in his heart of chrystal clear , through which his friends might the more clearly see his inward passions , and integrity . i wish the like , for then you sure wold rest of my clear mind , and motions of my brest . but if it question'd be to what intent with venice-glasses i do you present , i answer , that i could no gift perceive so fit for me to give , you to receive : for those rare graces that in you excel , and you that hold them , one may parallel unto a venice-glass , which as 't is clear , and can admit no poyson to come near , so vertu dwells in you , nor can endure that vice shold harbour in a brest so pure . a passionat elegie vpon his long-endeared friend , daniel caldwal esq a heart high swoln with grief in this sad verse , le ts fall these brackish tears upon thy herse , distill'd from that pure salt of long-bred love , which twice ten summers did betwixt us move . o how my soul doth melt when my thoughts run upon those days our friendship first begun among the muses on fair isis banks , where youth doth play so many sportful pranks ; when liberty ore-aw'd by tutors frown , and mirth half-stoln is far more pleasing known . from isis to the thames affections flew , and with new sparks of love still hotter grew : nere damon to his pythias prov'd more dear then dan to me ; nere shin'd their love more clear . those twins which now in azur'd skies do glide , and pilots through rough neptun's surges guide . our souls did seem to one another pass by transmigration ; an elizium was there where we met : we did so sympathize , that hearts seem'd to make sallies through the eys . thus liv'd we long , till all-disposing fate to check this friendship us did separate , put seas between us , many thousand mile thrice cut me from my dan and albions ile . yet , ma●gre this large distance we did meet , and still by internuntial letters greet . the horizon of love is large , he spies his wished object wheresoere it lies , from pole to pole , from thule unto gades , he flying soars through air , through seas he wade● . this found i tru , when tagus , loire and po , clowd-threatning alps , and pyrenean snow i cross'd , me thought the further still i steer'd my dan still nearer to my mind appeer'd ; my thoughts by day , my phantasie by night would frequently convay him to my sight : i miss'd , and found him ; miss'd him to the eye , yet found him in my brest still constant lie ; and by this miss , that axiom tru did note , sometimes love's sweetest when 't is most remote . o how my thoughts kept festival that day did letters from my dan to me convay ; letters which i shall keep as sacred ties , as holy reliques , or rich legacies . dear quintessential mate , what can express the deep-fetch'd sighs my trembling heart possess ! silence best can : how roars the shallow source , while without noise great rivers run their course ? small love doth speak , and is sometimes acute , while deep affection stunn'd with grief stands mute . but is dan dead ? oh no , now he begins to live , he 's got among the seraphins : where he doth nectar quaff with glory crown'd , while his sad spouse still bears his deaths deep wound in her chast brest , and heart big-swoln with woes , more dolorous then all her childbed throes . farewel , dear soul , raign in elyzian bliss , and take this pure untainted sacrifice , which on love's altar doth like incense flame to thy still-fragrant memory and fame . farewel , until we meet , and make in sky among the stars another gemini . an elegie vpon his tomb in horndon-hill church , erected by his wife , who speaks , take , gentle marble to thy trust , and keep untouch'd this sacred dust ▪ grow moist sometimes , that i may see thou weep'st in sympathy with me ; and when by him i here shall sleep , my ashes also safely keep , and from rude hands preserve vs both , until we rise to sion mount from horndon-hill . sent with a prayer-book to a pious lady . madame , what i by way of token send , you may by way of sacrifice to heav'n convay , and to an off'ring turn my gift , more dear to god then piles of frankincense and myrr . but when for others you to him direct your prayers , let your thoughts sometimes reflect to delia . about the light as the poor fly doth flutter and approach so nigh , till up and down as she still skips , her lawny wings with fire she clips : so my affection bout the eyes of heart-inflaming delia flyes ; till phoenix-like they into ashes burn , and new affections still rise from their vrn. a sudden specvlation beyond the seas . although my body many thousand mile be distant from sweet albions woolly i le , yet neither land nor sea , nor air nor wind , nor heav'n it self , can keep from thence my mind ; but that each moment of the fleeting day , my thoughts to england may themselfs convay . of female hypocrisie , in a short dialog twixt dion and thyrsis . dion . thyrsis , i stand amaz'd how nature could compose a fabrick of so rich a mould , that outwardly looks like a seraphin , but a megera if you pry within . thyrsis . whom mean you , dion , that you thus descry by such gross taintures of hypocrisie ? for hence you must infer that nature's blind , or els she must be partial in her kind . dion . o thyrsis , if that saint-like fiend you knew , that sowr-sweet , real , yet dissembling hue of livia , sure you wold be chang'd to wonder , that nature in her works should so much blunder . her eyes are like those heaven twins , except that of themselfs they shine , not by reflect , wherein through crystal casements one may spy the queen of love seated in majesty . her forehead as the marble smooth and plain , her cheeks alike , but that half dy'd in grain : her tresses might serve for a net to take a hermit , or an angel captive make . a smile to move a stoik , a voice so shrill , that all arcadia wold with eccho's fill : a sweeter breath never perfum'd the air ; least touch of lip would a dead corps repair . these are perfections in exterior shew ; but if her inward qualities you knew , what you ador'd before you would detest , turn love to hate , ( or pity at the least . ) her breast ' s a shop of fraud , her heart a mill that restless thoughts do grind to wound or kill . her brain 's a still that at all hours doth strain destructive cruel notions of disdain . her eyes are windows of false lights , and cries , her toung a flap of perjury and lyes ; her chin is double like her heart ; her cheeks have pits , as 't were to bury whom she seeks for to destroy . — thyrsis . is 't possible so fair a bark shold hide so black a trunk , or so much ill shold bide in such seraphik beuties ? shells of gold , can they within such rotten kernels hold ? can in smooth gliding streams carybdies dwell ? or in one place cohabit heav'n and hell ? can livia be so beuteous to th' eyes , and lodg within such foul deformities ? dion . 't is so : whence i infer how tru i find , no trust is to be put in woman-kind . of some , who blending their brains together , plotted how to bespatter one of the muses choicest sons and servants , sir will. davenant , knight and poet. poets like princes may denounce a war , they may like common mortals clash and jar , turn privat feuds to publick , and asperse ( justly sometimes ) each others muse and verse . but whoso blurs davenants heroick strains do shew more gall in brest , then wit in brains : their sculls are like a siringe cramm'd with dirt , which as they on some marble pillar spirt , bounds on their grinning faces back again , so doth themselfs more then the marble stain . vpon mr. cleveland . is cleveland dead ? and will not the whole quire of muses mourn , and put on black attire ? nay , their great god apollo shold me thinks wear sable too , and dart his rays through chinks . is cleveland gone ? sure in this long-north-wind some scottish witch convey'd her imps to find him out , and in revenge made league with death to murther him so soon , and stop his breath : yet had his body match'd his wit in might , he had in pure clear strength put both to flight . one thing i do admire , we have no more of that large stock the stars gave him in store ; vvhich could he have bequeath'd by legacy , it equall'd had saint mark 's rich tresury . but my hopes are , that he hath left behind some posthume pieces to enrich mankind , which with th' inspiring odors they will cast , may make new poets , not like him in hast . vpon dr. howel , lord bishop of bristol , who died a little after the putting down of episcopacy . rumpendo in lachrymas facit indignatio versum . o were i raptur'd into verse to write with fury on thy herse , o could i strangle with a wish steel'd clotho , and stern lachesis with their own thred , or cut the life of atropos with her own knife . or could i meet that bald-pate churl , with his all-mowing sith , i 'd hurl , and tumble him , with all the three down to the pit in lieu of thee : so man shold be lord of his age , and free from their tyrannik rage . but much they need not boast , or vaunt to have this saint-like prelat sent unto his grave : for he , good soul , was mortifi'd before , and got almost in sight of heav'ns bless'd shore ▪ he might be call'd during his lifes short span terrestrial angel , or coelestial man. but oh , it is not he who di'd alone , for prelacy herself with him is gone : englands whole hierarchy ( sad tale to tell ) at the same time did breathe her last , and fell . 1647. before the second part of dodonas grove . from the pure air of greece , the ancient nource of learning , and philosophy's chief source , dodona sends her trees to re-salute the queen of iles ; they all this while stood mute , and muffled in a close unlucky fog , that the whole grove appear'd like one great log. vvhen a fresh breeze did blow , and re-inspire their leafs with language like an orphean lyre , to tell the gazing world what a dire stroke , or fatal clap of thunder crush'd the oke ; how all the shrubs grew wood , and strangely mad , as if some hemlock them intoxed had : and how the thistle that blue round-top'd weed did by his prickles all these mischiefs breed . if in this bleaker air dodona finds to nip her buds any malignant winds , she quickly can transplant without despair , to shoot her blossoms in some gentler air. the conclusion of the second part of dodonas grove . thus far have we pursu'd the doubtful fate of the druinian oke , and tott'ring state , when the first northern blasts upon him blew , which such a world of mischiefs with them drew . dodona next shall trembling tell vvhat a sad period him befel ; how , to mankinds eternal wonder , his trunk from top was cleft asunder . vvhence kings may learn , that by this blow , they are made all plebeans now . to my most endeared r. altham , esq rare youth , i stand astonish'd at thy wit , so quaint , so pregnant , and so full of sp'rit ; as if the thespian dames for a new mate , another young apollo would create . those few castalian drops which once i drank at aganippes honey-suckled bank , are now exhansted much by long disuse ; by cares and cumbers , travels far , my muse is dull'd , but yours more ripe , and perfect grows , now yours doth knot , now your invention flows . o how those golden days did sweetly shine , vvhen contubernal love did us combine ! vvhen with encircling arms i fast would keep , and with old stories lull us both asleep . but that tim 's past , and passeth still , that time vvold scarce permit me to make up my rime . vpon a new-fashion'd table-book , sent him for a token from amsterdam . suppose this book the table be of a cleer heart engag'd to thee , wherein could i so pithy prove , as write the story of our love ; within each leaf i wold infold the brightest characters of gold. but how can such large matter be couch'd in so streight a room by me ? unless i had his art who put great homers iliads in a nut. vpon easter-day . hail , holy morn , the morn that made appear two suns at once above this hemisphear : one , the great eye of the low world , so bright , that it gives evry thing both heat and light ; th' other transcending him in light so far as he excels any inferior star : the sun of righteousness ; he who displays upon the inward man his heav'nly rays . o that those rays wold on my soul reflect by the bless'd influence of his aspect , to penetrat the centre of my heart , and thence exhale all the terrestrial part. a parallel twixt angels and men. that which the smallest fly we see is , if to man it equall'd be , such a proportion man may bear with those of the seraphik sphear . men are at best but earths free-denizens , angels are heav'ns immortal citizens . man hardly on the sun can look , or his coruscant lustre brook : but angels can behold the sight of him who made that sun and light. then what is purblind man , if one shold dare unto a glorious angel him compare ? earth with the sky bears no proportion , 't is but a point of no dimension ; it doth not match , much less exceed the smallest grain of mustard-seed : then what proportion can ( i 'd fain be told ) a human creture with a heavenly hold ? yet let not man dejected be at such a mighty odds , for he is born himself to be in time an angel , and the stars to clime by that immortal soul , and precious guest he lodgeth in his spirits , brain and brest . to my choice , and most endeared friend , mr. r. a. in answer to a poem of his. as when aurora with her cheerful crest mounts our horizon , then both bird & beast renew their vigour ; so your quickning strains my drooping spirits rais'd , and rowz'd my brains : wherein the flames of love such beams did dart , that pierc'd the very centre of my heart . for as my eyes your charming numbers view'd , my lips , me thought , with nectar were bedew'd ; as if thalia from apollo's mount an ode had sent dipp'd in the thespian-fount : each line did lim you out , each word did show this verse , this stile from althams brain did flow . rare flowr of wit , minerva's minion , the muses gem , honors adopted son , what answer shall i make for to express that quintessential love i thee profess ? if letters can by aiery spirits send a distant heart , behold my breast i rend , and send you mine : obuse long ago this purchase you have got , full well you know ; enjoy it still , and as your years accrew , let mutual passions still this love renew this bond of love which fortune , time , ●or fate shall ever cancel till lifes utmost date : but as the amorous vine her elm doth grasp , twine both our souls , and with embraces clasp . vpon this rare erotique subject , the master-piece of love , by mr. loveday . as perl mong gems , so mong the passions love excels , and in the highest orb doth move , her sisters faith and hope attend us here , while through frail elements our course we steer : but love soars with the soul beyond the sky , being imp'd in her to all eternity . but what was here a passion that did burn , and cool by fits , shall there be fix'd , and turn to an angelik nature ever free from all such humours of inconstancy . this author doth that passion so display , and in such high ideas , that he may stand to be chair-man , and so fit above the common masters in the school of love. to his worthy friend , mr. wallan , vpon the view of his astraea . may great apollo , and his charming quire of girls nere more my brain inspire : may i nere fetch more naps on parnasse mount , or drink one drop of the castalian fount , if with astraea i am not so grown in love , that i could wish she were mine own . a pregnant vows for a safe and seasonable delivery to the excellent lady , the lady katherine , marchioness of dorchester . to lucina . hail , gentle goddesse , midwifes queen which pregnant wombs from pain dost free , may thy best care and skill be seen in hastning this delivery , to hansel ( as their hopes are fair ) the princely parents with an heir . may sol at his nativity with venus in conjunction be ; may that auspicious signe then raign which hath dominion ore the brain ( the souls chief palace ) to inspire his intellect with enthean fire . may cynthia then at full appeer , not pale or red , but white and cleer , may thames be at her highest pride , elated with a smooth spring-tide : may the whole region here below with sweet favonian breezes blow . and since the month 's like to be may when ceres looks so fresh and gay , when evry bush doth blossoms bring , and evry bird doth carrols sing : may all these auguries conspire to make the infant like the sire ; and what more happiness then this , can mother hope , or mortal wish ? vpon his majesties return , with the dukes of york and glocester . the stars of late eccentrik went out of the british firmament , but now they are fix'd there again , and all concentred in charles wain ; where , since just heaven did them restore , they shine more glorious then before . long may they glitter in that sky with beams of new refulgency ; may great apollo from his sphear encrease their light , and motions chear , so that old albion may from thence grow younger by their influence . may no ill-boding blazing star , no northern mist , or civil war no lowring planet ever raign their lustre to obscure again , but may whole heav'n be fair and cleer , and evry star a cavaliter . before ohpoao●●a or , the l'arly of beasts . 1658. trees spake before , now the same strength of art makes beasts to cun the alphabet by heart , and cut their breaths to sound articulat discoursive congruous accents to prolate : for speech is breath , breath air let in and out , but 't is the mind that brings the work about . such a rare charter the worlds architect vouchsaf'd to give the human intellect to create words : for 't is mankind alone can language frame , and syllabize the tone . but here beasts speak● they mone , chide , cry , complain , and at the bar of justice men arraign : such are our erying sins , that beasts resent our wickedness , and wretched case lament . which shews the world is hectical , and near its great , and fatal climacterik year : the whole cr●●ion mourns , and doth deplore the ruthful state of human kind ; therefore if men cannot be warn'd when men do teach , then let them hearken here what beasts do preach . in formas mutatà novas mens dicere gestit corpora ; & in primas iterum transversa figuras , dii faveant caeptis . an eucharistical rapture , with a gradual hymn to the heavenly hierarchy . natures great god , the cause of causes be ador'd and prais'd to all eternity : that supreme good , that quintessential light , vvhich quickens all that 's hidden or in sight , vvhich breathd in man the intellectual soul , thereby to rule all cretures , and controul . what water , earth , or air produce — the hymn . o holy souls , o heavenly saints , who from corruption , and the taints of flesh and blood , from pain and tears , from pining griefs , and panting fears , and from all passions except love ( which onely raigns with you above ) are now exempt , and made in endless bliss free denizens , and heirs of paradis . o glorious angels , who behold the lord of light from thrones of gold , yet do vouchsafe to look on man , to be his guide and gardian , praying always that he may be partner of your felicity . o blissful saints and angels , may ye still the court of heav'n with hallelujahs fill . seraphik powers , cherubs , throne , vertues , and dominations , supernal principalities , glories , and intelligencies who guide the course of stars in sky , and what in their vast concaves lie , may ye for ever great jehovah's will , and his commands throughout the world fulfil . a●●●●gels , who the most sublime degree 〈◊〉 hold in the ●●lestial hierarchy , and 〈…〉 , and face●lone ●lone the 〈…〉 vision , a joy 〈◊〉 joys else transcends so far as doth the morning s●● the meanest star. archa●gels , angles , sai●es , souls serv'd , may ye still the empyrea●● court with hallelujahs fill . vpon the exquisit romance of the bishop of bellay , made english out of the french , by serjeant-major john wright , my wit lay fallow , and my teeming brain thought to repose a while from any strain of poetizing , till the air of france rowz'd up my fancy by this new romance ; which for variety , for substance , sence , for rich invention , and neat eloquence , and now in point of version may compare with any of this kind though nere so rare . original and coppy co-excel ▪ the prelat and the souldier share the bell : in to●●● they differ , but for mind and will they faithful are to one another still . by this i find , which men do seldome see , the mitre with the helmet may agree . 〈◊〉 mr. 〈◊〉 johnson , vpon his version of pyrander . if 〈…〉 in england chan●e 〈…〉 such welcome as it did in france , t will 〈◊〉 be esteem'd ; nor do i see but it may loc● for like civility : for , neither ●ose nor verse have lost , but won in 〈◊〉 of str●ngth by this traduction . so have i known brisk gascon wines brought ore , and drink f●r better on our english shore . vpon mr. benlowes divine theophi●● poets have differing fires , some spend their stock on the grave buskin , or the mer●y sock . others by 〈◊〉 feet do gently steal into a ladies bosome : o●hers deal with wars , ●nd fing of 〈…〉 knigh●● of their high trophies , 〈…〉 fights : some feed their fancies on th' ar●●●ian plains , and prosti●● their 〈…〉 all th●se 〈…〉 〈…〉 but thy diviner muse mounts to the skies , and heaven fills with holy rapsodies , fit to make hymns for the coelestial quire , and angels with their melody inspire . on doctor charletons learned piece , by proving that stone-henge is a danish-monument , in his new survay . t is hard to cleer old truths , but to unmask an old-grown errour , is a greater task : this you have done , and undeceiv'd mankind of an opinion kept us long so blind . wherefore in this survay by just extent you have made stone-benge your own monument . of mrs. diana bill , born and baptiz'd lately in cane-wood , hard by high-gate . where shold diana properly be born but in a wood ? a wood that thinks it scorn to yeild to tempe , or dodonas grove , which consecrated was to mighty jove : a wood whence great diana's temple may be seen four thousand paces off each day with a huge city , * who her name doth owe unto that goddess , as good stories show . may this new-born diana like cane-wood grow up and taper , germinat and bud ; and in due course of yeers be fitly mand to spread the race of noble westmerland . vpon her majesties 31 days sayling from lisbon to england . great britains queen launching into the deep . from tagus to the thames her court to keep , neptun and eolus , as they joyntly strove to do her homage , fell so far in love vvith her seraphic countenance and grace , that they so long kept her in their embrace . another cause might be why heav'n did please she shold so long stay steering on the seas , that coming to be queen of that great king to whom so many seas allegeance bring , she might some skill in navigation gain , and learn with him how to command the main . vpon the posthume-poems of mr. lovelace . the rose with other fragrant flowrs smell best vvhen they are pluck'd , and worn in hand or brest ; so this fair flowr of vertu , this rare bud of wit , smells now as fresh as when he stood , and in these posthume-poems lets us know that he upon the banks of helicon did grow , the beuty of his soul did correspond with his fair outside , if not go beyond . lovelace the minion of the thespian dames , apollo's darling born with euthean flames , vvhich is his numbers wave , and shine so cleer , as sparks refracted from rich gems appeer such sparks that with their atoms may inspire the reader with a pure poetik fire . vpon the gran climacterik year — 63. he who nine seven in seven nine years upon his stooping sholders bears , when ore his head the glorious sun about the world his course hath run sixty three times , and on that score hath felt eight hundred moons and more ; 't is time , high time that he shold ply the art of learning how to die , and think all sounds his passing-bell , to bid the lower world farewel . alia desunt . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a70281-e680 a eruditissimus dom ▪ harley scholae hereford . archi-didascalus . b frater nostri jacobi qui episcop . bristoliensis mori●batur . c dendrologia . d therologia . e opus aliud clucubratissimam , cui titulus lexicon tetraglotton . f aliud volumen non minoris molis quam emolumenti . g aliud volumen , pentaglotton proverbiorum . h sobriae ejus inspectiones in actiones longi parlimenti . i directiones peregre proficiscentibus . k hstoria ejus voluminosa venetum . l par etiam neopolitanorum . m aliud etiam volumen de lmper●o germano . n aliud exquisitum volumen de vita ludovici galliae xiii . o aliud nobile volumen cui titulus londinopolis . p aliud opus usus omnifarii , cui titulus epistolae hocllianae . q innuit po●mata ejus in lucem jamjam proditura . r nobilissimus ille nuper edoa●dus dorcestriae comes , s illustrissimus henricus ma●chi● durotrigum ; comes de kingston , &c. & katharinae filiae comitis de derby . notes for div a70281-e4330 a palatinat . b carolus magnus . c carolus quintus . * 1657. * arhetine ( virtuosa ) anagr. of henrieta . * maii 2. eliz. * l●ndon . the second part of massaniello his body taken out of the town-ditch, and solemnly buried, with epitaphs upon him. a continuation of the tumult; the d. of guise made generalissimo; taken prisoner by young don john of austria. the end of the commotions. by j.h. esquire. revolutioni di napoli. part 2. english. giraffi, alessandro. 1663 approx. 201 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 62 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-05 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a44753 wing h3114 estc r215813 99827582 99827582 32004 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a44753) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 32004) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1910:14) the second part of massaniello his body taken out of the town-ditch, and solemnly buried, with epitaphs upon him. a continuation of the tumult; the d. of guise made generalissimo; taken prisoner by young don john of austria. the end of the commotions. by j.h. esquire. revolutioni di napoli. part 2. english. giraffi, alessandro. howell, james, 1594?-1666. [12], 36, 33-63, 80-125, [1] p. : ill. (port.) printed by j.m. for a. roper, and t. dring, and are to be sold by richard lownds at the white lion in s. paul's church-yard, london : 1663. a translation of part 2 of: giraffi, alessandro. le rivolutioni di napoli. translator's dedication signed: jam. howel. text continuous despite pagination. reproduction of the original in the magdalene college (university of cambridge) library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng masaniello, 1620-1647 -early works to 1800. naples (kingdom) -history -spanish rule, 1442-1707 -early works to 1800. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-01 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-02 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2004-02 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion e●ie & u●ro ril● di masianiello , 〈…〉 . the second part of massaniello , his body taken out of the town-ditch , and solemnly buried , with epitaphs upon him . a continuation of the tumult ; the d. of guise made generalissimo ; taken prisoner by young don john of austria . the end of the commotions . by j. h. esquire . truth never look'd so like a lie as in this modern historie . london , printed by j. m. for a. roper , and t. dring , and are to be sold by richard lownds at the white lion in s. paul's church-yard . 1663. to the right worshipful the governour , the deputy , and the rest of the worthy company of levant-merchants . gentlemen , there are none so capable to judge of the truth of this napolitan story as your selves , who have so frequent intelligence from that countrey where it was acted ; therefore , i presume , no man will question my judgment for making this dedication . moreover , i had some particular engagements that induc'd me thereunto , in regard of those helps which i received from some worthy members of that society , who favour'd me with the sight of divers of their letters from time to time , and furnish'd me with other advantages towards the compiling of this piece . the part you formerly had attended the fisherman to his greatness , and this accompanies him to his grave . that blind instable thing which we call fortune never shew'd her self more like her self then she did in the handling of this man , whom in a very few days she rais'd to such a prodigious altitude that the great turk was not more terrible in constantinople , then he was in naples . but afterwards , like a statue of some course stone , set up upon a high marble pedestal or frame , she suffered him to fall down and dash himself to pieces . this second part is nothing inferiour to the first in strangeness ; and he who with a serious well-weigh'd judgment will meditate on the passages thereof , will confess that realities never appeared more like romances then in this story : for it will tell you of above a hundred several fights and skirmishes that happen'd in naples within the compass of about two months time ; how every street was made frontier one to another , and disputed by inches ; how above fourscore thousand cannon-bullets were shot from the three castles , and twenty thousand from the town ; a great number of stately palaces , with invaluable rich furniture , all turn'd to ashes by the fury of the fire , and of the people , who may be said to be the more furious of the two . and indeed it cannot be denied but the people had some reason to be incens'd , in regard of those multitude of gabels that were impos'd upon every thing ; which gabels had flown so high , that they had got up to the tops of the very trees , among all sorts of fruit ; insomuch that one may well say , the napolitan coursier was almost rid quite off of his legs , and his back so gall'd that upon the least rubbing he could not choose but winch , kick and flounce , which he did to some purpose , so that he had almost quite orethrown his rider . now , if the spaniard had lost naples , you know better then i , what an infinite detriment it had been unto him , it being one of the fairest flowers in his garden , one of the best patches upon his pilgrims coat , as the frenchman compares the squandred dominions of spain . for it is to be seen upon good account , how that this king and his father have had above a hundred millions of crowns in meer donatives from that kingdom , besides the stable rents and perquisites of the crown , which comes to near upon three millions per annum . insomuch that it had been more advantagious for spain that massaniello had not been kill'd so soon ; for had he lived a few days longer he had taken a course to raise five millions for the king in compensation of the gabels . so , desiring again your gentle acceptance of this now compleated story , as a further evidence of my respects unto you , i rest , sirs , your humble and ready servitor , jam . howel . the proeme . it is well known to the world what a high pitch of power , and vast latitude of dominion , the kingdom of spain hath arriv'd unto in the compass of a few years : the first step into this greatness was the conjunction of castile and arragon by marriage . the second was the discovery of the west-indies , which happen'd a little after . the third was an alliance 'twixt the houses of austria and burgundy , whereby all belgium , viz. the seventeen provinces of the low-countreys , or the netherlands , came to be united in a joynt subjection to the empeperour charles the fifth , who attempted to heighten those provinces to the title of a kingdom : but he , and his son philip the second , after him , fail'd in the design . the fourth step was the conquest of portugal ( though an hereditary title was pretended ) whereby spain came to be mistress of the east-indies , and part of the antipodes , with sundry islands in the atlantick sea , and divers strong maritim holds in barbary . now , since the time that spain came to this height by such a marvellous celerity ( for all these accessions happen'd in less then fifty years , partly by alliances , partly by succession and inheritance , partly by donation , and partly by right of discovery and conquest ) i say , since these huge accumulations of titles and territories , both in the old and new world . 1. the first countrey that rose up and revolted from the king of spain was holland with her five considerate provinces , which happen'd a little after the beginning of queen elizabeths reign . 2. the second was catalonia , some twelve years since . 3. the third was the kingdom of portugal , which entirely fell off from him a little after , and setled it self under another king in a very few dayes , in such a quietness as if it had been twenty years a doing . 4. the last that banded against him were the kingdoms of sicily and naples , which happen'd about four years since ; but the fire of the first was quickly extinguisht ; yet the flames thereof flew ore the phare of messina into calabria , and so to naples , where they grew to such a violence , that an utter revolt was intended . touching the falling away of holland , which kept such a stirre in the world , the causes thereof may be comprehended in two words , viz. inquisition and imposition , the latter whereof conduc'd to wring the purse , the other the conscience . catalonia flew off in regard of the free quarter which the castilian souldiers took , with other insolencies they committed in their march to imbark for italy . the portuguais unyok'd himself , not so much for the extraordinary taxes , but that the king of spain , having so many irons in the fire , could not , or at least neglected to protect him against the hollander in brasile , and elsewhere in the indies . now the causes of the risings of naples have much analogy with all the former , for they proceeded from the multiplicity of gabels that were laid upon every thing both for back and belly : add hereunto the forced services that were so frequently impos'd upon the subjects to go to hazard their lives in other countreys ; and lastly , the rapine of the viceroyes ( with the gabelliers or customers ) it being a kind of proverb in italy touching the governour of milain , the viceroy of sicily , and he of naples , that the one eats , the other gnaws , and the third devours . these commotions came at last to such a violence that the whole kingdom was upon the point of an utter defection , having introduc'd the french for protector , and trac'd the form of a common-wealth : but the soft napolitan was not , it seems , so constant to his ends as the hollander or catalon , and other tougher nations . the ensuing history will satisfie the reader with much exactness and fidelitie the whole circumstance of the business , extracted out of authentick manuscripts , which collection and collation of letters from divers persons of honour . j. h. a history of the late revolutions in the kingdom of naples , and how suppressed and ended . before we fall upon the second and third revolutions that happened in the city and kingdom of naples , it is not amiss , for the more regular proceeding in the series of the story , to make a succinct recapitulation of what succeeded in the first tumult , wherein some signal passages shall be imparted , which were omitted in the former narration , for want of better intelligence . the gabel of fruit , and the act confirmed , newly impos'd upon the most faithful people of naples , was insupportable ; to which purpose the viceroy made the lords of the customs to convene divers times hereabouts ; and it was at last determined , that it should be utterly abolished ; and that the said lords should find some means where another imposition might be laid for satisfaction of those moneys which the royal court had rais'd upon the credit of the foresaid gabel . the people were also mightily discontented for other taxes which were laid upon every edible thing ; for there was scarce any commodity scap'd , but the imposition did countervail well near the value of the thing ; whereunto the most faithful people did conform a long time , as holding it necessary for the support of the catholick monarchy , by stooping their heads to the pleasure of him who reigned over them , and preserv'd them in peace . the foresaid lords often met to take off the new gabel ; but for want of money , and for the calamities of the times , they knew not where to turn themselves : besides , the people grew to be wonderful impatient ; whereupon one day as they were exacting the said gabel in the market-place , a shrewd clash happened 'twixt the farmers of the said gabel and the fruiterers , to whom the costermongers did closely stick ; and the business being aggravated by multiplication of words , all respect was lost unto the said farmers ; insomuch that the toll-house was burnt to the ground , with all the writings therein , by the fury of boys , and others of the poorest sort of people ; among whom massaniello , a poor bare-footed retailer of fish , was chief . the lord andrea anaclerio , the elect of the people , interven'd to appease the tumult ; but finding the business too hot for him , he withdrew himself , and with much difficulty and danger scap'd away in a feluca . the rabble of the common people being further animated hereby , the boys went up and down with canes in their hands to all places where the said gabel was rais'd , and burnt the houses and goods of the gabelleers , as also of the farmers of all other kinde of tolls . a little after two companies well armed , but all masqued , pass'd by jesu-street , and another brigade of 300. foot , with above four thousand boyes . by the market of saint elino two companies more met , who broke through the court of guard which was before the castle court , hurling two of the souldiers into the di ches thereabouts . afterwards they ran towards the palace , where they furiously entred : the viceroy hereupon found himself in no small danger , therefore throwing handfuls of gold among them , and promising to take off gabels they were aggriev'd at , he stole away with much ado to saint francisco . many of the nobles endeavoured to pacifie the tumult , and , among others , the prince of bisignano carafa , and the prince of satriano labour'd very hard herein , but it was in vain , so that they incurr'd some danger of their lives . the rabble went afterwards to the prison of saint james , and forcing it violently they released all the prisoners , whereof there were some in for their lives ; and they burn'd to cynders all thewritings and leger books , as also all the goods of the gaoler . they did the like in all other prisons , excepting that of the vicaria , in regard of the reverence they bore to the holy church . this made the viceroy change his lodging and re●ire to castel novo with all his family . the lord vi●●tor general seeing these horrid tumults , open'd his ●risons also , and let loose all the prisoners , making ●ereby virtue of necessity , and so retired with all his ●amily to the viceroy . hereupon the bread rose to thirty two ounces upon a sudden , which gave a general discontentment . that night there was nothing but beating of drums , as if some enemy were in the field , or the turk upon the coasts ready to invade . the viceroy thought it expedient in policy to release from prison the duke of matalone , which was detained in castelnovo ; who mounting on horseback rode up and down naples well accompanied , asking the people with all mildness what they would have : they cried out , that they would have all the gabcls to be abolished that were imposed upon them since the time of charles the fifth , and that all the priviledges should be renewed , & punctually observ'd , which were granted to the most faithful people of naples by that emperour . the viceroy with all meekness said it should be done ; therefore he suddenly caus'd a pragmatica or proclamation to be printed and publish'd to that purpose , with the advice of the collateral councel . yet this would not satisfie , but they cried out that the duke of mataluni had couzen'd them ; therefore they took him for one hostage , and shut him up in the carmine of naples , whence he afterwards fled . after dinner the prior of rovella procur'd another proclamation to be stamp'd in parchment , all in letters of gold , and carrying it about the streets of naple on horseback said , that his excellency the viceroy had done them the grace , in his catholick majesties name , to take off all the gabels : hereupon an infinite number of boyes danc'd and leap'd up and down about the priors horse , crying out , let the king of spain live , who hath abolish'd all gabels ; and so went to the market place : but this neither would give full satisfaction ; but they went more violently to work , running to the house of hieronym● letitia , where they hurl'd out all his goods at the windows , and burnt them in the midst of the street , taking special care that nothing should be pilfer'd away , but that an entire sacrifice should be made thereof to vulcan . then they ran to felix basil's house , and us'd him with the same punctuality : thence they steer'd their course to antonio d' angelis , and did the like ; thence they went to andrea anaclerio's palace , who was the peoples elect ; and though 't was late , yet they us'd his house as they did the rest . the next day the viceroy commanded to be proclaim'd by sound of trumpet , that all gabels should be abolish'd that were impos'd ever since the time of charles the fifth , which trumpeters went up and down the places , as well within the city as towards the sea side where the gabel houses stood : yet for all this they ran to the house whete the magazine of powder was , and took away what proportions they pleas'd : nor would this serve the turn , but they set fire to what remain'd , with the death of forty men ; which made such a hideous noise , as if not only one city , but the whole world did tremble : hereupon every one did put himself in arms , and the women were as busie as any . in the sellaria they planted five pieces of ordnance , six hundred foot pass'd by magdanela bridge , to be imbarked in some gallies for the kings service ; but the rabble fell upon them , and took away their arms for another use . the nobility fail'd not ever and anon to court the viceroy in behalf of the people , who now began to prohibit things to pass to his palace . one would think now that he had been in cocagna or lubberland , for every thing entred into naples without paying the least toll ; nor could a sergeant be scarce seen in the streets , nor any officer that had any thing to do with the farmers of the gabel . the next morning the rabble went to the lord antonio mirabello's house , whom they took in bed , and he hardly scap'd away in his shirt ; they presently burnt all his movables , which made a rich bonefire ; thence they went to duke caviano's house , and used him alike , with many other sair palaces , : then they came to caesar librano's house , where scarce a pin scap'd the fury of the fire : in the same manner they came to the duke of ostuin's house , and to dr. tavaglo's , where they did the like . they sent to andrea mazzola for fifteen hundred muskets , but denying he had any , they put fire to his house , and took out the said muskets : every house-keeper in naples was commanded to put himself in arms immediately , under pain of having his house burnt . there were some sixty spaniards in garrison about the tower of st. laurence , but the rabble ran thither with two cannons , where they disarmed and thrust out the spaniards , and possess'd themselves of all the ancient records that were in those archives , so they plac'd presidial forces of their own there . then they put fire to biasio de balsamo's house , whence they pass'd to bartholomeo d' auqino of chaia , and treated him as they did all the rest ; but they spared the house he had in pizzifalione , which they turn'd to a fortress : jeronymo nacarella had his share in this tragedy , who had a sumptuous new palace made level with the ground : then they flew to baron valentiano's house , who was farmer of the corn ; from him they passed to pietro florio , who was cash-keeper to the royal dogana or custom-house ; and because it was fitting that at such a holy day a minister of the chamber should have some share , they went to president cenano , to whom they did the like curtesie as they had done to others . it was admirable what a regular method they observed in their fiery executions ; for they used first to take all the goods out into the market place to be burnt , crying out it was the blood of the people of naples , and 't was death to embeazle the least thing ; insomuch that one who had stoln but a peep of sausage was like to be hang'd by massanicllo ; nor did they spare either gold , silver or jewels , but all was thrown into the flames , as also coaches and horses were burnt alive , most rich tapistries and pictures ; but they saved all books and pieces of piety , which they sent to several churches ; and in fclix basils house they burnt a huge proportion of bisket , which was ready to be sent to the gallies for the kings service . the viceroy ordered that some companies of high-dutch who were in garrison at pozzuolo should come to naples , the rabble having notice hereof ran out of gratta , and meeting them they disarm'd them all , and brought them prisoners to the market-place . when they entred into saint lorenzo , they found there the picture of charles the fifth , which they carried round about naples with twenty thousand souls , who accompanied it , crying all along , viva il ré di spagna , may the king of spain live . after this they went to cornelio spinola's house , where it was expected they would have used the same complement as they did to others ; but he told them that he never had any thing to do with the gabels , but he was there for the service of genoa only , thereupon they chose him for grassiero , or superintendent of the flesh-market , and lest in his house the picture of charles the fifth . one may easily conjecture in what pickle the poor genoway stood all the white . they placed up and down the city five and twenty great cannons in the most necessary advenues ; and the busiest man who was employed herein was joseph perrone a notorious bandito , whom they appointed to be captain of the guard in the great market-place , who dispensed his commands with that reservedness and punctuality that 't was wonderful , but some under-dealings of his being detected , he and his brother were hackt to pieces by the fury of the people , and their bodies for publick satisfaction and example , were dragg'd up and down the streets , and hurl'd afterwards into the common ditch . the duke of mataluni , for the safeguard of his house assembled his outlaws , and other desperate persons , but the people haivng notice thereof kill'd five of them , and took one , alive , the rest sav'd themselves by flight : thereupon the great bell of lorenzo rung out to give notice that every one should be ready in arms , which had not been done a hundred years before . massaniello now grew higher in command , yet he would not alter his habit , but went still barefoot , and in mariners habit ; so that the common cry was , viva dio , ré de spagna , & massaniello , let god live , live the king of spain , and massaniello , and there was such an opinion conceiv'd of him , that they thought him to be divinely inspir'd , so that every nod of his went for an absolute command : this opinion was confirm'd by a strange passage , which was , that certain banditos and outlaws intending to murder the said massaniello , they discharg'd divers muskets at him , but they did no execution , which was held a notable miracle , eight of the said banditoes were slain , the rest sav'd themselves in the church of carmine ; the whole city was cut out into trenches , and all coaches were prohibited : the foremention'd joseph caratta , brother to the duke of mataluni , who had retir'd into saint maries church , and thence into the monastery , the people beleaguered the monastery ; whereupon he thinking to flee under a disguised habit , was betrayed , and his head chopp'd off , with three servants more , as enemies to the people ; his brother the duke , hereupon took a fair pair of heels , and fled towards rome , as 't was thought . massaniello began now to send out his commands very magisterially , and the penalty of his commands were , sotto pena della vita , & incendio , under pain of life and firing : he commanded that every window should have lights in them , which was punctually perform'd , which seem'd to embellish the city , and make the streets as lightsome by night as by day . another peremptory command of his came out , that all should go en cuerpo without clokes , which extended to priests and bishops , who went up and down only in cassocks , ladies and gentlewomen were forbidden likewise to go abroad with wide-hoop'd gowns or kirtles , and the reason was , that they might carry no arms underneath . a report did fly , that the duke of mataluni had poison'd the waters of formali , which serv'd the city , this made the rest of the nobles to be so ill look'd upon , that happy was he who could fly away first from the city . the women up and down did wonderfully encourage their husbands , and all traffique except market-solks was quite down . there came in the heat of this hurly-burly eight napolitan gallies , which were missing a long time ; the viceroy commanded they should not enter into the port , but that they should stay 'twixt st vincents tower and the key . thereupon by intervention of cardinal filomarino , who was archbishop of naples , and accounted the common father of the city , an interview or parley was appointed t'wixt the viceroy and massaniello , who with much ado was perswaded to shake off his mariners slop , and put on a rich sute of cloth of silver , to denote by that white colour the innocence of the people . being attended to the royal castle by an infinity of the people , and he himself mounted upon a choice courser with naked sword in hand ; the viceroy treated him with terms of extraordinary respect , being both for the satisfaction of the people , in an open balcone . at that time there were many obstreperous noises among the people below , and a great confusion ; but massaniello lifting up onely his hand , all was hush'd . the capitulations for peace t'wixt the viceroy and massaniello being read aloud , and confirm'd by the viceroy , and the collateral councel , massaniello said , that by the wise deportment of his excellency his catholick majesty had gain'd the kingdom of naples more firmly then ever ; for that mass of people he saw , with millions more were bound to thank his majesty , and his excellency , who will be ready to expose their lives to defend his government here against the french or any other enemy . oulio genovino was the chiefest counsellour of massaniello , who in the duke of ossi●a's time was created the peoples elect in another great tumult ; for which he had been sent prisoner to spain , and thence banish'd to oran in barbary , whence he return'd , and turn'd priest ; a man most zealous for the common good and interest of the people , doctor of the civil laws , and a shrew'd politick person ; this man and massaniello , clung together as nail and flesh , for the time . massaniello sent a regalo of sweet meats to the viceroy , and to his lady ; who return'd a present of jewels to massaniello's wife , who afterwards did visit her attir'd in cloth of gold. massaniello commanded the kings-arms to be set up over all the gates of naples , and the cities arms underneath , with p. in the middle ; and understanding there were many bandito's lay sculking in the town , and fled to sanctuaries , the fury of the people was such that they pull'd them all out and kill'd them . francisco erp●io was chosen by massaniello to be the peoples elect , and by sound of trumpet he declared , that every one should open his shop under pain of rebellion ; he caused also among divers others , an abbot to be put to death , and two men besides of an ill life , who had onely time given them to confess . there was order given to erect to erect a fair palace in the great market place for massaniello , and much of the materials had been brought thither to that purpose ; there was a spaniard imprisoned by the people , but massaniello commanded him out , and sent him to the viceroy , who remanded him to massaniello , who pardoned him . all the tribunals of justice were shut up at this time , nor was any person obeyed but massaniello , who commanded gibbets to be set up in divers places of the city , which struck a great terrour into the hearts of all people . the next day the viceroy with the royal collateral councel came in great pomp to the great church , where cardinal filomarino was in his pontificalibus at the high altar , and massaniello standing with a naked sword upon one of the steps , and his brother behind him in cloth of silver also , the viceroy tooke there a solemn oath to perform the capitulations in his catholick majesties name , viz. that all kind of gabel that were imposed upon the city of naples since the reign of the glorious emperour charls the fifth should be utterly abolished , and never to he levied again : that his excellency should do his endeavour to procure a full ratification hereof from the court of spain , within the compass of two moneths , and that in the interim the most faithful people of naples should stand upon their guard , and in arms. massaniello gave out , that he would provide five millions very speedily to send his catholick majesty for this singular grace towards the support of his wars : he commanded all the houshold-stuff of the duke of mataluni● to be brought out to the publick street and burnt , and 't is incredible what rich furniture , what e●quisite pictures , what costly jewels , with abundance of treasure did endure the brunt of the fire ; there was upon this above a hundred thousand men enrolled to bear arms , and all to be at the beck of massaniello : moreover , there was a declaration publish'd by the viceroy , wherein he disclaim'd this sollevation to be a rebellion ; and so passed a general pardon . massaniello gave out , that what courtesan soever desired to marry , she should have fifty duckets given her . he went then among the gallies , and made a poor mechanick a captain of one of them . he was feasted in the castle by the viceroy , together with his brother and his wife ; but the next day he committed some ridiculous extravagancies , as leaping into the water to refresh himself in his clothes , so that some thought he had a fig given him in the castle to intoxicate his brains ; others did impute it to want of repose and sleep , for he was wonderfully watchful , intentive , and restless in his business . but he began now to lose the wonted respect among the souldiery and citizens : insomuch that marco vitale his secretary giving a captain a cuff before the castle , the captain and others fell upon him and slew him . andrea roma and ardizzone , with others , all ventrous blades , went the next day to the church of carmine , where they found massaniello airing himself , they surpriz'd and dispatch'd him , and cut off his head ; 't was thought the people would have resented it , but it proved clean contrary , for they followed the coach wherein the head was carried to the viceroy , with a great deal of applause and triumph : his body was drag'd up and down by the boyes of the city . so fell the bold fisherman of naples , who had reign'd as absolutely as any sovereign , the space of eight days and eight hours ; and one may say more absolutely then any kings use to do ; for they are restrained by laws ; but massaniello was beyond the bounds of any ; for during this short time , he caused to be killed by his own order two hundred and fifty persons , and that suddenly , giving them onely time to confess , and to some he would give none . in fine , he was thought to be more then a man , and that what he ordered was ordained by god himself . after this tragical act , the lord regent of the vicaria , with his wonted guards , went with trumpets before him about the streets , and proclaimed , that none under pain of rebellion should stirre : he declared further , that all gabels were taken off : to which purpose he carried the instrument in his hand ; therefore he commanded , that none should adhere to the complices of that late rascal , that retailer of fish , who disturbed the tranquillity hoth of people and city ; so there was a great cry , viva il ré di spagna , let the king of spain live . a little after , the viceroy passed up and down the city in stately equipage , which increased the cry , so that the noise then was , viva il ré di spagna , è duca d' arcos , let the king of spain , and the duke of arcos live : and as the viceroy went along , he assured the people every where of the abolition of the gabels , and further concession of graces . the next night after , there entred into the city at the royal port six hundred horse , with admirable secrecy , who went all to the palace to serve the viceroy upon occasion , and the next morning they betook themselves to divers ports . that day the bread fell to be eleven ounces lighter ; whereupon the people mutined again , and fell a burning the furnaees and goods of the bakers . then they went in multitudes of armed men to find out the body of massaniello , which it seems was cast into a ditch ; they took it out , washed it , and persumed it , and carried it upon a bier out of the gate of the holy spirit ; where they took down his head , and sewed it to the rest of the carkass , and so brought it in a very solemn order to the great church of carmine : the people went along , both men and women , crying out , brothers and sisters say a pater noster , and an ave mary for this our countryman and fellow-citizen ; his body being hoised up a great height , to be made more visible . so he who was cursed and dragged up and down the streets the day before , is the next day after bewailed , missed , prayed for , and buried in marvellous pomp : the white boyes of loreto went before him with above a thousand priests with burning torches in their hands , the trumpets and drums sounded the doleful march ; and as he lay in his funeral bed , they put a crown upon his head , and a scepter in his hand ; so he had at his death those ensigns , the jurisdiction whereof he usurped in his life . many thousands of armed men accompanied his herse , and women without number , raising up their beads and voices in high and dolorous accents , with requiems and refrigeriums to his soul. this funeral pomp came out again from the great church of the carmine , and fetching a compass about all the five precincts of naples , they carried the body under the very balcone of the viceroy , where it stayed a while till they had fix'd a standard , and hung colours thereabouts . after all this the bier was brought about two hours at night to the great church again , where he was interr'd with much pity and honour ; the common people crying him up for a saint already . — quantum est in rebus inane ! thus massaniello being raised up by popular air , slain and scorn'd by the same people , honour'd and idclatriz'd after his death by the same persons , may be compared to a ball tossed up and down by fortune . the voice went then , that a chappel should be built for him , and these ensuing epitaphs were compos'd by the prime wits of naples . lamento di massaniello al popolo napolitano . altra paga sperai , altra mercede , di te patria crudel , populo ingrato , troncarti ill collo à chi t' há il capo alrato , fidelissima sci senra fede . la pesca non lasciai , com' altri erede , nelle mie reti di qualunque stato pescai la libertá , ne'l vil mercato de commando piantai la real sede . di re divenni reo , in ra instante rimasti in vita tu , io nel ' inferno , jo strascinato fù , tu triomphante , pompa non fù , mâ vituperio eterne . l'essequie mie di general forfante fù gloria infame , & honore vol ' sherno , cosi con questo essempio eterno , impari ogn uno da me par troppo audace , per altro non pugnar starsene in pace . massaniello's lamentation concerning the people of naples . i did expect from thee a better fate ingrateful city , people more ingrate , thou chop'st his neck , who thy head did unthral , faithful thou art , yet hast no faith at all . i did not leave my fishing , as some say , but still employ'd my nets to catch , and lay the gabels on the ground : the royal throne i brought into the market , ev'ry stone can witness it ; the nobles i did quell , thou still shalt live , but i must fry in hell . while my drag'd body bleeds , so basely slain , thou triumph'st in that freedom i did gain . learn hence ye mortals all , be not too rash and bold to sight for other men , lest you be bought and sold. nobilium tyrannide , in usi●●●is oppressionibus & angari● in regnum , cives , & exteros , praeter rerum & naturae ordinem violenter extortis , repressa virgini dei matri carmeli die 7. julii , 1647. gabbellis publicis , facinorosis , secretis patriae hostibus , incensis , fugatis , profligatis , suhlatis . inconcussa fide servata , ferdinandi primi , & frederici aragonensium regum , caroli quinti imperatoris gaesaris confirmatis , renovatis aureis privilegiis . philippo quarto rege catholico , d. rodcrieo pons de leone duce d' arcos regis vieem geren●e , thoma anello de amalfi invicti populi duce . pristina libertate redemptus fidelissimus populus neopolitan . mausolaeum in reportatae victoriae memoriam posteris excitamen●um posuit . the tyranny of the nobles being repressed , who beyond the order of things , and rules of nature , did so violently extort unusual taxes and services from kingdom , citizens , and strangers , an unshaken faith being kept to the virgin the mother of god , in the holy church of carmine the 7. of july 1647. the gabels being abolished , and the publick , facinorous and secret enemies of our countrey , being burnt , banished , subdued , and extinguished , the golden priviledges of ferdinand the first , and frederick king of aragon , and of charles the emperour being confirmed and renewed , philip the fourth , being the catholick king , and don rodrigo pons de leon duke of arcos being viceroy , thomas anello of amalsi being general , the most faithful people of naples and publick liberty being redeemed , this monument was erect in memory of the victory obtained , and for an encouragement to all posterity . these commotions in naples , being the metropolitan great town , did cause that almost the whole kingdom did rise . in bitonto many houses were likewise burnt ; as also in divers others places , as shall be related hereafter . in the ancient city of nocera the palace of the duke himself did not scape the fury of the flames , but was made even to the ground , with all the costly movables , as also the dwellings of all such that adhered unto him ; and if the duke himself had not taken a fair pair of heels and fled to messina , he might have expired his last in the tumult . in naples the count cosino laboured to have a publick inscription set up in the market-place , which should mention the abolition of all taxes that were granted by the viceroy , and the people were mighty eager to have it erected . the counsellour moschetola persisting by his agents to exact the gabel in meleto casale of aversa , upon corn which he had rented , the people of that town being transported with fury , came to naples , and colleagueing with that people , they ran about dinner time to the market-place , where the said moschetola had a house , and gave him such a hot alarm , that like a cat he was forced to flee over the tops of the houses to save himself . the women were permitted to go out of the said house , and afterwards they took out all the houshold-stuff , and carrying it to the open street in a kind of solemnity , all was burnt to ashes , besides rich tapistry , and exquisite pictures , there were two cupboards of silver vessels , and a great library of books exposed to the fury of the fire ; all which was computed to the value of thirty thousand crowns , all which was reduced to cinders . they directed their course after to alonso d' angelis house , a great officer of the kings dogana or custom-house , and would have served him with the same sauce ; but the viceroy interposed his authority , or request rather , so earnestly that he prevailed . in the market-place the day following there happened a huge tumult concerning the publick inscription to be set up concerning those capitulations which the viceroy had signed and sealed in behalf of the most faithful people , which being delayed , the rabble flew to cavallero cosino's palace , a most famous limner , who had the charge of doing the thing ; but he finding himself in imminent danger of his life , fled away , and his house with many rare pieces had felt vulcans fury , had not the viceroy caused the king of spains picture to be hung up before the gate in a high balcone , which preserved the house . they of the market-place ran and burnt all the play-houses up and down the city , as also that which was near the castle ditch , and they chop'd off the head of a lame sicilian who kept it . but the viceroy having commanded two of the said incendiaries to be imprisoned , they were by his order both strangled that night , and the next morning their bodies were hanged up before the castle , which put a period to all burnings for the time . a jesuite was also beheaded , but he was unsacred and degraded first of his function in the church of sancta barbara ; he was suspected to have come from sicily to trace some machinations against the crown of spain , his name was regnicolo , and he hath a brother who is a baron in abruzzo . there was a notable thing discovered about this time in the city of naples , which was this ; one francisco severino a publick notary , had a sister who had been a widow seventeen years before ; he was to pay her six hundred duckets towards her dowry ; but he had immured her and a little daughter of hers betwixt four walls in a dark cave , where he fed them with bread and water , with some few fruits and roots , as radishes , cucumbers , and other such stuff : this widow had a son in the custody of an uncle all the while , who being grown up to mans estate came to the said notary , and loudly demanded his mothers goods , thinking she had been dead : the rumour of this business flew up and down among the people , who therefore rushing into the notaries house , and searching up and down , the woman began to shriek out in the cave with her daughter ; so they broke down the wall , and entring into the cave they found there two women like savages or furies , with long dishevel'd hair , in a strange posture ; hereupon the notary was clap'd up in prison , and the women carried to the monastery of st. onuphrio , where a great concourse of people came to see them ; so the notary had exemplary punishment . the city of naples went on to inroll more men for the militia , which came to above the number of eighty thousand foot , besides horse ; they changed the guard every night , nor did they esteem any commands that came from the castle ; the tribunals of justice did cease sitting , and the commotion was held up as high as it was in massanicllo's time , only there were not so many heads chop'd off , and houses burnt , yet there was no sace of any government but only among the souldiery . one day which was a festival , a great number of boys , half naked and painted with red , some on horseback and others afoot , with turbands on their heads , and habited like turks , went up and down ; in the midst of them there was a triumphant chariot , where there sate one apparelled like a king , and sitting in a throne , with a half moon upon his head ; others were masked ; others went with strange spectacles on their noses , in such a hideous manner , as if they had been so many devils broke loose out of hell ; before the chariot there went a troop of horse , whereof the hindermost carried a scepter in his hand , habited like a turk ; and in this garb they passed before the castle , and under the windows and mustachos of the viceroy . in these commotions the franciscan friers of st. lorenzo thought to make their advantage in a long suit they had with the capuchins of st. antonio de padoua ; the capuchins pretended that it belonged to them to carry the silver statue that was in the treasury upon solemn days ; but the franciscans alledged t was their right , in regard their order was more ancient , and theirs but a branch of it , and that in the time of st : anthony there was no such thing as a capuchin : besides , he is buried in padoua , and painted to the life in a chappel that belongs to the conventual franciscans , who are of the same order as they of st. lorenzoin naples : upon a sudden they went in procession , and carried the said silver statue of st. antonio up and down the streets of naples , and the great street of toledo , accompanied by a mass of people , with divers bands of souldiers , and drums beating before , as if some assault were to be given : the common people were for the franciscans , but the noble-men and gentry were for the capuchins ; but the franciscans got the better , being the more ancient : this contracto had been brought formerly before the viceroy , but he reserred it to rome where it depended . the said statue being replaced that night in the treasury , the next morning the people entred and took away the keys by force , and put out the chaplains who were appointed there by the nobility , and appointed others of their election . the next day the viceroy sent a galley to calabria , which carried john baptista montforte duke of laureto , who was expresly employed by the said viceroy to appease the tumults in cosenza , which were little inferiour to those of naples . the lord don carlo di capon was clapped up in prison by the souldiers of pusilipo , together with his servants , & many hainous things were to be laid to his charge . a brigade of the people passing along the castle ditch , the spanish souldiers put themselves upon their guaed , one of them discharging his musket , hit doctor benedetto guadagno that stood in a window , who fell down dead in an instant ; whereupon the viceroy caused the said souldier to be presently hanged after confession , under the same window , although he alledged that he knew not the musket had been charged with a bullet . the students of naples would have a share also in these revolutions , therefore they went all in a body and presented a petition to the viceroy , the effect whereof was , that they should pay no more fees for their degrees then was used to be paid in the time of charles the emperour : the viceroy gave them no positive answer for the time , which they imputed to some i●l offices that the prince of av●llino had done ; thereupon they attempted at their return to burn his house , but it was prevented by some means the viceroy wrought ; and the next day he caused divers of the students to be imprisoned , who were the chief ring-leaders . the city still resolved to stand upon her guard till the confirmation of the articles concerning their priviledges came from the catholick court , and they arm'd day and night accordingly ; one of which articles was , that such arming should not be tearmed a rebellion in the interim . the viceroy was not idle , but he caused bulle●s to be cast , and other warlike things to be provided within the castles . he sent councellour oraca to leve to appease the commotions which happened in the country of otranto , with commissioners to divers other places in calabria , as he had done the duke of lauretto to cosenza , were the sparkles of their commotions flew from naples in greater quantity , and did as much mischief as any where else , therefore it is worth the labour to insert here a particular relation thereof . a compendium of the sublevations and turmoils which happen'd in the city , and among the people of cosenza . upon sunday-morning about the break of day , a dispatch was expresly sent to the president of this province from the viceroy , wherein he ordered that a pragmatica should be publish'd and proclaim'd through all the territories and places thereof ; the substance whereof was , that his excellency was ready to grant and pass unto that people all those graces which they expected , as was done to the city and people of naples , for prevention of that horrid effusion of blood , firings , and other confusions which might ensue . yet for all this a multitude of common people gather'd together in bands that very sunday-morning , all armed with a full and furious purpose to repose the insolence and pride of the nobility , who had reduced the common people to such a pass that they could hardly live by them . the cape or chief leader of which popular brigades was captain joseph gervatio , who with his ginet in hand caused himself to be called captain-general , and was so accepted : it was concluded amongst them , that they should procure to live separately from the nobles , and to be subordinate to no other but to the king himself , to his viceroy , or some principal officers of justice ; this assembly of the common people was so numerous and active all that sunday that a gentleman dared scarce stir out of his house , or hardly peep out at the windows : the bells rung out to give general alarms ; at last they formed a petition to the lord president for a present concession of those indulgences and graces which were granted the people of naples , and with much ado for that night the president did appease them . but upon munday-morning the nobles rouz'd up their spirits , desiring to know the cause of this hurly-burly , and what the people did desire , and there should be a course taken to satisfie them . hereupon a choice number of the said people being met at the monastery of saint francisco di paola , the lord president , accompanied with the foresaid antonio gervasio the cape of the people told them , that their pretention and intention was to live separate from their nobles , as also from the sindiques and regiments , as likewise from the payment of certain gabels ; and that every one of them should pay for his own particular fire , it being not consentaneous to reason , that the people who were alwais disposed to make ready paiment , not only to the royal court , but of all other inferior gabels , and that the nobles by their authority should be exempt , in such sort that the burden fell still upon the people which receiv'd more weight daily ; at least they payed doubly as much as the nobles , as the jurat can testifie , who was one year for the nobles , & another year for the people . to these pretentions and demands doctor baracca offer'd to give a satisfaction to the nobles , and to make it appear that they were very just : so it was agreed on both sides , that he should have time to do it ; in the interim it was order'd , that all should lay down their arms , which was done as it were in an instant , by the command of captain antonio gervatio , untill a minute or scedule should be made , declaring the manner how they desired to live among the nobles ; so every one return'd to his own fire . while this was a doing , and all this was hush'd for the preseut , certain albaneses being arm'd passed through the market-place of cosenza , who were clad like country-souldiers : hereupon captain gervatio with a huge confluence of people ran to the lord presidents palace , complaining and crying out , that it was no reason that the nobles during the time of treaty , which tended to an amiable accord , should make provision of arms , calling in those albaneses , specially since the people had laid down their arms in that interim , therefore they suspected some false-play under-hand , whereupon they desir'd that the lord president would do them the favor as go to pompeo sambiate who maintain'd those albaneses , and inorder him to dismiss them ; that all surmises and clouds of diffidence might vanish : hereupon the lord president went accordingly ; and treating with the said pompeo to discharge his souldiers , he answered , that he could not do it by any means , nor ought he to do it , in regard that that armed band was for his own defence , and not to offend any other : the lord president replied , and rejoined , but he could not prevail . hereupon captain gervatio having notice what had passd 'twixt the president & seignior pompeo , he with a huge rabble of people well arm'd , having made provision of barrels of pitch , oil , matches and wood , went in a kind of fury to the lord president ; telling him , that since his lordship could not thrust out those albaneses , they would do it themselves ; so departing thence like so many enraged lions they went up and down with drums , and trumpets , discharging divers shots at sembiate's windowes and applying pitch , oil , match and wood to his gate , where the fire began to crackle : another brigade of people set fire in another part of the town to the houses of scipio and bartolo sembiate ; others to the house of angelo matera ; others to the house of ignatio sembiate , with other of the chiefest houses ; insomuch , that really the town of cosenza seem'd to be a mongibelo , or mountain of fire at that time , the like whereof was never seen before : all obedience to authority , all pity and piety was lost : while they put fire to scipio sembiate's house , the poor genrleman half naked stood upon the top of his house , and bullets flew about his ears ; at last he was reduced to that extremity , that he said aloud , i yield , kill me not in this manner without confession . the people answered , if he yielded , they desired not his life ; so he came down from the tiles of the house , and put himself in a chamber ; in the interim some or other of his servants had discharged a pistol , at the report whereof the people furiously rushed into the chamber where he was upon a couch , and one of them , and he of the meanest sort of mechanicks , fell upon the person of the said lord scipio sembiate , and chopt off his head , and threw his body out at the window ; so his head was fixed upon the top of a lance , and carried up and down with this cry , m●uia il mal governo , let the ill government die . hereupon the women ran up and down with piteous shrieks and cries , having no sense of danger , honour or life , the boyes ran up and down thorow the flames , that the face of things look'd as if the day of judgment had been come . others surrounding the head of scipio sembiate , they plac'd it at last upon the bridge of the revocati , so the people multiplied in numbers , and encreass'd in fury more and more , till they came to the number of ten thousand armed persons . the nobles , some of them , hid themselves in grotzes and caves ; others , in churches , others in monasteries and hospitals ; others , would not forsake their wives and children , but would stand to the brunt of what should happen : and it being now neer noon , captain gervatio came to the town-hal with a great number of his men , whence he sent a kind of command to the lord president , that he should send a trumpet for the fiscal proctor , and send him unto him upon business that much concern'd the service of his majesty . the world stood astonish'd at this peremptory order , but it was presently obey'd : so the trumpet , together with the fiscal proctor was sent , who being come to the town-house , captain gervatio order'd that the trumpet should go back ; which being done , the captain propos'd to the fiscal , that for the special service of his catholick majesty , it was needful that a tax should be impos'd upon all the nobles , and sent to the viceroy for the necessities of war : this took effect presently , and a tribunal was appointed to tax every one accordingly : they began with an. cavalcante , who was assess'd 500. crowns , which was proclaim'd by sound of trumpet , and the party sent for , who with fear and reverence appear'd and obey'd presently , assigning but so much time to provide then mony : so all the nobles were summon'd in like manner by sound of trumpet , and assess'd accordingly , and in case any refus'd , his house should pass the fire , which was done to some : so there was upon a sudden a kinde of exchequer or bank of money rais'd up in the city of cosenza : some gentlewomen came with their children to move compassion , & to have some abatement made in behalf of their husbands ; but neither the tears of the mothers , nor the cries of the infants , could prevail or soften the stony hearts of the people . a little after bartolo sembiate was imprison'd , who being penn'd up in a dark grotza , with a son of the late murther'd scipio sembiate his brother , who being ready to starve got out to get some bread , but he was repriz'd , and they were both thrown into the prison of the audientia , but in the way thither he swooned thrice for weakness , and former want of nourishment : a little after he was sent for by a trumpet before captain gervasio , where he was inorder'd to pay 15m crowns before 24. hours , otherwise , he must be contented to have his head taken off by his souldiers . any one may conjecture what a pitiful plight this gentleman was reduc'd to ; the throbs , tears and sighs that came from his wife and children would have mollified an adamant ; but rather then to exchange life for death ; he made a shift to take this money up by exchange . many dayes after the said captain antonio gervatio sitting in the tribunal , sent out his summons by sound of trumpet , and laid what assessments he pleas'd upon all the nobles and gentry that dwelt in cosenza , and all the places adjacent : and now we will proceed to the territories of otranto . a narration of the tumults happened in the territories of otranto . the rumours of what passed in naples , cosenza , with other places , together with the flames of those fires flew as far as the countrey of otranto ; and though the people be thin in those parts , yet the commotions were very high and hot in the town of leve , and the circumjacent places , as also thorow all calabria . the viceroy had writ to the lord president and councel of leve , to take off all kind of gabels : the president then was giacomo arnolfini who was absent at that time , and the audienza was very weak . giovanni angelo the elect of the people , with divers others , went to the camp-master boccapianolo to consult with him : who advised , that it were expedient to send back to his excellency to know what kind of gabels he understood should be abolished , which was done accordingly : but the president being return'd in the interim , together with the tribunal , without conference with the camp-master they sent out order to take off all kind of gahels ; but this was done with such a little decorum , that it caused rather a kind of alteration then quietness in the baser sort of people ; and gave occasion to ill meaning men to put their malice in execution , which was done in an instant ; for a crue of the common sort went to three or four houses of particular men , and did them much dammage ; they sack'd and burnt the house of the duke of santo donato which stood in the said town of leve ; but matters were handled so , that they proceeded no further , only the houses of two doctours suffered , who they pretended did some ill office towards an immunity from gabels . the camp-master was inform'd , that there were some people coming from abroad to assist the citizens of leve , with intent to burn three houses more ; therefore , for prevention hereof , he arm'd some troops of horse : the houses they aimed at were known afterwards to be the house of tauritano , of francisco cimino the fiscal , and of auditor stephano pagliva ; by the operations of the said camp-master these houses were saved , yet some entered into the dogana , and burnt whatsoever they found therein ; they also elected a capo popalo , who might govern all the commonality . the city of nardo , with the inhabitants , did rise up , and bandy against their patron , raising up fortresses within the wals , and renouncing all obedience unto him : he having timely notice hereof , came flying with a great number of horse and foot , with all his kindred and allies , who were numerous in those parts ; and having begirt the city round , she did most stoutly maintain her self with cannon and musket ; whereupon some were killed on the other side , and divers wounded , the number whereof could not be known ; but at the same time duke francifco burtato was wounded , with one of the family of sersale whose name could not be known . but the lord titta cicinello , more fearless then the rest , went on to batter the said city in the best manner he could : the siege lasted three dayes ; at last arrived the bishop of leve , with him of gallipoli ; and the camp-master , who interposed so effectually , that they commanded and reconciled all matters betwixt the city of narda and her lord , in so much that they returned all to their former obedience . the first who entered the city was the lord titta : but if i should recount what succeeded in other places , i should never end ; as those murthers , and firings which happened in misagine , in ostuni , in the territories of tolva and in taranto , more then any where else ; in guttagia they murthered twelve persons in one morning . in otranto there happened new garboils , no lesse new then lamentable : for the tumults of nardo being quieted , the count parted thence with his train every one to his own home . you must consider that those poor people are in a worse condition then others ; for their syndique , and the chiefest of the common people were beheaded , which struck such an astonishment into most of them that they all fled , and those few who stayed behinde made account they remained but as silly sheep for the slaughter , but the duke returning had more compassion then was expected . in leve councellour urracea was arrived there from naples ; the people had shrew'd umbrages of fear that he came to no good purpose , but to complement with them , and impose some new gabel : therefore he understanding that they had a design upon him , he absconded himself in the camp-masters house : but they laid violent hands upon bocca-pianolla , and cut off his head , hurling his carkasse out of the windows , and carried it about the town in piece-meales . they went about to seize upon cinino the fiscal advocate , who cunningly escaped into the castle ; but he could not preserve his house which was burnt to the ground , with whatsoever was in it , and no house could be better furnished ; nor did the lord president himself escape some affronts from the common people , but they beleaguered him in the castle of leve , which was succoured afterwards by the valour of the camp-master boccapianola . in the city of ostuni also there were perpetrated horrid murders , yea within sanctuaries where jeronymo de fina serjeant major was knocked down , in the land of grottaglia : they slew the baron basta ; and in the countrey of martina there were many firings and slaughters committed , with other horrid things , that unless there were fresh ocular witnesses thereof , the recital of them would sound as fables ; i must adde hereunto that the people of leve did put into the hands of boccapianela , all the powder and ammunition of the city ; which person was much esteemed , and held to be so affectionate to the people as no man more ; but yesterday they write that he was so hacked , and ill handled , that all wounded they brought him to the place where the said gunpowder was with the rest of the ammunition , and took all things from him but his life , clapping him in close prison , meerly upon surmises and fears . in fine , the worst things that humane imagination can conceive were acted in those parts . and now 't is high time for us to return to naples , the source whence all these mischiefs did flow . the second tumults happened in the city of naples , held to be hotter and higher then the former , which succeeded the 7. of july . the 20. of august , the lord president fabricio cenano , intervening in a cause before the collateral chamber , which concern'd the interest of the people ; he was told by some of their ministers , that he was not a fit person to be seen in that cause , in regard his house had been burnt by them ; and according to the pragmatica lately stamp'd , he could not intermeddle with a cause of that nature . cenano answered , that it was too true , his house had been burnt , yet not by the people , but by some malevolent and emulous spirits , as seignior julio genovino could make affidavit : it happen'd that genovino was there present , who rose up and said , 't was true , whereof he was ready to make attestation : cenano likewise produced divers captains , who serv'd the people for witnesses , that his house was not set on fire by order of the people , but by the malice of some particular enemies ; therefore he humbly desired his catholick majesty , and his excellence , that they should receive due punishmēt who were found to be the burners of his house , while this writing went about for subscription , the people began to be sensible of the wrong and prejudice that might redound unto them thereby , and of the consequences that might grow further from hence : therefore upon a sudden they took up arms again ; and the rather because in that affidavit they told a lye , because when the people burnt any house , they did it with that punctuality that none might embeazle the value of a pepper corn , but that all should be sacrificed to the fire , as proceeding from the blood and radical moisture of the poor ; but most of cenano's goods were preserved . hereupon there was twenty thousand foot presently in arms , before whom the captains cried out , tradimento al popolo , un pater , un ave maria , pregate dio ne doni victoria , andiamo à morire per voj altri , ó vivere ó morire : which was as much to say , the people is betrayed , one pater , and one ave maria , pray to god that he would be pleased to give us the victory ; let us go to die for you , to live or to die . and 't was wonderful to see how many young men went on so resolutely , who making a halt upon sancta lucia à monte , made themselves masters of that post , as an eminent place whence they might shoot at the castle with advantage , and at the viceroys palace : having planted their standards there , and placed a court of guard for the defence thereof , they dismiss'd some companies . then they directed their course towards pirrifailione for the guard of the new-bridge : this place was guarded by six hundred foot of a new levy , who were weli intrenched ; and not being able to repell the violence of these men , who advanced with such a resolution and fury , the souldiers that were formerly , were forc'd to abandon the place and leave their arms behind , which the people seiz'd on : as also upon the house of the prinee of ascoli , and the camp-master general was ingaged therein : a sergeant with thirty spaniards were there for the guard of it , whereof about ten were killed , and the rest saved themselves into a grott . the people being entred therein did not touch any thing but the arms that were hid there , without doing any detriment at all . afterward they went on to the palace of the princess of bucera ; and seiz'd upon all the arms she had , whereof they gave a receit : then they marched towards the palace of the viceroy ; but not being able to do any good there , in regard of the preparations he had made for defence , they directed their course to sancta lucia again , and thence to the dogana , and took out the arms they found there , which were a thousand five hundred archibuzes , and pistols , but touch'd not any thing else . with three hundred foot they made themselves masters of the convent of saint martin , and entered on the grove's side ; nor could any resistance prevail , where afterwards they began to stir and interpose again ; and all the street captains being assembled at saint augustin , they desired that the viceroy would deliver them massaniello's brother , who was prisoner in castelnovo , as also julio genovino , whom the people demanded to keep in their custody , together with all those captains who had subscribed in favour of president cenano : the archbishop by his singular address , prudence and gravity , did labour so far that an accord was determined , whereupon the bels rung out for joy , and a white flag was hung up in castelnovo by the viceroy . but when the souldiers who were in garrison in castelnovo faw a crue of people drawing towards the palace , they gave a volly of shot to the people without bullet ; but the people thinking that their muskets were charg'd , they fell all with their face on the ground ; nor did the people go then on any hostile intent , but to congratulate . yet as the devil would have it , the report went that five hundred of the people were kill'd by them of the palace : so the accord was dissolv'd , and the war grew hot again . from sancta lucia they began to batter the castle where the viceroy kept his court , discharging all their great artillery , which did some hurt to the adjacent places ; the castle answered , and also the castle of saint elmo ; but the people being nothing at all dastardiz'd herewith , but incited still by the women ; the whole day was spent in shooting off the great cannons on both sides : the house of don diego manciohe was saluted by divers shots , but did not much hurt : porto was offended by some of the canons ; whereupon they set up the kings picture in a high balcone , but a cannon bullet shot it through and through . in the evening they chose for the elect of the people , the lord don francisco turaldo prince of massa , who mounting on horseback , undertook the business , and dispens'd his orders accordingly . the next morning the castle of saint elmo , as also castelnovo discharged four cannon bullets apiece , then a suspension of arms was agreed upon , and a treaty was resum'd for an accord , but in vain : for there were ten heads of slain spaniards six'd upon poles , and carried in triumph up and down the city . the next day , the great artillery that was planted upon sancta lucia , did some hurt to castelnovo ; the same day they of porto secur'd themselves with good trenches rear'd up in the uight time : but there was a strict watch laid , that nothing either for belly or back , any other thing , should be carried to the castle where the ●iceroy was . the camp-master general sent forth an order that all the street-captains , and other captains of the infantry , should meet at saint augnstin , to treat and determine some capitulations for peace , which was done accordingly : and when they were agreed upon , they sent them to his excellency by six captains of foot , accompanied by the lord bishop of salut , cardinal filomarini's brother : but that morning there were discovered some trenches cast up in the night at the hospitaletto : there were others cast up in toledo street ; for both parties digg'd night and day notwithstanding the treaty ; besides that which remain'd of the duke of ostuni's moveables were committed to the mercy of the fire , and his house was turn'd to a quarter ; above his palace they planted great muskets , with other kind of artilleries to batter the castelnovo ; the son of the said duke was kill'd at pizzifalione ; besides , they planted two great cannons upon the trenches of porto to annoy castelnovo . when this rumor began , there were in the castle the l. prior of rocella , the l. prior of caraceioli , don j. baptista , and the duke of saint petro , whither they retir'd themselves during the broyl , with divers other personages of high rank , for their safety : some of them went forth one day , and the camp-master-general clapp'd them up in prison , because they conceiv'd some jealousies of them , nor could they pump any thing out of them in point of information ; they surpriz'd also don john lorio sanfelice , but they chop'd off his head as a president to the most faithful people . the president cenano was shut up in prison by the people of santa lucia , and they put him with his confessor in a great chair , and carried them about the great streets , and in the sellaria they took off his head , burning his clothes afterwards ; they chop'd off the head also of a corporal of sergeants called marchetollo : the next day there was a truce accorded ; yet notwithstanding both parties went on in entrenching and fortifying night and day . the camp-master-general being well informed of the innocency of some royalists which were in prison , joyned with some street-captains he freed them , which business was deliberated in s. augustine , who upon their enlargement took oath to be faithful unto the city . they took off the head also of the corporal of the sergeants of porto , who said that in those places where they made their fortifications there should be so many gallowses and gibbets set up to hang those who wrought in the said fortifications ; all which was proved by pregnant proof , and authentick witnesses , and in three hours he was dispatched . the scale of the minister of justice was found , but he did it upon a stone by reason of the fury of the people : there was order given that the holy sacrament should be exposed and set open in divers churches , that it would please god to enlighten the hearts of the people to see the right ; besides the nuns with poor maidens amongst them made solemn processions , repeating the most holy rosario . there was scarce a post or place without and within the city butw as intrench'd which made the world wonder where they could get so much cannon . a company of priests appeared who went with their sotunes raised up ; at the head of them there marched a very reverend church-man upon a ginet , with a gold cross in his hand ; but this gave rather an occasion of scandal and murmuring , nor was it well taken by the people . they pillag'd all genovino's goods , who for many days before had withdrawn himself to the castle ; and if they could have laid hold on him they would have sent him after president cenano to the other world . the next day a peace was publish'd , which made every one to dance for joy ; yet the viceroy thought it not safe to come out of castelnovo . after dinner the lord cardinal filomarino went on horse-back with the prince of massa , and camp-master-general , and rid up and down the streets , all crying out , peace , peace . towards the evening there came out an edict in divers precincts of the city , wherein the viceroy did thank the most faithful people of naples for their good wills and inclination to peace . he ordered likewise , that none should speak of the castle of s. elino , which was fortified and furnished with all things necessary : now , amongst other places , he understood that the people intended to make a new motion that that fortress should be in their hands . the next day they took the goods of president cenano , which they had conserv'd in a convent of terresian nuns , and brought them to the sellaria ; they brought thither also the goods of giovamis s. felice , which all passed the flames . they gave out an order also to take the son of sanfelice , don lucio ; because he had given out in a menacing manner , that he would make the people of naples eat the very earth in lieu of bread . now the said don lucio was a great cornmaster in aversa . they of the people went to the convent of the olivetuni on mount olivct , where there was abbot the brother of tonno de angelis , together with the visitor-general , they were both put in a coach , and commanded to depart from naples . one among the people cried up and down the street ' guerra , guerra , war , war ; but he was put to prison by order of the prince of massa , then he was shot to death , and his head carried up and down the city for a disturber of the peace of the most faithful people of naples . the monks of the trinity made themselves prisoners to the popes nuntio ; and upon that church door they fastned an edict that had passed , wherein she was stil'd , la santissima trinita de spagnuoli , the most holy trinity of the spaniards ; they caused that edict to be cancell'd and torn in pieces : they a little after made prisoner caesar sanfelice , for some words which drop'd from him which gave scandal . the next day those capitulations of peace which were accorded 'twixt the viceroy and the most faithful people came out , and were published in divers precincts of the city , whereupon they raz'd some of their trenches . his excellency form'd a new company of three hundred officers , all italians , making a captain over them , captain biasi di fosco , a person of high resolution and merit . the viceroy sent prisoner to spain julio genovino upon a galley , who was accused to be the first inciter of massaniello , and the chiefest fomenter of all the tumults ; doctor luis●i capaccio at the instance of the most faithful people was appointed to be the minister for confirming and swearing the foresaid articles of peace 'twixt his excellency and the most faithful people ; but the viceroy was advised by the collateral councel , not to go forth in person out of the castle to swear unto those articles , but that the oath should be administred to both parties within the walls of castelnovo . the next day being sunday , the city sent to , the viceroy in behalf of the most faithful people , that the articles should be effectually ratified within the arch-bishops house ; his excellency returned an exeuse , that he was not well disposed in his health , and alledged examples , besides that in such cases all treaties were used to be confirmed within the castle : thereupon the camp-master general don francisco turaldo went thither , being accompanied with all the officers of war , beginning with the alferez of lieutenants , to higher degrees , together with the general of the ordinance ottavio marchise , all on horseback , and it was a very goodly sight ; the horses were extraordinary , but the horsemen were not so good , being oppidane : and turaldo himself being sick of the gout went in a sedan . they all entred into the castle in a solemn manner , where the articles were all sworn unto ; and so they return'd into the city very well satisfied , specially in outward appearance . the next day they entred the house of francisco de lieto , a principal merchant , and of very high credit , an honest man and much honoured , where there was a pillar which the people took exceptions at , and would carry it away ; he said that he had lost upon the gabels fifty thousand crowns , and he would spend fifty thousand more , provided that the gabels were regulated and setled ; but they went to call in more people to plunder him , which he perceiving he stole away surreptitiously ; thereupon they imprisoned his children , and took away a great quantity of cloth and other merchandizes of value ; thus when some thought the insurrection had been ended , it began afresh : they began to double their guard again ; but they freed the rich merchant di lieto for a ransom . in regard of the absence of the nobility who were retired to their countrey-houses , and abandoned the city , trade began to decay extreamly , and the artisans went up and down the streets like vagabonds having nothing to do . thete came news from sicily , that his catholick majesty had confirm'd the capitulations of peace with the palermitans , which caused much joy in the city , in regard they hoped that his majesty would ratifie their articies also in as ample manner . there came fresh information , that don john of austria , generalissimo of the seas , and natural son to his catholick majesty , was with a royal fleet at sardinia , he sent to the viceroy to provide some provisions for the gallies ; but he returned answer , that there was little convenience to accommodate them there , but the island which his royal highness was at , was more proper for to furnish bisket , and other necessaries : it was wonderful to see how dexterous the citizens of naples , were in handling their arms , in their discipline of war , in their marches and watches , as if they had been bred souldiers all their lives . there were solemn processions made by all the religious houses within and without the city , for a benediction to come from heaven upon the last agreement , and that god almighty would please to inspire the heart of the catholick king , to confirm the capitulations for avoyding of more blocdshed , but it seems their solemnities took little effect , as shall appear hereafter . the great statue of silver was carried up and down with that of saint germano protector of naples ; but aster the end of the processions the said silver statue of saint james was replac'd in the arch-bishops palace : there happened some stir the next day after , touching joseph palumbo lieutenant of the people , who had the chief charge of the magazines of gun-powder ; notice was taken , and complaints made , that he suffered too great a proportion to go for the castles , but that it should be reserved for the service of the most faithful people ; therefore the said palumbo was restrain'd to saint lorenzo ; but being a popular man , and one known to be a good patriot , and of a publick soul , and a prrson of integrity ; there were four thousand of the best armed men joyn'd together , to vindicate and free the said falumbo , and there was like to be a hot fray , and bloody business , had not the prince of massa , general to the city , with much ado and no less discretion appeased the tumult . the third tumult happened in the city of naples after the arrival of the armada of his catholick majesty under the command of the serenissimo don john of austria . the first day of october , 1647. the castle of saint elmo hung up the great standard upon sight of his catholick majesties royal army , there entred afterward into the port , five and fourty great vessels and as it was thought the galleys of his royal highness don john of austria : a rumour ran that they carried six thousand fresh foot , others said they came but to three thousand . all the royal castles saluted them , the quay was throng'd with many thousands of people to fee the fleet ; it was then certainly known , that his royal highness was aboard the galeones , thereupon it was ordered that prince thraldo with arqata the elect of the people , should go to tender a tribute of due obsequies and reverence to his highness , and he with many evidences of affection receiv'd them , and gave audience , saying , that he was ready to do whatsoever they desired or could imagine to have , having authority from his majesty to grant a remission of all things , provided that the arms should be consign'd to his excellency , and put in the castles . they carried him a plentiful present , two hundred turky-cocks , two hundred capons , two hundred pair of pigeons , twelve calves of surrento , and abundance of choice fruit upon twelve felucas : he received all very joyfully , causing some pieces of gold to be hurl'd into the felucas among those who carried the presents . the same evening the viceroy sent him a hundred weathers , a hundred gammons of bacon , with other commodities . the next day his highness signified his pleasure , that he was desirous to disimbarque and put foot on shore , but he desir'd that first the city should disarm : hereupon all the captains of war , and all the street-captains assembled at s. augustin to conclude upon that which his highness demanded ; but the common people of the market and of lavinaro forc'd into the said church , threatning death to all the captains who were there met , who dismiss'd the parliament for the time , and referr'd all to his highness . the next day arpaia the elect of the people was inorder'd to go to his highness , and desire him that he would come ashore but with a limited number , whereunto don john gave no pleasing ear : the next day a choice number of captains went to attend his highness , and to advertise him , that the people were willing to lay down their arms , and put them up in their own houses , not otherwise ; this likewise gave little contentmentto his highness . the next day certain spanish souldiers came down from castlenovo with a company of reformadoes , and made themselves masters of caesar lubrano's house in the hospitaletto , where they disarm'd all those that stood for the people , who were but few , because they depended upon the contract of peace , all the trenches being destroy'd to that purpose round about the city : the captain of that post was a glover , the spanish souldiers burnt the door of his house by an artificial fire , plunder'd him , as they did many other houses : all the three castles began to play and discharge their great guns , which struck a terrible affrightment into the women , but they did but little execution in regard of their distance , unless it was at porto , which suffer'd much . the captains of the people who were assembled in saint augustin and in toledo-street went all into the castles , as also some of the great market , another captain of porto , of santa maria , with divers other : then the gross squadron of spaniards came down , and with much cautiousness got possession of many of the importunest ports in and about the city , without the loss of one soul. the people of toledo-quarter remain'd much astonish'd being without captain , alfarez , or any other officer , as much as a serjeant or corporal : the spaniards seiz'd also upon porto , but the people recover'd that again ; for the people of the great market came in great numbers , and revil'd them , calling them poltrons , with other opprobrious language , which incited them to take arms again . the people thought they had all the justice of the world on their side , in regard , that according to the capitulations with the viceroy , they were to continue in arms till the confirmation had come from spain , which time was limited to three moneths ; therefore the prince turaldo going to the great market , the people cryed out , we are betrayed , we are all betrayed : the prince answer'd them with gentle language , and in substance ; son con voy , per morir con voy , sio hó fatto errore la testa lo paghi , má io son stato gabbato con voy : i am with you , to dye with you , if i have offended let my head pay for it , but i have been cheated as well as you . from that time forward the people would not permit turaldo to go out of their arms , either into the castle , or aboard the galeons . the spaniards in the mean time stirr'd themselves notably , and took into their possession the post of porta reale , with that of porta medina ; the three castles still played upon santa lucia and chaia , whereupon they gave up their arms into the hands of the spaniards , and scarce any of the people peep'd out thereabouts . that night not only the three castles , but the great galeons which were in port played upon the city , and one would think by the horrid noise they made , that a house could not stand , yet the damage was not very great ; thereupon his highness published a strict and high order , that every one should lay down his arms upon pain of death ; which many did accordingly ; considering with themselves how they had three castles , a fleet of galeons , and another of gallies against them ; the spaniards also having rendred themselves masters of so many posts , and going on still in their fortifications , but specially there being in the port another don john of austria . yet they did not lay down their arms or spirits , but with a flying squadron of two thousand foot they recover'd the port of constantinople , and the white port ; they attempted to regain reale and porta melina ; but they fail'd in that enterprize , as god would have it : therefore prince turaldo was of opinion , it was better to fall to entrenching again , for fear the spaniards might gain more places and posts . this councel was embrac'd ; yet while they were busie to entrench , the flying squadron of two thousand foot did recover le fosse del grano , and divers spaniards fell there , for a great number of them coming to saint sebastian , upon the upper ground , they let fly upon them shot as thick as hail , as also at saint andrea , insomuch that the spaniards knew not which way to turn themselves to avoid those fiery tempests . a lieutenant general of his majesties was on horse-back , with about fourty horse , and stood before the house of bernardo turboli upon a special piece of service ; but he was so wounded that his bowels gushed out , and so was carried to spirito santo . the spaniards afterwards hurl'd themselves in catalana street , but the women out of the balcones and windows pelted them with stones , whereupon the spaniards put fire to three shops , and sack'd divers houses besides , the women flying away at the backsides . the brigade of reformado's advanc'd afterwards with many napolitan cavaliers in the vanguard , and in the rear a company of spaniards , with six officers of war , don gaspar de salta , hieronymo arnadeo , with others , united themselves in the street of porta , as far as saint stephano , and the spaniards as far as jesu maria ; but they were repell'd by the people by a flying squadron remaining masters of porta medina and porta reale . the day following the people rush'd into the prison of the vicaria , and burnt all the criminal writings , setting at liberty fifteen hundred felons , whom they enroll'd for souldiers , and fetch'd as many arms as would serve their turn : among those prisoners there was one frenchman , who had been in the candian wars for the service of the signory of venice : this frenchman had been a commander a long time , being a man of knowledge and courage , therefore they put him in the head of a troop ; so there was hot skirmishing both night and day in the city on both sides , and the great cannons played without intermission , wherein there was much slaughter . most of the officers did confess , and took the communion , carrying the badge of the carmine , hoping thereby the holy virgi n would protect them in the publick service of their countrey , and for disburdening themselves from the insupportable weight of gabels . the artillery which stood upon the tower of carmine did notable service , and one bullet was shot thence into the royal galeon , where don john of austria himself was : he therefore landed , and got into the palace of the viceroy in safety , he is a comely youth , about twenty years of age , and full of vigor and resolution . his sea-commanders incited him most of all to begin the war , telling him , that half a dozen shots from the galleons would so terrifie the people , that they would lay down their arms , then the sword-justice should restrain them afterwards . both parties had now as it were beleaguer'd one another ; all toledo-street as far as the palace , the hospitaletto , chaia , together with santa lueia , were full of armed men , insomuch that none could pass to and fro , nor did any bread appear in the shops , or flesh in the shambles , or fruit in the market : there went such a number from the city to pozzuolo , that they have half famished that place ; thereupon the viceroy proposed a truce , but the people refused . the spaniards the next day rais'd up a great trench about porta reale , together with a little bulwark , which was done with that suddenness in the night time , that it could not be prevented ; coaches as well as carts were employed to carry materials up and down to fortifie : the walloons who guarded porta m●dina rais'd also in an instant , as it were , a marvellous strong trench , which the people offering to resist , they could not do it . the people then occupied san sebastian , they rush'd the zezza or exchequer , and seis'd upon all the silver violently into that was therein , with other treasure ; as also all the banks of moneys for the service of the publick . the viceroy publish'd a declaration , that whosoever would bring corn or meal into the castle he should be allow'd to sell it at such a rate for ready money . at that time there came a galley laden with corn from aversa ; but the galley-slaves killing the captain made her run upon the sands , and so the people took her with five cannons . there began to be a mighty scarcity in the city , yet the fury of the war grew hot●er and hotter ; and the spaniards began to set up double and treble trenches , which the other did imitate : the great bell of s. lorenzo rung out to encourage them to arms all night ; every house almost had a kind of trench about it , and some two , some three : there were great cannons planted also in the street of cavaglioli , which played upon the people incessantly near the garden of san felice . the viceroy put forth a proclamation , that whosoever would come into any of the three castles to serve their king , his catholick majesty , should have an advance of pay , and be presently entertain'd : and that day 3 brothers were detected to have a design that way , but they were all put to death by the people who were heated more and more . there were divers carts laden with dead bodies pass'd up and down the streets , to the number of fourty , this morning ; in the midst of the city the picture of death was set up near a red flag ; yet there went great numbers , that had neither houses nor shops to be plunder'd , to the castles . there was a design to make a mine under saint ursola , and to blow it up with gunpowder ; but prince turaldo , in regard it was a religious house , would not permit it , which made him to be somewhat suspected by the people ; there were some houses near the fathers of santa maria which were burnt to the ground , and all the office-houses which belong'd to the said fathers , were us'd in the like manner ; besides divers other fair houses near san suriano , that it was a most pitiful spectacle to behold it . there was a design discover'd , that a priest had on foot against the most faithful people who was of the family of the giordani , they presently chopp'd off his head , and cut others to pieces in great numbers who were of the conjuration : the nuns of the divine love were remov'd for fear of the spaniards into another monastery , call'd the sacrament near francisco nuovo . there came from nocera to serve the most faithful people four hundred fresh men very well arm'd , which did much encournge the city , and the next day after they came , they perform'd a notable piece of service against the spaniards , who were thought to begin to want powder ; for there was a calculation made that they had discharg ' d from the three castles , galleons and gallies , above thirty three thousand bullets already . there was a captain made shorter by the head , in regard the people had some jealousies that he held correspondence with the viceroy , having divers barrels of powder in his lodging which he had not discover'd . the next morning betimes the spaniards played from land and sea with their great cannons , so that it made the very earth to tremble ; they threw balls of wild-fire also into the city , which did notable hurt , and made both women and children to cry out , and howl miserably up and down the streets : the great bell of san lorenzo rung out again ; but that night the capuchin fryer who was brother to the archbishop , and was accounted a very holy man , was permitted to go to the castle to his highness don john of austria , to whom he propos'd some terms of accommodation ; don john directed him to the viceroy , but nothing could be obtain'd . the captain general of the people , the prince of massa , was suspected to have intelligence with the enemy , in regard of a lukewarmness they found in him in the execution of his office , therefore he was committed prisoner to the zapateria , in a certain dark cave , and chanchiero , who had chopp'd off the head of don peppo caratta , the duke of mataluni's brother , who was but a shop-keeper , was appointed to exercise the office of captain general ; for it wa● incredible to what a skill the common citizens wer● come to in point of arms. and now the most splendid and delicate city of naples which ravish'd all tha● came into her , she which was one of the glories 〈◊〉 italy , was reduc'd now to such an extremity , that she might be termed the miserablest and most barbarous of all cities ; such is the effect of war , and the fury of the people . the spaniards on the one side put all to fire and sword , the citizens on the other side bur● the goods , and destroy the houses of those of whom they had the least umbrage of suspition : the children cry up and down the streets for bread , which was extream scant , and every thing else very dear , only the sea , thanks be to god , afforded good store of fish , but for flesh there was neither salt nor fresh in any competency . the people having made a mine under porta reale it was discovered by the spaniards , who seiz'd upon all the powder , and took some of the miners , which they carried to the castle . there was a very bloudy fight 'twixt the citizens and the spaniards , about the dogana or custom-house , whence the people had remov'd above a million of goods into the house of the duke of adri. there came four hundred fresh men from sanseverino to serve the people , about which time a great many houses were burnt about porta reale . there came also six thousand combatants for recruites from other places , as lauro , nola , and other towns , insomuch that the city had not wherewith to sustain them , they were in such numbers . about the dogana there was the most furious fight of all , which lasted six hours , wherein many hundred , were wounded and slain , but more on the peoples sides and all the while the great bell of st. lorenzo rang out , while they were shedding one anothers blood . thete were about a hundred boys called lazari , which had certain darts , who went up and down and put fire to the convent of jesu , where they rush'd in and did much hurt ; but they were all beaten out by the spaniards . the next day there was a tough and bloody skirmish at porta medina , and the great bell of st. lorenzo rung out three times ; the fight was pursued to sancta lucia , where the people broke open a gate , but they were forced to turn back by the exemplary valour of don diomede caraffa , who had a very choice brigade , though few in number ; the next morning there was nothing but flames and smoak through the west side of the city , there were so many houses , and some of them very fair ones , which were set on fire the night before , which had not yet done burning . there came the next day three hundred men from salerno for the assistance of the people , who were quarter'd towards the sea-side ; that evening , and all night following the great bell of st. lawrence sounded again , and the fight continued all night most furiously , wherein many of the new salerno-men breath'd their last . the next day there was truce propos'd , but to little purpose ; so they fell to it all night again , and many hundreds were slain : among the people some of the family of parigi were shot to death , upon suspition to hold correspondence with the castle . don john of austria sent some gallies with a design to secure posilipo , but they fail'd in the effect ; for the spaniords were beaten back , being ore-powr'd by multitudes . the people finding that they were weak in horse , they made a new cavalry , and they admitted some of the banditi to their troops , who had come to fish in these troubled waters , to command them . the duke of mataluni had sent some choice troops of horse to don john of austria , which did extraordinary service . he sent a cavalier of quality to the captain-general of the people , to know the merit of their cause , and why they were so active in their own destruction , and the ruine of so many innocent souls , and such a glorious city : but the people sent back but an uncivil answer , viz. that when the confirmation was come from the court of spain they would send his highness another kind of message ; till then 't was but just they should continue to stand upon their guard , and repel any force , by that power which god and nature had given them for the defence of themselves and their franchises , together with their wives and children ; yet persisting with firm resolution to continue in an exact obedience to his catholick majesty , and not to listen to the enchantments of any other prince , which began to tamper with them already for a revolt . that night being a clear moon-shine , the people cull'd out three hundred horse , and four thousand musketiers and pikemen , to keep in one body upon some design , and it was to meet with the auxiliaries that the duke of mataluni had sent ; but they did not bring their intent home to their aim that night . the next morning a ban was published , that none in any part of city or suburb should plunder , under pain of death ; which was obeyed accordingly . upon saturday the 19. of september the great bell rung out for every one to be in a posture ready to fight : there was fire put to the house of the prince of montesarchio , hard by the dogana of corn , and a general skirmishing continued all night long till the sunday morning , at which time there came out a procession of friers in a doleful grave posture , with their faces bending towards the earth , which struck such a sense of mortality among them , that there was a white flag raised up for a truce , which the castle condescended unto ; but notable execution had been done on both sides the night before , so that the greatest business of the next sabbath was to bury their dead . the night following there poured down such fearful cataracts of rain that hindered all kind of action on both sides ; but upon munday there was a tough fight happened betwixt the brigade of the duke of mataluni and the people at marano , three of his commanders had their heads chop'd off in the great market-place , besides there was one hanged who had been surprized and searched , and a letter found about him from the duke of mataluni to the viceroy . the next day the voice went up and down , that if there were not terms propounded for a sudden peace they intended to introduce forreign force , and fix up a protest against his excellency : the sound of this voice went up to the castle . there was brought that day the head of captain john rosso di nola into the market-place , who was one of the chief commanders in the brigade of the duke of mataluni . a publick ban was fixed upon the church-doors , and in the publick market place , as also upon the gates of the city , that all cavaliers who had withdrawn themselves from the city might return with safety , which was done at the importunity of the artisans , who cried out that all trade was failed , which they imputed principally to their absence . the 20. of september there was a general assault made , and the most pertinacious was at santa lucia upon the hill , and at s. martins ; they of the people would have forced their passage that way , but the spaniards being strongly intrenched , they could do no good , notwithstanding that the dispnte was extreme eager and hot ; eleven spaniards were taken prisoners , besides those that were hurt and killed . the next day there was a furious dispute at porta medina , where the people had made a mine , which wrought a contrary effect , and flew in their own faces , insomuch that divers were blown into the air , some killed on the ground , and divers pitifully disfigured . the next day the people caus'd their own head to be beheaded , which was the prince of massa , turaldo their general , because he had caus'd sand to be put into some barrels in lieu of gun-powder , specially in those which were to do execution near jesus church : his body and his head were brought to the open market-place , to be a spectacle to all people : and about that time the spaniards sallied in divers places out of their trenches , and did notable execution upon the citizens , while they were gazing on the head of their general . tuesday the 22 of september , having been engag'd in fight all night long , the people put forth a publick manifesto in print , with their reasons why they had taken arms , therefore they desired his holiness , together with the emperour , and all the princes of italy , as also all other christian princes , to be sensible of their sad condition , and assist them , not onely with their prayers , but with their arms , in so just a quarrel ; concluding , that besides the recompence which they might expect from the goodness of god in an act of so much lawfulness and piety , that most faithful people would be ever bound to do the like or greater courtesies unto them upon all contingencies . the prince of turaldo who had a good while serv'd the people in quality of a general , having receiv'd the pass-port to go to the other world without his head , gennaro arnese succeeded him in that publick charge : the first piece of justice he did was to condemn a captain to have his head struck off , for violating a woman in the doury of virgins where he had his command . turaldo being gone , 't was imagin'd by some that it would facilitate the way to peace ; and that which rais'd the hopes of some the more , was , because his holiness's nuntio had gone to the castle , where he receiv'd that solemn audience ; but nothing came of it , so that all the next day there was nothing but skirmishing up and down in every corner . the 23. of september , six hundred of the people 'twixt horse and foot , went to marano in succour of that important post , where they found three thousand horse of the barons ; in particular , the marquess of vasto , the duke of cagnano , the duke of mataluni , the prince of monte sarchio , the duke of caivano , the marquess of marianella , the duke of siana , and a number of other cavaliers , all which were repelled by them of the place , and the succour which came from the city ; among other , their captain general was killed , and thirteen more , whose heads were brought to the great market-place in triumph , with divers prisoners besides . the next day the great cannons from the three castles plaid more furiously than ever , and made both towers and steeples , houses , monasteries , and churches , to tremble every where . the spaniards attempted to open a passage at vemero , which was a post of mighty consequence ; the dispute was very stubborn , and wonderful hot , lasting above three hours ; but the spaniards were made to retire at last , being surprized by night . that day the people did strictly command , that under great penalties the cavaliers should keep within their houses , nor were they suffered to go hear mass inany church for fear of conventicles : they sent their orders abroad likewise in the countrey circumjacent , that they should bring provision to the city , and other assistances , under pain of rebellion . the day following it was pitiful how the women went howling up and down with their children at their breasts , crying out for bread , which was come down to 11. ounces . there came into the post eleven gallies from genoa with the duke of tursi , who all saluted the castles , and the castles them ; besides , the torrion of carmine gave them also divers salutes in behalf of the people ; but the said duke coming ashore was afterwards clap'd up in prison . there came six hundred fresh souldiers from sanseverino and the precincts thereabouts for succour of the neapolitans , who upon their ensigns brought the picture of death ; they were quartered about the monastery of s. andrea , the nuns being removed thence to another place . certain letters which were sent from the ambassadour of the most christian king to the most faithful people of naples were publickly read , being consigned to don luigi ferro , who had been ambassador for the people in dispersing the foresaid manifesto up & down : the proffers which the christian king made therein to the republick of naples were accepted , which was two millions of gold , twenty galeons , eighteen gallies , and fourty tartanas : thereupon a feluca was dispatched with an express from the people to embrace the said propositions , and whatsoever was contained in them . this express was to go to don luigi ferro , who was then in rome , negotiating with the french ambassadour . sunday the 26. of september , the people sent out a ban to call in all the barons up and down all the countrey for their assistance , under pain of burning their houses , and other penalties . the viceroy understanding what had happened betwixt franee and naples , and that johu baptista ferro was sent expresly to rome about it , he sent present advice thereof to his catholick majesties ambassadour there resident at that time , to do what diligences he thought fitting in so pressing occasions . in the mean time all that day there was fighting in divers posts about the city , and much bloud spilt . the viceroy caused the great cistern of oyl , which was near porta reale , to be emptied , and to be sold for the use of the souldiery , wherein there was computed to be above one hundred thousand sesters or quarts . the viceroy , cardinal filomarino , and the duke of tursis , they say , had a private conference over the walls thereabouts that afternoon . the next day the voice in many places of the city , viva francia , let france live , in other places , viva il parlamento d'inghilterra , let the parliament of england live , which caused don john of austria and the viceroy to have fleas in their ears . the rumour went that monsieur de fountain , ambassadour at rome for his most christian majesty had sent four veteran captains for the service of the city , who had order to let them know that he had a million every year to be expended for the preservation of their liberties , terming them a most noble , and a most generous people . they of the long robe went melancholy up and down the streets , complaining that they were undone for want of practice , w ich was no wonder , for inter armasilent leges ; there was news brought , that the duke of mataluni was towards aversa . there came another express from rome by baptista ferro that the king of france was resolv'd , and would make good his purpose , and promise , to preserve naples in quality of a common-wealth ; thereupon the cry up and down went viva francia , let france live ; which they strain'd their throats to cry so loud , that the sound thereof might reach to castelnovo , which was but a harsh note in the ears of the viceroy and his highness . that day there was fire put to the house of nicolo tinano in the piazza ofs . elmo . the general gennaro arnese put out'a declaration , that none under pain of death should say , that the letter of the king of france was false ; wherefore another express was sent to the french army to sollicit their haste . the 30. of september the fight was somewhat cold , as if the spirits on both sides had languish'd . the viceroy caus'd a letter to be printed in form of a manifesto to be sent to all the barons throughout the kingdoms , wherein he required them in his catholick majesties name , to contribute and send speedily what auxiliaries and assistants they could to bridle the tumultuous humours of these mechanicks . on the other side , they caus'd the capitulations which were made with the crown of france to be stampt and fairly printed . they also put out a protest against the barons , if they contributed any aid or advantage whatsoever to the viceroy against them . 'twixt the conciaria and lavinaro there was a great contest whether they should receive the king of france , or continue still under the catholick king ; but at last it was concluded that they would have neither ; but they would reduce themselves to the form of a republick , according to the example of old rome , their next neighbour , who never flourish'd more then under the form of a republick . another answered , that to establish any thing , it must have first a foundation ; we must not be transported with chimeras , and build castles in the air. the report ran that divers of the nobles had taken port at capo di chino , which fill'd the city full of odd thoughts ; because it was a post of infinite advantage : therefore all that night there was nothing but shooting of small and great guns , ringing of bells to fight , and much hurt was done on both sides , both to men and houses , which ceased about the morning . newes came to the city , that yesterday morning there was a great contention betwixt the brigades that the nobles had levied , whereof some would cry viva francia , others viva spagna , and the dispute went so high , that from words they fell to arms , and 200. were slain upon the place of those that cried for france . the army of the barons were advanced as far as aversa , where they made a hal● 〈◊〉 they passed to nola , thence to scafati , and thence ●o the tower of the anuntiata , and the greek tower , with a notable slaughter of the people . the next day the bell of santa barbara within castelnovo rung out as a signal to battel , which was not done before ; thereupon the spaniards came down with a great deal of violence ; and the people endeavouring to get porta medina and porto reale , specially vomero , which was next under the castle , the dispute was very eager and bloody ; but those places by the advantage of the great cannon were notably defended , and a great slaughter made of the citizens which made the women go up and down the streets like frantick folks ; one crying out for her husband , another for her brothers , another for her children ; so that it would have softned a heart of stone , and they began then to revile not only the viceroy , and don john of austria , calling him unlucky bastard ; but they fell with foul terms upon the king of spain himself , crying out , viva francia , viva il parlamento d' inghilterra . the barons bestir'd themselves notably in the country , and made themselves masters of scafati , and the greek tower where the people were strongly entrench'd , but forc'd to yield and run away : and the same hour that i was writing this , there was a bloody combat at porta reale and porta medina , and new jesu , which was so batter'd , that it can never be repair'd again : the slaughter was such , that dead bodies were carried away by cart-loads , and great pits made to hurl in the carkases ; so that one priest serv'd for many to sing their requiems ; then they discharg'd some cannons in the castle with powder onely for joy and triumph . i will now relate here what persons they were that were the first raisers of these horrid tumults . it must be presupposed that about the lower places of the great market-place , as also in lovinaro , conciaria , sellaria , at saint anthony , and santa maria loreto , and the hourg of the virgins , there were about thirty thousand men that used to goe barefoot , with canvass slops , and onely their shirts upward ; these men living most of them upon the retailing of fish , hearbs , sallets , flowers , and such petty commodities ; and some of them carrying cruses of oyl , fruits , bread , honey , with other things of the like nature about the streets ; most of them have their wives , who attend their labours at home , as beating of flax , spinning and washing ; these people are very prolifical and fruitful , that they have abundance of children ; they fare hard and lie upon mattresses ; for few of them have any sheets , yet they earn about twelve pence a day ; they have no stable possessions at all , but what they have is from hand to mouth : they are called in naples scalzi , that is , unshod people ; because they go most an end bare-footed ; their ordinary food , besides roots and fruit , is a little bacon put betwixt two pieces of bread , having boiled or rosted it before to make it melt upon the bread to make it savory ; they have nothing but water to drink after it , and this is commonly their dinner ; for supper they have commonly but hearbs and grass , whereof they will eat as much as a horse , a little oyl and vinegar ; and divers of them without bread. they live best in fruit time , whereof there is greater store about the city of naples then any where else ; and fruit time doth last there near upon six moneths : they feed much upon figs , which are there very great , and most delicate ; yet these people are plump and well to pass , vigorous and hearty , notwithstanding that their greatest sustenance is fruit . the viceroy duke of arcos had imposed a ●ornese which is less then a farthing upon every two pounds of fruit by way of gabel , and this year afforded more quantity of fruit then ordinary : these poor people grew half mad thereupon , considering what taxes were imposed upon all other commodities as far as bread , which is the staff of life : massaniello , as was related before , assisted by a number of these poor people , burnt the gabell-house in the market place , and committed other high acts of audacity . the viceroy commanded the house to be set up again , and continued still to exact the said gabell upon fruit : thereupon they grew more incensed and resolute then they were before ; and the artisans with other of the best sort of citizens joyning with them for the common interest and freedome , the tumult by degrees ascended to this monstruous height , that whereas before they spoke reverently of the king of spain , they now villifie him together with don john his bastard , and crye up the king of france , knowing him to be a mortall enemy to the spaniards , and to be now in actuall warre against him ; besides by the information of some merchants here , they had notice how matters pass'd in england ; therefore oftentimes they cry out , viva el parlamento d' inghilterra ; and in this manner ended the moneth of october within the city of naples . we are now on the first day of november , the feast of all saints ; and to begin the moneth , the spaniards shot very furiously from the castle of saint elmo , and gave them hot alarums ; but this was onely in the morning ; they were quiet all the day after . while these prodigious tumults succeded in the city of naples , i must not omit to declare that in calabria at most towns by a kind of strange influence , the same spirit of insurrection did possess the people . they of monteleone did tumultuously rise up , and burnt 3 houses , which made don fabricio pignatello , duke of the said city , to hasten thither for suppression of the broyls in his own person , and for that time his presence did so prevail , being attended by the nobility , and others of best rank , that he quench'd those popular flames , and brought divers of the chief mutineers to punishment , whereby he setled a perfect quietness , not only in the city of monteleone , but in all the places adjacent . but when the said people had understood how stoutly the people of naples held out still , notwithstanding the arrival of don john of austria , whom they called the by-blow of his majesty : the said duke of monteleone finding the inclinations of the people generally for an insurrection , and their spirits elevated to a high pitch , by the example and constancy of naples , he wisely gathered what choice men he could to a considerable number , and having got a good vessel , together with a brigantine , he arrived safely to the port of naples the first of november , whence he went presently to castlenovo to do his observance to don john of austria , who with extraordinary demonstrations of favour and affection received him . whereupon the said duke offer'd with many hot protestations to make litter of his life for the service of his catholick majesty the king his master , upon all occasions , though never so full of imminent and unavoidable danger ; which protestations he made good afterwards by his actions ; so he dis-imbarqued the fifteen hundred men he brought , with a good quantity of arms , corn , and other provisions which he brought along with him from calabria . that night the spaniards being much animated by these new auxiliaries , and the person of so gallant a man , made sallies out of the castles down towards the city , where they sought in three several posts all night long , and the people of naples were ready to receive them ; so that they got little at that time . the next day the viceroy had a design upon pusilipo , and to that purpose sent thither a considerable force ; but the passages being narrow , and the people resolute to live and dye with the napolitans , the spaniards were repelled with some considerable loss , so that they re-imbarked themselves , and so retir'd . the next morning three hundred calabreses more were sent from the prince of satriano as a new supply for the viceroy , in behalf of the catholick king his master . there were tidings also brought from the army of the barons , that don vicenzo de tuttavilla had parted from aversa towards the greek tower , and scafati , where runs the source of the waters that drive all the mills thereabouts ; it was beleagured by three thousand of the people ; tuttavillia had with him six hundred horse , the duke of andria , with others , six hundred more , the duke martina sixty , the marquess of turiviso two hundred horse , and fifteen hundred foot , the prince of yorella three hundred foot , and three hundred horse , the prince of supino fifty horse , the count of santa maria in grisone thirty horse , the duke of cassa massima fifty horse , and tonno gentili having left aversa to the government of the duke of mataluni , who had two hundred banditi , together with the duke of sora fifteen hundred horse , the prince of sernia fifty horse , and the camp-master marco laudulpho of the said city was inordered to keep his station at some distance from the city . the viceroy having seasonable notice of the motion of the army under the barons , gave order to batter the trenches about porto ; but they were so well fortified and barricadoed that the artillery could do no good . the next morning massaniello's command was renew'd in the city , that none must go abroad in a cloak or upper garments , but all en cuerpo . the duke of mataluni maintaining his brigade upon his own expence , without one carlin charge to his majesty , and demanding some quarter to guard , he was assigned that of santa lucia on the hill , a place of the greatest consequence , because the enemy had means thence to batter castelnovo . about midnight an alarm was given by the enemy , and the said duke would have exposed his own person in the van , which he did , and did notable execution upon the citizens . the next day being returned to the castle his highness don john fell embracing of him , expressing much thankfulness and joy. the people the day following took eight of puzzuolo men prisoners , with a corporal of the duke of matàluni's , who had been freed formerly by the said people when the vicaria was taken ; he was hanged in the market-plaee . the city made great provisions for the frenchmen , whom they expected to come for auxiliaries ; whereupon the viceroy sent some choice galleys to pusilipo , and other places , with two hundred men upon a design . the same morning the general of the barons army march'd to cerra , where he found the prince of montesarchio , the prince of fraia ( who was governour of that place ) with three hundred horse and two hundred foot ; with these three was don francisco caracciola , the son of the duke of cosenza , don fabricio spinello , don jusepe mastrillo , and carlo gartano a captain of a troop of horse , together with don antonio tuttavilla , don francisco de vargas , 'twixt tonn● and somma . being come at night to nola , where don fernando caracciola was governour ; they found also there the prior his brother , don giovanni sanchez , with the prince of ottoiano , and others , who had four hundred good horse , and three hundred foot , conducted by the said barons . upon munday the fourth of november the citizens of naples sent in the name of the most faithful people two thousand foot well armed towards the greek-tower : the duke of tursis with much difficulty did land his goods , with some of his highnesses don john of austria . the rumour ran , that his catholick majesty sent a peremptory command , that an accommodation should be made with the people by all means possible , and that the war should cease . thereupon his highhess sent a person of quality to tell the people how he received a great deal of consolation that he had found so much experience of the most faithful people in the alleglance to his catholick majesty , in that they had caused some of theirs to be taken off , whose tongues had cried out , viva francia , therefore there should be reasonable justice done to all their just demands . thereupon they proposed , that the duke of arcos should be removed : secondly , that his highness might govern them ; thirdly , that the spaniards in vallom should retire to castlenovo ; fourthly , that the chief incendiaries should depart the kingdom : fifthly , that the castle of s. elmo should be in the hands of the people , with the posts about it , as it was in the time of charles the emperour ; sixthly , and lastly , they desired a performance of the capitulations agreed upon at first . the next day the forces of the duke of montelione imbarqued themselves , who came to preserve that city in her obedience and security . the people thereupon removed , and planted some of their artillery in the palace of cardinal filomarino and s. george the great , that they might the more conveniently shoot at the castles ; which many wondred at , considering there was an overture of treaty made ; the barons army met all in one gross body , the general being the prior caraeciola before-mentioned , and don john same 's with two hundred horse went towards scafati , where he arrived about fix a clock , and found the place beleaguer'd by two thousand of the peoples forces ; there were within fifty spaniards , who had but an alferez for their chief commander , they were in want of match and bullet , having been besieged four days , and they were forced to make use of their shirts for match , and melt copper-money for bullet ; the italian tercia under the command of prospero tuttavilla came very luckily at that time , together with captain siglia and osman , two companies of musketiers , one of don diego de cordova , the other were burgundians ; there was another brigade of ●oluntiers , themarquess of turicuto , thed . of bovino , the p. of mondervino , the p. of supino don john sanchez , don francisco caracciala , don lucio san felice , don gulliermo tuttavilla don joseph orilla , don thomaso guinazzo , tonno dentici , andreasanfelice , duarde andria , the marquess of san juliano , michael ruffia , don jeronomo suardo , don carlo aquaviva ; all these of the barons army were missing , in regard that every one attended his own post. the enemy had eight troops of horse , who were commanded by poleto pastina of salerno . the people lost 1500 persons , and 25 were taken prisoners , the rest were pursued as far as stradono novo , near the territories of aversa ; on the barons side onely one burgundian was slain , and 2 more wounded ; they made a halt there , and the barons army sack'd and burnt many houses , among the rest the house of pietro cassale . there was also much pillage and treasure seiz'd upon , most part whereof was distributed among the fifty spaniards who kept scafati so gallantly . afterwards they march'd to the tower of aversa , where they hung out white flags in sign of obedience ; and the general being entred he gave them an universal pardon , and while he march'd towards the greek tower of castelmare , the duke of montelione appear'd to receive further orders , together with the duke of girifallo , the marquess of s. george with 400 foot , together with the prince divalle , came also unto them ; the whole army being come to the said tower , whither they of scafati had fled , before they gave any assault , the enemy did abandon the post. while thus in the countrey there was a course taken to straiten the people to the obedience of his majesty , there was no time lost in naples ; for the duke of montelione did bestir himself notably , who advanc'd boldly towards the dogana ; he attempted also to force the passage to sancta lucia to confront the enemy , having done so oftentimes before : at last having advice , that in calabria there were new tumults , he made it appear to his highness how necessary it was for him to return thither ; hereupon parting from don john , with many expressions of endearments , he had the title conferr'd upon him of vicar-general , with a very ample commission to that effect , yet with this restrictive clause , that the kingdom being quieted he would be willing to resign the cha●●● : so leaving the best part of his brigade behinde for the service of naples , he imbarqued himself the night following for carantaro . in the morning betimes they of the greek tower came to tender their obedience the sixth of november ; so for the guarding of that place the camp-master-general quarter'd there 150 calabreses , and 200 neapolitans , to be commanded by the duke of nartina and luigi minutulo with their troops of horse , and seignior caesare caraffa : but being setled there , there came the day following 1200 of the peoples army under the command and conduct of capitan rosso , who suriously assaulted them , and having gain'd the first trenches with the death of 15 calabreses whom the duke monteleone had brought , and 4 spaniards , they burnt the monastery of santa maria , together with the hospital of the incurables , cutting off the heads of 15 sick men ; but they within making a virtue of necessity , sallied out with that magnanimous resolution , that they put them to flight , and took about 300 of them prisoners , and did execution upon above 100 in the pursuit ; cavallero medici got the colours of the horse , the count of santa maria , don michael almaide , the prince of castillaneta , with the marquess of trevico did signal service that day . in naples , in the interim , judge palma , who had retired himself into the castle , did frame a writing , exhorting the people to conform themselves , and submit to the mercy of his highness , who did offr to stay there for hostage , until the capitulations came from his majesty : in that writing of the judge there were many proposals worthy of the consideration , with cautions how the french in former ages did carry and miscarry themselves in that kingdom : how that in the compass of less than 4 moneths they were forced to send them away packing , and desire the spaniard to enter : now it is not observed , that the french are any thing alter'd in their natures to this day , but are still the same , insolent and unstable men , as they were from the beginning . yet for all these overtures of reconcilement , the great cannons played still , and all sorts of small shot , and acts of hostility committed night and day 'twixt both parties ; and this day the musketiers came as far as the nuncio's house , which was much wondered at . it was expected about this time , that a general indulgence or amnestia should be publish'd through all the kingdom , and that for 10 years there should be a freedom given of all the lands ; moreover that the power of the barons o're their tenants should be restrain'd . there came news to naples , that the marquess of velez was dead in his viceroyship of sicily , and that cardinal trivultio was appointed to succeed him in the government of that kingdom . tidings were brought also , that 4. feluca's were come from rome , with certain commanders of war , for the service of the people ; there came news afterwards , that 7. more were arriv'd , and thought to be french ; and that a great personage was aboard of them , which was thought to be the duke of guise ; therefore the town made preparations to receive and entertain him according to his quality in point of diet and housing . there sallied out of the town that day 5000. souldiers upon some design on the greek tower , but they came back re infectà . the 8. of november , all night long , the great bell of san lorenzo rung out , and the great cannons played more furiously then ever ; drums and trumpets sounded every where , the castles did a great deal of hurt to the city : at donna alluina the spaniards made two mines to force their passage that way further into the heart of the city ; but the mines played not , which made them return to their own posts with some mortality : yet two of the fairest houses in naples were blown up that night : and about the dogana there was skirmishing for six hours together , 'twixt the spaniards and the people , which caus'd such mortality on both sides . the next day the people understanding that the prince of montesarchio was coming with 3000. fresh combatants for the royalists , the great bell gave an alarm , so there sallied out of the city 500. men to repel him which took effect ; for they made the prince to sind his way back again : now , because the business of the people might go on more regularly , they might go on more regularly , they elected 4. doctors of the law , and 4. swordmen as a committee to consult what was to be done : some houses were burnt without the gate of the holy spirit ; and upon the palace of tonno d' angelis , there was a black flag set up , so that the cannons played most part of the day . yesternight there was a great brigade of cavalry and infantry discover'd in form of a squadron beyond the bridge● of santa madalena ; there came also two gallies which were laden with dead bodies from divers places of the country , to receive honourable burial in the city , whereof there were divers commanders . st. elmo had got a supply of gunpowder from sicily by a gally of purpose ; so the next day the castle thundred for 7. hours together . this incens'd the city so much , that the next day there was a bando publish'd that none should speak of peace ; but that every soul should prepare to defend himself by arms , and annoy the enemy as much as he could . the cavaliers , and general of the barons , who kept up and down the country , made a halt at marigliano , and sequestred the goods of ciccio ferlingero , general of the calvary to the people , where they found 500. butts of lacrime christi , a choice sort of wine ; the prior caracciola was left governour of the said place with 200. souldiers , and ottaiana the prince himself guarded the place . wednesday following , they march'd towards aversa ; in the way they made a halt at marigliano , and sergeant major nega was left governour of the place , with 4. troops of horse . in many places of the countrey circumjacent to naples ; the tenants rose up in great numbers , hoping that the city would be able to free them from the yoke of slavery they groan'd under , and the excessive rents they paid to their landlords . they of naples had so fortified the dogana , that it look'd like an impregnable bulwark ; it commanded one side of the sea ; so that the spaniards could not pass to the little mole to and fro , which was a great incommodity unto them ; for divers were , killed as they went along from time to time , and it hindred the conveyance of necessaries to the castle . for two days together there was nothing but shooting of great and small guns , and the bullets flew up and down every where , which made no distinction of persons , whereby you may conjecture what a mortality there was . the civiller sort of people , as lawyers , clerks , notaries , and other of the long robe , were commanded to put themselves in arms for the common defence , and were assigned several posts for them to guatd . there came gladsome news to the city that the prince of montesarchio was routed , who came to stop the watets of poggio reale , insomuch that he himself was put to fly , nor was the service without considerable loss to the people also : there was one of the house of capello , that was surprized and taken for a spie to the duke of mataluni , with divers other prisoners of quality brought to the market-place : thereupon there were bonfires of joy made in divers places of the city , and the bells rung out , and the cannons played to congratulate their good successes . the cavalry of the people thought to assault some posts about vomero ; but by the valour of the germans and burgundians , who served the viceroy , they were repuls'd with no little loss : they took an eminent man called andrea carola , who belong'd to the prince of massa , prisoner , and a councel of war went upon him , so he was condemn'd to have his head cut off . the camp-master general , scipione latro , was appointed by the viceroy to have the chief charge in guarding puzzuolo . the people that night march'd with 500. resolute men , and advanc'd just under the castle of s. elmo ; they entred into an outward house that belong'd to the governour of the castle , where they found some provision , and great store of wine , which they let out upon the ground , and burnt the house : the chief leader of this venturous brigade did play his game so well , that he came off with the loss of ten men only . the duke of arcos did publish a bando , that whoever could bring him the head of gennaro arnese , who was elect of the people , should have 10000. crowns : thereupon the people caused another bando to be publish'd , that whosoever could bring into the market-place the head of the duke of arcos , who was viceroy , should have 12000. crowns ; or whosoever did kill him any way , should have 6000. upon certainty of the act : insomuch that the eagerness and enmity on both sides grew hottet and hotter . they of the long robes and divers priests went up and down the streets en cuerpo all in black , with muskets on their shoulders , and pistols on both sides hanging at their girdles . there came unwelcome news to the city the day following , that the count of conversano was come to puzzuolo with four thousand fresh combatants , to joyn with the cavaliers by the way of ansignano ; there was brought in the afternoon a cart-load of heads into the market-place , which had been cut off in the countrey . the fight grew very furious towards the people , especially at porta reale , where a spanish camp-master don jeronymo guzman , kinsman to the viceroy , fell gloriously ; yet his body was rescued , and received honourable burial in the church of spirito santo : eleven spaniards more perished in that place ; but of the common people 't was thought there were about a hundred slain . the next day the castles saluted the city betimes with their cannon from st. elmo ; an unhappy bullet came and killed one of the principal of the black-coats that was in arms. there came news from the country , that don julio aquaviva was slain about marigliono , with others who had sold their lives very dear , with slaughter of divers of the people . the popes nuntio , there having come unto him a courtier expresly from rome to that purpose , desir'd to have audience of the people in the name of his holiness , to whom he had some things to communicate that tended to the publick incolumity and welfare of the city : thereupon there was a consultation had in gennaro arnese's house , the general of the people , where it was deliberated that he should be heard ; but that he should pass through some private houses , not through the open streets , to the place of audience , because he might not discover their works : thereupon the general of the napolitan republick put himself in state all in cloth of silver , to attend the nuntio ; who came at last with an auditor , whom the pope had sent purposely with a brief , exhorting the city to conform themselves to a serious treaty of peace , otherwise the holy church must do her duty , and exercise her spiritual arms for the preserving of christian blood , and preventing the effusion of it . 't was said he stil'd gennmaro by the name of excellency ; who answered the nuntio , that he could not expect a sudden answer to so grave an embassie ; therefore the most faithful people desired some time to consult and consider of it : so the nuntio parted , and some did laugh in their sleeves at him when he was gone , so little they feared the arms of the church . but this message from the pope did so little prevail , that the next day the people buckled themselves for fight more earnestly then ever , being now so long flesh'd in blood that it made them little sensible of danger ; therefore all that day there was skirmishing in all places . towards the evening there was a feluca discovered , which had been chased by two gallies , but narrowly scaped them ; this feluca came safely to port , and she brought in her the duke of guise , who had lived a good while retir'd in rome , having left france upon some disgust : hereupon there went off from the torrion of carmine twenty six shot of ordnance , and then the bells did ring out à gloria : the duke had with him but four servants : gennaro arnese went to meet him in splendid equipage , and he was received by the people with extremity of gladness ; the cannons upon the bastion of the great church went off again , and he was conducted to the carmine , where there were church-offices performed to god and the most blessed virgin for his safe arrivall to naples . his quarter was provided for him behind the bastion of carmine . the next morning he appeared in the windows of his lodging , and hurl'd money among the people , telling them that they should be of good cheer , for the french army was near : that evening he did the like ; but as they were discoursing of this business news came that the said army was sailed towards toscany . about night there were brought eight heads into the market-place ; and it was reported that one of the sons of count conversano was dead . the next day there were sixteen fe●ucas that brought french officers and others from rome , for the duke of guise , who threw monies again among the people up and down the streets . that evening there was skirmishing at every post about the city . but there came cold news from the countrey , that there about three hundred of the people kill'd by the barons army , who was recruited much by the cavaliers of castlemare . the duke of guise went to view all the trenches that were rais'd up and down for the defence of the city , as also at vomero , and puslipo , at which time a fire happened in the vicaria , which was extinguish'd before it had done much hurt . about this time polito pastina the cape of the banditi , for to be revenged of some enemies of his in salerno , made himself master of the place by force , notwithstanding that he had received some refreshments there a little before : he secur'd the town for the people ; but the camp-master boccapianola of leve came with three thousand well appointed men presently after , and besieged pastina in the town of salerno , where he apprehended so much fear , that he proposed suddenly some articles , that if the viceroy would pardon him he would for the future constantly serve his majesty with all his brigade ; which was accordingly accepted . these are the successes out of naples ; but within her walls there were hot disputes all this day without any intermission , which lasted till night and darkness parted them . the duke of guise the next dav went to the archbishops palace , to take on oath of fidelity to the people , and hear mass , and so he took the communion by the hands of cardinal filomarino . news came that the city of nocera was in great commotion , and that much slaughter was done there , some adhering to the people , but the greatest number to the king , who hated the very name of the french. that evening there was a hot encounter at san carlo alle mortelle , where a knight of st. jago was slain , with divers others ; but the people lost more ; for they were in a better condition to spare them , having ten times more store of men then the enemy . the duke of guise got a choice brigade , to give a general assault to donna alluina , whereupon the bells rung out to arm ; in this service very many fell ; but re infectà thence they went to santa maria la nova ; but the success was not great . the viceroy caused nine to be executed that he had taken prisoners into the castle , and published a ban , that whosoever took up arms against his majesty should suffer death without mercy . the next day there were very hot encounters in divers places , and many were slain , hurt , or taken prisoners ; the great rain caused them to be quiet in the afternoon , which foul weather came accompanied with a tempest that endangcred some of don j. of austria's fleet , which was in the port , expecting what would be the issue of these broyls . the duke of guise desir'd to have 6000 foot , and 1000 horse , and he would go to finde out the barons army , which did so much spoil in the countrey : he had his desire , and so march'd to auversa . the barons having timely intelligence hereof , joyn'd all in a battaglion , and came with a great deal of resolution towards the duke ; and understanding there were many french in the army , it heightned their spirits the more : the people hearing the noise of so many trumpets , and sound of drums , were seared , and so astonished that they thought of flying away ; but the duke with other commanders did encourage them , so that a furious fight lasted for 2 hours ; but at last the dukes people gave ground , and so ran away with the the loss of 300 upon the place , and about half so many wounded , and 40 prisoners . the lieutenant-general of the people was slain , who was a french-man , with a camarade of the duke of guise , whose body he bought for burial : on the barons side there fell the marquess of san juliano , don emmanuel vaaz , with 30 more ; the victorious barons retired ( the night being come ) to aversa , and the people for another place that stood for naples . they had been somewhat quiet in naples all this while , attending the success of the countrey army abroad , which when they heard , it somewhat dejected them . the duke being returned to naples , went to visit all the posts up and down ; the next morning the city had a hot good-morrow given her by the castles , that put her in a palsie for a great while ; there came more french from rome to finde out the duke of guise , but they were very few . some of the people remembring the words of the duke , that the french army was near , made a motion , that if the said army came not by such a day the dukes head should pay for it ; many thought this french army was a meer chymera , and a pure cheat ; nor did there want some instruments os the viceroy to infuse this into the peoples heads . about the dogana the next day , there was a tough dispute , where 20 were killed , and 30 of the people wounded , many fell likewise on the other side . the admiral of don john's galeous died about this time , having been sick divers days of a continual feaver . there was a new patent to be given to the duke of guise , wherein he should be stiled the doge of the royal republick of naples ; but some under hand gave advice , it was not fitting to be done until there were some certitude of the french army he spoke of . besides some reports were flown from the castle , that the confirmation of the articles was come from the catholick court , and was a printing with addition of further graces for the city of naples . in the interim there came reports daily how divers places in calabria , as pizzo and others , were mightily troubled with factions , which were grown so high that much bloud was spilt , many houses burnt , and other mischiefs done . in some places the kings party prevail'd , in others the people ; yet the marquess of santa catherina did a great deal of good , who went up and down with 2000 foot , and 1000 horse , and did quiet sundry places that were in uproars with such moderation and prudence that it is admirable ; he suppress'd besides some rogues , that taking the advantage of the times robb'd up and down the countrey , hanging them up on the high-ways on boughs of trees , that they might be a terror to the passengers . and in one little grove which lay upon the common passage , they say , he did such an execution of those free-booters , who were worse than banditi or common robbers , that every tree was laden with their dead bodies , some having 4 , some 5 , some 6 , or more , dangling upon their branches . upon mund●y the second of december , leaving the affairs of calabria , and returning to naples , from 3 hours of night to 7 in the morning , there was a kinde of general battle given , specially about the kings d●gana ; there fell of spaniards and germans above 60 , and twice as many of the people ; this afternoon t●hre were imbarqued about 300 souldiers to go for aversa for a further supply to the barons , those gallies which carried them had ammunition and arms also for the service of the said barons . upon the third of december there was quietness on both sides , as if there were no war at all , but afterwards there began a fiery encounter about the dogana , being the nearest post to castelnovo ; the duke of guise ordered that some place should be filled with earth and fagots , that the cannons towards the castle might be mounted higher ; whereupon many hundred people were set on work for that purpose accordingly ; there was order also , that all the wines near naples should be brought into the city , because the enemy should not make use thereof : there were likewise divers private magazines of corn found in the city , which being discovered they were made use of for the publick good . the duke of guise was resolved to raise a regiment of men upon his own charge , that they might be more faithful unto him , and as it were his own creatures ; he offered 20 carlins by way of advance to every one , and a greater pay than ordinary ; thereupon divers came to enroll themselvs , and he promised to pay 3000 men upon his own score ; to which purpose he had letters of exchange for considerable summes : one of the greatest things that pinch'd the city , was the galeons and gallies which were in port , in regard they were a great hindrance for commodities to come to the city , which was reduced now to a great necessity of victuals . the spaniards had made a secret mine in the prince of rocca's house ; but the people having intelligence of it , spoil'd it , though it cost the lives of many . the fourth of december there were very hot disputes about the dogana , where many fell of both parties ; the duke of guise sent 300 men to castelamare , to hinder the refreshments that used to come that way for the castles . the sixth of the same moneth , there was a truce for 3 hours ; in the mean time his highness don john of austria gave notice to the city of a letter sent from his catholick majesty , wherein he ratisied all the capitulations of peace agreed on by the duke of arcos , and this was thought to be procured principally by the the intervention of his highness don john. the letter being sent to the captain general of the people , and communicated to the duke of guise , the said duke exhorted the people to accept of it , in regard their king had therein made concession unto them of so many signal graces , and indeed of whatsoever they desired ; thereupon the people boiling with heat answered twice , that they would be cut to pieces rather than to be subject to that nation any longer ; the duke finding the people so stiff in that resolution , he took a meduill from his breast , saying , that his most christian majesty had given him that meduill for a token , that whensoever he sent it to his majesty , there should come an army forthwith : so at the very instant there were 7 feluca's dispatch'd towards the said army , ●o sollicit it should come away for the succour of the city , and most faithful napolitan people . upon the 7. of the same moneth , the bread was commanded to be made at twenty four ounces , by reason of scarcity of corn ; but the poorer sort of people extreamly murmuring hereat , it was forced to be made at five tonesses the loaf , for fear of some revolutions . advice was brought that from calabria there came four thousand souldiers under the conduct of polito pastana of salerno , who had executed an hundred persons in that city for their insurrections , reducing also cava and nooera to a firm obedience . the people imprisoned three walloons upon some jealousies of treason . the eighth of the same , the duke of guise review'd all the posts with much vigilancy , accompanied with his most understanding officers , giving strict orders every where to look to their charge ; the people were constrain'd to send forth some brigades out of the city to preserve the market folks and others from plundring . the duke caused three bans to be published ; one concerning the gunpowder , the other to regulate the markets : and the third , that whosoever did not come to keep his watch , he should forfeit so much . the city began to be fcant of corn , so that much bread was made of indian wheat : upon the 12. of december the castles began to give hot salutes to the cisitens , and the spaniards sallied towards the dogana , where the son of regent casanate was slain , with divers other persons of quality , and a cavalier of sant jago was one of them ; there were fifty wounded men carried to the castle : don joseppe de sangro also fell within the ditches of the entrenchments , so that his body could not be rescued : the spaniards made this fight as it was said , of purpose to divert the duke of gui●e from going to the countrey towards aversa , with 6000. foot , and 1500. horse , which he had determined to do that day . yet the duke of guise went on in his design , and with 15. troops of horse , 14. pieces of cannon , and 4000. foot , he march'd towards juliano , and so to aversa ; he had 20. carts , besides his train of artillery : the people renew'd the order , that none should wear cloaks that very day . the duke of guise being come to juliano with such a force , the guardian giacomo rosso presented him the keys of that place kept formerly by the duke of mataluni ; so that he recruited his army there to 15000. combatants making juliano his randevouz : when he was departed , the castles did so let fly their ordnance , as if the day of judgement were come . in san lorenzo the carmine , and san carbonaro , the bells rung out to give alarms , and those shootings began an hour before day , and continued all the morning ; they sallied out of the castles with much resolution , and passed through some of the trenches , advancing as far as s. peter the martyr , where the gross of the peoples army falling upon them , they made a very handsome retreat , and got back to their posts ; notwithstanding , there was an ambush made for them in the way , which they avoyded , but with the loss of the third part of their number ; that evening there came tidings that count conversano had burnt fratta picciola with great slaughter . afterwards it was inordered ; that the duke of guise should be treated his highness ; he was now at juliano , where among other things he found 4000. sacks of grain : he put sorth an order , that none should part from the present army which he had then , under pain of death . in naples there were hot doings the 14. of december , both in castles and city , and one unlucky bullet did good execution against castelnovo , for it battered down a little turret , and made a breach in the wall. the cry was still the french army will come ; but some said , 't was but a fancie : news came that the duke of guise not being able to lodge all his men in juliano , he was forced to find them quarter in the places circumjacent . the business was still hot in naples , and many skirmishes on both parties . a company of lazzari were assaulted by some of the duke of mataluni's men , whereof the duke of guise having notice , he got presently a horse-back , and with a choice number went to their succour , so there was a tough dispute wherein many of the people perish'd , and twenty of the lazzari . in naples there were some suspected of foul play , and to have intelligence with the castle , among whom , the captain of the post hard by saint domingo suriano , and others of the house of colentano , who were all imprisoned by the people ; some of them freed themselves , but others were condemn'd to die , and executed . a mariner come from genoa reported that he had seen at piombino thirty four french vessels under sail design'd for these seas , and that others who were their consorts were scatter'd by a violent tempest . it was given out , that the duke of guise had sent a herald to assign a day of battel to tuttavilla , who was in aversa , and that he answered , that he much wondred that the most christian king , and he himself being a prince of the house of lorrain , who had so many obligations to his catholick majesty , should offer to assist the vilest people of naples . the duke replied , that the king of france being the protector of the oppressed , as it appear'd to him the napolitans now were , had commanded him to defend them in their just priviledges ; therefore he sent him notice that he should make himself ready for combat , for he was resolv'd to have a battel . there were the day following a fleet discovered at sea , and some thought it was the french armada , and so rejoyced exceedingly ; but they of castel ovo , thought it to be a fleet of spaniards , consisting of twenty three vessels ; thereupon up went the flags within the castles , crying out , armada de cielo , armada catholica , the armada of heaven , the catholick army : others said , it was the indian plate-fleet which was come to succour them here : this bruit ran through all toledo street ; afterwards from the castle they spied six more ; they were all about two miles distant from the shore ; so night came on , that they could see no more for that time . the next morning that fleet proved to be french indeed , which came to assist the people of naples , as they made their approach towards the shore , they reduced themselves to the form of a half moon , as if they came to besiege the spanish fleet , which was in post . the spanish admiral seeing that french fleet sailing towards the shore , he wondred at the rashness of those who had the guidance of it , that they would offer to enter into that gulf , having no post of security : therefore he gave out a rodomontado that he would not leave a vessel unsunk of them . 't was thought that fleet would sail towards posilipo to disimbark some men and ammunition , and so depart . the napolitan people finding it was a french fleet , displayed their colours up and down the city , and rais'd up the great standard with the image of the lady of carmine , of san gennaro , and other protectors of naples , with the arms of the royal republick ; and those of france , and all being brought to the church of carmine , solemn mass was sung in presence of the duke of guise ( who was now returned to naples for the timee ) and gennaro arnese the captain general , with an incredible multitude of people about them ; and after mass the standard was set up in the bastion of carmine , by divers of the principal officers , and the great guns went off every where in token of joy . the next day there came on shore many commanders and others from the said french fleet : they landed also six hundred cows and buffalo's ; which the people took for provision for city and souldiery : the french fleet kept still in form of a half moon ; and it was a goodly sight to behold it ; it consisted , as formerly was said , of twenty eight great vessels , and one small one ; they kept their distance so far , that they were out of the reach of the spanish fleet , or castles . there came about this time a declaration set forth by the napolitans , that they never had done , nor intended to do any thing against the nobility and gentry , whereat divers did very much wonder , considering the state of things then . the next day ginnaro arnese resign'd his generalship with great applause of the people ; who cried out aloud , let the duke of guise , let the duke of guise live : there was a purpose thereupon to make him doge of the royal republick of naples six years , and the said arnese governour of the bastion of the carmine , till some of the castles should be taken , allowing him twelve thousand duckets provision per annum . the duke also assured him of the greatest offices of trust that could be in the said republick . that evening the six thousand sacks of corn which the duke of guise had found in juliano was brought to naples for supply of the city ; and the duke of guise parted again for juliano . there was great expectation what would become of the two great fleets at sea ; but in the interim by distresse of weather two vessels were sunk ; one on this side posilipo : the second t'other side towards chaia : the sirst saved her men , but they were all cast away in the other ; and it was a ruthfull sight to behold men swimming , being closed arm in arm . they say , that there was another sunk , and two more were boarded ; so that with those of castleamane , they accountd fourteen vessels in all , and one more lost in full sea five tartana's : the spanish fleet had the winde on their side at first , but then it turned contrary ; in so much that the french fleet followed the spanish almost under castle ovo , and the tower of saint vincent , by perpetual shooting ; so that this night there were great expressions of joy in naples , and the bells rung à gloria . the duke of tursis had order from the castle to propose a truce for three hours , which lasted above six between the castle and the town : the rumour ran , that the french fleet was gone very ill handled , and also disgufted by the people , who would not consigne the bastion of carmine into the french hands ; and there wanted not those who painted out the frenchman to the life , and exaggerated his ill qualities . it was given out , that the french fleet had disimbarked both men and victuals at bagnoli . it was christmas-day ; and in honour of that holy tide there was a cessation of arms on both sides , and no hurt done : on the peoples side there was a letter intercepted from tuttavilla to the viceroy , wherein he complained that he could not furnish him with either men or money , therefore he advis'd him to manage the business as well as he could ; he express'd likewise , that they had scarce a shirt left amongst them ; for all went to make clouts for the wounded men . the galley santa agata went voluntarily to find the french fleet , which came on almost under the command of castelnovo , putting it self in the posture of an half-moon : there were among them three vessels so huge that they seemed as so many mountains in the sea : they came upon the point of pusilipo , and got ' off again clear by the favour of the wind : the dearth of bread increased in the city of naples , which made their spirits to faint somewhat ; yet the next day they advanced towards the castle of saint elmo , and the spaniards sallying out towards them , they lost five and twenty of their men . there was a plot discovered for the murthering of the duke of tursis , who had been lately taken prisoner , and the complices received their condigu punishment . don john of austria's steward came in a feluca of purpose , with white silk flags , to treat with the people for the freedom of the duke of tursis , and a ransome was put upon him of fourty thousand duckets . there came a recruit of three thousand men from farino for the service of the people ; their leader was antonio donato , who had the title of camp-master from the duke of guise : the spaniards took a feluca that was coming from pozzuolo full of people of good quality ; but it cost them dear ; for among others a knight of s. jago was slain in the action , three hurt , whereof one was a captain of note ; the weight and price of bread was regulated . there came tidings , that the city of aversa was yielded up , which had been so well fortified : the people took likewise caviano , where there were divers cavaliers mingled with spaniards , so that the camp-master tuttavilla fled into capoa with hundreds more : cerra also made a rendition of it self ; the duke of guise appointed governours in those places according ; and there were fourty thousand measures of corn brought to naples from those places , for the common sustenance of the people . don john of austria sent to the duke of guise an offer of three thousand duckets for the duke of tursis by a spanish camp-master : the duke answered , that the city of naples wanted no money ; and when he would yield the castles , and the fleet of gallies , the duke of tursis should be given up . the tower of anuntiata , a post of great consequence was taken by the people , and likewise all the advenues about castelamana ; the post of san leonardo was also reduced to the peoples obedience . there was a hot dispute between the spaniards and the people at chaia , where the peoples souldiers advanced as far as pedro de toledo's house : a letter of don john of austria's intercepted going to sicily , wherein he inordered cardinal trivultio to send the sicilian armada hither , for preserving of naples , which with the whole kingdom was in danger to be lost . the first day of the year 1648. there came letters from divers places in apulia , from the capipopolo there , that they had twenty thousand good combatants ready to assist the royal republick of naples , if need were : an alfarez going that day to the elect of the people for corn to make bread for his souldiers , and the elect refusing , the alfarez took out his poniard , and would have stab'd the elect ; whereupon the alfarez was taken and hanged that very day in the market-place . the duke of guise removed his dwelling to the palace of the prince of santo buono , in s. john of carbonaro . the collateral council gave the duke of arcos to understand , that he should sit no more among them in quality of viceroy , but that his highness should govern ; but this was done , as 't was thought , in policy , to induce the people to a conformity ; but 't is certain that don john , speaking of him , said , vayase en hora mala che ha hecho perder este reyno a mi padre : let him go , in an ill hour ; for he hath lost my father this kingdom . there were two attempts made upon pozzuolo by the people ; but they were repulsed both times . letters came to the duke of guise from abruzzo , that they were ready to serve the republick upon all occasions , and to obey their summons . don john of austria sent an express to the barons , that they should make themselves ready , and appear in the field in a body . the judge onufrio was sent to santa clara , to perswade them to render themselves to his catholick majesty , alledging how that that great king had long arms ; but the people fell a laughing at the judge . there was news brought that the passage of scafati was re-gain'd , whereupon there was great rejoycing in the city ; a special guard of halberdiers was appointed to attend the duke of guise ; the governour of salerno came to do him reverence , bringing him a present of four choice ginets with rich saddles , and the arms of the duke upon them . there came also 2 capopoli from the territories of otranto to do reverence to the duke of guise , with presents and assurances that they were at the disposing of the royal republick . most of the judges were removed through all the tribunals of naples , and well-affected men put in . on the other side don john inordered some part of his fleet to go to sardinia to fetch men and munition . there came news also from rome , that the conde d' ognate ( who had been embassadour in england , anno 1635. ) had a commission to be the viceroy of naples . there came also a courier from milan , that there were three regiments appointed . and ready to serve his catholick majesty for the quieting of naples . thereupon the next day there was a most terrible fight made betwixt the castle and the city for 4 hours together , wherein some hundreds perished on both sides ; the morning after , the duke of arcos with his family departed , and the castles gave him a farewell ; that afternoon don john of austria made a c●vulcata to jesu novo , where he lighted and went to church to be sworn viceroy for the time , whereupon te deum was so emnly sung ; then he return'd to the castle by the street of incoronata , where the great guns went off for joy . a general pardon was publish'd that day by don john of austria ; whereupon the grave judge onufrio di palma made a moving eloquent speech to the people , that since the duke of arcos with the chiefest incendiaries were gone , and that they now had a kings son , so gallant a young prince , to govern them , it was high time for them to return to their former obedience to their monarch and lawful king , who had maintain'd them in peace and plenty so many years , and now did make a gracious offer to take off all kinde of gabels , and grant a general indulto or pardon . the people answered , that if the spaniards would go home to their own countrey , the peace was made . so this alteration of governour wrought little effect for the present , but both parties jear'd one another ; so that the phlegm and longanimity of the spaniard did wonderfully appear in these traverses of affairs . the report was very rife that the condc d'ognate was preparing to come from rome with a recruit of 1500 choice men for the service of his catholick majesty , and to be viceroy of naples . in the mean time the war did not languish a whit ; for the people were now beleaguering surrento and pozzuolo with much resolution ; so that the noise of the cannons was heard from naples . news was brought that in santa maria de capra many of the people were slain , which did much exasperate matters as they then stood . there was a new election of deputies made ; prior caracciola , don diomede caraffa , and marco antonió gennaro were appointed for the nobles and city , who expos'd to his highness the grievous calamities and confusion that so flourishing a kingdom was reduc'd unto by reason of the present tumults ; that the people took up arms for no other end but to recover their liberty and livelihood ; that they might be the better able to serve his catholick majesty , and continue in their fidelity to their natural king ; and for the future they offer'd to keep arms no more in their houses , but live quietly , and in brotherly concord one with another . the next morning there came thirty thousand ducates from spain for the support of the war : that afternoon the duke of mataluni came to naples , to do reverence to his highness ; and a rumour ran that two cardinals were to come from rome with the conde d'ognate to accommodate matters : the people receiv'd a foul repulse before surrevto ; insomuch that they were forc'd to raise the siege with much loss . the like ill success they had before puzzuolo ; the duke of guise did a notable piece of justice upon a french baron , who had held intelligence with the puzzolani , and under-hand had been a means to convey them corn and other provisions . the people put to death a franciscan frier , a man of an ill life , and a dishonour to his frock . notwithstanding the fair hopes of accommodation , yet for two days and nights there was nothing but fighting and skirmishing at every post ; insomuch that there was a computation made of near upon five hundred slain on both sides in the space of fourty hours there was order given out that the lazzari which are the scum of the neapolitan people , being most of them porterst , scavengers and tankerd-bearers , having now grown very innsolent , should be suppress'd . there was new money stamp'd with the arms of the royal republick . the same night antonio manella elect of the people was slain by jacomo rosso camp-master of the people , by order of the duke of guise , chopping off his head afterwards , and carrying it up and down the city upon a halberd , and his body was dragg'd to the market-place , and so hang'd by the one foot , because he had secretly conveyed corn to the spaniards . the next day divers kinsmen and acquaintance os the duke of guise came to the city . gennaro arnese governour of the bastion of carmine having had private intelligence that the duke of guise had a design to introduce the french , and make himself king ; the said gennaro , together with vincenzo andrea and a great multitude of citizens , most whereof were on hors-back , rid up and down the city , and cried , viva la republica , viva il popolo ; at which rumour every one did shut up his shop and his doors , and the city was generally in arms ; which being understood by the duke of guise , he commanded his regiment of horse to be presently put in equipage , calling together all his confidents , making all of them a good squadron before his palace ; and arnese passing by at that time with his brigade , he was so saluted with some muskets that six of his men drop'd down dead , which made the rest betake themselves to flight : the duke afterwards rid up and down the streets , and the people cried out , viva la republica , viva il duca di guisa , vivasualtezza ; and so going to the carmine he had some conference with gennaro arnese , whereupon all was quieted in a marvellous suddenness , considering the quality of the commotion . the first of february 1648. the castle of s. elmo put up the royal standard , upon discovering three gallies , one whereof was the capitana of naples , wherein was imbarqu'd the conde d'ognate ; upon his arrival to the post he was saluted by all the castles , first by castelovo , then by castelnovo , and lastly by the castle st. elmo . the bastion of carmine did also salute him , but it was with bullets , as he passed by , whereby three of the gally-slaves and two more were slain , which caus'd him to remove into a feluca , and so went first to salute his royal highness , and then into the palace , where he was attended by the c llateral council and all the nobility , with all the punctilio's of ceremony . there happen'd a great commotion at this time among the people and citizens of naples ; some crying up spain , others france , some the parliament of england , and others the republick : so that every one began to arm , and it was like to produce very ill consequences , unless the duke of guise by a french boldness and resolution had appeas'd the uproar . the d. of guise reform'd the officers of the militia , which tended afterwards to the advantage of his catholick majesties service . he sent also manifesto's to the nobles throughout the kingdom , that they should inform the people , that for the future no gabels or impositions should be laid upon them , but new graces and concession should be done them , provided they would continue in their loyalty and devotion to the royal republique . the marquess of turiano took the command of the reform'd souldiery , biasio di fosso being now dead : all the s●ldadesca with their officers interven'd to see the solemnity , and among others the marquess of rattivelle . upon the thirteenth of february 1648. the royal republick of naples did establish certain senators , with the consent of the duke of guise and the people , together with the approbation of the councel of state and war ; and they were six in number , three noble men , and 3. citizens . don diomede carratta cesare de bologna , the prince della roeca for the nobles . augustin mollo , gennaro arnese , vincent d'andrea . were chosen for the people . it was also determin'd that there should be elected two senators for every province throughout the whole kingdome , which were twelve in all ; so that the whole number would come to twenty four ; twelve for the nobles , and twelve for the people , to avoid confusion that might arise from a greater number . moreover , it was ordered that certain officers should be elected for the government of the cities and towns with subaltern instruments under them ; specially for the government of saponara , and the two provinces of calabria . the same day those new officers which had been chosen formerly were put in possession of their authority derived from the republick , both in the vicaria and other tribunals , who were to regulate themselves according to the new model . the new viceroy did stir himself notably , and left no stone unremoved to settle peace and quietness , thereupon he did insinuate into many of the captains and citizens . the sixteenth of february a brigade of the people went by night under the conduct of a genovese , called colonel grillo , and brought with them scaling ladders , with other instruments to surprize the town of surrento ; but they within having timely notice thereof prepared accordingly , and sallied upon them , with much animosity and courage , which caused a great slaughter of the people , and divers were taken prisoners ; the said grillo had both his arms bruised , so that the rest were put to flight , leaving behind them bag and baggage , with all their scaling ladders , and instruments . his excellency understanding , from genoa , that there were fourteen vessels laden with corn to come for the service of the city from provence in france , he went in person with some of his cape-officers to nis●ta , whither he carried a train of artillery , with munition for ●outh and war , and plac'd there a hundred spaniards in garrison . tidings came , that the prince of m●ntesarchia had reduc'd the city and castle of arian● to the devotion of his catholick majesty ; at which time he had taken a convoy of four hundred mules laden with corn ; he cut off the noses and ears of the chiefest conductors , who would obstinately resist , and be of the freneh party . the prince of roc●a maria had also brought divers places of consideration to their wonted a legeance , and among others sporlongo , a pass of very great consequence to go and come from rome , where there was a hot dispute before a rendition would be made by the governour and inhabi●ants of that place , whereof divers were slain , and the town plunder'd . there arrived the first of april , 1648. in the port of naples a vessel from malaga with five hundred spaniards , a great proportion of victuals and arms : this ship gave notice that there were eight more under sail , and divers other from several ports in spain , to come for the service of his majesty in naples . there came also two gallies from genoa , with two hundred thousand of ducates put up in chests , a hundred barrels of powder , salt-peter , with an infinite number of bullets , great store of match , with many sorts of edible commodities . there came also an embassadour from malta , with a splendid train of cavaliers , who were received by his highness don john of austria with extraordinary expressions of benignity : the conde d' ognate provided them coaches to go up and down the city from the palace . the duke of guise considering the great hazard and hurt which might befall those corn ships that came from province , for the service of the napolitan republick , specially now that the spaniards had impatroniz'd themselves of the post of nisita , and so strongly fortified it : he went with a considerable army of horse and foot , with a train of artillery , and divers french commanders , and three thousand of the city souldiers upon a design to reduce that place to the ●isposition of the republick . the sixth of the same moneth , his highness and the viceroy , with great numbers of barons , cavaliers , and a numerous ●ldadesca , with all the choicest and most magnanimous commanders , sallied out of the castle with all the privacy that could possibly be about twelve a clock at night , having formerly implor'd the divine help , and so march'd down towards the city : he had a train of choice artillery along with him , and divers other military instruments , with good store of fire-works : he came first to the cisterna del ' oglio , with all his army , and caus'd the church of jesus , which was contiguous to the place , to be gently opened ; where having made fervent orisons to the blessed redeemer of man , he desir'd father gerunda to confess him , which he did , and afterwards he took the holy communion ; the viceroy with the chiesest commanders did the like . then he inordered a wall to be batter'd down which join'd to san sebastian , and so pass'd to porta alba : being happily advanc'd so far he mounted his ginet , and rid towards the street of constantinople through a throng of musketeers ; whereof some shot , others being astonish'd at so sudden a surprize , stood amaz'd . thence he went on to saint aniello's street , and the virgins quarter ; where the most civil sort of people did inhabit , who were most of them alwayes well inclin'd to the king. the archbishop filomarino was appointed to meet him , which he did , together with the bishop of avers● the lord caratta : then he march'd towards the palace of the duke of guise ; who togethrr with pulumbo were absent , which was a mighty advantage to the business ; and after some musket-shot the palace yielded ; nor would the great cannon which was planted there go off , though fire was put to it ; so that all things seemed to conspire to make this enterprize happy . he marched thence to the great market-place ; and approaching the great bastion of carmine , where gennaro arnese was , with three hundred select souldiers of the people ; he sent him word that it was expedient that the said torrion or bastion should be put into his hands for his majesties service ; and if he would not conform to so just a demand , he left him to consider what an act of disloyalty it would be : arnese calling his best thoughts to consultation , held it a desperate temerity to refuse , considering that at the end he might be constrained to do it ; so he came forth , and presented the keys to his highness , prostrating his person before him : thereupon don john imployed fru paolo venati , a knight of malta , a commander of renowned valour , and of high esteem among the people , to let them know , that it was his pleasure to grant them an indulto or general pardon , with an aboli ion of the gabels , and of all faults , provided they did presently range themselves to their wonted allegiance . hereupon the people remained satisfied ; but they desired to have that grace declared unto them by don john of austria himself , being so great a prince of the imperial house of austria ; so when he came out of the church the people desired his highness that he would be pleased to pronounce with his own mouth what he promised by the cavalier of malta ; whereupon he uttered aloud what the said cavalier had said before , assuring them besides of further demonstrations of grace srom his father : so that huge croud of people gave such an applause that might have rent the air as far as the middle region . this heroick enterprise took effect almost without any effusion of blood at all ; only two spanish captains perished , and one of the peoples , with some few wounded ; all which may be imputed to a special providence of god in the first place , and then to the prowess of a young general , and prudence of a grave viceroy ; and lastly , to the absence of the duke of guise , who was much taxed of inadvisedness to leave the city , as matters then stood . the next morning betimes the duke of tursis was seen walking among the people in the market-place , with his nephew the prince of avella , with their naked swords in hand , among a great confluence of people , who cried out , viva spagna , viva ill duca de tursis ; so all the bells rang out à gloria , and every one was as it were wild with gladness . that afternoon there were four hundred spaniards put into the torrion of carmine for a garrison , where there were eighteen pieces of great ordnance ; among them there were fourty italians : so all the rest of the posts of the city were secured , together with chaia . all other places in the country rendred themselves upon discretion , when they understood this not able news , and particularly aversa , notwithstanding that palumbo , a great stickler for the people , and in singular esteem , was there with considerable forces . the next day the noise was , that the duke of guise , hearing this dreadful news , did cast about how he might return to rome with all his camerades ; which being come to the knowledge of don pompeo tuttavilla , he went in quest of him ; and being come to the countrey of mosone , a little dist●nt from the city of capua , he met him ; and although the duke made notable resistance , yet at last he was forced to yield himself , and so he was clap'd up in the castle of capua , and removed thence to garta . the collateral council sate upon him , and condemn'd him to dy ; but don john prevented that , saying , it was more fitting to send him prisoner to spain . pastina who would not conform nor accept those gracious conditions from don john , got two feluca's , and with all his own and the plundred goods he had from divers , sail'd for ligorno . all those monstrous tumults of naples being now quash'd , the conde d'ognate sent for the camp-master scipio latro , brother to the lord regent latro , who by the marchioness of vasto was appointed governour of the isle of istria , the viceroy gave him a patent to that purpose , & besides made him camp-master general in the said isle ; he told him besides that he had receiv'd advice how a great french armada made her approach ; therefore it was fitting he should prepare strength accordingly to resist ; the camp-master answer'd him , that at that very instant he would go , and finde out the said french ; so the viceroy commending his promptitude presented him with a purse-full of pistols . he had no sooner set foot upon the isle of istria but the french fleet appear'd ; which drawing towards the city of naples did stay a while before the house of the said camp-master general at ciattamone , in form of a half-moon : the castle dellovo discharg'd some pieces at them , but the bullets could not reach . towards night the french went to pusilipo , the next day they attempted to dis-imbarque at istria , but they were hindred ; so understanding how matters had pass'd at naples , when they had rov'd up and down those seas some days , and taken some few tartana's , they set sail for porto longone . a little after this when things were pretty well etled , the viceroy commanded gennaro arnesel to be shut up in prison , who had been captain general of the people a long time , during the greatest brunt of the commotion ; the pretence was that he was thought to have intelligence with that french fleet , notwitstanding that his highness had comprehended him before in the general pardon , and conferr'd an office upon him of five thousand ducates per annum , promising him besides the cross of santiago : the proofs were such against him that he was condemn'd to die ; so there was a scaffold erected before the castle , where he receiv'd an honourable death by having his head severed from his body . there were also three mariners , who had brought the duke of guise to naples , executed that day ; there were divers other condemn'd to suffer death ; but his highness , don john of austria , going one day to the great market-place where there were gibbets set up to execute a great many more , the women did importune him with their petitions ; whereupon he referring them to the castle , the gibbets were all taken down , and the condemned persons sent to serve in the gallies . the next day don john of austria imbarquing himself in a huge fleet of galleons and gallies , hois'd sail for sicily , having been so fortunate as to repress those prodigious uproars , and leave naples setled in a perfect peace . sic furor evanuit tenues popularis in auras . the flema spagnuola , the staidness , longanimity , and constancy of the spaniard ( for which he is so much cried up ) was not discerned more in any of their proceedings elsewhere , then by their carriage in suffering a good while , and afterwards by suppressing these commotions . moreover , the conde d'ognate , the new viceroy , like a new broom , swept all clean , and carried himself with that dexterity and diligence , that by degrees he found out the chiefest fomentors , whereof he hath dispatch'd away divers to the other world ; and the inquisition is not yet ended , but some suffer daily , directly , or collaterally ; and touching the taxes or gabels , he hath found out other ways to raise summs equivalent unto them for the service of the king his master . finis . a hermeticall banquet, drest by a spagiricall cook for the better preservation of the microcosme. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a64765 of text r6717 in the english short title catalog (wing v149). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 227 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 98 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a64765 wing v149 estc r6717 11894192 ocm 11894192 50532 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a64765) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 50532) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 44:2) a hermeticall banquet, drest by a spagiricall cook for the better preservation of the microcosme. howell, james, 1594?-1666. vaughan, thomas, 1622-1666. [35], 161 p. printed for andrew crooke, and are to be sold at the green dragon in s. pauls church-yard, london : 1652. attributed sometimes to thomas vaughan or to james howell. cf. halkett & laing (2nd ed.). reproduction of original in huntington library. eng alchemy. medicine -early works to 1800. a64765 r6717 (wing v149). civilwar no a hermeticall banquet, drest by a spagiricall cook: for the better preservation of the microcosme. [no entry] 1651 38179 344 295 0 0 0 0 167 f the rate of 167 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the f category of texts with 100 or more defects per 10,000 words. 2002-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-01 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-02 olivia bottum sampled and proofread 2003-02 olivia bottum text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a hermeticall banqvet , drest by a spagiricall cook : for the better preservation of the microcosme . london , printed for andrew crooke , and are to be sold at the green dragon in s. pauls church-yard . 1652. to the right honorable isacke wake knight , embassadovr extraordinarie in savoy and piemonte , ordinarie for italie helvetia and rhetia , select for france , for his majestie of great britain , &c. right honorable , t is our custome in england , on the birth day of every year , for the tenant to lay down his offering at the altar of his landlord ; as an oblation of his gratefull servitude . i , your lordships tenant , or rather , as the anagram tells me , natent , ( confessing my self by your lordships solar influence , renated , and of a vegetable , made vitall ) not to abrogate custom , do here present my offering , to manifest a strong desire of gratitude , in the weakness of my expressions . our first wishes upon this day , is , for a merry new year . what better prologue to mirth , than a feast ? that my offering therefore may be the embleme of my wishes , i have here presented your lordship with an hermeticall banquet ; wherein are such plenty of cordialls , that i doubt not but it will make you heartily merry . i have caused it to be drest by spagiricall cooks ; partly to preserve your more delicate palate from the epidemicall nausea of galenicall potions , with these our hermeticall and bezoartick delicacies . and partly , because i have alwaies observ'd , in the universalities of your lordships studies , a particular genius much reflecting upon this art , as the key of natures cabinet . expect not much hony in your dishes ; since like a bee , shut up in the winter hive of my quarantena , and unable to fly abroad and rob other mens gardens , was constrained to make use of such as i had collected in the summer of my youth : where i fear your lordship will find more wax , than hony . i dance little after method , because no methodist . neither do i labour to oppress your stomack with dogmaticall gravity . no , i consider we are at a feast , and therefore prefer a jest before an aphorisme . how my mirth will take , i know not , believe me it was meant well : though for want of other musick i confess it is somewhat extravagant . i subscribe therefore to your lordships more mature judgement ; which , like a celestiall influence , penetrates even the center of inferiour actions . if it pass that magellan , it may boldly , and with a full sail plow through the tempestuous ocean of the universe . 't is your lordships approbation then that must protect our weak b●rk . your colours only displai'd , ban●sh all fears of assaults , and make it {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . under which banner , i desire to serve but as a common-souldier : that so hereafter by some bolder attempt , i may manifest unto the world , how little i respect superficiall wounds , in the atchievement of some better title , thereby to be judged worthy of so honourable a calling , as your lordship hath gratiously favoured me with , in making me your lordships physician and most humbly devoted servant . symposiates to his sympotae . gentlemen , i here place my self at the portall to bid you welcome to an hermeticall banquet . who comes by the common road of invitation , to me is ●east welcome . and those resolute ●parks which boldly open the door with ● complement , teaching good manners ●ow to temporise , believe me they shall ●e exalted two ceremonies above the ●alt . such guest are alwayes least trou●lesome ; they never put their hoast to the expence of a prologue ; raw , or rosted , ●hey fal to their business ; hunger brought ●hem to the duel , and when that 's over●ome they leave the field . i could hear●ily wish that all my guest were thus courtlike . for so i also might have time to eat , whilst they bid themselves welcome . i dare not invite many women , lest i quarrel with their lean manners before the second course enter . yet some i must have of necessity to help away with the sweet-meats . my servant told me he had invited a knot of merry gossips in the city , whose apern-strings itch'd to be here : but they sent me word that their husbands told them it was to publike a meeting , and therefore desir'd me to excuse them , and for my sake they would be merry at home in private . the other day , making use of an apothecaryes ●hop for a breathing , place , in comes an old galenist , sweating , and in choler ca●ls for some rose vinegar : i out of charity , ( fearing he might have been arrested by some {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ) began to fortifie him with my younger arms , and ask'd him if he were not well . he saw i was a stranger , and therefore repai'd my curtesie with a god reward ●ou sir : and then told me he was a lit●le distempred with the sulphurious in●olencies of certain infernall spirits which seiz'd upon him , passing by the hell dore of a spagiricall cooks shop , who , quoth he , hath infected the air ●ven to the middle region round about ●im , with those pharmakouticall mine●alls , paracelsian fopperies which he is ●ow preparing to adorn a great feast which his master , iatrochimicus , cele●rates to morrow , calling it his herme●icall banquet . here i suspected his quick sence would have seiz'd upon me ; my pockets at that infant being full of ●hose bugbears : but as it hapned he neither conceiv'd me to be either an hermetick , galenist , or indeed physi●ian . with the better arm'd confidence ●herefore i told him , that the {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} of ●hat feast was a cardiacall friend of mine ; and had injoyn'd me upon the ●reach of friendship not to be absent : ●ut to fill up his feast with me and my friends : therefore sir , quoth i , tha● your nose may have satisfaction , you shall oblige me beyond the force of ceremony , to make your self my friend and {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , and accompany me thither to morrow , where , i can assure you , mirth shall supply the defect of a better welcome : the good old man more curious than hungry ▪ assur'd me he would be there , were it but to tast of our new cookery . if he come , gentlemen , i shall intreat you to give him licence to abuse himself : for i know he will be very unmannerly , smelling to every dish , like an ape in a hucksters basket : nay , twenty to nothing but he so far loseth himself in this strange land , that hee forgets where he is , and in that laethargy may disswade you from eating . which if he doe , deprive him not of ages attribute , which is , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , talkative : but let his tongue runne-on , whilst your teeth follow . your palates shall here exercise in the variety of foure courses . and because i find how strong an ascendent curiosity gets houerly upon every mans fantasy , i dare not dull your choice eares with those vulgar lowde-scraping motions which time calls musick ; but in place thereof i have thought upon some merry table talk , which may be more acceptable , in reguard it is both extravagant , and ridiculous . extravagant when ●oiz'd in the ballance of our more seri●us witts : and ridiculous , to those whose infirm judgements cannot digest ●t . the iudicious i know will not censure me , because wee are here at a feast , and not in the scholes . inter pocula non est disputandum . i feare none so much as the women i have invited : who perchance will cry , fie upon him , he speakes bawdy . if they ●e reasonable , they will pardon that , ●ecause i am a physician . but if there ●e any amongst them unreasonable , i know no sweeter course , than to stop their mouths with comfits . epigramma aenigmatica tetrastichon microcosmi avctoris benevolo lectori . to please a world i never can , it being a task too hard for man . i 'de please but one . so shall you see a world there will contented be . a hermeticall banquet , &c. an anthropogeographicall grace before meat , wherein the microcosme is hermetically analogiz'd to the sublunary and elementary globes . man was never better baptized than by the name {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} : for whatsoever the greater world contains , the like shall you find exquisitely exprest in this little world man . so that man is natures {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} or mirrour , wherein the eye of reason may compendiously contemplate on the great {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} his six days labour . there may you see the originall of miniature , where god ( as his {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} or master-piece ) hath limb'd the worlds pourtraict in small . there may you read an epitomy of his greater volumes . so that , as one elegantly writes , hominem à deo post reliqua factum fuisse , ut deus in ipso exprimeret , sub brevi quodam compendio , quicquid diffusè ante fecerat . so far doe these two worlds symbolize , that a double {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} cannot separate their analogy . for the hermeticks ( whose doctrine i follow ) bring them both under this duplicate , celestiall and elementary . the celestiall part , as it hath reference to the soul , i recommend to theologists . m●dicus , non sacerdos sum . the elementary world by his proximity and contiguity embraceth a more near sympathy with man and therefore more agreeable and symbolicall to our present anatomy if any more criticall , than judiciall carpe at my dissection , let them know 't is my first manuall operation : and perchance for want of instruments answerable to my work ▪ i may now and then cut a veine . well , hit or misse , ( aud●ces fortuna juv●t , ) as i am none of those {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , so will i not proceed in their method , who make their first incision in the abdomen , and so orderly penetrate the membranes investing the parts dedicated to nutrition . but to shew that i am a pupill to paracelsus , who they call {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , i wil make a paraphrontick {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} and with his {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} i strike first at the elementary world , the which i cut , alla reverso , into two parts , superior and inferiour : allowing the superior part , the elements of fire and aer for his portion : to the inferiour i allot the remnant , water and earth . that this separation may connect our analogy , i strike againe at this little world man : where laying aside all humane respect , i divide the head from the shoulders ( not comming neare the bowels , lest i should raise some {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} which might inanimate my spectators to a future audience ) and the head i symbolize with the elementary upper regions , fire and aer : where we see far more prodigious lights than any the elementary regions could ever produce . what heart is not sensible of two blazing stars , whose influences present us hourely with multitudes of amazing varieties ? those when they appeare in a serene and clowdlesse aer , doe they not penetrate with their astrophorus rays the center of this earth man , accending therein a vestall fire in that ●ittle point , the heart ? doe they not ( sicut radius ille fulmineus , ●orio non laeso dissolvit in eo metallum ) often melt the heart , leaving the skin unschorch'd ? doe they not with their motion , like the sun , cause spring and fall in this little world man ? doe they not , when in a bad aspect , make their catoblepick rays instruments of murder ? doe they not in their exaltations , like some prodigious comet , threaten strong insurrections , amorous phrensies , philogynies , mutuall embraces , extasies , cardialgies , syncopens , symptomaticall sweats , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , and the like ▪ what diogenes ? what socrates ? what {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} can resist those {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , when like {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , they appeare in their zenith ? marke how , like straws , every heart leaps to their amber influence ! how ▪ with the north star , they make every mans verticall needle dance after their magneticall influence . in this superiour region likewise , the head , have we not that ignem fatuam , opinion , which leads so many men a wooll-gathering ▪ in the dark night of philautia : untill being over fool'd and mislead by that false light , confidence , they tumble at last into a {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ditch ? have we not here those erratick spirits ▪ hobgoblins , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , which fright so many out of their wits ? are not here those platonicall genii , good and bad , which governe every mans affairs , giving him either a gratefull applause in his publike actions , or a neglected scorne in all his proceedings ? to the inferiour regions of the elementary world , the vitall , and parts are serviceable to nutrition , are ( by the hermeticks ) analogiz'd . for as in the entrals of the earth ( partly the exhaling vertue of the suns rays , partly by astrall influences , as also by a proper and inbread heat of the earth ) many variable species of exhalations and vapours are excited which are the essence of so many mixt and imperfect bodies there generated , such as are those diversities of sulphurs , minerall salts , bitumens , mercuriall humidities , &c. so likewise in this terrene globe man , we find no lesse variety generated : here being saccharine salts ▪ nutritive . nitrous , amare , and acute salts , purgative , and abstersive . salts marine , which are balsamicall , and conservative . aluminous and pontick , which are stegnoticall , stypticall , and corroborating the retentive faculties . and lastly acide , vitriolate and esurine salts , which concoct , distribute , and excite apetite . there is likewise found in this microcosme as many species of bitumens , napthae , resinarum , pinguedinarum , lachrymarum , gummi , and such like sorts of sulphurs , as there are of the forementioned salts : and those likewise produce effects answerable unto their qualities . for there is one sort of sulphur which is odoriferous and fragrant ; recreating and renovative . an other faetide , narcoticall , and stupefactive . a third hypnoticall , papaverine , and somniferous . a fourth anodinous . a fifth septicall , arsenicall , and pestiferous . and the sixt cardiacall , vitall , and salutiferous . here to illuminate these two worlds analogies , with more eminent demonstrations : the veins and arteries , are they not so many rivers , dispers'd through the whole continent , lending in their motion , to every part their proper aliment and desir'd moisture ? and doe they not likewise imboak and evacuate their superabounding humidities into the ocean of the bladder ? which bladder ocean hath it not his flux and reflux , observing his tydes for high and low water ? and doe you not see his channels often so obstructed with the sands and gravell of this sea ▪ that the water is denied his naturall passage ? is not this sea-water , salt and brakish ? whose virtus lapidescens , doth it not hourely produce innumerable species of stones and lapidary vegetables whose forms and colours are no lesse variable than their number● some being red and coralline . others lesse compact whose rare and spungy bodies emulate the pumice ; others againe so vast , solid ragged , and mis-shappen that they appeare so many rocks threatning wrack to mans weak back . to give yet a greater light to these our analogicall instances , 't is requisite that i run over my first draught with more lively and per●picuous shadows lest that some of my guests to ease their doubts ▪ should consult with some dogmatist , and he abuse truth , by the strength of his methodicall ignorance . the chief point therefore which will oppose your common sense ( at having long since stagger'd galenicall philosophy and made them almost reele out of their method ) is those sulphurs , bitumens , vitriolated salts , mercuriall liquors , muscilaginous tartars , and such like , which hermeticks so rationally demonstrate to be generated in our microcosme . here you must expect but a leane satisfaction , if you take counsell of a galenist . for they will allow man to be {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , an epitomy of the greater world : but the symbolizations which must adde perfection to the analogy they invidiously renege . aske them why ? and they answer , that they are dissonant to galen's principles : and that they never found more in man than the four humors blood , choler , phlegma , and melancholia . this is just an answer given in method . good methodist , why doe you not aswell blot out cassia , tamarindi , mechiocan , gutta gamandra zalappa , and many other neotericall and exotick catharticks , forth from your moderne dispensatories , since your two great masters , hipocrates and galen never knew any of them ? obstinacy joynd with ignorance makes your errours impardonable . lay aside but a while those immense volumes and {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} on hippocrates , galen , avicen , rhasi ; averrhoes , aetius , &c. cast away your nauseous potions , infusions , decocts , apozemes , and such like antistomatica : then put on an aperne and enter into our spagiricall kitchin : blush not to be ignorant , but let your patience view our fermentations , putrifactions , distillations , rectifications , cohobations , circulations , calcinations , sublimations , reverberations , solutions , precipitations , coagulations , filtrations , and such like enucleating preparations : there you shall see nature out of her smock , and in that nakednesse , her secrets so far laid open , that you will admire her modesty blusheth not . there shall you see the soule of every vegetable separated from its terrestriety . you shall see opium open it self against you all , and declare his innocency of that excessive coldnesse , which you falsely attach him withall : protesting he was never yet guilty of any cold distemper , but alwaies sleeping in the fulginious cradle of a hot narcotick sulphur . their you shall find that {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} have their prerogatives from a nitious and cathartick salt . that medicamenta adstringentia and {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} receive their qualities from a stegnotick , pontick , and aluminous salt . that {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} operate by vertue of their tartareous and vitriolated salts . that dolorem sedantia , are such by reason of their anodynous and paregoricall s●lphurs with which they abound . that {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , and {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , doe renovate and reunite s●lutionem unitatis , from the benignity of their balsamicall sulphurs and sarcotick mumm●'s . and l●stl● that {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , and {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ▪ doe but execute the tyranny of their septick and arsenicall salts . here you shall quickly learne to correct your father galen's errour , where speaking de sopore , apoplexia , and epilepsia , he a little too confidently saith , horum trium morborum , frigiditas , ac crassus aut omnino viscidus humor causa est . which positive assertion ▪ he makes more erroneous by an apoplecticall instance , where he opposeth both moderne experience , and violates all peripateticall philosophy labouring to prove all apoplexies to be generated ex crasso & viscido humore . quod cito generentur , & solvantur . quod cito generetur , that argueth rather the cause to be ex vaporibus & exhalationibus spirituosis : humor enim crassus non potest non aliquo temporis intervallo in cerebro a●gregari . then , that apoplexia nunquam confestim solvitur , sed aegerrime potius , i subscribe to the experience of any apothecary's boy . no : when you have learnd perfectly to anatomize and enucleare the humors in our microcosme , then you will tell galen that ejusmodi vapores aut halitus , qui vertiginem inducunt , ex resinosis , tartareis , aut sulphureis , in ventriculo , aliove viscere contentis : vel ex unctuosiore magis sulphurea sanguinis substantia ▪ promanare : quae secum tincturam , aliquando , nigrae fuliginis , admodum ad tingendum & denigrandum efficacem , convehunt , citra tamen acrimoniam ullam ; unde scotomia oritur . that paralysis , and apoplexia , doe not proceed ex simplici frigiditate & crassitic , sed ex acerbitate , stipticitate , & acetositate spiritus vitrioli , sulphuris , vel salis in cerebro conglaciato . and from the constriction and coarctation of those acide and vitriolated spirits , ariseth those monentary and precipitate apoplecticall paroxysms . and when that vitriolated ice , either by force of nature , or help of art , dissolveth , and fals by the spondyls into the spinall marrow ( nervorum propago ) there , by its acidity , stipticity , mordacity , and acrimony , vellicating , stupifying and consopiating those tender-feeling parts , are procreated those paralyticall symptoms , ( stupores & indormitiones membrorum ) as infallible {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} to a future palsey . and lastly you shall find that epilepticall paroxysms are not produc'd ex humore simpliciter frigido & crasso , qualis creditur esse pituita . for by this argument all hydrocephali , and by consequence all children , whose brains swim in the deluge of phlegmaticall humidities , should inherit this disease as hereditary . 't is true , that children are most proclive to this evill ( whence avicenna calls it morbum puerilem ) yet not all ; though none are free from that superfluity of pituitous excrements . but 't is when the mother or {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} have ill dispos'd milk ; or when the infant is infirme and cannot digest the milk received , where it corrupts and sowres in the ventricle ; which corruption degenerats into an eruginous , virid , and vitriolated virulency ( ut ex eorum rejectionibus ac vomitibus hujusce coloris videre est ) whence are rendred those fearfull accidents of that more horrid malady . and this hipocrates makes more authentick , where his oracle prognosticats your galenicall errour in this aphorisme . comitiales melancholici facile fiant & melancholici comitiales . though i presume he never suspected such complexions to abound with acide and vitriolated humors . come ! let us to worke then : and let not your lady hands make any conscience in picking the colliars purse . off with arts epidemicall delicacies , and learne first to make glasse malleable with the fat of your mothers entrals . and then our freshmans first operation ( the sublimation of wine ) shall be my instance , to prove that the veins of mans little earth doe flow with minerals and semiminerals , no lesse than those of the greater worlds earth . whilst our coals are kindling therefore let us sit down , and rub up our sophistry a little , that the world may see , per artem spagiricam , we can rectifie errours , by the circulation of reason , and the cohobation of experience . reason therefore thus disputes . si magna est ejusmodi vitriolarum , mercurialium , sulphuriarum , salium copia in multis vegetabilibus quibus nutrimur , & ex quibus elaboratur sanguis : sequitur ut similibus inquinatur sanguis . sed in vino , cerevisia , pomatio , pyratio , &c. ejusmodi sulphura & salia reperiuntur . ergo . your tutor galen i know hath taught you to say nego minorem . your own experience too perchance ( in the sublimation of so many qua●t pots ) can confute me who in none of those l●quors could ever see or tast any such imaginary salts . yet me thinks i over-heare a secret confession acknowledge that in many wines which have past a triall of fire , you have often found store of saccharine salts sweet sir be not then so glucupricontically obstinate : but let 's to work , and make the alembick our moderator . i will give you an instance in a cup of claret , to excite alacrity in our operations , and to extract your errours out of your own element . in this distillation your dullest sense shall feele the truth of our argument and you shall see in this enucleation of wine both vitriolated , nitrosulphureous , and tartareous salts ; which demonstrated , consequence shall force your beliefe to acknowledge the same in our blood . by the way i desire you to be patient and stir not , lest we break glasses : for this operation is very phlegmatick ; and your choler may alter our degree of heat , and so produce an empyreuma in our aquavitae . stand quietly therefore with expectation ( like a spaniard at the siege of a piazz● ) and presently your errour shall evaporate , and both our opinions shall dance together in a limbeck . marke therefore how true an analogy there is between wine and mans bloud and then tell me whether hermeticks nurse any opinions but what are legitimate to reason . from wine , therefore , we first sublimate the aquavitae , by a temperat heat in balneo . from bloud , by the same soft naturall heat of the heart , is separated the aquavitae also , spiritus vitalis . againe from aquavitae , by rectification and circulation , we extract the spirits of wine , a part more aethereall and essentiall than aquavitae , a drop whereof let fall , ●stius in auram evanescat , quam in terram delabatur . so from the aquavitae or vitall spirits of the bloud , by rectification and circulation in the naturall balneo maris of the brain are produc'd the animall spirits , the which likewise in subtility and purenesse doe infinitely excell the vitall . in these preparations , remaine great quantity of unprofitable phlegme . and is not the same in bloud ? after the separation of the spirits and phlegma from wine , there remains store of dregs which abound with sulphur , niter , and tartar . the like shall you discover in the distillation of bloud , where choler doth aptly symbolize with those faeces , that being nitrosulphureous . of the dregs of wine is made vinegar , whose pontick and acide taste doth wholy resemble naturall melancholy , which subsides in the bloud , and from whence nature supplys the kitchin of her stomack with vinegar , her cook using no other sawce to excite appetite . in the distillation of vinegar likewise their remains a tartareous sediment , so sharp , black , and acrimonious , ( the major part being a vitriolated salt ) that dissolve the least quantity of it in a competent part of water , and it instantly inquinats the whole masse , making it acide like vinegar . and this is likewise seen in the bloud ; for those black dregs of vinegar , correspond unto black choler or melancholy adust as you falsely call it : for it is not such , from any adustion , as you dreame ; but from the separation of the mercuriall , from their sulphureous parts ; by whose permixtion , before it was made temperate , those corrosive salts being as it were lull'd asleep in mercuriall humidityes : which is evidently seen in culinary vinegar , whose mercuriall phlegma not separated is edible and usefull : but those humidityes by ebullition once evaporated , his salts like drowned flyes sensible of heat , begin to actuate , as your tongue may taste and testifie . 't is evident therefore , adustion cannot produce such acrimonies : for give common water , or the phlegma of wine , all the ebullitions and re ebullitions you can , they shall never be brought to this acrimony which you call adustion , because they are destitute of those vitriolated and nitrosulphureous salts . what you find in this anatomy of wine , the very same is likewise in cyder , perry , and beer : and not our drinks only , but all our nourishment , be it of vegetables or animals , abounds with those sulphurs and salts . how then shall the bloud escape from their infection ? your own master tells you talem esse sanguinem , quale nutrimentum . let an ingenuous confession then coutch ●his erroneous cataract ; and so without ●ading your nose with ages glasen opticks , you may perspicuously discover the grosnesse of your methodicall errours , which envidious ignorance would never yet suffer to be brought to the copella of examination . then armed with truth , you may boldly bring hither many a ridiculous page of galens to supply the defect of charta emporetica . i will not here discover any , lest imitating the sons of noah , i detect paternall nakednesse . no! but rather with reverence i adore the divine oracle of hipocrates : acknowledg●ing galen to be our {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ! and admiring their sedulity and infinite labours in laying the first foundation of {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} his temple ; tha● future ages by their examples might dayl● adde a stone to their architecture , tha● so with time it might glory in perfe●ction . those good old men are not to be co●●temned , or neglected , because their first prin●ciples have past the alembick of so ma● brains , that now all excrementitious hypo●stasis is separated , and they truely rectifie● but as hipocrates answers for all , sa●●ing , medicinam non ●am assecutam esse pe●●fectionem , cui nihil addi possit : sed in qua semper , vel aliquid modo reprenhendi , modo corrigi , modo addisci queat . so to his ingenuous confession , i adjoyn this absolution . facilius est inventis addere , quam ea primum excogitare . here me thinks i see som vitriolated stomacks , look sharply one upon another , and with a whispering murmur invite a departure , saying that neither the feasts of apicius , vitellius , or heliogabalus , were thus long in preparation . have patience sirs , and know that i have invited a world : whom i purpose to entertain with a banquet , not to satiate as those of vitellius and heliogabalus , who ex sacrorum ●iscium jecinoribus , muraenarum lacte , phasianorum ac pavonum cerebellis , phaenicopterorum , pavonum & lusciniarum linguis , atque●d genus inauditis ac inusitatis , maximorumque sumptuum eduliis parata atque confecta , illorum mensae replebantur . no! to those feasts i recommend cleonenes , lacydes , q. ennius , dionysius minor , mycerinus , timocreon , rhodius , bonosus , val. aurelianus imp. mutonius , philoxenes , meanthus , and the like gluttonous idolaters of ●●at loathsome goddess intemperance . here you must enter i●to the athenian and lacedemonian schools of temperance , where zeno , aristippus , socrates , epaminondas , cato , cicero , and such like sober guest , shall perswade you to a temperate diet. yet will i not confine you to the strict laws of solon and licurgus , and so present you only with galenicall sallads . no , your temperance shall heer consist in delicacyes : we will be prodigall , yet sparing : your stomacks shall be italionated with puoco●e buona ▪ little dishes but great nourishers : famish the eye ▪ but satisfie nature . for here every dish shall be so spagirically drest , and essentially ordered , that every man shall depart hungry , yet fully satisfied . my cooks do not like galens set all boiling as soon as the pot is over the fire ; so we might operam & oleum perdere , all our fat might be quickly in the fire . no , as our physick , so are our fires , na●turall and temperate , the which must be served with time and phlegme . i here therefo●e follow the old custom o●england : when guests are invited and the cook somewhat tedious , the symposiastes o● patron of the feast , with merry tales an● winning discourse labours to beguile time , an● ease the expectation of his hungry guest . as neer as i could therefore i have given you exercise before meat , proper for the aliment provided for you in my banquet : and between every course i shall interlard your lean dishes with wholesome though ridicuculous mirth . and my chiefest care shall be not to present any dish that shall either be nauseous or unsavory : but all such as may answer the delicacy of your most delicate palates . my anthropogeographicall mapp , dividing our microcosme into four parts , i allow every part his preservative , and from thence make foure courses . the first course is stomaticall , the second cephalicall , the third hepaticall , and the last cardiacall . now then as soon as you please , wash and fall to : and to imitate mine host , be merry , for you are wel-come gentlemen . the first course stomaticall . the reason why i begin with the stomaticall part of the microcosme , is , because we are at a feast . and indeed such a feast where every one shall find appetite in his dish . this part being likewise our cooks judgement hall ( where pallatus sitteth aloft as judge , and appetitus his baylieff under him , summoning every dish to his triall ) 't is requisite that we here first make our examination before we fall to execution . besides as it is the microcosmes kitchin , it must of necessity be first supply'd , since the whole world is nourisht by his alms. the stomack also is the physitians best almanack by which he prognosticats what weather is likely to insue , and what alterations are to be expected from the middle region of the microcosme . 't is necessary therefore that we first look into that : for when we have discover'd his indispositions and distempers , we shall the better learn how to preserve the whole microcosme . every one therefore which is carefull of his best treasure , health , must first reflect upon this part , as the little worlds nurse , which duly sendeth her milk by the meseraicks , unto every part. if this our nurse therefore have by disorder , or bad diet , her milk or chylus inquinated , how can the other parts her children expect health from such corruptible nourishment ? primae enim concoctionis error , in secundo non corrigitur . such as the devil is , such is his broth : and from sowre cream we must not expect sweet butter . that my guests therefore may not sit picking their teeth for want of apetite , i will here give you a catalogue of those principles wch nature presented unto that great monarck of the microcosme ( when she first establisht him in his dominions ) to the end he might injoy a peaceable and quiet reign . and as neer as i can i will deliver them verbally as i found them ( in my travells through the stomaticall territories ) ingrav'd in every portal of the prime governers , and prophylacticks of those parts . and they are these , 1. never oppress the stomack with such satiety , that it may produce either nauseam , or crudityes . 2. oblige not the stomack to any determinate hours of eating or drinking : for your worldly affairs will often give a diversion to those puntilii , misplacing the gnomon of your appetites horologe either more backward , or more forward . 3. but if possible , famem cibus , sitim potus expectet . when hunger begs ▪ be charitable and feed her . and if thirst put a dry jest upon you , answer her as inns of court gentlemen do schollers , and drink to her . 4. nitrosulphureous stomacks , let their drink exceed their meat : as of mercuriall and tartareous , the contrary . let all overmoist , unctuous ▪ and viscous aliments , which by relaxation debilitate , be reserv'd for watermen as a nourishment suitable to their exercise . 5. do not challenge nature to the duell of hard digestions : lest finding you raw spirited ▪ and no g●eat stomake to the quarrell , she , unable to digest such affronts , make you confess your own weakness , and so leave you . 6. all flatulent meats you shall recommend to marriners and ship-boyes , whose windy re●uctancies may help in a calm to fill the main sheet . from my banquet likewise i banish all such meats , as guest too turbulent and rebellious : since we here desire mirth and not blows . 7. let not judge pallatus be corrupted with rich presents of fish or fruits ; and advertise your baylieff appetitus , not to be brib'd by the delicacy of their tasts , and bid the great porter your mouth that he stand not gaping on the dishes whilst the fish leap in : for believe me this may ruin the whole republick . 8. if any one have a sweet-tooth , let him lick it with a sowre tongue : for , meats exactly sweet , must alwayes be allayed with some acide corrective , and made dolce picanti , otherwise they are not edible . 9. let the body have his exercise , before the stomack his collation : and let nature evacuate her superfluities before either . 10. at table , be sure that your teeth labour like so many gally slaves , keeping true stroke with the hand . for mastication is of many esteem'd the first concoction : and none will deny but that 't is natural-heats best agent ; for meats well masticated , are half digested . 11. of drinks , claret ( whose ruby tincture , emulating the blush of aurora , allures more souls to the courts of bacchus , than he hath stools to entertain them ) is the stomacks best favorite . 12. be not fearfull at any time of a second deluge , and so make your stomack noahs ark ▪ tumbling in at one past promiscuously all sorts of creatures , as beefe , mutton , lamb , pigs , capons , chicken , pheasants , larks , &c. why the confusion of babel was not greater . do but imagine what a horrid incounter this is to weak nature , when she finds a chaos of imperfect bodyes brought into her operatory , there to be digested , united , made homogeniall , and assimulated into a perfect body . why hoc contra naturam opus est ! nature must prepare new vessels for this operation ; for she fears the old will crack and the fire go out . me thinks i see her so puzzled in this work , that faint sweats water her temples ; and her lungs , with overblowing to preserve so weak a heat under her overcharg'd alembick , begin to double their motion : she grows dull and febrish ▪ so that at last , with a drowsie lassitude , her lamps being almost out , not able to hold up any longer , le ts fall her tongs , commits all to fortune , and sleeps . believe me in these disorders you scrue nature to the zenith of ●er patience . and who ever makes his teeth guilty of such massakers , violates her laws so far ▪ that at last she will give him over as an arch heretique . when occasion therefore shall tempt you with such varieties , let them serve only as a perspective to the opticks : let your eyes feed on all ; but let appetite satisfie it self with some one dish most sympaticall to your stomack and obedient to digestion . for in one dish fear it not , but you shall meet variety enough to keep all natures cooks in exercise . yet if any one have a caprizzious palate , that will daunce after his own pipe and contemnes the regular musick of dieteticall method , yet at least let him keep some homogenity in his choise , nam dissimilia quae sunt seditionem movent : and withall let him be sure to take temperantia for his maid marrian to make up the dance . this lady intemperantia is prologue to all maladies ; who with the sweet oratory of her bewitching delicacies , winns our audience to an insuing tragedy . she is like adams apple , pleasant , and though the devil were cook down it must . she labours to make every man sell natures portion for a mess of pottage . health , as our good genius , is vigilant in our preservation ; but she negligent of her graces , hath invented that loathsome rack of gluttony to martyr us . 't is now a vice too generall : and no man but is ambitious to hear his table groan under the burden of plenty . but stay ! i have almost leapt out of a limbeck into a pulpit . pardon me sirs : for if i preach , 't is not for a benefice : a fat goose will content me . neither do i rail at intemperance to make you partiall to my dishes : no , fall to on gods name , and spare nothing that either palate or appetite shall point at . for here you have licence to embrace variety , it being all homogeniall . eat therefore and wel-come ; remembring that your last morsell be as a ligature whose stegnotick ▪ and styptick vertue may incatenate naturall heat within the purse of the stomack , by an exact closure of his upper orifice . for which effect , i recommend a box of marmalade to your use . or this , ℞ . conser. rosar . diacydon . an. ℥ j. ss. sem. coriand . prae . ʒj . salis perlar . salis corallor . an. ℈ j. spir. rosar . gut . vj . fiat electuar . s.a. ℞ . rob de ribes . ℥ j. sal. coral . prae . ℈ j. essentiar . masticis . cinamomi an. g. iij . cum syr. corallor . q.s. misce . or which excells all , after meals you may eate a piece of our spagir●call sugar of roses ( for the preparation thereof i recommend you to our spagiricall kitchin ) whose corroborating vertue , ( which is no less cephalicall and cardiacall , as stomaticall ) i will deferr to the encomium of your future experience . the vulgar may in these necessities content themselves with a roasted pear or a medlar : it were a sin to cast pearls amongst swine . least my banquet should seem a vision or dream , out of which you remain little satisfied , i have here dish'd out in catalogues , aswell what is gratefull as offensive to the stomake : that every man may the better avoid the abortive meats of ignorance . i desire you therefore to put them up in your hankerchers in place of comfits , and carry them home to your children . things corroborating and acceptable to a weak stomack distempred by heate . marmalade . cons. of red ros. currans . cichory rootes condit . corall . medlars . strawberryes . sorrell . pomegranates . pears bak'd , or roasted . melons . mulberryes . ribes . barberryes . sowre cherryes . orenges . lemons . compounds . elect. de sorbis . elect. de bac . myrt . diarrhod . ab. diatrion . santal . and all such things whose acide and stiptick tasts are united by a temperate mixture . things corroborating and acceptable to a weak stomack distempered by access of cold and moisture . cal. arom . mastick mints . sage capers sampire worm-wood . fennell . cinamomum . rad. cyper . nepita . rosemary iunip . ber. caroway . anise . fennell-seed . wood of aloes . galingall . zedoaria , thymus . calamint . cubeb● . synap . zinzib . nuc. mosc . maceres . garyoph . piper . cardamom . satureia . serpillum . composita . aromat. rosat. . dianisum . diacyminum . diazinzib . elect. de citr . rosat . nou . diagalanga . diaxylaloes . diacynamom . diatrionpip . elec. ex bac . lau . diaspoliticum . the stomack hath many particular enemies , whom he abhorrs with that detested nauseo , that when he finds them in his kitchin , he is never well till he hath frighted them out with hot water . and those are galenicall potions . raw onions . radishes . old nuts . rochetts . garlick . cucumbers . fat meats . all cold things . green soure fruits brains . much use of oil. pompions . blites . orage . cole-worts . hellebor . lap. lazul . aloes unwash'd . scamon . ill praep. salt fish . butter . cream . legumin . non excort . but stay ! me thinks there is a crust of galens brown bread leapt into your broth gentlemen ! pray let it lie since 't is in ; for it must ( like an artificiall velvet mole in fair faces ) give our bread the greater lustre good galen ! was there never a searce maker in your dayes ▪ to teach you how to seperate the unprofitable bran from the flower , but you must needs choke your patients with brown bread-cawdles . what pollicy drew you into the method of making remedies more maligne then the disease . but alas good old man , he is no whit culpable since nihil perfectionem in principio gaudet . he left the embryo of his labours for future ages to perfect and preserve from abortment . he gave us the first , and true design of health , and left us the scizza . hermeticks they have wrought it to life , adorning it with the naturall colours , tinctures , and spirits themselves : so that their industry hath made them so excellent in this art of painting , that had they but such a coppy of the soul , i think they would ease nature , and make her creatures for her . i would gladly understand then why our neotericall dogmatists do not endeavour to perfect this designe of their masters : or at least why they will not take a coal in hand , and adde a shadow to the perfection of his scizza . no , by no means their hands shall not be guilty of our venemous mineralls . they dare not enter into the hell of our laboratory for fear the spirits fly about their fars . they say we preach new doctrine , and labour to silence us ; mineralls they all disclaim as venemous yet all their principal antidotes are infected with them . who doubts of this let him examine merepsus his book de antidotis ( where he hath selected the choisest and most authentick compositions of all the select band of galenists ) there you shall finde more than a hundred antidotes whose basis and principal ingredients are either mineralls or semi mineralls , and those crude and unprepar'd . there in antidoto persicae pauli , you shall see both crude sulphur , and five dragmes of unpraepar'd arsenick , which i suppose he intended for an {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . in antidoto . cap. 303. musae apollionio adscripta the same arsenick is imbrac'd as a principal ingredient . dioscorides likewise , doth he not prescribe a dragme of raw vitrioll mixt with hony as a prime secret against those ascarides , and for such whose wanton palate hath opprest nature with venimous fungi ? in that divine panacea , that so admir'd chaos of druggs , theriaca , is not calcitis an ingredient ? in mirepsus his mithridate is not calcin'd lead cald in as one of the jury ? are not lapis lazulus and lap. armenus , two of your familiar spirits against melancholy . again they say mineralls are too violent in their operations . let them look well into their vegetables , and then tell me if tithimalus , thapsia , helleb . alb. & nig . pityusa , elatorium , colocynthis , turpetum , bryonia , scammonium , thymelaea , chamelaea , cyclaminus , &c. do not emulate the violence of the most tyrannicall minerall , torturing every nerve on the rack of convulsions . here i lose my self in admiration to see so many famous physitians of our times lie puzzling in the dust of ignorance ; where losing their eyes they lye groaping in the dunghil of their drugs , whilst the hermeticks pick out the pearls . they see that every mans stomack riseth against their physick ; and yet they will still persecute poor nature , ●oftner frighting then curing diseases . go to a methodist , tell him your stomack is debillitated by a cold distemper , and he will presently prescribe you the decoction of anise , rew , and parsely seed , with diatrion-piperion , diacalamint . theriaca and the like . if your weakness proceed from heat and cholerick humors , he bids you purge with hiera picra ( galenae stomaticall panacaea ) and to drink endive and succory waters , mixt with vinegar . why this is pure judaical physick imitating the cure they used to our saviour , when he suffered thirst on the cross . me thinks as the old law is , so their physick likewise should be abrogated . be not dismaid at these relations good guest ! for here he promiseth your entertainment shall be more christian like . and when your microcosme shall discover any such distempers , retire to our spagiricall kitchin , over whose door you shall find written , sapores palato ingrati procul absint . there you shall not be allur'd to give christian buryall to a jewish potion , by perswasive apologies : but believe me , the sweetnesse of your cure , shall bring a plesant recompence to the bitterness of your malady . whosoever therefore is subject to any debilitation of the stomack : proceeding from a mixt distemper of humors , be they tartarius , vitriolate , nitrosulphureous or mercuriall : let him before he tast of our preservatives , first secure the stomack from all such false usurpers , by taking one , two , or three grains of our hermeticall panchymagogon . for ladyes and such delicate tempers , one graine renders a compleat operation . you may mix it with any dissolvent your stomack most approves of ; as wine , bear , broth , posset-drink , or any liquidity . or you may lend it the form of a pill by addition of some conserve , marmalade , quidiny geladine or the like . 't is not guilty either of tast or smell , neither doth it seek by violence to put any man out of his humor . no , you shall find it as good a fellow as may be ; and one that will dance after the caprizzio of every ones humor . for if they be cholerick , and will at the first dash con la furia francese , give a scalado by the upper orifice ; he straight consents , helps , and follows . or if they abound with spanish phlegma , and desire rather to entrench themselves first , and so make a long seidge ; why , he plays the pyoner , there too , and flings out as fast as the stoutest . believe me the operation hereof is miraculous , and the little experience which i have made would consume volumes in the description ; but as from my purpose i defer it to some better occasion . here i labour only to preserve , not to cure . if nature therefore suspect any summer assault , by acute and malignant fevers , tertians , plurisies , or the like ; this taken in the spring breaks their designes . if she fear any autumnall skirmish or winter seidge , by some cronicall disease do but scowre the enemies trenches with this artillery and ( under god ) i dare promise her peace . the preparation of this panchymagogon is thus . you must first rob our hermetticall curier when he rides post to caelum christallinum , and take from him two ounces of his false diamonds . then open a vein in your mothers belly , and from her coagulated bloud you shall pick out ℥ ij . of the bones of the 7. planets great grandmother these you shall charm into butter , and then season it for your winter service . but if any of you fear a vomit by reason of a streight chest , i recommend him to our tetrapharmacon panchymagogon , whose operation is exprest in an easie and low stile , never ambitiously reaching at those high streins . having thus scowr'd your ditches , and cast up your parapetts , that your fort may be strong for battery , now you must begin to fortifie your walls , and look to your out-works ; renue your weak flanks , and let nature , your inginier , search where and what part is most subject to the mine and there prepare her counter-mines : for by strengthing and preserving this piazza , you need not fear the whole world . if therefore the winter of your complexion produce a weakness to the stomack , by the ice of his violent and cold distemper you shall disgeal it with this insuing elixir , which is the stomacks proper balsamum . ℞ . cinamomi . zedoariae . cardamom . maceris an. ℥ j. garyophyl . nuc. mosch. cubeb . an. ℥ j. ss. galanoae . ʒiij . piper . long . ʒvj . garyoph . hortens . ros. rub. flor. buglos . flor. menthae rom. an. m. j. folior . menth . rom. absinthii . an. m. ss. bruse them small in a mortar , and adde thereto ten ounces of the crum of white bread . put all into a glass cucurbita , and powre thereto of the best sack as much as they can drink , with two fingers depth advantage : close your glass according to art , then give it 8. dayes fermentation : which done adjoyn this emulsion . ℞ . amygd . dulc. excort . lb. ss. aqu. rosar . buglos . an. lb. ij . sacchar . albis . ℥ iij . fiat emulsio . then destill all in balneo secund. attem . the dose is two spoonfulls an hour before and after , meat . here follows an other more excellent . ℞ . spir. vini , cum spirito . sem. anisii animato . lb.j. theriacae . ℥ j. confect . alcher . ℥ ss. specier . diarrhod . ab. zinzib . maceris . cinamom . an.ʒj. cort. citri . ʒiij . the ginger , mace , cinamon and citron-peeles , being all grosly beaten , mix all together , and in balneo by a gentle heat , extract the tincture . to which you shall adde these , tinctur . succini . tinctur . corallor . an. ℈ j. tinctur . auri. essent . perlar. an. gut . xx . spir. menthar . spir. faenic . spir. melissae an. ℥ ss. spir. rosar . ℥ j. essentiae sacci . ℥ ij . tinctur . croci gut . xij . who please may proceed farther in this preparation , by separating the spirits from the first theriacall tincture ▪ in balneo vaporoso , which spirits being sublimated , he shall find at the bottom of his cucu●bita an extract or coagulated tincture , admirable in corroborating the principle parts , specially the heart and stomack and far surpassing the common theriaca against all pestilential and infectious aer . then to those spirits thus separated from their tinctures you may adde the other forementioned tinctures . and who ever can attain to this , believe me he enjoyes a treasure worthy of a princes cabinet : whose vertues are so infinite ▪ that they would lose themselves in expression . it asswageth all inward dolours of the stomack , heart , liver , bowels , &c. and that on an instant . 't is a panacaea , in all pestilentiall fevers , both prophylactick and therapeutick . it corroborates all the vitall parts , and renovates the oyl of ages decaying lamp . to conclude , it recalls a departing soul by rendring the annuall tribute which weak natures exhausted treasury could no longer disburse . hippocras and artificiall aromaticall wines are much in use with us in england : & not without cause , since they have a peculiar efficacy in repairing cold , weak , and decaying stomacks . that those therefore which honour my feast , may at all hours , and on any occasion , prepare a quart of hippocras for their friends in an instant : i will favour them with this insuing hippocraticall extract . ℞ . cinamom . ℥ ij . vel iij . garyophyl . ℥ ss. zinzib . macropip . cardamom . gran. parad. galaneae an. ʒij . nuc. mosch. ʒj.ss . being all grosly powdred , put them into a glass violl , and powre thereon of the spir. of wine to the eminence of 4. fingers , stop your glass close , and set it in balneo , or in summer in the sun , for the space of three or four dayes , untill the spirits have rob'd the aromaticks of their tinctures : this done , separate it from the faeces , and reserve it for your use . when any of you therefore desire a cup of hippocras , mix but ʒ . ss. of this tincture with a pint or more of sack , adding what quantity of sugar you please , or which is better the essence of sugar , and your desire is answered : a glass of which with a toast , before meat , gives no small check to a cold distemper . here likewise i present a tast of spagiricall cla●et to your weak stomacks , by the often use of which , neither crudities or ventosities shall impaire your digestion . ℞ . cinamom . ℥ ij . maceris . ℥ ss. dactyllor . num . 20. myccbal . num . 4. uvar. passul . ℥ v. vel . 6. sem. anisi . coriand . prae . an. ℥ j. faenicul . ℥ ss. with the spirits of wine and canary sack of each lb iij . being mixt set them in some cool cellar to ferment the space of four or five dayes . of this you may take one or two spoonfulls in a morning . if i mistake not i heard some of you call for a glass of wormwood wine . i have none ready prepared : but here is a little violl of the spirits of wormwood with which who please to make a triall and put ●ut some few drops in a glass of ordinary white wine , he shall find his desire satisfied with a cup of exquisite wormwood wine , far more effectuall then any galenicall macerati●n or infusion , and that your defect may be supplied when this small quantity shall be exhausted , i ●ere lend you the receit , whereby you may ●ereafter furnish your self , and pleasure a friend . ℞ . summitat . absint . q.s. affunde aq . com . s.q. stent in digestione per dies aliquot : potest & quid ad fermentandum adjici . destilletur per vesicam : exibit . aquam , oleum quippiam continens . oleum per seperatorium separetur . aqua tota cucurbitae vitreae indatur atque in balneo semel atque iterum rectificetur , & saltem pars spirituosior absirahatur , quae odorem & saporem absinthit retinet . this hath a singlar vertue in corrobora●ing both stomack and liver , it resists putri●action , and deopilates obstructions , and is a ●pecifical preservative against all stomattical ●nd intestinall vermine . spirit of mints is ●ikewise an excellent and peculiar prophylactick of a weak and cold stomack , some few drops thereof put into a cup of sac● with a toast , adjoyning a drop of the essence of cinamon , and taken an hour before meat . to think to please every mans palate may well inlarge the list of impossibilities : yet despair shall not interrupt my carving : and where one dish likes not , variety shall presently bring in another . so that at length ●● presume the major part shall satisfie the variability of fancy , and give appetite a delight , in the stomacks preservation . who then please may tast of this spagiricall stomaticall syrupe , which in delicacy and vertue excelleth all your ordinary cinamon-waters . ℞ . cinam . gros . mod . pulv . ℥ iiij . vini hispam● . lb. ij . let them infuse in balneo three dayes : then separate the tincture from his faeces and adding thereto lb● . ss. of pure white sugar , put all into a glass cucurbita and with a boiling balneo distill it untill it remain at the bottom in consistence of a syrup . so in one operation you injoy both a syrup and an excellent cinamon water both of which for corroborating a weak stomack and expelling melancholy from a pensive heart , may take possessi●n among your secrets . but to make it more perfect , in place of sack you shall use spir. of wine . in the same manner you shall make syrup of nutmegs , the which is a little more spe●ificall for the stomack . for windiness of the stomack and bowels you may compose the like waters and syrups of annise and caraway seeds . but there are many whose natures so antipathize with wine , that both smell and tast ●hereof is offensive to them . such persons may make the above said syrups as followeth , ℞ . cinam . pulveriz . ℥ iij . vel . iiij . aqu . commun. . q.s. set them in some cold place the space of three or four dayes : then distill it . then take of that distild water , lb j. sugar lb. ss. fiat syrrup . s.a. this retains the fragant odour of cinamon : and this for the summer is more proper , to which you may adde an ounce or two of rose-water . gentlemen you are too modest ▪ because my cook ▪ to follow court fashion , sends in his dishes in duplicates ▪ every man expects that i should make the discovery . this lady-like nicety , had almost let a good dish here scape for the serving men . 't is a meat which you have already tasted of : the difference is only in the dressing , the which is rare and exquisite . take the above mentioned spirits seperated from the first cinamon syrupe : adde to it ℥ iij . or iiij . of gross beaten cinamon , then being exquisitely stop'd , set in a cold place untill the water have the perfect tincture of the cinamon : the which you shall separate , and to every ℥ x. adde ℥ iij . or 4. of sugar . then in balneo separate those spirits from the tincture , and you have the best sort of cinamon water ▪ together with an admirable syrup . if you will make one yet more excellent , 't is but adding fresh cinamon to these last rectified spirits , proceeding as before : and reiterating this operation three or four times , so that the last will render you an essence of cinamon whose vertues will repay your labour with interest . we have in our spagiricall kitchin certain stomatticall balsams , whose descriptions i must here forbear as frutta nova , and not yet for every mans table . such as are balsamum iunip . balsamum . nuc. mosc . bals . cinamom . balsam . rosmar . &c. these as they are rare and princely , so are they singular in corroborating both the stomack and the rest of the vitall parts , either intrinsicall or extrinsically applyed . and for such over-nice and delicate persons which either through coyness will not , or through weakners cannot receive any internall remedy , let them morning and evening externally annoint the stomack with this hermeticall balsam . ℞ . butyr . gelsomini . ℥ j. essent . rosmar . ℈ . ss. essent . cinamom . essent . nuc. mosc . an. ℈ .j. essent . masticis . ʒj . moschi . ambrae an. g. iiij . zibet . g. ij . cum cero virgin . decies in aq . rosar . lavat. q.s. fiat balsam . s.a. that no man may complain for want of bread to his meat , you shall tast of our spa●iricall biscuit , which i recommend to all weak and moist stomacks , especially to those who after some chronicall disease cannot digest ordinary bread . take lb. j. of the purest wheat-flower , of the best refined sugar ℥ xvj . fresh eggs numb. xij . the cream of almonds extracted with the best rosewater , ℥ iiij . essence of annise , cinamon , and nutmeggs , an. ℈ j. more or less according to the humor of your palate : spirit of roses q.s. mix them according to art ▪ and thereof make your biscuits . there are many other sorts of biscuits which every good wife knows how to prepare , as regal● biscuit , s●anish biscuit , french biscuit , lorain biscuit , italian biscuit , &c. therefore as too vulgar for our table i omit them : yet if any one desire a tast , let them call to our cook . now presuming upon the phlegme of your cold distempers , i will call in for a dish or two to refocillate our younger and more sulphureous stomacks , whose extra vagant disorders hath brought the stomack so far in choler with the microcosme , that he refuseth to supply it with his expected nourishment : this quarrell must not grow too hot : but t is necessary a speedy reconciliation be made , before the stomack grow too obstinate in his humor . in this case i know no better aparater tha● our panchymagogon : let him bring him up to the court of conscience , there he will be so qualified , that you may turn him to any conditions of peace . when you have him at this advantage , injoyn him for penance every morning to take three drops of the spirits of sulphur , or vitriol , with as many of the spirit of roses mixt with a glass of spring water , edulcorated with the essence of sugar . or this ℞ . sal. christalli . ℈ . ss. spir. vitrioli gut . iij . spir. rosar . gut . 5. essent . sacch . q.s. aq. fontan . distillat . ℥ iiij . misce . before meat half an hour or an hour let him use this , ℞ . rob. de ribes . rob. de berber . an. ℥ j. spir. 🜍 g. iij . salis perlar . ℈ .j. misce . after meals , this , ℞ . conser. corneol . diacydon . simp. . an. ℥ ij . salis coralor . ʒj . spir. salis gut . vj . spir. rosar . gut . x. misce . you which are thus distemperd , i desire you to entertain appetite with patience until the third course enter , where you may pick out variety of hepaticall dishes proper to your indisposition . in the mean time if any insolent stomack-worms quarrel for a breakfast before their master be served , you shall do wel to cut off their allowance , and then turn them out of your doors with a powder . ℞ . corn . cer. praep. coral . rub . praep. an. ℈ j. aquilae celestis ℈ . j.ss . verm . terrest . prae . cinamom . an. ℈ .j. scammon . cum 🜍 . praep. ʒj . misce . dos . ℈ .j. the furyes of appetite being laid , now your patience may dispence with a little idle table talk , to renovate the dull'd edge of your apetites , that they may be the livelier at the second encounter . the second course cephalicall . here dogmaticall discipline bids me be more compendious , and collect my method unto heads . but we are travellers , and must not be limitted : we are now landed on the coast of the cephalick peninsula , a place whose fame elevates it above all other parts of the world ; and where both tongue and eyes of all men sleep in admiration . here that great monarck of the microcosme hath his residence , who is an emperiall king , and full of divinity : his head being alwayes crown'd , as a type of his absolute and peaceable reign even to the worlds end . that his more celestiall thoughts may not be interrupted with state affairs he hath resigned the government of his microcosme , ( which he hath divided into three monarchies ) unto three of his ablest subjects , spiritus vitalis , spiritus animalis , and spiritus naturalis . to spiritus animalis , he hath given the cephalick peninsula , placing him neer unto himself , as his wisest counseller : for which consideration he hath made him likewise {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , lord secretary . to spiritus vitalis , and spiritus naturalis , he hath resigned the government of terra firma : an equall division being made , the one taking the cardiacall , the other the hepaticall parts . spiritus vitalis likewise being his lord treasurer ; and spiritus naturalis lord of the cinque-ports . other information of this king ( the soul ) i dare not enter into . de sacris in praesentia mysteriis non est loquendum . yet i will shew you a reflection of his greatness in the glass of his nobility and court , which i will here carve into descriptions which may serve you as picktooth's and table talk , untill our cook shall stop our mouths with the second course . know then that this king is retir'd into the cephalick peninsula , where his highness is lodg'd in an emperiall palace , whose fabricks are all of pure ivory . there the architect , emblematically expressing perfection ( and that the microcosme might not want his epitomy ) hath united all in a sphaericall figure . the walls of his court are invironed with a pleasant forrest : the naturall plantation of whose trees make so intricate a laborinth , that t is a delightfull pastime for the ladies of honor , every morning for exercise , to lose themselves an hour or two in the crispie twirles of those aromatick thickets . there likewise they sport themselves with young harts , which they find often so intangled , that unable to resist , they rely on the mercy of those weak females , suffering themselves to be fool'd withall , untill pitty shall send them liberty . sometimes more aged harts ( whose actaeon plumes calculate their nativity ) are secretly insnar'd , and lock'd so fast , that their relief is desperate , insomuch that they lie and pine away in the iealousie of their own weakness . the ladies of this court are so particularly delighted with the pleasant chase of the hare , that day and night the poor creatures take little rest ; hourly new engines being invented to intangle them . so that every day there falls more than all the court dogs can eat and scape choaking . as you approach this regall palace , your heart is planet-stroke by two celestial lights fixt in the frontispiece : whose magick fires captivate the souls of yong courtiers , making their noble servitude seem an imperiall liberty . those are the lights which lead men into fools paradise , where they study idolatry in a looking-glass . if you can pass the influence of those stars ; you may enter the great gate ( the mouth ) which at a word speaking is opened . this is strongly fortifyed with ivory percullises set in mosaick . here you are presently incountred by that wanton portress lingua , who cannot speak to a man without wagging of her tail , she recommends you to her lady and mistris eloquentia , who with sweet complements , and court ceremonies , invites you presently to a view of this imperiall palace : and so shews you first the out-chambers of the five lady sences : then leads you up to the lodgings of the princes phantasia , which is the prime side of the court for good fellowship . there you shall find this princess , with the nine virgin muses dancing a phantasticall brando to the melody of the lady musica . here she shews you the chambers of all the seven liberall sciences , whom phantasia hath honor'd with severall offices . geometria is her carver , arithmetica keeps her accounts . rhetorica is mistris of the ceremonies . grammatica governes the pages . astrologia serves in place of a ieaster , and tells fortunes to provoke mirth . musica , all the world knows her charge . poeta is her minion , to whom she resignes the whole government of her family . she makes hay whilst the sun shines ; and prefers all her poor kindred to severall places in the court . ovid she makes major-domo . homer because a merry greek master of the wine-cellars . aretine ( for his skill in postures ) growing old , is made pander . shack-spear , butler . ben iohnson , clark of the kitchin , fenner his turn-spit , and taylor his scullion . all these have their chamber-doors pester'd with sharking players , fidlers , ballad-singers , and such like hangers on . next , she carryes you to the middle lodg●ngs , where the viceroy of the cephalick pe●insula is lodged , next dore unto the great king animus . this viceroy atten●s wholly unto his king and master : putting over all publique affairs into the hands of the lord intellectus , his favorite , who governes all . yet spiritus animalis , having found him often corrupted by inferiour members , dares not trust him too far , but for the better security of the peninsula , he hath five fair ladyes , as secret spyes to inform him dayly how every part is govern'd . the lady visus hath her commission to have an eye on both sides , and to look to every part , specially the more noble , and to observe their humor and disposition towards intellectus , and whether they render freely their tribute . the lady auditus is commanded to lend an ear to chamber discourses of those court gossips , lingua , rhetorica , &c. who make every festivall day , a day of parliament . lady tactus is bid now and then to handle them somwhat ruffly : so to try who is most touchy , and if in their choler they be subject to rebellion , and disobedient to the laws published by intellectus . lady gustus is injoyned to be alwayes at his table as tastress ; to prevent the malice of some treacherous humor , which by casting some soporiferous mixture into his dish , he might be deposed by an apoplexy . lady olfactus she smells to every ones chollar : and like an ape suffers nothing to pass the court gate , but she must have a nose in it . here you shall see that fountain somnus ( the true helicon ) where orpheus sits and playes sweet requiems to the nine lady muses , memoria , and the five sensuall ladyes , who refresh their defatigated limms with the hypnoticall dew of this anodynous bath : and whilst they rest , the princess phantasia , who never enters that fountain , she sports her self with the jugling tricks of that artifex simulator que figurae , morpheus , his phobetur and phantasus . here if eloquentia forget not her self , she will shew you memoria , and her lodging . but now i remember my self , i have heard our cook and his hatch twice at knocks , because none will ease him of his second course . and i fear some of my more serious guest could do the like with me , who perchance expected grave apothegmes , and sententious aphorismes for their table talk . no , you both abuse your expectations , and break the rules of physick , if you gape for sentences here . ever whilst you live be merry at meat . t is to excite your mirth that i play the fool : laetitia coelum vos creavit sua ; laetitia coelum vos servabit vestra . why then be merry ! and with democritus jeere melancholy out of his humor , nam fata sinunt dum securi vivitis . and believe me , mirth is the main spring of your lives horologe : t is that maintains the clapper your tongue in motion . 't is healths chief panacaea , and absque hac una tanquam medicinarum omnium vita medicinae omnes ad vitam producendam adhibitae moriuntur . laugh and be fat therefore : and let doctor merryman alwayes make up your mess . but soft ! here comes the second course ! gentlemen pray have a care you commit no capitall crime in your table talk . for whosoever makes gravity his salt , and contemplation his sawce , gives so great an affront to intellectus , the favorite , that he may chance hang his head for it . for thus you corrupt the embassadours and agents which spiritus naturalis imployes in the stomaticall territories , by diverting them from their function , whereby their charge is rawly executed . next , you give a false alarme throughout the whole microcosme , making spiritus animalis retire his forces to the cephalick peninsu●a , when there is more necessity of their succour ●n terra firma . lastly , you rob the treasury , ●rawing from the exchequer of the heart ●ood angel-gold , pure vitall spirits , and ●nd back false , indigested metall , all mercu●iall , falsifyed by a weak externall tincture ●nly : but brought to natures test alla copella , ●nd after dissolved in her rectified spirits ▪ you ●hall scarce draw from a pound , one scruple ●f perfect aurum potabile . thus likewise you cause fearfull inundati●ns in this peninsula , making his fluxes and ●efluxes so violent , that they drown the very ●arrow and heart of the soil , bringing with ●a marine saltness , whose corrosive heat con●●mes the true balsamicall moisture , leaving ●●ose parts where it runs so impregnable that ●●thing prospers there but tussilago . nor is this all the danger ! for by eating ●●icks in the neck-land , it threatneth the ●●ole continent . here in the chamber of memoria , i found book in manuscript , full of politicall max●es and matchavilian principles , for the bet 〈…〉 government of the sephalick state . the ●●●ef whereof were these , ● . how ever the world go , be not too vi●●●ant in your affairs : le●t by over greediness of gain you lose your interest in the publique treasury , and at last abandoned by intellectus , you grow out of memory amongst your friends , and so pass for a man of small judgement . 2. be carefull that the inland inhabitants suffer not their culinary excrements to lye putrifying in their channells ▪ but dayly to evacuate them by the port esculine . for believe me , the contagious exhalations which ascend from those faetid● neglects will quickly breed the sickness in the cephalick land . 3. this peninsula being barren , and receiving all his provisions from the continent 't is necessary that you keep an eye open upon the stomaticall magazin , and see that memory forget not her self to charge all the lady sences to be vigilant in this action , and not so much as to dream of any other negotiation untill they have seen a full and perfect distribution . for if you let those ministers sleep you may be supplied with a corrupt munition sufficient to morbifie all your inhabitants . 4. here intellectus must answer the advi●● of his physitian sensus communis , with obe●dience , and moderate his hours of recreat●●on in the helicon ; lest he grow dull wit● those stupid vapours ▪ and so unapt to nego●ciate , be at last put out of his office by the princess phantasia . 5. as far as possibility permits , this peninsula must be defended from those injurious sea winds , especially from that pincerna pluviae the south , whose humid gusts , supported on the wings of noysome foggs , lend a new body to the investing aer ; increasing the violence of his fluxes , and sending a repletion even into the cranyes of that earth . 6. here is allowed , to intellectus , his particular recreations , for the preservation of his vigour and health : and those he shall borrow from the lady sences . for sometime visus shall divert his too serious and retir'd meditations , with the reviving aspect of some actuating beauty : whose presence will give such a charge to his defatigated spirits , that in a point of time , by the strong refraction of those rayes , all his forces shall be inflamed with a renovating fire . tactus , yet more audacious , shall bring him on to touch this beauty ▪ making him imbrace corporality , to adde a greater feeling to his delights . and there the intellect might die in e●●tasy , did not auditus presently by some syrene voice or orphean instrument relieve his melting soul from the abyss of plesure . and lastly gustus shall salute him with her arms full of restoring dishes , making the lady lingua invite him to a sack posset , as the most proper n●penthes for his lassitude , and of all approved for an authentick settle-brain . in this my cephalicall m●pp , you may discover the head to be the most noble part of the microcosme ! the little worlds britania ! wisdoms cabinet ! the muses parnassus ! apollo's oracle ! minerva's temple ! and which crowns all ▪ the souls imperiall terrestiall tribunall whose foundation is the body : which if once impaired his fair buildings fall ▪ and kiss their mother earth for a second admission into her bowels . who then so desperate of sence ▪ as to neglect the preservation of so principal a part ? believe me 't were madness in the abstract : and such might well pass for hair-brain'd humorists . this my second course therefore shall consist wholly of cephalicall preservatives . look from one end of my table to the other and you shall not see either gross , flatulent , unctuous , vaporous nauseous , or crude and indigestible meats , such as are , old beefe milk , fat broths , strong wines , butter , black olives , nuts , onions , cabbage , raw sallads , beans , pease , rochet , or any such cephalick enemy . no! i sent my spenditore to galens market , where he bought me these ingredients . betonica majoran . salvia hyssopus melissa rosmarin . fol. laur . satureia ruta . ocymum . cal. arom . melilotus paeonia sem. faenic . coriandri anisi rad freos caryophyllata . visc. querc . flor. tiliae . bac. iunip . acorus . pulegium . nepita . euphrasia calaminta serpillum spica lavendul . origanum . horb . paraly . lil. conval . galangae staech . arab. chamomilla anacard . nuc. mosch. succinum moschus ambra . griz . lig. aloes caryophyll . cubebae . cardamomi macis , &c. and these by an essentiall fire we have brought into quintessences , elixars , extracts tinctures , balsoms , magistralls , spirits , arcani , and the like : all which you shall find far more toothsome , & specificall to cephalicall distempers than any of these following methodicall dishes , diambra diamosc . amar . diacastor . diapaeonias . theria● . d●●tes . pleres archont . op●yra conf. anacard . hygija graec. diaolibar . aurea alex. mithridat . dianthos theriaca , &c. no , i presume all sorts of delicate and nice tempers will rather honour our hermeticall feast : especially those curious females whose very stomacks are complementall , in so much that they will not take a grain of physick , under a pound of ceremonies . nor can i blame them ! for whose disease hath once invited them to galens table , they shall find that the nauseous variety of syrups , potions , boles pills ▪ apozemes , emulsions , powders , electuaries , lozenges , eclygmes , with a world of such like kitchin-stuff , shall give his stomack so compleat a surfit , that at a second invitation , they will rather ( dispensing with good manners ) appeal thrice to the judgment of the nose , before they will once ask the opinion of the palate . this if any man deny , i refer him to the infallible experience of his next malady ; o● to the volums of hippoc. galen , avi●en ▪ rhasis , aretaeus , aetius , &c. whose practise our methodists now wholly imitate . read those , and you shall find most bitter examples of all that i have mentioned . and whose belief in this point , cannot be overcome but by instances ▪ let them tast a little of this so much admired antipilepticall antidote of aetius , ℞ . castorei . helleb . nig . scāmon . anʒij . opopanac . cumini thebaic . centaurii , nitri , sulphuris vivi , abrotani , ammoniaci , thymiamatis sem. rutae sylvest . absynt. an.ʒj. contusa & cribrata , excipe aqua & efforma pillulas fabae aegyptiae magnitudine , & unam quotidie praebe , cum aceti mulsi cyathis quatuor . oh sweet antidote ! me thinks i see the disease flying from it in the very preparation . gentlemen , one such a dish as this might make you all leave my table , and run to the cooks shops . here therefore you shall see the difference between a good cook and a bad . for my part , had i appetitus caninus , or that ravening {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , i should not move a tooth at such ogliopodridoes . i remember , about my second clymacterical yeer i had a quartan fever ▪ and requiring assistance of a good old and reverend dogmatist ! for my cure , he prescrib'd me a water to drink ; the which hath put me into an {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ever since . take heed sirs , how you mix such waters with your wine : for i can assure you , you may grow mad upon it . from galens cephalicall sallads , i have made many dishes , which i desire no man to commend untill he have tasted . pray therefore fall to this dish of extracts . a cephalicall extract . ℞ . nuc. mosch. caryophyl . cinamom . cardamom . calam. arom . succini maceris an. ℥ ss. sem. anisi sem. faenicul . sem. coriand . praep. sem. sileris mont . sem. paeoniae an. ℥ j. flor. betonicae flor. salviae flor. rosmar . flor. herb. paral . flor. euphrag . flor. lil. conoal . flor. paeoniae flor. tilia arboris flor. lavend. flor. staech . arab. an. p.j. folior . majoranae folior . melissae folior . lauri folior . nepitae folior . calamint . folior . serpilli folior . ocimi , an. m. j. rad. paeoniae rad. acori rad. galangae rad. caryophyllatae , rad. ireos ana. ℥ ij . bac. iunip . bac. lauri an. ℥ ij.ss. lig. aloes lig. sassafras lig. guaiacini lig. visc. querc . lig. coryli buxi an. ℥ j. ss. let the herbs be brused , the woods rasp'd the seeds , aromaticks , roots and berries grosly beaten . put all into a large matracio of glass , and cover them 4. or 5. fingers deep with spir. of wine animated with the spirits of sage and juniper berries . set them in balneo to ferment six or 8. dayes . then separate the tincture from the faeces per inclinationem . to the remaining faeces powre half as much as aforesaid of the s. of w. animated with the s of annise , and cinamon . set them again in digestion other six dayes ; which finish'd , and your matracium cold , separate the tincture from the faeces . adjoyn these tinctures , and by a gentle heat in balneo vaporoso first separate the spirits , then put your alembick in balneo bulliente and distill the phlegma until your tincture coagulat into an extract . to every ℥ ij . of which extract adde , magister . perlar . magist. coral . an.ʒj. tinct . confect . alcher . ʒij . essentiae ☽ . gut . xx . magister . cran. hum . salis cran . hum . an.ʒj. essent . nuc . mosch. essent . cinam . an. g. x. spir. {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . gut . vj . mix all according to art in the consistence of an extract . dosis . ℈ ss. vel ℈ .j. the spirits of this extract . have cochl . ss. vel cochl . j. to their dose . this extract doth miraculously corroborate the brain , and both preserves and cures you of all cepbalicall diseases , as apoplexies , epilepsies , palsyes , vertigines , hemicranies , sopors , torpors , lethargyes , &c. it fortifyeth the memory , acuates the sight , extenuates and dissipates cold , gross , viscous & tartareous humors of the brain , which cause noise and pain in the ears , deafnes and the like . for a preservative against all cold distempers of the head , the first extract without the mixture of those , other essences may excuse such as are not in our spagiricall cooks books . those which will not feed on that dish , let them satisfie nature with this elixir : though somewhat inferiour to the first extract which is {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . elixir cephalic . ℞ . nuc. mosch. ℥ j. ss. maceris caryophyll . cinamom . an. ℥ ss. galano . calam. arom . an. ℥ j. euphrasiae . flor. lavend. rosmarin . herb. paral . an. mj. melissae ment. rom. card. ben. an. mj.ss. by the example of the former you shall extract the tincture with spir. of wine or ordinary cinamon water . then separate the elixir from his tincture , and proceed as before . the coagulated extract having ℈ .j. to his dose . the elixir half a whole sponfull in the morning : the which resists all cold and moist distempers of the brain : saves a bad memory the expence of table-books : and in one half year ( if generally used ) it would make our glasses cheap by runing the trade of spectacles . this likewise is a capitall enemy to tale-carryers : for it makes the sence of hearing so exquisite , that their imployment would become unnecessary . here variety calls you to another dish . ℞ . zinzib . santal . rub . caryoph . an. ℥ ss. cinamom . ℥ ij . nuc. mosch. maceris piperis . galangae cubebae cardamomi anisi sem. faenic . coriand . praep. an. ℥ ss. aromat. rosat. . spec. diambrae dianthos an. ʒij . majoran . flor. ocini lavend. an. p.j. ros. rub . m.j. with lb ij . of the best sack , and lb. ss. of the s. of w. with ℥ viij . of rose-water animated with the essence of musk proceed as in the other elixir . the vertues are the same with the former , but somwhat more efficacious . he that thinks these elixars and extracts will be too hot for him , let him play the good fellow and fall to our cock-broth which here waits for the innovation of his spoon . ℞ . an old fat cock or capon , being exenterated , cut him in pieces , and then put him into a large glass phialum adding , santal . citrin . lig. aloes caryophyl . nuc. moschat . cinamon . maceris an. ℥ j. galangae cort. citri . zedoariae croci orient . an. ℥ ss. flor. rosmarin . flor. salviae flor. betonic . flor. lavend. flor. borag . flor. bugloss flor. ros. rub . an. p.j. sal. corallor . ℥ j. granor. kerm . ʒiij . vini canarien . lb iij . sacchar . albis . lb. ss. set all well stoped , 8. or ten dayes in balneo fervido . then bring your cock to the press and there execute him : which done distill all in alembico vitreo : dosis j. 2. or iij . sponfulls . this restorative i recommend to students , whose cephalick treasure is exhausted , by their prodigall exercise of the brain , as most specificall . i have taken notice of some here who are so bad sighted that they cannot find the narrow passage of their mouths . others again before they can draw their eyes out of their pockets , lose many a choise bit which they gaped for . these things must be better look'd into : otherwise we shall make but a blind reckoning of it . that i may not be troubled with blind guest therefore , i will bring you to to your diet , and prescrib you this opthalmick water : and this is for such as prefer their ease , before their eyes : who rather than suffer a little smart , will sooner be at the charge of some well tutor'd mungrell , to follow his dogged humor . ℞ . euphrag . chelidon . an. m.ij. card. ben. betonec . an. m.j. rutae p.j. salviae fenic . an. m.j. enul . camp . rad. valerian . an. ℥ j. faenic . sem. anisi coriand . praep. siler . mont . an. ℥ ss. bac. iunip . ℥ j. ros. alb . flor. rosmarin . calondul . lavend. staeched . an. p.j. nuc. mosch. zinzib . cardamom . macropip . calam. arom . cinamum . an.ʒj. infuse all in lb. iiij . of the spir. of wine animated with the spirits of sage , for the space of four days in balneo : from whence accord●ng to art , you shall extract the spirits and tincture from the faeces , by calcination solution , filtration , and coagulation ; you shall resuscitate the soul of those vegetables , with which you are to animate the spirits , and phlegma . which phlegma dissolving therein {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} li , with a little crocus metallorum , makes an excellent externall opthalmick water . the spirits are to be inhibited the quantity of a spoonfull , or but half . the coagulated tincture ℈ ss. vel ℈ j. ss. who will prie far into other mens matters , though he smart for it , let him use this externall opthalmicall water . ℞ . suc . chelidon . euphrag . an. lb. ss. lact. caprin . lb. j. zinzib . maceris an. ℥ j. aloes ℥ ss. vitriol . alb. ℥ iij . give all four dayes infusion and then distill them in balneo . to this distilled water , take little peeces of tutia , heat them red hot in a new iron spoon , and extinguish them in this water , with nine repetitions , leaving your tutia at the last extinction in the water , and so reserve it for your use . a blind man may see the vertues of this water , a drop thereof being often put into his eys . it cures all opthalmies , gumms , salt tears , pearles , &c. in your first stomaticall course , i told you of a new hermeticall method in curing diseases ( which i have often practiz'd on infants and extream feeble patients ) only by externall remedies , without any internall praesidio : whereby i will undertake , and maintain , that any disease , either acute ▪ chronical , or astralis , ( where no malignity praedominates ) may be perfectly , and with far less expence to nature eradicated . and that all exteriour affects , as ulcers , wounds , &c. may be brought to an exact sanation without any locall application , but meerly by a magneticall sympathy . this opinion i know will be better than a gig to our modern methodists to provoke laughter : but let them beware , in their laughter they revive not the example of z●uxis that famous painter , who imitating the deformity of an old tripefac'd beldam , whose arch'd chin supported the fall of her nose , and the want of teeth gave her tongue liberty to drown her mumping eloquence with dribling oratory ; every eye likewise being so retir'd , that their gravity eclypsed all suspect of lightness . when he had finish'd this master-peece , and wrought it so neer to the life , that art had almost lost her interest in it ; he was so overcome with the extravagancy of his pensills perfection , that bursting into a violent laughter , he let out his soul to animate his pourtraict . thus perchance the extravagancy of our art mixt with perfection , may draw some of them to a violent laughter : but i fear t will be sardinian . faith if they laugh ! i must do as fools do , and laugh for company : yet with a more hearty laughter , as was of that of chrysippus , when he saw an ass forsake sweet grass and fall to thistles . apply who will . here ( purpose bringing me upon it ) to make this new art more speculative , and my opinion more apparent , i will give you an ocular instance . in all opthalmies where a plethora doth indicate evacuation , we have an hermeticall opthalmick water whereof three drops put into the eye hath these three properties . first per {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} it causeth a universall revulsion of the humor peccant , which flows to the part affected . secondly by a repulsion it resists the flux of humors . lastly , per {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} it makes an insensible discussion of those humors already compacted and coagulated in the eye . now they will not only laugh , but conclude i am mad ; to say that the dropping water in the eyes can purge per {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . if this seeme so strange to them , perchance i may shortly present them with a monster ( yet no {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ) whose smell only shall excite intestin●ll evacuations . to shew that i am not in choller , therefore , with methodicall obstinacy , which jeeres at truth , to blinde their ignorance ; ● will drink to them in a cup of our hermeticall claret . ℞ . caryoph . nuc. mosch. m●ceris an. ℥ j. ss. zinzib . cardamom . an. ℥ ss. coriand . praep. anisi faenicul . an. ʒiij . diptamni zedoariae rad angel . an. ʒij . flor. rosmarin . bugloss . an. p.ij. tabel . arom . ros. ℥ j. sacchar . alb. lb. j. all grosly beaten , put them into a glass vessell with lbiiij . or five of the best wine of candia , or good canary ; set them the space of two or three dayes in balneo tepido . then pass it two or three times through a hippocras bag . which done , mix therewith of the spirits of roses essentiated with musk and amber ; then put it up into vessells for your use . one or two spoonfulls taken of this in a morning , corroborates all the animall , vitall , and naturall faculties . hence it conduceth to all cephalicall affects : as also to all cardialgiae , lipothimiae , sincopi , &c. 't is excellent in all weakness crudityes , and ventosities of the stomack . it corroborates the liver and spleen and cures all cachexies , hypochondriacall melanchollies , and hystericall passions . it preserves from the pestilence , worms , and all sorts of putrifactions . i must not here omit the recreating of your sences by some externall perfumes : accept therefore of these pomanders . ℞ . styrac . calam . landan . an. ʒj.ss . benzoesʒj . garyoph . macis lig. aloes flor. lavend. an. ℈ . ss. moschi ambrae an. g. iiij . gum . tragac. in aq . ros. dissolut . q.s. terebint . parum . in a hot mortar make them up into a pomander , according to art . if that please not , make use of this ℞ . ladaniʒij . styrac . cal . ʒj.ss . benzoes thuris succin . alb. lig. aloes ros. rub . lig. cypres . cinamom . garyophil . an. ℈ .ij. ambrae moschi an. g.v. with gum tragacanth dissolved in spir. of roses , q.s. make them up into small trochisks ; one of which cast upon the coals fills your chamber with a gratefull odour . or this , ℞ . thuris lig. aloes styr . cal. an. ℥ ss. styr . liq . ʒvj . laudan . ℥ j. ss. ambrae moschi an. g. vij . carbonum tiliae , vel salicis ℥ j. tragacant . ℥ ss. your gum dissolved in spirit of roses with a little s. of w. make them up into little roles like small candles . or use this water . ℞ . aq. rosar . lb iij . vin. malvat. lb. ss. flor. lavend. spicae an. ℥ ij . cort. citri ℥ ss. rad. ireosʒij . cinamom nuc. mosch. styr . calam . an. ʒss . after ten dayes infusion , distill them , putting in the nose of your alembick , musk and amber an. ℈ j. this water you may mix with common water for your hands or face ; or put some of it in a perfuming pot , the vapour whereof will recreate your sences with a delightfull aer . if none of those perfumes please you , i must call for my hermeticall cabinet , where i think to finde a balsam shall please you all in despite of your noses . ℞ . butyr . gelsom . ℥ ss. essent . flor . citri . essent . cort. citri . ess. cinamom . ol. nuc. mosch. essent . rosar . an. ℈ . ss. flor. benzoin . ℈ .j. essent . moschi essent . ambrae essent . zibettae an. ℈ . ss. these in some small mortar , sine calore you shall mix well together : and then reserve it in some silver box to your use . with this you may rub your gloves , handkerchief , or any thing else about you . when the barber elevates your mustachoes , this wil● be of singular use , making your whiskers stand up most sweetly . in time of pestilence it will be very serviceable , and where it layes hold it will a long time stick to your coat . here since i have taken you by the nose , i must hold you a little longer : for i have a secret to reveal to you , but it will trouble your brains , and therefore i doubt you will take it in snuff . yet as it concerns the health both of your soul and body , i am bound in conscience to reveal it : make good use of it therefore for my sake , and i le promise you every one shall pray for you . pulvis sternutatorius . ℞ . sem. nigel . helleb . alb. an. ℈ .j. majoranae . rosmarin . salviae an. ʒss . moschi g. iij . fiat pulvis . s.a. these and such like neesing powders are never to be used but fasting : for you know , fasting and praying go always together . this following is safer and better : but you will be the less praid for , ℞ . pyrethri ℈ . ss. helleb . nig . ʒj . nasturt . ʒss . fiat pulvis . tye it in a peece of fine cloath , and steep it in rose water , and by smelling to it , it gently provokes sternutation . here i have another dish for some body which perchance little dreams of it , ℞ . quatuor sem. frig. maj . an. ℥ ij . sem. papav. alb. lb. ss. lactucae ℥ iiij . hyoschyam . ℥ ij . flor. nymph . violarum . rosar . rub . papav. rhead . an. p.iiij. flor. sambuci . sūmitat . rutae an. p.ij. macis nuc. moschat . benzoini an. ʒvj . all grosly beaten infuse them four dayes in aqua rosar . lactucae nenupharis papav. rheadis an. lb. ij . then strein it with a strong expression , to which you shall adde requies nich. ℥ ss. croci orient . mumiae an. ʒiij . camphorae castorei . an.ʒj. being well mixt , distill them according to art . the dose is ℥ ij . at your wonted hour of rest . this spoils all your watches : silenceth your clocks , and makes you lose more time then you think of : the best property it hath , is , it makes a man forget all wrongs . all that is bad in it is this , that who ever takes of it he will be no more good for any thing a long time after . this is far safer and of better effect than any of the vulgar narcoticks , and it emulates our hermeticall laudanum , mitigating all internal dolours , inflammations , inquietudi●i , &c. gentlemen , i did let your noses go a little too soon : here is a bloudy action put in against them , which may cost some of you your lives . i should be very sorry to see any of my guest throw away themselves by their own weakness . believe me t is to be pittyed , and i would spend part of my best bloud to save them . whensoever therefore prodigious drops of bloud shall fall from the upper region of the microcosme , knock at our hermeticall cabinets door : for there you shall finde a sympaticall powder , which increaseth both in quantity and quality every time you make use of it : one dragm of which is sufficient for an army . 't is to be preserv'd in some little box in your pocket , and when your nose bleeds let but a drop or two fall on this powder : then put up the box presently from the aer , and you shall find your bloud stop miraculously . and thus it cures all fluxes of bloud either of man or woman without any other helps . and this i have here inserted , to adde a nerve to the truth of our former opinion . here when i call to minde the malice of ignorance , i could play the montinbanco and draw teeth . but from whom ? not from my guess ! but from the jawes of those {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} whose canine and rabid envy like that of timonus the athenian man-hater ( quod nihil ingratius animo concipiat quam erga homines benevolum ac beneficum deum se habere , eosque prosperè ac feliciter prospiciat degere ) runs snarling and biting at every man . nay nature her self cannot pass them ! but because she is {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , and favours man with the use of her secrets , they hourly labour to discredit her , and ruin her reputation with their malignant calumnies . but she is so well armed with her panacaeae , and truths arcani , that in vain with aesops dog they do but bark at the moon . while i was student in padoua , upon many particular occasions , i have often tasted of that bitter galenicall envy against hermeticall discipline . amongst which this was one . walking one day in the garden of simples , with one of the professours of that academy in physick : ( and none of the simplest neither ) we gathered our discourse out of our mothers aperne : where i by chance taking up the herb heliotropium ( whose name discovers his solar sympathy ) it gave me occasion to sublimate the terrestriety of our discourse into celestiall influences , where rising from the bare and elementary vertues of herbs an other vegetables ▪ we flew up at last unto their occult qualities : where i made sure account to have adorn'd the naked wings of my quaesiti , with the choisest feathers of this old asclepians answers . i entred him upon the signatures of vegetables and mineralls , telling him how many miraculous cures i had seen from sympatical remedies , to the great amazement of the ignorant , and to the greater elogie of hermetick , whose enucleating curiosity had thus stole into natures most secret mysteries . the good man was so suddenly cholerick to hear me attribute any truth or belief to sympaticall physick , that he had no leasure to answer me with patience ; but , calling me paracelsian , he began very galenically to rail in method against our hermetick discipline : telling me that if i had ever read galen or hippocrates , i should impart little honour to any of our chymiatri , or impyricall charletaines , who contemning rationall method , apply themselves wholly to venimous mineralls , magick spells , and diabolicall characters . our art , in that university being prohibited ! i durst not cure those broken heads with our balsamicall reasons , which he so desperately wounded with the blunt beetle of ignorance . but letting him run on his heat ; his over angry tongue had so bastonadoed his teeth , that at last they silenc'd him with a vendicative dolor . nature i think visiting his ignorance on purpose to shew him the experience of her sympaticall secrets . here like the samaritan i took out a little violl from the pharmacopaea of my pocket , and profer'd to lend him ease . imagine with what scorn he contemn'd my younger practise : but bidding me follow him to the apothecaries , i should see he was not destitute of remedies far better than any of my impyricall fopperies . there he made a mixture of theriaca with a grain or two of opium , with which he fill'd the hollow vault of his ruin'd tooth . this by the narcoticall sulphur of the opium , stupefied the nerve , and so for a while mock'd his martyr'd sence with a seeming ease : which brought him presently into the vanity of his secret encomium , asking me how long i would undertake to dig before i found a mineral so rarely qualify'd . i laughing ask'd how long it might be before he expected the return of his currier : at which very instant , his opiate was now overcome ; and his dolour answer'd him in a duplicate . once more i abused him with curtesie , and desired him to make use of my sympaticall unguent : praying him but to draw bloud from his aking tooth with his tooth-picker , and make a resignation of the stick to me ; i would return him an acquittance of his dolor , without any locall application . my oportunity at last won his obedience : and his toothpick was no sooner buried in my sympaticall vnguent , but a sudden ease contradicted his expectation . who , like a crocodyle , when i had picked the dolor out of his teeth , he was like to have swallowed me up with his malitious oratory : telling me that this cure was diabolicall , answerable to our hermetick doctrine ; and advised me not to make farther use of it , but to content my practise with rationall galenicall ingredients . i must confess it angred me to hear a philosopher so lost in obstinacy , who blushed not to repay the vse of natures secrets , with ingratitude . his ignorance gave my teeth such an {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , that i could never since masticate a galenicall sallad . gentlemen , i hope you are more rationall , and better natured : and when a tooth pains you , will rather make use of our sympaticall unguent , than draw it out . in this my cephalicall course , twenty to one but some old lady will be looking for a dish to renovate natures defac'd master-peece with some artificiall shadow : or to illuminate her microcosmical map with the superficiall beauty of our hermeticall tinctures . to say the truth , i had prepared many dishes for this effect : but my fear was lest some of our younger beauties ( whose perfection is so compleat that nature her self hath many years since confessed she cannot adde unto it ) would ▪ for want of more substantiall pastimes , fall a dappling with our spagiricall accidents : and like ambitious painters , which never thinking their retraits finished , with too much curiosity spoil the whole peece . indeed i should be heartily sorry to see a good face marr'd for want of a play-fellow . to such pregmaticall fansies therefore i will shortly ( god willing ) make a present , wherein they shall finde such variety of intertainment , that i doubt not but many a fair face will thank me for it . in the mean time i wish that their busie heads may nor abuse the innocencie of their beauty , cheating themselves of natures treasure under a colour of fair dealing . the desire therefore which i have to see such beauties flourish in their meridian , hath made me lose many a nights sleep in contemplation , before i could attain to their true externall prophylactick . i sent the embassadours of my fansie through every part of the world for vegetables , mineralls , semimineralls , fukes , belletti , smegmatick secrets , vnctions , pomadoes , waters , any thing that had or might be practized in that nature . faith i found all to be but curtains to a good picture , which only kept the dust from it , but eclypsed the glory of it . yet i could not rest thus satisfyed , but perswaded my self that nature had given all things their preservatives . in which contemplation i called to minde how that celestiall beauty , the sun , used no other art but fair water , morning and evening washing his bright rayes in that fountain the sea . this then as natures best secret for maintaining a lively , ruddy ▪ cleer , and snowy skin , i freely impart to all faire faces : wishing them to make some clear fountain their painter , and to dabble there as long as they please : remembring that they make not that , their glass of philautia ; and so sacrifice their good faces to narcissus . the third course hepaticall . see what a merry gossip health is ! she is alwayes exciting us to mirth . i have already wandred through two parts of the world with her : in which pilgrimage my ●ides are so larded with the fat operation of ●er good diet , mixt with the extravagancies of ●er ridiculous mirth , that with a months hard ●odging i might very well supply the defect ●f a christmass brawner . and now she hath ●ut me in this good plight , i must not leave ●er neither . if i but speak of parting , she ●enies me my billeto di sanita . then she ●ugs me , kisseth me , bids me rowse up my ●pirits , laugh , sing , dance , and let care go a ●atter-wauling . she swears that she is in love with my good diet ▪ and doteth on the temperance of my youth : and tells me that i shall do very ill to leave her , that have so often protested that i could not live well without her . faith i felt all this to be true ! and though i knew her to be a noted strumpet● one that would sell herself to any man for a little good diet. besides how inconstant she was drawing every mans eyes upon her to corrupt her ; and letting every boy lye with her . again ▪ accustomed to feed on the best and would not be brought out of her good diet ; but if she misliked her feeding , leave a man . yet considering that she was of good bloud , honest parentage , alwayes well disposed , and of good breeding ; full of mirth , a●●fable , not subject to any ill humors fair , and of a pure complexion . her vertues being equivalent with her vices ; i fell so far in love with her , that i made her lady of my desires & in short time she won so far upon me , that she govern'd me , and withall made me so fond of her , that if i were absent but a minute from her me thought i was sick . in fine ▪ let her be in what humor she would , i was her morpheus , and imitated : if she slep'd so did i . if she were distempered ▪ so was i● and being thus lost in the labyrinth of love : let her wander where she please i have vow'd to follow , humor her , and beat her charges . thus captivated there did i fall in the veines of poesy . the magick of my mistris eyes made me no more apologize : but at a look , where ere she went , follow i must , or lose content . here toth' hepatick land shee 'd go , where delicacies overflow : and there she promis'd i should see mars in a box of quidini . next venus court , whereas i might in time with cupid lose my sight . but ear these wonders i could see i first an israelite must be , and pass the mercy of a floud which some baptize the sea of bloud . there i was sea-sick and would fain with healths permission ope a veine : no she would no such bloudy trick , sheed first for company be sick ; empty my stomack , and she said the red-seas fury would be laid . after those waves had plai'd their sport , at last they brought us to a port whose milky torrent drove us in to loves restoring magazin . here sweet health laughs , gives me a buss , and bids me hug my genius ; then shews where venus hid her treasure , some for health and some for pleasure , next her temple ( whereat she bowes ) then her altar , then her vowes , ( upon which altar , a chalice stood brim full of desperate lovers bloud ) bids me be modest , shut mine eyes , lest i were call'd to sacrifice . and here she shew'd that fatall well wherein she said narcissus fell . hence in al haste my love departs and ushers out the queen of hearts , whose deity was magnifi'd by a rich train of courtly pride . her whiteboy cupid flew before to ●orce all strangers to adore his mothers beauty ; for which intent his bow was alwayes ready bent . next came intemp●rance with a cup of ruddy nectar : drinks it up , and then growes wanton : at me she ran and kist me twise . here health began to swell look big , and puffing to me said , i was to blame to kiss loves chambermaid . i prai'd my mistris not to take it ill : since she kist me , 't was manners to stand still . in this distemper venus came , who calls my mistris by her name , and ask'd where she that youngster had which made her maid intemp'rance mad . quoth health , a stranger t is , would be a pupill in your nursery . venus straight swore , hee 's patron here , such guest we have not every year : my family is so decai'd that i am forc'd to wo my maid intemperance , to bring me in some able sparks a gossiping . here venus kist me , and protests for health sake shee 'd obey my heasts , her mars from hence as old shee 'd quite deny , i was chief member of her family . she bids intemp'rance to retire , and charge her cooks to lay toth' fire their egge-pyes , marrows , armed fishes , what they thought restoring dishes . to see her dining chamber were perfum'd against guest entred there , and to express our wellcome more , bad her strew rushes at the door . then to her palace she invites the fury of our appetites . here health corrupted was she said by a strong phylter from loves maid , and therefore follow'd , gins to dance , and kisses sweet intemperance . entring , stood hercules at the door as portar , and a lambs skin wore . no sooner in , but venus she kist me again to welcome me . first by the kitchin dore we past , where i a sheepish eye did cast upon the cooks ( fair ladies all ) so busie at the funerall of hot potatoes , young cock sparrows , whose graves they dig'd in pyes of marrow . that men interr'd by such a strong refection must needs expect a speedy resurrection . some which delighted not in pyes were knuckle deep in quidinyes . there geladini , consummadi , cockbroth , caudles , pineoladi , eggs and amber , maqueroni avec gallorum coglioni made those sweet laydes sweat and labour so that every juncture seem'd in balneo . health whisper'd here into mine ear , and said those meats i must forbear , lest that temptation should at length force me to go beyond my strength . hence passing up to loves sweet chamber , where every step was musk , and amber , venus to vary her sweet blisses , numbred our steps with sugred kisses , and when we entred at the door she multiplied a thousand more . there a round table spread i found with diaper hanging to the ground , where the first course did ready lye epecting hungers battery . venus uncover'd all her dishes , better cheer for me she wishes , bids me fall to : then guides my hand into a dish of marzapan . my appetite being up , i fed like one new risen from the dead . and had 't not been for eggs and ling i had indanger'd surfeiting . venus there saw i was distasted , whispers to cupid ; who streight hasted , brings , sweet waters in a dish for us to wash after our fish . after a cup or two of wine , a kiss , a smile , in little time the second course here enter'd in . i fed as i had famish'd been . my hunger was so sharply set i laid about me till i sweat . venus so taken was at this my mouth she oft stopt with a kiss . swearing i was a well-come guest , whose hunger did commend her feast . health was content that i should here participate of venus cheere , until she saw a third course come , then shee 'd have had me left the roome . m' herculean pillar there she said that i must streight put up , and non plus ultra cry . how to please both i could not tell , venus i lov'd , and health aswell . if i neglected what was there love thought i scorn'd such homely fare ; if i exceeded 't was a chance but health would scorn m'intemperance . here i grew dull , and very sad . venus or drunk , or else half mad , claps in my spoon into a pot of perfum'd gelly scalding hot , and cri'd t was a restoring bit for such as diet health with wit . i curst a pox upon her gelly , wish'd spoon and pot within her belly , gave her knocks which made her ly for half an hour in extasy , flung down the table , split her dishes , rent all her napkins , burn'd the rushes , broke cupids head , & call'd health whore , made her drink drunk and sleep inth'dore : then up i went , call'd bacchus in , where he and i afresh begin . mars hid himself within the barrel , let out the wine to make us quarrell ▪ bacchus begins a double glass unto my mistress sanitas , i swore i 'd pledge it full as deep , and make her drink it in her sleep . health in a dream here stagring up made venus rise : then takes my cup and challeng'd bacchus . venus she fill'd cupids quiver ▪ and challeng'd me with a deep draught , a good yard long , of bristow milk , pleasant but strong , whose practise made her heave it in , as though 't had but a spoonful been . half spent before , i could not stand , against this bachanalian , i still gave back , and durst not venture , fearing i should not reach the center . venus the slut begins to boast , and ask if i would have a toast . or if i 'd have a neats-tongue pie , the which she said would make me drie , to save my credit ( for i saw a womans will would hear no law , and though it were a veniall sin , drunk or sober shee 'd hav 't in ) to it i went , and at first bout i suck'd but half the quiver out . she smil'd and bad me try again . i fear'd the breaking of a vein . yet this i saw , that she was laid and could not stand ; yet must be paid , swearing't should cost another fall but she would see me take up all . mad girl quoth i , then drink 't i wooll although it wear a pulpit full . heer 's to thy mars . were vulcan up wee 'd make his horn our second cup . and know that i am none of those which sleep when th'glass is at their nose oh how she hugg'd me for that word ! but lo comes health arm'd with her sword and vows if that we do not fly , mars would be at us by and by . for she had spi'd in bacchus butt a man lye arm'd from head to foot , and asking bacchus who t was there , he trembling said god mars i fear . tush let him come out of his barrell quoth venus ! i le maintain your quarrel what do you tremble at his sight ? my courtiers must expect to fight . at this boy bacchus staggers up , and forc'd my mistris tother cup . i flung a bowle of sack in 's eyes , and bad him learn to temporize : here bacchus flung me to the ground , his barrell broke , the hoops ran round , god mars awak'd , and out he comes , where head gainst head excus'd for drums . health here was wounded ; so was i. venus fell in a lethargy , the loss of bloud made mars retire . bacchus still cast new coals inth'fire . a bloudy fray there had you seen , if somnus had not entred in , who did his heavy club advance and knock'd us all into a trance . sanitas was dreaming here of bacchus bowles and venus cheer , so whilst i slep'd , she stole away three hours before the break of day . out of this trance when i awak'd , my brains they crow'd , my back that ak'd . i felt for health ; look'd under th' bed , faith she was gone . there i halt dead cald cupid : told him i was dry , pray him to bring some quidiny . the jacknapes boy gave a blind look , bad me to 's mother , she was cook . i flung my slippers at his head and weakly crawling out the bed i crope to venus chamber door 〈…〉 to enter as before . she thrust me back , and swore shee 'd see what arms i bare ear in i be . i knew 't was death for any one to bring toth' privie chamber a pocket pistoll in. therefore i durst not strive to enter lest that my firelock peradventer should take fire : but only ask'd if she knew where my sanitas might be . alas quoth venus corne you here to seek for health ! since fifteen year i never saw that sober lass your diaetetick sanitas , go home and fast with bread and water , you 'l see your mistris will come after . did not i tell you gentlemen what an inconstant baggage this health was . she was not only content to entice me to a bawdy house and there leave me ; but she must rob me of my poetry too . well she shall not scape me thus . rather than lose her i le follow her in prose : for in that disguise i may chance to recover her , since the very name of a poet makes her hide her self in the buttery . i know this is but a trick of hers to make me forsake venus court and follow her : for i remember at her parting she seemed much distempered only at the sight of venus , wishing her as far as naples . had she not spoke that in cold bloud i should have had little reason to believe her ; since i ever found her venus bosome friend , and alwayes alluring me to her court . nay i could never rest for her , untill she had entred me there : where for her sake i was content to do any thing , and yet the peevish slut would ever be hitting me in the teeth with my inconstancy ; though she know t was for her sake i first became dishonest . i think few men would do so much for a mistriss as i have done for her . i was content to lead my obedience into the race of her method : where i alwayes run one course , fed upon one dish , exercised but once a day , drunk but one sort of drink , never flattered appetite with more sawces than one , wch was hunger : & yet this precise girle would not be content . let her dance over her monologies with her lean sister temperantia and she will . for my part if i but finde her again , i le teach her another course of life : she shall be glad to dance after my pipe , or i le make her heart bloud smart for it . to go back again to venus court to seek her , i have no inclination in the world : neither doth hope give me any assurance of finding her there . yet find her i must that 's certain , or else all will not go well . i am almost of opinion that if i could but regulate my self according to the custome of these hepatick inhabitants , and settle my self wel here but one forty days , and let health run out her course , that in the end she would come sweating to me again . but i fear i shall not digest their hard diet. the other day in a hungry humor i was looking about in the cooks shops here for some choise bit : faith i could find nothing but dry livers , and a kind of black burnd broath they made which was bis●cotto . i asked the cooks what they did with the rest of their better meat ? they said that i was come in a very ill hour , and that they had already sent all their best provision to the cardiacall princes court . yea thought i ! here is no abode for me : i le none of your chew'd meat . hence wandring up and down in this bloody land ; i came at length into a passage so narrow , that at every step i gal'd my elboes . the bitterness of the passage , and the fury it put me into made my legs make many a motion to begon out of it . as hasty as i was , i could go but slowly , every lim being over-loaden with passion . if i had ●et my mistris there , i had beaten her out of all reason . i thought this had been the way to venus hospitall , it made me sweat so : but in over●oing a little more labour i found it was a ●lind passage to mars his arsenall . where i was no sooner entred , but i fell in choler with ajax lieutenant of the guard for stain●ng my stockins ▪ here i saw a great number of fachini strongly loaden with vast baskets on their shoulders , hasting to a little bitter well , where ● saw them open their burdens , taking somewhat out of their baskets , dipping of it in the water , and presently retiring of it again . my curiosity was upon thorns to understand the mystery of their exercise . so that drawing towards them and discovering their baskets to be full of humane tongues , i asked one of them what secret might be inclos'd in that bitter ceremony . quoth he ! the women of the hepatick●and ( being all sanguine and me●ry gossips ) one day at a publike feast in venus court were all so silenc'd by the thundring rodom●n●adoes of the garrison souldiers of mars his arsenall , that their tongues grew cold for want of motion . here they call'd a counsell among themselves , how they might arrive to this braving humor . a virago start up , and perswaded them that the best , and readiest way was to single out one of those souldiers from his cameradi , and said she i le undertake with the smell only of a baston to make him confess where they stole our female treasure o● talking and how they became so nimble linguists . this was approved of by all , and suddenly executed . they made venus call up one of those garrison so●ldiers into her chamber , there they all set their tongues on a wheel , and run upon him with so violent a prologue that thunder seemed still musick to it . the souldier , accustomed to such storms , answered their thunder with such a rimbombo , that his ecco's eat up their audience . here my virago takes him by the bigoteroes ▪ and by vertue of a bed-staf● first char'd him to be more masculine , and let silence skin his tongue which over galld with his continuall motion , and then give them leave to talk to whom other arms were prohibited . next quoth she i conjure thee by this fearfull maedusa's head of thine ( for he was a spaniard ) to reveal truly unto us , where you with the rest of your companions have learned this womanish art , and verball bravery . my poor d●● promises upon his knees , if they would omit violence he should discover how and where he was thus possest . venus her self secured him that no hand should be guilty of injury , only let him disclose his secret . why then quoth he , you must first know that our court of guard in mars his arsenall , when nature first practised chymistry , was her laboratory . mars being troubled with too many white-liver'd souldiers ( such as durst never serve but in some garrison where there was never any likely-hood of imployment ) one day discoursing merrily with dame nature concerning the philosophers stone , he told her that his curiosity led him not into those golden vanities ; so that his souldiers were paid , heed never mo●l for other treasure . but quoth he if i thought your skill afforded any secret to arm a coward with valour , i should gladly carry coales and be your pupill . in that , quoth nature you speak of impossibilities ▪ for those kind of men are composed of a mettal so dull cold and saturnine , that like salamanders , they resist and extinguish our actuating fires : so that i am ever fain to thrust them into the world do bak'd . yet said she , this i can do ; i will make you a spagiricall water which shall give cowardize an externall tincture of valour : into which let the dullest spirited man in your camps but dip his tongue , and he shall seem another m●gaera ; and maintain in a souldiers stile that the valour of achilles , and the labours of hercules were but a game at cudggells in comparrison of those conquests , siedges , batteryes , assaults , skirmishes , amboschadoes , pitch'd-battells , combats , sea-fights , duells , &c. which the world can witness his arm to be the author of . now as i am a souldier , quoth mars , this secret must not be lost . and though in our actions 't will lend us but little succour ; yet be it only to delight our collonels , and commanders at a siege , when they want pastime to call one of these rodomontadi into their tents , and hear him batter castles with his tongue , it will be very acceptable to me if you please to favour me with it . nature told him , very willingly , and withall desir'd his patience to stand by , and see the operation , which she promised him would be very delightfull to him . then she first took of tongues and galls of bulls . bears . wolves . dogs . magpies . dawes . parretts . parrakitoes . iayes . cuckoes . nightingales . an. n. j. from vegetables she took these herbs cynoglossum . hippoglossum . arnoglossum . buglossum . ophioglossum an. m. j. from reptilia animalia she took of the tongues and tailes of vipers . adders . snakes . lizards an. num . j. from spagiricall compositions she took of aurum fulminans . aqua fortis . gunpowder . an. lb. j. from every great bell she took a clapper , from every apothecaries great mortar she took a pestell . these she mixt all with the former ; and then luted them up in great bells , and so calcin'd them in the aetna . the ashes of which she dissolv'd in a water distilled from all the violent torrents and after filtrated it first through the leaves of calepine ( to make her operation the more verball ) then through twelve new moons , thereby to attract the essence of their change and variable inconstancy . being well filtrated , she distil'd all through a trumpet , and then separated the phlegma as unprofitable in this work . the spirits which remained , she put into the mouth of a canon , closly luting it sigillo hermetico , and then circulated them twelve years in the primum mobile : where contrary to our spagiricall circulating fires , they became more agile , mobile , and volatile . those spirits thus circulated she mixt with a mouthfull of the quintessence of every erratick star . then she opened the graves of all new deceased lawyers , charlitani , tripe-wives , oyster-wives , and such like talkative people ; cut out all their tongues , and with the skins thereof she made a great bladder ; which bladder she strongly luted with drum-heads ; and then fill'd it up with storms , tempests whirl-winds , thunders , lightnings ▪ &c. those for their better incorporation she set ( twelve other years ) in a ruff sea in fermentation . which finished , she mixt these with the former : and to be sure there should not remain the lest breath of phlegma , she rectified them every day thrice in a balneo of quick-silver twelve other years . lastly , to inrabiate the whole elixir , and make it the more canine , she cut a vein under the tongue of the dog-star , drawing from thence a pound of the most cholerick , adust , and maligne bloud ; from which she sublimated the spirits , & after mixt them with the fome of a mad dog . then incorporating all together , she return'd them into the former bladder , stitching it up only with the nerves of socrates his wife . and thus she finished her operation , and presented it to mars ; bad him put it into any spring , well or fountain , and it should suddenly contaminate the water with that talkative vertue . mars presently ( said the souldier ) put it into our well here in the court of guard in his arsenall , and commanded the better part of his souldiers once in the year to dip their tongues in this water , whereby ( quoth he ) fair ladyes i became so bitter a linguist . and said he ▪ if this be the ground of your ●uarrell ▪ i wish that all your tongues were perboiled in that water that so you might ne●er be taken prisoners by that dull enemy si●ence . here , the women had no patience to thank him ; but turning him speedily out of the chamber ( as having what they looked for ) they presently began a new to consult , how they might get their tongues washed in this well ; knowing that it was prohibited for any of their sex to enter mars his arsenall . some of them ( whose itching tongues could not admit of delay ) longing to have a lick at this water , stole privatly out of the chamber , and home they ran ; put on their husbands breetches , and a way to mars they went , took pay , and were admitted into his court of guard . the rest , concluded , that venus , having a great command over mars , should petitionate to him that all the womens tongues ( of the hepatick land ) might once in the year be dipt into his lexicon to make them talkative . mars for venus sake ( being resolved likewise never to marry ) gave them licence ; but upon promise they would send their tongues but once a year , and never to come personally . and thus , said the fachin , once a year i and my camaradi ( we having purchas'd the monopoly ) gain more upon this day than our familyes can consume all the year following : not a woman omitting the day appointed , to send their tongues , with a double fee ; to have them the better washed . this amazed me more than any thing i had hitherto seen in my travells . and indeed , the strangness of it had eat up my belief , had i not heard the tongues which he had washed lie● ▪ scolding in his basket . then i asked this fac●ino whether he had ever washed his wives tongue yet ? oh quoth he , she could never sleep untill she had it : insomuch that i am glad to wash mine own tongue twice for her once , and yet not able to silence her . upon this i desired him to give me a little bottle of that water to carry into my country as a rarity . by no means quoth he , for it will make you run mad and scold withall you meet . why then said i are not all your women mad ? marry replied he so they are , more or less , according to my descretion in washing them . i began to thank iove here , that this well was so far from our country : though i did suspect that some of them had been licking here . the generall love therefore which i bare to that sex , made me in pitty , not able to see their tongues so infected ; but drawing my sword i beat away more than a hundred of those tongue-loaden knaves , which were coming to this well : ( presuming that some wittall or other would put me in his prayers for it ) and then knowing i had committed an errour by drawing my sword in the arsenall , out i ran all in choler , and as yellow as a kites leg. i had not gone far from thence , but i met my wandring mistris sanitas with a double tertian on her back . she perceived that i had been lately in choler , which made her come shaking to me , and excuse her long absence with trembling apologies . i took her by the hand ( which fear had benum'd with a sleepy chilness ) and asked her why she trembled so ? oh quoth she , the fear which i have that you will not keep me , turns me all into a gelly . so that the organ pipe of your breath only makes me answer you in quavers . the poor girl lent me such pittifull looks , that i had a feeling of her misery : wherefore i presently eased her of the burden of her song , and took a tertian on my back , in place of a knap-sack , and away we went to seek out some charitable hospitall . thus thinking speedily to depart out of the torrid-zone of this hepatick land contra●y to expectation we found all the passages stopt , by a great inundation of waters : an affliction surely sent from heaven to punish those corrupt livers . this made us lye at anchor one month the longer : where i had much ado to keep life in my mistris sanitas , finding no provision there that was edible , all things being so unsavory with those brackish waters , that what ever we put into our mouths nature thought time lost in masticating them . hence not only we , but all the inhabitants grew weak , some pale , some greenish ▪ others yellow , and black , all sickly , for want of our fomer good nourishment . it would have mollified a heart of adamant to have seen those matchless beauties of this clymate ▪ young lasses of fourteen years , ruddy and sanguine ▪ have their virgin beauties eclypsed by the green mantle of loves standing pool . yong married wives whose tender palates having been lately accustomed to feed on fresh and dainty bits , now finding their markets ill served , with dull and sapless sallads ; their beccarii full of drowned calves whose flagging , and flashy flesh , scarce sweet , their dogs formerly would not have gap'd at : not able to subsist with this course diet , rather chuse to feed upon green fruits , and frutta nova , untill at last their forbidden diet bring them into a tympany . young lusty batchelours here , which entered into pension at other mens tables , never remembring this generall inundation , but finding their diet altered , their meat rank , stale , and of a fishly savor ; they suspecting the cause to be their hostesses desire of gain , forsake her table straggle up and down , taking here a snap , and there a snap , untill at last many littles of what is bad , corrupt them making them perfect pythagorists and abhor all flesh ever after . gentlemen , if any of you be travellers , and curiosity lead you at any time to visit the hepatick dominions , see first in the map of my travells whether you can make any observations profitable for so dangerous , and desperate a voyage ▪ read my description of venus court , and see if her entertainment can allure you out of your country . and when you go , be sure to make health your mistirss , and when you come to venus table , let not that wanton hostess intise you to disorder . or if she do ▪ do not drink your mistriss drunk that she might not be jealous , and then play false under nose . have a speciall care likewise that you be not too familiar with that lady venus , for she is mistris unto the viceroy spiritus naturalis , of those hepatick territoryes , who will play the tyrant if he take you napping : bringing you first on your knees to a publike confession , and then delivering you into the hands of the tormentor , who puts you into a little hole like a tub , and feeds you with nothing but dry musty crufts , and puddle water , the very smell whereof puts you into symptomaticall sweats . there hee 'l smoak you like a bacon hog : and for fourty dayes you must expect twice a day to be stewed in your own grease . believe me every bone will have a feeling of his torments , and though at last he relieve you , yet you shall never be your own man again . if you incounter with bacchus ( as he is never from venus court ) be sure that your first cup be a parting cup . and for mars come not near him , lest you grow cholerick , and so be inflamed , to your great loss of bloud . this hepatick land is so delicious , and bewitching , that few young men return from hence without a calenture . considering therefore how many strong and well-fleshed bodies are brought low in the torrid-zone of this hepatick land , i have altogether laboured in this third course to feed you as venus fed me , onely with restoratives , that you may travell more cheerfully with me unto the cardiacall court . but first that you may examine the honesty of our splenditore , i shall desire you here to over-see what hepaticall ingredients he hath brought out of galens market , before he deliver them to the cook , and his lardery ▪ that so if the cook and he should afterwards play false ; you may find it in your dishes . hepaticall ingredients which heat and corroborate a colde weak liver . agrimon . absinth . capill . ♀ salvia . cuscuta . asarum . schaenant . spica . agerat . faenicul . apium . asparag . eupator . avicen . helenicum . flos tunicis . vvae pas . pistachia . sem. calida . cal. aromat. cassia lig . cinamom . aromata omnia . nucl . persic . lig. indic . sassafras . rad. chinae . sassaparill . such as cool and strengthen a hot liver . endivia . cichoria . scariota . dens leon . portulac . rosae . violae . nimphaea . acetosa . fragaria . sem. frig. hordeum . santal . camphor . pom. gran . ribes . berberis . melones . cerasa . acetum . serum capr . now that our liquid restoratives may run down with a better relish , we will first fall to our biscuit . and for this purpose our cook here presents you with a french biscuit , which he hath borrow'd from a french cook ; and to make it the more sympaticall with your diet , he gives it here another heat . ℞ . of the purest flower , lb. ss. of the whitest sugar , ℥ iiij . cream of pinioli . cream of pistacks cream of almonds . an. ℥ j. oil of annise . an. g. x. oil of cinamon . an. g. x. with four or five fresh eggs beaten together in almond milk made with rosewater , mix all together , s.a. of which make your biscuit in what shape you please , and then recommend it to the oven . next comes in play a martiall bread , panis martius , which the french character stamps into maquaron ; whose composition , is thus , ℞ . sweet almonds blanched , lb j. beat them exquisitely in a mortar , moisten them with rosewater , then incorporate therewith of the best white sugar lb j. gum dragant dissolved in rosewater , with three or four whites of egges , beat all to a perfect mixture , and make your maquarons , and dry them only with a temperate heat . these give a speedy nourishment , and are therefore necessary in all consumptions of the liver and lungs . from biscuit we will fall to our diet d●ink : presuming every man to wax dry after a crust . that we may remember therefore our merry dayes past , le ts drink our own healths ●n this hepaticall cup : and if the last man quarrell because there 's no body to pledge him ; let him call his mistris sanitas in play , and then all will go well . the first hepaticall diet drink , ℞ . agrimon . fol. salviae . cochlear . eupator . avic . an. m. j. flor. rosmarin . spicae . an. p. j. sem. faenic . anis . an. ℥ ss. rad. asparag . petrosel . faenicul . an. ℥ j. cinamom . zinzib . calam. arom . an. ℥ iij . sassafras . ℥ vj . passularum . lb. ss. all prepared according to art , and put up in a canvass bag , cast it into a little barrell of white wine , or new wort. then have you a diet drink both therapeutick and prophylactick in all cold distempers of the liver , preserving likewise every part from obstructions the originall of most diseases . the second hepat . diet drink , ℞ rad. chinae . santalor . om. an. ℥ vj . rad. cichor . endiv. nymph . liqu●rit . an. ℥ j. flor. rosar . rub . violar . nymphae . an. p.j. sem. portulac . lact. papav. alb. an. ʒiij . with these proceed as with the former , but taking small wort , and you shall finde it a singular cooler after your travells in the hepatick torrid zone . and who ever loves coursing , and is at the charge of a runing nag , he shall find this his best watering . the third hepat . diet drink . ℞ lig. guaiac . sassaparil . sassafras . rad. chinae an. ℥ ij . sem. anisi . faenic . an. ℥ j. rad. glycyrrhys . cichoriae . endiviae . an. ℥ ss. cinamom . nuc. mosch. galangae . an. ʒij . inclose all in a barrell of white wine , and ●●serve it to your use , which is an excellent ●●yer of all superfluous humidityes of this ●epatick soil ; corroborates and califies a ●●ld distempered liver , evacuates all maligne ●apours per diaphorisin , and restores it to his ●aturall temper . therefore i recommend it ●●all philogynists . before you drink any more healths give our palate a little dry gust , and tast of these ●egall pastes , which in all consumptions , ex●●ustion of spirits , lost forces , bring you in ●●e field again and make you combatant . the first regall paste . ℞ amygdal . dulc. decort. . nucleor . pineor . pistachior . an. ℥ iii.j. sem. cucum . cucurb . melon . an. ℥ j. ss. all beaten in a mortar , irrigate them with rosewater , then adde sacch . alb. ℥ xij . peni●●dii . ℥ ij . gum . arab. ℥ iij . amyli . ℥ j. fiat● past . regal . s.a. the which is an excellent restoring cooler . the second regall paste . ℞ pulp . capon . assi. perdic . assatar . carnium testud . cancror . fluviat . invin . alb. lot . et in aq . hord . decoctar . an. ℥ iiij . pinearum recent . mund. in aq . rosar tepid . per 4. horas infusar . ℥ iij . 4. sem. frig. major . mund. amygdal . dulc. decort. . an. ℥ ij . penidiorum . ℥ j. ss. all beat in a marble mortar ; pass them through a scive with rosewater : to which you shall adde sacchar . alb. in aq . rosar . dissolut . lb. j. sacchar . cand. . ℥ ij . gum . tragaeant . ʒiij . boil them all with a gentle fire unto a convenient conglutination , which when it cools , you shall adorn with these jewells , salis perlar. salis coral . an. ʒij . then make it up into little cakes of what form your fancy falls into , and dry them in a tepid oven . this for restoring exceedes all , and is able to incarnate a {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} repairing nature so fully her losses , that she will run mad to be gaming again . the third regall past . ℞ rad. satyr . in jure capon . ebullit . et postea cum aq . ros. cribat . ℥ iiij . amygdal . dulc. decortic . pistach . mund. pinear . mund. an. ℥ iij . pulp . rad. . fring. per crib . passat . pulp . rad. . pastinac . cribr . an. ℥ ij . farin . cicerum . ℥ ij.ss. scinci marini . ℥ ss. galangae . zinzib . condit . an. ʒiij . vitel. ovor. recent . num . x. sacchar . alb. lb. j.ss . fiat past . reg. s.a. i did very ill i did not reserve this third regall past untill the end of my banquet : for i fear 't will make some of you rise before the last course enter . you hotter livers , shall use for a cooler this insuing amygdaline milk : which in summer heats , and after other calefying excercises , you shall find inflam'd nature repay your charity in cooler terms . lae amygdalinum . ℞ amygdal . decort. . ℥ iiij . sem. cucum . papav. alb. lactuc . melon . an ℥ j. macerate all four hours in rosewater , then with sugar . q.s. fiat lac . amygd . here is an italian dish for you gentlemen , very substantiall and pleasant : and i doubt not but when you have tasted of it you will gladly inrich your cooks with the ℞ . i will not bid you fall to whil'st 't is hot : for 't is to be eaten cold . bianco mangiare . ℞ . of the flower of rice . lb. ss. dissolve it in milk , q.s. then take the pulpe of a young capon tender boyld , sweet almonds numb. xxiiij . beat these well in a mortar , then mix them with the milk , and rice : pass all through a course cloath , adding thereto what quantity of sugar you please : then boil it on a soft fire , still stirring it , untill it coagulate into the consistence of a strong gelly : when it begins to cool adde thereto of amber , and musk dissolv'd in rose water as much as shall render it a gratefull odour . but for those which are brought so low , that nature is almost desperate of ever giving another flesh livery , to such i present this insuing restorative or consummada , which above all other , manifests his effects in a most momentary operation , replenishing the veins faster with bloud , than assimilation can dispence of it . the prime way for consummadoes . ℞ . an old capon exenterated , his neck , wings , and feet cast away ▪ and the rest cut into small pieces . then take one or two partridges , the flesh of a leg of veal all cut smal then macerate all 24. hours in white wine . then put the wine and flesh into a great glass phialam with ℥ ss of cinamon , and two nut-megs grosly beaten prepared pearls and corall of each ʒiij . flowers of borage , bugloss , an. p. j. all being well mixt together and the orifice of your glass exactly stopt , set it ●n balneo bulliente where let it boil well for eight or nine hours without intermission . then strain all through a coarse canvas , separating the fat which swims on the superficies , and if there yet appear any signe of crudity , reboil it again between two dishes untill it's whiteness manifests a perfect decoction . of which you are to take but three or four spoonfulls warm , reiterating the same every three hours : and thus in little time you may promise your bones a winter coat . here is don consummadoes cosin german signior geladino , who petitionates as a well-wisher to your state , and desires to enter into pay : pray sirs judge him not at first sight to be a coward , because he trembles when any man toucheth him : for upon my word he is hearty enough , and deserves to be your corporall . geladina . ℞ . a capon of two years old , the flesh of a leg of veal , four calves feet , white wine , fair water . an. lb vj . boil all in a new earthen vessell , scuming of all the fat : when 't is well boild , strein it , separating all the fat . then put this broth into a new vessell with lbj . ss. of sugar . cinamon unbeaten ℥ ss. cloves num . 12. boil it again a little , then adde thereto the whites of two eggs ; then rebo●l it again , and pass it per manic . hip. s.a. before it cool mix a little musk , and amber dissolv'd in rosewater with it . these hepaticall dishes which you have hitherto fed upon do onely restore : here i will close up your stomacks with a therapeutick dish ▪ an hepaticall antidote . ℞ . agrimon . fol. eupator . avi● . absinth . salviae . an. m.j. faenic . rad. petrosel . aspar . helenii . an. ℥ j. spicae . flor. salviae . tunicis . an. p.j. faeniculi . sem. anisi . carui . an. ℥ ss. calam. arom . cinamom . cassiae lig . sassafras . rad. chinae . an. ℥ ij . with the rectified spirits of wine draw their tincture : to which tincture you shall adde , extract . santal . extract . chelid . an. ℥ ss. 🜿ri 🜖lati . ʒiij . tinctur . croci ♂ cum 🝆 🜍ris praep. ʒij . salis corallor . ℥ ss. essentiae ♂ ʒj . circulate them all in balneo the space of twenty four hours , then in b. vaporoso separate the spirits from the tincture untill it coagulate to an extract which you shall reserve a part . the spirits you shal animate with the soul of his vegetables . the vertues . 't is a universall antidote against all hepaticall debilitations proceeding from a cold distemper . it corroborates the liver , and all the naturall facultyes , returning them their proper strength and temper . so that for all such persons as by reason of a weak liver are proclive to dropsies , cachexies , jaundice ▪ &c. art never lent us a more absolute preservative . dosis . you are to take the quantity of a scruple , either alone or in wine , broth , or some specificall water . the fourth and last course cardiacall . being well recover'd from my great weakness brought by disorders in my late hepatick travells : that i may finish my discovery of this microcosmicall globe ; and from my observations compose an anthropographicall map , for a light to such young travellers as hereafter the devotion of curiosity shall fall into this pilgrimage , i am now resolved to set on towards the cardiacall territoryes . my mistris sanitas dares not undertake this voyage : for she tells me we must imbark again in the red-sea from whence we shall sail into a bloudy gulf which hurries us down into a hollow vein of that earth , where we uncomfortably go many leagues under ground before we can arrive to the viceroyes court spiritus vitalis . besides quoth she , 't is to passionate a land for our weaker sex to abide in ▪ there abounding so many discontents , treacheryes , rebellions , dissimulations , flatteries , inconstancies , vain desires ▪ desperations , arrogancies ▪ mixt with envy ▪ hatred , avarice , pride , ambition , vain glory , with a thousand such like fanatick spirits in the hearts of those inhabitants that 't is too difficult a task either for young or old to live there without infection ; especially for her to whom they were all professed enimies . asking of her why she called those {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , fanatick spirits ? she answered , because the princess phantasia , of the cephalick peninsula first , in a depraved humor gave them their entertainment : where they grew to such a head , that spiritus animalis began to be jealous of his princess phantasia , fearing they might corrupt her : therefore he commanded intell●ctus his favorite whom it did likewise much concern ) to banish them his peninsula , and to confine them to the center of the microcosme . where said she they have now incroached into the cardiacall court , and so blinded the viceroy spiritus vitalis ▪ that they now command and rule his court . i could not but laugh here at sanitas to ●ere how like a woman she talked : and then ●urning to her ▪ i asked if she thought those mo●ives sufficient to divert the resolutions of a traveller . or if she took me for one of those milk-sops which durst not pass the sea because it roard ▪ and would defer his voyage into france untill the french-men had learn'd the english tongue . i told her i feared no bug-beares ; my nature was better pleas'd with horrid and forrain monsters , than with the yealping beauties of domestick puppy dogs . and though she were my mistris ; she had not yet drawn me into the predicament of slavery to oblidge me never to row out of her gally . i assured her i was free born , and her eyes were yet too dul to fire me out of my liberty . besides , i bad her remember in what a case she left me in the hepatick land : where when i return'd sickly to venus court , expecting a coppy of my first well come , venus then not knowing me ( i being before animus adipe & sanguine suffocatus ) shut her dore against me crying tuus inter nos non volat cupido ▪ the kitchin maids also anatomized my skeleton with jeasts , one asking me if i would drink a caudle ? and then singing ova uon meruit qui non galinam nutrit . another took up a lean gridiron , and with a rib of an old servant of hers , she scrape out this motto ▪ quam bene conveniunt . a third stood knocking of an empty marrow bone against a broken pipkin crying , iupiter non mella plus pluit , then threw it into the fire , and sung this epidicticon . lean bones which yeeld no fat at all , the fire is their best funerall . sweet sir , if you 'l renew desire ? go pass our therapeutick fire . then without knocking you may enter in , as prophylactick of our magazin . the remembrance of this was such a cooling card to sanitas , that she let fall all perswasive arguments , and leaves me to my wandring discretion ▪ telling me wherever i went i had her heart . and since she was unfit for such a journey ; she prayed me to accept of her sister convalescentia , who was very well acquainted with my humor and diet , and therefore might be serviceable in so long a voyage . i thank'd her with acceptance , and giving her a parting kiss , presently imbark'd on the red-sea where a fair gale brought me presently upon the cardiacall gulf ; where as health said ) we fell desperately under ground in a hollow vein of the earth , which ●rought our ba●k in few hours directly upon ●e viceroyes court , where had not the sluces ●indred us , we had landed at the court dore ; he court swimming in a lake of christaline water . there expecting the opening of those floud-gates , i was received by one of the court boats , the ferry-man whereof was at●●r'd more like a gentleman usher , than a water-man . his good clothes made me take better notice of him , and examin his profession . therefore i knew no better way to put my self upon his discourse , than by hitting him in the teeth with that empty headed complement , pray what may i call your name sir ? the gentleman ( as i after found him to be so ) answer'd in an affected phrase , that he was signior curioso , and son to the signiora curiosita lady of honour to the duchessa superbia , wife to his lord and prince don ambitio ▪ whom quoth he , i serve ; my place and charge being as you see , to ferry stangers over into his court . here i interrupted his geneologies , and desir'd him to row me back again , craving him pardon , for i was mistaken : my travells tending to the cardiacall court of spiritus vitalis , which it seemed was not there . sir quoth he , have patience ; you shall not nee● to return ; for you are entring the place which you seek : though it now be call'd the court of don ambitio , who being at first a favorite to this cardiacall prince , in few years gain'd so far upon the hearts of the subjects , that they all neglected their legitimate viceroy spiritus vitalis and wholly doted upon him who now rules and commands all : the other being only titular . finding him so open in his relations ; i resolv'd to make him dictator to my table-books , knowing that his curiosity would omit nothing . first therefore i brought him on , with superficiall questions ; asking him ( a dutch curiosity ) how many paces that cardiacall lake might eat up in latitude ? sir , quoth he , it seems you have not yet seen the new anthropogeographicall map lately extant ; where this cardiacall part is call'd italia microcosmi ( as containing the center of the world ) and this lake is there baptiz'd by the name il lago passionato , where the hearts of desperate lovers hourly float in passion . his mouth had scarce clos'd up this relation ; but lo ! appear'd the heart of dido swimming after our boat , and calling for her aeneas . this brought his theory into pra●tick , and made me the more credulous , and prompt to exercise his historicall tongue , with other propositions of my ignorance . turning my face therefore towards the cardiacall court , and seeing so princely a fabrick lye ●ounding with a perpetuall motion upon so still a water ! so soon as amazement return'd my tongue her liberty , i ask'd signior cu●ioso if it were not a vanity to demand the cause of that magick motion , which there appear'd dancing from dyastole to systole in the ●ircle of inchantments . he answer'd , that i had here brought him upon a great antiquity : the relation of which would be a present very gratefull to memory . know therefore quoth he that this lago passionato , is properly and anciently call'd the lake of icarus ( and by corruption ichor ) as ovid sings , icarus icarias nomine fecit aquas . for herein fell that ambitious son of daedalus , whose presumption was the originall of this cardiacal motion . for when daedalus by his winged art did emulate those angelic . 〈◊〉 deityes , as one day , he and his son were exercising their ambitious plumes ; flying beyond the region of mortall liberty , phaebus was call'd forth from his helion's sphear to view those presumptuous cretensi , daedalus had no sooner spi'd him draw back the curtain of his clouds , but , wisely , he retir'd . icarus , hot in ambition , and , neglecting his fathers more aged precepts , follows the sublimity of his fansy , and soars up so high , that phoebus in choller with his aspiring vanity call'd him up to the element of fire , where his wings being burn'd , his ambition fell with his body into thi● lake . then , to make him and his father secular examples ; he caused daedalus to build a floating tem●le in this lake , and to fill it with penitentiall fires ▪ then phoebus chain'd the winged soul of drown'd icarus , upon the top of this temple , there to labour in a perpetuall motion ; striving by the strength of his wings to elevate his ambitious soul , which was as fast pull'd down again by its overburdened terrestriety . which constant motion likewise did ventilate the inclosed fires , whereby the soul of icarus was hourly refresh'd in the violence of his exercise , to the end his torments might be eternall . and for daedalus he commanded him to wander perpetually in this lake ( wearing his ambitious plumes in his head ) that the hourly sight of his sons torments , might feed the memory of his presumption . hence said he proceeds the cause of this constant motion of our cardiacall palace : those penitentiall fires remaining to this hour in some chambers of our court : though now few or none make use of them in their sacrifice ; the whole court applying themselves wholly to the flattering of don ambitio , every one labouring to be his {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , and because he daies not perfume his greatness with the mortifying smoke of these penitentiall fires , ( lest it should choak the torrent of his pride , and bring him to a miserere ) they all , not to alienate from his humor , rake them up in the embers of vanity . but after some few hundred years said he , phoebus being mov'd to pitty by the tears of daedalus , and penitentiall offerings brought to this temple by his parentage , at last gave liberty unto their pining souls , by turning the soul of daedalus into an eagle , whereof he made a present to iupiter . and of icarus he made the phoenix , thereby to express the singularity of his pride : and lest time might blot out the memory of his great presumption , once in an age he inioyn'd him build an altar of arabian aromaticks and thereon to sacrifice his body with the fires of his so●ar rayes . in reward of which he promis'd that his youth should be as often renewed . in those dayes likewise , quoth he , this cardiacall palace , upon that occasion was call'd the temple of sol {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , whither many ambitious sinners came in devotion to kiss those penitentiall fires : so that no part of the world was so famous for devotion . but phoebus had no sooner relieved those tormented souls of daedalus and his son ; but streight religion here ceas'd : and it was presently inhabited by those fanatick spirits which intellectu had banish'd from the cephalick peninsula for bewitching of the princess fantasia , and threatning his ruin . here the viceroy , spiritus vitalis , one day in his progress , taking notice of these fair buildings , and seeing them lye buried in their ruines : falling in love with the situation of the place , presently sent for his magicians , whom he commanded to conjure all those spirits to retire into a little chamber in the left partition of this palace ( where lay the penitentiall fires ) and there to chain them up . then he caus'd his architects to renue the lost beauty of those demolish'd ruines : and to revive the dead fame of that former temple he made his magicians inchant it with a perpetuall and propheticall motion : on whose top , ( to make it more miraculous ) he rais'd a vast pyramis , hewen out of one intire ruby : and then proclaim'd it the oracle of aesculapius ; causing the fame thereof to be publish'd through out the whole vniverse ; and that all diseased , of what infirmity so ever , let them repair to this oracle in devotion , and but touching the motion thereof only , the oracle should infallibly assure them whether their disease were mortall or not . here our boat arriving at the palace gate , his relation ( which i found more poetical than rational ) was silenc'd by the approach of his mother the lady curiosita : who came thither ready with all her followers to attend my landing . where the earth had scarce kiss'd my feet , but she commanded her gentlemen ushers signior polito and signior ceremonioso , together with her waiting gentlewomen signiora impudentia , and signiora confidentia , to bring me forward . then presently she her self seaz'd upon me , leading me into the court , and telling me that her curiosity had impos'd that duty upon her , to give entertainment to strangers , her genius being most proper for such imployments . following that lady up a pair of high stairs ( whose altitude made our hearts nimbler than our heels ) and being with a quick sublimity , by the mercuriall complements of signior ceremonioso , brought to the highest step : there i was taken by the duchessa superbia . who ere she would deign to let her tongue move towards me , she comanded her m●ior domo , signior prodigo , to clap one of her lords ( don ambitio ) gawdy suites on my back , and to put me in fashion . here , me thought i look'd , like a candle in the sun : or like a wooden spoon in a sack posset . i was just like a new rigg'd ship , govern'd by a sculler : who labouring with a contrary wind to leave my common road , and shew my self in the ocean ; i made my rich apparell my compass : from which i never durst draw mine eyes , lest i should forget my course , and so be blown back again into my old harbour . i wish'd that she had lent my face a new cover to : for i was very suspitious lest that ( though impudent enough ) should have betrai'd my outside , there remaining still a rusticall character , which rich imbroaderyes could not eclyps , in fine she had put me so far out of fashion with my naturall gate , annuities , and obscu●e breeding ; that i was more troubled in practising how to be taken a man of my cloaths , than ever ierelictum was when he first tutor'd his apes . for courtly phrases and complements , wanted none : for , sir philip sidney , and ben iohnson can testifie , that i have so over-burthened my memory out of their granaries , that it being too weak to retain them lets them often drop here , and there to no purpose . for exteriour gestures , and ocular ceremonies , my private chamber practice had so inur'd me , that i mistook every man i met in the street for my looking-glass . to say the truth , nothing blank'd me , but a scurvy durty opinion , which like an evill angell hourly persecuted me : telling me that my cloaths would subscribe to antiquity , before my fortunes could renue their thred-bare titles , by some better calling . looking downward upon the ugly foot of this opinion , i was letting all my bravery ( with the peacock ) fall to the ground , and sneaking again into my posture . but here signiora confidentia prevented me : who cock'd up my beaver , gave me a resolute kiss , and assur'd me that her lady mistriss superbia was in love with me : for whose sake , she said , she had settled a good opinion of me ; bad me be bold , and confident of my well-come , and to proceed ; for she would warrant me preferment . at this , i began to make a noise with my spurs : call for my lackquies ( though they all knew poverty preserv'd me from that vanity ) and then desir'd this resolute young lass considentia , to carry me into the chief lodgings of the court , that i might be taken notice of by some of the nobility , whom i was then confident would cast a fortune upon me . the desperate wench , without f●rther ceremonies ▪ brings me presently into the chamber of presence , were sate don ambi●●o on a high throne swelling in the pride of his humane deity . where he gave entertainment to himself ( esteeming his conversation too great an honor for that poor worm man ) by viewing the retraicts of those proud egypptian pyramides , with that rhodian colossus ▪ and promising himself , that his name should feed posterity with greater memorialls . and somtimes reading the lives of caligula , domitian , and heliogabalus ( qui sibi divinos honores deferri , simulacra sua ubique erecta adorari , seque in deorum numerum referri , ●ussit ) whereupon he falls in love with that romish pride , and would fain second it ; but that his ambition will not admit of imitation . seeing him as it were lost in those serious meditations ; i ask'd signior confidentia , whether we were not fallen into presumption by daring to enter a place which seem'd prohibited . sir , quoth she , you can not do me a greater wrong than by nursing such vain suspects . no place to me is prohibited . were it in his most secret and private counsels , i am confident he would embrace me . he dares not shut me out at any time , lest i make him asham'd for it . for he knows full well , 't was i gave him his titles in the court , by putting him forward , and from a poor younger brother made him chief favorit here in the cardiacall court , where he now wholly commands . and though i be but a poor waiting gentle-woman , i can make him forsake all his negotiations , and hearken to any thing that i shall put into his head . with that she ran to him : strikes his book out of his hand , and kist him . i expected still when he should have kick'd her confidence . whereas he quite contrary payd her with interest in her own money , hugging of her , as if she had bin his minion . and then taking notice of me ( as being alone he must of necessity ) he began to mix anger with pride , and so threw a scornfull look upon me ; asking her in a low voice , what fellow that was which had thus lost himself in presumption . i began to tremble fearing he might think i had stoln his suit of apparell which i had then on my back : but confidentia excus'd all , and told him i was a poor gentleman , and a stranger that was betrai'd by fortune , and therefore came thither alone , to manifest his innocency . ask him quoth he , his name , his country and parentage . here that i might enter into the geneologies of his kindred , knowing him to have a spanish heart , i bad her tell him that i was a spaniard : my name signior aemulatio ; base son to one signior ambitio a man of great blood in spain , whose estate being decai'd , left his tender nursery to the blind tuition of fate : who had transplanted me out of that barren soil , hither into his cardiacall garden , where i hop'd the sun of his favour would make me fruitfull . she had no sooner deliver'd my answer , and name aemulatio ; but he presently start up ; began to look about him , and then calling three or four oaths to witness , swore that i was his cosin german , and the neerest in bloud to him , that day extant . whereupon he made me large promises : bad me be alwayes at hand : and not to leave him , untill he should supplant me by some greater fortunes . then he commanded signiora confidentia to wait upon me , cherish me , carry me into every corner of the court , and to recommend me unto his lady superbia for a favorite : then bad us retire a while , for 't was his hour of rest . signiora confidentia was mad untill she had entred me into the practice of the court : therefore bringing me speedily out of the chamber of presence , she lead me first into the lodgings of the lady avaritia , tesoriera to don ambitio , where we found her and her five furies ( diffidentia , metus , solicitudo , spes vana , and desperatio ) at dinner , excercising their lean rigid mandibles upon the hard , musty , and brown chippings of sowre barley bread ; with onions , garlick , stock-fish , red-sprats , ship-beefe which had been seazon'd with an indian voyage : without either table stooles , napkins , knives , or any such stomack instrument . but all lay in a horrid mixture upon a heap of straw , which after dinner they fir'd to encourage naturall heat to fall aboard on such indigestible materialls . amazement here broke my silence ; calling therefore confidentia aside , i told her how strangely i was lost in labyrinth of admiration , if she with the thread of reason did not guide me out . i pray'd her therefore to set me at liberty , in making me understand what new policy don ambitio had found to make shee-treasurers in his court : and besides to tell me what vertues could subsist in that dry hydebound hag and m●gaera avaritia , to make his ambi●ious spirit cast such principle honours upon her de●ested ugliness . confidentia hearing me no better then rail in my demands , presently falls into my tune , and professing her self an open enemy to that witch philargiria : satisfyes me with this impartiall description . quoth she , you must know that this now lady , was first a common baw'd , but so cunning , and dexterous in her calling ; that she would undertake by vertue of a jewell to make chastity her self a whore . and this profession brought her first into our court : where she presently forc'd a respect from the necessity of her calling . her beginning was in the kitchin ; from thence she rose to be a chamber maid ; and so to a waiting gentlewoman . here , notice began to be taken of her by the great ones : so that if any of them were love-sick , she presently felt their pulse , and with a small feeling from them , promis'd a speedy and pleasant cure . it happened that our lord don ambitio , among his infinity of mistrisses ▪ could not satisfie himself , but one day taking notice of three young vertuous virgin ladies ( signiora castitade , signiora innocentia , and signiora constantia ▪ who abhorring his insatiate and lascivious lust , and to avoide the malice of his ambition , liv'd retir'd ▪ and never appear'd publickly in the court unless upon a christmass , or easter day ) their beauties gave such an inflammation to his lust , that without opening of a vein there was no scaping of a phrensy . here , quoth confidentia , i like a mad girl , under hand plai'd the baw'd , and put him upon this more authentick baw'd avaritia , assuring him that she would corrupt them if corruptible . he , like an expert gamster at inn-and-inn , would not hazzar'd those golden heaps untill he had made the dice run of his side . sends therefore for , then but mistris , avaritia , and makes her lady of honour . thus he first made her a companion for the noblest ▪ that young simplicity might not dream of corruption in such greatness . then he throwes the dice freely ; venters all at a cast , opens his desires , and shews the game which he gave chase to : tells with what innocent and chast simplicity they avoided his snares , and how difficult it was to intrap them . avaritia laught at his ignorance : and then bad him take no more care , but go , and beat the bush for some new game : as for those , she would speedily bring them into his golden net . to those yong ladyes she goes ; enters into their cabinets ; there falls into discourse & familiar conversation : first fingring them , as lutanists do their more delicate and choise trebbles , with ordinary womanish discourse of husbands ; lamenting the unfortunate and miserable estate of a single life . if she perceiv'd no shadows of falseness in that motion ! then presently she admir'd their continency ; commended their chastity , told them how happy they were in that state of innocency & hereupon falls into an encomium of their beauties , their vertues , their rare qualityes , and so by little and little puts them on upon the sweet instrument of philautia . there she proves them again ▪ scruing them up with an ambitious pin , by swearing they are companions for emperours , and that she wonders not , why they let the flowre of their beauties fade in the mirrour of their own suns reflection , si●ce man is too rude a mixture to incorporate with such delicacies . here she scrues them up within a degree of breaking ; finding the higher they are scru'd up , the sweeter their answer was to the touch of her triall . then she playes on , makes them sing and dance ▪ in which merry tune , she lets the hand of her discourse by degrees slide down unto the belly of her lenatick lute , where by a more shrill and penetrating sweetness she brings their ears to such an itching delight , that auditus can no longer keep counsell , but presently calls in her neighbour sences to participate . when she perceives that they have now a feeling of those sweet aers , and that there is no time to be lost , but to keep them going whilst they were in tune , she windes them up yet a note higher , with great promises , and assurances of riches , honours , preferments , principalities , and the like : at which pitch , she no sooner toucheth them but they break . thus did she make those unman'd haggards , stoop to the rich lure of don ambitio . and by this practice she hath rais'd her preferment to this degree of tesoriera : where she now may dispose of what sums she please : for he knows , her covetous heart does so antipathize with prodigality , that she grows sick at the naming of a spend● thrift . i thank'd my little wagtail confidentia for her impartiall enucleation of this philochrysonticall lady : and my patience being somewhat distemper'd with those alliatick savors , whose loathsome violence being still augmented by the often recoiling of the lady avaritias stomaticall artillery , which was overcharg'd with stock-fish , and garlick i desir'd that we might depart those famished lodgings , and enter upon some more restoring objects . 't is true said confidentia , we have lost too much time with this purse-worm avaritia ; but our next visit shall recover it with interest . follow me therefore said she unto the lodgings of the old lady invidia , who you must first know was born mad , and therefore may presume she continues so , all physitians concluding her disease incurable , it being morbus haereditarius . this old trot , runs post day and night , from chamber to chamber , not suffering the poor ladies to lie quietly in their beds : therefore 't will deserve admiration if we find her in her own lodgings : besides we must expect a bastonado ere we depart , for she hates to see any thing that is hand-some : nay malice wrings her into a showre of tears , if she see but a healthfull body , and well apparelled , open her gates . here in spite of her teeth we entered her lodgings ; where i thought it had been carnavall time , there appearing none but masqueradi . she had more servants than all the court besides : but those so horrid , and deformed , that it appeared the school of ugliness . all her chambers were full of false glasses to make people appear ill favour'd and dismember'd ; for she could not abide that any one should discover themselves to be handsome . she had more than fourscore old decaied waiting gentlewomen attending on her ; all which had been turned out of service : some for putting mercury in their lady mistrisses pomade to spoil their good faces . others for eclypsing the lovely brown of their ladyes hair , with cypress powders , under a colour of shadowing some false additions . others for wearing out every other day a new ruff with often turning it in and out of fashion . those came all about us like so many furies , some pissing on my stockins to stain them ; others under pretence of courtesie to pick out the lace of my cuffs & tear them ; others with an envious hug twine their armes about my neck to bring my band in the same wrinkled predicament with their faces ; others kissing me to make my lipps scabby . signiora confidentia wanted not her share neither ; for some presented her with a sweet powder for her hairs , which brought them the falling sickness ; others gave her receipts for her teeth , which made them all dance out in method ; others pretending to renew the lost curles of her hair , sets them afire ; others gave her waters to make her fair , which no sooner applide , but her face looked like a pick'd goose . others , without farther ceremonies call'd her whore , scrach'd her face , telling she was the cause of their disgraces . whilest we were in this purgatory , in came the lady invidia , with her brother il conte odio , and her sister la contessa malitia . never was man frighted with more delight , than i at the sight of that monster invidia . who ever saw the bears masque , may conceive her entrance . she had eaten up all the flesh of her face with her own scratches : so that she look'd as if her head had been dished out in a grave , to a mess of hungry worms , who had pick'd all clean to the bones . her eyes were so dry with often weeping , that for want of moisture they had lost their motion : they being but as two pieces of rotten shining wood , stuck in a dead horses head . her nose , as i guest by the promontorious gristle had been roman . she hopp'd towards me with an intent to rail : but her mouth was so stuft with bitter languages that she could not speak : for with belching up too many hasty words at once into the little portal of her mouth , they wedg'd one another so fast in the door , that she saluted me open mouth'd with a driveling silence , just like a mad dog , whose depraved fancy could not resolve whether to bark or bite first . her brother count odio had the mine of a compleat courtier , and his better judgement , made him not dance into his sisters passionate rashness : but with a reserved malice , he made flattery the engine of his hatred . where like an old ape with his mimicall and fawning gestures he forced a belief of friendship , that so ( no false suspition opposing the operation of his lingring venom ) whil'st you slept in security , he might with the better advantage bite you . he entred upon me with a gratious smile ; desiring me not to take notice of his sisters distemper , a womans weakness being too poor an object for masculine reason : but rather bid me seal up her envy with his friendship , which he protested was more at my devotion than at his own . confidentia here tutor'd my eares with a soft whisper , and bad me loose no trust upon that old fox , for i could never hope to recover it again . he takes you quoth she for a green goose presented as a rarity unto some noble mans table : and fearing least from thence you might be preferred unto a more princely mess , he labors to undermine your designes with his scraping friendship that so without suspect , he may at his leasure blow you up . i had been formerly informed likewise of his double heart and how his malitious subtilties run all upon such aenigmata , that young novices must maintain their oedipus to understand him . very jealous therefore of his proferred courtesies ( which to me did little better then stink ) and finding his name a traitor to his promises : i resolved to trust him no farther than his lodgings . yet that i might bring him on to his purpose , and better my experience by making him a copy of my future practise , i desembled for company , and began to reveal unto him as private secrets , things , god he knows , but then born : to which he so seriously listned , that me thought i already saw his malice promise him , that he had theory enough to practise my ruine . i think , as cunning as he was , i had made some sport with him , had not prevention checked my design by the entrance of signiora iustitia , signiora amicitia , signiora fideltade , and signiora conscientia , all sweet young ladyes of honour in this cardaicall court , who as confidentia told me had long before been corrupted ( with the help of that bawd avaritia ) by don ambitio : and now they were come in visit to the young lady contessa malitia . the lady amicitia did so overflow with winning graces , that i fell desperately in love with her , and desir'd signiora confidentia ( who by her former confession i knew to be embassatrice de amore ) to put me forward into her friendship . but she desired me by no means not to take notice of her in that place , for don ambitio had turn'd her off to count odio , whom she began now to affect : although he abus'd her , and kept her only to make his detested projects the more advantagious . this information , put ice in my mouth : for i knew too much of that crabbed count , to become his rivall . yet being now a courtier , i thought my humor must aswell wait upon the fashion , as my clothes . every one i saw ▪ wore his mistrisses favor , otherwise no courtier . faith then a mistriss i must upon too , and wear her colours , though i had never yet spake to her . he●e i was in conceit that the lady iustitia was ready to cast her self away for me : for me thought she never look'd toward me but her heart laboured to steal to me in a sigh . knowing therefore how apt those tender-hearted creatures were to precipitate in passion and searing lest she might condemn me of cruelty ( though for my part i would have given her leave to have hang'd me for a kisse ) to answer her silent oratory , i began to return her sighs , and as neer as fansie could imitate ▪ i framed such looks withall , as she might call pityfull . then i call'd signiora confidentia apart , and told her what passages had hapned , and ●ow the lady iustitia made love to me . the jeering slut burst into such a laughter at my mistake that all the ladies took notice of it ; and desired to be brought into consort , by participating of the jest . but confidentia to save her credit and mine conceal'd it . and then told me that hereafter in the presence of ladyes she would not stand so near me , lest too much confidence might make me ridiculous . and then said that those sighs and sorrowfull looks of the lady iustitia , which i applied to my self , were for those injuryes . perjuryes , contempts ▪ neglects , brybes , partialities , and a thousand such like abuses which the world dayly cast into her teeth ; which makes the poor lady so slighted and low-priz'd of every man , that growing dull and melancholy , she lives so retir'd , that we can hardly see her above once a quarter . this mistake therefore made confidentia retire farther from me : insomuch that i became so overwise ever after , that when a woman look'd or smil'd upon me ▪ i thought she jeer'd at some defect : which mistrust made many pretty passages happen between me and the lady conscientia , for she had a minde to me in good earnest : as it after appeared by her fondness , and tenderness of me : who blushed not to cast her self into my brest ; prick me with her bodkin , to express her desires in hieragliphicks : rouse me , kiss me , and often put me to the start with her secret motions . all which i regarded not , suspecting still that it was but a plot of hers to betray my weakness . when ever she came neer me therefore , i told her plainly she troubled me ▪ and that she made all the world take notice of her bad proceedings : bad her go and accompany the lady iustitia who was melancholly , and had the green sickness for want of exercise , for my part i would not be guilty of her looseness . this lady conscientia , became so desperate upon my checking her : that stealing from us she ran out of the court-gate and threw her self into the lake of passion , where she perished . it was a long time before any of us mist her : so that had not the lady penitentia came in laughing and crying both at a breath and told us that conscientia had drowned her self , none had ever taken notice of it . here i observed what alteration this news would beget , and i found it almost impotent , producing no other issue but a few abortive tears , which were delivered by a womanish consent who like so many ducks , if one cry the whole brood answers . and those showres were suddenly drunk up by the sun of gladness . for in came don {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , with the lady laetitia , laughing so heartily that though at that instant , all were weeping ; their tears dissolved into such a storm of laughter , that the aier grew cholerick with his violent motions , and broke the windoes to prevent combustion , the jest was to hear every one laugh , and non able to satisfie reason with the cause : only all confessed that they felt their hearts of a sudden much lightned , and a free inclination invited them to any thing that might give them delight . well , the laugh being ended , don zara with a cheerfull countenance , ruddy as the aurora , step'd to the ladyes and thank'd them for the honour they did him in entring into his consort : then bad them proceed , rejoyce , sing , dance , and make no more scruple of honest mirth , but to be free and open in all their delights , without suspect of any future repentance ; for that {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} conscientia was dead . she that had caused so many showres of tears was now drowned in her own deluge . i presently took my advantage of this good news ▪ and began to renew my sute to the lady iustitia , who before had deceived me with the melancholy of her conscious jealousyes : now i presumed she would make no scruple of playing false with any man : wherefore i made the less doubt in corrupting her . and see how happy i was in this attempt ; as if fortune had vowed to chain all my desires together with the links of oportunity , and then throw them into my bosome . don z●r● to celebrate the death of his arch enemy , invited all the ladyes to a masque . where wanting masquers , he desired me to succour his necessity , and make one . it was the thing i gaped for ; my mouth therefore being ready opened to his hand , the first word that i could spit out , was a grant , with a willing acceptance . well for brevities sake gentlemen imagine you saw the ladies all placed ; the musick playing ; and the masquers entring , each of them having his hand enriched with a present , to bestow at discretion upon any of the ladyes . my present was a rich quadra , wherein was represented , the heavens opening , and from thence a wolf falling , with a lamb i his mouth . this embleme was eclypsed with a faire curtain of tissu , emaculated with golden letters , whose connexion made this emblematicall anagram , lady this embleme seems too rude for one professing servitude . but be not rash in judging me untill you finde i guilty be . you are my ● heaven , to whom i sha till i be heard , for mercy call . if you deny me , then i must needs say you'r cruell , and unjust . but if your harsh sententious eyes , will rather here embelmatize , then ope your heaven ; let wolf and lamb tumble toth'earth from whence they came . i le venture breaking back , yea neck and all , so that we may but once together fall . our presents being delivered ; before we dished out our capers into a dance , we made way for the lady laetitia ; who to express her joy in the loss of her enemy conscientia , she welcom'd the ladyes with this sonnet . sonnet . you pensive souls why are you sad ? conscience is drown'd ; then le ts be glad ; let not your pining hearts from hence stagger at future penitence . she that quench'd our joviall fires : checking natures sweet desires : shall no longer curb us in with horrid fears of mortall sin ! conscience shall here no more appear . come then sweet fansy shew thy pow'r , invent new pleasures every hour . teach don ambitio to betray , his dearest friend that stands in 's way . tell him that 't is a noble feat , by supplantation to grow great . and bid him quarrell now withall , that interpose him and the wall . conscience shall here no more appear . bid avaritia wider gape ; tell her she now may freely scrape : and propagate a minerall to renovate some prodigall . let her proceed and multiply in her extorting usury , without a thought of growing wise ; by a church building sacrifice . conscience shall here no more appear . let great superbia jeere , at those which out oft'h fashion wear their clothes . and bid her call her taylors in to massacre some new born sin . teach her some sweet and secret way how to maintain her rich array . bid her first turn an honor'd whore , rather then let her name grow pore . conscience shall here no more appear . bid penitentia wipe her eyes and check with smiles her peevish cryes , tell her it sutes not with the times , to lose her mirth for petty crymes . make her be cheerfull ! rowse her up ! and drown repentace in a cup . let her not fear the new-born day can now her night-past sins betray . conscience shall here no more appear . bid wise iustitia here be free , and make a present blind a fee . teach her to feed upon lost sheep , and pass her sentence in her sleep . let her not stick to play the whore with any ▪ so they be not poore . make her be confident , and say , with her shall dye the judgement day . conscience shall here no more appear . bid castitade blush no more because shee 's don ambitio's whore . and let constantia break with all , since his ambition made her fall . bid sad maeslitia now awake and d●own her cares in passions lake . let none forbear their hearts content , till they grow old , and impotent . conscience shall here no more appear . let now religious pieta come wait upon superbia . and bid her bring her bible in to elevate her passive sin . bid her upon a holy day neglect a sermon for a play . and let her trouble god no more , with often knocking at his dore . conscience shall here no more appear . kinde charitade now grow wise ! be no more gull'd with poor mens cryes . keep home , and learn to lock thy dore ; if any beg , tell them thou 'rt poore . be not so fond to run in debt , by building of a lazaret . no , keep thine own ; and only spend , to gain an office , or a friend . conscience shall here no more appear . come then don {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} lead your dance , whilst mirth layes sorrow in a trance . let your sweet revells blow the fires , of these fair ladyes hot desires . and when they burn , tell them they may ●et reputation melt away . the golden age is now come in where pleasure drowns {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} sin . conscience shall here no more appear . whilst the lady laetitia exercised her voice : i prostrated my self ( as the custom is at all masques in their parts ) on my knees , at my lady mistris iustitias feet . where with a feeling oratory i made my case known unto her : told her , her eyes were murderers : and i desired justice . the richness of my present made her take the better notice of me ; besides i found her disposition very corruptible . so that having brought her just upon the point of a mercifull promise : the sonnet being ended , we were forced to break up our session : every one falling into his posture , and then by mutuall copulations we begat a ballo . how every man governed his heels i commit to your fancyes : since every mans heart was freed from the heavy clog of conscience . well , our masque ended i renewed my sute again with that hard hearted mistris of mine iustitia : who in that little time , had dashed me out of her memory , acknowledging neither me nor present . here i cal'd my old chamerada confidentia : who presently assur'd me that there was no trusting to that lady above all the rest . for said she ; she is one of don ambitio's aged concubines , whom he first corrupted , and made her one day by false witnesses attach that noble lord {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , that he might usurpe his place . and now having served his turn , he hath cast her off , leaving her to her self : who now makes a trade of her necessity , and will lye with any man for his mony . when i heard this , i began to wish for my presen● again . yet content to buy my experience at that rate ; it growing late , confidentia and i departed ; every one wondring that i did not wait upon the lady iustitia to her coach . confidentia , as we left the lodgings of don {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} told me that there was never a chamber yet provided for me in the court ; therefore said , if i would accept of a part of her bed ( which said she , runs upon wheels under my lady superbia ) i should be very wellcome : for said she this cool weather i want a coverlid : and where are two in a bed , there wants not coverings . i laughed to hear her so confident in her loosenesse . and to bed we went without further ceremonies . in the morning i stole from her before she waked ( lest i should be made pay for my nights rest ) and going towards the court-gate , i met the spenditore and the master cook going to the market to buy provision for the cardiacall prince spiritus vitalis . having little other imployment i accompanied them partly to learn what dyet people kept in that countrey and partly for a breakfast out of the cooks fees . there for the younger and hotter spirits they bought these cooling cardiaca . rosae . violae . acetosa . borago . buglos . nymphaea . plantago . suc . citri . limon . granat . cerasa . pom. odor . rub. idaei . santal . corn . ceru . os de cord. c. vnicornu . terra sigil . bol. armen . margarit . corallium . bezoar non falsificat . hyacynth . saphyr . smaragd . chrystallus . some compounds ( to mix among their ordinary sawces ) they bought , which were these , diarrhod abbat . diarrhod . comun . diatrion . santal . diamarg . frig. elect. ex acetos , &c. for the more aged , and colder bloods they took up these , cardiaca calida . melissa . rosmar . ocymum . card. ben. scordium . veronica . cort. citri . sem. citri . chermes . charyop . hort . rad. angel . helenii . flor. calend. xyloaloes . ●● cook , or {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , was retired into a little private room , and there very close at work , upon an antepidemicall antidote , wherein as i remember he put these praeparations . ℞ . confect alkerm . confect . ex hyacynt . theriac . extract . bac . iunip . an. ℥ j. salis perlar. salis corall . an. ʒiij . antimon . diaphor . sulphuris , aurat . diaph . balsam . lact . sulp. an. ℥ ss. essent . crociʒij . essentiae camph . ʒj . tinctur . auri cum spir. sal. extract . ℈ j. lapid. bezoar . ver. ʒj . essent . cinamom . essent . caryophyl . an. ℈ .j. moschi . ambrae . an. g.viij . those he mixt ▪ s. art●m , and thereof made his antidote . which he told me was an admirable preservative against the plague every morning the quantity of a small pease being taken fasting , likewise for those which were already stricken with that infection , if they took , ʒ . ss. or ʒj . of it dissolved in ℥ ij . of some cardiacall water , it cured them by a violent sweat : corroborating the heart ; and banishing all contagious or pestilentiall spirits to the remotest parts of the microcosme . having seen that antidote finished ; i went into another fair large room which seemed another muran of glasses . there i found ready prepared . aurum potabile . tinctura auri. aurum diaphoret . arcanum auri. bezoardic . minerale . tartar . vitriolatum . spir. tartari . sal. viperin . essent . vnicorn . flores sulph . lac. sulphuris . spir. salis . spir. nitri . margarit . mineral . mercur. diaphor . sal. christalli . sal. corallor . sal. perlar. tinctur . croci . tinct . rubinar . tinct . smarald . tinct . hyacynt . tinct . corallor . tinct . antimon . balsam . cinamom . balsam . caryoph . bals . nuc. mosch. essentia ambrae . essentia moschi . spir. rosar . essent . corn . cerv. spir. melissae . spir. card. ben. spir. rosmarin . syr. corallor . syr. perlar. essent . flor. narant . essent . flor. citri . with many other such like principal cardiacall preparations . i returned again to the master cook , and desired him to give me the receipts of those cordiall rarityes which i had seen in his operatory . he answered that they were all secrets reserved for the preservation , and renovation of his prince spiritus vitalis , and were by him forbidden to be published to any but such who serve out their time in his kitchin . if any of you gentlemen have a liking to any of these dishes , ( the worst of which may be served to a princes table ) pray fall to whilest they are before you ; and when those are digested , who ever desires ▪ to make use of them at home for his private family , let him retire to any of our spagiricall kitchings , and you shall find our cooks more open hearted than those of the cardiacall princes ; and freely present you all their art in such hermeticall delicacyes . in the mean time i am sorry my cheer is not answerable to your merits . what you want in meat ; i desire you to satisfie with mirth : for so believe me you shall be heartily wellcome . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a64765e-500 exhalatio sterquilina . attenuantia incidentia . aperientia . galen . lib. 4 de loc. affect . vigil●●●vitand . alvi excrement . quotidie expurgan . somnum fuge meridianum . somnus sit moderatus . vena . porta . vesica fellis . vena cava some sober inspections made into carriage and consults of the late long-parliament whereby occasion is taken to speak of parliaments in former times, and of magna charta, with some reflexes upon government in general. som sober inspections made into the cariage and consults of the late long parlement howell, james, 1594?-1666. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a44754 of text r2660 in the english short title catalog (wing h3117). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 238 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 97 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a44754 wing h3117 estc r2660 12185449 ocm 12185449 55759 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a44754) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 55759) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 603:15) some sober inspections made into carriage and consults of the late long-parliament whereby occasion is taken to speak of parliaments in former times, and of magna charta, with some reflexes upon government in general. som sober inspections made into the cariage and consults of the late long parlement howell, james, 1594?-1666. [8], 184 p. printed for ric. lownds ..., london : 1656. dedicatory epistle signed: j.h. later published under the title: philanglvs. advertisement: p. 184. reproduction of original in huntington library. eng england and wales. -parliament. great britain -politics and government -1642-1660. a44754 r2660 (wing h3117). civilwar no some sober inspections made into the carriage and consults of the late long-parliament, whereby occasion is taken to speak of parliaments in howell, james 1656 41490 449 5 0 0 0 0 109 f the rate of 109 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the f category of texts with 100 or more defects per 10,000 words. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-01 rachel losh sampled and proofread 2005-01 rachel losh text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion some sober inspections made into the carriage and consvlts of the late long-parliament , whereby occasion is taken to speak of parliaments in former times , and of magna charta , with some reflexes upon government in general . cupio ut rectè capiar . london , printed for ric. lownds , at the white lyon in st. pauls churchyard near the west-end , 1656. to his highnesse the lord protector . my lord , among the multitude of mighty atchievements which your highnesse hath performed so much to the astonishment of mankind , the dissolving of the late long parliament may well deserve to bee rank'd in the numbe : for thereby your highnesse hercules-like , may be said to have quell'd a monster with many heads ; such a monster that was like to gormandize and devour the whole nation , as will appear in the ensuing discourse , which though small in bulk , yet the subject matters is of the greatest concernment ( otherwise i had not ventured on so high a dedication ) for it treats of the power and practise of english parliaments in former times , with the first rise of the house of commons , and of magna charta , &c. which will bee found to have had but hard births . there was matter enough to have compil'd a far greater volumn , but i have woon'd it upon a small bottom , in regard that besides my natural hatred to superfluities and circumlocutionss ; i would not bee so unmannerly as to hold your highnesse too long , who have suca world of high businesses perpetually in your thoughts . one thing i humbly promise your highnesse , that the quotations here produc'd ( whereof there are many ) are all true , and extracted out of authentick records , but what consequences soever are drawn from them , the judgement is still reserv'd for your highnesse , endernier ressort . there is a memorable saying of charles martell in that mighty revolution in france , when hee introduc'd the second race of kings , that in the pursuit of all his actions , he used to say , that he followed not the ambition of his heart , as much as the inspirations of his soul , and the designs of providence : this may be applied to your highnesse in the conduct of your great affairs , and admirable successes . so craving pardon for this high presumption , and the boldnesse of the subject , for which i humbly beg your protection , i rest in the lowliest posture of obedience at your highness command i. h. to the knowing reader touching the method of this discourse . there are various wayes for the conveyance of knowledge to the understanding , and to distil it by degrees into the cels of humane brain ; it may be done either by a down-right narration and continued discourse ; or by allegories , emblemes , and parables ; or by way of dialogue , interlocutions and conference ; the first , is the easiest and most usual way ; the second , is the most ingenious and difficult ; the last the most familiar and satisfactory ; when one doth not onely inform but remove , and answer all objections and quaeries that may intervene all along in the pursuit of the matter . it is the mode and method of this treatise , which discoursing of the affairs of england , proceeds by way of colloquy 'twixt philanglus and polyander : the first a good patriot , and great lover of the english ; the other a person who had seen much of the world abroad , and studied men , as both their names do intimate . conveniunt rebus nomina saepe suis i. h. some inspections made into the cariage and consults of the late long parlement , &c. in a colloquy 'twixt philanglus and polyander . gentle sir , philanglus . how glad am i to see you so well return'd to england after so long a separation , having breath'd air under so many diffe●ing climes , convers'd with nations of so many differing complexions , and made so many hazardous voyages and itinerations both by land and seas , as i understand you have . polyander . 't is true , there is a kind of hazzard that hovers over our heads wheresoever we pass in this transitory incertain world , the morning cannot presage what the evening may produce , some odd thing may happen 'twixt the cup and the lip ; but the danger of forrein travel , or peregrination is nothing so great as 't is commonly apprehended ; one may travell all europe with as much security and accommodation as any part of england ; one may goe from calis to constantinople , as safely as from bristol to berwick ; one may passe from vienna to venice , from paris to prague , from madrid to magdenburgh , as securely as from london to lancaster , or from saint davids head to dover ; 't is true , that before negotiation and commerce made mankind more communic●ble , it was an uncouth thing to travel , or make removes far from home ; in this island , not an age since , if one were to make a journey from wales to london , much more from london to france , it was usual for him to make his last will ; but now the world growing still more populous and people more sociable by mutua ▪ traffique ; and knowledge of languages , the case is altered ; in my whole ten years travel , i thank my creator , i never rancounterd any danger or difficulty , but i might have met with the like in england ; if one observes these three small imperatiss , audi , cerne , tace , hear , see , and be silent , he need no other passeport to travel the world ; but dear sir , now that i am return'd to breath english air again , i hold it one of the best welcomes to find you so well after so long an absence , and i embrace you with both my arms , giving you a thousand thanks for the fair respects , and litteral correspondence you kept with me while i wandered abroad , for it was my greatest comfort . philanglus . sir , you teach me what i should say to you in this point , but truely you should have had a more frequent account of matters here , but that of late years it hath been usual to intercept and break up letters , which is a baser kind of burglary then to break into ones house , or chamber ; for this may be a plundering onely of some outward pelf , or baggage of fortune , but he who breaks open one letters , which are the ideas of the minde ( as is spoken elsewhere ) may be said to rifle the very brain , and rob one of his most precious thoughts , and secret'st possessions : but sir , now that i have the happinesse to re-enjoy you , what doe they say abroad of these late revolutions in england ? polyander . they say that the english are a sturdy , terrible and stout people , that the power and wealth of this island was never discovered so much before both by land and sea , that the true stroke of governing this nation was never hit upon till now ; politicians new and old have beaten their brains , and shot at rovers in writing of divers sorts of governments ; but the wisest of them concur in this opinion , that there is no government more resembling heaven , and more durable upon earth , or that hath any certain principles but monarchy , and such a monarchy that hath an actual visible military strength to support it self , and not only to protect , but to awe the people . aristotle in his politicks speaks of sundrie species of governments , he writes of monarchy , aristocracy , democracy , oligarchy , and s●ratocracy , ( as the greek tongue hath a faculty above all others in compounding names for things ; ) but he is irresolut to determin what aristocracies are truly perfect , he hath only this one positive assertion , that aristocracy allowes no aritificer to be a citizen or counsellor ; much of his discourse is of the first founders of common-wealths , as phaleas of the chalcedonian , hippodamas of the milesian , lycurgus of the lacedemonian , minos of the cretan , and solon of the athenian ; then he proceeds to correct the errors of common-wealths before he tels us what a common-wealth is , which is ( under favour ) an irregularity in method . in his first book he speaks only of the parts of a city , or common-weal , but he tels us not what they are til he comes to his third book , where in handling the kinds of government in generall , he flies backward and forward in a disorderly way ; but when he comes to treat of particular forms , he is full of contradiction and confusion ; in some places he seems to deny any natural right and publick interest , ( much more any underived majesty ) in the people , whom he saith to be little inferiour to beasts ; whereas elsewhere he affordeth a liberty to every city , to set up either by force or cunning what government they please , which in effect is to allow men to doe what they list if they be able : but at last he confesses that after kings were given over in greece , common-wealths were made of them who waged warre , and that all power was summ'd up in the government of an army , which is pure stratocracy , or military government . philanglus . we cannot blame this great philosopher to rove herein up and down , it being impossible for any humane brain to prescribe any certain and infallible universal rules of government that may quadrat with the nature of all climes , and be applicable to the humors of all people ; all other arts and sciences have apodictical , and undenyable principles , but the art of government hath no such maximes ; the reason is the various dispositions of people , and a thousand sorts of contingencies that attend worldly affairs ; it is , you better know then i , one of the main principles of policy in france to keep the peasan ( which is the grosse of the people ) still indigent and poor , because they are of such a volatil instable nature , that if they were rich and fed high , wealth and wantonesse would make them ever and anon to be kicking against government , and crying out for a change , whereas this principle of policy is held to be a paradox in spain , and other countreys . some nations are so firy mouth'd , that they must be rid with a bit , if not a martinghal , but a snaffle will serve others : nor are the same laws fit for the continent , that are proper for an island , nor those of a maritim continent fit for a mediterranean countrey . polyander . i concur with you there is no art so difficult , and fuller of incertainties , as hominem homini imperare , as the art for man to govern man , which made one of the deepest statesmen these modern times afforded to confesse , that though he had served so many apprentiships , and been a journeyman so long in this art , and reputed a master , yet he found himself still a novice : for state affairs as all sublunary things , are subject to alteration , the wisdome of one day may be the foolishnesse of another , and the week following may be schoolmistress to the week before in point of experience , which is the great looking-glass of wisdome , and policy . therefore whereas aristotle useth to be constant to himself in all other sciences while he displayes the operations and works of nature , when he comes to treat of humane government , he is not only often at a losse , and inconstant to himself , but he involves both himself and the reader in ambiguities . philanglus . i am of opinion that there is in policy but one true vniversal maxime , which is , as you said before , to have alwayes a standing visible effectif power in being , as well to preserve , as to curb a people ; and it is very fitting they should pay for their protection , it being a rule all the world over , and grounded upon good reason , defend me , and spend me . polyander . it is so indeed every where ; how willing is our confederat the hollander , so he be protected in his trade , to part with any thing , to pay tols for what he hath either for back or belly ; he is content to pay for all beasts sold in the market the twelf part for excise , six shillings upon every tun of beer , two stivers a week for every milch cow , six pence upon every bushel of wheat , and so upon all other commodities : the states of italy do more , in florence , and the republick of venice , ( which hath continued longest , and with least change in point of government of any country upon earth ) ther 's not a grain of corn , not a glassefull of wine , oyl , egges , birds , beasts , fish , fowl , yea , grasse , salt , and sallets , but pay a gabell for the common defence , nay the courtisans cannot make use of their own , but they must contribut to maintain twelve gallies . but sir , now that i have been absent so long , i pray be pleased to tell me something of the proceedings of the late long parlement , and of this mighty revolution ; for i find such a kind of transposition of all things in point of government , that england may be said to be but the anagram of what she was . philanglus . there is a periodical fate , that hangs over all governments , this of england may be said to have come to its tropique , to a posture of turning ; the people extreamly long'd for a parlement , and they had a long parlement , for it lasted longer then all the parlements that ever were in england since the first institution of parlements , put them all together ; there was never such an idol upon earth as that parlement , for people thought there was an inerring spirit tyed to the speakers chair , they pinn'd their salvation upon it , it was held blasphemy , and a sin against the holy ghost to speak against it , nay some gave out that that blessed parlement was as necessary for our refromation , as the coming of christ was for our redemption ; such a sottish kind of infatuation had seiz'd upon some kind of people . polyander . but what did that parlement do tending to the publick reformation ? philanglus . what did they doe ? they were like to undoe all things , had they sate longer , which they had done till doomesday had they been let alone , and their posteriors never aked ; 't is true , they were somewhat modest at first , but by the lenity of a credulous easie king , they did afterwards monstrous things . they assumed to themselves all the regalia's of the crown , they seiz'd upon sword , great seal , and soveraignty , upon the militia , and all the marks of majesty , nay , they did arrogate to themselves the legislative and supreme power . polyander . but doth not the supreme power reside ●n the english parlement , which is an epi●ome and representative of the whole nation ? philanglus . i will not resolve you in that , till i acquaint you with the pedigree , & primitive institution of parlement , which i will endeavour to do as succinctly as i can , but in regard that our parlement was erected at first in imitation of the assembly of the three estates in france , in which government you are so well vers'd , i pray do me the favour as give me a touch of the mode of france in those publick assemblies , and then i shall apply my self to satisfie you touching english , irish , and scots parlements , having in some measure studied the case . polyander . in france the kings writ goeth to the bayliffs , seneschals or stewards of liberties , who issue out warrants to all such ashave fees and lands within their liberties , as also to all towns , requiring all such as have any complaints , to meet in the principal city , there to choose delegats in the name of the province to be present at the generall assembly . being met at the principal city of the bayliwick , the kings writ is read , and so the delegates are elected and sworn ; then they consult what is to be complained of , and fit to be proposed to the king , whereof there is an index or catalogue made , which is delivered to the delegats to carry to the general assembly : all the bayliwicks are divided to twelve classes ; but to avoid confusion , and to the end there may not be too great a delay in the assembly by gathering of the voyces or suffrages , every classis compiles a brief , or book of the grievances and demands of all the bayliwicks within that classis ; then these classes at the assembly compose one general book of the grievances and demands of the whole kingdome . this being the order of the proceeding of the comminalty or third estate , the like order is observed by the clergy and nobility : so when the three books or cahiers ( as they call them ) for the three estates are perfected , then they present them to the king by their presidents in the open great assemby . the first who presents the cahiers is the president of the clergy , who begins his harang or oration on his knees , but at the kings command he stands up and ●o proceeds bareheaded ; the president ●or the nobility speaks next in the like manner ; but the president for the commons begins and ends his oration on his knees : whilst the president of the clergy speaks , the rest of that order rise up & stand bare , till they are bid by the king to sit down , and be covered ; and so the like for the nobility ; but whilst the president for the comminalty speaks , the rest are neither bid to fit , or to be covered . the grievances and demands being thus all delivered at once , and left to the king and his privy councel without further debate or expence of time , the general assembly of the three estates endeth , expecting afterwards such a redresse to their grievances , as the king and his councel shall think fit . philanglus . these proceedings of france are not much unlike the ancient usage of this kingdome for many ages , when all laws were nothing else but the kings answers to the petitions presented to him , and his councel , as is apparent by many old statutes , and the confession of sir edwar● coke ; and now to acquit my self of my former engagement unto you , i will impart unto you the manner and power o● the parlements of great brittain and ireland ; i confesse 't is more properly the businesse of a lawyer , which i am none ▪ otherwise then what nature hath mad● me , so , every man is a lawyer , and 〈◊〉 logitian also ( who was the first lawyer ) as he is born the child of reason , fo● law and logic are meerly founded upon reason ; this discoursive faculty of reason comes with us into the world accompanied with certain general notions and natural principles to distinguish right from wrong , and falshood from truth . but before i come to the english parlement , a word or two of the parlement● of scotland , and ireland . in scotland about three weeks before the parlement begins , proclamation is made throughout the kingdome , to deliver unto the kings clerk or master of the rols , all bils to be exhibited that sessions , then are they brought to the king , and perused by him ; and only such as he allows are put in the chancelors hand to be proponed in parliament , and no others ; and if any man in parlement speak of any other matter then is formerly allowed by the king , the chancelor tels him there is no such bill allowed by the king : when they have passed them for laws , they are presented to the king , who with the scepter , put into his hand by the chancelor , ratifies them , but if there be any thing the king mislikes they raze it out before . the parlement in ireland is after this manner . no parlement is to be held but at such a season as the kings deputy there doth certifie the king under the great seal of the land , of the causes , considerations and necessity of a parlement ; the causes being approved of by the king a licence is sent under the broad seal of england to summon a parlement in ireland , provided that all such bils that shall be proposed there in parlement , be first transmitted hither under the great seal of that kingdome , and having received allowance and approbation here they shall be put under the great seal of this kingdome , and so return'd thither to be passed in that parlement ; this was called poinings act in the time of king philip and mary . having thus given a concise account of the usage of parlement in our neighbour kingdomes , i will now passe to that of england . every freeholder who hath a voice in the election of knights , citizens , and burgesses to sit in parlement , ought to know well , and consider with what power he trusts those whom he chooseth , in regard the power of the house of commons is derived from that trust : now that which gives authoritie for the freeholders to make their election is the kings writ directed to the sheriff of the county , in which is expressed not only the sheriffs duty in point of summoning ; but the writ contains also the duty and power of such knights , and burgesses that shall be elected ; therefore to know the full extent of the power of parlement , you must have an eye , and observe well the words of the writ ; for the freeholders cannot transfer a greater power then is compriz'd in the writ to those that they appoint their servants in parlement . the writ being us'd to be in latin , few freeholders , god wot , understood it , or knew what they did ; i will faithfully render the said writ to you in english . the king to the vicount or sheriff , greeting . whereas by the advice and assent of our council , for certain arduous and urgent affairs concerning us , the state , and defence of our kingdom of england , and the anglican church : we have ordained a certain parliament of ours to be held at our city of the day of next ensuing , and there to have conference , and to treat with the prelates , great men , and peers of our said kingdom ; we command and strictly enjoyn you , that making proclamation at the next county court after the receit of this our writ , to be holden the day and place afore said ; you cause two knights girt with swords the most fit , and discreet of the county aforesaid , and of every city of that county two citizen ; of every borough two burgesses of the discreet●r and most sufficient , to be freely and indiffer●ntly chosen by them who shal be present a● such proclamation , according to the tenor of the sta●utes in that case made and provided ; and the ●ames of the said knights , citizens and bur●esses so chosen to be inserted in certain in●entures to be then made between you and those ●hat shall be present at such election , whether the parties so elected be present , or absent , and shall make them to come at the said day and place , so that the said knights for themselves , and for the county a●ores●id and the citizens and the burgesses for themselves and the commonalty of the said cities and bor●ughs may have severally from the●● full and sufficients power to do , and to consent to those things which then by the favor of god shal there happen to be ordain'd by the common council of our said kingdom concerning the business aforesaid so that the business may n●t by any mean●●●main undo● for want of such power , or by reason of the improvident election of the aforesaid knights , citizens , and burgesses ; but we wil● not in any case that you or any other sheriff of our said kingdom shall be elected : and at the day and place aforesaid the sai● election , being made in a full county court ▪ you shall certifie without delay to us in our chancery under your seal , and the seals of them which shall be present at that election s●nding back unto us the other part of the indenture aforesaid affiled to these presents together with the writ , witnesse our self at westminster . this commission or writ is the foundation whereon the whole fabrick o● the power and duty of both houses o● parliament is grounded . the first hour● is to parly or have conference , and to treat with the king ; the other house is onely to do and consent unto what the other shall ordain by their help and conference ; so that by this writ we do not find that the commons are called to be any part of the great council of the kingdom , or of the supream court of judicature , much less to have any share in the legislative power , or to consult de arduis regni negotiis , of the difficult businesses of the kingdom , but onely to consent ; and sir edward cook to ●rove the clergy hath no voice in parliament , useth this argument , that in their writ also the words are to come thither ad●onsentiendum , to consent to such things as ●ere ordained by the common council of the ●ingdom ; but the other word ad facien●um , to do , is not in their writ , action being ●ot so proper for them in regard of their ●lerical functions . polyander . then it may be well inferred from what ●ou have produced , that the king with the ●elates and peers is properly the common ●ouncil of the kingdom . philanglus . yes without controversie , nor until the raign of henry the first were the commons called to the parliament at all , or had as much as a consent in the making of laws . camden in his britannia teacheth us , that in the times of the saxon kings , and the ensuing ages , that the great or common council of the land was praesentia regi● praelatorum , procerumque collectorum , the presence of the king with his prelates and peers . selden also tells out of an old cronicle of the church of liechfield , that kin●edward by the advice of his council of baron● revived a law which hath lain dorma● threescore and seven years ; in the sam● chronicle tis said , that william the co●●querer held a council of his barons , an. 〈◊〉 regni sui apud londinias . the next ye●● after he had a council of earles and baro●● at pinend●n heath to decide the great co●troversie 'twixt lanfra●t arch-bishop 〈◊〉 canterbury , and odo earl of kent . in the 21. of eaward the third , there 〈◊〉 mention made of a parliament held 5. 〈◊〉 questoris , wherein all the bishops of 〈◊〉 land , ear●s and barons made an ordina●●● touching the exception of the abby of 〈◊〉 from the bishops of norwich . in the second year of william 〈…〉 there is mention made of a parliament 〈…〉 cunctis regni principibus . in the 〈…〉 of his raign there was another parliament at rockingham castle , episcopis , abbatibus , cunctisque regni principibus coeuntibus , wherin the prelates , abbots , and all the chiefe men convened in council . at the coronation of henry the first , all the people of england were called , and laws were then made , but it was , as the story saith , per commune concilium baronum ; in the third year ; the tenth year , and the twenty third year of his reign the same king held a parliament , or great council of his barons ▪ spiritual and temporal . henry the second in his tenth year had a parliament at clarindon , consisting of lords spiritual and secular : in his twenty second year , he had another at notingham , and a while after another at winsor , then another at northampton , wherein there is mention made onely of prelates and peers . richard the first after him held a parliament at notingham in his fifth year , consisting of bishops , earles and barons , which lasted but four days , during which time there were mighty things transacted ; hugh bardelf was deprived of the castle and sheriffswick of york the first day ; the second day he had judgement against his brother johu who was afterward king ; the third day there was granted the king two shilling of every plowd land in england ; he required also the third part of the service of every knights fee for his attendance to normandy , and all the wool of the cistercian monks . the fourth day was for hearing of grievances ; so the parliament broke up , but the same year he convoke● another parliament of nobles at northampton . king john in his first year summoned 〈◊〉 magnates , his great men to a parliament a●winchester , and the words of the roll 〈◊〉 commune concilium baronum meorum , the common council of my barons at winchester . in the sixth year of henry the third , the nobles granted the king for every knight fee two marks in silver at a convention i● parliament ; he had afterwards parliaments at london , westminster , merton , winchester , and marlborough ; now these precedents shew that from the conqust unt●● a great part of the reign of henry the thir● in whose dayes 't is thought the writ 〈◊〉 election of knights was framed first , the b●rons onely made the parliament or commo● council of the kingdom . polyander . by so many strong evidences , and prenant proofs which you produce , i find it to be a ●●ridian truth , that the commoners were no part of the high court of parliament in ages passed : moreover i find in an ancient manuscript , that the commons were reduced to a house , by the advice of the bishops to the king in the brunt of the barons wars , that they might allay and lesson the power of the peers who bandied so many yeers against the crown ; yet to prevent that they should not arrogate too much authority to themselves , ( as asperius nihil est humili cum surgit in altum ) it was done with those cautions th●● they had scarce as much jurisdiction given them as a pyepowders court hath , for they should neither exhibit an oath , nor impose fine , or inflict punishment upon any but their own members , or be a court of record , or grant proxies , therefore it may well be a quere how they can appoint committees , considering that those committee-men whom they choose are no other then their deputies , and act by power and proxy from them . but it is as cleer as the sun that the conquerour , first brought this word parliament with him , being a french word , and made it free denizon of england being not known before ; for therein the normans did imitate the romans , whose practise was that wheresoever they conquered , they brought in their language with the lance as a mark of conquest ; i say that besides those instances you produce , i could furnish you with many in the saxons times who govern'd by the councel of the prelates and peers , not admitting the commons to any communication in affairs of state : there are records hereof above a thousand yeer old in the reign of king i a , offa , and ethelbert ; and the rest of the seven kings during the heptarchy , they called their great councels and conventions , then michael smoth , michael gemote , and witenage mote , wherein the king and nobles with the bishops onely met , and made laws ; that famous convention at gratley by king athelstan was compose'd onely of lords spiritual and temporal ; such also was that so much celebrated assembly held by canutus the dane , who was king of england , denmark , and norway : edward the confessor established all his laws thus , and he was a great legislator . the british kings also who retain'd a great while some part of this island unconquered , governed and made laws this way by the sole advice of their nobles whom they call arglwyded ; witnesse the famous laws of prince howel called howel dha ( the good king howel ) whereof there are yet extant some welch records , and divers of those laws were made use of at the compilement of magna charea . but in your discourse before , among other parliaments in henry the third's time , you make mention of one that was held in 55 , of his reign , at marlbourough , at which time braston the great lawyer was in high request , being lord chief justice : they that would extenuate the royal prer●gative insist much upon a speech of his , wherein he saith , the king hath a superiour god , he hath also the law by which he is made ; as also the court , viz. the earls and barons , but not a word of the commons : but afterwards he doth interpret , or rather correct himself , when speaking of the king , hee resolves thus , nec potest ei necessitatem aliquis imponere quòd injuriam suam corrigat & emen●et , cùm superiorem non habeat nisi deum , & satis erit ei ad poenam quòd dominum expectet ultorem . nor ( saith he ) can any man put a necessity upon the king to correct and amend his injury , unlesse he wil himself , since he hath no superior but god : it will be sufficient punishment for him to expect the lord for his avenge : to preserve the honour of this great judge , the lawyers found out this distinction , that the king is free from the coer●ive power of laws and councellors , but he may be subject to their directive power , yet according to his own will and inclination , that is ; god can onely compel or command him , but the law and his courts may onely advise and direct him ; but i pray sir excuse me that i have so much interrupted you in your discourse . you may please now to proceed . philanglus . to prove my assertion further , that the commons were no part of the high court , and common councel of england , i will make use of the testimony of mr. pryn , who was in such high repute most part of the late long parliament , and appeared so eage● for the priviledge and power of the lower house : in his book of treachery and disloyalty , he proves that before the norman conquest by the laws of edward the confessor , the king was to do justice by the councel of the nobles of his realm : he would also prove that the earls and barons are above the king , and ought to bridle him when he exorbitates from the law , but not a syllable of the commons . he further tels us , that the peers and prelates have oft translated the crown from the right heir , whereof out of his great reading he urgeth divers examples ; first , after king edgars decease they crowned edward who was illegitimate , and put by ethelred the right heir : then they crowned canutus a meer forraigner in opposition to edmund the lawful heir to ethelred . harold and hardicanute were both elected kings successively without just title , the lords putting by edmund and alfred the rightful heirs . upon the death of herold the english nobility enacted that none of the danish blood should raign any more over them ; edgar atheling was rejected by the lords , and though he had the best title , yet they elected harold . he goes on further in prejudice of the commons , saying that the beginning of the charter of henry the first is observable , which runs thus , henry by the grace of god king of england , &c. know ye that by the mercy of god and common council of the barons of the kingdom , i am crowned king . mawd the empress was the right heir , but she was put by the crown by the prelates and barons , and steven earle of mortmain who had no good title , was heav'd up into the throne by the bishops and peers . lewis of france was crowned king also by the barons instead of king john , and by the same barons was uncrowned , and sent back to france . in all these high transactions , and changes , mr. pryn confesseth the commoners had nothing to do the despotical and ruling power as well as the consultative being in the council of prelates , and peers ; and if mr. pryn could have found halfe so much antiquity for the knights citizens , and bourgesses , without question we should have heard from him with a witness ; but while he converseth with elder times , he meets not with so much as the names of commoners in any record . polyander . how then came the commoners to sway so much of late years , and challenge such an interest , in the publique government , and making of laws ? philanglus . it is a certain truth that in former ages the kings of england , as well saxons , danes , normans , and english kings did steer the course of their government by the advice of their own privy council , and in extraordinary cases by the compasse of the great council consisting onely of spiritual and secular barons , whom they convoked by royal summons when they pleased ; i told you this word parliament came in with the norman ; yet the commons were not call'd to parliament till that raign of henry the first , which was a good while after the conquest ; to which purpose sir , walter raleigh writes , saying it is held that the kings of england had no formal parliaments , till about the 18. year of henry the first , at which time the commons were summoned , and the great charter was granted : and if we believe sir walter raleigh and others , the house of commons , and magna charta had first but obscure births , being sprung from userpers , and fostered afterward by rebellion : for king henry the first did but usurp the kingdome , and therefore to secure himself the better against robert his eldest brother , he courted the the commons , and granted them that great charter , with charta de foresta ; which king john confirmed upon the same grounds , for he was also an usurper , arthur duke of britain being the undoubted heir of the crown , so the house of commons and these great charters had their original from such that were kings de facto not de jure . polyander . it is observed that usurpers are commonly the best law makers , which they do to ingratiate themselvs the more to the people , as besides these kings you have named , richard the third did , who was said to be a good king though a bad man , a character clean contrary to that i heard some abroad give of the last king ▪ who they said was a good man but an ill king ; but i pray be pleased to proceed . philanglus . whereas i told you before that it was in the raign of henry the first , that the people were admitted to the common council of the kingdome , yet they were not constantly called , for though the said king called them to his coronation , and againe in the 15. or 18. year of his reign , yet he did not so alwayes , neither many of those kings that succeeded . polyander . i remember to have read one remarkable passage in the reign of henry the first , that in his third year for the marriage of his daughter , he raised a tax upon every hide of land , but he did this by the advice of his privy council alone without consulting publiquely with either prelate , peer , or people . philanglus . so did divers of his antecessors , and successors also after the commons were admitted to partake of the common council ; but to illustrate this point further , notwithstanding that the commons were sought unto in henry the first's time , yet they were not constantly and formally sent unto till henry the third , in whose reign the writs of summons for elections were first issued ; but the succeeding kings assum'd a power to regulate those writs at pleasure by the sole advice of their privy council , as we read in the time of henry the sixth , who was the first framer of that famous ordinance , whereas elections of knights have been made with great outrages , and excessive number of people , of which most part was people of no value , yet pretend a voice equivolent to worthy knights and esquires , whereby many riots , manslaughter , and division among gentlemen shal likely be , our lord the king hath ordain'd that knight of shires be chosen by people dwelling in the counties , every one of them having lands or tenements to the value of 40 s. per annum , at least , and that he who is chosen be dwelling and resiant within the counties where they are elected . polyander . but did not the kings of england reserve a power to except against any that came to parliament ? philanglus . mr. camden speaking of the dignities of barons , saith , that it was ordained and decreed in the reign of henry the third , that all those earls and barons unto whom the king himself vouchsafed to direct his writs of summons should come to his parliament , and no others : and this rule edward the first constantly observed , and continued ; for as c●mden hath it , that prudent king summoned alwaies those of ancient families , and who were most wise to his parliament , and omitted their sons after their death , if they were not answerable to their fathers in understanding ; in another place he saith , select men for wisedom and worth among the gentry were called to parliament , and their posterity omitted , if they were defective herein . polyander . if the king hath a power to except against a nobleman from sitting in parliament , sure , by an argument à majori ad minus , he may do it against a commoner . philanglus . it should be so in reason , and queen elizabeth , who was so great a darling of her people , did practise her power that way often . but the modesty of the house of commons was very great in former times , for they did arrogate no more power then what the kings writ gave them , they evaded matters of state as much as they could . 13. of edward the third , a parliament was called to consult of the domestick quiet , the defence of the marches of scotland , and security of the seas from enemies ; the commons were desired their advise herein , but they humbly desired not to be put to consult of things , queu●ils n'ont pas cognisance . things whereof they had no cogn●sance . in 21. of the same king , the commons being mov'd for their advice touching a prosecution of a war with france , by an elegant speech of justice thorp , after four days consultation , they answered , that their humble desire to the king was , that he would be advised there●n by the lords being of more experience then themselves in such affairs . in the 6. year of richard the second , the parliament was call'd to consult , whether the king should go in person to res●● the great city of ga●nt , or send an army the commons being ask●d their advice , the humbly answered by sir thomas ●uckerin● their speaker that the councils of wa● did more aptly belong to the king and 〈◊〉 lords . the next year after the commo● are willed to advise of the articles 〈◊〉 peace with france , but they modestly e●cuse themselves as too weak to counsell in ● weighty mat●ers : and being charged agai● as they did tender the repute of the county , and right of their king , the humbly de●ivered their opinions rathe● for peace then warre : such was the moderation and modesty of the house of commons in former times that they decline● the agitation and cognizance of hig● state affairs , specially forraign , humbl● transferring them to their soveraign , an● his vpper council ; a parliament ma● then , ( i mean a member of the commons house ) thought to be the adequ●● object of his duty , to study the welfare to complain of the grievances , and hav● the defects supplyed of that place fo● which he served : the bourgesse of 〈◊〉 studied to find out something that mough● have aduanced the trade of fishing : he 〈◊〉 norwich what mought ▪ have advantage the making of stuffs : he of rye , what might preserve their harbour from being choaked up with shelfs of sands : he of taverston , what might have further'd the manufacture of kersies : he of suffolk , what conduced to the benefit of cloathing : the burgesses of cornwal what belong'd to their stanneries , and in doing this they thought to have complyed with the obligation , and discharg'd the conscience of honest men , without soaring to things above their reach , and roving at random to treat of universals , to pry into arcana imperii , and bring religion to the bar , the one belonging to the chief governour , and his intern councel of state , the other to divines who according to the erymology of the word use to be conversant , and imploy their talent in the exercise and speculations of holy and heavenly things . polyander . i am clearly of your opinion touching the two last , particulars ; for secrecy being the soul of policy , matters of state should be communicated to the cognizance and deliberations of few , viz. the governor in chief , and his privy councel : and touching religion , i do not see ( humbly under favour ) how it may quadrat with the calling of laymen to determine matters of divinity , and discusse points of faith . but though the establishment of the house of commons be a wholesome thing in it self , i heard it censur'd beyond the sea , that there is a great incongruity in one particular , which is , tha● the burgesses are more in number then the knights of shires , for the knights 〈◊〉 shires are commonly gentlemen we● born , and bred , and divers of them verse● in forraign governments as well as the law● of the land : but the burgesses of town● are for the most part all trades-men , and being bred in corporations they are more inclining to popular governmen● and democracy : now , these exceeding th●knights in number , carry all before then by plurality of voices , and so puzzle the proceedings of matters : but now tha● i have mentioned corporations , i must 〈◊〉 you that the greatest soloecism in the polic● of this state is the number of them , specially this monstrous city , which is composed of nothing else but corporations which smell ranck of little republiques 〈◊〉 hanses ; and it was a great errour in the last two kings to suffer this town to sprea● her wings so wide , for she bears no proportion with the bignesse of the island , but may fit a kingdom thrice as spacious ; she ingrosseth and dreins all the wealth of the land , so that i cannot compare england more properly then to a cremona goose in italy . where they have a way to fatten onely the heart of the goose , but in doing so they make the rest of the whole body grow leanand lank : and as it was an errour so to suffer her to monopolize the trade and riches of the land , so it was in letting her gather so much strength in exercise of arms , by suffering her to have such an artillery garden , and military yard ; which makes me think on a speech of count gondamar the spanish embassadour , who being invited by the king to see a muster of the citizens in st. jame's fields ; after they were gone , he was ask'd by the king how hee lik'd his citizens of londons ? truly sir , said he , i have seen a company of goodly able men , with great store of good arms ; but , sir , i fear that these men will do you a mischief one day , for the conceit wherewith they may be puffed up for the knowledge they have in handling their arms , may heighten their spirits too much and make them insolent : my master the king of spain , though there breaths in his court well neer as many souls as there are in london , and though he be in perpetual war with some or other ; yet i● his court he is so peaceable that one shall see no sign of war at all , hee suffers not any armed men to strut under his nose , there is neither artillery garden , or military yard there at all , but onely a fe● partisians that guard his body ; therefore , as i said before , these men may do you majesty an ill turn one day , and whether gondamar was a prophet herein or no , judge you . but i pray , sir , be pleased to dispense with me for these interruptions ! give to your former discourse touching parliaments . philanglus . having formerly spoken something of the original duty and power of the great councel of the kingdom with the primitive institution of the house of commons , i will proceed now to that grand question , where the supream legislative power resides ? certainly , if we examine the writs of summons for both houses , with the bodies and titles of our ancient acts of parliament , we shall find the supremacy and power of making laws to rest in the king or governour in chief : now when the parliament is stiled the supream court , it must be understood properly of the king sitting in the house of peers in person , and but improperly of the lords without him ; it is granted that the consultative ▪ directive , or deliberativ● pa●er is in the house of peers , the performing and consenting power , in the house of commons , but the legislative powers lodgeth in the person of the king ; for parliaments are but his productions , they derive their being from the breath of his writs : he as sir edward cook doth positively affirm , is cap●t , principum , & finis , he is the head , he is the beginning and ending , the alpha and omega of parliaments . pol●ander . but some affirm that the legislative power is in the two houses ; and that they are above the king . philanglus . the difference 'twixt the king or supream magistrate , and the parliament , is this , that the one represents god , the other the people : 't is true , as i said before , the consultative power is in parliament , and 't is but by the kings permission , the commanding power resides stil in the chief governor , and is inseparable from him , the results and productions of parliament , at best are but bills , 't is the kings breath makes them laws , till then they are but dead things , they are like matches unfired , 't is the king that gives life and light unto them : the lords advise , the commons consen● , but the king ordains ; they mould the bills , but the king makes them laws , therefore they are ever after called the kings laws , the kings judgments : the lords , &c. have the indicatif part , but the king the imperatif : the liberties also of the people flow all from him , for magna charta begins thus , henry by the grace of god , know ye that we of our meer and free will , have given these liberties : in the self same stile runs charta de foresta . the statute of marlborough . 52. henry the third , runs thus , the king hath made these acts , ordinances , and statutes which he willeth to be observed of all his subjects high and low . 3. edwardi primi , the title of the statute is ; these are the acts of king edward , and after it it follows , the king hath ordained these acts ; the first chapter begins , the king forbiddeth and commandeth that none do hurt , damage , or grievance to any religious man , or person of the church ; and in the 13. chapter , the king prohibitet●s that none do ravish , or take away by force any maid within age . 6. edward the first , it is said , our soveraign lord the king hath established the acts , commanding they be observed within this realm : and in the 14. chap. the words are , the king of his special grace granteth that the citizens of london shall recover in an assize damage with the land . the statute of westmin 2. saith our lord the king hath ordained that the will of the giver be observed and in the 3. chapter , our lord the king hath ordained , that a woman after the death of her husband shal recover by writ of entry . the statute of quo warranto saith our lord the king at his parliament of his special grace , and for affection which he beareth to his prelates , earls and barons , and others , hath granted that they who have liberties by prescription shall enjoy them . in the statute de finibus l●vatis , the kings words are , we intending to provide remedy in our parliament have ordained , &c. 28. edward the first , the king wills that the chancellour , and the justices of the bench shall follow him , so that he may at all time have some neer unto him that be learned in the laws : and in the 24. chapter the words are , our lord the king after full conference and debate had with his earles . barons , and nobles by that consent hath ord●ined . the stat●●e de tallagio speaks in the kings person no officer of ours , no ●allage shall be taken by us , we will and 〈◊〉 . 1. edward the second begins thus , our lord the king willeth and commandeth . the statute of the 9. of the same king , saith , our lord the king by the assent of the prelates , earls , and other great states hath ordained . the statute of carlile saith . we have sent our command in writing firmly to be observed . 1. edward● 3. begins thus , king edward the third , at the request of the comminalty , by their petition before him , and his council in parliament hath granted , &c. and in the 5. chapter . the king willeth that no man be charged to arm himself otherwise then he was wont . 5. edward the third , our lord the king at the request of his people , hath establ●sh●d these things which he wills to be kept . 9. of the same king there is this title , our lord the king by the assent , and advice of his councel being there , hath ordain'd , &c. in the 10 year of the same king it is said . because our lord the king hath receiv'd by the complaints of the earls , barons , also at the shewing of the knights of the shires , and the commons bytheir petition , in his parliament , &c. hath ordain'd by the assent , and at the request of the said knights and commons , &c. but very remarkable is that of 22 of edward the third , where it is said , the king makes the laws by the assent of peers and commons , and not the peers and commons . the statute of ●ric . ● . hath this beginning , richard the second by the assent of the prelates , dukes , earls , and barons , and at the instance and special request of the commons hath ordained . as for the parliaments in henry the fourth , henry the fifth , henry the sixth edward the fourth ▪ and richard the thirds reign . most of them do all agree in this one title , our lord the king by the advice and assent of his lords , and at the special instance and request of the commons , hath ordained . the statutes in henry the seventh days , do for the most part agree both in the titles and bodies of the acts in these words , the king by the assent of the lords spiritual and temporal , and the commons 〈◊〉 parliament assembled , hath ordained . but very remarkable it is , that the house of commons was never petitioned unto till henry the sevenths reign , and 〈◊〉 was about the middle thereof ; which petition is inserted among the statutes , but though the petition be directed to the house of commons in point of title , yet the prayer of the petition is turn'd to the king , and not to the commons . the petition begins thus , to the right worshipful commons in this present parliament assembled , shews to your discreet wisdoms the wardens of the fellowship of the craft of upholsters within london , &c but the conclusion is , therefore it may please the kings highnesse by the advice of the lords spiritual and temporal , and his common i●● parliament , &c. thus it appears that in our fore-fathers days it was punctually expressed in all laws that the statutes and ordinances were made by the king : and withall , it is visible by what degrees the stiles and titles of acts of parliament have been varied , and to whose advantage . the higher we look the more absolute we find the power of kings in ordainin● laws , nor do we meet with at first so much as the assent or advice of the lords mentioned . nay , if one cast hi● eye upon many statutes of those that be of most antiquity , they will appear to be no other things but the kings pleasure , to whom the punishments of most offences were left : the punitive part which is the chiefest vigour of the law we find committed by the statutes themselves to the kings meer wil and pleasure , as if there were no other law at all , witnesse these precedents . 3. edward the first , the ninth chapter saith , that sheriffs , coronets and bayliffs for concealing of felonies shall make grierous fines at the kings pleasure . such as shall be found culpable of ravishing of women shall fine at the kings pleasure . the penalty for detaining a prisoner that is mainpernable is a fine at the kings pleasure . offenders in parks or ponds , shall make fines at the kings pleasure . committers of champarty , and extortioners are to be punished at the kings pleasure . purveyors not paying for what they take shall be grievously punished at the kings pleasure . the king shall punish grievously the sheriff , and him who maintains quarrels . taker away of nuns from religious houses to be fined at the kings will . if a goldsmith be attainted , for not assaying , touching and working vessels of gold , he shall be punished at the kings pleasure . there is a notable saying declar'd in the 8. yeer of henry the fourth , viz. potestas princip●s non est inclusa legibus , the power of the prince is not curb'd by law . in the 2. yeer of henry the fifth , there was a law made , wherein there is a clause , that it is the kings regality to grant or deny such petitions as he please . 6. henry the sixth , an ordinance was made to indu●e as long as it should please the king . now for further proof , that the legislative power is in the king , or supr●am magistrate , it is to be observed , that as sir edward cook saith . all acts of parliament in former times , were in form of petitions ; how , if the petitions were from parliament , and the answer from the king , 't is easie to judge who makes the acts : moreover sir john gla●vil affirms , that in former times the way of petitioning the king , was this : the lords , and speaker either by words or writing preferr'd their petition to the king , ( which was afterwards called a bill ) which petition being receiv'd by the king , he received part , and part he put out , and part he ratified , and as it came from him it was drawn to a law . furthermore it appears that ordimances , provisions and proclamations made heretofore out of parliament have been alwayes acknowledged for laws , and statutes . the statute call'd the statute of ireland , dated at westminster , 9. feb. 14. hen. the third , was nothing else but a letter of the kings 〈◊〉 gerard son of maurice justicer of ireland 't is hard to distinguish among the old statutes what laws were made by kings in parliament , what out of parliament , when kings called the peers only to parliament , ( and of those as many and whom they pleased ) it was no easie matter to put a difference 'twixt a proclamation and a statute ; or 'twixt the kings privy counsel , and his common counsel of the kingdom . in the statute of westminster 't is said , these are the acts of king edward the first , made at his first parliament by his council , &c. the statute of burnel hath these words , the king for himselfe , and by his councel , hath ordained and established . when magna charta was confirmed , there are found these two provisions in articules super chartas . first , nevertheless the king and his council do not intend by reason of this statute to diminish the regal right . the second , notwithstanding all these things before mentioned , or any part of them , both the king and his council , and all they who are present , will , and intend that the right and prerogative of his crown shall be saved to him in all things . the statute of escheators hath this title , at the parliament of our soveraign lord the king , by his council it was agreed , and also by the king himself commanded . the statute made at york , 9 edward the third , goeth thus , the king by the advice of his council hath ordained . now touching the kings council , i mean his privy council , it hath been alwayes of great authority , and extreamly useful in the publick government of the common-wealth , and all kings have acted most by it . king edward the first , finding that bogo de clare was discharged of an accusation brought against him in parliament , yet he commanded him nevertheless to appear before him , & his privy council , ad faciendū & recipiendū quod per regem , & ejus concilium faciendum , and so proceeded to a re-examination of the whole business . edward the third in the star-chamber , which was the ancient councel table of the kings , upon the complaint of elizabeth audley commanded james audley to appear before him and his councel , where a controversie was determin'd between them touching land contained in her joynture . henry the fifth , in a sute before him and his councel for the titles of the mannors of serre , and saint laurence in the i le of thanet in kent , sent order for the profits to be sequestred till the right were tryed . henry , the sixt , commanded the justices of the bench to stay the arraignment of one varney in london , till they had commandement from him , and his councel . edward the fourth , and his privy councel heard , and determined the cause , of the master , and poor brethren of st. leonards in york , complaining that sir hugh hastings and others , withdrew from them a great ●art of their living , which consisted chiefly upon the having of a thrave of corn upon every plowland within the counties of york , cumberland , &c. henry the seventh , and his privy councel commanded that : margery and florence becket should su● no further in the cause against alice radley , widow for lands in woolwich and plumstead in kent . in henry the thirds time , an order or provision was made by the kings council , and it was pleaded at the common law in ba● to a writ of dower . we find also that it hath been very usual for the judges before they would resolve or give judgements in some cases to consu●● with the kings privy council . in the case of adam brabson who was assaulted in the presence of the justices of assise at westminster , the judges would not proceed without the advice of the kings privy council . green and thorp were sent by the judges to the kings privy council to demand of them whether by the statute of edward the third , a word may be amended in a writ . in the 39. of edward the third , in the case of sir thomas ogthred , who brought a formedon against a poor man and his wife , the judges said , sue to the kings council , and as they will have us to do , we will do , and no otherwise . thus we find that the court-council did guide and check the judges oftentimes , yet the judges have guided the great common council , or high court of parliament . polyander . i find that you have studied the point of king and parliament , to very good purpose , by these choice instances you have produced ; but i find that though the parliament hath been held the great councel of the kingdom , yet the ordinary way of government was by the king or soveraign magistrate , and his councel of state : for the great councel ( without disparagement ) may be called the production of the privy councel , witnesse the words of the writ of summons . but since you have proceeded so far , i desire to know , whether by an implicit faith we are to obey what the parliament determines ; or whether it may err or no , and what are those priviledges it hath . philanglus . i shall do my indeavour to satisfie you in all ; touching the first , no doubt but we are to acquiesce in what a true parliament ordains , for it is generally binding , and requires an universal obedience , because it bears the stamp of royal authority , and of the supream magistrate ; who is the head of the parliament , who is to consult with his judges , and privy council must be satisfied in conscience of the justnesse , of such bils that he is to passe for laws , because afterward he is to protect them , and his soul lyes by oth at the stake for the defence and safeguard of them ; he is also to consult with his learned and privy councel whether they trench upon his royal prerogative , and then his answer is , you know it , le roy s' avisera , the king will consider of it , which though in civil terms , is equivolent to a flat denyal . touching the second point , sir edward coke tels us that parlements have been utterly deceived , and that in cases of greatest moment , specially in the interpretation of laws , and in that point the twelve judges , who are called the sages and oracles of the law , are to be beleeved before the parliament , whose office is more to make new laws , then to expound the old ; parliament● being composed of men may erre ; mr. pryn , as i alledged before , tels us how many usurpers they have preferred before the rightful heirs ; how often did henry the eight make parliaments the panders of his lust ; in whose time there are three acts observable . 1. that proclamations shold be equivalent to laws . 2. that queen elizabeth was illegitimat . 3. that the king in his will might name whom he pleas'd to be his successor : besides in lesse then four yeers , religion was changed twelve times in his raign by parliament . polyander . touching the last act of naming a successor , i have seen a manuscript which makes mention that henry the eight som 2. yeers before his death summoned a parliament , wherein he intimated unto them , that one of the main designs of convoking that parliament , was , that they should declare a successor to the crown ; but the parliament with much modesty answered , that touching that point , it belonged to his majesty to consider of it , and consult with his learned and privy councel about it ; and whomsoever his majesty would please to nominat in his last will , they would confirm and ratifie ; whereupon old harry made a formal will , which was enrolled in the chancery , wherein ( remembring the perfidious carriage of james the fourth , his brother in law ) he declared the issue of his eldest sister , the queen of scotts , being forreners , incapable to inherit , and the issue of charles brandon , after the progeny of his own body , to succeed next : this will continued in the chancery all edward the sixts time , till queen mary , who about the midst of her reign did cancel it . but now sir , be pleas'd to pardon this parenthesis , and resume the thread of your former discourse , in displaying what are the priviledges of parliament which were so much insisted upon , and cried up in the late long parliament , till they swell'd so high , that they swallowed up and devour'd the prerogative . philanglus . if we will give credit to sir ed. coke , who was a great champion of the house of commons , and no friend to prerogative ( which he was us'd to call that great monster ) the priviledge of freedom from arrests is the onely priviledge of parliament . he cannot or at least , he doth not so much as name any other in his section of the priviledge of parliament ; neither is this priviledge so unquestionable and cleer as some do imagine , as divers examples may be produced in the reign of queen elizabeth , who was so great a darling of the commons : in the 39. of her reign , sir ed. hobby , and mr. brograve attorney of the dutchy were sent by the house to the lord keeper , to require his lordship to revoke two writs of subpoena's which were serv'd upon mr. tho. k●●vet a member of the house ; the lord keeper demanded of them whether they were appointed by any advised consultation of the house to deliver this message unto him with the word require ; they answered , yes ; he replyed as he thought reverently and honourably of the house , and of their liberties and privileges , so to revoke the said subpoenas in that sort was to restrain her majesty in her greatest power which is in the publick administration of justice in the place wherein he serves her , therefore he concluded , that as they had required him to revoke his writ , so he did require farther deliberation . 18 eliz. report was made by the attorney of the dutchy upon the committee for the delivering of one mr. halls man , that the committee found no precedent for setting at large by the mace any person in arrest but onely by writ , and that by divers precedents of records perus'd by the said committee it appeared that every knight , citizen or burgesse , which doth desire privilege , hath used in that case to take a corporal oath before the lord chancellor or keeper for the time being . that the party for whom such writ is prayed came up with him , and was his servant at the time of the arrest made ; thereupon mr. hall . was directed by the house to repair to the lord keeper , and make oath , and then to take a warrant for a writ of privilege for his servant . 270 eliz. richard coke , a parliament member , being served with a subpoena of chancery : the lord keeper boldly answered , that he thought the house had 〈◊〉 such privilege against subpoenas , as they pretended : neither could he allow of any precedents of the house used in that behalf , unlesse the house of commons could also prove the same to have been likewise allowed , and ratified by precedents in the high court of chancery . now , the original writ for election ; which is the foundation of the whole business , makes mention of no such privilege , and 't is a rule that to vary from the meaning of the writ makes a nullity of the cause , and the proceedings thereupon : for where a commissioner exerciseth more power then is warranted by his commission , the act is not only invalid but punishable . now the end and scope of privileges of parlement , is not to give power to do any publick act not warranted by the writ , but they are intended as helps only to enable the members towards the performance of their duties , and so are subservient to the power comprized in the writ ; for instance , the freedom from arrests doth not give any power at all to the house of commons to do any extraordinary act thereby , but the members are made the more capable to attend the publick service by being free from the trouble of arrests ; so that this privilege giveth no further power at all , but only helps to the execution of the power derived from the royal writ ; nor can the freeholders by their elections give any such privilege of exemption from arrests , but it is the meer gift , and grace of the soveraign prince , yet in point of treson , felony or breach of the kings peace this privilege extends not ; now , privileges are things contrary to law , or at least they serve as a dispensation against law , intended originally for the better expediting of the kings businesse , or som publik service . nor could the house of commons punish any for breach of this their privilege till they had conferr'd with the lords , and till the punishment had been referred by them to the commons ; there is a notable example hereof in the 33. of henry the eight , george ferrers the kings servant and burgesse of plymouth going to parliament , was arrested by process out of the kings bench for debt ; which being signified to sir thomas moyl then speaker , the sargeant that attended the house was sent to the counter to demand ferres , the officers of the counter refuse to deliver him , an● giving the sergeant ill language a scu●●● happened ; the sheriff of london being sent for , took part with the counte●● and so the sergeant returned without the prisoner ; this being related to the house of commons , they would sit no longer without their member , and desiring a conference with the lords , sir thomas a●dly then chancellour , and the rest judged the contempt to be very great , and referred 〈◊〉 punishment thereof to the house of commons it selfe . concerning liberty or freedome of speech which is held another privilege of parliament ; there is a speech of sir thom●● moors upon record , who being chosen speaker , 14. henry the eight , he first disabled himself , and then petitioned the king in the behalf of the house , that if i● communication and reasoning any ma●● should speak more largely then of duty be ought to do , all such offences should be pardoned , which was granted and entre● upon record . in which petition it is observable , that liberty or freedom of speech is not a power for men to speak wha● they will or please in parliament , it is ● priviledge onely not to be punished , but pardoned for the offence of speaking more largely then in duty they ought to do ; which in a right construction must be understood of rash , unadvised , ignorant , or negligent escapes , and slips in speech , not for willfull , malicious , much lesse for treasonable speeches : and then the kings pardon was desired to be upon record that it might be pleaded at bar to all actions . there is a speech upon record in queen elizabeths time , wherein the commons were warn'd not to meddle with the queens person , the state , or church-government . polyander . i have heard of divers traverses that hapned in the reign of that popular and long lived queen , which trenched as much , if not more upon the priviledges of parliament , and the liberties of the people , then any that happen'd in the reign of the two last kings . philanglus . it is very true , and i will give you some instances drawn from good authentick records : 23. elizabeth , mr. paul wentworth moved in the house for a publick fast , and for a sermon every morning at seven a clock before the house sate : the house hereupon was divided , 100 were against it , and 150 for it , and so an order passed accordingly ; the queen being told hereof sent a message to the house by her vice-chamberlain ; that her highnesse had great admir●●tion of the rashnesse of the house in commit●ing such an apparent contempt of her expresse command , as to put in execution such an innovation without her privity or pleasure fist known . thereupon mr. vice-chamberlain moved the house to make an humble submission to her majes●y , acknowledging the said offence and contempt , and to crave remission for the same , with●●full , purpose to forbear the committing of the like hereafter : so by the suffrage of the whole house , mr. vice-chamberlain carryed their submission to the queen accordingly . 35 elizabeth , mr. peter wentworth , and sir henry bromley delivered a petition to the lord keeper desiring the lords of the upper house to be suppliants with them of the lower house unto her majesty for entayling the succession of the crown , whereof a bill was ready drawn . the queen was highly displeased herewith , and charged her councel to call the parties before them , so sir thomas henage was sent to fetch them ; so they were first commanded to forbear going to the house , and not to go out of their several lodgings ; afterward they were called before the lord tresurer , lord buckhurst , and sir thomas henage : wentworth was committed to the tower , and bromeley to the fleet , together with mr. stevens , as also mr. welch knight for worcestershire . the queen sent a notable check to the house of commons 28. of her raign for chosing and returning knights of the shire for norfolk , a thing impertinent for the house to deal withall , and belonging only to the office and charge of her chancellor from whom the writs issue and are return'd . in one parliament , when mr. coke , afterwards sir edward coke , was speaker , the queen sent a messenger or sargeant at arms into the house of commons , and took out mr. morris , and committed him to prison , with divers others , for some speeches spoken in the house ; thereupon mr. wroth moved the house that they would be humble sutors to her majesty , that she would be pleased to enlarge those members of the house that were restrain'd , which was done accordingly ; and answer was sent by her privy councel , that her majesty had committed them for causes best known to her self , and to presse her highuesse with this suit would but hinder the whole good they sought : that the house must not call the queen to an account for what shee doth of her royal authority : that the causes for which they are restrain'd may be high and dangerous : that her majesty liketh no such questions , neither doth it become the house to search into matters of that nature . the commons were told 39. elizabeth , that their priviledge was yea and no : and that her majesties pleasure was , that if the speaker perceived any idle heads , which would not stick to hazard their own estates , but meddle with reforming the church , and trans forming the common-weal by exhibiting bills to that purpose , the speaker should not receive them till they were viewed and considered by those who are sitter to consider of such things , and can better judge of them : moreover , the queen rejected 48. bills which had passed both houses , in that parliament . the house of commons by their speaker 39. elizabeth , complained of some monopolies , whereupon the lord keeper made answer in her majesties name , that her highnesse hoped her dutiful and loving subjects would not take away her prerogative , which is the chiefest flower in her garland , the principall and h●ad pearl in her crown and diadem , but that they will rather leave that to her own disposition . sergeant heal said 43. elizabeth . publiquely in parliament , that he marvelled the house stood either at the granting of a subsidy or time of payment , considering that all we have is her majesties , and she may lawfully at her pleasure take it from us , in regard she had as much right to all our lands and goods , as to any revenew of the crown , and he said he could prove it by precedents in the raign of henry the third , king john , and king steven . this speech agrees with that which sir edward coke hath in his institutes , where he saith positively . that the first kings ▪ of this realm had all the lands of england in demesne , and the great mannors and royalties they reserved to themselves , and enfeoffed the barons of the remnant for the common defence of the kingdom , there was a remarkable passage happen'd in the raign of henry the fourth ; the house of commons petitioned the king that they might have advice , and communication with certain lords about matte●● of businesse in parliament for the commo● good of the kingdom , which prayer , as the record hath it . our lord the king graciously granted , but with this protestation . that he did it not of duty , nor of custom , but of his special grace . so our lord the king charg'd the clerk of the parliament , that this protestation should be entred upon record in the parliament roll . this the king made known to them by the lord say , and his secretary : who told them that our lord the king neither of due , nor custom ought to grant any lords to enter into communication with them of matters t●uching the parliament , but by his special grace at this time he granted their request in this par●icular : and the said steward and secretary brought the king word back from the commons , that they knew well they could not have any such lords to commune with them of any businesse of parliament without special grace , and command from the king himself . polyander . but it is not the priviledge of parliament to examine misdemeanours of juridical courts , and officers of state according to lex repetundarum ? philanglus . this cannot be called properly a priviledge , for there is not the meanest subject , but hath liberty on just cause to question any court or officer , if he suffer by them ; yet it hath been esteemed a great favour from the prince to permit such examinations ; for we read that when the lords were displeased with the greatnesse of piers gaveston , 't is said , that in the next parliament , the whole assembly obtained leave of the king to draw articles of their grievances , which they did , two whereof were ; that all strangers should be banish'd the kingdom ( whereof gaveston was one . ) the second was , that businesses of state should be treated by the clergy and nobles . polyander . though the cognizance and debatings of great affairs of state , belong to the high court of parliament , yet i have read that oftentimes , the lords have transmitted such businesses to the kings privy council . philanglus . 't is a great truth , and many instances might be produced for proof thereof ; among others , when one mortimer , who stiled himself captain mendall ( otherwise called jack cade ) came with the rabble of the vulgar , with a petition to the lower house , the commons sent it up to the lords , and the lords transmitted it to the kings privy council to consider of . polyander . but the granting of subsidies is a peculiar priviledge of the house of commons . philanglus . i think not , for it is an unquestionable truth , that subsidies were raised , and paid before ever the commons were called to sit in parliament : the great and long subsidie of dane-ghelt was without any gift of the commons , or of any parliament at all as can be proved ▪ henry the third imposed a subsidie of two marks in silver upon every knight fee only by the advice of his councel . the words of the king when hee passeth the bill of subsidie are observable , which are these : le roy remercie ses loyaux subjects , accept lour benevolence , & aussy ainu● le ve●lt , the king thanks his loyal subjects , accepts of their good will , and also will have it ; which last words make the act of subsidy a law to bind every man to the payment of it ; in so much that the parliament cannot impose a peny upon the subject without the king , nor can the free-holders whom they serve , invest any such power in them . polyander . i finde by the substance of your discourse , that not onely all power and grace , but all parliamentary priviledges flow from the concession of the soveraign prince , and chief magistrate . philanglus . yes , without controversie you know ( as a gentleman wittily observes ) t is an axiom in philosophy , quod dat formami . that which gives the form , gives the consequence of the form ; the king by his writ gives the very essence , and form to the parliament , being the production of his breath , therefore priviledges which are but consequences of the form must necessarily proceed from him . in the 21. of king james , a declaration was sent from new-market to the parliament , wherein he asserts ; that most priviledges of parliament grew from precedents , which she wrather a toleration that an inheritance , there●ore he could not allow of the stile they us●d to him , c●lling it their ancient and undoubted rights and inheritance , but could rather have wished they had said , their priviledges were derived from the ●race and permission of his anc●stors and himself . thereupon he concludes . that he cannot with patience endure his subjects to use such antimonarchical words concerning their libertie , except they had subjoyned , they were gran●ed unto them by the grace , and favour of his progenitors ; yes he promiseth to be careful of whatsoever priviledges they enjoy by long custome , and incontrolled lawful precedents . at the presentment of the speaker of the house of commons to the king upon the first day of parliament , the speaker in the name and behoof of the commons humbly craves , that his majesty would be pleased graciously to grant them their accustomed liberties and priviledges , which petition of theirs is a fair recognition of the primitive grace and favour of the soveraign prince in bestowing of privil●dge , and is a shrewd argument against any other title . for our antecessors would not have been so ceremonious , nor so full o● complement , as to beg that of grace , which they might have claimed de jure by right : a●d the renewing of this petition at the beginning of every parliament , argues the grant to be but temporary . polyander . this was not the doctrine it seems of the late long parliament whose priviledges flew so high that they ●retopped the ●rerogative ; for they drew the reins of all rule and reason into their hands , and left the governour in chiefe neither of them ; and if he chanced to send them any advice or admonition 't was presently cryed up to be breach of p●iviled●e , breach of priviledge . but sir , by the seque● of our former discourse , i find that the high co●rt or common council of this kingdom was composed at first of prelates , and peers ; that parl. is but a modern word , and came in after the norman conquest : i find also that the commons came to be made ● house , and that magna charta and charta de foresta , were not free spontaneou● grants , but that they were in a manner extorted from kings in times of necessity and confusion ; i find also that the primitive and ordinary way of government was the one supream magistrate alone and his council of state , and when he pleased , by the common council ; but now sir , i pray be pleased to acquit your selfe of the promise you did me the favour to make , of acquainting me with the proceedings of the late long parliament . philanglus . to do that , i will deduce matters from the beginning , and to finde them our must look north ward , for there the cloud of all our ensuing confusions began to condense first . you know sir , the scots nation were ever used to have their king personally resident among them , and though king james by reason of his age , bounty , and long breeding there , with other advantages , drew such extraordinary respects from them that they continued in a good conformity all his reign , yet after his death they were often over-heard to mutter at the remoteness and absence of their king ▪ and that they should now become a kind of province truckling under england , by reason of such a distance from the royal court : moreover some of their nobles and gentry found not at the english court , nor at the late kings coronation in edenburgh , that countenance , familiarity , benefit and honours which they expected : and 't is too well known who he was that having got some wealth in the swedish wars , and being denied to be lorded , took a pet , and went hence discontented to his own country . these discontented parties tamper'd with the mercenary preach-men up and down scotland to obtrude and hold out to the people what doctrines were put into their mouths by their patrons so that the pulpits every where ●ung of nothing but of invectives against certain obliquities and solaecisms , and i cannot tell what in government , and many glances they had upon the english church . yet all this while there was not matter enough for an insurrection , nor to dispose the peoples hearts to a mutiny , untill by the policy of the said discontented party , the english liturgy was sent thither . this , by the incitement of those fiery pulpiteers , was cried up to be the greatest idol that possibly could be brought into their kirk ; insomuch that when it was first offer'd to be read , the women and baser sort of mechanicks threw stools at the bishops head in the kirk , and were ready to tear them in pieces : and here began the first storm . the king having notice hereof sent a proclamation , signifying , that whereas he had recommended that book of common prayer to be practised among them , whereby be himself served god almighty twice a day , he did it onely out of a design to establish an uniformity of publick divine service in all his dominions , specially in that his native country . but since it had produced such dangerous effects , he was contented to revoke it absolutely ; it never being his purpose to press the practise of thesaid book upon the conscience of any , for he did onely commend , not peremptorily command the use of it . therefore , he exhorted and required that every one unto whom it had given any scandal ▪ should return to his former obedience , and serve god as he was wont , offering therwith a general pardon , and to passe an act of amnestia for the abolition of all offence passed . polyander . and would not this suffice ? in natural motions we find that the cause being taken away , the effect ceaseth , and will not this rule hold in civil actions . philanglus . it seems this would not serve the turn , but there was a further reach in it , and to take the advantage of fishing in these troubled waters : you know the scots since their single lyon came to quarter with our three , were much heightned in their spirits , more respected , employed and trusted abroad , more elevated in their resolutions and aims , they grew rich , for you have heard of a silver mine that reached from westminster to edenbrough : and i beleeve you have not forgot b●ccolinies ballance , wherein lorenzo de medici was appointed by the oracle at delphos to weigh all the states of christendom , and throwing england into the scales to counterpoise france , you know how much he made her to weigh lesse by the addition of scotland . polyander . i beleeve we had been better without this addition , for the union 'twixt scotland and england may be said to be a mixture of vinegar with oyl . philanglus . to resume my discourse , the former proclamation , though it breathed nothing but grace , would not suffice the scots , but having an inch given them , they would take an ell , and nothing would serve their turn but an utter extirpation of episcopacy , for by trampling the miter under their feet , they hoped to have some of the birds plumes being plucked to feather their own nests , and they brought their work about : good lord , what a deal of dirt was thrown into the bishops faces by every rural petty clerk ? what infamous ballads were sung up and down ? what a thick cloud of epidemical hatred hung suddenly over them , so far that a dog with a white neck was called bishop amongst them . the chiefest contrivers of this uproar , finding their designs to fadge so well , and perceiving the country to be so eagerly bent against bishops ( and what artifices and suggestious were used to render them so odious , is incredible . ) but finding withall the king unwilling to alter the government his father had left him , and to which he had been sworn at his coronation : they put themselves in arms , and raised forces to beat down the miter with the sword , if the scepter would not do it . to the english frontires they marched with a numerous army , pretending they came as petioners , but they brought their petition upon the pikes point . hereupon the king raised a counter army , and marched as far as barwick , but some of the great ones about him grew cold in the action ; so a pacification was shuffled up , and i think it was the most dishonourable that ever england made . polyander . i could have wished two things , that either the king had then given them battel , having the flower of his nobility and gentry about him , who understood came with all promptitude and cheerfulness to the service , or else that after the pacification he had with a royal freedom , and a commanding confidence gone amongst them in person to hansel their new parliament house at edenburgh , for in all probabilitie this course might have averted those showrs and cataracts of miseries which fell upon him afterwards , but i pray sir proceed . philanglus . hereupon a parliament was summoned in england , a parliament do i call it ? it was rather an embrio of a parliament , a kind of ephemeran thing . in this short sitting the king declared to both houses the indignities he had received from his scots subjects , and therefore he proposed a supply to be made of twelve subsidies to suppress that rebellion , and in lieu thereof , he was willing to forbear , and utterly to abolish the ship-money , which he had reason to think legal , being advised thereunto by noy his attorney general , who was cryed up to be so great a clerk in the law , yet he would not rest there , but he advised further with his learned council of the sergeants at law and others who concurred in opinion with no ; nor would he rest there , but he had the approbation of all the judges si●gly , and afterwards of the major part of all the twelve upon a leasurely debate ; this he thought sufficient to induce his conscience to hold the things legal : it was proved that the moneys levied that way were employed to the right use and no other , viz. to the garding of the narrow seas , and to preserve the right of his dominion in them ( being the fairest flower of his crown ) which was not onely discoursed of abroad , but the french cardinal was over heard to question his right that way . and touching the danger that hung over england he alledged how could england but be in apparent danger considering how all her neighbours about her were in actual hostility , which made huge fleets of men of war , both french , dunkerkers , ha●burgers , and hollanders , to appear ever and anon in her channel and hard before her royal chambers . he declared further , that not one peny of that publique contribution came to his private coffers , or was given to any favorite , but he added much of his own treasure for the maintenance of a royal fleet abroad every summer ; yet he was ready to passe any bill for the abolishing of the said ship-money , and redressing of any grievance besides , provided his parliament would enable him to suppress and chastse the scot . some say the house was inclinable to comply with the king , but as the ill spirit would have it , that parliament was suddenly broke up , and it had been better for him that they who gave him that counsel had been then in arabia , or beyond the line , in their way to madagascar , yet those men were of high request in the long parliament afterwards being . the king reduced to such streights , and resenting still the insolence of the scot , proposed the business to his privy council , who suddenly made a considerable sum for his supply , whereunto divers of his domestick serv●n●s did contribute ; among others who were active herein , the earl of strafford bestirred himselfe notably , who having got a parliament to be called in ireland , went over , and with incredible celerity raised 8000. men , and procured money of the parliament there to maintain them . an army was also levied here which marched to the north , and there fed upon the kings pay a whole summer . the scot was not idle all this while , but having punctual intelligence of every thing that passed at court as far as what was debated in the cabinet council , or spoken of in the bed-chamber ( where of the six grooms , five were scots ) which was a great advantage unto him . he armed also , and preferring to make england the stage of the war rather then his own country , and to invade rather then to be invaded , he got ore the tweed , where he found the passage open , and , as it were , made for him all the way , till he come to the river of tine : and though there was a considerable english army of horse and foot at newcastle , yet they never offered to face the scot all the while . at newburg there was indeed a small skirmish , but the english foot would not fight ; so newcastle gates flew open to the scot without any resistance at all , where 't is thought he had more friends then foes , for all presbyterians were his confederates . the king being advanc'd as far as york , summon'd all his nobles to appear , and advise with in this exigence , commissioners were appointed on both sides who met at rippon , and how the hearts and courage of some english barons did boil within their breasts to be brought to so disadvantagious treaty with the scot , you may well imagine : so the treaty began , which the scot , would not conform himself unto , unlesse he were first made rectus in cur●a , and the proclamation wherein he was call'd traitor revoked , alledging how dishonourable it would be for his majesty to treat with rebels . this treaty was then adjourn'd to londo● where the late long parliament was summon'd . polyander . truly sir , i must tell you , that to my knowledge those unhappy traverses with the scots made the english suffer much abroad in point of national repute ; but in this last expedition of the scot , england may be said to have been bought and sold , considering what a party he had here in court and country , specially in the city of london . therefore his coming in then may be call'd rather as invitation then an invasion . philanglus . the scot having thus got quietly into a town he never took , and nested himself in newcastle , our late long long parliament began at westminster : being conven'd , the king told them that he was resolved to cast himself and his affairs wholly upon the affection and d●lity of his people , whereof they were the representatives ; therefore he wished them to go roundly on to close up the ruptures that wer● made by that infortunate war , and that the two armies one english , the other forraign , which were gnawing the very bowels of the kingdom might be both dismissed : touching grievances of al natures he was ready to redress them , concerning the shipmony he was willing to passe a law for the utter abolition of it , and to canc●l all the enrollments , therefore he wish'd them not to spend much time about that : for monopolies he desired to have a list of them , and he would damn them all in one proclamation : touching ill counsellours either in white-hall or westminster-hall , either in church or state , hee was resolved to protect none : therefore he desired that all jealousies and misunderstandings might vanish , and so concluded with this caution , that they would be carefull how they shook and d●●jointed the frame of an old setled government too much , in regard 't was like a watch , which being put asunder , can never be made up again if the least pin be left out . thus at the beginning of the parliament there were great hopes of fair weather after that cold northern storm and that we should be rid of the scot , but that was least intended till some designs were brought about : the earl of strafford , the arch-bishop of canterbury , the judges , and divers other are clapp'd up , and the lord keeper finch took a timely flight t'other side of the sea : and in lieu of these , the bishop of lincoln is inlarged , bastw●ck , burton , and pryn , who were strong presbyterians , were brought into london with a kind of hosanna . polyander . it is possible that the lenity of the king should be such as to yeeld to all this ? philanglus . yes , and to comply further with them , he took as it were into his bosom , i mean he admitted to his privy council , such parliament lords who were held the greatest zealots among them : the lord say was made master of the court of wards , the earl of essex lord chamberlain . moreover to give a further evidence how firmly he was rooted in his religion , and how much he desired the strengthning of it abroad , the treaty of marriage went on 'twixt his eldest daughter and the prince of orange ; hereunto may be added as a special argument of compliance , the passing of the bill for a triennial parliament , and lastly he was brought to passe the act of continuance , which prov'd so fatal unto him . polyander . touching the triennial parliament , i heard of a prophetick mistake that came from a lady of honour , who sending news that time to the country , did write , that the king had passed a bill for a tyrannical parliament , whereas she should have said triennial ; and touching the act of continuance or perpetual parliament , i heard a tale of archy the fool , who being asked whether the king did well in passing that bill , answered , that he knew not whether the king was the greater fool to grant it , or they the greater knaves to ask it . but the saying of the late earl of dorset is remarkable who saluted the king the next morning with the stile of fellow subject , in regard that by that grant he had transferred both crown , sword and scepter to the parliament , for now we may say , that england hath four hundred and odd kings in her : but t is observed , that princes of a hard destiny do follow the worst councils ; but sir , in lieu of these monstrous acts of grace and trust , what did the parliament all this while for the king . philanglus . they promised , specially upon the passing of the last act , that they would make him the most glorious , the best beloved , and richest king that ever reigned in england , which promise they voted , and confirmed with the deepest protests and asseverations that could be . adde hereunto , that the earl of strafford was passed over unto them , who after a long costly tryal was condemned to the scaffold , and so made a sacrifice to the scot ( and them ) who stayed chiefly for his head . polyander . touching the earl of strafford , 't is true he was full of ability , courage and elocution , yet i heard his wisdom questioned beyond sea in divers things . first , that having a charge ready against his chiefest accusers , yet he suffered them to take the start of him , and have priority of suit , which if he had got , he had thereby made them parties , and so incapable to proceed against him ; secondly , that during the time of his tryal , he applyed not himselfe with that compliance to his jury as well as to his judges , for he was observed to comply only with the lords , and slight the house of commons , lastly , that knowing he had both parliament and scot his enemies , as also the irish , he would not go aside a while , and get beyond sea ( which he might have easily done from york ) in lieu of coming up to london . philanglus . i beleeve his death was resolved upon before his comming from york , if not by ordinary way of justice , yet by way of publique expedience , which appears , in regard the proceedings against him , was by a clause in the act not to be produced for a leading case , for example to future ages , and other inferior courts . good lord , how the rabble of the city thirsted after his death ! who were connived at , and countenanced by the parliament it selfe to strut up and down both before white hall and , westminster hall , where they cryed out , that if the common law failed , club law should knock him down : nay , their insolency was permitted to swell so high , that they demanded the names of those lords who would not doom strafford to death . polyander . is it possible that the grave and solemne high court of parliament should permit such popular insolencies to be committed before their faces . philanglus . yes , and notwithstanding that the lords did often solicit the house of commons to take a course for suppressing them yet 't was not hearkened unto ; nay when the king had commanded a double guard of constables and watch-men ( which is the usual way by law ) to attend at westminster hall , for suppression of such disorders , the commons cryed out , that it was a breach of the privileges of the house and a trenching upon their liberties ; so they took afterwards a band of souldiers to guard them of their own election , which was never known before . polyander . me thinks that the earl of strafford being gone , fair weather should have followed , he was the cause of the tempest being thus thrown over board . philanglus . 't is true , the scots were dismissed a little after , having fidlers fare , meat , drink , and money for eleven months together in england , with straffords head to boot . so the king prepared to go for scotland according to articles , to hold a parliament there ; this fill'd the house of commons with odd kind of jealousie , therefore they cast about how to prevent the journey : so they did beat their brains night and day about it , so far that they sate upon sunday in debate , but with another proviso , that it should not be made a precident for future ages , as the other caveat was for their proceedings against the earl of strafford . well , the king went to his scots parliament , where he fill'd every blank , for they did but ask and have . he granted them what possibly they could propone in point of governing , both for kirk and state , many received new honors , they made havock , and divided all the bishops lands amongst them ; for all which unparallel'd concessions and acts of grace , as an argument of gratitude , they caused an act ( though already in force ) to be publish'd and reviv'd . that it should be detestable , and damnable treason in the highest degree that could be for any of the scots nation conjunctly or singly to levy arms , or any military forces upon any pretext whatsoever , without the kings royal commission ; but how the scot observed this solemn act afterwards the world knows too well . during the kings being in scotland , that formidable hideous rebellion in ireland broke out ; which the irish impute to the english parl. first , in regard that one of their accusations against strafford was , that he used the papists in that kingdom too favourably : secondly , for the rigorous proceedings intended by the said parliament against the english catholicks ; thirdly , for design the english parliament had to bring the ●utch and the scot to plant in ireland , the last of whom the irish do hate in perfection above all other nation ; and lastly , the stopping of that irish regiment of cashiered souldiers , which the king promised by royal word and letter to the king of spain , who relying upon that imploiment which was denied them by order from the english parliament , rather then to begg , steal , or starve , they turned rebels . polyander . indeed , i heard that act of staying the irish forces much censur'd abroad , to the dishonour of the king of england and reproach of the parliament , considering ho● the marquis de velada , and malvezzi and don alonzo de cardenas , who were all three ambassadours here for the king of spain at that time , having by dependance upon the sacred word , and letter of a king , imprested money , and provided shipping for their transport , which came to a great charge ; but i pray be pleased to proceed . philanglus . the king having setled scotland , was his return to london received with much joy , but though he was brought with a kind of hosanna into one end of the town , he found a crucifige at the other ; for at westminster there was a remonstrance fram'd , a work of many weeks , and voted in the dead of night , when most of the moderate and well-minded members were retir'd to their rest ; in which remonstrance , with as much industry and artifice as could be , all the old moats in government were expos'd to publick view from the first day of the kings inauguration to that very hour . polyander . how could this agree with the protestation the house did make formerly to the king , to make him the best beloved that ever was ? i thought that before his going to scotland he had redress'd all grievances , by those acts of grace you spoke of before . philanglus . so he had , and he rested not there but complid further with the house , by condescending to an act for putting down the star chamber court ▪ the high commission court , the court of honor , nay he was contented that his privy councel shou●d be regulated , and his forests bounded , not according to ancient prerogative , but late custom ; nay further , he passed a bill for the unvoting and utter exclusion of the spiritual lords from the parliament for ever : add hereunto , that having placed two worthy gentlemen liev●enants of the tower , he remov'd them one after another ▪ to content the house , and put in one of their election : lastly , he trusted them with his navy royal , and call'd home at their motion , sir i. pennington who had then the guard of the narrow seas . polyander . i never remember to have heard or read of such notable concessions from any king ▪ but how came the bishops to be so tumbled out . philanglus . the city rabble were still conniv'd at to be about westminster hall , where they offered some out-rages to the bishops as they went into the house ; hereupon they presented a petition to the king and parliament , that they might be secur'd to repair thither to discharge their duties according to the laws of the land : in which petition there was a protest or caveat that no act should passe , or be valid without them : this petition , both for matter and form was much excepted against , and cried up to be high treason , so twelve of the old bishops were hurried to the tower ; but some of the knowingest lawyers being considered withall , whether this was treason in the bishops , or no ▪ they answered , that it might be called adultery as much as treason : so after many moneths imprisonment , the charge of treason being declin'd against them , they were releas'd in the morning , but coop'd up again in the afternoon , then they were restored to a conditional liberty touching their persons but to be eternal●y excluded out of the house , which made one of them in a kind of prophetick way , to tell one of the temporal●peers ▪ my lord you see how we are voted out of the house , and the next turn will be yours , which proved true . polyander . i remember when i was at york a gentleman shewed me a fair old manuscript of some things passed in henry the eighths time : and one passage among the rest sticks in my memory , how cardinal wolsey being sick at leic●ster , the king sent sir jo●n kingston to comfort him : to whom he answered . oh! sir john , 't is too late to receive any earthly comfort but remember my most humble allegeance to the king , and tell him this story from a dying man ; the bohemians repining at the hierarchy of the church , put down bishops ▪ but what followed ? then the comunalty insulted over the nobility , and afterwards the king himself was depo●●d ▪ so the government grew a while to be meerly popular , but then it turned from a successive to be an elective kingdom ; this , said he , will be the fate of eng. unless the king bear up the reverence ●ue to the church , and so i pray god that his majesty may find more mercy at the tribunal of heaven , then i have upon the earth ; but pray sir be pleas'd to proceed . philanglus . the parliament having the navy at their disposing ( which they found to be in a good equipage , gramercy ship money ) and having chosen the earl of warwick commander in chief , notwithstanding the king excepted against him , they demand all the land souldiers and military strength of the kingdom to be managed by them , and to be put in what posture , and under what commanders they pleased ; but the king answered , that he would consider of this , and it was the first thing that he ever denied them , yet at last he was contented to grant them this also for a limitted time ; but that would not serve the turn : hereupon growing sensible how they inched every day more and more upon the royal prero●ative he thought 't was high time for him to look to himself : and intending with some of his menial servants onely to go to hull to see a magazin of ammunition which he had bought with his own treasure , he was in a hostile manner kept out , the gates shut . cannons mounted , pistols cocked and levelled at him , and there the kings party said , the war first began . polyander . a hard destiny it was for a king to lose the love of his subjects in that manner , and to fall a clashing with his great council : but under favour ; that demand of the militia was somewhat too high : for every natural prince , and supream governour hath an inherent and inalienable right in the common strength of the country , for though the peoples love be a good cittadel , yet there must be a concurrence of some outward visible force besides , which no earthly power may dispose of without his command , and for him to transmit this power to any other , specially to any that he mistrusts , is the onely way to render him inglorious , unsafe , and despicable , both at home and abroad ; you know in the fable when the lion parted with his paws , and the eagle with her talons , how contemptible the one grew among all beasts , and the other among birds . the scepter and the crown are but bables without a sword to support them . there 's none so simple as to think ther 's meant hereby an ordinary single sword , such as every one carrieth at his side , no , t is the publique polemical sword of the whole kingdom , 't is an aggregative compound sword , and 't is moulded of bellmettle , for 't is made up of all the ammunition and arms , small and great , of all the military strength both by land and sea , of all the forts castles , and tenable places within and without the whole country : the kings of england have had this sword by vertue of their royal signory , as the law faith , from all times , the prerogative hath girded it to their sides , they have employed it for repelling of forraign force , for revenging of all national wrongs or affronts , for quelling all intestine tumults ; the people were never capable of this sword , the sundamental constitutions of this land deny 〈◊〉 them : 't is all one to put a sword in a mad mans hand as in the peoples : now under favor , the supream governor cannot transfer this sword to any other , for that were to desert the protection of his people , which is point blank against his oath and office : but i crave your pardon again that i have detained you so long from the pursuit of your former discourse . philanglus . the king being so shut out of one town ( i mean kingston upon hull ) he might suspect that an attempt might be made to shut him in within some other : therefore be made a motion to the york-shire gentlemen to have a guard for the preservation of his person in imitation of the parliament , who had taken a kind of choice praetoria● band many moneths before for their safeguard , though without the kings consent : the northern men came cheerfully to this service ; wherewith the parliament being not well pleas'd they interdicted all trade to newcastle . but i must make a step back ; when the king was return'd from scotland , he retir'd to hampton court , yet upon the lord mayors and cities solicitation , hee came back to white-hall , to keep his christmas ▪ but when the bill against bishops was in agitation , which lasted above ten months , and was twice cast out of the house of peers , a crue of hold sturdy mechanicks , marriners , and tar-pawlings came from the city , and ruffled again before white-hal and westminster-hall , and would have violated the abbey of westminster , under the parliaments nose , so that for many nights , a court of guard was forc'd to be kept in the body of that church . the king finding such distempers still in the parliament , and knowing the chiefest authors of them who he had impeach'd before but could get no justice against them in an ordinary way , though he desir'd the parliament to direct him in a course how to go on in the empeachment in such extremity , for desperate diseases requiring desperate cures . he took the palsgrave with him , and making use of the next coach he met withall at the court gate , he went to the house of commons in person to demand five members , which he would prove to be traytors in the highest degree , and to be the fomenters of all these divisions , protesting unto them upon the word of a king , that they should have as fair and legal a trial as ever men had ; in the interim , he desir'd onely that their persons might be secur'd : the walls of both houses , and the very stones of london streets did seem to ring of this high carriage of the king , and the sound thereof far and neer into the adjacent countries , whence the plebeans ( by incitement of some of the members ) came in whole herds to the city , and strutting up and down the streets , had nothing in their mouths but priviledge of parliament . polyander . yet as i observ'd in your discourses before queen elizabeth , though she was so popular , and such a minion of parliaments , did the like , and far higher things . but now that you have given a touch of the palsegrave , i remember a manifesto of that parliament , which they passed and published in favour of his restitution , which was laughed and libelled at in germany . philanglus . 't is true , the king went in state one day to the parliament in his behalfe , where he clear'd unto them the whole business , and because he doubted that sir thomas roe his embassadour should have but sorry success in the diet which was then held in germany , in regard he understood of an amnestia to come forth , whence the prince palatine was excluded , he desired the two houses to joyn with him in a publique manif●sto . the parliament did cheerfully approve hereof , praying that scotland would joyn with them : the manifesto consisted of two parts , or protestations , one against all acts whatsoever that should passe in the imperial diet in the prejudice to the palatine ; the other , that the king and parliament of great britain were resolv'd to espouse his quarrel ; but this business was little thought of afterwards . the king as i told you before , having gone to the house of commons himself to demand those members , it happened none of them were there , but retir'd to london for refuge , the house having had notice of the design from marquis hamilton who was us'd to reveal unto them whatsoever was intended at court . polyander . it may well be said then , that the infortunate king had greater traitors within dores , then abroad ; but it concern'd hamilton , with holland , and others to keep in with the house , because they were the chiefest monopolizers , specially the earl of m. who in regard his son was so great a zealot in the upper house , was permitted to keep a kind of office to compound , for his corruption , and briberies , whereof there were above forty prov'd against him , yet he scap'd without any punishment at all , or least mark of infamy . philanglus . well sir , the londoners grew stark wild when they heard of this attempt of the king , and the countries about , specially essex and buckinghamshire men being incited by hamden ( who was kill'd afterwards upon the same turf of earth where he call'd the people together ) came in great swarms to town , and joyning with the city and suburbian rabble . they brought the five members the next day to the house , in a kind of triumph , being guarded by water as wel as by land by such companions . a little after , sundry troops of count●y horse came , and instead of feathers or ribands , they carried a paper-protestation in their hats , as the londoners had done a little before upon their pikes point . polyander . i heard much of the said protestation , but i pray oblige me to tel what it was . philanglus . it consisted of many parts , being penn'd , and enjoin'd by the parliament for every one to take : the first part was to maintain the true protestant religion against all popish innovations ( but no other . ) the second was to maintain the person prerogative , and hono● of the kin . the third , the priviledge and power o● parliament . and lastly , the pr●priety and liberty of the subject . polyander . where was the king during all these popular riots ? philanglus . rather then expose himself to such indignities , and there being dark whispers of an attempt upon his person ; he retir'd to hampton court . thence to windsor castle , whence having accompani'd the queen , and his eldest daughter to the sea-side for holland , and having commanded the prince to attend him at greenwich against his return , the prince had been surpriz'd , and brought to london , had the king stayed but a quarter of an hour longer : thence he remov'd to york , where he sojourn'd all that summer ; and among other things he sent for his great seal thither , which rid post , and was pursued by the parliament , but not overtaken . the king being setled at york , the parliament still move him to have the disposing of the militia , and not to be limited to any time , which he denied , for he was loth to be dis-arm'd , and part with his sword : therefore he put forth his commissions of array according to the old law of england as he alled'd , which declares it to be the undoubted right , and royal signory of the king to arm or disar● any subject . the parliament send out counter-commands for the executing the said militia , so by this clashing 'twixt the commission of array and the militia , the first flash of that cruel , and cruentous civil war may be said to have broke out . a close committee was appointed , which was mix'd of lords and commons , and i cannot tell how many rural , and subordinate committees of mean mechanical men , who stood higher a tip-toe in conventing lords and knights before them , then the parliament members themselves ; an admiral also was sent to sea , against whom the king excepted . polyander . that was strange , considering how oft the king had complied with them that way , having at their request remov'd two lievtenants of the tower , and taken one of their election , having remov'd the governour about his son , and taken one of their choice , having remov'd sir thomas glenham from hull , and nominated hotham , &c. philanglus . the presbyterians who had brought in the scots army before , and were the activ'st men , cried out that the whole kingdom was like to be ruin'd by secret plots and machinations ; that there was a design to bring in the pope , and to cast the civil government into a french frame , wherof they made the pulpits to ring up and down ; nor did the pulpit onely help to kindle this fire , but the presse also did contribute much thereunto , dangers , and jealousies , and a kind of superfaetation of fears did daily increase in every corner , — traduntque metus n●c poscitur author . as the poet saith . polyander . there be sundry sorts of fears : there are conscientious fears , there are pannick fears , there are pusillaminous fears , and there are politick fears : the first proceeds from guilt of conscience , which corns oft to phrensie ; the second fear may be called a kind of chymera , 't is some sudden surprizal or consternation proceeding from no grounds ; pusillaminous fear makes a mountain of a mole-hill , it proceeds from poverty of spirit , and want of courage , and is a passion of abject , and degenerous minds , and is call'd cowardize ; politique fear is a created forg'd fear , wrought in another , to bring some design about ; and as we finde the astronomers ( as is said elsewhere ) do imagine such and such shapes and circles in the heavens , as the zodiack , equinoctial , c●lur●s , tropiq●es , and others , though there be no such things really in nature , to verifie and make their conclusions good ; so the sta●ist doth often devise and invent imaginary fears to make his proceedings the more plausible , and thereby to compass his ends . or as the sun useth to appear far bigger in the morning and evening , then at noon when he is exalted to his meridian , and the reason the philosophers use to give is the interposition of the vapours and exhalations , which are in the lower region of the air , through which we look upon him , ( as we find a piece of silver look bigger in a bason of water , then elsewhere ) so the polititian useth to cast strange mists of fears , and fogs of jealousie before the simple peoples eyes , to make dangers seem bigger . it is observed , that the torpedo fish ▪ when he fears to be catched , useth to disgorge an ●nky ●lack froth , to puddle and darken the water that he may not be seen and so avoids taking ; so one trick of a statist when he goes a fishing after some ends of his own , is to cast out before the eyes of the credulous vulgar strange mists , and apprehensions of fears and dangers , that they may scape in them if need be : but i pray deal clearly with me , was there a design to bring in the mass again ? philanglus . the mass ? you may say there was a plot to bring in mahomet as soon , to bring in the alchoran or talmud as soon ; yet i believe there was a pernitious plot to bring in a new religion , but what religion i pray ? it was not papery but presbytery , and with it to usher in buchanan and knox and to cast our church and state into a scots mould . polyander . i must tell you indeed that i heard the english much censured , and undervalued abroad , for enslaving , as it were , their understandings and judgements in point of religion to the scots , whom we made christians and reformed christians first , and now for us to run to them for a religion , what a disparagement think you is it ? but you spoke before of an empeachment of high treason ; the king had against the five members , for which he desired only the benefit of the law , i pray what was that treason ? philanglus . the main charge of treason that was intended to be exhibited against them , was the private intelligence , and combinations they held with a forreign nation , and to have been the prime instruments of bringing in the scots army , which had done so much mischiefe to england , and was dismissed upon such inglorious terms , for besides the plunder they got , they had a vast sum of treasure to be gone ; which was not the usua● 〈◊〉 that our progenitors used in dealing with the scot , for in former times england was 〈◊〉 to pay the scot his arrears ( when he came to visit her borders ) in another kind of mettal ; viz. with good iron and steel , not with gold and silver , but she hath soundly revenged her selfe since , for the insolencies of that hungry nation . but to proceed , the hierarchy , and english liturgy being voted down , there was a general liberty given to all consciences in point of religion ; the taylor and shoomaker might have cut out what religion they pleas'd ; the vintner and tapster might have broach'd what religion they pleas'd ; the druggist and apothecary might have mingled her as they pleas'd ; the haberdasher might have put her upon what block he pleas'd ; the armorer & cutter might have furbrish'd her as they pleas'd ; the dier might have put what colour , the painter what face they pleas'd upon her ; the draper and mercer might have measur'd her as they pleas'd ; the weaver might have cast her upon what loom he pleas'd ; the boat-swain and mariner might have brought her to what deck they pleas'd ; the barber might have trimm'd her as he pleas'd ; the gardner might have lopp'd her as he pleas'd ; the black-smith might have forg'd what religion he pleas'd . and so every one according to his profession and fancy was tollerated to form what religion he pleas'd , as was observ'd elsewhere . polyander . indeed i was told often beyond the seas that the liberty of the gospel , and the liberty of the people , were the two things which were mainly aim'd at , but how did the war begin ? philanglus . i told you before , that besides other causes the clashing of the militia , with the commission of array , did put all things in disarray throughout the whole kingdom , many declarations came from the king , but they were prohibited at last to be published , and the printers punish'd . a little after the parliament voted an army to take away ill councellours from about the kings person , and the earl of fssex was appointed general , with whom they voted to live and die . polyander . me thinks that lord was not so proper for the service , in regard his father before him lost his head upon the like occasion for offring to amove ill councellors from about queen elizabeth ; but i beleeve he might have a private quarrel of his own with the court , in that his first wise was articled , and sentenc'd away from him , and married to a scotch man whom he much hated , in king james his time , who made a deep asseveration , that if any thing was amiss in that divorce , he wish'd it might light upon his own soul ; but i pray be pleas'd to go on . philanglus . the king understanding that the parliament did thus arm , he was told that it was not fit for him to be idle , so having levied some forces in the north , he marched with them to nottingham , where he set up and displaied the royal standard , but the beam thereof by a gust of wind towards the evening was broke , which was held an ill augury . polyander . i heard by some of those that were then on the place that the king had not 4000 effective fighting men , when he put up his standard , and the parliament had an army of above 15000 in a compleat body , and upon their march about northampton , therefore i heard it censured a great oversight in the parliament , that they did not inorder their general , to find out the king at nottingham , where he might have either taken him prisoner or forc'd him to flie with his little confus'd army : but i pray pursue your discourse . philanglus . i must again step a little back , and inform you , as that army of the parliaments was a levying , these propositions were sent to the king , with a complemental introduction , which because they are of a very high nature , i will particularly relate unto you , the preamble was this . wee your majesties most humble and faithful subjects , having nothing in our thoughts and desires more precious , and of higher esteem , next to the honour and immediate service of god , then the just and faithfull performance of our duty to your majesty and this kingdom ; and being sensible of the great distractions , and distempers , and of the iminent dangers , and calamities , which the said distractions and distempers are like to bring upon your majesty and your subjects , all which have proceeded from the subtile informations , mischievous practises , and ill counsels of men disaffected to gods true religion , your majesties honour and safety , and the publick peace and prosperity of your people . after a serious observation of the causes of these mischiefs : wee do in all humility and sincerity , present to your majesty our most humble petition and advice , that out of your princely wisdom for the establishing of your own honour and safety , and gracious tendernesse of the welfare and security of your subjects and dominions , you will be pleased to grant and accept these our humble desires , and propositions , as the most necessary effectual meanes through gods blessing of removing those jealousies , and differences which have unhappily fallen 'twixt you and your people , and for procuring both your majesty and them a constant course of honour , peace and happiness . 1. that those of your privy council , and such great officers and ministers of state , either at home or beyond the seas , may be put from about you , and from those offices and employments , excepting such as shall be approved of by parliament ; and that the persons put into the places and employments of those that be removed , may be approved of by parliament ; and that all privy councellors shall take an oath for the due execution of their places as shall be agreed upon by parliament . 2. that the great affairs of the land may not be concluded or transacted by the advise of private men , or by unknown , and unsworn councellors , but that such matters that concern the publique and are proper for high assemblies , which is your majesties great and supream council , may be debated , resolved , and transacted here , and no where else , and such as shall presume to do any thing to the contrary , shall be reserved to the censure and judgment of parliament ; and such other matters of state , as are proper for your privy council , shall be debated , and concluded by such , as shall from time to time be chosen for what place by approbation of parliament ; and that no publique act concerning the affairs of the land which are proper for your privy council may be esteemed of any validity as proceeding from royal authority , unless it be done by the advice and consent of the major part of your council ; and that your council be limited to a certain number , no●t exceeding twenty five , nor under fif●●een ; and if any councellors place happen to be void in the intervalls of parliament , it shall not be supplyed without the co●●sent of the major part of the council , which voice shall be confirmed at the next sitting of parliament , or else to be void . 3. that all the great o●ficers of state and civil justice , as also your secretaries , may be chosen with the approbation of parliament , and in the intervals as formerly . 4. that he or they , to whom the government , and education of the royal issue shall be committed , shall be approved by parliament , and in the intervals as formerly ▪ and that all such servants which are now about them , against whom the parliament shal have any just exception , shal be removed . 5. that no all ●nce of any of the royal issue , by way of marriage , shall be concluded or treated with any forraign prince or other person whatsoever ▪ at home or abroad , without consent of parliament , under the penalty of a praemunire unto such as shall conclude or treat of any such alliance ; and the said penalty shall not be pardoned or dispensed with , but by consent of parliament . 6. that the laws in force against papists be strictly put in execution without any toleration or dispensation to the contrary ; and that some more effectuall course be enacted to disable them from making any disturbance in the state , or ●luding the law by trusts or otherwise . 7. that the votes of all papists in the upper house may be taken away as long as they continue papists , and that such a bill be drawn for the education of their children in the reformed religion . 8. that your majesty will be pleas'd to consent , that such a reformation bee made of the church-government , as the parliamsnt shall advise of : and that your majesty will contribute your best assistance for the raising of a sufficient maintenance for preaching ministers throughout the kingdom ; and that your majesty will be pleas'd to give your consent to laws , for the taking away of innovations and superstition , and pluralities , and against scandalous ministers . 9. that your majesty will be pleas'd to rest satisfied with that course the parliament hath appointed for ordering the militia , untill the same shall be further setled by ●●ill ; and that your majesty will recall your declarations , and proclamations against the ordinance made by the parliament concerning it . 10. that such lords and gentlemen that are members of the house , which have been put out of any place or office , may either be restor'd , or have satisfaction for the same , upon the petition of the court , whereof he or they are members . 11. that all privy councellors and iudges take oath , the form where●f to be agreed upon , and setled in parliament , for the maintenance of the petition of right , of certain statutes made by this parliament ; and that an inquiry of all the breaches and violations of those laws may bee given in charge by the chief iudges , to be presented and punished according to law . 12. that all the judges , and all the officers placed by approbation of parliament may hold their places , quam diu ●e benè gesserint . 13. that the justice of parliament may pass upon all delinquents , whether they be within the kingdom , or fled without it ; and that all persons cited by either court , may appear and abide the censure of parliament . 14. that the general pardon offered by your majesty may be granted with such exceptions as shall be advised of by the parliament . 15. that the forts and castles of the kingdom be put under the command and custody of such as your majesty shall appoint , with the approbation of your great council , and in the interval with the major part of your privy council , as formerly . 16. that the extraordinary guard , and military forces now attending your majesty , be removed and discharged , and that for the future , that you will raise no such guards or extraordinary forces but according to the law , in case of actual rebellion or invasion . 17. that your majesty will be pleased to enter in a more strict league with the hollanders , and other neighbour princes and states of the reformed religion , for the defence and maintenance thereof against all designes and attempts of the pope and his adherents , to subvert and suppress it , whereby your majesty will obtain a great access of strength , and reputation , and your subjects much enco●raged and enabled in a parliamentary way for your aid and assistance in restoring the queen of bohemia , and her princely issue , to those dignities and dominions that belong to them , and relieving the other reformed distressed princes , who have suffered in the same cause . 18. that your majesty will be pleased to clear by a parliamentary act those members you have empeached , in such a manner , that future parliaments may be secured from the consequence of ill presi●ents . 19. that your majesty will be graciously pleas'd to pass a bill for restrai●ing peers made hereaf●en from sitting 〈◊〉 voting in parliament , unless they be admitted thereunto by consent of both houses . and these our humble desires being granted by your majesty , we shall forthwith apply our selves to regulate your present revenew in such sort as may be to your best advantage , and likewise to settle such a● ordinary , and constant encrease of it , as shall be sufficient to support your royal dignity in honour and plenty , beyond the proportion of any former grants of the subjects of this kingdom to your majesties royall predecessors ; we shall likewise put the town of hul into such hands that your majesty shall appoint , with the consent , and approbation of parliament , and deliver up a just account of all the magazine , and cheerfully employ the utmost of our endeavors in the real expression and performance of our dutiful and loyal affections , to the preserving and maintaining of the royal honour , greatness , and safety of your majesty , and your posterity . polyander . how did these propositions relish ? they run in a very high strain , though the preamble and conclusion breath a great deal of humility and allegeance . philanglus . the king received these proposals with a kind of indignation , saying ; that he was worthy to be a king no longer over them , if he should stoop so low ; some alledged that the very propounding of them was treason in the highest degree , for they struck at the very foundation and root of all royal authority ; therefore the condescending to them would render him a king of clo●●s , and fit to be hooted at by all his neighbours . polyander . the world was much amazed abroad that the peers should concur in passing such proposals , considering how their honour must stand and fall with the royal prerogative : well si● , on . philanglus . you must think sir , that one part of foure of the lords were not there , the rest were with the king , who slighting those nineteen propositions ( an unluckie number ) it made the pulse of the parliament to beat higher , and to publish to the world a new declaration the substance whereof was , that the parliament hath an absolute power of declaring the law , and wh●tsoev●r they declare is not to be questioned by ●ing , magistrate or subject : that ●n p●●cedents can bound or limit their proceedings : ●at they may dispose of any thing wher●i● king of subject hath any rig't●forth ▪ publick good , wherefore they may be jud●es without royal assen : that none of their members ●ught to be molested or medled withal for treason felony , or any other crime , unlesse the cause ● brought b●fore them to judge o● the f●ct : that the s●v●raign power resides in them : that l●vying of warre against the command of the king though his person be present , is no l●vying of war against the king , but the levying of war against his politick person and laws , that is the onely levying war against the king . polyander . it was not the first time that this new kind of metaphysick was found out to abstract the person of the king from his office , and make him have two capacities private and politick , for the same metaphysick was made use of in edward the seconds reign , but it was exploded , and declar'd by act of parliament afterwards to be detestable , and damnable treason : this were to make soveraignty ( by separating it from the person ) to be a kind of platonick idea hovering in the aer , to make a king a strange kind of amphibium , to make at the same instant a king , and no king , of the same individuum a power which the casuists affirm god almighty never assum'd to himself to do any thing that implies contradiction . philanglus . the parliament or rather the presbyteria● army ( for the presbyters sate then at the helm ) increas'd dayly , and things being at such a desperate point , there were two choice earls ( southampton and dorset ) sent from nottingham with this pathetick letter of the kings to the parliament . we have with unspeak●bl grief of heart , long beheld the distraction of this our kingdom ; our very soul is full of anguish until we may find some re●●dy to prevent the miseries which are ready to overwhelm this whole nation by a civil war ; and though all our indeavors t●nding to the composing of those unhappy differences 'twixt us and our parliament , though pursued by us with all zeal and sincerity , have been hitherto without the successe we hoped for , yet such is our earnest and constant care to preserve the publick peace , that we shall not bee discouraged from using any expedient , which by the blessing of the god of mercy may lay a firm foundation of peace and happinesse to all our good subjects : to this end , observing that many mistakes have arisen by the messages , petitions , and answers betwixt us , and our great councel , which haply may be prevented by some other way of treaty , wherein the matters in difference may be clearly und●rstood , and more freely transacted , we have thought fit to propound unto you that some sit persons may b●e by you inabled to treat with the like number to be authorized by us , in s●ch a manner , and with such freedo●e of d●bate , as may best tend to that happy co●clusion which ●ll good people desire ▪ viz. the peace of the kingdom , wherein as we promise in the 〈◊〉 of a king all sa●ety and ●ncouragement to them , who shall be sent unto u● , if ye w●ll chuse the place we are to meet for the treaty , which we wholly le●ve unto you , presuming the like care of the safety of those wee shall employ if you shall name another place , so we assure you , and all our good subjects , that to the best of our understanding , nothing shall be wanting on our p●rt , which may advance the true reformed religion , oppose popery and superstition , secure the law of the land , upon which is built as well our just prerogative , as the propriety and liberty of the subject , confirm all just power and priviledges of parl ▪ and render us a people truly happy by a true understanding 'twixt us and our great council ; bring with you as firm a resolution to do your duty , and let our people join with us in prayer to almighty god for his blessing upon this work . if this proposition be rejected by you , w●e have done our duty so amply , that god will absolve us from the guilt of any of that blood which shall be spilt ; and whatsoever opinion other men may h●ve of our power , we assure you that nothing but our pious and christian care to prevent the effusion of bloud hath begot this motion in us : our provisio● of men , armies , and money being such as may secure us from violence , till it please god ●o open the eyes of our people . poly●nd●r . what impression did thi● letter make , for it promis'd much . philanglus . it made little or none at all , though it was all written with the kings own hand ; for the parliament was formerly nettled at a declaration he had sent , when having made ● motion to go himselfe in person to suppress the irish rebels ( which attempt the scots approved of , and highly applauded ) but being not liked by the english parliament , he replied unto them , to this effect . when we recommended the reduct●on of ireland to you , we intended not to exclude our self , or not to be concernd in your councils , but that if there were any expedient which in our conscience and understanding we thought necessary for that great work ▪ we might put it in practise ; we look upon you , as our great council , whose advice we always have and will with great regard and deliberation weigh and consider of , but we look upon our self as neither depriv'd of our understanding , or devested of any right we had , were there no parliament at all sitting ; we call'd you together by our our own royal writ and authority ( without which you could not have met ) to give us faithful counsel about our great affairs , but we resigned not hereby our interest , and freedom , we never subjected our self to your absolute determination ; we have alwayes weighed your counsel as from a body intrusted by us , and when we have dissented from you , we have returned you the reasons which had prevailed with ou● understanding and conscience , and with such candor , that a prince should use towards his subjects , and with that affection a father should express to his children ; what applications have been used to rectifie our understanding by reasons , and what motives have been given by you to perswade our affections , we leave the world to judge ; moreover , we must not forget to tell you , however a major part may blind you in matter of opinion , we hold our selfe ( and we are sure the laws and constitutions of the kingdom hath always held the same ) as free to dissent , till our reason be convinced for the general good , as if you delivered no opinion . when we summoned you first together , we did not intend to put the reins of all rule and reason into your hands , and by a kind of blind bruitish formality , and unprincely simpleness , to assent to every thing without examining our own conscience and judgement which yet never pleased us more , then when they concurr'd with yours , this were to bring us back to a nonage , now that we are come long since to the perfect growth of discretion ; you must not think to take from us the mastery and use of our innated reason , and the dictates of our own conscience , or that we will raise a tempest at home , within our brest , to calm a storm abroad ; in fine , we called you together , to propound , not to give law , to be our counsellors , not our controllers , for counsel degenerates from the nature of counsel w●en t is coercive . nor shall we ever enfeeble our regal power , or suffer it to be invaded so far as to give way , that any ordinance or omnipotency of votes , shall be able to suspend an act , already in force without our assent ; to conclude , as we firmly resolve to make the law the measure of our actions , so we expect it should be also the rule of your obedience and deliberations , and that the result of all your counsels be derived from it . polyander . this was home , and high , but what answer did the parliament make to the former letter from notingham ? philanglus . the noble personages who carried that letter were looked upon with an ill aspect by the parliament ; yet an answer was returned , containing this proposal , that the king wo●ld revoke and annul in the first place those proclamations , and o●her publique instruments whereby their adherents were declared traytors , u●der which notion 't was neither honourable for his ma●esty to t●eat with them , nor were they capable to treat with him . polyander . this doctrine i believe they had learnt of the scot ; but what did the king reply ? philanglus . he sent word that he was willing so to do , provided that the parliament would recal likewise their votes , orders , or ordinances passed against such whom they declared delinquents for adhering to the king according to the clear known law of the land , in the reign of hen. 7. which was , that n●ne should be molested or questioned for adhering unto , or assisting the royal person of the king . this the king desir'd by way of reciprocal correspondence , but it being denied , those overtures for a treaty came to nothing ; so the parliaments army begin to advance , and the kings did daily increase . thereupon the lords that were about the person of the king , whereof there were above threescore , made this publick manifesto . we do ingage our selves not to obey any orders or commands whatsoever , that are not warranted by the known laws of the land ; we ingage our selves and fortunes to defend your majesties person , crown , and dignity , with your just and legal prerogatives , against all persons and power whatsoever : we will defend the religion established by the law of the land , the lawfull liberties of the subjects of england , with the just priviledges of your majesty and the parliament : and we ingage our selves further , not to obey any rules , order or ordinance whatsoever concerning any militia , that hath not the royall assent . to this was subjoined another . we whose na●es are under written , in obedience to his majesties desire , and ou● of the duty we ow to his honour , and to truth , being here on the place , and witnesses of his majesties frequent and earnest declarations and professions of his abhorring all designs of making war upon the parliament ; and not finding any councels that might reasonably beget the belief of any such design ; we do promise before god , and testifie to all the world , that we are fully perswaded , his majesty hath no such intention , but that all his indeavours tend to the ●●rm , and constant settlement of the true religion , and the just priviledges of parliament , the lib●rty of the subject , with the laws , peace and prosperity of this kingdom . but all this would not serve the turn , for neither parliament nor people would give credit to any thing that drop'd from king or peers , specially the city of london , where the presbyterians played their parts notably , by inciting the people to a war for preventing the introduction of slavery and sup●rstition ; so , unusual voluntary collections were made both in town and country ; the seamstress brought in her silver thimble , the chamber-maid her bodkin , the cook his silver spoon , the vintner his bowl into the common treasury of war and they who contributed to so pious a work , were invited more then others in some churches to come to the holy communion in the very time of administration ; and observed it was that some sorts of females were freest in those contributions , as far as to part with their rings and earings , as if some golden calf were to be molten and set up to be idolized , which prov'd true for the covenant a little after was set up , which may be said to have been a kind of idol , as i shall make it appear hereafter . thus a fierce funestous civil war was a fomenting in the very bowels of england , which broke out into many storms and showers of blood : the fatal cloud wherein this storm lay long ingendring , though when it began to condense first it appeared but as big as a hand , yet by degrees it did spread to such a vast expansion , that it diffused it self through the whole region , and obscur'd that fair face of heaven which was used to shine upon this part of the hemisphere . the king fell to work then in good earnest , and made choice of the earl of linzey for general of the infantry , which choice was generally cried up of all ; prince rupert was made general of the horse , but that election did not find such an applause ; the first incounter that prince rupert had with his godfather the earl of essex was near worcester , where he defeated some of the flower of the parliaments horse ; the king having remov'd from nottingham to derby , and so to strafford , his forces increas'd all along ; but passing by chartly the earl of essex house , the souldiers hop'd to have had some plunder there , but a strict command was given by the kings own mouth that nothing should be touch'd , not as much as a buck , whereat their teeth 〈◊〉 water ▪ as they march'd through his park ; so he came to shrewsbury where the co● kept above a month , at which time , the army multip●i'd exceedingly , to neer upon ●o m● men , and the welchmen coming so thic● down the mountains , did much animate th●english . from shrewsbury the king took a reso●●tion to remove to oxford ▪ but after seve●● dai●s tiresome march , hee understood the parliaments army were within six mile of him , so he went out so far to find the● out , and fac'd them on a sunday mornin● from edg● hil ▪ as they lay in kinton field● where their colours were displayed : a sight of the royal army they discharge some peeces of ordnance in defiance so both parties prepared for battel , a●● the sun had declined above two hours the afternoon before the cannons a● kings infantry could get into the bottom being put there in a fighting posture , and having the wind favourable , the king gave command to let fly the cannons to begin battail ; thus a most furious engagement began , which lasted about three houres , till night parted them ; and some old french and german commanders who were there employed in the royal army , reported afterwards , they never saw such a manful fight in all their lives : prince rupert springing ore a low hedge lind thick with the enemies musqueteers , pursued their horse very far , and did notable execution upon them all the way , and had he not worried them so far , and deserted the infantry , or had not his german souldiers fallen a plundring too soon , matters might have gone better with the king . polyander . i heard it reported that this battail was fought just the same day twelve month that the rebellion and massacre began in ireland . it was so , being the 23. of october , a day fatal for blood ; now , though this battail of edg-hill may be said to be sudden , inexpected , and unpitched , yet for position of ground 't was fought in as indifferent and a fit place for a battail as possibly could be lighted upon , for the combatants had scope enough to fight , and the spectators , whereof there were multitudes upon the rising adjacent grounds , might behold all as plainly as a tragedy acted upon a stage , or cock fighting in a pit. the parliaments army had the advantage of the kings in point of infantry who were very good fire-locks , most of them having been trained up in london , and so left their wares to follow the wars . they had also the advantage of the king in point of arms , for scarce three parts of four were armed in his army : but for cavalry , the royalists had the greater advantage , for the flower of most of the english gentry was there , in so much that the life-guard of the kings was computed to above one hundred thousand pounds sterling of yearly revenue . about the evening of the day following , both parties retired from the field , the parliaments back towards northampton , the kings to their former road towards oxford , and in the way they took banbury , where there was a strong garison for the parliament , which sure , as the cavaliers gave out ▪ the earl of essex had preserved , had he been then master of the field . after this battail of edge-hill there happened diverse other traverses of war 'twixt king and parliament for about four years , in which revolution of time , there were more skirmiges and battails fought , then happened in those last thirty years wars of germany , or fourscore years wars 'twixt spain and holland . polyander . this shews that the english have still the same old innated valour , that they had when they made the gray goose wing fly through the heart of france , which made comines one of their greatest authors to confe●s , that no nation is more greedy of battail , and more impatient of delayes that way then the english , but how was it possible for the king to subsist so long considering the mighty advantages , the parliament had of him ? philanglus . there were mighty advantages indeed ; for they had all the tenable places , and towns of strength , both by land and sea . they had all the navy royal ; they had the tower of london with all the ammunition and arms of the crown ; they had the imposts and customs , poundage and tonnage , they had the exchequer at their devotion , with the revenues of king , queen , and prince ; they had the city of london , which may be called the great magazin of men and money , where there is a ready supply of all things that may feed , cloath , or make them gay and gallant , to put them in heart and resolution . polyander . then they had sea , city and scot on their side . but how came the scot to be so against the king , or to levy armes without his commission , considering the late great protestations and oaths they had made not to do it , by reviving the act of parliament to that effect ▪ which they said they did in recognition of those royal recent favours , and unparalleld mighty concessions and acts of grace , which he had done them by their own confessions ? philanglus . they were indeed mighty , or rather monstrous acts of grace that he had passed unto them , which did so trench upon the royal prerogative , and so de●ude him of all power that it mought have been said of him ever after , that he was king of scotland , no otherwise then he was king of france , titular only . polyander . how did the scots expresse their thankfulnesse to their king and country-man afterwards for such transcedant favours ? philanglus . they proved the greatest monsters of ingratitude of any upon earth specially the kirk-men whom he had obliged in an extraordinary manner ; for the king being informed of the mean condition of church-men in that kingdom , who by their holy function have a care of the noblest part of man , and being told what poor pittances or rather benevolences one●y they had ▪ and for those also how they depended upon the will and pleasure of the laic by a special commission to that purpose , he found a way not onely to augment but to ascertain those salaries of church ministers upon good firm rent ; whereby they might be free from that servile kind of clientele and dependency they had upon their secular patrons . polyander . questionlesse this was a mighty general advantage to the clergy of scotland , both in point of esteem and subsistence , but what returns did these royal favours receive ? philanglus . those foolish kirk men grew afterwards his greatest enemies by virulent seditious preachments and pasquils to corrupt and lessen the hearts of the subjects towards him nay , when he made himself a prisoner to the scots army at newark and newcastle those kirk-men did so little resent his hard condition , that they did preach up and down against his comming to scotland , &c. moreover , whereas , the common sort of freeholders who were bound to pay tithes to the impropriation or lords of the erection , as they stil'd themselves , were us'd to be much incommoded , and oftentimes damnified , because they could not take in their corn till the secular lord had fetched away his tithe , which he would sometimes delay of purpose , to shew his passion or power , whereby the whole crop for not taking the advantage of the weather , oft-times did suffer : the king for relief of the country husbandman , appointed certain commissioners to take this grievance into consideration , who after much pains taken in the businesse , found out a legal and indifferent way to purchase those tithes and bring the impropriator to take a pecuniary set valuable rent , which was also an advantage to him , in regard of the certainty of it . polyander . it was doubtlesse an advantage to both parties , but how did they carry themselves towards the king afterwards ? philanglus . just as the kirk-men did ; but you shall hear more , when the king , as i told you before , had in a full parliament confirm'd unto the scot all the priviledges of kirk and kingdom , when he had made an oblation to them of all the bishops lands , conferred many honours and offices , and done them many other obliging acts of grace , and all this gratis , the english parliaments using alwaies to answer their kings favours in this kind , with a supply of treasure , i say in having done all this gratis , he before his departure desired them to continue their allegiance , and live in peace , for they had not now the least grievance to complain of , and if any difference should fall out betwixt him , and his english subjects which he hoped god would avert , he desir'd them not to intermeddle , for whereas he might expect and demand aid of them if the case requir'd , yet he would not trouble the repose of that his native countrey : this they all did not onely promise to do , but they did solemnly oblige their souls thereunto by revival of the act i told you of before , at the publishing whereof one of their grandees fell on his knees , and lifting up both his arms , wish'd they might rot to his body before death , if ever he would heave them up hereafter , or draw sword against his gid king ; yet for all this they intruded themselves into the kings affairs , convok'd a parliament without his summons , sent commissioners to oxford , and thrust themselves to be vmpires : they made besides , a strict league with the english parliament , and at last rush'd into england again with an army in the dead of winter , which army they had levied not onely without , but expresly against the kings commission and countermands ; that wretch who had publickly vowed never to draw sword again without his majesties commission , &c. comming general of the said army : but for martial exploits the little credit that army got by storming newcastle was not countervailable to that which they lost before hereford , where the welchmen bang'd them to some purpose from before the town , and made their general after 9 weeks siege to trusse up his pack and away , sending him a fat sow with a litter of piggs after her , and a blew bonnet upon her head for his breakfast . i must inform you farther , that the king being reduced to much extremity in oxford , by crosse successes and councils , he got away in a serving-mans disguise to the scots army neer newark as his last refuge , which plot was managed by the subtilety of the french agent then residing here : a man would have thought that nation would have deemed it an eternal honour to have their own king and country man to throw himselfe thus into their armes , and repose so singular a confidence in them upon such an exigent ; but they corresponded not with him as he expacted ; for though at first when the english parliament sollicited their dear brethren for a delivery of the kings person unto them , their note was then , that if any stranger prince had put himselfe so upon them , they could not with honour deliver him up , much less their own native king , yet they made a sacrifice of him afterwards for a summe of money ; whereupon bellieure the french embassador being convoyed by a troop of scots horse to such a stand , in lieu of larges to the said troopers he drew out half a crown piece , and asked them how many pence that was , they answered thirty pence , he replied , for so much did judas betray his master , and so hurld them the half crown . polyander . but afterwards the scots carried themselves bravely by sending a gay army under d. hamilton to assist the king . polyander . touching that presbyterian army , the bottom of its design is not known to this day , and i was told , that when the king heard of it , and that himilton was in the head of it , he should say ; then i expect but little good to be done for me . polyander . certainly the routing of that army , was a glorious exploit of the lord protector that now is , his forces not amounting to the third part of the scots . philanglus . it was certainly a very heroik achivement , as also was the battail of dunbar , where the scots had greater advantages far of him : which two exploits deserve to be engraven in large letters of gold in the temple of immortality , and transmitted to after ages ; for hereby he did more then roman emperours , or after them ▪ the saxon , danish , norman , and english kings could ever do , to conquer that craggy country , and make england scot-free ever hereafter . but before i have done with this unlucky nation ; i will give you a touch of those visible judgments which have fallen upon them so thick one upon the neck of another in few years more then fell upon the jews in forty ; first there happened the greatest plague in edenburgh , that ever was in that country , for in less then a twelve-month , the town was peopled with new faces , the pestilence having swept away almost all the old : there have been above 2000 witches arraigned and executed there within these few years : after the routing of d. hamilton , and the battail of dunbar , with that at worcest●r , many thousands of that nation have been bought and sold in quality of slaves to be banished , and sent over to forraign plantations , what numbers of them were starved , and buried before they were dead ; and what is now become of their hundred and ten kings , and their crown ? which i heard them brag , was more weighty , as having more gold in it then the english ? and for their government they are reduced to be as pure a subordinate providence , and subject to the will of the conqueror as ever country was . polyander . i must tell you also that they have lost much of their repute abroad ; but if i were worthy to be heard by the lord protector , i would make a motion that his highnesse would take in at least , all the land 'twixt barwick and edenburgh into the english pale , and impose a new name upon it for an eternal mark of conquest , and for enlargeing the skirts of england . but sir , it is time for you now under favour to return to london , and know what the paraliment doth . philanglus . there are all artifices used to make the king odious , and both the press and the pulpit joyn in the work ; new distinctions are coyned , that though he was gods ●nynted , yet he was mans appointed ; that he had the commanding but not the disposing power ; that he was set to rule , but not to over●rule us : that he was king by humane choice , not by divine charter ; that he was not king by the grace of god , but by the suffrage of the people ; that hee had no implicit trust or peculiar property in any thing , that populus ●st potior rege , that grex lege , lex rege potentior ; that the king is , singulis major , but universis minor . lastly , that he was but a creature , and production of the parliament● &c. moreover all artifices are used to raise money : the first way that the parliament used ( after a royal subsidy of 400000 l. ) was to poll us , then they went on to clip and shave us , and had they continued longer , they had fallen a fl●ying of us : they lighted on no lesse then twenty severall ways to get money above board , whatsoever they got below . polemoney , and the royal subsidy were the first two . 3. free loans and contributions upon the publick faith , which swelled to an incredible sum , 4. the irish adventures for sale of lands . the first and second time . 5. the general collection for relief of the distressed protestants in ireland , to which use the hollanders sent over in mony and corn , neer upon 50000 l. and the e●glish collections came to neer four times so much , so that in all , both collections amounted to above 200000 l. sterling , and yet not ten thousand pound , not the twentieth part was employed to the right use . 5. they grew so hungry for money , that they impos'd the weekly meal . 6. the city loan after the rate of five subsidies . 7. a particular assessement for bringing in our dear brethren , the scots . 8. the five and twentieth part . 9. the weekly assessment for the lord generals army . 10. the weekly assessement for sir tho. fairfax army . 11. the weekly assessement for the scots army . 12. the weekly assessement for the british army in ireland . 13. the weekly assessement for the lord of manchesters army . 14. the kings , queens , and princes revenues . 15. sequestrations and plunder by committee . 16. compositions with delinquents , and fines , which came to sums passed all understanding 17. that ●utch devil the excise . 18. fortification money . 19. bishops deans and chapters lands . to this may be added the ship sancta clara , valued in money and merchandize at 800●0 l. sterling , which was detain'd at southampton for reparation of those damages that some english merchants had received by the spaniard , as it was declared in the house , but not a farthing thereof was imployed to that use , notwithstanding that many with expence of time and coin did solicit for the same ; and lastly , the houshold stuff of the king , queen , prince and others ; whereof some small proportion was allotted for payment of the arrears of the kings poor servants ; but they were to advance two in the pound be fore-hand before they could be admitted to any divident , and t is incredible what jugling there was used in that business , for some receaved nothing thereby but loss upon loss : nay they took away moneys given to repair churches , and in some places robb'd the very lazaretto . polyander . sure , these vast sums must amount to a huge mass of money , money enough to have pourchas'd half a dozen kingdoms instead of purging one . touching that du●ch devill you speak of , the excise , i remember sir dudley carleton when he was secretary of state did but name it in one parliament , and it was such a bugbear abominable word , that he was called to the barr , and hardly escap'd going to the tower , though he made use of it to no ill sense ; but was there no account given of these publik erogations and taxes ? philanglus . an account was often voted and promised , but never performed ; for then they should have discovered how much their own memberships had swallowed for their private interest of the publique tresure , by free gifts among themselves , and the perquisites of gainfull offices . polyander . but we heard beyond sea , that they had passed a solemne ordinance of 〈◊〉 o● self-abnegation , called the self-de●ying ordinance , whereby they made themselves incapable of offices , and other things of gain . philanglus . 't is true there was such an ordinance , and 't was thought it pass'd principally to remove essex from the generalship , whom they began to suspect , but nothing was afterward lesse observed . polyander . i heard you speak of money's borrow'd upon the publique faith , i pray how were those reimboursed ? philanglus . it was the first●time that publick faith did ever set up for herself , and she quickly grew to be a bankrupt ; and never was there such double dealing used by any publick assembly ; for when the lenders upon that publique faith came to demand their mony 's , they could not have them , unless they doubled the first sum , together with the interest they had received , and then they should have the valu in church or crown lands , but if they doubled not both interest and principall , they should not be capable to have any la●ds allowed for their mony 's ; divers to my knowledge have ruin'd themselves hereby , and though they clamor'd , and spoak high language at the parliaments dore , and were promised satisfaction , yet they could not get peny to this day . poliander . i heard this cry'd up abroad to be the arrand'st cheat that ever was done by a great counsel , and one of the foulest blemishes that england cold receave , by making her forefeit her faith in that manner . fides publica , fides punica . i heard likewise of divers interlopers , that for half a crown in the pound were used to buy the publique faith bills , as others drive on a trade to buy the soldiers debenters . but whereas we have spoke a little of that dutch devil the excise , we heard abroad of a scotch devil also , though of an other nature , that was risen up amongst you , which was the covenant ; i pray how was he conjur'd up ? philanglus . that covenant was conjur'd up by the presbyterian party , and , may be called a worse devill than the excise for the one tyranniz'd o're the purss , the other ore the conscience ; but what an unmanly and dishonorable thing was it for the english nation to bind their souls for conserving the religion of another foren people inferior to them ▪ for conserving the doctrine , disciplin , and government of that church which not one en●lish man in a thousand did understand , and yet every one must take the holy covenant by a blind implicit faith ? but now that we have fallen upon the covenant which may be said to be an engin ●org'd in hell for battry of the conscience , i will tell you of an odd passage that happend about that time ; there was one ma●ter heron a printer , who being sent for by the lady tilbury , she told him that now that there is a nationall covenant come forth , which every one must taste , she had a sermon in a fair manuscript of that great light of the church master brightman which treats of univers●l coven●n●s , how far they are agreeable to scripture , and consonant to the word of god , and it had bin preached before the house of commons thirty yeers before , therefore it would be now very seasonable to print and publish it ; the printer giving her ladyship many thanks , received the sermon , ( which she avouched upon her honour to be a true copy ) and undertook the business , so he went to him who was appointed by the synod to licence for the press pieces of that nature , to get an imprematur , but the syododcall man having kept the sermon above three dayes by him , the printer went for his sermon and found it formally licenc'd for the press , but most pittifully falsified , interlin●d and adulterated in many places ; for whereas the opinion of brightman throughout the whole sermon , was , that a n●tionall and generall covenant was agreeable to the word of god , provided , the k●ng did give his royall assent thereunto , without w●ich it w●s both detestabl● and d●mnable ; the holy synodicall man had expung'd the word king every where , and foisted in the room of it , sometimes the word parliament , sometimes the trustees of the common wealth ; the printer having perus'd the interlinations told him , that were he to get 1000 l. by printing that sermon , he would not be so arrand a knave as to wrong the dead so much , by making him speak what he never meant , nay things qu●te contrary to his meaning ; i saw the said sermon , and the manner how it was so basely sophisticated . polyander . there was another oath consisting all of negatives , called the oath of abjuration , which i also heard of , that came out about the same time , which extended to take away the liberty of the very thought , it did not only re●●h the outward man , but it ransack'd all the cells of his brain , with the intern ideas and cogitations of his mind . philanglus . truly , under favour , and correction , i humbly speak it , there is a kind of inhumanity , and {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} in that oath ; for all laws are made , and all magistrates are instituted to restrain the outward man , and regulat his actions , as they refer to the public ; for it matters not what private crochets we have in our single selfs , so we be in comfort and tune with our companions ; the law considers us as we have reference one to another , and to the body politic , therefore it neither useth to limit our private spendings , nor ties us to any cours of diet or p●ysick , because our single fortunes , and health , though they mightily concern our selves , yet they are but of little importance to the publique ; and as every one enjoyes this liberty in relation to his body , and goods , so our souls ought to be allow'd a proportionable share of that freedom , so that it give no scandall to the publique . our thoughts , as long as we keep them within dores , cannot any way offend therefore the law hath provided no punishment for them ; the intention of murther is taken no notice of by the law , if the design of mischief stay at the imagination , and proceeds no further to any outward attempt , the law referrs that to the great tribunal of god who is the only kardiognostic , the sole searcher of the heart ; if a law were justifiable against erroneous thoughts in points of religion , with an oath of abjuration to make the suspected accuse himself , why ( as a gentleman doth rationally inferr ) should there not an oath be also provided against thoughts of treson , adul●ery and murther ? and so bring every one to swear whether he be guilty or no of such crimes . now , touching this presbyterian oath of abjuration , it is not contented with a modest , and simple deniall , that one believes there are no such and such things , but he must swear positively and point blank there are no such things at all ; now , though i am not of the same opinion with copernicus that the earth moves , and the sun stands still , yet i w●ld be loth to swear either the one or the other . polyander . i observe that this oath hath a double edg , for either it must wron● o●e's conscience , or ruine his fortunes ; besides he is condemn'd without either accuser or witness , the party himself must be both against himself , and what can be more repugnant to nature ? philanglus . it is not only opposit to the law of nature , but the common law of england doth so abhor that any shold accuse and condemn himself , that there were extraordinary provisions made against it by our progenitors , therefore if any had bin cited in the spirituall court to accuse himself pro salute animae , a prohibition lay at the common law to stop and supersede their proceedings : all which is humbly left to the consideration of the present government . polyander . i infer out of this , that if the presbyterian had established himself he had proved the ugliest tyrant that ever was on gods earth , if you relate to soul , body , or goods , in lieu of 26 bishops , we should have had nine thousand and odd pop●s , who would have delivered us over t● satan ever and anon , and puzzeled us with their parochial , congregational , and national classes . but i cannot wonder enough that the house of commons shold so busy themselves so much , and undertake to frame , and impose new oaths , when by the law of the land they had● or ●ower as much as to administer an old oath to the meanest subject ; and touching that c●vena●t , what could be more opposit unto their former oath ? for therein they offered their souls to preserve that r●ligion which was established by the laws of ●ngland , and in the covenant they bind them●elves , to conserve that which was established by the laws of scotland , and to that purpose they may be said to offer to god for their security to sa●an ; moreover , those demogogs or popular dagons , though they were so forward to constrain all other of their fellow subjects to take and swallow up any oaths , yet two parts of three among themselves did not take them , as i have been often told . but sir , now that you have been pleased to inform me of their carriage in spirituall things , how did they comport themselves in civill matters , after they had monopolized unto themselves all power by the act of continuance ? phil●nglus . first i must tell you , that touching that monstrous act , the soundest lawyers of the kingdome were of opinion , that it was of no validity , that it was void in it self , in regard that what grants or concessions soever the king makes , the law presupposeth , they are alwayes made with these proviso's , sa●vo j●re regio , salvo jure coronae ; now it was impossible that any grant could possibly trench more upon the right of the king or crown , as that extravagant act of continuance , therefore it was n●l in its own nature at the first ; nay , as some affirmed , the very proposall of it was treson in a high degree . but having hooked the power thus into their hands , they strained it up to the highest pitch that could be ; they made themselves land-lords of al the three kingdoms , it was a common thing to take any man , house over his head , and make use of it for their service ; they meddled with every thing , so far , that scarce a church-warden or vestry-man could be made without them , they would have a hand in making common counsel men , and constables , with other petty officers . polyander . me thinks that was somewhat derogatory to the supremacy of their power , for great counsels should not descend to every petty object , but with their high authority they should enlarge their souls to consider of universals . philanglus . i could produce many instances how they undervalued themselves this way , but let this one suffice . it happened one day that a company of ramping wenches , who went under the name of mayds , or holy sisters , came with a remonstrance to shew their affections to the house , and they were headed by mrs. ann stagg ▪ who was to deliver the remonstrance ; hereupon a choise member was voted to go to mrs. ann staggs lodging , to thank her and the r●st of the maydens for their good affections to the parliament , &c. but to be more serious with you , touching civill matters , whereof you gave a touch before , there was nothing so common in those times as a ch●rg● without an accuser , a sentence w●thout a ju●ge ▪ and cond●mnation without hearing : how many were outed of their freeholds , liberty and livelihoods before any examination , much le●se conviction ? how many appeals were made from solemne tribunalls of justice to inferior committes ? how common a thing was it to make an order of theirs to control a●d suspend the very fundamental laws of the land ? polyander . but this was in the brunt of the war , which the king did necessitate them unto , as he acknowledged in the treaty at the isle of wight . philanglus . 't is true he did so , but he did it upon two weighty considerations , and as it had reference to two e●ds , first to smoothen things thereby , and pave the way to a happy peace : secondly , that it might conduce to the further security of the two houses of parliament with their adherents : besides he did it when the razor was as it were at his throat , when there was an army of above 30000 effect if horse and foot , that were in ●otion against him ; then , this acknowledgment was made , with these two proviso's and reservations ; first ▪ that it shold be of no vertu and validity at all till the whole treaty were totally consummated ; secondly , that he might when he pleased enlarge , and cleer the truth hereof with the reservedness of his meaning by publique declaration ; moreover , that grant or acknowledgment was but a preambular proposition it was not of the essence of the treaty it self ; now , as the philosophers and school-men tell us , there is no valid proof can be drawn out of proems , introductions , or corollaries in any science , but out of the positive assertions , and body of the text , which is only argument-proof , so in the constitutions & laws of england , as also in all civill accusations and charges , fore-running prefaces ( which commonly weak causes most want ) are not pleadable . and though they use to be first in place , like gentlemen ushers , yet are they last in dignity , and shold also be so in framings ; therefore there was too much hast used by the parliament to draw that hyp●thetic provisional concession to the form of an act , so suddenly before the treaty it self was fully concluded . polyander . but who was the first aggressor of that ugly war , the king or the parliament ? philanglus . i will not presume to determin that , only i will inform you , that the parliament took the first military gard ; they first interdicted trade : they countenanced all tumultuous riots , gave way to club-law , and they kept the king by force out of hull , issued commissions for horse , brought in foren force , and had a compleat army in motion , a good while before the royall standard was set up . polyander . i remember a witty motto that the last french cardinal caused to be engraven upon the brich of some new canons which were cast in the arsenall at paris , it was — katio ultima regum . viz. that the canon was the last reason of kings . but whether this motto may fit subjects , i will not now dispute . but sure the king was ill advised so to rush into a war , considering what infinite advantages the houses had of him , for as you say'd before , they had the sea , the scot , and the city on their side ; and the king had no confederate at all at home or abroad ; i am sure he had no friend abroad that one might say was a true friend unto him , unless it was the prince of ora●●e ▪ in regard he had disobliged all other princes : for you know , as soon as he came to the crown , he rushed into a war with the king of spain , and in lieu of making him his brother in ●aw●e made him his foe , which stuck still in his stomach ; as also th●● he had given so fair a reception to the ambassadors of don juan de braganza now king of portug●ll . a little after he broke with the fr●nch king , notwithstanding that he had his sister every night in his arms ; the holland●rs gave out that he had appeard more for the s●aniard than them , in that great fight with do● anton●o d'oqu●nd● ; and that he suffer'd his own ships and others to convey the king of spains mony to dunkerke . he was ingag'd to his onc●e the k. of de●mark in great old s●m● , whereof there was little care taken to give satisfaction ; the iri●h cryed out , they had bin oppressed ; the swed observed that he was more for the house of austria , than for gustavus adolphus ; and at home i have been told that the irish cryed out he had bin oppressed ; and the scot whom he had obliged most of any by such mountains of favours , with divers of his own creatures , and domestic bosome servants whom he had engaged most , started aside from him like a broken bow , so that all things did co-operat and conspir'd as it were to make him a hard-fated prince , and to usher in a revolution . philanglus . yet i heard that all princes were very sensible of his fall . polyander . t' is true , they did must resent it at first , yet they were affected rather with ●stonishment then sorrow ; and touching the roman catholique princes they did afterwards rejoyce at it , considering what a blemish the manner of his death brought upon the reformed religion ; but sir i pray be pleased to proceed . philanglus . the sophies , or gran signo'rs of the common-wealth , whereof we spoke before , scrued up their authority every day higher and higher , they declare , that an ornance of parliament without the royal assent is equivalent to an act ; they declare ; that not onely the consultative , ministerial , and directive power is in them , but also the judicatory , despotical , and legislative highest power is inherent in the walls of their two houses ; that their power is also arbitrary , vbiquitary and incontrolable ; that they are not subject to dissolution or time , being the eternal and irrevocable trustees of the commonwealth , with such rodomontado's ▪ which made one to think that a mid-summer moon had got betwixt them , and therefore thought this anagram a very fit one to be set upon the dore of the house , with the distic annexed , parliamentum , lar amentium . fronte rogas isto p. cur anagrammate non sit , in promptu causa est , principem abesse scias . polyander . they who have pryed into the true humour of a portuguez , have observ'd , that he useth to act more according to what hee thinks himself to be , then what he really is , it seems that these parliamenteers were possess'd and puffed up with the same humour ; but if the supream power were in an assembly , when that assembly is risen , i wonder what 's become of the power , sure it must rest in the air , or sticking to the walls of the chamber where they breath'd . now sir , touching long parliaments , i am of opinion , it is the greatest and generallest grievance that can be possibly to the english people , by reason that besides other irregularities , it stops the ordinary course of law , in regard of the priviledge they have , not to be subject to arrest with others to whom they give protection , now not one in four of that long parliament men , but ow'd money , and what use sir peter t ▪ and others made of that priviledge , to the detriment of a thousand poor creditors , is too well known : and were such men , think you , fit to keep the kingdomes purse in their pockets so long ? but having got the great seal , as well as the sword into their hands , what signal acts of justice did they do ? philanglus . 't is true they had got the seal and sword , which the law of england doth appropriate to the chiefest magistrate , the one should be girt onely to his side , and the other hang at his girdle ; and it was told them to their faces by the knowingest members in the house , that to cut a broad seale of england was the highest reason that possibly could be attempted , without the assent of the governor in chief . now sir touching any signal act of justice they ever did , i am to seek to this day ; but for horrid acts and passages of in justice , i think there could be produced a thousand clear , and yet crying examples ( which would make a greater volume then the book of martyrs . ) i mean acts that were done before the wars begun , and after it was ended , which takes away the specious colour of necessity wherewith they varnished all their excesses and actions . i will instance onely in two ( for this was intended for a short discourse , not for a story ) viz. the business of the lord craven , and sir john stawel : the first a personage who is a great ornament to this nation by his gallant comportments beyond the seas , the other one of the considerablest knights in the whole country . touching the lord craven , he went with consent of parliament to his charge in the low countries , not onely before the war , but before any discontentment happened at all 'twixt king and parliament , and being atten●ing his said military charge at breda when the king of scots came thither , and the queen of bohemia being also there , he could not avoid seeing them sometimes ; nor was there any order or act of parliament to prohibit any body from doing so ; but for intermedling with any affairs of state , or mixing with the scots council , he never did it ; at that time there happened to be in breda , many cashiered english officers , and among them one faulkner , who having a petition drawn , and written all with his own hand , the pourport whereof onely was , that the king would releeve their necessities ; they desired the intercession of my lord craven herein ▪ but he with a civil complement declined the business , for he was not fit to do them service , because , as he said , he was neither courtier nor servant to the king . hereupon faulkner being offended , both with king and craven , in a passion said ( as 't was proved ) this it is to follwo a thing called king , dam me , i 'le to england and do all the mischiefe i can ; being come to london he forg'd another petition , wherein there were scandalous words against the parliament , viz. that they were barbarous inhumane villains . then going with a confident of the parliaments who fed him with money to go on in his design , he made an affidavit upon oath , that the foremention'd officers at breda shewed this very petition to the lord craven , who read it , and delivered it to the king , ( both which was damnably false ) as soon as this deposition was reported to the house , they presently voted a confiscation of all the lord cravens estate ; he being then neer upon a thousand miles off in germany , and no soul appearing for him , nor could any on his behalfe procure a copy of faulkners deposition : craven having notice herof , he sent a most humble petition to the parliament , declaring his innocence , which petition was sent in the dutch ambassadours packet , who delivered it accordingly ; but it was denied to be read in the house , because there was none present , who could testifie they did see the lord craven subscribe it ; he sent afterwards another petition , but it was seven months before it could be read in the house ; in the mean time his estate had been sequestred , his woods cut down , and other spoils done ; his agents here to invalidate the affidavit of faulkner indited him of perjury , which was clearly proved in open court , and the original petition was produced , which was written by faulkner himselfe , wherein there was not one syllable that spoke of the parliament ; there was legal proofe also made that craven had nothing to do with that petition ; this inditement of perjury being found against faulkner by the grand jury , the parliament was informed therewith , yet neretheless a bill passed for sale of the lord cravens estate , and surveyors sent accordingly to the country ; faulkner being thus convicted of perjury , it was prov'd also in court what a nefarious atheistical , and most wicked fellow he was both in his words and actions , how he had nothing more common in his mouth , then dam me , blood and wounds , and buggering of his soul to hell : it was proved that at petersfield he drank a health to the divel , and that he should say our saviour was a bastard , and but a carpenters son , carrying a basket of tools after his father ; the parliament was acquainted with all this , and divers earnest and sedulous applications that possibly could be made , were used , but nothing would prevail . the lord craven finding the house so inexorable and obdurate , rather then so fair an estate should bee canconiz'd and squandred into so many hands , he proposed by way of humble petition , that the house would punish him by way of pecuniary mulct , and there were two able knights attending the door ready to undertake the payment thereof , which motion the lord general , now lord protect●r , did most nobly advance : yet all would not do , but the surveys of the estate being return'd , the bill of sale was compleated , and some of the members of the house stepp'd in with the first to buy the flour of his lands , to the value of 6000 l. per annum , as appears by the contracts made at drury house in their own names : that goodly house at causam near redding being in excellent repair , was bought by some , who for greedy lucre and gain utterly defac'd it , they pull'd down the wainscot , stair-cases , lead , iron , and all other materials about the house , which had cost above 20000 l. yet they gave the common-wealth , but little above 1500 l in monies for it , the price of debentets therein also included . polyander . truly sir , it was one of the hardest peeces of injustice i ever heard of , that such a princely estate ( for i heard by divers , that had the lord craven injoy'd it to this day , it would have amounted to above 20000 l. per annum ) a revenue that i know some soveraign princes come short of ; i say it was a sad thing , that by the single testimony of one man , and he such a perjur'd notorious villain as it was apparently proved , such an estate should be destroy'd . philanglus . a sad thing indeed , but besides those pregnant proofs which were produc'd and made good in open court , that abhominable wretch , being lately upon his death bed in the kings bench , confess'd all under his hand and what monstrous wrong he had done the lord craven . but i will proceed now to the other instance i promis'd you . the unlucky war 'twixt king and parliament being begun about the commission of array , the city of exceter was beleaguer'd by sir t. fairfax , which at last rendred her self upon article ; it chanc'd sir jo. s●awel was then in the town ; a full agreement being made , the capitulations sign'd and seal'd , and the place yeelded , sir john came to london in due time to reap the benefit of the articles which were solemnly confirm'd and ratified by both houses of parliament : now , two of those articles were that no oath , covena●t , protestation or subscription should be impos'd upon any person compriz'd within those articles , but onely such as should bind them from bearing arms for the future against the parliament . 2. that all persons compriz'd in those articles , having made such a subscription ▪ should be admitted to a moderate composition , which was not to exceed two yeers value of any mans real estate , &c. sir john stawel having subscrib'd accordingly , and brought a copy of his subscription , as also a fair certificate from sir tho. fairfax that he was compriz'd in exon articles , made his addresse to . goldsmiths hall , and producing the said certificate and subscription , he petition'd that hee might be admitted to compound according to article ; the commissioners answered , that hee was not capable of composition unlesse he would take the covenant , and negative oath , whereunto he modestly repl●'d , that there was no article for that , but rather è contrario ; whereupon hee was not onely barr'd of his composition , but he was sent prisoner to ely house ; afterwards by the sole order of the house of commons , he was committed to newgate for high treason , in levying war against the parliament , where he continued almost four yeers , in which time , he was several times i●dited of treason , and twice arraign'd at the k. bench bar for his life ; then was he remov'd from newgate to the tower and kept close prisoner , whence hee was several times convented before the high court of justice , which had been newly erected who after many daies trial would neither sentence him , nor acquit him , but onely certified their proceedings to the parliament . now sir , you must know , that presently upon the taking of exceter , his whole estate was sequestred , and continuing so above 7 years , he being not allow'd a peny to put bread in his mouth , hee visibly lost above 30000 l. which he humbly prayed might satisfie for his composition , which would not have amounted to the sixth part so much according to article ; he was not onely denied that , but a nigrum theta a black bill was voted for selling away his whole estate : a little after , an act being passed , and commissioners appointed for the relief of prisoners upon articles in time of war , sir john made his addresses unto them , and after above ten moneths debate of the business , the whole court ( consisting of eight commissioners ) delivered their opinions cleerly , that sir john stawel was within the articles of exon , that he had not broken any of those articles ever since , but exactly observ'd and perform'd them , that consequently hee was not onely to have his person unmolested , and his whole estate restored him , but to have satisfaction for the great losses he had received while his estate lay under sequestration , &c. this clear and positive judgement being pronounced solemnly by the court of articles , and the demurres which the trustees appointed to sell forfeited estates , and the pourchasers of sir john staw●ls lands had made , being ov●r ruled , yet the parliament resumed the business , reversed , the sentence of that court they themselves had authorized , and voted that the pourchasers should quietly enjoy and occupy according to their several contracts , what they had bought of sir john stawels estate . p●lyander . good lord , what a world of hardships did that noble knight undergo , as to be so tossed from prison to prison , from bar to bar ▪ yet to be found guilty no where , but to be pronounced r●ctus i●curia , nevertheless , to have a sentence of civil death pronounced against him , viz the loss of so fair and noble an estate as any in the west of england , by the mischievous practice of a member of the house , who , as i heard professed most friendship unto him ! but was there no more care to observe articles of war which is held a sacred thing among pagans and infidels ? the t●rk and tartar , in this point will keep faith with the sword as well as with the cimiter , with the hat as well as with the turban or shash . philanglus . herein a difference may be said to have been 'twixt generals , for the presbyterian generals did not much care how their articles were broke or kept ; but his highness who is now lord protector , was very carefull for the observation of what articles he made , and clash'd about it more then once with the parliament . polyander . truely sir , you have related many horrid things , which might make the word parliament merit the same fate that befel tyrant , sophister , and others , which were good in their first institution , but afterwards came to be odious and reproachful , and will continue so to the worlds end . but 't is much that the parliament which should be the great physitian of the common wealth should become such a mountebank , that in lieu of making up the ruptures 'twixt king and people , and closing the leaks in the great vessell of the state ▪ they should cause more , that like banbury tinkers in lieu of stopping one hole they should make two . there is a saying , that infaeliciter agrotat c●● plus-mali venit à medico , quam à morbo ; that patient is in a sad case , who receives more hurt from the physitian then from the disease ; more mischief from the remedy then from the malady ; t is better for one to endure a little head-ach , then to have his pate broken . philanglus . there breaths not a soule inter quatuor maria , betwixt englands foure seas , who hath a more venerable opinion of parliaments then i , having had the honour to have been a good while a small part thereof ; they were used to be the bulwark of our liberties , the main banks and boundaries which kept us from slavery , from the inundation of arbitrary rule , and unbounded will-government ; this high superintendent court at its first constitution was used to be compared to the macrocosm the great world it self ; the soveraign magistrate was compared to the sun , the nobles to the fixed stars , the judges & other officers who went with messages 'twixt both houses , to the planets , the clergy to the element of fire , the commons to the solid mass of earth ; and as the heavenly bodies when three of them meet in conjunction , use to produce some admirable effects in the great world , so when the three states did use to convene and assemble in one solemn junta , some notable and extraordinary things were used to be brought forth tending to the wellfare of the whole kingdom . now , there were three essential properties that belonged to parliament , viz. fairness of election , fulness of members , and freedom of speech : 't is too well known how little of all three were found in the late long parliament , specially the last , to wit , liberty of speech . for none was permitted to speak , unless he spoke still to the sense of the house , to the sense of the house , which was a pure restraint ; what a deale of time was spent in bandying of answers in remonstrances , in replies , rejoynders , and descanting upon words ? so that the first 16. months were spent meerly in chopping logick with the king , and nothing at all done ; for fulness of members , they were purg'd at last very low , so that there was scarce the tenth part of what they should have been in number . the king offered to give them a little purge of five or six drams , but it was furiously cast away , because there was too much basilicon in it . then there was a purge of eleven drams given them , wherein there was some unguentum armarium that cures a far off , which made some of them to flie t' other side of the sea , where one member , as soon as he put foot on shore , fell sick of the plague , and so was buried no better then in the town ditch , because he had first infected the place ; at last they had a good sound purge , as big as a drench administred them , which purg'd away above a hundred members at once ; yet all this would not do , for some members were grown so corrupt and putrid , that nothing could cure the house but an utter dissolution , according to the old saying , — immedicabile vulnus ense recidendum — which great dissolution was made without one tear , or drop of bloud , as the portugal embassadour sent word to lisbon ; , for england had been long weary of her physicians , who had they continued longer , might have made her say as alexander the great did on his death bed , perii turba medicorum , i die of too many physicians . polyander . touching fullnesse of members i heard it censur'd by some criticks beyond the seas , for a solaecism in the english government , that they are so many , but specially that the burgesses should exceed the knights ; you know trop gran n●mbre est incombre , too great a number ushers in nothing but confusion encombrances , and noise , which oftentimes was so extreamly loud and obstreperous among them , that as i was told they were heard at lambeth , there could not be a greater among the o●ster women at billings-gate . now sir , there may be tyranny in one , in a few , and in many ; in one , as in the great turk ( and indeed all the eastern emperors ) who with his breath alone , without any legal processe , can take any ones life away , and is sole propriator of the whole country , insomuch that the best man in turky cannot leave one foot of land as an inheritance to his son , but it reverts to the grand signior . secondly , there may be tyranny in few , as in the thirty men of athens , or in some privy councel of state . lastly , there may be tyranny in many , as in some general great convention or popular assembly , and this is the worst of all , it being a rule , that plebs est pessimus tyrannus . philanglus . the late long parliament degenerated to such a one , whereof thousands of instances might be produc'd ; let this one serve at present ; the army had occasion to make their address to the house , upon a business of a just and general concernment ; but the grandees of the house answer'd , that if they should read those demands , they might chance to find them of that nature , as they could not with justice deny them , nor with honour grant them , &c. but herein they shew'd themselves but poor politicians ; for you know it is a true rule . ar●●a renenti , omnia dat qui usta negat . and was it not time then for the army to think of dismissing their memberships ? but the truth is , that if you go to the right rule of parliament , they had dissolv'd themselves i cannot tell how often before ; for besides that the original writ from whence they deriv'd their power was void by the kings death , how often did they rise up in confusion , without adjourning the house ? how oft did they sit without a speaker , he being fled to the army ? how many hundred ways did they break their own priviledges ? what things did they do which they voted shoùld not serve for presidents hereafter ? as strafford's death , and sitting on sunday , &c. how many bills were resum'd , being twice ▪ ejected out of the house of peers ? as those against bishops , and touching the militia , &c. yet were they taken into debate again the same session , which is point blank against the very fundadamentals of parliament : how many thousand petitions ( some whereof were recommended by the lords ) lay mouldring in corners , and were never so much as read in the house ? and was it not high time think you to quell this monster ? or rather , to pull down this idol ? truly this great prudential act of shutting up that house , and the barring up of that cold postern door in the north , may well take place among those many mighty things his highness hath done . polyander . they are mighty things indeed , and they are marvellous in our eyes ; nor do these isles only , but every corner of the habitable earth ring thereof : nay the sea swells high with the breath of them . england may be said to be heretofore like an animal that knew not her own strength ; she is now better acquainted with her self ; for in point of power and treasure , she did never appear so high both at home and abroad , as you said before : this makes france to cringe unto her so much ; this makes spain to offer her peace with indian patacons upon any terms : this makes the hollander to dash his colours , and vail his bonnet so low unto her ; this makes the italian princes , and all other states that have any thing to do with the sea , to court her so much ; though the emperor and the mediterranean princes of germany , whom she cannot reach from her gun-rooms care not much for her . now sir among those many heroick and difficult exploits of divers kinds which his highness hath performed there is one act ( humbly under favour ) may well become the greatness of his spirit ; it is , to reach a timely hand for preserving the stutely temple of pauls from tumbling down , and from being buried in her own rubbish ; a temple which hath above a thousand yeers tugg'd with the fury of the elements , and the iron teeth of time ; the goodliest pile of stones in the world , take all dimensions together . 't is also the greatest and most visible ornament of this renowned city , who would look bald , and as it were crest-fall'n without her ; a temple that hath this singularity above all others , as to be founded upon faith , having a spacious church of that name underneath to serve and support her . i remember it was observ'd how in that disastrous expedition to the isle of rhe , the great stones which were design'd to repair pauls , were carried away to make ballast for ships ▪ and for other warlike uses in that service , which made some judicious critiques of those times ●o foretel the unlucky and inglorious return we made thence . some giddy heady puritan in reading this , will presently shoot his bolt , and cry out , that i have a pope in my belly , but you know my intellectuals better . philanglus . i know well sir , your principles are otherwise ; but i concur with you in opinion , that it would be a very glorious thing to atchieve such a work , and one moneths tax or two would do it ; or if his highness would give way ▪ that a general contribution might be made to that purpose ; other vast sums are daylie spent , but little or nothing appears of them afterwards in point of effect ; those monies that would be employ'd in this , will leave somthing behind them , viz. a glorious visible monument to all posterity , which will make after ages to bless these times . polyander . such a monume●t would suit well with the grandeur of his highness , whom all nations cry up for the hero of the times , and a special instrument design'd for great actions , he would gain the applause of millions of souls hereby , both at home and abroad where i have heard divers , who are far from thinking any inherent holiness to odge in stones or inanimate things , i say , i have heard divers of the reformed churches sadly complain , that pauls in the case it is , is the ruthfull'st spectacle upon earth ; but now sir , i take leave to give you serious thanks for the elaborate relation you have been pleas'd to make me of the proceedings of that long parliament , which in lieu of redressing grievances , became it self at last the greatest grievance . as also of the practise and modesty of parliaments in former times , who declin'd high affairs of state , specially forraign , much more to arrogate to themselves the supreme power ; for soveraignty may be said to be an indivisible way , deriv'd and d●r●ed from the divine majesty it self , it cannot be divided among a multitude ; we never read that the people were call'd gods , or the lord's anointed , or nursing f●thers , nor do ●e read of any aristocracies or democraci●s at all in the holy scriptures . therefore i ascribe to his judgment ▪ who holds , that the firmest and most c●mp●ndious way of government is , when the supremacy resides in one per●on , whom the people ought to trust by an indispensable necessity for their own advantage , in steering the great vessel of the common-wealth , with the advice of a select council : and herein a state may be compar'd to a gally , wherein some are to observe the compass , others to furl the s●yls , others to handle the ropes , others to rug at the oar , others to be ready ●n arms , but there is but one pilot to sit at the helm . it is requisite also that this single person should be attended with a visible standing veteran army , to be pay'd well , and punish'd well if there be cause , to awe as well as to secure the people , it being the greatest soloecism that can be in government , to depend meerly upon the affections of the people , for there is not such a wavering windy thing , not such an humoursome and cross-grain'd animal in the world as the common people ; and what authors soever , either greek or latine , have pretended to policie , affirm so much . there be divers modern writers that busie their brains to prescribe rules of government , but they involve the reader in vniversals , or rather bring him to a labyrinth of distinctions , whereby they make the art of mast●ring man to be more difficult , and distracted then it is in it self . philanglus . sir , touching the account you speak of , that i have endeavour'd to render of the traverses that happen'd for matter of fact ▪ during the reign of the long parliament , i have given you but cursory short touches ; there would be subject enough for so many tomes as would make a library , if one should relate all ; but for inferences and conclusions in point of judgement which may be drawn out of what hath been said already , i leave that to be done in the close of every ones private conscience . gloria honorque deo saeclorvm in saecvla svnto . a chronogram of the present yeer , and that will last till 1920. an advertisement . let the discerning reader be pleas'd to know , that whereas in the fore-going con●er●nce : there are some free touches at divers things happen'd in the late long parliam●nt . what is ●poken that way , is spoken with this restrictive rule of the logician : non de singulis generum , sed d● generibus singulorum : it is well known , there sate there as prudential and well temper'd men , as england affords , whose chiefest aym was the common good . the former discourse is far from meaning such noble patriots , but only those , who having tasted the sweetness of authority , thought to immortalize that session , and make themselves perpetual dictators . finis . an exact historie of the late revolutions in naples, and of their monstrous successes not to be parallel'd by any ancient or modern history / published by the lord alexander giraffi in italian ; and (for the rarenesse of the subject) rendred to english, by j.h., esqr. revolutioni di napoli. english giraffi, alessandro. 1650 approx. 272 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 108 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-05 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a42791 wing g784 estc r7806 12251675 ocm 12251675 57138 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a42791) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 57138) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 145:12) an exact historie of the late revolutions in naples, and of their monstrous successes not to be parallel'd by any ancient or modern history / published by the lord alexander giraffi in italian ; and (for the rarenesse of the subject) rendred to english, by j.h., esqr. revolutioni di napoli. english giraffi, alessandro. howell, james, 1594?-1666. [9], 206 p. : port. printed by r.a. for r. lowndes, london : 1650. translation of: revolutioni di napoli. caption title: nevves from naples. reproduction of original in harvard university libraries. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng masaniello, 1620-1647. naples (kingdom) -history. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-02 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-03 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2004-03 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion effigie & uero ritratto di masianiello , comandante , in napoli . an exact historie of the late revolutions in naples ; and of their monstrous successes , not to be parallel'd by any ancient or modern history . published by the lord alexander giraffi in italian ; and ( for the rarenesse of the subject ) rendred to english , by i. h. esqr. non est quòd mireris praeterita , praesentia te reddent attonitum . liv. leave off admiring what before hath past , this present age will make thee more agast . london : printed by r. a. for r. lowndes . 1650. to the right vvorshipfull the governour , the deputy , and the rest of the worthy company trading into the levant ▪ sirs , the scene of this ensuing story , was that country where princes are merchants , and with which you hold most correspondence ; this , with those high respects i have alwaies profess'd to that noble society , and the employment which by royall commission i once had to serve some of them , induc'd me to this addresse . the originall was very lately compil'd by an italian nobleman , and though it be a small volume , yet it contains as stupendous passages , as ever happen'd on earth since discord first entred into the vvorld ; and indeed were they not fresh , and acted , as it were but yesterday , it wold stagger any ones faith to beleeve , that in so well a policed city as naples , commanded by a viceroy , and three praesidiall castles , so full of nobility and gentry , as no place more , abounding with so many sober and politic heads , i say , it wold stumble any ones belief , that a young fellow , a petty poor bare-footed fisherman , shold draw after him in lesse then three days , above forty thousand armed men , and shaking off his linnen slop , blue wastcoat , & red bonnet , shold the fourth day ride triumphantly upon his coursier in cloth of silver , command all naples , and consequently neer upon six hundred thousand souls , as absolutely as ever monark did ; and all this by his own single orders , which were of force enough to plunder or burn any house , to banish the proudest lord , or chop off any head , without judiciall proceeding . in this narration , though short and small , you may see all the circumstances hereof related with much exactnesse : moreover , as in a little ring emboss'd with som precious stone , one may behold the effigies of a great castle , or mountaine ( by a rare contraction of the object ) so in this small history of * anello , which i present unto your eyes , you may discern the greatnesse of my desires , that the world shold witnesse how much i am x. may 1650. your humble and ready servitor , iames howell . nevves from naples . the proem . that brave napolitan courser , no lesse generous then undaunted , who for excess of mettle , ( prancing and triumphing in his owne liberty ) wold not suffer either bit in mouth or saddle on back by any barbarous nation or foe for so many ages . he , who in so many warlike assaults full of martiall spirits did by his proud neighing kick down the pride , and broke the courage of the great hannibal , giving him such thumps on the breast that drove him back to the banks of carthage after his glorious victories against the romans , and other nations by him de●elld . he who stopp'd that formidable army of three hundred thousand combatants under king gens●erious the goth , after he had sack'd and burnt rome , forcing him to bid a farewell to fair italie . he who with a bold tooth did so irreparably strike bellisardus the greek , that he constrained him to take counsell of his feet , and betake himself to a shamefull flight . he that with a mortall kick struck alboinus the pagan , king of the longobards , with an innumerable army , having had the dominion of italie six hundred yeers and upwards . he who triumph'd o're three most potent barbarous kings , di fontana king of afric , di esdione king of boe●ia and carthage , and of marchinato king of syria and persia , taking pleasure to swim in the blood of two and forty thousand saracens , and never rested or drew back his foot till he got them all the spoils of that fearfull army . he who after three moneths of streight siege did force henry the german emperour to retire himself shamefully . he who being gamesom and full of heat , delighted chiefly to prance among armes and armed men , and to whiten the sands with his foame , being already stain'd with the blood of the enemy , and to trample upon unburied carcases . this brave napolitan courser came afterwads by his misfortune ( his antient liberty and innated bravery being lost ) into the possession of strangers , somtimes of the normans , somtimes of the swevians , somtimes of the french , with the expence of a world of blood : at last he fell into the hands of the arragonians , and the most renowned house of austria their succe●●ors , who looking upon him with a gentle look , and whether he was stroak'd with som magic hand , or switch'd with som inchanted rod , he received from them the bridle into his mouth , the saddle upon his back , and willingly took up the cavalier to manage him ever since . these afterwards by their naturall sagacity feeding and nourishing him with graines of many graces , and concession of priviledges , made him ready to obey , and deliver'd him to the government of their hors-coursers , that being well guided and instructed by them in the art of warr , they might quickly make use of him upon occasion of any enterprize . naples for the space of 203. yeers serv'd the majesty of this house with no ill-minded gratitude and fidelity ; she succor'd alphonso the first with a voluntary imposition of ten carlines upon ev'ry fire throughout the whole kingdom for ever ; they added five carlines more to ferdinand for ever , and so by degrees it mounted to 66. carlines , which she payes to this day , and comes to three millions of gold yearly . she serv'd the house of austria afterwards with more readinesse , having supplied charles the fift in ten donatives with five millions , philip the second with thirty in three and thirty donatives , and philip the third and fourth , from the yeer 1628. to this day with a hundred millions and more , for which free donatives 't was necessary to impose many taxes and gabells upon all edible commodities , to the end that he might completely satisfie his desires . and poursuing the same affection towards her king now regnant in the yeer 1646. and being desirous to present him with a new donative , without having any regard to her own forces now much infeebled , a new design was found out to put a new gabell upon fruits , which comprehended all sorts as well dry as green , as far as mulberies , grapes , figgs , apples , pears , &c. depriving her of her ordinary nutriment : but making her live so seven moneths continually , she fell down at last flat upon the ground by meer weaknesse , and then feeling her deplored estate , and of the whole kingdome , she took a new resolution to disburthen her selfe not onely of this , but of all other insupportable exactions formerly imposed , and this she did not without wel-grounded reasons : for it is a cleer case that there is ingraven in the breasts of men by nature her self a detestation of slavery , and how unwillingly they put their necks into the yoke of another , specially when it becomes intolerable , when exorbitant exactions are imposed upon subjects wherby they are reduced to extreme fits of desperateness . ad extremum ruunt populi exitium , cùm extrema onera iis imponuntur ; people ru● to extreme ruine , when extreme burdens are laid upon them , as tacitus truly taught . hence it came to passe , that in the royall city of naples , that masse of numberless peeple with their families being among other gabells much aggriev'd for that upon fruits , and not being able to indure it , & having made it often knowne unto the most excellent lord the duke of arcos vice-roy of that kingdom , by the public cries and lamentations of women and children , and the men of lavinaro , and other popular quarters , as he pass'd through the market place to the devotion of the most holy mother of carmine in the church of the carmelites , situated along the said market , and having petitioned him by the means of the most eminent cardinal filomarino the archbishop , and others , to take off the said gabell ; upon a sunday as his excellency went to the said church he heard a great buzz among the peeple , and little lesse then threatnings , presages of the following commotions which succeeded afterwards , and promising to take quite off the said gabell , he returned with such apprehensions of fear into the palace , that he not only went no more to the carmine , but he wold not suffer the most solemne feast of s. iohn baptist to be celebrated , which was us'd to be yeerly in naples ; and this was done of purpose for preventing such an infinite crue of people should not assemble in one place . in the interim the peeple much grumbling and muttering that the promised grace was delayed , put fire one night to a baracca of powder in the market place where the said gabell was exacted , which was afterwards repair'd after this had twice happen'd . there wanted not from day to day most pungent and bitter invectives full of popular grievances and of fiery protests against the public officers , fixed up in the most public places of the city . this boldnesse increased afterwards , and with this boldnesse an envie upon the report that was had of the good success the revolutions of palermo , and a good part of sicilie , messina excepted , had for their grivances by force of arms from the most excellent lord the marquis of velez vice-roy of that kingdom , who took off , or moderated most gabells , and gave afterwards a general pardon for all excesses , as for opening of prisons , murthers , thefts , arming in the countrey , and all other offences , &c , the tenor whereof was as followeth : the first ban , or act of grace in sicilie . his excellency in relation to the royall patrimony by this present act to be alwayes in force , doth take off , and abolish to perpetuity the gabell of meal , wine , oyl , flesh , and cheese throughout all this city and territory of palermo for ever , and that the consulls for the master ships are to have two popular jurats to perpetuity from this day forward , for the service of the peeple . in palermo this 21. of may , 1647. the marquis of velez . subscribed by all the ministers of the patrimony , as also by the civil and criminal court , and by the master notary of the kingdom . the second ban in sicilie . because that this night the prisons of the vicaria were broken ope , and the prisoners made to go out that were found therein , and his excellency knowing the said prisoners to be faultless , by this present ban he pardoneth all and every one of the said prisoners : and likewise his excellency doth acquit and pardon them who were found left in the said prisons , and did not go out ; moreover his excellency doth give grace and pardon sub verbo & fide regia , by royall word and faith to all the said prisoners , as well for the delinquency of flight , as for all other delinquencies for which they were imprison'd . in palermo this 21. of may , 1647. the marquis de los velez . don livio pente president of justice . the peeple of naples being thus allur'd and incouraged by the example of the neighbour kingdom , grew very envious to attain the same freedome , saying , and what ? are we lesse then palermo ? is not our peeple peradventure if they unite , more formidable and warlike ? have not we more reason far , being more burden'd and oppress'd ? on , on to armes , time is precious , 't is not good to delay the enterprize , &c. these , and like complaints made in divers conventicles became now public : whereupon the lord vice-roy in high wisdome being very desirous to prevent mischiefs , caus'd the six quarters or precincts of the city to meet oftentimes , viz. the fifth part of the gentry , and the sixt of the peeple , that by all meanes there might be wayes found out to take off that gabell or tax upon fruits . which designe though 't was pleasing to all for the satisfaction of the peeple , yet because it was prejudiciall to some of the farmers , there were secret wayes found to hinder the happy effect of the said business , but they went about to disswade the vice-king from the accomplishment of his promise made to the peeple , and either to please him , or for their owne private interest ( which is more probable ) they represented unto him , that a few poore tatterdimalians had made all that noise : therefore they induc'd him to repaire the toll-house for fruit that was burnt , which he did , but with a purpose to take it quite off , or find some temperate way to satisfie the discontented peeple on the one side , and the napolitans , nobles , gentry and merchants on the other side , who had advanc'd upon the said gabell above six hundred thousand crownes upon the account of the capital million , and eighty five thousand crownes of annuall rent . this way of temper was buzz'd abroad to be som new tax that was to be put upon corne and wine ; whereunto th' inraged peeple replied , and protested that they wold never give way thereunto , but they reiterated their instances to have the said gabell upon fruits to be quite taken off , and not to put any other in compensation of it . as matters were thus perplex'd , behold , an occasion did suddenly present it selfe in an instant , the 7. of july , 1647. which made way to the totall execution of the desired purpose , as it shall be clearly declared very punctually from day to day , and that with as much fidelity and truth , as any pen can possibly promise upon this subject . sunday the 7. of iuly , 1647. the first day . a young man about twenty four yeers old happen'd to be in a corner of the great market place at naples , a spritefull man , and pleasant , of a middle stature , black-ey'd , rather lean then fat , having a small tuff of haire ; he wore linnen slops , a blew wastcoat , and went barefoot , with a mariners cap , but he was of a good countenance , stout and lively as could be , as the effects will shew . his profession was to angle for little fish with a cane , hook and line , as also to buy fish , and to carry & retail them to som that dwelt in his quarter ; & such men are called in naples pescivendoli . his name was tomaso anello of amalfi , but vulgarly cal'd masaniello by contraction . this man dwelt in the market place , and under the window of his house there were the armes and name of charles the fifth , very ancient , towards the left side of a fountain hard by , which might be attributed to a mysterious presage that he should renew , and set afoot , as he himself wold say often very pleasantly , the priviledges which that unconquer'd monarque granted to the city and people of naples . besides there 's a tru observation , and 't is about a hundred yeers since , just in the yeer 1547. but in the moneth of may , as iohn antonio relates in the history of naples ▪ when there was another commotion in the government of don petro de toledo , by reason of the tribunal of the holy inquisition which philip the second wold have introduced ; another masaniello , a sorrentine and bandito captain was chief of that tumult . but although the nobility was then joyn'd with the peeple , that sublevation was not very hurtfull , nor lasted any long time . and if such an union had now bin , so much ruine had not happen'd to king or peeple ; for what greater contagion can there be to a city then a disunion 'twixt her inhabitants ? what destroy'd carthage ? the two factions of barchiniani and hanoniani : what maintain'd war in france for 60. yeers , but the dissention of the house of burgundy and orleans ? what brought so much desolation to england ▪ and caused seven fearfull battells , wherein 80. princes of the illustrious bloud were slain , but the faction of the houses of lancaster and york ? and what ranvers'd and confounded the tranquillity of the florentine republic but the faction of the bianchi and neri ? in summe , the same that a fever is to a naturall body , the same is disunion in a city or kingdom . a city is a ship , and divisions are the leaks , through which , while the mariners fight one with the other , the water enters and drownes all : the wise pilot who steers ought to stop those leaks , and make up the breaches of division , and reserve himself without trusting any other for the helm , and specially not to place there any capricious heads , or factious spirits , and to be sure to keep himself still lord and patron of the vessell . this masaniello out of a kind of naturall craft having observed the murmurings up and down the citie , took hold of the following occasion . one day ( which was some four days before the most holy feast of corpus domini ) he went very angry towards his house , and passing by a church where the famous bandito perrone had fled for refuge with a companion of his , being ask'd by these , what ayl'd him ? he answered in great choler , i will be bound to be hang'd , but i will right this city ; they laugh'd at his words , saying , a proper squire to right the city of naples , masaniello replied , do not laugh , i swear by god , if i had two or three of my humor , you shold see what i could do : what wold you do ? ( said they ) he answered , will you joyne with me ? why not ? answered they ; give me then your faith , replied masaniello , and you shall see what we we have to do , so they having plighted their faith unto him , he departed . a little after he fell into a great choler , because his fish was taken from him by som of the court , because he had not payed the gabell , he thought then to make use of the occasion of the murmurings the peeple had then for the gabell upon fruit , and being departed from perrone he went up and downe the fruit-shops that were in that quarter , advising them that the next day they shold com all united to the market with a resolution to tell the countrey-fruiterers that they wold buy no more gabell'd fruit . in the interim that this noise diffus'd it self up and down the shops , the elect of the peeple andreas anaclerio being chosen that very day , betook himselfe to the market place where the fruits were distributed to the shop-keepers , they cryed out , they wold buy no gabell'd fruit , the elect perswaded that at that time the gabell should be payed , and it shold be speedily taken off , so the tumult ceased for that time . masaniello seeing nothing was don then , he went up and down those quarters , crying , avant gabell , avant gabell , for which som laugh'd at him , but others consider'd well of his words . moreover , about this time a great number of boyes being gathered together in the market-place he told them , say as i do , two torneses , to wit a baiocco for a measure of oyle , six and thirty ounces the loaf of bread , two and twenty the pound of cheese , six granas for beef , six granas for pulse , nine granas for veal , four granas the greek , two granas the pinte of wine ; these words he made them repeat divers times , and being taught and bearing them in memory they cried them up and down all the city , and in the face of the vice-roy , for then there was payed for every thing as masaniello had taught the children . besides , he gave them another lesson , which was this : viva dio , viva la madonna del carmine , viva il papa , viva il re di'spagna , e la grasica , e muora , muora il mal governo . let let god live , let the lady of carmine live , let the pope live , let the king of spain and grasica live , and let the ill goverment die , let the ill goverment die . this and such like doctrines being taught by masaniello to his schollers , and cried up and downe ; caus'd much laughter ●nd jeering at the master , they held him to be mad and foolish ; but he told them , ye laugh at me now , but you shall see shortly what masaniello can do , let me alone , if i do not free you from so many slaveries , let me be held infamous for ever , which words increased their laughter the more . but he not caring for that , tended his businesse , whereupon he inrolled such a number of those boyes 'twixt seventeen and sixteen yeers old , that they came to be five hundred , and at last two thousand , insomuch that he could not only , make a company , but whole regiments : he thus prepar'd them against the great feast of our lady of carmine , which was neer , of which militia he made himself generall , giving every one of them in their hands a little weak cane . the seventh day of july being come , which was a sunday , upon which day the festival of our lady of grace was us'd to be in a chappell hard by , and commonly the feast was made by all the boyes and common peeple about the market , with the meaner sort of the dwellers in the neighboring quarters , they erected there according to custom a castle of wood , which was to be battered with sticks and fruit , upon this occasion there assembled there abundance of peeple of the meaner sort , and although the houre was com that fruits were us'd to be brought to the market to pay gabell , and the boyes us'd to be there to gather such fruit that fell upon the streets ; but it chanc'd there came no fruit at all , because the shop-keepers had mutined and agreed not to buy any fruit , of purpose not to pay the gabell , as they were used to do , telling the fruiterers , that they shold pay the gabell if they wold , for the shopkeepers wold pay none : this seeming very strange , they came from words to blowes with the shopkeepers : and in regard of this difference there was no fruit then in the market which were fresh , but a few of the day before ; a tumult did arise among the peeple , which being told the lord zufia grassi●ro regent of the city , he ordered the forenamed anaclerio the elect of the peeple , that he shold apply himself to remedy that commotion ; which he attempted to do , but all in vain , in regard of the first and obstinate quarrell that was 'twixt the fruiterers and the retailing shopkeepers ; wherefore the elect , not to displease the peeple and shopkeepers , gave sentence against the fruiterers as forreners , ( most part of whom were of the city of puzzuolo ) reviling them with words , and threatning to bastinado them , and have them condemned to the gallies . among those of puzzolo there was a cosen of massianello's , who , according to the instructions given him , began more then any to incite the peeple , who seeing that he could sell his fruit but at a low price , and after he had payed the gabell , there was scarce left as much as would pay for the barque and quit cost , he flew into such a rage , that throwing two great baskets upon the ground , he cried out , god gives plenty , and the ill government a dearth ; therefore i care not a straw for this fruit , let every one take of it . the boyes eagerly ran to gather and eat the fruit . masaniello , all this falling out according to his expectation , rush'd in among them , crying out , without gabell , without gabell . but anaclerio threatning him with whipping and the gallies , not onely the fruiterers , but all the peeple threw figs , apples , and other fruits in great fury into his face . but this seeming but little to masaniello , he hit him upon the brest with a stone , and incouraged his militia of boyes to do as he did ; which they did : but anaclerio breaking through the crowd in a coach , made hast to the church of carmine , where finding a felluca , he imbark'd himself therein , and so got towards the pallace , otherwise he had been torn in peeces , or ston'd to death by the boyes . upon this success the people flocking in greater numbers as well in the said market-place , as else-where , they began to exclaime aloud against those intolerable grievances under which they groan'd ; so a mighty rumor ran up and down the streets protesting to pay no more gabell , and crying out , let th● king of spain live , but let the ill government die : the fury still increasing , masaniello being follow'd by an infinite company of boyes and all sorts of loose people , som with sticks , others with pikes and partizans taken from the tower of the carmine , he leap'd up upon the highest table which was among the fruiterers , and with a loud voice cryed , be merry dear companions and brothers , give god thanks , and to the glorious virgin of carmine , that the hour of your redemption drawes neer ; this poor bare-footed fellow as another moses , who freed the israelites from pharoahs rod , shall in that manner redeem you of all gabells , from the first time that they were ever imposed : a fisherman , who was peter , reduc'd with his voice from satans slavery to the liberty of christ rome her self , and with rome a world : now , another fisherman , who is masaniello , shall release naples , and with naples a whole kingdom , from the tyranny of gabells . from henceforth ye shall shake from off your necks the intolerable yoke of so many grievances , which have depress'd you hitherto : nor to effect this do i ●are a rush to be torn in peeces , and to be dragg'd up and down the gutters of naples : let all the blood in my body spin out of these veines , let this head skip from my shoulders by a fatall steel , and be perch'd up in this market upon a pole , yet i shall die contented and glorious ; it will be triumph and honor unto me , to think that my blood and life perish in so glorious a conquest . masaniello repeating often these and such like words inflam'd marvelously the minds of the peeple , who were dispos'd in their hearts to cooperate with him to this effect , and to begin the work there was fire put to the house that was next the toll-house for fruit , both which were burnt to the very ground with all the books and accounts , with divers of the farmers of the customers goods who were there put up . this being don , the common peeple increas'd in such nombers up and down the streets that ev'ry one did shut up his shop , ev'ry one being astonish'd at such a sudden garboyle seeming rather to dream of such a one then see it : whereupon many thousand peeple uniting themselfs went to other quarters of the citty , where all the gabell houses were as those of fruit , of corn , of flesh , of fish , of salt , wine , oil , cheese , silk , and all other either edible , or wearable comodities and spar'd not one of them , but taking out of them all the writings and books of entrance or issues appertaining to the said gabell ; as also all the furniture as well of the farmers as others , and all things that were there in pawn or otherwise , as hangings , chaires , armes great quantities of moneys with other rich moveables all was hurl'd into a great fire of straw ; benches , forms , sedans with other stuff were burnt all to ashes upon the streets , in which actions one thing was very considerable , that in plundring those houshold stuffs and moneys not one durst meddle with the least peece of any thing , because all shold be dedicated to the fire , being the quintessence as 't was said , of their blood , therefore they wold not have a jot of any thing preserv'd from the fury of the fire . the peeple taking hereby more and more boldnesse and courage because they found no resistance or obstacle , and the nomber still increasing to the nomber of about 10000. they made towards the palace of the viceroy , many of them holding upon the tops of staves , and pikes loafs of bread , which was then sold very dear scarce weighing 22. ounces : the cry still continued more louder then ever , let the king of spain live , and let the ill government perish . so the first militia of masaniello consisti●g of 2000. boyes march'd on , every one lifting up his cane and tying a clout of black cloth on the top went along the streets and cryed out with delorous and loud voices , which mov'd many to tendernesse and tears . have compassion upon these poor souls in purgatory , who not being able to endure the grievous burden of so many grievances seek how they may scape away : o brothers cooperate with us ! o sisters help so just so necessary an enterprise , and so profitable for ev'ry body ; in such dolefull tones going on from one street to the other , they came at last to st. iames his prison , where freeing all the prisoners they admitted them to their society . but being com before the palace and under the window of the viceroy , they began to cry out amain , that they wold not be freed of the fruit-gabell only , but of all other , specially that of corn . hereupon the viceroy came out into the balcone , and told them that the said gabell shold be abolish'd , and part of the corn gabell also : but the peeple bawl'd still that they wold not be releev'd in part , they wold have the whole taken off , yet they cryed out may the king of spain live , and the ill government die : and a good nomber of them thinking to go up the stairs of the palace to notifie unto the vice-roy the rest of their grievances , his excellency commanded the german and spanish gard that they shold not stir , but suffer them to passe and repasse freely , nerethelesse the viceroy being not altogether obey'd , because he was not heard by them , som resistance was made by the soldiers but the peeple with canes , and clubs only ( a thing incredible to beleeve ) and with huge cries made their entrance demanding audience of the viceroy , but he was got away , and they did so revile and affront the dutch and spanish gard who were at the gate , that they abandon'd their ports , and took a fair pair of heels to their quarters : thereupon the peeple entred the palace , and being com to the hall dore though shut they burst it open , entring there without any rub , then they wold have entred into the great chamber , but a gard of dutch and halbardeers were there , as also som spaniards who did what they could to resist their entrance , but all in vain , because the peeple still thrusting on they were constrained to yeeld their halbards and other weapons ; then going on at leasure they found easy entrance into all the rest of the rooms , untill they came to the last chamber where the viceroy was hid in a closet , and though they found the dore doubly bolted , yet by force of halbards and other instruments they forc'd their passage , and the viceroy hardly scap'd killing , but the duke di castel di sangro don ferrant corraciolo convey'd him away and so sav'd him from the mortall blow which was intended . the viceroy with a few gentlemen that were about him finding they were not secure there , thought good to retire into the castle , where the dutchesse of arcos had withdrawn her self a little before with her ladies , children and kinred ; but understanding at that houre that the ladies had taken up the draw bridg , the viceroy took a resolution to sly into the next church dedicated to st. lewis , where there was a friery of saint francisco de paola , but he wold first spie out of a window where the grosse of the peeple was , to let them know that he was willing to give them content , dispersing little cedules up and down to that purpose sign'd by himself , and seal'd with the kings seal , wherein he absolutely took off the gabel of fruit , and part of that of corn ; but the peeple being not satisfied hereat , they made signes with their hands , and cryed aloud that he wold come down and speak with them face to face ; hereupon the vice-roy went unto them to take off all ombrages of distrust . in the mean time that part of the peeple which remain'd in the palace ran up and down with much fury , they sack'd the chambers ev'ry where , putting fire to the sedans , balcones , tables , travesses , windows , scrines , and every thing they found , yet they wold not meddle ( which was a thing to be wondred at in the middle of such a fury ) with the quarter of the most eminent cardinal trinultio , who dwelt in the same palace . the vice-roy being com down to the rabble rout procur'd to put himself in a coach with two horses , and to secure himself within the said st. lewis church , and he was already got into the coach , but many of the peeple spying him they stayed the coach , and opening it with two naked swords in hand , they threatned him unlesse he wold take off the gabells , he promis'd he wold if they wold be quiet , but this wold not serve the turn unlesse he came out of the coach and shew himself to the peeple , which he did , and then some respect was shewn him , and som kiss'd his hands , and upon their knees cryed out most excellent sir , for the love of god disburden us once of these gabells , let us have no more slavery , let us breath , his excellence having confirmed unto them their request , was devising how to get from out of their hands , for although he was honor'd by many , yet he held himself not secure in such a confus'd multitude ; therefore to divert the peeple , he threw among them som hundred of zecchins of gold which he carried about him for that purpose , this took good effect , though many cryed out aloud we have no need to be releev'd with a little money , but to freed from the gabell , but while most of them were greedy to take up the gold , his excellence got safe and sound into the said church where he caus'd all the dores to be shut , and of the monastery also . the peeple perceaving this , and being much disdain'd that the vice-roy had scap'd from their hands , they went incontinently to the said monastery , and the first great gate being batterd down they thought to do so to the rest , crying out still to be released of the gabells , therefore they desir'd his excellence wold consign them a paper in writing under his hand and seal , wherein he shold promise so to do : and because the peeple should not passe further to do violence to the monastery notwithstanding that they still increas'd , he look'd on them from a window , and desir'd them to be quiet , for he was dispos'd and ready to content them ; but because the incredulous multitude had a conceit still fix'd in them that they shold be deluded , they went still on to batter down the other gate whereby they immediatly entred the monastery . while businesse was carried thus , the most eminent bishop filomarine , who being very zealous in his pastorall charge shew'd often to his excellence for the service of god and his church , endeavour'd to appease the peeple , for the avoiding of those irrecoverable losses which by his high wisdom and perspicacious wit he saw hanging or'e the citty : hereupon he made a sign unto them with his hand , that they wold be quiet ; but they replying , that they wold have the instrument for release of the gabells from the vice-roy , specially those upon corn and fruits , his eminence answer'd them , that he wold make it his care to obtain it , and so going out of his coach he went in person to the second gate of the monastery , to hinder the pulling of it down by the furious rabble , and he had his intent , for out of the great reverence they bore to their archbishop the fury ceas'd , but still they prayed that the gabells might be abolish'd ; the bishop promis'd to bring them the instrument sign'd and seal'd , but least if he parted from among the peeple the fury wold recomence , he sent to that purpose to the vice-roy being not able to com himself to mingle speech with him , that he wold send him the said instrument , which he did , desiring him to deliver it with his own hands to the peeple : the bishop having receav'd the said written instrument coach'd himself , and shew'd it to all the peeple which he drew after him all along toledo street , ev'ry one being greedy to know what it contain'd : but what ? the said written instrument was no sooner read with a loud voice by the bishop , but the peeple cryed out again that they were cheated , for that instrument contain'd only the taking of the fruit-gabell , and seven carlins upon wheat , but they wold have divers other gabells to be abolish'd : the bishop having delivered that written instrument to the capo del popolo to the chief of the peeple , retir'd to the palace peaceably . thereupon the peeple ran to the great market place to give notice of the said bill to the rest who were met there more in nomber then they ; and finding that this was but satisfaction in part , it was necessary for the common defence of the faithfull peeple of naples , to inroll som arm'd men to procure to a totall discharge of gabells : and many returning to the palace , thousands of men and boyes , they wold have again have attempted an entrance into the church and monastery of st. lewis , and being resolv'd to burst ope the dores of that part , where divers lords and ladies were , the spanish soldiers oppos'd them , and in particular one very valerous captain entertain'd the rabble with his sword , and the soldiers with their musquets till divers of them were killd , but in the mean while the ladies had time to retire into the fryers cells , and the vice-roy by the help of the abbot of the convent scald the walls till he came to pizzo fulcane into the monastery of jesuits , whence putting himself in an old sedan carried by spaniards , he transferr'd himself to the castle of st. elmo . thereupon it being known for certain that the vice-roy was gon from the monastery , the peeple returning to the palace resolv'd to disarm all the spaniards who were there in gard , but they deliver'd them drums and half pikes , and all other instruments their swords and muskets excepted ; they went to all the other courts of gards dispers'd up & down the city ; disarming all whom they met withal ; then went they to the suburbs of chiagia to the palace of don tiberio de caraffa prince of bisignano who was field master , and colonel general of the battalion of naples ; desiring that great cavalier , who by his innated benignity had made himself belov'd of all , and to be ador'd also by all naples ; they desir'd that he wold be pleas'd to be their defender , and an intercessor 'twixt them and the viceroy for a totall extinguishment of the gabells , according to the favourable priviledges granted them , specially by charles the fifth : as they were expecting the prince of bisignano , som of them going to the place where they exacted the gabell of fruit at chaggia ; they put fire to the house , and burnt every thing that was in 't , as they had don in other places : and the rabble still augmenting in that most populous suburb , they divided themselves into two squadrons , or rather into two armies : the lesser sort of boyes did put in the middle the foresaid prince who was a horseback , and desiring them to be orderly , he sayed , let 's go to take off the gabells , being conducted by the palace , and so along the castle , and thence through all the popular places till they came to the great market : the prince seeing there the peeple wonderfully increas'd to above fifty thousand persons , he endeavoured to quiet them ; and to do this the more conveniently , he went to the church of the most holy lady of carmine , which is situate in that place ; and being got up in a high place , with a crucifix in his hands , he prayed , exhorted , and conjur'd the peeple for the love of god , and of the most blessed virgin his divota , to be quiet a while , promising them by oath to obtain from the viceroy what they desir'd : but finding that all this wold do no good , he entertain'd himself a while in that market , to have the more opportunity to negotiate with the cape leaders of the peeple , and to perswade them to a good accord , assuring that he wold make it his own task to procure them complete satisfaction . in the mean time many other new recruits of peeple coming from other parts of the city , they went to break open the prison of santa maria d'agnone , and of s. archangelo ; whose gards not being able to resist , were necessitated to yeeld and flie for 't ; the gates being thrown into the midst of the streets , they made all prisoners go out , burning and turning to ashes all the books and processes of prisoners which were found in the offices . the same they did in the prisons for the arts of wooll and silk , and divers other , as that of the archbishops , the nunciatura , and of the great court of the vicaria , to which two last they sayed to beare reverence as to royall prisons , and because they had been in times pass'd kings palaces ; the sayed prince being their protector , and being come neer those prisons , 't was fear'd they wold do som mischief ; but the warders had time enough to fortifie and strengthen their gates , besides som being earnest for it , were disswaded by the prince of bisignano , that setting them at liberty being all foreners , murtherers and theeves , they would draw upon themselves great inconveniences . they steer'd their course towards the dogana or toll-house for corn , with fagots on their backs , and fire and pitch in their hands , and the gates being wrench'd , the sayed prince being not able to take them off , though he laboured earnestly , they entered there with such a fury , that they put fire on all sides ; nor were they satisfied till they saw all not onely burnt , but reduced to ashes ; as much corn , with great store of houshold-stuff , and much money , which the ministers of the dogana had in bank , being either their own , or in deposito , or pawn'd , all was consum'd in the flames . this sacrifice being perform'd , they went up to the piazza of s. laurence church , the prince not leaving their company all the while , in regard of the violent desire he had by degrees to quiet and o'recome them ; but being com thither , and entred through the church into the cloysters to go up to the steeple tower to sound the great bell , that all men shold put themselfes in arms ; the entrance was at first denied them by som who had fled thither for sanctuary , who fear'd they had com to find them out , but two of them were presently kill'd . now , som of the peeple began to apprehend divers fears ; but there was among them a sicilian , who ( as a person of good credit affirms that was there present ) appear'd to be rather a devill in humane shape , and one of the greatest furies that hell could have : 't is incredible with what boldnesse and with what ardor this fellow animated all to battail , he reproach'd them of their fears , he jeer'd their cowardize , he call'd them cravens , geese , hens , and poor spirited men ; truly , the body and tongue of that wretch seem'd to be possess'd by a whole legion of devills : but the justice of heaven found him out , for h● was kill'd from the said tower by a musket bullet in the forehead . the said prince finding himself weary after so many hours , and after so much mischief don to the city , and being weak in regard of an infirmity which he had , and growne fainty by reason of the heat of the season , and half choak'd by the swarmes of the common rabble about him , and casting about how to disingage himself from the labyrinth of that popular tumult , by a wise stratagem he distributed the said peeple into divers quarters of the city , with strict prohibition that they shold not sack nor assault any ones house : and his plot took ; for being thus divided , he might retire afterwards when he pleas'd to a kinsmans house of his hard by , whence having refresh'd his spirits a while there , he betook himself about the evening in a close sedan into castel nuovo , blessing god that he found himself free from the tempestuous gulf of of that implacable peeple . the report afterward being dispersed abroad of the retirement of the prince bisignano , and the peeple finding themselfs without a head , cried out for their leader and conductor masaniello , who accepting of that charge began more then ever by sound of drum to suscitat the peeple through all the city and suburbs : but for the evident danger of the infinite hurt that was like to ensue , specially the day beginning already to darken , and night to approach , 't was thought fitting that som religious men shold go out in procession through the city , not onely to appease the unbridled peeple , but to implore divine help : the first were the most reverend fathers the teatins , out of two of those six churches they have in the city , viz. from s. paul , and s. apostles , there being a hundred in every one of those to passe first through toledo-street , and so before the palace to s. lewis church , wherein the most pure milk of the most blessed virgin is kept ; and the other passing through other streets to the piazza of the great market , went in to make long prayers in the church del carmine , and then retir'd , which offices of the holy church was much acknowledged by the vice-roy , who sent effectuall relation thereof to the conde d'ognate then catholic ambassadour in the court of rome . the vice-roy and the whole nobility doubting that the rabble of the peeple which elsewhere were increasing in great nombers , shold go to st. laurence church , and seize upon divers things which belong to the city , and among the rest of sixteen pieces of ordnance , and other arms kept in the tower of that church , besides the sounding of the great bell to arms which hangs in the steeple of that church , and which useth to ring upon such occasion , therefore there were sent thither som compagnies of spaniards well arm'd , as also others for the gard of the said church and cloyster of s. laurence . at two a clock after midnight , the vice-king accompanied with much soldiery , remov'd himselfe from s. elmos castle to castel nuovo , which sticks to the royal palace , ther being a bridg to pass between , there went also thither cardinal trivultio , with many officers and cavaliers ; and although it seem'd high time for them to think of chastising the rebels , yet the viceroy , like a wise prince , put back his thoughts to satiat the hungry peeple with bread : wherupon he caus'd most even orders to be publish'd that night , and to be perform'd the next munday , that bread should be at 33. ounces , 4. graines , whereas before 't was scarce 24. ounces ; that the gabel of fruit shold be absolutely taken off : he ordered notwithstanding , that considerable gards shold be put about the castle . the peeple did not flag a whit in their former fury that night , but caus'd the b●ll of our lady of carmine to ring out thrice for arming , and consequently great companies flocking together , they divided themselves into divers quarters : som went out to put fire to all the out houses of naples , where the gabels were exacted , with drums beating before them ; others staying behind to prepare armes for the day following , they gave themselves over to plunder the shops for swords and muskets , for bullet , fire and match : others went among the marchants and lanciens , who without any resistance furnish'd them with all sorts of arms : and because one master of a shop wold foolishly have made opposition with noise and threats , and which was worse , by discharging a morter peece out of a window , which kill'd one of them , they were kindled with such high disdain and fury , that putting fire to his house , wherein there were divers barrels of powder , did not only fly up into the air it self , but carried with it eighty seven persons besides , and fourty four were hurt : to prevent such a disorder som other time , his excellency comanded , that all the powder in other places through the city shold be wetted : so the unbridled peeple passing every where with such an imperious authority through the city , began to put an army in order , and provide all things necessary for it . munday , july 8. 1647. the second day . the vigilant and great preparations that the night before the peeple had generally made , caus'd , that although the day was not yet grown cleer , and that the glorious sun was not com out of the womb of the vermilian morn , yet up and down the city nothing was heard but drumms and trumpets , and clashing of arms , nothing then but colours displayed , choice soldiers , furnished swords , cock'd muschets , archibuzes , lances , targets , and that which was of more terror and astonishment , besides the citizens themselfs , the country swains appeer'd from the villages about with plowshares , pitchforks and shovels , and rang'd themselves in a military way for common defence to plow glebes of flesh , and water them with bloud : in fine , the women were seen in great numbers arm'd with fireshovels , and iron toungs , with spits and broaches , and their children with little staves and canes , encouraged the young men to battail : now let it be considered what such an infinity of citizens , all arm'd , could do , who being inviper'd as it were with bloud in their eyes , cryed out , let the king live , let the king our lord live , let the ill government dye : out gabels , out gabels ; let the dogs dye , who being transform'd to wolfs , have devour'd the flesh of innocent lambs : let them vomit the bloud they have suck'd into the cinders of their burnt wealth , the domestie and insatiable leeches of the city ; let these wasps fly away , which have hitherto suck'd the sweet honey of the bees . with such , and such like cries proceeding from the bottom of their brests , so that they stounded the very ayr , and were enough to soften the hardest marble , draw tears from the very pummies , and sighs from ice , they did animate one another , they re-inforc'd the streets , garded the passages , they did unbowel themselves to provide furniture for the war ; horror , bloud and amazement raign'd in evry corner ; the keys were consign'd from minerva to mars , books were neglected , studies were abandoned , the bar was solitary , the chairs were silent , the ecclesiastiques sing lachryma , the law was quiet , patronages were despiz'd , advocates were dumb , the judges were idle , tribunals were shut up , the arsenaths were only open , the pikes had got the better of the pen , force of wit , boldness of wisdom , the hand of the toung , atages of the gown . the whole city did burn , and was inflam'd with martial fury ; amongst which places there rag'd with most implacable and warlike heat , being fullest of peeple the places about the great market , about lavinaro , porta nolana , convaria , sellaria , the piaz of the elm , preparing form'd squadrons with fire-works : order was given to all the other precincts of naples , which are 36. in number , to arm in like manner , under pain of an irremissible burning down of their houses , which was punctually perform'd : and there being want of powder , they went to a house where som was sold to buy som , they sellers refusing to sell any without order from the vice-roy , they rag'd with such a fury , that throwing fir'd matches into that house , they blew up the power into the ayr , and within above 60. inhabitants , who were afterwards numbred , in regard their bodies remain'd many days unburied : this success happen'd at porta della calce del molo picciolo , and it caus'd such an earthquake , and so fierce a one , through all the city , that 't was like that terrible shake which divers weeks before that great galeon made , which was burnt , being not known to this day whether 't was by chance , or pure malice , in the very port of nables . but they were not a whit disheartened at this disaster , but going to the kings powder house out of the city , towards cap de chino , in greater numbers then before , they went about to seaze upon all that magazin of powder , had they not been prevented by the labourers , who had put the said powder in water for hindrance of the like mischance that happen'd in the port della calce . while the peeple made all these preparatifs the viceroy was not wanting by his wonded prudence to acquit himself exactly of his duty , although he was retir'd into castel nuovo with spaniards , dispers'd up and down for gards all along that castle , and in st francisco xaverio's street to the number of 400. he shut up in the royal palace for his gard 1000. almanes , and at the gates 800. spaniards , with 1000. italians . he fenc'd all pizzofalcone , which lieth above the palace , and all the neighbouring streets with good fortifications , making ramparts of faggots , and raising other trenches of earth about the gates of the old and new palace , and at the end of the street looking towards the said palaces . he comanded a great peece of ordinance to be put at the end of every street towards the stanto spirito , the father dominicans , and the father minimes , another against the cross of the palace , another upon the assent of santa lucia , and two before the great gate towards the middle of the new palace . and because the peeple knew there came a new regiment of germanes from pozzolo by order of the viceroy , they went to meet them , and kill'd part who made resistance , and the rest who willingly render'd themselfs were made prisoners , all bound and lead into the city : the like was don to two companies of italians , but by order of masaniello they were releas'd , and arm'd for the defence of the city , and he sent the germanes to the viceroy into the castle all loaden with bread , fresh and salt meats , cheese and wine , with other comodities ; and 't was a pretty sight to behold , that peeple go along the street dancing with meat in their hands , and bottles at their mouths , making mows all along . it happen'd upon munday morning , that the spanish gard , for som insolences they had receavd imprison'd two mean fellows , and the peeple fearing they should be executed , they rise up in such a manner , that by archibuz and muschet shots hurting many , and killing som of the said gard , they threatned , with howlings , and unusual schriches , to tear in peeces all the spaniards which were in naples , if those prisoners were not delivered them ; wherefore to avoyd such an inconvenience which certainly had happen'd , they were yeelded up safe , sound and free . that morning bread of a very hansom fashion , and of unusual weight , was sold , insomuch that wheras before a loaf of bread was but little more then 22. ounces , 't was now 11. ounces more , in all 33. therefore one may well conjecture what joy the peeple conceav'd at that : all peeple , both men , women and children , citizens and strangers , went crying up and down the streets ; let the king of spain live , let the most faithful peeple of naples live ; let grassa , let grassa live , and let the ill government dye . it seem'd expedient for the viceroy , being retir'd as was said before into the castle nuovo to dispatch that munday morning , by som lords of the collateral councel , and others of the councel of state , a note unto masaniello , who was then cape or head of the peeple , wherein he granted as much as was demanded the day before , which was the taking away of all kind of gabells : but the peeple wold not be satisfied with this , but sent to tell him , that they wold have further contentment , viz. a restitution of the priviledge granted them by king ferdinando , and frederic , and by the emperour charls the fift , all which by a public act , the viceroy , the collateral , and councel of state , with all the nobility , shold oblige themselves to observe . they wold that the votes of the gentlemen of the piazza's shold equal them of the peeple : that the peeple shold nominat the chief clark of the market or grassiero of the city , all which was promis'd ; and mean time there was chosen by the peeple the lord cornelio spinola for grassiero . it shold pass for a law , that never any new gabells for the future shold be impos'd without the intervention of the capo popolo , who shold be a lord by title , as it was anciently , when the prince of salerno was capo popolo ; that he shold be nam'd by the peeple , and the elect likewise made by the capistrada to be all chosen by the peeple , without any dependency , or having any recourse to the viceroys for the future . they stuck not to demand , that the castle of sant elmo shold be put into their hands , but they proceeded not very far in that proposition . his excellency perceiving the treaty of peace to be still delayed , and the people to be so implacable , and pleasing themselves with that kind of loose living , wold lend no ear to any accomodation of peace , he judged it expedient to do som favors to the duke of mataloni , and don ioseph caraffa his brother , and make them go out , the one out of the castle of sant elmo , the other by making him com from benevento , that joyning with other lords and knights they might go up and down the city to perswade the peeple to conformity and quietness , which was don , for many lords did ride up and down the streets in divers quarters , and in particular the prince of bisignano , caraffa di bel nuovo , il principe di monte sarchio of the house of avalos , the prince di satriano ravaschiero , the duke di castel di sangro don ferrante carraciolo , the prince della rocella , the lord don diomede caraffa , the lord of conversano , with other lords , dwelling in the piazza of the great market , where there were infinit store of peeple : they signified unto them , that his excellency the viceroy was very ready to give them all satisfaction . but they answered , that they desir'd no more , but that the priviledges of king ferdinando shold be made good to the city , which was confirm'd by charles the fift of happy memory , who by oath promis'd the city of naples , at his invectiture to the kingdom had from pope clement the 7. to impose no new taxes upon city or kingdom , as well he , as all his successors , without the consent of the apostolical seat , and being so impos'd , they shold be well impos'd , otherwise the city might rise up with sword in hand , without any mark of rebellion , or irreverence to the prince , for the maintenance of her liberties : now in regard that most of the gabels ever since , some few of small consequence excepted , have bin layed without his holiness consent , it was just that they shold be all taken oft , and that the peeple shold have the original of the said priviledg , which was within the archives of the city , which is in the church of s. laurence : those lords and gentlemen understanding all this , they went back to castel nuovo to impart all this to the viceroy , who presently convok'd the peeple collateral counsel , with that of state , as also the sacred councel of santa chiara to consult what answer shold be return'd unto the peeple . in the mean time the arch-bishop , according to his accustomed vigilance and paternal zeal to spiritual peace , as also to the temporal quietness of the people comitted unto him ; as likewise for the devotion and vassallage he profess'd unto the catholic king , to the service of his royal person and state , ordain'd , that the most holy sacrament shold be openly expos'd in many churches , to invite all comers to implore at such an exigent divine assistance . this was don nella capella del tesoro , where the dome is , where the miraculous bloud , and the holy head of san gennaro , the glorious protector of naples , was laid out : moreover all orders went in solemn processions up and down the city as the dominicans , franciscans , those del carmine , the augustins , the iesuits , capucins , teatins , and others , who gave som general edification . that day mighty diligences were made by the peeple who shold be their chief , that by their authority they might make their addresse to the viceroy , and obtain what they desir'd ; and in regard that among others which rid up and down the city the lords della rocella were of the chiefest , & in regard they also had their palaces in the great market ; therefore they made motions to the said lords , that they wold please to imploy themselfs in behalf of the peeple to find out the foresaid original priviledg of charls the fift : the said lords did promise to do so , and for the execution thereof they went to castel nuovo , accompanied by many peeple , where his excellency comanded them to be admitted , and to enter , the concourse of peeple remaining without all the while , expecting not without much anxiety an answer from the viceroy . at the same time , and to the same purpose , the lord prior was sent for from s. laurence , with a great train of peeple , and the multitude was so great , as if his horse had bin carried in the air , out of the lively hopes they had to find the said priviledg : but the lord prior finding it wold prove a difficult thing for him to find it , as also to be suffer'd to enter into the stanzas of s. laurence , by a turn which he gave in a straight street , going off his horse , and faigning to withdraw himself upon some business , he got away in the twinkling of an eye , with som of his servants , by an incredible way of art and velocity , retiring himself into the church of the holy apostles among the fathers teatins : this administred cause of extraordinary murmuring and discontent to the peeple , who thought themselves baffled and deluded by him , who they expected shold have bin their kind of defendor and advocat , although ther want not som who affirm , that the lord prior had brought them a kind of paper in a sheepskin , giving out , 't was the original out of a mind of the great charter of charles the fift he had to quiet them : but because when the peeple shew'd it to their satrapons and councel , and being told them that it was a counterfeit one , they fell into such a fierce disdain , that if he had not fled , that good lord had met with death , as they write , it happen'd som hours before to the prince of monte sarchio . the duke de roccella in the mean while was return'd from the castle , attended by much peeple , to the great market place , where the gross of the multitude was , carrying with him a coppy of of the priviledg desir'd by the peeple : and because he had heard of the dangerous success the lord prior was like to have , he durst not say it was the very original , but he clearly told them it was a true and real coppy , the original not being to be had for the present . hereupon it was receav'd at the beginning with some applause , but being read , and read again , and found imperfect , it rais'd a mighty discontentment in the hearts of the peeple , who cryed out they were mock'd , cozen'd and betray'd by the said duke , as they were by the prior , and so falling into a mortal hatred of all the nobility , they rag'd against them , threatning them ruin and revenge , and having the said duke della roccella in their hands , they clapt him in prison in the monastery del carmine , by appointing a famous bandito call'd perrone to be his keeper , who finding himself once chain'd in the same church , was put at liberty by the peeple ; but this man being an ancient friend and a confident of the dukes , did labour the business so effectually with the peeple , that he obtain'd the dukes freedom , obliging himself to restore him into their hands upon all demands ; so the duke having remain'd a day or two in his palace , retir'd afterward to his country houses . ther was appointed for one of the principal heads of the peeple to be about the person of masaniello a priest , by name iulio genoino , an old and well temper'd man , who had been the peeples elect during the government of the duke of ossuna , a person well practis'd in the affairs of the court , and who always endeavoured the advance of the peeples good , but he could not bring it then to passe , in regard the said duke was revok'd to spain . this man found himself at the beginning of these tumults in the prison of s. iames , which was open'd partly for his sake , therefore to gratifie his good will always towards them , they exalted him to this charge ; to him they added for a companion the foresaid famous bandito perrone . these two being joyn'd with masaniello gave out a list of 60. and odd houses of such ministers and others , who had meddled with the farming of the gabells , or had sold , let out , advis'd , or cooperated any way in the custom houses of the said gabells , having enrich'd themselfs , as was given out with the bloud of the peeple , therefore they deserv'd to be made examples to future ages , therefore their house and goods shall be burnt to the ground ; which was don accordingly , as more shall be said , and with so much order , integrity , and neatness of hand , that he hazarded his life who shold touch any the least thing to carry it away : thereupon one taking but a little towel was kil'd , another for the crouper of a horse had 50. lashes on the back , & divers others for stealing but small trivial things , after they had made their confessions to their ghostly fathers , wer hang'd by the public executioner in the market place by the comand of masaniello . he was held unworthy of pity , and to be no well-wisher of the peeples good , who commissiated the ruining or burning of any of those mens houses or goods , and who seem'd to rescent it , were esteem'd no better then complices to those public theeves : whereupon one man having unadvisedly , and by natural compassion , only pitied the burning of the rich furniture , house and goods of the duke of caivano , calling them by chance , povere robbe , poor goods , as they were a burning , he had much ado to scape away through a little wicket , while the peeple cryed out , where is this infamous rogue ? where is he ? let him be found out , and we will bray him in a morter . but to proceed more orderly in the relation of the burnt palaces , let it suffice to know , that the first was gieronimo fetitias , one of the farmers of the corn gabel , situat in the quarters of porta nuovo , near the houses of the lord mornili : there the peeple being flock'd with faggots and pitch , and getting into the house , they threw out of the windows all kind of houshold stuff , as all sorts of plates , dishes , stools , tables , chairs , carpets , tapistries , and all sorts of utensiles , with great store of money , chains and bracelets , breaking the windows wider for that purpose ; all which were brought to the market place , and hurld into a great fire , where they were all burnt to cinders , with huge out-cries of the peeple round about , who said , these goods are our blouds , and as these burn , so the souls of those dogs who own them deserve to fry in hell fire . this first act of the fiery tragdy being ended , they went next to the house of felice basile ; this fellow at first was a poor baker , who carried bread up and down the streets of naples , but in a short time , tampering with the gabells , he became very rich , and having friends at court ; he dwelt nere the spirito santo , where the peeple being met , and having plunderd his palace from top to bottom , they hurld out at the windows and bulcones all the houshold stuff , writings and books , with other rich curiosities , and ther were 23. great trunks nomberd to be thrown out into the streets , and som of them being broke open , ther appeer'd wondrous rich things , as cloth of gold , and tissues , with costly embroderies , that dazzled the eyes of the beholders ; all these they took , with a cabinet full of perl , and other precious stones , which were all hurld into the devouring element , without saving as much as a rag , nor durst any take up as much as a pin , unless it were to help the throwing of it into the fire . these two burnings lasted five hours , then they pass'd to the palace of antonio de angelis , a counsellor , who had bin elect of the peeple in the time of and he concur'd with that viceroy to impose many new gabells : this man being admonish'd by many of his friends to secure his goods , and his palace from firing , he neglected their advice ; and because the day before they had ta'ne down his gate only , he thought that their fury had terminated there , as being a sign they had no further malice unto him ; besides he made account that they wold bear som reverence to his long robe : but he reckned without his ●ost , his infortunat destiny blinded him so , and so stop'd his ears , that he would not listen to wholsom cautions . whereupon the rabble being com before his house , they furiously entred , and finding ●t full of all kind of costly furniture to admiration , they presently destinated all for the fire , leaving not a jot unburnt , and that which was of extraordinary consideration , and the more to be pitied , was , that the pleas , writings , charters , patents , and processes of divers poor and rich men were all consum'd ; ther was a library of curious books , and many thousand crowns found therin , there was two coches , four beutiful horses , and two mules , all burnt , and they threw bottles of oile into the fire to make it flame with more violence : in his pantry , larder house , and kitchin , ther were d●licat provisions , and divers chests of sweet meats , and a boy having ta'ne but a piece of bacon which fell by chance , he was ready to be torn in pieces by the multitud ; ther were 10000. crowns in good silver burnt , besides vessels of plate , double gilt . the fire of this house was so great , that though it was in the night time , yet evry corner of the street was as clear as if it had been noon day . thence they ran to the house of antonio mirabella , another counsellor , and a napolitan cavalier , in the suburb of mayds , and they did the like to him , where they left not one stone upon another , but consecrated all to the voracious flame , which lasted above three hours . at six a clock they pass'd to the palace of the forenamed andrea anaclerio , who had been affronted and ston'd by the boys at first , being the elect of the peeple , but finding no great matter there , because he had wisely remov'd his goods the sunday before , presaging som violence , they in a furious disdain applied fire to all the four corners of the house , which made a horrible flame , to the terror of all the beholders , which lasted four hours , till munday night being pass'd , the sun return'd to enlighten the following morn of march. but while the peeple consum'd with fire the houses , goods and wealth , beforesaid , of those public theefs , as they term'd them , there burnt in the brest of the viceroy an ardent desire to put a period to these fearful combustions , and to hasten an accomodation of all things : hereupon the collateral , and councel of state and war had a sad serious discours of these calamities , and 't was resolv'd at last , that his excellence shold comand four companies of foot to re-inforce that squadron which was already in the castle all along , and 't was don accordingly . hereupon there was a legal instrument printed , wherein there was an abolition of those gabels , and a general pardon granted : as soon as this instrument was printed 't was sent into the great market , that all peeple beholding and reading it , might return to quietude and conformity : but it took no effect , because that the general pardon being found imperfect , nor specifying as much as the peeple wold have , but containing divers matters subject to cavillation ▪ therefore all went off the kings ages again , and the treaty was dissolved , to repair which , because the viceroy perceav'd the nobility to be already hateful to the city , and therefore unfit to quench the fire , but rather make it greater , therefore he purposd to make use of two of the prime advocats of the peeple , and much esteemd by him , who were andrea martellone , and onosico palma , therefore the viceroy having comanded them to come unto him , he comitted unto their care and prudence , and that with a great deal of heat and earnestnes the appearing of the peeple with large promises of remunerations . they executed what was impos'd upon them with much efficacy , but it produc'd no fruit , and being return'd to the viceroy , they said 't was impossible to asswage the fury of the peeple , unless they had deliver'd them the original of the gran priviledg that charls the fift granted : this being understood by the viceroy , as from the beginning he had ardent desire to content the peeple , specially in this point so much importun'd , he caus'd all diligence to be used , that the said charter of priviledg shold be found out : therupon he dispatch'd som of the nobles , elect of the city , together with don ioseph maria caracciolo a teatin , to the church of san lonuzo to this effect , which ioseph was a subject of great valour , and learning , besides his high birth , and a most earnest co-operator at all times , specially at the conjuncture of these revolutions , and much devoted to the service of his king and country . in the mean time masaniello made it known to all the marchants in the name of the peeple , and corporations in the city , that they shold be ready with arms ▪ in hand for the service of the peeple ; a great part of his train went a horsback , and som a foot , to the houses , as well of gentlemen , as other persons , of what estate or quality soever , to search for arms , which were delivered him , though with an ill will , both by all noblemen and officers , ther being found in all places many thousands of archibuzes , carabins , musquets , pistols , and such like arms , as also nine pieces of artillery which a marchant had in his house , and which were given him in pawn from the court for som thousands of duckets , whereof he was creditor ; they took two canons more out of a ship , assaulted by them in a new gally , which was disarm'd in the mole , which being arm'd , was sent to the said vessel to deliver those pieces , els they wold set her a fire ; so the captain being forc'd , deliver'd seven canons , all which they plac'd at the mouths of the principal streets of the city : and having understood that mazzola a genoway marchant had in his house good store of arms , they entred his house , where they found 4000. musquets , which they distributed up and down the populass , who dwelt in the quarters of santa maria il parete . the archbishop seeing , that notwithstanding all proffers of accomodation the comotions advanc'd evry hour with more fury , it came into his head that he himself wold go abroad in procession , accompanied with the teatins , and those of s. hieroms , of the congregation of the oratorio , the the same munday ; but doubting it wold not be so pleasing to the peeple , he wold first feel their pulse , doing this with a great deal of prudence ; the grounds of his doubt was this , that when the evening before , and the same morning the said religious orders went out in a procession at way , the peeple did not much like those processions , in regard , that notwithstanding they were made with a good intent to appease the tumults , yet this being for no other end then to establish the ancient grassa in the city , they seem'd to marvail , and did tacitly grumble , to what purpose shold so many processions be made now , that they were busy to take off the gabels , and rid the city of all excessive impositions , and such processions were not made then , when , generally against the consent of the peeple , they were impos'd : therefore the archbishop , before he wold put in execution his designs , sent to the impositers of s. paul , and of the apostles , both of them being teatin churches , who coaching themselfs with some conspicuous secular priests , eminent for their lives and birth , who were particular elect , viz don carlo de bologna , and don diego de mendoza , they all went to the piazza of the great market to observe the humor of the peeple , how they wold like such a procession , the bishop having no other aims herein , but the service and satisfaction of the city , yet he wold know their inward inclinations herunto . the said fathers and lords being gon to the market place , they put in strict execution what they had in charge from the archbishop but they found tru what his eminence had formerly doubted , as 't was told them by some of the chief of the peeple , who yet thank'd very much the archbishop for his pious endeavors to favour them , not doubting a whit of his zeal and love to the city : but touching such a solemn extraordinary procession , they humbly advis'd his eminence not to do it , because the priests and religious men in those broken times might haply receave som incounter or disturbance , which might prejudice the reputation of the church , by reason of the great multitudes of arm'd men which were evry where , yet for no other end then the advancement of the public good : therefore they pray his eminence that he wold expose in the church the holy host , and inorder public orisons for 40. hours . the fathers and gentlemen being return'd to the cardinal archbishop , related unto him what they had propos'd , and what answers they had , therefore his eminence not thinking it expedient to put his former thoughts in action against the will of a tumultuary peeple , he inordred the said prepositors , and all chief heads and rectors of churches , as well secular as regular , that the blessed sacrament shold be expos'd , and public and privat prayers made , to recomend unto his divine majesty the woful condition of city and kingdom ; which was punctually perform'd evry day until the death of masaniello . when the archbishop had sent out those seasonable orders , it being now night , his eminence went to castle nuovo to confer with the viceroy , and try whether any accommodation could be pitched upon to free the city from those imminent dangers which hung over her , doing this with the greatest efficacy that cold com out of the brest of a cavalier patriot , and of a zealous pastor , associating unto him a little after to the same purpose the most illustrious the l. altieri , apostolical nuntio , for the time in that kingdom . ther retir'd into the said castle likewise towards the evening divers ministers , as well of the gown , as other officers , lords and cavaliers as well to treat with the viceroy concerning the same business , as also to withdraw thither for their greater security then they could be in their own habitations . and this is as much as happend the second day , which was munday . tuesday , july 9. 1647. the third day . the nepolitan peeple were so heated in their desires , and so animated to battail , and to the destroying of the houses of public ministers and partizans of the royal court , as also of lawyers and farmers of the gabels , that no bounds were sufficient to stop their arrogance and fury : as a strong currented river having burst down the banks and dikes which kept her within her chanel can hardly be brought in again to her wonted regular stream , in the mean time , while the fearful countryman labours with earth , stones , clay , wood and iron to mend her banks , she pursues her raging exorbitant cours , dilates her self o're fields , spoils the corn , undermines the trees , enters boldly into house and cellar without controulment , and so doth a world of mischief . the numerous peeple of naples might be said to be such a river , swelling with disdain and choler against the public officers of the gabels , and rushing o're the wonted banks , which were the laws and royal authority of her prince , the reverence to the holy church , the fear of justice : but she was not only like an unruly mounding river , but like a tempestuous sea , figur'd peradventure by the evangelist s. iohn , in his book of divine mysteries , wher he saith , that with the waters of the sea there joyn'd living waters of fire , whence 't is call'd by him , mars mixtum igne : the viceroy , the archb●shop , the nobility , the lawyers labour'd to make up these banks and breaches , yet all wold not do , but the river was as impetuous , extravagant and violent as ever . hence it came to pass , that the glorious sun scarce appeer'd in the orient to illuminat the city the third day , but the furious peeple ran with swift pace to the palace of one valenzano , formerly a very poor plebean , and afterwards from a petty clerk in the do●ana came to be a farmer of the gabel of corn , and so enriched himself extreamly ; he dwelt out of saint carlo , and 't is incredible what a world of goods , very precious both for the quantity and quality , were found in his house , which were all reduc'd to ashes ; ther were two boxes full of gold found in the cupboard of a window , which were taken and dispositated upon account in the kings bank . hence they pass'd to the palace of the duke of caivano , towards the little gate of santa chiara , where all his writings , and public books , he being secretary of the kingdom , with all his library , and infinit store of rich moveables and utensils were found , all which were burnt in two great fires , and the palace harass'd to the ground : what rich coches , sedans and couches , with rare vessels of argentry , and jewels of all kinds , were consum'd in this palace ? ther were also great store of curious pictures found there , the profane were burnt , but som holy pieces were sent to divers churches , but reserving for the flame the frames of them , although they were very gallant and rich , which cours they observ'd in all other places : the flame of this fire was so great , that it reach'd to a monastery of nunns hard by , of the order of s. francisco , so that they cryed out they were all destroyed ; it took in a library of books , the leaves whereof flew up aloft , that some words were legible in the air , among which ther happen'd one leaf to fall upon the ground from the said cloyster , which treated of the nobility of the ancient dukes of milan . i shold be over tedious if i shold describe all the desolations and ruines which those fires did cause , with the quantity and quality of the goods ; i will briefly tell you , that the same cruelties , term'd by the peeple just revenges , were us'd in all those houses whereof masaniello gave a catalog to destroy and ruinat : these were bartolome d' aquino , the duke iohn de caivano , gio : battista bozzacarino , all three of chiaia , iohn andrea tuonavoglia , who dwelt out of the gate of san gennaro , the president cinnamo sopra gresu maria , the sons of mastrodatti , iuseppe sportello farmer of the corn , president gieronimo cacciotolo , cesar loprano against the little hospital , iohn zaralios , who being an officer of the pen , came by his favour at court to such huge wealth , that he made himself duke of osturis , a principal city in puglia , with sixty thousand crowns annual rent , dwelling in toledo street , whose palace was one of the proudest and most magnificent of any in naples , built by himself from the very foundation ; francesco pallavicino alle mortelle , geronimo nacatella of polysippo , and andrea capano his son in law , agostin de iulijs , giacomo frezza , petrillo di florio , bartholome balzamo , donado de bellis cashier of the gabel of corn , and many other persons had their rich moveables and furnitures , with their argentry and jewels of great value , all consum'd to ashes . in the palace of aquino a chiaia ther was an inestimable wardrobe found proportionable to a kings , which was all destroyed : and luprano having conveyed all his goods which were most precious to the monastery of the hospital of the padri zoccolanti , and basile brought his jewels and moneys to the conservatory of santa maria di constantinopoli , and zavaglio brought the flower of his goods to the monastery of the nuns of the conception nere his palace , yet masaniello came to know of all this , and therefore comanded the said monasteries to 〈◊〉 and bring forth all those furnitures under pain of burning , but being terrified by the peremptorines of the comand , they brought all forth , which were immediatly consum'd to ashes , and som coches with the horses alive , which were found out by the rabble , having bin hid out of the way in sundry places by their owners . while the peeple went thus revenging themselfs of their pretended adversaries , those two original priviledges of king ferdinando , and charles the v. both which the peeple did so earnestly thirst after , were found out , and so they were brought to the viceroy by the chief elect of the nobles , and by the foresaid don giuseppe caracciolo a teaten , which labour'd extremely in the busines : hereupon the viceroy did not let slip one moment of time , or the least advantage to com at last to an accord with the peeple , promising them still all posible satisfaction , the cardinal archbishop of naples did the like , who , with all his might and main , and by the help of his gentlemen , by going also often himself in person to divers places did not spare pains o● fear danger ; but the peeple finding that the treaty for a peace went still on with delayes , did begin to declare , that they would be masters of san lorenzo , and of the tower thereof to sound to a war at any time the great bell , as also to secure a port which they suspected might prove very offensive to their quarters in the great market by canon shot , besides they wold have the use of the artigliery , and other arms of the city , which were stor'd up therein ; to which effect about 10000 ▪ peeple being got before the place all arm'd , and having begirt the monastery of the fryers on all on all sides , they put themselfs in a posture to fight ranging themselfs in files , being resolv'd to do somthing : the convent was then forsaken by the fryars , som novices being only left , and som of the ancient'st , the duke of siano son to the regent capece latro , gio : baptista cicinelli , don tomas aquaviua son to the erl of conversano with other few gentlemen being there retir'd with 60 spaniards sent the evening before by the viceroy , for garding the steeple , were there shut in . the assault was given , and som archibuses flew off , and a great many faggots were set afire , and they prepared themselfs to batter down the tower in the first place with a huge peece of ordinance brought thither of purpose : the people within and the spanish gard it self apprehending som fear made signs that they would yeild upon articles , whereupon the gates were opened and the souldiers sallied forth which were there for a gard as well spaniards as italians , with expresse order to leave behinde them their armes , granting them onely their lives and cloathing which they carried about them ; so that the peeple entring there , they seized upon all the arms , as p●ques , musquets , archibusses , with 18 peeces of ordinance , put in there for the service of the city to the militia that came forth masaniello order'd , that after they had eaten they might be at liberty , and presently he comanded the great bell to sound to arms , but with a public protest without any intent of rebellion , but for the service of the peeple , which sound lasted a good while , as well to shew the victory they had obtain'd , as also to assemble the peeple to new attempts . and seeing that the charter of charles the v. did not yet appeer neither in that place where it ought to have bin kept , which was among the archives of the city , wher all ancient writings are us●d to be preserv'd , they grew very furious , and drew forth other goods to be burnt , among which was the present king of spains picture , which they not only preserv'd , but bringing it forth they expos'd it to public view , under a rich canopy , with much reverence , crying aloud , let god live , let our king live a thousand years , and let the ill government dye : they placed one great canon at the little gate of s. laurence , and another at the greatest gate of s. paul , levelling at that piazza of s. laurence , they plac'd to under the piatza of s. biaggio , two alla selleria , two upon the market place , two at the port of capua , two more at porta nolana , and the rest in other places , designing a sufficient nomber of men for the gard of those places ; and to secure themselfs from the assault of all enemies , they distributed in evry place a sufficient proportion of powder , of bullets , of match , and other instruments , to serve the artillery , and other sort of fireworks if need required . among those companies of combatants which went abroad that day , there were a great many women with archibuzes upon their sholders , and other sorts of arms , with their she captains , alterezes and sargeants , they appeer'd like so many amazons , and 't was a rare sight to behold , so that the ancient time of nero seem'd to be renew'd when he besieg'd rome . the companies went on , and in the midst of two soldiers a woman well clad , and not ill favor'd , went with the arms of his majesty upon her head , and with a writing in great letters round about it , viva il re , & il fidelissimo popolo di napoli ; let the king live , and the most faithful peeple of naples ; she went with a naked sword in her right hand , and a poynard in her left : ther followed after an incredible nomber of she archibuziers , and others arm'd with pikes , lances and halbards , others with clubs and staves , with faggots upon their backs , to put fire to the houses of traytors and public thieves of their country ▪ lastly the little wenches of four or five yeers of age went with little batoons and sticks in their hands , a spectacle strange to behold . ther came other troops of women from divers parts of the city in good order , carrying wood and sulfur upon their back to fire where occasion requir'd : and because ther were citizens enough in the gross of the army about masaniello able to make their party good against any power , the rest were order'd by him to go to defend their own quarters and homes : ther were som banditi that had mingled themselfs with these companies under a pretext to serve the peeple , but their design was , as 't was found afterwards , to take booties , or to plot som treson . the viceroy was not furnish'd with provision , nor wold they suffer any eatable thing to passe to the castle , a felluca was taken , which thought to have brought him provision ; the couriers were stayed , who brought him letters from divers places ; and he might be said to be in a manner besieg'd with all the gentlemen in the castle , the peeple having both land and sea in their absolut possession . the archbishop being return'd to the castle to confer with the viceroy , and the rest of the principal ministers , the last remedy by means of that reverend bishop was applied to make a final agreement : so the viceroy deliver'd into his hands the original charter or priviledg of charles the v. with a promise in writing , subscribed with his own hand , to observe it firmly , desiring him to go to the great market place to have it seen , and publish'd in the church of carmine . when the bishop had the tru priviledg in his hands he felt an extraordinary fit of comfort , not doubting but his beloved sheep wold be now altogether quieted , which certainly had happen'd , had not a secret treaty of matalone , and don gius●ppe caraffa his brother , against masaniello , and his followers , bin discovered , which put all things again out of square . the bishop therefore being com to the great market place , and receav'd by the peeple with mighty reverence and honor , he entred into the church of carmine , complemented by multitudes of peeple more then the said church could hold : the said charter was read with a loud voyce , and understood by all with a kind of jubile of contentment ; yet there wanted not , by the secret practise of the devil , som who , having still rebellious spirits , suspected the truth of that charter , and that it was not the original , but a suppositious one : wherupon suspecting themselfs to be deluded by the bishop , they began to cry out , yea to threaten him by telling him , will your eminence also deceave us ? at which instant the bishop stood in evident danger of his life : the bishop desiring to penetrat the cause of those whisperings , ask'd masaniello what was the matter , who told him . most eminent sir , this peeple suspect that this charter is not the true one , and that your eminence goes about to baffle us , but i do not believe it , and i will turn against them in your defence , or kill my self , knowing well how punctually honorable your eminence is . the b●shop answered , my dear son , these priviledges and charters are the very same which charles the v. subscrib'd , and which the peeple desire ▪ but because you may be sincerely satisfied of the truth of my proceedings , let us do this , find me an intelligent man whom you will ▪ and i will deliver it him , leaving it in his hands , and for a sign of the truth i will not stir hence , till this busines cleerly appeer , that you may know , that i hold you my sons as much as the gentry , and as your pastor and father ; i wold spill my bloud most willingly for my peeple , as also for the peace and quietness of my dear country . at which words masaniello grew very quiet , and with him the tumultuous peeple : so they sent for d. iulio genovino a most sagavous man , who knew as much as can be known of the affairs of the city and kingdom by his long experience , being 80. years old , and having bin 19. years a prisoner , during the time of another revolution happen'd in the government of ossuna . masaniello therefore made the priviledg to be deliver'd to that man , that he might study and review it , as he did all the night following with most exact diligence , all which time the bishop departed not from the church of carmine : and it was by the disposition of god almighty , and the most blessed virgin , that this happen'd , for that very night ther were 36. houses of cavaliers to be burnt , amongst whom in the first place was the duke of mataloni , the duke of medina las torres , the prince and prior della rocella , the prince of cellamare chief post-master of the kingdom , cornelius spinola , carlo spinelli , don ferrante caracciolo , carlo brancaccio the counsellor , don francesco capece latro , francesco tomacello , and the houses of divers other were to be a sacrifice , and by the sole endeavors of the bishop they scaped it : though these forenamed had been the principall heads and authors of the disorder hapned the year before in the procession of the reliques of san genaro , yet the bishop as a pious pastor , and common father , rendring them like a perfect christian good for evill , prayed more in the behalf of these then any other , specially for the houses of medina , and mataloni . wherefore masaniello perceaving the goodnes and integrity of the bishop , and sounding out his praises with full mouth to all the peeple , it made them desist from the firing that was intended , declaring that he had absolutly forborn it at his instance . it happen'd , that the same day and time that his eminence was to reason with the peeple in the church of carmine , another general whisper was or'e-heard : for after the charter of charles the v. was read , that which the viceroy did subjoyn was also read , which was , that he confirm'd all the said charter by abolishing all the gabells and impositions , and that he pardoned all the peeple for whatsoever they had don , and acted in that commotion , and he promis'd to obtain such a pardon from his catholic majesty for any act of rebellion that might have happen'd : when this was heard , you wold not beleeve how greatly the peeple were mov'd , wherupon they began to cry out with a loud voyce , that they never comitted any act of rebellion , but to have always bin most faithful vassals , and wold dye so towards his majesty , who ( and they rais'd their voyces to a great height ) they prayed to live a thousand years : the thing they only desired was , that the priviledges made good unto them by king ferdinando , and charles the emperour , might be made good unto them now : therupon thinking they were gull'd and betrayed , they wold give ear no longer to any accord , as also because in the said confirmation his excellency did not specify , that the whole kingdom shold be so disburdned , without the necessary clause of the apostolical assent , as they had made instance ; and therefore , without being a whit satisfi●d , they desir'd that the war might be prosecuted , until they might have compleat satisfaction ; yet the bishop labour'd still to divert them from such thoughts , by reading unto them the note following sent him from the viceroy . my most eminent and reverend lord , the most faithful peeple of this most faithful city prayed me to confirm their priviledges , and in regard of the affections and high love which they have always shew'd to his majesties service , i granted their petition ; and because instances have bin made unto me , that for the greater authority it shold be published in a pontificial way , i desire your eminence so to do , and it will be a favor unto me , and a comfort unto the peeple . god gard your eminence many yeers , according as i desire . datum 6 july , 1647. the priviledg is a dispatching , and those of the most faithful peeple shall bring it to your excellence . so i rest the greatest servant of your most reverend eminence , el duque de ercos . but the peeple not lending an ear to all this , thinking the bishops promises to be lame and imperfect , and being earnest to pursue the war as is said already , till ther be a condescension to all their reasons , they went on in ingrossing their militia through all the parts of the city , and by putting in order divers companies which very numerous , having 400. or 500. in evry one . the dominion was such , that the very women , arm'd in great numbers , som with batoons on their n●cks , som with naked swords in their hands , som with a sword in the right , and a dagger in the left , and with knifes on their sides , went strutting up and down the streets as so many amazons , before the royal palace , and elswhere , having one man before for their van , and another behind for their rere , crying out still , may the the king of spain live , but the ill goverment die . upon the report of these comotions in naples the spaniards which were quartered in the nere adjacent villages were coming to naples , which being known by the peeple , by 〈◊〉 scouts which they kept abroad , they sent a party to meet them , where they disarm'd them all , and sent them back : ther came also 500 germans sent from capua , who were billeted ther by the governor of that city , but when they came nere the gates the peeple rushd out , and stripping them of their arms for their own use , they brought them in , and giving them som refreshment , they kept them a good while in the court of gard , making very much of them for the innocence they found in them . such a terror was struck into evry one , that if a boy said to a shop-keeper , for how much sell you the quart of wine ? for example sake sell it but for so much , and no more ; and so for fruit , and all other things , all obey'd : they went at first to put fire to the goods of cornelio spinola a genoways , who had resided in naples above 20. years , negotiating with the court , and having farm'd the gabels , and much peeple being found within for his defence , they went to him by way of stratagem , saying , they were com to treat with him to make him their grassier : he excus'd himself at first , saying , that he was not proper for so great a trust , being a stranger ▪ and they assuring him , that by long habitation he was becom a free denizon of the city , he accepted of it , wherupon he said , i have a million for the service of the king of spain , and the most faithful peeple of naples . an order came forth that day from masaniello , that in all those houses where ther were pieces of the king and queen of spain , they shold be thrown out , and the arms of the most faithful peeple of naples set up under canopies . the bishop about the evening dispatcht to the viceroy father francisco maria filomarino , a capuchin , who was his brother , with other gentlemen , praying him that he wold by all means yeeld to all pretensions , and give entire satisfaction unto the peeple , if he desir'd to prevent the mischiefs that were like to ensue . when the said filomarino was com into the castle , he began to treat with the viceroy in the bishops name , with a great deal of affection and earnestnes , in so much that by little and little they went overcoming all difficulties , so ther were high hopes that an absolut accommodation wold ensue . in the mean time masaniello gaining power more and more over the peeple , because he was found to be of a great spirit and hardines , he rendred himself by degrees the most belovd , the most respected and worthy of esteem by all that possiby could be , notwithstanding that in such a confus'd multitud of so many thousands of peeple ther were so many doctors , marchants , notaries , scriveners , proctors , physitions , soldiers , and very worthy artizans , and an infinit nomber of others that were men of judgment , wit , wealth , volour and experience , and the meanest of them superior to him in condition : but from tuesday , and all the time forward , when he went in the name of the peeple to negotiat with the bishop touching the present affairs , his eminence remain'd astonish'd at his spirit and parts , which got him dayly more and more credit amongst the peeple , who cryed him up therupon the chieftain , or captain general , so that all were willing to transfer unto him solemnly , as absolut patron , the supreme comand o're all the peeple , and to obey him accordingly . wherupon in the middle of the market place ther was a stage erected b● him , where from that time forward the said masaniello clothed in white like a mariner , and in his company other counsellors of the peeple , among whom genovino , and that famous bandito domenico perrone , taken out of the church of carmine , as formerly said , by order of the peeple , had the first places ; they gave public audience , receiving indifferently from all sorts of peeple , as well laicks as ecclesiasticks , who adher'd unto the popular party , petitions and memorials , pa●sing orders , and decreeing civil , criminal , and military sentences upon all causes , by arrogating to themselfs the sole supreme authority , and d●spotical comand o're all the city , villages and families , making account that all the armed men that were ready at masaniello's beck were no less then 150. thousand souls , without inclusion of women , boys and children , who were of an incredible nomber , among whom one wold com to visit her husband , another his father , som their sons , others their kinsmen or friends , declaring that if need were they wold raise another army for the defence of the peeple and city . and this is as much as happen'd the third day . wensday , the tenth of july , 1647. the fourth day . the napolitan peeple did not seem satisfied to publish unto the world the extreme disdain they had taken against the chiefest authors of the gabels by outward firing and combustions , but they did still ruminat in the night , what further revenges were to be taken in the day . hence it came to pass that upon wensday betimes , when aurora had hardly usher'd up the sun into the orient , masaniello order'd that upon pain of death the brigade of his lifegard , which were in nomber about 7. or 8000. persons , that they shold repair to the palace of the duke of caivano , who was thought by the peeple to be one of their chiefest enemies , therfore comand was given to pass through the street of the little gate of santa chiara to plunder again the said duke , because notice was had of goods of far greater value which were not yet discover'd , the soldiers herupon as swift as lightning went , in obedience to masaniello's comand , and re-entred the house , where battring down a door , they found two chambers full of the richest tapistry that could be seen , with sundry sorts of other costly moveables , then they descended into the gardens , and battered divers marble statues and fountains , grubb'd up the flowers and trees , broke down the balcones , and put fire to evry thing both in house and garden . ther went som hundreds of that soldadesca to the palace of the duke of mataloni to burn it also , and destroy it from top to bottom , purposing to sow the ground with salt afterwards ; but finding it well fortified with one hundred armed banditos , who were within , they went back to have a recrent of strength , and to return thither towards the evening to execut their design : so passing again to chaia to the palace of the young duke of caivano don francesco barile to get the residu of his fathers goods , preserv'd haply by him , they rush'd also into that house , and did miserable spoil to evry thing that came in their way and as they were doing this , peeple of all sorts , men , women and boys brought them faggots , with pitch , oyl , sacks ful of straw , and other helps , making hideous noise up and down the streets , as if they had bin stark mad , and crying , ther is but this little straw left in our houses , and it shall serve to put fire into the kennels of these dogs , who have impos'd , suck'd , and swallow'd such gabels from us , and saying this , they wold let down the sack of straw , and throw all into the fire ▪ other women wold bring in their arms their children , and putting little fir'd matches into their hands , they wold make them throw them into the fire , crying out , these poor lambs shall also take vengeance of these theefs for the bread they have taken out of their mouths , so with hurling exclamations and cur●es they went up and down ▪ yet somtimes with these interjections of prayer ; viva iddio sem●re , & il nostro re , & ruvoiano questi carri : let god live for ever , and our king , and let these dogs dye the death : the sight of all which things wold have mollified an adamant , and drawn compassion out of the very rocks . while the peeple went thus to evaporate their high discontentments and deep hatred against the pretended enemies of the public good , the bishop did very strictly negotiate with the vice-roy for a finall accord , by the intervention of som choice instruments whom he had sent thither of purpose , for 't was not fitting he himself shold remove from the church del carmine , because he prevented thereby the horrible firings and spoiles which were threatned to be also made thereabouts ; he imployed besides into the castle three gentlemen of speciall parts , who were caesar gerardini à luquese , a gentleman who was master of his chamber , one of a lovely conditition , of much vigor and prudence ; the second was don gennaro quaranta , and guiseppe de rossi , both neapolitan gentlemen , whereof the one was vicar-generall of the nunns of naples , a subject of high learning and goodnesse of life : and that wednesday morning the business was at so hopefull a pass , that a motion was made to make a solemn cavalcata to the church del carmine by the vice-roy , and where all the nobility shold attend him , that the capitulations of peace might be publikely read there , and afterwards a te deum solemnly sung , to give god due thanks for his graces : this was intimated to masaniello , who consented thereunto , yet he commanded the peeple to be still vigilant , and to stand upon their guard , and ev'ry inrolled soldier to have his armes ready , and to stand firm to his post and not to stir th●nce upon pain of death : as these things were in agitation and fully intended , the vice-roy ceas'd not to send messages ever and anon unto the bishop , desiring him to assure the peeple that they shold have all possible satisfaction , and it lay in his eminences hands in chief to maintain the crown of that kingdom , with the lifes and being of all the nobility throughout naples ; therefore he had sent him the day before the ancient charters of king ferdinand , and of charles the fifth , confirmed by the royall councell collaterall , and the councell of state held of purpose for that effect , wherein there was a generall indulgence or pardon granted unto the peeple of naples for any offence whatsoever committed , the tenor wherof was as followeth . philip by the grace of god , king , &c. don roderico ponce de leon , duke of arcos . we by an everlasting priviledge do grant to the most faithfull peeple of this most faithfull city of naples , that all gabells and impositions be extinct and abolish'd which were laid upon the city of naples , and the kingdom , from the time of the emperour charls the v. of happy memory untill this hour . moreover we grant a generall pardon for any offence whatsoever committed , since the beginning of this present revolution to this point of time , as also for ev'ry offence and inquisition pass'd that related to the sayed revolution . given in castel nuovo 10. of iuly 1647. el duque de arcos . donato coppola secretary of the kingdom . this being receiv'd by the bishop , he procur'd suddenly by discreet waies to induce masaniello to convoque all the captains , and chief commanders of the peeple together to hear the reading of the sayed capitulations of the accord so much desired by them . the charter of charles the emperour being already acknowledg'd by don giulio genovino , and presented unto them by the bishop , as tru and original , therefore there were more then hopes , nay 't was held a thing beyond all doubt that an agreement wold follow : but mark , while the peeple were all assembled in the church de● c●●mine there being infinite multitudes which stayed without not being able to enter , because the church was full already , being there com to hear the articles read which they seem'd to desire with that anxiety , behold a new chance happen'd ( and god forgive him who was the cause thereof for he bore the punishment a little after ) which put all things out of square , and was able to put the whole city to fire and sword : the chance was that ther entred into the gate del carmine which leads to the market place , a great nomber of banditi at least 500. all arm'd a horsback , giving out that they came for the service of the peeple sent for by the forenamed bandito perrone as he attested himselfe before masaniello , and the substance of the fact was tru , but the end whereunto it tended differ'd much , because that he confederating with the duke of mataloni and d. guiseppe caraffa his brother , had an aym not at the service , but the destruction of the peeple , which was first to kill masaniello their leader , with divers others of the principall mutineers about the great market place , and other circumjacent pr●cincts , as 't was afterwards discover'd and shall be told hereafter . the sayed banditi being made to com before masaniello , they were receiv●d with great demonstrations of love , but while they were there in his presence , perrone made a motion , which was , that the said banditi shold go a horsback through the city , and take their quarters a part , which things he held to be very essentiall , and conducing much to the service of the peeple , wherunto masaniello replied , that 't was bootles to do this , ●ut 't was sufficient if divided they stood a foot ready at his commands : perrone persisting in his opinion sayed often that by all means the banditi shold be a horsback : masaniello suspecting som sinister practises of perrone in giving this same counsell , caus'd that he order'd more peremptorily they shold go a foot , and that they shold not budg from one corner of the market which he wold assign them for their quarter . the banditi being much disquieted in mind , because they had not their intent towards the execution of their design , as they parted there were seven archibuz shots made at masaniello , yet they miss'd him all , but som bullets burnt part of his shirt and so fell to the earth , all which was esteem'd a miracle of the most holy lady del carmine , whose medail he carried about his neck hanging down to his brest . ev'ry one may imagine how much this act might have mov'd the peeple to fury , but ther only happen'd confus'd dark rumors and whisperings for the present ; but afterwards they fell upon those banditi and discharg'd 300. musket shots at them , wherein they kill'd about thirty , two whereof fell down before the great altar , three in the vestry , one under the very seat where the archbishop was , and thither he had fled for safe-gard ; and the rest in divers parts of the convent , divers also were hurt , but the heads of the slain were set up upon poles in the market place ; and som of them scaping away into divers places from the crowd , fled into monasteries , but most into maria della nuova de zocolane . perrone was presently apprehended , and fetter'd by masaniellos order , and to be proceeded against as shall be told speedily . then they went in quest of one antimo grasso a man as notorious as facinorous , who was one of the chiefest of the plot , who was found , and murther'd in the same chamber where the bishop was , which was one of the stands of the generall . he receiv'd the shot in the window of the sayed chamber whilest perceiving himself to be pursu'd by death , he sought to fly into the cloyster , which precipitat flight confirm'd the jealousies the peeple had of him . the bishop was at that time in most evident danger of his life , neverthelesse without being a whit mov'd or losing one crum of courage , he confess'd and gave absolution to the said antimo grasso before he breath'd his last . the noise was so great , and the shots so many , and the tumult so high in the monastery , the gates being open'd and pull'd off the hinges , that all the fryers trembling with fear thought they were all dead men , and many of them confessing one to the other with crucifixes in their hands , and other images , expected no other then sudden death ; yet neverthelesse the archbishop did not give over , but with a notable magnanimity worthy of a prelat did encourage them , distributing his pastorall benedictions among them up and down with many sweet words of comfort . the peeple were much mov'd to see the holy church so polluted with bloud , and profan'd with slaughters , therefore those dead bodies were carried out into the market ; and the peeple went to find out the rest of the banditi who were hid in divers places , whereof divers were kill'd , and the rest got o're the walls to save their lifes . som were ta'n● alive who reveal'd the treason intended against masaniello set afoot by the duke of matalone , either for revenging of the affront he had receav'd the munday before , or to perform his promise made to the vice-roy , hoping thereby to disanimate and so disunite the peeple , their head being cut off . here upon the peeple not only dwelling about the market place , but in other places , having notice given them that the said 500. banditi came of purpose by the machinations of the duke of mataloni to make away masaniello , and that perrone was a chief instrument to bring this about , masaniello commanded the sayed perrone to be kill'd , but to be first put to the torment to draw out of him the trace , order and manner of the plot , with his complices , which being don , many things were discover'd tending to the prejudice and lifes of the peeple . he confess'd in particular , that he and the rest of the banditi were sent by order of the duke of mataloni , not only to murther the sayed masaniello , but also by a mine already made to blow up the i le of the house of masaniello , with the contiguous houses under which there were already twenty eight barrells of powder put ; and therewith the whole convent of carmine , under which there were also a mine layed with great store of gun-powder , having to this effect receiv'd from the sayed duke a bill for himself and his complices , who were engag'd in the plot of fifteen thousand crowns , which accordingly was found about him : so much perrone confess'd and no more , and though 't was enough , yet he confess'd not all , which was discover'd afterwards by others : having confess'd all th●s , his head was chopt off with a brothers of his , and they were pitcht upon pikes in the market place to be a spectacle to the world . 'twixt the banditi who were taken alive , and not shot , one of them desired his life of masaniello , and he wold discover unto him som conjurations far greater and more generall then perrone confessed , or grasso either , which if he detected , his life was promis'd him , provided his discoveries prov'd tru : hereupon he reveal'd that the night following , presupposing that the foresaid five hundred banditi horse had formerly had good successe , there were many troops of horse to second them , and they were to set fire to certain mines under the great market place , at such a time when it was fullest of people , and trod by armed men , which commonly according to their former custom ▪ was us'd to be about three hours in the night , at the striking of which hour they were to give fire to the mine , which consisted of fifty cantaras of powder and more , amounting to fifteen thousand pounds , or thereabouts , and spread up and down through the bowells of the said market place , which had made fly into the aire all the peeple then present , and blown up the edifices circumjacent , with the monasterie and church del carmine , insomuch that there had perish'd at lea●t besides the destruction of the holy buildings and profane , about one hundred and fifty thousand souls : a case of infinite compassion , justifying any other bloody revenge which the peeple might have taken for such a barbarous and unheard of cruelty : when the mines had taken effect , the banditi were to disperse up and down , joyning with som of the gentry whom they had brought in with them , and fall upon the rest of the common peeple , and put all to the sword ; this being understood by masaniello , he ordred that with all possible diligence those subterranean places shold be search'd that were reveal'd by the said prisoner , which being found tru and reall , he pardoned him his life , but with perpetuall banishment from the city and kingdom under pain of life ; the said powder being taken up from all those places under ground , did serve for provision to the peeple for many days , for they had scarcity thereof . it was discover'd also by the confession of other banditi , being put upon the rack , that by the machinations of duke matalone , and his brother perrone and grassa , having the chief hand therein , that the waters which by aqueducts serv'd the city of naples were poyson'd , as also the corne , which after much diligen●● being found to be tru , specially in those cisterns which receive the rain water , as in the sellaries , the public markets , and oth●r places inhabited by the meaner sort of peeple , for it was prov'd that two poor children had died by those waters ; therefore the aqueducts which convey'd those waters being broken ope , notice was given by sound of trumpet and drum , with bills fix'd in all quarters of the city , that none shold drink of those waters that pass'd through the formale , which was the common aqueduct . at the same time by order of masaniello were dispatch't many companies of armed foot and horse through all the city , and the suburbs , to take the rest of the banditi , who were retir'd for sanctuary to divers churches and monasteries , specially in sancta maria della nuova , where a great number got shelter , and it was bruited abroad , that don guiseppe de caraffa was com also thither for favors which he had receiv'd from the vice-roy from benevento to naples : he plac'd also at the same time divers gards at the gates , that the cavaliers shold not get out to joyn in bands against the peeple , which was much fear'd , out of the confessions which were drawn from the foresayed banditi ; therefore an exact search was made for these in all the monasteries throughout the city , where divers were found , and being drag'd out they had their heads chopt off , and put up upon poles up & down the streets . and because there was a report ran that the duke of matalone himself was hid at st. efrem , one of the capuchins churches , a great squadron of armed men went thither , with ravenous resolutions to drag him out and execute him ; but a little before having got timely advice by a spie , he got out in the disguise of a capuchin fryer ; and although the peeple went all the waies to overtake him , yet they could not do it , in regard that he was got before upon a swift coursier towards benevento ; the peeple being much inrag'd at his escape : but whosoever of his servants , pages , laquays , musick boyes , or any other that belong'd unto him came into their hands , they presently murther'd them . and because the rage of the peeple after the sayed duke of mataloni , was bent next against d. guiseppe caraffa his brother , there went 4000. persons all arm'd to the foresayed monastery of santa maria della nuova of the zoccolanti , where he had secur'd himself , as also his brother father gregorio caraffa prior de la roccella , who being assisted by god for his innocence and innated goodnesse , became a prophet to himself , and to his brother don guiseppe , of the approaching danger that did menace their destruction , he exhorted & conjur'd him to get away with him , and to transfer themselfs to a place of greater security : but he , not giving eare to the exhortations of the prior , but yeelding to his hard destiny , he remain'd alone in the sayed monastery , the prior taking leave of him with teares in his eyes ; who being scarce gon , the foresayed rabble surpriz'd the place , and rushing in with extreme rage , though a great while they could not find him , he being hid in the secretest place of the monastery ; whence he got means to give notice to the viceroy of his desperate condition ; and therefore to amuse or divert the rabble , he desir'd him to let fly two peeces of ordnance ( but without bullets ) among them ; and it might be , that being so terrified , they might return to the town to take new counsells , and so he might have opportunity to make his escape . this note being sowed 'twixt the sole and the shoo of a poor converted frier , he gave him a good reward to go with it to the castle : but what ? the bearer had scarce put himself upon his way , but being stop'd by som malicious spies , he was search'd from head to foot , where they found the sayed note , and so they fell upon him most furiously , and chop'd off his head . caraffa hereupon having lost all hopes of preserving himself , for the certainty the peeple had got that he was in the sayed monastery , and for the hot eager malice wherewith they pursued him , he resolv'd to attempt an escape , being told by the fryers , that the brutish peeple wold search all the cells , dormitories , with any other places public or private within the monastery , as also the altars themselfs , church-yards , and ev'ry corner of church or convent : having don so in sundry places , and chop 't off the head of whomsoever they found ; but to do this with lesse danger he put off his fryers weeds and apparell'd himself with a secular habit , wherein leaping out of a window of the monastery over against a shop where a silkweaver dwelt , he recover'd himself with four of his confidents all habited like friers into the next house where a mean woman dwelt , and hiding himself there under a bed , he prayed her ( with large promises of reward ) to conceal him ; but the ill-natur'd and base woman promising her self a greater reward from the promiscuous crew , discover'd him , and deliver'd him into their hands , with the other foure of his retinue , among whom when they had seiz'd upon him , they dragg'd him along the little piazza of ceriglio , notwithstanding that he had promis'd twelve thousand crowns in good gold if they wold suffer him to escape : and although som began to hearken to such a proffer , yet the greater number would not , but barbarously cried out with loud exclamations , kill him , kill the traytor ; at which words , among others which slashed him with daggers and stillettos , a young fellow , son to a butcher hard by , with a great knife cut his throat , and chop 't off his head ; which being done , 't is incredible what exultations of joy and triumphing there was among them , as if they had taken off the head of the great turk , and cut to pieces the whole ottoman empire : so his head being fixed upon the top of a pike , and under it one of his feet and half a leg , with this inscription underneath , which was written in huge characters that they might be the more legible : questo é don peppo caraffa rebelle della patria , & traditore dell fidelissimo popolo . this is don peppo caraffa , a rebell to his countrey , and traytor to the most faithfull peeple . and because at the same time the heads of the other foure who were of his train were chopt off , and put also aloft upon poles , though lower then that where caraffa's head was , to make it appear the more eminent ; and having put his porter in the midst of four more , and tied about his temples a royall crown of lead , in this posture they made him go up and down the market place , dragging all along the bodies of those five , till at last they threw them upon a dunghill among stones and filth . this being don , they cried out , viva dio , & il nostro re mill ' anni , & muoiauo gli traditori del fidelissimo popolo . let god live , and let our king live a thousand yeers , but let the traitors of the most faithfull peeple die the death . with such funestous preparatifs , and in such an ignominious procession was the body and head of caraffa presented to masaniello , who was ther present all the while , & commanding his head to be brought nearer unto him , he pluck'd him often by the hair of his mustachos , disgorging many base opprobrious words , and making a kind of speech unto the peeple touching the justice of god , which comes surely , though slowly , to punish the guilty , and useth to make a compensation for the slownesse with the greater security , making application of the doctrine of that wise man , who without studying could by the meer light of nature say ; lento quidem gradu divina procedit ira , & tarditatem supplicii gravitate compensat . masaniello having terminated his speech unto the people , commanded that all the heads of the banditi , and other facinorous traytors that were taken in the monastery of the zoccolanti , and in the ceriglio , shold be distinguished from others , and plac'd by themselfs , and fix'd in the great market place , but the carcase of caraffa shold be tied to a beam athwart , and his head shold be put in a grate of iron with his foot nail'd underneath , and fix'd without the porta di gennaro , through which the passage was to the palace of mataloni , putting above that grate of iron , and under his carcase in the market place the foresayed words in large legible characters . don peppo caraffa rebelle della patria , & traditore del fidelessimo popolo , all which was punctually executed , the peeple still bawl'd aloud let traytors die , let traytors die ; and nothing was heard up and down the streets in ev'ry corner , but shrikings , and howlings with horrid curses , which made a hideous noise in the air . at this spectacle of caraffa the fear of the cavaliers encreas'd somuch , that they expected no other thing then to be torn in peeces , seeing them lay hands so inhumanely upon such that were us'd to make that city tremble at other times , as also the whole kingdom of naples : and the foundation of their fears was the greater , because that after the discovery of the plots made by the banditi , the peeple rise up and multiplied more fast then ever , for that very night there were numbred 114000. armed persons , without black caps , and the gentletlemen that adher'd to the peeple , with divers other , as the catalog was seen in the hands of don georglo sersale . as also of the doubts they had that the viceroy himself had a hand in that conjuration of the banditi , and to make him resolve to grant them whatsoever they desir'd , masaniello commanded that no refreshments or provision shold passe into the castle , where he and his dutchesse ▪ with the collaterall counsell , and counsell of state , with the greatest part of the kings ministers , servants and officers resided , as also into those quarters where the spaniards were billeted , where they permitted neither bread , or wine , or snow to be carried , but only a few roots , and herbs . he commanded also , because he intended to choak them with thirst , as well as to famish them with hunger , that all the aqueducts shold be cut off : whereupon the viceroy seeing himself in so scurvy a condition , dispatch't a letter to the archbishop , that he wold make known to the people his sincere intentions towards them , and that he was not only a meer stranger , but most averse to the practises of the banditi , and their abominable conjurations ; for proof whereof he might assure them that he us'd all humane industry that could be imagin'd , to apprehend those banditi , and deliver them to the hands of the peeple , to do with them what they pleas'd ; such were the protestations of the viceroy to clear himself of those ombrages he found the people began to have of him . the tenor of the generall to the archbishop was as followeth : most eminent , and most reverend lord. the newes of the distrust of the peeple , with that accident of the duke of mataloni , put 's me in a great deal of care , for i desire no other thing but the satisfaction of the peeple , and the contentment of the city ; therefore i thought good to let your eminence know that if i had any of the banditi in my hands , i wold deliver them to the power of the most faithfull city , or any other that disturb'd our quietness . your eminence may please to let this be known , and command that notice be sent me of what passeth , and how your eminence fareth , whose most eminent person god preserve for many years . from the palace this 10. of iuly 1647. your eminence may please to perform whatsoever i offer'd the most faithfull city in the behalf of his majesty and my self . my lord , what , hath lately happen'd leaves me full of wonder ; i offer to your eminence by the life of the king , that any of the banditi whom i can lay hold on i will immediately send them to the most faithfull peeple , to whom i wold be right understood ▪ for i desire nothing els but quietnesse . so i am the greatest servant of your eminence ▪ el duque de arcos . the archbishop did acquaint the people by vertue of the foresayed letter , with the right intentions of the viceroy towards them , which help'd to mitigate in part the ill talent that was conceiv'd against him ; yet notwithstanding masaniello did publish a rigorous ban , that all as well peeple , as cavaliers , shold be ready at the sound of the public bell under pain to have their houses fir'd ; for the suspition continued still , that there was a plot for more banditi to invade the city , and to joyn with the spanish and german militia to surprise her ; but whereas cavaliers were mentioned in that ban , 't was to make an ostentation of their power , rather then to make use of any of them , for they did not confide in them . there were vessells full of earth and stones plac'd at the head of ev'ry street , and upon the approach at night masaniello commanded for the watch of the city , and to prevent all robberies , that forts and bastions shold be rais'd at the mouth of ev'ry street , not only where the peeple , but where the nobility did inhabit , which was perform'd with such speed that 't was marvellous , for before half an hour of night all that vast city was found barricadoed and fortified , with barrels ful of earth , faggots , timber and stones , so that but one could pass at a time , and that with som difficulty : he commanded also that all the houses and palaces , as well of cavaliers , as of citizens , as also of monks and regular orders , under pain of having their monasteries burnt , shold put out lights towards the streets out of their windows and corners , as also that stubble , and other combustible things shold be put on fire to clear the streets , that in case the banditi entred the city , they might be more easily discern'd by the light of those fires dispers'd up & down the streets : all this was executed with punctuall and exact celerity by all , as far as the regents of the chancery , as by all the gown-men , nobles , cavaliers , regulars , and by all conditions of peeple , being all very much affrighted by the sad tragedy of poor caraffa , and 150. heads of the banditi , all which was don in less then the space of 6 ▪ hours , which were seen fix'd upon divers poles up & down the streets ; they were also terrified at the huge number of 150000. men all arm'd , and being ready to obey the beck of masaniello , who as he had been another cola di ●enza , did no sooner signifie his pleasure , but it was don in a minut , in such a māner , that if he sayed bring me the head of such a one , or let such a palace be burnt , & the house of such a prince be plundred , or any other the least thing commanded , at the very instant without any doubts or replies 't was put in execution , a glory that no king or emperour yet enjoy'd : and to put a period to the tragicall acts of this day , he declared by the dreadfull noise of drum and trumpet the duke of mataloni to be a rebell to his king and countrey ; and whosoever shold bring him in shold have thirty thousand crownes in gold , and his head shold ransom one hundred and fifty banditi , and ten thousand crowns were were added for a reward to him that shold bring him alive ; so he sent companies up and down to find him out , but masaniello imployed his own brother to find him out at benevento with a considerable strength of horse and foot. thursday the 11. of iuly , 1647. the fifth day . 't is well knowne , by that which pliny and tiraquello do affirm , that in the olympick games , it often fell out the judges did give the palm and prize in doubtfull combats , not as much according to the vertue and valor of the combitant , as for the favour and applause of the peeple ; one may deservedly think then that masaniello , although but young , and of a very low birth , but having the empty gale of popular applause blowing upon him , and of such a huge masse of peeple as are in naples , obtain'd the truncheon of generall command over them : but the wonder is the greater , that so base a creature ( i will not say , a fisherman , but a fishermans boy , nor a complete man , but a youth in a manner ) shold draw after him such swarmes of peeple , and the second day to be attended by the civillest and discreeter sort of men ; the third to make himself absolute commander o're them , and the charge of generalissimo , ev'ry one shewing obedience to his commands accordingly ; the fourth and fifth day by his sagacious orders , ready dispatches , and oportune expedients : and above all , by his spiritfulness , efficacy and capacity in negotiating businesses of so great importance ; he was held to be of such wisdome and counsell , that he rais'd a kind of admiration in all men , and particularly in the mind of the archbishop , who more then any other had occasion to try his capacity and treat with him , and by the rigorous justice from the first day of his reign , to the last end of his usurped dominion which he exercis'd , as also for his precipitated barbarismes , as we shall touch anon , the ugly horrors and astonishments he struck into the whole city ; he had with an unspeakable boldness which seem'd wonderfull to the present , and will seem incredible to the absent , not as a plebean , or som abject fellow , but like a kind of great martiall commander , having threats in his looks , terrors in his gestures , and revenge in his countenance , subjugated all naples : naples the head of such a kingdom , the metropolis of so many provinces , the queen of so many cities , the mother of so many glorious hero's , the rendevouz of princes , the nurse of so many valiant champions , and spiritfull cavaliers , this naples by the impenetrable judgements of heaven , though having six hundred thousand souls in her , saw her self commanded by a poor abject vile fisher-boy , who rais'd a numerous army amounting in few hours to one hundred & fifty thousand men ; he made trenches , set sentinells , laid spies , gave signes , chastised the banditi , condemn'd the guilty , view'd the squadrons , rank'd their files , comforted the fearfull , confirm'd the stout , incouraged the bold , promis'd rewards , threatned the suspected , reproach'd the coward , applauded the valiant , and marvellously incited the minds of men , by many degrees his superiors , to battell , to burnings , to plunder , to spoile , to blood and to death : the whole city , yea , the spaniards themselfs stood astonished , that in so great and so confus'd a multitude of infinite numbers of armed peeple , he could proceed so regular in his orders , and that they were so exactly observed , that there was never seen nor known the like , that he should be so observant to ladies , so respectfull of the holy church and her officers , that all the while he wold not suffer any outrage to be offer'd them , except only in sancta maria della nuova in the quest of mataloni , that among such a world of tempting rich goods which there were burnt up and down , he wold not suffer the value of a pin to be converted to private use . the first order that was published by masaniello upon thursday morning betimes , was , that all men shold go without cloaks , gowns , wide cassocks , or such like , which was generally obeyed not only of the common sort , but of all the nobility , of all the churchmen , & religious orders , & 't was a marvellous thing , if not rather ridiculous , to see the dominicans , carmelites , the regular canons , iesuits , teatins , priests , and all sorts of regulars , yea the canons and dignitaries of the cathedral churches , the chaplains of the archbishop filomarino , of cardinal trivultio , of the viceroy , the apostolicall nuncio , and of all the bishops residing then in naples , and if we give credit to the relation of many , their eminences themselves went without upper garments all the while that masaniello reign'd , every one submitting to so vile a fellow . he commanded also that all women , of what degree or quality soever they were , shold go without fardingalls , which was also obey'd ; and that when they went abroad they shold tuck their petticoats somwhat high , that it might be discern'd whether they carried any arms underneath ; it having bin discover'd , that under such long robes sundry sorts of arms have bin brought to the banditi and other enemies of the peeple : and besides , the night before there were many papers thrown up and down , wherein ther were inklings given of som notable design against the peeple . that morning also all the streets were intrench'd , and the cannons from the magazing of san lorenzo were brought down , and set upon carriages , and plac'd in divers parts of the city which lay most advantagious , and companies both of foot and horse were dispers'd up and down , well arm'd , to be able to withstand any force . masaniello commanded also that all caval●ers under pain of life shold deliver their arms , as also all noble personages , to the hands of such officers as he shold send with commission accordingly ; and that all their servants shold also give up their weapons for the service of the peeple ; which they did , though with a very ill will ; for , they plainly perceiv'd the designe of this disarming , which was not only to make them unable to make any opposition , but to expose them to the mercy of the furious people their enemies . there was also that day an excize put upon all edible commodities , and at what price they shold be sold : there was also by command of the said masaniello in sundry of the most eminent places of the city , divers frames of pictures set up of charles the emperor , and of his catholike majesty philip the fourth , now regnant , with the arms of the city of naples drawn underneath ; and when the soldiers pass'd by any of those places , they cryed out , viva il re di spagna , & muoia il mal governo , let the king of spain live , and let the ill government die . while that morning the commands of masaniello were publish'd and executed ev'ry where throughout the city , the archbishop who from tuesday morning kept himself within the monastery of del carmine , to be able to negotiate with more conveniency with masaniello , and with other heads of the peeple , he was not wanting to publish the true intent of his meaning , and of that of the vice-roy , and the fervent desire he had to put in execution the last accord thereby to appease this high popular fury , which ev'ry day , ev'ry hour , yea , ev'ry moment , was the cause still of greater hurt and ruine ; therefore having sent into the castle father filomarino his capuchin brother to that effect , he imployed that morning caesare gherardini the master of his chamber to induce the viceroy to satisfie the peeple , and to give his assent to what was demanded , assuring him of the inclination that the said peeple had to a peace , so that all depended upon him , otherwise going thus arming daily more and more , and madding up and down the streets , he could not but prognosticate a totall and irreparable ruine to city and kingdom : the vice-roy receiv'd the embassie of the archbishop with unspeakable contentment , and to shew his readinesse and uniformity of thoughts with the said archbishop , he writ unto him again a most affectionate letter , wherein demonstrating the ardent disposition he had to publike tranquillity , he referr'd himself to ev'ry thing that his eminence had don , and wold ratifie whatsoever he wold promise , ex nunc pro nunc , to the end , that all delayes might be cut off by carrying and returning propositions and answers from one side , and the other , so much in prejudice of the publike good of the city : the letter was in effect as followeth . most eminent , and most reverend lord , the newes which the master of your eminencies chamber brought me , have administred to me much contentment , and they were conformable to the hopes that i have alwaies had to see all matters occommodated by the operations of your eminence , to whom all shall be attributed ; i pray continue your wonted diligence that hitherto you have us'd , that we may see this mighty businesse come to perfection : and because we may not be subject that what is once agreed upon may be intangled , the only remedy will be , that whatsoever you shall promise to this most faithfull peeple , i will make good ; and as i desire that nothing may be credited but what shall be sent from your eminence , so i shall not give faith to any thing , but what shall come from your hands : god gard your eminence for many years . from castelnuovo this 11. of iuly , 1647. i kisse the hands of your most reverend eminence , and rest , the greatest of your servants , el duque de arcos . the archbishop having receiv'd from the viceroy this ample commission and faculty to do what he held expedient , he caus'd to be call'd unto him into the church del carmine , masaniello with his counsellors , genovino , & arpuia , and reading unto them the sayed letter , with much dexterity and eagernesse he forc'd himself to represent unto them the tendernesse of the viceroyes affection towards the peeple , and his own most ardent desires to give them all possible satisfaction that might afford them a plenary contentment : therfore they by a reciprocall correspondence of affection , and for the universall quietnesse of the same peeple were bound to condescend unto , and consummate the whole businesse , by conforming themselfs to an accommodation ; on these perswasions twenty of the chiefest rulers of the peeple being present in the church del carmine , and a great number of the most civill sort of peeple , they all promis'd by firm asseverations to his eminence , that for his love , and to correspond with the love of the viceroy , they were most ready to finish the accord : therfore ther shold be a care taken forthwith to make the capitulations . the bishop rejoic'd extremely for the assurance the peeple gave him that day to conclude the accord so much breath'd after ; and to give beginning to distinction of articles , the viceroy thought it expedient to put them together , who also did so greedily thirst after an accommodation ; and this he did by the agency of guiseppe de rossi a minor his conventuall theologue , and such advice being very gratefull to the viceroy , he answer'd the bishop with another letter , recommending unto him with the hottest tendernesse that could be , the expedition of the businesse , which could permit no longer delay , referring ( to which end ) to the substance of the letter formerly sent him by the master of his chamber ; the copy of the last is this , wherein he touch'd at the detension of certain gallies arriv'd at the port , but it shold be far from prejudicing or distracting the treaty any way ; or to hinder the satisfaction that was intended to be given the most faithfull peeple , as hereafter shall be mentioned . most eminent , and most reverend lord ; the theologue whom your eminence sent unto me , told me that to day shold be put in execution in the behalfe of the most faithfull peeple that which is capitulated , and that i wold detain the gallies : i send this order open , because they may be detain'd in any place where they shall be found , to day we hope we shall get out of this care by the intercession of your eminence , whom i return to pray , that no a●●aies be admitted , but that matters be transacted according to the paper which the master of the chamber brought from your eminence , whom god preserve many years . from the palace 11. of iuly 1647. so i rest , of your most eminent reverence the greatest servitor , el duque de arcos . the theologue brought this general commission just at the time when the archbishop was very busie in distending the capitulations of the peeple for an accord ; which being dispatch't with greater celerity then was beleev'd , wherein there easily aypear'd a concurrence of divine assistance , by the intercession of the most glorious virgin del carmine , they were sent forthwith by the hands of father filomarino the capuchin by his eminence unto the vice-roy , that his excellence shold sign them with his own hand , which was don , and it being notified by the said father , that the desire of the peeple was to have the sayed capitulations legally authorized by public act , and subscrib'd not only by the viceroies hand , but the collaterall councell royall , together with the counsell of state , all was readily assented unto . therefore another letter was sent in more earnest terms then any of the former , wherein the archbishop by efficacious instances did desire his excellence wold operate to bring to a period that solemn ceremony so much panted after by the desires of the peeple , representing unto him the imminent dangers that otherwise wold ensue , and were visibly hanging o're city and kingdom , to the disservice of god and the king , the holy church , and the citizens , to the discomfort of women , and whereon depended the lifes of so many innocent babes , as also for the advantage and boldnesse the enemies of the crown wold take for to undermine it , and to embroyle ( as in former times was practis'd ) so flourishing a kingdom , notwithstanding its fidelity and constancy of loyalty known to all the world , specially to the alwaies sacred and catholic house of austria : the viceroy replied , that he wold willingly and most chearfully ratifie and confirme all things in the name of his majesty , and not any their priviledges , but the generall indulgence or pardon already promis'd , with assurance that for the future he wold most rigorously punish all the banditi , or any other perturbers of the public peace , esteeming all that most faithfull peeple for his majesties dear children , and the most beloved vassalls of all his crowns , and shold be respected so alwaies by himself . i thought good to display this in italian for such who do not well understand the spanish , but the letter of the viceroies wa● punctually to this following effect . most eminent , and most reverend lord ; by the hand of your eminence the pretensions of this most faithfull peeple of naples have been setled ; i have granted them the great charter or priviledge which they desir'd that was in the time of charls v. which i dispatcht in form , and i again approve and ratifie whatsoever that priviledge of his cesarean majesty contains in the name of his now catholike majesty regnant : and touching the generall pardon , let it be drawn up according to their own fancy , i will confirm it , both touching matters pass'd ; as also for the the future : moreover i will punish the banditi wi●● all severity , who were call'd in by any one whatsoever , and with greater rigor then formerly , as the chiefest pertubators of the publike peace ; but finding that the conclusion of this businesse still suffers delaies , and inconveniences arise thence ev'ry instant , i thought good to represent again and again unto your reverence all this , that as being the father of the whole city you wold intimate unto the most faithfull peeple , that from these protractions may arise , that the enemies of his majesty may lay hold on an occasion to disquiet this f●orishing kingdom , and sow new divisions in ev'ry corner , a thing which this most faithfull peeple must needs be sensible of , and it behoves them so to be ; which peeple have shew'd them alwaies so zealous in his majesties service ; i earnestly desire that all consultations may tend to their good : moreover your eminence may please to intimate , that all the inco●vences that shall grow by not taking speedy resolution to the service of god , to that of the kings , to the holy church , to the citizens , to women and innocent children , all this shall be put to their account who shall delay the accomplishment of that which is ●lready pitch'd upon , since for my part i am ready night and day in the name of his majesty to put ev'ry thing in execution : besid●s i ●ave done al things that were possible in the behalf ●f this most faithful peeple , whom his majesty doth ●steem for his sons , and the most beloved of all his monarquie , and i wold treat them so , desiring their ease and quietnesse . i put all things in your ●minences hands , whom god preserve many years . 11. iuly , 1647. since i had written this letter i understood ●our eminence is not in the carmine , i pray be pleas'd to return thither , and treat with the most ●●ithfull peeple accordingly , and by our grave au●●ority to let them fully understand , how infinitely 〈◊〉 imports to put in execution what is agreed up●● , and to cut off all delaies , it wil be a work wort●y of your eminences care ; i wil add no more but that i am the greatest servitor of your reverence , el duque de arcos . as soon as the present letter , and the subscribed capitulations were delivered unto father filomarino , and brought back by him to the bishop , they were consign'd by him to the power of the peeple , it being solemnly appointed , that after the sayed capitulations had bin publikely read in the church del carmine in the presence of the whole peeple , masaniello should go in company of the archbishop to the castle to speak with the viceroy . about ten a clock the same day the repor● being dispers'd that the accord was finish'd and that masaniello was to transfer himself t● the castle to speak with the viceroy in per●son , 't was incredible what a multitude o● peeple gather'd together in the great marke● place , besides those numbers that fill'● the church of carmine , where the arch-bishop sitting under a great canopie of sta●● hard by the great altar in a stately chaire , t●● capitulations were read from the pulpit by notarie , where stood also on foot masani●ello apparell'd in cloth of silver , togeth●● with his counsellour genovino , and arpa● the new elect of the peeple : this was o● don genovino's old acquaintance the time of the duke of ossuna , who at the b●●ginning of these tumults found himself the government of teverola , an inhabitant of th● city of aversa , and was sent for purposely by masaniello . the capitulations being read and understood , and receiv'd with ●nexpressible joy and applause , genovino went up the pulpit , and with a loud voice sayed these words : my peeple , these are the things which you have so long desired , and indeavoured to be procured ever since the government of the duke of ossima , but could never be had ; but now by gods speciall grace , and the blessed virgin of carmine our lady , we have ●btained them ; let us iubilize for so high ●nd signal a blessing , let us triumph for so ●lorious a victory , let us give heaven due ●hanks for so deare a trophy , thundring upon ●his blessed occasion te deum ; to which ●ymne he himself giving the beginning , he ●ame downe from the pulpit , and the mu●●c was pursued by two quires , accom●anied with the deep sound of organs , ●nd the sweet quaverings of divers mu●●call instruments , which filled with such ● jubilee and joy the hearts of all peeple , that a good part of the spectators out of tendernesse did fall a weeping for excess of ●●ntentment . te deum being sung with that ravishment the bishop did prepare himself to accompanie masaniello with his company toward the pallace to visit the vice-roy ; but 〈◊〉 make this caval●ata more splendid , and wit● greater magnificence and decorum , masaniel●lo had commanded before under pain of firing that all masters of families shold hang the●● windows , walls and balcones with the riche● silk-pieces and tapestries they had ; besides , tha● care shold be taken to have all the street● cleanly swept which lead along to the castle 't was marvellous that this thing was 〈◊〉 sooner spoken , but executed by all sorts 〈◊〉 persons , as well nobles , cavaliers , ecclesi●●sticks , as merchants , citizens and artizans : 〈◊〉 one gentleman disdaining to obey the co●●mands of such a base fellow , he was persw●●ded by a well-weigh'd discreet friend of 〈◊〉 to conform , and not contract with so pow●●●full and popular a man , urging unto him 〈◊〉 examples of some spanish grandees 〈◊〉 complied with the time , and so became co●●queror as it were of the fury of masan●●●●lo , from whom by his disobedience had happily brought fire and ruine 〈◊〉 himself . masaniello dispatch'd presently a 〈◊〉 of his to the castle , to acquaint the vice●●● of his intention to com to parley with 〈◊〉 desiring to know his pleasure therein ; the viceroy made shew to like the message and the visite , therefore he answer'd , that he might com when he thought good , for he wold gladly see him . masaniello having shaken off his mariners vest , which was no other but a shirt , a wastecoat , and a linnen pair of breeches , he clad himself with cloth of silver , with a toti●g plume of feathers in his hat all white , with a naked sword in his hand , and mounting in this posture upon a prancing ginet , he march'd towards the castle , he went before the bishops coach , attended by fifty thousand of the choicest of the peeple , whereof the●e were ●om foot companies , som troops a horseback ; upon the right side of the bishops coach did ride masaniello's ●rother clad in cloth of gold , with rich sword ●nd dagger sutable , and upon the left side ●here rid the new elect of the peeple , fran●isco antonio arpaia , and immediately neere ●he coach came in a sedan the prime coun●ellor of the peeple , don iulio genovino : the ●urther the cavalcata advanc'd , the more did peeple increase of all degrees , ages , sexes , and occupations , wherewith all the streets were ●hronged , great acclamations and applauses were sent up to the aire , wherewith ev'ry ones ●eart did overwhelm for the different state of plenty and freedom which they were like to have from that condition of penury and subjection they were formerly plung'd in ; the cry was in ev'ry corner , viva il re di spagna , viva il cardinal filomarino , viva il fidelissimo popolo di napoli : let the king of spain live , live cardinal filomarino , let the most faithfull peeple of naples live : with such acclamations they entred the castle , where before the fountain medina there went to meet masaniello in the viceroy's name the captain of his gar● a horseback , but without arms , saluting him i● the name of his master , and giving him the welcom to the palace , where his excellenc● expected him with much desire : masaniell● returned him the salute , and 't was observed though not with as much curtesie , yet with a● much gravity and few words , which being don , masaniello stop'd , and made signes th● peeple shold go no further , there being twen●ty thousand peeple already entred , and ' twa● admirable to see how immoveable they a● stood , and with what incredible silence : the masaniello lighted off his ginet , and bega● to speak in a loud , yet gentle tone as fo●loweth : my deer and much beloved peeple , 〈◊〉 us give god thanks with eternall sound of jubilee , that we have recovered ou● former liberty ; who wold have though● we shold have come to so fair a passe ? they seem dreames or fables , yet you see they are truths and reall story ; let infinite thanks be given to heaven , and to the most blessed virgin of carmine , and to the paternall benignity of the most reverend bishop our shepherd ; well my peeple , who are our masters ? answer with me , god : and the peeple answered accordingly , and with ready ecchoes took the sound from their generall masaniello ; this being don , he took out of his bosom the charters of king ferdinand , and of charles the emperor , with the new priviledges confirmed by the viceroy , by the collaterall and councell of state , and with a louder voice then before , redoubling his words , he said ; now are we exempted and free from all gabells , we are eas'd of so many weights , impositions are taken away and extinguish'd ; now , now is restor'd that dear liberty in which rests the happy memories of king ferdinand , and of charles the emperor : i for my own particular desire not any thing , i doe not pretend any thing but your public good ; the most reverend archbishop knowes well , my right intentions told him often , and confirm'd by oaths , and as from the beginning of our just resentments for the desire his eminence had to see the peeple quieted , i was offer'd 200 crowns a moneth out of his own purse , all the time of my life , provided i shold proceed no farther in the pretensions desir'd by us , but shold be an instrument to accommodate all things ; i ever , though with many thanks , refus'd that offer . moreover , if i had not bin tied by the strong tie of a precept to his eminence , and terrified with the thunder of excommunication , i wold not have apparel'd my self as you see me , i wold nev●r have shaken off my mariners weeds ; for i was born such , such a one i liv'd , and such a one i mean to live and die . after the fishing of publike liberty which i have made in the tempestuous sea of this afflicted city , i will return to my hook and line , not reserving to my self as much as a naile for my own dwelling : i desiring no more of you , but that when i am dead , you wold every one say an ave maria for me : do you promise me this ? yes , yet every one answer'd , we will do it but 100. yeers hence : masaniello replied , i thank you : and let me desire you not to lay down your arms till a confirmation com from spain of all these priviledges from the king our liege lord. trust not the nobility , for they are traytors , and our enemies ; and upon this theame he inlarg'd himself in such spitefull and acrimonious termes , that for modesties sake i omit them . he went on saying , i go to negotiate with the viceroy , and within an houre you shall see me again , or at least to morrow morning ; but if to morrow i be not with you , put to fire and sword the whole city ; do not you passe your words unto me to do so ? and why not ? yes that we will , they answer'd all resolutely , you may be sure of that . well , well , replied masaniello , though what hath hitherto pass'd hath not much pleas'd the viceroy , yet his majesty will find that he hath not lost any thing by it ; onely som of the nobility our enemies have lost by it , who will return to their former beggery , ravenous wolfs , who bought and sold our blouds , never regarding the glory of god , the service of his majesty , or the common good of city or kingdom . now the temples of the spanish monarchy shall be adorn'd with the most precious crown that ever she bore upon her head ; that which shall be given him by us hereafter shall be all his , and not as in former times ; for when we gave him any treasure , it vanish'd away , and was half drunk up by his officers . having spoken thus much and more , he turn'd at last to the bishop , saying , most eminent lord , blesse this peeple : the bishop reach'd out his cap out of the coach , and making two signes of the crosse on both sides , he gave them his pastorall benediction . and thinking to go on with his cavalcata , the number of peeple was so great , that it fill'd the whole castle , and so hindered the passage . and because going to treat of peace , 't was unseemly that such a confus'd company of peeple should go along , masaniello upon pain of life and of rebellion , command●d that no body shold make one step farther ; whic was inviolably observ'd with marvellous obedience . he advanced therefore a horseback first , and the archbishop in his coach with arpaia , and genovino , and masaniello's brother : being come neer the palace , where there was a strong trench garded by companies of horse and foot , and all the balcones and windowes being lin'd with armed men , masaniello pass'd furiously into the trench , and the bishop after him with other horses and coaches ; and being entred into the court , as they went up the stairs the viceroy was there ready to meet the archbishop , who brought in masaniello to do him reverence , which he did , and putting himself at his feet , he kiss'd them in the name of the peeple , thanking his excellence for the grace he had don them touching the capitulations granted them , saying he was com thither that his excellence might dispose of him as he pleas'd ; whether he would hang him , break him upon wheels , or put him to any other kind of death : but the viceroy made him rise up , saying , he never knew him to be culpable , or that he had offended his majesty in any thing ; therfore he might be merry , for he shold be alwaies well regarded by him , and with these words they say he often embrac'd him ; whereunto masaniello replied , that he never had any ill designs in all his life , but all were bent to do his majesty service , and unto his excellence , whereof he call'd god to witnesse , and saying this , being come up to the innermost rooms of the palace they discours'd a little alone ; then came in the archbishop , and they all three consulted about the affairs of the city then current , and the present estate whereinto 't was fallen . in the mean time there were divers whisperings in the court below , among that huge concourse of peeple which was gather'd together in such numbers , from all parts and corners of the city , besides those that were first assembled in the great yard of the castle , which were so thick , that one might have trill'd a bal upon their heads : the murmur did arise from som jealousies that masaniello might be arrested , or at least som hurt done unto him , ther●fore the viceroy thought it expedient that he might be publikely seen in an open balcone with the archbishop and himself , which was don accordingly , whence masaniello facing the peeple sayed , lo , i am here , i am alive and free , peace , peace ; at which words the peeple exceedingly rejoycing cryed also peace , peace ; a little after all the bells rung in the churches circumjacent , as in the churches of st. lewis , of the holy spirit , of the crosse , and santa maria del angeli , but he not liking that ringing , commanded they shold ring no longer , which was obeyed accordingly ; masaniello told the viceroy , now my lord you shal see how obedient the napolitans are , so he bade them cry out , viva dio , viva la madonna del carmine , viva il re di spagna , viva il filomarino , viva il duca de arcos , viva il fidelissimo popolo di napoli : let god live , let the most holy virgin of carmine live , let the king of spain live , live filomarino , and the duke of arcos , with the most faithfull peeple of naples , and with ev'ry viva that he cryed , the peeple followed him , and at last he cryed muo●a il mal governo , let the ill government die : this being don as the first proof , he tryed a second upon the peeple , and putting his finger upon his mouth there was a profound universall silence , that scarce a man was seen to breath ; afterwards , for a last proof of his authority , and the obedience of the peeple , he commanded with a loud voice out of the balcone wherein he was , that ev'ry soul there present under pain of rebellion and life shold retire from that court , which was punctually and presently obey'd , as if they had all vanish'd away , not one remaining behind , insomuch that the viceroy was amaz'd at such a ready and marvellous obedience . many discourses being pass'd in the palace 'twixt the viceroy , the bishop and masaniello , they appointed among themselfs that the capitulations shold be printed which were demanded of the peeple , and subscrib'd by the viceroy , as also by the collaterall , and the councell of state and war , and that the sunday next following the viceroy accompanied with all the tribunalls shold go to the dome in person , where the sayed capitulations shold be publikely read , and sworn unto by solemn oath , to observe them for ever , as also to procure that they shold be confirm'd by his catholike majesty : after this the bishop went down with masaniello ▪ having taken their leave of the viceroy to take coach : so afterwards the viceroy did ratifie all , as desiring nothing more then that by his moderation and prudence the confusion shold cease , and the city freed from bandit● , from plunderers and facinorous men ; hereupon he commanded his commissary generall of the field , to be alwaies at hand to receive his orders , which was obey'd exactly . after this parley masaniello swayed with more dominion then ever he did in quality of absolute monarque o're the city , as well in civill as warlike affairs ad modum belli , with uncontroulable independent authority till his head was chopt off . when he parted from the castle the viceroy bestowed on him a rich chain of gold of 3000. crowns value , putting it about his neck with his own hands , although he had refus'd it divers times , but afterwards receiving it by the advice of the bishop , he was declar'd at the same time by the viceroy duke of st. george , by a renunciation made him of that title not long before by the marquis of torrecuso : and for the last seal of complement , masaniello prostrating himself at the feet of the viceroy , he kiss'd his knee , after which embracement , he sayed , son go in peace , & god blesse thee ; wherupon having taken his last leave , and going down , the archbishop brought him into his own coach , going thence to toledo street where the archipiscopall palace stood , in which journey 't was a pleasant sight to behold ev'ry window hung with rich tapestries , carpets , curtains , and hangings , and the streets full of great wax candles and torches , it being now one hour in the night , and the bells ringing out in ev'ry church that had ●ny through all the city . as they were com to the archbishops palace , while he was in discourse to entertain masaniello , a noise was spread abroad , that a great number of banditi were come against the peeple ; the marquis of st. ermo , who was of the family of the caraccio●● , entring the same time into the town , being return'd from his countrey houses with som horsemen , which made the jealous peeple think they were banditi ; so that there wanted but a little that the marquis had not been torn into pieces with all his company : but discovering himselfe what he was , and being knowne by divers , they went to acquaint masaniello with all , who was yet with the archbishop in his palace , and the first that went was the marchionesse of saint ermo , aunt unto the sayed marquis ; which she did as well to speak with masaniello , as to desire the archbishop to interpose and informe him of the truth for the security of her nephew ; masaniello had scarce understood the substance of her desires , ou● taking her by the hand he told her , lady marquis , the least hair of his head shall not suffer ; so he commanded som of the peeple who were there present , to acquaint the commanders and captains of the militia up and down the city with his pleasure herein . after this masaniello thinking to returne to his house in the market place , the bishop desir'd to make use of his coach , wherein putting himself with genovino and arpaia , together with his brother , they departed . by reason of the rumors which were spread that night , as is sayed already , that a great number of banditi shold invade the city , all the peeple remain'd arm'd , and very vigilant , for by command of masaniello divers bells were sounded to that purpose , specially that of st. iohn of carbonata , that of the market , and that of st. augustine ; the lights were also doubled that night in all the windows , and fires kindled up and down in most streets , which made the city as bright as if it had been at noon day : there were also triple gards plac'd at ev'ry gate , who ask'd the names of all such that pass'd and repas●'d , and examin'd them strictl● . friday the 12. of iuly , 1647. the sixth day . the condition of the coward is so vile and abject , that he trembleth at ev'ry thing that suddenly hap'neth , the least puff of wind that bloweth , the least bird that chirpeth , the ●east bough that shakes , the least leaf that wags , the least vermin that stirs doth so affright him , that it fills his members with fears , his face with palenesse , and he seems to have a fit of an ●gue , or is like one shaking with extremity of ●old , and oftentimes if he hear any noise , or ti●eamar , he betakes himself to his heel● ▪ his feet proving his best counsellors . such apprehensions of fears seem'd to have been got into the hearts of the napolitans , both of the gentry and commonalty , the one ●earing enemies from abroad , the other those within the city ; the one stood in fear of the ●ate usurped power the peeple had got , the peeple did fear designs , plots , and stratagems from the nobility & gentry over whom they ●ad so much insulted . ev'ry troop of popular squadron seem'd to the gentry to be a whole army , on the other side any strange face that entred into the city seem'd unto the suspecting jealous peeple a trojan horse , that wold vomit out arrows and thunderbolds , and close entrapping enemies : hence it came to passe that so many of the nobles and gentry abandoning the town , and getting into the countrey , made the countrey all over to appea● like a florishing populous city , for not prostituting their honors and reputation , with the●● rich moveables to the diabolicall fury of a tu●multuous unbridled rabble : but the peepl● drew sinister arguments from this retiremen● of the nobility , for they suspected that the withdrew into the countrey out of a dangerous design to joyn with the banditi , whereo● they had an illfavour'd example upon wed●nesday before , in the person of the duke o● mat●loni , and his brothers , besides the publ●● noise which flew up and down upon th● wings of fame before that project was disc●●ver'd . god forgive them who introduced 〈◊〉 pestiferous an abuse . ther was taken that friday morning a fe●luca with six mariners , and four short ▪ coat● compleatly arm'd , one of them carrying great packet of letters , who being bound 〈◊〉 brought before masaniello where his squadro● was , the ●ayed letters being carried upon 〈◊〉 top of a pike , and 't was found they came from the duke of mataloni to his secretary , and though nothing could be inferr'd out of them in prejudice of the most faithfull peeple , yet neverthelesse in regard of the mode of writing which was dark , and in cyphers , and because of the former practises and malevolence of the said duke , masaniello caus'd those six to be drag'd to the rack , thinking they wold detect som new stratagems : the mariners also were strictly examin'd , but upon their innocent answers they were releas'd , but for the other , after they had been tortur'd with the ●ack most piteously their heads were chopt off . it being blaz'd up and down ev'ry where ●hat masaniello did exercise the office of captain generall of the peeple , and that it was confirm'd unto him the night before by ●he viceroy , he was therefore the more fear'd ●nd obey'd : he elected another tribunall in toledo street , with provision of all instruments that were requir'd to execute justice , and he plac'd there a lievtenant for him , who ●●at very day condemn'd four banditi more ●ith short cassocks , such as the coursers of the ●unciatura use , which four were beheaded up●n the new scaffold which he had commanded ●o be there erected , which struck a great terror 〈◊〉 the coursers call'd in naples sco●●otelle . the same morning though masaniello had put off his cloth of silver sute , and taken again the habit of a mariner , yet was he obey'd and fear'd by eve'ry one : he began betimes to give publick audience in the market-place , not upon a bank , but out of a window of his own house which look'd into the market , whither they us'd to reach him memorialls and petitions upon the ends of pikes which were infinite , he being with an archibuz in his hand ready cock'd , which was o● great terror to ev'ry one who came to negotiate with him ; and the more , because the●● were eight or ten thousand men in continuall watch before his doore : there were also thousands from other places , who came 〈◊〉 receive their commands from him , and to publish his orders , which ran all in these word● under pain of rebellion and death ; insomuc● that it was a thing beyond all wonder to 〈◊〉 so many commands , bans , commissions , an● orders publish'd and affix'd to posts an walls , subscribed thomas anello , d' amalp● capo , & capitan generale del fidelissimo pop● di napoli , thomas anello of malphi cap● and captain generall of the most faithf●●● peeple of naples : all which orders 〈◊〉 executed with marvellous promptitude 〈◊〉 exactnesse , a thing incredible to the abse●● and scarce credible to the beholders who we●● upon the place , that a wretch extracted out of the dregs of the peeple shold in five daies make himselfe patron of five hundred thousand souls , that he shold bridle such a spiritfull city as naples , and have at his beck of all sorts two hundred thousand combatants , who all acknowledg'd him for their generalissimo , that he shold have absolute dominion both by night and day , with the disposing of all things according to his pleasure and fancy : among other orders issued by him the said friday morning , these following were of the number . under pain of life ev'ry one shold cut off his great lock , and weare no perriwigs , declaring he had commanded this , because many banditi were found habited like women with armes underneath ; he renewed the orders of the day before touching priests and religious men that they shold not weare their upper habits ; that all friers or religious men that were found not to be of the city shold be brought before him , to be examined whether they were true friers , or banditi so habited : that upon the sounding of two a clock within night ev'ry one shold retire to his lodging , and after that time whosoever was found upon the streets shold die irremissibly without mercy . that that friday being pass'd , every one should rerire to his own shop , and that at ev'ry post four men shold be for a gard , who shold have a carlin given them , 2. measures of wine , & 20. ounces of bread ev'ry day , & that they shold change ev'ry other day , by which reckoning in city and suburbs the gards might amount to thirty thousand men . and because from the beginning of the revolution many lords , cavaliers , and officers were retir'd with great prudence to divers monasteries and convents , as also sundry ladies to the nunneries , one of the first friday orders by masaniello was that ev'ry one upon pain of life shold return to their houses , and incontinently ev'ry one was constrain'd to submit unto , and obey this command as far as duke , counts , and marquises , regents and officers , els they had expos'd themselfs to the fury of the mercilesse rabble . ther was another command issued out , which was a most rigorous one , that not only the natives , but forreners shold set upon thei● gates the arms of the king of spain on th● right hand , and the arms of the peeple on th● other , and 't was suddenly put in execution by foren lords , and ministers , and spanish regents , as well as by napolitanes . besides the hundred and odd banditi heads as was sayed before , which were expos'd t● to the public view of the world in th● common market place , divers other delin●quents were put to death this day , and acco●●ding to the quality of their offences , som were hang'd , som beheaded , som set upon wheels , and others shot to death . the friday morning betimes he caus'd one to be bak'd alive in a fornace , bacause he made his bread lighter by som ounces ; and in the evening he caus'd another being culpable of the same offence to be shav'd close head and beard , and so sent him to the castle to receive the rest of his punishment , by the viceroy : he caus'd a vintner to be hang'd because he had kill'd a centinell : he caus'd a sicilian to be beheaded , because he had taken fifteen carlines to murther a man : he caus'd a boy to be apprehended , who brought news that there were four thousand foot , and sixteen hundred horse upon their march towards naples , which boy he sent to the viceroy , who remanded him , and so was hang'd for an impostor : he had seven secretaries , and ten ministers to punish whom he pleas'd ; in so much that he was fear'd , obey'd , and serv'd with as much exactness , readinesse & terror , as ever any vassal obey'd the gran turk . all the banditi , and priests of a lewd life , who by his order were taken , were suddenly slain ; and if his commands were not instantly perform'd , he stood with a musquet in the window , which he did make shew to discharge often , but wold not . there was a good horse sent him of the value of 400. d●●kats , and he he sent presently to the kings stables , saying , 't was a horse fitter for his majesty . he sent also the viceroy with the sayed horse all sorts of provisions for his stables . he found hid in an odd place in gold , silver , and other money neer upon a hundred thousand crowns , which he commanded should not be squa●dred by any means , but reserv'd for the king ; he offer'd the viceroy five millions if need were : there were mighty presents made unto him by cavaliers , but he wold not receive the value of one farthing , saying , god deliver me from the cavaliers , that i may have neither peace nor truce with them . he sent a spaniard who had murther'd one , to the viceroy , that he would see him punish'd ; the viceroy remanded him , and desir'd that he might be hang'd in the market place . he caus'd the same day two banditi to be shot to death at porta medina , for being complices with the duke of mataloni , who though he hated him in perfection , yet he wold not put his palace a fire , fearing there might be som mine underneath , as also for an intention he had to make it a conservatory for poor maidens . by command of masaniello many armed men were dispatch'd through all the city and suburbs , to do their diligence to apprehend any servant , or any of the family and kinred of the duke of mataloni , and of don guiseppe his brother : hereupon divers complices were brought before masaniello , whereof som were put presently to death , others imprison'd , that being well examin'd , and put on the rack , there might be knowledg had where the duke was , and where he had hid his goods ; for none were left in his pallace ; as also to know other particulars . among these a slave of his was lighted upon , who was leading two horses very fair ones , who fearing he shold have been suddenly slain , sayed that he wold say what he knew or could if they spar'd him his life , which being promis'd him he discoverd , that touching the person of the duke he went at first to benevento , and afterwards to calabria he knew not whither , but touching his goods and furniture they were hid in certain churches , as santa maria de miracoli . santa maria della stella , as also in the monastery of the augustines ; whereupon the sayed slave was not onely pardon'd , but well rewarded , well clad , and feasted by command of masaniello , unto whom he gave also the staff of a captain . all this being known by masaniello , he caus'd the said churches and monasteries to understand , as also all other religious places and nunneries , that whosoever had any of the goods of the duke of matalini , who was such a traytor to the most faithfull peeple of naples , they shold without any excuse whatsoever , or any delay produce them all under pain of having their monasteries set a fire : hereupon the superiors of those churches and convents being shrewdly terrified , they took out all the goods of the duke of mataloni which were conserv'd in those places , amounting to a vast quantity , and of high prizes and value , for they were rated at five hundred thousand crownes , so that three hundred porters were imployed to fetch them out ▪ moreover , there was found there four thousand crownes in ready money , and all being brought before masaniello , he commanded that all his movables and goods shold be put in a magazin apart hard by the great market place , and that none under pain of life , shold touch the least rag , but the moneys shold be imployed to pay the souldiers ; afterwards from the monastery of the conception of our lady ( amongst which nuns were hid the goods of zavaglius ) were taken by 70. porters all the said goods of very great value . he commanded also that a research might be made in those houses that had their goods and furniture burnt formerly , to see wheth●r any more were remaining peradventure , nor was it in vain that he fell upon this designe , for there were much more found when the second inquisition was made , that were hid in sundry dark places : nor did it availe a whit the infortunate masters of those goods to have throwne them into wells , privies , grotzes , and other places under earth ; but they search'd all those subterranean places , and found out great quantities , specially zavalios house , where they lighted upon many vessells of silver , and bags of gold and silver , which they took out , as also out of the palace of the duke of caiuano ; they search'd the least corner every where both above and below ground , as they did likewise in the house of the counsellor navarreta , who had hid his treasure under an altar : they pried into the very privies and jakes in the house of counsellor d' angelis : they rush'd into churches , convents , and hospitalls to find out the goods of caesar lubrano ; in som they set a fire their friends and kinsmens goods and spar'd none whom they thought had inrich't themselfs by farms of any kind of gabell . masaniello also commanded a band of armed men to go to the countrey , and demolish also there the house of the duke of caiuano , and burn to cinders all the furniture and goods that were there depositated , which was done accordingly ; the palace of mataloni which was in cha●a , with whatsoever there was therein , was pitifully set on fire ; nay , the ●abble took his picture , with that of his fathers , and made them hoth passe the flames ; but first they mangled them most horribly , thrusting them thorough with their swords , plucking out their eyes , and cutting off their noses and heads ; and being returned to the great market place , they hung another picture of the duke of mataloni under the body of don peppo caraffa beforesaid , which was tied about a great beam , and writ a motto underneath , this is the duke of mataloni , rebell to his majesty , and traytor to the most faithfull peeple ; and the beam was supported with new pillars , whereunto the body of don peppo was tied , and the effigies of the duke , with his brother don guiseppe , who was also hung up in picture , and this was in the same place where the infortunate prince de sanza was beheaded , of whose so much lamented death , procur'd him by the duke of medina de la● torres , the said mataloni and the house of caraffa was thought to be the chiefest cause ; but afterwards when the innocence of his cause was known , his catholic majesty re-established his son in all his possessions , renew'd his titles and honors , with all the demeans , rents , and heriots , which son dying without children , and the estate falling to the count of castillano his uncle and fathers brother , he was so far esteem'd by his catholic majesty , that he gave him a company of spanish infantry , which is a very rare favor to an italian cavalier ; and now he hath the fourth office of trust , except the vicegerencies of naples and sicilia , with the government of milan , that any man hath in italie , which is the stradico of messina , which is a most honourable charge ; that town being the cape of the sicilian kingdome and metropolis thereof , and withall a fort of much jealousie , being the key of that island , and the outer wall of all italie , which office is executed by the said prince with much praise and emulation to his enemies , for his sincere remarkable fidelity , and rectitude in matters of justice . after this , further commands were given by masaniello to burn the goods of divers other officers , and particularly of the kings visitor ; yet this command was revok'd by the effectuall intercession of the archbishop filomarini ; as also it being ordered that regent zuffias shold run the same fortune , but the execution was suspended , and no man knew why , unlesse 't was because certain troops of horse were quarter'd at his house , which was intrenched round about . the viceroy all this while seeing himselfe ●s it were , beleaguer'd in the castle , and depriv'd of provision , and all sorts of victualls and refreshments , he sent to make instances ●o masaniello , that he might be furnish'd accordingly , whereunto he condescended very readily , thereupon fifty porters were sent unto him laden with bread , wine , snow , fruit , flesh , poultry , sweet-meats , and all other things that were eatable . all peeple went up and down the streets with as much security , & all kind of shops were open'd with as much freedom , and as little fear both by night and day , as if there had bin no souldiery at all in the town , or occasion of outrage , so great were the apprehensions of fear and terror , which were imprinted in ev'ry ones heart , of the rigorous and inflexible justice exercis'd by masaniello . there arriv'd in the port at that time thirteen gallies of the squadron of naples , and the generall gianettino doria having sent notice thereof to the viceroy , with desire t● land som men there for provision of refreshment for the gallies : the viceroy inordered that he shold make his addresse to masaniello which being don , he immediately commanded all sort of fresh victualls , with a supply of moneys also to be sent the generall , but with this proviso , that the gallies shold go farther 〈◊〉 the port , and that none shold set foot ashore ▪ either souldier or passenger , no not the general himself , because he intended to freight and send a felluca of purpose to this end . because the night before masaniello sent to the viceroy , that he much wondred he could not see cardinal trivultio all this while ; a petulancy which was held ridiculous in him . the sayed cardinal was advis'd by the archbishop to give him a visit , for masaniello was com now to that height , that he expected observance from ev'ry body , yea from the princes of the church ; therfore to prevent som rude affronts and outrages peradventure which vulgar brains are subject to offer , the cardinal transferr'd himself from the castle to the great market place to visit masaniello , which he did , by giving him the title of illustrissimo , the most illustrious ; but the first words which masaniello told him were laugh'd at , which were , the visit which your eminence gives me , though it be late , yet 't is dear unto me . immortall god , what could a crown'd prince say more ! 't is tru , that height of honor and power , with the pride of authority and command , will raise the spirits of the vilest man. so his eminence having complied with his respects to his most illustrious lordship , when he departed , he commanded two files of musqueteers to gard and conduct him to the castle . the cardinall trivultio was scarce gone , but divers gentlemen came from the castle with divers regalos , and presents to masaniello from the viceroy ; much thanking him for the refreshments that he had sent into the castle , and they brought him som complements also from the duchesse the vice-queen , who desir'd to know how he did , and that for her sake he wold make use of those things which were sent , and among othe● things ther was a rich sute of apparel sent him ▪ a strange metamorphosis of fortune , and so capricious and rare , that these things wil seem incredible , and meer romances to future ages , though all be a tru and reall story . this is as much as hap'ned the sixth day , which was friday . saturday the 13. of iuly , 1647. the seventh day . he who desires the tru way to overcom and to conserve what he hath o'recome let him procure by all means the obedience o● the peeple subject to his command , and let hi● observe that memorable a●t of epaminondas : most glorious captain among the thebane● who being counsell'd by the oracle not to attempt a war against the greeks his enemies because the stars were conjur'd against him fo● them ; he being as sagacious as he was generous , by an ingenious stratagem he escap'd the influxes of heaven , and advanc'd himself in despight of the malignant stars , to victory and triumph . the stratagem was this ; he writ in a table these words , si ducibus obedietis , haec sunt oracula , victoria . if you obey your leaders these are oracles , victory . upon the other table he caus'd to be engraven , si ducibus non obedietis , exitium , if you obey not your leaders destruction . these oracles being presented to his soldiers , and finding therby that their victories depended upon their obedience to their captains , with an unwonted courage and extraordinary obedience , bursting into the enemies quarters , they came back triumphant . it is no wonder then that masaniello already pronounc'd and sworn captain generall of the napolitan peeple , was advis'd that ther was no other means more effectuall and sure to overcom , and triumph over any projects trac'd against his person or the peeple , then a punctuall obedience , which was shew'd him from the first instant of his command , and which he so exacted , that the least act of disobedience was punish'd with death , as being ●eld a capitall crime and irremissible ; judging ●hat at the beginning of his government , this obedience was more necessary unto him then ●he bread that he did eat , for the maintaining and continuance of his new authority : hence i● ca●e ●o p●sse , that it being com to the ears o● masani●llo , that upon friday night before som● went up and down the streets to sound the shopkeepers , and compose them to see thei● slavery , the first thing he did at break of day was to publish by sound of drum and trumpet ▪ and fasten orders upon posts and wals through the principall streets , that upon pain of life those seducers shold be reveal'd ; and som of them being found out and appeach'd , they were all hang'd upon gallowses , set up before those shops where they committed the offence . the● were gallowses set up also in divers other places of the city , wheron divers were executed that day : among others two vassalls of the duke of mataloni , who were discover'd to have brought som letters in the soles of their shooes , which because they were written i● cyphers , were imagin'd and adjudg'd to contain matter of rebellion , or som sinister councells and incitements to sedition , meerly upo● these suspitions only , for no body could understand the sayed letters , or prove any thing ou● of them ; they were hang'd up nere porta capoano . in fine his commands were executed without any expostulations or examination at , which transform'd all men to wonder , to se● such a vulg●r fellow so suddenly crept up to be so reverend , they knew not for what , no● what wold be the end of his usurped dominion . it was told him upon saturday that there was a great burglary and theft committed in the palace of the prince del colle cavalliero di casa di somma , at first they were thought to be som of masaniello's squadron , but after a diligent examination they were found to be som of the banditi , who had taken sanctuary in a little church , where they were dragged out , and executed in the public market-place . the same morning there came before him for justice a poor wench whose father had been killed , and the brother of him that had killed him being there present , he cryed out , that if the fact were pardoned , he would ●ake her for his wife without any dowry ; but ●hat kind of marriage did not please masaniello , because the young maid abhorr'd it in regard of the blood of her father : therefore he oblig'd the brother of the murtherer to find out two hundred crownes within four and twenty hours for the young maids dowr● , and so the offence should be remitted ; be●●des , he shold have the place of a captain in the soldadesca : so all parties being agreed , t●e sentence masaniello gave did terminate t●e businesse . a little after this , a murtherer was brought before him , who had been a friend to perrone , and giving him time of confession , he sentenc'd him to death , and that his head and his feet shold be chopt off , and his body dragg'd up and down the streets ; another bandito was us'd likewise just in the same manner . it was intimated the same saturday morning , that two squadrons joyn'd with seven hundred spaniards , shold go abroad that morning to find out the banditi which ( as advice was had ) were in bands together in divers places ready to invade the city : h● caus'd a proclamation of grace to be publish'd , that what bandito soever could discover any such plot , shold be absolutely pardoned , provided he was not depending upo● the duke of mataloni . he commanded tha● all artizans shold work openly in their shop● and not within their houses , as also that 〈◊〉 merchants should follow their businesse , 〈◊〉 be ready within half an hours call to tak● armes . about dinner time a message was brough● him from a cavalier upon som business 〈◊〉 consequence ; but he answer'd , i have nothin● to do with cavaliers , for god hath put 〈◊〉 here for the peeple , and turning himself to th● peeple , he said , my peeple pray for me , and pr●●serve me well ; for if you lose me , woe be 〈◊〉 you . there came down the same morning from the countreyes about naples innumerable peeple , and among them there came women with stafes upon their sholders , and naked swords in their hands , bringing with them their children arm'd also with somthing or oother , proportionable to their bignesse , and they came all to the great market place to do homage to masaniello , and to be redressed by him for divers grievances . but while masaniello was busied in such exercises , genovino and arpaia , accompanied with the brother of masaniello , went to the castle to put the viceroy in mind of his former ingagement of promise made upon thursday night , that he wold com upon the sunday following to the archepiscopall church , with all the tribunalls of the chancery , the councell of state and war , with the royal chamber of santa chiara , accompanied with all the civill and criminall judges of the great court of the vicaria ; in presence of whom and of the whole peeple an oath shold be taken to observe with all punctuality the capitulations of the grand accord to perpetuity , which oath was to be taken by the vice-roy , and all the said tribunalls . the day following after dinner , masaniello being to go to the castle to take the vice-roy and conduct him to the archbishops palace , he first commanded a proclamation to be publish'd , that under pain of firing , ev'ry one should cause the streets to be swept clean before their doors respectively , where the cavalcata was to passe , as also to adorn all the windowes , balcones , and walls with their best sort of furnitures , all which was obey'd and don . in the mean time the viceroy sent two of his best horses with rich furniture , and led by two of his servants to be at the service of masaniello and his brother , who being mounted upon them , and apparell'd both in cloth of silver , masaniello carried in one hand a naked sword , in the other the charter of charl● the emperor , and his brother carried the capitulations made with the viceroy , to be read publikely , and sworn unto in the archbishop● palace ▪ there rid in their company the new elect of the peeple francesco arpaia , and iulio genevino , besides divers others of the civillest sorts among the peeple : and in regard of the huge multitudes of peeple which innumerably increas'd through all the streets , and compass'd them on all sides , so that they could not passe forward or backward , masaniello with a loud voice commanded that none upon pain of life should make a step further or els go back , which was accordingly obey'd ▪ so they rid with a trumpet still sounding before them towards the castle , & being arrived thither , and brought to the palace of the viceroy , having entertain'd themselves a while with him , they came down with the collateral , the councel of state , and other prime officers of authority , who all coaching themselfs did advance before towards the archbishops house : ●i●st of all in the said cavalcata there were many trumpeter● a horseback , then a choice troop of one hundred horse , then masaniello and his brother , after them the elect of the peeple , and old genovino , who by reason of his great age was carried in a sedan ; after these came the captain of gard to the viceroy , & immediatly after the viceroy himself , with his pages , ●●quayes & spare horses , & his gard of germans , with a 〈◊〉 number of gentlemen and cavaliers , domes●ic and adventitious , and incompass'd with a n●mberlesse throng of pe●ple , who together with the viceroy , cried out with loud 〈◊〉 , viva il re●i spagn● , which voice 〈◊〉 and re-ecchoed al● th● way , & all 〈…〉 out for joy in ●v'ry church as they 〈◊〉 , which ●●ll'd every ones heart with 〈◊〉 & pleasure : all in general , final & 〈…〉 cri'd out , viav il re , but ma●y 〈…〉 resenza gabell● , let the king 〈…〉 gabel ; & 〈◊〉 spaniards 〈…〉 cry , viva el rey ▪ que ya pued● 〈…〉 the king live , for now he may say he is king. in passing through the piazzo of st. lorenzo , masaniello stopping ther a while , & with him the whole cavalcata , turning himself to the peeple he cryed out with a very loud voice , viva iddio , viva il re di spagna , viva il cardinal filomarino , viva il duca de arcos , viva il fidelissimo popolo di napali : whereat all the peeple took the word , and with strong ecchos cryed out viva , viva , doubling and redoubling the sound with incredible exultations . being com in this order , and with these applauses to the bishops palace , and being all dismounted , then the viceroy with all his gentlemen came : upon the entrance into the church he was met by the archbishop with all his canons , chaplains and officers , which made a splendid equipage ; then they went to the great altar , where the archbishop being set in a kind of throne , as also the viceroy , and all the tribunalls who were there attending cavalier donato coppola secretary to the kingdom , did read with an audible voice the capitulations desir'd by the peeple for a finall accord , which being sign'd by the viceroy , the collateral , the counsel of state & war , masaniello standing all the while afoot upon the steps of the archbishops throne , who to the wonderment of all added , and took away corrected and interpreted all things as he pleas'd , no man interrupting or replying unto him : so after the articles were read , a solemn oath was taken by the viceroy , and all the forementioned ministers and officers of state , to observe and accomplish the sayed capitulations to perpetuity , promising also , and swearing to procure to have them confirm'd by his catholic majesty : all this was don when two quires of music sung all the while with most exquisite voices , te deum laudamus , which while 't was a singing , masaniello was observ'd to swell with a kind of glory to have attain'd his ends , with so much felicity and applause , yet he carried still in his hand a naked sword , and sent divers arrogant and ridiculous messages to the viceroy : the first was , that from thence forward , he wold continue to be captain geneof the city : the second was , that by vertue therof he intended to go with a gard , and to give patents to all officers of war and arms : the third , that he wold dismisse from the castle all cavaliers . these and such like messages he sent the viceroy singly and severally , and ther were affirmative answers brought back , for not to disturb things with negatives ; but the gentleman that deliver'd these messages , made an apology for himself privately in the ear of the viceroy , for indeed most peeple there did blush , or laugh , or jeer the impertinences and malapartnesse of masaniello . while these messages were a sending , te deum was ended , then masaniello began to reason somtimes to good purpose , somtimes senselessely . he said that the most faithfull people of naples were naturally spiritfull and vivacious , and were so esteem'd by all netions , but they had almost quite lost their wonted magnanimity and courage , by the heavy weight of so many exactions and gabells which were impos'd upon them from time to time , not by their catholic majesties , but by ill ministers and their own compatriots . and although for the loyalty which he alwaies bare , & wil ever professe unto his king , he hitherto tolerated ev'ry thing , to avoid all stains of disobedience , yet considering the benefit of those impositions redounded rather to satisfie the ravenous lusts of officers and courtiers , and of others as wel forreners as natives , whereby they became excessively rich , and thrive by sucking the very blood of the peeple , yet finding the city generally inclin'd therunto , he took a resolution to cure her of this malady , as also the whole kingdom of such a contagion , which was hurtfull not only to the most faithfull peeple , but to his majesty also his liege lord , insomuch that of the bread they gave him he scarce had the crust , they themselfs reserving the pith and substance to fill their insatiable appetites ; hence it came to pass , that the more they gave the king , the more his wants still increas'd , though in sixteen yeers he had given him above one hundred millions , which had been sufficient not onely to have conquer'd flanders and france , but to have put under his feet the unlucky moon of the ottoman empire : therefore for the future all the public donatives that shold be given the king , care shold be taken that his majesty shold have the true benefit therof , and not be misapplied to inrich others : and hereof your excellency ( meaning the viceroy ) may be well assur'd ; insomuch that all these things considered , and cast into a true ballance , he was well assur'd , that he shold not only not receive any blame from the king his soveraine liege lord , or any mark of disobedience , but he should gaine the reputation and applause of a most faithfull vassall , seeing that whatsoever he had don was for the further service of god , of his catholic majesty , of your excellency his vicegerent , of the whole city , of the peeple , and of all the kingdom . during this discourse he so heated himself , and protested with such a fury and excesse of zeal , that the words proceeding from him so heartily and empha●ically , made all the peeple to stand amaz'd , and surpriz'd with a kind of dumb astonishment : at last all that were within the audience of these words up and down the church , which was as full as it could thwack in thick multitudes , gave a loud generall applause . then he said , that now he had brought his honest intents home to his aime , he wold return to his former calling to be a fisherman again , to demonstrate unto the world , that 't was not his own interest he levell'd at , but that of his king , countrey , peeple , city and kingdome , had induc'd and prick'd him forward to undertake so dangerous a tas● ; therefore he fell a tearing that cloth of silver sute he wore , with a great deal of fury , going to the archbishop and the viceroy , taking som of the peeces thereof and laying at their feet ; but he was hindred to tear all : so all being terminated at this solemne meeting , and nothing left undone , taking his leave of the archbishop and viceroy , who betook themselves to their coaches , but masaniello with his brother genovino and arpaia , with all the rest of the foot and horse , re-accompanied them to their homes ; and the viceroy being brought to the castle , caus'd all the ordnance to fly off : so masaniello with all that huge brigade of peeple returned to the great market place , and with high ceremony ended the seventh day , nothing having occur'd remarkable that night , but the exact diligence of all gards in all the principall posts of the city , and the splendor of the lights that were put in ev'ry window . sunday the 14. of iuly , 1647. the eighth day . it is a thing impossible to expresse the rejoycings of the peeple of naples for the capitulations of peace which were sign'd and sworne unto the day before , which ended not that day , but they continued upon sunday following : the articles were printed , and fix'd through all places of the city , that all things might be manifested to the world : ev'ry one did contend who shold expresse greater contentment , such a kind of generall jubilee was among them , insomuch that it drew tears from som , which falling upon the ground , made those flowers of joy to spring up which the heavinesse of former times had caus'd to fade . and because the beginning of this reformation , and consequently of this joy , proceeded from masaniello , and from his stout undertakings , therefore was he extoll'd with highest praises by ev'ry one , and cried up to be l●b●rator patriae , to be the freer of his countrey , and the asserter of publike liberty , from the tyranny and gripes of so many ravening wolfs both in city , court and kingdom ; yea , of king and crown , who glutting themsel●s with the common blood of the peeple , increased their wealth by the beggery of others ▪ and all this was effected ( not by the hand of som invincible emperor , or som warlike prince , but ) by a poor young fellow , by a bare-footed fisherman : this made it fa● more admirable , and to attribute it the more to god , qui infirma mundi eligit , ut fortia queque confundat , who chooseth the weak things of the world to confound the strong . with the praises which the common peeple gave generally to masaniello , concurr'd also the just acclamations of divers of the nobility and gentry , of many sorts of officers , of ecclesiastics , and all religious orders ; ther● were many thanks and much honor given also to the archbishop , who took so much pains to attone , to sweeten , and accommode al● things , and had overcom so many difficulties ▪ therefore there were speciall acknowledgements made to him , next to masaniello . after the publication of the sayed capitulations and generall agreement , being affix'● ev'ry where , that they might be expos'd to ev'ry ones eye and knowledg , the city of naples seem'd to have a new face , so that ther was no more fear of any war , of further combustions , & consequently no need of any arm●d bands , or cautions for the mai●tenance and defence of the people from the insultings of enemies , yet neverthelesse it seem'd expedient to masaniello , to continue still a military power a foot , therfore he commanded that ev'ry one shold stand firm to his post : nor was it unnecessary or superfluous policy , because the city after so generall a convulsion could not presently recover her former health , nor after so many combustions could she be secure till the fire had been quite extinguish'd . hence it came to passe , that the soldadesca remaining still up and down the ●ity , masaniello went on to command more like an abso●ute master or tyrant then a captain generall ▪ he commanded that under pain of life ev'ry one shold discover if any goods were depositated in their hands , of those men whose houses were burnt : wherupon much wealth was yeelded up out of churches , monasteries , hospitalls and nunneries . it being known that that sunday morning four banditi were fled for sanctuary to the church of carminello among the jesuits ; he sent a considerable band of armed men to encompasse both cloister and church , whose gates being shut , the assaulters made their way in by pickaxes so that a great hole being made in the wall , they rush'd in , and took one of them , chopping off his head presently , as they did afterwards to the three other : and because one of those fathers being zealous of the church immunities , had made som resistance for the preservation of those miserable men , he was so mortally wounded that he died within a few daies after . notice being also had that within the monastery of nunnes call'd della croce di lucca much of the goods of caesar lubrano were depositated , because he had two daughters tha● were nunnes there , masaniello commande● som captains to extract thence , and to bring into the public market place the sayed goods with order that if the nunnes made any resi●stance , to threaten them with the firing of th● monastery : this was put in speedy execution and the soldiers repairing thither , unhing'd th● gates of the religious house , because they were denied to be open'd ; which struck such terror into them , that one of them was like to have breath'd her last , which being related by a flying messenger unto the archbishop , his e●minence was mov'd , and therfore sent about it to masaniello , who to excuse himself answer'd he knew nothing of it , but that it was don● without his order , therfore he wold give condign punishment to those captains , as he did , and commanding them unto him , he inordered they shold be examin'd , and so executed : notwithstanding that , he was resolv'd to have those goods , which were accordingly deliver'd him by those holy si●ters , being so much affrighted . an act much like this masaniello acted the same morning upon sunday , which was thus ; he had given strict command that under pain of life none shold dare to go out of the city without his expresse license , and because the most illustrious caffarelli archbishop of san●a severina had necessary occasions to remove himself from naples , where he resided then , to calabria , to visit his own church ▪ he went in a ●hort habit , and without a cloak ( there having ●een such an order in force , and yet most ●trictly observ'd ) to the house of masaniello to obtain leave of him . when he beheld him , he ●aid , che vuoi monsignore mio bello ? what wilt ●hou have my fine lord ? he answer'd , that i may safely passe to my church of santa seve●ina in calabria , with your good leave : my ●ord , answer'd masaniello , crying ola , let ●our hundred of my men go to accompany , ●nd serve my lord as far as his archbishoprick ▪ th' archbishop thanked him , saying that he ●ent by sea ; by sea sayed he ? then let 40. pellu●ucas be provided to attend my lord archbishop , he answering ther was no need , because he had alrea●y taken four for the transport of himself and his family , which were sufficient , and to have more wold be an encumbrance unto him , and incommodious . well , well , your lordship may do what you please , replied masaniello . a● leastwise you shall not refuse to acc●pt of this small bag of double pistolls , which he pr●sented unto him , saying , take this to defray ●he cha●ge of your voyage ; the prelat therupon 〈◊〉 , and giving him many thanks , he refus'd them a good while , saying he wanted them not ; but he was constrain'd with threats to receive five hundred , which he did fo● fear of hazarding his head with deniall to suc● a capricious and frantic man : and giving him a license in writing , he told him , and embrac'd him , my lord , go with safety . a little after ● gentleman of a●versa upon a businesse of hi● own came to sp●ak with him , who was of the family of tufo , and havi●g dispatcht him , and given him a kick , he sayed , go thy waies , 〈◊〉 make thee prince of auversa . he commanded that morning the house of a widdow baker to be burnt , because she had made light bread , being six ounces lesse in weight of the thirty six which were establish'd , that ev'ry loaf shold weigh . he caus'd also the head to be chopt off of an abbot call'd nicola● ametrano , to carlo vitale , and to spiritell● musico , as being dependents of mataloni ; likewise he commanded a little after the like to be done to another , who was comrade to ame●rano . he gave out order that it was his pleasure that the jesuits , the certosini , the benedictans , the fryers of mount-olivet shold pay ● great sum of money for the service of the ●eeple ; he commanded also to call b●fore him ●o the same effect many rich men , and asking ●hem first if they were loyall to their king , and ●hey answering that they were , he made them ●ubscribe to a writ●ng , wherin ev'ry one bound ●imself to pay him so much ev'ry one a part , ●elling them he did that for to observe the ●ord given the day before to his excellency , 〈◊〉 make a donative of six millions of gold to 〈◊〉 majesty ; towards whom bei●g desirous to ●evv himself the more devoted and faithfull , 〈◊〉 put out a proclamation , that none under ●in of life shold go for the future habited ac●●rding to the mode of france , and that ev'ry ●e shold have care to put the kings arms , and ●at of the peeple on his doores , and that ev'ry ●e shold tend his shop , yet with arms ready on all occasions . the same sunday morning pizzicarolo a ●●sen of masaniello , went to the palace , say●●● openly , that he began to dote , and that he 〈◊〉 told him if he did not give over his fyrings 〈◊〉 burnings , his throat wold be cut by his own friends : this pizzicarolo had more power over him then any other , for he took no meat from any hand but from his : he obtain'd of masaniello in behalf of the count of conversano a gard for his person , goods , and families , and palace ; he restor'd unto him two great hampers full of money and plate , which he had taken away from him , and it was sent to the castle of s. elmo , where he gave pizzicarolo twenty zecchins , and so the count went suddenly with divers other cavaliers into a gallie to preserve themselfs . the same day towards the evening fathe● rossi a theologue of the archbishops , wen● with a message to masaniello , desiring hi● that the peeple might lay down their arme● for he was secure enough now without so●●diers , and that he might retire himself a whil● to posilipo to recreate himself , or any when els his excellence would please : this messag● please him well ; so all things necessary we●● provided , and divers bands of superfluou● soldiers were disbanded , which was don with●out any grumbling , or questioning whatsoe●ver he did : but at last he grew odiously prou● he wold will , and unwill a thing at the sam● instant , and his head began to turn , bein● mounted so high , and from a simple fisherma● made himself a kind of monarch . all peepl● obey'd him , vice-roy , bishops , and all , who him the swinge , and humor'd him all the while , not doubting but he wold at last break his own neck , as it happen'd right ; thereupon when the squadron of napolitan gallies came from genoa , the vice-roy left to him the giving leave of letting them arrive at the port , he saw all the city arm'd , and depending on his beck , acknowledging him to be their absolute commander , and captaine generall , by an exact and a strange kind of implicite blind obedience , so ●ha● no king whatsoever could desire more allegiance from his own vassalls . hence it came to passe , that from an humble , judicious , and zealous spirit which raign'd ●n him , he became proud , a fool , and a tyrant , putting out such rigorous proclamations , commanding so many heads to be chop 't off , so many palaces to be burnt , meerly somtimes ●o please his own capri●nio , and to make himself formidable ; he wold go a horseback alone , and fetch the round of the city , imprisoning and torturing whom he pleas'd , shutting up of shops , preaching , and railing against the nobility and gentry , not sparing the vice-roy himselfe , but threatning to take off his head ; yet when he spake of the king he nam'd him with a great deale of reverence , taking off his hat , and bowing his body ; but one thing made him very ridiculous , that he made boyes , very mean fellowes captains , campmasters , and other officers of war. in the afternoon divers of the peeple , and som commanders , made by masaniello himself , sent to complain to the archbishop , that they were clap't in prison for small matters , for a thing of nothing , and som were commanded by him to have their heads sever'd from their bodies , and taken off as so many capons . thereupon his eminence spake unto him by way of advice , and because he saw him obstinate , he desir'd him at least to defer the execution of those men till the day following ▪ it being not fitting to shed humane blood upon a sunday , and stain the holy sabbath wit● such sacrifices of cruelty : the bishop spoke to him with that candor and winning affability ▪ turning his discourse to other facetious stories , that he obtain'd of him a deferring of the execution , and to recreate his tired spirits , he wish'd him to go to take the refreshments and pleasure of posilipo for a while : he imbrac'd his counsell , but desiring that his reverence wold accompanie him , he in scorn of such a companion , desir'd him to go before , and he would quickly follow . a little after masaniello went from the market , accompanied with a huge company of pleb●ans to the castle all the way a foot in a loose habit , having one stockin on , and the other off , without band , hat , or sword , but running on like a mad man ; he made a signe to the sergeant major of the spanish gard , that they shold make no noise ; so he entred and spoke to the vice-roy that he must eat , for he was ready to perish for hunger . the viceroy looking upon his servants , said , traigan da comer al senor masaniello : bring somthing to eat for the lord masaniello ; no sir , ( he replied ) let us go take fresh aire at posilipo , and leat us eat together there ; for i have provision already : and saying this , he caus'd divers mariners to com in with divers baskets of fruit . the viceroy did excuse himself as well as he cold , praying him to excuse him , because he was troubled with a great pain in the head , and he wold be very glad of his company at any other time ; so he gave order presently , that his own gondola shold be made ready to wait upon senior masaniello , where when he had imbarqued himselfe with divers mariners , he was attended at least by forty fellucas full of musicians , and other sorts of men fit to give him some recreation : there ran to the mole of chiaia many thousands of peeple to see the spectacle : in his way he gave order that som shold go to the regular canons of st. lateran , to draw thence such goods that he had unders●●od were convey'd and depositated there , which was don and brought to the market pl●ce : as he went along he threw peeces of gold into the sea , which the mariners swom after , and duck'd to take up , to afford him pleasure and pastime . then he fell to eating , or r●ther to feasting , for he had very choice provision ●n the gondola , and they sayed that before he came back he had drunk twelve bottl●s of wine call'd lachrymae christi , but the operations of that wine you shall read in the next daies work , which was munday : when he was return'd to naples , that evening he gave all those of the gondola , and fellucas which attended him , ten measures of wheat ev'ry one . the comedy of this day had not been compleat , if the wife of masaniello had not also acted her part ; who about the evening went to the castle clad in cloth of silver with a chain of gold and other jewells and galla●tries , which the duchesse of arcos had formerly sent her : she went in a very stately coach of the duke of mataloni's , which was made for the day of his marriage , and it was a very rich and magnificent peece , valued at least at eight thousand crowns : she was accompanied with divers gentlewomen of quality , who complied with the times , and they went also richly adorn'd : but these were no other then masaniello's mother , and two sisters , and other kinswomen of his , all fishermens daughters ; a little boy his sisters son bare upon his sleeve a kind of arms , which shew'd that his uncle was captain generall of the city of naples : when she came to the viceroys palace , ther were sedans sent for her and her company , with a gard of halberdeers , pages and laquays to attend them : then were they brought into the duchesse , where they found a great deal of welcom , and dainties . the duchesse presented her with a rich diamond , and the visitor generall took the young boy often in his arms and kiss'd him : masaniello's mother meeting upon the stairs with cavalier cosmo fonseca the grand ingeneer , who us'd to make epitaphs , she told him that he shold tell the viceroy that her son fear'd no body but god , and his excellence ; therfore he shold do well to send unto him to refrain from so much fire and blood . masaniello being return'd from his recreations at posilipo , was so heated with the abundance of wine that he had drunk , and with the heat of the sun , that he fell into a kind of dotage and foolishnesse : he sent presently to speak with the sayed fonseca , and inordred him to make divers inscriptions engraven in marble to this effect ; tomas anello of malphi , prefect , and captain generall of the most faithfull peeple of naples , did order , that his command shold be no longer obey'd , but only those of the duke of arcos : and thus ended that sunday . munday the 15. of iuly , 1647. the ninth day . the thoughts of masaniello began to grow so vast and extravagant , as also so instable and unquiet , that not containing himself within the compasse of his sphere , and those huge honors and authority he had climb'd unto , but he wold be more then the sea , who though a raging element , yet is contented to hold himself within his bounds ; he wold be more then the heavens , who passe not their circumference ; more then the sun , who never goes out of the ecliptic ; he had an ambition ( had it been possible ) to inslave the whole earth , to tame the ocean , to debell the world , to confine the stars , and see the rising and setting of the sun. he was so blinded with arrogant desires , that they took from him the solace of his sleep , they kept him from seeing the precipices wherein he was like to fall from the top of his arrogant designes , and the miseries which attended his greatnesse . the staires whereby we ascend to honor , are of glasse , the top is an earthquake , the descent a precipice , and authority doth commonly discompose , and stound the mind of man , specially one of a base carat ▪ and low extraction , like a monkey clad with scarlet ; honors serve som men only for their ruine , as long haire serv'd absolon to hang himself : he that is far from iupiter need not feare his thunderbolts . if masaniello that saturday on which a te deum was sung in the cathedrall church , had renounc'd all his usurp'd authority and power into the hands of the viceroy , and return'd , as he sayed and sware he wold , to his former vocation of selling fish , he had deserv'd that the napolitan peeple should have erected him colosso's , and statues of gold , to the eternall memory of his magnanimous undertakings , brought to such a marvellous perfection : but a boundlesssse ambition did cast such a mist before his eyes , that breaking the reines of reason , upon the lords day it self his brain began to turn , doing so many acts of foolishnesse and cruelty . yet many reasons were urg'd for the continuance of his command : som say that he was willing to resigne it , but that by the instigation of his wife , and others of his kinred , he took a resolution to keep it still . others say , as having heard himself say , that he continued still his power , because if he left it , he was to expect no other but death , he was so generally hated by the nobles and gentry for having burnt and destroyed so many palaces , and wealthy substances , put to death so many of al sorts , &c. others say , that he continued still his authority , because sense oppos'd reason , being allur'd with the sweetnesse of rule and power . yet if his sayed usurped dominion had bin attended with that humility , discretion and judgment wherewith he began his reign , he might peradventure have continued longer , from that precipice whereinto he tumbled in so short a time . his ruine befell him , because he had broken out into a thousand delirium's and fooleries , which were the causes of his tyrannicall comportments , and consequently of the universall hatred at last of the peeple , which for many dayes depended totally upon him , as upon an oracle , and obey'd him as a sworn and naturall king. but if one be curious to know the reason why he fell into that stolidity , i could tell him , that it was a fatall drink given him by the viceroy to this effect , which had an operative vertu to work upon his brain , and distemper his pericranium , that so by becoming odious and ridiculous , the peeple might do him away . this is the opinion of many , which whether it be tru or no , i suspend my opinion . it may be well thought also , that that sottishnesse and foolerie which befell him , proceeded from excesse of vigilance , care , watchings , and not eating ; for he seldom slept , and he did eat more seldom ; his head being so full of thoughts , and new businesses coming like heaps upon him continually , whereof his little narrow understanding ( being exercis'd before to sell little fish onely ) was not capable : the extreme joy likewise which possess'd him , to becom from a petty pleb●an ▪ monarch of such a city as naples is , might have distemper'd a greater and more season'd brain then his . hence it came to passe , that ( putting himself upon his bed ) he hardly could close his eyes , but he wold suddenly rise up again , telling his wife , let us be lords of naples , and then let us sleep : up , up , let us put our authority in practice : then going to the window he wold face the gard , and call upon them , imploying them alwayes upon som design or other , that his usurped dominion shold not be idle ; what marvell then is it , all these things being well consider'd that he shold fall into such foolish extravagances ; such are the rewards of ambition , wherwith she useth to recompence her followers . domitian the emperor fell into such a foolish humor , being hanted by this spirit , that he would be reverenced and ador'd by the senate and peeple , as a kinde of god. primus domitianus se dominum , & deum appellari jussit . domitian was the first who wold have himself call'd a god , sayeth eusebius , therfore a parasiticall poet of that age , to comply with his genius , sayed and sung of him , edictum domini deique nostri , quo subsellia certiora fiunt . alexander being tyranniz'd also by this fury of ambition , was not asham'd to call his mother whore , in saying that he was begot by iupiter hamon . what shal we say of xerxes , who being mov'd therunto by the vastnesse of his thoughts , and capricios of his unsetled aspiring brain , threatned darknesse to the sun , and a yoke to the ocean ; who will not tax caius caesar of foolishnesse , and being not inferior at all to xerxes in rashnesse , when being angry with heaven he invented a certain engin , whereby he thunder'd against thunder , and lightned against lightning , perswading himself that that distic did very fitly quadrat with him ; iupiter in caelis , caesar reget omnia terris , divisum imperium cum iove caesar habet . such an extravagant passion as this did predominate and discompose masaniello , and more easily , being a creature of so low a degree : upon munday morning he appear'd upon the market place a horseback , with a naked sword in his hand , striking many men , and driving them before him , though no cause offer'd . being thus domineering in the market place , an old and well qualified captain call'd caesar spano of don prospero tuttavilla's regiment , told him , that he wold be pleas'd to command that the soldiers of that regiment might be consign'd unto him , who were germanes and walloons , which was don accordingly ; but he struck and wounded the old captain , giving him two cuts in the face , saying , be gon when i bid you . turning then his horse head he went towards toledo street , who meeting with one that was told him was a spie , he suddenly without forming of any processe caus'd his head to be chopt off ; he met with another , who complain'd that his wife was suborn'd , and carried away by an old bawd , & asking where she was , sayed in such a house , he went thither presently , and found her there with another man ; he commanded her to be hang'd , and him to be broken on wheels , which was presently done . afterwards he met about the church of st. ioseph with the prince of cellamare , chief postmaster of the kingdom , a discreet and wel temper'd prince , and complemented very much with him , saying , if he knew any , though he were the greatest potentate in the world , who favor'd mataloni , he wold chop off his head : a little after ther pass'd by the duke de castel di sangro don ferrante caracciolo , a cavalier of high esteem in naples , and not using any complement towards him , he ran a great hazard of his life ; for he made him com suddenly out of the coach , telling him , that a new elect was to be made o're the five piazzas of the nobles , & he wold publish an order that they who deserv'd that degree shold go decently habited , and that the cavaliers who were sellers of votes , shold retire to their dwellings bare-footed , and so he dismissed him : this being don , he transferr'd himself to the kings stables ; and ther being many horses ther , he sayed these are particular mens horses , but the grooms told him , they were his majesties , and that the lord carlo caracciolo the chief master of the horse in the kingdom , had the charge of them : he asked what carlo ? what master of the horse ? am not i ev'ry thing , not acknowledging any body , and saying this , he took for himself and his friends six of the best horses , but before he had half brought them to the market place , recollecting himself and thinking better on 't , he sent them back to the kings stables . the same time he dispatch't a band of armed men to the hospitall , and to the church of the zoccolanti , commanding them to deliver up the goods of the visitor generall of the kingdom , don iohn ponze de leon , and carried them to the market place , but return'd them again when he was told of the kisses he had given his nephew in the castle the day before : yet he told him ther wold be now no necessity of a visitor general , because he himself wold look well enough to the abuses of things , and to the public theefs of king and countrey . in regard of these , and sundry other high insolences , which were too tedious to insert here ev'ry one a part , the whole city tremble , yea the viceroy himself , when he understood of such extravagances and innovatious , because he thought that now all things were terminated by that message which was sent him by masaniello the day before by the archbishops chaplain , that he wold make a full resignation unto him of all authority , besides the agreement solemnly made and sworn unto upon sunday before , with the stipulation of the articles in the dome , so that apprehending more fear then formerly he retir'd into the inner palace , causing it to be fortified , and encreasing the gard : and it was held convenient by all to com to som galliard resolution , considering how that foolish and phrantic fellow pursued his authority and tyranny , to dispose of all things according to his own fancy , both in the courts of justice , as also in the councell of warr , in the grassa , and all other tribunalls , as if he were an absolute prince , or som imperious monark . after dinner he sent a peremptory order to don ferante caracciolo , before mention'd , that under pain of life , and the burning of his palace , in regard he had not in the morning com out of his coach to do him reverence , that he shold come to speak with him in the market place ; he sent also another message to don carlo caracciolo master of the kings horse , to do the like . they answer'd prudently and with sleme , that they wold do what he desir'd ; but holding it a diminution to their honor , instead of going to the market place , they went to the castle , having setled their houses and goods , to complain to the viceroy , and deplore the abject and sad condition wherin they were plung'd , with all the rest of the napolitan nobility and gentry , and so related unto him the arrogant propositions that were sent them by masaniello , so they concluded to die sooner , and to be torn by wild horses then to live , so vituperiously in such a basenesse & servitude , therfore 't was high time for all the napolitan cavaliers to awake , to rid the city of this intolerable ugly monster ; for it was a great blemish to their reputation to suffer him to sway so long . the vice-roy was extremely vex'd to hear such pungent reasons and grievances , but he durst not apprehend the fool , being so fortified and back'd by the besotted peeple all in arms ; and while they were discoursing of the means how things might be remedied , behold genovino and arpaia came into the castle , who bitterly complained also against masaniello . the first spoke very despitefully of him , saying that he could not prevail any thing with him , but he found himself ev'ry moment in no small danger of his life ( for he threatned to take off his head ) more then he was in the time of the duke of ossuna , and they say that he had often given him som blowes , yet he was constrained to dissemble and mollifie things . arpaia also had his mortifications and da●gers , he had publikely receiv'd a box from him , and all peeple were terrified by him , and affronted , yet they knew not how to right themselves , he having at his devotion a hundred and fifty thousand combatants well armed , although the major part , and the most ●ivill sort of these did hate him , specially since ●he sunday evening , by reason of his inhumane cruelties ; therefore 't was determined by the advice of genovino and arpaia , that all the peeple shold make their addresses to the vice-roy , and assure him , that they not only mislik'd , but hated the carriage of masaniello , and not to obey him any longer , but ev'ry where , and in all things to depend upon the commands of his excellence , provided that they might be well assur'd of the observance of their priviledges and infranchisements already granted and sworn unto , whereunto the viceroy condescending very readily , declar'd by public band the confirmation of them ; so they were to meet at the piazza of st. augustin , which they did , but a great number , fearing the frownes of masaniello came not thither , but he was gon again in the dutchesse's coach to posilipo : afterwards two resolv'd to chain him , and keep him in safe custody all the residue of his life in som castle , for they were not inclin'd to put him to death for the good things that he had operated for the public good . when masaniello was returned from posilipo , he went to the office of the gallies , and provided captains and other commanders for them , though they were far from the port ; and thence transferring himself to his house in the market place , he threatned divers captains to take off their heads , as also to genovino and arpaia , because they had not attended him that day : nay , he threatned fire to the whole city , because he perceiv'd they had lost the former respect and obedience which they did use to shew him . being extreme hot , he threw himself into the sea water in all his clothes , and being com out again , he began to shake his sword up and down , and do divers mad pranks , nor could any , no not the archbishop himself , bridle him , or keep him within any bounds , insomuch that the captains of the peeple were constrained to apprehend him , and put him in ho●d , with a band of souldiers for his gard in his own house ; and while all that night most part of the peeple did confederate and take arms in behalf of the vice-roy , an unlook't for accident did co-operate to conclude this tragecomedie by means of marco vitale , a hardy young man , who was secretary to masaniello , who under colour of remedying , did rather foment those tumults and firings , as shall be read in the passages of the insuing day . tuesday the 16. of iuly , 1647. the tenth day . the foresaid marco vitale being early got out of the castle where the vice-roy kept his court , and where he slept that night , and going about nine a clock to chiaia the next gate to the castle , and royall palace , this vitale knowing not any thing of what was intended in the behalf of the vice-roy against his patron masaniello , and meeting with some armed bands in the way confederated and ligu'd together , he proudly ask'd them , why , and by whose authority and license they had taken up arms ? one of the captains answer'd him stoutly , 't was by order of the viceroy , vitale impertinently replied , well , well , i am going now to the market , and thy head shall pay for it : the captain drew out his sword , and gave him a shrewd slash , which being seconded by a musket shot , the infortunate wretch fell down dead , and being put in a sepulchre in the next church of s. lewis , among the minims , the peeple now adhering to the viceroy , drag'd him forth , chop'd off his head , and putting it upon a pole , they drag'd his body up and down the gutters of naples . that day was the feast of the glorious virgin of carmine , a holy day of very much devotion among the napolitans , specially among the common peeple , that church being situated nere the great market place . masaniello entred into this church , having a little before scap'd out of his irons , where he attended the coming of the archbishop filomarino to sing masse , and celebrate the day as he us'd annually to do , and he was scarce come to the church door when masaniello meeting him full butt , sayed , most eminent lord , i perceive now that the peeple will abandon me , and go about to deprive me of life . i desire that for my consolation , and of all this peeple , a solemn cavalcata be made , together with the viceroy , with the collaterall , and all the tribunalls of the city to this most holy lady , for being thus to die , i shall die contented : therfore i beseech your eminence to addresse this letter of mine to the viceroy , the bishop embrac'd him , and much commended his devotion ; and suddenly dispatch't a gentleman to the palace with the sayed letter to the viceroy , and going afterwards to the great altar of the lady of carmine , he lean'd there , intending to sing masse , the church being full , and replenish'd with peeple as much as it could hold : masaniello going up the degrees of the altar , and taking a crucifix in his hands , he recommended himself with much tendernesse unto the peeple ; that they shold not forsake him , commemorating what he had don for them , he aggravated the difficulty of the design , the danger he incountred withall , the hatred of so many thousands by reason of his fiery punishments , and the conclusion at last of the whole businesse in that very church . then a little while he fell a doting , and accus'd himself of the badnesse of his life past , exhorting ev'ry one to make the like confession before the feet of his ghostly father , that gods anger might be appeas'd , and because he fell into many ridiculous expressions , and som savouring of heresie , his gard forsook him ; and the archbishop not induring to hear him , being in the very act of celebrating the masse , he wrought so much that he got him down , which being don , he did prostrate himself before the bishops feet , praying his eminence that he wold please to send his chaplain to the castle , to advertise the viceroy , that he was willing to renounce his command unto his excellence ; which the bishop promising to do , he caus'd him to be conducted to a dormitory to be dried , for he was all in a sweat , and to repose awhile , thinking him worthy of compassion : so the bishop return'd to his palace . in the mean time masaniello being refreshed , and gon out into a great hall , he was leaning over a balcone to take the fresh air sea-ward , som hardy gentlemen rush'd in , accompanied with much peeple , who having first entred into the church of carmine , cried aloud , let the king of spain live , and let none hereafter under pain of life obey the commands of masaniello : and going thence to the cloister under pretext to speak with masaniello , and negotiate with him , they found him almost all alone , and hearing som body crying masaniello , the unfortunate wretch meeting with those who were conspir'd to dispatch him , he told them , ye go perhaps in search of me ; behold me here my peeple : so they discharg'd four musquet shots at him every one apart : the first were salvador , and carlo cataneo brothers , angelo ardizzone , and andrea rama , who were four of the principall that slew him : so he fell presently upon the earth , crying after the first shot , ah ingratefull traytors ! and so he breath'd his last . hereupon a butcher came and cut off his head , which being put upon a lance , they went into the church of carmine , where there were ten thousand peeple , and thence to the market place , crying out , let the king of spain live , and under pain of life let none henceforth name masaniello . masaniello is dead , masaniello is dead ; and discharging many archibuzzes , ad terrorem without ball , the common peeple were so affrighted that they lost their spirits quite ; and seeing themselves headlesse , they skulk'd here and there , not daring to do the least outrage unto them who flew their captain generall , that was so much fear'd , obey'd , and reverenc'd : insomuch that they went securely up and down the streets , with his head upon a pole , and the boyes dragging his body up and down the channells and publike wayes , where there was money thrown to them that drew him , by many , specially by the gentry , who all this while durst scarce peep out of their houses , or appeer abroad publikely : so they got a horse-back , and went to the castle to attend the viceroy , and give him the joy , who entertain'd them with infinite demonstrations of contentment . the archbishop went also thither , who after he had com from the carmine , had scarce reach'd his own palace , but the tidings of masaniello's death was brought him , which made him go directly to the castle to acquit himself of those duties of congratulation which were due to the viceroy , who sending very strict orders abroad that the street captains shold be in a perfect equipage and readinesse at his command , and that upon pain of life they shold not obey any body else whatsoever . he commanded to apprehend the complices of masaniello , as was don ; as his wife , his sisters , his kinred ; and being all made prisoners , they were brought up to the castle . and because his brother matteo was gon abroad to benevento with more company , to take ( as 't was given out ) the duke of mat●loni , there were armed bands dispatch'd thither to apprehend him , and conduct him to naples , which was don , and he was committed to the castle , though afterwards to please the peeple , he with others were set at liberty , as shall be delared hereafter . there were armed bands sent also to the market place to bridle the peeple , and gard the goods that were there depositated , belonging to divers owners . these good orders being given , the viceroy was exhorted by the bishop , and by all the nobility , and ministers royall , to shew himself publikely up and down the streets ; whereupon the bishop and he mounting on horse-back , attended by all the counsellours , ministers , officers , nobility and gentry , with all the tribunalls , being well garded with horse and infantry , they went to the chiefe church to give god thanks , and the most glorious protector of naples s. gennaro , whose holy head and blood was taken out and put upon the high altar , where extraordinary thanks were given for the tranquillity which was re-obtain'd by the death of so base a fellow , who by the secret judgements of god , had made himselfe so formidable , that he terrified the whole city : a cleer instrument , it cannot be said otherwise , of the just indignation of god , being offended with the sins of that city , who ( as somtimes he punish'd the egyptians with small contemptible creatures , as flies , and frogs ) did correct , humble , and chastise the city of naples by so vile a plebean . from the church the cavalcata pass'd to the market place , where the viceroy did again by sound of trumpet confirm the priviledges granted by charles the fifth , together with the capitulations ; he was receiv'd with extreme exultances of joy by all the peeple , who loudly cryed out , viva il re , viva il duca d' arcos ; let the king live , live the duke of arcos , whereunto others added , let filomarino live , the restorer of his countreyes peace : they gave also thanks to the most holy mother of carmine , and so they returned into the castle very joyfull , and afterwards ev'ry one unto his own home . the shops were suddenly open'd , the spanish soldiers took their arms again , and the dispersed gards up and down return'd to their former posts , but that in the castle was redoubled with walloons , and ev'ry one did with exact reverence submit unto the vice-roy , to whose prudence , patience , and dexterousnesse , joyn'd with the vigilance and indefatigable assistance of the most reverend archbishop , the preservation of that city may be attributed ; for if his reverence had not strongly and industriously interpos'd in the businesse , the whole city had been like to have been destroyed with fire and sword , as it will appeare by a copie of the following letter , written by a napolitan cavalier , one of the prudent'st patriots of the whole town , sent to a gentleman a friend of his , resident at rome , wherein also there is a relation made how san gernnaro , the protector and patron of naples , did appeare , which did prognosticate peace , tranquillity and happinesse to the napolitan peeple : the tenor of which letter was as followeth : deare sir , this morning i was to do my observance to the l. cardinall the archbishop filomarino , and i have reverenced him as much as possibly i could , as liberator of his countrey , who after he had done me sundry favours , told me , that yesternight the popular tumult ceas'd , conducting with himself tomas anello the captain generall of the peeple , and all capitulations were subscrib'd and sworn unto , whereof i will send you a copy by the next . this quietnesse was miraculous in a manner , for the many circumstances that attended it , wherof you shall have distinct advise ; that which i can say now unto you , is that from the mouth of the lord cardinal himself the glorious san gennaro was seen over the great church of carmine , with a sword in his hand , and ther were many persons examin'd upon oaths about this vision . his reverence also saw as he went to the church of carmine a most bright star , which gave him undoubted hopes of peace and quietnesse , which god hath pleas'd to restore to this place by his intercession , for he kept all the while the will of the sayed masaniello in his fist , as it were , insomuch that he did few things but what his reverence pleas'd and commanded ; and he was so prudent , as not to propose any thing , but what was fit to be obtain'd for the universall good . in sum , he hath given unto his catholic majesty our soveraign lord the kingdom , and hath so confirm'd it , that for the future there is no fear of any combustions , and this people is so well contented with the abolishments of the gab●lls , that they will be able to defend themselfs against all the world . the sayed lord bishop may be said to have given life to all the nobility , because the enrag'd peeple wold have taken away their lifes , he hath given quietnesse and sustenance to the poor , because bread is made here at thirty seven ounces , and all other things are in mighty great abundance , and very cheap : to conclude sir , a new heaven , and a new earth appears here , and it evidenly appears that the lord wold have it so . your most devoted , and most obliged servitor . astorgio agnese . in conformity , and by vertue of the p●ace aforesayed , many nobles and cavaliers were seen to passe ev'ry day along the streets to the castle in their coaches , shewing themselfs unto the peeple , from whose sight they had kept themselfs hugger mugger before . the ladies also went up and down with their fardingalls , which formerly they durst not do , by reason of masaniello's order to the contrary , yet they moderated their expences , and train , specially those who were us'd to gain by the gabells . the same time that masaniello was slain , ther happen'd two accidents , the first was , that the head and foot of don peppo caraffa remaining still , expos'd to public view in an iron grate , upon the gate of san gennaro , with an inscription , th●s is the head of don peppo caraffa di mataloni , traytor to his countrey , and of the most faithfull peeple of naples , which was don by the command of masaniello , as was sayed before in the successes of the fourth day . there was scarce news had of the death of masaniello , but that in that confusion of peeple , four gentlemen adventur'd , being kin to the family of the mataloni , to go boldly to the sayed gate , and in a commanding way , though ther were 1000. soldiers thereabout , they got a ladder , and climing up , they broke the iron grate with the inscription , and took out the head , which they carried in a fair silver bason , cover'd with a silk towell , and brought it to the next parish church , cal'd san iohn de porta , delivering it to the curat of that church , iohn baptista iulino , and caus'd it afterwards to be put in a leaden box , and that an authentic instrument shold be made , ad futuram rei memoriam , by a public apostolicall notary authoriz'd by the court of rome , call'd don maria de iuliis : within the sayed church ther were for eye-witnesses , erasmo mastello , gennaro de pece , gio. baptista piccirillo . the four gentlemen who did this hardy act , were girolamo laudata , brother to the duke of marzano , and cavaliers , gastani sons to a carrafesca mother , don scipion , pietro antonio rastaldi ; gio. baptista d' afflitto , whose names are inserted in the sayed instrument to perpetuity . the second accident was , that masaniello a little before his death began to feel the pulses of the richest men up and down the city , demanding of them many thousands of crowns , because he purpos'd , as he gave out , to make five millions of gold for the king , which he had promis'd to his excellence already by way of donative : which millions were effectually to be made up out of the moneys found in the burnt houses , and a contribution of the cape merchants & citizens of naples , which he had effected within a few daies , had he not died , therfore 't was question'd whether his death tended more to the service or disservice of spain . amongst those rich merchants he had sent to one gaspar roomer , a most rich flemin , who to prevent the firing of his house , sent twelve thousand crowns unto masaniello , and so retir'd to a very fair house , four miles out of the city , a place call'd la barra , carrying with him all his best moveables , and goods he had in naples . to this marchant he sent savino converso of the carmine , a great confident of his the same tuesday , the day that he was slain ; with an order of his in writing , at sight whereof , he was to consign unto him 5000 ▪ zecchins , for the service of his catholic majesty , since that he had grown so rich out of good bargains he had from the viceroys from time to time ; roomer could not tell how to avoid the complying with his desires , and obey them ; so he deliver'd so much money in ready gold to the messenger , who leaving a receipt behind him , and returning to naples , he understood , as he pass'd by a little church hard by the carmine , of what happen'd to masaniello , so he imbark'd himself in a felluca , and went away with the moneys to rome ; therupon the merchant sent spies up and down to find him out : at last by the help of those of his order , for he was a fryer , he had notice where he was , and so recover'd much of his money . that tuesday in the evening , was brought to naples the brother of the sayed masaniello , and committed prisoner to the castle , together with his mother , and as they pass'd , all cryed out room , room for the lady duchesse of sarda ; with the brother of maesaniello were brought four heads of his companions , who wold not yeeld themselfs , but make resistance with musquet shot , and nine were taken alive , the rest mortally wounded , or put to flight . in this manner ended the life and empire of masaniello , having foretold it himself the ninth of july , the week before , being the third day of the revolution , when going up to the market place , he told the peeple , that what he did , was for the public benefit of the city , and he knew well , that when he had finish'd the work he shold be slain , and drag'd up and down the streets of naples ; yet he desir'd the peeple shold remember him , and they answer'd we will all die with thee . and so it happen'd , that having confirm'd the interests of the city upon saturday , and caus'd their priviledges , and the confirmation of them , to be subscrib'd and sworn unto by the viceroy , and all the councells , he was the third day after assassinated , and hal'd up and down the streets ; his head was thrown into a ditch , call'd the corn-ditch hard by the house of ardizzone , and his body cast into another ditch between the gates of nolana and capoana . the manifesto of the most faithfull peeple of naples . the most faithfull peeple of this city and kingdom of naples , saith , declares , makes knowne , and manifests to all peeple of what dignity , state , degree , or condition soever they be in christian religion , that this most faithfull peeple having profess'd , and professing still true fidelity to the catholic majesty of their king , and finding themselves laden with divers excessive burthens of heavy impositions and gabells , equalling almost the prizes of the commodities themselves , and there being no cessation of new ones ev'ry yeer by the ministers of the said catholic majesty , the greatest part whereof were impos'd by the voices of the nobility and gentry , and with violence of penall mandates and imprisonments : having also within these few yeers of war ( which his catholic majesty hath had ) leavied from them one hundred millions , whereby this most faithfull peeple was , and is reduc'd to such an extreme necessity , that the greater part of them were ready to famish , and the fathers , mothers , and husbands were constrained at very low rates to expose the most dear treasure of honesty , and chastity of living , by reason of those hard and violent exactions of the said gabells , for which , peeple of all sexes were cast into prisons , executed , and forc'd to pay under pain of excessive punishments , there being promis'd on the contrary to the nobility , and powerfull persons , an exemption from the said gabells and impositions ; whereby many of them became extremely rich , by renting and farming the said impositions ; the said nobles and royall ministers and officers being permitted further to offend the persons , and possesse the goods of the said peeple , insomuch that a company of poor and little children to whom these pressures were reveal'd , with weak canes and sticks did appeare before the most excellent the duke of arcos viceroy of this kingdom and city , upon the 7. day of july of this present yeer , 1647. for to have the peeple eas'd of the said onerous exactions , with whom this most faithfull peeple concurr'd with armes in hand for the defence of their priviledges , and were permitted without incurring any punishment to resist those that were the authors of these burthens and damages : and his excellency the viceroy having taken notice hereof , together with the collaterall and councell of state and war , was pleas'd to abolish the said gabells and impositions of this city and kingdom , and also in remuneration of the perfect and lively fidelity of this peeple , demonstrated so often by their acclamations , let the king of spain live , as also by their actions , affixing the effigies of their said king in all the principall places of the city , whereby their priviledges were confirm'd , and promis'd to be also confirm'd within the space of three moneths by his catholic majesty , giving leave in the interim to this faithfull peeple to keep their arms still afoot , and all this being solemnly sworn unto by publike stipulation in the great cathedrall church of naples , and in the presence of the most eminent her archbishop filomarino : and this being concluded , and agreed upon , it was treated by som of the royall ministers , and other male-contented persons , for their own privat and particular interests , to make it appeare that this was don against the will of this most faithfull peeple : and whereas when they wold have represented all this to his excellence the vice-roy in the royall palace , they were suddenly assaulted by musket shot and archibuzzes from the kings soldiers , thereupon they were constrained to take armes againe for the defence of this most faithful peeple the 21. of august last past , but alwaies with these cries , let the king of spain live , with other demonstrations of love and loyalty towards his majesty . whereupon his sayed excellency granted new graces and priviledges , remedying also those things , which were the causes of grievance to this most faithfull peeple , and so reduc'd again this city to peace and universall tranquillity , by the mediation of their most reverend archbishop aforesayed , who went up and down this city on horseback , assuring this most faithfull peeple of the sayed peace and quietnesse , another solemn oath ensuing thereupon from the sayed viceroy , within the church of santa barbara , which is in castlenuovo , the seventh of september , 1647. now expecting the confirmation of all the sayed graces and priviledges from his catholic majesty , on the first of september , the report being going abroad suddenly , though doubtfull at first , that his highnesse , don iohn of austria his majesties son was to arrive at this port , with a royall army , this peeple did run with an universall applause , thirsting to see so noble a personage , beeing of the blood of her most beloved king , and when from day to day they hoped to see him , it was represented unto them that he wold not dis-imbarque , if this most faithfull peeple wold not lay downe their armes , which was suddenly don , although according to their priviledges they might have refus'd to have don it ; insomuch that upon saturday in the morning the fifth of the same moneth , there appear'd not one armed person throughout the whole city , but there was an universall quietnesse ; and as they were greedy to see such a prince from whom they expected graces and favors , upon a sudden about mid-day this city was occupied by the royall soldiers by force of armes , entring into many monasteries and conservatories , violating virgins , and committing other exorbitant excesses ; and at the same time the city was assaulted , and battered with above 8000. cannon shot from the three castles on ev'ry side , and by above forty vessells and gallies for many days and nights continually , and since that time to this , whereby so gentle , and noble a city , the garden of europe , was like to be made even to the ground , with all her most noble edifices , churches , monasteries of both sexes , with other places of piety , and her inhabitants extinguish'd against all piety and religion ; but the blessed lord did not permit that such cruell and fierce acts of his catholic majesties ministers shold have the effect of their desires . wherefore this most faithfull peeple hath been constrained to have recourse to the naturall remedy for their own preservation , and having no hopes otherwise of quietnesse , or that the royall ministers wold perform what they promis'd so often ; 't was thought therefore necessary to fly first to the divine majesty , to the most glorious virgin his mother , and to the blessed san gennaro , and to all the other saints , who are protectors of this noble city and kingdom , supplicating and invoking them to assist her in her just defence , praying also with entire zeal the holinesse of christs vicar , the sacred colledge , and prelates of the church , the majesty of the emperor , of other kings and republiques , of princes , dukes , marquesses , counts , barons , with all other dignities and titles whatsoever , or degrees constitututed , and every faithfull christian , that as well by prayer , as all other means they can and shall know to be necessary , they wold please to affoord their help and fafavour , for the protection of this most faithfull peeple in their said defence , and besides the remuneration which they may expect from the goodnesse of god in an act of so much justice and piety , this most faithfull peeple shall be ever bound to do the like or greater curtesies unto them according to their power in all occurrences . in naples , septemb. 17. 1647. finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a42791-e300 * a ring . dendrologia dodona's grove, or, the vocall forrest. by i.h. esqr. howell, james, 1594?-1666. 1640 approx. 308 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 95 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-05 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a03752 stc 13872 estc s119170 99854377 99854377 19794 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a03752) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 19794) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 1276:8) dendrologia dodona's grove, or, the vocall forrest. by i.h. esqr. howell, james, 1594?-1666. merian, matthaeus, 1593-1650, engraver. [12], 32, 39-135, 166-219, [1] p., [2] leaves of plates : ill. (metal cut) printed] by: t[homas]: b[adger]: for h: mosley at the princes armes in st paules church-yard, [london : 1640. signed at end: iames howell. "a political allegory in prose dealing with events between 1603 and 1640"--dnb. first word of title in greek characters. printer's name from stc. running title reads: dodona's grove, or the vocall forrest. the engravings are signed by matthaeus merian. variant (possibly an early state): lacking a² . reproduction of the original in the university of minnesota. library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng great britain -politics and government -1603-1649 -early works to 1800. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-01 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-02 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2004-02 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion δενδρολογια . dodona's grove , or , the vocall forrest . by i. h. esqr. by t.b. for h. mosley at the princes armes in st paules church-yard . 1640 to the common reader . opinion , is that high and mighty dame , which rules the world , and in the minde doth frame distast or liking ; for in humane race , she makes the fancy various as the face . sometimes the father differ's from the sonne , as doth the gospell from the alcharon ! or loyola from calvin , which two brands , in strange combustions hurle faire europe's lands : so that amongst such atomes of mankinde , you scarce can two encounter of one minde . this makes my trees all aspen , 'cause they must lye ope to every winde , and vulgar gust : yet much they feare not any critickes knockes , vnlesse they chance to stumble 'mongst the blockes . — ex quovis stipite non fit mercurius . to the criticall reader . if satyres here you find , thinke it not strange , 't is proper satyres in the woods should range ; and for free speech , why may not verse or prose sit under trees as safely , as the rose ? yet here is nothing , though a grand inquest you should empannell , but may bide the test : for pettie iuries , let the reader know , composures of this kind stoupe not so low . to the rarely accomplishd , and vvorthy of best employment , master hovvel , upon his vocall forrest . beleeve it , sir , you happily have hit vpon a curious fancie , of such wit , that farre transcends the vulgar ; for each line , me thinks , breathes barclay , or a boccoline . i know you might ( none better ) make the vine , the olive , ivie , mulbery , and pine , with others , their owne dialects expose , but you have taught them all rich english prose . i end and envie , but must justly say , who makes trees speak so well , deserves the bay. henry vvotton . on the vocall forrest , to i. h. esq. come theophrastus , and resigne thy pen , thy trees are taught to speake , th' are growne to men : men were transformd to trees , and some are still meere blocks ; but mercurie now proves his skill , and charmes the grove ; the wagging leaves first mutter , at'he change , and streight state-language they doe utter . the pleasant arbour gently whispers this , trees have their keyes , as well as argenis . hedges have eares , the rurall proverb sayes , court-proverb tells , th 'ave toungs , and toungs of bayes . 't was iothans style , to wrap in toungs of trees , as sacred rolls report , state-mysteries . no poplar here , no medlar succour findeth , true-heart of oke , the loyall author mindeth ▪ spring stately grove , be thousand winters greene , and in thy rind be names of princes seene : though vulcan iron-marks , our forrests beare , nor axe , nor fire apollo's grove doth feare . t. p. s. t. d. dodona's grove . or , the vocall forrest . it fortun'd not long since , that trees did speake , and locally move , and meet one another ; their ayrie whistlings , and soft hollowe whispers became articulate sounds , mutually intelligible , as if to the soule of vegetation , the sensitive faculties and powers of the intellect also , had been co-infus'd into them : they traveld to strange countries , crossd seas , made peace and warre , alliances and leagues , assumed names and characters of distinction , and discharged all the functions of rationall creatures . in the sacred oracles wee read of one that discernd men to walke like trees , but here cleane contrary , you shall see trees walke like men . we read also there of a mighty monarck , that was meant by a tree ; and it is no new character of man , that , he is a tree revers'd . the great sicilian antiquary leaveth upon record , that in the nonage of the world , mens voyces were indistinct and confus'd ; and sojourning chiefly in vvoods , by a kind of assimilation and frequent impressions in the eare , they resembled those soft susurrations of the trees wherewith they conversd ; untill time , ( which ripeneth ) and art which perfecteth all things , & hath a greater interest in speech then nature her selfe , did distinguish these mishapen sounds into syllables , and so by degrees into language . at that time , when this parley of trees begun , i my selfe was but a little , little plant newly sprung up above ground ; and passing through the terrible birch to boetia , where i tooke in my best sap , and came by degrees to a consistent growth ( which was not very high , in so much that some thinke i was set in the wane of the moone ) i was transplanted from boetia to tamisond , and thence as my genius strongly led me , i often crossed the seas , and rangd up and down through most of the forrests of the lower world ; and as i passed along , i observed the motions , and studied the properties of sundry sorts of trees , as well forren , as home sprung , and of them i intend to relate some passages ; in the narration whereof i will endevour to goe between the bark and the tree , as neere as possibly i can with safety , to sift out , and set down the truth of things , for the prime vertue of story is verity . wherefore i hope to obtaine a candid construction of this rough hewen , ill timberd discourse , and that the reader will be pleased as he shall passe along through these woods , to affoord mee somtimes his second thoughts , and observe also the constant veine of impartiality , which runnes through the whole worke , which he shall find to be such , that it will infranchise his judgment everywhere : and such , i know will dispense with my errors and slips , for it is very hard but one passing through so many forrests as i intend , may meet with some stumbling blocks in his way . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . — sacra jovi quercus . a character of drvina . there is a goodly forrest , druina by name , anciently called the white forrest , wherein the royall oke rules in chiefe , and with such a latitude of power , that hee stretcheth forth his branches to the sea , and his boughes unto the great rivers . it was ordained by heaven , that she should be principally protected by neptune , who with a flying gard of brave winged coursers doth engarrison her so strongly , that , lying safe in his bosome , she may be said to be — media insuperabilis vnda . she being endowed with those two properties which that great register of natures secrets requires in an invincible country , viz. a secure and easie going out for the native , and a doubtfull hard comming in for the stranger ; which made the caerulean god so indulgent of his druina , and to repose in her such a rare confidence , that besides the clustre of diadems which begirt her high fronded fore-head by land , he transmitted to her long since his very trident , making her impresse , yea , empresse of the sea , and that in so high a degree of soveraignty , that in her owne waves , hee gave her an exclusive propriety ; in so much that the utmost extent of her desmenes royall , are adjudged , by some great clarkes , to bee the shoares of the neighbouring forrests . whereby she is growne so famous through all the inhabited earth , and formidable to the next adjacent regions , that maugre all their menaces , pretensions , and practises , she gives them the law upon salt water ; which makes her a terror to her foes , a shelter to her friends , and security to her neighbours ; but above all , she hath thereby a constant strength to defend her selfe : and selfe defence hath beene alwaies held the first maxime of policy . much more might be spoken in honour of druina , which i suspend , untill i have made you acquainted with some of her neighbouring forrests , because i am to make often transcursions into them as i passe along ; and first of her next opposite neighbour ampelona , where the majesticke vine doth monarchize in the highest degree of soveraignty . a character of ampelona . rode caper vitem ; tamen hic , cum stabis ad aras , in tua quod fundi cornua possit , erit . and now i am upon a peece of the continent and one of natures best peeces , one of her chiefest granaries and winecellars ; a square of 550. miles travers , take the diameter where you will , thronging with such multitudes of sappy and spritefull plants , that the generall calcule which was made in the last perambulation exceeded eight millions ; a rare soyle that in no larger a circumference , can give radicall moisture to such a number without borrowing of any ; corne , wine , and salt , her three rich staples doe so abound in her , that shee seasoneth , and keepes from starving very many of her neighbours , but specially the forrest of the south , which otherwise would perish for the staffe of life . there is no region on earth so daintily watered , with such great navigable rivers , whereof some are said to bee pav'd with troutes , borderd with crevices , and imbroderd with swannes ; and upon these multitudes of brave cities stand , and all her great ones stand so ; but amongst them the midland townes are most flourishing and abounding in wealth , which shewes that her riches are interne and domesticke ; for as it is the marke of a good housewife to be more vendax , then emax , rather a seller then buyer , so is it of a good countrey ; and such a one is ampelona , which sends forth far more , then she fetcheth in . the war-like vine swayeth here in the most absolute forme of supremacy that may bee , for hee not onely makes peace and warre , summons and dissolves generall meetings , pardoneth , naturallizeth , ennobleth , stamps , and layeth value upon coynes , but also enacts lawes , executes justice , and layeth impositions at pleasure ; and he may thanke druina for this boundlesse power , for when she by the strength of her horned yew had feld downe a great number of the strongest trees that were in ampelona , and made such firme invasions into her very bowels , that there could be no universall assembly , the necessity of the times cast the power of the three estates upon the vine himselfe , that his mandats should stand for lawes , whereby he layd what taxes , and made what leavies he pleased ; his successors made vertue of this necessity , which though temporary at first , continueth ever since ; for soveraignty where she gets an inch , stickes not sometimes to stretch it to an ell . but that which made it more passable was , that the burden lighted chiefely upon the poore coppices and vnderwoods ; so that ever since , the vine himselfe with the taller sorts of trees , specially the holy yews ( who ingrosse more than all the rest , and are thought by computation to have the third part of the forrest , ) sucke all the sappe , and leave the poore shrubs to dry up , fade away , and wither ; and when they have got any moysture , they serve but as spunges for others : out of which disproportion ariseth this inconvenience , that they become pusillanimous , and almost uselesse for military services , being so often peeld , that they never come to be perfect and firme timber . it is alwaies a mixd government twixt peace and warre , which finds perpetuall employment for many of her stirring spirits , having the advantage thereby to bee furnished upon all occasions with experienc'd martiall instruments ; for ampelona having open frontires contiguous every where with some alien , she cannot joyne peace and security together , nor fetch a sound sleepe , but hercules-like with clubbe in hand . she is the greatest one knot of strength in the western world , and for the situation fittest to disjoyne or unite her neighbours forces , and consequently to be arbitratrix and compoundresse of any quarrell that may intervene : and never , since she woare the imperiall diademe , was ampelona so potent , nor then , so well knit and compacted as now she is ; so that it is held a maxime , if ampelona combat not her selfe , she is invincible ; and this shee hath too often done , turning the sword of civill broyles into her own bowels , so farre that the bell hath often told , but never yet rung quite out for her liberty , which was thought not long since to be upon point of expiring ; and no wonder , sheabounds so with quicke sets and wildings , and a world of boyling volatil spirits , impatient of peace any longer then they are recovering the ruines of warre ; present danger magnanimats them , and inflames their courage , but expectation makes it languish ; so that the forrest of the south ( which is ever emulous of ampelona ) compareth their valour to a squib , or fier of flaxe , which burnes and crackles for the time , but suddenly extinguisheth ; indeed fury when the first blast is spent turnes commonly to feare , and they that are possessed therewith may be said to be like the moneth of march , which entreth like a lion , but goeth out like a lamb. ampelona is one of the chiefest climes of complement and courtship under heaven , which puts so large a distance twixt the tongue and the heart , that they are seldome relatists . most of her plants have the heliotropian quality of the marigold and tulip , who follow the motion of the sunne opening and shutting with him ; the fancy predominates more than the judgement , but they in whom both these concurre are admirable , as there is amongst them at present a notable example , which serves for a mighty proppe to the vine , and 't is well knowne no tree needs props more . for friendship , love commonly flames there , before it burnes , and so cannot be long lasting , for though first affection maketh deepest impression , yet that love is held most permanent , which dives into the soule by soft degrees of mutuall society , and is matur'd by time ; very acute they are , and cautelous in treating , & therin have prov'd ( more than once ) too hard , for plain down right dealing druina ; finally some say , one shall best discerne an ampelonian , and most to his advantage , if one looke upon him , as we use to doe upon scarlet ( his prime colour ) the dye whereof is better discernd by quicke glances , and a passing eye , then by a fixd . i write not this to derogat from noble ampelona , for i honour her in a most high degree , having practically found her better sort of trees though allowed their fancies , ( and that they participate somewhat with the corke , and are subject to be shaken with incertaine winds ) to be the most generous , daring and ventrous spirits , and fullest of resolution and mettall for their country and honour , of any upon the surface of the earth , and what was said before must be understood , as the philosophers use to restraine many propositions in their schooles , non de singulis generum , sed de generibus singulorum : no where are there more quicke inventive and penetrating capacities , fraught with all kind of scientifiall knowledge ; not any are more generally imitated for fashion , comportment and garb , which many of her neighbours doe follow to a forc'd kind of affectation , thinking they are not refin'd till then ; not any have more of the cavalier then they , the levant parts ring more of them , and their martiall atchievements then of any other nation . but i have sojourn'd too long in ampelona , i will now crosse the hils to elaiana , whence if a meridian wind bloweth , i am sure to know when i am neere her , by those sweet fragrant odours she casts from her very shrubbes , for the bruite animals there make themselves beds of rose-mary and thyme . but strange it is , and indeed very strange to me , that there being but a hill , yea a small bridge of partition twixt ampelona , and elaiana , there should bee such an antipatheticall and quite differing genius in their plants ; i know , nature delights , and triumphs in dissimilitudes , but here she seemes to have industriously studied it : the nature of the one is debonnaire and aco'stable ; of the other retird and supercilious : the one quicke and spritefull ; the other slow and saturnine ; the one bushy and tufted on the top ; the other lop'd short : the one delights in a close thicke rind ; the other goes thin and scarified ; the one gay underneath , the other without , which makes some of them to bee compared to the cinnamon tree , whose rind is more worth than the body ; the one takes the ball before the bound ; the other stayeth for it , and commonly fetcheth a surer stroake ; the one in the cariage of his designes is like the wind , the other like the sunne in the fable , when they went to try their strength upon a passengers cloake the one knowes how to shuffle the cards better ; the other playeth his game more cunningly ; the one disgests all he swallowes ; the other is subject to cast it up againe ; the one contracts and enchaines his words speaking pressingly and short ; the other delights in long breathd accents , which he prolates with such pauses , that before he be at a period of his sentence , one may reach a second thought . in fine saturne swayeth o're the one , and mercury o're the other , with whom the moone also hath a great stroake , so that some thinke the bush which the man in the moone carrieth on his backe , did grow first in ampelona , and that the wheele of fortune was made of a peece of her timber ; out of these various premisses you may inferre that there is a politicall , morall and naturall opposition and difference twixt these so neere neighbours ; both in their comportment , garb , fancy and humour , so farre , that one may say , what the one is not , the other is ▪ insomuch that if you would fetch one from the remotest parts the sunne displayes his beames upon , yea from the very antipodes ; he will agree with either , better then they one with another ; yet they both symbolize in this , that they love to look upon themselves through multiplying glasses , and the bigger end of the prospectife . but i must hasten to elaiana . a character of elaiana . and now i am come from gods blessing to the warme sun , who is a little too prodigall of his beames here , which makes the soyle lesse fruitfull , and to be a kind of wildernesse in comparison of ampelona , being like a libbards skinne , here a spot , and there a spot inhabited ; she swels so every where with huge hils ; and some would make a question whether the minds of the inhabitants or her mountaines be highest ; the tops whereof by reason of the tenuity and clearenesse of aire , ( for sometimes you shall not see in the whole hemisphere from morning to night as much cloud as would line a monmoth cappe ) you may discerne above two hundred miles off , and some of them periwigd with snowes all the yeare long , and on some , one shall find more difference in point of temper of ayre , twixt bottome and top , then twixt sommer and winter in other places ; but where elaiana hath valleys , there she is deliciously fertile , such blessings humility carieth alwaies with her ; her rivers having for the most part high bankes , and shallow bottomes , serve not for navigation , but are wheeld up into small cataracts , and so divided into sluces , to humectat the bordering soyle , and make it wonderfully productive : a cheap country to travell in , for one will hardly find meat for money , ( but sawce good store ) the conveyance of provision being so difficult , yet this scarcity carieth with it a notable advantage for military uses , wherewith nature seemes to recompence her , for her plants are the tougher thereby , and can endure more then they that sprout forth of wanton soft soyles ; moreover her abruptnesse , barrenes and heat , carry with them another mighty benefit , for she cannot be so easily overrunne by forren force , in regard that besides the difficulty of passage , an army would either starve for want , or miscarry , for the unusuall heat of the clime , which i beleeve was the reason , that the roman eagles could hardly fly over her in nine score yeares , whereas they flew through and through ampelona in lesse then nine . for the quality every thing she beares is passing good , only she failes in the quantity , and did she abound in plenty , as she excels in perfection of all things ( by reason of the full concoction the sunne makes ) specially had she corne proportionable to her greatnesse , she would prove terrible to all her neighbours . the mighty olive who now swayeth , thrives well , and fructifieth by ingrafting upon the lovely ampelonian vine . hee keepes his court neere the very centre of elaiana , like the sunne in the heavens , which being in the midst , equally communicats his beames to all . and a spacious kingdome is like a great indian hide , plant your foot on one side or corner , the other will bound up against you , tread on the middle , all parts will lye flat ; so some hold it a maxime in policy , for the prince to reside in the very navill of his kingdome , to encounter all insurrections with the more celerity , that may arise in any other part . but now me thinkes i spie a satyre with a huge bushy head rushing out of ampelona , and breaking out into this criticall discourse of elaiana ; that the time was when elaiana did containe and content her selfe within the circumference of her own boundaries , without any further encroachments , but of late yeares she hath shot up , and spread her branches farre and neare into all parts of the habitable earth , whereby shee is growne up to so monstrous and giant-like a proportion , that she is become formidable to all her neighbours , in such sort , as she puts every one to stand upon his gard , and have a continuall larum-bell in his eares ; they stand gazing at her vast bulke , and wonder when she will leave growing ; for in her politicall designes she differs from all her neighbours , in regard that whereas they do only labour and cast about how to conserve and secure what they have already , and keep the scales even , her counsels tend still to enlarge and augment her territories . the discovery of columbina , i confesse , together with the conquest , was a worke of hers ; yet it is observ'd those vast treasures she transports thence thrive little , in regard of the ocean of humane , though savage blond , she spilt there ; so that some affirme the bloud would overpoise all the gold shee had ever thence , if they were counter-balanc'd ; and as that treasure was first got by such effusions of bloud , so the greatest part of it , hath beene spent ever since in bloud , for most of the broyles of the westerne world have beene fed and fomented by it . but that immense tract of earth she holds under that clime , is preserv'd rather by the conceipt and report of her greatnesse , then by any intrinsicke strength : yet i cannot deny but her dominions are very spacious , that the sun never forsakes her quite , perpetually shining in some part or other above her hemisphere : a grandeza , i confesse , that none of all the foure monarchies could vaunt of , no not the roman , whose greatnesse was said to have no horison , though falsly , for he could never crosse ganges , or clime over caucasus , insomuch that elaiana glorieth , apollo only with his chariot can measure the extent of her territories : and they speake of certaine ambassadours that came not long since to the now regnant olive from a pagan emperour , upon whose credentiall letters was endors'd this superscription ; to the king who hath the sunne for his helmet . publike fame hath long given out that elaiana aimeth at the fift monarchy , but that is a fond conceipt of hers and building of castles in the ayre ; for she hath beene told long since by the oracle , that she shall never attaine it , because all other soyles reject her plants , and fly from under their shadow as the serpent from the ash , who will leap sooner into a fire : in so much that from those places to which she gives protection , she seldome hath any affection ; for the elaianians are observed to partake of the nature of oile in divers qualities , therefore most properly are they governd by the olive . first , oyle is observed to swimme still on the top , and the reason the naturalists give , is , because aire doth most predominat in it , so are they lifted up with an ayrie conceipt ( for ambition is nought but ayre ) that they are only design'd to be lords paramount of the world . oyle will hardly or never ( unlesse it be well beaten ) mingle and incorporat with any other liquid thing : so they , wheresoever they come , doe very hardly agree , and sympathize with any other nation . oyle hath a dilating quality , that by soft insensible degrees it spreads and still gaines upon the body where it fals , so they by politicke close wayes use to eat into , and incroach upon their neighbours , or more properly for this subject they are like the tartarian plant boraneth , which growing up to the visible forme of a lambe , insensibly eates up all the grasse round about it . lastly , oyle is slow , smooth and solid , so are they observed to be in their motion , though it be a question yet unresolved , whether their affected gravity and slownes in their negotiations have tended more to their prejudice or advantage : and they would bring all others , that have to doe with them , to follow their pace , it being one of their maximes , that policy must move after the motion of saturne , the highest of the planets : yet although they are long in consulting , they are quicke and sudden in executing their designes , and therein are rather of the nature of the mulberry , which the arbolists observe , to be long in begetting and keeping his buds , but the cold seasons being pass'd , hee shootes them all out in a night . another obstacle to elaiana's , pretended monarchy may be , that it is observ'd , the soveraigne ministers she employeth abroad in the highest kind of trust , are so intentive for the improvement of their owne fortunes , that it is growne to a proverbe , some of them gnaw , others eate , and some devoure in those places , wherein they are deputed to beare soveraigne sway ; adde hereunto that her forme of government is none of the pleasingst , for shee chooseth to rule rather by feare than love , and where shee gets any love , it is drawne as threed through a needles eye , out of the apprehensions of feare , it being one of her principles , that obedience derived from such a love is surest , in reward that feare as the carefullest and greatest house-wife of our passions , swayeth more powerfully o're all the rest , and keeps them still in centinell , and so makes good subjects , as it did gods at first , primus in orbe deos fecit timor — besides all this , as one hath lately observed , elaiana hath beene a good while troubled with a fastidious issue , which she caused to be made at first for a dizzines in the head that proceeded no doubt from that huge height she is mounted unto ; it was cauterizd at first by itelia , who fetch'd her iron from druina and ampelona ; at the beginning it purg'd only the grosse humours , but afterwards it exhausted her very radicall moysture , ( which she suckd chiefly from columbina , ) and her naturall heat ( the two columnes of life ) began to decay . she was often with apollo to have this issue stop'd , but there after a long debate , she was positively advis'd , by the unanimous vote of the most exquisit doctors assembled of purpose to know the nature of her disease , for to continue the issue still open , for if she stop'd it , she was like to fall into a worse malady , viz. a dangerous dropsie , whereof there appear'd in her some symptomes , by the unquenchable thirst shee hath of domination and rule . moreover it is lately given out that she intends a speedy pilgrimage to delphus , for a cordial against the weaknesse of her stomacke , in regard the concocting heat seems to be somwhat impair'd ; for whereas before she never used to disgorge , what she had once swallowed , she hath lately cast up some good bits , yea the most precious and sweetest she had , when she cast up the last , all her saints were a while taken away from her , so that she had not one left to pray unto ; whereby it appeares though her appetite be as good as ever it was to like all she seeth , yet the retentive vertue of her stomacke is not so strong as formerly . lastly , the regions o're which the broad spreading olive signorizeth , are squared up and downe , and dispers'd by such an unsociable distance ( which makes him receive baffles sometimes from petty companions ) that except elaiana her selfe , and not all she neither , but that part which gives the castle for its crest , together with columbina , and some trienniall donatives she hath from hipparcha , the in-come doth no where countervaile the charge of garrisons and governors . yet i must confesse , the two benefits that accrue to him by this diversity of territories are very considerable , first the opportunity to propagat piety ; secondly , to have choice of imployments for his subjects , and meanes thereby to breed up wise , undertaking and heroicke spirits ; for great commands elevate the minde to great thoughts , which being conversant with weighty , and high passages , the soule is inlargd thereby ; whereas inferiour states by their pettie employments and slender rewards impoverish and abase the fancy , rendring it too narrow for high undertakings . countries of conquest cannot bee conserv'd without continuall expence , nor their service usd with like assurance , specially by elaiana , which can relye no where upon meere love and fiduciary obedience , unlesse it be at her owne home , where i cannot deny but she is exemplarily loyall to her selfe in a high exact obedience . touching other places she may be said to hold them , as one should do a wolfe by the eares ; nor will i speake now of the crazines of her title to many of them : so , that she is never in perfect tranquillity abroad ; and she esteemes her selfe to be in a manner in perfect peace , if shee hath onely to doe with that huge bramble of alclarona ; so that it may be hence infer'd , that the olive is of late yeares much degenerated from his primitive nature , for whereas he was used to be the embleme of peace , he now ruffleth in a continuall course of armes ; and this is the reason i beleeve , that the branch of olive , which at the beginning was the ancient cognisance of elaiana , is turn'd of late yeares to the ragged staffe . the ampelonian satyre , having thus disgorg'd his stomacke suddenly ranne in , and re-imboschd himselfe . for my owne particular , let ampelona tattle what she will against elaiana , i professe to honour her for sundry reasons , i very much honour her for the solidnesse and secrecy of her counsels ; for her loyalty to her prince , her patience and admirable phlegme , her painfull and long moulded consultations ( proles tardè erescentis olivae ) her deepe prudence and circumspection , and indeed the olive being sacred to pallas is an embleme of prudence as well as of peace ; she deserves honour for her constancy , though with infinite expence and numberlesse inconveniences , for the recovery of her own ; and without doubt it was a singular blessing from heaven , that the discovery of columbina , with the conquest thereof was reserv'd for her ; i respect her for her perpetuall professed feud against the common enemy , that her plants never rove abroad to beare armes for any strange prince , whereas others receive pay , and serve under the banners of infidels , and oftentimes against their owne naturall princes ; and as for warres , so for wares they goe not abroad any where to trafficke but into the dominions of their owne prince , which makes the olive to have no small advantage of his neighbours upon any sudden breach . amongst other places where the martiall olive shoots forth his imperious boughs , leoncia is one , and thither i am bound next , but the worst is , that i must passe through the very heart of ampelona ; a mighty incommodity . for she being in perpetuall diffidence , or actuall enmity with her , but alwaies emulous and suspectfull of her , i am afraid to be stop'd or searchd , if not strip'd in the way ; and if i passe by sea , i may chance fall from the trying pan into the fire , i meane into the hands of the italians , who of all other are most skilfull in rummaging and pillaging ; besides i use to have a squeazie stomacke on salt water , for i doe nothing but tell what tree the shippe is made of . a character of leoncia . — noli irritare leonem . and now have i gaind leoncia the cockpit of the westerne world , and academy of armes for many yeares . the moderne ( though meanest ) kind of militia is here altogether in practise , which consists in blockments and batteries , not pitch'd fields . never was there such a small circumference of ground , so turnd up , and unboweled by the pioner , so watred with bloud , and calcin'd as it were by the flames and fury of warre : which hath made it a fatall peece of inheritance to elaiana , who hath tuggd here so long for her title , with such a vast profusion of treasure and effusion of bloud , that if she had not bin draind this way , she might have tiled her palaces with occidentall gold and silver , and by this time happily have made her selfe mistris of timaurania her next transmarin neighbour , and regaind the mount of olives and achiev'd other high feates against alcharona : the vast expences she hath beene at , to reduce leoncia to her old obedience , and entire subjection , exceed the value of the thing it selfe forty times over at least , if all leoncia were to be sold in the market by out-cry ; and questionlesse envie her selfe must needs acknowledge this so costly a constancy in elaiana never to abandon her owne , to bee a brave magnanimous vertue . leoncia hath many groves of different plantations , but in the stemme of elaiana they all met as lines in one center , and came to be ingrafted all upon one stocke , some by conquest , others by donation , and cession , but most of them by inoculations ; there was a designe more than once to reduce them all to a kingdome ; but the multiplicity of customes , and miscellany of municipall rights , that sundry places clayme by inheritance , were not compatible with a monarchy : and the invading of this freedome of customes with that of the conscience , was the first fatall cause of leoncias revolt from her alleageance to elaiana . the royall olive was solemnly sworne at his inauguration to observe these things inviolable ; then to come to visit her once every seventh yeare , himselfe ; as also to ridde her quite of all forren force , and to performe other obligatory conditions ; but hee being once gone , and being dispensed withall for his septenniall visit by a holy instrument from petropolis , he resolvd to governe them by subalterne ministers , who it seemes scrud up the pinnes of power too high , they layed on new taxes , fell'd down some of the ancientst tall trees ( as the roman did the heads of the poppies ) so that they might bee compard to the axe in the fable , who having got a handle of the woods with much entreaty , fell afterwards to cut downe and destroy them at pleasure : a counsell of bloud was erected , and a harder yoake layed upon the conscience in holy rites . one reason the olive gave , was , that leoncia her selfe began to infringe her old priviledges by introducing new formes into divine service , and abolishing the old , in which by vertue of his primitive oath he was indispensably sworne to continue them ; and thus the argument was retorted . druina and ampelona intervend to compose these differences , but they had a short answer of the olive , that hee needed not the helpe of any , to reduce his own subjects to conformity , but the oddes that were , he would referre to the cedar his cozen , who as it seemes proving no indifferent arbiter , leoncia sheltred her selfe ( though druina had the first tender made her both of protection and soveraignty ) under the branches of the royall vine , who sending the very next of his owne stemme to governe her , he attempted , by the praecipitat counsell of some greene springals about him , to ravish her , and render himselfe absolute . but hee had a foule repulse ; yet she profferd againe her protection to the vine , who having a most pernicious fire kindled ( as it was thought after by the factors of elaiana ) within the very bowels of his owne forrest , hee had worke enough cut him out to extinguish that . hereupon shee made her humble recours to drvina , who as well for her owne securitie ( as the state of things then stood ) as movd with much princely compassion to succour the afflicted , gave her shelter . in so much that ever since druina hath servd her as a backe of steele , and her forces have beene the very sinewes of her strength against the stroakes of the ragged staffe , and the iron rodde of elaiana ; who in those groves shee reserves yet under her protection and obedience , continueth to cut and loppe her to close , that one shall heare up and down a repining rather against the harshnesse of government , then a desire of revenge against the enemy . a character of itelia . — et jam nos inter opacas musa vocat salices . amongst others which did emancipat themselves from their obedience to elaiana , itelia was the chiefe , who by creating her grove of willowes to a republicke , and drawing after her five and more of the neighbouring groves into one body politicke , in lieu of the olive , tooke the orenge to governe her , yet farre from the degree of soveraigne power , but rather to serve her in a high martiall way : and to beare up against the orenge , the olive did luckily light upon a notable ligurian thorne who made the willowes to feele his prickles in many places , and twixt the orenge and thorne sundry brave encounters , and cunning traverses of warre happened . by these meanes itelia brought one of her fisher townes to bee the prime mart of all leoncia , and to a stupendious height of commerce and riches , and other strange feates she hath done since , to the astonishment and admiration of all that know her . and it seemes all things conspird to raise itelia to this passe ; first , the distance of her great master ; the humor of her plants being of a nature patient and industrious and more inclinable to a democraticall government ; adde hereunto the quality of the country every where indented with water , and therby fortifi'd , and made inaccessible , nature her selfe undertaking that way her protection , so that she can overwhelme and turn her selfe into one pond when she list . hereunto concurd a further advantage of situation , having behind her elatena , and her great king the fir , for her friend , and those places which affoord all kind of materials for shipping , and for all kind of nutriment and military supplies hard before her druina and ampelona , both swarming with superfluous graffes , and suspectfull of elaiana's greatnesse , and thereby not unwilling to contribute strength for community of danger , and consequently of reciprocall conservation , which must needs be the strongest tie of politicall love . but now mee thinkes i spie againe a sunne burnt wainscot fac'd satyre rush out of elaiana , swelling with spleene and revenge and bursting out into these vociferations ; that itelia is the nearest neighbour to hell of any place upon earth , because seated lowest , and so is thought to conferre sometimes with infernall spirits : that she is a double vsurpresse , in detaining not only elaiana from her right , but the very fish of the sea also from their habitation ; that she lives upon others idlenesse ; that her state is patch'd up of depredations ; that she is the rendevous of all schismatickes ; that if one wanted a religion , he might have his choice there ; that god and nature never intended her for a mansion to rationall creatures , she being destitut of the most necessary things that conduce to maintaine them ; that she burnes up her earth before the day of judgment ; that whereas her willowes were usd to bee of a pliable and humble nature , they are degenerated lately to trees of a tougher bulke , yea into stubborne poplars ; so that if occasion were offered , the oke and the vine would find it a harder taske to suppresse them , then ever they had to raise them ; that in her negotiations with druina and ampelona shee hath turnd entreating to treating : that she hath beene the incendiary directly or collaterally of all the combustions that have happened this side the line , ever since her revolt from the olive ; that she is a forge of false coynes , whereby she hath damnified elaiana as much as any other way , by importing counterfait stampes : that shee hath rare inventions to export gold and silver , to raise or depresse their rates , and abase the allay ; that she hath reaches beyond ievve , or genoway in new wayes of vsury , in bankes , lotteries , and lombards , in bargaining and bartering , for shee will make the fox tayle pay for the whole skinne ; that she marr's her neighbours markets abroad , underselling them in their owne commodities ; that shee is growne extraordinary witty in devising new tortures , by fire and water , as she made tryall lately upon the druinians in baymona : in fine that she is a nest of water ratts , a mount of pismires , the caterpillar cankar and cobwebbs that infects the olive and hinders his further growth , the verminet that corrodes his mines . thus the elaianian satyr did rave , and rend the very ayre with his loud clamors , but in regard they are but the fruits of adusted choler , and the evaporations of a vindicative spirit , itelia needs not much care for them , besides she must give loosers leave to speak . for my own particular , i professe to respect and love itelia for divers regards , yea , i admire the itelians for their industry and inventions at shore & sea , where they swim like elephants , whiles other wade like sheep , and indeed they are the only doers of miracles in these moderne times , for they force an habitation with infinite expence and paines out of the very jawes of neptune , by checking his impetuous billowes , and teaching the world , how much art , can curbe and controule nature . i love them for their cleanlinesse , in their food , fabrickes , and shipping ; for their singular parfimony , for their perseverance , and indefatigable pursute of their designes at home and abroad , for that rare unitie and unanimous zeale they have to the common good , which is such that so many differing groves seeme to be but one tree girt about with the cincture of concord . i wonder at them for their prudent and equall distribution of wealth , not one amongst them being excessive rich or excessive poore , nor upon any part of the earth fewer beggars , it being as rare to see one there , as it had been to have met with a poet in platoes common-wealth . i honour them for their exactnesse in military discipline , for no where is the marching souldier more regular , i commend them for their plain downe-right dealing , and punctuality in payment of cambios , contracts and the souldiers salary , and herein give me the service of a common-wealth , rather than a kingdome ; and lastly , i must love them in regard they are the surest confederates of druina , for i know not , where else she can picke out a fast friend , or reposefull confident of such reciprocall interest , and whose politicke ends are so concentricke ; a friend that will shine with her in the darke , if need be , as old willowes use to doe : that she helpes away druina with many of her superfluous graffs , and breeds her military instruments , and touching the mutuall dependency of conservation betweene them , that embleme of the two pitchers swimming together representing druina and itelia with this motto , si concutimur , frangimur , carieth with it a great deale of truth . i respect her that she stucke close to druina in two great actions ; one of defence , the other of offence against elaiana ; and could elaiana have brought her intentions home to her aym , as to have rangd all leoncia to an entire obedience , and so have made her her chiefe rendevous , and magazin of instruments of warre , and academy of armes , what just danger and perpetuall concussions of feare , she would have struck into druina and ampelona also , one of a meane capacity and foresight may easily judge . and now that itelia is come to so convenient and settled subsistence , it were no unwholesome advise that she would take for her motto , — nil ultra , hic terminus esto . a true maxime it is , and ever hath beene , that , that state which goeth out of the lists of mediocrity , passeth also the limits of safety : there is a cloud of examples to this purpose : while sparta kept her selfe within those boundaries that lycurgus prescrib'd unto her , she was both safe and flourishing ; but attempting to enlarge her territories by new acquests of other cities in greece and asia , shee went every day declining : but what need i rake the ashes of antiquity for instances so farre off ? let adriana her sure friend and confederat forewarne her , who no longer then one age agoe , thinking by offensive undertakings upon her neighbours to spread her wings wider , was like to mewe all her feathers . therefore itelia should doe well , to stand now chiefly upon the defensive , specially neere home , for it is no lesse prudence , to preserve then purchase , and if she thinks to grapple more , i feare it will weaken her hold , and must needs prejudice some places which now flourish with commerce under her , that have risen out of the ruines of these she goeth about to fasten upon on further , and besides ( which is not the least thing to be thought upon ) it will breed scruples and ombrages of doubts in her confederats , and draw on her selfe more envie then she is aware of . it is not improper that the itelian is compard to the ant for his sedulity and labour ; and let him still continue an ant , for if he thinke to turne to a fly elaiana will tell him she hath a proverb , that god ●ives winges to the ant , that she may destroy her selfe the sooner . the truth is , that itelia is growne up , by an extraordinary industry , to a mighty height and subsistence of wealth , and navigable power : and the world is now at that passe , that he who is lord of the sea , is also of the shore ; nor i dare avouch , did the roman republicke though as well swadled in her infancy , as any that ever was , come neere her in so short a time , and some observe that in her proceedings she drawes to a neare analogie with the r●man , whose two most advantagious vertues in casting the foundation of that vast monarchy , was paines , and parsimony ; for the first , she is admirable , specially at sea , where she swimmes like the great leviathan , and carrieth away druina's fish by whole fleets , turning them abroad into present treasure , or bartering them for rich commodities ; and this may be said to be one of the maine staples of her commerce . it is trafficke that gives her a being , in the mystery whereof she over-reacheth all others , for navigation being her only trade , and having little or no lands at all to manure , she digges into the bowels of the deep , and having had in times pass'd but a few fisher boates , she now displayeth her colours through all parts of the vast ocean , where any of the windes blow , which from the number of foure shee first brought to a subdivision of two and thirty , and of these foure worthies which compassed the terrestriall globe one was hers , two of the other of druina . and it seemes nature her selfe hath purposely design'd her natives and the country it selfe for navigation and negotiation ; them , as i said before by a dextrous kind of propensity , the country , by apt position ; for many mighty rivers passing through her territories to disimboke themselves into the ocean , they may bee said to pay her tribute as well as to neptune ; which rivers branching themselves into large and bearing streames , doe so fitly serve one another , and all the whole , that it seemes dame nature , in framing humane bodies did not discover more providence in the distribution of veines and arteries for the easie conveyance of bloud into each part , as she hath shewd here in dispersing , and disposing of those waters so orderly for trafficke : these rivers bring her what the large continent of rhenusium , and other easterne dominions use to affoord , and she lying betweene them and the sea , furnisheth them with all sorts of far fetchd forren commodities ; thus she makes a rare vertue of necessity , for having almost nothing of her owne , yet she abounds with all things . furthermore it is observed that war , which useth to impoverish others , enricheth her , for navall prizes make up a good part of her wealth ; but while want and war makes her thus trot up and downe , it is questiond , if her plants were rooted in some selfe sufficient soyle , whether they would still continue so industrious ; or whether they would subsist as well if they were suffered to rest in a supine and perfect peace , as they have done hitherto in war ; peace leaving every one to attend his particular pleasure or profit , while the apprehensions of feare in time of warre make all concur for the common safety : and the long familiar habitude , they have had of armes is such , that they have as much certaintie in their art of war , as others have in theirs of peace . touching these doubts i will not undertake their decision , but leave it to them , who have felt the pulse of their dispositions longer then i. there is no part of the habitable earth , considering the small circuit of territory leoncia hath , where there is a greater number of martiall instruments , for the olive cut his ragged staffe out of one of these groves , at first , where there is also a greater confluence of all sorts of exoticke plants , and where one may find more differing rites , customes and tempers of humors . they that border upon ampelona are quicke , vivacious and approaching the conversable nature of their neighbours : they that spring up in the middle part , which are the right l●oncians , somewhat more flow , and retird . the itelians discrepant from both , respectlesse of gentry , of few words , for they barrell up commonly more then they can broach , and so may be said to be like a great bottle with a narrow necke ; yet are they most cunning and circumspect in negotiating , specially when they have bin tampering with the vine or the hop , and are dabbled a little with their liquor . they are of a homely out side , and heavie in action , which heavinesse is recompenced with two notable advantages , advisednesse and perseverance , mighty friends to great attempts ; and all this may be imputed to the property of the soyle it selfe , which being all twixt marsh and moorish , hath such a qualifying force , that when plants of a more vivacious temper come to ingraft amongst the willowes and osiers , their imps presently partake rather of the nature of the soyle , then the stocke , and so doe all animals else . having thus travers'd the diameter of ampelona , visited elaiana , pass'd through leoncia , and taken such a painefull survay of itelia , and her associated groves , i should seeme injurious to druina to have saluted her so slightly ; therefore i will re-imbarke and steere my course thither againe , and then proceed in my maine designe . of drvina . aand now me thinkes i am arrived in a little new world , so selfe sufficient that she seemes as it were to thrust away from her all the world besides , as being a substantive that can stand by it selfe . this is shee upon whom the beames of true piety did shine in the very infancy , for no sooner had the roman eagles beene there displaid , but the standard of the crosse appeard : the first emperour and king that ever marchd under that banner issuing out of her bowels . this is she , who had three great kings her captives at once , who made one of herroyall okes carry away in triumph ampelonas lillies upon his victorious branches where they have growne and blossomd ever since . the imperiall cedar servd under her colours , quartering his armes with hers , and receiving pay himselfe ; and in that martiall forrest of ampelona , her exploits were so admirable , that it hath beene questiond , and that by no meane critickes , whether her 's there , or sometimes rome's high feates of armes against the hannibalian carthage were more difficult and glorious . this is shee that performd such costly expeditions and martiall pilgrimages to the upper world , and in her voyage thither ( as a revenge for inhospitality ) conquerd the citherean isle , and for her exemplary prowes was offered the crowne of the holiest of citties , and more then once the imperiall diademe of the westerne world ; her monarques living in that sublimity and largenesse of repute , that they were taken to bee the common arbiters of soveraigne quarrells up and downe the world . in fine , this is she who of late yeares raysd the willowes to such a height from a company of shrubbs , by preserving them from being crushed by the ragged staffe of that broad spreading olive elaianas king , whom she exhausted and reduced to such an exigent , that by publique declaration he proclaimd himselfe insolvent of those vast summes hee had taken upon credit ; whereby it was then sayd , hee made more ill faces up and downe amongst the banquiers on the exchanges , then ever that famous painter michael angelo made good . this is she who cloathes not onely her owne natives and circumiacent neighbours , but the remotest regions of the earth with her rich fleeces , where the innocent creatures that beare them in that exuberancy , being free from the affrightments of all savage and rapacious animalls , feed securely upon the luxurious honysuckled earth , which dame nature , by a most exact distribution ( as if she had wantoniz'd and plaied the bawd with her selfe ) hath cut out into varieties of sportfull plaines , fertile valleyes , and delightfull hills , whose bowells in sundry places are pregnant either with inexhaustible veines of most usefull , and well concocted mineralls , or necessary fuell : no region abounds more with chases , parkes , woods , groves , and goodly trees , and of all other , druina is beholden to trees , for with their boughs a good part of her preserved it selfe from the enemy by a notable stratageme : her lower region swarmes with all sorts of fowle , her rivers with fish , and her seas with whole shoales and mountaines of them , which her neighbours know too well . this is she which for the benignity of the clime is called the female paradise , and not without good iudgement did that great archflamin give her youth the attribute of angels , shee produceth such pure complexions . and the heavenly ( bodies it seemes ) worke not here outwardly onely , but they have an interne inclinatory operation upon the motions of the mind also in a different manner from others , for her natives are not so light and airie , as her next transmarin neighbours , nor so affectedly grave and slow as others , nor so dull and heavy as those of that soyle , whence they were first transplanted , but of a middle composed temper , symbolizing nearest with them of bombycina ; and it is well knowne , that the druinian hath bin evrey where so cryed up for an innated integrity , that before he mingled with forreners , and so by coalition with them grew more mercuriall ; he was accounted the uprightst dealer of any other upon earth , and to this day hee retaines much of his primitive esteeme , that in divers places abroad , his very word will countervaile the bond or pawne of another . to conclude , this may be termd the land of fortune , and a microcosme of her selfe , which by the gentle influence of the starres , abounds with that affluence of all things , that for hospitality among her owne , and towards all commers else ther 's not her parallell : her delight is to have old trees without dores , and old servants within ; and indeed so plentifull she is in hospitality , that i have heard druina taxd abroad , that too many in her , do use to digge their owne graves with their teeth . besides , some thinke that since the hop hath got amongst them , her trees being subject to be fild with stones and gravell , it hinders the length of their growth , withall , t' is observd the grape doth them no good , being of late yeares usd to be so sophisticated with sulphury heterogeneous mixtures ; adde hereunto their too early inoculations ; and that odde kind of smoake which hath fatally got amongst them , and being so excessively suckd , must needs dry up their radicall moysture , and so hasten their fall : but all this is accidentall : i will end with one property druina is cried up for , above all other , that when forreiners , though sprung up under the daintiest climes take once rooting in her , she makes them quickly forget their owne homes : as if the lotus grew only here , the vertue of whose fruit is , to cause in the eaters an oblivion of all other soyles ; and indeed the lotus of all other trees hath most affinity with the oke . there is no place upon the habitable earth , where the muses have two such dainty groves of laurels , so choice and rich seates , which both for plentifull exhibitions , and sumptuous edifices of that kind are unparalleld : they perpetually produce hopefull young cions , which germinat with all kind of knowledge , and come by degrees to a perfect maturity , whereby she is alwaies furnished with nurseries of scientificall graffes , which she disperseth up and downe to unfold the sacred oracles , for which she is now as renowned , as some times she was for her druyds ; and for a cumble of all felicity piety shines here in her genuine true lustre , neither adulterated with any forc'd colours to set a specious glosse upon her , by any phantasticke forme of outward ceremony ; nor is she bereavd of such decent robes and rites ( whereof some fanaticke spirits would strip her starke naked ) that may make her appeare in a venerable and comely garb : this stately forrest hath multitudes of gentle lodges , and strong retraites , amongst which the great emporiall tamisond is the prime , which take all her dimensions together , ( for she hath not the advantage of the circular figure ) with her suburbian , and conterminent fabrickes , may well compare in magnitude and number of soules with the greatest assembly of houses in the lower world . for wealth and an ubiquitary commerce , none can exceed her , and for government diurnall and nocturnall with a grave rich and magnificent magistracy , ther 's not her fellow . the proud river which makes her bed at her feet is arched over with such a curious pile of stones , that , considering the rapid course of the deepe streame that roares under it , may well take place amongst the wonders of the world ; the nereian goddesse comes twice every naturall day fourescore thousand paces off to visit her , to render her thankes as it were , for the rich tribute she useth to pay her . here is the imperiall chamber of druinas monarque , the prime rendevous of nobles and gentry , the sole staple of the marchant , all the prime tribunalls of justice and equity , and no where is the criminall part thereof so cautiously executed , or the life of the meanest shrub more valued , i could wish the civill part were answerable in point of expedition , and that iohn an okes had not so many turnings and windings in this forrest . in summe , this is the epitome of all druina , so that some have askd abroad whether druina bee in tamisond , or tamisond in druina ; and herein ( and that not undeservedly ) druina is taxd abroad of a solaecisme in her government , that she should suffer to run into one grove , that sap which should go to vegetat the whole forrest ; so that some have compard tamisond to the spleene in the naturall body , by whose swelling the other members become ill affected ; whereas her forren neighbours , by a wholesome distribution appropriat some staple commodity or peculiar charter of commerce to severall places , whereby they equally flourish , grow populous , potent and opulent . a character of cardenia . towards the septentrionall corners of druina , there stands another forrest which serves her for a shelter as t' were against blustering boreas , well set , but nothing so thick , with stout and tough trees ( though growne somewhat knobby of late ) of a different plantation and policy , which hath beene but lately co-afforested with her : at that time when she threw the fortunat cast of sice-ace , and when to her three former lions , there was a fourth added for her defence , which made druina verifie that , which all former ages held for a paradox , and take for the burthen of her song ( and i hope there will be never cause to the contrary : ) omne bonum nobis ex aquilone venit . an ancient forrest she is , for she pretends to shew a continued uninterrupted succession of above one hundred kings . as at other times , so specially this last halfe century of yeares , she hath produced many ventrous and martiall spirits , who for their prowesse in the north east parts have purchas'd a great esteeme . a long time the royall vine made use of her trees as of matches to set druina a fire , whensoever she attempted any thing against him , puzling her with unlucky diversions , therefore the vine reserves to this day a row of them about him for his safety . this caus'd many of the martiall okes to make sundry shrewd inrodes into cardenia , so far as to bring away her kings captive , and make some of them breath their last in battaile ; but now for the greater glory of druina , they are both ingrafted upon one stocke into one body politicke , and receive mutuall benefit from each other , the one sappe , the other strength ; for by this conjunction , i hope , druina may rest secure , that the lillies shall never hereafter make use of the thistle against her roses ; and so shee may prove carduus benedictus unto her . a character of monticolia . towards the hilly corners of druina remaine yet her very aborigenes , and ancient indigenae , the first nursery of plants , that sprouted out of her , fatally thrust amongst an assembly of mountaines . they long time wrastled and strenuously tug'd for their libertie , and that with a no lesse magnanimous then constant pertinacity , yea when they were reducd to a handfull , hem'd in betweene those hills , they did notable feates ; at last being over set with multitudes ( which hath beene the fortune of the bravest spirits upon earth ) they chose to bow a little , rather then breake . yet with this proviso , that the princely spray which should be their toppe tree , should spring forth from amongst themselves : so prevalent is the instinct of nature , and energie of fancy they beare to their owne soyle . and very remarkable it is , that after the revolution of above one thousand yeares , and so many turmoyles and changes of governments and masters , ( druina having foure times yeelded to the fury of forren force ) the just hand of providence should bring the royall oke to sprout againe out of this ancient stocke , and that druina should resume , and be knowne againe by her primitive denomination ; a race of resolute stout trees they are , much valuing the antiquitie of their growth , and so abounding with mettall and heat , that they quickly take fire , and become touch-wood ; they often clash their branches one against the other , and very sensible they are of parting with the least drop of sappe . the trident-bearing god hath not such secure and commodious inlets , or rather a gallerie of clossets , to court and imbosome himselfe into our grandame earth , in all the vast expanded ocean . the prime of the nine hero's ( whom beside that which is fabulous , there is truth enough to make famous ) was a plant of this growth , by whose conquests druina may lay just clayme ( though she had no other ) not only to lurana , but other dominions also , nay if first discovery may entitle a right , to columbina also , which as some strongly conjecture , was found out by a straying prince of monticolia seven ages since : and this presumption is drawne from the analogy of speech , wherein there are diverse words that are the same in both languages , both for sound and sense , with other traces and markes . the most admird of all prophane prophets whose predictions have beene so much scann'd and cried up , and are yet valued up and downe the world , did vaticinate here : and the first monastery that ever the world had , wherein the sacred fire of christian piety did burne , was amongst these mountaines , the sparkles whereof flew so far , that diverse regions , which groapd before in the darke corners of paganisme , were enlightned thereby . beside observable it is , what a precious blessing is lately found out ( having beene reserved and lockd up as it were all this while in natures bowels ) to make this most ancient part of druina happy now in the decrepit age of the world ; a rich mine and generative mint of treasure , the gainefull returnes whereof , exceed more and more the labour and charge of those multitudes that are hourely set a worke thereby . a character of lvrana . opposit to monticolia lurana stands , separated by a most boysterous and working sea ; she is replenish'd and very thicke set with strong and well trunked trees of all sorts , reduc'd at last to a perfect obedience to druinas diademe partly by voluntary reddition & desire of protection , and partly by conquest : a multiplying and healthy spacious forrest she is , plentifully furnishd with all those benefits , that aire , earth , and water use to affoord for necessity or pleasure . there are no where such huge ponds and fresh lakes , with goodly rivers and safe maritime harbours inviting forren commerce , the soyle fatt and luxurious in diverse places , and antipatheticall to all venemous creatures , as druina her neighbour is to all ravenous ; her lower region is stird , and rarified with fresh quickning windes more frequently then other forrests , which makes her lesse subject to contagious diseases ; so that i beleeve the saying of that elaianian generall ( who being asked what he thought of lurana , answered ; that when the ill spirit profferd our saviour all the kingdomes of the earth , he verily beleeved he intended to have still reserv'd lurana for himselfe ) proceeded rather from the resentment of the ill successe and disgracefull repulses hee had there , then from any sound judgment , or demerit of the country ; nor can i subscribe to him that said lvrana was a good countrey for them onely to live in , who wanted a countrey , that sh●e is a fripperie of bankerupts , who flie thither from druina to play their after-game . the plants here are of a strenuous bulke , agile and very patient of hardnesse , though not of labour , for the greatest fault of this great forrest is , that shee swarmes with too many drones , whereby shee may bee called insignis , sed segnis terra , somewhat incomposed they are in their trimming , extraordinary tender ( and so are the brute animalls also ) of their young ones , crafty and of a passable reach of understanding , light of beliefe and great listners after newes , which may bee imputed to the long time of their unsettled government , fearing alwaies some innovation or imminent danger , and by reason of their frequent revolts they have drawn upon themselves the pressures of war so often , that it seems to have somewhat cowed their spirits , as may be gather'd from the very accent of their words , which they prolate in a whining kind of querulous tone , as if they were still complaining & crest-fallen ; nor do they beleeve to have come yet to the worst , for they have an old prophecy that the time will come when lurana shall weepe o're the druinians graves . before this rough forrest was civillizd , and trim'd by druina , she had peculiar lawes & customs of her own , but some of them were such that as one said , if they had been practis'd in hell they would have turnd up tupsiturvie the very kingdome of satan , some of druinas monarckes made voyages thither in their own persons ; and many of the royall stemme were sent to governe , but alwayes one of her prime elmes , to whom i read of foure generall submissions that were made ▪ but the conquest could not bee consummated till of late yeares , which may be imputed to some errors in the course of civill and martiall policy . it was the practise of that selfe admiring mistresse of the last monarchy , into all countries where she tooke footing , with the lance to bring in her language , and lawes ; this was not done here , but the natives were left still incapable of druinas lawes , which only extended to her owne plantations : so that the law of the conqueror , did neither protect their lifes , nor revenge their deaths , for it was no felony to fell downe any of them , yea in time of peace : nor in civill causes could they implead or commence sute against any of the druinians , or imbud , ingraffe , insoliat or inoculat upon any of them unlesse he were formerly infranchizd by charter of denization ; so that the meere luranians were reputed , out-lawes , enemies and aliens in their owne soyle ; but this may be ascrib'd not so much to the policy of druina , as to the great ones that came thither from her to plant themselves and push on a fortune , who disswaded the communication of druinas lawes to the natives , because they might oppresse , spoyle , rob , peele , proyne , and grubbe them up at pleasure ; in these unsettled times many of druina , and of late yeares of cardenia also tooke firme rooting in the best and fattest soyles of lurana , so that they are growne since to a notable height ; amongst whom ( now that i treat of trees ) the corke did thrive wonderfully , and no doubt but by a singular benediction from above , the dew of heaven falling so plentifully upon his endeavours , as appeares in all his branches , which he sees grafted upon noble scutcheons , and honourable shields ; so that he may be call'd the miracle of his time , all things considered . another reason that hindred a settled peace , and period of this conquest , was those vast proportions of lands which were distributed among druinas adventurers , which were such , that the whole forrest was in a manner cantonizd amongst a very few in number , of whom some had regall rights , there being eight county palatines at once where the royall writ could not runne ; they had also implicit commission left to discretion , and not tied to any regular forme of plantation ; and those huge tracts of ground they lorded over begat wealth , wealth usherd in pride , and pride tumultuary contentions amongst themselves , which gave the luranians advantage to fish in those troubled waters for their liberty , and make often encroachments upon them ; but had the oke himselfe gone to the forrest , the inferior trees had not shot up so high . another mistake was , that the first undertakers made ill choice of the seates of their habitations ; for they erected forts and houses in the open plains , turning the natives into the woods and places of fastnesse , whence they made eruptions and retraicts at pleasure , and whereas caesar sometimes spake of the scythians , difficilius erat invenirc , quam vincere ; these were the over-sights in civill policy , now there were also some in the conduct of the martiall affaires ; first , the small handfulls of souldiers druina sent , which came either unseasonably , or ill accommodated and payed . then the cold pursute of the maine designe , which like fire newly kindled under greene wood , was often made to flash a little , and so left to goe out . so that for the reduction of this spacious forrest to a perfect rule of obedience , druina stood all this while in her owne light , and could not see the wood for trees : untill there sprung up a notable virago a princely female , for whom it seemes the high hand of providence had as it were pointed out , and reservd this exploit ; who besides the suppression of some intestine rebellions in her owne forrest , the raysing of itelia to a free and faire grove of willowes , and reaching her princely boughs to settle the crowne of ampelona upon the right royall vine , besides the navall wars with elaiana , and sundry other costly diversions , yet she made a full and finall conquest of lurana ; and this worke was done in a fulnesse of time , and concurrence of all felicity , when her royall successor was to bring another soveraigne crowne to aggrandize , and adde to the imperiall and triumphant glory of druina . her predecessors in their course of governement did but sometimes cast up the ground , and so leaving it fallowe , it became quickly oregrowne with weeds ; but shee like a great houswife did cast seed into it , sowing therein her owne lawes , and utterly extirpating all other ; she did ingraffe all upon one stocke , making no difference twixt the luranian and them of druina , by which coalition she received all alike into her immediat protection under the safe shadow of her royall branches , making the beames of justice to bee equally displayed upon all with like lustre . yet for all this there was little returne of the vast expence of treasure that might have served to purchase as great a crowne , which was imployed to compasse these ends , nor could lurana though a most copious countrey of her selfe , bee brought by any parsimonious policy to support her selfe , but still druina must part with her very radicall moysture , and wast her owne vitall spirits to preserve her authority there , untill that of late yeares the royall oke did light upon count rhodophill ( a stout and solid instrument most proper for so knotty a taske , as well for courage as counsell , and cut out for government and high affaires ) who balancing all matters in the scales of his high and spacious understanding , hath so rectified all obliquities , beginning first with the vindication of wrongs done to the house of the almighty ; and so regulated the exorbitant expences both civill and military , that the old arrearages under which that crown had long gron'd being defrayed , he hath brought lurana to uphold and maintaine her selfe , and returne druina for her protection , fruitfulnesse , and reducement to civility , a setled tribute proportionable to her greatnesse and plenty ; so happie and advantagious it is ▪ for a prince to employ an able and idoneous minister for the conduct of his state affaires ; he hath woun'd up the strings of that musicall instrument ( which lurana gives for her crest ) so dextrously , and tuned her orpheus-like ( who in times past by his melodious straines made the very trees to follow him ) to such a key , that she never gave a truer note ; and indeed the right way was never hit upon , untill now ; druina's majesty never stood so high a tiptoe , nor shind with a greater lustre ; the soveraigne power which druinas monarcke useth to transmit for ruling and regulating that rough forrest , was never so individed and entire in the person of one , whereas before some of the great ones caried themselves in that height , as if they had beene colleagues with him : the scales of iustice never mov'd more equally , for whereas before matters pass'd through a large grate , they may be said to be sifted now through a silken sive : commerce never flourished more ; and the military forces ( which are the finewes , and best security of a conquerd countrey , ) were never better appointed , more exactly disciplind , and punctually paid ; and whereas before , all places of profit and honour were either ingross'd or forestalld by reversionary grants ( the bane and bug-beares of industry ) or confer'd upon unwor●hy and ill affected ministers , druinas monarque may now exercise all acts of grace and bounty with more freedome and choice ; a singular incitement and golden spurre to vertuous and active spirits ; lastly , the royall desmesnes and treasure was never more improv'd , for whereas formerly lurana servd as a goose for every one to plucke , her feathers goe only now to fill the pillow of the crown : so that putting all this together , lurana may say as once that seven hild citie which was head of the last monarchy ( and pretends to be still of the hierarchie ) did say , lateritia fui , futura sum marmorea . but i have wandred too long in this forrest , i will now hoise sayle , and returne to druina , where i shall fixe my selfe a while , but in regard the wind is not faire , i will stay a little , and spend the time to deduce out of what hath beene spoken this short corollarie . touching the relation that druina with her united crownes , hath to other states , it is to be considered , that the power of this part of the world , is balanced betweene the oke , the vine , and the olive ; as for the cedar and others , they shall come in hereafter . elaiana hath the advantage of both the other in treasure , but shee is thinne planted , hath diverse nurseries to supply , many irons perpetually in the fire , wants corne , her dominions lye scattered , hath bold accessible coasts , and the conveyance of her bullion from columbina subject to bee intercepted in the passage ; and should druina breake out againe into any traverses of warre , and serious hostilitie with her , druina hath lately got no small advantage of her , by acquest of those islands which lye in the carreere to columbina , which she colonizeth , and fortifieth dayly more and more . ampelona is thick set , and abounds with stirring spirits , lyeth close together ; and being roundish and passable , no one part is farre from succouring each other : shee super-abounds with corne ; which is quickly convertible to coyne ; and being the common mart and thorow-faire , lying in the middle of so many great neighbours , can never want money : insomuch , that if you goe to the intrinsique value of things , shee will not , in regard of these advantages , want much in weight , of the huge bulke of elaiana . druina being surrounded with the sea , and having alwayes so many moving invincible castles in centinell , is hardly to be invaded ; her king being sayd to keepe as a tortoise in his shell , and having many other insularie advantages . so that it may be very properly sayd of the oke , as the holy prophet speakes of another great tree ; that the waters make him great , and the deepe sets him on high . druina would hardly be able to deale with any of the other single , unlesse upon the defensive ; but joynd with itelia , she can give them both law at sea ; and confederating with either of the other two , she is able to oppresse the third . now , the onely entire head that confronts elaiana's greatnesse , and is the remora that stops her progresse , is ampelona : therefore , that saying carryeth with it a great deale of truth , and no lesse caution ; that the day of the ruine of ampelona , is the eeve of the subversion of druina . therefore , from the time the olive grew to be so great , druina for strong reasons of state , hath inclind ever since , rather to maintaine ampelona , then any way to enfeeble her . and once , when the adventrous vine was taken prisoner by the olive , which was about the time that the olive began first to shoot out his branches so wide , the oke did contribute to ransome him . moreover , in that memorable great incendium , which rag'd so long by intermissive fitts throughout the whole body of ampelona ; to quench which , elaiana , out of pretence of zeale to religion , sent great barrels of water , though some say they were filld with pitch and oyle , which did rather encrease and feed the fire : i say , at that time , when there was a designe to provinciate the whole kingdome ; druina , though offerd a canton , would not accept of it . so then , this linke of mutuall conservation enchaining them , the oke may be presumd to be a sure confederate of the vine and the willowes also , all the while they containe themselves within those bounds they are in , at present . but if they should over-master the olive in leoncia , it would much alter the case . no addition could make ampelona more dangerous and suspectfull to druina , then leoncia ; for so it were farre worse then if the olive had all leoncia solely to himselfe , in regard they would fall into one continued and entire peece . but to conclude , there cannot be a truer maxime , for the safetie of druina and her confederates , then this of a late great states-man : decrescat oliva , nec crescat vitis . and thus have i finished the perambulation of druina , with all her pourliews , and perquisits , together with her next transmarine neighbours , with whom she hath most pratique and necessarie intelligence . i should now passe to rhenusium ( and so o're the mountaines , to bombycina ) but that i am afraid to loose my selfe in so vast a forrest , before i should begin my promised storie : therefore i will deferre their character to some emergent occasion out of the matter it selfe , and in the interim resume my subject , and returne to my first epoche . but before i proceed , i will give the reader this short touch , that i doe not purpose , by this discourse of trees , to bring him into a labyrinth , or impervious darke thicket ; for i know some , under borrowed names and types , have affected obscuritie , of purpose to amuse the reader , and make themselves admired for profound reaches , when oftentimes their fancies prove flat impertinencies , and non-sense : no ; the woods that i will lead him into , shall be faire and open ( as he may partly perceive , by what hath preceded ) so that he may easily distinguish twixt the kinds of trees ; it shall be lucus à lucendo . and imagine i am now returned to druina ; where i find all things flourishing , in a rare conjuncture of peace , securitie , honour , and plentie , under the branches of the stately caledonian oke , newly settled in his triumphant throne , begirt with cions of his owne royall stemme , and encircled with multitudes of ancient and nobly extracted elmes , holy and reverend yewes , learned laurels , stout poplars , with other goodly trees ; the lillies and roses white and red , did bourgeon round about him , the muses and graces made festivals , the faunes , satyres , and nymphs , did dance their roundelayes , all the trees of the field did clap their hands ; and never were seene such halcyonian dayes : the saturnian times of gold let none henceforth admire , behold a true pearly age. all the neighbouring forrests stood at a gaze , envying this high felicitie : the vine , the firre , the myrtle , the willowes , sent to congratulate and comply with druina ; but above all other , the olive , so shrewdly shaken before by her . to performe which worke , the prime officer of honour elaiana had by land , was sent ambassadour , and that in a most high and courtly manner , to present the newly enthroniz'd oke with a branch of olive , the embleme of peace , and elaiana's ancient cognisance : which being accepted , druina in correspondence of state , sent her prime officer at sea , her thalassiarcha , in such a splendid equipage , that elaiana rings of the renowne of it , to this day . the parts adjoyning to elaiana's royall court did so strayne themselves to entertaine and welcome him , with his numerous traine , that some yeares passed , before they could recover themselves many miles about : for so gratefull was his errand , being an embassie of peace , and so bitter were the resentments and fatall effects of the former warre , that young and old did blesse him as he passed ; deeming he had beene some angell descended from heaven , and that his attendants were some kind of seraphins , they so admir'd their comelinesse ; which did unbeguile the vulgar of the odde opinion the loyolists had formerly infused into them , by their concionatorie invectives , that the druinians , since they left petropolis , were transform'd into strange horrid shapes ; some having dogs heads , others swines countenances , others huge tayles hanging behind them . such ceremonies as these being mutually performd twixt druina and her confederates , and some other domestique triumphs ended ; the royall oke ( as well to expresse his princely acknowledgement for his free and peacefull reception to druina's throne , without the least motion of opposition or murmure , which usually happen at such changes , ( whereat the neighbouring princes , specially ampelona's then warlike monarch , stood in a kind of admiration ) which reception was accompanied also with unparallell'd acclamations of epidemicall joy , as also for redresse of divers grievances , rectifying of enormities , and enabling wholesome lawes ) sent out summons for a generall assembly , where his royall majestie , with all the noble elmes , the grave and learned yewes , and a selected number of the choisest poplars , should meet in one body , to consult of the common good ; and here you might behold a goodly sight , the epitome of all druina . but there preceded a notable act of princely grace : for whereas some , out of the motions of a malevolent spirit , and impostumated hearts , had , during the former universall exultations of ioy , beene detected , to have had a most treasonable and dangerous designe on foot against the majestie of the royall oke , whereof they had beene legally convicted and doom'd ; he meerely , out of his inclination to mercie , ( wherein kings come nearest to the almightie ) sent a private missive , all of his owne characters , to pluck tnem out of the very jawes of death ; even then , when having made their peace with heaven and earth , the fatall axe was imminent to fall upon them , and cut them quite off . and as this first , so were the rest of his whole reigne high acts of clemencie . but upon the very point , when the fore-named great congregation was to re-assemble ; behold , a horrid plot of such a nature , that it seemd rather to have been a peece hammerd in hell , by a conventicle of cacodaemons , then trac'd by humane invention . a sulphureous mine it was , prepard and fitted with that artifice , that in one puffe it should have blowne up to the clouds , and made but a squib of that mightie assembly , with many thousands of innocent soules besides : druina's soveraigne monarch , with his royall consort , and princely imps , root and rinde , stemme and stock , bud and blossome , had all beene blasted ; the reverend yewes , noble elmes , and stout poplars , had beene all turnd to charcoale ; yea , the furie of it had extended to the embrio in the wombe ; nay , the very inanimate bodies had not beene exempt ; the sumptuous ancient structures neere adjoyning , all the tribunals of iustice , yea , the prime sanctuarie druina had , would have gone to wrack ; nay , it would have raysed up her dead princes out of their sleeping vrnes , to behold this black spectacle : my haire stands on end , my heart trembleth at the horror of it : the trinacrian vespers , and bartholomean massacre , were nothing to this . and religion must be the maske , to cover this hellish attempt : tantum religio potuit suadere malorum ? sacred lady , must thou be the mantle to cover this infandous worke ? thou which usest to goe clad in the white vest of innocencie , must thou have a deianira's shirt now cast upon thee , a robe of bloud ? thou which marchest alwayes with the armour of light , must thou be made accessarie to such a horrible act of subterranean darkenesse ? thou which injoynest subjects indispensable obedience to their soveraigns , because they are the anoynted and archetypes of the almighty , yea gods upon earth , must thou be now made a complice to assassines and traytors ? in fine , thou to whom the prince of peace left for legacy his seamelesse close-woven garment of unity to decke thy selfe , must thou be brought to make ruptures and throw the ball of discord twixt soveraigne and subject ? absit , absit . for the discovery of this prodigious plot , specially the quality of it , it seemes by some secret supernaturall instinct , druinas monarque himselfe , when all his great sages were at a stand , hit right upon it , for it being fore-threatned , and advertisement being fortunately lighted upon , that a sudden blow should bee given , which should bee no sooner doing , then a peece of paper burning , his majestie entring into the secret cabinet of his owne deepe and free-borne thoughts positively avouch'd , that it must bee some project of nitre , then which nothing is more sudden and impetuous , more violent and irresistible : and herein hee prov'd as much prophet , as prince . for oftentimes the conceptions of kings are as farre above the vulgar , as their condition is , for being higher elevated , and walking upon the battlements of soveraignty , they sooner receive the inspirations of heaven . they which make profession to pry into mysteries of estate , passed divers judgements upon this , some gave out , that the warlike vine had sent advise of it , and that the then secretst of druinas sages , that great instrument of state had fore-knowledge of it , but suffred the fatall threed to bee spunne out to that length for some politique respects , and then to cut it off in the very nicke . not long after a notorious high act of treason , drawing to a neare analogie with this , for the instrument was led by the same ill spirit , except that the one was single , yet upon the person of a publique person , the other of multitudes , if you consider the agents or patients ; the one was crushed in the shell , as it was upon poynt of hatching , and so most happily prevented , but this was fully perpetrated upon the body ot the great martiall vine which swayed the scepter of the then most flourishing ampelona ; and religion that holy and harmelesse matrone , must be made to sharpen the poynt of that fatall steele which did scarifie and penetrate him to the very heart , and suddenly fell'd him to the ground ; it was done when hee had a potent army so fam'd and feard farre and neare , composed of choice veteranes upon a great mysticall designe in perfect equipage , which continueth a riddle to this day : and in the midst of those triumphs that were prepared for his queene who had her temples newly begirt with ampelonas royall diademe . and her fancies it seemes the night before were propheticall , having dream'd that those diamonds wherewith her crowne were embellishd , did turne to pearles , which are accounted the emblemes of teares . but most remarkable it is what one of his owne confidents did forewarne him of twenty yeares before , who told him being newly come to the crowne , and forced to comply with the times in point of ecclesiasticall affaires , and being assaulted and wounded in the mouth by a young loyolist . sir , you see how just and punctuall god almighty is in his iudgements , for i hope you have denied the religion you were first nurtured in , but from the teeth outward , so he hath struck you there , but take heede your heart goe not from it , for hee will strike you there the next time , which proved precisely true . not unlike this prophetique judgement was that which fell upon one of his predecessors not long before , who being so incensed against the eusebians , that he vowed to plucke out one of their eyes to stigmatize and distinguish them from others ; he was thrust the very same day into the eye himselfe by an eusebian , whereof hee breathed his last . a hard fate it was that three of ampelona's royall monarques should fall within so narrow a compasse of time by such mortall stroakes . the last the most accomplished of all the rest , was the most lamented , who out of his cold vine seemes , me thinkes , to send this mournefull caveat to the greatest potentats on earth . that they are but weake penetrable things , and though somewhat refind and kneaded from that courser sort of stuffe , which goeth to the composition of the cittizens of the world , yet they are so much the more brittle ware , onely they differ in ther office , which neverthelesse makes them to have farre lesse to hope for , then to feare . a greater example hereof there could not be then in this great puissant prince , a prince in whom nothing of worth was wanting , a patterne of all heroique vertues , except that he was transported sometimes too far by that sexe , which overcame the first , the strongest , and wisest , that ever were of humane race . wonderfull he was in acts of peace and warre , hee had bin victorious in foure maine battailes , before he could peaceably weare the crowne , hee weeded the kingdome of such as were devoted to elaiana , and manumizd it , from that most dangerous confederacy which was fermenting many yeares , weakning it by armes , but dashing it to peeces by wit. for his acts of peace , he inrichd ampelona with a greater proportion of silke and wooll , he beautified her in many places with sumptuous structures , cut passages twixt great navigable rivers , and was like to do the like twixt sea and sea. and some say he had a designe to erect such a spirituall independent dignity in ampelona , that his subjects should not neede to clammer the hills so often to petropolis ; he dismorgagd the crowne demeanes , made an increase of munition , armes and treasure , and left behind a masse of gold that surmounted the height of a lance ; and all this may be ascribd to his owne activenesse . for , as for the outward windowes of his soule , he was rarely quicke and perspicacious , so was hee inwardly eagle-eyed , and perfectly versd in the humours of his subjects . and such a great artist hee was in government , that he preservd ampelona ( which abounds more then one part of the earth besides with boysterous spirits and hot working braines ) twenty yeares together without the least tintamarre or noise of commotion : a brave sprightfull prince hee was , composed of such a mould , that though hee wanted but very few yeares of his grand climacterique , when the mortall stab was given him ; yet the anatomists adjudgd , that if nature had beene sufferd to have runne her owne course in him , without this fatall interruption , hee might have doubled his age. never was there monarch , that lorded more over his subjects hearts : which , as in many passages of his life , so after his death it appeard ; when by the universall vote , hee was eternizd to future ages with the title of great , and that his statues should be erected in all the mart townes of ampelona . — stat magni nominis vmbra . the martiall vine being thus cut downe , ampelona fell under a female government , ( a female of rare endowments and princely worth ) untill the succeeding young royall cion should come to maturitie : and they speake of an old law , that the heire of ampelona's crowne is adjudgd then to have passd his minoritie , when he is growne to the height of a sword. so that during this government , it may be sayd ( notwithstanding the contrarie proverbe : ) lunae radiis maturescebat botrus . not long after the vine , the mightie olive his neighbour fell , who with his beades was sayd to preserve all his time his spacious dominions , as his imperiall grandsire did by the pike , and his sire , that great magus of his dayes , by the pen ; who , for some rare vertues that dwelt in him , i cannot pretermit with silence . he was the greatest conqueror of himselfe , and king of his owne affections , that ever was ; being alwayes at home within himselfe , in an admired equall temper of humors : no change at all was found in him at good or bad events , or any sudden tumultuarie chance ; whereof i will give a few notable instances . after that memorable great battaile and navall expedition against alcharona , ( when all bombycina , with the adjacent islands , were at the stake ) was wonne , the relation being brought him , what a glorious victorie was got , and with what difficultie , and how long she fluttred upon the wings of doubtfull successe , he was not surpriz'd a whit with any exulting motions of joy ; onely he sayd , that his brother , who was generalissimo in the service , had venturd very farre : and it was the first time that he ever daignd to stile him brother , though they were of the same stock , but he a branch of the wild olive . these were the most important and gladsomst tidings that possibly could be brought him , both concerning himselfe and all the westerne world , as the case then stood . for ill newes also , he was the same : for , in that mightie expedition against druina , when the very virgin newes was brought him of the most disastrous miscarriage of his fleet , that monstrous sea-giantesse , the hugest that ever spread sayle upon salt water , take bulk and building together ; when all the circumstances were punctually related unto him , he was not mov'd a jot from himselfe , but calmely sayd , he had sent them to fight against druina , not against the deitie of heaven . and these were the saddest newes that possibly could come . this having beene an enterprise so much ruminated upon , so moulded and matur'd by time , with infinite expence ; the legalitie of the act confirmd and animated by a speciall benediction from the great arch-flamin , and puffd up with such a certitude and infallibilitie of hopes and presumptions , that in petropolis there were bonefires alreadie made , in joy of the conquest of druina . yet , at the sayd long expected relation , there appeared not in him the least alteration or resentment in the world , for the miscarriage of this mightie action , and invincible fleet , as she was tearm'd ; which prov'd , as one sayd , but a kind of morrice-dance upon druina's waves . another time , being shut up a whole day in his closet , to dispatch some private instructions for leoncia , about the time of her first revolt ; and bringing them forth fairely written , to be dryed , his then secretarie ( that famous minister of state ) being with the suddennesse of his comming surpriz'd , pour'd the ink-box all over the writings , and so defac'd them , that they were made altogether illegible : this did not a whit stirre him , but calmely call'd for more paper , to rescribe them ; shewing him the difference twixt the ink-box and sand-box , against the next time . thus in eclipses and sunne-shine , in calme and tempests , at ill or fortunate occurrences , he was immoveably the same ; nor could any sudden inexpected contingencie , were it of never so great consequence , distract , much lesse divorce him from himselfe . the philosophers teach , that in naturall bodies , all things decay by the inward conflict of their principles , and reluctancie of the predominant elements : for , if a body were eavenly balanced by the foure elements whence the humours are derived , it would bee unperishable . the manners of the minde often follow the temper of these humors , therefore in this prince it seemes , there were the sedomst and weakest struglings amongst them that could be ; a serious reservd speculative prince he was , and could see farre and neare without spectacles or prospective , and as it was said of one of druinas monarques , hee was used to stand in the darke to others , but he made all the world to stand in the light to him . he would often complaine against his sister of druina , in that she fomented the itelians his owne naturall subjects against him , that shee intercepted his treasure , and countenanced her captaines to robbe him in columbina , and all this without provocation as he thought , pretending that hee had deservd otherwise of her , by being once the chiefest instrument of saving her life , and restoring her to liberty , and having an ambassador resident then at her court , when these traverses of enmitie happened . hee was a great example of pietie in his kinde , and that in so intense a degree , that he was used to say , if he knew the princely plant which first sprung out of him did but brandle or haesitat in his religion , hee would have his breast ripped up , and those thoughts plucked out of him , nay he would gather stickes himselfe to burne him . the cause of the so earely fall of that prince is a riddle to this houre , but one time in a gay humour he wished in the hearing of his sire , hee had elaiana's crowne upon his head but onely one day ; and this extravagant wish ( as 't was thought ) did him no good ; for not long after , he was transplanted into the other world by an immature fate . another argument , or rather monument , of the pietie of this platonique prince , was that worke of wonder , that glorious structure , which with expence of eight millions of treasure , and twentie three yeares of time , ( he himselfe enjoying the contentment of it twelve whole yeares after it was finishd ) he causd to be erected , in memorie of that famous battaile he got against ampelona , being then in leoncia : and not as much in honour of the day , as of the martyr , whose day it was ; proportioning the fabrique to the shape of that instrument he suffered upon . the handle of it , makes a magnificent royall palace ; the body , an huge assembly of cloysters , which make up a convent , and an academie . and so intentive were his thoughts upon this piece of pietie , that when the long-longd for tidings were poasted to him , of the miscarriage of the fore-mentioned fleet , which sayld at first with the wings of such confidence against druina ; he then having his eyes fixd upon a mason , who was fitting a corner-stone , he would neither aske , heare , or reade one syllable , untill he saw that stone settled . such a vast pile was never reard up by scaffold : and i subscribe to them that hold , the world hath not the like , in one entire piece . and built it is with that unusuall solidnesse , and moderate height , that it seemes in his first thoughts he intended to make a sacrifice of it to perpetuitie , and to contest with the iron teeth of time. it hath a quadrangle for every moneth in the yeare : and whosoever will take an exact survey of it , must goe above 30000 paces forward , about and backward , within the circumference of the walls ; and the very keyes of this huge edifice , poise above 1000 weight . this great magus being seizd upon by the hand of death , he sayd none should carry him to his owne sepulcher , meaning that mightie monument , but himselfe : where he was no sooner come , but this huge olive , which flourishd so long , ( though shaken with many shrewd stormes ) fell , as they say , of vermiculation , being all worme-eaten within . the succeeding princely olive , though in profound reaches of policie he came short of him , yet in pietie he rather exceeded him . he relyed more upon the spirituall power then the temporall , holding it the safest course : and indeed , it was one of the cardinall instructions his expiring sire left him ; and the other was , that he might warre with all the world , if he were in peace with druina . a little after , he yeelded to treat with the itelians as with free-states ; from which words , they ever since derive their independencie , though elaiana denie , that she ever pronounc'd them positively free , but retorts the argument upon them : for , if she condescended to treat with them as with free-states , the hypothesis must be , that they were not free : for the topique axiome is , nullum simile est idem ; but whether it will hold in policie , i will not determine . of rhenvsivm . and bombycina . about these times there arrived in druina a rhenusian prince ( altapinus , ) and rhenasium abounds with princes , yet they are from the beginning but branches fallen from the imperiall cedar , whereof some are growne up single , other are multiplied into a great number of groves . huge is that extent of ground which belongs to the perambulation of this large forrest , which were shee entirely subject to the cedar , would prove formidable both to the vine , the olive , and the oke with all other , and would bee able of her selfe to make head against that huge giantesse alcarona ; but rhenusium being divided betweene so many absolute princes , and they of about equall puissance , ( as a great river cut into many channells growes weaker and shallower ) rhenusium strives onely to counterpoize her selfe . her trees are well timbred , tall and beutifull , they are all commonly of the nature of the plane , or hortensius his graffs , which love to bee watred with wine , but they use not onely to bee watred therewith , but to bee overwhelmd and drownd therein , for they drinke often passively , which made one ascribe unto them these two properties . to understand more then they can utter ; and drinke more then they can carry . and the universality of this vice , seemes to take away the infancy of it ; so that whosoever is temperat there , must needs bee more temperat then any where else , for he must bee so , per antiperistasin , being surrounded , and besiegd as it were about with the contrary habit . the time was that the cedar stretched forth his imperiall branches as farre as the mountaines of the moone , and that the king of birds nested within his leaves , thicke featherd , and with fullsummd wings fastning his talents east and west ; but now i know not by what fate or fortune t is come to passe , the eagle is become halfe naked , and the cedar very thinne leavd , so that for many ages it hath bin a kinde of continuall autumne with him . in so much that whosoever will undertake now the imperiall diademe , must have of his owne wherewith to support and protect it ; which i beleeve is one of the reasons , that it hath continued these two ages and more yeares in that stemme which is now so much spoken of , and envyed in the world. and this reason of state sounds well why the septemvirate lets it continue there so long , because this race having its hereditary territories as ramparts upon those regions that the huge easterne bramble tyrannizeth over , is best able to preserve rhenusium from his fury . but to know the true cause why the cedar hath so long warped , and fallen to this decay , i must lead you over the hills to bombycina , that great magazin of wits , and minion of nature , where some places acknowledge no other season but the spring ; and they who abstract paradise from the earthly globe , would have it to bee in that part of the heavens which is her canopie . petropolis is the city which once awed not onely all bombycina , but signorizd over most parts of the habitable earth , so farre , that her tropheys and territories were sayd to know no frontires ; yet at first the circuit of her walls was hardly a mile , and her pomerium and perquisits adjoyning where they stretched furthest , scarce six , and the first number of her plants about 3000. yet with time and fortune she so swelled up , that she became 50. miles about , and her dominions above 3000. miles long ; and the number of graffs which sprang at one time in and about her walls , in a famous cense that was made , amounted to above three millions . hence the imperiall cedar shot out his warlike branches farre and neare for many ages , untill the ivie clasping and clinging close about him , suckd out of him much of his very radicall moisture to vegetat and quicken himselfe , so that those twinings and embracements of the ivie proved but as iudas kisses , and this mongst many others is one of the causes of the cedars decay , out of whose ruines the ivie did climbe up to a monstrous height ; and if it be lawfull to passe from trees to birds , that memorable comparison which one publikely preached in the very court of the ivie , when hee was residentiarie upon the skirts of ampelona three ages since was not improper , at which time that renowned poet laureat did so bitterly inveigh against the exorbitancies of petropolis , calling her the mother of heresie , shop of vice , and forge of falsehood ; which comparison was , that this so high growne ivie was like that featherlesse bird , which went about to begge plumes of other birds to cover his nakednesse , they moved with commiseration clad him with part of their owne , to which worke the eagle did contribute much ; this bird having his barenesse coverd with those adventitious feathers , did thrive wonderfully , and grew so gay that they all turned to peacocks plumes , into whose nature the bird himselfe did also degenerat , and it is well knowne what the peacocke is embleme of . he began to pecke at , and prey upon those birds that were his benefactors , untill he made some of them stark buzzards . others have compard the ivie to the stagge in the fable , which shrowded himselfe under the branches of the vine in a time of necessity , which being passed , hee fell a browzing , and to eate those leaves which preserved him ; thus the ivie is sayd to use the cedar , with others of his patrons , who out of a high conceipt of sanctity they held of him , because he was the great arch flamin , protected him upon all occasions , and would not stand out with him in any thing : but pitty it is , that the fruits of piety should bee so abused ; and that , that high degree of honour , that great arch-flamin-ship which at first was ordained to bee a spurre to holinesse , should after become a stirrop to pride . and as petropolis at her first rise , when shee came to bee mistresse of the fourth monarchy , and was at her highest flourish , used to clip the wings of victory , that shee should not fly away from her ; so shee would have done to religion also , since the ivie came to be her lord , that it should be found no where else , but betweene her walls ; which made all the world to have recourse to her , as to the sole oracle of sacred truth , the source of saving knowledge , and consistorie of mercie : and going about to monopolize religion by these steps , she made meere merchandize of holy things , and grew to be an excellent chymist , that could transmute lead into gold ; perswading the silly client , that out of that lead he might make keyes to open heaven gates . thus religion got wealth , piety begot policy , then the daughters were sayd to devour their mothers . adde hereunto , that it was the practice of the ivie , to su●●itate and engage the cedar , with other princes whom he could get into his grapple , to holy expeditions abroad , and sometimes to make them clash their branches one against the other , at home ; whereby he tooke often opportunitie , to seize upon something towards the strengthening and embulking of himselfe . thus the ivie clinging so close to the conscience , brought the cedar , the vine , and the oke , with all the westerne potentates , to bow unto him , and doe homage to his very trunke , and in a manner to idolatrize him , and tremble as the aspe before him . he qualified the cedar with the character of his first sonne ; the vine , of his younger ; and the oke , of his adopted ; though i know no reason , why the oke may not challenge the right of primogeniture above all the rest , in regard his crownes were first irradiated with the gleames of sacred truth ; and , as some great clerks avouch , before petropolis her selfe : and touching that title , which doth peculiarize druina's monarch from all other , it is much more ancient then the common opinion holds it . the olive , this last centenarie of yeares , hath much complyed with the ivie , making profession to be his champion : and indeed , he hath more reason then others to induce him thereunto , in regard he holds most of his dominions in fee of him ; and amongst the rest , hipparcha , which is one of the fairest flowers of his crowne , being the most delicious soyle of all bombicina : and this he detaines from the ivie , much against his will , for he should be the true possessorie lord thereof : but the olive dispenseth with his conscience , to passe it over with a complement , and a heriot once every yeare , though he incurre the thunder of an unavoidable curse thereby . but it is observd , that that brave prauncing courser , which hipparcha gives for her crest , being formerly so full of mettle , that he would scarce brooke bridle or saddle , hath beene so broken and brought low by her , that he will now very patiently take the bitt , and beare a pack-saddle or panniers , if need require , which they lay on him once every three yeares . the ivie , by the degrees aforesaid , being led by such another genius , it seemes , as the first nurserie of plants petropolis had , who varnishd all their attempts with a singular reverence to the gods , came from very small beginnings to a stupendious height . but there is one shrewd brand on it , that his greatest patron opened a way to the empire by a black way of perfidiousnesse and treason , in felling downe that cedar , which was his liege lord and master ; and to comply with the ivie , condescended to give him , among other benefits , petropolis for his court. ever since , the great arch-flamin hath wonderfully thriven : for proceeding to domineere over , and captivate the noblest part of the intellectuall creature , he assumd power to depose soveraigne princes , to dispose of their diademes , and to dispense with their subjects from all tyes of naturall obedience . and so liberall he hath beene , as to give away druina ( which he tearmd his inexhausted source ) once to the vine , another time to the olive ; but with this proviso , if they could conquer her : wherein they both soulely fayld , though they employd the utmost of their strength . and the ivie came to doe these feates by force and terror , a course very disagreeable to his calling : for the temporall and spirituall power should have an analogie with those two faculties of the soule , the will , and the vnderstanding : the will dealeth with the vnderstanding by way of power and peremptorie command , but the vnderstanding , after a sweet way of meekenesse , conducts the will by perswasions and strength of reason , and so leads him along in a golden chaine . he amusd the world , that the keyes which open and shut heaven , and let downe to hell , hang upon his branches ; the threats of his displeasure , came to be as dreadfull as thunderbolts : but of late yeares , they are found to be of a cleane contrarie qualitie : for the thunderbolt is observed to quash and crush those bodies , which with their toughnesse resist , but to spare those which are plyable and yeelding ; as oft times we finde the body of the tree crushd to flitters , when the bark is not touchd : but those fulminations which are darted from petropolis , are of a quite different nature ; for upon them that withstand and beare up against them , they are as thunderbolts fallen into the sea , forcelesse . and hereof the royall oke ( and some hold , that the right oke , being iove's tree , sacra iovi quercus , is exempt from the stroake of thunder ) made first proofe of , of any other soveraigne prince ; then the firre , the ash , with others , followed : and memorable is the answere which one of the royall firres made petropolis , when shee would have exacted a new pecuniarie dutie of him ; and it was this : that he had receiv'd life from his parents , the kingdome from his people , and religion from petropolis , which if petropolis desir'd , let her ' take it to her againe . moreover , this great arch-flamin amusd the world , that he was indued with the spirit of infallibilitie , that he was a speaking scripture ; so that , heresie was defind to be nothing else all the world over , then an opinion in holy things contrarie to his decision . and easie it was to induce the poplars to beleeve this , who were allowd no other bookes but images ; and taught besides , that ignorance was the mother of devotion ; and that in praying , god almightie would understand them well enough , though they did not understand themselves , nor the words wherein they prayed : and in such orisons , how is it possible that the heart and tongue should be relatives ? but strange it seemes to me , that he who is mounted to this high office , should be quite out of the reach of all error , ( for , commonly when one climbes very high , his head is subiect to turne ) considering , how grossely ignorant some of them were , that they understood not the language of the liturgie , considering also what prodigious vices reignd in some of them ; and vice , ignorance , and error are commonly individuall mates , ushering in one another . their owne secretarie , one that was best capable to know their intrinsique counsels , practises , and humours , hath left upon record , that some of them made way unto this more then humane dignitie , by murther , others by poyson , many by simonie , some by the sword , and one by tampring with ill spirits ; adulterie , incest , and blasphemie , have branded some of them ; fornication held a peccadillo , and pride became an inseparable companion to it : and one of the cunningst sleights of the devill , is , when he cannot fall one upon plaine ground , to lift him up with pride . which here grew so visible , that many beleeve the power of the ivie had beene long since at an end , had not the reputation and reverence the world beares to the humilitie and povertie of some innocent graffs , that creepe up in holy orders under him , borne out the scandall of his excesses : for it was plainely discovered , that whereas the owle was usd to build his nest in the ivie , superstition and error ( which are also birds of darknesse ) thrust him out , and tooke his roome . but of late yeares , that super-politique and irrefragable societie of the loyolists have proppd up the ivie ; so that all their consultations and studie tends to aggrandize him , to render him sole and supreme lord of all the earth : and , as for the spirituall power they would hoyse him up to be the onely head ; so for the temporall , they would also have one lord paramount . and because it is most probable , to bring that mightie worke to passe by the olive , in regard of his spacious dominions ; therefore , all their policie tends to exalt him : insomuch , that of late yeares it is observd , of what soyle soever a loyolist is , he is halfe factor for the olive . and when at the beginning of the tumults in leoncia , he was advisd to erect citadels and forts up and downe , to keepe under his subjects , one of his then greatest sages answerd , it would farre more secure the countrey , if the societies of the loyolists were multiplyed for their convents would serve for castles . profound clerks they are , and the chiefest court rabbies , and the closest sort of intelligencers ; for they have a way to scrue into the most inmost closets of princes , and to goe betweene the very bark and the tree ; though many times they prove earewigs and caterpillers to the tallest trees . nor doe they make their mercuries ex quolibet ligno ; for they never admit any blocks into their societie , but the best-timbred and choisest plants , which they reare up for such uses , as best sutes and goes along with the graine of their genius . and though it be against their canon , to receive money for almes ; yet wheresoever they plant , they presently grow up to an incredible encrease of wealth . these seraphicall fathers doe so under-value all other orders , that they have a saying : the church is the soule of the world , the clergie the soule of the church , and they the soule of the clergie . amongst other points petropolis holds , and these loyolists with their maine policie labour to uphold , one is , that whosoever they be , though they have the same primitive symbole and substance of faith with her ; yet if they grow not within her inclosure , they are no other then logges ordaind for hell-fire . which opinion , though it carry with it an hot kind of zeale , it hath little charitie , i am sure , with it : for , besides those myriads of plants which grow up , and fall , under the oke , the firre , the ash , and the willowes , and are thick set with petropolitans in rhenusium and ampelona , with sundry other forrests , which have long since shaken off the still-encroaching ivie ; that vast tract of earth which volgania containes , and those numberlesse multitudes which are up and downe alcarona ; nay , those which are in and about the holyest of cities , with that immense region , which some hold to extend from one tropique to the other , lorded over by iochan belul , who tearmes himselfe also the head of the church , and touchstone of sacred truth , and tree of knowledge , &c. ( whom that great clerke , and late corrector of times , would have to beare another name , but wrongfully ) i say , that huge territorie , which this great monarch , with his abuna , doth possesse ; since all these beare the generall character of christians , and have the grounds and exercise of the rites of true pietie , though in divers formes , it is an hard censure , to judge that they are nought else but brushwood , prepard for eternall flames , and utterly incapable to be made timber for the inlarging of the court of heaven : but i beleeve this tenet proceeds from a kind of policie , to serve onely for terror . let none mistake me , as if , while i treat of trees , i should goe about to make poysond arrowes of them , to dart at petropolis : no ; i reverence her from my very soule , for the first ancient mother church : but it hath beene the practice of the common enemie , that where truth erecteth her church , he helpes error to reare up a chappell hard by . i firmely subscribe , and submit my selfe to whatsoever was ordaind and acted in her , the first foure centurie of yeares ; for , nothing makes more for the confirmation of my faith , then her doctrine and practise then . for in those ages , a great many of her blessed arch-flamins creeping lowly upon the ground , yeelded themselves to be made bonefires , for the maintenance of truth ; and out of their ashes , sprung up more and more innumerable holy plants , which did wonderfully propagate , and they were all indued with the vertue of the palme ; the more they were oppressd and overset with the weight of persecution , the faster , stronger , and streighter they grew up . in those dayes , the light of divine knowledge did streame from petropolis , in beames of innocencie , simplenesse , and humilitie ; but afterwards ( helas ) it came to be offuscated and halfe choakd up with fogges of humane fancies . some presume to affirme , that if the almightie would assume a visible externe shape , it should be compounded of light and truth , they are so essentiall unto him : petropolis was once adornd with both these ; but long since , the one hath beene shrewdly dimmd , the other depravd , though neither quite extinguishd ( as some affirme in her . ) so that i beleeve druina had never forsaken petropolis , had petropolis stood firme to her selfe , and not swervd from her first grounds . but i find , that all the devices and crochets of new inventions which crept into her , tended either to enrich or enlarge the ivie . the barke of the prime apostle was imployed to pyracie , and his keyes to unlock the treasuries of princes ; and where they could not doe , the sword should breake them open . but for his imaginarie exchequer , wherein were hoorded the redundancie of good workes , nothing must open that , but keyes of massie gold ; arguments were turnd to armes , and miters to helmets : which made the world , in stead of being rectified , to run headlong into strange obliquities of schisme and confusion . as much , if not more affiance and conceit of comfort began to be had in them , who once were sinners , and but yet supposed saints , then in the saviour himselfe : vowes and orisons were made to them , that knew nothing of the heart ; and amongst such a number of pettie deities , god was halfe forgotten . dignities in heaven , were disposd of on earth ; and to one of their moderne saints , that place is given , which lucifer lost . and the blessedst of mortall wights , that ever breathd the ayre of this lower region , now questionlesse the highest saint in the celestiall hierarchie , began to be so impertinently importund , that a great part of divine liturgie was addressd solely to her , in such a way that she questionlesse detests . they came so farre in this point , that to make a perfect salve for a sick soule , they held there must be a mixture and compound made of milke and bloud , and that they are both of equall vertue . traditions and the ivies decretalls were made of equall force , and as authenticall as the sacred charter it selfe , and as much obliging the conscience ; and his commands observd with more terror , then those which were delivered by the voice of the almightie , in thunder and lightning . it came to passe , that it grew a common thing , for one to plant a tree , and with one part to heat his oven , with the other to roast his meat , and to make his god of the third . and whereas at the beginning , man was made after gods image , which must be understood of the interne graces of the soule , it grew a common practise , to make god after mans image in externe grosse corporeall shapes , whereas the incomprehensible majestie of the almighty can neither bee circumscribd in place , nor represented in picture , but darkely describd by an aggregation of his attributes . and whereas hee being a spirit ought to bee servd in spirit , and chiefely with interne worship , and ingraven onely in the tables of the heart , most of his service came now to bee externe in shewes and representations , his temples being filled with certaine kindes of antique faces and great puppets in every corner ; so that petropolis became ( as a little after her first foundation she was ) a meere grove of idolls . moreover the minde was caried away with such a fond conceipt , that heaven , and that eternall weight of glory which is reserved there for the blessed , might be over-merited by surplusage of works ; whereas there was never any proportion yet twixt infinity and things finite ; nor was this earth ever held but an indivisible point , and a thing of no dimension at all in respect of the heavens ; and there should be alwayes a kind of proportion twixt the worke and the reward . thus they thought to climbe up to heaven , upon the tree of their owne merits , whereas they should have observed that the publican was bid to come downe the tree , before grace could descend upon him . after this unlucky brood of errors , there crept in odde philosophicall subtilties , and forc'd termes of art , which did much puzzle sacred theologie , and threw as it were dirt in her face , with their classicall distinctions , cavills , quiddities , and so transformd her to a meere kinde of sophistry and logomachy . yet all this cannot deprive petropolis of the character of a true church , ( i cannot say adverbially true ( and god is a lover of adverbs ) she still hath the essentiall grounds , with the externe profession and exercise of saving knowledge . though tares repullulat , there is wheate still left in the field , the foundation is good , though some odde superstructures have been raisd upon the first story ; and he that pries into her with impartiall eyes , will find that shee is not so corrupt in her positions , as in her practise , for many who have beene allured by her bookes , have beene averted againe by her churches , and the sight of her ceremonies , and antique formes , which in some places are such , that whereas divinity should goe clad like a grave venerable matron , shee may bee sayd to bee accoutred rather like a courtisane . but some there are who doe prosecute petropolis with such a blacke irreconcileable malice , that whatsoever hath beene once practised in her , though arbitrary and indifferent in it selfe , tending happily to decency and externe ornament onely , they hold it to be flat idolatry ; they thinke they can never fly farre enough from her , whereby many of them striving to fly from superstition fall into flat prophanesse , holding this hatred of petropolis to bee a poynt of holinesse ; so that they may bee sayd to hate her religion rather , then the corruption which depraves it ; nay such is their malignancy in this kind , that it extends to the very inanimat creatures of stone , wood and glasse , so farre , that had they their wills , there should not a roofe , wall or window stand which was once consecrated by petropolis . and he was well servd for his blind zeale , who going to cut downe an ancient white hauthorne-tree , which because she budded before others , might bee an occasion of superstition , had some of the prickles flew into his eye , and made him monocular . yet for all the specious fruits of sanctity these dotard trees outwardly beare , they are found commonly rotten at the heart , they are like putrified wood shinining in the darke ; and their fruit like that which is sayd to growe hard by the sodomitique lake , fayre and goodly without , but hanled , crumbleth to ashes ; so injurious they are to prayer ( being the very marrow into which the soule melts in her dovotion to heaven ) that the would thrust her out of her owne house ( the temple ) at least give her a small roome that may be ( unlesse she prove the extemporall issue of their owne shallow braines ) harrowed over with such impertinent tautologies , and bold expostulations . such a deadly feud they have to hierarchy and degrees in holy functions , that they account those high luminaries which from all times have beene appoynted for the guidance and goverment of the church , to be nought else but comets , and ill boding starres . in their conventicles they doe commonly bella cum personis magis , quàm peccatis gerere . seldome doe they give their flockes any milke , but strong meates ; they still thunder out lighning and tempest , and the dreadfull curses of the law , which must needs whoorry many a poore conscience upon dangerous rocks , and doubts , and fits of despaire , and seldome do they apply the sweet , and soule-solacing lenitiffs of the gospell , wherewith the corresives of the law should be tempered , whence it may be inferd , that they thinke oftner of hell then heaven . adde hereunto , that some of these great santons will not stick to expound the sacred text , upon the warrant of their owne private spirits , as if god almightie appeard to them out of a bush ; but hereby they usually worke themselves into some odde illumination of an egregious dotage : for they should learne , that in holy things , he that strikes upon the anvill of his owne braine , is in danger to have the sparkles flye into his face , which must needes dazzle him : nor is he unlike him , who layeth together hot burning coales with his naked fingers , in stead of a paire of tongs . i could wish , that these sciolous zelotists had more iudgement joynd with their zeale , that they would not runne away so farre from their text ; it were well , that they would suffer reason to perswade them , before she invades them , as commonly in argument shee doth : that they had more of the spirit of conformitie and obedience , to the constitutions and commands of lawfull authoritie ; which commonly every ignorant and shallow mechanique spirit amongst them , will presume to censure or demurre upon , and upon every triviall cavill rayse clamours . as in itelia , where these fanatique spirits most swarme , not long agoe two of their greatest clerks kept a mightie adoe , whether aarons ephod was of sea-greene , or sky-colour : and this disturbd a while the whole assembly , there being hot abetters on both sides . and indeed , these obstreperous sceptiques are the greatest bane of divinitie , who are so full of the spirit of contradiction , that they raise daylie new disputes , and multiplie controversies , so that they are almost without number . and if the loyolists on the one side , and they on the other were quite grubd vp ( for they are but brambles in the lords vinyard ) or cut downe ( and there is a strong warrant that every tree which beareth not good fruit should be cut downe ) or that they were sent to plant in vtopia , it were no great matter . for with their extremes they blow the bellowes , and are the common incendiaries of all combustions wheresoever they come ; for the one , they have it from their first planter who had beene of the profession of bloud ; therefore they would propagat pietie as alcharona doth hers , with the sword , and so make religion to bee gladij pedissequa , and which is worse , the mantle , to palliat all their designes , so that if one should prie narrowly into the carriage of their actions , it would put him in mind of that damnable tenet of the atheist , in nomine domini fit omne malum . and betweene these two , the westerne church , yea , faith her selfe , that sacred ladie , doth suffer as twixt two malefactors , the one disturbing her peace , the other depraving her doctrine ; but the time will come that they shall be both crushed to peeces , on both sides , and not a bone of hers broken . but nothing is so naturall to the humane creature , and which he longs after , and delights in more , then novelty and change , yea in holy things ; and as long as hee is compounded of the foure elements , whose very being consists in mutabilitie , his braine must still fluctuate with new fancies ; as long as there are diversitie of climes , whence the celestiall bodies send downe their influences , and make impressions upon the mind in different degrees of temper , there must be various idea's and conceptions of the deity , as well as of all other things ; and as time doth worke a revolution in it selfe , so it doth in all sublunary matters ; we grow weary of old things , of morall and politique lawes , of the most exact and regularst languages , of outward habits , yea the inward habitudes are subject to this ; nay religion her selfe is not exempt , but like the moone hath eclipses , changes and spots ; but as some astronomers affirme those specks which are discerned in the body of the moone to be causd , by the shadowy reflections of rocks & mountaines which are upon the surface of the earth ; so the swelling vaine conceipts , that arise , and puffe up the mind , are the causes of such blemishes in religion . an undenyable principle it is , that there is but one truth , and one tracke which leadeth to the right notion of the almighty : and certainely hee being a spirit and the most simple of essences , they approach nearest this track , who serve him , as i sayd before , in spirit and simplicity of thoughts , with the least mixture of externe rights and humane inventions : for as in heraldry , t is held a rule , that the plainer the coat of armes is , the more ancient it is : so in the blazon of true religion , the more simple and plaine the forme is , ( yet i alwayes presuppose decencie ) the nearer it comes to the old primitive times . therefore , that religion which hath least of the outward object , to avoyd all occasions of idolatrie , but worships the god-head by a speculative act of the vnderstanding , and goeth directly to himselfe : that religion which derogates from the creature , and ascribes most glory to the creator : that which transferres not his honour , ( whereof he is most jealous ) or mis-applyeth it to any other : that which makes the poore peccant soule relye onely upon the riches of his mercie , and so by a necessarie recourse to enbosome and endeare her selfe unto him ; that religion surely is most agreeable to the invisible and omniscious god. and my heart trembleth , when i thinke how few there are of this , upon the surface of the earth : for , as one who had conversd farre and neere with the citizens of the world , doth avouch , if the globe of the earth were divided into thirtie parts , they would hardly make up three parts of thirtie . but whither am i thus transported ? i hope to be dispensd withall , for the qualitie of the subject , which is the unum necessarium , which made me dwell so long upon it . i should now post back to druina ; but that before i part with bombycina , i must needs salute the amorous myrtle ( and her metropolis adriana ) in regard she hath beene alwayes a true confederate to the royall oke . a character of adriana . and here behold a thing of wonder , adriana sited upon an assembly of islands , in the very jawes of neptune : where being planted at the very first a christian ( a prerogative she worthily vaunts of above all other ) she hath continued a virgin ever since , neere upon twelve long ages , under the same forme and face of government , without any visible token , or least wrinckle of old age. the great arch-flamin espousd her once to neptune ; and a prophecie there is , that she shall continue a virgin , untill he forsakes her : and he , of late yeares , is observd to shrinke , and grow weaker about her , as if she had made him over-labour himselfe too much upon her . and it is well knowne , no place swimmes more in all manner of wanton pleasure ; witnesse those multitudes of medlars which make their beds , and are permitted to grow about the myrtle , for which she is so much spoken of all the world over . most renowned adriana hath beene , for brave exploits up and downe the world , having wrestled with the greatest of earthly potentates ; she re-establishd the easterne cedar more then once , in his throne ; she restord the ivie twice in his holy seat , being chasd out of petropolis : which made the great arch-flamin of late yeares to be foulely taxd of a kind of ingratitude , in offering to cause her armories to be defacd in his court , having so well deservd of him : but it is thought , since she expelld the loyolists out of her territories , petropolis hath still a grudge to her , which lyeth yet indigested , and is in her like lees in the bottome of a tub of wine , which at the least stirring of the vessell is readie to rise up . by the charter of her saint , she is to have in her arsenall as many warlike vessels , as there be dayes in the yeare ; and in the summer season , as many in course as there be houres in the naturall day , to scoure three hundred miles of sea , whereof she is protectresse . and some kind of vessels she hath , which knew not how to be beaten , untill of late yeares that top of druina's cavaliers ( one that hath spirit enough to actuate that goodly tall bulke ) receiving from them some affronts , met with them handsomely , and bangd them to good purpose . in that dangerous league , when most of the occidentall potentates were banded against her , and in a manner conspird to sinke her , shee bore up above water , against them all . but her custome hath beene , to piece the lyons skinne with a fox tayle , and so to supply the weakenesse of force , by wilinesse of art , and advantage of treatie . and it is well knowne , how the myrtle hath taught the willowes of late yeares part of her cunning ; betweene whom , there is an irrefragable confederacie , to bayt elaiana , and stoppe the further growth of the olive . amongst other things , adriana is much cryed up for , her rich treasure is one , which elaiana hath often attempted to exhaust : and one of her embassadours desiring on a time to see it , seemd to slight it , in comparison of his great masters treasure , which is perpetually growing , and hath no bottome , as that had : which made one say , that adriana , in relation to the foure elements , hath her citie in water , her treasure in the ayre , her vertue in fire , which makes the earth so to flye away from her . true it is , that of late yeares the myrtle hath beene at a stand , in improving the treasure of her saint , since elaiana hath crossd the equinoctiall , and found out a track by sea to levantina ; whence adriana did use to receive , not farre from her owne home , and dispense through all the westerne world , those aromatique and daintie fruits the indian trees affoord : but she gives out , that the losse of that trade is recompenc'd , by certaine singular immunities she hath through some of the dominions of alcarona : so that of late yeares she is shrewdly suspected to be a concubine to the huge bramble , who hath often loppd her myrtle , and cut off the onely regall branch she had : and against him it must be confessd , shee is the greatest rampart , and best securitie all the westerne princes have any where by sea. thus the myrtle flourisheth still : and truly , a rare and wonderfull thing it is , that for so long a tract of time , considering the violent stormes that have shaken her so often , she should still continue fresh , and without warping , or any considerable change , or the least symptome of old age , as i sayd before . whereas other politicall bodies , of a farre greater bulk , have met with their grand climacterique , and receiv'd changes , in a farre shorter revolution of time. for politicall bodies , as well as naturall , have their degrees of age , declinings and periods ; which i cannot so properly tearme periods , as successions or vicissitudes . common-weales have often turnd to kingdomes , and realmes have beene cut out into republiques ; the ruine of one , being still the raysing of the other ; as one foot cannot be lifted up , till the other be downe : witnesse those foure mightie monarchies , which were as spokes upon fortunes wheele , or as so many nayles driving out one another . and so is it also in naturall bodies ; the corruption of one , is still the generation of another : so that , it seemes , nature hath her wheele also , as well as fortune ; and these changes and chances , tend to preserve the whole from decaying . so , that the opinion of that adrianian , since much enrichd by a learned druinian , is farre from deserving to be exploded for a paradox , viz. that the vniverse doth not decay or impaire at all in the whole , but in its individuals and parts . for , as the preservation of the world , is a continuall production ; so in this production , as i sayd before , the corruption of one , fore-runnes the generation of another : therefore , to beare up the whole , if there be a decay in one place , 't is recompencd in some other : so that one may say , nature danceth in a circle , and by this circulation , preserves the visible world. the meteorologists observe , that amongst the foure elements , which are the ingredients of all sublunarie creatures , there is a notable kind of correspondencie : the fire , by condensation looseth to the aire ; the aire , by rare-faction looseth to the fire ; water attenuated , becomes aire ; aire thickned , becomes water ; the earth , by secret conveyances , le ts in the sea , and sends it back fresh ; her bowels serving , as it were , for a lymbique . so that wee see hereby , there is a punctuall retribution , and a kind of mutuall compensation betweene them , which , doubtlesse , tends to the propagation and encrease of all compounded bodies ; amongst which , there is also a perpetuall and restlesse succession of individuals , to keepe the whole from fayling . for , as a shippe ( as one made a very apposite comparison ) riding at anchor , tosseth and tumbleth up and downe perpetually , yet cannot goe beyond the length of the cable to which shee is tyed , and so in this turbulent motion sheweth a constancie : so is it with the vniverse , wherein all things hang by the plummets of providence . therefore , i cannot subscribe to their speculation , that thinke the world hath beene long since in a hectique feaver , and so drawing on to a consumption : that neither vegetable , sensitive , nor rationall creatures , are in that height of perfection , as in former times : that vertue shines not with so strong a lustre : that invention is farre shallower , and age shorter : that the moderne world , compard with the ancient , is as a dwarfe upon a gyants shoulders , or as noone shadowes compard to the mornings . i must confesse , antiquitie is venerable ; which makes us extenuate things present , and extoll things passd , and make it still the burden of our song , vvell fare the old times ; implying thereby , a palpable decay or dotage in all things . yet we find , that the two great luminaries of heaven , and the rest of the celestiall bodies , have still the same vertue and operation , without the least imaginarie diminution ; all elementarie bodies receive vigour and strength from their influence . therefore i doe not see , how the present can be so farre inferiour , in point of perfection , to them of former ages , considering the virtuall causes remaine still in the same strength : and as for invention , wisedome , and learning , i doe not see , but the second thoughts of latter ages , may be as wise as those of elder times . i know , the time must come , that heaven and earth shall passe away , and that there will be a finall dissolution , though no annihilation of the matter , but a destruction of the old forme , and introduction of a new. and of late yeares , some would be so foole-hardie , as to presume to be more of the cabinet counsell of god almightie , then the angels themselves , ( by whose ministerie , some say , he created the world ) as to point at the precise time of this dissolution : amongst other arguments , they fetch downe one from heaven it selfe ; which is , that the polar starre , which is in the tayle of the lesser beare , was in ptolomey's time twelve degrees from the pole of the equator ; this starre hath insensibly still crept nearer the pole , so that now 't is but three degrees off , when it comes to touch or make the nearest approach that can be to the pole , which may well come to passe in 500 yeares ; nature her selfe , they say , must expire , or some notable period . but i have beene carryed away too farre by this speculation , causd by adriana ; which , of any politicall body , may be producd for an instance , against a generall decay , and impairing of the moderne world : though some , which repine at the myrtles prosperitie , say , that those stout and ventrous trees , wherewith she was usd to be fencd , are lately degenerated ( in point of valour ) to weake reeds , for their pusillanimitie , and too much caution , when they come to any warlike encounter . and now it is high time for me to shake hands with adriana , and bombycina also ; whereof i must not forget to tell you , that the olive now occupyeth foure parts of seven , if she were so divided : and to his greatnesse , and the apprehension of feares and jealousies they have , that he would fish in troubled waters , may be ascribd the concord and calme of bombycina's princes ; who , as once the mice would have hung a bell at the cats neck , but after consultation , could not agree who should venture first to put it on ; would plot something still against the olive . adde hereunto , that besides this peace , there is plentie of treasure , that comes to bombycina by the olive , who makes one of her proudest cities his scale , for remitting his moneyes to leoncia : but that citie , in respect of him , may be sayd to be as a partridge under a faulcons wings ; who can seize upon her at pleasure , but doth not , for politique respects . bombycina was usd to be most under the mulberry , the wisest of all trees ; for , he never puts forth his buds , till all the cold weather be passd : and so indeed , the plants bombycina produceth , are accounted the wisest , politiquest , and most reserved and cautious of all other . 't is a rule amongst them : that he cannot be essentially wise , who openeth all the boxes of his brest to any . they are , for the most part , of a speculative complexion ; and he is accounted little lesse then a foole , who is not melancholy once a day . they are onely bountifull to their betters , from whom they hope to receive a greater benefit : to others , the purse is closest shut , when the mouth opens widest ; nor are you like to get a piece of cake there , unlesse yours be knowne to be in the oven . yet are they the greatest embracers of pleasure , of any other upon earth ; and they esteeme of pearles as pebbles , so they may satisfie their gust , in point of pleasure or revenge . here you shall find love and hatred , vertue and vice , atheisme and religion , in their extremes ; for the greatest wits depravd , are the most dangerous ; corruptio optimi , est pessima : yet the character one lately gave of them , seemes to savour too much of the satyre : viz. that the bombycinian is unnaturall in his lust , irreconcilable in his hatred , and unfoordable in his thoughts ; that with one breath , hee bloweth hot and cold ; and to compasse his owne ends , he will light a candle to the devill . i know , there is no countrey , without her nick. as ampelona , to be a great bedlam . bombycina , a great bordell . rhenusium , a huge brew-house . elaiana , natures sweating-tub . druina , a stage of mimiques . lurana , a fripperie of bankrupts . monticolia , a conventicle of hills . cardenia , the vrinall of the planets . and itelia , the suburbs of hell , being situated lowest of any other upon the earthly globe . for my owne particular , were i to associate with a stranger , i would single out a bombycinian before any other , for my conversation : for , of those twelve severall sorts of forreners i have had occasion to converse withall , i never knew any yet symbolizing so much with them of druina , or complying more with their humour . of the arrivall of prince altapinvs in drvina . bvt it is high time for mee to returne now to my rhenusian prince altapinus , newly arrivd in druina upon a high designe of love , and no lesse then to the fairest branch of the royall oke , that mirror of all perfections ; the itelians and the old fox of ardennes , with druinas greatest arch-flamin , did mainely advance the worke , together with the princely orenge , and the willowes ; but the royall firre of elatena , and that great queene from which she sprang , gave but cold consent thereunto , and it was thought it lessened some part of her naturall affection towards her ever after . yet altapinus was admitted a suitor , and as he was in hot pursuite of this brave attempt of love , behold a most mournefull accident of fate intervenes ; the fall of that brave standell , which should have immediatly succeeded the royall oke , in all his dominions ; this strucke an earthquake into all hearts for the present , which were affected with various passions of griefe , feare , amazement , and darke suspitions , that in regard his fall was so immature and sudden , it could not bee without some sinister practise of violent meanes , nor can some bee wean'd from that conceit to this day , imputing the cause of it to a precocitie of spirit and valour in him , and that therefore some infectious southerne aire did blast him . but this is certaine that there was intelligence of it in elaianas court amongst the luranian loyolists a prety while before his fall . this incomparable prince was so lamented , that all kind of trees throughout the whole forrest hung downe their heads , and seemd to be turnd to cypresses for the time , which being expird , the nuptialls of prince altapinus were consummated , and when the conjugall knot was a tying , the princely bride was observd to bee possessd with a sudden apprehension and eruptions of joy , which as the iron decree of fate would have it , turnd after into many pangs , god wot , of anguish and sorrow . for being but a few yeares settled in rhenusium , during which time all the neighbouring princes envied their high felicity ; behold the cedar , by the instigation of the loyolists , fell out with the homebians who had elected him to be their king , provided that he would keepe their priviledges inviolable , but they alleadging hee had infringed them , they would continue no longer under the shelter of his boughs , but shooke him off , tore his seales , and resumd liberty to choose another king. hereupon they made a proffer of their crowne ( i cannot say it was the mayden proffer ) to pr : altapinus , who consulting upon it , though not so maturely , as the disastrous events shewd afterwards , accepted it . many there were which animated him thereunto , and amongst other motives of incitement they usd , one was , that if he had courage enough to adventure upon the fairest branch , and sole of that kind of druinas royall oke , he might very well venture upon a crowne when it was tendred him . thus he went triumphantly to homebia where hee was inaugurated and crown'd king with many high expressions of joy and triumph . about these times behold a fatall torch appeared in the heavens , placed there by the great architect of the world , to forewarne mortals of their miseries , and the direfullst effects it produc'd were under that clime : those blazing lampes which in this latter age had appeared in the asterismes of cassiopaeia , the serpent and swan brought not forth such horrid events as this in the virgin signe . it were to digresse from the scope of this discourse , to make disquisition whether these unusuall lights be hospites or indigenae , new-come guests or old inhabitants in heaven , or whether they bee meere meteorologicall impressions not transcending the upper region , or whether to bee rank'd amongst celestiall bodies ; i leave the indagation of this high cause to the disciples of iohannes de sacro bosco of iohn of holy bush , it being not the subject of my trees at this time . but these hairie lampes have beene noted to have been alwaies the fatall vshers of calamity and alterations in states ; and as upon earth prodigious births portend no good , so these new engendred monsters above , point alwaies at some sad events to follow , either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , warres , pestilence , or famine , all which have most miserably rag'd through poore rhenusium ever since , and cease not to this very houre ; and that with such fury , that in many places the bed cannot priviledge the sick , nor the cradle the suckling , nor the great belly the embryo , nor the tribunall the magistrate , nor the altar the priest : the chiefe grounds of all which , was imputed to this revolt of the homebians , from the cedar . for the heavens bright eye had scarce run one whole carreere through the zodiake , but towards that season of greatest mirth throughout the whole yeare , the cedar had capitulated with the elder , ( who from that time forward fell sicke of the gall , ( a disease incident to old trees ) against altapinus , though he was the principall branch of his stock ) to muster up certaine military forces to his use , for the expence of which service he engag'd part of his country to him , with which forces , though fewer in number , and tyred with long marches , he suddenly assailed altapinus his royall army , and got the day . the elder pursued his victory to the very walls , where altapinus with the princely carbasilis raignd , and being surpriz'd were constrain'd to flye in confusd manner with halfe bag and baggage . thus the inconstant goddesse turnd her wheele about , and for this shadowy crown made him loose the substance , viz. his princely inheritance , the brave territories of baccharia . some there are which thought it much that altapinus appeard not himselfe in the field , the day of this battaile , in regard his newly worne crowne stood upon the fortune of it ; and that having good store of treasure in cash hee suffered his souldiers to bee heartlesse , and ready to mutiny for pay , most of that treasure falling afterwards a bootie to the enemy . the infortunate altapinus traversing up and down rhenusium came at last with the princely carbasilis to itelia , where the martiall orenge well-comd her with high demonstrations of joy , and his first congratulation was , that if she had beene the masculine plant , homebias crowne had never beene lost so slightly . and good reason they had to be welcome to itelia , for it is more than conjecturd , that t' was she who put prince altapinus upon this fatall enterprise to advance her owne ends . for the truce with elaiana being then upon point of expiring , she had no hope to draw druinas monarke , whose genius was so strongly bent for peace , but by these meanes , into military engagements , that so part of elaianas strength might fall upon him : but itelia reckond without her host in this point . for the first tydings being brought him of that undertaking , hee calls his sages together , and in a profound sence of sorrow , and a kind of propheticke spirit ( and the oke of all other trees is only fatidicall ) told them , what a fearefull infortunate businesse this would prove ; and that the youngest there amongst them should not see the end of it ; which by sad experience hath provd too true , & yet continueth . moreover he was usd to say that the homebians made use of altapinus , as the fox did of the catts foot to pull the apple out of the fire for his own eating : and from that day to his last , he disavowed the act , nor would he affoord altapinus the title of king , alleadging that it would bee a dangerous president to justifie the tumultuary uprisings of subjects in that kind against their king. and as this disastrous businesse begun with an ominous comett , so there hath an ill planett , hung over it ever since , for scarce any enterprise hath prosperd in the procedure of it , but one calamity still usherd in another . finis unius mali , gradus est futuri . as if some ill-boding mandrake had beene found out , and grubd up in baccharia , at the beginning of this fatall undertaking . the cedar having thus debelld the homebians , to are the labells of most of their ancient lawes , made new ordinances , and put some of them to exquisite torments , pretending that , that crowne belongd no more to him by election , but that he was their proprietary liege lord by conquest . nor did he hold this to be an equall reparation for the indignity he had received by altapinus , but made his recourse to his nephew the olive , whom he partly intreated as being the strongest of his stocke ( and therefore should be sensible of the affront ) and partly summond him as being prince of the rhenusian empire , and holding leoncia and other territories in homage of him , to assist him with some auxiliary forces , to vindicat this high disgrace , which was done him by altapinus . hereupon the olive lent him his great captaine the thorne , with the flower of his forces in leoncia , who shortly after invaded baccharia ( altapinus his ancient patrimony , and carbafilis joynture ) whereof hee impatronizd himselfe without scarce one stroake given ; though at that time the princes that were his confederates , had in a ready martiall equipage twise the number the thorne had : but it seemes they all prov'd stupid unweldy blockes , and they colourd their cowardise with some presumptions they had , that dolus versabatur in generali ; that their chiefe leader was corrupted before hand with elaianas gold . thus that great body of logges disbanded in part , yet some kept still together , as shall bee said hereafter . the cedar upon this new acquest , disingag'd his owne territory that he had transmitted to the elder , and gave him part of baccharia for caution for his disbursments ; and to the olive he transferrd the tenablest and strongest places there to hold them as commissary under him . while these feates were a doing in rhenusium , a hardy cavalier , as hee hath given notable proofes both at sea and shoare , was sent from druina against the timauranians at the request of the royall olive , and this was done by the negotiation of mordogan that notable engin of policy ; and it was done of purpose , as it appeard afterwards , to weaken and divert the strength of druina , while the thorne invaded , and seizd upon baccharia . this cavalier complaind he was sent to fight with his armes tied behinde him , for his commission being so strict ( and strength without commission sufficient , is like a match without fire ) that could not meddle with any thing upon the land , elaiana also failing of that kind of supply shee had promisd to joyne to his , hee could not doe those exploits which might have bin atchievd with such a power ; yet his attempt before galeri was brave , had the heavens continued propitious , and to speake the truth of any publike expedition , druina made abroad ever since , this redounded least to her prejudice ; for he met with no passive encounter , at all , but was master of the sea , and securd traficke all the while ; but as the foresaid attempt in galeri roade for fyring all kinde of bottomes wherein ( her offensive strength only consists ) was prevented and dash'd , by sudden still perpendicular cataracts of raine : so an age since when that restlesse martialist elaianas king and emperour had an enterprise to destroy galeri , being in sight of shoare , with a most powerfull fleet , one of her flamins went upon a rocke hard by , and after some kind of exorcising speeches and postures , he tooke a long white wand , and strooke the waves thrise , and going thereupon to the towne , hee encouraged the inhabitants thereof with notable exaggerations of confidence , that they should be of good cheere , for before night there should be elaianians in galeri market as cheape as birds . hereupon the heavens did suddenly change hue , and a most fearefull tempest fell , in so much that the emperour himselfe escaped with extreme difficulty ; and it fell true that his souldiers were sold by multitudes in galeri's bannier towards the evening a little after the shipwracke . i will not presume to pry into the secrets of the almighty disposer of all things whose hand-mayd nature is , how farre hee lets loose the reines to the ill spirit of the ayre , to cause such sudden impressions upon the elements , whereof there are daily wonderfull examples amongst this crue of corsaries . i know philosophy and strength of art can doe much , and by connexion of naturall agents and patients fittly applied can produce such effects that may seeme admirable to those that know not the cause ; but for these extemporall meteors , i beleeve it is beyond the reach of humane skill , unlesse the ill spirit hath a hand in it . but what a foule shame is it , that one base nest of picaroons should confront and dayly damnifie all the westerne world ? vnlesse the dishonour thereof be recompencd with this advantage , that the voyaging merchant sayles with stronger and better-built vessels , which may serve the publique upon occasion of warres . these times were very fatall to favourites , both in elaiana , druina , and ampelona . in elaiana , that ancient elme , which bore up that spacious monarchie like another atlas , and servd as a mightie prop to the olive , and did what he would in petropolis for so many yeares , was removd from the helme : but fore-seeing the storme which was like to fall upon him from the secular power , hee wisely transformd himselfe into an yew ; and 't is well knowne , what high prerogatives the yews have in elaiana . his eldest graff succeeded him a while in royall favour ; but he quickly fell , by the malignancie of great ones ; the apprehension whereof , sunke so deepe into him , that it brought him to his last end . his brave old sire hearing that , sent him word a little before his fall ; that he understood he was dying like a foole ( of meere conceit ; ) for his owne part , he feard no other enemies , but his yeares . in druina also , that high-growne tree , which had been long fosterd under the indulgent branches of the royall oke , became enamord with the faire consort of one of the noblest elmes in the whole forrest ; who having continued some yeares fruitlesse , and fearing a perpetuall barrennesse with him , articled against his frigiditie , and so pleaded for a divorce : he perceiving majestie to appeare in it , made but cold opposition . hereupon it was referrd to the reverend yews , to determine ; and amongst them , some gave their suffrage for a nullitie . a discreet confident of that great tree , ( which came from a low plant to be so eminent ) dissuading him from ingraffing upon anothers right , was taken as a block out of the way , clapd in prison , and afterwards made away by poyson . hereupon he , with his new consort , being after an exact scrutinie , found by the sages of the law to be privie to this black act , were adjudgd to be struck off by the stroake of iustice : but by the clemencie of the royall oke ( who never quite forsooke any whom he once favourd ) they were still permitted to live ; but for ever removd , from being any more so neere , under the shadow of his pure and vice-detesting boughs . and as in naturall privations , there is no recession to habit , so is it commonly in the favour of princes ; whence if one fall , he is never re-admitted into that fullnesse and strength of confidence and grace . but the inferiour instruments in this black act , sufferd : which gave occasion to some critiques abroad , to compare druina's lawes to them of solons , that were like cobwebs , through which great flyes broke out , while the small ones were intangled . nor did the first act of this , doe any good to the honour of the civill lawes of druina . yet a notable piece of exemplarie iustice was acted upon the guardian of druina's prime fortresse ; who being found onely privie to some of these passages , was doomd to death , to the terror of others , for betraying that high trust that belongs to that office : and his death was the more remarkable , because he confess'd , that heavens just judgement was fallen upon him ; in regard , that to restraine himselfe from gaming , whereunto he was excessively addicted , he made a solemne vow , ( which he often broke afterwards ) that if he played any more , above such a value , he might suffer upon such a fatal tree . that nimble eirenarch ( so cryed up by reports ) who then stood at the helme of the law , wherein he was so active , that druina's monarch was usd to say , he was like a cat throw him which way you would , he would light on his feet : this iusticer proceeded with that acrimonie to cut downe this ( now pittied ) great tree , with his high-descended mate , and others , that of their sprigs he made a rod for himselfe ; for ever after , he went alwayes declining : which some held to be a deserved judgement upon him , in regard he was often observd to insult upon miserie , and to loose a life sooner then a ieast , when he sat upon the tribunall of iustice. in ampelona also , about this conjuncture of time , a politique plant of bombicina's growth , being by the favour of that stately tree , out of which the now regnant vine sprouted forth , made to over-top all the rest of the noble and princely elmes in that forrest , was at the gate of the royall court suddenly felld , draggd up and downe , his privatst parts lopp'd off , miserably chopp'd , and the remainder of his body reducd to ashes , whereof part was hurld into the ayre , part into the water , to extinguish the very memorie of him . while this tragique act was a perpetrating , the generall crie about him , was vivat rex : whereby was fulfilld the prediction of a wizard , with whom he had tampred not long before , touching the course of his fortunes ; who told him , that in short time they should be such , that he should be carryed about the streets of tutelia with such a publique acclamation of joy . his consort , an enchantresse , as some would have her , ranne the same destinie : but that which made the world speake of it the more , was , that after he had been thus , as a man would thinke , quite extinguishd , his processe was formed ; whereby he was found guiltie of nought else , that i could learne , which was actionable , but of ambition , which like the crocodile , never leaves growing ; and that being an exotique plant , he went about to take too deepe rooting in ampelona . the procedure of this businesse seemd very strange to the world , that the royall vine , having alreadie assumd the character of iust , should give way , that such a horrid tragedie should be acted in his owne royall palace , ( for palaces of kings should be sanctuaries ) and that the delinquent was not proceeded against , by legall forme of law , till after this violent death , which preceded the sentence of condemnation ? he that succeeded him in favour , did suddenly make such a flight , that from vulgar shrubs , he made himselfe , and two more which were nearest to him in stock , to be rankd amongst the tallest elmes in ampelona : yet he fell also by a kind of fatall destinie ( pestilentiall , though not so precipitate ) in the first heat of the warres against the eusebians , to which he had incited his royall master . what will become of ramundas , who hath the vogue at present , in comparison of whom , for transcendencie of height and continuance , the other two were but mushrumps ; i will not undertake to divine : but observd it is , that the ground whereon favourites stand , is no where more slipperie , and fuller of precipices , then in ampelona : which makes ramundas to barricado himselfe with as much policie and strength as may be devisd , against all shocks of violence . of the treatie of an alliance vvith elaiana . the treaty of an alliance twixt druina and elaiana , ( a peece long hammered upon the anvill of policy , and nationall wisdome ) did now openly appeare and advance it selfe ; to which end the royall oke , to remove all blockes that might lye in the way , ridde himselfe of those places he held in deposito of the itelians to prevent any request or proposition that should happily come that way from elaiana ; and considering the daily expences druina was at , and the vast sommes she was out upon them , and that most necessary dependency of conservation and community of danger , that was and still must bee twixt her and itelia , this act was not such a great soloecisme in policy , as some criticks would have it , who in regard they were the very keys of itelia , and her associated groves , observd , that while druina kept them in her hands , she was more awed and respected by the willowes then she hath beene since . at the close of this businesse , the royall oke did an act full of majesty by forbearing much of those huge sommes which might have beene demanded ; and it was in recognition of those rich presents , carbasilis receivd , when she passd through the willowes to baccharia . to negotiat this great businesse of alliance twixt druina and elaiana , earle mordogan a shrewd complying instrument , was employed , and going to have his first audience , a peece of the royall palace fell under him which could be no good omen . mordogan had studied the genius of druinas monarke so exactly , that he seldome departed from him with refusalls , hee had such a rare faculty by facetious wayes to dispatch the most important affaires of state ; hee employed all his art ( and i beleeve his heart also went along ) and left no stone unrolld to bring this mighty worke to passe ; yet so infortunate hee was , that his endeavours prov'd plausible neither in druina nor elaiana : but for my part , i am clearely of opinion , that he really wishd well unto , and lov'd the druinians next to them of his owne soyle best of any other , and so much he protested being arrested , by the iron mace of fate , a little after he had beene designd to returne to druina , when summond to his last end , it was no time for him to boggle with the world ; and the gracious oke now regnant ( to whom the olive did churlishly put over young mordogan for a reward of the manifold services of his dead sire ) did not onely resent his fall , but vindicat him from those aspersions that were malevolently cast upon him to have alwayes played with a staffe of two ends , the one of olive , the other of oke . yet he received divers outrages in druina , and one time when he had beene rudely usd and assaulted as he passd through the streets of thamisond , and news thereof being posted , though not by his means , to elaianas court , where the royall oke had then two soveraigne ministers representing himselfe , yet there was no violence at all offerd them or theirs ; which made elaiana take the advantage to arrogat to her selfe more civility in this kinde then druina this causd him to say , that druinas bran was very course , but her flowre wondrous fine ; for the taller sort of trees who could looke over into the true state of things , highly esteemd him , though the poplars who see no further then the rind , contemnd and vilified him , bringing him often upon the stage , and making him the common subject of their pasquils , wherein he rather gloried , then grew discontented . amongst other facetious passages of mordogan , i cannot omit one which happend upon his last departure from druina , at which time being magnificently feasted by the chiefest magistrate of thamisond , in the midst of these jollities , he askd leave to begin two healths ; the first , was to the king his masters mistresse , the second to his wife ; the healths being gone round , he thus expounded himselfe . that his great masters mistresse was levantina , and none are so fond of a mistresse , but if a friend hath a private favour of her , he will winke at it ; and such was levantina , who though she properly belongd to his master , yet he suffereth the brave adventurers of druina ( whereof many were there present ) to have a bout with her , and he passeth it by , and takes not much exception at it ; but his masters wife was columbina whom he desired to have wholly to himselfe , and therfore that none should meddle with her ; ( but the willowes of late have gone about to make him a notorious cuckold , and have had ready money to lye with her . ) like to this was that , when a little after the going of altapinus to homebia he was invited to a solemne meeting , where that flexanimous and golden toungd orator ( then gardian of the kings conscience ) began the king of homebias health , he pleasantly pledg'd it , and passd it over , saying it was the first time that ever he pledged the cedars health in druina . for his opinion in holy things , he had a charitable conceipt of druina's religion , and seemd to slight many things in that of petropolis , as will appeare by these few instances following . in a serious discourse once of holy orders , when many things were canvasd pro & con , hee said , that hee feared the same doome , and destiny attended the loyolists that befell in times passd , another great religious order of cavaliers , who were growne so excessively rich , that they were utterly suppressed with a strange kind of suddennesse every where , and so became a common booty to their princes . another time when that sappy and fruitfull tree ( out of whose stocke sprouted that comely elme which grevv so high under the branches of the royall oke , and did flourish long in his sole favour ) had such a vogue at court , that shee hoisd up , and tumbled downe some great officers at pleasure , and that extraordinary recourse vvas had to her for matters of grace , earle mordogan dispatching a post to elaiana , sent advise that there were never better hopes of drvinas conversion to petropolis then then , for they began to worship the mother more than the sonne . lastly , when that long flourishing favorit in elaiana , had fallen , and to shelter himselfe from those stormes which he foresaw , would thunder upon him from the temporall power , did cover himselfe with a scarlet robe ( the highest of spirituall dignities ) mordogan was askd by druinas monarke , whether he had sent for a benediction from his new elected cardinall , he answered , there was once in elaiana one who had a plum tree in his garden which was winde fallen , and there being a statue made of the trunke of this tree and placed in the church for adoration , he was asked why he neglected to worship that statue as hee did others , he answered , that he knew that statue from a plant , and what kinde of fruit the tree had borne , therefore hee thought there was no adoration expected from him . out of these instances you may inferre that he was an anti-loyolist , and liked not all things in petropolis . nor was that noble elme count sophronio whom druinas monarke employed to elaiana to this end , lesse dextrous and discreet , who although he was not so nimble and mercuriall as mordogan , yet he rather exceeded him in solidity and a high reach of understanding . he made a rare discovery of certaine plants , that were rotten at the heart , ( yet daily servd about the royall oke ) that were devoted by pensionary obligations to the olive . he went bravely attended to the cedar's court , and so to the eldars , with whom he was not behind hand . hee engagd his owne argentry to make up a somme of treasure to preserve those troupes from disbanding , which were then in motion for the recovery of baccharia under campanthropo , that admired captaine of his time , who was said to make souldiers spring up out of the very earth to follow him , though he had not a crosse to pay them salary ; and although hee had beene put many times to the foyle and to extreme exigents , yet he never fell sans resource , but still rallied his squandred squadrons , and made offensive head againe , and most brave was that retrait ( and honourable retrait is the difficultst thing in the feat of armes ) which hee made , when by the point of the sword , hee pass'd through the very heart of leoncia to his intended rendezvous , where he caus'd the thorne to burne his tents and rayse the costly siege hee had then a foot , before one of the prime townes of the itelians . and this was the greatest cloud that ever fell upon the thorne , since hee entred into elaianas service , but hee dispelld it not long after , and made his honour to shine with a greater lustre then ever , by taking in that towne whereof the orenge was proprietary lord , notwithstanding that the oke , the vine , the firre , and the ash appeard , some more , some lesse in that action for the willowes . some say this sunk so deep into the princely orenge , that it did accelerat his fall , which hapned not long after . and he being gon , the thorne wisely retired to bombycina the soyle whence hee first sprung , fearing that fortune who being a female loves youth best , would frowne , and turne her backe towards him now in his declining times . there was a strong emulation twixt these two great martialists , and the orenge derogating one day from the thorne , because hee was sprung out of a marchants stocke , and consequently was not capable of competition with him who came of a princelie extraction ; he sent him word that it was a more glorious thing for a marchant to have command over princes , then for a prince to be commanded by marchants . a brave quarter-giving enemy the thorne was , but the service of the olive ( unlesse you throw into the scales the high honour and fame hee purchased thereby ) provd over precious to him , for hee spent not onely the vigour of his dayes therein , but exhausted much of that great estate he brought with him so farre , that his owne plants , some of them , are forced to subsist meerely by pensions from elaiana . but that which was worse being before a towne in bombycina neare his owne home , which he had so blockd up and stormd , as that he had her as a bird in a cage , he was suddenly commanded by inexpected order from elaiana to raze his workes , and raise the siege , notwithstanding that the warre continued longer ; this they say he resented so deepely , that retyring to his owne naturall soyle , he presently after fell . but it is no new tricke in policy , for diverting the least dishonour that should fall upon the state , to destroy some instruments , and make them sacrifices for the publique . this great captaine had so highly deservd of the olive ( and cedar also by taking in of baccharia ) that his services seemd to transcend all reward ; and by him one may learne this lesson . that supererogatory services , and too great benefits from subjects to kings are of dangerous consequence , when they make the mind more capable of merit then duty . those fearefull fires which were kindled through all parts of poore rhenufium , had now rag'd extreamly , to quench which , the royall oke sent sundry of his noble elmes in many costly legations from time to time , but good king , while he laboured for peace , they made themselves ready for battaile . and herein the cedar proved very ingratefull to him , considering the fairenesse of his proceedings ; and touching the elder , what could be expected from him but knotty and crooked hollowhearted dealings ? yet by his high credit with the olive , he often asswagd the fury of those conflagrations , by suspension of armes and cessation of all acts of hostility , and preservd baccharia a long time from invading ; and hee proceeded so far by treaty , that he was profferd to have the imperiall ban taken off , of altapinus upon his conformity to a submission , that so hee might bee rendred capable to treat , and travell through rhenusium ; to have also an entire surrender made of his possessions to his eldest graff , which should be affianced to one of the cedars branches , and in the interim to be brought up in druina's court. moreover hee should be restored to his dignity after that old decayed elder should fall , upon whom the sayd dignity had beene in a shuffling imperfect manner conferrd , yet with this proviso , that the next heire should not be prejudiced . these propositions being sent to altapinvs , hee replied , that whereas the adverse party , requird a personall submission , and that this should precede all other things , by naturall order usd in like cases , the restitution of his country which was a thing materiall should goe before , and then the other which is but a poynt of ceremony , should follow ; and whereas hee had already complied with the cedar to signe an instrument for the conditionall resignation of the crowne of homebia , and done other acts of conformity , and no performance at all on the cedars side ; if these intentions of his were reall , the sayd submission might bee done as well by a deputy . prince rocalino's iourney to elaiana . while matters were thus in hot agitation , and no particular assurances yet had , and because that commonly dolus versatus in universalibus , the royall oke sent a choice confident to elaiana's court ( for there was the mill vvhere these matters were a grinding ) to know the truth , and reality of things , who having boldly acquitted himselfe of his charge , and brought advise that matters were still involv'd in generalls , behold a most rare adventure , prince rocalino , vvith villerio , and two discreet confidents vvell versd in the olives court , post away in private disguise to elaiana , traversing the whole diameter of ampelona , where rocalino came in so favourable a conjuncture of time , that he saw the splendor of the ampelonian court in a sett stately shevve , where among other rarities , he beheld one of natures choicest peeces , the princesse aretine , sparckling like a constellation amongst the rest , in moving measures . little thought he then , that she was predestined for him , by the high hand of heaven where all mariages are made ; but humane eyes cannot see beyond their horizon , they cannot discerne future contingencies , and in the conduct of worldly actions , what wee desire or dread seldome directly falls out , but something intervenes and concludes wee least thought of , and if what we expect doe happen , they come not many times till after the search , which sheweth that there is a supernaturall all-disposing power above ; wherefore it is not safe for our mindes to stay at second causes , for this may induce a forgetfulnesse of the first , but we must passe higher , and by a speculative act of the understanding observe the disposition , dependency and subordination of causes to the high will of providence , and then we will confesse with the poet , that the chiefe linke of natures chaine is tied to the foot of iupiters chaire . from ampelona's court rocalino flew upon the wings of love towards elaiana , and it was in the beginning of that season , that the lady flora useth to cloath our grandame earth , with a nevv livery diapred vvith various flovvers , and chequerd with all delightfull objects ; a season that was usd to bee no lesse proper , than propitious to lovers . the pretty songsters of the spring with their various notes did seeme to welcome him as he passd , the woods put forth their blossomes , the earth her primeroses and daiseyes to behold him , the aire blew with gentle zephires . but in the heavens it was observed there was an inauspicious conjunction betweene iupiter and saturne that dull and malevolent planet . rocalino being come with no lesse difficulty then danger to the o●ives royall court , the first thing hee did was to dispatch a post presently to druina to carry newes of his safe arrivall there . that night and next day after there were darke whispers up and down , but towards the evening villerio went privately to the royall palace where he had audience , and whence chenandra the sole ingrosser of the olives favour , did accompanie him backe to wellcome prince rocalino , who magnifying that brave journey , and discovering wonderfull motions of joy , hee said the olive and the oke should part the world betweene them , and that it should bee a match presently , for he doubted not but hee came thither to be of their religion ; whereunto answer being made , that hee came not thither for religion , but for a wife ; chenandra replied short , that there must bee then a dispensation procurd from petropolis . that night elaianas monark himselfe came to congratulate prince rocalino to sophronio's dwelling , but he mett him halfe way , and with much complement and mutuall embraces parted for that time . the next day he brought forth in a solemne stately kinde of march the lady amira ( the jewell which should have beene the prize and guerdon of that heroicke adventure ) to bee seene of purpose by rocalino in transitu ; but it being divulgd abroad it was prince rocalino that was come , all were transformd into a kind of amazement , which broake out after into incredible acclamations of gladnesse , every one extolling to the very starres , the bravery of the action , and the generall vote was , that it were great pitty but the lady amira though she were a goddesse , should be throwne into his armes that very night , hee had so well deservd every inch of her ; they said further that all the angels in heaven came along with him , for the country having extreamely suffered by a long unusuall drowth , upon his comming there fell downe most wholsome fructifying showers , wherein t' was said , the earth dranke healths to congratulate his comming thither . the next morning the royall olive sent some prime elmes to attend prince rocalino in quality of officers of state , and a little after he was brought to the royall palace in the same state elaiana's kings use to be attended the day of their coronation . the royall olive himselfe accompanied him , with all the flower of his court , and alwayes from that day to the very last he stayed there , he gave him still the precedency , transmitting to him all petitions and matters of grace ; multitudes of prisoners were releasd , and indeed there wanted nothing that might be added to the very height of all externe honour and ceremony . but let us looke a little into the interiour carriage of the maine businesse , and there you shall finde that , quercus connubium , connubia tractat oliva . when rocalino arrivd , matters were brought to that perfection by the strenuous negotiation of sophronio , that there wanted nothing for the consummation of all things , but a dispensation from petropolis , which at last came , and before that time rocalino was not admitted to speake with the la : amira in quality of a sutor , but a prince ; now the said dispensation came cloggd with an unhappy inexpected clause , thrust in of purpose , as it appeard , to retard the procedure of things , which was , that whereas there were certaine articles condescended unto by druina's monarke in favour of the petropolitans that were in that kingdome , and other crownes under his dominion , the great archflamin ' demanded caution for the performance of them ; the royall oke answered , that he could give no other caution then his word and oath , and rocalino should doe the like , which should be confirmd by his counsell of state and exemplified under druinas broad seale ; but this would not satisfie unlesse some petropolitan soveraigne prince would engage himselfe for them . hereupon all matters were like to goe off the hinges , and a buzze went out , that rocalino intended to get away covertly . in these traverses chenandra steps forth , and said there were three wayes to conclude this businesse ; two good , and one bad ; the first good way was , that prince rocalino should become a petropolitan . the second was , that as elaiana was oblig'd to him for his free comming thither , so shee might as freely deliver him the lady amira , trusting him without further conditions . the ill way was , not to trust rocalino at all with any thing , but binde him as fast as they could . while matters were thus a canvasing , and gathering ill bloud , elaianas king steppd out , and profferd to engage himselfe by oath , for the satisfaction of the great archflamin , but with this proviso , that hee must first consult with his ghostly fathers , whether he might do it salva conscientia or no. hereupon the businesse was referrd to a comittee of the learnedst yewes ; and the state of the question was , whether the olive might with safety of conscience take an oath in behalfe of druinas monarke , and rocalino , for performance of such and such articles that were agreed upon in favour of the petropolitans , throughout the kingdomes of the royall oke . this assembly long demurrd and dwelt upon the question , and after a long protraction of time , they concluded at last affirmatively ; and in case the oke faild to execute what was stipulated , the olive was to vindicate his oath , and right himselfe by the sword . this difficulty being surmounted , there was exceeding great joy , and all the capitulations were interchangeably sworne unto both by the oke and olive , and as chenandra said in elaiana , so the royall oke himselfe was so confident , that he said ; all the devills in hell could not now breake the match ; whereunto a blunt facetious knight being by , answerd , that there was never a devill now left in hell , for they were all gone to elaiana to helpe to make up the match . but matters being scrued up to this height , the great archflamin , as heaven would have it , f●ll ; vpon which tydings the royall olive came to prince rocalino and told him that he had receivd very ill newes , which was , that the holy sire , who was so great a friend to the intended alliance ( who had formerly writ unto , and sent to visit prince rocalino ) was taken away by the hand of fate , and in regard there was yet no contract but a treaty only a foot , hee could not proceed further in this businesse without a ratification of the former licence by melissanus the newly chosen archflamin , which by reason of his indisposition of health , and the large distance of place , could not bee dispatchd with that celerity that was wishd : but now that his highnesse was pleasd to stay so many years for a wife , might well stay a few months longer , and he would undertake to negotiat and procure that dispatch from petropolis with all the expedition that might be ; and if he pleasd to give way that the la : amira's journey to druina might be defer'd , untill the next ensuing spring , he would give him a blanke to write his owne conditions , touching the surrendry of baccharia , which might recompence his so long stay : prince rocalino upon this answerd , that he was infinitely bound to his majesty for all those transcendent favours hee had receivd since his arrivall to his court , and the reasons that inducd him to undertake so hazardous a journey were two ; one to streigthen the league of amity with his majesty in his owne person ; the other was , to give the world a greater testimony of his love to the lady amira to whom hee had already transmitted his best affections ; and hee had thought the soveraigne agents of his royall sire , had brought matters to that ripenesse , that hee needed not to have come thither to treat of a mariage , but to fetch home a wife ; now since his majesty alleadgd that the late holy archflamin bring go●e , hee cannot proceed further without the approbation of melissanus the newly elect , hee desird him to consider that if his majestie had a spirituall sire to comply withall , hee had a naturall sire to obey , which was druinas royall oke , whose toppe being already periwiggd with snowy age , was sickly and impotent and subject to many indispositions , therefore hee feard that hee being his sole masculin plant , and the staffe and comfort of his age , it had already wrought some ill impressions in him , that he wanted him so long beyond the proposed time . besides the eyes of all druina were fix'd upon him , and hee being their next succeeding hopes , this his so long absence might produce ill effects , and dangerous consequences of state at home ; adde hereunto that there was a royall fleet already floating on the seas for his transfretation , and the season , if hee retarded his voyage any longer , would grow rough and dangerous . moreover his majesty was not ignorant , that the capitulations which his royall sire had signd and sworne unto , and were confirmd by his counsell of state , were done with this proviso , that if hee be not returnd in druina by such a time , all that was passd should be pro non facto . the olive hearing this , stood a while at a stand , and after said , since his highnesse had pressd the necessity of his departure with such pregnant reasons ; if he feard any commotion in druina , by reason of any thing that might reflect upon these proceedings , hee would send an army with him of purpose ; and since matters were so , his highnesse might thinke fit to leave a substitutive power , with whom he pleasd to bee contracted to the la : amira , which should be precisely done ten dayes after the confirmation should come from petropolis ; and if hee pleased to repose that trust in him , he would faithfully discharge it , and esteeme it a singular favour , and then hee might send when , and whom hee pleasd for her , for ever after she should be at his disposing . prince rocalino replied , that touching his first proposition , for an army to goe with him , the remedy would be farre worse than the disease , though there should bee tumults in druina ; for the second , he made semblance to bee mightily taken with it , saying , that of all the grandezas he had received since his comming to his royall court , this surmounted all the rest , therefore he would leave a power behind in sophronio's hands , to that end . this being done , rocalino without the least ombrage of discontentment , prepares for his journey backe , leaving behind him gemmes of invaluable esteeme , and such as was confessd , never to have beene seene the like in that court , as presents for the lady amira , which were , i cannot deny , very honourably returnd by elaiana after the rupture of the treaty , and publike declaration of warre . the olive himselfe with the rest of the royall stemme , accompanied him a dayes journey of , and never were seene streighter embracements , and outward arguments of love and reiterated endearements betweene any , then betweene the olive and rocalino at their departure . but villerio and chenandra parted not so lovingly , villerio telling him , that hee acknowledged himselfe unmeasurably obligd , to the royall majesty of the olive , and the rest of the princely branches in an eternall tye of gratitude , and that therefore he would mainly endeavour in what in him lay , to nourish and strengthen still the peace twixt the dominions and subjects of both crownes , but for your selfe count chenandra , you have so many wayes disobliged me , that i cannot make any profession of future friendship to you without flattery ; chenandra answered very short , that h●e accepted of what hee had said , and so they parted . prince rocalino taking his leave of the lady amira , was desird by her to see a vestall saint in his way as he passd , who was then cried up for miracles ; in some divine exercises she was reported to be often lifted up in the aire , and appeare as fresh as a rose , though she was so furrowd with age , that she lookd like a spirit kept in a bagge by some conjurer . but hee comming thither , and shee mingling discourse with him a long time , the substance whereof was for the most part , that he should bee good to the petropolitans in druina , and to bestow an alme amongst her poore vestall sisters , there could no elevations be discernd , or any sudden changes at all in her , or any other miraculous feates , though shee could have never shewd them in better company . prince rocalino being conveniently attended to the sea side , and with extreame hazard embarkd , a private instrument was dispatchd in his name to elaianas court with instructions to sophronio to stay the delivery of the proxy , till further directions from him ; but these instructions were not to bee delivered untill the ratification had come from petropolis . in the interim great preparations were made against the celebration of the nuptials , the lady amira applied her selfe daily to learne druinas language , the soveraigne ministers which represented the person of druinas monarke , carried themselves rather like subjects towards her , then ambassadours ; many rich accoustrements and presents shee had provided for prince rocalino , her family was assignd her , her officers distinguishd , and ( which weigheth much with me , for the reality of the thing ) sophronio had provided a great number of brave liveries for his attendants , as rich as any that ever were worn in that court , and matters were cryed up with such a certitude , that the mart went twenty to one , the businesse would take . at last the ratification came plenary , and absolute from petropolis , but a cunning rumor went out , it had come some weekes before , upon which the private instructions which were sent in prince rocalino's name were anticipated by sophronio , who while he remaind anxious and fearefull to preferre a private order to the prejudice of the high commission of druina's monarke under the greatest seale , which none can countermaund or suspend but the same power that give 's it , hee proceeded still untill new instructions came from the royall oke himselfe to stay the delivery of the said proxy ; and that whereas before he treated singly of a match , hee should now joyne the restitution of baccharia with it , for he would not marry rocalino in joy , and leave carbasilis in teares . sophronio solliciting the royall olive upon the new commission , and not receiving a satisfactory positive answer , had order to depart that court , and so all was dashd to peeces . vvhence i learne , that in politicall affaires , as well as mechanicall , it is farre easier to pull downe , then build up ; for that structure which was above tenne sommers a building , and that by no meane artists , was destroyd in a moment . and the world adjudged elaiana to be well apayed for the hard measure she had offerd prince rocalino , to tantalize him so long with dilatory hopes , and let him returne at last without his errand : for upon the very point , when the businesse should have beene consummated , and the lady amira tendred , the motion may bee said to have beene rejected as it were by druina . many obstacles concurrd to hinder this great worke . the maine of all , difference in religion ; for so simple and blockish were they of elaiana , that the common voice was , prince rocalino came thither to make himselfe a christian ; and happy had it beene for that businesse , if he had never lodgd in the royall palace , but had taken one of his owne , wherein druinas liturgie , and the rites of her church might have openly appeard to unbeguile those silly wretches . the clashings twixt villerio , sophronio , and chenandra , who opposd it as long as t' was safe for him , the exceptions that were taken at villerios commission . but pitty it was , that the intendments of soveraigne princes , specially such an action as that , which concernd the incolumity and peace of all the westerne world , the quenching of those fires in rhenusium , the reinvesting of carbasilis in baccharia , which as it was then given out , should be redelivered at the instance of the lady amira after the match , to ingratiat her selfe thereby the more to the druinians , besides a mighty advantage of commerce , for no country is able to doe druina more good and lesse hurt then elaiana ; i say what pity it was , that all this should bee frustrated by privat passions and interests . another rub in the way , was the disaffection of those ministers that were sent last to druina to finish all things , especially one of them , and he the chiefest , whose heart did not go along with the businesse . it was also discovered that the luranians ( of whom multitudes subsist by the olive , who if the businesse had taken effect had beene dismissed , and that crowne disburdened of those pensions they received , but they preferring to sticke there rather to a certaintie , then to seeke new fortunes , and begin the world againe in their owne soyle ) did no good offices in the conduct of this businesse . besides 't was thought the ampelonian , and the myrtles ambassadors , with others there resident , were not idle . furthermore it had beene wished that some had had more discretion joynd with their zeale to this great businesse , which should have made them more cautious and reservd in their speeches and behaviour , and complied better with the humour of the elaianians , against whō & the poverty of that countrie , they would openly inveigh and gibe at , even in the royall palace . some sayd , if they had left an eye behinde them in elaiana , they would not come thither to fetch it againe ; others , that they would never returne thither unlesse it were to conquer her ; others , that they would never see her againe unlesse t were in a mappe ; others would say , they thought there was no resurrection out of her ground . which puts me in mind of that boysterous buffon , who sayd in the royall presence of elaianas monarque , that his master was nearest and likest to god almighty of any king upon earth , and being asked why ? hee answered that god almighty had but onely one sonne , and hee was sent to bee crucified by iewes ; and druinas king also having but one , hee sent him to bee crucified by elaianians . but for rocalino himselfe , as elaiana rings of the renowne of that heroique enterprize , and will doe , to all posteritie , so to this day his memorie and fame is fresh in that court , for his sage and princelie comportment , mixd with such a becomming gravitie , that it suted with the very genius of that nation , where a prince without gravitie , is said to be like a peacock without a tayle . whence it may be inferrd , that though the maine businesse tooke not ( which continues a darke kind of riddle to this day ) yet rocalino gaind much in poynt of honour , besides the mighty experience ( which is the great looking-glasse of wisdome ) he purchased thereby . never was lady so gallantly courted , no not daphne her selfe ( whom the amorous god converted to a laurell ) was woo'd with that braverie , and strength of affection , which was shewed with that fervor , that elaiana very poorely made use of it , to gaine time & get stricter conditions ; for as i heard one of them say , love is like a p●●●e of charcole , which meeting with the wind its contrary , makes it turne more ardent ; or like a rapid torrent which jusling against a damme swells higher ; so love meeting with opposition growes hotter and stronger . but a most unworthy thing it was , and which all the world cryed out at , to make this his heat of love , and comming thither , two acts which should have accelerated the businesse , to turne to his disadvantage . but it hath thriven with them accordingly , for it is observd that their affaires up and downe the world ever since have thriven but very odly . after his departure it was disputed pro & con , whether that affection whereof he had shewed such brave testimonies , was reall or no ; howsoever it was granted by both sides , that rocalino had purchased a high opinion of honour by it ; for if it was reall , hee shewed himselfe to be a great master of his affections , that he could checke and call them home so soone ; if it was otherwise , it discovered a high poynt of wisedome , to act the part of an amorist so lively and pathetically ▪ had that blind greeke , one of the muses first priests , bin contemporarie to this heroique adventure , how proud had hee beene of so sublime a subject to heighten his fancie , a subject indeed adaequate to apollo himselfe and his whole quire of daughters ; and i cannot wonder enough , that none all this while to whom ex meliore luto finxit praecordia titan , have not employed their talent to this taske , considering the rarenesse , and richnesse of the matter . but to resume my discourse , sophronio having received that foresaid new command from the royall oke , went to propound the entire & speedy surrender of baccharia . the olive answered , that if a treatie would bee commencd with the cedar , who was now lord of it , and hee , with the elder , ( but his commisioners , ) if hee came not to termes of conformity , hee would joyne armes with druina to recover it , and for caution hereof hee would engage that rich citie whither his fleet of treasure arrives yearely . but this not satisfying , hee went to take his leave of elaianas king , who had commanded chenandra a little before to tell him in his name , that hee had receivd advise of his revocation , and understood also by diverse advertisements , what clouds were engendring in druinas court , and in regard the envie which was drawne upon him proceeded from the labours and endeavours he had employed to finish the match , therefore he would hold himselfe much touchd in honour , if for this cause any should so prevaile against him as to cause his ruine or disgrace . therefore he would write to druina's king , and send a particular ambassador , if neede requird , to represent the true state of things , in regard that sophronio had servd him with that exactnesse of fidelity which was well knowne to the world , and to elaiana , in particular , that it deservd not onely to be assisted with all good offices , but it was fit to be rewarded , and published ; and that the royall olive for the example of his owne subjects , and encouragement of those that did or hereafter should serve other princes with that punctuality as sophronio had done , had commanded him to offer him a blanke signd by the royall olive himselfe , wherein he might set downe his owne conditions , both in point of title and fortune ; and this hee did in no way to oblige another prince his subject , but only as an encouragement to honest and faithfull proceedings , and therefore he would not make these offers in private but justifiable to the world , and would accompany all hee should doe , with a declaration , that this hee had done , was for the service hee had done his owne master . sophronio replied , that he was much afflicted to heare such language ; and that hee desird it might be knowne and understood , that elaiana was not any way beholden to him , for what ever he had done , he did it , for that he thought it fittest , for his masters service and his own honour , without having any relation to elaiana ; and that he servd a master from whom he was assurd of justice and due reward : and for those who were thought his enemies , hee knew their power to bee great , but hee servd so just a master , that hee doubted not , but his innocency would prevaile against any wrong , they should intend him ; and though his own integrity would not give him leave to apprehend any kind of danger or disfavour from his said master , and were he assured to runne into eminent danger , yet would he rather goe home to cast himselfe at his feete for mercy , and thereby comply with the duty and honour of a faithfull servant , then to bee the greatest of elaianas princes . so i leave this mighty businesse for a riddle ( as i said before ) both to the present and all future ages ; for the bookes of kings are written in darke characters which few can uncypher , and their actions like deepe foords , wherein elephants may only swimme ; or as great rivers , whereof we see the course of the streame , but know not the source . so i leave also sophronio preparing for his journey , and inexpressible it is , what a blacke kind of obstupefaction , and regret all the world was possesd withall in elaianas court , specially the la : amira , who , wee thought , would have turnd into one of the heliades ( those amber weeping-trees ) for sorrow . many arguments of a reall love appeard from her towards rocalino , amongst others one was , that she caused many divine duties to be performed for his safety in his returne to druina ; where being landed he fell down and kissd the very earth for joy ; and being come to thamisond , one would have thought that huge body composd of such numberlesse peeces had beene all one fire , and turnd to one flame from those huge piles of sacrifices of universall joy , notwithstanding those huge cataracts of water that powrd downe from the meteors ; but greater farre , and more ardent were those inward flames of gladnesse , wherewith all hearts did burn and sparkle to see their rocalino againe . all mouths were full with oken leafs and in the wood so wide , &c. with other such songs and catches of airie mirth ; the very inanimat creatures as steeples and walles , did shake with joy , yea the very pavements and channels pledgd healths for this happie returne . amongst other forren congratulations which came from farre and neare , carbasilis suddenly sent , but with this complement , that next to the hand of divine providence , he might thanke her , and her numerous graffs , that hee came so safely and freely backe , so that i cannot but deride their shallownesse , and poverty of judgment , who thinke elaiana had any designe to detaine him there . the royall oke summond hereupon a generall assembly , wherein by the relations of villerio ( and indeed he for his own particular had little reason to love elaiana ever after for some disrespects that had passd , ) the two treaties , touching the alliance with elaiana , and restitution of baccharia were quite dissolvd by the unanimous vote of that great assembly , not one dissenting from it , which made his majestie say , that he thought they were led by one spirit , as the seventy interpreters . and nothing could be more pleasing to the druinians then the rupture of these treaties , as the case then stood , for they were extreamely nettled to see the princely standell of their royall oke returne from elaiana with a branch of willowes . nor indeed did the poplars and coppices and vulgar sort of druinas trees , specially thamisond , ever affect this match , for they were transported with such a reasonlesse aversenesse to it , that whosoever did speake but in favour of it , or discoverd any good wishes to it , hee was presently held a petropolitan , and to have swallowed a leafe of the ivie . the petropolitans throughout all druina were exceedingly dejected and crest-fallen at these proceedings , and that matters went so crosse in elaiana ; and as it was observed to be an ill favourd augury , that a peece of the royall tarrasse fell under mordogan at his first audience , when he came hoc agere , when the treaty of alliance begun to be in serious agitation ; so a little before this dissolution of it , another fatall accident , or rather tragique presage fell out in thamisond : for as the petropolitans were in midst of divine exercise , and some say inveighing against the eusebians , the oratory suddenly tumbled downe , so that a great number of them were quashd to death by the very inanimat creatures of stones and rubbish to the consternation of all the world . and this happened when they were a gogge and building of castles in the aire , and at the height of their hopes , that by vertue of the said alliance , they should have a kind of liberty of conscience equall to a toleration . the royall oke following the advise of the foresaid great counsell prepared for a warre , which quite turnd the match , to powder ; mars thrusts hymen out of dores , and ianus gates flew wide open ; then which nothing could bee more thwarting and opposite , the one to his disposition , the other to his desires which had beene so vehemently carried that way for many yeares ; they promised to make him belovd at home , and feard abroad as much as any prince that was , to which end they gave him round sommes of moneys ; a polemicall counsell was erected for the conduct of the martiall affaires , and by the gracious condescent of majesty they were to dispose of the pecuniary levies that were made to that end . as matters were reducd to this passe , behold a notable peece of machiavillianisme , formd and complotted against villerio by the soveraigne ministers elaiana had then in thamisond ; who in a private audience they desird to have of druinas monarke , undertooke to discover unto him a notable conjuration intended both against his royall dignity and person , which was ; that villerio with some of the prime of his counsell had consulted of the arguments and meanes that were to be taken for the dissolving of the forementioned treaties ; and that their consultations passd so farre , that if the majesty of druinas king would not accommodat himselfe to their counsels herein , he should have a house of pleasure where hee might retire himselfe to his sports , in regard that prime rocalino had now yeares and parts answerable for the publike governement . the royall oke upon this imperfect overture , made many instances unto them that they would give him the authors of so pernicious a conspiracy ; but they instead of confirming the great zeale they pretended to beare him ▪ all the answer they made consisted of arguments against the discovery of the conspirators . hereupon his majesty commanded some of his secretst counsellors , with others to be examind and sworne , and that such interrogatories should bee propounded unto them that were most pertinent to the accusation ; wherby there was found in villerio , and the rest who were impeachd a very cleare and sincere innocency , touching these foule imputations . this being so , new instances were made to the said ambassadors , that they should not prefer the discovery of the names of the conspirators to the security of his royall majesty , the truth and honour of themselves ; and the hazard of an opinion to be held the tracers of a plot of such malice , sedition and danger ; but the informers continued in a knobby kinde of obstinacy resolving still to conceale the names of the authors . hereupon druinas monarch sent two of his sages to tell them , that they being the authors of an accusation so pernicious , had rendred themselves incapable to treat further with him , and were it not for the respect he bore to elaiana's king whose person they did represent , hee would and could by the law of nations and the right of his owne royall iustice proceed against them with such severity as the offence deservd , but for the reason aforesaid hee would leave the reparation thereof to the justice of the royall olive himselfe of whom he would demand and require it . hereupon the soveraign minister who was then employed in elaiana was commanded to require refaction and satisfaction against the informers or rather inventors and forgers of the aforesaid misinformation , which was of that quality , that it was sufficient to put impressions in him of perpetuall jealousies , in regard that through villerio , they did wound prince rocalino , and the best of his subjects ; for it was not probable , that villerio would have hurld himselfe into such an enterprise without communicating of it first to him , yet notwithstanding the royall oke would not mingle the correspondence and friendship he holds with the majesty of the olive , with the faults and offences of his ministers , but leave them , and restraine them to themselves . these things being represented to elaianas king , he seemd then to be somwhat sensible of them ; but when the aforesaid ministers were returnd , they were onely confind for a few daies : but afterwards instead of reprehension they were rather rewarded and further employed . not long after , the royall oke who all his life time had continued in a constant calme of tranquillity , notwithstanding that al the circumjacent forrests were often in fearefull combustions about him , and had beene the gracious vmpire of so many soveraigne quarrels ( glorying in the attribute of peacefull ( and might bee said to have bin the caducean rod which composd and charmd all dissentions twixt other princes ) was feld by the dire hand of fate , being newly plungd in a war against elaiana . from the very time that hee sprouted first above ground , he was pursued with treasonable practises , and his tutelar angell still mervailously garded him . nor was there ever any monarke upon earth since his time that writ from the cedar to the shrub , of a greater latitude of learned knowledg , which made him to bee termd druinas third vniversity . aarons rod never bore more buds then under the branches of this gracious oke ; nor did the groves of the muses and common wealth of letters so fructifie at any time ; so , that in the firmament of learning hee will shine to all posterity a starre of the greatest magnitude , crescet oculto velut arbor aevo , fama . — touching his profound reach in holy things , let that pourtrait drawne out of the sacred oracle , and the difficultst part thereof , beare the world witnesse ; which peece hee sent the great archflamin to pay him all old arrearages . never any country flourished more in the commutative part of justice , as did druina in his time , specially the first tenne yeares , in which space , besides other places , thamisond did so enrich her selfe , that shee gathered more than she had done in thirty yeares before . his stately spouse sprung out of the ancient stemme of the royall firre of elatena , was transplanted some yeares before to the celestiall paradise , whither t' was said she went in noahs arke , and he in elia's chariot , al●uding to the quality of their diseases , the one aquatike , the other hot and dry . in this peacefull prince there was an admird concurrence of many high platonique vertues , onely he would sometimes come too neare the fire of passion , yet never in any serious , but sudden triviall passages . munificent hee was beyond the ordinary custome of kings ; most confident of the fidelity of his agents and instruments ; for hee was wont ●o say , that when hee employed any servant in a serious businesse of trust , he would not imbitter the sweetnesse hee conceavd of his fidelitie with any mixtures of feare or diffidence . yet if any miscarried , the distaste would not dwell long in him , nor i dare say did the sunne ever goe downe upon his anger . some there were upon whom the beames of his regall favour reflected more strongly . and why not ? have not the wisest of earthly monarques had their favorits ? for if every creature is left free to like where he list , it were preposterous and injurious to deprive kings of that liberty which the meanest of their subjects enjoy , they command multitudes of subjects as they are kings , but they are subjects to their owne passions , as they are composed of foure elements . the princely standell which had beene a long time the hopes of druinas crowne , became now the crowne of her hopes , and succeeded in the royall throne . — tandem fit surculus arbor . a prince endued with such a strength of vertue , that he seemes to strike malice dumbe ; a prince of whom it may be sayd , that he hates the very names of those vices that are incident to princes , more then other princes hate the vices themselves . he was well balancd , and of a growth just ripe for this mighty burden , having newly taken the vest of virility , and being reard up to a comely cleane timbred strong bulke , wonderfull active and patient of toyle ; and if forren travell begets wisedome in regard the eye , which hath a more immediate commerce with the soule , and is a faithfuller witnesse then the eare ; hee is the best traveld prince by the sea and land of any , and therein hath the advantage of his neighbours . of a solid and excelling judgement in the hardest and choycest things , but specially in the service and deserts of his officers and servants , who in a monarchy are accordingly active or carelesse , as the prince is capable to distinguish and judge of their labours ; whereby i hope to see druina vindicated more and more of the aspersions the world abroad casts upon her ; that she slowly seekes after well qualified instruments , and more slowly cherisheth vertue in her owne plants , but admires any thing in strangers , and is more ready to employ them , though she have of her owne , equally if not better qualified . most singularly indulgent hee is of his royall consort , which is so acceptable to heaven , that shee corresponds with him , in bringing him forth many reall fruits of his love , sweet princely graffes , which i may well avouch , are the best for alliance and stocke that ever the earth had , being as immediately extracted out of the oke and the vine , so are they nearely allied to the cedar , the olive , the firre , the anciently descended vine , and all the best stemmes of the westerne world ; so that if ever any plants sprung de semine divûm , as some philosophers affirmd , they may be said to have sprung so . he is inflexibly just in the expiation of the crying sinne of murther , yet most tender of the life of the meanest shrub that groweth under his princely boughes . most tenacious he is , of his purposes , when they have beene pondred , and layne long in the ballance of mature deliberation , and winnowed by the debate of his sages . but above all things else ( and indeed all things else are but bables to this ) hee is most punctuall in his pietie to heaven ; so that take all this together , this inference will result , that if hee were , but one of the ordinary vulgar plants , they that know aright , would judge him to be one of the compleatest , and most vertuous of all druina . but the crown which descended upon him was inlayed with so many difficulties , that it might be justly calld a crowne of thornes for many yeares ; for after a long calme of peace , hee was left newly engagd in a war against one of the greatest of earthly monarchs , and ( as it was said of one of his progenitors ) with a rustie sword , and empty purse , the crowne being fallen into a bottomlesse pit or gulph of debt , besides his own former arreares ; the moving fortresse which are the chiefe strength of druina were in slender repaire , his magazines of amunition ill supplied ; the lady carbasilis with her numerous issue were to bee provided for , and hee was left to seeke for a spouse for himselfe . but by the speciall favour of heaven , hee hath surmounted all these difficulties and brought the glory of druinas diademe to cast a greater splendor then ever it did . touching a royall consort , the high hand of providence , reservd for him such a one , that there never sprung up above ground a more beauteous or approaching nearer some celestiall deity ; for through those starry casements of her soule , one may discerne in her a kind of divinity transscending the race of mortals , so that in this virginian vine , the saying of the wisest of kings may be verifyed , that a good wife , is a tree of life . this young royal oke being now setled in his throne , he sends villerio to visit the disconsolat carbasilis , and to confirme a league defensive and offensive with the willowes his fast friends . he suddenly sends a mighty fleet against elaiana , but the critickes of those times abroad , said , this fleete so quickly riggd shewd rather the power then providence of druina , yet she returnd without any passive encounter at all . he employes two of his noblest elmes to treat of an alliance with that peerles peece of natures rarities , the lady aretine , which great businesse by their wise and successeful negotiation was concluded in fewer months , then elaiana spent yeares in her treaty ; so that the la : aretine was entitled by holy rite , queene of druina , which shee would not accept of , unlesse shee had the title of ampelona's queene also added . thus the youngest spray of the great martiall vine came to druina , with a great masse of ready treasure , and a row of her owne country graffes for her first sett of servants ; but they misdemeaning themselves by some fond fopperies of superstition in prejudice of the la : aretine her health , and for other morall miscariages were suddenly dismissd and sent backe to ampelona with bagge and baggage , all their salaries being punctually payed them to a penny , and many of them parted with rewards ; though a very moderne chronicler traduceth druina in this point , to have dismissd them without their wages , &c. but as in this , so in many other relations hee takes up things upon trust ; and imperfect partiall information ; a grosse defect in a royall chronologer , nor indeed can it be judgd whether his faults in this kind , or flatteries throughout the whole body of his story , bee grosser ; and whereas history should bee the torch of truth , hee makes her in diverse places a fuliginous linke of lies . the renvoy of the ampelonians was ill taken by the royall vine , and the suddennes of the action did much aggravate the businesse , with the quality of the persons , being for the most part younger graffes , having parted with what they had in their owne soyle to take rooting and grow up in druina about the lady aretine . vpon these distasts the voyaging marchants pillage one another , as they found advantage , yet the two kings stirrd not a good while after ; for it is with kings sometimes , as with porters , whose packs may justle one against the other , yet they remaine good friends still . not long after drvinas monarke convokes an universall assembly ; to whom , he declard to have calld them together for the safety of religion , for securing his kingdomes and subjects at home , having two such mighty monarkes his actuall enemies , for the assisting of his allies and confederates abroad , specially the royall firre , who had lately embarkd himselfe very far in open war against the cedar principally in behalfe of prince altapinus , and was reducd to wonderfull streights , being chasd out of a great part of his dominions , by the cedars generall . for these with other important motives hee propounded a supply of treasure . these things at first overture were well resented by the lower assembly , who with much alacritie agreed to a good round supply , and indeed it was the greatest gift that ever subjects gave king , but before it was brought to any sound perfection , this good worke was unluckily disturbd by a multitude of questions concerning the priviledge of the subject , and prerogative of the soveraigne ; by which delayes the reality and reputation of that great donative was much lessened , and the forren actions , the royall oke was engagd in abroad receivd much prejudice . yet he did formally confirme unto them all their ancient priviledges , and gave two most gracious answers to their petitions tending to this end : and having complied with them thus to their hearts desire , as also in two former assemblies wherein were delivered them as sacrifices some of the crowne officers , and done them sundry other acts of princely grace , yet some extravagant spirits given over to fancy , and faction , disturbd the calme of these proceedings . they fall like thunder upon villerio , alleadging that he was the cause of the incongruity in government at home , and of disasters abroad ; that he was the first that deflourd the virgin honour , making her a kinde of prostitut , and meere marchandise salable for white and redde earth , which is too base a price for her , that should be the prime guerdon of vertue , through whose temple only , there should be a passage to hers . they complaine of his exorbitant power , having in his hands the privatst and most reposefull offices of trust , by sea and land , & such as were incompatible and never known in the person of one subject . they cry out that none received advancement but his progeny , which they termd the tribe of fortune , with other high clamours : thus hee who in their former meetings was a great subject of their commendation , when for dissolving the two treaties with elaiana they said he had done so well , that he deservd to have his statue publikely erected in the midst of thamisond , became now the chiefe subject of their complaints and grievances . but the rayes of royall majesty reverberated so strongly upon villerio , that they dispell'd all those clouds , which did hang over and thus obumbrat him , and the rather because evidence , which is the lanterne of of the law , was wanting , these accusations having no other proofe but publike fame . in these times a warlike fleet was prepar'd against ampelona , in regard the vine had not performd certaine capitulations , that were promised the royall oke in favour of the eusebians there , besides one moitie of the lady aretines dower was not sent according to article , with other provocations and secret motives . the enterprise fayling , though the first invasion ( and would heaven had pleasd the retreat had beene answerable ) was made with as brave a resolution as any martiall attempt could possibly be , and in managing the souldier villerio , with the rest , shewed undeniable assurances of valour : yet the royall oke was not a whit daunted hereby , but presently commanded a greater number of vessels of warre to bee riggd and made ready in pursute of the same designe , upon which villerio was to goe generalissimo againe ; but being upon point of embarking , this great commander having at his becke such a multitude of martiall spirits was suddenly cut off , to the consternation and amazement of all the world , by a fatall stroake which was given him with a small contemptible instrument , and with such an admirable advantage , that it was impossible either by slight or art , or strength of engine , to dispatch one sooner out of this world ; and which made the act more tragicall , his noble consort , then pregnant , beheld him thus felld , and weltring upon the ground presently after . thus fell that procere goodly faire timberd elme in the fulnesse of his strength , who had so long flourish'd under the gracious branches of two royall okes , having led halfe his life in that height of fortune , and affluence of all earthly pleasure ; who being thus fallen , many inferior trees grew great out of his boughs , in so much that the saying of the philosopher , who being askd , what was a doing in heaven , answerd , magnae ollae franguntur , & ex frustis earum minores fiunt , mought have beene not improperly applied to what then passd in druina . out of this sad catastrophe may bee drawne this lesson , that great ones may secure themselves from guilt , but not from envie , which like the sunne-beames beates upon rising grounds , and towring high trees , when the shrub is safe . cernis ut ventis agitatur ingens pinus . — he had a concurrence of all those gracefull parts , that might attract princely love , and conduce to the accomplishment of a courtier , and had hee containd himselfe still in that condition , hee might happily have lasted untill time had covered him with hoary mosse . the royall majesty which first tooke him into favour , agenid and traind him up for his own turne by certaine degrees in the most pertinent affaires and mysteries of state , observing therein the progresse of nature which suffereth no motion to passe from one extreme to another , but by intermediat spaces , as she useth to passe from winter to summer by the interposition of the spring , and so returne to winter by autumne : so that platonike prince servd himselfe of certaine pawses to advance and employ him ; and hee was no improper peece to worke upon , having so pliable and gentle a genius , that he grew very pregnant and dextrous in the art of government . among other maximes of policy he proposd to himselfe in the conduct of his affaires , one was to neglect apologies , whereof he said , he saw no other fruit then to multiply discourse , and humour the vulgar , nor did he ever value any pasquils that were dropd up and downe , so farre , as to thinke them worthy of his revenge , which questionlesse was a well settled rule , for libels neglected quickly finde their owne graves ; and dissipat to ayre . hee was none of those idolaters that worship the beast with many heads , that use to burne incense to the vulgar . and as herein , so in many other things , great abilities appeard in him , for extraordinary must be the wisdome of him who floateth upon the streame of soveraigne favour , wherein there is seldome any sistence , twixt sinking and swimming . a sure friend he was , and a resenting foe , a brave master to servants , and a remembrer of the least good office ; for his stocke ; he transplanted most of them to plentifull soyles . and doubtlesse hee had a brave soule to actuat that comely composure ; and an innated valour appeard in him , when hee put himselfe upon the souldiers defense as he receivd the mortall stabbe . i will conclude with part of a character that a judicious cavalier gave lately of him ; hee was a great example of sobriety and temperance , but not of continency . the assassin that feld him found oftentimes strong and strange reluctancies in himselfe , nor could hee give any other reason that pushd him forward to this black attempt , but that he was blasted by the great assembly , and so thought it an act agreeable to heaven to take away the partition wall betweene the king and his people , and make him a sacrifice to the publike , though with an unavoydablenesse of his owne destruction , confronting thereby death in the face ; whereby was verified that saying , that he who is carelesse of his owne life , is master of another's . but heaven forbid that this custome which hath such a vogue in other parts , should take footing in drvina . this tragedie being acted , the royall oke pursueth his designe for supporting of petrina , with the eusebians in ampelona , but this disaster as it bred confusion for the time , so it causd a stand in the procedure of that great action , which gave the vine respit to finish those stupendous circumvallations and barricadoes hee had reard up by sea and land to begirt petrina ; in so much that when another noble elme was sent with strength sufficient to have achievd a greater exploit , he found her passd cure . this some say went to the very heart of elaiana , who in regard of that notable advantage , and addition of united power the vine got hereby , would have found some way or other to have relievd petrina , had she thought druina would have missd it . the great assembly aforesaid rejoynd , and mett againe in one body , and now he that was supposd to be the cause of the tempest being throwne overboard , there were great hopes a calme should ensue , but the storme continued as furious as ever , and unlucky passions blustred as much , if not more , than they had done formerly in villerios time . they flew a fresh upon other great officers and questiond a duty , that for garding of the seas , and common defence of the realme had beene indisputably granted to so many preceding kings for a bene esse , which they made difficulty to affoord the royall oke regnant , unles he would first renounce alright to it , and so receive it meerely from them . thus they choppd logicke with soveraigne majesty who movd with these traverses , resolvd though to his unutterable griefe to dismisse this great counsell , but upon the point when this was to be done in forme , the lower assembly in a strange tumultuary manner adjournd themselves , before they had receivd his royall pleasure . they denied him his officers at armes , violated the prolocutor , being twise sent for , delayed to let in his messenger , and discontentments turning thus to a strange kind of disobedience , they broake up in confusion . adde hereunto that notwithstanding there was another peculiar assembly of reverend yewes of purpose for the regulating and sweeping cleane of the house of the almighty , yet the poplars must make it their office to tamper with the constitution of holy things ; and indeed this is one of the greatest scandals and brands , that not only petropolis , but other forreners ( who have with her forsaken petropolis ) cast upon druina . viz. that her ecclesiasticall ordinances are the commands and injunctions of this secular power , and members of this assembly , who not only confirme ( which may become them well enough , and is necessary for a generall obedience ) but take upon them to be iudges herein . so that one being askd what they did in that lower great assembly , hee was answerd pleasantly , that they were making of a new creed ; another was over-heard to say , that hee could not bee quiet in his conscience , untill the holy text should be confirmd by an act of theirs . whence may bee inferrd , that some of them beleeve , it belongs to them to make sanctions , as well as statutes . this inducd the royall oke , though he be responsible to none for an account of his actions but to the high majestie of heaven , to publish an open protest unto the world , for the satisfaction of his better sort of subjects , of the causes of these disorders , declaring that while villerio liv'd , hee was intitled to all the distempers and ill events of former assemblies , therefore much endeavour was usd to demolish him as the only wall of separation twixt their soveraigne and them , but he now being cut off , no alteration was found amongst them at all , or calmenesse in their proceedings . he was pleasd to declare further , that he imputed not these commotions to the whole assembly , knowing that there were amongst them , many religious , grave and well minded patriotts , but the sincerer and better part of them being over-borne by the clamours and practises of others , who carelesse of their duties , and taking advantage of the times and his necessities , constraind him to breake off that meeting , which had it beene answerd with like duties on their parts , as love on his , might have prov'd happie to all druina . these fatall distempers as they did much hurt to the body politicke at home , for they were like humours stirrd in the naturall body without evacuation , so did they produce disadvantagious effects abroad , and better had it been that the raysers and fomenters of them had never sprang up in druina . the royall firre had engagd himselfe in the quarrell of altapinus against the cedar , and he had proceeded so far as to the imminent and actuall danger of his owne person . and expecting from druina those monthly supplies which were promised by capitulation , partly for want of them , the one halfe of his territories being already over-runne and plundred , hee was constraind to shuffle up a peace with the cedar ( without druinas privity . ) and it was high time for him , for whereas the firre was usd to bee a dwelling for the stork , the eagle was like to build his nest there . the foresaid great expedition to relieve petrina did also suffer hereby , and indeed the whole party of the eusebians every where up and downe the world , who had their eyes fixd upon druinas monarke their defendor . who so much labouring to take the old wonted great trodden way , for supplies towards the support of such publike designes , was constraind at last to take the higher roade , by having recourse to his soveraigne prerogative to ballast the common purse of the state ; and a kingdome is like a shippe at sea , whose ballast should be the princes coffers ; which if they be light and emptie , she will do nought but tumble up and downe , nor can she be made to run a direct and steddy course . about this time fell one of the noblest elmes in the whole forrest , extracted of the ancient stocke of the monticolians , that bore the smallest , yet chiefest staffe of office and command in druinas court ; and his fall was the more remarkable , because the night immediately before he was discoursing of , and slighting the art of those foolish astrologers , and genethliacall ephemerists , that use to pry into the horoscope of nativities , whereof one had much tampred with his , and positively affirmd he should not reach 51. yeares , and now said hee , i have liv'd ( thankes bee to heaven ) fiftie one yeares and a day compleat , but the next morning hee was taken with an apoplexie , whereof he presently died ; much lamented hee was , for his noblenes , and mervailous candor of disposition , and other brave endowments , and therefore generally belov'd in citie , court , and country . and being a long time averse to the match with elaiana mordogan put a shrewd pernicious complement upon him ; for being at a private audience in discourse with druinas monarke , hee fell to magnifie the greatnesse , loyalty , and wealth of his subjects ; and specially of this noble elme , who had such rooting in the hearts of the poplars , that upon any faction , or tumult , he verily thought he could draw after him all the trees of the forrest . but this was spoken of purpose to make some impression of jealousies in the breast of majesty . as these traverses happened in druina , behold bumelias king the martiall ash , holding himselfe to bee much affronted by the cedar in that he would vouchsafe no audience to his ambassadors , and that hee encroachd upon the territories of his allies ; as also for some preventive reasons of state ; he crosseth those cold seas , and rusheth into rhenusium like a whirlewind , carrying all before him though with small numbers at first , not exceeding 7000. yet like a ball of snow tumbling downe a hill , hee still gatherd strength as he passd : and made chips of all the trees he met withall . hee restored two of his said allies to their entire possessions , and proceeding further , and being dared as he was a cavalier by that great veteran captaine then the cedars generall ( who the day before had shrewdly shaken the plane ) to meete him in pitchd field ; he answerd that he was something more than a cavalier , and that he had thousands under him as good as that generall himselfe , therefore he would not fayle to finde him out speedily . the next day he kept his word and gave him battaile , where hee carried away as faire and compleat a victory as possibly could be , and thereby he freed the planes country from the impendent dangers that hung over it . he marchd still on , making his passage by the point of the sword every where , he crosseth the great river that denominates rhenusium , upon whose bankes hee kept his festivals in an admired triumphant manner in one of the chiefest archflamins townes , whither ambassadours resorted unto him from farre and neare , as if he had beene some cesar. the royall vine being displeasd that he had crossd that great river , and invaded the territories of the church ( whereof he had taken the protection ) without his privity , sent to tell him by his ambassador ; that if he did not stand to his articles , he had an army of 80000. to enter into rhenusium when hee pleased . the magnanimous ash answerd , that he had not infringd the least tittle of what was articled , that they aymd at one marke , and their ends were concentrike , and he knew how to make his way in rhenusium , better than he could tell him . and touching the archflamin in whose metropolis hee then kept his court , hee had broke promise both with the royall vine and him , by ceasing to bee neutrall ; as for the menace hee sent , if ampelona had 80000. to rush into to rhenusium , be had 20000. and with them he would be sooner at the walles of tutelia , then those 80000. could be on the frontiers of rhenusium . afterwards he made himselfe master of baccharia , but to re-invest altapinus there , hee would have tied him to hard , and indeed to very harsh termes ; first , that hee should make no leavie of military forces , without his consent . that he should supply him with so many thousands upon his owne charge during these warres ; that hee should still reserve two of the chiefest townes of baccharia in deposito , where hee might put in garrison to be maintaind by the contributions of the countrey ; that hee should make no league or confederacy with any other , without his privity and consent . that there should bee free exercise of the bumelian religion throughout all baccharia , and an academy , and schooles erected to that end . that he should acknowledge , under god , to have receivd his country from him ; with diverse other such restrictions . but that noble stout elme whom the royall oke employed at that time in rhenusium in a high quality , of purpose to observe his motions , would not condescend hereunto . hence bumelias king breakes his way to the elders court , where he shooke him ill favouredly for the time , ranging through the very bowels of his country , and plundring all wheresoever he came , as farre as his very cells and clossets . but as no violent course lasteth long , this irresistible torrent of his tropheys was stoppd by the dire hand of destiny , so that in the throng of his owne victorious troupes , this martiall ash was felld , the greatest of his enemies whom hee most redoubted for his valour , falling before in his sight . so that , as in life , so at , and after his death he provd a conqueror , falling upon the bed of honour and victory both at once , in a party colourd field gules and argent , but the crest sable , so that it was impossible for a souldier to bid the world farewell , in a braver manner . his fall for the present strucke an earth quake into all minds , nor could the vulgar bee inducd a great while to beleeve that he was feld , thinking him to bee impenetrable , and above the stroake of fate . an heroicke prince he was , and in such a height , that it was said the soule of caesar had entred into him ; so that some thinke he sprung of the race of that tree , whereof achilles speare , and hercules club were made , only hee was taxd to bee over-ventrous and head-strong ; besides there were some , that observd him , to bee somewhat elated by that monstrous course of conquering , but as adrianas ambassadour apologizd for him , he had been more than a mortall wight , if he had not been somewhat altered at the successe of such high feates , which were such , that considering the quality of the country , townes , and enemies , none of the twelve caesar acts , paralleld his in so short a time . but i will relate a thing worthy of wonder ; amongst others who receivd contentment at the proceedings of the warlike ash , melissanus the great archflamin would be often inquisitive , and well pleasd to heare of any successefull encounter of his against the cedar . some thinke the reason was , in regard the cedar had a little before disturbd the peace of bombicina , and joynd with elaiana to kindle a new fire in her , therefore hee was well contented to see him a little shaken . others say , there was some secret tye , that if the ash should compasse his designes in rhenusium , he should assist melissanus to recover hipparcha , ( which the olive hath so long detaind from petropolis ) as a reward for his neutralitie : hereupon when there was a great contracto in the holy senat , at the time when the cedars and olives embassadors demanded pecuniary supplies out of the holy treasure for the support of religion in rhenvsivm and preventing the further spreading of the ash , the ivie himselfe answered , that he was satisfied religion was neither the subject nor scope of those warres ; and that the holy treasure , was to bee reservd , and issued for holy uses , and not misapplied to any other ends . whereunto one of the prime members of that high senat , replying , that the ivie for his coldnesse in the cedars quarrell was traducd abroad for halfe an hereticke , he was taken up very short , and adjudgd corrigible for such presumptuous language . amongst many others , which had obligations to the martiall ash , the plane receivd no small benefit by him ; for hee preservd his country three severall times from impendent and actuall danger ; but it seemes he quickly forgot him , for after his fall hee shuffled up a peace with the cedar in which the bumelians were quite excluded : and it had beene wishd , that the princely plane , ( though allowed his sprincklings of wine , because as the arbolists observe it is more naturall to him , and makes him thrive better than any other tree ) had in these traverses beene lesse wavering , and not suffered himselfe to be shaken with such incertaine blasts : for i cannot tell how often he put in , and pulld out his pin from the stake . had the adventrous ash survivd that fatall , yet victorious , day he fell on , many think the cedar was so far shrunk that he had beene put to very hard shifts to have made head against him to any purpose againe . for indeed his progresse was such , that both sides stood at a stand , gazing and doubting where his conquest would terminat . and had he brought his intents home to his ayme , he would have cast the policy of the lower world into a new mould , and happily have put his own confederates to stand upon their gard ; and as for many others , so had it not been wholesome for druina , that his acquests had extended further , which makes mee , that i cannot wonder enough at the shallownesse and impertinent zeale of the vulgar sort in druina , who were still so eager , and joyfull to heare him still goe on , and carried away with such an ignorant devotion for his successes , when it little concernd their religion or security . amongst divers others who rejoycd and triumphd at the fall of the war-like ash , the elder lifted up his hollow boughs , so high , that a little after he took heart of grace to court one of the youngest sprayes of the imperiall cedar for his consort , though in point of age he quadrupply exceeded her , being cauterizd in foure severall places about his body to have vent for his malignant humors , wherewith it seemes he much abounded , specially towards prince altapinus , who was one of the nearest to him in stocke ; besides his young consort was sprung as close to him , and as neare as could be out of his own stemme . yet neither disparity of yeares , nor propinquity of stocke , could hinder the designe policy had herein , but he carried her cleare away ; and what fruit can be expected of this inoculation , but blacke unsavourie berries , and flowers onely to make the tartest viniger , such as the elder naturally beares . and what fruit also the beech will produce by his late ingrafting upon the other spray , though in a farre ignobler way , ( having by letters and instruments ) attempted a princely graffe , which as farre precels her , which hee hath lighted upon , as a damaske rose doth the couslip in natures workemanship , quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi , ) i had rather expect then determine . but these kinde of infolliations wresting so farre the lawes of nature , have seldome prov'd prosperous ; i know not what they may doe upon this moderne politicke race , which as she pretends to have mounted to this might and largenesse by these meanes , so shee goeth on , to ciment her designes , and fortifie her selfe still by this course ; but some of the best genethliacall arbolists observe , that though these unequall imbuddings may flourish for a time , they will fade away at last by a fate , that unavoydably useth to attend them . before the lowest of the celestiall bodies had finishd her monthly course , altapinvs also fell , who had beene a companion to the warlike ash in many of his exploits through rhenusium ; a prince who by a hard destiny , became a tennis-ball a long while to the blind goddesse ; a prince in whom many vertues did co-habit . he was free from that vice rhenusium is so naturally addicted unto , where the custome is so generall that it takes away the conscience to be peccant therein . very sedulous hee was in the pursute of his affaires , parsimonious and wonderfully indulgent of his young cions , and the glory of her sexe carbasilis , who though homebias crowne was lost , yet by her princely comportment , shee got then another kingdome which shee retaines ever since , as may bee inferrd out of her name ; for at the beginning of these unlucky traverses , shee wisely turnd her selfe ( though sprouted naturally of the oke ) into a palme , and with a more than feminine courage tooke for her motto ever since , — sub mole resurgo . for it can hardly bee judgd , whether her various sorts of pressures , or patience were greater . many brave adventrous spirits fell for love of her ; amongst others i cannot forget , the high-hearted martialist brunonio , who first lost his lands , then one of his chiefest limbes , and lastly his life in her quarrell . nor can i omit here a noble elme sprung up in the streets of tamisond , who hath beene a most constant and resolute adventurer , and conversd with danger a great while for her , though with extraordinary expence , the late losse of his libertie , and many traverses of apparant hazard , even to the admiration of the ash himselfe , and envie of others . not long before these times , there being interchangeable overtures made on all sides ; the royall oke renewed a peace both with the vine and the olive , twixt whom there passd many shockes ; for the olive , the worst that druina suffered was , that she exchangd coales for sugar . and now behold a glorious serenity of peace againe in druina , having had two of her potentst neighbours upon her backe at once . it hath beene a maxime often verified in policy ; that kings may marry , but not their crownes , and never was this more exemplified , then by the alliance of those princely sprayes that sprung of the last great martiall vine , who notwithstanding that of themselves there were never any in whom sweetnesse of disposition , and vertue her selfe was more resplendent in such a degree , as if the three graces had contributed their utmost power to make them good ; yet i know not by what fate or fortune t' is come to passe , there have fallen out diverse traverses of warre , since the inarching of those graffes , upon the olive , the pine , and the oke ; which yet continueth , and is daily exasperated twixt the olive and the vine , who though at first , they crossd one anothers designes by sending auxiliary forces in collaterall wayes , they doe now directly and in good earnest , clash their branches one against the other . for the justnesse of their quarrell , i will not undertake here to debate it ; nor determine whether a just feare without any active invasion or offence bee sufficient grounds to ampelona for a warre , and whether it may deserve the name of a defensive . i have reade that the true cause of the peloponnesian warre ( though they were blanchd with other specious colours ) was the over-growing greatnesse of athens , which did as it were impose upon the lacedemonians a necessity of armes ; preventive warres have beene practised by the best policied states , they rid the forrest oftentimes of superfluous plants ; and are as a purge for the body politicke : and in all ages it hath beene held a maine part of providence , to have an eye , that their confining neighbours , should neither by too neare an approach , or encrease of territory , or enfeebling of confederates , nor by ingrossing of trade , or stopping of passage , receive any addition of strength , and in point of wealth to beare up still in equall proportion , upon the enhancement of the rates of coyne , excrescence of demeanes , or imposition of tolls ; this makes the vine so salt his subject , and the olive pepper his so much . the lawfulnesse of warre in the generall was never questiond , so it have a soveraigne head , not otherwise . for the almighty is the god of hosts and armes , as well as of peace ; and warres well grounded are nought else but sutes of appeale to the consistory of heaven , when there is no superior on earth to determine the cause : and besides the lawfulnesse hereof , there seemes to bee a kinde of inevitablenesse and necessitie in it ; some philosophers were of opinion , that the world doth subsist by a perpetuall strife in some part or other , i goe not above the concave of the moone , where the celestiall bodies , though in relation to us ( poore mortals ) they seeme to strange , and have their contrary motions , eclipses and oppositions , yet amongst themselves they are in a most regular , and constant sweet course of concord ; but for the elementary world , all things are in a kind of restlesse conflict ; the elements themselves , which are the primitive ingredients of all bodies , are in perpetuall combat , they still encroach one upon another , and labour to repell each other , but amongst the rest the fire is most vigorous and ravenous , the earth hath frequent fits of the palsie , the sea is never still , the aire is agitated with winds , and new monsters and meteorologicall impressions are hourely engendred ; so in humane bodies composd of this stuffe , there is an incessant warfare amongst the humours for predominancy , and while this naturall war lasteth , the earth cannot be without civill and politicall preliations , the mind following most commonly the temper of the body . but a madde tenet it was of the candian ( in that divine and high soaring philosopher ) that peace is but a naked and empty name , a kinde of chymera , and that every state expects but its advantage to set upon the skirts of the other , whence hee concludes , that there is alwayes a kinde of fermentation of warre , and no kinde of reall love and league betweene princes , but only an impuissance or inconveniencie to doe hurt . an age there was , and t' was the last , when druina , ampelona , and elaiana were so circumspect , and eagle eyed , that scarce an acre of ground , could bee gotten by either of the three , but the other two would bee sure to doe their best , to set the scales even again . and the like diligence hath beene practised in diverse other regions , and it seemes is now by ampelona , by reason of the late new acquests the olive , and his race in rhenusium have made ; which induceth her to sticke more close then ever to itelia , as also to the bumelians , who else i beleeve had gone neere to have quite disbanded long before now . the princely sycomore which stood as a screene twixt ampelona and rhenusium hath smarted for this , being fallen just under the same fatall predicament , as altapinus ; both exulating from their owne patrimoniall territories . but a hard case it seemes to bee , that the princely spray which was of the selfe same ancient stocke with the sycomore , being branches of the same tree , should in the verdantst season of her virginity , bee coupled according to the true rites of sacred law , with ampelonas apparant heire , and then , poore lady , to bee abandoned without the least imaginary fault of hers ; and more strange it seemes to the world , that ampelona , specially that now her prime minister of state is of a holy function , should goe about to preferre a particular temporary custome of hers , viz that her heire apparent should not any wayes dispose of himselfe to marriage , without the privity and consent of the state , to the prejudice and flat breach of the eternall law of the almighty : and so to attempt the nullifying of that act , and loosning of that knot which by divine ordinance should bee indissoluble ; and so make a kinde of medlar of that princely sycomore , shee being every way superior to his first consort . it is true , policy is warrantable , yet but as a hand-maid to divinity , and absurd it is to make the mistresse stoope and give place to the servant ; policy is like the apocrypha , which is allowed to be digested into one volume , and read with the sacred text , but when it thwarts any thing that is canonicall , away with it . the ravishing of the sycomore's country , hapned in an unlucky time for young altapinus , for , i beleeve , it rendred the treaty for a restitution of baccharia more knotty and difficult ; in so much that some think they must be put in counter-scales hereafter , and move both upon one hinge . a much famed statist elaiana had halfe an age since , was usd to say , that if ampelona had three things favourable , she were eternall , viz. petropolis , the sea , and counsell . touching the first , melissanus who now swayes the great archflaminship , is mightily devoted to her , having beene so long rooted in her , that it seemes he naturally affects her soyle and plants . and oftentimes we finde that nature her selfe yeelds to custome , that great giant , who is so prevalent , that oftentimes , wee shape the discourse of reason , and course of nature to the inbred notions and preconceptions it hath imprinted in our minds , besides , habituall frequency of conversation is one of the greatest loadstones of love . for the sea , itelia serves her for her docke and arsenall , nor was shee ever so improv'd and potent that way ; and i wish itelia may never have cause to rue the time she did it . for counsell , she hath lighted upon an instrument of a mervailous contriving and sedulous spirit , as solid as hee is subtile , which is rare under that clime , in so much that some have termd him the prodigie of prudence , others have soard higher , and calld him the grand genius , and tutelar angell of ampelona , others flie yet higher , and call him the supreme intelligence , the spirit that moves the heavens and the starres , the phoenix of the earth , and such like superlatives , and hyperbole's . he is so strongly rooted in the opinion of the royall vine , that hee post-poseth filiall , and fraternall love , to his favour towards him . some give other characters of him , and call him the incendiary of ampelona , that his mind is of the colour of his habit , sanguine ; that he is indued with the same spirit , that sometimes a famous archflamin in elaiana was , who said that gunpowder in the field gave as sweet a perfume , as incense at the altar ; this makes him keepe such a stirre with drum and trumpet up and downe in many places ; yet though that humour sutes with the colour of his coat , it doth not i am sure with his calling . nor because hee hath got a peculiar title to distinguish him from others , should hee be so farre elated with that eminency as to expect priority of place of such high ministers , who immediately represent soveraigne and independent majesty , and if hee be stout in this point , he must give them leave to be stately . but for his intermedling with armes , hee is the more excusable , because many others of his coat in these times are not only martiall directors , but commanders and actors in open field , making tents their temples , and singing te deum with the noise of the canon , so that those warres which are now in motion , may be calld the holy warres , being directed and managed most , by such ministers . and here i will insert a late passage of a great provinciall governor , and the oldest martialist of ampelona , who comming to visit a great archflamin , that is now a navall generall , hee sent to desire him to have a little patience , for hee was dispatching some captaines and other officers , who were to goe presently to sea upon a designe of consequence . the provinciall governour staying not , the archflamin went the next day to excuse himselfe to him . the veteran governour hearing hee was there , sent to desire him to stay a little , for he was newly entred into a peece of saint austin , de civitate dei , and as soone as he had read it over , he would attend his reverence . but to give ramundas this prime minister of state in ampelona ( for that 's his title ) his due , ( and i honour him the more , because the first great act hee did when hee came to the helme was the alliance with druina ) the royall vine hath done notable feates by the strength of his counsell . he hath debelld the eusebians who formerly stood upon the strength of their own gard , having sundry maritime and inland forts , and places of fastnesse for their security , but they are brought to subsist now meerely by his mercy , having no other assurance for their safety , but his pleasure . and it seemes hee easily dispenseth with himselfe to performe , what his two immediate predecessors were bound by sacred tie , and article to observe . for hee hath declard long since , that what the one did , hee did it out of feare ; what the other , his great sire , did , he did it out of love ( though he had his eares often stoppd with cotton at their petitions ) but for his part , hee neither lov'd them , nor feard them . and it must bee granted , this was one of the greatest weakenesses ampelona had , for foren princes and some of her owne grandees , servd themselves of the eusebians , as of matches to set her on fire within dores at pleasure . the ancient elmes that lifted up their heads so high in their governments , which some held as confidently as if it had bin their inheritance , and so lessened the opinion of the vassall to the soveraigne , he hath remov'd , and placd therein inferiour trees , not of so ancient a stocke , whereof some are trienniall , others during pleasure . hee hath mervailously enhanc'd the revenues , and perquisits of the crowne , to many millions more than it was , though with a pitifull excoriation of the poorer sort , so that from 14. they are mounted to 20. millions in the last estimat that was made . he hath clammerd over the huge neighbouring hils , making his way by the swords point , and setled one of his owne vassals , though opposd by the cedar and olive to be one of the soveraigne princes of bombycina , and in the passage seiz'd upon the territories of the princely pine who made halfe resistance , but having effected his purpose , he freely surrendred it , yet reserving still to himselfe a key to enter bombycina at pleasure . hee hath disturbed the passage elaiana had got through the vale , from bombycina to rhenusium . he hath so scourgd the sycomore , who had offended him , that hee hath sent him to wander up and downe for another soyle to plant himselfe in . hee hath regaind , though with infinite toyle and treasure those islands elaiana had a while rooted her selfe in neere bombycina . and lastly , to bring you nearer home , he gave the olive many smart knockes when hee thought to have planted himselfe in the confines of his country , which provd too hot a soyle for the elaianians , which made one of them to leave behind this motto upon the walls of a forsaken fort. o ampelonians , if we had been such as the world takes us to be , and you such as you have beene wont to ; be our deeds had beene yours , and yours ours . these high feates the vine hath done since he was proppd by this genius ; and behold lately a mighty blessing droppd downe from heaven upon him , and all ampelona , viz. a rare masculine branch sprung out of him , and the lovely olive , his royall mate , after twenty three yeares inoculation , which hath transformd all the world to wonder . so that ampelonas great queene may answer her teeming neighbours as the lionesse did the fox , who reproaching her of sterility and such slownesse in breeding said , t' is true , i breed slowly , but what i bring forth is a lion ; the application is obvious ; and i hope the lion of the tribe of iudah will be graciously pleasd to make this inexpected regall late offspring a prince of peace , that his birth may quash all farre fetchd reaches of ambitious policy , and put christendome in a new mould of peace , least , besides those parts wherein she is already stucke , shee feele in other of her members , the prickles of that huge bramble , who hath it for the prime part of his letany , that intestine warres bee still fomented twixt christian princes ; and good reason hee hath to pray so , for the greatest armes hee ever usd against them were their owne divisions . nor is druinas monarch destitute of prudent and strenuous counsell , though he need it not so much , for he can see better without spectacles ; nor is his favour like that of the vine , and olive's ingrossd all by one , but every one of his prime independent ministers is his favourite within the bounds of his own office ; hee hath an intelligence to every spheare , amongst whom he diffuseth his beames , according as they shall move in a regular motion every one in his owne orbe , and stand subordinate to him their primus motor ; and indeed , as the systeme and symphony of musicke is not made by one or two , but diversity of strings and notes , so politicall harmony consists in the correspondence of the greatest ministers , and their unanimous resolution after some conflict of opinions , for as fire breaks out of flint by concussion , so wisdome and truth issueth out of the agitation of argument . tamisond never flourished more with building and bullion , and bravery of all things . her great sanctuary , the greatest take all dimensions together , of any in the europaean world , which by the iron teeth of time and injury of the meteors had so mouldred away , that she was upon point of being reducd to her first principles , a confusd chaos of stone and rubbish , is like to looke as youthfull as ever she did ; when the eagle built his nest , every bird brought in a feather ; and certainely a good spirit cannot dwell in him , who grumbles to send a stone towards the bearing up of the house of the almighty . nor doth tamisond encrease this way by houses , palaces or streets onely , but she hath a whole new towne reard up lately to enlarge her skirts ; and whereas before , her walls were of light combustible matter , they are now of a new solid structure and stuffe . though some would thinke , that in regard she drawes on in this kind so much to the west , she is towards her declining times ; and they ground this augury upon the height of bravery and profusenesse shee is come to , which commonly bring with them , luxury and softnesse , and they have beene alwaies observed to be symptomes of a waining state . for navall strength , since druina sate in thetis lap , and had her white cliffs washd with her waves , she was never so well appointed ; not long since , the world thought shee had beene fallen to so low an ebbe , that she was not able to set out a fleet royall to sea , which made some so insult over her , that they questiond her soveraignty , yea in her owne waves ; but lately shee hath appeard like her selfe , and put them all to silence , unbeguiling the world of this erroneous opinion . the late moving castle she hath built , hath already purchasd such renowne ; that it is confessd by all her neighbours , there never floated the like upon salt waters . she hath restord a forren emperour to his right ; and it is the duty of soveraigne princes , to see wrong vindicated , and right take place though amongst barbarians being sought unto ▪ and besides the glory of that action , there is a speciall benefit accrues thereby to druina , for that nest of base ravenous birds which so much impeachd her commerce is pulld down , and many of her own plants , who languished in that hot scorching soylein most miserable slavery , brought home . they cannot therefore have their hearts well planted in them , who repine at such contributions which the sages of the law have once avouched legall , since they daylie see such necessary and glorious effects thereof ; and the ( legall ) leavies the soveraigne raysers of the subject , are as vapours which the sunne exhales up into the middle region ( the wombe of the meteors ) which fall downe afterwards in sweet silver showres to fructifie the earth . the golden chaine of policy hath beene alwayes held to be , that the defense of a kingdome is the office of the prince , the honour of the peeres , the service of the souldier , and the charge of the subject , for qui sentit commodum , sentire debet & onus . adde hereunto , that alleageance is an act of reciprocation ; as it bindes the king to protect , so it ties the subject to contribute , and by this correspondence there is a quid pro quo . but as in druina , so in all other forrests , it is usuall for the poplars to clash their branches , and still make a noise at the present times and soloecismes , in government , though they know neither the disease , nor the remedy . they think to discerne the least moat in the body politicke , building certaine fantasticke formes of ruling , and soothing their shallow imaginations , that they could set the state in such frames , the particular application whereof would prove absurd and grosse impertinencies . touching eminent or imminent danger , though there be some arcana imperii in every state , which the soveraigne and his sages should onely know and not disperse amongst the vulgar , it was apparently visible , how the fairest flower of druinas diademe , the dominion of the seas was aymd at , and like to be pluckd off , was it not high time then for her to rigge her vessels , and put her selfe upon an extraordinary gard ? moreover they are far wide who think druina can joyne security and peace together , as long as the olive with the cedar and the vine are up in actuall armes by sea and land hard before her , for a peace may bee clapd up betweene them with that suddennesse , that some of those forces which are now in motion may inexpectedly fall upon her skirts . touching ampelona some have beene over-heard to say that the late invasion upon her islands for reliefe of petrina stickes still in her stomacke but halfe disgested , thinking she hath not repaird her honour to the height , nor taken equall revenge according to the rules of retaliation , by that successefull repulse only . and for elaiana some hold ( though i do not ) never yet made hearty peace with any eusebian prince , and the peace she makes proceeds either from disability or unseasonablenes to hurt . and since she holds the canons of the last great counsell ( whither t' was said the holy ghost was usd to be sent in cloake-bagges from petropolis ) in so much reverence and authority as the sacred oracles themselves which were immediately inspird from heaven , of which canons one was , that haereticis ( meaning the eusebians ) non est tenenda fides ; since i say that elaiana stands so readily appointed and so neare , it would very ill become the policy of druina , to let her vessels lye rotting upon the carine , and not to be ready upon a preventive gard , least she re-incurre that aspersion which in former ages stuck fowlly to her , which was to be wise , a posteriori , after the blow was given , when hannibalis ante portas . and now that all the neighbouring forrests , which had been formerly shaken , and riven with the thunderbolts of war , did admire and envie the sweete peace and serenity of druina , her royall oke being onely — medijs tranquillus in undis ; behold an unhappy mist did rise in the north in cardenia , ( and cardenia is knowne to bee much subject to mists . ) some say cardenia hath the same quarrell to her soveraigne , that she hath to the sun for dwelling too far distant from them : but it was discovered that this cloud was engendred of the exhalations of divers discontented spirits , specially some of the great ones , who did suscitat the inferior sort of flamins , that depended upon them for their subsistence to vent seditious doctrine against the hierarchy , and chiefest governours in holy things , fearing that by a post-liminous way something should bee re-annexd both to church and crowne , which had alwayes beene possessd by them time out of mind . these obstreperous sermocinators ( who in cardenia sway as much , if not more , upon the conscience then the loyalists else where doe ) make easie impressions upon the minds of the vulgar , specially the femalls who first broak out into acts of violence , so that it may be said this sedition came in , as sin did first into the world , by the female sexe , who relying upon the immunity of their kinde , did many unbefitting and strange barbarisms , little tending to the honour of cardenia , and with these the meaner sort of mechanikes concurd , and at last the tallest elmes appeard , so that the whole forrest was in a fearefull combustion , and the bels every where rung backward , the regalia seizd upon , and government thrust quite of the hinges . a strange league is made without consent of royall majesty , point blank against the lawes of cardenia , and nothing will serve their turne but the utter extinguishing of the greatest luminaries of the church , and the abjuration of whatsoever the late royall oke ( who they glory to have bin the most religious and learnedst prince that ever wore diademe ) had done in point of ecclesiasticall government . the meaner sort of the dispensers of sacred oracles ( who of all other , were the greatest monsters of ingratitude to their soveraigne ( who had found out a way not long before to augment and a scertaine their stipends , and free them from that servile kinde of clientele they stood in to the seculars ) in lieu of pious documents and wholesome doctrines tamper chiefly with matters of state , and out of a fanatique zeale minister more fuell to encrease the flames ; they cryed out that the ready way to return to petropolis , was , to passe by druina ; that her forme of publike prayer ( though they acknowledge the first compilers thereof to bee glorious martyrs ) was meere idolatry . this little tended to the honour of cardenia , for all her neighbours cryed out against her , that shee should cast such a brand upon the eusebian religion , as to loose all respects of passive obedience , if need had bin , ( for subjects should be willowes , and not okes ) and to stand in open defiance and armes against their naturall liege lord ; and where people runne together and joyne in armes ( bee it for defence or offence ) without a soveraigne head , i know what terme it deserves , all the world over . the sages of druina consult how to quench these flams . some were of opinion , that , all the while they broak not out into incursions by land , or depredations at sea , nor tooke in forren force , nor did any externe act of violence ; it was not dishonourable for druina , to look on a while , yet pinch them in commerce every way , and to be sure to keep them at the staves end . bombycina hath a saying , that the prince , who upon every commotion of the subject , rusheth presently into open war , is like him who sets his owne house a fire to roast his egges . kings have many wayes to meet with their people , besides effusion of bloud , and profusion of treasure , they have long reaches . non nôst longas regibus esse manus ? nor is phlebotomy , in the body politicke , as well as the naturall , prescrib'd for all diseases . some of the wisest emperours have gone to worke with mutinous subjects by cunctation , as the sun did to take away the passengers cloake , not as the ruffling wind ; for royall maiesty like the sun hath her rayes also , which dazzleth the eyes of disloyalty , and glancing upon rebellion , makes it melt to nothing , like a gorgons head , or a beare reard up of snow . but it hath beene the fate of the best and potentst monarches to have water throwne sometimes into their wine by tumultuous subjects , witnesse the vine , and the olive hard by . but i trust cardenia will not be so ingratefull to druina , as to receive plummes from her so many yeares , and now to throw the stones at her . the thistle i hope will not offer to clash against the soveraigne rose , considering the multiplicity of advantages she hath by her . and the single lion ( though rampant ) will be better advisd then set himselfe against three , considering how often he hath felt their pawes : a good instrument may ( by some ill favourd accident ) bee out of tune , but being put in againe , the musicke will be as good as ever , i hope cardenia will prove so . and now will i put a period to this parley , this iargon of trees , for i can find them no further matter of discourse , unlesse i should make them to prophecy , and so out-runne their epoch . many more things could have beene couchd here ( as a discerning reader may well perceive ) which i leave to future ages , and transmit to the post-nati , when the times shall be enfranchizd , and posterity manumitted : for there be some historicall truths , which are like the medlar not ripe enough ( to be written ) till they be rotten : nor was this shadow of trees darke enough for them , it being my intention at first not to pursue or presse this allegory so farre as to inslave my matter unto it , and so put it in a kinde of stockes , but that i did obtaine leave of my selfe sometimes by obvious and easie expressions to comply with the readers capacity ; otherwise hee might have thought it to have beene some senselesse phantasticke romance , which might have brought him to that passe , that he could not have beene able as hee went along to have seene the wood for trees ; no , it will appeare that i labour to bring him often into the plaines , and that i was very carefull to shunne the bogs , for they are dangerous , and there is no state without them . wherefore i hope this knotty ill twisted peece , will passe current without exception , offence or calumny ; and that my impartiall dealing will serve for a pale to fence out the goats from my forrest , though i must confesse there may some few criticismes or graines of browne salt , and small dashes of vineger be found here and there , to make the discourse more sapid , but this tartnesse is farre from any gall or venome , wherewith the pages of some moderne authors of our next transmarin neighbours do usually swell , and are yet exposd to vent by publicke authority though they writ flat and plaine without any disguise at all ; i presume you have tasted no such bitternesse here , albeit i might have done it with more priviledge and good manners , writing under types . no ; you shall find no blacke satyres range in my woods ; if there bee any , they are white harmelesse ones , and drawing neere to the nature of fayries . a vote . for conclusion , my incessant vowes and hearty orisons to heaven early and late shall bee , that the high majesty which is here meant by the oke , may in vigor , and strength of constitution ( if it bee within the possibility of nature ) attaine unto the age of the oke , which is observd to exceed all other terrestriall creatures in longaevity . may he be to his enemies as the oke is to the olive , which as the arbolists observe , shrinkes away to nothing , if he be but neere the roots of the oke ; may honour set up her stand in him , and victory her tent under his branches ; may he bee like that blessed tree planted on the waters side ( as he is already surrounded and strengthened with waters ) which brings forth her fruit in due season , whose leafe fadeth not , and prospereth in all his undertakings . long may his fruitfull vine infolliat and clasp about him with embracements of princely love , that their soules may transmigrat into each other : long may the dew of heaven distill upon them , to make them bourgeon and propagat amongst themselves , untill they bee encircled with a large row of young gemmes , and cions of their owne royall stocke , which to the fulnesse of earthly contentment , they may see shoot up and germinat , and ingrafted also upon other princely scutcheons and shields , and so grow ripe to succeed them here , when they shall be transplanted to the celestiall paradise , to become true ierusalem okes , to flourish there for ever with the tree of life , and behold him who troad the vvine presse , and once suffered upon a tree , to purchase for them , that shall bee truly ingrafted into him here , palmes of victory , and immarcessible ghirlands of glory and triumph to all eternity . so prayeth , the loyallst , and lowliest of their maiesties , votaries and vassals , iames howell . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a03752-e1360 guic. thērologia, the parly of beasts, or, morphandra, queen of the inchanted iland wherein men were found, who being transmuted to beasts, though proffer'd to be dis-inchanted, and to becom men again, yet, in regard of the crying sins and rebellious humors of the times, they prefer the life of a brute animal before that of a rational creture ... : with reflexes upon the present state of most countries in christendom : divided into a xi sections / by jam. howell, esq. howell, james, 1594?-1666. 1660 approx. 368 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 94 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a44756 wing h3119 estc r5566 13208443 ocm 13208443 98502 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a44756) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 98502) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 422:2) thērologia, the parly of beasts, or, morphandra, queen of the inchanted iland wherein men were found, who being transmuted to beasts, though proffer'd to be dis-inchanted, and to becom men again, yet, in regard of the crying sins and rebellious humors of the times, they prefer the life of a brute animal before that of a rational creture ... : with reflexes upon the present state of most countries in christendom : divided into a xi sections / by jam. howell, esq. howell, james, 1594?-1666. [23], 152, [12] p., [2] leaves of plates : ill. printed by w. wilson for william palmer ..., london : 1660. an allegory. title transliterated from greek. frontispiece engraved by melan and bosse, second plate engraved by r. gaywood after f. barlow. first ed. cf. grolier. wither to prior. 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[12] at end. reproduction of original in huntington library. includes index. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng allegories. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-01 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2004-01 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion heic tutus obumbrer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the parly of beasts ; or morphandra queen of the inchanted iland : wherein men were found , who being transmuted to beasts , though proffer'd to be dis-inchanted , and to becom men again ; yet , in regard of the crying sins , and rebellious humors of the times , they prefer the life of a brute animal before that of a rational creture : which fancy consists of various philosophicall discourses , both morall , metaphysicall , historicall , and naturall , touching the declinings of the world , and late depravation of human nature ; with reflexes upon the present state of most countries in christendom . divided into a xi sections . by jam howell esq senesco , non segnesco . the first tome . london , printed by w. wilson for william palmer , at the palm-tree in fleet-street near dunstan's church , 1660. morphandra , or queen of the inchanted iland . m i am morphandra can turn man to brute , and brutes to human nature re-transmute . p and i pererius whom the gods did send this rare admired princesse to attend . in formas mutata novas mens dicere gestit corpora , & in primas iterum transversa figuras , dii faveant coeptis — the scope and substance of the ensuing sections . pererius , a wandring prince , after many traverses of fortune , and tempests in his long pererrations at sea , arriv'd at a strange northwest iland , where ther reign'd a queen call'd morphandra , descended of the high-born circe , daughter of sol , who ( according to the etymology of her name ) had power to transmute and metamorphose men to beasts ; pererius having obtain'd leave of her to see and speak with divers of them , viz , an otter , an asse , an ape , a hinde , a mule , a fox , a boar , a wolf , a goat , a soland-goose , a hive of bees , &c. morphandra infusing the faculty both of reson and ratiocination into them during that intervall of time ; as also full and full and free election to resume the shapes of men , and so return unto their own countries and callings : pererius attempted to perswade them therunto , but in regard of the rebellious humors , the horrid sacriledges , the new-fangled opinions , and gingling extravagances that human brains are subject unto , specially this last doting and vertiginous age of the world , with the nomberles indispositions wherunto the bodies of men as well as their brains are expos'd , they did choose rather to continu still in the state and species of brute animals , than become rational cretures again : at last prince pererius mingling speech with a hive of bees , who had bin formerly a monastery of nuns , he prevail'd so far by his melting perswasions , and high discours of the prerogatives and excellencies of the human soul , that he induc'd them to take on their first natures again , and so return to their cloysters ; these discourses are divided into eleven sections , every section carrying with it a new fancy and matter . touching the etymologies of the feigned words throughout the whole work , appropriated to the quality of every country , climat , and peeple , the roots of them must be fetched from the greek toung . he is the tru author who creates a fancy . to the great ornament of her sex , both for choice intellectualls , and high morall vertues , the right honorable , and excellent lady , my lady marie de la fontaine . madame , this fancy bearing in the front the name of a rare female , i thought it might well stand with the rules of congruity to make the dedication correspond with the title ; and after many revolutions of thoughts who shold be most proper for my designe , the contemplation of your honor did cast such strong influences upon them , that at last they fixed there ; nor will any discerning reder question my judgment herein , your ladiship being so able and fit ( as i have the honour to know by experience ) to receive this admired queen , and give her a suitable entertainment ; therfore , madame , if you please to admit morphandra into your closet , i believe she will afford you severall sorts of divertisements , and she haply may work somtimes a metamorphosis in your self , for she can transmute passions as well as persons , she can turn melancholy to mirth , and pensivenes to plesure ; for as it is in the french ( of which language you are so great a mistresse ) les morts font revivre les vivants , the dead enliven the living , wherby is meant ; that books , though the authors therof be dead and rotten many ages before , can beget new spirits in the living reder . now , such is the state of mankind , that the foresaid passions will have their interchangable turns , they will follow one another as duly as night succeeds day in any human creture , be the humors therof never so equally poiz'd ; it is denied to man to be always at home within himself , and it will be so to the world's end as long as he is compos'd of the four elements , and as long as the naturall humors within him sympathize with the said elements , who are in restles mutation and motion among themselfs for mastery , which made one break out into this excesse of speech , that if the four humors were ballanc'd aright in the human body , he wold live easily many thousands of years upon earth ; now , that person may be said to be the wisest among mortalls who can rule and controul those humors , it being a principle among the philosophers , that as the conduct of the passions ( which arise from the humors ) is the greatest prudence , so the conquest of them is the gretest pro●●●sse , when they grow rebelli●us : the ensuing work hath divers glances upon this subject , and variety of things besides , for every section affords a new fancy and matter . it remains now , madame , that i shold humbly desire , your honor would please to interpret this deditory addresse as a small argument of my great acknowledgment of your so many noble civilities , for which i stand so truly oblig'd ; and this acknowledgment standing upon so public a record , the ages to come as well as the present will testifie , how much i am and was , my highly honored lady , your most humble and devoted servant , jam howell . to the severer sort of reders . som of the antient sages , who were rank'd among the philosophers of the upper house , had a speculation , that the world was but one huge animal or living creture , compos'd of innumerable members and parts , som homogeneous or similar , others heterogeneous or dissimilar ; and in order to that they held , that god almighty was the great soul which did inform and actuat the whole bulk with motion and life , with vertu and vigor , for every part to perform its peculiar function towards the preservation of the whole : according to this doctrin an argument may be drawn by way of induction , that if the parts begin to impair , the whole must be in a declining condition ; it hath been a truth which hath pass'd from all times without controul , that mankind is one of the prime parts of the universe and paramount of the sublunary world , which is demonstrable by that dominion which was given him over all his fellow-cretures in aire , water , or earth ; he can make the towring eagle stoop to his lure from the middle region ; he can make the vast leviathan , though a hundred times bigger than himself , to flounce from the deep to do him homage on the shore ; he can make the elephant , though forty times stronger than himself , to draw up his ships on the carine , and do other drudgeries ; this appears also out of that awe , which by a kind of naturall instinct all other animals use to shew him ; insomuch that tryall hath been made , how if a man should go naked and with a confidence through the arabian desarts , where the gretest concours of wild beasts useth to be , ther 's none will assault him , but in a gazing and awfull kind of posture they will keep their distance : now , if man , who is so considerable a part of the world , doth decay in his species , 't is a shrewd symptom that the whole is en decadence , in a declining state ; now , that man doth impair as well in his intellectualls and the faculties of his soul , as in the motions and affections of his heart , this present age can afford more pregnant proofs than most of the ages before ; for touching the first , what fond futilous new opinions have bin hatch'd of late times , both in divinity and in the idaeas of holy things , as well as in all other sciences , specially in the art of policy , wherin such poor sciolists are crept up , that wold turn antient monarchies into new popular common-wealths , and so set a hydra's head upon an old lion's neck , or make a child's shoo to fit a giant 's foot . touching the motions of the heart , ther 's nothing of that love and offices of humanity which were used to be , not onely among private persons and neighbours , but that allegiance and love which subjects were us'd to shew towards their lawfull prince decaies more and more , whereof ther have been strange examples of late years ; in aethiopia , a large antient empire , the common peeple did rise up with a petty companion against their soveraign , and kill'd him with his two sons in open field ; in constantinople , two gran signors were thrust out of the world by their own slaves , yet they went not to that heighth of impudence as to arraign them before a barr of iustice ; the swed hath quite revolted from the pole , the portugues from the spaniard , and so naples wold have done ; what a huge army did the basha of aleppo raise lately ? and in the kingdom of morocco a mean fellow , under the seeming shew of sanctity , what a crew of riff-raff stuff did he drag after him against his lawfull king ? but touching these northwest ilands , they have out-gon all the rest : these metamorphos'd animals do point at all these , and other degenerations of the human creture : nor is it the first time that beasts did speak , for we read of one in the sacred code who spoke ; and besides , solomon sends in to som of them for instruction : the phrygian fabler was one of the first who taught them their abcee , then anian , barlandus , and others taught them their primer , and the two ingenious florentines , poggius and gelli may be said to have taught them their grammer : but these transmuted beasts speak in a louder dialect , who having tryed both natures , they tell the human creture his own , and how he growes daily from bad to worse , according to the propheticall lyric poet , aetas parentum , pejor avis , tulit nos nequiores , mox daturos progeniem vitiosiorem . made english thus . our fathers who worse than our gransires were got us worse than themselfs ; and we , i fear , will get worse than them both : such a sad curse hangs on mankind to grow from bad to worse . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; poema tempestivum . trees spake before , now the same strength of art makes beasts to cunn the alphabet by heart , and cutt their breaths to sounds articulat , discoursive congruous accents to prolate , for speech is breath , breath air let in and out , but 't is the mind that brings the work about ; such a rare charter the world's architect vouchsaf'd to give the human intellect to create words , for 't is mankind alone can language frame , and syllabize the tone . but here beasts speak , they mone , chide , and complain , and at the barr of justice men arraign ; such are our crying sins , that beasts resent our miseries , and wretched case lament : nor let it seem a wonder , because now wonders and monsters so familiar grow , this is an age of wonders , every clime abounds with prodigies , ther is no crime , not a notorious villany or fact , no foul infandous thing , or ugly act that ever adam's sons did perpetrate , but we have flagrant instances of late . for sacrilege , and horrid blasphemies , base lies , created fears , and perjuries , for scripture-pride , extorsion , avarice , ( the root of all our ills , and leading vice ) for public fraud , false lights , & fatuous fires , fanatic fancies clad in faith's attire ; for murther , and the crying sin of blood , the like but one was never since the flood . in summ , we may for these and thousands more vye villanies with any age before ; which shews the world is hecticall , and near its gran and fatal climacteric year ; the whole creation mourns , and doth deplore the ruthfull state of human kind ; therfore if men can not be warn'd when men do teach , then let them hearken here what beasts do preach . in formas mutata novas mens dicere gestit corpora , & in primas iterum transversa figuras . diî faveant coeptis — j.h. the contents of the severall sections . sect . i consists of divers interlocutions 'twixt morphandra , pererius , and an otter , who had bin first an amstelian mariner , and being proffer'd to be retransmuted to his first nature by morphandra , and to be transported by pererius to his own country , yet he wold hearken to neither , alledging the strange chimeras , and extravagant opinions which human brains have been subject unto in this latter age of the world , &c. sect . ii contains an interlocutory discours 'twixt morphandra , pererius , and an asse , who had bin once an artonian peasan , wherin ther are som glances upon the country it self , and upon the present government therof ; but though prince pererius us'd all the perswasions he could , and re-inforc'd argument upon argument to induce him to re-assume human shape , and so return to his country , calling , and kindred , yet the asse utterly refus'd it , and his resons why , &c. sect . iii consists of a dialog ' tiwxt morphandra , pererius , and an ape , who had bin once a preachman in gheriona , who having bin carried away with every wind of doctrin , and folling any fanatic new-fangled opinion , was transmuted to that mimicall shape ; in which dialog ther is an account given of the sad case and confusion wherin gheriona is involv'd at present . sect . iv a colloquy 'twixt morphandra , pererius , and a hind , who had bin once one of the gretest beauties in marcopolis , and for som youthfull levities and wildnes was transmuted to that shape ; in this section ther are various discourses of the state and nature of women pro & con , &c. sect . v. discourses 'twixt morphandra , pererius , and a mule , who in his manhood had bin a doctor of physic in tumontia , whom for som quacking tricks he had plaid , and for som other resons , morphandra metamorphos'd into a mule ; in this section ther be discourses of the art of physic , of the various complexions of mankind , and of the nomberles diseases of body , and distempers of mind that are incident to the human creture , &c. sect . vi consists of interchangeable discourses 'twixt morphandra , pererius , and a fox , who had bin a saturnian born , whom for his cunning dealings and mountebankish wily tricks , she transformed from a merchant to that species ; this section treats of divers things , and particularly how the art of tru policy is degenerated , and what poor sciolists or smatterers therin are cryed up of late years , &c. sect . vii . a dialog 'twixt morphandra , pererius , and a boar , wherein ther are various discourses , and particularly of the rare sympatheticall powder that is lately found out , which works sudden and certain cures without any topicall applications of medicines to the part affected , &c. sect . viii . a dialog 'twixt morphandra , pererius , and a wolf , who had bin a cuprinian soldier , whom for his plundrings , rapines , and spoils she transfigur'd to that shape , &c. sect . ix . a discourse 'twixt morphandra , pererius , and a goat , consisting of many speculations both naturall and metaphysicall , with other criticisms , &c. sect . x. a dialog 'twixt morphandra , pererius , and a soland-goose , a carboncian born , who was transmuted to that shape for his foolishnes in rebelling against his own conterranean king , and so jugling himself into a slavery from that free-government he was formerly under , &c. sect . xi consists of a dialog 'twixt morphandra , pererius , and a hive of bees , who had bin once a monastery of nuns , and were transmuted to those small insects , because that after a years probation , and their own praevious free election , they murmur'd at that reclus'd claustrall life , and wish'd themselfs uncloyster'd again ; in this section ther be divers discourses of the immortality and high prerogatives of the human soul , as also of the hevenly hierarchy , and ioyes eternall , &c. bibliopola lectori . if you will ope this work with ease , you must from greece go fetch your keys . m p f barlowe 〈◊〉 r gaywood fecit a key to enter more easily into the sense of morphandra , or , the parly of beasts the otter represents a dutch skipper , or mariner . the ass represents a french peasan . the ape represents an english preachman . the mule represents a spanish doctor of physick . the fox represents a genoa or an italian merchant . the boar represents a german count. the wolf represents a swedish captain , or freebotter . the goat represents the old britain , or inhabitant of wales . the soland goose represents a scotchman . the hind represents a venetian courtisan . the hive of bees represents a monastery of nuns . an etymologicall derivation of som words and anagrams in the parly of beasts , according to the alphabet . a aetonia , the eagles countrey , represents high germany , of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aquila . alpiana represents savoy , being a countrey indented among the alps. artonia , the countrey of bread and wine , represents france , of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 panis & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vinum . c carboncia , the coale-countrey , represents scotland . cuprinia , the copper-countrey , represents swethland . the cinqfoyl portugal cardinal mazarine , p. 21 the coppices represents the common peeple . cerano , the anagram of nocera , an ancient town in italy . d diogenes , p. 56 sir kenelm digby , 148 dr. harvey , 141 g gheriona , the countrey of wool , represents england , of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 terra & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lana . h hydraulia , the countrey of waters , represents holland , with the confederate provinces , of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aqua , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 populus . hebrinia , ireland , being hibernia , anagrammatiz'd . the city of hereford , p. 122 the hollanders are meant , p. 72 l laroni , the d. of lorrain . london prentices , p 44. m marcopolis , the city of s. mark , represents venice of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 civitas & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . morphandra , a queen that can transmute men into beasts , of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 formo & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hominem . n nopolia , polonia , anagrammatiz'd . o orosia , a mountainous countrey , represents wales , of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mons. oxford & cambridge , p. 38 p pererius , a wandring prince of pererrando . polyhaima , the city of bloud , represents london , of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 civitas & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sanguis . the phrygian king , mydas . the phrygian fabler , aesop . the late k. of engl. p. 35 the present k. ch. p. 39 q the queen of sweden , p. 114 queen elizabeth , p. 57 r rinarchus , the palsgrave of the rhine , of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , princeps , &c. rugilia , the state of genoa , the anagram of liguria , the ancient appellation of that territory . rainsborough , and admirall dean , 40 roundheads variously tormented in hell , ibid. rovena , the city of verona in lombardy , anagrammatiz'd . s saturnia represents italy , cilisia , sicilia , ana grammatiz'd . the standels represent the nobles and gentry . selenians , or half-moon men , represent the turks ; of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , luna . t tumontia , a countrey swelling with huge hills , represents spain tomanto empire , the dominions of the great turk ; tomanto being ottoman , anagrammatiz'd . tarragon , catalunia in spaine , the ancientest town whereof is tarragona . therlu , the anagram of luther . therologia , the language of beasts ; of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , fera ; & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , sermo . v volganians , the moscovits , of the huge river volga . w the west-indies , p. 70 z zundanians , the peeple of denmark . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the first section . consisting of divers interlocutions 'twixt morphandra , pererius , and an otter , who had been first an amstelian mariner , and being proffer'd to be transmuted to his first nature by morphandra , and to be transported by pererius to his own countrey , yet he would hearken to neither , alledging the strange chimeraes , and extravagant opinions which human brains have been subject unto , in this latter age of the world , &c. pererius , morphandra , an otter . pererius . may those starres be ever propitious which guided my cours to this coast ! may those winds be ever prosperous which fill'd my sayls , any blew me to this rare iland , this theater of wonders ! may this day be ever held festival , and bear one of the chiefest rubriques in the almanack of time , that makes me so happy with the sight of morphandra , the divine morphandra ! and truly so , being descended in so direct a line from the high-born circe , daughter of sol , the admired queen morphandra ! who useth to make nature her self not only succumbent and passive to her desires , but actually subservient and pliable to her transmutations and changes . morphandra . prince pererius ( for so i understand your quality and appellation to be ) ; touching the first part of your speech , which reflects upon this place , we shall endeavour to make it good by the hospitality and entertainment we shal command to be given you and your train , as also by the rare objects which you shall see : but as for the second part of your speech , which relates to my self , and to the power of transmutations ; i must tell you , that what i act this way , is by a special dispensation from above , for the punishment of humane vice in an analogical or sympathetic way , according to the quality thereof , and the humors of the men : i say , it is by the permission and fiat of the almighty , the great god of nature , that i do operat , not by any prestigious charmes , or confederacy with cacodaemons ; not by fascinations or philtres , by spels or sorceries , as the shallow-pated common people imagine i do , and so traduce me of witchcraft , and negromancy ; yet , i confess , 't is by way of magick i act ; for magick was the first philosophy among those acute nations which are neerest the rising sun , so that magus or magitian signified nothing else but a wiseman , which afterwards came to be traduced , and taken in an ill sense ; as it hath been the fate of tyrant , sophister , and other words besides , to incurre the same destiny , and i pray the same destiny may not befall the word parlement . pererius . most excellent queen , now that my starrs have made me so fortunat , as to conduct me hither , let it not be held to great a presumption , if for the enriching of my knowledge , and satisfying my curiosity , i humbly desire to see some of those human cretures that you have anthropomorphos'd , and transform'd to brute animals . morphandra . i shall willingly comply with your curiosity and desire in this kind ; for you shall not only be brought to the sight of them , but you shall mingle speech with them , and interrogat what you shall think fitting concerning their present condition . pererius . but , madam , how can that be ? how can i expect that they should be capable of what i speak , and consequently what answers or replies shall i hope to receive from them , while they continue in the shapes of brute cretures ? morphandra . let that be your least care ; for during that intervall of time , i shall re-infuse into them the faculty both of reson and ratiocination , whereby you may confer and discourse freely with them by interlocutions ; nor only so , but for a further argument of the great esteem i have of you prince pererius , and for the heightning of your welcom to my court , as also that you may make som reall returns of your voyage hither , if you can induce and fairly perswade any of them to reassume the shapes of human cretures , and to be invested again in their former condition , i shall give my free and full assent thereunto ; nay , to oblige you yet further , i shall give way that you take them a shipboard with you , and transport them to their own country , or whither you please besides ; provided that it be a spontaneous act , and that you have their voluntary election to this effect ; for the universal law tells us , that volenti non fit injuria , an unforc'd will cannot be wronged . pererius . most admired princess , you engage me beyond all measure or meanes of retaliation , beyond all degrees of gratitude , and me-thinks by these high civilities you have wrought a sudden kind of transformation in me , for i find my self all transformed to admiration , to a thing of wonder , by these unparallel'd favours . all that i can say for the present is , that , what air soever i breath ; under what climat soever blessed heavens shall shed their influences upon me , i shall blazon forth your nobleness for such transcendent favors all the world over . morphandra . we use not such complements under this meridian , such a distance doth not use to be 'twixt the heart and the tongue ; they are neerer relatives here . but , before you go to exchange words with these animals , take this advertisement before-hand , that ther are no wild or ferocious devouring cretures within the circumference of this ile ; they live all in a gentle and general community , in an innocuous freedom , and sociableness : the panther , bear , and tyger , put off their belluine fierce nature here ; the lamb will play with the lion without any apprehensions of fear ; the hart fears not the hound , nor the hare the greyhound , nor the bore the lime-hound ; the silly sheep fear not the wolf or the butcher's knife ; nor fish nor fowl fear here the dragnet or tramell : but all animals , both of air , earth , and water , live in an innocent security ; the reason being , that we neither kill , much lesse feed upon any creture here that hath blood , and a sensitive life , but upon fruits , pulse , roots , rice , with other nourishing and manducable things , that come forth gently , by the general benignity of indulgent nature , from the bowels of our common mother the earth ; and though we make butter sometimes our aliment , we abhorre cheese , because the cawle of a sensitive kill'd creture serv'd for the rennet . pererius . oh blissful region ! truly madam , i am of opinion , that this iland is a part , or some promontory of paradise it self before adam's fall , which , being slented off , and so got loose , was transported and fixed here ; at least , there are some grains of that mettal which went to the composition of the golden age of the world still remaining here unconsumed . morphandra . well , that i may acquit my self of the promise i made unto you , prince pererius , let us fetch a walk in those flowry fields towards the banks of that river , to take in the freshness of the air , with the fragancy of those vegetals : and now , in a favourable conjuncture of time , i spy a metamorphosed creture among those seggs , fit for your purpose ; it is an otter , whom i remember to have transmuted from a mariner or seaman , for his deboshments here ; and i observe , ther are no people so given to excesses as seamen when they come ashore ; which yet may be somwhat excused , for it is to recompence the hardships they endured at sea : nor was it an improper change for me to metamorphos the hydraulian mariner to that shape ; for as the otter is a kind of amphibious creture , living partly by water , and partly by land , so a mariner , navigator , or fisherman , useth to do : but there was another reson which induced me to this transmutation , for it related to the quality of the countrey whence he sprung , which is so inlayed , and every where so intercutt , and indented with the sea , or fresh navigable rivers , that one cannot tell what to call it , either water or land ; besides , the inhabitants dwell so low , that they lye lower than the sea in some places . and now you may make your approaches , and parly with him accordingly , while i walk up the river to visit my nymphs . pererius . otter , otter ! i conjure thee , as thou wast once a man , let me interchange som words with thee , and i may chance bring thee som news from thy countrey , and kinred . otter . how is this ? i not only hear , but i understand the voice of a man , oimee ! i am afraid that morphandra hath a purpose to re-transform me , and make me put on human shape again : well , sir , what 's your will with me ? pererius . let it not give any offence , if i desire to know what countreyman you were , when you were a rational creture ? otter . i came first into the world in hydraulia , not farr from amstena , and was a mariner by my profession . pererius . well , the most gracious queen morphandra hath been pleased to promise me the favor , as to turn you into man again , if you have a mind to it ; and , from that groveling quadrupedal shape , to make you an erect , and a rational creture once again . otter . sir , you bid me to my losse , for i live farr more to my contentment in this species , wherein my heart and eyes are horizontal , than when i was in an upright shape . pererius . consult better with your thoughts , for morphandra hath not only promised to re-convert you to man , but also she hath given me leave and liberty to carry you aboard of me , and transport you to your countrey again ; and i have a tite lusty vessel in the road , wherein you shall be accommodated with a cabbin to your contentment , and all things necessary . otter . these civilities might haply deserve thanks from an other , but not from me , in regard you proffer to reduce me from better to worse ; for if experience be the touchstone of truth , i find farr more quietude and contentation in this figure of body , than i did formerly ; therefore with this shape , i have put on also a resolution never to turn man or mariner again . pererius . i extremely wonder at this blindness , and unnatural obstinacy of yours : but now that queen morphandra hath , during this time of discours betwixt us , re-indowed you with the faculty of reson and speech , i pray impart unto me the cause of your strange aversion thus , to become man again . otter . truly , sir , though man doth vaunt , and cry up himself , to be the epitome and lord paramount among all sublunary cretures , though he vainly entitle himself , the microcosm , yet i hold him to be the most miserable of all others ; go to his prime faculty , reson , which , as he saith , is the specifical difference that distinguisheth him from us , i have found , that it fills his brain full of distraction , of extravagant opinions , and whimseys , of pining griefs , panting doubts , and pannick fears , of violent fancies and imaginations , which oftentimes turn to phrensies ; it tortures him with vexation and inquietude of spirit , insomuch , that som of the profoundest philosophers , as i have heard , affirmed , that the rational soul was given to man for his self-punishment and martyrdom ; he may be said to be his own tormentor , and the greatest tyrant to himself ; nay , these cruciatory passions do operat somtimes with such a violence , that they drive him to despair , and oftentimes to murther and destroy himself , before nature hath exspird her due cours in him , all which , we , that are guided only by sense , are not subject unto ; we only look upon the present object before our eyes , and take no other care but for shelter , and food , and to please our appetit only . pererius . 't is true , that all these turbulences , and perplexities of spirit proceed from the rational faculty ; but , in compensation thereof , we have by this faculty the prerogative to know our creator , to contemplat his works , and the fair fabrique of the world ; by this , we have a dominion and empire over all other elementary cretures , both of air , earth , and water ; by the reach of this , man with his crampons and harping-irons can draw ashore the great leviathan ; he can make the dromedary and camel to kneel down , and take up his burden ; he can make the fierce bull to endure his yoke ; he can bring down the vulture from his nest ; by this he can ride upon the back of the vast ocean , and with his winged coursers ride post from one pole to the other , as you know well by your own profession , when you were man and mariner . otter . yet these advantages com short , in my judgment , to countervail those calamities that are incident to the rational creture , which makes him come puling , crying , & sometimes weeping into the world , as foreteling his future miseries . but now that i have partly displayed the discomposures and vexations of his mind , i will give a touch of those infirmities that his body is subject unto , which is no other than a magazin of malignant humors ; a hull , wherein is stow'd a cargazon of numberless diseases , of putrid and ugly corruptions , insomuch that , as , in his life time , whiles he sleeps in the bosom of his causes within the womb , ther 's no creture lies neerer the excrementitious parts , so ther is none whose excrements are more faetid , and stinking ; the fewmets of a deer , the lesses of a fox , the crotells of a hare , the dung of a horse , and the spraints that i use to void backward , are nothing so foetid ; which may be the cause why , after man's death , ther 's no carcase so gastly and noisom as his , so that toads and serpents engender often in his scull ; nor is his cadaver good for any thing when life is gone . 't is tru , mummy may be made of it , but it must be don by embalment , and great expence of spices . but many things in our carcases after death , serve for divers uses , as particularly in mine ; my liver , reduced to powder , is good against the flix and cholic ; my stones or testicles against the palsie ; and my skin is of such value , that the fairest ladies will be glad to wear it , &c. pererius . 't is a great truth what you speak of human bodies , but all this comes accidentally ; it proceeds from variety of viands , esculents , and beverages , not from the primitive plastick vertu , and ordinance of nature : moreover , that which makes them so subject to putrefaction , is , because they abound in heat and humidity more than other bodies , which oftentimes makes som parts of the compositum rott , before life and motion leaves them . but let not these thoughts avert you from a return to your first beeing , whereby , when this transitory life is ended , you may be made capable to live in the land of eternity ; whereas all brute animals , whose souls soar no higher than the sense , are born to have a being only in this world : therefore take on a manly resolution to be redintegrated into your first principles , & so return to your own country , and kinred , to go on still in your calling , which is a useful and thriving profession , in the practise whereof you may see the wonders of the deep , and therby have oportunity more often to invoke your creator , than in any other trade . otter . i cannot deny , but the common saying is , that he who cannot pray , must go to church at sea ; yet i have often known , and i have tryed it in my self , that a mariner in a storm is a saint , but when the storm is over he is a mariner again ; witness he , who in a dangerous tempest made a vow to offer a wax-taper as big as his main-mast unto saint nicolas , if he would preserve him from shipwrack ; but being com safe ashore , a rush-candle did serve the turn ; so that , nautical piety is of no longer duration than the danger . pererius . without question , to be a mariner or navigator , as it is a necessary and noble vocation , so it affords more frequent opportunities to improve a man's devotion to heven , if one makes right use of it ; which cannot be don more properly , than by comparing the frail vessel wherein he sayls to his own body ; if he contemplat , within the theater of his thoughts , that the sea whereon he tumbles , is the world ; waves and surges are his passions ; anger , choler , and discontentments , are the storms and tempests ; his body is the bulk or hull of the ship , his neck is the stemm , the keel is his back , the planks are his ribs , the beams his bones , the pintel and gudgeons are his gristles and cartilages , the several seams of the ship are his arteries , veins , and nerfs , his bowels are the ballast , his heart the principal hold , his stomack the cook-room , his teeth the chopping-knives , his lungs the bellows , concoction is the cauldron , hunger the sauce , his belly the lower deck , his kidneys the close cabbins or receptacles , his arms and hands the can-hooks , his midriff the bulk-head , his scull the steerage-room with the round-house , his ears are the two chief scuttles , his eyes are the pharols , the stowage is his mouth , his lips are the hatches , his nostrils serve as gratings to let in air , the beak-head is his chin , his face and forehead the upper deck , reson is the rudder , the anchor is resolution , constancy the capstane , prudence the pilot , the prow-misen and main-masts , are faith , hope , and charity , which last , reacheth above the firmament : the owner of the ship is god almighty , and heven the haven to which he steers his course , &c. therefore recollect your self , and think seriously upon it ; shake off this brutish shape , and repair to the bosom of your own dear countrey , and calling . otter . truly , sir , to deal freely with you , i am quite out of conceit with , both : touching the first ; for me to remove hence thither , were to go from a fair flowry field into a great bogg , or a kind of quagmire , for such a thing my countrey may be called , if you have regard to the quality of the soil , in comparison of this : it is , for the most part , a foggy cobwebb'd air ; so canopied over , as it were , with thick fuliginous clowds , as if it were but one great brew-house ; they fence out both the aquatical creatures from their right habitations , and the true prince of the countrey from his hereditary possessions ; insomuch , that some do not stick to call them double usurpers : it is one of the most infimous and lowest part of the terrestrial globe ; which made one say , that they were the neerest confederats and neighbors to beelzebub . and this may be inferred also out of their natures and disposition : for openly or covertly , they have blown the bellows of all the warrs ( now warr is a fire , struck always in the devil's tinder-box ) that have happen'd round about them , ever since their revolt from tumontia , and since they invol'd artonia , & gheriòna in their quarrell , who first rais'd them to a free-state ; though i believe they have repented of it since . add hereunto that som do doubt , whether god and nature did ever design that lump of coagulated earth for the mansion of mankind ; for of it self it produceth neither bread to eat , nor stone to build , nor wool or silk to cloath him , nor wood or cole , or other combustible stuff , for fuel ; but the inhabitants use to fish for fire in the water , for ( fresh ) water in the air , and for air out of foggs ; insomuch , that if ever any countrey may be call'd a noun adjective , surely 't is that , for it cannot stand by it self . i remember , while i woar the shape of man in that dull clime , me-thought my blood was like so much bonny-clabber within my body , which i find now to be more quick , spriteful , and hot ; though my bloud in statu quo nunc be observed , i confess , to be the coldest of any quadrupedals . moreover , i found that mammon and gain was their chiefest god , and gold their greatest idol : but for the public religion which they profess , they have it but in a luke-warm degree ; ther 's scarce any heat of holiness , and devotion among most of them . pererius . i find now that you are of a tru brutish nature , so to beray your own nest , and bespatter the native soyl wherein you first received life . 't is true , ther 's no nation that hath not their peculiar humors ; but touching those you speak of in your countreymen , they have many signal vertues that make a compensation for them ; for they are one of the most industrious race of people upon earth ; so that the whole countrey may be compar'd to a hive of bees , or bank of provident ants : they are the only men that do miracles now adayes ; they are those , who put boundaries to the raging ocean , and by rare repercussions beat back his turgid and overwhelming billows , yet they reserve a power to command him in , at pleasure ; they are those men , who know the true mysteries of commerce , and how to regular it so , as to bring trade and policy to a science , and certain principles . how much are they to be commended for their neatness ? go to their ships , they may be said to be as cleanly as a milking-pail ; in their kitchins , the outside of their utensils are as bright as the inside ; ther 's never a room in their house , where so much dust may be found as to draw the name of slutt upon it : there is no countrey where there are fewer sorts of indigent and poor people , or where they who are poor are better lodg'd , and provided for . 't is true , they are somwhat heavy in motion , and dullish , which must be imputed to the quality of the clime ; but this dulness is recompenc'd with a grave advisedness , and circumspection in their counsels ; with a constancy , and perseverance afterwards , in their actions . in fine , they are a peeple who truly understand their own interest , which may be said to be the prime principle of wisdom , whereby they have fought themselves , from a company of fishermen , into a high and mighty common-wealth . otter . truly , sir , 't is pitty that you had not a better subject to spend your oratory upon . now , sir , concerning my former profession , let me tell you , that to be a mariner , or tarpaling , is one of the most servile and slavish condition of life that can be , it is the most expos'd to hardship and hazard ; he was no fool , who made a question , whether he should number a seaman 'twixt the living or the dead , being not much above two inches distant from death , viz. the thickness of a rotten plank : it may be also doubted , whether he be a free-man , or prisoner , being so coop'd up within so narrow a compass all the while . touching the hardship and toylsomness of this trade , let me tell you , that to plow , dig , delve , or thresh , are but exercises of ease , compar'd to our labor in distress of wether : how many times , when i went a fishing , did i carry isicles of frost at my nose , and fingers-ends ? how oft did i eat bisket , so mouldy , that danc'd up and down with ugly maggots ? how oft did i stop my nostrils while i drunk stinking beverage ? how oft did the stench of the pump strike me into a swoon ? but i thank the fates , and queen morphandra , i am now in a condition that i need not fear hunger or cold , i have a good warm coat about me , that will last me all my life long , without patching or mending ; which kind of fences against the injuries of time , and tyranny of the meteors , indulgent nature provides for us sensitive creatures , before we com into the world : whence may be inferr'd , that she takes more care for our preservation than she doth of mankinds ; beasts , have skins , fish have scales , birds have feathers , but man comes naked and wawling into the world , and cloaths himself afterwards with our spoils : nor hath he any habitation or ready food , provided him by nature ; whereas other animals find the table layed , and the buttry open for them as soon as they are born , and come out of the bosom of their causes ; whence it may be concluded , that they are the nobler cretures . pererius . it is given for granted , that man comes naked into the world , yet he hath the mastery and command , he hath the breaking , daunting , and disposing of all other cretures for his own turn , both in air , earth , & water , to cloath and feed him , according to his free election and plesure ; for all other elementary cretures are made for his use , and principally to that end . now 't is a true maxim , that the end is more noble than the mediums that serve for that end , therefore in that point ther can no comparison be made between us . otter . it is an experimental truth , that you make use of other cretures to array and nourish you , but much labor and toyl must be used , before you can bring them to serve your turn ; what a deal of work must precede , ere the tanner and furrier can make our skins fit for your wear ? what huge varieties of labors must go before , ere wheat come to be made bread , and barly drink ? ther must be ploughing , harrowing , sowing , weeding , reaping , sheafing , stacking , barning , threshing , winnowing , sacking , grinding , bolting , fermenting , and baking , before you can get a bit of bread to keep you from starving : what a deal of stirr must be us'd , before you can get a shirt on your back , or a handkercher to wipe your noses withall ? there must be planting , cutting down , hundling , watring , rippling , braking , wingling , and heckling of hemp ; which laberinth of labors and fatigues , we sentiant cretures are free from . pererius . it is without controversie tru , that man is born to sundry sorts of labors , but it is principally to exercise his spirits , and the faculties of the intellect , and so preserve him from the rust of idleness , which makes the greatest princes and potentates among men to have som manual trade , wherewith to passe away som part of their time . but , otter , let us word away time no longer ; let me know positively , whether you will make use of this singular favor , now offered you by morphandra , with my proposal , and advice , to reassume your former nature , wherein you may so serve & praise your creator , that may make you capable of eternity . in your whole life you cannot meet with so fair an opportunity ; for i have a ship to transport you , and you shall be well cloth'd , and cover'd , with accomodation of all things els accordingly ; therefore take time by the foretop , for he is bald behind , and you cannot take hold of him . otter . you may as soon wash white a negro , or blanch an ethiop , as soon as make me turn man or mariner again ; therefore you do but beat the air all this while by your perswasions ; and whereas you speak of eternity , it may be an eternity of torments as well as of bliss , i 'le none of that . but one of the greatest peeple among mankind , i mean the selenians , or half-moon-men , as also the banians , do believe , that we also sensitive cretures have a better world provided for us , after we have run out our cours here ; for we likewise have souls in us , and certain expressions that countervail speech , which is only understood by the great god of nature himself , whom we do not use to offend by any transgression of laws , as you do . but i feel the sun dart his rays somwhat quick , therfore i will go to refresh and solace my self in the gentle strems of that river . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the second section : containing an interlocutory discourse 'twixt morphandra , pererius , and an asse , who had bin once an artorian peasan ; wherin ther are some glances upon the country it self , and upon the present government thereof . but though prince pererius us'd all the perswasions he could , and re-inforc'd argument upon argument , to induce him to re-assume human shape , and so return to his country , kindred , and calling : yet the asse utterly refus'd it , and his reasons why , &c. morphandra , pererius , and an asse . pererius . incomparable lady , you have dilated my heart with a great deal of contentment , by admitting me to the sight of that transmuted animal i spoke withall last , and that you made him capable all the while to entertain discours with me pro & con , in so admirable a manner . morphandra . i have my share of that contentment you speke of : but what successe have you had in your design , of working upon his inclinations to becom man again , and so return to his country and calling ? pererius . madame , i have had conference with him of both , but he seems to undervalue , or rather abhorr the one , as much as the other , preferring the species , and present state he lives in under your dominion , to the state and former essence of a man. yet i am confident , that if you please to extend your favor further towards me , that i may mingle discours with som other , and put him in a capacity to hear , understand , and answer me , i am confident , i say , that i shall prevail with him , to be re-invested in his first beeing . morphandra . i espie upon the flank of that hillock an asse , whom i remember to have transmuted from an artonian peasan to that figure you see him in , whom i will re-indue with reson and ratiocination to hearken unto your perswasions accordingly : and if you can prevail with him , he shall put on his first nature again ; but as the power comes from me , so the will must proceed from himself to work this effect . pererius . madame , you will perform hereby the part of an angel , for i never heard of any asse that ever spoke ( unlesse it were in fables ) but of one , and that was at the appearance of an angel , which was by way of tru miracle . morphandra . yet i have been told , that one of your greatest philosophers ammonius alexandrinus , whose disciple origen was , hath it upon record , that an asse was once an auditor of wisdom . but touching that asse you mentioned before , i hear , the lawyers of your country have somthing of his nature in them , for they will not speak unlesse angels appear unto them . pererius . 't is a great truth , madam , for our lawyers toungs are said to be of an humor , contrary to the axle-tree of a new cart , in regard we use to annoint that , because it may keep no creaking or noise , but the lawyers toungs must be annointed , and oil'd with an unguentum rubrum , that they may make more noise , and to have their tongues more glibb . morphandra . the more is the foolishnesse of men discover'd in this point , who somtimes out of a pride , malice , or envy , somtimes out of a meer litigious humour , use to exhaust their estates , and impoverish themselfs , to enrich others by this means ; as i remember to have heard a facetious passage of a wealthy lawyer , who having built a fair palace of free-stone , with marble intermix'd , and having invited a knowing friend of his to take a view of the new house , and observe the symmetry , proportion , & conveniencies of the fabric , he asked his friend at last , what he thought that house was built of ? he answered , i see 't is built of good free-stone and marble , the lawyer replied , no , sir , 't is a deceptio visûs in you , for this house is made of asses heads and fools sculls , meaning the multitude of clients he had had . to such the proverb may sometimes be applied , that as the asse oftentimes carries gold on his back , yet feeds on thistles , so many poor clients carry gold in their pockets to feed their lawyers , yet they fare hard themselfs , and are ready to famish . but to leave off these impertinences , you may please to go on in the pursute of your enterprise , to try whether yonder long-ear'd metamorphos'd animal will bring your intent home to your aim , and turn man. pererius . i most humbly kisse your hands , and will towards him . poor stupid creture , how camest thou to be so unhappily transform'd , or deform'd rather , by assumption of this shape ? for i understand by queen morphandra , that thou wa'st once a man. how much do i pitty thy condition , compar'd to that which thou wa'st formerly of . asse . sir , you may reserve your pitty for others , in regard i need it not ; for i thank the fates , and queen morphandra , i enjoy my self , and the common benefits of nature , viz. air , earth , and water , which are the staple commodities of all sublunary cretures , i say , i enjoy all these more than ever i did , fenell excepted , which is my onely enemy . 't is tru , i was once a man , an artonian born , my profession was both a vineyard-man , and a roturer , a poor peasan i was , who for all my labour and toil , could hardly gain what could bear up the two columns of life in me , viz. the radicall moysture and naturall heat , much lesse to maintain my wife and family in any vigor . pererius . how could that be in so rich and plentifull a country as artonia is known to be ? where , according to her name , ceres is said to have her chief granary , and bacchus his prime cellars ; where neptune hath also his principle salt-pits , and whence venus commonly useth to fetch her smocks ? asse . 't is granted , that artonia in fecundity and self-sufficiency , yields to no other region under the sun , which makes some call her a noun substantive , that can stand by it self ; yet it may well be said , that ther 's is no country under the cope of heaven , where there 's lesse want , and more beggars , or more people , and fewer men ; the reson of the first , to my grief i speak it , is , that the common stock and wealth of the country is by mal-administration so unequally proportion'd , and distributed among the native inhabitants thereof ; for the court and the clergy suck the greatest part of the fat , whence grew the proverb , what the cheque takes not , the church takes . i speak not this , because i repine at any acts of piety towards the holy and decent worship of god almighty , and legacies left by sweet devoted souls . touching the first , 't is too well known , that the very tallies , besides the demeans of the crown , and the customs , amount communibus annis to near upon twenty millions of crowns , wherof 't is tru , that about four millions were remitted in the year 1648. then the gabell of salt amounts to about seven millions every year , which is look'd unto so narrowly , that a poor peasan cannot carry a pocket or purse-full of salt home to his poor wife , but he must be searched . then ther are the taillons , aydes , droits , with divers other impositions and taxes , which though at first they were pretended to be impos'd for the present necessity of the times , yet soveraign princes are known to have the gift of making temporary things eternall in this kind ; neverthelesse , if this immense tresure went to the king's tresure alone , for the common defence and honour of the state , it would not so much trouble them that pay it ; but three parts of four are drunk up among hungry officers , whence grew the proverb , that the king's cheese goes away three parts in parings . touching the second , by a late computation that was made , the clergy hath in annuall revenue a hundred and six millions of crowns , and no wonder , ther being in that country , besides cardinals , and fifteen archbishops , a hundred and fifty suffragan bishops , and i know not how many fat abbots , with other dignitaries , monks , and monasteries without number . then comes in the noblesse , or gentry , which have all the rest ; insomuch that betwixt these three , the poor commoner , who yet makes up the bulk of the nation , useth to be grinded as betwixt so many milstones , whence grew this saying , that the artonian peasans are born with chains : yet they are the supporters of all the other three , and whence they have their subsistence ; insomuch that artonia may be compar'd to a stately palace , born up by mud-pillars ; while the poor toyling peasan melts the hoar frost with the sweat that trickles down his cheeks , others by good fire-sides drink carowses in the wine which he plants , while he with his panting breath and anhelation thickens the air befor him , others with carrolls and wanton musicall catches do attenuat it . concerning the second point i spoke of , viz. that no country hath more peeple and fewer men then artonia , 't is a truth too well known ; and the reson is , that the oppressed commons do so languish and groan under the insupportable burdens of the foresaid exactions , and heavy rents besides to their landlords , that they use to grow so dejected , pusillanimous , and heartless , their spirits come to be so cowed and cowardiz'd , that not one in twenty hath the courage of a man in him , or is found fit to shoulder a musket , to trail a pike , or perform any other military or manly service . pererius . 't is an apparent truth , that the artonian gentry are so numerous , and use to rack the peasantry so , that it makes them very abject and heartlesse ; for herein the politicall body may be faid to be like the naturall ; wherein if the blood and spirits were drawn all up into the upper parts , the supporting members below , as the legs and thighs , cannot have that proportion of naturall heat and vigor to quicken themselfs , the blood being all engross'd by the parts above . if the standells be planted too thick in a coppice , ther cannot be clean underwoods , for they will turn all to dwarfish shrubs . but the common peeple of artonia may thank their own volatil humors and nature for this , which is so instable , and still so covetous of change , that if they were fed high , and pamper'd with too much plenty , they wold ever and anon rush into civill commotions and tintamarrs , they wold winch , and go about to shake off the reins of government , and overthrow their rider ; therfore being so fiery-mouth'd , 't is fit they should be ridden with a bitt or curb , nor can it be tearm'd tyranny , or any soloecism in government , that they are us'd so . asse . sir , under favour you put the saddle on the wrong horse 't is not the commonalty , but the gentry , and they who are in high blood , that have such tumultuous boyling spirits within them , they are those who cause feavers and convulsions in the bowells of their own country , which i confesse are frequent , whence som observe , that though the air of artonia be not so hot as that of her next neighbour tumontia , yet she is more subject to distempers , calentures , and tovardillios ; therefore 't is one of the prime policies of artonia to find her gentry some work abroad , and employ them ever and anon in forraign warrs ; and ther have been of late two fiery flamines , one after the other , who have put this policy in practise to some purpose , their sanguin humors symbolizing with the colour of their habit , wherby nere upon a million of souls have perished within these few years . touching the second of these , his father little dreamt when he sold hatts in silicia , that his son should mount so high as to wear the red-corner'd cap , and give the law to all artonia ; wherby some hold it to be no small disparagement to so gallant a nation , and subtle a clime as artonia is known to be , to have none of her own children that had brain enough to sit at the helm of her government , but to suffer a forrener to lead all her nobles by the nose , as also to incorporat his family with the blood-royall of artonia and alpiana . pererius . well , let us leave these digressions , for as the proverb runs in your country , we have leapt from the cock to the asse all this while , we have gone astray from the matter , let 's return to the first subject of our discours , and to my main design ; poor long-ear'd patient beast , wilt thou shake off this thy il-favoured braying nature , and the species of a brute , to becom perfect man again ? asse . sir , though i were acertain'd to be one of artonia's peers , i wold not do it ; but , sir , touching my ears , you need not take me by them in so reproachfull a manner : for you know a phrygian king did wear once an asse his ears , and he was the richest that ever was among mortalls ; besides , my ears have a prophetic vertu , for when i prick them up , 't is an infallible presage of foul wether ; touching my braying , it is the tone which nature hath given me , and all the individualls of my kind , and you must grant , that nature the handmaid of god almighty doth not use to do any thing ill-favouredly ; but in lieu of our braying you have a passion , and as i remember your philosophers call it the proper passion of man , that is a far more distorting and ridiculous violent posture , 't is your laughter , which happens when your pleasure hath the liberty to scatter it self abroad , and that the senses bear a share therin , for then it causeth such an agitation , that the whole physiognomy of the face is changed , it begins to sparkle in the eyes , and mingleth it self oft-times with forc'd tears , the fore-head stretcheth it self , the lips grow redd , they tremble and slaver often-times , the voice becomes grosser then ordinary , and resounds , the rest of the body is subject to this agitation , an unusuall heat and vapor shedds it self through all its parts , which swells , and gives a new color , the eye-brows decline , the lidds contract themselves , and all the skin about them becomes uneven , and wrinkles it self all over , the eyes extenuat , they half shut themselfs , and grow humid , the nose crumples up , and growes sharp , the lipps retire and lengthen , ther is an ill-favor'd kind of gaping , and discovery of the teeth , the cheeks lift up themselfs and grow more stiff , they have pitts digg'd in them during the time , the mouth is forc'd to open , and discovers the tremblings of the suspended toung , it thrusts out an obstreperous interrupted sound , and oftentimes ther is a stopping of breath , the neck swells and shortens it self , all the veins grow greter , and extended , an extraordinary hue disperseth it self over all the face , which grows reddish , the brest is impetuously agitated , and with sudden reiterated shakes , that it hinders respiration , the perfect use of speech is lost , and it is impossible to swallow during the fit , a pain rises in the flanck , the whole body bends , and as it were wreaths and gathers it self together , the hands are set on the sides , and presse them forcibly , sweat gets up on the face , the voice is lost in hickocks , and the breath is stifled with sighs ; somtimes this agitation gets to so high an excesse , that it produceth the same violent effect as medicaments use to do , which is to put the bones so out of joynt that it causeth syncopes ; the head and the arms suffer the same throws , with the brest and the thighs , the body hurles it self with precipitation and disorder , and is cast from one side to the other ; the hands becom feeble , the leggs cannot support themselves , and the body is constrained to fall , and tumble , nay it causeth sometimes dangerous syncopes in the heart , and so brings death . weeping also the counter-passion hath many of these ill-favor'd motions , what an odd kind of face doth an infant make assoon as he is born ? how som of ripe age will screech , cry and howle in so many disordered notes , and singultient accents ? whereas we by our braying hold up our heads only , and so breath out our passions into the open aire , without any forc'd tones , or such variety of distorted postures . pererius . 't is tru , that laughter produceth sundry motions and pleasing violences in the human body , but they are recompenced by the joy that accompanieth it , which useth to rowse and raise up our slumbring spirits , and melancholly thoughts with an unusuall mirth and complaceny , whence it comes , that after those two , doctor diet , and doctor quiet , doctor merriman is requisit to preserve health ; touching the other passion sorrow , and the various emissions of it , it is an ease also to the spirits , which without such ventings would be subject to strangulations ; but , poor asse , do not let slip this fair opportunity which gracious queen morphandra offers thee , by my intervention , to be redintegrated and made a rational creture again . asse . i told you before but of the outward servitude and exigents that i endured when i was a man , which were incident onely to the body : i have not spoken to you any thing of the perturbations of the brain , and the inward agonies of the mind , which did trouble and torment me much more ; how was i perpetually vex'd not onely to pay the common taxes , and other pecuniary erogations , with my domineering landlords rents , but to find daily bread , sustenance , and cloathing for my wife and children ; now children is one of the greatest encumbrances that belong to mankind ; for as the proverb goes , children are a certain care , and an incertain comfort ; but they of my species at present are exempt from this , and a thousand inconveniencies more which are entayl'd upon mankind : 't is tru , touching our off-springs while they are young , and unable to do for themselfs , we are indulgent of them , and that for a short time , but afterwards we lose all care of them , being able to shift for themselfs . pererius . yes , and with your care you lose all affections unto them besides , but such is the noblenesse of man's nature , that both continu in him during life unto the third and fourth generation ; therefore without further ado , think upon thy first beeing , and to be restored thereunto : otherwise thou wilt be more foolish than that poor baffled asse in the fable , who when a horse came unto him , and out of wantonnes had desired him to lift up his left hinder leg , and take out a stone that had got into his foot , as soon as he had lifted up the legge , the horse fell a kicking him ill-favourelly on the face , and almost dasht out his brains ; or thou wilt be as foolish as the asse , who seeing a spaniell sawn upon his master , and getting into his lap , where he was stroked , the asse thought to do so too , but instead of being stroked , he was struck and bastinadoed away for his sawcinesse , which shews that an asse is a more contemptible thing than a dogge . asse . as contemptible as we are , there are two of us who have a bright place in heaven , as the constellation of cancer will shew you ; as contemptible as we are , some of your gretest philosophers have held grave disputes of our very shadow , and apuleius's golden asse makes him famous to eternity ; as contemptible as we are , the strongest man that ever was , made use of the jaw-bone of one of us to destroy thousands of his enemies ; the great empresse poppaea us'd our milk to make her skin the whiter , and you know what a soveraign thing that milk is against consumptions , and dysenteries ; nay our very urine is found to be good against tilers or morphews in ladies faces ; lastly , you know who made his entry into ierusalem upon one of us , for which we carry the crosse upon our sholders as the badg of a blessing to this day , which made a zealous tumontian break out into these lines upon the sight of that history of palm-sunday , neer a church dore . asno quien a dios lleuays oxala yo fuera vos , supplico os dios me hagays como el asno en que vays , y dizen que le oyò dios. o happy asse who god do'st bear , such as thou art , o wold i were . 't is said the man did pray so hard that prayer and person both were heard . pererius . poor besotted beast , yet thou knowest ther can be no comparison 'twixt the best of brutes and the basest of human cretures , who by the faculty of reson can tame and reduce to his subjection the strongest of other animals , though never so fierce and corpulent , and make them know that he is their lord and master . asse . whereas you speak of fiercenesse , truly sir i think ther 's no animal so fierce and ferocious , so savage and intractable as man : for whereas all other cretures can be rul'd , daunted , and broken , easily govern'd in time , the art of governing men is the most difficult of any , because of their various fancies and imaginations , their crosse-grain'd humors and pride , all which proceeds from the faculty of reson you speak of ; therefore i was very glad to be rid of it by this transfiguration , and the time seems tedious unto me that i have the use of it now so long to parly with you , for i remember when i was a man , it fill'd the cells of my brain ever and anon with turbid and turbulent cogitations , with strange chimera's and crochets , which disquieted the tranquillity and calm of my mind ; and as for my body , this shape which i now bear is more healthfull farr and neat , for now i am not subject to breed lice and other vermin ; and whereas this pedicular disease , with a nomberlesse sort of other maladies and distempers , attend mankind , ther 's but one onely disease that our species is subject unto , which the veterenarians or farriers call malila , and that is onely in the head , when som unusuall defluxion of rheume falls thence into the nostrills , which being stopp'd turns to the improvement of health , but if once it falls upon the lungs we are gone : and observable it is , that being dead , we have cleaner carcases than men , and divers medicinall things are found in them , as our liver , hoofs , or bones being reduc'd to powder are good , as the naturalists note , against the epilepsy or comitiall sicknesse , with other diseases ; nor do any crawling nasty worms grow out of our cadavers , but beetles , and other airy insects , which are not so noisome ; but i have spent too much time with you , i will therefore go now to browze upon the green leafs of that bramble . pererius . well , i find here two proverbs verified , the one is a homely one , viz. chanter a un asne , il vous donnera un pet , sing to an asse and he will give you a bum-crack the other , that one may bring an asse to the water , but not make him drink unlesse he list himself . asse . 't is very tru , i remember well they are proverbs us'd in our country , but the last shews much the temperance of our species , for we do not eat or drink but when we are a thirst or hungry , for the restauration of the parts that are lost , that is when nature requires it ; but you use to gourmandize it upon full stomacks , to force carowses and whole-ones untill you be full up to the very throat , and so transform your selves to worse then asses , so that oft-times neither hand nor foot can do their duty : which we never do . pererius to himself . it is a strange and strong incantation that holds this poor animal in this brutality , i will by the favor of morphandra try a conclusion next upon som other of a quicker apprehension , and one who had liv'd in a more plentifull and contented train of life whiles he was man. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the third section . consisting of a dialog 'twixt morphandra , pererius , and an ape , who had been once a preachman in gheriona , who having been carried away with every wind of doctrine , and following any fanatic new-fangl'd opinion , was transmuted to that mimicall shape ; in which dialog ther is an account given of the sad case and confusion , wherein gheriona is involv'd at present , &c. morphandra , pererius , an ape . morphandra . i saw you somwhat earnest in banding arguments with that asse , but how have you sped ? doth he desire to be disasinated , and becom man again , as i promised he should be , provided his will concurred therunto ? pererius . truly , madame , i find the old proverb tru , that he who washeth an asse's head doth lose both time and sope ; but , these two animalls i have treated withall , liv'd in a poor ignorant condition when they were men : i humbly desire i may mingle speeches with some transmuted animals , who when they were rationall cretures did live in plenty , and at ease , and who were bred up in knowledg . morphandra . you shall have your desire , and in that grove i spie an ape , who was once a prick-ear'd preachman in gheriôna , whom for his mimicall foolish humour , and following any new fond fatuous opinion , i thought it proper to transmute to that shape ; besides , i turn'd him to that long-tail'd beast , because they of his country are called stertmen that is men with long-tailes , for which ther is both tradition and story ; he came hither chaplain to a frigot , and had not the ship quickly tack'd about and got away , i had transfigur'd all the rest . ape . by the earnestnes of your looks and gazing , i believe you would speak with me , therefore i pray what 's your pleasure ? pererius poor ape , thou art an object of much pitty ; queen morphandra hath been pleased to discover unto me that thou wa'st once a man , and born in gheriona , a noble country , and a nation of no lesse esteem . ape . 't is tru , the country is good , but she may be said to be now like lucian's sick eagle , shot and pittifully wounded with shafts of her own feathers , gheriona never shewed she had in her as much to make her happy , as she shews now to make her self unhappy ; i fear me , there be som further dreadfull judgments , as the famine and the pestilence hanging over her : for it hath been observed that those three scourges of heven , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the famine , the plague , and the civill warrs are consecutif , and use to follow one another , though the last hath got the start of the other two ; but concerning the peeple , i verily believe ther were never any so far degenerated since the devill had to do with mankind , never any who did fool and puppifie themselfs into such a perfect slavery ▪ and confusion ; you seem to pitty my transfiguration from man to ape , but their case is to be much more resented , for they are turned from men to wolfs , if you go to their humours , ther 's a tru lycanthropy among them , els they wold never worry and devour one another in so savage a manner ; all which proceeds from a sad disease which hath seiz'd upon many thousands of them , it is a pure scotomia , an odd kind of vertigo that reigns amongst them , which turns the head round , and fills it with new chimera's ever and anon ; 't is tru that my country-men were ever observ'd to be inconstant in the fashion of their cloathing , in their outward comportment and garbs , which proceeded from imitation more then naturall inclination ; but this mimicall apish humor hath extended of late years not onely to their externall habits , but to the inward habitudes of their minds , and taken hold of their intellectualls , by being carried away with every wind of doctrine , and fanaticall new-fangled opinions , blown over from other countreys , and then multiplying amongst them ; for though my countrey-men have not any great genius to invent , yet 't is observ'd they have a faculty to add to any new invention ; and if any new odd opinion in holy things hath once taken footing among them , they will make it run upon more feet ; now it is in divinity as in philosophy , uno absurdo dato sequuntur mille , one absurdity being granted a thousand will follow , as aristotle the philosophers-pope doth affrim , for errors like ill weeds do grow apace ; and truly i must confesse , that this apish humor had seiz'd strongly upon me , which made me distrub the peace of the holy church wherin i was born , baptized , and bred , which made queen morphandra to transform me justly to this shape you see , being entertain'd chaplain to a man of war that arriv'd at this island , though i had been sensible of mine own errors a good while before . pererius . i know well that there was in gheriona a comely face of a church ; ther were such solemnities , venerations , and decencies us'd , that might discover som piety in the practice of holy duties ; ther was a public liturgy that link'd the souls of the whole nation in an unanimity , wherin ther were such pithy patheticall prayers that reached all occasions , and searched every crany in the conscience ; the sacraments were administred with a fitting posture of reverence , and genuflexion , yet far from any superstition ; god's houses were kept neat , cleanly , and in repair ; there was such a prudent handsom government , such degrees of promotion , such possessions annex'd to the church , that made them of that holy function not onely to be esteem'd and reverenc'd , but to be able to do deeds of charity ; but now i hear ther 's crept up such a nasty race of miscreants , who have no more esteem of god almighty's house than of a pig-sty , who have turn'd a pretended superstition to a palpable prophanenes , who have plunder'd all that belong'd to pious uses , who have nothing of that veneration , that sweetnes , and comfort that useth to attend tru devotion , which is turn'd to a giddy zeal , or a kind of lust still after more learning , as if christianity had no consistence or certainty , no sobriety ; or end of knowledg , wherin the inward man might acquiesce ; these poor simpletons pretending to imitate the apostles time wold have the same form of discipline and mode to govern whole nations , as it did at first a chamber-full of men in the infancy of the christian church ; they wold mak the same coat serve our saviour at five and twenty years , as fitted him at five : but you were speaking of other dreadfull judgments that you believe were hanging over gheriona , and what are the resons that induce you to that belief ? ape . i remember when i had a human shape i was much addicted to the reading of history , which is a profitable knowledge , for the observation of former actions may serve to regulat the future ; i took notice of a world of examples that the two nefandous crimes of sacrilege and perjury never went unpunished without some signall judgments ; among divers other these two do reign and rage in gheriona more then they ever did in any country under the cope of heven , and must she not then expect the vialls of a just vengeance to fall down upon her from above ? but that you may better understand the state of that calamitous country , that country of confusion , i will recount to you what befell me before my transmutation . perertus . you will oblige me beyond measure , if you impart unto me what you intend , and i shall listen unto you with much patience , and no lesse contentment . asse . it chanc'd one night i had a strange unusuall dream , i had fallen into so sound a sleep , as if the cinq-ports ( my five outward senses ) had been trebly lockt up ; my animula vagula blandula , my little wandring soul made a sally out of morpheus horn-gate , as she uses to do often , and fetch vagaries apart , to practise how she may live by her self after our dissolution , when she is separated from the body and becom a spirit ; i had all night long a world of visions , and strange objects appeerd unto me , which return now fresh into my memory ; during the said time i thought i was transported to the remotest place , and of the greatest distance that possibly could be from heven , me thought i was in the infernall pit , in the kingdom of darknesse , in hell it self among the devills and damned spirits , i had neither that golden branch , nor the help of a sybilla cumana to conduct me up and down as the trojan prince had , but a spirit did lead me gently and softly all along untill i came to pluto's palace , where a speciall councell was held to take a strict examination what service the three infernall furies , alecto , tisyphone , and megaera , with other inferiour fiends that were their assistants , had done upon earth towards the advancement of the kingdom of darknesse since their last mission thither , which was presently upon the appeerance of the last blazing star 1618. pluto vouchsafed to be present at this solemn councell , and to be president or chair-man himself , to which purpose he had a strong legion of cacodaemons for his gard , but the busines was prepar'd and facilitated for his hearing before hand by a speciall committee appointed of purpose for that end ( whence i observed , that committees were first hatch'd in hell ) the three gastly daughters of night appeered with fiery conntenances before the stygian king , in lieu of air they evaporated huge flakes of fire which they took in , and let out with the accents of their words , huge bunches of vipers hung dangling and wavring about their heads , having their tayls rooted in their sculls ; a furious clash fell betwixt them who should be prolocutrix , but in regard that alecto and tisyphone had given account of their former missions , the one of the league in artonia , the other of the revolt of the hydraulian , which was about the appearance of the comet in the tayl of cassiopaea , it came now in due turn that megaera should have the priority of speech ; so the youngest of the tartarean girls began as followeth . may it please your high phlegetontic majesty to understand , that since the last happy comet anno 1618. which by the parallax was found to be in the heven it self above the elementary world , we have for forty years together been more active and eager in your majesty's service than ever we were ; we have stirred the humors of the foolish inhabitants of the earth to insurrections , to warr and praeliation ; to effect which , our practise hath been to bring on the beggarliest and toughest peeple upon the nicest and softest , we brought the cuprinian upon the aetonian , and the zoundanian , the tarragon , and cinqfoyl upon the tumontian , the tartar upon the chinois , the selenian upon the marcopolist , the cosaque upon the pole , the carboneian upon the gherionian ; we have continued a bloody lingring warr in the bowells of artonia for thirty years together , we have thrust divers princes out of their antient inheritances , among others the duke of laroni and rhinarchos , we brought two gran selenian emperours to be strangled by their own slaves , we have often puzzled vinalia , we have made the kings of artonia and tumontia to bandy so fiercely one against the other , as if the one had been an infidell the other a iew , though each of them had one another's sister abed with him every night . but may it please your acherontic majesty to be inform'd , that the most advantageous and signall services we have done , have bin in the lsles of gheriona and hebrinia , for whereas we divided our selfs before , and went singly among other peeple , we went joyntly thither all three , and brought a regiment of fiery red-coated cacodaemons to guard us , because we might be sure to bring our great work home to your majesty's aime ; the nation fittest for our turn at first were the carboncian , who have bin so obedient to their kings , that of above a hundred they brag of , scarce two parts of three died in their beds , but were made away violently ; we did incite them first against their own country-man and native king , and to appear in a daring high hostile manner before him upon the borders ; at which time it cost us a great deal of artifice so to besot the gherioniams , and to abase their courage , so to entangle them with factions , having sure confidents to that end among them , that they durst not present battle to the carboncian at that time ; and this , sir , was an important piece of service , for had they fought then , or had they bin sensible afterwards of the dishonour they received at that time , their king being then amongst them in person , with the flower of his nobility and gentry , and consequently had they stuck to him afterwards to have vindicated that rebellious affront , all those we have fomented since might have bin prevented . we shortly after transmitted the same spirit of insurrection into hebrinia , who being encouraged by the good successes of the carboneian , who got then what tearms he listed , yet could he not sit quiet ; and the hebrinian commissioners being but harshly entertain'd by the great councell of gheriona , who intended to send them over a governour that should pinch them more than they were before in their consciences , and for divers other provocations , we caus'd the hebrinian also to rise in blood , which he did to som purpose ; then came we to work upon the gherionian , whom we found as fit to receive our impression as flax is to receive fire , in regard of their long furseit of peace and plenty ; we broke up one great assembly upon a suddain , because the members therof were not for our turn , but then we call'd another which was fit for our purpose , and we steer'd their courses all the while with a great deal of care ; the first thing we did was to endue them with a faculty to create fears and jealousies , whereof we made excellent use , and although those fears and jealousies appeared afterwards to every common man as plain as the nose on his face to be but meer forgeries , and supposititious things , yet we did still so intoxicat their intellectualls , that we made them to adore still the coyners of them ; and to give your stygian majesty among divers others , one most pregnant and undeniable demonstration what firm footing we got in that island , we did raise in few years more pythonesses , which the ignorant vulgar call witches there , then ever were in that country since your majesty tempted eve ; and we enabled our said pythonesses to send their inferiour imps abroad upon our service ; we stood at the king's elbow when he pass'd the act of continuance , wherein a carboncian was our chief engineer ; but the great city polihaima stood us in most excellent steed to compasse our designes , we made the riffraff and rakehells of that wanton city , whom som call'd myrmidons , others their bandogs , to rabble the king out of town , we brought also thither the silly swains of the country like a flock of geese to gaggle up and down the streets with papers in their hats they knew not about what ; we managed the businesse afterwards so dextrously , and did aggravate things by degrees , that we made their credulous king , because he was so profess'd an enemy to your majesty , to go disguis'd in serving-man's habit to his country-men the carboncians , with whom we prevail'd so far , that they delivered him over as a sacrifice , and betraid him iudas like to the gherionians , who crucified him sufficiently afterwards by tossing and tumbling him up and down , by depriving him of the comfort of all things that use to be dear unto man , as his wife , children , friends , and servants , by working upon his conscience in a compulsatory way , and stretching it upon the very tenter ; in summe , we have reduc'd that country to a conformity with this of your majesties , to a perfect chaos of all confusion , we have brought the sway into the common peeples hands , making all the nobility and gentry to crouch and cringe unto them ; and never did common peeple more truly act the part , and discover the genius of a common peeple more lively , whose nature is still thirsting after novelties , and utopian reformations , though oftentimes they fool themself thereby into a a baser kind of slavery , finding when 't is too late those specious idaea's , and confus'd forms of government they apprehended at first , and hugg'd in their own conceits , to be at last but meer absurdities , when they com to the application and practise therof . and , sir , the most advantageous instruments we have us'd to bring all this about have bin the pulpit and the presse , by these we diffus'd those supposititious fears and jealousies , formerly spoken of , to distract the brains of the silly vulgar ; instead of lights we put firebrands in their churches , who , according as we did dictat unto them , did baul out nothing but sedition , war , and blood ; we have made som of them to have as good an opinion of the alchoran as of their own liturgy ; we made new ordinances to batter down all the antient canons of the church , we have made them to un-saint all those who were call'd apostles , to prophane and plunder all places that were consecrated , we brought som of them to put a division 'twixt the trinity it self , we have brought them to keep their fasts more solemnly than the sabboth , upon which day we made them usually not onely to sit in councell , but to put in execution their chief designs of blood ; to work all this , the main and most materiall thing we made use of was spirituall pride your majesty's old acquaintance , which pride we have infus'd into the mind of every mechanic , or country-swain , who will boldly now undertake to expound any text of scripture new or old upon the warrant of his own giddy brain ; insomuch that we have made that book which they call the bible , that was ordained for the charter of their salvation , to be the chiefest instrument of their damnation ; we have brought those exotic words plundring and storming , and that once abominable word excise to be now familiar among them , they are all made free denizens , and naturaliz'd among them ; we have made those who came petitioners for peace to the great councill to be ill intreated , and som of them to be murther'd , but those that came for warr to be countenanc'd and thank'd ; we made the mother to betray her child , the child the father , the husband the wife , and the servant his master ; we have brought a perfect tyranny over their souls and bodies , upon the one , by tedious imprisonments and captivity , with a forfeiture of all their livelihoods before conviction , or any preceding charge , upon the other , by forcing them to take contradictory oaths , engagements , and protestations ; on that foolish superstitious day of christmas , with other festivals , we have brought them to shut up their churches , and to open their shops and shambles , so that in time they will forget the very memory of the incarnation of their saviour ; we have brought them to have as little reverence of their temples as of their tap-houses , and to hold the church to be no more than a charnell-house of rotten bones ; and though they still cringe and stand bare-headed before any wrangling bench of common pleading , yet we have so stiffned their joynts , and made their heads so tender in that which they call god's house , that there , they can neither bow the one , nor scarce uncover the other ; we have made the fundamentall laws to be call'd but meer formalities ; we have made that which was call'd their great charter to be torn to a thousand flitters , and stretcht the priviledge of the commons so wide , that it hath quite swallowed the royall prerogative , and all other priviledges ; we have grub'd up , and cast away those hopefull plants that grew in their two seminaeries of learning , and set in them graffs of our own choice ; we have made the wealth of town and country , of poor and rich , to shine in plunder upon the souldiers backs ; we have made them command free-quarter of those , that were more sitting to ask alms of them ; we have made them rifle the monuments of the dead , to rob the very lazaretro , to strip the orphan and widow ; we have made them offer violence to the very vegetables and inanimat stones , to violat any thing that was held holy , to make socks of surplices , to water their beasts at the font , and feed them on the altar , and to term the thing they cal the sacrament to be but a two-penny ordinary ; we have made them use on the close-stoole that book wherein the public devotion of the whole nation consisted ; in fine , we have made them turn supposed superstition to gross prophaness , preaching to prating , praying to raving , government to confusion , and freedom to fetters ; we have so intoxicated that dear daughter of yours polihaima , that she knows not what way to turn her self ; and whereas her apprentices did rise up like so many cubs of tygers against their lawfull prince , they are now becom as came as so many silly sheep against the souldiery ; we have puzzled their pericranium with vertiginous fancies , and fears among themselfs , that one neighbour dare not trust the other ; to conclude , we have eclipsed the glory of that nation , we have made them by all peeple far and neer that ever had knowledg , correspondence , or any commerce with them , to be pittied by som , to be laugh'd at by others , to be scorn'd of all , and to becom the very tail of all nations ; in fine , sir , we have brought that country to such a passe of confusion , that it is a fit place onely for your infernall majesty to keep your court in , for ther 's never a crosse there to fright you now : 't is tru they retain it still upon their coines of gold and silver , in honour of your plutonian highnesse as you are dis and god of riches . megaera having thus given up an account in behalf of her self and her two sisters , they all bowed their snaky heads down to their very feet , which were toed with scorpions , before the black throne of beelzebub , who giving such a humm that made all hell to tremble , answered thus , my pretious and most trusty tartarean daughters , we highly approve of the super-erogatory service you have don us for the propagation of our empire upon earth , and specially in gheriona ; we have sued a long time to have a lease of that iland , and we hope to obtain it , touching carboncia 't is not worth the while ; therfore when you have visited those of that nation whom you have sent hither already to peeple this pit , i would have you return thither , and prepare that place for one of our principall habitations , never leave them till you have thrust out religionem ex solo as well as regem ex solio ; make law , religion , allegiance , and every thing els arbitrary , let not one government last long , but shuffle the cards so that a new trump may be turnd up often , create still new fears , and foment fresh divisions among them ; let the son seek the fathers throat , let brothers sheath their swords in one anothers bowells , let the country clash with the towns , the towns one against the other , and the sea with both , till that the whole nation be at last extinguished that one may not be left to pisse against a wall ; let not a church or chappell , hospitall or colledge stand in the whole isle . i intend to have a new almanack of saints at my comming , for i have som star-gazers there fit for my purpose ; make haste therefore , and acquit your selfs of your duty for fear a peace be shuffl'd up , and that artonia and tumontia appeer in the busines , and espouse the quarrell of young caroloman ; and if you carry your selfs well in this employment , i may chance give you carboncia for your reward . the three lethean futies with a most profound reverence replied , may it please your majesty , your ferriman charon is continually so pestered with such multitudes of gherionian and carboncian passengers , that we were forc'd to stay a long time ere we could be transported hither , and we fear we shall be so hindred again . therfore we most humbly desire for our better expedition , that you would vouchsafe to give us a speciall mandamus that we may be serv'd first , with a non obstante , when we com to the banks of styx . you shall dear daughters , said pluto , and my warrant shall be addrest to som gherionian tarpalins , wherof ther are abundance these few years past , whom charon hath entertaind for his journey-men . having listned all this while unto what pass'd 'twixt pluto and his furies , my guiding spirit did lead me up and down hell to see the various sorts of torments that are there , which indeed are innumerable both old and new ; the first i beheld was ixion who was tyed with ugly vipers to a wheel that whirl'd about perpetually , and i might perceive a multitude of lesser wheels newly made therabouts , wherunto great nombers of gherionians , and divers of my acquaintants were bound in like manner ; i might discern also hard by a huge company of new windmills , and bodies tyed with black-spotted snakes at every wing turning round perpetually ; a little further ther were a great many broken by milstones who were whirl'd with them about incessantly ; in another place i might see black whirlpools full of tormented souls turning still round , i asked what was the reson of so many whirling tortures ? my good spirit answered , all these , except ixion's wheel , are new torments appointed for gherionian sectaries , who had destroyed from top to bottom all government both of church and state , and as their brains turn'd round upon earth after every wind of doctrine , so their souls turn here in perpetuall torments of rotation . a little further i spied prometheus removed thither from caucasus , with a ravenous vulture tearing and feeding upon his liver , which as one part was eaten , renewed presently after , and abundance of new commers were tormented in the same manner , these i was told they were gherionians also that were punishd like prometheus , because as he was tortured so for stealing fire from heven , by which was meant for prying too far into the secrets of the gods , so those fiery zelots of gheriona were tortured , for offring to dive too far into the high points of predestination , election , and reprobation , being not contented sapere ad sobrietatem , but were gaping ever and anon after new lights , and flashes of illuminations to pry into the book of life . then i came to the bottomles tub which danaus daughters were a filling , a nomberles company of other such tubs were there , and gherionian women and men were incessantly labouring to fill them up with the stenchy black waters of acheron ; i was told that they were those over-curious peeple in gheriona which wold be never satisfied with spirituall knowledg , having no other devotion than to be alwaies learning , and never comming to the truth , as these poor restlesse fillers could never come to any bottom . then i beheld the most horrid tortures of those giants who wold have pulld iupiter out of his throne , and a world of gherionians among them , who partaked of the same tortures , because they had conspir'd on earth to destroy their lawfull king. not far further i might spy dazling my eyes fiery glowing tubs made pulpit-like , and i was told they were prepared for those prophane presumptuous mechanicks , and other lay-men who use to preach , and so abuse the sacred oracles of god ; and uzza was not far off , who lay in torments there for being too bold with the holy ark. not far distant i saw hoops of iron that were made garter-like of hot candent steel , i was told that they were design'd for the perjur'd knights of that order in gheriona to wear upon their legs when they com thither , for breaking in the late war the solemn oath they had taken at their installment , to defend the honour and quarrells , the rights and dignities of their soverain , &c. nere unto them i might see brasse hoops glowing with fire , and they were scarfs-like , i was told they were ordained for those knights of the bath to wear for ribbands next their skins when they came thither , for infringing that sacred sacramentall oath they took at their election , which was , to love their soverain above all earthly creture , and for his right and dignity to live and die . a little beyond i saw a copper-table with chairs of the same , all candent hot , i was told that those were for perjur'd privy-councellors who had broke their oath to their king , which obliged them to be tru and faithfull servants unto him , and if they knew or understood any manner of thing to be attempted , done , or spoken against his majestie 's person , honour , crown , or dignity , they swore to lett and withstand the same to the uttermost of their power , and cause it to be revealed either to himself , or any other of his privy councill . hard by i saw a little furnace so glowing hot , that it lookt of the colour of a ruby or carbuncle , i was told that it was to clap in the master of a king's jewell-house when he comes thither , for being so perfidious and perjurious to his master . not far off i might see a huge brasse caudron full of molten lead , with som brewers cruelly tormented therein , for setting their own country on fire . i was curious to know , whether ther were any other infernall tortures besides those of fire ; yes , i was answered , for to speak of fire to a peeple habituated to a cold climat were not onely to make them slight hell , but to have a mind to go thither ; so my spirit brought me a little northward , and shewed me a huge lough , where ther were frosted mountains up and down , and i might discover amongst them a world of blew-caps lying in beds of yce , with their noses and toes nipt , the isicles stuck to their fingers ends like horns , and a bleak hispid wind blew incessantly upon them , they made the most pitteous noise that me-thought i had heard in all hell , for they wawl'd , screech'd , and howl'd out ever and anon this dismall note , wea is me , wea is me that ever i betraid my gid king. among all those damned souls i desired to see what punishment an atheist had , my spirit was ready to answer me , that ther were no atheists in hell at all ; 't is tru they were so upon earth before they came hither , but here they sensibly find and acknowledge ther is a god by his justice and judgments , for ther is here poena sensûs and poena damni , ther is inward and outward torture , the outward torments you behold are nothing so grievous as the inward regrets and agonies the souls have , to have lost heven wherof they were once capable , and to be eternally forsaken by their creator the lord of light , their chiefest good ; add hereunto that they know these torments to be endlesse , easelesse , and remedilesse ; besides these qualities which are incident to the damned souls , they have neither patience towards themselfs in their own suffrances , nor any pitty towards others , but their natures is so accursed that they wish their neighbours torments were still greter then their own ; moreover their torments never lessen , or have any mitigation by tract of time , or degrees of sense , but they persevere alwaies in the same heighth , they are still fresh , and the soul made stronger to bear them ; i saw that everlasting villain who committed one of the first sacriledges we read of , by burning the temple of diana , whose torments were so fresh and cruciatory upon him , as they were the first day he was hurl'd in thither ; iudas was in the same degree and strength of torture as he was the first moment he fell thither ; iack cade , wat tyler , iack straw , and ket the tanner did fry as fresh as they did that very instant they were tumbled down thither ; amongst whom it made my heart to melt within me when i saw som of their new-com'd country-men amongst them , wherof i knew divers ; and though society is wont to be some solace to men in misery , yet they conceived no comfort at all by these fresh companions . it is high time for us now , said my good guiding spirit , to be gone to the other world , so we directed our cours towards the ferry upon styx ; but lord what a nomber of lurid and ugly squalid countenances did i behold as i pass'd ; there was one sort of torment i had not seen before , ther were divers that hung by their toungs upon posts up and down , i asked what they were , answer was made , that they were prick-ear'd preachmen , iudges , and lawyers , who against their knowledg as well as against their consciences , did seduce the ignorant peeple of gheriona and carboncia , and incite them to war ; and ther was a new tenter-hook provided for one gran villain , who pronounced sentence of death against his own soverain prince , whose subject he was , and whom by a sacred oath of allegiance he was tyed to obey . a little further i might see multitudes of committee-men and others , slopping up drops of molten lead in lieu of french barly-broth , with a rabble of apprentices sweeping the gutters of hell , with brooms tufted with ugly adders and snakes , because they running into the wars and leaving their wares , had therby broke their indentures with their masters , and their oaths of allegiance to their lawfull prince . passing then along towards the ferry , a world of hideous shapes presented themselfs unto my sight ; there i saw corroding cares , pannick fears , pining griefs , ugly rebellion , revengefull malice , snaky discord , oppression , tyranny , disobedience , perjury , sacriledge , and spirituall pride ( the sin that first peepled hell ) put to exquisit torments ; couches of toads , scorpions , asps , and serpents were in a corner hard by ; i asked for whom they were prepared , i was answered , for som evangelizing gherionian ladies , which did egg on their husbands to war ; so having as i thought by a miraculous providence charm'd three-headed cerberus , by pointing at him with the signe of the crosse upon my fingers , we passed quietly by to the ferry , where being com i found tru what pluto had said before , that ther were divers gherionian tarpalins entertain'd by charon , but they were in most cruell tortures , for their bodies were covered all over very thick and close with canvases pitch'd and tarr'd , which continually burnt and flam'd round about them . herewith i got awake again about the dawning of the day , and it was high time to do so ; for lo , the golden orientall gate of gray-fac'd heven 'gan to open fair , and phoebus like a bridegroom to his mate came dancing forth , shaking his dewy hair , and hurls his glittring beams through gloomy air . so rest to motion , night to day doth yield , silence to noise , the starrs do quit the field , my cinq-ports all fly ope , the phantasy gives way to outward objects , ear and eye resume their office , so doth hand and lip ; i hear the carrmans wheel , the coachmans whip , the prentice ( with my sense ) his shop unlocks , the milkmaid seeks her pail , porters their frocks , all cries and sounds return , except one thing , i heard no bell for mattens toll or ring . being thus awak'd , and staring on the light which silverd all my face and glaring sight , i clos'd my eyes again to recollect what i had dreamt , & make my thoughts reflect upon themselfs — i say , that having after such a long noctivagation , and variety of horrid visions , return'd to my perfect expergefaction , i began by a serious recollection of my self to recall to my thoughts by way of reminiscence those dismall and dreadfull objects that had appeerd unto me , for though i was in hell , yet i did not taste of lethe all the while , insomuch that i did not forget any thing which i had seen ; all the said objects presented themselfs unto me so reall , that if i had bin transported with that opinion wherof many great clerks have bin , viz. that devills are nothing els but the ill affections , the exorbitant passions and perturbances of the minde ; i say , if i had bin plac'd in such an opinion , this trance wold have convinc'd me ; you may easily imagin what apprehensions of horror these apparitions left in my brain behind them , just as a river when by an inundation she hath swel'd out of her wonted channell , doth use to leave along the neighbouring medowes seggs and other weeds with much riffraff stuff behind her upon her return to her former bed ; so did this vision after that deluge of objects wherwith my brain was overwhelm'd for the time , leave behind them black sudds , and many a ghastly thought within me , which after some ruminations wrought in me a perfect change and detestation of those mimicall giddy opinions wherwith i was carried away before , but while i delayed the time of declaring my self that way , i was suddenly surprized , and justly transmuted to this shape and species . pererius . you may perceive by the effects of this visional dream the excellency and high prerogatives of the human soul , who by the ministry of the imagination can make such sallies abroad , that leaving the grosse tabernacle of the body she can at plesure climb up to the skies , and make a scale of the stars to conduct her to the empyrean heven ; she can also descend in a trice to the great abysse , and take a survey of the kingdom of darknes , and though it be a common maxim that , ab orco nulla redemptio , ther is no returning from hell the passage thence being irremeable , yet the rational soul while she informs the body hath this priviledg , that she can make egresses and regresses , she can enter and come off clear from hell it self , when she list , and all this in an instant ; wherin she may be said to participat of that admired quality which is inhaerent in that most comfortable of all cretures the light , which is held the souverain of all sensible qualities by the philosophers , and to com neerest to the nature of a spirit , for light requires but an instantaneous moment or point of time to perform its office of illumination , and to dilate it self from one pole to the other throughout the whole hemisphere , whence some infer that light is incorporeal , because 't is an unquestion'd principle among the naturalists , that all bodies require a succession of time in their motion , which light needs not ; but ther is this difference 'twixt the imagination of a human soul and light , that ther besom places wherinto light cannot enter , but ther is no part of the universe so impervious where the imagination may not make his accesses and recesses at plesure , as appeers by yours while you made that progresse during the time of that extasy ; and now me-thinks that these , and other excellencies of the rational soul should incite you to shake off that brutish nature , which hath no other idaea or object of happines , but what sense exposeth for the present time to corporeall things onely ; i say the contemplation of what i said before shold move you to becom man again . ape . man ! truly sir , i am sorry the shape i now bear resembleth man so much , i could wish it were far more unlike , for the horrid and unheard-of sacrileges and perjuries of my own nation makes me abhor the very name of man , much more his nature ; for i dare confidently assert , that ther were never since the devill had power to possesse poor mortalls such heteroclites in religion , such a bedlam of sectaries , who to exalt the kingdom of christ wold heave it up on beelzebub's back , for 't is the devill 's reformation to turn order to confusion , and certainties to incertitudes as they have done ; but these refiners of government will prove quack-salvers at last , for in lieu of raising up a common-wealth , they have pull'd down the two main pillars which use to support all states , viz. religion and iustice , making both arbitrary , and tumbling all things into a horrid disorder and hurliburly , insomuch that it may be truly said , these new sorts of recusants did more hurt than ever the old could have don , if the subterranean plot of nitre had taken effect ; for that had onely destroyed som few of the royall race , of the prelates and peers then in being , but these hell-hounds have wholly extinguished and blown up all the three to perpetuity , and all this onely by the stench of their pestiferous breath ; nor have they offered violence to religion onely , but they have affronted reson it self , nay they have baffled common sense ; and for all this we may thank carboncia , and polihaima that rotten-hearted city , who like a fat cheese is so full of maggots ; and indeed what could be expected else from these pseudopolitians but disorder , confusion , and ataxy , considering how their first reach of policy was to throw the ball of discord 'twixt the subject and his souvrain , whom yet they had vowed to make the best belovedst prince that ever was ; insomuch that darknesse it self is no more opposit to light , as their actions were diametricall to their words , oaths , and protestations . pererius . truly they are stupendous things that you have told me , but touching the difference you speak of that they did put 'twixt prince and peeple , it was the most compendious way to bring all things to confusion and ruine , to which purpose i shall relate unto you an apolog ; ther hapned a shreud commotion and distemper in the body naturall 'twixt the head and the members , not onely the noble parts ( many of them ) but the common inferiour organs banded against him in a high way of presumption ; the heart which is the source of life with the pericardium about it did swell against him , the splene and gall flowed over , the liver gathered ill blood , all the humors turned to choller against him ; the arms lifted up themselfs against him , neither back , hamms , or knees wold bow to him , nay the very feet offered to kick him ; the ribbs and reins , the hypocondrium , the diaphragma , the miseraik and emulgent veins were fill'd with corrupt blood against him , nay the hypogastrium and the bowells made an intestine warr against him ; while this feud lasted , it hapned that these tumultuary members fell out among themselfs , the hand wold have all the fingers equall , nay the toes wold be all of an even length , and the rest of the subservient members wold be independent ; they grew so foolish that they wold have the fundament to be where the mouth is , the brest where the back , the belly where the brain , and the yard where the nose is ; the sholders shold be said to be no more backwards , nor the leggs downwards ; a bloody quarrell fell out 'twixt the heart and the liver which of them received the first formation , and whether of the two be the chiefest shop of languification , which question bred so much gall 'twixt the aristotelians and the galenists ; while this spleene and strange tympany of pride lasted , it causd such an ebullition and heat in the masse of blood , such a stiffnes in the cartilages and gristles , such a lanknes in the arteries , that it put the whole compositum in a high burning feaver or kind of ravening frenzy , which in time grew hepticall , and so threatned a dissolution of the whole frame of the body . 't is to be feard that the same fate attends the politicall body of your nation as did the naturall i spoke of ; but matters may mend , and as you began to find a reformation in your self before you were transmuted to this shape , so the whole nation may come to their old temper again ; therfore you shal do well , now that you are invited by so pregnant an opportunity , and so reall a proffer , to shake off that apish or monky-fac'd figure you now wear , and resume the noble erect shape of man , to look towards heven , and be safely transported to the bosom of your own dear country , where you may by your advantageous holy profession , do a great deal of good offices to your deluded compatriots , by the contribution of your endeavours and talent , to reduce them to their right wits again , and so to the temper of their famous progenitors . ape . sir , you may as soon quadrat a circle , which the philosopher holds to be impossible , as convert a roundhead , for i have felt his pulse so well , that when a crochet hath got once into his noddle , 't is like quick-silver in a hot loaf , which makes it skip up and down to the astonishment of the ignorant beholder ; so when a caprichio , or some fanaticall idaea hath once entred into the pericranium of this pack of peeple , it causeth such a vertigo , that all the druggs of egypt cannot cure them : therfore , noble prince , you may please to practise your eloquence upon som other , but as for me you spend your breath in vain , and all this while you have said as good as nothing , for i so far detest human kind , that , in the mind i am in , i had rather undergo an annihilation , or to be reduced to a non-entity , which is so horrid a thing to all created natures , that the very devills themselfs abhorr it , then be as i was : therfore i am resolved never to turn man again , much lesse a cherionian , for , in statu quo nunc , i hold him to be not onely the prophanest sect of christians , but the worst race of mankind ; the wildest moor , arab , or tartar is a saint in comparison of him . but i espy an ill-favoured snayl creeping hard by , with her house upon her back , and stretching forth her ugly horns , which base creture those of my present species do naturally loath , ther being a perfect antipathy betwixt us , as well as with all shell-fish . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fourth section . a colloquy 'twixt morphandra , pererius , and a hinde , who had bin once one of the gretest bewties in marcopolis , and for som youthfull levities and wildnes was transmuted to that shape ; in this section ther are various discourses of the state and nature of women pro & con , &c. morphandra , pererius , and a hinde . morphandra . it seems , most princely pererius , by that clowd i perceive waving in your countenance , that you cannot prevail with any of those transformed cretures with whom you have hitherto conferrd , to comply with your so laudable desires of wearing again the shapes of men ; therfore i wold wish you to try a conclusion upon a female , which sex useth to be more soft and pliable , and ther is one just before you , that lovely white hinde ( though she hath som black spots about her shingle ) which i see browsing upon that hedge , she was once a woman , therfore try what you can do upon her . pererius . madame , by treating with this last animal , i find the old adage confirmd , that simia erit simia , quamvis induatur veste aurea , an ape will be an ape though he be clad with tissue , he will never shake off his brutish nature ; but , most sagacious queen , though truth , as the proverb runs , begets hatred oftentimes in the minds of those to whom it is spoken , yet , knowing well that noble spirits do disdain to have one thing in the mouth , and another in the heart , i will take the boldnesse to make a free discovery of my mind , though i fear to incur therby your disfavor . morphandra . sir , you may frankly speak what you please , for ther is no greter a friend to generous souls than truth . pererius . i doubt , though you have vouchsafed the gift of ratiotination to those animals i have tampered withall , yet you have not bin pleased to give them the full faculty of reson , in regard i have found them so averse to re-assume their first beeing from that of beasts , which could not surely be if they had the full power of their former intellect . morphandra . truly if i had don so , you might have justly thought your self to have been deluded by me , and that i had don you but half a courtesie or a fained promise ; now touching promises a noble mind shold not make any , that he hath not the wil to do , or the power to perform , for the one proceeds from pure dissimulation , and the other from meer foolishnes : but know , that all that intervall of time you have held a parly with those transmuted animals you have tried already , they had the same reach and full light of reson as they had when they were men. pererius . oh , how is it possible then that the eyes of their understanding shold not be opend , to discern their own error ? morphandra . it may well be that they find and feel more contentment , and sweetnes in that life they now lead , wherof men have no sense or knowledg , therfore 't is no thing of wonder that they desire to continue so ; but go and poursue the point of your enterprise , for it may be you may find som other that will be conformable to your counsell herein , and 't is very probable that hinde may do it . pererius . 't is observed by wise men , that they who can prescribe a way of themselfs to live contentedly and well , are to be plac'd in the first degree of vertu ; and they which cannot do it of themselfs , but are content to be directed by the counsell of wiser men , are to be plac'd in the second degree ; but they who are not capable to counsell themselfs , nor receive counsell from others , are not worthy to be rank'd in the nomber of rational cretures ; of this last kind those silly animals are with whom i have held discours , therfore 't is no marvail that my perswasions could not take place with them ; but knowing it to be the greatest part of humanity for one to commiserat and help another , i will push on my endeavours in this point , and see what i can do with that lovely white hinde , for that sex whereof she was formerly useth to be more tender , and to take impressions more easily : gentle creture , i come to be the messenger of good tydings unto you . hinde . o! may heven be blessed , i understand the accents of man , and have the strings of my toung loosned to talk again . pererius . i hope now to have met with one fit for my purpose , for i hear her thank heven that she is come again to the gift of speech : give me leave to ask you , gentle hinde , how came you to be thus so strangely transfigured ? hinde . it was the great queen morphandra who hath put this shape upon me ; but , sir , give me leave to return you a question , wherfore are you so desirous to know the cause of my transmutation ? for i was never ask'd the reson ever since by any , nor had i my speech return'd unto me till now , ever since i went upon four leggs . pererius . the reson that i desire to know the cause of your transfiguration is for your infinit advantage , as you shall find , therfore i pray dispence with my curiosity , if i desire to know further what country and condition you were of when you were a rational creture . hinde . sir , i was born in marcopolis that rare maiden city , so much renowned throughout the world for the strangenes of her scituation , for her policy , riches , and power ; but though she continu still a virgin , yet she is married once every year to neptune whose minion she is , which makes her accounted so salacious ; there i had my first birth , and was accounted one of the beauties of my time , till for som dissolut courses and wildnes of youth , it pleased morphandra to give me a second kind of generation , and transmute me to this shape you behold . pererius . you may then thank those stars that guided me hither , for i have obtained leave of morphandra to talk with you , nor onely so , but she hath bin pleased to promise me that she will re-invest you in you former fair nature if you desire it , therfore i quickly expect your resolution , for the sudden counsells and answers of women are observ'd to be the best , in regard that the more you think on a thing , the more your thoughts use to be intangled ; therfore tell me whether you will be a woman again , i or no ? hinde . no ; ther 's a short and sudden laconicall answer for you . pererius . 't is short i confesse , but i conceive it to be as rash and inconsiderat , i hope you will think better on it , for what an infinit advantage it is to be transversed from a beast to be a noble rational creture . hinde . to be a rational creture is not the thing that i am so averse unto as much as to be a woman , which sex is so much undervalued and vilified by you , that som of your philosophers ( or foolosophers more properly ) have had the faces to affirm that we were not of the same species with men , and if we were , yet it was by an inferiour kind of creation , being made only for multiplication and plesure ; others have given out , that in point of generation woman by natures design is still meant for man , and that a female is a thing brought into the world beyond nature's intention , either by the imperfection of seed , or some other defect ; which absurd opinion how contrary it is to the just order of nature , is manifest to any one that hath but a crum of wit , considering how we also concur to your generation , though som of your old doting wisards have held the contrary , holding us to be meerly passive in that point . pererius . 't is tru , that aristotle who was one of the secretaries that attended nature's cabinet-councell doth affirm , that in the female ther is no active principle of generation , but that she is meerly passive , affording onely blood and the place of conception , the plastic formative vertu residing in the male's feed ; but this opinion is exploded by our modern physitians and naturalists , who assert that in the female also ther is an active and plastic principle of generation , with a procreative faculty , as appeers in the engendring of a mule which is a mix'd species proceeding from the horse and the asse , whose whole form is made up by the concurrence of both parents , so that the horse alone is not sufficient to produce such a creture , but the asse must co-operat as the efficient cause . hinde . you may well add hereunto that the child oftentimes resembleth the mother , therfore she must also be an active principle in the formation ; if it be so , what a wrong is it to the justice and rules of nature that women shold be held but little better than slaves ? how comes it that they shold be so vilipended and revil'd ? as that foolish naturalist or ninny , who wish'd ther were another way to propagat mankind than by copulation with women ; another blurted out , that if men could live without the society of women , angels wold come down and dwell among them ; but that stinking cynick was the worst of all , who passing by a tree where a woman having been abus'd and beaten by her husband , had done her self violently away , he wished that every tree might bear such blessed fruit . pererius . such speeches as these proceeded from a kind of raillery or way of jesting , not from the judgment or wishes of the parties that spoke them , and it is commonly seen that they who play upon them with their wits , have them most in their wishes ; for ther is no sober-minded man but doth acknowledg them to be born for our comfort and dearest companions , and to be of equall degree with us in point of creation and excellence , as also capable of the same beatitude . hinde . ther is good reson to think so , for the creator took the first woman out of the midst of man therby to be his equall , and without any ostentation be it spoken she was made of a more refined matter , viz. of the rib , which is a purer substance than the red slimy earth wherof adam was fram'd ; and daily experience tells us , that we are composed of purer plasticall ingredients than you , because that if a man , be he never of so fine a paste , wash his hands with the clearest water in severall clean basons never so often , yet he will leave som foulnes and faeculence behind ; but a woman can do so and leave the water at last so clear , so fair and limpid , as when it came from the fountain or source it self in few times washing . pererius . 't is tru , she was made of a rib , but 't was a crooked one , which makes many of your sex to be so crosse-graind ; this causeth many of them to be kept under a greater servitude than otherwise they wold be . hinde . a servitude indeed , or rather a tyranny , and we must purchase this servitude with the weight of gold , you having made that fine law , that when any woman is to be your companion , she must bring mony with her , which you call dower or matrimoniall portion forsooth . pererius . this law is enacted for your good , for knowing that you , in regard of your in-experience and weaknes , cannot tell how to conserve your estates , the said dower is consign'd to your husbands to improve it for your further profit , and to maintain you ; insomuch that your husbands cannot be called patrons of your goods , but your procurators in conserving them , and if you chance to survive them they all return to you , and most commonly with som advantage ; in the interim we trudge and toyl without , and you within doors , onely to conserve it , which is but an easie task . hinde . you say very well in that , for unlesse ther be a good houswife at home to keep , in vain doth the husband labour abroad to gather ; but wheras you say that we have not that prudence to manage an estate , and govern it , i pray call to mind the kingdom of the amazons , how long and how wisely was it governed by women ? look upon that of babylonia which was so much amplified by semiramis , and that of scythia by tomiris , especially upon a late notable queen in gheriona , who rul'd triumphantly near upon 45 years ; and whereas you speak of the want of wisdom that we have , i pray what were the nine muses the inventrices of all sciences ? what were the three graces ? what were the twelve sybills ? what are the three spirituall vertues ? nay what was minerva the goddesse of wisdom , born out of the brain of iove himself ? were they not all women ? pererius . 't is tru that minerva issued out of iupiter's brain , but she had no woman to her mother , for so she had not prov'd so wise ; and touching the muses , graces , and sybills you speak of , you know as well that the three fatall sisters , and erynnis the mother of discord , were all women as well , together with the three furies of hell ; but if you look upon heven , you are but few there , for among the planets ther are but two of your sex , ( viz. venus and cynthia ) all the rest are male . hinde . you may as well argue , that because among the twelve celestiall signes ther are but three human cretures , and seven brute animals , ( with two inanimat ) that ther are more brute animals in heven than men ; but , sir , under favour , wheras you alledg that among the hevenly planets ther are but two females , the rest males , it shews that men are of a more erratic and wandring humour than women ; now sir , touching that wisdom you speak of , you have more opportunity to get it by conversing with the world abroad , and so pourchasing experience which is the mirroir of wisdom ; wheras we are kept within doores , and shut up 'twixt a few walls , whence you have a saying , that that woman deserves onely respect and honour , whose actions and praises go not out of the walls of her own house : and hereunto that you put us to all the drudgery and servile offices at home , while you are joviall and feast it abroad ; nor do you onely coop us up so in a kind of prison , but you clap oftentimes a barbarous kind of lock upon us , wheras you , though you have inclosures of your own , yet you may go abroad when you list , and , when your lust drives you , feed upon the common without controul ; and is not this pure slavery in us , and tyranny in you ? pererius . concerning the first , apelles us'd to paint a good houswife upon a snayl , which intimated , that she shold be as slow from gadding abroad , and when she went she shold carry her house upon her back , that is , she shold make all sure at home ; now to a good houswife , her house shold be as the sphere to a star , ( i do not mean a wandring starr ) wherin she shold twincle with neatnes as a star in its orb ; and how can you call that a prison wherof you keep the keys , and are commandresses in chief ? the imperium domesticum you rule within doors , whither we bring all that we gain abroad , and it is your office to improve and augment it , though many of you are so lavish that you make the poor husband oftentimes to turn a noble to nine-pence , as is intimated by that famous picture of polygnottus made of one ocnus , who being a cordwayner by his trade , as he was making new ropes , there was a wisell hard by that gnawed off the cordage , by which was meant his wife ; for it is in the wife to husband what the man gets , according to the poverb , ask my wife whether i thrive or no , for if she be prodigall she will bring her poor husband quickly to thwitten a mill-post into a pudding-prick . touching the second point , of laying artificiall restraints upon your bodies , it is because som of you can be no further trusted than you are seen ; but this ill-favoured custom i confesse is us'd onely in that country , where women are more hot and lustfull than under other climes , for the naturalists observe without any partiality , that your sex is more salacious than the masculine , wherof ther might be produced a clowd of examples , i will instance onely in two , and they of the highest rank , viz. in two empresses , the one a roman , the other a german ; the first was so cunning in her lust , that she wold take in no passenger into her barge ( for women are leaking vesells ) untill the barge was freighted , for fear the resemblance of the child shold discover the tru father , and then she wold take in all commers ; the second having buried a most gallant man she had to her husband , her confessor advised her with ghostly counsell , that for the future she shold live like a turtle during the remnant of her life , because it was impossible to find such another mate again among the whole masse of mankind ; wherto she answered , father , since you will have me to lead the life of a bird , why not of a sparrow as well as of another bird ? hinde . i shall confront your instances by two other examples , as memorable altogether , the first of zenebia , who wold have no carnall copulation with her husband , after she found her self once quick , but wold continue in an admired course of continence all the time of her pregnancy ; moreover the saint-like empresse bettrice , who in the verdant spring of her age after henry her husbands death , lived ever after like a turtle as you speak of , by immuring her self in a monastic cell , and burying her body alive as it were when he was gone ; but what an extraordinary rare example was that of queen artemisia , who living chast ever after her husband mausolus his death , got his ashes all put in urnes , wherof she wold take down a dramm every morning fasting , and next her heart , saying , that her body was the fittest place to be a sepulcher to her most dear husband , notwithstanding that she had erected another outward tomb for him , that continues to this day one of the wonders of the world : furthermore you know , i believe , better then i , sir , that at this day in many parts of the orientall world , such is the rare love of wifes to their dead husbands , that they throw themselfs alive into the funerall pile to accompany his body to the other life , though in the flower of their years . pererius . it is confessed that many of you have noble spirits , that marvellous rare affections lodge in you , and so you may be deservedly call'd the second part of mankind , in regard you are so necessary for the propagation thereof , and to peeple the world . hinde . yet you call us the weaker vessells , but as weak as we are , we are they in whom the whole masse of both sexes is moulded ; neverthelesse some use us as spice-bags , which when the spices are taken out are thrown away into som mouldy corner ; and though we have the mould within us wherin you are all cast , though we co-operat , and contribut our purest blood towards your generation , though we bring you forth into the world with such dolorous pangs and throwes , though you are nourished afterwards and nurs'd with our very bloods , yet our os-spring must bear onely your sirnames , as if we had no share at all in him , his memory living onely in you , though tumontia in this point be more noble than other countries , by giving the sirname of the maternall line oftentimes to som of the male children . notwithstanding all these indispensible necessities the world hath of women , yet ther is no other species of cretures wherin the female is held to be so much inferiour to the male as we are amongst you , who use to sleight , misprize , and tyrannize over us so much ; for ther is one huge race of men , i mean the volganian , who use to beat their wife 's once a week as duly as they go to bed to them . pererius . the reson of this is , because ther are so many of you either shrews , or light and loose in the hilts , and 't is a sad case when viri fama jacet inter uxoris fempora ; touching the first , ther 's an old proverb , that every one knowes how to tame a shrew but he who hath her , and though ther might be multitude of examples produced , yet i will instance but in a few , the first two shall be zappora and xantippe , the one married to moyses a holy man , the other to socrates a great philosopher , how cross-grain'd the one was , the sacred oracles wil tell , and for the other , her husband comming one day in when she was in an ill humour , she scolded him out of doors , and at his going out she whipp'd up into an upper room , and poured down a potfull of piss upon his sconce , which made the poor patient husband shake his head , and break forth into this speech , i thought that after so much thunder we should have rain . another damnable scold having revil'd and curs'd her husband a great while , all which time she had the devill often in her mouth , to whom she bann'd him , at last he said , hold thy toung wife , and threaten me no more with the devil , for i know he will do me no hurt , because i have married his kinswoman ; this made the epigrammatist to sing prettily , conjugis ingentes animos linguamque domare , herculis est decimus-tertius iste labor . hence grew that cautious proverb , honest men do marry , but wise men not . hinde . i , we use to be the common subject of your drolleries , and you would want matter for your wits to work upon were it not for us ; but , touching those humours you pointed at before which are incident to us somtimes , they proceed from the ill usage , and weaknes of the husbands , who know not how to manage a wife , which is one of the prime points of masculine prudence ; we say proverbially , that a good iack makes a good gill , a discreet husband makes a good wife , though being the weaker vessell , and having no other weapon than her toung she break out somtimes into humors ; what a sad thing is it for a woman to have a thing called a husband weaker than her self ? how fullsom wold such a fool be ? such silly coxcombs as are jealous upon every sleight occasion , and restrain them so barbarously as was spoken before , deserve to wear such branch'd horns , such spilters and trochings on their heads , as that goodly stagg bears which you see browsing among those trees , accompanied with those pretty fawns , prickets , sorrells , hemuses , and girls , wherof som are mine which i brought into the world without any pain or help of midwife , and quickly lost all care of them afterwards . pererius . well , let 's give over these impertinent altercations pro & con , and go to the main busines ; i told you that queen morphandra is willing , at my intercession , to restore you unto your former nature , and i have a lusty galeon in port to convey you to marcopolis , that renowned and rare city . hinde . 't is tru marcopolis is a most famous city , having continued a pure virgin from her infancy these twelve centuries of years and upwards , and 't is said she shall continue so still , according to the prophecy , untill her husband forsake her , viz. the sea , with whom her marriage is renewed every year ; but 't was observ'd when i liv'd there , that her husband began to forsake her , that the adrian sea did retire and grow shallower about her , which som interpret to be an ill omen , and portends the losse of her maidenhead : but , sir , touching my former nature , truly i wold desire nothing of it again but the faculty of speech that i might talk somtimes ; in all other things i prefer by many degrees this species wherin i am now invested by queen morphandra , which is far more chaste and temperat , far more healthfull and longer-liv'd : touching the first , ther 's no creture whose season of carnall copulation is shorter , for the rutting-time lasts but from the midst of september to the end of october , nor is there any other creture whose enjoyment of plesure is shorter in the act ; moreover when we are full , we never after keep company with the male for eight months ; concerning the second , viz. our temperatnes , we never use to overcharge or cloy nature with excesse , besides our food is simple , those green leafs and grasse you see are our nutriment , which our common mother the earth affords us so gently , we require no variety of viands , which makes that our breath is sweeter than the fairest ladies in marcopolis , and our fewmishes with what else comes from within us is nothing so unsavoury ; nor need we that monthly purgation which is so improperly called flowers , it being such rank poyson that it will crack a tru crystall glass ; nay 't is observed , that if a menstruous woman come near an alveary or hive of bees , they forsake their food all the while , finding the aire to be infected ; nor have we any gall within us , and herein we are like the dove among birds , and the dolphin among fish ; onely there 's a kind of acid humor that nature hath put in our singles , the smell wherof causeth our enemies , viz. the doggs , to fly from us ; moreover , we are not subject to abortions , and that curse which the creator inflicted upon woman-kind , that they shold bring forth their children with sorrow and pain , which we are free from ; and such is our love to mankind , that when we have brought forth our young ones , we trust them rather with them than with other beasts , by putting them near high-waies , or dwelling-houses for protection ; touching the third , which is healthfulnesse , it is far beyond that of women , as appears by our longaevity and extension of life , which is next to that of an elephant , ( whose youth begins not till he be threescore year old ) according to the tumontian proverb , a hedg lasteth three years , a dogg three hedges , a horse three doggs , a man three horses , a hart three men , an elephant three harts ; histories are full of admirable examples how long som of of us have liv'd , let one serve for all , when archesilaus dwelt in licosura , as the arcadian annalls relate , he took a hinde who wore a collar , wheron was engraven , i was a fawn when agapenor was taken in troy , which by the computation that then was made , was above three hundred years ; nor had aesculapius , that archiatros or god of physic , arrived to so fair an age , and to such a miraculous perfection in that art , had he not been nurs'd with hinde's milk ; for length of time brings experience , and wisdom with it along , and somtimes the gift of prophesie , as was that antient hinde of that great captain sertorius , whom 't was thought diana had inspir'd with a fatidicall spirit ; insomuch that sertorius never gave battle , or attempted any great designe without advising first with that hart : add hereunto , that when after so fair an age we come to die , ther 's nothing within and without our dead bodies but is usefull for mankind , how much are our very skins valued ? how medicinall is that kind of bone which is found in the left ventricle of a hart's heart against the hemerroids ? how excellent is our marrow against the gowt and consumptions ? how our blood fryed with oyle , and applyed to the inferiour parts , presently ste●●●eth the loosnes of the belly , and being drunk in wine is a rare antidote against poyson ? what exquisit vertues hath the hart's horn , with other parts of the body , as the naturalists observe ? wheras ther is nothing in the most noisom carcases of women that 's good for any thing , except their hair , which is either but an excrescence , or excrement rather , usefull onely to make fantastic foolish periwigs , and it hath bin found , that this hair being buried in som kind of dung turns to snakes ; therfore , under favor , ther 's none of sane judgment , considering the advantages i have by this present shape , will advise me to change it for that of a frail woman ; if i shold do so , i wold be more foolish then that stagg in the fable , who seeing a horse with rich trappings , and carrying a velvet saddle upon his back , repin'd at his happines , and wish'd he were such a creture ; the forester taking notice of it , put the velvet-saddle upon the stagg's back the next day , and having mounted him , he rid him divers heats up and down the launds , till the poor stagg began to faint , and sink under his burthen , and then he repented himself of that foolish and inconsiderat wish he had made . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the fifth section . discourses 'twixt morphandra , pererius , and a mule , who in his manhood had bin a doctor of physic in tumontia , whom for som quacking tricks he had plaid , and for som other resons , morphandra turn'd to a mule ; in this section there be discourses of the art of physic , of the various complexions of mankind , and of the nomberlesse diseases that are incident unto human bodies , &c. morphandra , pererius , and a mule. morphandra . i took notice that you courted and complemented that female creture more then ordinary , but how have you prevail'd ? have you made her inclinable to a resumption of her former nature ? is she willing to go back to that syrenian city , that great mart of all female plesures , marcopolis , where she slept in the bosom of her first causes ? pererius . madame , we have a proverbiall saying among us soldiers , que la femme , & la forteresse qui commence a parlementer , est demy gaignée , the female and fortresse which begins to parly is half-gain'd ; but i do not find it so here , for this female wold have bin contented to have parlyed with me everlastingly if i had held her discourse , insomuch that she desires nothing of a woman again but onely the faculty of talking , onely a woman's toung , touching other parts , she is utterly alienated in her affection towards the whole sex , alledging the inequall value that useth to be put upon women in relation to man , who holds himself to be of a superiour creation : then she spoke of the domesticall kind of captivities and drudgeries that women are put unto , with many such good-morrows ; but , madame , in all humblenes i desire , that you wold vouchsafe to enlarge your princely favors towards me so far , that i may mingle speech with som more solid creture . morphandra . you shall presently be partaker of your desires , for i spy upon the brow of that hillock a mule nibling the grasse , he was by nativity a tumontian , and by his profession a doctor of physic , whom i transformed to that shape , not that he wanted understanding ( as the horse and mule are said to do ) for that nation hath generally a competent proportion of that , but partly because physitians there use to ride upon mules to visit their patients , as also because that nation in generall use to be tax'd for their slow pace and phlegmatic disposition , with their dilatory proceedings in their designs and counsells . pererius . 't is tru that the tumantian is tardy and slow in his counsells when he is moulding of a design , and therin he may be said to have a saturnian motion , but when his design is ripe , and ready to be put in action , then he is nimble enough and follows the motion of mercury ; add hereunto , that he is not onely slow , but wonderfull secret in his counsells , insomuch that his designs may be called mysteries while they are sur le tapis , while they are in the agitation of counsell , which makes them afterwards turn from mysteries to exploits . morphandra . but ther was another reson that induced me to transmute that tumontian physician to a mule , which was , that he oftentimes useth to retard the cure and sanation of his patients for drawing more fees from them , and letting them blood in the purse , as also for other empyricall and mountibankish quacking tricks he plaid , comming hither physitian to a carack ; therfore you may please to make your approaches to him accordingly . pererius . poor stupid animal , how camest thou to be thus so pitifully disguis'd and transform'd from thy first species , and so honourable a profession ? for among all other vocations of life , they say the physitian is to be honoured ; art thou desirous to be re-invested and setled in thy first nature and calling , in case queen morphandra condescend therunto ? for i have power from her to feel how thy pulse beats that way . mule. truly no , for i have an utter disaffection both to my first species , to my country , and calling , in regard i find far more contentment in this constitution of body , and course of life ; touching the first , i am , as i am now , free from those vexations of spirit , and perturbances of mind wherunto mankind is so miserably obnoxious , or rather inslav'd ; i feed here upon pure simples , such as the gentle earth produceth and puts out of her prolificall womb , my stomack is never overcharg'd with surfeits , nor my brain intoxicated with strong drink and the juyce of the grape , in every berry whereof ther lurks a kind of devill , for according to the modern proverb , from the berry of the grape , and grain of the barly , comes many a sore fray and hurli-burly . moreover , when i was a man , my head was distracted ever and anon with strange whimseys , and extravagant opinions , which now i am free from . pererius . 't is tru , that human brain is like a garden , wherin sundry sorts of herbs and flowers do grow , but touching your country-men , they are least subject of any peeple to such distractions and diversity of opinions , in regard of their exact obedience to their spirituall and civill governours : but what is the cause that you are so out of conceit with your country , where you received your first essence and existence ? mule. first , because of the immoderat heat therof , the sun being too lavish of his beams , which causeth such a sterility and barrennes , that in som places men live like beasts , feeding most of all upon grasse and sallets , onely they have haply a bottle of oyl , and another of vinegar in their houses to pour amongst them , they seldom see a loaf of bread or bit of meat , but when noon or night comes , they go abroad and gather the said grasse for their dinners and suppers , and if they chance to have a few toasted chesnuts 't is a great banquet ; which barrennes proceedeth not so much from the heat of the clime , as from the paucity and lazines of the inhabitants , who are so naturally given to ease and sloth , from cultivating the earth , and doing other parts of industry . pererius . it must be granted that tumontia , in point of fecundity , is inferiour to som regions , as also for nomber of men , for if she had enough of both , she wold make a hen of the cock , that is , she wold be too hard for her next neighbour artonia ; but touching the first , it carrieth som convenience with it , for it keeps the peeple more temperat , and able to endure hardship ; then the country is not so subject to be over-run by forren force , for in point of invasion , an army wold be hunger-starv'd there before they could march far : yet i have observed , that as much as ther is of any commodity in tumontia , it is better then what grows in other countries , their wines , their flesh , their fruits , their horses , their silks , their wool , &c. is better there than in other places , and let artonia her neighbour never vaunt so much of her plenty , yet the tumontian carrieth a better cloak on his back , he wears better shoos on his feet , he hath a better sword by his side , he drinks better wine , eats better fruit , and hath a better horse under him , &c. than the artonian ; and if riches consists in tresures , in plenty of gold and silver , tumontia goes far beyond all other countries in that particular . mule. 't is tru , that the tumontian king is master of the mines both of gold and silver , yet if you go to the common peeple , one may say , who goes worse shodd than the shoo-maker's wife ? for by mal administration , ther is little of that gold and silver that 's current among the inhabitants , either among merchant , yeoman , or artist , but all is a base copper-coin , which the king enhanceth or decries at plesure : that tresure you speak of is sent abroad to feed and foment wars in other countries , from which the timontian king is never free , his sword being alwaies out of the scabbard to secure or enlarge his territories , which makes the artonian say , that the tumontian ambition hath no horrizon , it is interminable and boundlesse . add hereunto that the tresure you mention is an exoticall commodity , 't is had from far , from another part of the world , where the tumonitan is said to be a buggerer of his common mother ( the earth ) more than any , for he fetches it out from her bowells somtimes 50 fathom deep , where the poor slave that digs it sees neither sun , moon , nor stars once in a twelmonth , being chain'd to a kind of infernall darknesse under ground , and is as it were buried alive before nature hath out-run her due cours in him ; and it is a sad story to relate , how many millions of human cretures were made away in the discovery and conquest of that huge continent , what a world of blood was spilt , and innocent souls swept away ; insomuch that if the tresure which was got ever since , and the blood which was shed were put in counter-scales , the latter ( as one said ) wold outpoise the first . pererius . 't is tru , that the reduction of that vast piece of earth was somwhat tragicall , but it was impossible to perform the work otherwise , and secure the conquerors , in regard of that huge masse of peeple and swarms of men which were found there , who could not by fair means be brought to civility : now it is a dubious question to determin , whether those savages gain'd more by the tumontian , or the tumontian by them ; 't is tru , that he got by them gold , silver , and gemms , which 't is confessed are the most pretious productions of nature ; but what did they receive from the tumontian by way of exchange ? they recived religion and vertu , civility and knowledg , government and policy ; therfore the rest of the known world should vail to the tumontian for this mighty exploit , and happy discovery , which it seems the great god of nature had reserved for him as a benediction from the beginning ; and certainly a mighty blessing it was , if we enter into a due contemplation of the thing , and acknowledg it so , for therby ther was as much of the terrestriall globe found out , in point of extent and amplitude , as the geometricians give out , that did very near equall all the old world : but what a world of dangers and difficulties did the tumontian overcome in this achievment ? at first the incertitude of the businesse , the huge distance , the perills of the tnmbling ocean did offer themselfs ; on the other side , the expences of the expedition , and the despair of more provisions when the old stores were spent , as also being to take footing on a new earth , the inhabitants might prove stronger than the invaders &c. it cannot be denied , but such encumbrances as these might have distracted & deterrd the highest human nature from such an incertain attempt ; but at last the tumontian courage and magnanimity was such , that it broke through all these difficulties : and as the generous boar , being entangled in the toyls , doth try all possible ways , hee turns about and strugles how to get out , at last , when all will not serve the turn , he lies down 'twixt quietnes and despair , putting himself upon the mercy of the huntsman ; so the fortune of that great action being tied as it were to those apprehensions of fear and doubt which did possesse it , at last she doth prostrate her self at the feet of the tumontian valour and vertue , tying her self therunto by a perpetuall tribut ; she brings him afterwards mines and mountains of gold , yea rivers running with red oar , seas full of pearl , soiles full of aromatical spices , new species of useful cretures &c. all this did that new world afford tumontia as a gratefull return for such indefatigable labours , and constancy in poursuance of that glorious enterprize . mule. noble prince , truly tumontia is infinitely engaged unto you for these high elogiums you please to give of her , yet , under favor , ther is a strange fate , i am loath to say a curse , which attends that far fetch'd tresure you magnifie so much ; for observable it is , that not long after the conquest of those harmlesse peeple , whom god and nature had planted there from the first creation , the revolt of hydraulia and the confederat provinces hapned , which consum'd of that tresure you speak of above five and twenty hundred millions first and last , otherwise the tumontian kings might have pav'd their courts , and til'd their palaces ( as it was said else-where ) with gold and silver ; for as i told you before , the least part of this tresure remains in tumontia , and that is onely in monasteries and other religious houses , the common coyne is brasse and copper , wherin the hydraulian 't is thought hath don more mischief to tumontia than any other way , for copper and brasse being cheap with her , she is so dextrous in counterfeiting the tarmontian coyne , that whole sows of lead , and masts hollowed within have been found cramm'd with that coyne among her cargazons , when she came to the ports of tumontia to trade . pererius . well , let 's cut off these circumlocutions , and com again to the main point ; have you a disposition of returning to your primitive nature , to your country , and so learned a calling ? it is impossible for you to meet with a fairer opportunity , and let me tell you , opportunity is the best moment in the whole extension of time . mule. concerning my former nature , i gave you som touches formerly why i prefer my present condition before it , i had also som reflexes upon my country , i could say much more of her , but that i am disswaded by the proverb , that 't is a sorry bird that beraies his own nest : now sir , touching my former profession , which you applaud so much , 't is tru , ther is a kind of learning and lucre that does attend it , but withall ther is a great deal of sordidnes ; i will converse no more with ulcers , cankers , and impostumes ; i will pry no more into close-stools and urinalls , or rake gold out of excrements , as the poet tells us , aurum virgilius exstercore colligit ennî , fecit virgilius quod facit & medicus . no are the fees which belong to that profession in tumontia any thing considerable , where doctors of physic use to attend a patient , with their mules and foot-cloaths in a kind of state , yet they receive but two shillings for their fee for all their gravity and pains ; add hereunto , that ther are up and down the world so many poor empiricks of this trade , that it is nothing of that esteem as it was ; which makes the brittish epigrammatist sing wittily , qui modò venisti nostram mendicus in urbem , paulùm mutato nomine fis medicus ; pharmaca das aegroto , aurum tibi porrigit aeger , tu morbum curas illius , ille tuum . pererius . touching the first part of your speech , it shews the exact government of tumontia , where ther is an exact tax laid upon the fees both of physician & lawyer , which they dare not surpasse ; touching the other part , they are but clinches and passages of drollery , nor do physitians much value such gingling conceits all the while they finger our coyn , for all the world doth grant , that the study of physic is both learned and necessary , and 't is the chiefest kind of learning , for therby a man comes to know himself ; for the physitian can say more truly than any other , nosco meipsum . mule. though physitians know themselfs never so well and the constitution of their bodies , yet when they are sick they commonly take their receipts by prescription of others , being distrustfull of themselfs ; and whereas you say , the practise of physic is necessary , i remember to have read , that the point was debated before pope alexander the sixth , and canvased to and fro , som alledging that physitians were superfluous and not necessary for a common-wealth , because rome stood and flourished many hundred years before the use of physic was first introduc'd , during which time men never liv'd more healthfull and longer ; his holines opinion being desired at last , he said , he was for the affirmatif , and that he held physicians to be absolutely necessary for a common-wealth , in regard that were it not for physicians the world wold be so thick of peeple , that one could not live for another : intimating therby that the physitians help to make them away . pererius . yet your experience tells you , that the physicall art is noble , and one of the seven liberall sciences , consisting of undoubted and certain principles , containing a world of naturall knowledg . mule. ther is therapeutic or contemplative physic , ther is diagnostic or knowing , and ther is prognostic physic ; if we consider physic as she is a seience , she hath most tru and certain aphorisms , for she considers onely universalls , which are eternall and invariable , and breed certitudes in us , because she arrives to the knowledg of things by their causes , and so she may be called scientificall , and appertains to contemplation , whose onely scope is to discover tnuth singly of it self ; but if we consider physic as an art , which proceeds from experience and action , she is incertain and fallacious in her operations , in regard of the various constitutions of human bodies , for those drugs and receipts which do work kindly with som bodies , find crosse operations in others , and many times the tru symptoms of the disease is not known ; moreover we administer to others what we never take our selfs , which made a great aged physician , being asked how he came to live so long , to answer , i have liv'd so long because never any drug entred into my guts ; besides , when any pill or potion hath a kindly operation in the patient , it is as much by hap as by any good cunning ; what a nomber of remedies are ther for one onely disease ? whence may be inferred , that ther is not any one peculiar infallible remedy ; insomuch that when the physitian applies universalls to particulars , and administers any purgation , vomit , or electuary , it is requisit that both the physician and patient be fortunat , ther is a kind of happines required in the busines ; add hereunto , that the complexion of men and women are so diffring , their appetite so irregular and disordinat , that it makes all physicall operations to be so incertain ; now touching the species of us sensitive cretures , they are of so even & strong complexions , their appetites are so regular , their nutriments and food , their drinks are so simple , that they need not any physicall drugs ; wheras among mankind , they make ever and anon an apothecary's shop of their bellies , being still in a course of physic , which makes them so miserable , for it is a tru proverb , qui vivit medicè , vivit miserè ; therefore a kind of tragicall speech was that of alexander the great , when upon expiring his last , he cried out , being but then in the meridian of his age , pereo turbâ medicorum , i perish by too many physitians . pererius . it begets much wonder in me that you should thus traduce your own calling , and derogate from so learned and laudable a profession , a faculty that hath been always accounted to have a high kind of divinity in it , being founded by apollo himself . mule. in the shape i now wear , i cannot lye nor flatter , i can neither cogg , cageòle , nor complement , as i did when i was a man , when i used ever and anon to kiss those hands which i wish'd in my thoughts had been cut off , my heart and my toung lying now more levell and even , ther 's nearer relation betwixt them ; therfore what i told you before was truth , simple truth , wherin the brute animal goes beyond the rational , who is subject to innumerable errors , dissimulations , and the humor of lying . but to enlarge my self a little further upon the former subject of physic , which you call so learned an art , you know that every one is a fool or a physitian to himself naturally , after he hath passed the meridian of his years , therfore what great learning can ther be in this ? pererius . 't is much truth ; i have heard of divers irrational cretures that are learned this way , who by the meer instinct and conduct of nature , can direct themselfs to things that can cure them . mule. this cannot be denied , and therin many of them are more sagacious than men ; the serpent goes to fenell when he would clear his sight , or cast off his old scruffy skin to wear a new one ; the stagg , buck , or doe , when they are hurt have recourse to dittany ; the swallow when she finds her young ones have sore eyes , makes use of celandine , or swallow-wort ; the snail heals her self with hemlock ; the wesill , when she prepares to fight with the mole , useth to raise her spirits by eating rue ; the stork heals all his infirmities with origanum ; the wild boar with ivy ; the elephant fenceth himself from the poison of the camelion with olive leaves ; the bear makes use of mandragora against pismires ; the patridge and wild pidgeon do use to purge their superfluities with bay-leaves ; the dogg , when he feels himself indisposed in his stomack , runs to the green grasse a little bedewed , &c. but what need i detain you with more instances ? take any sensitive creture you please , and you will find , that nature hath taught him a remedy against all infirmities that are incident unto him , not onely to the species but to every individuall , and all this without any expence of time or tresure , without any study or labour , without any fee or reward , without any teaching or instructions from others ; whence 't is apparent , that nature is more carefull and indulgent of us than of ratinall cretures , who though they are subject to a thousand infirmities more , yet not one in a thousand knowes how to cure himself ; but he must have recourse to the physician , and so trusts him with his life , and if he chance to work a cure upon him , he useth to give his purse a purgation also , for though god heals , yet the physitian carries away the fees. pererius . 't is very fitting the labourer shold have his hite , and that every one shold live by his calling , but how can mony be better employed than for the recovery of health , which is the most precious of all jewells , without which we can neither serve god , man , or our selfs ? mule. it is very tru that physitians somtimes restore health , but they misse as often , how can they cure an ague , which is call'd opporbrium medicorum , the shame of physitians ? besides , ther 's an artonian proverb says , a la goutte le medecin ne voit goute , the gout makes the physitian blind ; yet they have this privilege , that the earth covers all their faults : now , what a world of distempers and maladies is mans body subject unto ? ther is a common saying that says , he hath as many diseases as a horse , but 't is false , for man hath many more ; besides , a horse hath few or no diseases at all , but what the cruelty of man , doth cause in him , either when he is over-ridden , and so becoms broken-winded , when gall'd backd , founder'd , or splinter'd by the carelesnes or cruelty of the rider , as i said before , wheras a good man should be mercifull to his beast ; but ther 's never a part of the human body , but it hath i cannot tell how many peculiar deseases belonging unto it ; go to the head , it hath the cephalagia , the hemicrania , or the migrain , it hath the scotomy or vertigo , the palsy , convulsion , epilepsy or falling-sicknesse , it hath the phrenitis , mania or phrenzy , catarrs , apoplexy , with many other ; go to the lungs , it hath the astma , pluritis , peripneumonia , empyema , ptisis , haemocrises , with sundry more ; go to the heart the fountain of life , it hath the syncope or swooning , palpitation , &c. go to the stomack , it hath inappetentia , fames canina or the wolf , it hath the pica , malacia , singultus or the hicock , spitting of blood , choler , abscess●s or impostumes , ulcers , &c. go to the liver , it hath obstruction , the jaundies , the dropsie , cirrhus , inflammation , ulcer , impostume , &c. go to the bowells , they have the colique , iliaca passio or voiding excrements at the mouth , astrictio alvi , lineteria , or smoothnes of the guts , caeliaca affectio or pappy stools , diarrhaea or thin scowring , dysenteria or the bloody-flix , tenesmus or sorenes of the fundament , fluxus hepaticus , lombrici or the worms , the hemerroids , fistula , &c. go to the spleen , ther is dolor lienis , obstructio , hypocondriacall melancholy or the mother , &c. go to the reins , bladder , and genitalls , ther is calculus or the stone , inflammatio , mictus fanguinis , diabete , when one voids more urine than he drinks , incontinentia urinae , ardor , iscuria , when the passage is quite stopped , the strangury , when one pisseth drop by drop , lues venerea , anthony's fire , the chancre , and botches , &c. go to the ioints , ther is arthritis , and sundry sorts of gouts , &c. go to the eye , ther is gutta serena , suffusio or a cataract with a film , ophthalmia , epiphola or hot rheum , aegilops , fistula lachrymalis , and above twenty more ; go to the ear , ther is surditas , sonitus , dolot aurium , &c. go to the nose , ther is ozana , ulcus , polypus or lump of flesh , faetor narium , hemoragia or excesse of bleeding , coryza or the pose , sternutatio , withdiversmore ; go to the toung , ther is paralysis , laesus , gustus inflammatio , ranula sub lingua , &c. go to the teeth , throat , and gums , ther is angina or the squinzy , ther is fluxus , uvulae relaxatio , with sundry more ; ther is also abundance of peculiar diseases that are incident to women , ther is chlorosis or the green-sicknesse , cancers in the breasts , suppressio mensium , fluor muliebris , fluor uterinus , histerica passio , inflammatio , ulcus uteri , cirrhus uteri , cancer uteri , gangraena uteri , hydrops uteri , clausura uteri , sterilitas , obortus , partus diffioilis , faetus mortuus , secundina retenta , proscidentia , with many more ; out of these premises the conclusion follows , that human bodies both male and female are nought else but frail vessells , or bottoms wherin are slowed all manner of perishable commodities ; but these which i have spoken of are corporeall , and most of them outward diseases that attend the body of mankind , wherof i have not enumerated the twentieth part ; but if you go to his rationall soul , she hath also her distempers , the indisposition of the inward man is greater , the anxieries and agonies of the mind , the racking torments of the thoughts are more violent , the enchanting passions of love transports him to frenzies . incertitudes of holy things , and fits of despair work somtimes so powerfully , that he becomes felo de se , making him to destroy himself , and cut off the threed of his life before lachesis hath wound it half up ; and were ther a physician that could cure the discomposures and sicknesses of the human soul , he wold be the rarest among mortalls ; and were i sure i could have a faculty to do that , i wold turn man and physician again . pererius . ther are other kind of physicians for those maladies , viz. the ghostly fathers of the church , acts and exercises of piety are the lenitifs for such distempers , and preservatifs against them ; for he who is in peace with heven , and useth to convers with his creator , is free from such discomposures , from all tumultuary confusions and perturbances of thoughts ; 't is confess'd , ther 's no human creture has his humors so evenly pois'd within him , that he is always the same , he is somtimes ioviall and merry , he is somtimes saturnin and melancholy , and it must be so while the starrs poure different influxes upon us , but especially while the humors within us have a symbolization with the four elements , who are in restles conflict among themselfs who shall have the mastery , as the humors do in us for predominancy ; insomuch that the humors or passions may be said to be to the soul as strings to a musicall instrument , which somtimes use to jarre , sometimes to go in a tru harmony ; and this the physitian who is natures student , hath more advantage to know than others : but let us spin out time no longer , for 't is a tru as well as a trite proverb , that spinning out of time never made good cloth ; at a word , will you embrace this comfortable proffer i make you from the gratious queen morphandra , and turn tumontian again ? mule. truly sir i have neither mind nor maw to it , for in the state wherin i am setled , i use to exercise the operations of nature with more freedom , and much lesse encumbrance , following onely the dictats of sense , and being solely guided therby . pererius . but what are the dictats of sense , compar'd with the intellectuall powers of the human soul ? what is the sense which trades alone with grosse bodies , and qualities emergent thence , compar'd with reson , a faculty wherby the soul converseth with blessed angels and immateriat beeings , and by metaphysicall and sublime notions wings her self up into the arms of him who breath'd her first into the body of man ? in the upper court of the soul's residence , we may compare the soul to an empresse , wisely restraining or giving freedom to the misguided affections , according to the exact rules of reson ; here we have man ruling in man , dressing and manuring man as another paradise , wherin is all possible variety , yet no confusion , no disorder , no unruly passions tyrannizing over reson , no disturbance of mind , no distemper of body , but a most admirable harmony of all things in the whole universe of man ; reson is that diadem wherby the soul doth rule and regulat the will , and the affections , the chancellor which doth moderat the motions of both ; reson is that rod wherwith the soul is kept in awe to obey , without any servile fear , her creator and chiefest good ; by reson the soul discerns ther is a god , deducing arguments from the creation of the fair fabric of the world , which had either existence from it self , or was produced by another ; but it could not give a first beeing to it self , in regard 't is repugnant to the principles of nature , that any thing should be the cause of it self ; therfore the inference is undeniable , that the world was made by another which was pre-existent , and such another that was the efficient cause therof , not produced by any other former efficient cause , but was of himself , and by himself from eternity , which can be no other than god ; another argument the soul drawes from the necessary dependance of a finit beeing upon an infinit , for all created natures are finit , both in respect of their essence , and operations ; now , every thing that is finit must necessarily be limited by another , seeing it is impossible that any thing shold give bounds to it self ; and ther being not in things finit a progresse to infinity , we must at length come to some certain independent beeing , which is not circumscrib'd or limited by another , but is of it self essentially and virtually infinit , which can be no other than god almighty ; a third argument is drawn from the necessary dependance of a secondary cause upon a first , for unlesse we do here also grant a progresse to infinity , which is absurd in mounting up the scale of subordination of causes , we must at length meet with one primary both efficient and finall cause , that hath no other cause superiour or precedent unto it , which is onely god : another argument the soul draweth , still by the ministry of reson , to prove a deity , is the constant cours of the starrs , those glorious luminaries , and the continued order of all things else in their first station , through all the vicissitudes of corruption and generation , which doth forcibly intimat an ubiquitary providence , a wise rector , governor , and commander , upon whose direction all things depend ; no sooner doth the soul by such reaches of reson throughly satisfie her self that ther is a god , but she mounts yet higher , endeavouring to know what god is ; but such is the transcendent refulgence of his majesty , that she finds it impossible to look god in the face , or to know him à priori ; yet though she is not able to behold his face , yet she hath leave granted to know him à posteriori , though she cannot define the incomprehensible deity , yet she may still , guided by light of reson , describe him by an aggregation of attributes ? to know god by his attributes is a near approach to his deity ; yet the rationall soul goes still nearer , first prying into his essence , then returning to her self , and contriving which way she should know more , at length she says within her self , operatio sequitur esse , action follows its being ; then she busies her self in the contemplation of gods actions , which she finds either immanent and inward , or transient and outward ; the immanent actions of god are such as are performed intrinsecally within himself , without any externall respect to the creture , wherby he is said to contemplat , to know , and love himself ; here the soul takes notice of a reflection of the deity upon it self , and so is heightned to the supposition of a trinity , the cardinall and abstrusest point , the highest pitch she can soar unto ; she proceeds to argue , that wheras god doth conceive and know himself , he doth beget a perfect image of himself , from which issueth a perfect love of himself , and a complacency ; now , seeing ther is nothing in god which is not god , both the image of god , and the love of god seem to be distinct subsistences of the same essence with him from whom they proceed , as when an eye doth see it self , ther is first the eye seeing , secondly , the eye seen , or at least the image of the eye seen , from which action of seeing her arises a desire of enjoyment ; this comparison doth in some sort adumbrat the blessed trinity ; first , ther is the eye ; secondly , ther is a reflection or image of the eye ; thirdly , ther is a love or complacency which proceeds from both ; the first is god the father , the second is god the son , and the third is god the holy ghost ; now , although these three subsistencies be all concentred in the deity , yet they are distinct each one from the other in their operations ad extra , though in immanent , or in actions ad intra , they are individuall : thus the human soul ascends to the knowledge of her eternall good , by the ministry and reaches of reson , therfore me-thinks you should have an ambition to be endued with that divine faculty again , and so return to your native soyl from this society of irrationall brute animals , and be a subject to so great a monarch as the tumontian king is , your naturall liege lord and prince , whose dominions are of such a vast expansion that they reach to the very antipodes , the other hemisphere of the world , whereby he may say , that the sun never sets , but shines upon som part or other of his territories every hour of the naturall day , all the while apollo fetches a carreer about the world . mule. touching the first part of this your last discours , wherin you so much magnifie the faculty of reson , and that therby you arrive to the notion of heavenly things , truly sir , i am of his opinion who held , that all the knowledg which man hath of his creator is but one degree above blindnesse ; what the eye of a batt is to the sun in its meridian , the same is the most perspicacious eye of man's understanding if he look upon his maker : in the state that now i live do not puzzle my brain with such presumptuous reserches and incertain speculations , but am contented with the doctrin and dictamens of sense onely , which are more infallible . concerning the last part of your speech , it cannot be denied but that the tumontian king is one of the greatest potentats that ever was upon earth , if his dominions were contiguous and united , but ther is such an unsociable distance between them , that the artonian will tell you , his monarchy is like a great cloak made up of patches ; moreover , i have no great comfort to be his subject now , because he hath gon down the wind for many years , having bin so shreudly shaken in the saddle , most of that country you spoke of which reacheth to the antipodes being revolted from him , and he hath very lately disgorged many a good bit to artonia : add hereunto , that his peeple in tumontia are grown miserably poor of late years by such insupportable taxes , and drainings of men for the warrs , insomuch that ther are scarce enough left to cultivat the earth : yet such is the rare obedience , and the phlegmatic humor of the tumontians , that they are still as awfull , they are as conformable and quiet , as if ther king were as vertuous , as victorious , and the least exacter the ever prince was ; but this they do for their own advantage , for if there were another governor set up , it wold inevitably hurl the whole country into civill tumults and combustion , & so the remedy wold be worse than the disease . pererius . they shew themselfs a prudent peeple in that , for it is in governments as it is in choice of wifes , seldom comes a better ; but the tumontian hath other commendable qualities , for besides his constant obedience to his prince , he is also constant to his religion , he is in perpetuall enmity with the common enemy of the crosse , moreover he never serves any prince in the warrs but his own , nor goes he to trade abroad into and country but to his own masters territories : and are not you desirous to be one of that brave nation again ? therfore let me advise you now once for all , to shake off that dull despicable shape , which useth , in naturall production to have no better mother then an asse . mule. truly sir , you may please ( as the proverb runs ) to keep your breath to cool your pattage , and spend it no longer upon me , for i am resolved to live and die in this shape ; but wheras you brand it with the term of despicable , i wold have you know , that our bodies have more vertues far in them than man's , and wherof man makes common use towards his health : our very foam drunk in warm wine is good against pursines ; som of our hairs mingled with those of an asse and dried , and so put to a perfume , are good against the epilepsie , the milt of one of us is good against the falling-evill , nay the very dust wherin one of us hath tumbled , is good to mitigate the ardors of love , being sprinkled upon the body ; but take heed how you anger us , for our bitings are poysonous : we have sundry other medicinall vertues , which i will here pretermit ; therefore whereas you call this species of ours despicable , we deserve rather more respect considering the said vertues ; insomuch that if i should exchange this shape for man's , i should prove a greater fool than that mule in the fable , who seeing a goodly barb'd horse going to the warrs , and saying within himself , it may be that gallant horse and i had the same mother , therfore why shold not i have so much courage and stoutnes in me ? i wold i had such a rider , such a great saddle , trappings and arms to try my courage ; but seeing the horse led back in the evening all bloody and wounded , he repented himself of his former foolish wish . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the sixth section . consisting of interchangeable discourses 'twixt morphandra , pererius , and a fox , who had been a saturnian born , whom for his cunning dealings , and mountebankish wily tricks , she transform'd from a merchant to that species ; this section treats of divers things , and particularly how the art of tru policy is degenerated , and what poor sciolists or smatterers are cried up in that art of late years , &c. morphandra , pererius , and a fox . pererius . most admired queen , i render you my most humble acknowledgments for the continuance of your great favors towards me , which i am now in half-despair that i shall not be able to make use of for perfecting my designs upon these brute animals ; touching this last , i find in him also an aversnes both to his first constitution , to his country , and to his culling ; concerning the first , he complains of the nomberles diseases which are incident to every part of that microcosm of man , as also the various and violent distempers of the mind , with the stings of conscience , which brute animals are not subject unto , &c. touching the second , viz. his country , he inveighs against the craggy swellings of it , the excesse of heat , and consequently the sterilities of it , which is such , that ther is not a competency of bread ( which is the staff of life ) for the twentieth man that breaths in it , &c. touching the third , viz. his former calling , he complains of the incertainties , the sordidnesse , and a kind of atheism that it is subject unto , for while the physician tampers so much with second causes , it brings him to a forgetfulness of the first , &c. but , madame , i desire to try conclusions upon som nimbler and wittier creture than that lumpish mongrell mule. morphandra . you shall be partaker of your desires presently , for i espy a fox near that hedge who was a saturnian merchant , born in rugilia , whom for his cunningnes in negotiating , and for som hocos-pocos and mountebankish tricks i transformed to a fox , who you know is the most politic , the wittiest and wiliest of all quadrupedalls , wherof ther are multitudes of examples ; one time he cosen'd the crow , who having got a morsell of green cheese , and being perch'd upon the bough of an oak to eat it , a fox perceiving it went under the tree , and stood gazing upon the crow , saying , what a base lying thing is common fame , who saies that thou art a black ill-favour'd bird ? truly methinks thou art the fairest that ever i saw , and couldst thou but sing as others do , thou deserv'st to be queen of birds ; the crow being tickled with these praises fell a opening her beak , so down fell the cheese , and the fox made merry with it ; but he was more wily with the wolf , for a fox having got into a farmers yard , and skulking up and down in a moon-shine night , ther being a well in the yard he peep'd into it , and the reflex of the moon being in the water , he thought it was a new cheese , therupon he whip'd into one of the buckets , and down he went to feed upon it ; being in that plunge , it chanc'd that a wolf came also skulking therabouts for his prey , and looking into the well , the fox cries out , o brother wolf , her 's most dainty cheer , and ther 's enough for us both ; so the wolf leaping into the other bucket drew up the fox , who being got on the top , and he in the bottom of the well said , farewell brother wolf , and much good may the new cheese do unto you , so he got free , leaving another in his room ; he was also too hard for the lion , who as he is king of quadrupedalls , having put forth a proclamation , that all horned beasts shold give attendance at court on such a day to a great feast , ( though his plot was to prey on them ) the ass meeting with a fox said , come let 's go to court to see the great shew , for if ther shold be any danger we are free from it , in regard we have no horns , though sufficient ears ; i , quoth the fox , but if the lion saies that our ears be horns , they must be horns ; moreover i have observ'd the tracks of many beasts going into the lion's cave but none comming back : this was onely caution , but it was a trick of wit that the fox plaid with the eagle , who having got one of his young cubbs , and carried it to the top of a high tree where his nest was , to prey upon it , the fox got a brand or two of fire and put it to the trunck of the tree , which so scar'd the eagle , that he brought down the young cubb and laid it in the place he found it ; how commonly doth the fox cosen both huntsman and dogg , when being poursued he useth to get into a plowed field , and stretching himself all along in a furrow he often scapes , his skin and the earth being of a colour ; therfore you may make triall now upon a brute animal that hath some sagacity and wit , as well as activity . pererius . i will towards him ; signor fox , you need not stare so much nor startle , for i am com neither to hunt you , nor hurt you any way , rather i am com upon a busines that will tend hugely to your advantage ; but i desire first to be informd how you came to be transform'd or deform'd rather , from the noble shape of man to this grovling brutish figure . fox . i was once a rugilian merchant , and born in that proud city , ( for that 's her epithet above all other cities ) where , according to the proverb , ther are mountains without wood , seas without fish , men without faith , and women without shame ; where also the horned husbands are said to get their wife 's with child a hundred miles off ; and being com hither upon a gallant ship , with a cargazon of divers commodities , i was transmuted to this shape you behold , for my over-cunning and cautelous dealings . pererius . well , have you a disposition to be redintegrated into your first beeing , for queen morphandra hath bin pleased to promise me you shold be , if your will concur with my desire ; therfore tell me freely if you have a mind to see saturnia again , your native soyle , the mistresse of the world , the source of all civility , the nourse of tru noblenesse and vertu , the prime propagatresse of religion and learning ; where nature hath her chiefest magazins of silk , bacchus his inner-cellars of sweet wines , flora her prime garden of flowers , and pomona her principall orchard of fruits ; where pandora hath her choisest residence , policy hath her chiefest school , where arms and arts have their chiefest academy ; have you a desire to be transported to this your dainty and dear country , and put on the habit and habitudes of man again ? fox . truly no , for here i live in a better country , in a better condition , and in better company , then i did in saturnia . pererius . do not deceive your self , for you will never be able to prove that , though you had all the logic that ever athens taught . fox . touching the first , wheras you magnifie saturnia so much for her fertility , let me tell you , that to my knowledg ther be divers parts of her so barren and desolat , that you shall not meet with a house in twenty miles riding ; rugilia , that part wherin i came first into the world , may be call'd nothing else but a conventicle of rocks and craggs ; in som places you may see three marquisses on one tree gathering figgs to keep them from starving : they bragg of a river that hath junkets in her , som comfits , some plumms , som cinnamon , but these junkets are but white stones bearing the shape of all these ; ther 's no country hath more tempests , more tremblings and earthquakes , wherof ther have been very lately such formidable examples of utter desolation and subversion of twenty towns ; there is part of the country which is under a perpetual shadowy darknesse or adumbration , whence the whole province takes its denomination ; ther 's no clime under the convex of heven where meteors and fulgurations are more impetuous and violent . touching the second , which was my former condition , ther 's a thing called conscience which us'd to tyrannize and torture me when i was a man , i often found within me a gnawing worm , i often felt sore stings , sore pricks , and remorses of the said conscience , which the theologues call synteresis , that ever and anon did discompose the quietude of my thoughts , and disturb me in my gaining profession ; but in this state i am free from such perplexities , for now , though i suck the blood of twenty geese a day , and destroy whole roosts of hens , the thing call'd conscience never troubles me . moreover , besides this rack of conscience , ther is a vice call'd covetousnes that man is subject unto , and when all other vices grow old in him , this vice growes younger and younger . i remember i was slavishly addicted hereunto , i would have flayed a louse could i have made benefit of her skin , but now i am free from that fordid vice , from that kind of idolatry , for according to the saying , he is the worse idolater who adores gold , for he may be said therby to worship the devil , for pluto is the god of riches ; in the shape i bear , i covet no more but what wil satisfie nature only : ther is another cursed and cruciatory humor call'd iealousie which much afflicts mankind , and it reigns more amongst that nation i was once of than among any other ; jealousie among the thoughts is like batts among birds , it doth mightily discompose the whole inward man , and disturb the tranquillity of his mind , nay it hurls him often upon desperat and bloody attempts . touching the third , which is company , i have now far better , conversing with these innocuous and simple animals . the society of men is much more dangerous , specially of my quondam country-men , for upon any occasion of distast one is in danger of a saturnian figg , or to be poyson'd by the smoak of a candle , by the suavity of a flower , or by a glove or handkerchief ; for four or five duckets reward , one may be master of any man's life in som places of saturnia , for he will find a mercenary instrument to murther any body ; add hereunto , that my country-men are full of revenge , and vindicatif in the highest degree , they will seldom suffer one to do them a second wrong , but dispatch him away to the other world , which is the occasion of a saying , take heed of a slow foe in saturnia , and of a sudden friend in artonia ; i could give you many examples hereof , but i will produce onely two ; in marcopolis , the greatest mart of the western world , ( though two of her chiefest be but brittle commodities , viz. lasses and glasses ) ther were two rich merchants who had been partners a long time , it chanced that one of them knowing the other to be over familiar with his wife , he dissembled his passion a great while , till his thoughts had contriv'd and concluded a revenge upon him , so he solemnly invited his partner to a feast , and after dinner he led him to a garden that he had by the sea-side , being there alone together he brought him to an arbor , where among divers other rarities ther was a curious new large chari made with such artifice , that when one had put himself to sit in it , ther were certain gins and vices wold suddenly rise up and clasp in his body both arms and thighs ; his partner being thus lockt fast in the chair , he presently gaggs him , and having lockt the garden dore , he drew a great double-edg'd knife , and being upon the point of stabbing him , the partner said , oh be not so inhuman and barbarously cruell as to kill me before confession , therfore have som commiseration on my soul ; well , replied the murtherer , if thou wilt do one thing , i may spare thee thy life , which is , if thou wilt defie the holy trinity , and renounce all hopes of salvation in it , &c. the partner ( in hopes of future repentance to expiat his offence ) repeated those words three times , and the third time as soon as he had done repeating them , he stabb'd him in the breast , and cleft his heart in two , and so threw his body into the sea to make food for hadocks ; but a while after his body being retreev'd and taken up in a fisher-net just under that wall , the murther was discover'd , and the murtherer being put upon the strapado he confessed all , and going up the gibbe to be executed , he broke out into a great fit of laughter ; his ghostly father and confessor telling him , that he was now going to give account of that horrid murther he had committed before the great judge of the world , therfore that passion of laughter did not becom him ; oh , said he , whensoever i think upon that full revenge i had of that villain , my heart danceth within me for joy , for i was not onely reveng'd upon his body but also upon his soul , in which humor he breath'd his last . another was as bloody , if not more ; in the antient city of cerano , ther was a prince who left three sons behind him , conradus , caesar , and alexander ; conradus was us'd to come from his palace in the country to his castle in cerano , where he had appointed a governour , and a garrison of souldiers ; the governor having a comly lady to his wife , the young prince was struck in love with her , and at last enjoyed her ; the governour having knowledge therof did meditat upon a revenge , therupon he sent to conradus ( his lord and master ) that he had lately discover'd two or three wild boars in the forest of cerano , therfore if his highnesse would please to com thither together with his two brothers , ther wold be very princely sport for them , and he wold prepare all things ready for the game ; hereupon the young prince and his second brother comming thither expresly for that sport , it chanced that alexander the youngest brother was then out of the way ; so the governor of the castle having provided a plentifull supper for the two princes and their retinue , being both gone to bed , he calls his officers together , and told them , gentlemen , what does he deserve , who for many good services and hospitalities done unto him , doth in lieu of thanks abuse ones wife , and defiles his bed ? they all cried out , he deserves death ; truly gentlemen , thus hath prince conradus us'd me ; they cried out again , let him die , and we will stick unto you , and be faithfull ; so the governor taking som of those officers with him in the dead of night , they broke suddenly into the chamber where conradus was asleep , and heaving up the bed-cloaths , they first cut off his privy-members , then they chop'd off his head , then they quarter'd his body , and strewed them up and down the chamber ; so all was hush'd that night ; prince caesar comming to wait on his brother the next morning , the governor usher'd him in , and seeing his brother's head bleeding on the window , and his limbs scatter'd up and down the room , he said , oh! is this the wild boar you writ to him of ? yes , said the governour , and i remember i writ of two or three ; hereupon he was also knock'd down , and us'd in the same manner ? the tragedy being acted thus far , he takes his officers , and going upon the castle walls , he sent to speak with the syndic and burgesses of the town , unto whom he made a speech , that they had been a long time in servitude or a kind of slavery to conradus and that family , and now ther was a fair opportunity offered for them to redeem their liberties , for he had conradus and his brother in his custody , and the officers with the rest of the garrison were inclin'd to do them away , if the town wold joyn with them ; but the town shewing an aversnes , or rather a detestation of such disloyalty and treason , sent to prince alexander the youngest brother , and the citizens of cerano joyning with the forces he brought with him to expiat his brother's bloods , they beleaguer the castle round ; therupon the governor taking his wife and children with him to the top of the highest turret , he first threw down headlong his wife , then his three children , and last of all he precipitates himself , and so the tragedy ended . pererius . a tragedy indeed , and one of the direfullest that ever i heard of ; it must be granted , that the saturnian spirit is much bent upon revenges , he is in the extreams commonly , quod vult valde vult , quod odit valde odit ; vertues and vices are there in the superlative degree : but truly if the vertues and vices of that noble nation were weighed in a ballance , i am confident the first wold out-poise the second , for ther might be more instances of actions of high vertu produced , than of vice ; i will make mention of one , and that a very modern one , and no romance ; ther was in the antient amphitheatricall city of rovena a young marquis , who fell desperatly in love with a merchant's wife , he courted her a long time but could not prevail , at last , the merchant having a villa or country-house , whither he was gone a while for divertisment , the marquis went a hawking therabouts one day , and letting his hawk fly of purpose into the merchant's orchard , he and his men rid luring after her , and retreeved her in the orchard where the marquis himself was entred , having obtain'd leave before ; the hawk being found , the merchant invites the marquis to a treatment , where his wife was present , and very officious to please ; being departed , she asks her husband who he was ? he answer'd , 't is the marquis of such a place , one of the gallantest and most hopefull young noblemen in all saturnia , a person full of transcendent parts and high perfections , &c. these praises making deep impressions in his wife , and the marquis poursuing still his design , he at last prevailed , and being admitted to her chamber by a back garden-dore , he found her a bed , and in a fit posture to receive him ; so unbracing himself to go to her , and having put off his doublet , she told him smilingly , do you know whom you may thank most for this courtesie ? it is my husband , who ▪ after the late treatment you had , fell a long time into such high commendations of you , that i never heard him speak so nobly of any : the marquis being put to a sudden stand hereby , and struck with a kind of astonishment , put on his doublet again and his cloak , saying , shall i abuse so worthy a friend , and such noble affections ? no , i will die first ; so taking his leave of the lady in civill and thankfull posture , he departed the same way he was let in , and never attempted her again . fox . truly it cannot be denied , but this was a most signall example of continence , and no lesse of gratitude , to restrain himself so in the height of such a lust . pererius . well , will you conform your self to my advice , and turn man , and merchant , to converse again with such a noble nation , a nation that may prescribe rules of prudence and policy to all mankind ? fox . sir , you speak of policy , ther is no tru policy practised now adaies in the world , it is degenerated together with the nature of man into subtlety and craft ; if ther be any left 't is in marcopolis , where ther are the truest patriots and most public souls that i have known remaining amongst men , otherwise she had never been able to tugg so long with the huge tomanto empire , and other the greatest potentats , upon earth ; yet somtimes she hath us'd to sow such another tail as mine to her lions skin , and proceed by craft as well as by strength ; now , though policy and craft agree in their ends , yet they differ in the means conducing to their ends ; the one proceeds by honourable and gallant manly waies to attain her ends , the other by dishonourable and base subdolous ways , she cares not what oaths she swallows and breaks afterwards , she cares not what lies , fears , and jealousies she creates to amuse the silly vulgar , and therby to incite them to arms and rebellion , for tearing the bowells of their own country , and to loose all allegiance to their natural prince ; she makes no scruple or conscience to make religion her mantle to palliat all her designs , and by a horrid kind of prophanenes and blasphemy to make god almighty the author of all rebellions and sedition : as was lately practised in gheriona more then in any other country that ever was under the cope of heven ; and now ther 's a company of poor sir politic woodbies or wise-akers , that wold put a cats head upon a lions neck , they wold make a petty common-wealth such as that of hydraulia , of that antient spacious monarchy with the crowns thereunto annexed , kingdoms which have lasted thousands of years without any interregnums at all till now ; and observable it is , that among other benefits ( or plagues rather ) which gheriona hath received from hydraulia for raising her first to a common-wealth from obedience to her hereditary prince , one is , that she hath poysoned gheriona in her policy as well as in her religion ; for now she hath the fate to have such wise-askers in government that can see afar off no farther than to the tips of their noses ; they wold take down the royal saddle , and clap a pair of panniers on gheriona's back , never looking forward what will follow , viz. an everlasting warr ; nor do they fall to any account what a disparagement it will be , that so large and noble a kingdom shold be cast into so petty a mould as that of hydraulia , who is above thirty times inferiour to gheriona in extent of territory , and more then forty times in point of plenty . pererius . it is a clear truth what you affirm , that tru policy is much sophisticated in this latter age , and touching the hints you give of gheriona in point of government , and the present designes that are afoot to transverse it , i know to country full well ; it may be a feasable thing to turn the great city polihaima to a kind of common-wealth , for she hath smelt a great while of a hans in regard of her many corporations , which may be said to be petty republiques of themselfs ; but for gheriona her self , it will be a hard confused task to reduce her to such a government , it being incompatible both with the genius of the peeple , the posture of the country , and politicall constitutions established there for so many ages ; they who make inspections into the influxes and vertu of heavenly bodies , find , that mars is the planet predominant over gheriona , and 't is observed , that where he predominats , that clime and country is fit for no other government than monarchall ; whereas those countries where the moon is predominant , as marcopolis and others , are naturally fittest to be made republiques ; therefore let those men , who have now the vogue of power and counsell in gheriona , beat their brains never so much , let them scrue up their wits , and stretch all the policy they have as far as possibly they can , yet they will never be able to constitute a lasting durable government , or settle a firm and generall peace without a king , that kind of supream officer is congeniall with the nation it self , which will never be fixed till then ; therfore , as i said before , let those men who are now upon the stage of power , winde up their wits as high as they can , without this they will be still at a losse , their consultations will be like a skein of ravell'd silk , they will be in a labyrinth of confusions , and the end of one will be still the beginning of another . now , ther is no art so incertain , so subject to difficulties , as the art for man to rule man ; ther be many poor sciolists in gheriona , who of late years have shot at rovers in prescribing rules of government , they take the ashes of the iudaicall , the greek , and roman common-wealths to apply them to the present times , wheras those nations were of another temper , of other religions , and consequently of other kind of intellectualls , and diffring idaeas to the present age ; they shold rather produce examples from gheriona's own historians , which wold be far more suitable ; but go to the chiefest politians , antient or modern , that ever writ of governments , you will find all their opinions concenter in this point , that ther is no government which hath a nearer analogy with that of heven , that is more lasting upon earth , that is more regular , or that hath any certain principles , but monarchy ; that great chair-man or grandee among philosophers , aristotle , in his politiques , upon which ther is such a world of comments , speaks of sundry species of governments , as aristocracy , democracy , oligarchy , and stratocracy , but he puts no rules for any , onely he hath this assertion , that aristocracy or optimacy allows no artificer or mechanick to be a cittizen or counsellor ; much of his discourse is of the first founders of common-wealths , then he proceeds to correct the errors of common-wealths , before he tells us what a common-wealth is ; moreover , in handling the kinds of government in generall , he flies forward and backward in a disorderly way , but when he descends to particular forms , he is full , not onely of confusion , but contradictions and inconstancies to himself ; in som places he seems to deny any naturall right , much more any majesty to be in the people , whom he holds to be little inferiour to beasts ; wheras else-where he affordeth a liberty to every city to set up what government they please , either by force or craft , which in effect is to allow the peeple to do what they list , if they be able . now this high-reaching philosopher cannot much be censured for roving up and down in so incertain a subject , it being impossible for any human brain to prescribe any infallible universall rules for government , that may quadrat with the nature of all climes and seasons , and be appliable to the humors of all peeple ; other sciences have demonstrations , and undeniable principles , but the art of government hath no such maxims , in regard of a thousand sort of contingencies that attend human negotiations , as also for the various dispositions of peeple , som nations are so fiery mouth'd , that they must be ridd with a bitt , if not with a curb and martingale , but a small bridle will serve others , nor are the same constitutions fit for a continent that are proper for an iland , nor those of a maritim continent fit for a mediterranean country , who know not what salt-water is . fox . touching those modern smatterers in policy you speak of , the times abound with such , such that while they take upon them to give precepts for government , they amuse the reader with universalls , ( and commonly ther is deceit in universalls ) or rather they lead him to a labyrinth of distinctions , wherby they render the art of mastring man to be more difficult and distracted , then it is in its own nature ; but , under favour , the main cause that ther are such difficulties and incertitudes in prescribing generall rules to govern the human creture , is the perturbances of his mind , his variety of humors , his seditious disposition , his inconstancies , and an itching still after innovations ; and herein we irrationall animals are more obedient , more gentle and docile ; but touching the policy you mention , ther be som certain maxims that may extend to the whole masse of mankind in point of government ; one is , that the common peeple be kept still in such an awe , that they may not have any power to rise up in arms , or be sharers in the government , and so be their own caterers to chuse what laws they please ; secondly , that ther be a visible standing effectif military strength still in being , to keep them in such an awe , as well to curb them as to conserve them ; it being the greatest soloecism that can be in government to rely meerly upon the affections of the peeple , in regard there is not such a wavering windy thing , not such an humorsom crosse-grain'd animal as the common peeple , ther is not such a tyrant in the world if once he get on horse-back ; and all authors that have pretended any thing to policy , either old or new , affirm so much in their writings ; if the governour in chief hath not such a constant visible power , and moveable upon all occasions , the common peeple will use him as the froggs in the fable us'd the logg of wood whom iupiter , at their importunity , had dropt down among them for their king , to whom they stood a while in som awe and dread , but afterwards finding no motion in him , they leapt and skipt upon him in contempt and derision ; there is another certain principle of policy , that public traitors and rebells to their prince and country shold be dispatched to the other world without mercy , for if they be but half punished , they will like snakes get and cling together again , therfore 't is a good rule , and that may be a proverb hereafter , a rebell and mad dogg knock in the head , they will not bite when they are dead . pererius . had you not told me before , yet i shold have judg'd you a saturnian by the wisdom of your discours , your compatriots being accounted the prudentest men upon earth , for whereas others are said to be wise after the act , others in the act , you are said to be wise before , in , and after the act ; moreover , whereas the artonian is said to be wiser than he seems to be , the tumontian not to be so wise as he seems , the saturnian is wise , and seems to be so ; therfore will you return to that noble country , and becom man and merchant again ? of which profession ther are princes in your country , you well know . fox . ther are so , yet i enjoy my self more contentedly in this shape and species , i have now a more constant health , and if i find my self illish at any time , which is seldom , i eat a little of the gumm of that pine-tree and it cures me ; but i am nothing so subject to distempers of body or mind in this condition . touching the first , when nature hath finished her course in me , i will leave it for a legacy to my friends , for 't is good and medicinall for many uses , my brain is good against the falling-sicknesse ; my blood against the stone , and the cramp ; my gall instill'd with oyle takes away the pain in the ears ; my toung worn in a chain is good for all diseases in the eyes ; my fatt healeth the alopecia , or falling off of the hair ; my lights , liver , and genitalls are good against the spleen ; my very dung pounded with vinegar is a certain cure against the leprosie ; my milt is good against tumors ; and touching my skin , which is so much valued by the fairest beauties , i will bequeath it to the admired queen morphandra to make her a muff , as a small heriot for her protection of me under her dominion . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the seventh section . a dialog 'twixt morphandra , pererius , and a boar , wherin ther are various discourses , and particularly of the rare sympatheticall powder that is lately found out , which works sudden and certain cures without any topicall application of medicines to the part affected , &c. morphandra , pererius , and a boar. morphandra . how came you off from that cunning merchant you dealt withall last ? hath he accepted of the bill of exchange you presented unto him ? pererius . truly , madame , i may say , according to the homely proverb , that i have received a flapp with a fox tail , he hath plaid the cunning sophister with me , he hath protested against that bill of exchange , nor will he upon any tearms resume his former shape , but retain that which he hath , alledging that he is now free from those stings of conscience , from those corroding black jealousies , from that vindicatif humor wherunto mankind is subject , specially those of his nation , with other molestations of mind ; he saith , that in this feature he is also more healthfull ; he braggs likewise how many medicinall vertues are in his body after its dissolution from the sensitive soul , and how much his skin is valued amongst the fairest ladies , which he intends to bequeath as a legacy to your majesty to make you muffs of when he hath payed nature the last debt ; and truly , madame , by his acute answers and replies , i found that he had the full use of the faculty of human reson , though appeering in that brutish shape , which makes me more and more admire your power . morphandra . this power the great architect of the world hath given me , i derive this prerogative meerly from him , not , as i intimated to you before , from any compact or consultation with ill spirits , although the flat and shallow-braind vulgar think i do it so , by magicall and negromantic means . pererius . i know full well , madame , the ignorance , or rather insulsity of the common peeple to be such , that when they find any extraordinary effects produc'd , transcending the ordinary course of nature , they are presently struck with such an admiration , that they think those effects to be done by the work of the devill , though they are operated by strength of art , and by connexion of naturall agents and patients properly apply'd , as of late years ther is found out a sympatheticall cure of wounds at a distance , without any reall application of medicines to the part affected , which kind of sanation they hold to be made by some diabolicall compact , though reverà 'tis performed by such ways that do truly agree with the due course of nature , by which she constantly works . morphandra . i pray be pleas'd to impart unto me the mode and manner of that kind of cure , for though it be not magicall , it must needs be a great mysterious thing . pererius . madame , i shall most willingly comply with your commands herein ; touching the sympatheticall powder or medicine it self , it is made of a zaphyrian azurd salt , calcind by solar fire into a lunar complexion , operating principally when the sun is in the two celestiall signes of leo and cancer ; but , madame , before i can make the thing truly understood , i must lay down som universall laws or maxims of nature ; first , it is tru without controul , that all actions and motions are performed by atoms or small invisible bodies , moving to and fro after a different manner proportionable to their severall figures , all naturall things operat thus , and not by i know not what qualities or accidents , which have onely a notionall subsistence , and no reall being but as they inhaere in the substance ; secondly , ther is a perpetuall constant expiration of such atoms from all naturall bodies , caus'd by a compression of other circumambient and neighbouring bodies , driving the parts closer together , or else by the motion of other atoms crowding into the foraminous parts of that body , interrupting as it were the quietude of the former inmates , and thrusting them out to wander in the air till they meet with som other body where they may get rest ; this effluvium or emanation of atoms by help of autopticall glasses , have bin sensibly discerned to flow from the load-stone and other bodies , whose pores are more plentifull , in form of a kind of mist ; in bodies that are actually hot this atomicall expiration is sensibly perceptible by the smell , specially to cretures of an acuter sense , for the atoms hovering in the circumambient air , or upon the ground , are sure guides to the grey-hound while he poursues the chace , as if the hunted creture were continually in his sight ; these expiring atoms are also as sensibly discover'd by weight , it being experimentally found , that those iockies who use to run horse-races can make themselfs lighter by many pounds weight in a day or two , which proceeds by this insensible emission of atoms ; secondly , it is to be observ'd , that these atomicall bodies are not of one figure , nor of one grossnesse or magnitude , som being so slender and subtle that they admit of no opposition , but continu their course through all mediums , and whatever may be seen to stop them in their journey cannot be discerned but by their effects , such are the contagious atoms of bodies infected with the pest , or other taking-diseases , which are not onely imparted to others by lurking in the visitant's cloths , but being scattered in the air are transported to remote places and persons , on whom they exercise their tyranny , not discover'd till they break out into open violence ; other atoms are grosser , and cannot so easily passe by , but are driven back , and forced from their intended voyage , and somtimes driven into the pory parts of other bodies against their wills ; such atoms are apprehended by our senses , as heat , cold , color , smells , putrefactions , &c. which use to move more slowly than others ; som are so corpulent and strong that they remove fix'd and solid bodies out of their stations , as the wind , and many others , that are driven to and fro by the impetuosity therof , and forced therby to change their places ; these atoms are in a manner so palpable , that we must needs confesse their reall beeing and activity ; thirdly , it is another undeniable truth , that all bodies desire rest , and wold still dwell in their own proper stations if they were not ejected by an intruder , for rest is the appetite of all naturall bodies , because 't is the mother of union ; now , ther are som places more fit than others for the receiving and retaining of the said atoms , wherin they may lodg more conveniently , and acquiesce a longer time , this proceeds from the fashion and form of the pores wherin they are intromitted , which are proportionable and more agreeing with the figures of the atoms which are of divers shapes , for som are angular , som cylindricall , som are branch'd , som smooth , others are sharp and rough ; ther are in most bodies pores agreeable to these various figures , insomuch that every naturall body is apt and ready to admit such atoms that are cognate and proportionable to their pores , and to exclude others ; now no atoms acquiesce any where but in such proportionat pores , they may be driven into other bodies , or they may accompany other atoms into pores that do not exactly quadrat with their figures , but cannot take any long repose there , being still extruded by those that do better fill the place , and correspond with the capacity and proportion of those pores , whence ariseth a naturall propension and tendency towards those bodies where such pores are found ; nor can those atoms which are not sutable to the pores wherein they are , stay there quietly , but they are still dislodg'd and sholder'd out , or pressed to give room to those atoms whose figures challenge a right to those pores ; insomuch that it may be said , ther is a kind of perpetuall warr 'twixt those atoms that are proportionat and proper to the pores they are lodg'd in , and those which usurp them ; for to have perfect rest in a place , and to claim a naturall right unto it , ther must be a cognation 'twixt the atom and the pore which may be call'd sympathy , such as are all magneticall and attractive motions ; fourthly , no distance hinders the motion of these atoms towards their naturall cognate places , towards which they are perpetually travelling , and the nearer they approach to their desired home , the swifter their motion is , and the lesse resistance they find in their journey . these prolegomena or generall notions being premis'd , i com now to the operative vertue of the sympatheticall powder , which , as i describ'd it before , is made of a zaphyrian salt , calcind by a celestiall fire , operating in leo and cancer into a lunar complexion ( as the learned doctor h. hath it , who discourseth like a tru phoilosopher of these notions ) the heat here of must be such , that it may draw out all adventitious moystur , leaving it intensly dry , and in this condition it must be kept , for if it chance to meet with any humidity it loseth its energy , and must to the aetnereall furnace again ; it must be also but a competent heat , for by excesse of heat all the volatile parts and finest atoms which onely work the cure , will be evaporated , and onely the grosser saline parts remain , which neither can be rays'd to accompany the atoms of the extravenated blood , nor if they could wold they cure , but by their sharper angles grate the orifices of the capillary veins , and so procure an efflux of blood , and not a consolidation of the wound . morphandra . noble prince , these are high philosophicall notions that you discourse of , but now that you have spoken of the substance of this rare medicament , how must it be apply'd ? pererius . the manner of applying it is in this manner , the blood or bloody matter being taken from the wound on a cloth , or remaining still on the wounding instrument , must be lightly covered over with this powder , kept very dry , and afterwards wrapp'd up close from the air , and so preserved in a temperat heat , it must also be kept clean , and clos'd up with neat linnen to fence it from cold , for cold hinders the expiration and breathing forth of the balsamicall atoms , which shold drain forth the superfluous humidity , and restrain the efflux of blood ; now , the greatest rarenes of this sympatheticall powder is , that by a virtuall contact it heals at a distance by the intercourse of the atoms proceeding from the extravenated blood of the patient , which atoms like so many little spirits glide through the aire , and never rest till they come to their desired home , where being gladly entertained , they find an easie entrance at the cognate parts , and proportionat pores of the wound ; being admitted there they fall to work , and first , they dilate the superfluous humid parts , and make them fit to be expell'd , then by their more then ordinary restrictive power they shrinck together the pores , and squeezing out that noxious corrupt humidity , glew together the disunited parts , and so cicatrize and cure : and truly , madame , i could produce diverse pregnant examples of those that were healed by the atomicall energy of this sympatheticall powder , but i desire one may serve for all ; ther was a knowing captain who made often use of it , and two of his officers having drawn blood one of another in a duell , he got their bloodied swords and applied his balsamicall powder , so in lesse then 24 hours they were almost cur'd ; but the captain understanding that their animosities were such , that they were resolved to fight again , he hung the balsam'd bloodied swords out at his window all night , so comming the next morning to visit his patients , they told him that they were in cruell pain all night long ; and so you shall be still , quoth the captain , untill you be perfect friends , for i hear that you will fight again ; so having made them shake hands , and perfectly reconcil'd them , he cur'd both in a very short time . morphandra . i acknowledge it a singular favour , most gallant prince , that you have made me understand this great secret , and the naturall causes thereof , though the common peeple , who use to condemn all they understand not , and whereunto their short capacities cannot reach , for magicall . but , if you persist in your desires to convert any of these metamorphos'd animals , and proceed further in your attempts , i spy amongst those trees a boar who was once an aetonian count , whom for his deboshments and intemperancies i transmuted to that shape ; you may try what you can do upon him . pererius . i will , by the continuance of your noble favor , make towards him ; miserable metamorphos'd creture ! how much do i resent the condition you are now in in comparison of the former ! for i understand by queen morphandra that you were before not onely a man , but a personage of high account in aetonia , that masculine and generous brave country , which is so full of large flourishing provinces , of opulent fair cities and famous marts , so full of magnificent palaces , of mines of tresure , of fruitfull orchards , of fragrant gardens and fat fields , of navigable rivers ; so full of illustrious families that can extract their pedigrees thousands of years past ; so ful of great princes , wherwith aetonia may be said to shine as the firmament with coruscant starrs , and the septemvirat of caesarean electors are as the seven planets ; are you contented to return to so gallant a country , to resume the figure of that noble personage you represented when you were man , and live again under caesar the prince paramount of all others ? if you have a disposition to it , queen morphandra hath promised me to transmute you , and i have an accommodation for your transport ; therfore will you shake off that wild savage shape , and becom man again ? boar. savage ! truly , sir , i think man is far more savage and cruell , for the wildest of our species will not strike at man till man hath begun first with him , and wounded him , and all huntsmen will tell you so ; but i could produce many horrid examples of the cruelty and tru culency of man , and of my quondam conterraneans in particular , but let this serve for all ; it chanced ther was one that bore malice to a woman great with child , he watching his opportunity found her alone spinning in her house , he first cuts her throat , then ripps up her womb , takes out the embryo and carries it to the back-side where ther was a sow ready to farrow , he kills also the sow , rips up her belly , and taking out the pigs , puts the child of the murther'd woman in their room , then he took the piggs and puts them in the womans belly , and so sow'd it up , proh scelus . touching the high encomiums you give of aetonia , 't is tru , that she was in former times a gallant piece of the continent , but now she is pittifully impair'd and degenerated from what she was ; ther was a count there who prov'd most unfortunat , both to his own country and to himself , who aiming at a crown made warr against caesar , to whom he ow'd allegiance ; and to abett his cause he brought in forrein princes for his confederats , and so kindled a destructive lingring warr in the bowells of his own country , which for thirty years together did so harasse her , that to this day she is scarce come to her self ; among others , he introduc'd a hungry northern king who did her a world of mischief , whose successor keeps firm footing there still , and whiles the cuprinian hath an acre of land in aetonia , she will never be in a durable secure peace ; touching the multitude of illustrious families that are in aetonia , most of them may be said to be but mongrell princes , for in the forenoon they are ecclesiasticks , ( having rais'd themselfs out of the ruines of the church ) and in the afternoon they are laicks and seculars ; now , those variety of princes are rather a weaknesse then a strength to aetonia , as may be inferred out of that witty emblem which the tomanto emperor 's embassadors made , being present at the election of one of the aetonian caesars , who observing what great princes attended him that day , wherof he was told that som of them could raise an army of themselfs if need requir'd ; the ambassadour smilingly said , that he doubted not of the puissance of aetonia , but it might be said , that the minds , counsells , and actions of the aetonians were like a great beast with many heads and tails , who being in case of necessity to passe through a hedge , and every head seeking to find a severall hole to get thorough , they were a hinderance one to the other , every head drawing after his own fancy , and so hazarded the destruction of all the heads and tails ; but the tomanto empire was like a beast that had multitude of tails , but one head that govern'd all the body , which head being to get through any passage , all the tayls follow him in an exact obedience without any confusion of diffring fancies or clashing of opinions . touching that caesar you speak of , whom you wold make prince paramount of all others in point of majesty and might , it cannot be denied but that the imperiall eagle , when he was at the highest pitch of power , might be said to have spread his wings overall the then habitable earth , he fixed his talons upon the banks of euphrates eastward , upon the nile southward , and he had all the known western world within his pounces ; his annuall revenues were then computed at a hundred and fifty millions , wherof the salary of the legionary soldiers amounted to twenty millions ; but that glorious empire , that mighty giantesse , is now shrunck up and shrivell'd into a pigmey's skin , insomuch that the present caesar may be said to have onely one of the old eagle's feathers in his cap : he who was us'd to make the greatest potentats pay homage unto him , is now us'd to be baffled by every petty companion . pererius . such is the plesure of the all-ruling providence , with whom the greatest kingdoms upon earth are but as so many kettle-pins , which he tips down when he pleases , 't is he who transvolves empires , tumbles down monarchies , and cantonizeth them into petty common-wealths , whereunto the philosopher seem'd to allude , when being ask'd what iupiter did in heven , he answer'd , magnas ollas frangit , & ex frustis earum parvulas componit , he breaks great pots , and of their fragments makes little pitchers ; this shews the brittlenes , the lubricity , and unfixednes of all sublunary things , as well politicall as naturall , so that to find out a tru stability and permanence , we must travell beyond trismegistus's circle , and seek it in the other world : but let not this alienat your affections to visit again your own country in human shape , and return to your religion , wherby when this mortall life is ended you may gain eternity . boar. religion i truly ther 's scarce any left in aetonia , for since the time of therlu , who being fallen into a lustfull love with an abadesse , unfrock'd himself , and made religion his macarell to enjoy her ; i say , since that time , the artonian fancy was never so greedy after new fashions in apparell , as the aetonians high and low do daily thirst after new-fangled opinions in matters of religion , both in point of doctrine and discipline . add hereunto , that ther is a bosom peculiar vice aetonia is addicted unto , which is intemperance , wherwith she hath infected most of her neighbours ; the hydraulian can tell you , that the immoderat use of drink came tumbling down upon her from aetonia like a huge , and a furious rapid torrent , whence it found passage over with wind in poop to gheriona ( and her subordinat kingdoms ) which is as good at it being of an aetonian race originally , and therfore apt to imitat ; nay , as they say , as the gherionian is good inventis addere , to improve any new thing , so they go beyond the aetonians herein , for whereas they use to pelt the brain with small shot , the gherionian doth storm it with great cannons , and huge carowses , for he , when he is at it , doth not sip and drink by halfs , or demur upon it by pauses , as the aetonian doth , or by eating som salt quelque chose between , but he deals in sheer liquor , and is quickly at the bottom of his cup without any intervening talk ; yet the aetonian carrieth still the report to a proverb : hereupon they use to characterise the aetonian to be an animal that can drink more then he can carry , and who useth to barrell up more than he can broach in point of knowledg , because commonly he useth to have in him more than he can utter . pererius . it seems very strange to me that you shold thus vilifie your own country , and traduce so goodly and high-built a nation as the aetonian is . boar. 't is tru , they are bulky & built high enough , but it is observ'd , that tall men are like fabriques four or five stories high , where the garret or upper room is worst furnished , you may guesse at my meaning ; moreover , magnitude is not the measure of worth , if the aetonians wit and valour had been sutable to their outward bulks , the tomanto emperor had not carried away so many territories from them , which mighty emperour hath grown so powerfull by the divisions , and so fortunat by the vices of aetonia . pererius . come , come , shake off those hispid staring bristles , and fordid skin , that useth to tumble in sloughs and mire , and return to your own noble country , your kindred , and that high quality you were of formerly , for in the condition you now stand , you are , like our base misers , good for nothing till you are dead . boar. it is a great truth , and when we are dead ther 's nothing that 's bad in us but our excrements , which also though , in regard of the sharpnes therof , they be not good for compost to fertilize the earth , yet they are found good for divers sorts of trees , as the pomgranat and the almond trees , as also for divers sorts of apple trees to free them from worms : our blood being so full of fibres is excellent good against carbuncles , our brains are good against the biting of serpents ; our lard with wonderfull celerity makes firm broken bones ; the ashes of our cheek-bone are good against ulcers ; the liver of a boar is good against the biting of a mad dogg , and drowsines of spirit ; the gall of a boar mingled with rosin and hony , is passing good against ulcers , the testicles good against the falling-sicknes ; the hoofs of a boar made powder is good against the stopping of the urine ; a plaister made of boar's dung is good against all venomous bitings , as also against the pain in the spleen , or the sciatica ; the ankle of a boar worn about the neck is good against quartan agues : moreover 't is found tru by frequent experiments , that the milk of a sow in sweet wine is good to help women in travell , and restores milk in their paps , 't is good also against the bloody flix , and the tissick ; amber sodd in boar's grease receives nitor , and bewty : now , all these vertues proceed from our bodies , because we have not so much corruption within us as man ; our food also being more simple and fresh , and our appetites more regular ; so , sir , i bid you farewell , for i am going to herb it among that tuft of trees . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the eighth section . a dialog 'twixt morphandra , pererius , and a wolf , who had bin a cuprinian soldier , whom for his plunderings , rapines , and spoyles , she transfigur'd to that shape . morphandra , pererius , and a wolf. morphandra . how did you bear up with that boar ? could you not get him into the toyl , and make him turn man again ? pererius . truly no , he did in a manner grind his razers and tusks , and extreamly froam at his own country-men , taxing them of divers vices ; he prickt up his bristles like a porcupine , as if he would have darted them ; so i left him at a bay. morphandra . i spy another transmuted animal in that thicket , it is a wolf , who was once a soldier of fortune , and a cuprinian free-booter , you may try whether you can take him by the ears , for you will find him tame enough . pererius . i have leave from gracious queen morphandra to conferr with you , and know whether you have an inclination to return to your country and calling again ; if you have , she is ready to unlycanthropize you from this wolfish shape to your former condition . wolf. touching my country and calling they are both alike , they are both naught , therefore i have no affection to either ; for the first , 't is a pittifull cold and coorse country , being so remote from the sun , which made a generous queen lately to leave both crown and country ; touching the second , 't is a profession for the devill , to be hir'd for about three shillings a week to kill men ; i was once of that calling , and i with my camerades did a world of mischief to the poor boors up and down the country , therefore it was very just that queen morphandra should transform me to this shape . pererius . yet you know , that the profession of arms is noble , for every soldier is a gentleman by his profession ; and touching the coldness of your clime , it puts mettle and the more vigor in the combatant , for they say that a cuprinian fights best when he sees his own breath , which is in frosty weather ; you know also what great atchievments and exploits your two last kings have done , to their eternall glory , and the renown of your country . wolf. 't is tru , the last two kings have done some feats of chivalry , yet the world took them to be but usurpers ; touching the first , he was killd in the midst of his manhood , wherby caesar against whom he warr'd got a full revenge of him ; and for the present king , the world wonders that it was not sufficient for him to enjoy quietly the kingdom of cuprinia , which belongs by right to nopolia , but he must make warr against that king , to whom he shold de jure owe allegiance ; and had he conquer'd nopolia , his ambition had not terminated there , but he haply had visited saturnia , and so , as the goths and vandalls of old , he had troubled the repose of all the western world ; but as far as he hath gone , what miserable devastations hath he made ? how hath he ruined the flourishing trade of those countrys , which are so full of great mercantile towns both upon fresh and salt waters , so full of usefull and necessary commodities ? and had he compleated his zundanian designe , he had given law to all the occidentall princes , which hydraulia sagaciously smelt out , and so timely prevented him . pererius . and have not you a naturall desire rather to be again one of that warlick and adventurous nation , than to continu in this hatefull and rapacious nature ? wolf. truly i may be said to be of as rapacious a nature when i was a cuprinian , for he is us'd to pick any quarrell with those that are weaker than himself , of purpose to devour them ; as i remember to have read of the wolf in the fable , who finding a young lamb , and intending to devour him , fell a coining of reasons why he would do it , and so told him , that he and his generation had don him wrong from time to time : helas , said the lamb , how could that be ? for i am but newly com into the world ; i but , quoth the wolf , you eat up my grasse ; the lamb replyed , how can that be , sir ? for i have yet no teeth in my head ; i but you drink up my water , quoth the wolf again ; that cannot be neither , sir , said the lamb , for i never knew what water is hitherto , in regard i feed altogether upon my mothers milk ; 't is not your reasons , replied the wolf again , can confute my appetit , for i mean to sup plentifully this night , and so devour'd him . but the same fate may attend the cuprinian king as befell the wolf-fish , who living in a river where all the fish were lesser then himself , they all admir'd , honor'd , and fear'd him , as if he had bin their king ; he thinking to enlarge his dominions , thought to go to the sea to be king there , but meeting with the dolphin in his way he was presently devour'd ; or as aesop's dogg , passing by a river with a good piece of flesh in his mouth , and the shadow of the flesh appeering in the water , he snapt at it thinking it had been real flesh , and so lost that which he had in his mouth ; so the cuprinian king may hap to lose his own territories , while he thinks to devour others . pererius . well , well , will you shake off that ugly shape , and put on man again , and go along with me towards your own country ? wolf. truly no , for i have tryed both natures , and find this to be far better , for i have now no airy aspiring desires in me , no ambitious thoughts , or other perturbances and inquietudes of mind ; moreover , i find this shape of body to be far more healthfull , nor is this species lesse honourable ; a wolf was the crest of the first arms of rome , in regard the king who trac'd the foundation of that glorious city , and denominated her after his own name , was nurs'd up miraculously by a wolf ; ther have bin many famous men of that name , as lupus fulvius a roman poet , lupus servatus a memorable priest , and lupus de oliveto a saint-like monk ; ther is a kind of holines also in this species , for they never engender but in the twelve days of christmas ; ther is likewise a mysterious quality in this species ; for if a wolf sees a man first , the man grows hoarse ; if the tail of a wolf be hung in the cratch of oxen , they cannot eat ; if a horse treads in the foot-steps of a wolf , he cleaves fast as if he were frozen ; nay , if a mare big with foal tread in the place where a wolf had trodden , it causeth abortion , and will make her presently to cast her foal ; lastly , strings made of vvolfs guts have that predominance in music , that if they be put among other strings , ther wil never be any consort . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the ninth section . a dialog 'twixt morphandra , pererius , and a goat , consisting of many quaint discourses both naturall and metaphysicall , with other criticisms , &c. morphandra , pererius , and a goat . pererius . madame , i could not take that vvolf by the ears to lead him home to his own country , which he bitterly inveighs against ; and against the humor of the peeple , as also against his former profession of a souldier , tacitly intimating , that war is the chiefest seminary of theeves , according to the proverb , la guerre fait les larrons , & la paix les ameine au gibet , war makes the thief , and peace brings him to the gallows ; therfore he prefers rather to passe his life peaceably under your government , than to be in cuprinia , where of late years men are so press'd for the warrs to serve the ambition of their kings , that the whole country is so drain'd , that ther 's scarce any left but women , old men , and children ; therfore he is very well pleas'd with this lycanthropy . but , madame , i spy a bearded animal nibling upon the brow of that crag , i desire by your favour to have som discours with him , for by his long beard he shold have bin som philosopher , and so have more wit in him than other animals . morphandra . you shall very willingly , but i will tell you what he was before ; he was an orosian born , and i transform'd him to that shape for being a mountaineer , and for having aspiring thoughts , with other resons . pererius . i 'le go and accost him ; sir , will you please to come down hither into the plain , for i have very good news to impart unto you that will make you skip for joy . goat . i pray excuse me , it is against my nature to descend , if i did , i should haply prove more foolish than the goat in the fable , who being invited and perswaded by the fair speeches of the lion to come down and feed in the medow where he was , being come down the hungry lion devoured him presently . pererius . you need not apprehend any such fears here , but i will come to you ; queen morphandra tells me , that you were an orosian born , a very antient and noble nation ; have you a disposition to return thither , to resume the shape of man , and to be again the child of reson ? goat . what do you mean by reson ? i think the shape and species i now am in are capable of reson , for we can distinguish 'twixt good and bad , 'twixt what is noxious or profitable for us , we have also the same organs , the same cells and receptacles in the brain as man hath for to lodg reson , and the celestiall bodies pour the same influences upon us as they use to do upon the human creture . pererius . it cannot be denied but you have an instinct that acts according to reson , and it may be call'd instinctive reson ; but the reson that beasts have is limited to corporeall objects , to the necessities onely of life , to find out food and shelter , and bring up their young ones , it s onely direct reson that 's capable of singulars , it s restrain'd to an opinionative faculty , it s a meer shadow of ours , much like the objects that our fancy represents to us in sleep ; and this instinct in beasts is as much inferiour to reson in man , as reson in man is inferiour to intelligence and intuitions in the blessed angells . goat . yet , sir , it must be granted , that actions whose successes are so well ordered , actions which have so well regulated a progresse , and concatenation so exactly tying the mediums to the end , must needs be performed by the guidance and light of tru reson , and such actions you know sensitive cretures daily perform ; with what art do birds build their nests , the fox his hole , the badger his chamber , with what caution do they preserve their young ones , and fence them from the injury of the hevens ? how punctually do they keep their haunts ? but what do you think of pliny's elephant repeating his lesson at moon-shine , or of ptolomey's stagg that understood greek , of plutarch's dogg who could counterfeit the very convulsions of death , of the ape that could play at chesse , and another that had learnt som touches on the guittern ? what think you of caligula's horse who was made consul ? had not he reson in him ? what think you of the asse , who being us'd to carry burdens of salt over a foord was us'd to stumble and fall constantly in such a place , that therby the salt melting away into water his burden might be the lighter , but his master lading him with a tadd of wool , he fell at his usuall place , but being helped up again , and he feeling the pack of wool heavier in regard of the water that got in , he never stumbled any more in the foord after that time ; what think you of the crow , that in the time of a great drowth finding water in the bottom of a barrell , and being fearfull to go down , carried so many stones in her beak , that letting them fall down , they forc'd the water to rise upwards towards the top , and so she dranck safely and at ease ? i pray were not all these not onely instinctive but discoursive resons ? pererius . i confesse that he who denies a kind of reson and resoning also to brute animals , may be questiond whether he be master of reson himself , yet this reson and resoning looks upon present and particular notions onely ; but human reson extendeth to universall notions out of the reach of sense , which cannot be without abstractions , and som reflections it hath on it self , which beasts cannot attain ; this reson that is conversant with universalls is the tru specificall difference 'twixt man and beasts ; it is the portion and property of man alone , whereby he hath the soverainty over all over his fellow-cretures throughout all the elementary world ; ther is intuitive , ther is discoursive , and ther is instinctive reson , the first is proper to angels , the last to brute animals , and the second to man , who can contemplat and discourse of generalls and things absent ; and these three differ in excellency as the three degrees of comparison . goat . yet though you excell us as you say in this kind of reson , ther 's many of us that surpasse you in strength and quicknesse of sense , as the eagle in seeing , for he can look upon the sun in the meridian with full open eyes , and not be dazzled ; the hare can hear better , and the dogg goes far beyond you in smelling , as also the stagg , therefore when he is removed from one park to another , you use to muzzle him , and carry him in close carts that he may not smell the way back again ; and there be examples to admiration of this kind . pererius . though som beasts smelling be beyond ours in respect of celerity , and way of reception , yet in point of dijudication , & differencing the variety of smels which proceeds from the rationall soul , we surpasse them ; therfore though we cannot see as eagles , nor hear as hares , nor smel as well as doggs , yet hands , speech , and reson makes amends for all ; the composition also of the body being erect is advantagious , the caus of which erection ( after the beholding of heven ) is the exercise arts , which cannot be done in another figure ; mans body is likewise the most copious of organs , and though born naked , yet this nakednesse cuts out work for reson ; it abounds also more with animal spirits and heat , it hath long feet that the body might be more steedy , and his head is built upward like a castle or watch-tower in the upper region . goat . this faculty of discoursive reson you glory of , that man is endued withall , though in som respects it be a benefit unto him , and given as a recompence for his frailties , nakedness and weakness , yet in som kind it it may be said to be a disadvantage unto him , for it makes him subject to a thousand vexations of spirit , it fills him with inquisitive thoughts and scruples touching his salvation , it makes him a tyrant to himself by sundry sorts of perplexities and molestations of mind , for i have known it by experience , let the threed of a man's life be never so well spun , yet it cannot be without bracks and thrumbs : ther is no creture so troublesome to himself as man , for as rust adheres naturally to copper , so ill affections and obliquities adhere to human nature : moreover , you , like us , are but raggs of mortality , yet you are so vain in magnifying your own species , that you make man the epitome and complement of all created natures ; nay , som have prophanely affirmed , that if all the angells in heven had bin a thousand years a forming man , they could not have made him in greater perfection , and yet when i seriously oftentimes did contemplat man , and fell into a tru account of his imbecillities , and that world of weaknesses which use to attend his body and mind , i have often cryed out , eheu nos miseri quàm totus homuncio nil est ! what nomberles diseases is his frail body , which is the socket of his soul , subject unto ? how short are his plesures , and what black sudds commonly they leave behind them ? insomuch that they may be said to have wings and stings , for sadnes succeeds his joys as punctually as night follows the day . pererius . well , well , give over these satyricall excursions , and think on your dear country , the healthfullest country on earth . goat . it may well be said to be so , for of late years ther were cull'd out within three miles compasse ten men that were a thousand years between them , one supplying what the other wanted of a hundred years apiece , and they danc'd the morris divers hours together in the market-place , with a taborer before them 103 years old , and a maid mariam 105. but orosia is much degenerated from what she was by the gherionian sectaries , who have infected the inhabitants with so many pseudodoxall and gingling opinions , which is the recompence she receives from gheriona for converting her first from an infidell to be a christian , yet she hath the impudence lately as to call her heathenish ; moreover , she twits her ever and anon with leeks and cheese , though both tend , the one to the commendation of the nation , the other of the country ; for wheras the orosian doth use to wear the first in his hat constantly upon such a day , it is to a commemorat the time that a famous battle was fought , wherein other nations that werein the army ran away , but the orosians stood to their ground , and got the day ; now , to signalize and distinguish themselfs from the fugitifs , they took leeks in their caps which grew in a garden hard by ; besides , 't is known how one of the acutest nations on earth ador'd the leek as one of his gods : touching the other , to have cheese enough is the mark of a fruitfull country , and good pasture ; this makes me tell you a facetious epigram , to make a pure orosian thirst for blisse , and daily say his prayers on his knees , is to perswade him that most certain 't is the moon is made of nothing but green cheese , and then he 'l ask of god no greter boon then place in heven to feed upon the moon . now , during the late combustions in gheriona , which were causd by a fatuous fire that took hold of som frantic spirits , 't is well known that the orosian stood firm both to his prince and principles , till he was o'repower'd by multitudes . pererius . well , will you put off that rammish and foetid carcase , and return to your first principles of nature , and i will safely conduct you towards your first home ? goat . rammish and foetid ! as rammish and foetid as we are , we are of a far more wholsom constitution than man , let the rare qualities which are in our bodies be judg ; 't is known by daily experience how our blood hath such an energy in it that it can dissolve diamonds , it also scowreth iron better then any file , and being fryed and drunck with wine it cures the bloody-flix ; the load-stone rub'd with garlick loseth its attractive vertu , but being dipt in goats milk it recovers : ther 's no creture hears more perfectly then a goat , for he hath not onely ears , but an acousticon organ also in the throat : our hair burnt driveth away serpents , and cureth decayed genitalls ; the marrow of a goat is singular good against aches ; the gall mixed with hony good to clear and fortifie the sight ; the very trindles drunck in wine are good against the jaundise , and to stay female-fluxes , as also gargariz'd good against old coughs ; the fatt sodden with goats dung is good if applied to the gout ; the butter of the fatt of a male goat is good for an old sore for kibes , the kings-evill , and fellons , or mixed with hony or oyl of brambles 't is good against deafnes ; the gall makes white hair grow on a horse ; goats milk is excellent against consumptions , and you know how the famous aegistus was nurs'd by that milk . to conclude , ther 's nothing within us or without us but it is cordiall or medicinall ; our entralls , livers , ashes , horns , milt , spleen , urine , fine hairs , marrow , hoofs , gall , dung , sewet , trindles , milk , and blood , &c. the tenth section . a dialog 'twixt morphandra , pererius , and a soland-goose , a carboncian born , who was transmuted to that shape for his foolishnes in rebelling against his own conterranean king , and so by jugling himself into a slavery from that free government he was formerly under , &c. morphandra , pererius , a goose. morphandra . i saw you in hot discourse a good while with that bearded beast , how did you feel his pulse beat ? will he return to live among those mountains where he first breath'd air , and put on his primitive nature again ? pererius . madame , i find he hath no list or lust at all to either , one of his resons is , that the gherionian his confining neighbour hath so intoxicated his country-men with such fond fanatic opinions , & made them deviat from their tru service and allegiance , both to the king of heaven , and to his vicegerent their king upon earth ; he gave me also some acute resons , both morall and metaphysicall , why he wold not turn man again , alledging at last that the shape he now wears is farr more sound and healthfull , abounding more with naturall heat , which makes his body , and all the parts thereof within and without , to have such medicinall vertues in them , whereas human carcases , though they had bin tabernacles to a far nobler soul , are good for nothing when she parts with them but to feed and feast worms ; therfore truly , madame , i am in half despair of prevailing with any of these metamorphos'd animals , they live so peaceably under your dominions , and so contentedly in these shapes . morphandra . you have treated hitherto onely with terrestriall creturs , try what you can do upon that volatil , that sooty-clour'd soland-goose , who was by the first institution of nature a carboncian born , but had liv'd in great plenty and honor in the gherionian court , yet out of a crosse-grain'd foolish humor he kick'd against his own king and country-man , and so fell to be a slave to a new race of governours , from being a free-born subject before . pererius . poor goose , you need not gaggle , nor fear any thing , for i bring you good tydings , and the best that possibly can befall you ; queen morphandra by my mediation is pleased to retransfigure you to human shape , and let you go again to carboncia , your native soyl and dear country . goose. truly , sir , i have lost all affections to both , i am onely out of conceit with the one , but i abhor the other , i had rather turn cacodaemon than a carboncian again ; what a pittifull coors cold clime is carboncia ? it hath neither the warm sun nor gods blessing , it were a punishment for the worst peeple upon earth to be removed thither ; rather then i shold return to carboncia , my wishes shall be that of the poet , pone me pigris ubi nulla campis arbor aestiva recreatur aurâ , quod latus mundi , nebulae , malusque jupiter urget . let me to those black boggy heaths repair where tree was ne're refresht by vernall air , that side of earth where jove himself is bad , and with dark squalid clowds goes always clad . yet the clime is good enough for the inhabitants were it worse ; they brag of a hundred and odd kings , but of these kings above the one half came to violent deaths , judg you then of the disposition of the peeple ; and for their two last kings , they sold and sent away one to the fatall block , and made a sacrifice of him to the gherionian for a summ of mony ; and for the other , before they wold crown him their king , they propos'd that he shold acknowledg his father a tyrant , and his mother an idolatresse , a thing so abhorring to nature . pererius . i find you are extreamly incens'd against your own country , and your conterraneans , i pray what 's the reson of this strange and violent aversion ? goose. i told you partly before , but i will enlarge my self further , and deduce matter from their first rise ; carboncia and gheriona were in a sweet and sound peace , with affluences of all felicities , when som carboncian soldiers of fortune return'd from the cuprinian warrs richly laden with spoils , they came strutting into the gherionian court , the aetonian plunder shining upon their backs in gold and silver lace ; these military commanders expecting to receive som honors from the gherionian king for their services in aetonia , though none of them had received any commission from him , nor fought on his score ; others looking for som office at court , and missing their aim that way , som of them went to carboncia discontented , and fearing the stock they had got in the cuprinian warr wold quickly consume , and having no other trade but fighting , they fell to devise a way how to cast a bone 'twixt gheriona and carboncia , that they might have employment ; therfore they set on som prick-ear'd hot-pated preachmen ( who were in a kind of subjection unto them for their stipends ) to give out , that gheriona was on her way to antichrist again ; thus the pulpits did ring of invectives and calumnies against gheriona's church-government ; yet all this while there was not matter enough for an actuall insurrection , or to fire the beacons , till by wily artifices of som of the said discontented great ones gheriona's liturgy was sent among them to be put in practise ; this was cryed up to be the gretest idoll that ever came to their kirk , and so the common peeple in a furious unheard-of manner outrag'd those who read it ; the king having notice hereof , sent a gracious declaration , that wheras he had onely commended unto them , not commanded that public form of divine worship , wherin he himself did punctually and publickly twice a day perform his duty to heven , he did it out of a pious intention to beget an uniformity as well as an unanimity of public devotion in all his dominions , and as it was already practis'd in gheriona and hebrinia , so he desir'd it shold be us'd also in that his native country ; but since he understood it produc'd such tumultuous consequences , he was contented absolutely to revoke it , for it was never his intent to presse the practise therof upon any conscience , &c. therfore he requir'd that every one shold return to his former obedience , offring an amnestia for what had pass'd ; but this wold not serve the turn , for ther was a further designe in it , which was to destroy the hierarchy , and so make havock of the patrimony of the church ; hereupon the whole country put it self in arms , and so those soldiers of fortune spoken of before brought their work about , and got employment ; for soldiers in time of peace are like chimneys in summer ; they thought to rush into gheriona with an army , yet they gave it out to the world they came as petitioners ; so the carboncian shewed subjects the way to present petitions to their souverain upon the pikes point , to bring a supplication in one hand , and a sword in the other , or as one said , the bible in the left , and the blade in the other hand . pererius . this was an odious rebellion in the highest degree , for subjects to right themselfs by arms , and wage warr with their own souvrain prince ; it is very observable , that when god pleased to punish any of the kings of israel , he did not do it with the iews their own subjects , but with the philistines , and other forrain nations , whence it may be strongly inferr'd , that it was never allow'd by the laws of god or man , that subjects shold rise up in arms against their lawfull king. goose. yet the carboncian rush'd thrice into gheriona against their own native king ( having therby a greter share in him ) in the compasse of lesse then two years , and he was dismissed fidler-like , with meat , drink , and mony ; though in former times gheriona was us'd to dismis the carboncians ( whensoever they infested her borders ) with other kind of metalls , viz. with good steel and iron in lieu of gold and silver . pererius . these were strange and uncouth hateful traverses , that a nation shold prove so perfidious to their own prince , a prince born in the bowells of their own country , whose father , besides himself , had obliged and laden them with so many signall and singular favors ; therefore ther was here a complication of many ugly things , ther was rebellion , ther was ingratitude , and unnaturalnes , for had he bin born elsewhere , i shold not have so much wondred at it . goose. nay , i will tell you more , when their said king had made a long tedious journy of 600 miles going and comming to visit them , he was so gracious , that they did but ask and have any thing ; he gave amongst them those antient demeans that went to maintain the mitre so many hundred years by the pious donation of progenitors ; he conferr'd honors abundantly upon them of all kinds , and did other wondrous acts of grace , for which the great councill in gheriona use to give a supply of tresure to their souvrain by way of an humble correspondence , but he did all this to the carboncian gratis ; yet they proved afterwards the gretest monsters of ingratitude that ever were , for they not onely sided with his gherionian insurrectors against him , but when by crosse successes and corrupt counsells he was brought to such an exigent , that he went away in a mean disguise to the carboncian army , they most basely for a sum of mony delivered him over to the plesure of his gherionian enemies , who tormented him afterwards beyond expression by hurrying him from prison to prison , and chopp'd off his head at last . pererius . one wold have thought , that the carboncians wold have valu'd it for a mighty honor , to have their own king in the heighth of his distreses to throw himself thus into their arms , and to put so rare a confidence in them ; but who were the chiefest instruments in doing all this ? goose. the unlucky kirk-men , who as if they had bin so many of the devills chaplains , preach'd nothing but warr , and against the receiving of the king in carboncia in this his extremity ; but ther were never so many quick and apparant judgments fell upon any nation as have tumbled one upon the neck of another in a few yeers upon this ; first , ther hapned an outragious plague in their chief city , which in one yeers compasse swep'd away the inhabitants by thousands ; what a huge nomber of witches have bin arraign'd and executed ? how many thousand carboncians were bought and sold for slaves to be hurried over to furnish forrain plantations ? what nombers of them were starv'd , and som tumbled into their graves alive ? how , while they thought to get into the upper-bed , they may be now said to lye upon hard matts on the flat ground , the truckle-bed they lay in afore being taken away from them ; and truly it is fit they shold still lie so low , it being the best policy gheriona can use to keep that cold northern dore bolted up , whence so many bleak hispid winds and tempests have broke out upon her . pererius . it is wholsome policy indeed , if it be so as you say , to keep under such a crosse-grain'd and stubborn inconstant peeple . goose. i will yet go further , this rebellion in carboncia caus'd another in hebrinia her neighbour , as one firebrand doth use to kindle another ; examples move , and make strong impressions upon the fancy , precepts are not so powerfull as precedents to work upon human nature ; the said example of the carboncians did wonderfully operat upon the imagination of the hebrinians , and fill'd them with thoughts of emulation , that they merited to have as good usage as the carboncian , their country being far more beneficiall , and consequently more importing the gherionians , wherof many thousands had made firm and plentifull fortunes in her ; add hereunto , that the hebrinians had far more grievances than the carboncians ( who really had none at all ) for they were threatned to be more pinch'd in the exercise of their religion ; there was new plantations intended to be made ther of carboncians and hydraulians ; there was every day a scrutiny made of conceal'd lands and dark defective titles ; there were new imposts laid upon them ; they remain'd incapable of any preferments in church and state , whereas the carboncians had advancements and offices every day in the gherionian court , and som of them admitted to sit at the council-table ; these motifs impell'd the hebrinians also to rise up in arms , hoping they might speed as well as the carboncian , who obtain'd what he pleas'd ; so they rise up to som purpose , for many cruentous and horrid massacres hapned on both sides , which took away hundreds of thousands ; now , all these things considered , will you have me return among the carboncians again ? pererius . my principall proposall unto you is to turn man again , and the globe of the earth is large , you may live in what country you please ; you may plant your self in gheriona , a cheerfull and plentifull country , and so be neerer the sun. goose. 't is tru , that gheriona abounds with all things that air , earth , or water can afford ; but it may be said , that all things are good in her except one , which is that creture who speaks ; it hath bin an antient saying all the world over , in nature of a proverb , that gheriona is a good country , but the peeple are bad , insomuch that her king hath bin call'd the king of devills ; if this hath bin said of her now , in former times , much more may it be said of her now , most of the nation being so much deprav'd and degenerated from what they were ; therfore if i were man again i wold be loth to go thither ; but to tell you truly , sir , i am grown a tru misanthropos , a hater of men , i had rather continu in this shape then be virbius again ; in this shape i have far more variety of plesure , i fish for my food in the water , i sleep on earth , and i solace my self in the hevens , in the airy region where i am now to fly . the eleventh section . consisting of a dialog 'twixt morphandra , pererius , and a hive of bees , who had bin once a monastery of nuns , and were transmuted to those small insects , because that after a yeers probation , and their own praevious free election , they murmur'd at that reclus'd claustrall life , and wish'd themselves uncloyster'd again , &c. morphandra , pererius , a bee. morphandra . i belive your perswasions could prevail little with that volatil creture , that soland-goose , in regard i observ'd how she took wing , and flutter'd away from you in a kind of hast . pererius . truly ; madame , i may say , that all this while according to the old proverb , i have bin shooing of goslings , i have spent my labor and breath to little purpose in order to my main designe , yet i cannot deny but that i have gain'd a great deal of rare knowledg by communicating with these transmuted animals , and truly they have made me better acquainted with my self , and with the state of mankind in generall ; but for this last transform'd thing , none of all the rest did brand his own country-men so bitterly : he lays to their charge originally all those fearfull calamities , those horrid confusions , those cataracts of blood which fell of late years both in hebrinia and gheriona ; and he said , that all that they have purchased therby , is , to have foold themselves into a perfect slavery , and to have brought themselfs under an iron rod in lieu of that golden scepter under which they liv'd formerly . and now , madame , i have no hopes to do any good , for hope is like butter , which the physicians say is gold in the morning , silver at noon , and lead at night , in relation to the stomack ; so i had golden hopes at first to redeem and carry along with me som of these transmuted animals , that are in such an unnaturall captivity , but my hopes are now turn'd perfect lead , i am in utter despair to prevail with any ; therfore , most admirable queen , now that the winds blow fair i must think of a departure , and touching those most princely civilities , & sublime inexpressible favours you have bin pleased to shew , since the happy fates brought me to take footing in this your rare island , i will make the whole world witnes of my gratitude , and to ring out morphandra's glory wheresoever i passe ; nay i will procure your most rare and transcendent vertues , which are beyond the power of mortalls , to be engraven with indelible characters of the most burnish'd gold in the temple of immortality . morphandra . most accomplish'd and heroick prince , those civilities and treatments you have received here were due unto you by the common laws of hositality , and you might therby have claim'd them as a right ; but truly i shold be very well contented if you were made partaker of your so laudable desires , as to have som of these metamorphos'd animals re-transmuted , that so you might carry with you som reall returns of your voyage ; therfore you may please to try one conclusion more , and i spy a fit subject for you to work upon , in yonder great hollow oak you shall meet with a swarm of bees , who have built up their cells there , wherof i will capacitat som with a perfect faculty of reson and ratiocination to interweave discourse with you ; they were formerly a cloyster of nuns , who though after a due probation , and their own spontaneous free choice , they undertook that austere , yet pious and plentifull train of life , yet they fell a murmuring and a humming at the solitude and hardships of that holy profession , and to think too often on man with inordinat desires to be discloysterd , and lead a more dissolut and free unbridled life ; yonder they are , therfore you may please to make towards them , and you cannot tell what successe you may have with those small airy insects . bee. what are you , sir , that dare approach this hive , this precious cell , and confectionary of nature ? pererius . gentle bees , i come hither for no hurt , but for your infinit advantage ; i understand by queen morphandra that you were once intellectuall cretures , and the children of reson ; nay , you were a degree above ordinary human happines , being in a contemplative and sweet sacred cours of life , wherin you had secluded your selfs from the world with the vanities therof , and espoused your selfs to your creator , by keeping the perpetuall pure fire of virginity . bee. 't is tru , we kept that ceremonious outward fire , but within us we felt too often such flamings , such furnaces or mongibells of fires , such violent affections and impetuous desires , that made us half mad for the time , the sense of our restraint making these fires far more raging and vehement , for though in externall appeerance and habits , we shew'd som symptoms of mortification , yet we could never extinguish the sparks of the concupiscible appetite , which is so naturally inherent in every body . pererius . i thought that by performance of so many penances , by your temperat diet , by your abstemious use and choice of meats , by your so frequent fastings , by your hard lodgings having matts for your beds , and stones for your pillows , by your early risings , by being always employ'd in somthing or other to avoid idlenes , which is the devills couch ; i say , by the practise of these austerities , i thought you had quench'd those concup iscentiall flames . bee. the operations of nature can hardly be quite suppress'd , but their motions are irresistible ; nor are these naturall motions given by the creator to our sex to be a torment unto us , but for delight , and being lawfully and moderatly us'd , they are destinated for the propagation of mankind : moreover ther is a saying , who fights against nature fights against god himself , she being his hand-maid . pererius . i cannot deny but that naturam sequi , est deo obseque , to follow nature is to obey god , yet as our gretest prudence is seen in the conduct of our naturall passions , so our gretest prowesse is seen in the conquest of them , when they grow exorbitant and rebellious ; we need not seek for enemies abroad to exercise our valour upon , we have too too many within dores , we have enough of domestic and inmate enemies to cope withall . bee. and will you have us to put on that nature again ? but , sir , besides what we spoke of before , ther was another thing that did torture us in that monastic life , it was the apprehension of our captivity , being sequester'd and cut off as it were from the society of mankind , & in a manner from the living , 'twixt whom and us ( in that state ) ther was this difference , that they were to die before buriall , but we were buried before death ; now , ther is nothing so tedious to all natures as imprisonment , which we shew'd when we slept in the bosom of our causes in our mothers wombs , whence we broke out to get liberty , and to be a nun is as it were to go into a kind of womb again . pererius . i , but ther you were in a kind of angelicall condition amongst those walls , you learnt there how to lead the life 's of angels upon earth , you were as so many fixed starrs which being the higher are more noble , and nearer the throne of the almighty , than the planets , which wandring up and down never keep the same distance betwixt them . bee. sir , under favor , we are not of that opinion ; for you know the sun and the moon are called the great luminaries in heven , therfore they must be the more noble , specially the sun , wherin god himself is said to have his habitation , or imperiall throne , whence he sees the motion of the universe , and over-looks all his cretures throughout the world ; now , these noble erratic starrs are in a perpetuall progresse , which the moon finisheth in twenty nine daies , mercury in four-score , venus nine months , the sun in a year , mars in two , iupiter in twelve , and saturn in thirty years . pererius . the fixed starrs have also a motion within their own orbs , and the convent wherein you were before might be called a constellation of fixed starrs , which i say do move within the circumference of their own spheres , as you did within the walls of your monastery amongst your selfs . bee. but by the condition wherin we are now stated , we may be said to have a larger beeing , for we have turn'd our convent to a common-wealth , or rather our monastery to a monarchy , wherin we have as exact an oeconomy , and politicall rules of government , as ever we had in our monastery ; we have a souvrain king , who although he hath no sting as all the rest have , yet he carrieth such a majesty that makes us all exactly obedient to his commands ; nor , though he bear no arms himself , was ther ever heard of any rebellion amongst us against our lawfull prince , as is so frequent amongst mankind ; it being a principle from the very instinct of nature amongst us , that it is both detestable and damnable for subjects to rise up against their supream governour , and go about to right themselfs by arms ; i say , that in this state we have a very regular government , we have a king , we have privy counsellors , we have commanders in the war , and gregarian soldiers ; we keep close in winter , and have then our centinells ; we go not abroad till beans do blossom , and then , if the weather permit , ther 's never a day passeth in idlenesse ; we first build our cells and combs , then make hony , and then engender ; we make our wax and hony of the freshest and most fragrant flowers , and abhor withered or stinking vegetalls ; when the flowers are spent in one place , we have our harbingers abroad to find out another ; being surprised by night in our expeditions , we sleep in a supine posture with our bellies upward , to preserve our wings from the falling dew ; betimes in the morning we are awakned by our drummer , who punctually performs his office that way ; then , if the day be mild , we fally forth in a great body , and we have an instinct to foresee winds , tempests , and rain , which makes us keep often within ; when we go abroad to work , every one hath his task , and the younger are put to the hardest , while the elder labour within dores ; we all feed together , and if we be surprised abroad with a sudden wind , we take up a stone 'twixt our feet to give weight to our bodies , that they may not be blown away ; ther is among us a censor of manners , and som officers that watch those which are slothfull , who are afterwards punish'd with death , and for the drones , which are a spurious kind of brood , we quite banish them ; ther 's not the least foulnes seen in our alvearies or hives , for we abhor all immundicities and sordidnes ; when 't is towards night , our hummings lessen by degrees , till an officer fly about and command silence and sleep , which is instantly done ; we first build houses for our workmen and plebeans , and then palaces for the nobles and the king ; we punish sloth without mercy ; we faithfully obey our king , being always about him like a guard , and he in the midst ; when the peeple are at work , he goes about and cherisheth them , he onely being exempt from labour ; he hath always his officers ready to punish delinquents ; when he goes forth , the whole swarm attends him , if he chance to be weary , we bear him upon our sholders ; whersoever he rests , there the generall randevous is ; wasps , hornets , and swallows are enemies to us ; we bury our dead with great solemnity ; at the kings death ther is a generall mourning and fasting , with a cessation from labour , and we use to go about his body with a sad murmur for many daies ; when we are sick we have attendants appointed us , and the symptoms when we be sick are infallible , according to the honest plain poet , if bees be sick ( for all that live must die ) that may be known by signes most certainly , their bodies are discoloured , and their face looks wan , which shews that death comes on apace ; they carry forth their dead , and do lament , hanging o' th' dore , or in their hives are pent : hunger and cold consumes them , you shall find they buzz as doth t'th ' woods the southern wind , or as the sea when as the waves return , or fire clos'd up in vaults with noise doth burn . nor are we profitable onely in our life 's unto mankind , by that pretious hony we confect for their use , which though for the rare vertues and sweetnes therof som held to be the gelly of the starrs , others the sweat of the hevens , others the quintessence of the air , though really it be but our chylus at the third digestion ; i say , that we are not onely in our lifes beneficiall to mankind , who receives the fruits of our labours , but after death also ; our bodies pounded and drunck with wine , or any other diareticall thing , cures the dropsie , stone , and strangury ; the hony scrapt off our dead bodies is extraordinary good against divers diseases ; moreover we have a kind of transmigration among us , one into the other ; out of our brains , marrow , and chine-bones , kings and nobles are bred , out of the rest of our bodies ordinary bees . pererius . gentle bee , you have spoken as much as can be for the advantage of your condition , yet nevertheles you are but fleshles poor sensitive insects onely , of a short and a kind of ephemeran subsistence ; you want that spark of immortality , the noble rational soul , wherby the human creture goes as far beyond you , as an angel goes beyond him . bee. i remember when i was a nun i heard many characters given of the rational soul , as were somwhat transcendent , if not presumptuous ; the theolog or divine call'd her , the image of god almighty ; the philosopher call'd her , the queen of forms ; and you call her now , a spark of immortality ; yet you know not how , nor where this spark enters into you , nor where it resides in any particular place above other souls , nor are you agreed whether she enters into you by divine infusion , or by traduction from the parentall seeds . pererius . i shall endeavour to satisfie you touching these particulars ; it must be consider'd , that man may be call'd the great amphybium of nature ; first , he is a confus'd lump of dead matter , lying as it were upon the lees in the womb , where the vegetable soul enters first , making it capable of extension and growth ; then the sensitive soul follows , who by the plasticall vertu falls a forming the members or the organs ; then comes the noblest of all the three , the rationall soul , who swayes o're the other two , and is — divinae particula aurae , she is breath'd from the creator himself , and which no other creture in heven or earth can say , she is capable of a spirituall regeneration afterwards , as the body is of a resurrection ; at last , when she hath shaken off the slough of flesh , she becomes a spirit either good or bad , she becomes a saint or a devill , and so receives eternall beatitude or torments ; by these degrees observable it is , that man hath potentially in himself all created natures , first or last , both in heven , earth , and hell ; all which may be compris'd in this poem , which , though short , containeth the whole story of mankind from first to last . man is that great amphybium in whom lye three distinct souls by way of trigony ; he runs through all creations by degrees , first , he is onely matter on the lees , whence he proceeds to be a vegetal , next sensitive , and so organical ; then by divine infusion a third soul , the rational doth the two first controul ; but when this soul comes in , and where she dwells distinct from others , no dissector tells , and ( which no creture else can say ) that state enables her to be regenerat : she then becomes a spirit , and at last a saint or devill , when that she hath cast the clogg of flesh , which yet she takes again , to perfect her beatitude or pain : thus man is first or last allied to all cretures in heven , in earth , or hells black hall. bee. whereas you alledg , that the intellectuall or rationall soul enters by divine infusion , i remember when i was a nun , that divers learned men were of opinion , that she was ( like the other two souls , viz. the vegetal and the sensitive ) propagated and traduc'd by the seed and sperm of the parents , and that this was done by the hereditary vertu of that gran universall benediction , pronounced by god himself to all his cretures , encrease and multiply ; then they proceeded to urge the common axiom , that like begets the like ; now , the great god of nature did constitut all other species perfect in their own kinds , with a procreative power to beget their like by a compleat generation ; and why shold man , in whom the ideas of all other created natures are collectively resplendent ? why shold he , i say , com short of this perfection and priviledge ? for without it he may be ranck'd among those mutilat defective cretures , who are destitut of power to procreat an individuum like themselfs . pererius . this shews the eminency of the human soul above others in point of extraction , for if she were made of such poor frail ingredients as the seeds of the parents , she wold be perishable with the body , wheras the is created to be heir of eternity . bee. i remember the reply to this , that the excellency of the human soul is not to be derived from her creation and first materialls , but from the fiat , or eternall decree , and particular blessing of the creator , who endowed her from the beginning with such a prerogative , out of his free will and plesure , to be capable of eternity : but wheras you aver , that the parentall feeds are too grosse ingredients to produce so noble a soul , i remember ther are great modern doctors and physitians who hold , that neither the seed of mother or father go to the impregnation , but that the female conceives onely by a virtuall contact , as the loadstone draws iron , and that she is made pregnant by conceiving the generall idaea without matter ; to make this new assertion good , they compare the womb to the brain , and that what the phantasma or appetit is in the brain , the same phantasma or its analogy is excited in the womb , for both of them are call'd conceptions . pererius . this is a wild extravagant opinion , for one may believe with more reson , that the tumontian mares are impregnated , and made to conceive by the south-west winds . bee. i remember another argument that was urged for the traducible generation of the human soul , which was , that the rationall soul begins to operat in the prolificall seed the very first moment of conception , as soon as the prolificall emissions of both sexes are blended by mutuall fermentation , for then the conformative and proper operations of the rational soul begin upon the embryo , who proceeds to majoration and augmentation accordingly ; and it is no lesse then an absurdity to think , that the infant after conception shold be majorated by the influence of any other soul then that from whom he received his formation ; now , that this formation begins instantly after the conception , appeers by the early activity of nature , which hath bin sensibly discover'd in abortive embryo's by autopicall observations , wherby it hath bin visibly found , that a septenary slip put into clear water , a subtle inspector through a magnifying glasse may discern all the rudiments of the organicall parts ; ther may be seen there the generall conformative faculty in the seed , wherin will visibly appeer three small bubling conglobations , which are the materialls of the noblest parts , viz. the brain , the heart , and the liver ; ther will appeer also two small black orbs , or atomicall points , which are the rudiments of the eyes : whence may be strongly inferred , that if organization , and the conformation of the infant begins in the very punctillio or first moment of the conception , that the rationall soul then works in the seed , as being the most vigorous part of it ; from hence it follows , that man doth absolutely procreat man , which could not be if the genitor did not communicat the human soul unto his issue ; for since man is compos'd of soul and body , if the parent cannot cannot impart both to his ofspring , he may be said to be inferiour to beasts , who have intrinsic active principles , and power in themselfs to propagat , and beget individiums of their own species , without the concurrence of extrinsecall causes . pererius . these are neotericall fancies , and derogatory to the noblenes of the rational soul , who hath a far more sublime and spirituall extraction . bee. but to let passe this quaere , how and when the rational soul informs and actuats the embryo , ther have bin great researches and indagations made , whether this soul being so distinct from the vegetal and sensitive in her operations , whether , i say , she hath any particular domicile or cell within the human body for her own residence . pererius . it was never found yet by any inspections which the naturalists and anatomisers have made , that the rationall soul hath any peculiar lodging , proper onely to her self , and differing from other animals ; but being indivisible , inextensive , and without parts , she is tota in toto & tota in qualibet parte , she is all in the whole , and whole in every part of the compositum , she is diffus'd up and down the whole masse or fabric of flesh , ther being no movement at all without her ; for as the beams or light of the sun displayeth it self every where through the whole hemisphere , yet hath it no particular mansion in any place more then another , so the rationall soul , which is a beam of immortality , diffuseth her self through the whole microcosm of man to quicken it , yet she hath no particular residence in any part ; 't is tru , that she is radically in the heart , and principally in the brain , which is as it were her capitol , and the seat of the animal-spirits ; thence she issueth forth her commands , and dividing her empire into a triarchy , she governs by three viceroys , the three faculties , who though they are absolutely distinct by their commissions , and keep their courts in severall regions , yet are they united by so indissoluble a league , and sympathetic alliance , that the prosperitie of one enlargeth the principalities of the other , and the detriment of each threatens the integrity of the whole ; the natural or vegetal faculty claims superiority of time in order of procreation , as being governesse of our minority , commanding the third part of our lises ; the vital hath preheminence in order of necessity , keeping her court chiefly in the heart , which is the first part that lives , and the last that dies ; thence she transmits a souvrain and conservatory influence through all the members , without which the whole man must in the fleetest article of time be but a cadaver ; the animal faculty challengeth supermacy in order of eminence , as regulating the sublimer actions , as sense and motion , togegether with the memory , understanding , and imagination , to which , as to their perfection , the two former are design'd . therefore , gentle bees , think speedily on the free proposall i have made , and of the fair opportunity you have offered you to be reinform'd with rational souls , and to return to the religious convent you came from , where being wean'd from the frail world , together with the cares and encumbrances therof ; where , by the constant practise of holy duties night and day , you may act the parts of angels upon earth , and afterwards of tru angels in the land of eternity : therfore shake off this despicable poor humming condition , and go again to sing hymns and halleluiahs to your creator . bee. know , sir , that we have also a religion , as well as so exact a government among us here ; our hummings you speak of are as so many hymns to the great god of nature ; and ther is a miraculous example in caesarius cisterniensis , how som of the holy eucharist being let fall in a medow by a priest , as he was returning from visiting a sick body , a swarm of bees being hard by took it up , and in a solemn kind of procession carried it to their hive , and there erected an altar of the purest wax for it , where it was found in that form , and untouch'd . but whereas you spoke of angels , how do the separated souls of good men , when they are exalted to heven , differ from the angels ? pererius . as they agree , so they differ in many things ; angels and separated souls agree , in that both of them are spirits ; both of them are intellectuall and eternall cretures ; they both behold the beatificall vision ; both of them are courtiers of heven , and act meerly by the understanding , &c. lastly , they both are parishioners of the church triumphant : now , as the blessed angels and souls separat do thus agree , so they differ in many things ; they differ in their essentialls , for the principles of angels are meerly metaphysicall , viz. essence and existence ; but a separated soul continues still part of that compositum which formerly consisted of matter and form , and is still apt to be reunited therunto ; till then , she is not absolutely completed , for all that while she changeth not her nature , but her state of life : moreover , they differ in the exercise of the understanding , and manner of knowledge , for a soul separat knows still by discours and ratiotination , which an angell doth not but by intuition ; they also differ in dignity of nature , for angels have larger illuminations , at the first instant of their creation they beheld the beatific vision , the summe of all happines , yet separated souls are capable to mount up to such a height of glory by degrees as to be like them in all things , both in point of vision , adhaesion , and fruition . bee. now , sir , that you speak of angels , what degrees are ther of them in the celestiall hierarchy ? pererius . they are divided into three hierarchies , and in every hierarchy ther are three orders ; the first consists of seraphims , the second of cherubims , the third of thrones ; the second consists of dominations , of vertues , and powers ; the third consists of principalities , of angells , and archangells ; now , those of the supremest hierarchy partake of divine illuminations in a greter mesure : and you were all born , gentle bees , to be members of any of these glorious hierarchies . bee. i remember when i was a nun , that som presumptuous spirits would preach , that angels were created for man , and that man was of so high a creation that he was little inferiour unto them , if not their equall , and that their chief ministeriall function was to guard him , &c. pererius . they were presumptuous indeed , and in a high degree of prophanenes , as you shall find in these stanza's of comparison , though som of them are familiar , and too low for so high a subject . 1. such as the meanest star in sky is to the sun in majesty ; what a monk's cell is to high noon , or a new cheese unto the moon ; no more is man , if one should dare unto an angel him compare . 2. what to the eagle is a gnat , or to leviathan a sprat ; what to the elephant a mouse , or shepherd's cott to caesar's house ; no more is man , if one should dare unto an angell him compare . 3. what to a pearl a peeble stone , or cobler's shop unto a throne ; what to the oak the basest shrub , or to noah's ark a brewer's tub ; no more is man , if one shold dare unto an angel him compare . 4. then let not man , half child of night , compare with any hevenly wight , he will appeer on that account a mole-hill to olympus mount ; yet let this still his comfort be , he hath a capability to be of heven himself , but on this score , if he doth not make earth his heven before . bee. noble prince , you pleas'd to give divers touches of the immortality of the human soul , i pray be pleas'd to illuminat and rectifie our understandings touching that point . pererius . concerning the immortality and incorruptiblenes of the rational soul in the world to com , not onely christian divines , but the best of pagan philosophers , poets , and orators , have done her that right , as is evident in their works ; moreover , the intellectuall human soul doth prove her self to be immortall , both by her desires , her apprehensions , and her operations ; touching the first , her desires are infinit we know , and never satisfied in this world ; now , it is a maxim among the school-men , that ther is no naturall passion given to any finit creture to be frustraneous ; secondly , her apprehensions or longings after eternall truths , which are her chiefest employments , and most adaequat objects , declare her immortall ; thirdly , from her operations , 't is known , that all corruption comes from matter , and from the clashing of contraries ; now , when the soul is sever'd from the body , she is elevated beyond the sphere of matter , therfore no causes of mortality can reach her , wherby her state and operations pronounce her immortall , which operations she doth exercise without the ministery of corporeall organs , for they were us'd to be a clog to her ; add hereunto , that she useth to spiritualize materiall things in the intellect , to abstract idaeas from individualls ; she can apprehend negations and privations , she can frame collective notions , all which actings conclude her immateriality , and as 't was pointed at before , where no matter is found ther 's no corruption , and where ther 's no corruption ther 's no mortality ; now , her prime operations being without the ministery of matter , she may be concluded immortall by that common principle , modus operandi , sequitur modum essendi , operations are according to the essence of every thing ; now , in the world to com , the soul shall be in a state of pure independent beeing , for ther will be neither action or passion in that state ; whence may be inferr'd , she shall never perish , in regard that all corruption comes from the action of another thing upon that which is corruptible , therfore that thing must be capable to be made better or worse ; now , if a separat soul be plac'd in her ultimat and utmost state , that she can be made neither , it follows , that she can never lose the beeing she hath ; besides , since the egress out of the body doth not alter her nature , but onely her condition , it must be granted , that she was of the same nature while she continued incorporated , though in that kind of imprisonment she was subject to be forg'd as it were by the hammer of materiall objects beating upon her , yet so , as she was still of her self what she was ; therefore when she goes out of the passible ore wherein she suffer'd , by reson of the foulnes and impurity of that ore , she immediately becomes impassible , and a fix'd subject of her own nature , viz. a simple pure beeing ; both which ( as a most noble knight sir. k. d. hath it ) may be illustrated in some mesure by what we find passeth in the coppilling of a fixed metall , which as long as any lead or drosse or any allay remains with it , continueth still melting , flowing , and in motion under the muffle ; but as soon as they are parted from it , and that 't is become pure , defaecated , without mixture , and single of it self , it contracts it self to a narrower room , and instantly ceaseth from all motion , it grows hard , permanent , and resistent to all force of fire , admitting no change or diminution in its substance by any externall violence ; in like manner it may be said , when the rational soul departs from the drossy ore of the body , and comes to be her single self , she is like exalted gold , and reduc'd to the utmost perfection ; she can be no more liable to any diminution , to action or passion , or any kind of alteration , but continues fix'd for ever in the full fruition of unconceivable blisse and glory . bee. excellent prince , these are high abstracted notions , transcending the reach of vulgar capacities ; but you were pleased to reflect somwhat upon the blisfulnes and joys of the human soul in the other world , i pray be pleas'd to enlarge your self upon this theme . pererius . these joys , as they are beyond expression , so they are beyond all imagination ; that vast ocean of felicity which the separat soul is capable to receive cannot flow into her , untill those banks of earth , viz. the corporeall walls of flesh be removed ; those infinit joys which the human soul shall be ravish'd withall in heven are unmeasurable , and beyond any mathematicall reaches ; they have length without points , breadth without lines , depth without surface ; they are even and uninterrupted joys , but to go about to expresse them in their perfection were the same task , as to go about to measure the ocean in cockle-shells , or compute the nomber of the sands with peeble stones ; touching these faint and fading plesures among the elements , we use to desire them when we need them , and when we have them , the desire presently languisheth in the fruition ; moreover , we use to love earthly things most when we want them , and lesse when we have them ; the daintiest meats and drinks nauseat after fulness ; carnall delights cause sadnes after the enjoyment ; all plesures breed not onely a satiety but a disgust , and the contentment terminats with the act : 't is otherwise with celestiall things , they are most lov'd when they are enjoy'd , and most coveted when they are had ; they are always full of what is desir'd , and the desire still lasteth , but it is a co-ordinat desire of complacency and continuance , not an appetit after more , because they are perfect of themselfs ; yet ther is still a desire , and a satiety , but the one finds no want , nor can the other breed a surfet ; the higher the plesure is , the more full and intense is the fruition , and the oftner 'tis repeted the more the appetit encreaseth ; whence this conclusion follows , that ther can be no proportion at all betwixt the joys of a separat soul , and those of a soul embodyed ; for the least dram of the spirituall joyes in heven is more than the whole ocean of fleshly contentments ; one drop of those abstracted , those pure , permanent ; & immarcescible delights is infinitly more sweet , than all those mix'd and muddy streams of corporeall and mundan plesures , then all those no other then utopian delights of this transitory world , were they all cast into a limbeck , and the very elixir of them distill'd into one vessell . bee. incomparable prince , you have conquer'd us with such strong herculean resons , you have raised our spirits with such high raptures , and so illuminated our understandings , that by the gracious fiat of the great god of nature , and the favour of queen morphandra his handmaid in this particular , we are willing to resume our first shapes , and so return to our dear country and cloysters , where the remembrance of this transfiguration , we hope , will turn to our advantage ; in the interim , we render you most humble and hearty thanks in the highest degree that can be imagin'd , for your flexanimous and hevenly perswasions , which we found so melting and sweet , that we may justly think bees sat upon your lips , as they did upon plato's , in your cradle , or that you might be nurs'd with hony in lieu of milk , as pindarus the prince of lyricks was ; and because poesie is the gretest light whereby the rational soul may be discerned to be a ray of divinity , we will conclude with som enthusiasms to blissfull heven and the hierarchies therof in this graduall hymn , beginning with our creator . natures great god , the cause of causes , be ador'd and prais'd to all eternity , that supream good , that quintessentiall light , which quickens all that 's hidden , or in sight ; who breaths in man the intellectuall soul , therby to rule all cretures , and controul what water , earth , or air ; &c. 1. o holy souls , o heavenly saints , who from corruption and the taints of flesh and blood , from pain and tears , from pining cares , and panting fears , and from all passions , except love ( which onely reigns with you above ) are now exempt , and made in endlesse blisse free denizons , and heirs of paradis . 2. o glorious angels who behold the lord of light from thrones of gold , yet do vouchsafe to look on man , to be his guide and guardian , praying always that he may be partner of your felicity ; o blisfull saints and angells , may yee still the court of heven with halleluiahs fill . 3. seraphick powers , cherubs , thrones , vertues and dominations , supernall principalities , glories , and intelligencies , who guide the cours of starrs in sky , and what in their vast concaves lye : may ye for ever great jehovah's will , and his commands throughout the world fulfill . 4. archangels who the most sublime degree do hold in the triumphant hierarchy , and can endure to see , and face alone the glorious beatific vision , a joy which all joys else transcends so far as doth a morning sun the meanest star. archangels , angels , saints , souls sever'd , may yee stil the empyrean court with halleluiahs fill . infantium cerebri sextus post quadraginta . gloria laùsque deo saeclorvm in saecvla sunto . a chronogrammaticall verse , which includes not onely this year 1660. but hath numericall letters enow to reach above a thousand years further , untill the year 2867. — heic terminus esto . an advertisement relating to ortography . ther is a saying , that hath gain'd the repute of a proverb , ( though it be also a kind of reproach ) that the french neither sings as he pricks , nor thinks as he speaks , nor speaks as he writes ; the first proceeds from abundance of spirits , and his volatil airy nature ; the second from his exces of complements ; the third , because he wold have his language retain still of the romand or latin toung ; therfore when he writes temps , corps , estoille , advocats , &c. which com from tempus , corpus stella , advocati , he pronounceth them , tan , cors , etoilis , avocà ; the english may be said to be as guilty hereof , for if the french writes , apres la tempeste vient le beau temps , and pronounceth , apre la tampete vien le bou tan , after a storm comes a calm ; if the french writes , les advocats bastissent leuers maisons de testes de fols , and pronounceth , les avocà batisset leur mesons de tete de fous , lawyers build their houses of fools heads , ( viz. clients ) the english comes not short of him , for wheras he writes , god give you good evening , he often saies , godi godin ; wheras he writes , much good may it do unto you , he often pronounceth , musgiditty : the french do labor daily to reform this , and to bring both writing and pronounciation to be consonant , by retrenching the superfluous letters , for wheras they were used to write , les epistres que les apostres ont escrit , they now write as they pronounce , les epitres que les apotres ont ecrit : it hath bin the aim of the author in this book ( and others ) to do the like , ( though the presse did not observe his ortography so punctually ) . now , strangers use to quarrel with our language , and throw away the book in a chase somtimes , because our writing and pronunciation are so differing ; for when a stranger meets with treasure , measure , feature , reader , weather , people , &c. he pronounceth tre-asure , me-asure , fe-ature , re-ader , we-ather , pe-ople ; when he meets with witnesse , sicknesse , wittie , prettie , pittie , starre , warre , &c. he pronounceth witness-e , sickness-e , witti-e , pretti-e , pitti-e , starr-e , warr-e , &c. wheras if we wold write them as wee pronounce them , viz. tresure , mesure , feture , reder , wether , peeple , witnes , sicknes , witty , pretty , pitty , star , war , &c. ( which gives altogether as full a prolation ) strangers wold not find such a difficulty and distast in learning our language ; it hath bin , and is still the endevor of the author to reform this , as also to bring those words which are derived from the latin toung to follow her ortography rather then the french , wherby divers letters are sav'd , as magic , tysic , colic , favor , lahor , &c. not magique , physique , cholique , favour , labour , &c. for as it is a principle in philosophy , encia non sunt frustra multiplicanda , entities are not to be multiplied in vain , so it may as well hold in ortography , that letters are not to he multiplied to no purpose ; add hereunto the topicall rule , ( as the author observes els-where ) frustra sit per plura quod fieri potest per pauciora , more is waste , whe●… fewer will serve one turn . the index . a more particular account of the ingredients that went to the composition of this work. a fol. the art of governing man the most difficult . 26 an asse's body medicinall for many things after death . ibid. the antipathy 'twixt an ape and a snail . 50 aristotle , secretary of nature's cabinet-councell . 55 ambition hath no horizon . 70 aristotle held , that in the female there was no active principle of generation . 55 confutation of the said opinion . ibid. apelles painted a good huswife standing upon a snail . 58 aristotle inconstant to himself where he treats of policy . 98 the affections of the peeple an imperfect security to a prince . 99 of atoms . 103 the activity of atoms . 104 the application of the sympatheticall powder . 106 aetonia characteriz'd . 108 aetonia full of mongrell princes . 109 the advantages of the human body . 120 an asse cannot abide fennell . 18 artonia a noun substantive that can stand by it self . ibid. the artonian peasan born in chains . 19 of artonia with the plenty and beggery thereof . 18 of the great artonian favorit . 21 the austerities of nuns . 134 b bees , how usefull after death . 138 bees bodies pounded good against many diseases . ibid. the books of the dead enliven the living . in the epist. brute animals more easie to be govern'd than mankind . 99 of the beast with many heads , viz. the common peeple . ibid. the brains of a fox good against the falling sicknes . 100 the blood of a fox good against the stone and the cramp . ibid. a dead boar hath nothing bad in him but his excrements . 112 the brains of a boar good against the bitting of serpents . ibid. the blood of a boar good against carbuncles . ibid. boar's liver good against the biting of a mad dogg . ibid. boar's lard good to make broken bones firm . ibid. boar's testicles good against the falling sicknesse . ibid. boar's dung good against all venomous bitings , as also against the pain of the spleen and sciatica . ibid. a boar being dead hath many vertues , and why ? ibid. how beasts go in many things beyond man. 120 the carboncian sells his king. 129 a bees hive , the chief confectionary of nature . 134 c the conduct of the passions the greatest prudence , and the conquest of them the greatest prowesse . in the epist. children a certain care , but an incertain comfort . 24 comparisons 'twixt the body politic and the natural . 48 censures pro & con of tumontia . 69 a rare comparison of the holy trinity . 83 a city in saturnia where husbands use to get their wife 's with child a hundred miles off . 88 a character of saturnia . 89 of the gripes of conscience . 90 of covetousnes . ibid. the common peeple a cross-grain'd animal . 99 a comparison touching the tomanto empire . 109 the character of an aetonian . 111 of cuprinia . 114 the cuprinian compar'd to a wolf. 115 the cuprinian had vast designes . 114 a carboncian turn'd to a soland-goose , and the resons why . 125 carboncia a coors country . ibid. carboncia's brag of her kings . 126 carboncia's late story . ib. carboncia found fidlers fare in gheriona . 128 the country of gheriona good , but the peeple bad . 131 a high complement . 135 concupiscence not given to mankind for a torment , but for delight . ibid. f a description of the morning . 48 a discours of woman-kind . 56 a devill lurks in every berry of the grape . 68 divers medicinall vertues in a dead deer . 64 of the discovery of the new world. 71 the doctor of physicks fee but two shillings in tumontia . 73 a discours of physic , and the art thereof pro & con . 74 diseases belonging to all the parts of human body . 78 distempers of the mind more cruciatory than those of the body . 80 a discours touching the sense and the soul. ibid. a discours of aetonia , and how she is impair'd , 109 what nation is the gretest drunkard . 111 a discours of the instinctive reson that beasts have . 119 what a damnable thing it is for subjects to rise up in arms against their king. 128 a discourse of nuns . 134 a discourse whether the human soul be by infusion or traduction . 140 the degrees of the celestiall hierarchy . 145 a discourse of the immortality of the soul. 147 e experience the touchstone of truth . 6 of the english liturgy . 30 examples pro & con touching the chastity of women . 59 an emblem of a lavishing wife . ibid. every one knows how to tame a shrew but he who hath her . 61 examples of notable scolds . ibid. examples of the rare longaevity of deer . 64 the elephant begins his youth at threescore years . ibid. how pittifully the empire is decay'd . 111 of aesop's dogg . 115 the fearfull and sudden judgment which fell upon the carboncians for their rebellion . 129 of the fixed starrs and the planets , touching their motion . 136 exact obedience among bees . ibid. exact government among bees . ibid. an epitome of the late confusions in gheriona . 33 an epitome of the confusions throughout the world for forty years . ibid. f fable of an ass. 24 of a foolish naturalist , who wish'd ther were another way to propagat mankind than by women . 55 the fable of the stagg . 65 a facetious answer of a pope touching physitians . 74 the foam of a mule drunk in warm wine good against pursines . 85 the fable of the mule. ib. divers fables of the fox . 87 the fable of the frogs . 99 a fox toung carried in a chain good against sore eyes . 101 fables 'twixt the wolf and the lamb applied . 105 the fable of the goat and the lion. 118 the fable of the horse and the ass. 24 the fable of the ass and the spaniel . ibid. g god heals , but the physitian takes the fee. 77 no government so wise that can fit all countries , and why ? 98 the genitalls , lights , and liver of a fox , good against the spleen . 101 the gum of a pine-tree eaten by the fox when he is ill . 100 goat's blood dissolves diamonds , and scours better then any file . 123 goat's milk recovers a load-stone , when being rub'd with garlick it hath lost its vertu . ibid. goat's marrow good against aches . ibid. goat's trindles drunk in wine good against the iaundies , &c. ibid. goat's liver , entralls , ashes , horns , milt , spleen , urine , marrow , hoofs , gall , dung , trindles , sewet , &c. all medicinall . ibid. gheriona censur'd . 131 h a graduall hymn to god and his angels . 150 if the humors were fix'd in man's body , he might live eternally . in the epist. history a profitable study . 31 the horridnes of annihilation . 49 honest men use to marry , wise men not . 62 the hardship the tumontian endures . 69 health , the most precious of iewels . 77 the high prerogatives of reson . 81 a horrid kind of revenge . 92 another hellish revenge in saturnia . 93 a late history of ten morris-dancers in orosia that made above a 1000 years betwixt them . 122 the horrid ingratitude of the carboncian against their native king. 128 the horrid insurrections in hebrinia took rise from carboncia . 130 hope like butter , gold in the morning , silver at noon , and lead at night . 135 i in som places of the indies the living wife throws her self into the pile with her husband . 60 iealousie among thoughts like bats among birds . 90 the insulsity of the common peeple to think any rare effect to be magicall . 102 of instinctive reson . 118 ill humors adhere to human nature as rust to copper . 121 of the infirmities of mankind . ibid. idlenes the devils couch . 154 k the highest knowledge a man hath of his creator but half blindnesse . 83 a cruel horrid murder . 103 the kirk-mens horrid ingratitude . 128 the kings cheese goes away three parts in pairings in artonia . 19 why the king of artonia keeps the common peeple so low . 20 the king of artonia's huge taxes . 19 the king of bees hath no sting . 136 the king of bees hath a solemn funerall . 189 l a lawyer like balaam's asse , he will not speak unlesse an angell appear . 16 of lawyers . 17 lawyers build fair houses of fool 's heads . 17 of laughter . 22 of the long age of deer . 64 laughter a passion that hath the most variety of action . 22 the laws of the kingdom of bees . 136 m mirth and sadnes follow one another in human bodies as night succeeds day . the epist. magic the first philosophy . 2 man paramount of all the sublunary cretures . 7 man a tyrant to himself . ib. man's body compar'd to a ship . 10 a mariner's life . 12 man the most intractable of all cretures . 26 of the great maiden-city marcopolis . 63 man hath more diseases than a horse , or any other creture . 98 of m●rchants . 70 marther strangely discover'd . 92 the marvellous continence of a saturnian . 94 of monarchy . 98 som generall maxims of policy may extend to all countries . 99 the mode of raaking the sympatheticall powder . 103 man more savage then any beast . 108 of the method of providence . 110 a miser and a hog good for nothing till after death . 112 man tax'd of presumption . 121 the miser like an ass , that carrieth gold but feeds on thistles . 17 the motions of nature irresitible . 135 mans gretest foes are within himself . ibid. man the gretest amphibyum of nature for having three souls . 159 n of navigation . 9 a notable proverb touching long life . 49 the noble gratitude of a saturnian . 94 not such a tyrant in the world as the common peeple . 99 the naturall and politicall body compar'd . 20 a notable fable of the ass and the horse applied . 24. nuns a degree higher the the ordinary cours of happines . 134 nature abhors captivity . 135 o of fading earthly joys . 149 of hevenly joys . ibid. otter's stones good against the palsie . 8 otter's liver reduced to powder good against the stone and cholic . ibid. of old age . 64 of the perturbances of human brains . 68 opportunity the best moment in the whole extention of time. 72 of physitians . 87 the odd life of a soldier . 114 orosia vindicated . 122 the orosian faithfull to his king. 123 orosia corrupted by the gherionian sectaries . 124 of the three souls in man. 159 new opinions , that the seeds of the parents go not to impregnation , but the female conceives by virtuall contact . 141 of the three faculties of the soul. 143 p the prerogatives that man hath over other cretures . 7 the partridge and pidgeon purge themselfs with bay-leafs . 76 policy how degenerated of late days . 95 the truest patriots are the marcopolits . 95 policy and craft distinguished . ibid. the poor politicians of gheriona . 96 a false policy that makes religion her mask . 95 policy or the art of governing man the hardest . 97 proverbs of severall nations . who preach war are the devil's chaplains . 129 the best policy gheriona can use is to keep the carboncian low . ibid. the periodicall motions of the planets . 136 potentially , man hath in him all created natures . 159 a poem , containing the whole history of man. 14 the prerogative of angels above man in a poem . 145 q queen morphandra descended of a divine race . in the prolog . queen morphandra did perform all her transmutations , not by any magicall ways , but by the power and fiat of god. of queen artemesia , who rear'd a wonderfull monument for her husband mausolus , and besides made her own body his tomb , by taking a doss every morning of his ashes . 60 r reson the specificall difference that distinguisheth man from beast . 7 the high prerogatives of reson . ibid. of roundheads . 49 rebells and mad doggs must be knock'd in the head . 100 rebels but half punish'd , like snakes cut in few pieces they will cling again together . ib. a rare cure wrought by the sympatheticall powder . 107 the reson that beasts have is onely direct , and capable of singulars . 118 reson distinguished . 120 the rational soul the image and breath of god almighty . 139 the rational soul the queen of forms . ibid. the rational soul a spark of immortality . ibid. the rational soul hath no particular place of residence in man , but is diffusive through all parts . ibid. resons alledg'd , that the rational soul is traducible . 141 a rare example of the devotion of bees . 144 s of a sea-faring life . 9 a strange horrid dream . 32 of the servitude and ill usage of women . 58 the serpent cures himself with fennel . 76 of the sagacity of som beasts . ibid. the stagg cures himself with dittany . ibid. the snail heals her self with hemlock . ibid. the stork heals himself with origanum . ibid. spinning out of time never made good cloth. 80 the sun never sets on the tumontian dominions . 83 a strange story of two saturnian merchants . 91 the saturnian in the extreams of love and hatred , of vertu and vices . 94 the saturnians may prescribe rules of prudence to all mankind . 95 of late smatterers in policy . 99 of the sympatheticall powder , and the rare vertues thereof . 103 the saturnian more subject to jealousie and revenge then other nations . 102 strings made of wolf's guts spoil all music. 116 strange things of the wolf. ibid. soldiers in peace like chimneys in summer . 127 symptoms when bees are sick . 138 some hold hony to be the sweat of the hevens , others the gelly of the starrs , others the quintessence of the air. ibid. how a swarm of bees built an altar . 144 t the torments of hell. 40 two notable sayings in disparagement of women . 55 two famous examples of the gallantry of women . 60 talk , one of the gretest delights of women . 66 the tumontian in his councels follows the motion of saturn , in his actions of mercury . 67 the tumontian excus'd for the blood he spilt in conquering the new world. 70 the tumontian monarchy like a cloak made up of patches . 84 the tumontian serves no prince but his own . ibid. the tumontian trades no where but into his own kings country . ibid. the tumontian in perpetuall feud with the common enemy . ibid. a town in saturnia where there are mountains without wood , sea without fish , men without faith , and women without shame . 88 tall men like houses five stories high , the upper room worst furnished . 111 a strange tale of an ass. 119 a tale of a crow . ibid. though the threed of a man's life be never so well spun , yet it hath many bracks . 121 till beans blossom , bees never go abroad . 137 the difference 'twixt separated souls and angels , and how they agree . 145 v of the vexations and perturbances of spirit that man is subject unto . 7 the variety of labors that go to make bread. 14 the vexation of spirit mankind is subject unto above other cretures . 68 the volganians beat their wife 's duly once a week . 68 the virtues of deer . 63 when all vices grow old , covetousness grows young in man. 90 of the vices in saturnia . 91 of the vices of aetonia . iii the high vanities of man. 145 a visionall dream . 32 the various torments of hell. 40 variety of new torments in hell. ibid. w the wisest of mortalls is he who controuls his humors . in the epist. warr a a fire struck in the devil's tinder-box . 10 women of purer stuff then men. 56 of rare women . 57 of good and bad women . 58 the woman and fortresse which begin to parly are half won . 66 women held by som to be of an inferior creation , and not the same species . 54 a woman can wash her hands so long in a bason of clear water that she cannot foul , man not . 56 women praised and dispraised . 57 the warrs with hydraulia cost the tumontian a hundred and twenty millions of tresure . 72 the ways hydraulia found out to counterfeit the tumontian coyn. ibid. the vvild boar heals himself with ivy. 76 vvhat the eye of a batt is to the sun , the understanding of man is to god. 83 the great vvilines of a fox in sundry fables . 88 of the vveaknesses and frailties of man. 121 these severall books are printed , and are to be sould by william palmer at the palm-tree in fleet-street . 1. occult physick ; or , the principles in nature anatomized , by philosophicall operations , taken from experience , in three book ; by w. williams , in 8º 2. phil-anglus , some sober inspections made into the carriages and consults of the late long parliament ; by iam ▪ howell esq in 8º 3. metamorphosis anglorum ; or , reflections historicall and politicall upon the late change of government in england , from the death of oliver lord protector to this present time ; by s. d. gent. 4. that renowned piece , mr. howell's dodona's grove , translated into the new refined french by one of the prime wits in the academy of blaux esprits in paris , in 4º the art of stenography , or short-writing , with a schoolmaster to the art ; by iohn willis . and also there are to be had and sold all the pieces of dr. heylyns writing . a new english grammar prescribing as certain rules as the languages will bear, for forreners to learn english : ther is also another grammar of the spanish or castilian toung, with some special remarks upon howell, james, 1594?-1666. 1662 approx. 405 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 144 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-05 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a44736 wing h3095 estc r23452 12764202 ocm 12764202 93549 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a44736) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 93549) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 984:6) a new english grammar prescribing as certain rules as the languages will bear, for forreners to learn english : ther is also another grammar of the spanish or castilian toung, with some special remarks upon howell, james, 1594?-1666. [12], 175, 95 p. printed for t. williams; h. brome, and h. marsh, london : 1662. reproduction of original in huntington library. added t.p.: "gramatica de la lengua inglesa, prescriviendo reglas para alcacancarla ... london, 1662." "la perambulacion de españa, y de portugal" has half-title and separate pagination. "the perambulation of spain and portugal" has half-title and separate pagination. parallel texts in english and spanish. attributed to james howell. cf. nuc pre-1956. signed: j.h. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce 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of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng english language -grammar -early works to 1800. spanish language -grammar -early works to 1800. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-01 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-02 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2004-02 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion portrait a la ecella , y serenissima magestad , de doña catarina de bragança infanta de portugàl , y reyna de la gran bretaña , &c. que dios guarde con acrecentamientos de toda felicidàd imaginàble , segun los mas humildes , los mas entrañables dessèos , y devociònes de don diego howel . en londres 1662. a new english grammar , prescribing as certain rules as the language will bear , for forreners to learn english : ther is also another grammar of the spanish or castilian toung , with som special remarks upon the portugues dialect , &c. whereunto is annexed a discours or dialog containing a perambulation of spain and portugall , which may serve for a direction how to travell through both countreys , &c. for the service of her majesty , whom god preserve . london , printed for t. williams , h. brome , and h. marsh. 1662. gramatica de la lengua inglesa , prescriviendo reglas para alcançarla ; otra gramatica de la lengua española o castellana , con ciertas observaciones tocante el dialecto portuguès y un discurso conteniendo la perambulaciòn de españa , y de portugàl . que podrà servir por direction a los que quieren caminar por aquellas tierras , &c. por el servicio de su magestad que dios guarde . london , printed for t. williams , h. brome , and h. marsh , 1662. to the sagacious reder . he who will pry well into the pedigree of the english language will find that shee is of a high descent , for shee hath the highdutch ( the most ancient german toung ) to her gran mother , and the saxon ( the prime dialect of the highdutch ) to her mother , for the ancient britains and hibernians , i mean the welsh and irish have no other name for her ( and her nation ) to this day . shee may be said also to have the french for her mother-in-law , her lawes being couch'd therin , for 't is 600. compleat yeers within five , since the norman took footing here , who with his leopards endeavor'd to bring in his laws and language . but whereas mothers-in-law or stepmothers seldom use to be kind , yet the french hath bin so to the english , for shee hath not onely enrich'd , but civiliz'd and smooth'd her with many thousands of words deriv'd from the latin , whereby shee is grown the more copious , nor indeed is ther any language fuller of synonymas , in regard shee hath for most things both a saxon and a french word , as stout valiant ; bold hardy ; godly devout ; wise prudent ; anger choler ; a spit a broche ; board table ; town city , &c. but t is worth the observing that her monosyllables are all saxon or dutch , which made one say , that the englishman capapiè from top to toe is dutch in all the parts of his body , in his drinking and eating he is dutch , at bed and board hee is dutch ; hee is all dutch at sea , as also when he holds the plough , in his numbers in the daies of the week ( not the months ) hee is dutch ; in his clothing he is dutch , ( though french in his fashion ) hee is dutch in his fishing , but in fighting , fortifying , and fencing , as also in hawking , hunting , and heraldry , in dancing , riding , and painting , in his music and airs he is all french , &c. add herunto that the english grows every day more and more copious by an adoption shee makes of the choicest forren words , which insinuating themselfs into her by degrees do in tract of time as it were naturalize themselfs and becom free denisons ; in so much that the english may be said to be dutch embordered with many other languages . now , touching this new english grammar , let not the reder mistake , as if it were an english grammar to learn another language , as lillie is for latin , and littleton for french , &c. no , this is a meer grammar of the english it self , for the use of forreners ; with a modest reserche into som solecismes that are in the ortography and speaking . it is a hard task to make a grammar of a mother toung , a harder task to make one of a dialect , but to make an exact regular grammar for all parts of a subdialect ( as the english is ) is a task that may be said to be beyond the reach of human understanding , the subject being not capable of it : mr. ben. iohnson a weighty man , and one who was as patient as hee was painfull in all his composures confess'd , the further hee waded herin the more he was still gravelled . concerning the spanish , the best gramarians and artists have bin consulted withall , besides the authors own observation who breath'd air a long time under that clime ; the castilian is a cleer and grave lesurly speech , it carries a kind of state , and deliberation with it ; therfore it affects long words as what we expresse in one syllable , the spaniard hath five or six syllables , as nacimiento birth , murcielago a batt ; levantamiento an uproar , &c. now , as english may be said to be nothing els but dutch inlayed with french , so the castilian toung is nothing els but latin inlayed with morisco words ; but the difference is , that the english is made the smoother by association shee hath with the french , but the castilian toung is grown more rugged by the admission and mixture of the morisco words , who coming from the arabic have a guttural or throaty pronunciation . the severall parts wherof this book consists . first , a new english grammar prescribing as certain rules as the language will bear for forreners , ( the spaniard especially , into whose toung it is rendred ) to attain the knowledg of the english. 2. of divers superfluous letters that are us'd in writing english which may be well omitted , whereby the language will be more easily for forreners to learn : as also of som solecisms us'd in the common practice of speech . 3. a grammar of the spanish or castilian toung . 4. som speciall remarks upon the portugues dialect , and how it differs from the castilian , with a short dictionary of such words as are meerly portugues . 5. a discourse by way of dialog twixt charles and philip containing the perambulation of spain and portugall , which may serve for a guide to them who may desire to see those countreys . 6. a familiar letter compos'd of above fourscore spanish proverbs conducing all to one subject , and rendred into english ; 7. another familiar letter consisting of english proverbs , and tending all to one subject rendred into spanish . a new english grammar rendred into spanish gramatica inglesa rendida en castellano . the english grammar . grammar is the art of letters , as the greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( whence it is derived ) imports : of letters are made syllables , of syllables words , and by the coagmentation of letters , syllables , and words , is fram'd sermocination or speech , which is one of the eminentst praerogatives of mankind above all other sublunary cretures ; for though others ( as som volatils ) by art , and hardship are brought to utter som broken words , yet they understand not what they speak , because they are destitut of the faculty of reson , mar. onely being the child of reson . of the english letters , with their pronunciation , and som special remarks upon them . touching the abcee ( or alphabet ) of the english toung , ther are fower and twenty letters in all which are written in great and small caracters ; the great are shap'd thus , abcdefghiklmnopq rstvwxyz . these great caracters serve for proper names ● persons , places and ivers , &c. as charles carlos● katherine catalina , london londres , lisbon lubona bona , severn sabrina , trent trenta ; som of them are of great account , for they are numerical , as i stands for one , v for five , x for ten , l for fifty , c for a hundred , d for five hundred , m stands for a thousand . the lesser caracters of the abcee are thus form'd , abcdefghiklmnopqrstvwxyz . now , what the fower elements are to all corporeal cretures in point of generation , the same are the letters to all languages in point of locution or speech : and as of the elements , though so few in nomber , such infinit kinds of compounded and differing mixd cretures are produced , as from their simple and primitive principles ; so from so small a nomber of letters such a world of different words are compos'd , and such an infinity of volumes penn'd and printed , which is a remark of wonder that hath faln but under the capacity of few . we will now consider all the letters severally by themselfs , which are the original ingredients that go to the composition of speech . these letters divide themselfs into vowels and consonants , so call'd because they have no sound at all without a vowel go before or after ; as b hath e after it , f hath e before it to make it pronounceable : of which consonants fower are call'd liquids , call'd so because they melt as it were in the mouth , and have a softer kind of pronunciation then the rest , which fower are l m n r. the vowels are 5. in number , viz. a e i o u , ther is a word in spanish which no other language hath , that comprehends all the five , which is oveja , a sheep : 't is tru that the transcendent eternal name of iehova hath them likewise together , but that h onely ( which is but an aspiration ) interposeth . now , the vowels deserve to have the precedence of all the rest of the letters , because no consonant can be pronounced or is soundable without one of them before or after , ( as 't was said before ) therfore are they call'd consonants or co-sounding . a. the vowel a is the first letter in all languages , and it merits the priority of all other , because it is the first and most natural easie motion and ouverture of the lips ; it is also the letter of absolution and comfort , as cicero hath it . the french have a proverb that makes much for the honor of a , viz. il est marquè a l' a , he is mark'd with a ; that is , he is right honest man : this may haply be the reson why a hath such a large dominion among the english , for she is a praepositive article ( with the ) to most substantifs and adjectifs , as a man un hombre , a knight un cavallero , a sword una espada , a learned man un hombre cientifico , a valiant knight un cavallero valiente , a bright sword una espada luziente . a in the english toung hath two differing sounds , the one open and full , as abraham , alabastre alabastro ; the other pressing , and as it were half mouth'd and mincingly , as ale cerveza , awake despierto , &c. whereas in spanish ( and other languages ) it bears the first open prolation , as da dios alas a la hormiga para que se pierda mas ayna god gives wings to the ant that she may destroy herself the sooner ; a proverb alluding to prowd ambitious men . a , when it comes before lm somtimes drowneth the l and turneth to an u , as calme is pronounced caume , psalme psaume , balme baume , &c. but the a receives thereby a more open sound , and makes as it were one syllable of two . e. e the second vowel is pronounced in english as in spanish and other languages ; when it concludes a word it is pronounced carelesly and faintily , as bare nudo , there allà , fire , fuego , &c. as the spaniards also do in combate a fight , combite a feast , escabeche pickle , padre father , madre mother , &c. but in the monosyllable article the t is pronounced sharp . where e comes after l having two consonants before it , it hath a strange transposition , for it leaps before l , and takes the half sound of i , as epistle epistel , epistola ; thistle thistel , cardo ; little littel , poco ; prickle prickel , espina : e passeth also obscurely , where it ends a word with a consonant , as spoken hablado , broken quebrado , coffer cofre , brewes sopa , &c. when e also comes before d , to conclude a word , she loseth often her sound by an apostrophe , as tyred tyr'd , cansado ; restrained restrain'd , restreñido : and so in all participles of the preter-tense . when e cometh before a it drowns the a , but makes the pronunciation longer , as beast bestia , disease enfermedad , feast combite , &c. e and i have such a friendship in the english language , that they supply one anothers place somtimes , and are us'd indifferently , as enterchange or interchange , trueque ; her or hir , ella ; endure or indure , sufrir ; endevor or indevor , diligencia , &c. and 't is so likewise in spanish , as mesmo or mismo , the same ; pedir or pidir to pray : the italian also doth it often as refiutare or rifiutare , reputare or riputare ; but the florentine more affects i. i. the vowel i hath a very peculiar sound in som english words , which differeth from other nations ; for the spaniards with others pronounce it as ee in english , as mi tio my uncle , mee teeo ; pimienta pepper , peemeeenta ; cinco five , ceenco : but the english pronounce in most words i as if it were the dipthong ei , as pilot peilot , pilota ; a pipe peipe , pipa ; a hide heide , cuero ; licence leicence , licencia : which pronunciation is a pure anglicisme . i , may be call'd an amphibolous letter , for though she be naturally and by her birth a vowel , yet she degenerats often into a consonant , ( which she never useth to do in the hebrew and greek ) which consonant hath an affinity with g , insomuch that she may claim ( like v ) two caracters , as having two such capacities , viz. of vowel and consonant , as james is pronounced giames , diego ; javelin giavelin , javelina ; joy geoy , alegria ; jeffrey gieffrey , godefrido , &c. o. the vowel o is pronounced with a rounde : mouth than any other , therfore she hath properly an orbicular figure , and is a letter in english of much change and incertainty ; sometimes she is pronounc'd sharp , as coller collar , corn grano , crosse cruz , crocodile crocodilo , &c. somtimes o is pronounc'd flat , as colour colòr , cosen primo , mother madre , taking thereby the half sound of u. upon the u , o soundeth smart , as round redondo , sound sonido , bound atado , &c. but in the last syllable before n she loseth her strength , as devotion devocion , compassion compassion , person persona : before w also at the end of words she loseth he● strength , and becomes an u , as hollow hueco , hollu ; tallow tallu , cevo , &c. when o ends a word she is pronounced strong & clear , as in these monosyllables , go and àd , so assi , no no , &c. before v consonant o hath various pronunciations , open and shut , as dove paloma , glove guante , grove arboleda , jove iupiter , &c. priscian saith , that som cities in italy had not o at all but u , and in other places they had no u at all , but o in the place of it , as in old writers we read volgus for vulgus , poblicum , polchrum , colpam , for publicum , pulchrum , culpam ; and let this suffice for this inconstant letter . v. the vowel u as well as i hath the privilege to become consonant very often , which make som call them the mongrel letters : v never endeth any word in english for the nakednes of it , but cloaths her self with a dipthong , and at other times hath● to follow her , as new nuevo , knew conocia , blu : azùl , true verdadero , &c. the english pronounce oftentimes u like the french , in a whistling manner which sound is quite differing from the spaniar● and italian , who prolate it in a manner like oo , as un one , oono ; usanza use , oosanza , &c. but the english and french pronounce u as if it were the dipthong ew , as cocu a cuckold is pronounced as if 〈◊〉 were written cokew ; cubit kewbit , &c. the german is subject often to turn b to u , as there is a facetious tale of a duchman , who thinking to complement with his french hostesse said , ma foy madame vous avez veaux enfans , truly madame you have calfs to your children ; wheras insteed 〈◊〉 veaux calfs , he shold have said beaux fair . w. w is pronounced with a larger roundnes of the lips then the letter o , and with far more force if 〈◊〉 hath h next it , as whale balena , wheele rued● whirligigg peonça , &c. but where h doth not immediatly follow 't is pronounced soft , as whirlwin● remolino , where the first w is far more emphatic● then the second . the saxons or high dutch themselfs , whence th● english derive their origen and language , cannot pronounce this w before h with that vigor , but 〈◊〉 lieu of what they say wat , where were , &c. which shews that the english have stronger lungs . the spaniard hath no w , nor the italian an● french. y. y , although it be pronounced like i , yet she is more constant to her self , scorning as it were to degenerat from her first being , and from a vowel to turn consonant ; therfore she may well deserve to be call'd the letter of philosophy , or phythagoras his letter . in french she is of that weight that she makes somtimes a whole word of her self , as voulez vous y aller , will you go thither ? and is an adverb both of person and place : in spanish she frequently makes a syllable of her self , as yxar the flank , yzar to lift up , &c. of dipthongs . thus much of the vowels , which may be call'd the ligaments or arteries that knit the bones or consonants together , and put life into them , els they were but so many dead trunks . we will now to the dipthongs , which because they are meerly made of vowels , 't is fitting they shold precede the con●onants . dipthongs are as it were the associating of som vowels to make them issue forth a joynt sound , so that two sounds may be had in one syllable . the english dipthongs may be reduced to ten , as ai o● ay , as maid moça , afraid amedrentado , may may , day dia : the second au or aw , as austere austero , autentico autentico , law ley , awe obedience : the third ea , as east levante , earl conde , seat sede , yea s●● the fourth ei , as weight peso , streight derecho : the 5. ew , as dew rocio , few pocos : the 6. oi or oy , as toil trabajo , soil terra , boy muchacho , joy alegria : the 7.00 , as food bastimento , good bueno : the 8. o● or ow , as stout animoso , toung lengua , now agora : the 9. ui or uy , as juice çumo , the last uoy , as buoy . ther are but three words wherin the dipthong eo is found , viz. people , jeopard , yeoman . the dipthong ae is not us'd neither in english or spanish . of the consonants . b. b is the first consonant and second letter of the abcee ; it is the first that brings our lips together after we are born , therfore t is calld the prime labi●l letter : in english t is pronouncd as in other languages , but not alwayes as it is in spanish wher it is promiscuous with v in sundry words , as bisoño a young soldier , or visoño ; vimbrera an ozier , o● bimbrera ; in greek also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is turned often to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which made the duchman to say as wittily as waggishly , si beta est veta , tunc bibere est vivere . but the highest commendation of b is , that it is the letter of innocence , it being the bleating tone of the sheep , which is the embleme of innocence . c. ther are som critical authors who bear no good will to c , calling it the mongrel androg y nous letter , nor male nor female , but rather a spirit or monster ; and that by her impostures she trencheth upon the right of s k q , assuming their sounds ; that she might be spar'd in our english abcee because of the identity or sameness of sound she hath often with them three : but surely they are deceived , for how could we pronounce cheshire cheese , chisel , chivalry , without her ? in italian she borrows also the sound of g , as castigo for gastigo : in spanish ( and french ) when she sounds like s she is attended with a train , having a semicircle underneath ç , and then she is call'd c cedilla , as çaratan the canker , çapato a shooe , çarça a bramble , &c. which are pronouncd saratan , sapato , sarsa . d. d is so dainty a letter in english , that she admits of no other consonant to be her gentleman-usher but r , as dreams sueños , drink bevida , drop gota , dragon drago , drum atambor , &c. she is pronounc'd as in other languages , but in spanish when she is between two vowels , or before any vowel in the midst or end of a word , she useth to melt into th , as we pronounce them in that or the in english , as dádivas entran sin taladro , gifts enter without a wimble ; which are pronounc'd as if they were written , dathivas entran sin talathro : dd in the british or welsh agree with the spanish in this pronunciation , as heb dduw heb ddiiw , nothing without god. f. f hath the honor to make one of the highest notes in music , and , which is more , to be the first letter of the highest spiritual vertu , faith ; she is pronounc'd as in other languages . g. g hath a diffring pronunciation in the english , one before a , o and u , as gard guarda , gold oro , gulph golfe , &c. and another before e and i , as gentleman , hidalgo , german tudesco , gibbet hor●a , giant gigante , &c. yet ther be som words when she comes before i , that are pronounc'd as if she came before a , o or u , as giddy vertiginoso , gift dadiva , girdle cinta , &c. h. h is the letter of breath or aspiration , and therfore may be call'd the letter of life , for when the breath is gone , farewel life : therfore i wonder why the greeks came to give her no place in their alphabet . som call her a spirit , but whether letter aspirat or spirit , the alphabet wold be breathless without her . som call her the queen of conscnants . in som words she is written but not sounded , as in humor humòr , honor honra , humble humilde , host huesped , &c. which are pronounc'd , umor , onor , umble , oft : the spaniard also leaves her our in most words . th hath two sounds in english , the one strong ▪ like the greek ● theta , as thunder trueno , thursday iueves , thousand mil , thirsty sediento , theef ladron , thought pensamiento , &c. but th in other words are pronounc'd gently , like d in spanish , as in this esto , that aquello , thine tuyo , thither la , thence de la , then entonces , therfore por tanto , thou tu , &c. h after w hath a stronger aspiration in the english then in any other language , as what que cosa , wheat trigo , wheel rueda , when quando , where adonde , whore puta , whale balena , &c. ph is pronounc'd alike in english as in spanish ( and other languages ; ) but indeed ther 's no ph in spanish or italian , for they turn it into f , as philosopher filosofo , philip felipe , phantasie fantesia , &c. ch is pronoun●d in english as in spanish ( and the italian ) as china , chamber cama , cheese queso , cherry ceresa , &c. in which words ch is pronounc'd as the spaniard does in chico little , chichon a bile , chirlar to chirp : but the french differs very much herein , for he prolates ch as sh , as chambre shambre , china shina , cheshire cheese sheshire sheese , chichester shishester , &c. k. k is so stately a letter , that she scorns to serve either the spaniard or italian , nor the latin or french either , but in the word kalendae ; therfore they make c to be such a drudg to them in her place , but the english makes equal use of them both ; yet k goes in english before no consonants but n , as knight cavallero , knowledge ciencia , knave vellaco , knife cuchillo , knee rodilla , &c. l. l hath the honor to make the highest tone in music , for she hath a kind of gentle melting pronunciation , therfore she is call'd by som 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , because she seems to sweeten the roof of the mouth . the english pronounce l as the spaniards do , but where ll is found in the beginning or middle of any word in castilian , the last l turns to i , as lloro lamentation , calle a street , callar to hold ones peace , lleno full ; the spaniard pronounce them as lioro , calie , caliar , lieno . the britains or welsh have also like the spanish a particular sound of ll , which no other nation can pronounce unless one be bred there very young ; it is so difficult to the english that they are forced to turn it to fl , as floyd for lloyd , &c. m. m may be well call'd a labial letter as well as b , nay , t is a question which of them makes the lips meet first in an infant . we read that the phrygia● child upon whom ptolomey tryed his conclusion ▪ which language was the most natural , spoke be● first , which signifieth bread in that language : but the ancient britains hold that m is the first letter which makes the lips meet , because ther 's no other word for mother in welsh then mam , which all infants , be they born under any climat whatsoever , use to pronounce articulatly as soon as they come into the world . m is pronounc'd cleer in the beginning , meanly in the midst , and obscurely in the conclusion of a word in english ; but t is alwayes prolated with a kind of humming , as mamalukes mamaluques , marjerom origano , mamora mamora , martyrdom martyrio , &c. n. n in english is pronounc'd as in spanish , ( and other languages ; ) but in the spanish toung it hath this singularity , as to have a streight stroke on the top , as for example ñ , and then she must be pronounc'd as if i immediatly follow'd her , as fue la negra al baño , y tuvo que contàr todo el año , the negre went to the bath , and she had news enough for the whole twelmonth ; in this proverb baño and año must be pronounc'd as if they were written banio , anio . this letter n ringeth somwhat in the nose , and hath three degrees of sounds , full in the beginning , weak in the middle , and flat at the end of a word . p. p may be call'd the third labial letter after b and m , for she also makes the lips meet : in the italian she is often metamorphos'd to an u , as soprano sourano , coperta coverta . q. qhath much encroch'd upon the freehold that k had in former times among our saxon progenitors , who scarce knew this bumm letter q , but before the norman conquest they writt kuill for quill , kuire for quire , &c. but the french-normans bringing in divers latin words , as question , quantity , quintessence , and others , much trenched upon the saxon k ; yet this q is so beggerly a letter , that unless u follow she hath no being in english. r. r. ther is a most mighty populous nation next the sun-rising call'd the chineses , who read and write perpendicular not collateral , that have not the letter r at all , therfore they call their next neighbour the tartar , tata , leaving out both the r's : and it may be the reason is , because r is the dogs letter , and seems to snarle in the sound , — sonat haec de nare canina litera , this letter sounds of a dogs nostrill . the french women do oftentimes out of wantonnes leave it unpronounc'd at the end of words . in english t is pronounc'd as in other languages . s. s , though it be call'd the serpents letter because of her hissing sound , as also for her shape , yet she hisseth but gently against the gums ; she varieth her powers much in our pronunciation , in the beginning she hath a quick sound , as sables z ebeliu● sabbath sabado , &c. but in the middle and end of words , unless she go doubled , she is pronounc'd meltingly as z , as rose rosa , wise sabio , gems ●oyas , rimes rimas , &c. but if the s be doubled , it is pronounc'd hard and sharp , as distresse , oppresse , lesse , dresse , tresse , &c. t. t hath one constant prolation , except where it precedes i , towards the ends of words , as generation , action , nation , faction , generacion , action , nacion , faction , &c. and then t turns to c , as those words use to be written in spanish . x. x hath scarce the account of a letter in the english , because ther 's never a word in the whole language that begins with it ; in the middle it comes often , as sixty , vexe , perplexe , sexe , &c. and it ends many words , as pox las buvas , flax estopa , fox raposa , six seys ; which sound as if they were written pocks , flacks , focks , sicks : for x hath the prerogative to be made up of three consonants , ( which no other letter hath ) viz. k , c and s , which being so , the anagram that was made of uxor and orcus was not unwitty , — uxor & orcus idem . but x is very frequent in the spanish , both in the beginning middle , and end of words ; which came from the mores , who for 700. years did almost inhabit the greatest part of spain , and by so long coalition infected them with a guttural tone . z. z is the last of all the letters , and t is properly so , being commonly the last sound that one makes in the mouth at his going out of the world , when he begins to throttle : ther are but two or three words in all the english toung ( besides som greek proper names ) that begin with z , viz. zeal , zealous , zealot , with som terms of astronomy , as zone , zenith , zodiac . and so much of single letters . of syllabes or syllables . having done with the elements or simples of speech , we will now proceed to the compounds of letters , and first of syllables . a syllable is part of a word , which may of it self make a full articulat sound ; it is sometimes ( as 〈◊〉 spanish also ) of one letter , as amazd espantado , 〈◊〉 quippage aparejo , imagination imaginacion , omino●● desastroso , usurer logrero ; where a , e , i , o and u is the beginning make a syllable of themselfs . a syllable of more letters is made either of dithongs or vowels only , as ayder ayudador , auditor audienciero , eating comiendo : now though a vo● el hath the privilege to make a syllable of her sel● yet no consonant can do so , unlesse it shake han● with a vowel . syllables with a consonant are e●ther of two letters , as no no ; or of three , as th● which in the english useth often to be written shoth● thus , the ; or of more letters , as that , then , with , aquello , entonces , con ; which are written short , that y en w th ; of 5. letters , as there , which , alla , que ; which are written short , y ere which . ther are som syllables that have two consonants to one vowel , as cry grido ; som three , as dr●● ramera ; som 4. as dregs heces ; som 5. as strin● cuerda ; som 6. as strength fuerça ; som syllabl● have 7. consonants to one vowel , as strengths ●●●erça ; but that 's the utmost nomber : and t is observable what a virtu a little vowel hath , to give 〈◊〉 to so many consonants . but the pole hath 〈◊〉 consonants attending one vowel , in so much tha when he speaks he hurls his words at ones fa● like stones . touching the position or quantity of syllabl● ther is no language , i know of , hath exact rules , restraints , examples and cautions to that purpo●● but the greeks and latins ; ther is not so much 〈◊〉 and trouble used in the english or spanish ( or 〈◊〉 other occidental toung ) because their metri● compositions , verses and rimes are meerly ●rived from an instinct of nature , such as arist● speaks of , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , viz. of a volu●tary and natural free composition , without 〈◊〉 enslavd so much to the quantity of syllables . 〈◊〉 were the greeks before homer , nor the roman b●● fore livius andronicus , so curious in observing punctually the length and shortnesse of syllables . it is consentaneous to order and reason , we 〈◊〉 now speak of the accents of syllables , which 〈◊〉 it were the tuning or the toning of the voice , and the not observing of the accent may make a word to be in danger of mis-tuning . for ther are multitudes of words which are written alike , and have punctually the same letters , yet have they clea● contrary pronunciations , as désert a wildernes , de●sierto , and desèrt mericimiento ; tórment tormento tormènt atormentàr ; óbject objecto , objèct objectàr ; incense insenso ; cónvert convertido , conv●● convertìr : now 't is the accents duty to make 〈◊〉 pronounce aright , and where we find the accen● we must give a force and emphasis to that syllable . in adverbs commonly the accent is in the 〈◊〉 syllable , as mèrrily alegramente , hèavily tristemente . dissyllable and trissyllable words have also mo●● commonly the accent in the first syllable , as wìnter invierno , sómmer estio , síngular singulàr , péssilence pestilencia , pròvidence providencia . words also terminating in able , be they of 3. or 4. syllables , have the accent in the first , as fàble fabul● , sènsible sensible , sòciable amiable : except abominable abominable , detèstable detestable , &c. words terminating in tion or sion , have commonly the accent in the syllable next before , as conténtion contienda , confúsion confusion , abominátion abominacion : but the spaniard hath alwayes the accent is the last syllable of such words . all dissylables ending in ish , ry , er , el , et , slávish●clavoso ●clavoso , màrry esposar , hòver meneàr , dàmsel do●zella , pácket paquete , gámmon pernil , bácon toci● words ending in nt have the accent commonly in the last , as lament lament , contènt contentamiento , extènt extension , &c. we come now to the quality of words , to know whether they are primitives or derivatives . most of the primitive words in the english toung are monosyllables ; go unto a mans body from top to toe , the parts therof are all monosyllables , as head cabeça , heart coraçon , guts entrañas , knee rodilla , foot pie , &c. which clearly discovers her to be a daughter of the high-duch . the spanish clean contrary abound and delight in words of many syllables ; and where the english expresseth himself in one syllable , he doth in 5. or 6. as thoughts pensamientos , fray levantamiento , &c. which is held a part of wisdom , for while they speak they take time to consider of the matter . ther are also simple words and compounded words , as love amòr , lovely amoroso ; man varòn , manly varonìl ; wise sabio , unwise necio : and herein , i mean in point of composition of words , the english toung is as happy , and as hardy as any language , except the greek , ( which goes beyond all other in that kind : ) for the english doth often joyn and coagment two substantifs together , as 〈◊〉 cortadòr de bolsas , self-love amor de si mesmo , 〈…〉 de molino ; and somtimes ther 's a 〈…〉 substantifs in one word , as tap-house-kee●●● ▪ bodegonero , a foot-ball-player jugadora pelota , &c. of the parts of speech in the english toung . ther be eight parts of speech in the english toung , as in other languages , viz. noun , pronoun , verb , participle , adverb , conjunction , preposition , interjection ; whereunto we adde the prepositive articles the and a , which the latin only lacks ; wherof the first is definit and terminats the understanding , as the sword la espada , the book el libro , which denotes som particular book or sword ; the other is indefinite , as a sword una espada , a book un libro , which denote the general idea of swords and books . ther is also another difference twixt the articles the and a , viz. that the first may be applied to the plural nomber also , as the swords las espadas ; but the article ▪ a is applied to the singular nomber only . proper names are incapable of these articles . now of the parts severally by themselfs . of nouns . nouns are either substantifs , which can stand and be understood by themselfs , as church yglesia , sheet calle ; or they are adjectifs , which signifie no real thing , unless they be applied to som substantif , as white blanco , fair lindo , &c. the english toung hath this singularity above other languages , ( but she is nothing the more commendable for it ) that he useth to put the adjectif before the substantif , as brown bread baço pan , a wise man sabio hombre ; wheras other nations postpose the adjectif , and say pan baço bread brown , hombre sabio a man wise . noun substantifs are either common , as bridg puente , river rio ; or proper , as rialto rialto ( a particular bridg in venice ) severn sabrina ; or personal , as charles carlos , katherine catalina . ther are five genders that belong to these nouns , the masculin , which comprehends all males under a masculin idea , as bulls toros , men hombres , &c. the feminin , which comprehends whatsoever is of a femal kind , as woman hembra , does ciervos . the neuter gender , whose notion conceives neither sex , under which are compriz'd all inanimat things , as cities , rivers and ships ; for though ther be names of other genders , yet they are spoken of as she 's ; as eboracum york , rhenus the rhine , the charles royal. the fourth is the epicene or promiscuous gender , which understands both kinds , as dogs , horses , deer ; under which words both sexes are intimated , as hounds and bitches , geldings and mares , bucks and does . the fifth is the common or rather doubtful gender , which hath a near affinity with the former , as frend , gossip , neighbour , cosin , &c. which comprehend either sex : but in spanish ( and other languages ) they are distinguish'd by their masculin and feminin terminations , as amigo amiga , vezino vezina , prim● prima , &c. which is an advantage the english toung hath of others . diminutifs are proper to all languages ; in english the diminutifs of som substantifs end in ell , as cock cockrell , part parcell , &c. som in ing , as goose gosling , duck duckling , &c. som in ock , as bull bullock , hill hillock : som in et , as baron baronet , &c. ther are also diminutifs of adjectifs , as cold coldish , black blackish , green greenish , &c. ther are likewise divers diminutifs of proper names in english , both of men and women , as christopher kitt , gregory grigg , richard dick , magdalen maudlin , katherine kate , elizabeth besse , &c. but ther are som names which bear no diminutifs , as peter , iames , stephen , &c. but the spaniard herein hath more diminutifs and sub-diminutifs then any other language , as simòn , simoncico , simoncillo , simoncilillo ; miguel , miguelico , miguelillo ; catalina , catalinica , catalalinilla , &c. the english adjectifs have their degrees of comparison , as well as those of other languages ; nay , to som words they have two comparatifs and superlatifs , which other languages have not ; they expresse the one either by the word more , or adding er to the end of the positif , as wise more wise or wiser , stout more stout or stouter , &c. so the superlatif is expressed either by the word most , or adding est to the end of the positif , as wise most wise or wisest , stout most stout or stoutest . but from this general rule few are excepted , as goood better best , bad worse worst , little lesser least . adjectifs which end in ous admit of comparatifs and superlatifs onely by the words m●ore or most , as glorious , more glorious , most glorious ; so specious , famous , victorious , &c. the english adjectifs commonly have no plural nomber , but the singular serves for both , which is a great ease to the language , as stout man stout men , wise man wise men : but the substantifs have their plurals , som terminating in s , as king kings , stagg staggs , park parks , wood woods , &c. others terminat in n , as man men , woman women , oxe oxen , hose hosen : as in all other languages so ther are some irregular words , ( though they be few ) that swerve from the former terminations ; as the plural of mouce is mice , of louce lice , of tooth teeth , of foot feet , &c. ther are som substantifs that admit of no plural nomber at all , ( and they are weighty ones ) as gold , silver , brass , copper , tinn , and all minerals ; ( no more have they in the spanish , as oro , plata , bronza , cobre , estaño ) with divers other , as rest , bread , &c. these substantifs have the plural only , as goods , riches , necessaries , &c. where it is observable that necessaries the substantif , is begot of the adjective necessary . we com now to the pronouns , so called because they stand somtimes for nouns ; we will take them in their degrees , and begin with the persons , i , tho● , he , we , ye , they : which are declined thus : the first person . plural . singular . nom. i yo wee nosotros gen. of mee of us dat. to mee to us accus . mee us voc. o mee o wee abl. with or from mee . with or from us . the second person . singular . plural . nom. thou tu yee vosotros gen. of thee of you dat. to thee to you accus . thee you voc. thou o you abl. from or with thee . from or with you . the third person . singular . plural . nom. hee el ò aquel they ellos gen. of him of them dat. to him to them accus . him them voc. o he o they abl. with or from him . with or from them . there are in english fower pronouns possessives , my or mine , mi ò mio ; my comes alwayes before a word beginning with a consonant , as my cloak mi capa , my hat mi sombrero , &c. mine comes alwayes before a substantif beginning with a vowel or h , as mine aunt mi tia , mine heritage mi her●ncia , &c. but mine stands oftner by it self for a possessif , specially in answer to a question , as whose sword is this ? mine ; whose glove is that ? mine , the plural of my and mine is our ours , which also are possessifs . the second possessif is thy thine , as thy house tu casa , thine arme tu braço , thine hand tu mano ; and thine as mine come before a word beginning with a vowel . thine also stands for a possessif of it self to a question , as whose land is that ? thine ; cuya a tierra es aquella ? la tuya . the plural of thy thine is you yours , which are also possessifs . the third possessif is her hers , with their plurals their theirs ; as her distaf su rueca , her maiden head su virginidàd ; whose ring is this ? hers . but the spanish ( nor the italian and french ) hath not this distinguishing feminin possessif , but useth su and suyo for both . which , who and that are relatif pronouns , depending on the words before , but which and why properly relate to living things , and that to inanimat ; as the man which preach'd yesterday , the lady who passed this way , the stones that went to build pauls , &c. what and whose are interrogative pronoun , and so are the foresaid which and wh● somtimes . ther are som compounded pronouns , as my self , our selfs , thy self , your self , him self , her self , it self , the self same , &c. of a verb. verb is one of the most principal and necessary parts of speech : nay , it may be call'd the genius and soul of speech , for pack all the words of the world together , no sentence , whether interrogative or other , can be made without it ; for what vowels are to words , the same verbs are to speech , they animat both ; which makes it have such a latitude in the latin toung , that the word verbum extends to all parts of speech . a verb in english as in spanish ( and all other languages ) hath 3. tenses or distinctions of times the present-tence , as i pray or do pray ; the time past , as i prayed or did pray ; the future or time to come , as i shall or will pray . the terminations 〈◊〉 verbs in english is the same both in the singular and plural nomber , ( except the second and third perso● in the singular ) as i live , we , ye , they live , &c. 〈◊〉 not so in spanish , as yo vivo nos vivimos , &c. 〈◊〉 in other languages , which is a mighty advantage and ease for the learning of the english language . ther are in english verbs aclifs , passifs and neuters , as in other toungs , as i love yo quiero , 〈◊〉 actif : i am lov'd yo soy querido , is passif by addition of the auxiliary verb am , soy : the neuter verb is where am cannot be added , as i live vivo , i weep lloro , &c. ther are in english , as in other languages , fower cadences and conjugations of verbs : verbs of the first conjugation som end in all , as to call llamar , to fall cayer , to install , to inthrall , &c. whose participles are made by addition of ing and d at the end , as calling call'd , installing install'd , &c. som end in are , as to dare , to pare , to share , &c. whose participles also end alike , as par'd paring , &c. som end in ace , as to chace , to face , to grace , to lace , to trace , to imbrace , &c. whose participles also are made like the former . verbs of the second conjugation som end in eare , as to beare , to sheare , to teare , to weare , &c. whose participles end in ing and orne , as borne , shorne , torne , bearing , shearing , tearing . som verbs end in ease , as to ease , to please , to displease , &c. som end in ead , as to lead , to knead , to read , to spread , to tread , &c. som in ind , as to bind , to find , to wind , to grind , &c. som in end , as to bend , to send , to lend , &c. verbs of the third conjugation som end in ite , as to bite , to write , to endite , &c. som end in ight , as to fight , to fright , to light , to plight , to right , &c. som end in ell , as to quell , to tell , to sell , &c. som in ink , as to d●ink , to sink , to sink , to think , to shrin● , &c. verbs of the last conjugation som terminat in ) , as to cry , to dy , to fly , to ly , to try , &c. som in ire , as to hire , to desire , to inquire , &c. some end in ine , as to shine , to dine , to fine , to decline , to uncline , to confine , &c. among which verbs it is to be noted , that the monosyllable verbs come from the dutch , the other from the french. note also that all participles of the present-tence end in ing , of the preter-●ence in d , most commonly in all english verbs , except som irregulars , which is left to observation . of the two auxiliary verbs , i have yo he ò tengo , and i am yo soy . these verbs i have and i am are call'd the auxiliaries , and are most subservient to all other verbs ; for without the second ther could be no verb passif , and without the first ther would be no participles of the preter-tense : therfore being so useful 't is requisit they shold be here declin'd at large ; and first of i have , because it is also auxiliary to i am . the conjugation of the verb i have . the indicative or declaring mood . present tense . i have , thou hast , he hath : we have , ye have , they have . preterimperfect tense . i had , thou hadst , he had : we had , ye had , they had . preterperfect tense . i have had , thou hast had , he hath had : we have had , ye have had , they have had . future tense . i shall or will have , thou shalt or wilt have , he shall or will have : we shall or will have , ye shall or will have , they shall or will have . the imperatif or commanding mood . have thou , let him have : let us have , have ye , let them have . the optatif or wishing mood . present tense . oh that i had , oh that thou hadst , oh that he had : oh that we had , oh that he had , oh that they had . preterperfect tense . i shold have , thou sholdst have , he shold have : we shold have , ye shold have , they shold have . the subjunctif mood . present tense . if or in case that i have , if or in case thou hast , if or in case he had : if or in case we have , if or in case ye have , if or in case they have . infinitif mood . to have , aver , having aviendo . the auxiliary verb i am . the indicative or declaratory mood . present tense . i am , thou art , he is : we be or are , ye be or are , they be or are . preterimperfect tense . i was , thou wast , he was : we were , ye were , they were . preterperfect tense . i have bin , thou hast bin , he hath bin : we have bin , ye have bin , they have bin . future tense . i shall be , thou shalt be , he shall be : we shall be , ye shall be , they shall be . the imperative or commanding mood . be thou , let him be : let us be , be ye , let them be . the optatif or wishing mood . present tense . god grant i be , god grant thou be , god grant he be : god grant we be , god grant ye be , god grant they be . preterperfect tense . wold god i were , wold god thou werst , wold god he were : wold god we were , wold god ye were , wold god they were . the conjunctive mood . present tense . seeing that i am , seeing that thou art , seeing that he is : seeing that we be , seeing that ye be , seeing that they be . preterperfect tense . although i be , although thou be , although he be : although we be , although ye be , although they be . the infinitif mood . to be , to have bin , being . note , that verbs of all conjugations in english have their passifs generally ending in d , as i love yo amo , i am lov'd yo soy amado ; i fear yo temo , i am fear'd yo soy temido ; i fire yo quemo , i am fir'd yo soy quemado , &c. except verbs ending in ell , who commonly have their passifs ending in old , as i tell i am told , i sell vendo , i am sold soy vendido , &c. as also verbs ending in ind , who commonly have their passifs in ound , as i bind ato , i am bound soy atado ; i find hallo , i am found soy hallado ; i grind molo , i am ground soy molido , &c. as also divers verbs whose actifs end in ear , have their passifs in orn , i swear juro , i am sworn soy jurado ; i tear lacero , i am torn soy lacerado , &c. but in spanish estoy serves to make a paffif as often as soy , as shall be noted in the spanish grammar . now the difference 'twixt ser and estàr is , that ser signifies the essence of a thing , as ser bueno to be good ; estàr signifieth the local condition of a thing , as estàr ●n londres , to be in london , &c. an instance for the declining of a verb both actif and passif in english , 〈◊〉 may serve for all other . the indicatif or declaratory mood . the present t●nse . actif . passif . i desire i am desir'd thou desirest thou art desir'd he desireth : he is desir'd : we desire we are desir'd ye desire ye are desir'd they desire . they are desir'd . the preterimperfect tense . i did desire i was desir'd thou didst desire thou wast desir'd he did desire : he was desir'd : we did desire we were desir'd ye did desire ye were desir'd they did desire . they were desir'd . the aorist or preterperfect tense . i desired i was desired , as before . thou desiredst   he desired :   we desired   ye desired   they desired .   the preterpluperfect tense . here the verb , i am , turns to the auxiliary verb , i have . i had desir'd i had bin desir'd thou hadst desir'd thou hadst bin desir'd he had desir'd : he had bin desir'd : we had desir'd we had bin desir'd ye had desir'd ye had bin desir'd they had desir'd they had bin desir'd the future tense . i shall or will desire i shall or will be desir'd thou shalt or wilt desire thou shalt or wilt be desir'd he shall or will desire : he shal or wil be desir'd : we shall or will desire we shal or wil be desir'd ye shall or will desire ye shal or wil be desir'd they shall or will desire . they shall or will be desir'd . the imperatif or mood of command . desire thou be thou desir'd let him desire : let him be desir'd : let us desire let us be desir'd desire ye be ye desir'd let them desire . let them be desir'd . the optatif or wishing mood . the present tense . god grant i desire god grant i be desir'd god grant thou desire god grant thou be desird god grant he desire : god grant he be desir'd : god grant we desire god grant we be desir'd god grant ye desire god grant ye be desir'd god grant they desire . god grant they be desird the preterperfect tense . wold i desir'd wold i were desir'd wold thou desir'st wold thou werst desir'd wold he desir'd : wold he were desir'd : wold we desir'd wold we were desir'd wold ye desir'd wold ye were desir'd wold they desir'd . wold they were desir'd . the conjunctif mood . present tense . seeing that i desire seeing that i am desir'd seeing that thou desirest seeing that thou art desir'd seeing that he desireth : seeing that he is desir'd : seeing that we desire seeing that we be desir'd seeing that ye desire seeing that ye be desir'd seeing that they desire . seeing that they be desir'd . preterimperfect tense . although i desire although i be desir'd although thou desirest although thou be desir'd although he desires : although he be desir'd : although we desire although we be desir'd although ye desire although ye be desir'd although they desire . although they be desird . the infinitif mood . to desire to be desir'd to have desir'd to have bin desir'd desiring . being desir'd . according to this example other verbs actif ( unlesse they be irregulars ) and passif may be form'd . there are also in english as in spanish ( and all other languages ) impersonal verbs which are not distinguish'd by persons , as it grives me , it irketh me me pesa , it behoveth me me importa , it concerns me me toca , &c. we have hitherto treted of the principal parts of speech , we will now proceed to the rest , and first of adverbs . an adverb is a word without nomber that is joyn'd to another , and it comes either before or after a word , as well-bred bien criado , better-bred meior criado , ill-bred mal criado , &c. but most adverbs com after , with this syllable ly , as couragiously animosamente , devoutly devotamente , &c. and as in english most adverbs end in y , so in spanish and italian ) they end in ente , as the former examples shew . adverbs are either of quantity as much much● , too much demasiado , enough bastant-emente , together juntamente , &c. or they are adverbs of quality , and first of nomber as once , twice , thrice , una vez , dos vezes , tres veces ; the second are of time , as yesterday ayer , then entonces , when quando , presently luego , ever siempre , &c. the third are of place , as here aquì , there allà where adonde , yonder acullà , &c. the fourth are of affirmation or negation , i , yea , yes , si ; no , not , nay no ; the fift are of calling , as ho , hola , or exhorting or approving , as so , so , well , well ; or of wishing o , if : the sixt are of similitude , as likewise , so , even so , assi , tambien , &c. interjections . interjections are either of mirth , as ha ha ha ; or of grief , as ah , alas , woe is me , hay ay de mignay de mi ; or of rejection , as fie , fy-fy , ba ; or of scorn , as tu●h , &c. st is an interjection of silence ; rr 〈◊〉 set dogs together by the eares . prepositions . prepositions are separable as before delante , behind atras , according segun , among entre , without sin , afore antes , under or below debaxo , against contra , opuesto , enfrente ; over sobre , neer cerca , &c. inseparable prepositions are they which express nothing unlesse they be annexed to a word , as uncapable incapaz , undon deshecho , relief alivio , repress reprimir , resolution resoluciòn , &c. conjunctions . conjunctions are call'd so because 〈…〉 words together , as and y , my father and mother 〈◊〉 padre y mi madre , and this is call'd the 〈◊〉 conjunction . som are severing as but 〈…〉 although , though aunque , som are dis junctif as nor , neither , ni , nor i nor you , ni yo ni vos ; som are of reasoning , as for porque , because para que ; som are of illation as therefore , wherefore , so that portanto , &c. of the points of words and sentences . the english language as the spanish ( and others ) hath her points or notes of sub-distinction , of middle-distinction , and of a full-distinction ; which are call'd comma , colon , and period : a sub-distinction or comma is a note of a short breathing or pausing and is figur'd thus , the middle-distinction hath a longer time of breathing , and is a perfect part of the period which is figur'd thus : the period is the entire whole sentence , and is note● with a plain single point thus . ther is also a parenthesis which is two hal● moons , and is figur'd thus ( ) which though it 〈◊〉 an included sentence , yet albeit it be omitted the speech remaines perfect . ther is also a note of interrogation , and is figur'd thus ? ther is likewise a circumflect which is us'd whe● a word is contracted , which goes thus figur'd ▪ ther is besides a note of admiration which thus ! and lastly , ther is an apostrophe when a 〈◊〉 is cut off and is figur'd thus ▪ but the span●●● toung to her greter commendation hath none this . gramatica inglesa . gramatica es el arte de letras , como la palabra griega 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( de la qual ella se deriva ) denòta● de letras se hazen sylabas , de sylabas palabras , y de la coagmentacion de letras sylabas y palabras nace el hablar ò sermocinacion , lo qual es una de las mas eminentes prerogativas que tiene el genero humano sobre las demas criaturas sublunares ; porque aunque algunas dellas por arte y dureza vengan a proferir ciertas palabras , toda via no entienden lo que hablan por falta de la facultàd de la razon , siendo hombre solo el hijo de razon . de las letras ingleses , y de su pronunciacion , con ciertas observaciones sobre ellas . tocante el abecedario ( ò alfabeto ) de la lengua inglesa , tiene veynte quatro letras en todo , las quales se escriven en grandes ▪ y menudos caractéres , los grandes se figuran assi , abcdefghiklmnopq rstvwxyz estos grandes caracteres se usan por los nombres propios de personas , lugares , rios , &c. como charles carlos , katherine catalina , london londres , lisbon lisbona , severn sabrina , trent trenta ; algunas dellas son de gran cuenta , porque son numericas , como i haze uno , v cinco , l cinquenta , c ciento , d quinjentos , m mill . los menudos caractéres se figuran assi , abcdefghiklmnopqrstvwxyz . ahora , lo que los quatro elementos son en rispeto de todas criaturas corporeas en punto de generation , lo mismo son las letras a todos lenguajes , en punto de pronunciacion ; y como de los elementos , aunque pocos en numero , tan infinitas differentes species de criaturas son produzidas , como de sus primitivos y simples principios ; assi de tan pocas letras tanta infinidad de differentes vocablos son compuestos , y inombrables volumes , escritos y imprimidos , lo qual es una especulacion que ha caydo en el entendimiento de pocos . estas letras se dividen en vocales y consonantes , llamados assi porque no tienen algun sonido sin aver un vocal ò adelante ò atras , como b tiene e atràs , f tiene e adelante por hazerse pronunciable : destos consonantes quatro ay que se llaman liquidas , porque se van diritiendo en la boca , y hazen la pronunciacion mas blanda , las quales liquidas son l m n r. los vocales son 5. aeiou , la castellana tiene un vocable ( que ningun otra lengua tiene ) el qual comprehende todas las cinco , es a laber oveja ; verdad es que aquella transcendiente eterna palabra jehova las tiene tambien , mas la letra h ( que no es otra cosa sino una aspiration ) se entrepone . ahora , las letras vocales merecen bien la precedencia de todas las demàs , porque ningun consonante puede ser pronunciado sin que tenga una dellas adelante ●atràs ( como se dezia antes ) y por esto se llaman consonantes . a. la letra vocal a es la primera letra de todas las otras en cada lenguage , y tiene esta prioridàd por ser el mas naturàl movimiento y abertura de los labios ; siendo tambien ( segun cicero n ) la letra de absolucion y de consuelo ; el frances tiene un refran mucho por la honra de a , viz. està señalado con a , que quiere dezir es muy hombre de bien : esta podrà ser la razon porque a tiene tanto dominio entre los ingleses , porque ella ( con the ) sirve por articulo prepositivo a los substantivos y tambien a los adjectivos , como a man un hombre , a knight un cavallero , a sword una espada , a learned man un hombre cientifico , a valiant knight un cavallero valiente , a bright sword una espada luziente . a en inglès tiene dos prolationes differentes , una abjerta y clara como abraham , alabastro ; la otra mas cerrada , y como a media boca : mas in español ( y otros lenguajes ) tiene siempre la primcera prolacion , como da dios alas a la hormiga , para que se pierda mas ayna ; un refran que sentiende de los sobervios y ambiciosos . a precedien●o lm en ingles anega la letra l , y se buelue en u , como en calme bonança , que se pronuncia caume , psalme salmo pseaume , balme balsam● baume ; mas a recibe por esto un sonido mas abjerto , y dos sylabas vienen a ser una larga . e. e la segunda letra vocal , se pronuncia en ingel●s , como en otras lenguas : quando concluye una palabra ella se pronuncia floxamente , ò con discuydo , como en there allà , fire fuego , bare nudo : el español haze lo mesmo , como alcayde a warden ▪ combate a fight , combite a feast , escabeche pickle , azauache jett , padre father , madre mother : mas en el articulo prepositivo the el ò la , e tiene siempre una pronunciacion aguda . adonde e viene tras l teriendo dos consonantes adelante , una estraña transposicion acontece porque ella salta antes de l tomando el sonido de i , como epistle se pronuncia epistel , epistola ; thistle thistel , cardo ; little littel , poco ; prickle pri●kel , espina , &c. e passa tambien obscuramente quando ella concluye la postrera sylaba de un vocablo con el consonante n atras , como spoken hablado , broken quebrado , coffer cofre , brewes sopa , &c. quando e precede d por concluyr una diction ella pierde a vezes el sonido con un apostrofo , como tyred cansado , se pronun●ia tyr'd , restrained restrain'd ; quande e viene en el medio dio delante de a anegala , pero haze assi la sy●aba mas larga , como beast bestia , disease enfermidàd , feast combite , &c. e y i tienen tal amistàd en inglès que una supple el lugàr de la otra , y se usan indifferente mente a vezes , como enterchange ò interchange , trueque ; her ò hir , ella ; endure ò indure , sufrir ; endevor ò indevor , diligencia : lo mesmo acontece en españòl en ciertas palabras , como mismo ò mesmo , pedir ò pidir : el italiano lo haze amenudo , como refiutare ò rifiutare , referire ò riferire , reputate ò riputare , màs el florentino queda mas aficionado a i. i. i tiene un sonido muy particular en inglès , que es differente de los demàs lenguajes , porque el españòl ( y otr●os ) siempre pronuncia i , como el ingles su●le pronunciar ee , como mitio mee teeo , pimienta pepper , peemeeenta ; cinco ceenco , &c. màs el ingles pronuncia i como si fuesse el dipthongo ei , como pilot peilot , pilota ; pipe peipe , sampoña ; licence leicence , licencia : la qual pronunciacion es puro anglicismo . i se puede llamar una letra amfibola , porque annque sea voc . l por su navidàd , toda via ella degenera muy amenudo en consonante , ( lo que ella nunca haze en la hebrea y grièga ) el qual consonante tiene una affinidad con la letra g , de suerte que ella puede pedir dos caracteres teniendo ansi dos capacidades , como james iago , se pronuncia giames ; javelin javelina , giavelin ; joy alegria , gioy ; jeffrey godefrido , gieffrey , &c. o. la letra vocàl o se pronuncia con boca mas redonda que las demas , por esto tiene una figura orbicular ; es letra de mucha inconstancia en inglès ; a vezes tiene un sonido abjerto , como en coller collàr , corn grano , crosse cruz , crocodile crocodilo , &c. a vezes ella se pronuncia mas flacamente , como en colour color , cosen primo , mother madre , tomando ansi el sonido de u. sobre la u , o tiene un sonido rezio , como round rodondo , sound sonido , bound atado , &c. mas en la postrera sylaba delante de n ella pierde su sonido , como en devotion , compassion , person : delante de doble ● ò w , tambien ella quita su sonido naturàl , tomando ●l de u , como hollow hollu , hueco ; tallow tallu , cevo , &c. quando o fenece un vocablo se pronuncia reziamente en inglès , como en estas monosylabas , go andìd , so assi , no no , &c. antes del v consonante o tie●e varias pronunciaciones , como glove guante , dove paloma , grove arb●leda , jove iupiter . prisciano dize que ciertos lugares en italia no tenian o mas u en sulugar , y en otros lugares no tenian u , sino o en su ●ugàr , como leemos en los autores antiguos muy amenudo volgus , poblicum , polchrum , colpam ; y ●asta lo dicho desta letra inconstante . v. la letra vocàl u como i tiene privilegio deha●erse consonante muy amenudo , por tanto algunos las llaman las letras mestizas : v por su nudeza nunca fenee algun vocablo en inglès , màs se fortificà con ●n diptongo , y otras vezes toma e por seguirla , como en estas instancias , new nuevo , knew conocia , blue azùl , true verdadero , &c. a vezes el inglès pronuncia u como el francès en manera de sylvàr , el qual sonido es differente del español y el italiano , los quales la pronuncian como oo , como uno oono , usanza oosanza , &c. mas en inglès y francès u se pronuncia como fuesse un diptongo de ew , como cocu cornudo , cubit codo , se pronuncian como si fuessen escritas cokew , kewbit . el tudesco està sugeto de tornàr b en v a vezes , como ay un donozo cuento de un aleman , qui complementando su huespeda francesa dixo , mà foy madame vous avez veaux enfans , a fe señora teneys hijos muy bizerros , en lugar que avia de dezir beaux enfans , hijos bizarros . w ò doble uu . w ò doble uu se pronuncia en inglès con mayòr redondèz de los labios que la letra o , y con mucha mas fuerça especialmente si h sigue immediatamente , como whale balena , wheel rueda , whirligigg peonça ; pero adonde h no sigue tient una prolacion mas mansa , como en whirlwind remolino , do la primera w es mucho mas emfatica que la postrera . los tudescos mismos , donde los ingleses sacan su originàl y lenguage , no pueden pronunciar w ante de h por esto dizen wat p●r what , were por where , que es sendl que el inglès tiene mejores livianos en el pecho . el españòl no tiene esta letra w , ni menos el italiano y el francès . y. y se pronuncia como i , toda via ella queda mas constante a si mesma como teniendo en disden de degeuer àr de su primero ser , y de vocal haçerse consonante ; por tanto ella puede bien merecer el titulo de la 〈◊〉 de filosofia , ò la letra de pythagora . y en francês tiene tal peso que ella haze a vezes un vocablo de por si como voulez vous y aller , quereys yr allà , tambien es adverbio de lugar y persona : en español ella frequentemente haze una sylaba de por si como en yxar , yzar , &c. de los dipthongos . basta lo que dicho es de las letras vocales que se pueden llamàr los ligamentos ò las arterias que atan los huessos ò consonantes ; y los vivifican que sin esto serian como troncos muertos : agora passaremos a los dipthongos ingleses , y por ser compuestos de los vocales es bien razon que precedan a los cons●nantes . los dipthongos juntan unos vocales para que pisendan proferir un sonido mesclado , de suerte que dos sonidos se juntan en una sylaba : los dipthongos ingleses son diez , el primero ai ò ay , como maid moça , afraid amedrentado , may mayo , day dia : el segundo au ò aw , co●o austero austero , authentik authentico , law ley , awe obediencia : el tercer● ea , como east levante , earl conde : el quatro ei , como weight peso , streight derecho : el 5. ew , como dew rocio , few pocos : el 6. oi ò oy , como toil trabajo , soil tierra , boy muchacho , joy gozo : el 7. 00 , como food bastimentos , good bueno : el 8. ou ò ow , como stout animoso , toung lengua , now agora : el 9. üi ò üy , como juice çumo : el postrero üoy , como buoy . no ay mas de tres palabras en inglès en las quales se hallan eo por diptongo , viz. people pueblo , jeopatd riesgo , yeoman labrador . el diptongo ae no se usa en inglès ò en español . de los consonantes . b. b es el primer consonante y la segunda letra del abecedario ; ella es la primera que junta los labios despues de nacidos , por tanto se ●ama la letra labial : en inglès b se pronuncia como en otros lenguages , mas no siempre como en español , donde ella se confunde muy amenudo con u en muchos vocablos , como bisoño ò visoño a young soldier , bimbrera ò vimorera an ozier . en griego tambien 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 raese tornae much as vezes en 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , que hizo el tudesco dezir donosamente , si beta est veta , tunc bibere est vivere . màs la may or alabança de b es , que ella es la letr● de innocencia , por ser el tono de la oveja , que es emblema de la innocencia . c. algunos criticos autores ay qui no quedan aficionado a la letra c , llamandola la letra mestiza , siend● ni varon ni hembra , mas un monstro ò espiritu , que por sus imposturas ella toma los sonidos de sk q , que ella es superflua a causa del mesmo sonido que tiene con ellas ; mas sin duda ellos sengañan , porque com● podriamos pronunciar cheshire cheese , chisel , chivalry , y otros vocablos sin ella ? en la l●ngua italiana ella emprunta tambien el sonido de g algunas vezes , como castigo por gastigo , en castellano ( y francès ) quaendo se pronuncia como s , ella and a suportada con un semicirculo abaxo ç , y entonees ella se llama c cedilla , como çaratan the kanker , çapato a shooe , çarça a bramble , &c. que van pronunciados como si fuessen escritas saratan , sapato , sarsa . d. d es una tan delicada letra en ingles , que ella no admite algun otro consonante de seguilla eceto r , como dreams sueños , drink bevida , drop gota , dragon drago , drum atambor , &c. ella se pronuncia en inglès , como en otros lenguajes , mas en español quando se halla entre dos vocales , ò antes qual quier otro en medio ò en la fin de una palabra , ella se va derritiendo en th , como el ingles las pronuncia en that ò the , como dadivas entran sin taladro , las quales palabras van pronunciados como si fuessen escritas , dathivas entran sin talathro : la lengua antigua de los bretones corresponde con la castellana en esto , porque ellos pronuncian dd en la mesma manera , como heb ddew heb d●im , nada sin dios. f. f tiene la honra de hazer uno de los mas altos tonos en la musica , y que es mas , de ser la primera letra de la mas alta virt●ud espirituàl es a saber la fe : ella se pronuncia en inglès como en otros lenguajes . g. g en ingles tiene dos differentes pronunciationes , una delante de a , o , y u , como gard guarda , gold oro , gulph golfe , &c. otra delante de e y i , como gentleman hidalgo , german tudesco , gibbet horca , gian● gigante , &c. toda via muchos vocablos ay que quando ella precede i , se pronuncia como delante de a , o , y u , como giddy vertiginoso , gift dàdeva , girdle cinta , &c. h. h es la letra del aliento ò aspiracion , por tanto se puede llamàr la letra de la vida , porque sin aliento no ay vida ; por tanto me ofpanto porque los griegos no vinieron a dalla lugàr en su alfabeto . algunos la llaman un espiritu , màs sea espiritu , letra ò aspiracion , el abecedario scria sin aliento sin ella , otros la ilaman la reyna de los consonantes . en algunas palabras h se escrive mas no tiene sonido , como en humor humòr , honor honra , humble humilde , host huesped , &c. las quales se pronuncian umor , onor , umble , ost . th tiene dos sonidos en inglès el uno fuerte comola griega θ theta , como thunder trueno , thursday iueves , thousand mil , thirsty sediento , theef ladron , thought pensamiento , &c. màs th en otras palabras se pronuncian mansamente , como d en castellano , como this esto , that aquello , thine tuyo , thither là , thence de là , then entonces , thou tu , &c. htras w tiene unamas rezia aspiracion en inglès que en algun otro lenguage , como what que cosa , wheat trigo , wheel rueda , when quando , where adonde , whore puta , whale balena , &c. ph se pronuncia en inglès como en español ( y otras lenguas ; ) màs se observa que en español y italiano no se halla ph , porque ellos la tornan en f , como philosopher filosofo , phillip felipe , phantasie fantasia , &c. ch se pronuncia en inglès como en español ( y italiano tambien ) como china , chamber cama , chee●e queso , cherry cereza , &c. en los qualos vocablos ch se pronuncia como el español pronuncia ch en chico , chicon , chirlar , màs el francès pronuncia ch muy differentemente como sh , como china shina , chalupa shalupa , &c. k. k es traviessa que desdeña servir el español ò el italiano , ni el latin ò el francès , si no en esta palabra kalendas , por tanto ellos se sirven de c en su lugàr ; màs el inglès las usa indifferentemente ; toda via k en inglès no precede algun otro consonante si no n , como knight cavallero , knowledge ciencia , knave vellaco , knife cuchillo , knee rodilla , &c. l. l tiene la honra de haçer el mas alto tono en la musica , porque ella tiene una prolacion gentily mansa , por esso algunos la llaman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , porque ella ablanda el techo de la boca . los ingleses pronuncian l como los españoles , mas adonde se hallan ll en castellano , sea en el principio ò en el medio de una palabra , la postrera l torna en i , como en lloro , calle , callar , lleno , que se pronuncian como si fuessen escrias lioro , calie , caliar , lieno . los antiguos bretones en ingalatierra tienen tambien un muy particular sonido de ll , el qual ningun otrà nacion puede pronunciàr , si la persona no se cria entre ●llos muy moço ; la pronunciacion es tan difficil al inglès , que queda forçoso de tornalla en fl , como floyd por lloyd , &c. m. m bien se puede llamàr letra labial con b , y duda ay la qual dellas haçen juntar los labios primera en un 〈◊〉 . leemos que el frigio infante , del qual el rey tolomeo se servia por sober qual lengua era la mas natural al genero umano , produzia primero bec , que significa pan en aquel lenguaje : mas los antiguos bretones en ingalatierra tienen que m es la primera letra que haze juntar los labios , porque 〈◊〉 ay otr● vocablo por madre en inglès que mam , que todos infantes nascanse debaxo de qualquier clima que sea pronuncian articulatamente luego que entran en el mundo . m se pronuncia clara en el principio , màs cerredamente en el medio , y obscuramente en la fin de un vocablo inglès , como martyrdom martyrio , marjerom origano , mammalucks mamaluques , &c. n. n en inglès se pronuncia como en español , ( y otros lenguajes ; ) màs en castellano tiene esta singularidàd , de aver unariga direcha encima , exempli gratia fi , y entonces se deve pronunciàr como si i siguiesse immediatamente , como en este proverbio , fue la negra al baño , y tuuo que contar todo el año ; en estas palabras baño y año han de pronunciarse como si fueran escritas banio anio . esta letra ñ suena algo en las norizes , y tiene tres grados de sonidos en inglès fuerte en el principio , flaco en en medio , y escuramente en el fin . p. p se puede llamàr la tercera letra labial tras de b y m , car ella tambien hazen los labios toparse ; en italiano ella se transforma algunas vezes en u , como soprano sourano , coperta couerta . q. q se hà apoderado del lugar que k tenia en los siglos atras entre los antiguos saxones nuestros tartar abuelos , los quales a penas conocieron esta letra culatica que màs antes de la conquista normana solian escrevir kuill por quill , penna ; kuire por quire , coro , &c. màs los franceses-normanos trayendo consigo muchas palàbras latinas , como question , quantity , quintessence , y otras , quitaron el uso de k ; toda via q es tan pobre letra en inglès , que no tiene lugar sin que u la siga immediatamente . r. ay una nacion muy populenta y grande hazia el levante , llamada los chineses , ( los quales escriven y leer perpendicularmente ) qui no tienen la letra r en su alfabeto , por esto llaman los tartaros sus vezmos màs cercanos tataos , y la razon puede ser porque la letra r se llama la letra canina ò perruna segun el poeta , — sonat haec de nare canina litera , esta letra suena de una nariz perruna : por esto las mugeres de francia la dexan sin pronunciar en fin de palabras muchas vezes . en inglès r se pronuncia como en español y otras lenguas . s. s aunque sea llamada la letra serpentina a causa de su chifladura , y tambien por su figura ; toda via ella chifla mansamente contra las enzias : ella tiene diversas pronunciaciones en inglès , en el principio tiene un sonido agudo , como en sabbath sabado , sable zebelina , &c. mas en el medio y fin de vocablos ( si no va doblada ) tiene un sonido manso como z , como rose , wise , gems , rimes ; mas donde ella va doblada se pronuncia agudamente . t. la letra t tiene una prolacion constante en inglès , eceto que quando ella precede i hazia el fin de palabras , como en generation , action , faction , do t torna en c , como se eseriven en español , generacion , accion , faccion . x. la letra x a penas tiene la estima de letra en inglès , porque no ay ningun vocable qui comiença con ella ; mas en el medio , y en la fin se halla amenudo , como en sixty sesenta , vexe congojar , sexe sexo , &c. tambien x concluye algunas palabras , como flax estopa , fox raposa , six seys , que se suenan como si fuessen escritas flacks , focks , sicks : porque x tiene esta prerogativade ser compuesta de tres consonantés ( que ningun otra letra tiene ) es a saber de c k s , loqual siendo assi el anagramma de orcus que se hizo de uxor , era algo ingenioso , — uxor & orcus idem . en espaī ol la letra x se usa mucho en el principio , medio y fin de vocablos , que vino de los moros , los quales tuvieron la mayor parte de españa 700. años , como xarcias , xapin , xarava , &c. z. la letra z es la postrera del abecedario , y muy propiamente , porque es el postrer sonido que se haze en la boca al salir del mundo ; no ay en inglès mas de los ò tres palabras en todo que comiençan con z , viz. zealous , zeal , zealot , con algunos terminos de astronomia , como zona , zenith , zodiaco , y ciertos nombres griegos , como xenefon , xerxes , &c. y basta lo que dicho es de las letras senzillas . de las sylabas . aviendo tradado de los elementos de hablat , ●or a procederemos a las composiciones de letras y pri●ero de las sylabas . sylaba es parte de palabra la qual rende un sonido ●●●iculado ; se haze a vezes ( como assi en español ) 〈◊〉 una sola letra , como amazd assombrado , equippage arejo , imagination imaginacion , ominous deastro●● usurer logrero ; en los quales vocablos a , e , i , o , u en principio hazen una sylaba enter a de por si . sylaba de mas letras està compuesta ò de dipthon●● ò vocales solos , como ayder ayudadòr , auditor au●nciero , eating comiendo ; not arse hà que aunque un 〈◊〉 puede hazer una sylaba , toda via ningun conso●●te puede hazer lo sin un vocàl añadido : sylabas 〈◊〉 consonante se hazende dos letras , como no ; ò de 〈◊〉 , como the el , que se suele escrevir corto en inglès●esta ●esta manera the ; ò se hazen sylabas de mas letras , como that , then , with , aquello , entonces , con , que se escriven cortas a vezes , como that y en w th ; sylabas ●y de 5. letras , como there allà , which que , se escriven cortas assi y ere w th . sylabas ay qui tienen dos consonantes por un vocàl , como cry grido ; otras tienen tres , como drab puta ; o●ras tienen 4. como dregs heces ; otras 5. como string cuerda ; otras 6. como strength fuerca ; algunas sylabas ay qui tienen 7. consonantes por un vocàl , como strengths fuerça ; lo que muestra quanta virtùd tiene 〈◊〉 vocàl de poder dàr vida a tantos consonantes . el polacco tiene a vezes diez consonantes s●rviendo un vocal solo , de suerte que se dize que el polacco quando habla arroja sus palabras como piedras en lal ●ara . tocante la posicion ò cantidàd de sylabas , no ay otra lengua , que yo sepa , ecceto la griega y la latina , qui tiene algunas reglas ciertas para esto ; no ay tanta ●arte y trabajoen inglès ò español , ò algun otro lenguaje occidentàl porque sus composiciones metricas , ●versos y rimas se derivan del solo instinto de la natura , y como dize aristoteles , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , es a saber de una libre , y natural composicion sin ●●ser cautivado a las cantidades de sylabas . los griegos tampoco antes de omero , y los romanos antes livio andronico , ●o eran tan curiosos en la observacion de la cantidàd de sylabas . agora es consentaneo a la razon , que hablemos de los accentos de sylabas , que son como los tonos de la voz , y no observando el accento puede ser que una palabra venga a ser muy mal pronunciada , como dèsert eremo , y desèrt mericimiento ; tórment tormento , tormènt atormentado ; óbject , object , objèct objectàr ; íncense incenso ; cònvert convertido , convèrt convertàr : agora toca al accento de hazernos pronunciàr rectamente , y adonde se halla el accento es menester proferir aquella sylaba emfaticamente y con mayor fuerça . enlos adverbios el accento es ordinariamente en la primera sylaba , como mèrrily alegramente , hèavily●ristemente ●ristemente . las dissylabas y trissylabas tienen tambien por lo commun el accento en la sylaba primera , como wìnter invierno , sómmer estio , síngular singular , pròvidence providencia . vocablos tambien terminantes en able sean de 3. ò 4. sylabas tienen el accento en la primera , como fable , sènsible , sòciable , àmiable ; ecceto abóminable , detéstable . palabras terminando en tion ò sion , tienen el accento ordinariamente en la sylaba que precede , como conténtion contienda , confúsion confusion , abominátion abominacicion : màs en espa●nol tiene el accento en tales vocables en la sylaba postrera . cada dissylaba feneciendo en ish , ry , er , el , et , ò on , tienen el accento en la primera sylaba , como slávish esclavoso , màrry esposàr , hòver meneàr , dàmsel donzella , pàcket paquete , gámmon pernil , bácon tocino . c●no . palabras fenecientes en nt tienen el accento communemente en la postrera sylaba , como lamènt , extènt , contènt , &c. agora venimos a la calidàd de palabras , por sabèr si son primitivas ò derivativas . la mayor parte de vocablos primitivos en inglès son monosylabos ; los miembros del cuerpo lo son capapie , como head cabeça , heart coraçon , guts tripas , knee rodilla , foot pie : lo que discubre la inglesa de ser hija de la tudesca . el español todo al contrario se deleyta en polysylabas ; y adonde el inglès sexprime en una sylaba , el se sirve de 5. ò 6. como thoughts pens amientos , fray levantatamiento , &c. lo que se estima un punto de subiduria en el español , porque mientras que habla tiempo toma para pensàr en la materia . tambien ay en la lengua inglesa vocablos simples y compuestos , como love amor , lovely amoroso ; man varòn , manly vironìl ; wise sabio , unwise necio : y en est a composicion de palabras , la lengua inglesa es assi tan feliz , y atrevida que qualqueir otra , sacando fuera la griega , que sobrepuja a todas en este particulàr ; porque el inglès suele juntar dos substantivos , como cut-purse cortadòr de bolsas , self-love amòr de si mesmo , a milhorse cavalio de molino , &c. y algunas vezes una junta ay de tres substantivos en un vocablo , como tap-house-keeper bod●gonero , a foot-ball-play jugador a pelota , &c. de las partes de oracion en la lengua inglesa . ocho partes ay de la oracion en inglès comoen otras lenguas , viz. nome , pronome , verbo , participio , adverbio , conjunction , preposition , interjection ; a las quales añadimos los articulos the el ò la , y a un una , que los latinos no tienen , de los quales el primer articulo es definito , y termina el entendimiento , como the sword la espada , the book el libro , que denota una particular espada ò libro ; el otro articulo es indefinito , como a sword una espada , a book un libro , que denotan la idea general de espadas y libros . ay otra differencia entre the y a , porque the se puede aplicar al numoro plural tambien , como the swords las espadas ; mas el articulo a se aplica solo al singulàr . los nombres propios son incapazes destos articulos . agora de las partes cada una de por si . de nombre . ay nombre substantivo y adjectivo , el primero se puede entender de si mismo , como yglesia a church , calle a street , &c. el adjectivo no tiene realidad alguna sin que se aplique a un substantivo , como blanco white , lindo fair , &c. el inglès tiene esta singularidàd sobre otras lenguas , ( mas no merece mucho loor por ello ) que el adjectivo precede el substantivo , como brown bread baço pan , a wise man sabio hombre ; màs otras naciones postponen el adjectivo , diziendo pan baço , hombre sabio . los nombres substantivos ò son comunes , como bridg puente , river rio , &c. ò son propios , como rialto ( particulàr puente en venecia ) severn sabrina ; ò personales , como charles carlos , katharine catal●na . cinco generos ay que pertenesen a los nombres , el masculino , que comprehende las cosas debaxo de una idea masculina , como bulls toros , men hombres , &c. el feminino che comprehende qualquier cosa feminina , como woman hembra , does ciervos . el genero neutro cuya nocion concibe ni el otro sexo , debaxo del qual las cosas inanimatas se comprehenden , como civdades , rios , navios ; porque aunque se llaman por nombres masculinos , toda via hablamos dellos en el genero feminino en hiscurso ; como eboracum la cividad de york , rhenus el rio rheno , el carlos real un galeon . el quarto genero es el epiceno ò genero promiscuo , quo comprehende ambos sexos , como dogs , horses , dere , cavalgadura , venado , &c. los quales vocab●os significan ambos sexos . el quinto es el comùn ò duvoso genero , como frend , gossip , neighbour , cosin , &c. los quales tambien intiman entrambos sexos : màs en español ( y otros lenguajes ) se van differenciando por la masculina y feminina terminacion , como amigo amiga , vezino vezina , primo prima , &c. que es una ventaja que la inglesa lleva sobre las demas lenguas . ay ciertos diminutivos propios a todas lenguajes ; los diminutivos de algunos substantivos en inglès fenecen en ell , como cock cockrell , part parcell , &c. otros en ing , co●o goose gosling , duck duckling , &c. otros en ock , como bull bullock , hill hillock : otros en et , como baron baronet . los adjectivos tambien tienen sus diminutivos , como cold coldish , black blackish , green greenish , &c. ay tambien diminutivos de nombres propios de hombres y hembras en inglès , como christopher kitt , gregory grigg , richard dick , magdalen maudlin , katherine kate , elizabeth besse , &c. màs algunos nombres ay que no tienen diminutivos , como peter , james , stephen , &c. màs el espanol en esto tiene diminutivos , y sub-diminutivos mas que otros , como simòn , simoncico , simoncillo , simoncicico , simoncicillo ; miguel , miguelico , miguelillo ; catalina , catalinica , catalinilla ; francisca , francisquita , francisquilla , &c. los adjectivos ingleses tienen tambien sus grados comparativos , y algunos tienen dos comparativos , y dos superlativos , que otros lenguajes no tienen ; exprimen el uno ò por la palabra more mas , ò añadiendo er a la fin del positivo , como wise more wise , or wiser , stout more stout , or stouter , &c. ansi el superlativo sexprime ò por la palabra most , ò añadiendo est ala findel positivo , como wise most wise wisest , stout most stout stoutest , &c. mas ay ciertos adjectivos ecetuados desta regla generàl , como good better best , bad worse worst , little lesser least . adjectivos terminnado e● ous admiten sus comparativos y superlativos solamente por estas palabras more y most , como glorious , more glorious , most glorious ; ansi specicus , famous , victorious , &c. los adjectivos ingleses ordinariamente no tienen el nombre plural , mas el singular sirve por entrambos , que es una not able ventaja ; mas los substantivos tienen sus plurales unos terminando en s , como king kings , stagg staggs , &c. otros terminan en en , como man men , woman women , oxe oxen , &c. como en otros lenguajes ay ciertos irregulares vocablos ( aunque sean pucos ) que declinan las dichas terminacione , como mouse mice , louse lice , tooth teeth , foot feet , &c. algunos substantivos ay que no admiten el nombre plural ( y son de peso ) como gold oro , silver plata , brasse bronzo , copper cobre , tinn estaño , ( y otros minerales tampoco tienen plural en español ) rest , bread , beer , ale , &c. otros substantivos tienen el plural solo , como goods bienes , riches , necessaries , do se hà de observàr que necessaries el substantivo nace del adjectivo necessary . llegamos ahora alos pronombres , llamados assi porque suplen algunas v●zes el lugàr de nombres , y los tomaremos cada uno en su grado començando con las personas , i , thou , he , we , ye , they , yo , tu , el , nosotros , vosotros , aquellos : que se declinan ansi : the first person . singular . plural . nom. i , yo we , nos ò nosotros gen. of me , de mi of us , de nos ò nosotros dat. to me , a mi to us , a nos ò nosotros accus . me , me us , nos ò nosotros voc. o me , o me o we , o nosotros ablat . with me , comigo . with us , con nosotros . the second person . singular . plural . nom. thou , tu yee , vos vosotros gen. of thee , de ti of you , de vos de vosotros dat. to thee , a ti to you , a vos ò vosotros accus . thee , te you , vos vosotros voc. o thou , o tu o you , o vos o vosotros abl. from or with thee , de ti ò contigo . from or with you , de ò con vos ò vosotros . the third person . singular . plural . nom. he , el they , ellos gen. of him , de el ò del of them , de ellos ò dellos dat. to him , a el ò al to them , a ellos accus . him , el them , ellos ò a elloss voc. o he , o el o they , o ellos abl. from or with him , del ò con el. from them , de ellos o dellos . ay en inglès quatro pronombres possessivos , my ò mine , mi ò mio ; my adelanta siempre una palabra empeçando con consonante , como my cloak mi capa , my hat mi sombrero , &c. mine adelanta un vocablo comencando con vocal ò h , como mine aunt mi tia , mine heritage mi herencia , &c. màs mine se halla mas amenudo de por si por un possessivo , particularmente en respuesta a una pregunta , como whose sword is this ? mine ; cuya espada es esta ? lamia . los plurales de my y mine son our ours , los quales son tambien possessivos . los segundos possessivos son thy , thine , como thy house tu casa , thine arme tu braço , thine hand tu mano ; y thine como mine adelantan vocablos comentando con un vocàl . thine tambien es possessivo de si mesmo a una pregunta , como whose land is that ? thine . los plurales de thy thine son your yours , que son possessivos de si mesmos . los terceros possessivos son her hers , con sus plurales their theirs ; como her distaf su rueca , her maidenhead su virginidad ; whose ring is this ? hers . mas el español ( ni el italiano ò el francès ) no tiene ●ste feminino possessivo de distinction , sirviendose de 〈◊〉 y suyo . which , who , that son pronombres relativos refe●iendo a las palabras delante ; mas which y who refie●en propiamente a cos as vivas , y that a cos as inanima●●s , como the man which preach'd yesterday , el hom●●e que predicava ayer ; the lady who passed this way , la dama que passava por aqui ; the stones that went to build pauls , las piedras que yvan a fabricar san pablo . what , whose son pronombres interrogativos , tambien lo son which y who sobredichos a vezes . ay ciertos pronombres compuestos , como my self , thy self , him self , her self , &c. del verbo . el verbo , es una de las mas principales y necessarias partes de una lengua : se puede llamar el alma de la habla , porque aunque todas las palabras del mundo se junten , toda via ninguna sentencia , sea interrogativa ò qualquier otra se puede hazer sin el : y como los vocales animan palabras , assi los verbos animan sentencias ; que puede ser la razon porque tiene tanta latitùd en la lengua latina , porque la palabra verbum se extende a todas las partes de la oracion . verbo en inglès como en español ( y otras lenguas ) tiene 3. distinctiones de tiempos , el presente , como i pray or do pray , yo ruego ; el tiempo passado , como i prayed or did pray , yo rogava ; el futuro ò el tiempo venidero , como i shall or will pray , yo rogarè . las terminaciones de verbos en inglès es la misma en ambos nombres ( eceto la segunda y tercera persona en el singular ) como i live , we , ye , they live , &c. no es assi en español , como yo vivo nos vivimos , &c. ni en otros ●eng●ajes , lo qual es gran ventaja a los que aprenden ●●nglès . ay en la lengua inglesa verbos activos , passivos y eutros , como en español , como i love yo quiero , es ●ctivo : i am lov'd yo soy querido , es passivo añadiend endo el verbo auxiliario am soy : el neutro es donde el verbo am soy , no puede ser juntado , como i live vivo , i weep lloro , &c. el inglès como los otros lenguajes tiene sus conjugaciones y cadencias de verbos : los verbos de la primera a conjugacion algunos fenecen en all , como to call , to fall , to install , to inthrall , &c. cuyos participios se haçen añadiendo ing y d , como calling call'd , installing install'd , &c. otros terminan en are , como to dare , to pare , to share , &c. otros en ace , com● to chace , to face , to grace , to lace , to trace , to imbrace , &c. verbos de la segunda conjugacion algunos fenecen en eare , como to beare , to sheare , to teare , to weare , &c. cuyos participios terminan en ing y orne , como bearing , shearing , tearing , borne , shorne , torne . otros fenecen en ease , como to ease , to please , to displease , &c. otros en ead , como to lead , to knead , to read , to spread , to tread , &c. verbos de la tercera conjugacion unos terminan en ite , como to bite , to write , to indite , &c. otros en ight , como to fight , to fright , to light , to right , &c. otros en ell , como to quell , to sell , to tell , &c. otros en ink , como to drink , to link , to sink , to think , to shrink , &c. los verbos de la quarta conjugacion unos terminan en y , como to dy , to ly , to cry , to fly , to try , &c. otros en ire , como to hire , to desire , to inquire , &c. otros en ine , como to shine , to dine , to fine , to decline , to confine , to incline , &c. notarse hàque los verbos monosylabos vienen de la tudesca , los otros de la lengua francesa . tambien se ha de notar que los participios del tiempo presente terminan en ing , y del tiempo preterito end , por lo mas , en todos verbos ingleses , ec●to ciertos irregulares . la conjugacion del verbo , i have yo hè . el modo indicativo ò declarativo . el tiempo presente . yo he , tu has , aquel ha : nosotros avemos , vos aveis , aquellos han . el tiempo preterito imperfecto . yo avia , tu avias , el avia : nos aviamos , vos aviades , ellos avian . el tiempo preterperfecto . yo uve , tu uviste , aquel uvo : nos uvimos , vos uvistes , aquellos uvieron . el tiempo futuro . yo avrè , tu avràs , el avrà : nos avremos , vos avreis , ellos avràn . el modo imperativo ò de mandàr . ave , aya el : ayamos , ayed ò ayays , ayan ellos . el modo optativo , ò de dessear . el tiempo presence . oxala . si yo oviesse , si tu oviesses , si el oviesse : si no oviessemos , si vos oviesses , si ellos oviessen . el tiempo imperfect . yo avria , tu avrias , el avria : nos avriamos , vos avriades , ellos avrian . el modo subjunctivo . el tiempo presente . como yo aya , como tu ayas , como el aya : como nos ayamos , como vos ayays , como ellos ayan . el modo ayudadoro yo soy . el modo indicativo ò declaratorio . el tiempo presente . yo soy , tu ere 's , el es : nos somos , vos soys , ellos son . el tiempo preterimperfecto . yo era , tu eras , el era : nosotros eramos , vosotros erades , ellos eran . el tiempo preterperfecto . yo he sido , tu has sido , el ha sido : nos avemos sido , vos aveys sido , ellos han sido . el tiempo futuro . yo serè , tu seras , el serà : nos seremos , vos sereys , ellos seran . el modo imperativo ò para mandar . se tu , sea el ò aquel : seamos , sed vosotros , sean ellos ò aquellos . el modo optativo ò de dessear . el tiempo presente . que yo sen , que tu seas , que el sea : que nosotros seamos , que vosotros seays , que ellos sean . el tiempo preterperfecto . si yo fuesse , si tu fuesses , si el fuesse : si nos fuessemos , si vos fuessedes , si ellos fuessen . el modo conjuctivo . el tiempo presente . como yo fuere , como tu fueres , como el fuere : como nos fueremos , como vos fueredes , como ellos fuèren . el tiempo preterperfecto . aunque yo sea , aunque tu seas , aunque el sea : aunque nos seamos , aunque vos seays , aunque ellos sean . el modo infinitivo . ser , haver sido , siendo . se hà de observàr que los verbos en inglès tienen sus passivos generalmente terminando en d , como i love yo amo , i am lov'd yo soy amado ; i fear yo temo , i am fear'd yo soy temido ; i fire i am fir'd , yo yo quemo yo soy quemado : eceto verbos en ell , qui tienen sus passivos en old , como i tell i am told , i sell i am sold , &c. y verbos en ind , cuyos passivos terminan en ound , como i bind i am bound , yoato yo soy atado ; i find i am found , yo hallo yo soy hallado ; i grind i am ground , yo molo yo soy molido ; con muchos otros tambien que fenecen en orn , como i swear i am sworn , yo juro yo soy jurado ; i tear i am torn , yo lacero yo soy lacerado , &c. mas en español estoy sirve por hazer un verbo passivo tan amenudo que soy , como se ver à en la gramatica . agora la differencia que ay entre ser y estar es , que el primero significa la essencia de una cosa , como ser bueno ; estar significa la condicion local , como yo estoy en londres , i am in london , &c. una instancia para declinar un verbo activo 〈◊〉 assivo en ingles , que pueda servir por los demas . el modo indicativo ò declaratorio . el ●iempo presente . activo . passivo . to desseo yo soy desseado tu desseas tu ere 's desseado el dessea : el es desseado : nos desseamos nos somos desseados vos desseays vos soys desseados ellos dessean . ellos son desseados . el tiempo preterimperfecto . yo desseava yo era desseado tu desseavas tu eras desseado el desseava : el era desseado : nos desseavamos nos eramos desseados vos desseavades vos erades desseados ellos desseavan . ellos eran desseados . el aoristo ò tiempo preterperfecto . yo desseè yo fui desseado tu desseaste tu fuiste desseado el desseò : el fue desseado : nos desseamos nos fuimos desseados vos desseastes vos fuistes desseados ellos desseàron . ellos fueron desseados . el tiempo preterpluperfecto . donde ser torna en el verbo ayudodòr aver . yo avìa desseado yo avia sido desseado tu avias desseado tu avias sido desseado el avia desseado : el avia sido desseado : nos aviamos desseado nos aviamos sido desseados vos aviades desseado vos aviades sido desseados ellos avian desseado . ellos avian sido desseados el tiempo futuro . yo dessearè ye serè desseado tu dessearàs tu seràs desseado el dessearà el serà desseado : nos dessearemos nos seremos desseados vos desseareys vos sereys desseados ellos dessearàn . ellos seran desseados . el modo imperativo ò de comandar . dessee tu se tu desseado dessee el : sea el desseado : desseamos nosotros seamos nos desseados desseed vosotros sed vosotros desseados desseen ellos sean ellos desseados . el modo optativo ò de dessear . el tiempo presente . oxala ò plega a dios. que yo dessees que yo sea desseado que tu dessees que tu seas desseado que el dessee : que el sea desseado : que nos desseemos que nos seamos desseados que vos desseeys que vos seays desseados que ellos desseen que ellos sean desseados . el tiempo preterperfecto . si yo desseasse si yo fuesse desseado si tu desseasses si tu fuesses desseado si el desseasse : si el fuesse desseado : si nos desseassemos si nos fuessemos desseados si vos desseassedes si vos fuessedes desseados si ellos desseassen . si ellos fuessen desseados . el modo conjunctivo . el tiempo presente . como yo desseàre como yo fuere desseado como tu desseàres como tu fueres desseado como el desseàra : como el fuere desseado : como nos dessearemos como nos fueremos desseados como vos desseareys como vos fueredes desseados como ellos desseàren . como ellos fueren desseados el tiempo preterimperfecto . aunque yo dessee aunque yo sea desseado aunque tu dessees aunque tu seas desseado aunque el dessee : aunque el sea desseado : aunque nos desseemos aunque nos seamos desseados aunque vos desseeys aunque vos seays desseados aunque ellos desseen . aunque ellos sean desseados el modo infinitivo . dessear ser desseado aver desseado aver sido desseado desseando siendo desseado . segun este exemplo otros verbos activos ( eceto ciertos irregulares ) y passivos se pueden formàr . el inglès tiene tambien sus verbos impersonales , como el español ( y otros ) los quales no van distinguidos por personas , como it grieves me , it irketh me , me pesa , it behoveth me me importa , it concerns me me toca , &c. hasta agora avemos tratado de las partes mas principales de la oracion , procederemos a las demàs , ● primeramente de los adverbios . adverbio es palabra sin nombre que se junta con ●●ra , y viene adelante ò tras de una palabra , como well 〈◊〉 bien criado , better bred mejor criado , ill bred 〈◊〉 criado , &c. mas los adverbios por la mayor 〈◊〉 vienen atràs , como couragiously animosamente , devoutly devotamente , &c. y como en inglès todos ●dverbios casi fene●en en y , assi en español ( y italia●o ) fenecen en ente . los adverbios ò son de cantidàd , como much 〈◊〉 , too much demasiado , enough bastantemente , to●ether juntamente , &c. ò son de calid●d , y los prime●● de numero , como once , twice , thrice , una vez , ●os 〈◊〉 , tres vezes : los segundos son de tiempo , como ●esterday ayer , then en●onces , when quando , 〈◊〉 luego , ever siempre , &c. los terceros son de 〈◊〉 , como here aqui , there alla , where adonde , 〈◊〉 aculla , &c. los quatros son de afirmation ò negacion , i , yea , yes , si ; no , not , nay , no : los quintos son parallamar , como hola ola : otros son para amonestar ò aprovar , come so , so-so , well , assi , bien està : otros desséan , como ô if : los seys son de similitùd , como , as , so , likewise , even so , assi , tambien , &c. interjeciones . interjeciones son ò de alegria , como ha , ha , ha : ò de congoja , como ah , alas , wo is me , hay , ay de mi , guay de mi : ò de aborecimiento , como fy , fy-fy , foh , ba : ò de desden , como tush , &c. st es interjecion de silencio : rr para incitar los perros . preposiciones . preposiciones ò son separables , como before delante , behind atras , according segun , among entre , without●in ●in , afore antes , under or below debaxo , against con●●ra , opuesto , enfrente , over sobre , neer cerca , &c. las preposiciones inseparables no exprimen nad a sin ●●r juntadas con otro vocablo , como incapable incapaz , ●ndone deshecho , relief alivio , represse reprimir , re●lution resolucion , &c. conjunciones . conjunciones se llaman assi porque ata● las pala●●● , como and y , my father and my mother , mi pa●●● y mi madre : y esta se llama la conjuncion copula●va : otros apartan , como but mas , albeit although a●nque : otras son disjunctivas , como nor , neither ni ; ni yo ni vos , nor i nor you : otras proceden de razanando , como for , because porque : otras son de ilacion , como therfore , wherfore , so that , por tanto , &c. de los puntos de palabras y sentencias . la lengua inglesa●omo ●omo la castellana ( y otras ) tiene sus puntos y not a● de subdistincion , de media distincion , y de complida distincion , que se llaman comma , colon y periodo . una subdistincion ò comma es nota do corto aliento , y se figura assi , la media distincion tiene aliento mas largo , y se puedo dezir cumplida parte del periodo , y se sigura assi : periodo es la sentencia entera , y va figurada de un punto senzillo assi . ay tambien l● parenthesis , que se figura como dos medias lunas assi ( ) y aunque sea incluyda en la sentencia , toda via en ometiondola , la sentencia no dexa de ser perfecta . ay tambien nota de interrogacion , que se figura assi ? mas desto ay nota de circumflexion , quando el vocablo va abreviado , y se figura assi ▪ ay tambien not a de admiracion , que se figura assi ! en conclusion ay not a del apostrofo , quando una le●rase corta , y se figura assi ' mas la castellana por su mayor alaban●●a no usa tales apostrofos , touching the syntaxis , which is an orderly series and connection of nouns , verbs , adverbs , and other parts of speech according to the propriety of a language in a due cohaerence , the english toung may be said to have the same that other vulgar languages and dialects have ; but the english being a sub-dialect to other toungs , as was touch'd in the epistle to the reader , and having such varieties of incertitudes , changes and idioms , it cannot be in the compas of human brain to compile an exact regular syntaxis therof , mr. ben. iohnson a great wit , who was as patient as he was elaborat in his re-serches and compositions , as he was framing an english syntaxis , confess'd the further he proceeded , the more he was puzzled ; therfore herin we must have recours to that great mistresse of all knowledg observation , it being a tru maxime , quod deficit in praecepto , suppleat observatio . concerning the english prosody , the same may be said thereof as was spoken before of the syntaxis ; but touching poesie and metrical compositions , the english is as punctual in observing the nomber of feet , syllables , and cadences , as any other vulgar language ; and ther are couch'd in her as strong concepts , and as sinewy expressions , with such high idaeas and raptures of wit and invention as in any language whatsoever ; nor is any so copious of allegoires , and so constant in the poursuit of them ; her ordinary rithmical composures consist of ten feet , wherof i thought good to produce these ( yet bleeding ) examples . vpon his late majesties decollation . so fell the royal oke by a wild crew of mongrell shrubbs ▪ which underneath him grew ; so fell the lyon by a pack of currs ; so the rose wither'd 'twixt a knot of burrs ; so fell the eagle by a swarm of gnats ; so the whale perish'd by a shoal of spratts . indignabundus sic cecinit , j. h. vpon charles the first , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . if to subdu ones self , if to obtain a conquest o're the passions , bee to raign , here lies the gretest king ( who can say more ? ) of all can com behind , or went before . i. h. of divers superfluous letters in the english orthography ; and som solaecisms discover'd in the common practice of the language . he may be siad to do his mother toung a good office , who makes her the more docible and easy to be learnt by forreners : now , ther is not any thing which tends more to the easy attaining of a language , and to allure a stranger to the study therof , as when the writing and pronunciation of words do both agree . i have known divers forreners much affect the english toung , but when they went about to study her , and found such a difference betwixt the printed words and the pronouncing of them , ( which proceeds from the superfluous letters ) they threw away their books in a kind of passion and dislike . the french finding lately this inconvenience , have garbled their toung of such letters ; and under favor ( as we imitat the french in all things els ) it may well becom the english to follow him in this ; to which purpose these few rules may serve . 1. if those words which have the latin for their original , wee write them as the latin doth , not as the french , ( and t is the more credit so to do ) as afric , logic , physic , &c. labor , honor , favor , &c. wherby the words are as fully pronouncd , as if ( after the french ) they were written afrique , logique ; physique , labour , honour , favour : and ther are two letters sav'd in the three first words , and one in the second , which makes the words to be pronounc'd as they are written . 2. that in such words as end in inne and unne , the last n and the e shold be left out , as sinne , ginne , pinne , shinne , tinne , winne , &c. gunne , nunne , runne , shunne , sunne , &c. which shold be written sin , gin , pin , shin , tin , win , &c. gun , nun , run , shun , sun , &c. wherby two letters are sav'd , yet they have altogether as full a pronunciation ; but herby strangers will not be subject to make two syllables of them , as sin-ne , pin-ne , &c. gun-ne , nun-ne , &c. 3. that all adverbs which end in lie , as bodile , merrilie , sadlie , &c. shold be written with y , as bodily , merrily , sadly , &c. wherby a letter is sav'd , and strangers will not be subject to read them bodili-e , merrili-e , &c. 4. that such words as end in tle , kle , sle , &c. shold be written with the e before the l , as for epistle epistel , twinkle twinkel , whissle whissel ; wherb● the word retains still its tru pronunciation , and strangers will not be subject to read those words , epist-le , twink-le , whiss-le , &c. 5. that in such words as end in eare the e shold be omitted , as beare bear , feare fear , deare dea● , forbeare forbear , &c. wherby forreners will not be subject to read them bear-e , fear-e , forbear-e , &c. as also words 6. that these monosyllables me , she , be , he , ye , &c. shold be written mee , shee , bee , yee , hee ; and so be read as they are pronounc'd . and that in those words which end in ue , the e also shold be left out , as true , blue , crue , due , &c. they shold be written tru , blu , cru , du , &c. 7. that in words ending in gh the g shold be left out , as chough chouh , cough couh , trough trouh , &c. wherby the forrener will pronounce it more easily . as likewise in words ending in ght the g shold be left out , as bright briht , fight fiht , height heiht , might miht , &c. which will render them more easie to the forrener , and save a letter . 8. that the superfluous p shold be left out in many words , as consumption consumtion , presumption presumtion , assumption assumtion , &c. and the b also in doubt , and the i in parliament may well be omitted . 9. c might well be spared when it comes before k , as fickle fikle , pickle pikle , tickle tikle , &c. f●r the word retains still its full sound . 10. that in these words some , done , summe , come , &c. e were left out , for forreners read them as if they made two syllables , so-me , do-ne , co-me , &c. as also words ending in arre , as warre , barre , jarre , &c. which may be very well writ , war , bar , jar , &c. 11. in those words which end in tt , the late●t may be well omitted , as witt wit , hitt hit , bi tt bit , committ comit , &c. as also most words ending ●n ll , the later l may be spared , as bell bel , fell fel , tell tel , mongrell mongrel , &c. and the sound of the wo●● remains as full . herunto may be added all infinitif moods terminating in erre , as conferre , referre , deferre , where the last re is superfluous , and may be writ as well confer , defer , refer , &c. 12. that words in eare and in ease shold leave the a , as for feare fere , for teare tere , &c. for pleasure plesure , leasure lesure : and then forreners will not be subject to read them fe-are , te-are , ple-asure , le-asure , &c. ther is a maxim in logic , that frustra fit per plura , qucd fieri potest per pauciora , more is too much when fewer will serve : and as this rule holds in all things els , so it may well do in orthography . they say abroad , that none write better latin then the english , and none pronounce it worse ; this proceeds principally from the odd prolation of i , which all other nations pronounce like ee , as nisi neesee , tibi teebee ; which the english doth not iu many words , and hee shold not do amisse to frame his mouth in pronouncing latin after that sound . ther is a solaecism us'd in english , in putting the word most before a superlatif , ( as if any thing could be higher then the superlatif ) as most highest , most brightest , &c. you is also us'd wher yee shold be , as you gentlemen of the iury , wheras yee gentlemen , &c. is the tru english ; for you in the nominatif case shold relate but to one person , and yee to many ; though you in all the other cases serves for both . the english also is censur'd abroad for putting the adjectif before the substantif , as white bread , &c. as also for proposing questions negatively , which he shold do affirmatively , as were you never in france ? you have not bin in france , sir ? &c. wheras we shold say , were you ever in france ? have you bin in france , sir ? an affirmatif being held more noble then the negatif . i hope i shall not incur a praemunire ( among the discreeter sort ) for my temerity in pointing at these particulars , which , if we could obtain leave of ( that great tyrant ) custom , to reform both in ortography and speking , it wold ( humbly under favor ) be nere the worse for our language . the english hath som things ( that other toungs have not ) which tends much to the advantage and ease of the forren lerner , for all verbs terminat alike in the singular and plural , through all the moods , except in the second and third person singular . ther be divers words that are both masculin and feminin , without change of any letter , as frend , neighbor , cosen , gossip , &c. the english also hath two comparatifs , and two superlatifs for most adjectifs , ( which other languages have not ) as devout , devouter or more devout , devoutest or most devout ; strong , stronger or more strong , strongest or most strong . she hath also a shorter way of expression in divers words , as once , twice , thrice ; which the spanish , french and italian cannot do but by two words , viz. one time , two times , three times , una vez , une fois , una volta , &c. lastly , the english adjectifs have but one nomber , which is the singular , that serves for both , as a black pudding , black puddings ; a fair maid , fair maids ; hansom whore , hansom whores , &c. touching the premises let the reder observe this exampel . the warre which beganne in bohemia , foretolde by that fatall comete in the yeare , 1618. ( and by the intemperance of the calviniste and the jesuite ) was directlie or collaterallie the cause of all the confusions which happened in christendome ever since ; it brought the swede into germanie , ( like a colde snake into ones bosome ) whoe did soe harasse the whole countrey , and soe pittifullie grinde the faces of the poore people , that they have not recovered their right countenances to this verie daye in manie places . the same written as 't is commonly pronounc'd . the war which began in bohemia , foretold by that fatal comet in the yeer , 1618. ( and by the intemperance of the calvinist and the iesuit ) was directly or colateraly the cause of all the confusions which happen'd in cristendom ever since : it brought the swed into germany , ( like a cold snake into ones bosom ) who did so harasse the whole cuntry , and so pitifully grind the faces of the poor peepel , that they have not recovered their right countenances to this very day in many places . in this short exampel ther are above 27. letters sav'd , and the words made fit to be pronounc'd by any forrener being written as they are utter'd : now , as ther was a hint given before , he doth his native toung a good office , who finds a way to spread her abroad , and make her better known to the world . and so much ( yet ) of the english grammar . gramatica de la lengua española ò castellana . con un discurso conteniendo la perambulaciòn de españa y portugàl . a grammar of the spanish or castilian toung . with a discours containing the perambulation of spain and portugal ; which may serve for directions how to travel throuh both cuntres . el abolengo de la lengua española ò castellana . la lengua española hà la latina por su madre , y la arabiga ò la lengua morisca por su madrasta : en uno de sui apellidos toma el nombre de la primera , porque ella se llama romance , como habla vm romance , quieredezir español ? y parece gloriar se desta decendencia , porque ella haze sus diligencias cada dia de estrechar la afinidad que tiene con la latina : mientras que la italiana y la francesa esfuerçanse de allexarse della , teniendo cierta ambicion de hazerse lenguas de por si , y no dialectos : esta es la razon porque sentencias enteras se pueden formar , que serian buen latino , y buen español ; lo que no se puede haçer en italiano ò francès , aunque ellas tambien sean hijas de la latina . la español se puede dezir de aver la lengua morisca por su madrasta , porque los moros , por la infame trayciòn del conde don julian , qui los introduxo para vengarse de don rodrigo , qui era entonces rey de españa , por aver desvirgado su hija doña cava : digo que los moros teniendo firme possessiòn de la mayor parte de españa cerca de 700. años ; aviendo tan larga coaliciòn pegaron muchos de sus vocablos en la lengua española ; los quales se pueden facilmente distinguìr de los qui se derivan de la latina , porque ordinariamente comiençan con al , x , y z ; ò fenecen con x , como alcalde , alcayde , alguazil , almoxarife , xaràl , xarcias , xopaypas , zorro , zurrana , zurrador , guadix , &c. agora la morisca bien se puede llamàr madrasta a la lengua española por aver la corrumpido d● una pronunciacion mas aspera y gutural , como consta en g , i , x precediendo , ò atrassando tales vocales ; como se hallarà en la gramatica siguiente . màs por dezir la verdàd , la primera y maternal lengua de españa es la bascuença , ò la lengua de cantabria , el qual vocablo denominava toda la españa en los siglos atras : yes cosa observable , que ni los romanos , ni los godos , ni los moros pudieron conquistar la biscaya ; por tanto parecen de tener gran correspondencia en muchas cosas con los antiguos bretones de ingalatierra , ( los de la tierra de gale● ) porque como ellos ( con su lenguaje ) son sin duda l●s primeros habitantes de esta isla , y connaturales con ella ; assi son los cantabros ò biscaynos de españa : de suerte quando algunos dellos aya de ser cavallero del abito , no se haze alguna buscadura ò diligencia si esta limpio de la sangre de moros , ni de su hidalguia . no ay sobre la redondez de la tierra alguna lengua ●as llana y facil a aprender , qui la castellana , porque pronuncia siempre la palabra entera , sin admitir algunos apostrofos : pero la causa que algunas sylabas son escabrosas y gargantiles fue la mescla , y la conversacion que tuvieron los españoles con los moriscos tantos siglos como fue dicho , y esto hà rendido la pronunciacion mas difficultosa al forestiero : de suerte que estiman a el de aver alcançado la lengua qui sabra bien pronunciàr este refran gargantil : abeja y oveja , y piedra que rabeja , y pendola tras oveja , y lugàr en la ygreja , dessea a hijo la vieja . a bee in the hive , and a sheep in the fold , a stone that doth whirl , and an ear-ring of gold , a place in the church , is all the boon the good old wife doth wish her son . the pedigree of the spanish or castilian toung . the spanish or castilian toung hath the latin for her mother , and the arabic or morisco toung for her step-mother : she bears the name of the first in one of her appellations , for somtimes she calls her self romance , as habla vm romance , do you speak spanish ? and it seems she glories to be so well decended , for she endevors daily to have the neerest affinity she can with the latin ; while the italian and french do labor to eloniat themselfs , and keep at a further distance from the latin , having a kind of ambition to be toungs of themselfs , and not dialects : this is the reson that whole sentences may be made which will be good latin & good congruous spanish , ( as i have shew'd els wher ) which cannot be don in italian or french , though they also descend from the latin. the spanish may be said to have for a kind of step-mother the morisco language , because the moors ( by the infamous trechery of the conde don iulian , who brought them over to revenge himself of the then king of spain don rodrigo , for deflow●ing his daughter cava , ) i say , the barbarians or moors having kept firm footing in spain about 700. years , by so long a coalition they insinuated , or as it were indented and pegg'd divers of their words into the spanish toung ; which may be easily distinguish'd from those that are deriv'd from the latin , for they commonly begin with al , x , or z ; or end in x , as alcalde a judg , alcayde a gaoler , alguazìl a serjeant or baylif , almoxarife a receiver of customs , xaral a thicker , xarcias the tacklings of a ship , xopaypas fritters , xabon sope , zorro a wolf , zurrana a pigeon , zurrador a tanner , guadix a town , &c. now the morisco may be well call'd a stepmother to the spanish toung , because she hath corrupted her with a more rugged and guttural pronunciation , as appears in g , i , x preceding , and followlowing som vowels , as will appeer in the ensuing grammar . but the truth is , that the first and maternal toung of spain is the bascuence , or the language of cantabria , which word in ages past denominated the whole countrey : and observable it is , how neither roman , goth or moor could conquer biscay ; in so much that ther is a great analogy 'twixt the ancient britons in england call'd welshmen , and the biscayners ; for as they ( and their language ) without controversy are the first inhabitants of this island , and as it were connatural with her : so the cantabrians or biscayners are of spain ; in so much that when any of that countrey is to be made knight of any of the three habits , ther is no scrutiny made of his gentility , or whether he be cleer of morisco bloud , as is us'd before others are dubb'd . ther is not any language among men so plain and easie to be learnt as the castilian ; for she pronounceth alwayes the whole word without admitting any apostrop hes : now the reason why som syllables are cragged and throaty , is the mixture and conversation the spaniards had so many ages with the moors , as was said before , which hath rendred the pronunciation more difficult to strangers ; so that he is thought to have attained the language to som perfection , who can well pronounce this old throaty adage in spanish , viz. abeja y oveja , y piedra que rabeja , y pendola tras oveja , y lugàr en la ygreja , dessea a hijo la vieja . a bee in the hive , and a sheep in the fold , a stone that doth whirl , and an ear-ring of gold , a place in the church , is all the boon the good old wife doth wish her son . a grammar of the spanish or the castilian toung . of the spanish alphabet . the spanish alphabet consists of the same , and the same nomber of letters as the english doth , k onely excepted , which is supplied by c , and somtimes by q , as kalendar calendario , kintall quintal . now the difficulty and difference , which if found in the spanish toung , is the pronunciation of these nine letters , b , ç , d , g , j , ll , ñ , x , z ; which have a differing prolation in many words . the first is b which often degenerats into v , as barba remojada medio rapada , a beard wetted is half shav'd : where the second b is pronounc'd like v , as if it were written barva ; bandera or vandera a banner , bobo or bovo a fool , &c. but when b comes before any of the liquid consonants , l , m , n , r , it retains constantly the sound of b , as lumbre light , hablar to speak , &c. the second is ç call'd c cedilla , which comes not but before a , o , u , and then 't is pronounc'd like s , as çampoña a shepherds pipe , quiça it may be , 〈◊〉 lame , çurrador a tanner , &c. and this c cedilla is seldom or never under a great c. the thi●d is g , which oftentimes degenerats to ishota , as lenguage lenguaje , a language ; page paje , a page ; which are pronounc'd both alike superficially from the throat , or like the aspiration h , as if they were written lenguahe , pahe ; but they have this guttural pronunciation only before e and i , before a , o , u , they are pronounc'd as in english. and somtimes g turns to x , as tigeras tixeras , a pair of sheers , &c. the fourth is j call'd ishota , as jamas never , jerigonça gibberish , joya a jewel , hijo a son , iuev●s thursday , &c. which are pronounc'd in the throat as the former g. but i in general must be pronounc'd in spanish , as eè in wèe , thee ; as ni olla sin ●ocino , ni sermon sin agustino , nor an ollia without bacon , nor a sermon without saint austin . the fift is ll , which is pronounc'd as in french like ll in fille , the second l turning into i , as en casae llena presto se guisa la cena , in a full house supper is soon dress'd ; where llena is pronounc'd as if it were liena : so in llorar to weep , liorar ; llevar to carry , lievar ; lluvia rain , liuvia . but great care must be taken that the l and i with the next vowel be pronounc'd as one syllable , making a kind of dipthong , as quien no hà visto sevilla no hà visto maravilla , who hath not seen sevill he hath not seen wonders ; wher the last l being turned into an i , as sevilia , maravilia , the lia must be pronounc'd as one syllable l●a : and so in mundo mundillo nacido en bilbao muerto en bustillo , such is the world , born in lancaster dead in london . the sixth is ñ , call'd n tilde or contilde , which is pronounc'd as if i also immediatly follow'd , as viña , niña , peral , y havar malas cosas de guardar , a vine , a child , a pear-tree , and a bean-field are hard to be kept : wher viña and niña must be pronounc'd as if they were written vinia , ninia . the seventh is u , which often degenerats into a consonant in spanish , ( as in all other languages ) and then she hath a different clos'd caracter , as v : being still a vowel u is pronounc'd as oo , as pan reziente , y uvas , a las moças ponen mudas , y a las viejas quitan las arrugas , new bread and grapes paints young womens faces , and takes away wrinkles from the old ; wher 's uvas and mudas are pronounc'd as if they were written oovas , moodas . the next is x , which is pronounc'd also in the throat , as xaramago y tocino manjar de hombre mesquino , wild radish and bacon is the food of a miserable man : xabonar cabeça de asno es perdimiento de xabòn , to wash an asses head is throwing away of sope : where x is pronounc'd in the throat like g and ishota , as was formerly said . and indeed he that will pronounce well these three letters in spanish , must pronounce them as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in greek , which the old britains in england do pronounce more naturally than any other euro●ean nation : and i have observed , that a guttural pronunciation is the mar● of the antiquity of a language , for the hebre● with her dialects , the chaldaic , syriac and arabic with all the oriental and southern languages , besides the greek , do so . z is pronounc'd somtimes as the english pronounce it , as azul blu , azemila a great mule ; but somtimes she turns to c , and then she is pronounc'd more rudely , as hazer hacer , &c. g coming before n is not pronounc'd in spanish , as digno worthy , significar to signifie , are pronounc'd dino , sinificar ; signar to signe , sinar , &c. gue and gui , que and qui found in words , are pronounc'd in spanish as large as the letters will bear , as aguelo a granfather , garguero the throat , &c. quento , cinquenta fifty , &c. which the italian and french do not , but contract them , ghe ghi , che chi : but som are excepted , as quinientos five hundred , quasi almost , which are pronounc'd kinjentos , casi , &c. but especially que and qui , which are pronounc'd ke and ki , &c. the letter d hath a differing pronunciation in spanish from other toungs , for most commonly 't is pronounc'd meltingly , as th in that or the , as hombre narigudo pocas vezes cornudo , a long-nos'd man is seldom a cuckold : which must be pronounc'd , hombre narigutho poca● vezes cornutho . having don with the alphabet , we com now to syllables , and dictions or words , and first of the spanish articles , which are subservient to the declining of all words that are capable of declension , for ther is no other means to know the variation of ●●ses otherwise : now ther are in spanish three articles , the masculin , the feminin , and the neuter , which are declin'd thus : the masculin article is declin'd thus : singular . plural . nom. el , the los , the gen. del , of the de los , from the dat. al , to the a los , to the accus . el ò a el , the los ò a los , the abl. del , from the de los , from the. the feminin article is declin'd thus . singular . plural . nom. la , the las , the gen. de la , of the de las , of the dat. a la , to the a las , to the accus . la ò a la , the las ò a las , the abl. de la , from the de las , from the. the neuter thus : singular . nom. lo , the gen. de lo , of the dat. a lo , to the accus . lo , the abl. de lo , from the it is to be observed that this neuter article hath no plural , nor can it be applied to any noun either masculin or feminin , but it seems to be rather a demonstratif pronoun , for ther are no neuter nouns in the spanish . the article el is alwayes put before nouns of the masculin gender , beginning with a vowel or consonant , as el libro the book , el pecho the breast , el ayre the air , &c. and somtimes it comes before feminins , specially before such as begin with a , to avoid too much gaping , as el alma the soul , el agua the water ; not la alma , nor la agua ; as also to avoid apostrophes , which the spanish hates . this article el becomes somtimes le at the end of a word , and so is ranvers'd : but it becomes so only at the end of imperati● moods , as matadle kill him , abraçadle imbrace him ; which are pronounc'd matalde , abraçalde , by postposing the d to the l. the spaniards have a peculiar mode of speking to one in the second person , using this article el and le insteed of vos you ; for they hold vos you , to be a mean manner of speking , and use it towards their inferiors , and is little better esteem'd then tu thou ; as si el hardesto , if you will do this : quiere cenar comigo ? will you sup with mee ? wheras the words import , if hee will do this , will hee sup with me : insomuch that the spaniard herein is higher in complement then the french or italian , who commonly use you ; in lieu wherof the spaniard useth frequently the third person hee and him , shee and her . but el is often o●itted , being included in the verb , which is of the third person , as hà comido , have you din'd ? wheras it is meant hà el comido . in other cases except the nominatif le is us'd , as yo le digo , i tell you , wheras the tru sense is , i tell him . the spaniard hath another mode of complement by these two words , vuestra merced your favor , which they generally use insteed of you , and it is above el the third person formerly spoken ; som pronounce it at length , vuestra merced , som vuesa mercè , som vosastè , som vueste ; but in writing two letters only stand for it , viz. vm . as hago brindis a vm . i drink to you : embio a vm . con el portadòr desta , i send you by the berer herof . yet the italian surpasseth the spaniard herin in point of complement , for in lieu of vuestra merced your favor , he useth vostra signoria your lordship at every word , applying it to every ordinary gentleman , as fo brindesi a vostra signoria , i drink to you ; which two words in writing hee expresseth only by vs . as poco fa chio scrissi a vs . i writ to you lately . the feminin article la comes alwayes before feminin nouns , as la cabeça the head , la yglesia the church ; but el takes place before words before words beginning with a , as 't was said before , as el ama the nurse . lo , though it cannot properly be call'd an article , because ther are no neuter substantifs in the spanish , yet it comes before adjectifs , and then it hath the power to turn them to substantifs , as lo bueno que yo recebia , the good which i receav'd ; lo malo que me hizo dios se le perdone , the ill which you did me god forgive you . it comes also very often before and after verbs , and then somtimes it is a relatif , somtimes demonstratif , as lo digo a vm . de veras , i tell it you in good earnest ; or digo lo a vm . de veras : tengo de hazer lo de buena gana , i will do it willingly . of nouns , and their genders , and terminations . ther are in spanish , nouns masculins , and nouns feminins : som end in vowels , viz. e or o , as lumbre light , renombre renown , cielo heaven , infierno hell : and 't is observ'd that ther are but two nouns feminins which end in o , through all the spanish toung , which are mano the hand , nao a ship . but most noun substantifs in spanish end in one of these consonants d , l , n , r , s , x , y , z : those that end in d have the accent in the last syllable , and their plurals in es , as abàd an abbot , abàdes ; merced a curtesy or favor , mercedes ; virtùd virtùdes vertu . som terminat in l , and they also have the accent in the last syllable , and the plural in es , as animal animales , a living creture ; b●t●l a boat , bateles ; badil a frying-pan , badiles ; caracol a young inail , caracoles ; azùl blu , azules , &c. som substantifs end in n , and their plurals end also in es , as pan bread , almazen a storehouse , celemin a peck , sazon seson , a●un the tunny fish : whose plurals are panes , almazenes , celemines , sazones , atunes . and for the most part sub●tantifs in n have the accent also over the last 〈◊〉 , specially if they end in on , as devociòn , compassiòn , generaciòn , &c. som substantifs end in r , and they also have the accent in the last , and also their plurals in es , as havàr a bean-field , havares ; mugèr a woman , mugeres ; martìr a martyr , martires ; açor a hawk açores . som substantifs terminat in s , and they also most commonly have the accent in the last syllable , and their plurals in es , as diòs god , dioses ; feligrès a parish , feligreses ; mès a month , meses ; montanès a mountaneer , mountañes . other substantifs end in x , and they commonly are morisco words , but they often change the x in the singular to ges in the plural , carcax a quiver , carcages ; relox a clock , reloges , &c. som substantifs end in y , and they also have their plurals in es , as ley the law , leyes ; rey a king , reyes ; buey an ox , bueyes . lastly , som substantifs end in z , and they also have the accent at the end , and their plurals in es , as paz peace , pazes ; juèz a judg , juezes ; perdìz a partridg , perdizes ; toz a cough , tozes ; cruz a cross cruzes , &c. herby it appeers that the plural of all spanish substantifs end in s , and som singulars end so , but they are very few . of the declensions of nouns substantifs proper and common . it is to be observ'd that nouns proper differ from common in two things ; first , they have no prepositif article , then they have no plural nombers . examples of proper nouns . singular . singular . nom. carlos charls catarina katharine gen. de carlos of charls de catarina of katharine dat. a carlos to charls a catarina to katharine accus . carlos charls catarina katherine voc. o carlos to charls o catarina o katharine abl. de carlos from charls . de catarina from katharine . instances in common nouns . singular . plural . nom. el cielo heven los cielos the hevens gen. del cielo of heven de los cielos of the hevens dat. al cielo to heven a los cielos to the hevens accus . el ò al cielo heven los cielos the hevens voc. o cielo o heven o cielos o heaven abl. dal cielo from heven . de los cielos from the hevens . singular . plural . animal a beast los animales ganapan a porter los ganapanes pastor a shepherd los pastores relox a watch los reloxes muger a woman . las mugeres . all which must be declin'd according to the example of cielo . of noune adjectifs , and of their declensions . the spanish adjectifs have two terminations , one masculin in o , which changeth into a feminin , as virtuoso virtuosa : the other termination is in e , as valiente , and it signifieth both masculin and feminin , as hombre valiente a valiant man , hembra valiente a valiant woman , cosa grande a great thing : but heed must be taken to this word grande , for coming before a substantif that begins with a consonant , it loseth de , as grancosa , gran bretaña , &c. but grand becomes a substantif it self somtimes , as un grande de españa , a high peer or grande of spain , who are permitted to cover themselfs before the king , but when hee speaks to them , or they to him . the same holds in bueno and malo , good bad , in the masculin gender , and when it comes before substantifs of the masculin only , as tiempo bueno , buen tiempo a good time ; hombre malo , mal hombre an ill man. this abridgment holds also in tanto and quanto , before adjectifs and adverbs , and somtimes before substantifs , as tan rico so rich , tan glorioso so glo●ious , tan tarde so late , tan temprano so early ; quan admirable how admirable , quan bien habla vm , how well do you speak ? but when tanto and quanto come before these adverbs mas , menos , more , lesse , they are pronounc'd whole , as also before mayor greter , menor lesser , as quanto mas yo le respeto , tanto menos me quiere , the more i respect him , the lesser hee loves mee . before the nouns comparatifs they also keep their whole length , as quanto mejor es el vino , tanto mas se beve , the better the wine , the more 't is drunk : quanto mayor es el hombre , tanto menor es s● seguridad , the greter the man is , the lesser is his security . the spaniards have a peculiar idiom , to use que tanto for quanto in inter●ogations , as que tanto es del mes ? what day of the months is it ? que tanto ay de londres a lancastra ? how far is it from london to lancaster ? the article lo is joyn'd to neuter adjectifs , and then it becomes a kind of substantif , as seas contento con lo tuyo , y no busques lo ageno , be contented with thine own , and seek not what is anothers . possessif neuters are made of the pronouns , lo mio , lo tuyo , lo suyo , lo nu●stro , mine , thine , his or hers , ours , yours ; as necio es qui pierde lo suyo , he is a fool who loseth his own : dios me haga contento con lo mio , god make me contented with mine own . of the words mucho , poco , harto ; much , little , enough . mucho and poco , though they be adverbs of quantity , yet they become somtimes nouns neuters , as lo mucho que dios me hà dado , the much that god hath given mee : lo poco que le pago , the little which i pay him . they are somtimes adjectifs before inanimated substantifs , but only in the singular , as mucho vino emborracha , much wine makes one drunk : mucho azeyte y poeo vinagre hazen buena ensalada , much oyl and little vineger make a good sallet . but in the plural nomber they are us'd indifferently before any substantifs , as muchos componedores cohonden la novia , many attirers confound the bride : portugueses pocos y locos , the portugueses are few and foolish , &c. harto enough , is somtimes an adverb , as ay harto , si no ay demasiado , ther is enough , if ther be not too much . somtimes 't is an adjectif , as de●pues de harta ca●●a marta , martha is merry when she hath enough : hartos ducados tiene qui se contenta , he hath crowns enough who is contented . of the spanish diminutifs . the spanish is more copious for diminutifs then other languages : som end in illo illa , ico ica , ito ita ; as capitanillo a little captain , mugercilla or mugercita a little woman , loquillo loquilla , or loquito loquita a little fool , &c. som end in elo ela , as borrachuelo a little drunkard , moço moçuelo a little boy , a little maid . but in proper names they have diminutifs , sub-diminutifs , sub-sub-diminutifs , and sub-sub-sub-diminutifs , as simòn , simoncico , simoncicico , simoncilillo : francisca , francisquita , francisquicita , francisquililla , &c. of numerical nouns , and of their terminations . vno one dos two tres three quatro fower cinco five seys six siete seven ocho eight nueve nine diez ten unze or onze eleven doze twelve treze thirteen catorze fourteen quinze fifteen dezieys sixteen diez y siete seventeen diez y ocho eighteen diez y nueve nineteen veynte twenty veynte y uno one and twenty veynte y dos two and twenty , and so taking the single nombers aforesaid all along . treynta thirty treynta y uno one and thirty , and so taking the single nombers aforesaid . quarenta forty quarenta y uno one and forty , and so taking the single nombers aforesaid . cinquenta fifty sesenta sixty setenta seventy ochenta eighty noventa ninety noventa y uno ninety one , and so taking the single nombers aforesaid . ciento a hundred dozientos 2 hundred trezientos 3 hundred quatrocientos 4 hundred quinientos 5 hundred seys cientos 6 hundred setecientos 7 hundred ocho cientos 8 hundred novecientos 9 hundred mil a thousand dos mil 2 thousand tres mil 3 thousand , &c. cien mil 100 thousand dozientos mil 200 thousand quinientos mil 500 thousand un millon or un cuento a million dos millones two millions , &c. millar a million of millions . observe that this word ciento a hundred , being to be put before a word it loseth the last syllable to , as cien millones a hundred millions , cien soldados a hundred soldiers , not ciento soldados : and somtimes it becomes a kind of substantif , as un ciento de hombres a hundred of men , but then un goes before . numbers are of two kinds , cardinal , as those which went before , and ordinal numbers , which are adjectifs , as follows : primero the first segundo the second tercero the third quarto the fourth quinto the fift sexto the sixt septimo or set ●●no the seventh . octavo the eight nono or no veno the ninth decimo or dezeno the tenth . som stop here the ordinal number , and take the cardinal number to go higher , as soldado onze the eleventh soldier ; yet these five are admitted , onzeno the eleventh , dozeno the twelf , trezeno the thirtinth , catorzeno the fourtinth , quinzeno the fiftinth ; but after , the cardinal number , one , two , three , &c. then you must proceed to vieynteno or vigesimo the twentith , treynteno or trigesimo the thirtith , quarenteno or quadragesimo the fortith , cinquenteno or quinquagesimo and cinquentesimo the fiftith , sesenteno or sexagesimo and sesentesimo the sixtith , setenteno or setentesimo the seventith , ochenteno or octuagesimo and ochentesimo the eightith , noventeno or noventesimo and nonagesimo the ninetith , centeno or centesimo the hundreth . but it is to be observ'd that primo and tercio , not primero and tercero come after vigesimo and the rest . of pronouns . pronouns are certain words which supply the room of nouns , and they serve only to demonstrat the person or thing without naming of it . ther are divers sorts of pronouns , as primitif , possessif , demonstratif , derivatif , relatif , and reciprocal pronouns : the primitif have three persons , which are yo , tu , de si that hath no nominatif ; yo is thus declin'd : singular . plural . nom. yo i no ò nosotros we gen. de mi of mee de vos ò vosotros of us dat. a mi to mee a nos ò nosotros to us accus . me mee nos ò nosotros us abl. de mi from mee . de nos ò nosotros from us . singular . plural . nom. tu thou vos ò vosotros yee gen. de ti of thee de vos ò vosotros of you dat. a ti to thee a vos ò vosotros to you accus . te thee vos ò vosotros you voc. o tu o thou o vos ò vosotros o you abl. de ti from thee de vos ò vosotros from y. the singular is the same both for masculin and feminin , but os is turn'd to as in the feminin plurals of nosotros and vosotros , as nosotras as vosotras , but nos and vos by themselfs serve for both genders . mi and tu coming before the substantifs turn to possessifs pronouns , as mi espada my sword , tu sombrero thy hat . nos implying greatnes or dignity , comes before proper names of the singular number , as no don carlos por la gracia de dios rey dela gran bretaña , &c. vos us'd in spanish in speking to a person is held as mean as thou : with a preposition vos is us'd , as no digo mal de vos , i speak no hurt of you ; morirè por vos , i will dy for you , &c. but after any other noun it turns to os , as yo os digo , i tell you : as also coming to the end of a word , as quiero hablaros la verdad , i will tell you the truth . the pronoun de si himself , hath no nominatif nor plural , and is delcin'd thus : gen. de si of himself dat. a si to himself accus . se himself abl. de si from himself . ther is an observable phrase in spanish , que serà de mi ? que serà de ti ? what will become of mee ? what will become of thee ? mismo or mesmo my self , is us'd after all the three persons through all the cases , adding s to the plural . singular . plural . nom. yo mismo or mesmo i my self . nosotros mismos wee ourselfs gen. de mi mesmo of my self de nosotros mismos of our selfs dat. a mi mesmo to my self . a nosotros mismos to our selfs accus . mi mesmo my self nosotros mismos wee our selfs abl. de mi mesmo from my self de nosotros mismos from our selfs singular . plural . nom. tu mismo thou thy self vosotros mismos yee your selfs selfs gen. de si mismo of thy self , and so through all cases . de vosotros mismos of your selfs selfs , and so through all cases . singular . plural . nom. el mesmo hee himself ellos mesmos they themselfs gen. de si mesmo of himself , and so through all cases . de si mismos of themselfs , and so through all cases . the spaniards use proprio or propio insteed of mismo , as yo proprio i my self , tu proprio thou thy self , ella propria she her self , de si propio of himself , &c. the pronoun el is declin'd thus : singular . plural . nom. el hee ellos they gen. del of him dellos of them dat. al to him a ellos to them accus . el him ellos them abl. del from him . dellos from them . ella she , and ellas they , are declin'd after the same manner . of pronouns possessifs . mio mine , tuyo thine , suyo his , nuestro ours , vuestro yours , with their feminins in a , are call'd pronouns possessifs ; but before a substantif they turn to mi , tu , su , as mi capa my cloke , tu guante thy glove , su libro his book . lo , being put before mio , tuyo or suyo , make them a kind of substantifs , as mi cuydado es de guardar lo mio , my care is to keep mine own : tu cuydado serà de asseguarar lo tuyo , thy care must be to secure ●●ine own : su amo bien guarda lo suyo , his master looks well to his own . su is somtimes us'd in spanish for la , and 't is only us'd in spanish , as vi que notenia su firma del autor , i saw it bore not the signature of the author . cuyo and cuya whose , are pronouns possessifs , but the italian and french have none such , and commonly they are put before interrogatifs , as cuya ropilla es esta , whose coat is this ? cuyo cavallo es aquel , whose horse is that ? cuyo and cuya are also us'd as relatifs in the middle of sentences , as guay aquel hijo cuyo padre va al parayso , wo be to that son whose father goes to heven : saluda la muger a cien passos lexos , cuyos cabellos son roxos , salute a hundred paces off that woman who hath red hair . ther are demonstratif pronouns , as este or esta this , esse or essa that same , aquel or aquella hee , shee or that : ther is also aqueste and aquesse , which sigfies the same as este esse , but not so much us'd . este declin'd . singular . plural . nom. este or estae this estos or estas these ge. de este or deste of this de estos or destos of these dat. a este to this a estos to these accus . este or a este this estos these abl. deste or desta from this . de esto or destos from these . esse or essa , aqueste or aquesse this very same are declin'd alike . no. aquel or aquella that aquellos those gen. de aquel of that de aquellas of those dat. a aquel of that a aquellos to those accus . aquel that aquellos those abl. de aquel from that de aquellos from those . observe that esto this , esso this very thing , aquello ello that , are neuters , and so have no plurals . the pronouns este and esse are joyn'd often to otro , and then the e is lost , yet they never use the note of apostrophe , as estotro hombre this other man , estotra muger this other woman : and so essotro is us'd . ther are two pronouns which have no singular number , viz. ambos ambas , entrambos entrambas , wherunto one may adde ambos and dos , all which signifie both or both together : as querria que entrambos veniessen aca , y yo os emoregare entrambos sus obligaciones , pero si no veneys ambos no tengo de darse las , por tanto digo que ambos ambos juntos , que serà por la ventaja de entrambos : i could wish that you both came hither , and i will deliver you both your bonds , but if you com not together , i will not deliver them , therfore i say that you com both of you , and it will be for the advantage of both . of pronouns relatifs . ther are three other pronouns relatifs , viz. quien , que , qual , as quien canta , who sings ? que is what or that , que es esto , what is this ? el cavallero que yo digo , the gentleman which i speak of : qual in sense is the same as que , as qual hombre puede digerir esto , what man can digest this ? que hath no plural , as quien and qual have , as quien es aquel hidalgo , who is that gentleman ? quien es son aquellos mercaderes , who are those merchants ? but quien in the singular is counted more elegant , as quien son ellos mercaderes ? qual hath los or las before it in the plural , as las donzellas las quales yo saludava , the maids which i saluted : los soldados los quales yo nombrava , the soldiers which i numbred . in lieu of qual what , and como how , these two words que tal are us'd , which is a pure spanicism , as que tal est à mi hermano , how doth my brother ? que tal se halla mi madre , how doth my mother ? as que tanto is us'd for quanto , which is also a pure spanicism , as que tantas leguas ay entre londres y glocestra , how many miles are ther 'twixt london and glocester ? que tanto ha que vm . hà buelto del palacio , how long is it that you have returned from court ? wherof wee gave instances before . to these relatif pronouns quien and qual ther is often adjoyn'd quier and quiera , which of themselfs are verbs , as quienquiera , qualquier whosoever , as hablarè castellano con qualquier hombre que sea , i will speak spanish with any man whatsoever . somtimes que quiera is us'd for whatsoever , as que quier a que digan las gentes a ti mismo para mientes , whatsoever they say of thee take heed to thy self● roma es la patria de qualquiera , rome is any mans count●y . of me , te , se , the reciprocal pronouns . me and te serve ve●bs oftentimes in the datif case , as di me con quien andas , y dezirte h● quien ere 's , tell mee with whom thou dost keep company , and i will tell thee who thou art : somtimes they serve in the accusatif , as no me trates en esta suerte , do not use me thus . se comes also before or after verbs , as el se va , hee goes away : vase vm . a londres , do you go to london ? no me voy , i go not . somtimes for a fuller signification me and te follows se very often , as que se me da a mi , which form of speking is a pure spanicism , and cannot be englished verbatim but thus , what have i to do with it , what care i for it ? que se le da a el , what doth hee care for it ? se me da mucho , it concerns mee much : deve algo para pascua , y hazerte se ha la quaresma corta , borrow mony to be paid at easter , and lent will seem short unto thee . se , is very often us'd in the datif case before the article lo , as preste me su espada , y yo se la bolvere incontinente , lend mee your sword , and i will return it speedily : yo se lo dire , i will tell it you : yo se lo dare , i will give it you : yo se lo embiare , i will send it you . ther is also another mixture 'twixt se , me and te , and le and lo doth associat often with them , as quien ere 's que tu te me vendes por tan discreto , who art thou that makest thy self so wise ? or according to the words , that sellest thy self unto mee for such a wise man ? which kind of phrase is a spanicism : no se le da nada , he cares not for it : madre mia a donde os me llevan , o my mother , whither do they carry you from mee ? the particles mi , ti , si , do joyn oftentimes with the preposition con , and with go , as comigo with mee , contigo with thee , consigo with himself , as cada frances lleva un frenetico consigo , every frenchman carries a madman about him . andad comigo oy , & yo yrè contigo mañana , go with mee to day , and i will go with thee to morrow . of verbs . wee are com now to the verbs , which may be calld the ligaments or great arteries which tie words and sentences together : ther are in spanish three conjugations of verbs , the first in ar , the second ending in er , and the third in ir : ther are also verbs actif , passif , neuters and impersonals , and they are declin'd by five moods as in other languages ; the indicatif or demonstratif , the imperatif or mood of command , the optatif or wishing mood , the conjunctif and infinitif mood . ther are two subservient or auxiliary verbs , without which no other can be thoroughly form'd , and they are aver to have , ser to be , therfore wee must first conjugat these two verbs , before wee treat of the other , but because yo he i have , and yo tengo i hold , are often confounded , and of the same sense before other verbs , we will conjugat them together . the indicatif mood . present tense . yo he yo tengo i have tu has tu tienes thou hast aquel ha el tiene hee hath nosotros hemos ò havemos tenemo wee have vosotros heys ò aveys teneys yee have aquellos han . tienaen . they have . preterperfact tense . yo havia ò avia tenia i had tu avias tenias thou hadst el avia tenia hee had nos haviàmos teniamos wee had vos aviades teniades yee had ellos avian . tenian . they had . perfect tense . yo huve ò uve tuve i had tu uviste ò oviste tuviste thou hadst el huvo ò ovo tuvo hee had nos uvimos tuvimos wee had vos uvistes tuvistes yee had . ellos uvieron . tuvieron . they had . perfect indefinit . yo he avido tenido i had had tu has avido tenido thou hadst had el ha avido tenido hee had had nos hemos ò avemos avido tenido wee had had vos aveys avido tenido yee had had ellos han avido . tenido . they had had . future tense . yo avrè tendrè ò ternè i shall have tu avràs tendràs ò ternàs thou shalt have el averà tendra ò terna hee shall have nos averemos nos tendremos ò ternemos wee shall have vos avreys vos tendreys ò terneys yee shall have ellos avràn . ellos tendràn ò ternàn . they shall have the imperatif mood . have tu ten tu have thou aya el tenga el let him have ayamos tengamos nosotr . let us have haved tengays vosotros let you have ayan . tengan ellos . let them have . the optatif mood . oxala , plega a dios que , aunque , dado que , como quiera que , puesto que : o that , wold to god that , although , howsoever that , put case that . yo aya tenga i had tu ayas tengas thou hadst el aya tenga hee had nos ay●nos tengamos wee had vos ayays tengays yee had ellos ayan . tengan . they had . the conjunctif mood . si , o si : if , o if . yo uviesse tuviesse i had tu uviesses tuviesses thou hadst el uviesse tuviesse hee had nos uviessemo● tuviessemos wee had vos uviessedes tuviessdes yee had ellos uviessen . tuviessen . they had . quando is often us'd in spanish before the optatif and conjunctif moods , and then it signifies as much as although , or bien que , which is also us'd , as present tense . quando , bien que : though or although . yo uviesse tuviesse i had tu uviesses tuviesses thou hadst el uviesse tuviesse hee had nos uviessemos tuviessemos wee had vos uviessedes tuviessedes yee had ellos uviessen . tuviessen . they had . perfect tense . oxala , plega a dios , aunque , puesto que : o that , i wold to god , although , put case that . yo ay avido tenido i may have tu ayas avido tenido thou maist have el aya avido tenido hee may have nos ayamos avido tenido wee may have vos ayais avido tenido yee may have ellos ayan avido . tenido they may have . pluperfect tense . oxala , o si , aunque , &c. oh that , although , o if , &c. yo uviera tuviera i had had tu uvieras tuviera thou hadst had el uviera tuviera hee had had nos uvieramos tuvier amos wee had had vos uvierades tuvierados yee had had ellos uvieran . tuvieran . they had had . future tense . quando , when . yo uviere tuviere i shall have tu uvieres tuviere thou shalt have el uviere tuviere hee shall have nos uvieremos tuvieremos wee shall have vos uvieredes tuvieredes yee shall have ellos uvieren . tuvieren . they shall have the infinitif mood . havèr ò avèr tenèr to have aver avido aver tenido to have had estàr por aver . estàr por tener . to bee to have . thus wee see that tengo i hold , is us'd oftentimes for the auxiliary verb hè , but tengo alludes to the possession of a thing , as tengo cobrado mi dinero , i have recovered my mony : it comes more often after digo then any other verb , as tengo dicho antes , i have said before , &c. dixo me que yo ternia mi dinero mañana , hee told mee i shold have my mony to morrow : quando yo le diesse todo quanto tengo , aun no se contentaria , although i shold give him all that i had , yet i shold not content him . the conjugation of the verb , yo soy i am , and of yo estoy i am or stand , which although they differ in variations , yet they are alike oftentimes in signification , as shall be shew'd further . the indicatif mood . present tense . yo soy yo estoy i am tu ere 's tu estas thou art el es el està hee is nos somos estamos wee are vos soys estays yee are ellos son . estan . they are . imperfect tense ▪ yo era estava i was tu eras estavas thou wast el era estava hee was nos eramos estavamos wee were vos erades estavades yee were ellos eran . estavan . they were . perfect tense . yo fui yo estuve i was tu fuiste tu estuviste thou wast el fue estuvo hee was nos fuimos estuvimos wee were vos fuistes estuvistes yee were ellos fueran . estuvieron . they were . perfect indefinit . yo he sido estado i have bin tu has sido estado thou hast bin el ha sido estado hee hath bin nos hemos ò havemos sido estado wee have bin vos aveys sido estado yee have bin ellos han sido . estado . they have bin . preterpluperfect tense . yo avia sido estado i had bin tu avias sido estado thou hadst bin el avia sido estado hee had bin nos aviamos sido estado wee had bin vos aviades sido estado yee had bin ellos avian sido . estado . they had bin . future tense . yo serè yo estarè i shall bee tu seràs tu estaràs thou shalt bee el serà el estarà hee shall bee nos seremos nos estarèmos wee shall bee vos sereys vos estareys yee shall bee ellos seran . ellos estaran . they shall bee . ther is a second future tense that belongs to these two verbs , ( and indeed to most of the rest ) with hè or tengo before the infinitif mood . the second future tense of ser and estar . yo he ò tengo de ser de estar i shall or must bee tu has ò tienes de ser de estar thou shalt or must bee el ha ò tiene de ser de estar hee shall or must bee nos hemos ò tenemos de ser de estar wee shall or must bee vos aveys ò teneys de ser de estar yee shall or must bee ellos han ò tienen de ser. de estar . they shall or must bee . the imperatif mood . se tu està tu bee thou sea el estè el let him bee seamos nos estemos nos let us bee sed vos estad vos bee yee sean ellos . esten ellos . lot them bee . the optatif and conjunctif moods . present tense . oxala , plega a dios que , aunque , puesto , dado que , &c. o that , wold to god that though , put case that , &c. yo sea estè i bee tu seas estes thou beest el sea estè hee bee nos seamos estemos wee bee vos seays esteys yee bee ellos sean . esten . they bee . imperfect tense . oxala , &c. o that , &c ▪ yo fuesse estuviesse i were tu fuesses estuviesses thou werst elfuesse estuviesse hee were nos fuessemos estuviessemos wee were vos fuessedes estuviessedes yee were ellos fuessen . estuviessen . they were . when si if , or o si o if , and quando , when it is taken for although , comes before these tenses , they are declin'd alike . future tense . yo fuere estuviere i shall bee tu fueres estuvieres thou shalt bee el fuere estuviere hee shall bee nos fueremos estuvieremos wee shall bee vos fueredes estuvieredes yee shall bee ellos fueren . estuvieren . they shall bee . the infinitif mood . ser estar to bee aver sido estado to have bin siendo . estando . being . the difference which is 'twixt ser and estar consists chiefly in this , that ser signifies the humor or essence of a thing , as yo soy colerico , i am coleric ; tu ere 's valiente , thou art valiant ; el es piadoso , he is charitable : and so denotes the quality of the substantif . but yo estoy relates most properly to som local posture , or the being in som place , as yo estoy a pie , i am a-foot ; yo estava entonces en lisbona , i was then in lisbon . estar is much us'd in salutation , and in reference to health , as como esta mi padre , how doth my father ? then answer is made , esta bueno loado sea dios , he is well praised be god : como esta v m. how do you do sir ? estoy achacoso , estoy malo , i am sickish , i am ill ; wher it is observable that bueno and malo are us'd in these phrases for adverbs , viz. for well and ill . the difference 'twixt these two auxiliary verbs , yo hè or yo tengo , and yo soy , is this , that the first serve the participles in the preter tense of verbs actifs , as yo he amado , i have loved ; yo tengo almorzado , i have broke my fast alredy . besides , yo he is an auxiliary to it self , as yo he avido , i have had ; yo avia avido , i had had , &c. but soy i am , makes passif verbs only , as yo soy ensalçado , i am exalted ; yo soy querido , i am lov'd . observe that tengo serving for auxiliary , makes the participle and the thing to agree in nomber , as los donayres que yo tengo contados son graciosos , the jests that i have related are plesant : but yo he doth not so , las hazañas que yo he recitado , the exploits that i have recited : but in the toscan italian it doth , as io ho letta la lettera , i have read the letter ; io ho pagati i danari , i have paid the monies , &c. spanish verbs have their tern inations in ar , er or ir : they in ar are of the first conjugation , they in er of the second , and they in ir of the third ; wh●rof ther shall be examples of each , and according to them all other verbs must bee form'd , except irregulars which shall be spoken of apart . the variation of buscar to seek , being of the first conjugation . the indicatif mood . present tense . yo busco i seek tu buscas thou seekst el busca hee seeks nos buscamos wee seek vos buscays yee seek ellos buscan . they seek . imperfect tense . yo buscava i did seek tu buscavas thou didst seek el buscava hee did seek nos buscavamos wee did seek vos buscavades yee did seek ellos buscavan . they did seek . perfect definit . yo busque i sought tu buscaste thou soughtst el busco hee sought nos buscamos wee sought vo 〈…〉 yee sought 〈…〉 they sought . perfect indefinit . yo he buscado i have sought tu has buscado thou hast sought el ha buscado hee hath sought nos hemos buscado wee have sought vos aveys buscado yee have sought ellos han buscado . they have sought . plusquam perfect . yo avia buscado i had sought tu avias buscado thou hadst sought el avia buscado hee had sought nos aviamos buscado wee had sought vos aviades buscado yee had sought ellos avian buscado . they had sought . future tense . yo buscare i shall or will seek tu buscaras thou shalt or wilt seek el buscara hee shall or will seek nos buscaremos wee shall or will seek vos buscareys yee shall or will seek ellos buscaran . they shall or will seek . the second future . yo he ò tengo de buscar i must seek tu has ò tienes de buscar thou must seek el ha ò tiene de buscar hee must seek nos hemos ò tenemos de bu . wee must seek vos aveys ò teneys de bus . yee must seek ellos han de buscar . they must seek . the imperatif mood . busca tu seek thou busque el let him seek busquemos nosotros let us seek busqueys vosotros seek yee busquen ellos . let them seek . the optatif and conjunctif moods . present tense . oxala , aunque , &c. o that , although , &c. yo busque i may seek tu busques thou maist seek el busque hee may seek nos busquemos wee may seek vos busqueys yee may seek ellos busquen . they may seek . imperfect tense . oxala , aunque , o si , si , &c. o that , although , o if , if , &c. yo bucasse i shold seek tu bucasses thou sholdst seek el bucasse hee shold seek nos bucassemos wee shold seek vos bucassedes yee shold seek ellos bucassen . they shold seek . pluperfect tense . oxala , aunque , quando , plega a dios , &c. o that , although , o if , &c. yo buscàra i had sought tu buscàras thou hadst sought el buscàra hee had sought nos buscàramos wee had sought vos buscarades yee had sought ellos buscaran . they had sought . the incertain tense . aunque , quando , &c. o if , although , &c. yo buscaria i shold seek tu buscarias thou sholdst seek el buscaria hee shold seek nos buscariamos wee shold seek vos buscariades yee shold seek ellos buscarian . they shold seek . future tense . quando , si , &c. when , if , &c. yo buscàre i shall seek tu buscares thou shalt seek el buscare hee shall seek nos buscarèmos wee shall seek vos buscareys yee shall seek ellos buscaren . they shall seek . the infinitif mood . bu●car to seek aver buscado to have sought aver de buscar being to seek estar por buscar being for to seek buscando . seeking . the declining or sorming of the verb holgar to rejoyce or to be glad , which hath most commonly one of these pronouns me , te , se , mee , thee , him , before or after it , as yo me huelgo , or huelgome i am glad . the indicatif mood . present tense . yo me huelgo , ò huelgome i am glad tu te huelgas thou art glad el se huelga hee is glad nos nos huelgamos wee are glad vos or holgays yee are glad ellos se huelgan . they are glad . imperfect tense . yo holgàva , ò holgavame i was glad tu te holgavas , &c. thou wast glad , &c. perfect tense . yo me holguè , ò holgueme i was glad or did rejoice tu te holgaste thou rejoyc'dst el se holgò hee rejoyc'd nos nos holgamos wee rejoyc'd vos os holgastes yee rejoyc'd ellos se holgàron , ò holgàronse . they rejoyc'd . indefinit perfect . yo uve ò avia holgado i had rejoyc'd tu uviste ò avias holgado thou hadst rejoyc'd el uvo ò avia , &c. hee had rejoyc'd , &c. future tense . yo me holgarè ò holgarème i will or shall rejoyce tu te holgaràs thou shalt or wilt rejoice el se holgarà , &c. hee shall or will rejoyce , &c. the second future tense , wherof every verb is capable . yo he ò tengo de holgarme tu has ò tienes de holgarte , &c. i shall or must rejoyce thou shalt or must rejoyce , &c. the imperatif mood . huelgate tu rejoyce thou huelgase el let him rejoyce holguemos nosotros ò holguemonos let us rejoyce holgad vosotros rejoyce yee huelguense ellos . let them rejoyce . the optatif and conjunctif moods . present tense . oxala , aunque , &c. o that , although , &c. yo me huelgue i rejoyce or bee glad tu te huelgues , &c. thou rejoyce , &c. imperfect tense . oxala , plaguisse a dios que , o si , &c. i wold to god , though , o if , &c. yo me holgasse i shold rejoyce tu te holgasses , &c. thou sholdst rejoyce , &c pluperfect tense . oxala , aunque , quando , &c. o that , although , &c. yo me holgàra i had rejoyc'd tu te holgàras , &c. thou hadst rejoyc'd , &c. incertain tense . yo me halgaría ò holgariame i wold bee glad tu te halgarías , &c. thou woldst be glad , &c. future tense . quando , si , &c. when , if , &c. si yo me holgàre if i shall bee glad si tu te holgares , &c. if thou shalt be glad , &c. the infinitif mood . holgar ò holgarse to rejoyce or to be glad aver ò averse holgado to have bin glad aver de holgar for to bee glad estar por holgar . being for to bee glad . verbs of the second conjugation ending in er , whose participles like the third conjugation end in ido or ydo . the indicatif mood of entendèr , to understand , present tense . yo entiendo i understand tu entiendes thou dost understand , &c. el entiende   nos entendemos   vos entendeys   ellos entienden .   imperfect tense . yo entendia i did understand tu entendias thou didst understand , &c.   el entendia   nos entendiamos   vos entendiàdes   ellos entendian .   perfect tense . yo entendì i understood tu entendisti thou understoodst , &c. el entendio   nos entendimos   vos entendistes   ellos entendieron .   perfect indefinit . yo he entendido i have understood , tu has entendido , &c. thou hast understood , &c. plusquam perfect tense . yo avia ò uve entendido i had understood tu avias ò uviste entendido , &c. thou hadst understood , &c. future tense . yo entendirè i shall or wil understand tu entenderas , &c. thou shalt or wilt understand , &c. the second future tense . yo hé ò tengo de entendèr i shall or must understa . tu has de entendèr , &c. thou shalt or must understand , &c. the imperatif mood . entiende tu understand thou entienda el let him understand entendamos nosotros ò entendamonos let us understand entendèd vosotros understand yee entiendan ellos . let them understand . the optatif and subjunctif moods . present tense . plega a dios , aunque , &c. god grant , although , &c. yo entienda i understand tu entiendas thou understandst , &c. el entienda   nos entendamos   vos entendays   ellos entiendan .   imperfect tense . oxala , si , &c. i wold , if , &c. yo entendiesse i wold understand tu entendiesses , &c. thou woldst understand ▪ &c. plusquam perfect . aunque , quando , si , &c. although , if , &c. yo entendiera i had understood tu entendieras , &c. thou hadst understood . future tense . quando yo entendiere when i shal understand quando tu entendieres , &c. when thou shalt understand , &c. the infinitif mood . entender to understand aver entendido to have understood aver de entender to bee understood ser para entender to bee to be understood entendiendo . understanding . the verb entiendo is properly to understand , as dios me de contienda con quien me entienda , god send mee to have to do with him who understands mee : a buen entendedor media palabra , half a word to the wise . but somtimes 't is taken for to hear , as entendì que mi padre estava malo , i heard my father was sick . according to entender all other regular verbs of the second conjugation may be form'd . verbs of the third conjugation ending in ir , have their participles like the second in ido , exemplified by the verb servir to serve . the indicatif mood . present tense . yo sirvo i serve tu sirves thou serv'st , &c. el sirve   nos servimos   vos servis   ellos sirven .   imperfect tense . yo servia i did serve tu servias , &c. thou didst serve , &c. perfect tense . yo servi i serv'd tu serviste thou serv'st , &c. el servio   nos servimos   vos servistes   ellos sirvieron .   pluperfect tense . yo uve ò avia servido i had serv'd tu uviste ò avias servido , &c. thou hadst serv'd , &c. future tense . yo servirè i shall or will serve tu serviràs thou shalt or wilt serve , el servira &c. nos servirèmos   vos servireys   ellos serviran .   the second future tense . yo h● ò tengo de servir i shall or must serve tu hàs de servir , &c. thou shalt or must serve ,   &c. the imperatif mood . sirve tu serve thou sirva el let him serve sirvamos nosotros let us serve servid vosotros serve yee sirvan ellos . let them serve . the optatif and conjunctif moods . present tense . oxala , aunque , &c. o that , although , &c. yo sirva i serve tu sirvas thou servest , &c. el sirva   nos sirvamos   vos sirvays   ellos sirvan .   imperfect tense . oxala , aunque , o si , si , &c. o that , although , o if , if , &c. yo serviesse i shold serve tu sirviesses , &c. thou sholdst serve , &c. pluperfect tense . oxala , aunque , si , o si , &c. o that , though , if , &c. yo serviria i had serv'd tu servirias , &c. thou hadst serv'd , &c. future tense . quando , si , &c. when , if , &c. yo sirvirè i shall serve tu sirvieres , &c. thou shalt serve , &c. the infinitif mood . servir to serve aver servido having serv'd aver de servir to have to serve estar por servir to bee to serve sirviendo . serving . this verb servir to serve , doth properly signifie to serve or obey , as servir a la mesa , to serve at the table . somtimes to avail , as de que sirve todo esso , what purpose serves all this ? sometimes it signifies to be pleas'd , as sea servido de entrar , bee pleased to com in : si dios fuere servido , dios ha sido servido , if god bee pleas'd , it hath pleas'd god. the spanish toung is full of irregular verbs , wherof i shall instance here in the most principal , by giving the chiefest and radical tenses of them : for their inflections at length , i refer the lerner to larger grammars , the design of this being brevity . irregular verbs of the first conjugation in ar , and their gerund in ado . yo cuelgo , i hang yo huelgo , i rejoyce colgava , i did hang holgava , i did rejoyce colguè , i hung holgue , i rejoyced colgarè , i shall or will hang holgare , i shall rejoyce colgar , to hang holgàr , to rejoyce colgando , hanging . holgando , rejoycing . yo regueldo , i belch   regoldava , i did belch   regoldè , i belch'd   regoldarè , i shall or will belch   regoldar , to belch   regoldando , belching .   irregular verbs of the second conjugation ending in er , and their gerund in ido . yo quiero , i love queria , i did love quise , i lov'd querrè , i will love querèr , to love queriendo , loving . this word querer to love , in spanish , comes from the word quaerere in latin , to seek ; for whom we love we are seeking for them ever and anon : the compounded pronouns qualquier and qualquiera , any , any whatsoever , comes from this verb. querer also signifies to will , as yo quiero yr a la missa , i will go to mass , no quiero yr a la missa , i will not go to mass , &c. yo puedo , i can yo hago , i do podia , i was able hazia , i did pude , i could hize , i did podre , i shall be able hare , i shall do poder , to bee able hazer , to do pud●endo , being able . haziendo , doing . yo 〈◊〉 , i know yo traygo , i carry 〈◊〉 i did know traya , i did carry 〈◊〉 new truxe , i carried sabre , i shall know traere , i shall carry saber , to know traer , to carry sabiendo , knowing . trayendo , carrying . yo buelvo , i return yo pongo , i put bolvia , thou didst return ponias , thou didst put bolvì , i return'd puse , i put bolvere , i shall return pondre , i shall put bolver , to return poner , to put bolviendo , returning . poniendo , putting . yo huelo , i smell quepo , i contain or am contain'd olia , i did smell cabia , i did contain or was contain'd oli , i smelt cupe , i contain'd , &c. olere , i shall smell cabre , i shal contain , &c. oler , to smell caber , to contain or bee contain'd oliendo , smelling . cabiendo , containing , &c. this word caber in spanish hath various significations , as esto mi cabe por mi parte , this falls unto mee for my share : honra y provecho no caben en un saco , honor and profit do not hold in one sack : esto me cupo en suerte , this happened to bee my lot , &c. irregular verbs of the third or last conjugation ending in it or yr , and their gerunds also in ido . yo oygo , i hear yo digo , i say oya , thou didst hear dezia , i did say oy , i heard dixe , i said oyre , i shall hear dire , i will say oyr , to hear dezir , to say oyendo , hearing . diziendo , saying . yo duermo , i sleep yo muero , i dye dormia , i did sleep moria , i did dye dormi , i slept mori , i dyed dormire , i shall sleep morire , i shall dye dormir , to sleep morir , to dye durmiendo , sleeping . muriendo , dying . the conjugating of the two verbs yr and andar to go ; they are synonima's in sense , but with this difference , that yr doth simply denote the action of going or marching from one particular place to another , as yo voy a la yglesia , i go to the church : but andar signifies an uncertain wandring motion of going , as yo anday por toda italia , i went through all italy : and 't is us'd somtimes for reproches , as andad para vellaco , go for a rogue ; andad para luterano , go for a lutheran . yr is taken in divers senses , as como le va , how goes it with you ? que va a mi en esto , what doth it concern mee ? mucho va de iuan y lilburne , ther is a great difference 'twixt john and lilburn , a late brain-sick fellow that was never scarce of one mind : como fue a vm . en aquel negocio , how went it with you in that busines ? they are declin'd thus : yo voy , i go yo ando , i go yva , thou didst go andava fue , hee went anduve yre , i will go andare ( not much in use ) yr , to go andar yendo , going . andando . yo vengo , i com yo obedesco , i obey venia , i did com obedecia , i did obey vine , i came obedeci , i obey'd verne or vendre i shall com tengo de obedecer , i will obey venir , to com obedecer , to obey veniendo ò viniendo coming . obedeciendo , obeying . it is to be observ'd that when the participles of yr and andar come before or after the verb soy i am , they are of the same number , as ydo soy a mi casa , i am gone to my house ; ydos somos a la comedia , wee are gon to the play ; andado es el tiempo de alegria the time of mirth is past ; andados son los dias de mocedad , the dayes of youth are past . ther is a way of speking in spanish , and 't is held eloquent , as to the futures with he and tengo to joyn me , te , se , le , la , lo , les , las , los , and put the auxiliary verb last , as besar me has , you shall or must kiss mee ; reñir te he , i shall or must chide thee ; hazerse ha , it shall or must bee don ; comerlo has , you shall or must eat it , &c. and oftentimes the article coms between the pronoun and the verb , as embiarte la he , ( making as it were but one word ) i shall or must send her unto thee ; in lieu of te la embiare . the second person plural of the imperatif mood having after it any of the particles le , la , lo , or their plurals les , las , los , ther is alwayes a preferring of the l before the d , as llevadle bring him , is pronounc'd llevalde ; besadla kiss her , besalda ; comedlo eat , comeldo ; llamadlos call them , llamaldos , &c. when le , la , lo , les , las , los , com before or after an infinitif mood , the r ( by the figure antistoichon ) is turn'd to l , to smoothen the pronunciation , as soy por dezirle , i am to tell him , soy por dezille , i am to tell him ; quiero besarla las manos , i will kiss her hands , quiero besalla las manos , &c. of verbs impersonals . impersonals are those that have no persons , and yet are made of the third person of the indicatif present tense , and have it before them in english , which the spanish hath not ; a nos pertenece , it appertains to us ; a mi conviene , it is convenient for mee : but oftentimes for a greter emphasis me and te are added , and os , as ami me conviene , it is convenient for mee ; a ti importa , a ti te importa , it concerns thee ; a nos os conviene for a nos conviene , it is convenient for us : me pesa i am sorry , a mi me pesa : acontece muchas vezes , it happens often ; acaece pocas vezes , it happens seldom . the spaniards have but one gerund terminating alwayes in do . in the first conjugation it is formed of the infinitif moo● , by putting ar into ando , as hablar to speak , hablando ; holgar to rejoyce , holgando rejoycing . they of the second conjugation are made by turning er into iendo , as bolver to return , bolviendo returning . they of the third conjugation are made by turning r alone into iendo , as venir to com , veniendo coming : but in very many words the e that comes immediatly before the r in the infinitif is turn'd to i , as dezir to speak , diziendo speking , not deziendo ; sentir to smell , sintiendo smelling . som other verbs change i before the infinitif r into n , as morir to dye , muriendo dying ; dormir to sleep , durmiendo sleeping . the preposition en coming before the gerund hath relation to time , as en hablando esto tengo de yrme , as soon as i speak this i will go ; yo yre en acabando de comer , i will go as soon as i have din'd . the spanish participles have their genders , significations and times , but the participles of the present tense have no genders , as moço or moça creciente ha el lobo en el vientre , a growing youth or maid hath a wolf in the belly . the participles of the preter tense end in do , and are formed of the infinitif mood as the gerund , n left out , as hablar to speak , hablado spoken ; buscar to seek , buscado sought , &c. but ther are many irregulars which are excepted , as morir to dye , muerto dead ; dezir to speak , dicho spoken ; bolver to return , buelto return'd , &c. which is left to the studious observer . of the indeclinable parts of speech . wee have hitherto treted of the parts of speech which are declinable , wee will proceed now to those that are not capable of declination , and first ▪ of adverbs . the first are adverbs of time , as oy to day , ayer yesterday , anteyer or ante ayer before yesterday , mañana to morrow , por la mañana in the morning , ala mañanica betimes in the morning , temprano early , media dio noon , tarde the evening . note , that the spaniard hath this singularity in his salutations relating to time , to speak in the plural number , as buenos dias good dayes to you , buenas tardes good evenings to you , buenas noches good nights to you , huenos años good years to you , buenas pascuas good easters to you : but they never use good morrow . agora , al presente now ; poco ha , poco tiempo ha a little while since ; despues since , alguna vez , a vezes somtimes ; amenudo often , mucho ha a good while since , muchas vezes oftentimes , pocas vezes seldom , quando when , entonces then , entre tanto , en este comedio in the interim ; hasta que untill , mientras while , por adelante , de aqui adelante , en ò por lo venidero hereafter ; entonces thence forward , desde agora hence forward , nunca , jamas never ; aun yet or as yet , contino de contino continually , ya alredy , luego , subito , encontinente presently ; presto quickly , siempre alwayes , siempre jamas for ever , dende agora from henceforth , hasta quando untill when , hasta tanto untill that , desde que since that , de ay adelante thence forward , despues aca since now , a deshora unwaringly , de aqui a un rato within a little while , cada dia every day , cada rato ever and anon , cada momento every moment , quando quiera when you will , ante , antes , denantes before . note , that cada , mucho and poco are somtimes adjectifs , as cada soldado , every soldier ; cada qual con su yguàl , every one with his mate ; mucho dinero , much mony ; poca fatiga es gran salùd , a little toyl is great health . local adverbs , or of place . aqui here , ay , alli there ; de aqui hence , de ay , de alli thence ; por aqui this way , por ay , por alli that way ; acà these parts , por acà in these parts , allà , a●ulla those parts , lexos far , dentro within , fuera without , do , ado , donde , adonde , where , whence , whither ; de do , de donde , por donde , from whence ; de com●ania hermanablemente , brotherly and in company . separatif adverbs . a parte apart , aun cabo at one end , a un lado at one side , de tras behind , a escondidas secretly , closely ; a hurto , a hurtadas , a hurtadillas stealingly ; solo , solamente alone ; fuera , excepto , sacando fuero except ; no embargante , non obstante notwithstanding ; a escuras in the dark , apartadamente by it self , a bueltas besides or above , as a bueltas de ducados me dio un a cadena de oro , besides or above other things hee gave mee a gold chain . adverbs of intention . en todo y por todo altogether , del todo wholly , enteramente , de todo en todo totally . adverbs personals and appelatifs . comigo with mee , contigo with thee , consigo with him , ha señor , hà hermano , ce ce , o là , ò como se llama . adverbs of election . mas ayna sooner , primero que rather than , mejor better , antes , mas ances rather ; as antes puto que gallego , rather an ingle than a galician . adverbs of haste . luego , subito presently , suddenly ; en un momento in a moment , en un cerràr de ojo in the twinkling of an eye , presto quickly . adverbs of similitudes . como , ansi como as , so as ; ansi , assi so ; de la manera que insomuch . irregular adverbs . de passado , de camino as wee pass'd ; al traves athwart , al revès clean cam , a reculas recoyling back , de bruces groveling , a gatas creeping , a tuerto crookedly , embalde in vain , debalde gratis for nothing , barato good cheap , a trueque , en lugar in exchange or in lieu . of the prepositions . ther are som prepositions in spanish that serve for accusatif and ablatif cases , which will be distinguished by the article , and first of those prepositions that serve the ablatif with de . cerca nere , de of , antes before , acerca touching , ●●erredòr , alderredòr about ; entorno round about , fuera without , dentro within , debaxo under , encima upon , ayuso , de yuso , abaxo below ; de sus● arriba on high , empos del after him , en frente , de frente against or opposite ; a la orilla at the bank or brink , a rayz all along . prepositions which serve the accusatif . sobre , acuestas upon or about ; ante , contra against ; por , para for , which way , abaxo , de yuso below , debaxo underneath , arriba , de suso above ; atras behind , do quiera , a do quiera , donde quiera whersoever ; aquende this side , allende that side . adverbs of number . vna vez once , dos vezes twice , and so to cien vezes an hundred times ; thence to mil vezes a thousand times , &c. by putting the cardinal nombers which were put down before . adverbs of quantity . mucho much , poco a little , poquito very little , harto , assaz enough ; demasiado , en demasia too much ; de mas de esto moreover ; al pie de ciento near a hundred , al pie de mil about or near a thousand , abundantemente , en abundancia , a montones plentifully ; tanto quanto , tan quan as much as . observe that tanto quanto com alwayes before verbs or substantifs , tan quan before adjectifs or adverbs ; as no tengo tanto seso como vos , i have not so much brain as you : quanto es del mes , what day of the month is it ? tengo tan buenos parientes como vos , i have as good kindred as you : o quan dulcemente canta , how sweetly do you sing ? these three adverbs mas , muy , mucho serve to make comparatifs of positif adjectifs , as rico rich , masrico more rich , muy rico very rich : mucho is seldom us'd in this kind , unless mas com immediatly after , as mucho mas hermosa much more beautiful : the superlatifs never have these before them , for they say not mas , muy or mucho riquissimo , hermosissimo , for they of themselfs are sufficient to augment the quality . adverbs of quality . bien , buenamente well ; mal , malamente ill ; osadamente boldly , atrevidamente audaciously , adrede expresly or purposely , a sabiendas wittingly . when two adverbs of quality meet , the formost loseth the two last syllables , as locamente y temer ariamente foolishly and rashly , mente in the first is lost , and it must be written and pronounc'd loca y temerariamente . adverbs of negation . no no not , ni neither , aun no no not yet , tampoco ●i menos as less , nada , nonada nothing ; nunca , ja●as never ; en ninguna manera , suerte , modo , by no means ; antes , mas antes rather , but rather ; no solament not only . two negatifs affirm not in the spanish as they do in som languages , as wee see in no nada , menos and tampoco less , are often simple negations : and commonly to interrogations , as tienes dinero ? no , hast thou any mony ? no : tienes vestidos ? menos , hast thou clothes ? less : tienes de comer ? tampoco , hast thou meat ? as little . of affirmatif adverbs . si i , yea , yes ; si señor i sir : si is also an affirmatif , but in italian it commonly comes after signor ; as signor si , tambien also , si cierto , si por cierto yes sure ; si de verdad yes in truth , verdaderamente truly , assies 't is so , amen ; ansi es 't is so , sin duda doutles , de veras in good sooth . adverbs optatif , or of wishing . oxala ( a morisco word ) o that , i wold , i could wish ; quiera a dios god grant , plega a dios god grant , o si o if . adverbs of admonition . ea , vaya well then , ther then ; ea pues , ora pues , or a sus , sus , arasus , well well , let it pass , let us on : ea alegramente . demonstratif adverbs . hè aqui , veys aqui look here ; ve alli , cataldo aqui , cataldo ay , look here , see here , see there . adverbs of order . primeramente in the first place , principalmente chiefly , imprimis ; de nuevo again , al fin , finalmente , al cabo lastly ; item item , de tras behind , a la postre late or lag behind , adelante , delante before ; entre tanto in the mean while , mientras while . remissif adverbs . poco a poco by little and little , dispacio lesurely , passo , passito gently ; quedo , quedito softly ; a penas scarce , a malas penas very hardly , casi almost , a plazer at plesure , calla callando secretly and silently , callandico softly without noise . adverbs of doubt . puede ser , quiça it may bee ; a caso perchance , por ventura peradventure . interrogatif adverbs . para que why , to what end ? porque , porque razon for what reson , why ? a que proposito to what purpose ? por que causa for what cause . adverbs congregatif . iuntos , iuntamente together ; en uno , a la par , a las parejas equally , in one ; entrambos , ambos , ambos ad●s both together . separatif or adverbs of exception . salvo , excepto , sacando fuera except ; segun according , junto near , hasta untill , cabe near , tras behind , en in , entre between , hazia towards , aquende allende this side or that side . por and para do both signifie for , but the first relates commonly to the efficient and final cause , and para relates to the profit or damage of a person , as por amor de dios , for gods love ; yo muero por ti , i dye for thee ; para quien es esta casa , for whom is this house ? es para don carlos , it is for sir charles : araada sobre el duero para mi la quiero , aranda upon the duero i 'le have her for my self : a proverb of philip the second , when ther was a suit 'twixt him and one of his grandes for right to that town in old castile : therfore ther is a spanicism that para comigo signifies in my behalf , para consigo in his behalf : then it serves often before con , but it makes it more emphatical , and to change its sense , and both of them signifie towards , as seamos piadosos para con los pobres , let us be pitiful towards the poor : para con todos es affable y franco , hee is affable and free towards all . the preposition hàzia towards , hath alwayes an accent over the first syllable , to distinguish it from hazia the verb , who hath the accent over the middle syllable . the preposition cabe near , comes alwayes before the accusatif case , as sientese vm . cabe mi hermana , sit next my sister . of conjunctions . conjunctions som are copulatifs , as y and , tambien also , aun yet : touching y and , for avoiding the ill sound turns somtimes to e , when the next word begins with another y , as margerita e ysabela , francisco e yo andàvamos juntos , francis and i went together ; la mano derecha e ysquierda , the right and the left hand , &c. the disjunctif prepositions are ni , o not , as ni el uno ni el otro , nor the one nor the other ; o san pablo o san pedro , either paul or peter . ther are som causal or conditional prepositions , as si if , aunque although , dado que , puesto que it being granted , pues que since that , para que to the end that , porque because , mas but , pero but , empèro notwithstanding , toda via yet for all that , a lo menos at least , con tal if , upon condition ; tengo de bever todo esto con tal que vm . me hagarazòn , i will drink all this upon condition you will pledg mee : yrè allà con tal que vm . vaya comigo , i will go thither upon condition you will go with mee . ther are also rational prepositions , as assi que so that , es a saber , conviene a saber , viz. to wit ; luego , pues then ; por esso , por tanto therfore . of interjections . interjections are certain words which express the motions or alterations of the mind , according to the accidents that happen , signifying either joy or grief , fear , anger or wonder , as o bueno , hala , gala , o good , o brave ; ay , hay de mi alas ; guay , guay de mi wo is mee ; amargo de mi , desdichado de mi , wretched , unfortunat that i am : iesus , vala me dios , jesus , god deliver mee : valgame la madre de dios que es esto , the mother of god deliver mee what 's this ? and these are spoken in admiration . ther are three sorts of ay , the first is the impersonal verb ay , as ay barto lodo en las calles , ther is dirt enough in the streets : the second is the interjection of grief , as ay de mi wo is mee : the third is the local adverb [ ay ] and that hath an accent over the [ y ] and is pronounc'd as two syllables , as quien esta ay , who is there ? ay esta mi padre , my father is ther. therfore ther must a great heed bee taken to observe the accents , though in most spanish authors the printers are not so careful herein as they shold bee . the impersonal ay is very frequent in the spanish toung in one rense or other , for it hath all the five in the indicatif mood , as ay ther is , avia ther was , uvo ther was , ( perfect tense ) ha avido ther hath bin , aura ther will bee . a collection of som difficult words and phrases which are meer spanicisms or idioms of the castilian toung . of the words fulano , hulano , çutano . these three words are much us'd in spanish , as iohn an okes and iohn a stiles in our law , or mevius and titius were us'd in the latin : they signifie [ such a one ] or [ how do you call him ? ] as fulano es gran soldado , such a one is a great soldier : hulano es muy hombre de bien , such a one is very honest . they have also their feminins fulana , hulana , but not çutano , which never begins a saying , as hablè a çutano , i spoke to such a one . the word hidalgo a gentleman , hath two etymoligies , according to som it is deriv'd of hijo de algo the son of sombody , viz. of a known person ; or hija de algo a gentlewoman , but that is pronounc'd and written at large , not hidalga . others derive it from hijo del godo the son of a goth , for the goths and vandals , whence andaluzia is deriv'd , having first planted christianity in spain , it was held an honor to bee call'd hijo del godo , the son of a goth , contracted to hidalgo . hideputa on the contrary is a word of disgrace , being deriv'd of hijo de puta the son of a whore , but 't is us'd for an interjection of exclamation or wonder , and most commonly in an ill sense , o hideputa , y que roldan para hazer fieros , o hideputa , what a rowland is this to make bravado's ? hydeputa ruyn ò hidervin , base son of a whore . ther are som words , which though they be substantifs , yet having en before them turn to a kind of adverbs , as en cuerpo without a cloke , en piernas without stockins , en carnes , en puras carnes all naked ; as pusole en puras carnes , hee stripped him stark naked . en cuero hath the like sense : cuero a skin , is us'd also to another sense , as hazerse cuero , to make himself a skin , that is , to make himself drunk , because in spain they carry wine in skins . the verb alcançar hath many significations , as to obtain , acquire and overtake , but it hath one extraordinary sense , alcançar en la cuenta , to defalk or abate of the account ; alcançado de cuenta , that which remains of the account . the verb armar to arm , hath other significations , as armar una celada , to provide an ambush ; armar un lazo to provide a trap ; armar una cama , to furnish a bed , &c. abaxo below , and aynso under , have remarkable significations , somtimes as del rey abaxo n● temo algun alma viviente , i fear none breathing after or except the king : de dios en ayuso yo le conservava , after god i preserved him . this word cabo an end , is us'd diversly , as estoy al cabo del negocio . i understand the busines ; rico por el cabo , extremely rich ; al cabo estoy , no me diga mas , i know your meaning speak no more . the verb caer to fall , hath remarkable significations , as no caygo en vm . i cannot remember who you are : no puedo caer en ello , i cannot understand it . this verb dar to give , is us'd diversly , as dar el para bien to congratulat : el demonio me da penar por ●lla , the devil makes mee torment my self for her : darse maña , to use cunning , &c. the verb echar to cast , powr or put , is us'd variously , as se echa de ver , it seems : echar mano a la espada , to draw his sword , &c. the verb estar to bee or stand , is variously us'd , as estoy en ello , i understood the busines : estoy mal con fulano , i am not frends with such a man : quien està mal con dios nopuede hazer cosa buena , who is not in peace with god cannot do any thing good . the verb hazer to do , is us'd diversly , as haze frio 't is cold , haze calor 'tis hot , haze sol 't is cleer . hà hee hath , the third person of aver , hath various significations , as tres dias hà , three dayes since : cien años hà , it is a hundred yeers : quanto hà que vine a londres , how long is it since you came to london ? dias hà , 't is a pretty while since : que tanto hà que estays aqui , how long have you bin here ? aurà cosa de media hora , about half an hour , &c. the verbs llevar and traer to bring , lead or carry , are indifferently us'd in som parts of spain , but not in castile ; but properly llevar is to bring , and traer is to carry , as llevaronme und●cado por la hechura , they brought mee a crown for the making : lleveme el cavallo , bring mee the horse : trae una carga muy pesado , hee carries a very hevy burden . ther is also another sense of llevar , as buen camino lleva el negocio , the busines goes well : la eosa no lleva remedio , ther 's no remedy for it . nàdie and ningùno none , differ in that nàdie relates to persons , and never joyns with a substantif , which ninguno doth , as no hago mal a nadie , i hurt nobody : quien està ay , who is ther ? nadie nobody . ninguno joyns with adjectifs , as obra de una es obra de ninguno , the work of one is the work of none : ninguno loseth o when it comes before a substantif , as ningun hombre ; but ninguna the feminin keeps a alwayes . pararmientes is an extraordinary word in spanish , it is to beware , as tu que mientes lo que dizes para mientes , thou which dost use to lye take heed what thon saist . pedir and preguntar to ask , differ in this , that pedir relates to a thing wee desire to have , and preguntar to a thing wee desire to know . recado or recaudo is as general a word as any that 's us'd in the whole spanish toung , somtimes it signifies a message , yo voy con un recaudo , i go with a message : somtimes it signifieth wherwith to do any thing , as no tengo recaudo para escrevir , i have not wherwith to write : da me recauda para almorzar , give mee wherwith to break my fast , &c. these expressions also touching the disposition of the wether are remarkable in the spanish . llueve a cantaros , it rains by whole buckets : escampia , y har à buen tiempo , it leaves raining , and wee shall have fair wether : yela tanto que ay caràmbanos , it freezeth so that ther are isicles : desyela , y haze lodaçares , it thaws and is very dirty : nieva a copos , it rains fleeces of wooll : el tiempo se escurece , que parect boca de lobo , the wether darkens as it were the mouth of a wolf : haze sol con uñas , y llovisna , the sun is troubled , and it misles : haze lindo y estrellado , it is fair and star-like : haze suzio , y lleno de çarpas , it is foul and dirty : ay lodos hasta la cinta , ther 's dirt up to the girdle : frio que haze tiritar , cold that makes the teeth to quaver : hae , muy resbaladero y dislizadero , haze bonança , t is calm . of the spanish accents . ther is nothing that conduceth more to the right and round speking of spanish , as to observe how the words are accented , and to give a force therunto accordingly : to which end take these precepts . all words ending in r have the accent in the last syllable as , mugèr a woman , plazèr plesure , muladàr a dunghill , albeytàr a farrier ; all infinitif moods , as hablàr to speak , descansàr to rest , descalabràr to break ones head , bolvèr to return , apprendèr to learn , acontecèr to happen , hinchir to fill , escupìr to spit , apercebìr to prepare , labradòr a yeoman , pecadòr a sinner , oradòr an orator , &c. with proper names , as gaspàr , balthasàr , &c. but alcàçar a castle , açùcar suger , màrtir a martyr , are excepted . words also ending in d have the accent in the last , as salùd health , lealtàd loyalty , humanidàd humanity , &c. proper names of places , as madrìd , vallodolìd , &c. wherunto may be added the second person plural of the imperatif mood , as and àd go , embiàd send , embergàd sequester , despavilàd snuff , &c. words also ending in l have an accent or emphasis in the last , as españòl a spaniard , caracòl a snail , señàl a sign , azùl blu , &c. but som are accepted , as cònsul , hàbil able , fertil fruitful , dèbil weak , àrbol a tree , fràgil frail , mòbil moveable , &c. words also ending in n have the accent in the last syllable , as capitàn a captain , almazèn a store-house , mastìn a mastiff , compassiòn , devociòn , abominaciòn , &c. but som few are excepted , as òrden order , imàgen image , orìgen , &c. words in x also have the accent in the last syllable , as carcàx a quiver , almofrèx a male or great hamper , relòx a clock , amoradàx mariorame . words also ending in z have the accent in the last syllable , as sagàz wise , axedrèz a chesse-board table , vejèz old age , &c. ther are som proper names excepted , as nuñez , dìaz , alvàrez , pèrez , suàrez , rodrìguez , sànchez , gòmez , &c. words terminating in ia have the accent over th● i , as porfìa , alcanzìa a box , policìa , philosofìa , alegrìa mirth , astronomìa , and other words deriv'd from the latin. but these are excepted ausencia absence , blasfemia , clemència , dolència grief , escòria drosse , eficàcia , glòria , indùstria , infàmia , injùria , &c. the future tenses of verbs in the indicatif moods , have the accent over the last , as buscarè , buscaràs , buscara , i , thou , hee shall seek : and observable it is , that wher the accent is over the last in the singular number , 't is over the last saving one in the plural , buscarè buscarèmos , virtùd virtùdes , capitàn capitànes , mugèr mugères , caracòl caracòles , relòx relòges . note that wher the accent is found ther must bee a gentle vigor , acutenes and force given to the syllable . magnìfico the adjectif hath the accent over the second syllable , but magnifìco the verb over the penultime or last syllable saving one . carta compuesta de ciertos frasis y idiòmas , peculiares y propios a la lengua castellana . a los 8. de mayo . mas de cineo mezes hà que yo no recebi tilde de vm . por tanto estoy con mil desseòs , y no men cuydados de entender que tal se halla mi primo en punto salùd , y como leva a vm . tambien ; todos quantos por aca dizen que mi tartarabuelo ha traspassado , por cierto me pesa , porque de mi padre abaxo no quise mas a algun alma viviente ; era devoto por el cabo , haga , que yo sepa que tanto avra que murio ; se echa dever , que vm . ò està malo , ò muy ocupado , ò que se le da nada de sus parientes por aca ; topè poco hà con beltran , que parecia en cuerpo , y en piernas , y casi en puras carnes tan belitre era ; toda via se avia hecho cuero , y hazia fieros como si fuera roldan , pensava de dalle palos , si no uvier a hecho divorcio con larazòn . supplico a vm . que se sirva de dar recaudo a la que va con esta , y si fulano , &c. esta por aculla , digale que hulana esta achocosa ; despues de muchos dares y tomares recaudo al fin su dote , que vino a buen recaudo : no soy por mas , si no que con mis besamanos a çutano don , &c. y a los chiquitos sus quitapesares , quedo muy de veras , y de todas mis entrañas , su criado mayòr . fulano . this letter were it translated verbatim according to the literal sense , wold prove nothing but absurdities , therfore it must bee rendered otherwise , as thus : a familiar letter made up of certain phrasis or idioms peculiar and proper only to the castilian toung . the 8. of may. t is more than six months that i receav'd any thing from you , therfore i am very desirous and careful to understand how my cosen doth in point of health , and how you also do : all the world here report that my great-granfather is dead , truly i am sorry , for after my father i lov'd him more then any ; hee was devout in an intense degree : i pray let mee know how long it is since hee dyed . it seems that you are either ill or very busy , or that you care not for your kinsmen hereabout . i met lately with beltran , who appeer'd without a cloke or stockings , and almost stark naked , hee was such a rogue ; yet hee had got drunk , and did so rant it as if hee had bin another roldan : i thought to bang him , had hee not made a divorce with reson for that time . i pray be pleas'd to deliver the inclos'd , and if such a one b. bee that way , tell him that such a one m. is sickly , and after many godmorrows shee recovered her dowry , which came in a good time . no more , but that with my service to d , and to his take away cares , i mean his little ones , i remain in earnest , and with all my bowels , the gretest of your servants , p. s. la perambulaciòn de españa , y de portugàl ; en un discurso entre carlos y felipe . the perambulation of spain and portugal ; in a discours 'twixt charles and philip : which may serve for a directory how to travel through those countreys . la perambulacion de españa y de portugàl ; en un discurso entre carlos y felipe . carlos . dios le dè muy buenos dias señor don felipe , años hà que no le he visto ; digame si fuere , servido , donde hà estado tanto tiempo ? y de donde viene agora ? felipe . sea vuessa merced muy bien hallado señor don carlos , me huelgo en el alma de velle con falùd , y pues que me manda dirè donde vengo , soy rezien-venido de españa . carlos . de españa ? valgame dios , y qual fue la causa ( eon licencia ) que le hizo emprender aquel viaje ? pues dizen es tierra muy trabajosa para los passageros . felipe . señor , la curiosidad fue la causa ; pèro entremos en casa que yo le contrarè por extenso lo que deffeàre saber , princ●palmente el modo que hà de tene rel que tuviere gana de yr a ver aquel reyno . carlos . primero hemos de comer , y si vm . mandà●e , comeremos juntos en aquel bodegòn , que es casa muy limpia y bien proveyda ; y despues me contarà mas de espacio en levantando la mesa . felipe . sea en hora buena , que yo accepto la merced que me haze de conduzirme a tan buena posada que mucho ha que no la hallado tal . carlos . pues que me dize ? es possible que no las aya en su viage , siendo españa tan buena tierra , y abundante de todo ? felipe . buena por cierto pudiera ser , si la gente no fuera tan perezosa , porque no labran la tercera parte de la tierra , la qual de otra manera es de su calidad harto buena , màs despues de la expulsion de los moriscos no es tan labrada . carlos . de manera señor , que la pereza de los moradores es causa de la esterilidàd . felipe . no ay que dudar en esto , porque la tierra no produze de suyo sin ser labrada , y no lo siendo , falta lo necessario de la provision ; assi que no se halla en las posadas mas que el casco de la casa con un poco de ropa blanca , y a vezes , no ay camas para los caminantes principalmente esi las ventas . carlos . haga me merced de informarme que quiere dezir venta ? felipe . ventas son las posadas que se hallan en la campaña , y por les caminos reales , adonde si se encueutran les caminantes a hazer jornada han de llevar las alforjas , bien proveydas de todo lo necessario ; que de otra manera bien podrian acostarse sin cenàr , porque no se halla otra cosa en ellas si no cevada , y paja para las cavalgaduras , y si ay algo serà un poco de pan , de vino , algunos huevos , tocino , o longanizas . charlos . pues por vida suya cuente me el discurso de su viaje por donde entrò en españa , y lo que passò principalmente en los lugares mas señalados , para que yo sepa governarme si a caso me viniere gana de yr allà algun dia. felipe . señor , al salir de francia yo passè el rio dordona , que la divide de españa , que es cerca de iròn no muy lexos de fuentarabia , tuve el medio dia en el dicho lugàr de iròn , y la noche ganè san sebastiàn primera tierra fuerte de biscaya , y puerto de mar. carlos . en aquellos lugares fronteros no se hallan guardas que miran a los passageros ? felipe . si ay , es verdad que al entrar en españa no me dieron algun impedimento ; pero una cosa se hà de hazer en llegando a iròn , y es , que se hà de manifestàr todo lo que la persona lleva , ropa y joyas si tiene algunas , y aun el propio dinero que tiene por los gastos del camino , y todo se hàde de registàr , y pagar lo que es tassado por los aduaneros , y despues le dan una cedulilla que llaman albaràn o alvalà que es tanto como passaporte para que despues , las guardas no le quiten lo que lleva a falta de averle registrado . carlos . y se haze esto a todo genero de personas estrangeros y naturales ? felipe . no perdonan a nadie , y lo que peôr es , las guardas que estan alerta al salir por la otra puerta si se les antoja os haran apear para mirar y buscar , por todo si llevays alguna cosa que no estè en el albar●n ; pero el mejor remedio que ay para escusar esta importunidad es echarles un real de a quatro o un de a ocho segun la calidad del passagero . carlos . de manera señor que saben quanto dinero lleva un hombre acuestas , y essi corre peligro de ser seguido por los caminos y robado , y quiça aun peòr . felipe . esto no se hà de temer , porque en españa no se habla de ladrones de camino , o salt eadores , si no es en catalunia por ser la provincia mas frequentada de passageros , que otra ninguna ; porque passan por ella todos les que van● y vienen de italia , o de aquellas partes de francia para la corte , demas que es la tierra mas poblada de toda españa . carlos . pues al partir de san sebastian adonde se encaminava ? felipe . tomè el camino per navarra , adonde vi a pamplona villa principal de aquel reyno , y en ella el castillo muy famoso el quai parece mucho a aquel de anveres . carlos . y no es el reyno de navarra del rey de francia ? felipe . aquel reyno se divide en dos partes , la que està deste lado de les montes pyreneos pertenece a la froncia , y la que està del otro lado es del rey de españa , que es famosa tierra , la gente muy luzida , y no mal aficionada a nuestra naciòn francesa . carlos . y de al●à por donde fue um . pues a mi parecer avia dexado el camino ordinario de los que van a madrid . felipe . assi es verdad , que dexè el camino de victoria , y el puerto de sant adrian , y entrè por logroño ( harto buena tierra ) puesta sobre el rio de ebro cerca de una montaña adonde antiguamente estava la ciudad de cantabria , la qual do el nombre a la provincia que agora contiene la biscaya , navarra , guipuzcoa , y otras particulares de cuyos nombres no me acuerdo ahora . carlos . pues no dexe vm . atràs otros lugares del reyno de navarra , que yo hallo en la mappamundo . felipe . bien haze en hazer me acordar desso , pues se me avia olvidado dos lugares muy señalados ; el uno fstella de navarra que la universidàd de aquel reyno , y està situada la villa en ●n lugar muy ameno ; el otro es la puente de la reyna , y demas de aquellos dos ay otro llamado viana nombre corrompido de diana , porque antiguamente avia alli un templo consecrado a aquella diosa . carlos . passe vm . adelante y no repare en estos lugarcitos de poca consideracion , porque yo creo que vm , tiene una larga jornada que hazer . felipe . pues vm . gusta dello yo harè un salto desde legroño hasta santo domingo de la calçada que es lugar en la rioja , cerca de los montes de oca , en el qual lugar se veen cerca de la y glesia un gallo , y una gallina vivos de la casta de aquellos , que ya estando aslàdos tornàron a vivit por milagro . carlos . por ventura seran de los del milagro de aquel moço peregrino francès que fue ahorcado en aquel lugar por ladron , cuyos padres bolviendo de cumplir su viaje de santjago , y passando cerca de la horca adonde estava colgando le hallaron vivo . felipe . d●zen que de aquellos mesmos son , y la costumbre es , que los peregrinos que passan en romeria por ailà traigan en sus sombreros unos bordoncillos con plumas de aquellas aves , y si no fuera tan larga la h●storia yo se la contaria , pero quedese para otro tiempo . carlos . toda via supplicò a vm , de proseguir lo començado , que sea en hora buena . felipe . pues vm . lo manda , y que gusta tanto dello lo harè de santo domingo passay a burgos ciudad principal de costilla la vieja , entre la qual y toledo hà avido grandes porfias por la precedencia . carlos . assi tengo leydo , pero en unas cortes que juntaron en toledo , el rey felipe el segundo aparigiuò la contienda muy cuerdamen te por entonces , que aconteciò assi ; los representantes de ambas ciudades estando en las cortes porfiavan quien avia de hablar primero , la porfia vino a ser algo caliente , quando el rey se levantava subito , y dixo , hable burgos , que por toledo hablarè yo . felipe . era un passaje muy señalado , y si no suera por otra cosa felipe el segundo merecia el atributo de prudente ( que le dan ) por esto solo ; mas prosigamos , en burgos ay un monasterio fuera de la ciudad adonde està aquel milagroso crucifixo , cuyas uñas y cabellos van crecierdo cada un mes : la yglesia mayor de burgos , es un edificio muy pomposo ; tambien ay un castillo pero de poca confideraciòn . carlos . y con su licencia , de burgos para donde se encamino sù merced ? felipe . a valladolid , linda villa , y bien poblada , adonde està una de las cancillerias de españa . carlos . pues llama vm , valladolid villa siendo un lugàr tan grande , y adonde la corte catolica residio tanto tempo ? felipe . si señòr , villa es , pues no està cercada de muros , y tambien dizen allà communmente , villa por villa , vallado●id en castilla ; como ciudad por ciudad lisboa en portugal . carlos . bien , no nos detengamos mas en est lugàr , vamos adelante si vm . fuere servido . felipe . de alli me fuy a medina del campo harto buena tierra , donde ay famosas librerias ; passè alli ala tardecica , y a la mañana siguiente tomè el camino de salamanca ; tierra muy grande , y la mas illustre universidad de toda españa , yo vi alli los colegios que son en gran numero , y muy bien fabricados ; tambien la puente hecho por los romanos , y el toro que està a la entrada del qual habla lazarillo de tormes . carlos . vio vm . alli por ventura la casa de celestina ? felipe . señor , bien me apuntaron el lugar adonde estava , mas no tuve tanta curiosidad que suera a vella , y tambien me parece que es cosa fingida . carlos . he oydo dezir , que una vez se hallaron en salamanca quinze mill estudiantes y licenciados que me parece cosa estraña , siendo españa tan poco poblada , y teniendo 16 vniversidades mas . felipe . bien puede ser , porque salamanca està puesta casi en el centro de españa donde acuden mas facilmente de todas partes los estudiantes mas la major parte son opidanos qui tienen posadas fuera de los colegios . carlos . tengo leydo un refran , en salamanca mas vale un maravedi que una blanca ; mas passe vm . adelante . felipe . de salamanca tomè el camino de segovia famoso lugà● por muchas cosas ; que alli se veen , lo primero el monasterio de parral que està fuera de la ciudad ; despues , la casa de la moneda ; tras esto el famoso aleàzar , y lo que llaman la puente de segovia que no lo es sino un aqueducto hecho de piedras de maravillosa grandeza , y lo que es de notàr los paños finos de lana que alli si texen . de segovia passè el puerto de guadarrama aviendo visto de camino un grand edificio que se llama la casa del campo harto buena metida entre los bosques , y passado el dicho lugàr de guadarrama fuy al escurial el octavo milagro del mundo ; mas porque seria menestè● un volume entero para hazer la descripcion tanto de la yglesia , de la libreria , de los patios , de los quartos , y los alojamentos del rey , y de los frayles , como de las aguas , jardines , y fuentes famosos que ay alla , yo lo remito a la diligencia , y curiosidad de los que lo quisieren saber mas por extenso . carlos . pues yo tengo esperança de vello todo algun dia si dios me diere la gracia ; mas grand●osa● casa es , que una casa sola tenga un monastero , un palacio real , y una vniversidàd . felipe . partido del escurial fuy a madrid , passando antes por la casa del prado adonde el rey reside muy amenudo . carlos . pues que avemos llegado a madrid que me dirà vm . de la corte del rey catolico . felipe . no le dirè otra cosa a vm . sino que es una corte muy corta . carlos . como es esto , que siendo el rey de españa tan gran monarca , no tiene una corte correspondiente a su grandeza ? felipe . vm. hà de saber que ay mucha gravedàd y estado en la corte catolica , mas poca gente y ruydo ; siendo antes monasterio que corte real . carlos . desta manera poco gasto haze el rey de españa . felipe . tan poco que yo osarè apostàr que el rey de francia gasta mas en pages , y lacayos que el de españa gasta en todos sus officiales . carlos . es possible esso ? aunque si bien lo miro , pareceme que el acierta mas , porque excusa mucho trabajo , y la confusion que ay en la corte de francia ; y allende desto es mas el desperdicio que se haze en aquella , que lo que buenamente se gasta . felipe . vm. està bien en ello , y en eseto no se hazen alli tantas y insolencias como en otras cortes mucho menores ; mas quien quisiere ver la grandeza del rey de españa , que vaya a naples , sicilia , mexico , o perù , adonde los virreyes viven con mayor pomp y luzimiento que no haze el rey a catolico en sn palacio ( porque assi llaman la corte ) en madrid . carlos . pues dexemos de hablar mas destas cortes , porque no bastaria un dia entero para dezir lo que se pudiera de la una y de la otra ; y prosiga si vm . mandare , su viage . felipe . al salir de madrid tomè el camino de alcala de henares famosa universidad , ye de alli passando por aranjuez que es otra casa real mas muy caluroso , por su situation siendo , como dizen ' la tierra circumvezina de un temple africano ; alli ay algunas colas muy curiosas ; y de aranjuez me encaminè para toledo ciudad principal de castilla la nueva , y arcobispado , el qual es el mas rico de entradas despues del papadgo , de todos los de la christianidad : alli ay una yglesia rara , y un riquissimo tesoro en ella . carlos . vio vm. alli la torre encantada , y el artificio con que se sube el agua del rio hasta lo alto de la cindad que es tan curioso y renombrado ? felipe . quanto a la torre yo me informè benissimo della , pero no me la supieron ensenār , y assi lo tengo por fabla ; mas el artificio del agua , aunque sea bueno , no tiene que ver con los que se hallan en otras tierras , como yo he visto en italia , y alemaña ; el pueblo de toledo es muy grave , y subtil , que fue causa del refràn del toledano guarte tarde y temprano ; el mas puro dialecto del costellano se habla alli , de suerte que ay una ley en españa , si huviere alguna diferencia y ambiguidad en la significacion de alguna palabra costellana , un toledano hà de ser el juèz . toledo tambien es renombrada por los consilios generales y ecumenicos que se tuvieron alli . carlos . abrevie vm . si mandàre , y passe adelante en su discurso . felipe . de toledo passe por muchedumbre de lugares , pero no me detuve sino muy poco ; los mas señalados son talavera , truxilla , merida , y badaioz postrera tierra de castilla adonde se hà de registràr la ropa , y el dinero ; y a tres leguas de alli en portugal se registraron otra vez pagando cierta alcavala a la salida de castilla , y a la entrada de portugàl . carlos . que importunidad es aquella de registrar tantas vezes , y aun pagar algo del poco dinero que se lleva a cuestas para meter pan en boca . felipe . señòr , no ay que apelar sino a la bolsa , y esto puede ser la causa porque se hallan tan pocos caminantes por aquellas tierras ; y puede vm. creerme pienso de aver encontrado mas passajeros entre paris y orleans que casien todo mi viage en españa . carlos . bien se lo creo sin que vm . lo jure , porque parece casi una procession la gente que passa por aquella parte de francia . felipe . claro està , y en efeto pienso que ay mas pueblos en francia entre los dos rios de sena y la loira , tomandolos desde su origèn hasta que se entran en la mar , que en toda españa . carlos . passe vm . adelante en el discurso de su via je si fuere servido de favore cerme . felipe . aviendo entrado en portugal passème a yelvas bonito lugàr , y assi a villa vieiosa , despues a evora ciudad de cuenta , a estremoso , a monte major , y assi passo passico a lisbona , grandissima ciudad la qual se puede paragonar a las mejores , y mayores ciudades de europa teniendo siete millas enderedòr . carlos . li lisbona siendo una ciudad tan renombrada porque ay un refran , quien no ha visto lisboa no hà visto cosa-boa , supplico a vm. que me cuente algo della . felipe . for çoso es que lisbona sea antigua , porque suvieio apellido es olisippo de vlisse qui pasto por allà ; ella està situada sobre el taio , y tiene trafego y tierras en ambas las indias . el primer descubridòr de tierras agenas fue el infante don henrique hijo menòr de los cinco que ganò don iuan el primero ( rey de portugal ) de doña felipa hija de iuan de gaunt duque de lancastrià en imglatier●a ; este principe henrique siendo gran matematico descubrio primero los açores , y la madera , y otras islas en el mar atlantico ; despues la guinea , y el passaje a las indias orientales por el capo de buena esperança , desde que tiempo lisbona hà florecido maravillosamente ; el hermano mayor del dicho principe don henrique se llama va don edovardo ( qui vino ser rey de portugal ) el rey edovardo tercero , de ingla-tierra siendo su padrino , que era la primera vez que el nombre de edoardo ò duarte fu conocido en portugal . lisbona està circuyda de buenos muros y sobre ellos 76 torres , hazia la mar tiene veynte puertas ; hazia la tierra firma esta situada sobre cinco montecillos , y es lugar de infinito comercio , &c. carlos . beso a vm. las manos una infirnidàd de vezes por esta relacion tan puntuàl , prosiga , si mandáre , a hablar de otras partes de portugàl . felipe . les segunda cindad en portugal es santeren situada tambien sobre el tajo ; y la tercera , es sinira , situada sobre el mar atlantico ; la 4ª conimbra sobre el rio mondego ; la 5ª braga un gran arcobispado ; 6ª porto , situada a la boca del duero ; 7ª miranda 8ª bragança , cuyos duques eran tan grandes principes que la tercera parte del pueblo vivian sobre sus tierras ; 9ª eubora , arçobispado ; 10ª portalegre ; 11ª olivença sobre la guadiana ; 12ª beja : todos estos lugares estan situados sobre rios considerables . carlos . parece que el reyno de portugal està bien aguado , teniendo tantos rios . felipe . tendrà como dizen mas de cien y cinquenta rios grandes y pequeños ; los principales son el tajo , el duero , guadiana , minio , &c. carlos . el reyno de los algarves no pertenece a la corona de portugàl ? felipe . si señòr , y tiene buenos lugares , como faro , niebla , villa maona , tavila , lagos , sylvia , &c. de suerte que el reyno de portugal con los algarves tendra cosa de 400 millas de largo , y 100 de ancho . carlos . que son los otros dominios que tiene la corona de portugal ? felipe . en asia , o en las indias orientales tienen tantos que es cosa difficultosa de nombrarlos ; ●ienen diu en el reyno de cambaia ; tienen goa en el reyno de decan , damau , macao en china , y muchos otros lugares y castillos ; en africa , los portugueses tienen señoriòs muy largos en los reynos de conga y angola ; las islas del capo verde que son nueve en numero pertenecen a los portugueses ; y tanger en berberia situado cerca de la boca del estrecho de gibraliàr . en las indias occidentales tienen brasil , y una grandissima extendida de t erra , con muy considerables puertos como todos los santos , fernambuc , san salvadòr y diversos otros . carlos . muy largos son los dominios a mi parecer que los portugueses tienen en todas las quatro partes del mundo , es a saber en europa , asia , africa , y america ; mas de gracia passe vm. mas adelante . felipe . antes que de partirme de portugàl tengo de confutar un proverbio que tienen los castellanos , viz. los portugueses son pocos y locos ; mas estos años passados se hallan muchos y mañosos ; agòra assi lo manda vm. harè pues un salto desde lisbona a sevilla en andalusia , ciudad tan estremadamente rica teniendo la casa de contratacion de las indias y magnifica , que ay dos refranes della , el uno , quien no ha visto s●villa no ha visto marauilla ; el otro , a quien dios quiere bien en sevilla le da a comer . carlos . ayotro dicho qui yo entendi , que las calles de sevilla son como lostrebejos del axedres tantos prietos quantos blancos , referiendo a los esclavos moriscos que ay alli en gran numero ; y de sevilla adonde se encaminava vm ? felipe . de sevilla passe por carmona , yezij● , que son dos indifferences tierras , y de la a cordoua adonde vi la famosa mesquita que los moros llamavan ceca , fabrica muy admirable , y el mas entero de quantas he visto en mi vida de los antiguos aunque he peregrinado en muchas partes ; en cordoua ay la mas escogida casta de ginetes , que son tan sueltos y ligeros que dizen que estan engendrados del viento . carlos . de cordoua donde fue vuestra merced ! felipe . a granada cabeja de un reyno el ultimo que perdieron ls moros , adonde vi el alhambra cosa grandiosa ; de granada boluimea malaga el principal ectanco de vino● , adonde vila la puerta que trae el nombre de cava hij a de don iulian que el rey don rodrigo avi● desflorecido , y el conde don iulian su●p●dre por veng●rse del agravio introduxo los m●ros los qu●les senoreavan en españa mas de 700 años , y assii devino traydor a su patria . carlos . assi lo fue , y muy infame traydor , porque la ofensa siendo particular no era y gual a la venganz● que era tan general . felipe . despues yo passe por g●adix , baca , lorca , y cartagena llave del reyno de marcia antigua poblacion , adonde ay vn muy famoso y convenable puerto de mar , el mejor de quantos ay en españa , porque los navios aportando alli qu edam ●nceroados coma en una caxa , y abrigados de ●as borrascas . carlos . he leydo , que felipe el segundo preguntando a andrea d●na ( gran navegador ) qual er a el mejor puerto de españa , respondio donosamente , iunio , iulio , y car●agena , porque en aquellos meses todos puertes son buenos por la mansedumbre de la sazon ; y de cartagena adoude ? felipe . a murcia , que fue cabe ça de un reyno en tiempo de moros , el principal estanco de seda ; de al●i passe por origuela , y elche a alicante llave del reyno de valencia lugar de buen comercio ; de alicante passe por xativa , y otros lugares a valencia ci●dad bizzarra en estremo , tierra muy viciosa , y delicada ; los animales brutos alli hazen ●us estrados de flores , como de romarino y otros vegetables odoriferos ; de valencia passè a morviedre que era sagunto donde ay muchos rastros de antiguedad ; de alli a castillon de la plana , y assi a saragoça metropple de aragòn , ciudad muy sobervia , y la tierra enderedor fecundissima donde se come el mejor pan de toda españa . carlos . de sarogoça por doude adereçava vm sus passos ? felipe . por cataluña ; yo pense ver tortosa , y tarragona , màs no avia comodidad , y ansi passando por lerida lugar muy bien poblado , y universidàd , garè barcel●na la cabe ça del reyno de cataluña , ciudàd muy rica , y soberbia por sus edificios ; passe tambien por nuestra senōra de monserrate , adonde sos pelegrinos acuden de todas partes ; desques passe por gyrona , y assi al condado de ruys●llon , adonde està perpiñan muy buena tierra con un fuerte castillo , que agora pertenece al rey de francia , y al fin ganando salsas salj de españa con harto trabajo aviendo atravessado dos vezes los montes pyrenèos , y allà tambien las guardas me quitaron algo del poco dinero que me quedava . carlos . aquellas guardas son muy enfadosas a los passageros ; hè oydo hablar de un pintor francès , que a viendo medrado vna suma confiderable de dinero trocava todo en pistoletes de oro los quales tragava ; y las gu●rdas aviendo tenido noticia a●tes , que traya una cantidad de dinero acuestas , y aviendo escudriñado por todas pares sin ecetar la boca , y el salvonòr echaronle entre quatro muros , y le dieron pildoras , y ona melezina de suerte que las guardas hallaron todo el dinero : mas como tratarona vm en las ventas por donde passava ? felipe . aquellos venteros son medio ladrones , porque en algunas partes p●den dos vezes mas que la cosa vale ; por tanto yo concluyrè con un donoso cuento de lo que acontecio cerca de girona ; vn passagero llegò a vn lugar do avia dos ventas cercanas vna al otra con vn crucifixo en el medio , el passagero mirando lo , dixo , a l'oydo de su huesped , nuestro señor està aqui como estava puesto en la cruz entre dos ladrones , ( entendiendo los dos venteros . como senòr , ●à venido vm aqui por afrentarme dixo su huesped , el passa jero replicava , no os enojeys mi huesped , porque yo os tengo por el buen lad●òn . carlos . semejante a este cuento , es vn otro de vn tudesco qui passando cerca de alcala de henares donde ay dolces y riquissimos vinós , y llegado que avia a vna venta , bevio 4 a çumbres de vino , y assi fue todo emborrachado a la cama ; el dia siguiente preguntando a su huespeda que avia a pagar , dixo cinco açumbres ; esto no puede serreplico el tudesco , porque no cabran en mis tripas mas de 4 açumbres aviendolas medido muchas vezes ; la hues peda respondio , señor , como este vino era muy bueno y fuerte , vn açumbre subia a la cabeza , y los demas quedaron en las tripas , que hasen cinco açumbres en todo . the perambulation of spain and portugal ; in a discours 'twixt charles and philip . charles . god give you very good dayes sir philip , it is a great while since i saw you ; tell me , if you be pleas'd , where have you bin so long ? and whence com you now ? philip. you are very well met sir charles , i rejoyce in my soul to see you with health ; and , since you command it , i will tell you whence i com , i am newly com from spain . charles . from spain ? god bless me , and what was the cause ( under favor ) that made you to undergo such a journey ? for they say , that it is a tedious countrey to passengers . philip. sir , curiosity was the cause ; but let us go into the house , and i will give you account at large of what you will desire to know , but chiefly the cours that he is to take , who hath a mind to go unto that countrey . charles . but let us dine first , and if you please , we will dine together in that tavern which is a very neat hous , and well provided ; and then you may please to relate unto me more at lesure when the table is taken away . philip. be it in a very good hower , for i accept of the favor you do me to conduct me to so good a house , for it is a good while since i found any . charles . what do you tell me ? is it possible that you did not find such in your travels , spain being so good a countrey , and abounding in all things ? philip. she might be good , were it not for the slothfulnes of the peeple , who do not cultivat the ground not ne●r the third part ; otherwise of its own nature t is good enough , but since the expulsion of the moores it is not so much tilld . charles . then sir , you inferr that the slothfulness of the inhabitants is the cause of ill accommodation . philip. ther 's no doubt of that , because the earth cannot produce unlesse it bee tilld , therfore ther is a want of necessary provision , so that in some places ther is but the cask of a house , with a little napery , but sometimes ther are no beds at all for passengers in the inns , or ventas . charles . i pray , do me the favor as tell me what venta is ? philip. ventas are lodgings which are found in the countrey , and on the kings high-way , where if passengers meet , they must carry their knapsacks well provided of what is necessary ; otherwise they may go to bed supperles , for there is nothing to be had , but barly and straw for your mules ; and if haply ther be any thing it is a little bread and wine , and it may be som few eggs , and puddings . charles . i pray do me the favour as relate unto me the successe of your journey when you entred spain , and that which principally passd in places most remarkable , that i may know how to govern my self , if perchance i have a disposition one day to go to that countrey . philip. sir , as i took farwell of france , i passed by that river the dordonna , that divides her from spain , which is neer iron not far from fuentarabia , i had noon at the' sayd place of iron , and at night i gaind san sebastian the first fortified place of biscay , and a sea port. charles . in those frontire places , are ther not gards to look what travellers passe ? philip. yes that ther are ; t is tru that at your entrance into spain they give no obstacle ; but one thing must be don when one comes to iron , which is , that the party must manifest all which he carries about him , whether goods or iewels , as likewise the very money he carries for his ordinary expences , all which he must register , and pay what is taxed by the customers ; then they give him a little cedule , which they call albaràn , and it is a kinde of pasport , because the gards may not seize upon what he carries for want of registring . charles . and are all kind of persons used th●● , whether forren , or natives ? philip. they except none , and that which is worse , the gards who lye at the catch at the other gate , if they please , they will make you alight , for to search whether one carries any thing that is not mention'd in the albaràn ; but the best cours is for preventing this importunity , to throw them a piece of money according to the quality of the person . charles . by this means , sir , they know what money one carries about him , and so he runs a hazard to be follow'd and rob'd , or it may be to be kil'd . philip. this needs not to be fear'd ; for there 's little ta'lk in spain of high-way men and thieves , unlesse it be in catalonia , which is more frequented by passengers then any other ; for all those who com from italy , or from those parts of france do pass that way to the spanish court ; moreover it is the most populous province of spain . charles . well , when you parted from san sebastian , whither did you direct your cours ? philip. i took the road of navarr , where i saw pampelona the principal city of that kingdom ; and therein the famous castle , which is somewhat like that of antwerp . charles . and doth not the kingdom of navarr appertain to the king of france ? philip. that kingdom divides it self into two parts , that on this side the pyrenean hills , which belongs to the king of france ; the other beyond the hills , which is the kings of spain , a goodly countrey , and gallant peeple not ill affected to the french. charles . from thence whither did you bend your cours ? for in my judgment you left the ordinary road that leads to madrid . philip. 't is a great truth , for i left the road of victoria , and the port of saint adrian , and struck in at logronio , a countrey good enough , situate upon the river of ebro , neer a mountain , where in ancient time the city of cantabria was ; which gave the name to that province , which at this day contains , biscay , navarre , guipuzcoa , and other particular places , which were too long to relate now . charles . surely you have pretermitted divers other places which i find in the map that are of the kingdom of navarre . philip. you dovery well to put me in remembrance , and there are two signal places which i pretermitted ; and those are estella de navarra ( the star of navarre ) which is the vniversity of that kingdom , and the town is sited in a place full of amenity ; the other place is la puente de la reyna ( the queens-bridge ; ) and besides those two , there is another call'd viana , a corrupted name of diana ; for in ancient times there was a temple dedicated there to that goddess . charles . i pray passe on , and doe not make a halt in places of small consideration , for i believe you have a great journey to make . philip. since you will have it so , i will make a leap from logronio , to santo domingo de la calçada , which is a town in rioja neer the mountains de oca ( of the goose ) where is to be seen neer the church , a living cock , and hen , which were of the bro●d of those , that being roasted , turned to life again . charles . peradventure they may be those of that miracle which happened to a young french pilgrim , who was hang'd in that place for a theef , whose parents returning from performance of their pilgrimage to santjago , and passing by the gallowes they found him alive again . philip. they say , they are of the same ; and the custom is , that the passengers who go in pilgrimage that way , do take some of their feathers and wear them in their hats ; and , were not the story too long ; i would give you a more particular account , but i will put it off to another time . charles . however , i pray do me the favour sir , as to pursue what you have begun , and may it be in a good hour . philip. since it is your pleasure , and that you delight so much therein , i will proceed ; from san domingo i passed to burgos the cape city of old castile , 'twixt whom and toledo there have been often contests for priority . charles . i have read so ; but in a parlement which was held once at toledo , king philip the second , appeased this contestation very wisely for that time , which happened thus : the burgesses of both cities sitting in parlement , they contested who should speak first , and the contest grew very hot , when the king did suddenly rise , and said , let burgos speak , touching toledo i will speak for her my self ; and to this day the king is counted burgess of toledo . philip. it was a very signal passage , and were it for nothing else , philip the second deserv'd the attribute of prudent ( which is given him ) for this speech alone ; but let us go ●n : in burgos there is a monastery without the city , where that miraculous crucifix is , whose nails and hair are clip'd once a moneth . the great church of burgos is a very stately fabric ; there is also a castle but not very considerable . charles . and with your favor , whither did you direct your way from the city of burgos ? philip. to valladolid a goodly fair village , and well peepled , where one of the chanceries of spain resides . charles . but do you call valladolid a village , being so great a place , and where the catholick court kept so long ? philip. yes sir , 't is but a village , because 't is not encompass'd with walls , and they have two proverbs , village for village , and valladolid in castile ; city for city , and lisbon in portugal . charles . well , let us detain our selfs no longer in this place , let us proceed further , if you please . philip. from thence i went to medina del campo , an indifferent good countrey , where there are famous libraries ; i went thither in the evening , nnd the next morning following i took the ro●d of salamanca , a great place , and the most illustrious vniversity of spain , i viewed there the colledges , which are in great number , and well built ; as also the ●ridge rear'd up by the romans , and the bull which is at the entrance , wherof lazarillo de tormes speaks . charles . did it fortune you to see the house of celestina ? philip. sir , they pointed at the place where it was , but i had not so much curiosity to go and see it , besides , me thinks it is a fained thing . charles . i have heard say , that there were at one time fifteen thousand scholars in salamanca , which me thinks is strange , spain being so thin peepled , and there being 16 vniversities more . philip. it may well be so , because salamanca is situated almost in the center of spain , whither they have easie recourse from all parts ; but the major part of the scholars are oppidanes , who lodge out of the colledges . charles . i have read a proverb , a farthing in salamanca is better then a fair face ; but you may please to proceed . philip. from salamanca i took the road of segovia , a famous place for many things which are there remarkable ; the first is the monastery of parral , which is without the city ; then the m●nt-house ; then the renowned alc●sar , and segovia bridge , which indeed is but an aqueduct made of marvellous big stones ; but above all , the fine woollen cloths that are made there . from segovia i pass'd the port of guadarrama , having in the way seen a great edifice call'd la casa del campo , built among woods ; and having pass'd guadarrama , i came to the escurial , the eighth wonder of the world ; but because there would need a whole volume to describe as well the church , the librarie , the quadrangles , the kings quarter , as also the delicate waters , orchards , and fountains , which are found there ; therfore i referre it to the diltgence , and curiosity of such who desire to know things exactly , and at large . charles . well , i hope to see it one day , if god give me the grace ; but what a glorious thing it is , that one house should be a monastery , a royal palace , and an vniversity ? philip. being departed from the escurial i went to madrid , passing in the way by la casa del prado , where the king useth to reside often . charles . since we are now come to madrid , i pray what do you think of the catholic court. philip. i will tell you no more , but that it may be call'd a thin court in comparison of others . charles . how can that be , the spanish king being so great a monarch ; and hath he not a court correspondent to his greatnes ? philip. you must know , that there is a great deal of gravity and state in the catholic court , but little noise , and few people , so that it may be call'd a monastery , rather then a royal court. charles . by this means the king of spain spends not much . philip. so little , that i dare wager the french king spends more in pages and laquays , then he of spain among all his court-attendants . charles . is it possible ? yet when i think well of it , i find that he is more in the right , in regard that much trouble , and confusion is avoided , which the french court is subject unto ; moreover , the wast which is made in that court , is more then what is necessarily expended . philip. you have reason on your side , besides , ther are not so many insolencies committed in that court which are done in farr lesser ; but he who will behold the greatnes of the king of spain , let him go to naples or sicilia , to mexico or peru , &c. where the spanish vice-roys live in greater lustre and magnificence then the king himself doth in his palace , for so they call the court in madrid . charles . well , let us give over speaking further of these courts , for a whole day would not suffice to discourse of this subject and pursue , if you please , your journey . philip. from madrid i took the road of alcala de henares , a famous vniversity ; and passing thence to aranjuez , which is another of the kings houses , but excessive hot by its situation , being , as they say , with the circumjacent countrey of an african temper : there are many curiosities to be seen there , but i stayed as little as i could , and went the way of toledo , the chief city of old castile , and an archbishopric , the richest for revenues , except the popedom , of any in christendom ; there is there a sumptuous cathedral with a rich tresury belonging thereunto . charles . did you see the enchanted tower ; as also the great artifi●e whereby the water ascends from the river to the upper part of the city , which is so curious , and so much spoken of ? philip. concerning the tower i informed my self as much as i could , but i could find nothing to any purpose , so that i take it for a fable ; but touching the artifices of making the river-water to mount up , i have seen better in italy and germany . the peeple of toledo is grave and subtil , which was the cause of the proverb , from a toledan take heed night and day ; the purest castilian dialect is spoken there , so that there is a law in spain , if there be any ambiguity , or that there happen any difference about the sense of a word , a toledan is to be iudge . toledo also is renowned for some ecumenical , and general councels which have been held there . charles . i humbly thank you for these remarkable observations , and may you please to go on in your journey . philip. from toledo i passed by many places , but i did not stay any time in them ▪ the most remarkab●e places were , talavera , truxilla , merida , and bada●●z the confines of castile , where goods and money are to be registred ; and three leagues thence i was forced to register them again , paying a certain toll going out of castile , and entring into portugal . charles . what an odd importunity 〈◊〉 that , to register so often , and withall to pay something out of that small parcel of money which one carries about him to put bread in his mouth . philip. there is no appeal but to the purse , and this may be the cause why so few passengers are found in those countreys ; and truly you may believe me , i think i 〈◊〉 more passengers 'twixt paris and orleans , then i found well neer in all this journey through spain . charles . i am easily induced to believe that , because the peeple that pass that way , are so thick , that it may be called a procession . philip. 't is very tru , insomuch that i think ther 's more peeple in france , 'twixt the seine and the loire , taking them from their source till they disgorge into the sea , th●n there is in all spain . charles . i pray proceed still in the account of your journey , if you please to favour mee so much . philip. having entred portugal , i passed to yelvas a pretty place , and so to villa viciosa , then to evora a city of account ; thence to estremoso , so to monte mayor , and so by degrees to lisbon , a great city which may be compared to the best , and biggest cities of europe , having seven miles compass . charles . lisbon being so renowned a city , because there is a proverb , who hath not seen lisbon , hath not seen a good thing , i pray sir make som relation of it . philip. the city of lisbon must needs be very ancient , for her old name is olisippo , of ulisses , who passed that way ; she is situated upon the river tagus , and she hath traffic and possessions in both the indies . the first discoverer of forrein countreys was don henrique , youngest son of five which john the first ( king of portugal ) gain'd of the lady philippa daughter to john of gant duke of lancaster ; the said prince henrique being vers'd in the mathematiques , discovered first the azores , and the madera's with other islands in the atlantic ocean ; then guiney , and after the passage to the east indies , was found out by the cape of good hope , since which time lisbon hath marvailously flourished ; the eldest brother of the said henrique ( who came to be king of portugal ) was call'd edward ; edward the third , king of england , having been his godfather ; which was the first time that the name edward , whom they call duarte was known in portugal . lisbon is encir●led with good walls , upon which there are 76 turrets ; towards the sea , she hath twenty gates ; she is situated upon five hills , and is a place of infinit traffic . charles . i thank you a thousand times over for your relation , which is so punctual ; you may proceed , if it stands with your pleasure , to speak of other parts of portugal . philip. the second town in portugal is santeren , situated also upon the river of tagus ; the third is sintra , upon the atlantic sea ; the fourth conimbra , upon the river mondego ; the fifth braga great archbishoprick ; the sixth porto at the mouth of the river duero ; the seventh miranda ; the eighth braganza , whose dukes were such great princes , that the third part of the peeple of the kingdom liv'd upon their lands ; the ninth eubora , an archbishopric ; the tenth portolegre ; the eleventh olivenz● upon guadiana ; the twelfth beja : all these towns are situated upon considerable rivers . charles . it seems that the kingdom of portugal is well watered , having so many rivers . philip. they say it hath in all above 150 great and small rivers , whereof the chief are tagus , duero , guadiana , minio , &c. charles . the kingdom of the algarves , doth it not appertain to the crown of portugal ? philip. yes sir , and it hath many good towns , as faro , niebla , villa maona , tavila , lagos , sylvia , and others ; so that the kingdom of portugal with algarve , is about 400 miles in length , and 100 broad . charles . what other dominions are there , over which the crown of portugal doth lord it ? philip. in asia , or the east indies , they have so many that ther is som difficulty to number them ; they have diu in the kingdom of cambaia ; they have goa in the kingdom of decan , and dama● ; they have macao in china , with sundry other towns , castles , and places of fastness . in afric they have large possessions , in the kingdom of congo and angòla ; the isles of cape verd , nine in number , are theirs , as also tanger in barbary , neer the streights of gibraltar . in the west indies they have brasil , with a vast extent of ground , and divers considerable ports , as todos los santos , fernambuc , san salvadòr , with others . charles truly me thinks those dominions are very large , which the crown of portugal hath in all the four parts of the world , viz. europe , asia , africa , and america ; but i pray proceed further . philip. before i budge from portugal , i will confute a pr●verb which the castilians have , viz. los portugueses son locos y pocos , the portugueses are fools and few ; but of late yeers the castilian hath found them many , and no fools ; but now since it is your pleasure , i will make a hop from lisbon to sevil in andaluzia , a city extremely rich , having the contratation-house of the west-indies ; so that ther are two proverbs of her. the first , who hath not seen sevill , hath seen no wonders : the other , whom god loves , he gives him his bread in sevill . charles . i have heard another saying that the streets of sevill are like a chess-board who hath as many black as white men , alluding to the multitude of morisco slaves which are there . philip. from sevill i pass'd by carmona , and ezija which are pretty indifferent places , and thence to cordova where i saw that famous mesqu●ta ( or church ) which the moors call'd ceca an admired fabrick , and the most entire of any ancient peice that ever i saw in my life , though i have travers'd a great part of the world ; in cordova there is the choisest race of ginetts , which are so fleet and light that they say they are engendred of the wind . charles . from cordova whither did you direct your course● philip. to granada the metropolis of a kingdom the last which the moors lost ; there i saw the alhambra a glorious piece ; from granada i turn'd to malaga the chief staple of wine , where i saw the gate which bears the name of cava ( daughter to don julian ) which being deflowr'd by the then king don rodrigo the said don julian her father to revenge himself of the affront , brought in the moores who lorded in spain 700 yeers , and so he became a traytor to his own country . charles . so he was , an infamous traytor ; for the offence being but particular , was nothing equal to the revenge which was so general . philip. after that , i passed by guadix , baca , lorca , and so i came to carthagena , the key of the kingdome of murica , an ancient colony , wher thre is a famous and convenient haven , the best of any in spain , for shipps when they arrive there are as it were shut up in a box , and fenced from all storms . charles . i have read that philip the second asking andrea doria a great seaman which was the best port in all spain ? he answered pleasantly june , july , and cartagena ; for in those two months any port is good because of the mildnesse of the season , and from cartagena whither . philip. to murcia , which was the head of a kingdom in the time of the moors , it is the cheif staple of silk ; thence i pass'd by origuela , aud elche to alicant the key of the kingdom of valencia , a place of good traffic , though it have no port but a road ; thence i pass'd by xativa , and other places to valencia , an extreme bewtiful city , and a wanton delicat soyle about , so that the brute animals there make themselves beds of flowers , as rosemary and other odoriferous vegetables ; from valencia i pass'd to morviedre , which was old sagunto , wher ther are many peeces of antiquity ; thence by castillon de la plana , and divers j●lly towns , i came to saragossa the metropolis of aragon , a prowd stately citly , and the circumjacent soil extreme fertil , for the best bread in spain is eaten there . charles . from saragossa whither did you direct your journey ? philip. for catalunia ; i thought to have seen tortosa and taragona , but i had no conveniency ; so passing by lerida a wel-peepeld place , and an university , i gain'd barcelona the metropolis of the kingdom of catalunia , a prowd citty both for her riches and buildings ; i saw also our lady of mon●errat , where pilgrims of all nations resort ; afterwards i pass'd by girona , and so to the county of russllion , a good countrey with a well fortified castle which appertaines now to the king of france ; and at last gaining salsas , i made a sally out of spain having twice travers'd the pyren●àn hills , and there allso they took from mee som of that mony which i had remaining . charles . those gards are very troublesom to passengers ; i have heard of a french painter who having got a considerable som of mony changed all into small pistolets of gold , which he swallowed down , the gards having notice before hand that he carried a quantity of mony about him , and searching narrowly every place , his mouth and his tayle not excepted they threw him twixt fowe● walls , and administred unto him som pills , and a glister , so that the gards found all the mony by this means : but how were you usd in your inns or ventas as you passd along . philip. those inkeepers are half theefs in som places , because they demand twice as much as the thing is worth ; now , will i conclude with a merry tale of what happend neer girona ; a passenger arrivd at a place wher ther were two inns , and in the middle betwixt them ther stood a crucifix , the passenger looking upon the picture of it , sayed in the hearing of his host , our saviour is here , as hee was upon the crosse between two theefs meaning the two inkeepers , how sir , said his host are you com hi ther to affront us ? the passenger replyed , hold your self contented mine host , for i take you for the good theef . charles . not much unlike to this , is another tale which i heard spoken of a high dutchman , who passing by alcala wher ther are sweet , and rich wines , and being com to a venta , he drank fower quarts of wine , and so went drunk to bed ; the next day , asking his hostesse what was to pay , she said 5 quarts of wine ; that cannot be , for my gutts will not hold above fower for i have mesurd them often this way , the hostesse replied , o sir this wine being so good , and strong , one quart went up to the brain , and the other fower remained in your belly , which makes in all five quarts . carta compvesta de ochenta y dos refranes , concurrientes todos , para la conservatiòn de la salùd umana . mi senor don l : la salud es la cosa que mas importa al cuerpo umano , es la ioya mas preciosa de quantas la natura tiene en todo su retrete por tanto yo le encomiendo tres dotores para mantenerla , es a saber , el dotor dieta , el dotor reposo , y el dotor gozo . tocante el postrero , bien se sabe por experiencia que es aquel gran espejo de sabiduria , que vna onça de alegria vale mas que cien quintales de melancolia , pesadumbre no paga deudas ; y el cuydado en demasia roe hasta el tuetano ; coraçòn contento es gran talento ; que puede dezir alegramente , el diablo es muerto , y el italiano dize que poo cibo & men affanno , sanita del corpo fanno ; tambien dize , grave dura non ti punga , & sarà la tua vita lunga . to cante el seg●ndo dotò , que mira al govierno del cuerpo , es mucha verdàd que poca fatiga es gran salud ; bueno es passear hasta que se vea la sangre en la mexilla , no el sudor en la frente ; porlo que toca al sueño que es el rey de reposo , duerme el dia quando quisieres , y la noche quanto pudieres ; sea la noche noche , y el dia dia , y viviras con alerina ; pero , q●ien quiere bien dormir que compre la cama de vn deudòr ; allende desto , come poco , y cena mas duerme en alto y viviràs ; però sobre la sombra del nogal no te pong s a acostar ; m●s desto , bueno es madrugàr , porque quien el diablo l à de engañar , de mañana se hà de levantar ; tambien tenga cuenta de yrse a la mañana a la p●scaria , y la tarde a la carneceria , porque pece y huesped presto hieden . tocante la cobertura del cuerpo , si quieres vivir sano hazte viejo temprano ; no dexes los pelliscos hasta que vengan los galileos ; buena regla es , que yo ande caliente , y riase la gente , otra ay mas particulàr , euxuto el pie , caliente la cabeçc , por el resto vive como bestia ; escuche tambien lo que dize el ro mano , vesti caldo , mangia poco , bevi assai & vir viai . quanto a las partes del cuerpo , adviertase . que los o jos siendo malos se han de curar con el codo ; los dientes no piden in mucho cuydado , ni demasiado descuydo ; quando te dolieren las tripas hazlo saber al culo ; mee claro y caga bien , y higa para el medico ; añadese a esto , si meare ; de color de florin , echa el medico para ruyn ; toda via , quien mea y no pee , và a la co●te y al rey no vee ; sepasi tambien , que a la gota el medico no vee gota . tocante el casamiento el dicho del marquès de mirabè● se ha de observar , el qual siendo preguntado como avia vivido tantos años ( porque tenia mas de ochenta ) respondio , casème tarde y embiudème temprano ; si quieres hembra escoje la negra , porque muger negra trementina en ella ; tambien dize frances , fille brunette gaye & nette ; escoj● la tambien el sabado , y no el domingo ; pero muger roxa y barbuda de cien p●ssos la saluda , m●s de esto , muger , anade y cabra mala cosa siendo magra , para mientes tambien a este cumplimiento , junio , julio y agosto , señora mia no os conosco . tocante el doctor d●eta que pr●dominà mucho sobre la salùd , es regla general , quien mucho come , poco come , el italiano dize bisogna far tre pasti di star sano , vn buono , vn cattivo , & ●n mezzano ; quien come bien y bien beve , haze lo que deve , pero a buen comer o a mal comer tres vezes haz de bever . por lo que toca a la bevanda , beved agua como un buey , y vino como vn rey ; el agua tiene tres excellentes virtudes , ni enferma , ni adeuda , ni embiuda , toda via dizen que agua fria y pan caliente nunca hizieron buen vientre : siempre a higo agua , ya la pera vino : tambien a bocado haròn espolado de vino : pero vino transnochado no vale vn cornado : dixo la leche al vino bien vengais , amigo . tocante los manjares , es regla muy saludable , quien quisiere vivir sano , coma poco , y cene temprano : cabrito de vn mes , rezental de tres : vn huevo escaseza , dos gentileza , tres valentia , quatro vellaqueria : dizese , que si el villano supiesse el sabor de la gallina en el henero , no dexaria ninguna en el pollero : escojase siempre leche de cabra , manteca de vaca , y queso de oveja : pero , se hà de observar , que el queso que vien de corta mano es el mas sano : alos moços està permitido de comer mas amenudo que a los otros , porque dizen , que el moço creciente ha●el lobo en el avientre , mas , to cante los viejos se dize que q●ien hurta la cena al viejo , no le haze agravio : por tanto es buen precepto para los de dad quien no cena no hà menester avicena , otros dizen que mas matò la cena que no sanò avicena : de suerte que si tuvieres gana de morir cena con carne assada y echate a dormir : añadese a esto , que si quieres comida mala , come la liebre assada . quien en mayo come sardina en agosto caga la espina : et quien come caracoles en abril apareje cera y pavil ; toda via quando llueve y haze sol coge el caracol ; no ay caldo como el çumo guijarra ; pero ni olla sin tocino , ni sermon sin agustino . tocante las frutas y legumbres , observese que pan reziente y uvas , a las moças ponen mudas , y alas viejas quitan las arrugas ; azeytuna oro es vna , dos plata , tercera mara , niespolo despedr ado es buen bocado ; pera que dize rodrigo no vale vn higo ; otros dizen , la muger y la pera la que calla es buena ; el francès tiene vna notable caucion tocante esta fruta , es a saber , apres la poire ou le vin ou le prestre ; mis , sobre melòn , vino follon ; con todo sea sal , porque dize el francès , cest vn banquet pour le diable ou il n y a point du sel ; tocante el hinojo , y la ruda , ay dos refranes muy señalados , viz : quien hinojo vee y no lo coge , diablo es que no hombre : el otro , si supiesse la muger la virtud de la ruda la buscaria de noche a la luna , &c. en observando estas reglas se podria vivir tanto quantos vn elefante que es de mas larga vid● de quantos animales ay , segun aquel refiàn gradual , vn sero dura tres años ; vn perro tres setos : tres perros vn cavallo : tres cavallos vn hombre : tres hombres vn ciervo ; tres ciervos duran vn elefante . no soy por mas , si no , qu●e desseandole en conclusion , salud y g●zo , y casa con vn cor●●t y pozo le quedo de todas mis entrañ●s su criado mayor , porque . quisiere aunque soy chico , ser , en serville gigante , i. h. the same rendered into english. fourscore spanish proverbs couch'd in one familiar letter , concurring all to one congruous sense , and conducing to the preservation of human health . sir , health is a thing that most imports a human body ; it is the most precious jewel that nature hath in all her cabinet . therfore i recommend unto you three doctors for the maintenance therof ▪ to wit , doctor diet , doctor quiet , and docter merriman . touching the last , 't is well known by experience which is the great looking-glass of wisedom , that an ounce of mirth is more worth then a hundred stone of melancholy ; sorrow quits no scores ; and too much care corrodes , and eats to the very marrow ; a heart content is a great talent ; a heart which may say alegramente , the devil is dead ; and the italian will tell you . that a little meat and lesse grief make a healthful body . touching the second doctor , which concerns the government of the body , 't is a great truth , that a little toyl is great health : 't is good to walk till the bloud appears in the cheek , but not the sweat on on the brow : touching sleep who is the king of repose , sleep in the day what thou wilt , and in the night as much as thou ca●st ; but make night of night , and day of day , then thou mayst sing welladay ; but he who doth desire to sleep soundly , let him buy the boulster of a bankrupt : moreover , dine with little , sup with less , sleep high and thou wilt live ; but take heed of sleeping on the shadow of a wall-nut-tree ; besides , 't is good to rise early ; for , he who will cosen the devil , must rise betimes : go also early to the fish-market , and late to the shambles ; for fish and guests quickly stink . concerning thy clothes , or coverings of thy body , if thou wilt be healthful make thy self old betimes ; leave not thy furrs till the galileans come ( viz. till ascenfion-day , when that scripture is read ) it was a good saying , let me go warm , and let the wor●d laugh at me as long as it wi● : ther 's another rule , keep thy head dry , and thy head hot , and for the rest live like a beast ( viz. eat and drink no more then will s●ffice nature . ) concerning the parts of the body , take notice that when the eyes are sore , cure them with thy elbow , ( viz. thou must not finger them ) : the teeth require not much care , nor too much neglect : when thy ●uts ake make it known to thy tail ; piss clear , and go well to stool , and a fig for the physitian : whereunto may be added , if thy vrine be bright yellow , piss upon the doctors head ; our gransires said , that he who pisseth without a report backward , goes to c●urt and sees not the king : touching the govt , the physitian is but a l●ut . concerning mariage , the saying of the old marquis of m● is observable , who being asked how he came to live so long in such health , he answered , i married late , and i became a widdower betimes . if thou desirest a wife , choose her upon a saturday , rather than upon sunday ( in her fine clothes ) : and if thou canst , choose a black one , for they say , in a black woman there is turpentine ; whereunto the french-man alludes something , a brown lasse is gay and cleanly : but for a red-hair'd , or bearded woman , salute them a hundred paces off . touching doctor diet , who predominats much over human health , 't is a general rule , that he who eats much , eats but little ; the italian saith , that to preserve health , one must make three meals a day , one good , one bad , and another indifferent meal : 't is observed , that he who eats well , and drinks well , doth his business ; but , whether you di●e well , or ill , be sure to drink thrice . touching drinks , drink water like an ox , and wine like a king : water hath three excellent vertues , for it neither makes one sick , nor puts one in debt , nor makes one a widdower ; yet cold water and hot bread never made good belly . after the fig , water ; after the pear , wine : a jadish bit requires a spur of wine ; but wine that stood all night is not worth a mite : the milk told the wine , welcom friend , wine upon milk is mine ; milk upon wine is thine . touching meats : it is a wholsom precept , who will live healthful , let him dine sparingly , and sup betimes : touching flesh , a kid of a month , and a lamb of three , are best : for eggs , one is scarsenes , two is gentlenes , three stoutnes , and four are roguishnes . they say , that if the country-man knew the goodnes of a hen in january , he would not leave one in his roost house : goats milk , cow butter , and sheeps cheese are best ; but for cheese , that 's best which comes from a miser's hand : young men are allow'd to eat oftener then men in years ; for , they say , a growing youth hath a wolf in his belly ; therefore who steals an old mans supper , doth him no wrong ; moreover he who doth not use to sup , hath no need of the physitian ; therefore if thou hast a mind to dye , sup upon roasted mu●ten , and go to bed . hereunto may be added , if thou desirest ill food , eat a roasted hare : he who eats pilchers in may , may shite out the b●nes in august ; and he who eats mushrumps in april , let him provide week and wax ; viz. let him provide for his burial ; yet in other months , when it rains in a sun-shine gather thy musrumps : there is no broth like that of the juyce of flint ( viz. of water flowing thence ) ; but pottage must not be without bacon , nor a sermon without saint austin : concerning fruits , and pulse , observe that new bread and grapes paint young maids , and take away wrinckles from the old : one olive is god , two silver , three brass : if thou wilt have a good bit , eat a gelded medlar : the pear which cr●es rodrigo is not worth a rush ; others say , that the pear and the woman which are silent are best : the french-man hath a good caution touching this fruit , that after pear , the wine or the priest ( to confesse thee before death ) ; but after melon , wine is a felon : let there be salt with every thing , for 't is a banquet for the devil wher ther is no salt : concerning fennel and rue , ther be two notable proverbs of them , viz that he who sees fennel and gathers it not , he is a devil , and no man ; the other is , that if the good woman did know the vertue of rue , she wold look for it in the night at moonshine . by observing these rules one might by the strength and complacency of nature arrive to the age of an elephant , whom the naturalists observe to live longest of any terrestrial creture , according to that gradual proverb of longitude of lifes , viz. a hedge lasts three years ; a dogg three hedges ; a horse three doggs ; a man three horses ; a stagg three men ; an elephant three staggs . no more now , but that wishing you all health and gladnes , i rest from my very bowells your gretest servant for though i am little , i wold bee a hercules to serve you . i. h. a chain of above threescore old english proverbs , couch'd in one familiar letter , and conducing all to one subject or sense : rendred into spanish . sir , i have much aquaintance , but few frends , amongst whom i rank you for one of the choisest ; therfore , although i am none of those that love to have an oare in every mans boat ; or such a busy body as deserves to bee hit in the teeth , that he shold keep his breath to 〈◊〉 his pottage ; yet , you and i having eaten a peck of salt together , and having a hint that you are upon a busines which will make you , or marr you , viz. mariage , i wold wish you to look before 〈◊〉 leap , and make more then two words to● burgain , in regard that a mans best or worst fortune is a wife . t is tru , that mariages are made in heaven ; it is also sayed , that mariage and hanging go by destiny ; but , if you are resolv'd to marry , marry a shrew rather than a sheep , for a foolis fullsom ; yet you run a risk allso in the other , for a shrew may so tie your nose to the grindstone , that the gray mare will prove the better horse : moreover , there is another old sayed saw , that every one knowes how to tame a shrew , but hee who hath her : if it be your fortune to meet with such a one , shee may chance put you to the charge of buying a long spoon ; for hee must have a long spoon who will eat broath with the devill . furthermore , if you are disposed to marry , the spaniard wold have you to choose a wife upon the saturday ( in her old clothes ) not upon sunday ( when shee is trick'd up ) : but by all means do not fetch a wife from dunmow , for so you may bring home two sides of a sow ; nor from westminster ; for , they say , that he who goes to westminster for a wife , to pauls for a man , and to smithfield for a horse , may have a iade to his horse , a knave to his man , and a wagg-tayl to his wife . but if you needs must have a wife , let her be rather little than bigg , for of two evils the least is to bee chosen : yet ther is a hazard in that also ; for a little pot is soon hot , and so shee will bee little and loud ; if you give her an inch , shee will take an ell ; shee will alwayes have a rowland for your oliver , and two words for one ; such a wife , though shee bee as tender as a parsons lemman , yet shee may prove a wolf in a lambs skin : insteed of a rose you will have a burr ; if you happ too meet with such a one , you may bee put to answer as hee was , who having a damnable scold to his wife , and being asked by sir thomas badger , who recommended her unto him ? hee sayed , and old courtier sir ; what courtier sayed sir thomas ? 't was the devil sir : the anagram may well fit such a wife : — uxor & orcus idem . moreover , take heed of too-handsom a wife , for then the italian will tell you , she is likely not to bee all your own ; and so shee may bring you to your horn-book again , or rather make you horn-madd , and then you have brought your hoggs to a fair market ; yet take delight when you have one to see your wife go hansom , and not to spoil her face : to that end , the spaniard wold have women when the seson serves to feed upon grapes and bread , for ther is a saying , that grapes and new breed paints young womens faces , and takes away wrinkles from the old . but by all means take heed of a too costly and lavishing a wife , for so you may quickly turn a noble to nine-pence , and com home by broken crosse , shee will in a short time make hunger to dropp out at your no●e ; shee will th●ritten a mill post to a pudden-prick : the goose will drink as deep as the gander , and then when all is gon and n●thing left , what boots the dagger with the dudgeon hest ? the wolf wil bee then still at your d●re , and the black ox will tread on your toe : your neighbours will make mowes at you and say you are as wise as walthams calf , who went n●ne mile to suck a bu●l , and came home more thirsty then when he went. you must allso bee wary how you marry one who bath cast her rider , lest you ●all into a quagmire wherin another was lost , i mean , a widow , for so you wil bee subject to have a dead-mans head put often into your d●sh : touching the complexion of your wife , the spaniard holds black to bee the wholsom'st , for hee hath a saying , muger negra trementina en ella ; a black woman hath turpentine in her . the frenchman is for the brown , fille brunette gaye & nette , a brown lasse is gay , and cleanly ; but they both will tell you , that touching a re●d hair'd , or bearded woman , you must salute them a hundred paces off . lastly , take heed by all means of doting so far upon any female as to marry her for meer affection ; 't is tru , that one hair of a woman will draw more then a hundred yoak of oxen , yet meer affection , they say , is but blind reson , and ther are more mayds in the world then malkin : 't is allso tru , that in love ther is no lack ; yet it is as tru , that nothing hath no savor , nor can any thing bee bought in the market without money : there must bee suett , as well as water and oat-meal , to make a pudding : they that marry for meer love , may have merry nights but mournfull daies ; in this case , 't is better to buy a quart of milk for a peny , then to keep a cow ; and to follow the italians advice , viz. commend the sea , but keep thy self on the shore ; commend the hills , but keep thy self on the plaine ; commend a wedded life , but keep thy self still a bachelor : according to another wise proverb , hee who marries , doth well , but hee who marrieth not , doth better : wherunto alludes a third , that next to a single life , the married is best ; i will conclude with another , honest men use to marry , but wise men not . when you read this ; i know you wil bee apt to say , that a fools bolt is soon shot , or cry out , witt whither willt thou ? yet though i am none of the seven sages , i can look as far into a milstone as another ; and you know that the stander by sees oftimes more then the gamster . what i write , is the language of a friend , and could i stead you any way herin , i wold do it with as good a will as ever i came from school , for i am such a frend that will shine with you in the dark ; and to conclude with the old roman proverb , i am yours usque ad aras , yours to the altar . i. h. the same made spanish . cadena de mas de sesenta refranes ingleses , puestos en una carta familiar , concurrientes todos a un sentido , y rendidos en castellano . señòr , tengo conocidos muchos , amigos pocos , entre los quales estimo a vm . vno de los mas escogidos ; por tanto , aunque yo no sea del numero de aquellos , qui quieren tener remo en cada barca , ni tal entremetidor que meresca que le den en los dientes , que guardasse el aliento para enfriar su caldo , toda via vm . y yo aviendo comido juntos vn celemin de sal , y oyendo correr la voz que vm esta empeñado en vn negocio que podrà hazerle o des●●zerle viz. casamiento , yo le aconsejaria de mirar bien antes que saltar , y que aya mas de dos palabras a t●l concierto , porque el casarse es la mayor dicha o desdicha que pueda acae●èr a vn hombre . verdàdes que casamientos se hazen en el cielo , tambien se dize que casamientos y ahorcamientos andan por destino , pero si qued● resuelto a casarse , casese antes con vna baladrona que con vna bova , porque las mansas en demasia son enfadosas . toda via corre riesgo con la baladrona , porque ella le podra atalle las narizes de tal suerte que la vaca negta serà mas brava que el toro ; mas desto , dizen que cada vno sabe domar vna baladrona si no el que la tiene por mugèr , si a caso se casàre con tal , le serà for çoso de comprar vna cuchara larga , porque dizen que es meñester vn cucharon largo para comer con el demonio . allende de esto si es menester que se case no se vaya por muger a 〈◊〉 , porque assi podar llevar a su casa dos lados de puerca ; ni a vestminsterio , porque quien v● a vestminster por vna muger , a san pablo por servidor , y a smithfield por vn cavallo , corre peligro de tener vn haron por cavallo , vn picaro por servidor , y vna puta por mugèr . pero , si ay necessidad que teng● mugèr , que sea antes chiquita que grande , porque de dos males el menor se hà de eligir , toda via corre riesgo con tal , porque las pucheras pequeñas luego se calientan , y assi ferà chiqu●ta y gridadora , en dandola vna pulgada , ella tomarà v na vara , tiendra siempre vn roldan contra su rodulfo , y dos palabras por vna : tal mugèr aunque sea tan tierna que la manceb● de vn clerigo , toda via se●à quiça vna loba en pellejo de cordera ; en lugar de vna rosa rendrà vna espina : si los hados le dieren tal muger , la mesma respuesta servirà a vm , que diò el , qui teniendo vna endemoniada parlera , y fiendo preguntado por don tomas badger quien se la avia dado por muger , dixo , vn cortesano viejo me la dio , que corresano replicò don tomas ? era el demonio , señor ; el donoso anagramma quadraria bien con tal mugèr . — vxor & orcus idem mas de esto , tenga cuenta que su muger no sea linda en estremo , porque el italiano le dirà que tal no puede ser toda su ya , y assi ella podrà reduzirle otra vez a su librito cornudo , o auà de hazerle cornudo y frenetico , y entonces y●à con sus puercos a vn lindo mercado : no embargante esto en teniendo muger deleytese de guardarla linda y limpia con buena cara ; a este efeto que coma con la sazon pan y uvas , porque dizen que pan reziente y uvas a las moças ponen mudas , y a las viejas quitan las arrugas . sobre todo guardese bien de vna muger desperdiciadora , porque en aquel modo vn doblò● deviend●à luego diez maravedis ; e●la le harà passar por la cruz rota ; ha●à ●a hambre gotear fuera de sus narizes : la gansa bevera tan hondo que el ansaròn ; y entonces la pobreza darà priessa ; porque donde sacan y no pon luego llegan al hondòn ; el lobo se hallarà a puerta , y el buey negro dara vozes ; sus vezinos diràn hideputa , soys tan sabio que el bezerro de waltam , qui fue nueve mi llas por tetar vn toro , y bolviose mas sediento que no era antes . tambien hà de guardarse de esposar la hembra que hà ya derribado su cavalgador , de miedo que no se cayga en vn atolladero adonde perecio vn otro , es a saber vna biuda , porque en esta manera tendrà cada rato la cabeça de vn muerto echada en su plato : tocante la complexion de su esposa , el español dize que muger negra trementina en ella ; el francès es por la morenita , porque las morenitas son loçanas y limpias ; pero el vno y el otro le diràn , muger bàrbuda , o con cabellos roxos , saludalas cien passos lexos . en conclusion quardese bien de no dexarse transportar , o empeñarse por la sola aficion de alguna hembra viviente ; verdad es que vn pelo de muger tira mas que cien bueyes , toda via la aficion sola no es otro sino razon ciega ; por tanto sepa que mas moças ay en el mundo que marguilla ; tambien es verdad , que en amor no ay mengua ; mas otra verdad ay que nada no tiene sabor , los casamientos no se hazen de hongos sino de ducados redondos , porque en la plaça no se puede comprar nada sin dinero ; por hazer vna longaniça es menester sebo con sangre ; los que se casan por pura aficion podran aver noches plazenteras , mas dias pesados : en este caso mejor es comprar vn açumbre de leche con su placa , que guardar vna vaca ; y conformarse al consejo del italiano , alaba la mar mas tente en tierra firma ; alaba los montes mas tente en la vega , alaba la vida casada mas tente saltero ; tambien ay otro , el quien casa haze bien , mas quien no casa haze mejor ; a este se puede añadir vn tercero , despues de la vida soltera , la casada es la mejor ; concluyrè , que los hombres de bien suelen casarse los , savios no. en leyendo esto bien sè yo , que vm . dirà que el virote des loco presto sesolta ; toda via , aunque yo no sea del numero de los siere savios , bien se quantos son cinco , y muchas vezes el vee masque el jugadòr . lo que yo escrivo aqui , es el lenguaje de amigo , y si podria serville en algo lo haria de tan buena gana como jo vine jamas de la escuela , porque yo soy tal amigo que luzira con el en las tinieblas ; en suma , concluyrè con aquel refran romano suyo soy usque ad aras , hasta los altares . i h. of the portugues language , or svb-dialect , &c. as scotland is to england , so portugall may be sayed to be in relation to spain , in point of speech ; the scott speaks somwhat broader , and more gaping ; so doth the portugues compared to the castilian , and shorter farr : for wheras the castilian out of an innated humor of gravity is addicted to long-traind words , the portuguès doth use to curtayl divers of them , som in the middle , som in the end ; but to know the main difference betwixt them , take these instances . the portuguès is not much affected to l or n ; touching the first , hee turns her to r , the snarling letter , as the philosopher calls her : for example , wheras the castilian sayes inglatierra england , hee sayes ingra●erra ; noble inglès , a noble englishman , nobre ingrès ; flamenco a flemin , framengo in portuguès ; blando soft brando ; blanco white branco ; hermoso fair fermoso ; complido finishd , comprido ; emplear to employ , empregar ; flaco weak , fraco ; diablo the dievil , diabro o diabo , &c. besides , when ll beginns a word in spanish the portuguès turns them to ch ; as , lamar to call chamar ; llama a flame , chama ; llaga a wound , chaga ; lleno full , cheo wherby the n. allso is lost ; luna the moon , lue : llegar allegar to com or approach , chegar achegar ; llave a key , chiave ; ll●ro weeping , choro : luvia rain , chuva . yet the portuguès is not so well affected to ch , when hee finds it in a spanish word , for then he turns it to yt commonly , as noche night , noyte ; ocho eight , oyto ; pecho the brest , peyto ; provecho profit , proveyto , &c. in divers words hee leaves l quite out , when hee finds it about the middle , as delante before , diante ; cielo heven , ceo ; candela a candle , candea ; mala ill , maa ; as ma● noyte y faz filinba , an ill night and maka a girl . the portugues likes not allso the aspiration ● in the beginning of a word but turns it to f , wherby his language comes neerer ( in many words ) to the latin , which is the mother of both : as , wheras the spaniard sayeth hazer to do , the portuguès sayeth fazer ; hado fate , fado ; horca the gallows , forca ; hazaña an exploit , fazanba ; hacha a torch , facha ; hablar to speak , ●●lar ; h●rno an oven , forno ; hormig● an ant , formiga ; holgar gandeo folgar ; hidalgo a gentleman , fidal●● , &c. note allso that where the portugues finds the throaty j , or ishota in a word , hee turns it to lh , as , abeja a bee , abelha ; oveja a sheep , ovelha ; ojo the ey , olho ; aparejàr to prepare , aparelhar ; trabajo toyl , travalho ; &c. but it is to be observed , that those words in portugues must be pronouncd as if an i followd ; as , abelha a bee , abelhia ; travalho toyl , travalhio , &c. nor is the portuguès much affected to the letter n , for where hee finds her in the middle of a spanish word , hee quite cutts her off ; as , for ●adena a chain , he sayeth cadea ; amonestar to warn , amoestar ; cenar to supp , cear ; corona a crown , coroa ; freno a bridle , freo ; buena good , bo● ; mano a hand ▪ mao , &c. moreover the portugues turns spanish dissyllables into monosyllables ; as , tener to hold , ter ; venir to com , vir ; poner to putt , por ; color colour , cor ; dolor greif , dor ; mayor a maior , mor , &c. the portugues also turns oftentimes spanish trissyllables into dissillables ; as , menester need , mister ; ganado a flock , gado ; generar to engender , gerar ; general general , geral : obispo a bishop , bispo , &c. furthermore where the spanish words end in bre , the portugues turns it to me , or mem ; as , costumbre custom , costume ; hombre a man , homem ; nombre a name , nomem ; cumbre the top , cume , &c. the portugues allso turns the spanish ble into vel ; as , possible possible , possivel ; insufrible unsufferable , insufrivel ; mudable changeable , mudavel ; durable durable , duravel , &c. the portugues makes allso trissyllables of spanish quatrosyllables often ; as , s●lameme only , somente ▪ mahamente ill , mamente ; enemigo an enemy , imigo , &c. yet sometimes the portuges adds a syllable more ; as , duvida to the spanish duda , a doubt ; duvidosamente for dudosament , doubtfully ; duo● for dos , two , &c. the portugues allso adds e to spanish words ending in d ; as , mocidade for mocedàd , youth ; a●istàd friendship , amiz●de ; liberted liberty , libertade ; liberalidàd liberality , liberalidade ; pieded piety , piedede , &c. now , though the costilian , and the lusitani●n language bee both derived from the latin , the first immediately , ther othe mediatly by means of the gastilian , wherof shee is a dialect , and therby a subdialect to the latin ; yet shee hath divers words for which shee is beholden to neither , nor to the morisco also , wherof i thought it worth the while to give a particular catalog . a short dictionary or , catalog of such portuges words that have no affinity with the spanish . portugues , spanish , english abafar garrotar to strangle abalroar pelear to fight abalo do animo desaiossiego trouble of mind abegaon rustico a swayne abelhaon colmena a hive of bees abelhudamente appressuro samente hastily abençoer bendezir to blesse acamar enfermarse to be sick agastar provocar to provoke aginha presto speedily agoacento humedo watry alagar deribar to overthrow alapardarse esconderse to hide himself alardo nombramiento de soldados a list of soldiers alar socorrer to succour alcunha sobrenombre a sirname alem mas de esto moreover alfayate sa●●re a taylor alfaqueque mensajero a messenger alvacento blanquecino whitish alvela milan a kite aniae alfiler a pin● amuado obstinado obstinat andorinha golondrina a swallow a podar paragonar to compan apupar aullar to houl arreceo miedo fear atlhar impedir to hinder atasanero panadero . a bakee . bacoro puerca a sow bafo aliento the breath bafio hediondez a stink balisa carcel a gaol baque cayda a fall barça cofre a coffer bicho gusano a worm bragante ruyn lewd breu pez pitch bugio mono an ape buraco aguijero a hole burrifar aguar to sprinkle cachopo mocito a little boy cadela perra a bitch canga yugo a yoke cardume muchedumbre a multitude crestaon cabron a goat carpinha lamentaciòn lamentation caranca mala cara an ill face caramelo yelo ice cavidarse guardarse to beware colheyta cosecha the harvest coceyra começon the itch cocegas coxquillas tickling cossar arañar to soratch coyma dolor pain cafra yunque an anvil cedo presto quickly ceysa cosecha harvest chambaon tonto a dullard cheyrar oler to smel decepar romper to break derrancar corromper to corrupt desazo ociosidad sloth desdobrar exprimir to expresse desmiçar aboler to abolish desmanchar quebranter to break devesa selva a wood dia azinhago dia escuro a black day dia de hotem ayer yesterday dianteyra frente the forehead discante lalyra the harp doudo bobo a fool elche apostata an apostat embevedarse emborracharse to be drunk embleçar engañar to cosen embicar ofender to offend embel●r cunar to rock emborcar invertir to invert empecilho obstaculo a stopp emperrar porfiar to be obstinat emposta ayuda help e●●●mpar obtruder to obtrude encuica noticia knowledg endoudecer enloquecer to grow foolish enfastiar enfadar to trouble engeytar menospreciar to cast away ensejo ocasion occasion entraz carbunculo a carbuncle entulbar entoñalar to fill up escavedar huyr to fly away esfalsar cansar to tyre esmechar herir to wound esqueho tuerto crooked espaçar alargar to lengthen esmolar dar limosna to give alm● esmera perfecto perfect esmoga synagoga a synagog esquecimiento olvido forgetfulnesse esterqueyra muladàr a donghil estulagem venta an hostry estabalhoado arrebadato rash estrondo . alboroto a noise faim lança a lance fala voz a voice faisca centella a flash fanar costar to cut fanchono mugeril effeminat faqua cuchillo a knife fanquey lencero a linnendraper fanga hanega a bushel farelo salvado bran febre delgago slender felugem hollin soot felinha hijuela a little girle figo lampo precoz too soon ripe fiquar quedar to stay focinho boca the mouth folga gozo mirth fraga peña a rock franga polastra a pullet fracayro putaniero a wencher furna caverna a den fuzilar . relampaguear to lighten gabo loor praise gabar loar to prayse gafern lepra the leprosie gaguo tartamudo a ●●utterer galbo ramo a branch geyto ademan de cuerpo gesture gear yelo yce gielho rodilla the knee hontem ayer yesterday huyvar aullar to howle ianella ventana a window jentar comida a diner ilharga lado the side inçar propagar to propagat ingoas las buas the pox lapa cueva a cave leycenço ladroncillo a little thief lembrar acordar to remember machado seguar an ax magao congoja grief madraço picaro a rogue mamote lechoncillo a sucking pigg maminher esterilidad barrennesse marral heyro vellaco a cuming knave madioso liberal liberal matiz retrato a picture matreyro zorro crafty mealherro casa de tesoro exchequer morno tibio lukewarm morgado primogenito the first born mouco sordo deaf orate mentecato a madman outiva arrebatadamente . rashly payxaon ensado trouble pancado bofeton a blow pao madera wood porolento mohoso musty patife desembuelto a loose fellow pezinho piojo a lowse pelouro bala a bullet peneyra harnero a sive perto cerca neere pinga gota a drop pissa carajo a mans yard pomba paloma a pigeon povo pueblo the people presunto pernil a gamm●●● refenn caucion a pledg rilhar roer to gnaw roldar tener centinela to keep watch rolda centinela the watch saloya rustica a country woman sanden frenetico madd saluço suspiro a sigh sisa pecho a tax soada fama a rumor tamancas alpargatas wodden shoos tamalaves vn ratico a little white tarefa obra a task tayvar rabiar to rage tolo necio a fool traquinada ruydo an uproar trevas tiniblas the dark valhacouto refugio a refuge colhor cuchara a spoone ambicar tropesar to stumble calleyro granja a barn suncho hinojo fenell sedo de mañana early sargueyro saulze a willow radea carcel a gaol zombar motejar . to geere the portugès in nombring five dayes of the week differs from the castilian , and all other , but it agrees with the roman , missal , as munday , twesday , wenesday , thursday , friday are calld segunda , terca , quarta , quinta , sexta , feyra ; but saterday and sunday are calld sabado y doming● . thus have i given a short essay of the lusitanian toung , which , by observing the differential precepts pointed at before , may be attained with much ease by any who hath but an indifferent knowledg of the spanish from whom she is derivd but become somewhat more rugged ; so that it may be sayed , as a castilian was making of a toledo blade , a portugès came , and taking up the filings he made a toung of them ; indeed , it must be granted that the castilian is in more esteem , yea , in portugal it self , where the best sort of the gentry and marchants speak it , with church and cloysterd men ; most of their sermons , their musical sonets , and madrigals , with their stage plays being in spanish . insomuch that as it is a saying in italy , lingua toscana , in lingua romana ; so there is one among them , lingoa castelhana em b●ca portugueza ; the spaniard hath so little esteem of it , that he sayes there is but one good word in all the portuguès tongue , and that is saudades which is a large word , and a kind of amphibolon , for it signifies many things , as tenho mil saud●des de vm . i have a thousands desires of you ; muero de saudades , i die for sorrows , &c. concerning the preceding spanish grammer , ther went more o yle , and labor to rayse up ( as i may say ) that little castle of castile , wherein an ingenious student may find not only a survey of the language , but he may take livry and saisin thereof in a short time ; to which purpose we have consulted the best artists upon this subject as miranda , and salazar ; together with francios●ni the florentin , and oudin the frenchman , with others who have laudably taken pains herin , and are more extensive in the conjugating of som verbs : for as soon as the idea of this work entred into the imagination , the first thing we designd was brevity , yet without making it● subject to lamenesse● or obscurity . — nec dum brevis esse labaro obscurus , vel mancus ero — liberorum cerebri quintus post quadraginta . j. h. finis . florus hungaricus, or, the history of hungaria and transylvania deduced from the original of that nation, and their setling in europe in the year of our lord 461, to this dangerous and suspectful period of that kingdome by the present turkish invasion, anno 1664. howell, james, 1594?-1666. 1664 approx. 505 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 168 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a44720 wing h3077a estc r32355 12643361 ocm 12643361 65063 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a44720) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 65063) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1528:12) florus hungaricus, or, the history of hungaria and transylvania deduced from the original of that nation, and their setling in europe in the year of our lord 461, to this dangerous and suspectful period of that kingdome by the present turkish invasion, anno 1664. howell, james, 1594?-1666. [15], 302 [i.e. 293] p. printed by w.g. for hen. marsh ..., london : 1664. "decemb. 23. 1663. imprimatur. william morice." -opposite t.p. attributed by wing to howell. "the epistle dedicatory" signed: j.h. (i.e. james howell). numerous errors in paging. reproduction of original in the harvard university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng hungary -history. transylvania (romania) -history. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-01 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2004-01 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion decemb. 23. 1663. imprimatur . william morice . florvs hvngaricvs : or the history of hungaria and transylvania deduced from the original of that nation , and their setling in europe in the year of our lord 461 , to this dangerous and suspectful period of that kingdome by the present turkish invasion , anno 1664. iohn chantry . sculp london , printed by w. g. for hen. marsh at the princes arms in chancery-lane . 1664. to the right honourable iohn earl of bath , &c. may it please your lordship , this history ( written originally in latine by a noble hand , native of that kingdome ) was like a treatise of that deserving quality , addressed to the hands of two illustrious persons , whom the translatour ( sure of doing the authour no injury in this particular ) hath represented in your single self , to what advantage of lustre the world shall speak . for ( my lord ) it is not the design of this dedication to bring water to the ocean , ( although the ever-flowing tribute that is due to vertue is natural and necessary ) both because this streight and shallow , will not boast or presume to be proud of any additament to your fame ; & for that this candle in such day-light will prove but a faint and unobserved glimmering of that full splendour . actions and not words , have entertained the greatest part of your life , till the late blessed change , which shall never be mentioned but with your name ; pax nescit comitis non memor esse sui : insomuch that your lordship is a living epitome of our late war , and is read by most men with delight and admiration . vpon that account it is ( my lord ) that i humbly present to you this florus hungaricus and abridgement of their history , not knowing with whose sum of glory this compendium of so renowned a nation would better sute ; for from the founding of their empire , time hath had few respites , and but momentary vacations from military affairs . in which speculation ( my lord ) i am so much assured , that you are frequently conversant , and familiarly please your self in that heroical diversion , that i could not restrain the ambitious tender of this commentary ; which although very uneven , and abrupt of stile ( as could not be avoided in such a pent and narrow inconvenience of expression ) yet it hath plainly conveyed and continued the story . the endevour , what it is , is most humbly submitted to your lordships iudgement , and most submissively begs your protection and patronage , under which it doubts not to find acceptance with the world. ( my lord ) i am your most humble and obedient servant j. h. to the reader . the affairs and history of hungary variously agitated under several mutations and revolutions , are now presented to the world in an epitome , which neverthelesse comprehends most of the transactions in europe , and may intitle it self to be its remembrancer . this nation some ages before , not seen and unheard of , did out of its ruins rise to a mighty kingdome , and as it did so wonderfully increase , so did it with the same urgencies of fate , decline as fast , and again recover it self ; and so by the inconstancy of its fortune either added terrour or hope to its neighbours : for while this people struggled for empire , intending to heap up their glory in the splendor of one day , and would allow no futurities to their felicity , the justice of providence decreed them a laborious race , wherein their speed and strength hath been tired ; and by many uneven ascents and descents , almost wearied out of breath : in which time notwithstanding ( the space of twelve hundred years and upwards ) it hath effected so many great things both in war and peace , that it seemeth to have dared and accomplished things far beyond either its fortune or ability , commanding and extending its power so far over the adjoyning nations , that while its actions and story is read , both asia and europe are concerned , and are again subjected in the review , as tributaries to the renown of this empire . i must confesse that so many vicissitudes , and the grandeur of the subject do much discompose the contexture , but so that the shape of the majesty hereof will sufficiently appear , although it have not its full proportions . we consider therefore the hungarian nation according to these intervals or distances , the first age was most fierce and sanguinous , while they were under the darknesse of paganisme , which lasted almost 600 years , during which time they exceeded the very beasts in all savage and barbarous cruelty . the following age under geysa and stephen , christian princes , until the reign of charles son of lewis , in which time passed 340 years , was afflicted and sore put to it ; yet it made a shift to rear it self & raise its glory out of the dust. thence to our times have run 330 years , in which its glories have been retrograde , and have verged to a decrepit and feeble estate , save that under k. matthias the kingdom mov'd its arms with some vigour , and seemed to be renewed to a fresh and active youth and virility . but matthias being taken away by the envyous destinies , the hungarians soon lost their ancient courage and vertue , suffering the turks to possesse themselves of the greatest part of their country ( which they are now like wholly to subdue ) while they were divided betwixt the interests of ferdinand the emperour , and iohn zapolyai vayvod of transylvania , pretenders to that crown ; so that hungary is to be sought in it self . for while the kingdome was insociable and coveted by many , it became burdened with more weight then it could bear ; and that government which might have been well supported and maintained by one , being shouldred by so many , fell with ruine to the ground . it is now redevable to the reader , that i give an account of what authors have been consulted in the compiling of this treatise ; many hungarian writers being waived because of their flattery and fondnesse of their own nation , or fabulous untruths ; of which sort are ranzanus , ritius , and others ; but one for all is bonfinius , who hath loaded the original of the hungarians with a multitude of fictions . thur●●zius hath done something better ; in the whole six hundred authours have been conferred ; but those to whom credence was due are onely these ; first nicholas istuamfi , a man conversant in the story who wrote his rationale from the life of matthias the first ; but because of his propense affection to the caesars ( for which teason he either neglects truth or conceals their vices ) fome rare , more ancient and modern writers have been contra-examined against him . next to him , flavius ascanius centorinus , who composed his history of the dacian wars out of the manuscript commentaries of ferdinand , and castaldus ( his general ) themselves . lastly , iohn michael brutus , who wrote of this matter by the command of stephen bathori king of poland , together with thuanus and some few not so eminent . the reader , it is presumed , will be hereby satisfied of the veracity and authority of this discourse , whose subject ( being so much a stranger ) needed a very ample certificate , for that impostures of these distant regions are very rife and frequent . all that is to be apologised and excused , is the style , which pretends to nothing but understandible english , shut up by such rigid clauses and restraints of matter , that it could not breath any free language . and when the reader shall have perceived how this volume is crowded to render it a manual acceptable to the diversion of curious and inquisitive men , he will no doubt vouchsafe a pardon to this endevour . vale. the history of hungaria and transylvania . this nation , not seen nor known in europe , before the decrepit estate of the roman empire , had their formidable extract from the extremest part of maeotis , inhabited by the massagetes , next neighbours to the dahi , as plinius , mela and ptolomy do report , though some authors have derived them from the parthians , both seated betwixt the rivers oxus and iaxarta . former times call'd all that tract of ground lying north and north-east , by the name of scythia , and under that general appellation the inhabitants were notified to the world , which now is distinguished into the different tribes of the present tartarian empire ; who at this day continue that vagrant , incursive , and predatory disposition , that brought these necessitous huns in vast multitudes into fertiler though never so distant regions . it will be therefore requisite to give some breif account of this nursery and source of so many martial nations , and particularly of this of the huns , because of this singular remarque , that none of her swarms besides , were ever blest with the christian faith ; and arrived to , and persisted in the glory of a kingdome and empire under the ensigne of the crosse , intire , separate and unmixt from other nations , in all the fortunes of war , and the variation of their estate . scythia by the ancients was divided into the european and asiatick ; the former made stretching it self from the springs of tanais by the banks of the lake maeotis and the euxine sea , to ister ( so named when swelled with the confluence of the danow , savus and dravus , 3 great rivers by the city of belgrade ) the reason of which mistake was , for that they falsly supposed asia to be divided from europe by the tanais : for from taenarus the extreme promontory of peloponesus to the springs and rise of tanais , not more than half the line extending to the northern ocean , is comprehended ; that river arising in the confines of the greater russia , and the lesser tartary , from a lake called ivanowo iezcier , not out of the riphaean mountains , as is fabled by the ancients ; for that there are no such hills in nature , nor was it ever agreed among geographers where they should be sited . and it is since manifest that from the lake aforesaid there is as much space of ground lying between the sea , as is betwixt it and peloponensus , so that many places are assigned to asia in this region , which do truely belong to europe . this is the rather insisted , to rectifie the general mistake in most of the modern maps and descriptions of the world. the vastnesse of the asian scythia is so great , that its bounds were neither known in the past , not discovered to the present age ; circumscribed to the east with the opposite shore of unknown seas ; to the north with the frozen scythian sea ; to the west with the cimmerian bosphorus , maeotis , tanais , and a line drawn to the white sea ; to the south with the indies ; whence it comes to passe that the straight of anian is yet controverted ; some allowing no such sea ; others so narrow a one , that the scythians are feigned to have had their originals from america . the uncertainty of our knowledge of this countrey is imputed to this main cause , for that none of the mighty of the world could ever boast of a conquest thereof . we read of expeditions made against the scythians , both towards the east and the west , but no way remarquable for their progression . cyrus never reached iaxarta ; darius attempting the europaean scythians , came not to the mountains of dacia . trajan who went further then any of his predecessors , arrived not to the springs of marusius . the arms of alexander the great , the more inward inhabitants onely heard of , but felt not . and pliny complains that in his time the vastnesse of the maeotick lake was altogether unknown , some saying it was a gulf or bay of the sea ; others that it was divided from it by an isthmus or small piece of ground . and even now although zingis chan , and temur or tamerlane chan , attained the dominion of all scythia , and their acts are extant and read by many men in the arabick tongue ; yet the places thereof are so obscured by their barbarous and confused names that they afford imperfect light to any discovery . the very word scythian , in former times extended not its self further than to the taurica chersonesu ; led by which reason , strabo called that scythia the lesse , now termed by pinetus , precopsa and gazara , and even at this day , on the same account is tartaria the lesse denominated : for what ever ancient times called scythia , the greatest part thereof by the latter is called tartaria or tataria , the countrey of a most warlike nation , addicted to prey and robbery . the whole is almost desart and desolat , so that planocarpus the nuncio of innocent the fourth , found the better half of it to be sandy plains , and destitute of inhabitants ; who have no certain or fixt habitations , as counting it a sin and a crime to build a city ; ( as is reported of the ancient nomades , whose progeny these are ) but carry their tents about with them . this desart tartaria ( called in arabick , kafshak and barka , from whence the hungarians are deduced ) is shut up to the south with the caspian and euxine seas , and the interjacent hills of the circassian mamalukes , anciently caucasus . the east is limited by the chovaresmi , by strabo called chorasmasini ; by stephanus , chorameni ( a people derived from the massagetae and sacae , to whom bessus and spiramenes fled from the bactrians and sogdiani ) atcar and schagnak ; until ranging to other regions as far as turquestana ( which is seated betwixt oxus and iaxara , the peculiar derivation of the huns ) it joyns with the getae , and the chinese , who conterminate with the mogoles and the chattaei . on the north is the region of siberia , vast solitudes and desarts , and sands like mountains . lastly , on the west , russia , bulgaria , and the ottoman empire . there are many tribes of this people , but quite different in language , as much as the borderers differ in their several manners from the peaceable simple dispositions of the inlanders . the nation of the sythians , iustin affirms , to have been most ancient , although much disputed for antiquity by the aegyptians . for the mountainous places were first inhabited , then the plains . nor is there scarce any people of europe or asia , which have not been propagated out of the north , even the eastern parts as far as india , where under the name of parthians , as mentioned before , now called persians , they dilated their empire ; and the western , to the regions of polonia , germany , pannonia , and denmark ; known now and denominated from the seats of the sauromatae , goths , huns , and cymbri , cumani , comoiri , geloni , the same with the peucini ▪ othogothi , thuringi , eastern gotths , and gepidae originally deduced from the confines of tanais , and many more , to which are added the celtae ; part of whom had their seat in thracia , as another part of them gave name to the germans , gaules , and brittons ; so that the world hath been peopled in a manner out of these regions . but in the middle age of the world , those scythians were dreaded by fewer names , and renownedly by that of the huns , subdivided into the white and black by procopius ( to omit the gorths who are also allied to the said people by a neerer etymology , for that according to the aeolian dialect which rendred the scythian , the character 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . is added before the consonant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence are derived the goths , by barbarous pronunciation . the white were the people seated , as aforesaid , betwixt oxus and iaxarta , that gave name and being to the hungariane . but because no sure and undoubted authority thereof can be produced ( which may not be vvondred at , because the most certain things are scarce testifiable and mostly fabulous , and the romans after the decay of their empire intent to their ovvn , became ( as justly ashamed ) incurious of other affairs ) vve must content our selves vvith the best conjectures , and among others , with that of st. ierome , vvho writes , that the huns came from the massagetae , and the extremest parts of the maeotis ; and next with allusion of words , for that abtela and attila , the first whereof was the name of the euthalitan kings ( to which stock generally the huns are referred ) and the last of the hungarians , are names so alike that they cannot be discriminated . to omit many more witnesses , viz. menander , paulus diaconus , ammianus , and fernandes , who are copious in the proof thereof by divers most convincing arguments , to which we must refer the reader . certain it is , they were conterminous to the first extract of the turks now called turcomania , bordering northeast upon persia , where they inhabited until vanquished by their sultan or chan , in the time of iustinian , when part of them mixing and uniting with the turks , the other part fled northwards ; of whose remains descended the avares , who after their progenitors migration westward , combated often with the turks , and likewise by them at last worsted , seconded their fellows into europe . the western huns are those who at this day are called tartars , part of whom by the name of cimmerii since cymbri , possessed themselves of denmark . so that after the race of so many ages , the same quarrel is revived now under the same names of both nations , if we give credit to antiquity . next we consider the former inhabitants of hungary . the mysians inhabited both the banks of danubius , against whom darius led an innumerable army ; they were called by homer , galactophagi , milk-eaters , a generation of most just and honest men . of those a part were the getae , whose king dormichaetes so despised riches , that content with victory , he released lysimachus his prisoner , which simplicity is alledged to this day , as the cause of their servitude to other nations . syrmius had dominion afterward of the same nation , as king of the triballi , who for fear of alexander the great , fled into the island peuce , the fame of whom remains to this day , by that tract of ground which lies between varadin peter , and belgrade , called by his name syrmia . from these came those mysians , who possesed themselves of habitations between the lydians , phrygians , and trojans ; with an equal simplicity , as unwilling to obey , as ambitious of commanding . the daci , dahi , daae , and dahae are the same people ; part of them sate down by the mountainous places of transylvania , part between oxus and iaxarta , neer to the massagetes , which space of ground , because it is so great , strabo cannot be induced to assign the same originals to them both ; but how weakly , their migrations and invasions into remotest distanced regions do sufficiently evince . plinius makes no distinction between the daci and the getae , but onely of name ; for as cottisan is styled by horace , the king of the daci , so by suetonius , he is called prince of the getae : but strabo makes them thus to differ , the getae to be those whose country bended towards the east and the sea ; and the dacians those who stretched themselves oppositely towards germany , and the rise of the river ister ; although he presently adds , that they both use the same language . neither doth he herein agree with himself , because he makes the river marus or marusius , to glide through the getae , and fall into the danow , which by a due distinction should be said to passe by the countrey of the daci . for this river by herodotus termed maris , by others marsus or margus ; and by the hungarians , maros ; which ariseth from the carpathian hill belonging to the daci , bends towards the south , till before alba , winding to the westward , it is mingled with the tybiscus , from whence another error of the same authour is discovered , in that he writes that the marusius flows into the danow . nor are there wanting some ( iustus lipsius , and isaac causabon ) who expound that marus in tacitus of this marisus , by which name also cluverius understands morava , as giving name to moravia . of these nations as of servile manners and spirits , the names of slaves or servants were borrowed , represented in comedies ( as they either personated true , or seeming-true slaves ) by davus and geta , as the scholiast on aristophanes witnesseth , and is further proved by the authority of the comical apollodorus in one of his fables , where they are both named , and whence terence borrowed them , whence soon after the said names were applied to unlearned and ignorant men . hence the same terence , davus sum non oedipus , of no capacity to resolve riddles . this danubius , since mention is to be frequently made of it and occurs here ; eustathius the interpreter of dionysus , out of strabo and stephanus reports to have been once called matthoas ; but when the scythians in passing over it were sorely afflicted , it came to be called danusius or danubius , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or danum , in the macedon language signifying death , as plutarch witnesseth ; between which river and ister , peolomy and pliny so distinguish , that the upper part from axiopolis , which the pannonians and iazyges possesse , to its springs be called the danow ; and the rest to the sea-ward be named ister ; which difference at this day , is hardly or not at all observed . some have fabled that this river fell from the riphean hills , and that one of its arms disembogued it self into the adriatick sea. now that which afterwards more peculiarly was called dacia , comprehends at this time , transylvania , moldavia , valachia beyond the alps ; between the european sarmatia , and the rivers of danubius and tyra , and the iazyg●s metanastae : moldavia stretcheth it self to the euxine sea. transalpina along the banks of the danubius . transylvania is bounded and confined by the aforesaid principalities , white-russia and hungary . to the dacians between the carpathian mounrains and ister , the iazyges were conterminate , to these the pannonians , being encompassed with two great forrests , and three rivers , the savus , dravus , and ister . the grecians called them paeones , but wherefore doth not appear ; for that paeonia , according to iustin ptolomy , is sited in macedonia , whose inhabitants ( passing by an ancienter fiction of endymion's son ) are fabled by lazius upon the discomfiture given the macedonians by aemilius , to have retreated and planted themselves by ister . but dion cassius oppugning this errour , derives the name of the pannones from pannus , a word signifying cloth , of which they made themselves patcht clothes of divers colours and peices ; which observation of habit gave names to several of the ancient nations . greece was thereby termed palliata , i. e. cloaked . rome , togata , gowned . france was divided into togata & braccata , gowned and breeched . but i do not understand how the excellent isaac causabon , by the words of dion , can conceive that pannus was a word of the pannonian mother tongue as he largely shews , for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by dion is rather referrible to the custome of wearing the garment , than to the language of the nation ; nor is the word pannus of so modern an extraction but that it was well known to polybius and other grecians . by all which it may be supposed that by a small mutation from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the noted name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may arise , and be in use with the grecians , as is abovesaid . but to their story . the first captain that led the huns into these parts of hungary was belamber , incited thereto by a nobleman , ( who persuing a deer that took the great river tanais , ( the supposed bound of asia and europe ) to the other side , was ravished with the view of so delightful a prospect , and fruitful soil ) and by his own ambition of rendring himself famous and terrible to the world. his passage over the tanais , lost him a multitude of men ( for bridges and boats were , the one impossible , and the convenient use of the other not known ) yet not so disabled him but that he continued his expedition by the chearfulnesse of his people , and discomfited the * alani ; thence he turned his victorious arms towards the inhabitants of the black sea , and subduing them , perswaded them to take up arms with him against the mysians and dacians , the former possessors of servia , russia , bulgaria , moldavia , &c. who made stout opposition . when melamber , aged and wearied out , left the atchievement to his son mundzuch alias bendeguz , who defeated the goths ( after two unlucky and almost fatal combats ) then conquerours of pannonia and that tract of the world , and in a mortal battel slew the terrour of the huns , alatheus and saprax , the guardians of videricus king of the goths , and stretched his conquest over all the territory which lieth betwixt the river ister and borysthenes , which includes the country they now possesse . he dying left two sons ( the terrible ) attila and bleda , to the tuition of his brothers hottar and rugila , who having vanquished the eastern parts and utterly expelled the visigoths from all thracia , mastering also macedonia , and illyria , compelled or frighted the romans to purchase their peace with the present payment of 700 l. of gold , and 300 afterwards yearly , for pretended default whereof and other piques , attila marching through germany ruined argentorate , which he re-edifying caused to be called strasburg , and in the catalaunian fields , gave battel to aetius lieutenant to * valentinianus the emperour , assisted by the kings of the goths and gauls . attila had in his army 50000. some say , 700 thousand men , but the fate of europe strugling with this emergent and sudden danger , and loth to resign her glory to such a tumultuous and barbarous enemy couragiously maintained her title , and made the hun retreat with the common mutuall losse of 170 thousand men , to his conquest of hungary ; to which he never had returned had the goths , or romans pursued their successe and victory . attila troubled with this his first disappointment resolved to recover the reputation of his puissance , and therefore having provided himself in five years vacancy from war of another terrible host , purposed by tyrol to descend into italy , but finding those difficult passes defended by valentinian , he turned his force upon dalmatia , and conquering the roman army near the tergestine bay , beseiged , and after three years leagure took and sackt aquileia . from thence he passed to vreona in italy , but advancing further towards ravenna was met in his way by pope leo ; and by him dehorted and intreated from a further pursuit of his successe . the event was not lesse wonderful then the former eruptions of this destroyer were unnexpected , but the reverence meeknesse , gravity and humility of those fathers of the church were even attractives to those savage barbarians . at the approach of them notwithstanding , the venetians then inhabiting the same lands which yet belong to their territory , fled to the islands in which their glorious seignory now continues , and laid the foundation of their greatnesse upon the fear of their ruine ; that which then was their temporary shelter proving the impregnable fortresse and defyant bulwork of christendome against all other invasions through a long duration of time and honour . attila at his return dyed in hungary , suffocated with blood which he used to excern by his nostrills in some abundance , but now falling into his mouth , whether by the judgement of god in satisfaction of all that he had so inhumanely spilt , or by practice of his brothers friends ( whom he had caused to be killed upon suspicion of his aspiring to the sole command ) who made a violent advantage of that infirmity and diverted its course , is not certainly delivered . to sum up the story of this attila for satisfaction of the reader i have adjoyned his title , not unlike that which the turkish sultans now use towards these very hungarians , retorting their own insolence and arrogance upon the impotent feeble remnant of that once mighty and most populous nation ; in haec verba ; attila the nephew of nimrod , nourished in engaddi , by the grace of god , king of huns , medes , goths , and dacians , the terrour of the world , and scourge of god. which last he added after his conference with an hermit . this ( however denied by some hungarian authors ) is reported by so many others , that the reader may give credit to it ; for though attila was not then a christian profest , yet certainly he was not altogether a pagan , as his assent to leo before-mentioned will partly evince . attila dying left two sons aladerick and chaback , who ( as the fortune of the world and war varies ) lost all with the same career of ruine as their father gained dominion by monstrous accessions ; for at his death the limits of his territories were on the one part stretched to the huns and iugri in scythia , and on the other to france , and italy ; so that this empire laboured under its own weight and fell by unnatural and intestine divisions . this same aladerick is supposed by many to have been begotten by attila upon honoria the daughter of the emperour valentinian , but this opinion is rejected by others , because they say attila died before she arrived at his camp. whatever his birth was , it was certain he was favoured by the princes of germany , and dieterick of verona , and aided against his elder brother , advanced to the supreme power by the huns , who notwithstanding as is usual in such fraternal and civil feuds , revolted soon after to aladerick , & so sheathing their swords in their own bowels , made easie way to their enemies designes of revenge against them . the first that engaged and encountered them was arderick king of the gepidae , who vindicated his people from the slavery of the huns , killing of them 30000 in one battel , and so pursued his successe upon their frighted remains that they lost all their several conquests at one breath ( aladerick himself coming to this bloody end , as a victime and sacrifice to those infinite slaughters that had been committed by his people ) for hereupon ardarick seized dacia ; the goths , both the pannonia's or hungary ; the alani or russes mysia ; while chaba the other brother difficultly recovered his countrey of scythia ; uto and ischalmus , with some others of his huns diverted into romania , whose posterity is remaining to this day in the town of gala●z . ermedzar and uzindur cousins of the said two captains , sate down between the rivers marusius and alutha , and by the ascents to the mountainous places of dacia , and to avoid the suspicion of the name of huns , called themselves * szekeli , which term or word signifieth a fixed place and habitation , not vagabonds or fugitives , for which their nation was now so infamous . the roman dominions being thus freed of the successors of attila , was anew oppressed with the alternate and vicissitudinary power of the rugi , goths , and lombards ; who successively by the crafty instigation of the feeble romans subdued one another ; the lombards assisted by swain k. of denmark , after other conquests seating themselves in pannonia : whither the a●ares ( not the same but another tribe of huns ) being beaten out of the northern scythia by the euthalitae * who had themselves been beaten by the turk● , in the year 500. after the incarnation , possessed themselves of the country of ister , having expelled the goths from taur●ca , and utterly extinguished the name of the gepidae . in their advance to pannonia ; alboynus captain of the longobards , to prevent the fortune of war with so necessitous a people , made a friendly composition with them , whereby it was agreed that the avares should be possessed of hungaria , upon condition to restore it again if the lumbards failed of their enterprize & design upon italy : but that succeeding , these huns being quietly possessed , stayed not here but invaded the territories of the romans ; from whom ( once defeated by them ) their leader under pretence of making baths , borrowed some carpenters , which he employed in making bridges over the dauubius , that he might more easily invade & infest their dominions . his first conquest by this means was of syrmia , by which his forces grew so terrible , that they were counted the avengers of the sins of the eastern europe ; having compelled the emperour maurice to purchase a peace of him with the sum of fourscore thousand pound of gold , which lasted no longer than two years ; for the barbarian regardlesse of his faith , demanded an increase of the tribute , and upon the denyal thereof seized strigonium and viminacum , and in several encounters greatly endamaged many of their provinces and wasted and consumed more of their legions . their empire or government continued after that time with very various fortune , at first with great overthrows often weakening their foster-friends the lombards , until the time of charles the great , when they grew into a coalition with the bojarij , from whom now came the new name of the bavarians , ( hateful enough to the boij or bohemians ) with whose king tùdun , charles the great and his son , managed divers wars , not with the hungarians themselves , as many have erroniously maintained . at which time ( as nothing gained by humane power is durable ) these avares either lost their name among other nations , or else were wholly cut off and extinguished . nicephorus saith the following huns or hungarians , dissolved their power and extirpated them ; the german writers assign charlemaigne to that work , as suidas doth the bulgarian's ; whence most certain it is to be concluded , that they stuck in all the snares , and by one or all of their hands came to the period of their name and greatnesse . but leaving them to that final suppression , let us consider from the premises , what sad and doleful ages those were that brought up the rear of the roman monarchy ! on which like a bear damned to the stake , so many fierce mastiffs were let fly together . but it is more wonderful how christianity amidst such horrid and continual subversions of things could ever get footing ? nay , dilate it self with the progresse of these infidels ? which though a diversion , i cannot but mind the reader for the honour and convincing verity of our religion , to take notice of . there being now no visible foot-steps remaining of the hungarian nation in this territory ; it shamed a noble people to bear the yoke of a forreign ruler , having been used themselves to govern and command others . and hereupon those huns who fled that great defeat given to attila's sons , & were scattered into transylvania & russia ( where now there is a tribe of them yet remaining towards siberia , called iugri by geographers ) impatient of their retirement and obscure condition , invited their kinred & countrey-men , who now had breathed from their expulsion out of europe into scythia , and siberia , and the northermost parts of europe , as aforesaid , to return again and make another venture with them for the restauration of their name and honour by their former conquests . little invitation served a penurious and warlike nation made and designed for great things and addicted to glory , besides that the dangerous condition of their europaean friends , who sculkt from the fury of the victorious goths , did urgently call for their assistance . in the year 890. seven several armies of them under seven leaders all vested with equall power invaded dacia again , and after some exploratory peace-pretending messages to suatopolugus then king of those countries proceeded to attaque him , who making resistance was defeated & driven beyond danubius ; thence pursuing their success they laid wast the whole country of illyria , and peirced into moravia and bohemia , and subdued all hungary , and as much more territory as is contained between the river gran , the swevian hills & from ister to the sea , extending it thence also towards the east . yet so uneven and fluctuating was their fortune , that though arnulphus the emperour was glad to seek and obtain peace of them , yet luithpoldus the emperours generall after arnulphus his decease , upon their return from a new incursion under chussales their king into germany the length of 250 leagues on the north side of the danow , where they destroyed all before them , encountred them near vienna in austria , wearied with spoil and the length of the journy & overthrew them , 12000 of them perishing in that river whose banks had suffered so often by their bloudy & frequent inundations ; the rest were driven & pursued to presburgh , having lost their k. whose generous spirit could not endure the fatal dishonour of that bloody feild , wherein the huns were like again to have run the same hazard of their former ruine but that a mutiny amongst the victor army opportunely stopt a further pursuit . the news of this defeat did not long keep the huns at home but grown strong with rest , and more robust by the divisions of the germans , and having newly substituted dursack and bugoth , to the regal dignity , they again resum●d their former design ; which the next year they enterprised , possessing themselves of all paninonia , exhausted already by continual spoil , carrying also colonies , with them and placing them in the countries of the boii . to oppose them , lewis the emperour having called a counsell , and by their concurrence raised a great army , encountred them at * augusta vindelicorum , where he was worsted in a famous battel ; luithpoldus the former successeful general , with eysenrick his arch-sewer and 15 counts , being slain on the place , together with most of the army . nor fared he better at his second conflict , having for safety of germany induced all the provinces to take sudden arms with him , being defeated by this stratagem ; the huns had fought almost to a desperate event , in the fields neer the leman lake , when advised by imminet danger , they counterfeited a flight , and by th●t means drew the enemy into the woods upon their ambushes , and there made a cruel and vast slaughter of them ; and following their good fortune , made havock of all the countrey round about with fire and sword in their usual manner , neither churches , monasteries , bishops , or priests escaping their sacrilegious and destroying hands . no stop being like to be put to their fury , they burnt down utinum , and passing the river oenus , dispeopled the canton of zurick , and compelling schleckdorp and damasia , beyond the iser , with other towns by famine and thi●st to surrender , demolished and ruined them . auspurg was served in the same manner , and numberless multitudes of men led captives like beasts after them , which luggage with their other spoils invited the boii to fall upon them , but they were so sharply entertained , that with the slaughrer there and in the whole territory the huns seemed to have made a final end at this one bout . ratisbone was now burnt by them , whence by osterhof they passed the d●nubius , puttin● the bohemians , franconians , and the adjacent nations to the sword , so that most of the rivers of germany were turned into blood , and lewis broken with so many mischiefs , glad to make the empire tributary to the huns , who leaving germany ( as prone to war , and enlargement of dominion , fell next upon the grecian empire ( which they had only touched in the former war ) by the beginning of the next spring , when passing through the mysia superiour and wasting thracia infesting also the macedonians , they conquered bulgaria ( which yet made some resistance ) and all those stranger countries , insomuch that constantine the colleague of alexander his uncle , refused not being terrified by these approach●s , the payment and tribute imposed on his cities . the huns being thus established and fixed in their former possession gained by their sword in hungary , it will be requisite to describe that tract of ground , which came under the said appellation and was then a most ample and spacious dominion . the kingdome of pannonia did not formerly exceed the banks of the danubius , and because it extended it self from the said river as far as the carpathian hills , which terminate the european sarmatia , it was called the hither and the further hungary . the upper part of the hither , contained styria and austria , the inferiour was all that tract of ground between the river dravus , the balaton lake ( which upon the coming of christ broke out in the country of gisa ) the desarts of vertha and the danubius . the further hungary separated by the carpathian hills from moravia of the marcomanni , silesia and poland contains that part of the iazyges metanastae , & dacia which is on this side the hills , which the river tybiscus runs thorough , arising from the maromorusian hills above zigeth * & between zemlin and salankien is mingled with the danube . between the rivers dravus and savus , lyeth sclavonia reaching as far as the river of hun. below savus lies croatia , both the bosnia's , dardania , now dalmatia ; the illyrians possesse the further parts , the same with the liburnians , bounded with the adriatick sea , and eastward with the river bosna : to this confine both the mysia's , the upper , in which is servia and rascia , and the lower now called bulgaria : for the bulgarians now comming from asia , compelled the bessi , ejected out of the lower mysia , to seat themselves in the upper : both of them lye between the danube , and mountain of hun : the danube emptying it self into the euxine sea. to the eastward of hither hungary lieth dacia betvveen the river tyra , the danube , and the sea , comprehending transylvania , moldavia , and transalpina , or valachia . transylvania is compassed with woods and hills , in manner and form of a crovvn . these countries being subdued by the huns they contented themselves with tribute for germany , who soon disdaining that servile under barbarians , under conrade duke of franconia , saluted caesar in place of lewis , and arnulphus the son of luithpoldus procla●med king of the boii , took arms again , but the b●ii were at the entrance of the war so consternated , that the huns with universal spo●l passed as far as the river oenus again : where arnulphus having selected the ablest souldiers , and secured the rest in the city , set upon them in their carlesse jollity , and encompassing them by surprize , made a great slaughter of some , and drove others into the river , and brought a general fear , greater then any before upon their whole army , which was freed thereof by the egregious vertue and valour of dursach , who in the very instant of the danger , compelled the bohemian weakned by so ●ierce a war , to strike a league and agreement with him . but the present disaster was expiated with great victories , the huns still hankered after italy the lady of so many pleasures : the dissentions between leo the fifth , sergius the third , and christopher the antipope , adding to their hopes as if designed for avengers of their pride and ambition ; hereupon passing friuli with spoiling and burning , they came as far as pavia , and by the river brenna , with a horrible carnage overthrew berengarius , who had amassed an innumerable host of the tuscans , volscans , and other nations of italy . which defeat was occasioned meerly by their contempt of the enemy , who having in vain after many prayers and intreaties voluntarily offered there delivery of their spoil , and a covenant or article of never invading italy again , upon condition of life and departure on horseback , took advantage of the negligence of the italians , and punished this their arrogance : for with three parties they surprized the secure bodies of the enemy , who staid expecting the return of their commissioners , sent with their denyal to the huns , and killed a great many with their drink in their throats : so those that could not be appeased with submission and gifts were now destroyed with fury & cruelty . all places now opened to their victorious arms , which are reported to have been so po●ent at this time , that they overran likewise the boiarij ( contrary to their agreement ) franconia and saxony , with vast depopulations : nor did their rage stop here , for within two years they peirced as far as basil , which having razed they wasted alsatia and lorrain , with so much ●●lerity , that conrade who purchased his peace with money , seemed conquered before any enemy was at hand . and such was the horrour of this defeat abovesaid , that the huns en●aged , abstained not from the flesh of the ●●ain , the cause of which being asked of le●el ( a hungarian captain taken prisoner at auspurg by conrade ) was thus declared . 〈◊〉 are the avengers of the sins of mankind , appointed by god for your punishment ; when we ●●sist from persecuting you , by the angry god , we are taken by you and destroyed . italy although so often chastised , yet nothing the wi●er , was distracted with various factions , lewis the son of ●oson relying upon the papal right , assumed to himself the imperial dignity , being assisted and encouraged by the lumbards , who would have berengarius devested of the dignity ; he being thu● between the hammer and the anvile , called in the huns , the sworn enemies of the faith : they under pretence of aid , undertake the expedition , and range through italy , killing and bringing to obedience lambert the archbishop of millan , heydelbert the captain of the guard or pretorium , with other rebels . berengarius not long surviving this victory , his son the second of that name succeeded him , against whom ro●e up rodolph , duke of burgundy his rival , to the dominion of italy , berengarius therefore diffiding in his own forces , as the heir of his fathers kingdome and manners , trod in the same track of an hungarian expedition , who in his cause wasting italy , soon after overthrew odelricus , the count of the place , or major domo , with his numerous army , as afterwards they took the marquiss adelbert & giselbert prisoners , but they were no sooner departed , then berengarius was overcome , and persidiously slain , though justly in respect of his cruelties to his own blood ; this murder of the king , gave good occasion to the huns to return into italy , where they again burnt ticinum , exercising cruelty as a virtue : and having plundered & undone the provinces laded themselves home with a most rich spoil . a german war followed this , henry sirnamed the fowler , son of conrade deceased , denied to pay the tribute now insolently and imperiously redemanded by the huns , who thereupon keeping their faith religiously with the boii , ( arnulph their king having fled to them in avoydance of the designs and snares of conrade but was afterwards brought back by the prudence of henry ) wasted transylvania , swevia , but cheifly saxony , the hereditary country of the emperour , who unable to endure this their haughty & presumptuous behaviour , with a well composed army surpriz'd them at meersburgh , in the confines of the thuringian saxons ; having given order to his men to receive their first flight of arrows upon their sheilds , discreetly and conveniently placed , and while they were fitting and preparing for another volley , to rush in upon them ; by which military policy the huns were driven foul upon one another and slain with a terrible slaughter , and germany thereby freed from a shameful and ignominious slavery . the remains and reliques of those hungarians which survived the battel , were slain by one anothers treachery and discovery ; the feigned and pretended reward whereof was impunity and pardon offered to such of them as should reveal their comrades and country-men ; so that no more then seven escaped to carry the news of this miserable defeat and disaster to pannonia and dacia ; the horrour whereof so stupified this nation , that during the raign of henry , they totally abstained from meddling with germany . until the time of otho the great , the hungarians therefore continued at home within their own walls ; but then it appear'd what power and prevalence shame hath over fear , although things be never so hazardous or desperate ; for having recruited themselves by a long quiet and cessation from war , with their former courage and force they invaded the limits of bavaria , while other parties of them wasted the trani , norici , and charini ; for which depredations they were to satisfie soon after to the utmost ; for berchtoldus duke of bohemia , overcame them neer valence , and with the sword and the river tranus , to which they fled , made an end of them all : with the same fortune they fought with the charini , where having lost their leaders and general they were forced to fly . to revenge these discom●itures taxis ( not yet advanced to the regal dignity ) undertook two other expeditions the one into austria , and the other against the said charini or carinthi , in the confines of italy , which he miserably havocked , but him berholdus his son so worsted and routed , that he was forced to sculk and sneak for shelter ; the cause of which calamity was his feirce and brutish valour ungovernable by any art or policy ; being beaten here he turned his fury upon italy , where he was appeased by ●erengarius the third , protector to lotharius , with ten bushels of money , which tribute was imposed upon the heads of those that gave suck , being as much as ●ugo had formerly paid . the cruelty of the huns was not yet quite allayed , when gerard the bohemian , and duke conrade , not long before banished by otho , fell a spoyling the churches , and robbing the monasteries , and distributed the ecclesiastical treasure among the hungarians , as yet pagans , now intending an irruption into hungary ; for bulczko the successor of dursach , having considered the past calamities , and the small ability of his present condition , dispatcht away embassado●s to otho under pretence of civility and good friendship ; but indeed to enquire of his present state , whether or no , it offered any advantage to his necessitous arms. these returned with an answer rather fitted to the flattery of the occasion , which bulzko sought , than any thing of truth . so that in the 50. year after lewis was slain at rhodanum ; with a 100000 men , commanded by himself and the tetrarchs , laetius , sura , taxus , and schaba ; such a number of meer hungarians being never seen before in those parts , he set upon germany ; when through fear of them as they passed , the whole countrey was abandoned , the cities either strongly fortified or deserted , the people betaking themselves to the inaccessible places of mountains and rocks for the safety of their lives . the huns in the mean while clambring over hills and peircing through woods , most horribly burnt and wasted all the countrey , and having desolated bavaria , passed beyond the rhine and under the conduct of conrade , subverted lorrain , wherein they violated all humane and divine things . otho almost stupisfied with the danger , with eight legions passed into switzerland , having made peace with the venetians , at the same time as the hungarians had defeated the bohemians in a sore battel , who guarded the passes . it was now observed , that the first onset of these barbarians was the most forcible and vehement , and that they raged because their time was short . the germans therefore beset them on every side , cutting off their straglers and foragers , and carried their successe to the camp , where the huns tired with fight and plunder were wretchedly vanquished , and the river lycus filled with their slain ; their general being taken was hanged upon a gibbet at ratisbone with some of his captains , the rest being dismaid , secured themselves in their entrenchments . by this battel the strength of the hu●s was wholly broken ; yet being made more tractble by this great slaughter , they were in a manner saved by this their ruine . the second book . as the precedent necessary requisite to conversion to christianity , divine providence was pleased by these frequent and ruinous losses and slaughters , upon the neck of one another , to bring these barbarous huns to an humble sense of their calamitous and ruinous condition , and by that prepare and soften their minds to the reception of the great evangelicall truth , against whose innocent doctrine , the applauses of their triumphs and the noising loud fame of their puis●ance and successe had out-dinn'd the trumpets of the prince of peace , so that ●he still voyce of the redeemer could not be heard in the thunder of their impetuous , pro●perous violences . taxis one of the tetrarchs dying valiantly in this last unfortunate encounter , the huns chose geysa his son , either for his fathers or ●his own piety's sake , for their king and governour . for as there are , as in time , so in all other things a kind of vicissitude ; the 980th year from the incarnation was not yet ended , when geysa washed in the saving fount by adelbert , began to propagate the worship of the true ●od and renouncing his idols to abolish all superstition , studying to take off that fierce and barbarous nation from the desire of war , and by christian marsuetude and sweetnesse to attemperate their minds and sences . to this he was the more incouraged by constantine the 7th . of that name emperour of the east , and the germans who mainly promoted it , as being highly affected with such glad tydings ; next he appointed priests and bishops , the untamed ●●ture of his people in vain resisting , and so reduced them , that abandoning barbarisme , and the worship of mars and hercules , they embraced the christian faith. the captives , ( of which in such a long tract of time there could be no small multitude carryed away by them ) industriously builded their churches and brought their children to be baptized . to the better effect of all which , geysa used the help 〈◊〉 a pilgrim a very holy man who being invited by him into hungary , chose to himself other collegues ; geysa also by the aid and arms o● the saxons and bavarians kept his enemies within their limits , so that the people of hungary found themselves obliged to him for their preservation , who like an auspicious star shined upon them in a night whose gloominesse portended it for the last of their existence , when sheathing their swords he dispelled such an angry tempest with a sudden serenity . he waged war in austria against his will which unjustly taken away by rodeger he restored to leopold , whose ●on being shortly after expelled , the hungarians under the conduct of abas recovered and held it until albert the son of henry the emperour restored it to germany . there were also other occasions of this difference , henry surnamed the holy , ●isseised his brother bruno of his dominions in ●amburg , who avoiding the danger fled to the hungarians , by whom meeting with the emperour then engaged in an expedition designed to the expulsion of hardwick out of lombardy , ●runo was reconciled and re-invested in his estate . and having thus setled this hungarian realm as part of christendom , i shall not be oblig'd to so prolix a narrative of their future actions as being better regulated and marshal●ed to history , which hath registred them with that of their neighbours : the rise and the fall of all powerfull things being that object which most men consider , because of most concern to the world , for all middle things the means of extremes are indifferent , and do not engage ordinary and common observation . stephen his son succeeded him both in dignity and vertue , at the same time when both the english , danes , polonians and hungarians had forsaken their false religions , pope boniface the 7th . was then also expelled by pope penedict , from rome , whence stephen was honoured with many presents , and a priviledge of conferring ecclesiastical preferments : his couragious zeal broke the many designs and attempts of his pagan subjects and relations , as his fortune gained him transylvania , then abounding with ancient wealth , and now subdued to a constant obedience and subjection to the hungarian scepter . he over came likewise the bulgarians a warlike and successeful people in the east , to whose emperor basilius , after this glorious defeat , they were forced to submit themselves . he had issue by his wife gisala the sister of the emperour , a son called emerick , who dyed in his minority , and to the great grief of his father , and the perpetual disgust of his mother ; in his room vazules stephens uncles son , was appointed and raised to the hopes of the throne . stephen dyed in the year of our lord 1034. having reigned happily and prudently 37. years , a man of great humility and piety even unto superstition , in a very great and ample fortune , which is subject to presumption and pride , for which his widow was much hated and abominated . peter notwithstanding succeeded him , the son of his sister , who managed his power no better then he gained it , by the murther of vazules ; scandalizing the government by base covetousnesse and arrogance , from which crimes it had hitherto been inviolate : not knowing that things lifted up on high are more conveniently raised for a fall ; nor to be of more pernicious consequence to any fortune then the lest and supremest . he first banished gisala , then took away her dower , ( reputed a just judgement on her ) pillaged his people , and murthered his nobles ; whereupon ensued a conspiracy against him , which prevailed so , that the kingdome was transferred to abas , and the counsellors and partakers of peters exorbitances , slain by the popular rage . peter escaped to henry the emperour , who knowing him guilty of the defection of the bohemians , forbad him his presence , and cast him into chains , but by the intercession of albertus general of the eastern limits , and caesar's own generous sentiments for a person descended of a royal family , he was soon after taken into favour . abas was substituted in his place , by whom all peter's acts were rescinded , and the kingdome seemed to have recovered its former dignity , except that peter claimed it as hereditary , and abas that would command others , was a vassal to his own passions . the first thing he did , was by an embassie to explore the mind of the emperour concerning peter , but receiving dilatory answers , he made 2 invasions , the one into bavaria where his army and general were defeated , the other into styria and carniola , whence he carried away a great many captives . this gave occasion to the princes of germany to assemble at colen , and by unanimous resolution there taken to invade abas , which enterprise so succeeded , that abas beaten in two battles , and having lost all his country , as far as the river gran beyond pre burgh , was forced to a submission , by which he was bound to receive gisala the banished queen , to restore austria , and other places , with the late captives : which articles he stood not to , but spighting his nobles , as the occasion of his misfortunes , under the pretence of convening them for advice , most treacherously flew them and their children : but this the more incensed others just indignation , so that the remains of them escaping to the emperor , engaged him and peter against abas . at raab a signal battel was commenced , where by the revolt of abas his army , by which they satisfied for their former defection from peter , abas was forced to fly and in the pursuit slain at sheba , as a victime and sacrifice to the ghosts of his murdered nobility . peter was again restored by the emperour , who in triumphal progresse rounded all hungary , and having received the royal dignity , by the election of the bishops assembled at alba , transferred it to peter , who returning to the same vitious and cruel excesses , neither mindful of his past , nor provident of his future fortunes , provoked the hungarians under two captains visca and brunna , to another combination and rebellion against him , but the design being timely discovered , the chief complices were most miserably tortured . yet the sedition abated not , for by another conspiracy inflamed by a general hatred against christian religion , scandalized by their kings enormous lives , the hungarians privily sent for andrew and leventa , according to the advice of king stephen , out of poland , whither they had been banished ; these lurking for a while at newhausel , ( now so called ) by the river nitre , and assisted by the inhabitants , wreaked their revenge designed against the king upon the religion , massacring a great number of bishops then assembled at pesth . peter presently thereupon being forsaken of his own , was drawn out of his hiding place in the mossonian grounds , and after his eyes were put out , had his privities cut off , which disgraceful maims he survived three years . so when prudence is wanting to the first fortune , the future is alwayes most dangerous . andrew succeeded in the year of christ 1047 , he repressed the innovated superstition , and punished with the sword or banishment such as had assisted him to victory in his irreligious cruelty . henry the third , emperour , then engaged in a papal war in italy , ( between benedict the 9 , and sylvester the third , and clement the second , whom he placed at last in st. peters chair ) being no way at leisure to attend hungary ; but that at last by his power determined , he resolved to revenge the injury done to peter , invading first the southern parts of hungary , but was forced to retreat by the overflowings of the lakes and rivers ; the next expedition was by water , where he was worsted by a stratagem , the last by water and land , but with as had successe , having advanced so far , and streightned for provisions , that he was forced to desire license and leave to return . a peace ensued this kindnesse , and as a pledge thereof , the emperour gave his daughter in marriage to solomon ( the son of andrew ) now confirmed in the succession to the crown . bela ( the brother of andrew ) by whom he was made duke of pomerania , and had hitherto lived in great concord with him to the aggrandizing the hungarian felicity ; and a little before appointed by him to the kingly government , could not brook this his nephews advancement over his head : assisted therefore by many of the hungarians , and aided by the poles , as solomon by germany and ●ohemia by the interest of andrew , besides his standing legions , an engagement en●ed at the river tibiscus , with various fortune , untill the hungarians in detestation of the christian religion , and in revenge of the suppression of paganisme by andrew , revolted to bela , who thereby became master of the field ; andrew flying was trod down in the pursuit . bela used his victory with great clemency , freely giving life to the rebels , and dismissing the german prisoners ransome free ; and applying himself to the government , appointed markets and rates of things , lessened the taxes and impositions ; money being not as yet known . he repaired and new built several places , suppressed the peasants and boores , tumulting against the profession of the christian religion , by sudden force ; and though he gained the kingdome by violence and injury , yet he governed it with piety and justice ; and in the year 1065. the third year of his reign , by a kind of earthquake at the town of demes which disjointed every part and member of him , he dyed . solomon within a month after his death was seated in his throne by the power of the emperour ; geysa and ladislaus the sons of bela , despairing of equal resistance , flying for refuge into poland ; but the german forces returning home , they resumed courage , prevailing with boleslaus the king of poland to derive the friendship contracted between their father and himself to them his sons ; boleslaus owing so much to the merit of the father , entred hungary with them , but by the mediation of the archbishop of strigonium , a peace was happily concluded between them , on condition that geysa and ladislaus should with the title of two dukes enjoy a third part of the kingdome , but the soveraignty should abide in solomon ; this agreement with some grudging suspicions lasted till solomon , by the assistance of the dukes , took belgrade , the rich spoils whereof , a fourth part being only allowed the dukes by the advice of one vidus , caused such a rupture , that both had present recourse to arms. the first encounter proved disastrous , but the second fortunate to the brothers , who had to their assistance twenty thousand bohemians ; this battel was fought by the vaccian forrest , and with great resolution on both sides ; vidus was here slain , and solomon thereby driven out of his kingdome . geysa , now swayed the hungarian scepter , being busied in prosecuting his late victory , for that solomon appeared in the confines towards presburgh , endevouring the restitution of his fortune by the aid of the germans , and other adjacent people ; and in this martial angry mood he lighted upon the bessi , who had undertaken for their liberty his final discomfiture , and severely chastised this their preingaged arrogance ; yet he advantaged not his ovvn affairs , till henry the emperour appeared in his quarrel , & first took newhausel and advanced as far as vacia , and seemed to threaten geysa's claim ; but what he wanted in strength to oppose , he was supplied with in craft and policy , to impose upon the germans , by a round sum of money sent them , upon which the emperour retired , intent upon a revengeful design against pope hildebrand . and here an end was put to the tragedies of so many kings , wherein we may observe by the way , that the emperours though superiour by power and victory , could never make good their pretended title to hungaria , nor those kings vvho adhered to , or made use of their arms to passe unpunished . geysa dyed by a natural death , the third year of his reign ; on vvhose affections desideriue the metrapolitan bishop is said to have had so much influence that he was once thinking to have rendred the scepter to solomon ; but bethinking himself that his privacy could not be without danger , and that it would be rashnesse to trust the will and pleasure of an enemy , he resolved to retain the government . ladislaus having gloriously passed the ducal dignity conferred on him by his brother , had the regal honour unanimously bestowed on him , as reputed a prince of very great virtue and piety , and though he refused the crown because solomon was yet alive , yet the pertinacious importunity of the hungarians overcame his modesty . he first restored the true worship of god , & the good laws of his ancestors then obliterated and disused . he was assisted by an opinion of the divine favour accompanying him in all his actions , then which there is not a better instrument and engine to govern the multitude , who conceived that the crown of hungary , * with which the princes are to this day inaugurated , came down from heaven upon the head of this ladislaus . he agreed with solomon , for a certain yearly revenue , but he musing on his ambition , designed on pretence of a friendly conference to betray him , but that being discovered , he seized on him and imprisoned him at visigrade , where being condemned , at the intercession of a nun admonished by heaven , as she boasted , he gave him life and liberty ; which courtesy he strait abused , by engaging cuteschus the king of the cumani to take his part , but unprosperously , his army being overpowered and discomfited , so that despairing of recovering the kingdome , and weary of the world , he put on sackcloth , and betook himself to the woods and caverns , living upon acorns and berries , and drinking the water of the lakes for his thirst , teaching the world the uncertainty of all worldly things , and that felicity can be placed no where but in death . it is reported he was seen once in the time of coloman the succeeding king , in whose reign he also ended his life , in the woods of istria . in the mean while , ladislaus reduced dalmatia , and made it a perpetual appendix to the hungarian dominion , together with croatia ; there after followed a war with the emperour of byzantium , or constantinople , but it eveened with losse to the hungarians , for which the bulgarian victory and conquest soon after made amends . the fury of the cumani could nevertheless not be restrained , till after three overthrowes , the last whereof was most couragiously desended , at the banks of ister , till ladislaus with his own hands very difficultly slew achus their general , whose death stroke and broke the constancy of this valiant enemy , whose confederates and auxiliaries the roxolani fell under the same fate , and precariously obtained their peace . poland was the next scene of his successe , the cause of which expedition was their expulsion of boleslaus his great friend and familiar , who flying into hungary , tormented with an evil conscience for the ills he had done , being become of a good , a very bad man , died there . the armies joyned in the confines of sauromatia , where he vigorously routed the poles ; nor desisted from his pursuit till he had sacked cracovia the metrapolis of that nation , when vladislaus the brother of boleslaus , besought him peace , which he obtained upon condition that miesco , boleslaus his son , should have the second dignity . the sword being now sheathed , he built his royal seat of varadin by the river chrysus . this city in our times was the chief and principal of the county of bihor , famous of old for the sepulture of kings , and the sanctity of the place ; on the north are hills planted with fruitful vines , and watered with ever-running rivulets ; the east aspects the baths and medicinal springs ; the other part the plain and the woods encompasse . these great things effected , this zealous religious captain even to the report of certain miracles wrought at his grave afterwards , received at bodrogh , embassadors from the kings of england , france , and spain , desiring his assistance in the sarazen war , which he denied not , but the embassie took not its effect , for he died in a new expedition against suatopologus of moravia , leaving by so much , a greater name , by how much his successors came behind him in prowesse and martial atchievements . colomannus , ladislaus dying without issue ; succeeded his uncle in the throne , though otherwise designed by him , for he preferred almus his younger nephew son of geysa , as abler in body and mind , to coloman the elder , whom he praedicted for a bloody man ; but the nobles sending for coloman out of poland , whither he had fled ( for fear of his uncles words ) crowned him their king , his brother almus being tituladed with a dukedome , and invested in a fourth part of the kingdom . being thus advanced , as prosperous things do search the mind with sharper pricks , he did not consider himself as a governour and his people as citizens , but as an absolute lord , aud they his slaves and vassals . about the same time peter the hermit brought the crusado into hungary , when famin and the plague throughout christendome seemed to prevent his most religious negotiation . neverthelesse in the year 1096. gualterus sensavir was entertained by him , and passage given him , he paying such a certain rate for his provision , some of whose souldiers stragling and committing some little spoyle about belgrade , were seized and most basely and ignominiously handled , which gualter thought good to dissemble , intent upon his expedition ; peter the hermit marching the same way upon the s●me conditions , understanding at malevill , what had happened to his fellows , flew presently to his arms , and breaking open the gates of the city , entred and slew 4000. hungarians ; but being pursued by coloman , to avoyd him , fell into the hands of the soldan of nicia , who had an army of forty thousand men , and lost more by his rashnesse and incogitance , than ever he could have gained with his greatest moderation . nor did godschalk the preist fare any better , for entring hungary upon the former terms , his souldiers from the affluence of provisions began to riot , & forgetting the lawes of hospitality , to abuse their entertainers . to represse this insolence , coloman made after them to belgrade with a great army , where ensued a battel , but with such equal fortune , that coloman having recourse to policy , prevailed upon them under pretences of civility and reconciliation , ( desiring onely the plunderers to be punished ) that they confiding in his words disarmed themselves , and were instantly when they no way suspected such usage , horribly destroyed , not one of them being left alive to carry the news of this massacre . the rear of those forces arriving at meersburgh a place encamped with the danow , lynx , and morasses ; and ignorant of what had happned to their followes , and knowing the agreement made for their passage , did wonder to see the straights shut to them , which , the king dreading the punishment of his perfidy had so commanded ; whereupon after a vain message to coloman , they besiged m●ersburgh , slew 700. of the hungarians ; but just as the town was brought to the utmost extremity , a panick-fear sei●ed on them , whereafter ensued a great slaughter of them , the rest saved themselves by ●light . but godfrey of bo●●ign anxious of the losse of those legions , succeeded better ; for having debated the businesse and received an account of the late slaughter by godfrey of ascha , he easily perswaded the hungarians to consent to another passage , at an enterview between them , to such a firm understanding , that coloman while yet godfrey was at the said malevill on the banks of savi●● having furnished him also with all manner of provisions , delivered to him his brother baldwin , whom he had left as hostage for the performance of the agreement ; though bonfinus reports that the duke having taken zemlin , opened his way by the sword , and compelled coloman being too weak to oppose him , to consent at last to passage through his dominions . there followed this feud a quarrel between coloman and his brother almus . one part of the kingdome adhered to the king , the other to almus ; both armies met at the river tybiscus by a town called varkon , where a truce being concluded on , it was further proposed , that the two princes , to save the lives of others , should determine their own quarrel by duel , ● custome then much in use in that warlike nation , which coloman refusing , the difference was for a while respited and both parties laid down armes , which presently were employed against the russes , but with ill successe ; he makes peace thereupon with the venetians , and in the mean time debaucheth the fidelity of the iadrenses their subjects , whom to reduce , ordephalus was commissioned , who recovered iadra with a bloody slaughter , and advanced his successful armes as far as croatia , but was at last by coloman , assisted by the styrians in the saccage of the coast of dalmatia , engaged and overcome ; and so all the places returned with iadra again to his obedience . hungary was now again divided by the factions of the brethren : almas twice suspected , and twice assisted by forrainers , was once more restored by the armes of hen. 5. emp. but such was the arrogance of colomans fortune that seizing upon him , he caused his , and his son bela's eyes to be put out , without any tryal or compearance afore judges ; whence several grudges and conspiracies of the nobles & secret seditious practises were occasioned & somented against him ; the effect whereof he prevented by sudden death , which happened in the twenty fifth year of his raign . stephen , for his sanguinous nature , as delighted in often seeing the punishments of the condemned ) by his father nick-named thunder , was therefore placed under the government and tuition of the most eminent persons for nobility and vertue , under whom what he gained in fame and estimation , so freed from them , he lost it as fast ; notwithstanding the first and longest part of his raign was very prosperous . his first enterprize was against the russes , to restore iarislaus to that government , who fearing his uncle uladomirs designs against him , had fled into poland ; but he dying , the war ended as soon as it was begun ; the next expedition was against the bohemians , where worsted at the first encounter , he recruited his army and overthrew them . thrice he turned his arms upon bulgaria , macedonia , and greece ; and taking belgrade razed zengminum ; afterwards he fought with various successes against calo iohannes emperour of constantinople , but finally had the better of it , forcing him to sneak home by by wayes from his progression as far as ister , and that not without a signal defeat given him in his retreat , at a town called mala scala : though bonfinius reports stephen to have been beaten at the river of carassus , and to have besought his peace . a polish war ensued this in favour of the russes against another iarislaus duke of halicia , whom boleslaus king of poland had resettled in his estate , wherein the pole , otherwise a very fortunate prince , was defeated by a stratagem of stephens , joyning himself to the rear of the polish army upon pretence of friendship . and so when he had wearied his cruelty abroad , he began to exercise it at home , vailing his sloth with severity , murdering his nobles , and ravishing their ladies : but in the twenty second year of his raign , troubled in conscience with the flagitiousnesse of his facts , he put himself into a monastery ; though others write he onely designed such a retirement . bela , his cousin german , who had his eyes put out as before , and flying was entertained at constantinople ( which was the cause of the quarrel between stephen and calo iohannes ) was by the wonderful inconstance of fortune called to a crown , from his banishment ; he had gained to his wife , helena daughter of vr●● count of augusta , by whom he had four sons , geysa , ladislaus , stephen , and almus : his adverse condition had so sweetned his felicity to him , that he wholly intended his repose , wherein he gave many signs of great abstinence and equity , notwithstanding he was not altogether faultlesse , for at an assembly or convention of the estates at arad , though he seemed to be averse to any execution , yet he so wrought upon the affections of others , that most cruel punishments were inflicted on the authours of his fathers occaecation . hereupon the sons of the oppressed solicite borichus , the bastard son of coloman , to assume the government , who with the assistance of some poles and russes , came as far as sajus , a river dividing both the armies , where by the discovery of the extraction of borichus , the poles deserted him , who was constrained to fly for his protection to emanuel ; bela freed from this danger , by advice of his courtiers , took away the lives of two of the cheifest noblemen of his kingdome ; and being given to drunkennesse , in which he was full of promises , soon after dyed . geysa presently took upon him the kingdome , and managed his first armes for the good of his subjects : for henry duke of austria , aided by the saxons and stirians , to whom were added the forces of the emperour conrade , by the means and endevour of count iulian took presburg : all their power he very gallantly first sustained , and then overcame in the desperation of the event , killing seven thousand of the germans , and taking their camp and baggage . his next war was for his confederates , for lodomirus aided by the cumani , attempted to dethrone minoslaus , whose sister geysa had married ; whom though with great losse by the russes and the cumani , he reinstated . the dalmatian war attended this , one in name but many in the atrocity and fortune of the war ; manuel the eastern emperor invaded dalmatia as his dominion , took the castle of rasus , and laid waste the circumjacent country , and upon the news of the advance of the hungarians , came as far as the river drina , which parts bosnia and servia , and devasted both the provinces , and in a set feild overcame the joynt forces of the confederates , who encouraged by fresh and choyce supplies , with the additions of the bessi , by the valour and presence of the emperour , were foyled again , and the despot ( or as the language terms him ) the archi-zupan of the country , was forced to submit to a tribute , which successe emboldned manuel to a further attempt upon part of hungary , where he re-took zeugmi●●● repaired , after a most gallant resistance , and captivated a great number of the people , while geysa was waging wat with the russians . for lodomir ●enewing his designs against minoslaus , was ripe for the revenge of geysa , when this diversion brought the hungarians back upon iohn cantacuzenus , whom they furiously and desperately set upon and overcame ; but another army being dispatched by manuel ( retreating ) under the command of boricza , dis-peopled a great tract of ground , and slew three brigades of hungarians . this quarrel continued between them upon punctilio of revenge , and maintainance of acquist , after three several treaties concluded and violated , till andronicus duke of naessa and braniczobe , by treaty yeilded him those places , whereafter followed many bickerings , concluded in a league . the holy war was now recommenced by conrade , and continued by lewis of france , both of which passed through hungary , but by the perfidiousnesse of manuci suffered excceedingly . in whose camp borichus the bastard , concealing himself , was taken and killed : geysa died soon after in the year 1160. and in the 20th . of his raign . stephen the eldest son of geysa possessed a peaceful scepter , which he indulged the rather for his subjects sake , and to conciliate the wavering affections of the kingdom● his first effort was against pope adrian , quarrelling about the churches and bishopricks of istria and liburnia . in this war manu●● assisted him , which sorted not very luckily by reason of the hungarians intestine divisions for the uncles of stephen insinuating themselves into manuel's favour , ladislaus the elder uncle , by sundry artifices and collusions with that emperour possessed himself of the throne , vouchsafeing stephen the title of a dukedome who wisely absenting himself , the common fate of usurpation befel ladislaus , & restor'd stephen again , after 5 months unjust detainer from the regality , by ladislaus and not much longer ; after stephen his second uncle , substituted to his brother by the same faction , when the people weary of them both , willingly received their exile king. but this was not done without much damage and danger to the kingdome by the armes and designs of manuel , who now pretended to hungary , so that after many conflicts and depopulations , stephen was invested in syrmia , without any claim to be made by him to hungary , which articles being broken on stephen , the uncles part , and he af●esh invading the dominions of his nephew , assisted again by the said emperour , was wholly outed of his principality , as his confederate manuel from his part of dalmatia . the uncle survived not long , being poysoned by one of his complices , who feared the revenge of their practises & conspiration against their soveraign . stephen being therefore fully established , the peace was confirmed at home , but disquieted instantly from abroad ; for manuel the emperour with the old pretence of assisting stephen , arrived at the banks of ister , and from belgrade marched to the seige of zeugminum which at last was yeilded to him , and with that also dalmatia and syrmia , assigned by the agreement for the inheritance of bela his youngest uncle , who had married a kinswoman of the emperours . but neither this dured long , for stephen impatient of this bargain sent an army under dionysius , to revenge the injury , who was prosperous in one encounter , but was fatally defeated in the next by the emperour . bela by the decease of stephen possessed himself of the kingdom , which by his allyance with the greek emperour was composed and secured ; in his person dalmatia and syrmia , were united to the crown of hungary , and made members thereof as of the same body . his converse in greece made him most excellent in the arts of government , he first divided the kingdome into provinces , cities , and boroughs , and made that institution in reverence of royal dignity , that complaints should not be obtruded orally to them , but by way of humble supplication and petition . he warred with casimirus king of poland , upon a quarrel supported by both of them , in reference to the dutchy of halicia , but being but an auxiliary feud it was soon ended : as he did compose those affairs of his son in law isaac angelus , the constantinopolitan emperor , a weak yet sacrilegious person . he reigned 17. years , and left a most flourishing kingdome to his son emerick . emerick was wholly indisposed to war , which the rather persued him ; for the venetians vex'd at , and disdaining the losse of dalmatia , making use of the land forces of baldwin earl of flanders , and boniface marquiss of montferrat , passing for the holy land in their shipping , as leagued with them in the expedition , ( notwithstanding the thunderbolt of pope innocents excommunication at the instance of stephen , who would have transferred the war to its proper place ) took iadra and reduced all the maritime part of dalmatia . but emerick was more fortunate at home , having defeated a conspiracy made against him by andrew and most of the nobility by a most innocent but majestick device , coming of a sudden into their armed company , with the crown on his head , which the hungarians do naturally reverence , whereupon they all sheathed their swords and craved pardon , and were most magnificently and freely remitted . he deceased in the eighth year of his reign , and was succeeded by ladislaus the third , who applying himself to the reformation of the government , and the lawes , unhappily dyed in the 6 month after his inauguration . andrew the second , for his vertue , was next advanced to the regal dignity . he sadly affected with the discomfitures of the christians , went himself generalissimo into the holy land , and passing into asia overthrew the sultan abubeker , sirnamed seyseddine , and the successor of saladine . he took also damiata , and forced the sultan to retreat , to caire , where he breathed out his unhappy soul : nor was it doubted but that his victories would entitle him to the holy land the christians being both in the field , and in the seige far superiour , until the nile overcame them ; for the sultan breaking down the banks on both sides , the river swelling to its usual heigh , overflowed into their camp , whereupon pressed with hunger , also & overwhelm'd with misery , they capitulated for their permission of departure , with the surrender of damiata ; andrew bringing thence instead of victory the heads of st. stephen and margaret , the right hands of benedict , thomas , bartholomew , part of the rod of aaron , and one of the water-pots wherein christ wrought his miracle of wine . these things the hungarian writers with intrusive piety mainly defend . others say that he passed no further then iordan , and having washt himself thrice therein , as accounting himself disobliged from his vow , returned home . his justice was very remarkable , in that he justified bancbanus ( his deputy in his absence ) who had slain his queen , for that she had prostituted his wife to her vitious brother , who came to visit her . he forgave the venetian injuries , made excellent lawes , and vested a negative power in the nobles , to what should be enacted without their consent ; by gertrude he had three sons , bela , coloman , and andrew , and elizabeth his daughter , not to be passed , for her eminent piety , without honourable mention , she was married to the landgrave of hesse , who dying in the holy land , she betook her self to a monastery , and was five years after her death canonized by pope gregory the ninth , at which consecration was present at marpurg , frederick the emperour with divers other princes , vvith a conflux of 12 nundred thousand persons . bela the 4th . of that name was saluted king , while his brother coloman having expelled daniel seized the government of halicia and lodomiria , himself being wholy addicted to peace and quiet , but herein fortune failed him , for the tartars , ( whose original described something largely by my author , but not to our present purpose we must here omit ) with whom joyned the cumani expelled by the same tartars from their seats a●d habitations in 1238. ( by humble intreaties and profession of christian religion , after they had been denyed entrance or entertainment in russia ) having been admitted into hungary by the kings single consent , proved the first part of the ruine of that kingdom : for the hungarians offended with their peremptory carriage and finding little redresse ar court , fell ●pon them of a sudden and killed their king kuthenes , who being thus provok'd , kill slay and burn whatever they came near , and at last joyned themselves to the tartars , whose invasion being rumoured before , was imputed to some design of the kings , to keep the hungarians in peace with the cumani . now whilest peta one of the tartarian generalls ravaged poland , moravia , and silesia , as cadon another of their captains did russia , the emperour bathuy chan overthrew the palatine of hungary deserted of his people at russe-port , and utterly crushed the arch-bishop of colozza in a moorish ground , and laid wast all the countrey as far as vacia , and passing f●rther totally defeated and vanquished bela , striving in vain with the discords , negligence and hatred of his subjects . nothing remained to him in all hungary , but alba regalis , strigonium and the monastery of st. martins , nor was the multitude of the slain by weapons , smoak and clouds raised by magick art to be computed : three years the tartars continued this ruine , searching in the woods and caves for the miserable inhabitants , others with feigned letters they allured from their hiding places , all which they slew , so that the stench of the dead carcasses caused a plague and mortality , as a famine was occasioned by the devastation of the countrey . by which means the tartars were forced to abandon that kingdome , carrying away with them an inumerable company into intollerable slavery . the pope endeavoured to christianize this savage nation , and bathuy chan did grant a truce and protection to the monks , as mango was converted , yet the other leaders seeing the vices of the christians chose rather the mahometan infidelity . the tartars thus departed , bela by the aid of the knights of st. iohn of ierusalem who from the faction of rome had retired themselves into illyria , where he had weathered this storm , & others of the crusado , who were frequent in those parts of croatia and dalmatia , and the like assistance of the frangipans received again his desolate kingdome , with his four sons whom he had deposited in the fortresse of clissa . but no sooner was he seated , then a just occasion led him against frederick the emperour , who under pretence of sheltring him , had rob'd him of his treasure , but expiated that fraud by a just force which vanquished him at nova a city of austria whereby bela gained all his enemies wealth & began to revive the drooping spirits of the hungarians ; which while he intended by other alleviaments , the bohemian war recalled him , for primislaus that king the great friend of the emperour otho , so that he was called ottho ca●rus having married the widow of ●rederick attempted the recovery of styria and austria , not long possessed . a fierce and cruell battel was thereupon joyned in moravia , where the hungarians inferiour in number and exhausted with the late war , were overthrown and a peace made upon these conditions that the bohemians should enjoy austria and the hungarian stand seized of styria . stephen the fifth swayed the hungarian scepter , though not long , yet very gloriously , for he revenged his fathers discomfiture upon ottocarus , though at first he vvas worsted , afterwards he made an expedition against the bulgarians , people of the dacia aureliana , ( so called , for that emperors transplanting them in maesia from the new dacia ) & made them willing to pay that tribute which was due to his predecessors . he reigned but 2 years , leaving hungary in a thriving condition . ladislaus the fourth , the son of stephen succeeded , and was scarce 3 moneth● old in the government , when a new war succeeded the former , as if fortune had so ordered it , that the bohemian having ill used the 2. kings bela and stephens , should satisfie for his injuries to the third king ladislaus . moravia was the cause of the war , wherein ottocarus outstretched his bounds very immoderately . it was long consulted hereupon by the hungarians , how they should coun●erplot or oppose these enc●oachments , when the fates of themselves opened a way . the princes of the empire vvhile they soveraigned it themselves vvithout any chief or head , were variously opprest with the factions of the guelphs and gibellines , by which means it came to passe that the name of the counts of hapsburg , then obscure , igno●e , and unregarded , now exerted it self ; and afterwards augmented by riches and power in germany , and chiefly by the marriage of mary of burgundy , was thereby propagated far and wide , and became formidable to the whole world. rudolphus the major domo or mayor of the palace to ottocarus , was by the perswasion of venerus of ments , declared and appointed emperour , ottocarus could not brook a superiour , nor rudolphus endure a peace , ladislaus is therefore by him adopted and engaged as his confederate in the war , by which ottocarus was wholly routed and vanquished ; and beaten out of austria , shut up in the fiefs of bohemia and moravia . at the same time lascus niger the king of poland , had for protection & assistance addrest himself to ladislaus , being expelled his kingdome by conrade duke of massovia , which ladislaus readily granted , and in his aid forthwith subdued his rebellious subjects , this war was taken up by the revival of another by ottocarus , who no way enduring the dominion of rudolphus formerly his servant , stirred up oldamir the duke of the cumani , to invade hungary the emperors confederate , and for the better ligament of their new friendship , took to wife that dukes danghter kunigunda , unlawfully repudiating his former wife margareta ; the cumani aided by some tartars , came as far as the lake of hood , burning and spoyling all the country about . against these ladislaus fought successively , ottocarus himself after a total rout being slain in the battel . peace thereupon was granted to the queen of bohemia , on condition that her son wenceslaus should marry the daughter of caesar , and to hold bohemia from the emperour as his beneficiary . but though this last battel was so prosperously fought , yet was it the cause of greater evils , for the tartars and cumani that escaped , implored the assistance of their countrymen , who following their unknown and bloody tract in the year 1280 , broke into hungary , renewing and carrying the dismal slaughter of the former time as far as the province of pesth : whosoever they met with ( for the pleasure of the tyrant ) were consumed , others mancipated to perpetual slavery , very many with limbs cut off survived their punishment ; such as were left in the high-ways , sometimes by sight , often by their groans and howlings , knew their wives , husbands , children or parents ; by which barbarity the kingdome was so oppressed , that there were not cattel enough to draw the wains , and those the men drew , in contempt of the king , were called ladislaus chariots : for he having married the daughter of charles king of sicily , grew so outragious in his lust , and voyd of all fear and shame , that he stuprated the wifes of the cumani , and most libidinously vitiated them ; the which cumani ( as the friendship of princes not conciliated by vertue is very temporary ) at a large treatment given him at keretzegum , there slew him , and put an end to his flagitious practises . andrew the third , enjoyed the kingdome after ladislaus the nephew of andrew the second , by the daughter of the marquesse of este and son of stephen . boniface the eighth , obtruded charles robert , a youth of twelve years of age , the great grandchild of charles duke of anjo● , who at the sollicitation of pope clement the fourth , after many fruitlesse wars managed by the papacy , deprived manfred the bastard of conrade the emperour , of the kingdome of sici●ia , and suffred the same fortune by peter of arragon . this andrew , as he gained the kingdome by the love and affection of his subjects , so he maintained it by his own worth and vertue . he was in the beginning of his raign taken prisoner by albert of austria , adolphus of nassau then emperour , and after his enlargement at vienna , contracted with agnes the daughter of the said albert , which said contract upon his return was annulled by the states of hungary , as done in his restraint , which occasioned a war with various successes in austria , until intestine troubles forced albert to make peace , that he might bend his arms against adolph , whom he slew , and advanced himself ( though not unpunished for his disloyalty ) into the imperial throne . andrew in the mean while gently reduced the favourers of charles and the pontifical authority , by which he was invested ; but that len●i●y of his was abused to his contempt and avilement ; for the seditious practises of the same men , brought charls , andrew yet living , into hungary , but the danger rendring king andrew's authority more acceptable to his other subjects , restrained charles his advance . in the conclusion of his raign the venetians being excommunicated by the pope , for the seizure of ferrara , the iadrenses revolted to the hungarians , to reduce whom , belletus iustinianus was sent with a power ; but by the stratagems of the vaivod of dalmatia , was presently repulsed . andrew deceasing , the hvngarians being divided among themselves , one part of them acknowledged charles for king , others blamed the pope for meddling with a matter no way belonging to him , under pretence of religion : the generality therefore being of that opinion ; the arch-bishop of colozza , the bishop of varadin , and other their complices , invited wenceslaus ( son of wenceslaus the king of bohemia who refused ) to accept and entertain the crown ; wherein the strangeness of fortune is observable , that the issue of ottocar●● ( so odious to the hungarians ) should now be spontaneously desired of them . but that a●dent and sudden affection soon cooling , and charles his partisans , with the assistance of albert of austria ▪ infesting moravia with frequent incursions , wenceslaus the father mistrusting the levity of the hungarians , made an expedition into the kingdom , where finding his son neer pesth ( who came to meet him with his crown on his head , ●i●hly adorned ) he carried him away presently with him , together with his crown , into bohemia ; giving this reason to the demands of the hungarians , that he did it to avoid an imminent storm : hence a quarrel and hidden war : for uladislaus l●ctius being removed from the polonian scepter , flying to amadeus or es●●s , the palatine of hungary , watched an opportunity of recovering his kingdome from wenceslaus : whose government , being too heavy for the poles , the palatine levying an army soon re-settled his guest , and wenceslaus shortly after deceased , so that this was a kind of interregnum or vacancy . boniface the eighth , yet furiously persisting in execution of his purpose and designation of charles , by nicholas cardinal of ostia , with the usual anathema excommunicated the hungarians , who on the contrary declared the pope guilty of disturbing the peace , and interdicted his bishops in the same manner ( who at present seemed to acquiesce , awaiting a fitter opportunity the adverse party being too prevalent , for their revenge ) and the rather provoked by this papal thunder , proceeded to the election of otho the third duke of bavaria , to the kingdome , in the year of christ 1305. he received the crown gratis from wenceslaus for which great sums had been offered by the hungarians , and was inaugured at alba re●alis ; and the better to win and insinuate himself into the favour of the nobles and people , he wore the crown ( which is had as before in the greatest veneration ) constantly in his progresses and publique appearances . once as he entered transylvania he lost the crown , being put up in a case and tied to his horses saddle , which was not found till next day , and this was taken for an unlucky omen of his expulsion first into russia , by which people he was for a while again restored , and his last final deprivation by ladislaus vaivod of the kingdome , who sided with charles and the papal pretences , though he had been one of the advancers of otho before . by this means much blood was spilt by those intestine divisions ; the cardinal gentilis being sent again with new curses and bans against the adversaries of charles , which brought innumerable mischief● both upon clergy , nobility , and people , most unnaturally divided one against another . these factions having so long opprest this nation , it was unanimously agreed to confer the supreme power upon a single person they chose thereupon in the feilds of 〈◊〉 charles the nephew of 〈◊〉 ●laudus king of ▪ sicily , by mary the daughter of stephen the fourth , and son of charles martell ; in whom the discords and feuds of the nobility were by his vertues reconciled . he was encircled in the presence of his father , with that crown which ladist●us had surrendred ▪ his first exploit and enterprise was against matthew trinesiniensis ; who had refused allegiance , whom he overcame in a bloody battel at cassovia ; but with great hazzard and dubious event ; his numerous troops of horse , among whom was a veterane tryed band of the knights of the order of st. iohn , turning their backs to a brigade of 1700 curassiers . nor did the conspiration cease here , for a bloody and ●nefarious design was laid at visigrade , where felicianus sakanus a special servant of the kings with a drawn sword , struck at him , who inclining his body , the blow cut off the fingers of the queen ; nor had the king escaped , had not the souldiers of the guard freed him ( being mounted ) from imminent death . the assassinate for terrour , was quartered , and his four quarters sent as a spectacle , through the kingdome , and his family and posterity utterly extinguished . intending now an expedition against the sarazens , a revolt of the valachians withheld him , he advanced therefore against bo●aradine the vayvod thereof , and compelled him with the expence of the war , to pay the yearly tribute ; but returning he was set upon by that perfidious nation in the abrupt and least passable places , and defeated , he himself changing his habit for his easier escape . others say he undertook this war upon no ground , and therefore they ascribe the event to his wickednesse ; burying the noble memorable acts of this man in this overthrow , who was so potent and prudent a prince , that most of the kings of his time were by his force or prudence obliged to him . he had to his wives , mary the daughter of casimir duke of poland ; beatrice daughter of the emperour , and elizabeth the daughter of uladislaus of poland ; by the last he had issue charles , who died at the years , as ladislaus at four months , end . his surviving son andrew had apulia ; lewis , hungaria for his patrimony . under this charles the realm recovered its former puissance , for he ruled over rama , servia , gallicia , saler●a , l●d●miria , cumania , and naples ; far famed , had he not begotten his son lewis , although that also , be attributed to his glory . the third book . lewis not inferiour to so great a father , and skilled in martial affairs , exercised his first arms against the insolence of the valachians and servians , who contemning his youth recoyled from the obedience they owed and performed to his father , but were reduced to the same conditions . those being subjugated he solemnly dismiss'd his mother , whose sanctity had procured her a veneration even unto superstition , to apulia , and thence to rome , requesting of his brother andrew the loane of 44 thousand marks of gold , ( as the covetousnesse of the times then required ) for the price of his confirmation in the kingdom of naples : which affair concluded , he aided his adoptive father casimir ( who before had designed charls his natural son , but he survived not long after ) against iohn of bohemia and the lithuanians , whom he attempted to force to the belief of the christian religion , but found the difference betwixt words and swords . the bohemian advanced as far as cracovia , he again expelled out of that dominion , from whence he was not yet retired , but the tartars made another invasion into hungary , but neverthelesse were so well received by andrew the vaivod , son of ladislaus aforesaid , ( who avoiding their arrowes , came to handy blows with them , and the dint of sword ) that they were utterly overthrown , and their general atlamus taken prisoner , and the name of the tartar after this defeat not heard of in hungary for many years . with the same fortune he prevailed against the croats , in which expedition he was personally present , accompanyed with stephen neman prince of bosnia , whose daughter he had married , for while as yet he stayed in the confines of croatia , they submitted themselves , and took the oath of fidelity and allegiance : but the venetian war was bloody , who in spight of lewis , reduced schodra to their subjection , after he had lost many men in the attempt of relieving it . while these things were doing ; ioan the wife of andrew new-invested in apulia , for the love and lust of her adulterer the prince of tarentum , designed to transfer that kingdom with her self to his embraces , by the death of her husband , whom she hung with a silken halter . this fact obliged lewis to a just revenge , which to prosecute ( having in vain received letters from ioan in excuse thereof and by his answer declared her guilty of that and other precedent and subsequent crimes ) he marched into italy , where he was assisted by phillip of m●ntua , malatesta of ariminum , and other princes , whose governments by the sloth of charles the emperour were beco●e absolute tyrannies . by these arms he drove lewis prince of tarente the adulterer , and ioane his wife out of italy , to marseilles and avignion , and possessed himself of all the dominion of apulia , on that side the sea , & taking the duke of dyrrachium beheaded him by the common executioner , as he sent the brothers of the said lewis ( with the son of andrew as his ward ) bound in chains into hungary , whether , the pest raging in italy and depopulating many places , and whole provinces , he soon after followed , and placed stephen laskus his vaivod in transylvania . but the neapolitans rebelling , as not enduring a forraign government , the hungarians left in that kingdome , twice defeated them , once by a salley made by stephen the governour of naples , whom they had blocked up , and the next time by volphordus in plain battel , though he lost his life as the price of the victory ; when ioane having sollicited and obtained new supplies , at the instances of the pope , to whom as a gratuity she consigned avignion , and to whose arbitrement she submitted her cause , attempted again the recovery of the kingdome , whereupon lewis returning with wonderful fortune , took barletum , carnesium , where his life was neer endangered , luceria and salernum , ( with most of all the towns ) and placing garrisons therein in the year of jubile came to rome . the papal seat was then at avignion , wherefore the prefect of rome , nicolaus rentius , a man of eminent worth and virtue , meeting the king with the estates of the city , proffered him the absolute supreme power thereof , but he refusing , it was tendred to charles the fourth , out of fear of clement the pope , to whom , charles being of an abject spirit , delivered the said rentius captive . ioan in the mean while never left urging of clement to take her part , promising great advantages to satisfie his covetousnesse , if he would effect her restitution , which in fine , by much intreaty to lewis , who was religiously given , and could not be wrought upon any other way , was obtained at his hands . the venetians fell by his next arms , for lewis confederated with leopold of austria , and the cr●atians invaded the maritine part of dalmatia , in two inroads by friuli and istria , tarvisia frustrated his conquest , but spalatra , and other places opened their gates to the experience and courage of his veterane army , securing and confirming some places , and reducing others , among whom were the inconstant schodrians . the total of this expedition amounted to the acquists of that part of the venetian territory which extends it self from the bay of phanaticia , to dyrrachium , and all dalmatia , in lieu of those places taken in this war which by an agreement he surrendred . but this agreement lasted not long , both parties taxing each other , as the manner is , for the breach of it , though the fault was in the venetians , who engaging charles the emperour , invaded the dalmatians and croats , put by this treaty under the protection of lewis ; these invaders were encountred first successefully by paul , the son of ladislaus the vaivod , but unprosperously by stephen of transylvania , whose rashnesse and fury overthrew him , and made him a prisoner to the victor . thereafter many were the vicissitudes of fortune . lewis by this defeat , was perswaded by the croats to a two years truce , which expired , leopold growing insolent , was beaten by the venetians and recruiting himself for another encounter , was induced by lewis to another two years cessation , but he having underhand held intelligence with the genoese , privily prepared for a war , by the dread whereof the venetians with restitution of what they had got , were glad to descend and consent to a peace . the genoese nevertheless proceeding in their enterprize , reduced the venetians under the conduct of peter auria to extremity , but themselves afterwards puft up with successe , were subjected to the wheel of fortune by the invention of guns , and engine found out then by bertholdus niger ; in fine , lewis by land , and the genoese by sea , besieged and took clodia , when all parties wearied with the many miseries of the war , referred themselves to the arbitrement of the duke of savoy , who first of all ordered the razing of the castle of tened , as the occasion and continual foment of the quarrel , awarding also the decennial payment of 7 thousand crowns , by the venetians to lewis , who content with the glory of his actions , and this incompetent sum in respect of his expences , ceased the war. while these things were acting in venice , pope urban excited lewis against ioane , because she took part with clement the seventh the antipope , who forthwith dispatcht away charles his son ( as some say ) others his nephew by andrew , who with 8000 men passed into italy , and was welcomed there with the acclamations of victory . he subdued sever●l towns , and mulcted the florentines in the sum of 40. thousand crowns . at rome , he was adorned with all the regal habiliments ; ioane placing her sole hope in the duke of anjou . she had intermarried for her fourth husband , otho of brundusium , the tarentine during in custody , and the king of sardinia her next husband dead in spain . otho though he took part with urban against the inclination of ioane , yet vvas constant to her against the hungarians , vvho took in several other tovvns . charles being arrived and introduced into naples , besieged ioan , vvho had shut up her self in castel novo . otho comes and besieges the city and the besiegers , till charles sallying out , he vvas after a gallant opposition by reason of a fall off his horse taken prisoner , and ioane hereupon despairing of any relief forced to surrender . but lewis of anjou , uncle and regent of charles the sixth of france , whom clement had invested and ●eoffed in the realms of apulia and sicilia ( as purchased from ioane ) with 30 thousand horse ( the number of the foot uncertain ) passed into italy , whom charles inferiour in strength , so bafled with delayes , that his great numbers proving burdensome to him , and lewis dying thereupon , either by disease or poyson , the frenchmen two or three in company were glad to beg their way and departure home . lewis in his return out of italy to hungary , enterprized by nicholas the palatine upon bosnia , which had revolted from him , but he wearied out with the siege of sebenico , was easily overcome . better fortune attended him in his expedition against stratomirius , the prince of the bulgarians , who vanquished was taken captive at gemleick , but soon after by the good will of the king , and the liking of the kingdome restored to his principality . the family of the piasti failing in casimir , lewis was now crowned king of poland , the first of foraign princes that was chosen by them : the administration of this government he committed to his mother elizabeth , the customary delights of his native countrey inviting his return . nor did she continue long there , having by her levity and flexibility gained the love of some , but not the reverence of all persons ; wearied therefore with new commotions , she departed rather frighted then feared into hungary , but prefering the priviledge of absoluteness before the humours of another , she was soon induced to retire back again . in the mean while the nobles of the greater polonia created vladislaus the duke of cusavia , of a monk , to their king , whom sabinius though chief of the same counsel and combination with other of the nobility on the part of lewis overcame , and sent him captive to lewis , who by his extraordinary clemency , in which he was not superable , gave him an abby as satisfied in having reduced him to his former condition ; the same fate pursued the rebellious russes , who were now annexed to the crown of hungary , and several lords or vaivods set over them . hence jealousies and suspicions , and ill rumours among the polanders , which uladislaus prince of oppelon late governour of white russia fomented ; the reason of the kings erecting this nevv authority , vvas partly his propensity to his own blood & kindred , and partly because he believed that that country under the name of hallicia and lodomiria did belong to hungary . this indisposition of affairs , and the vvearinesse of those frequent journevs the king made into poland , vvho loved his ease and was delighted with home , caused him to appoint a triumvirate of polonian noble men to the administration of that kingdom . he himself intending the chastisement of the vayvod of valachia who had revolted from him , received an overthrow by his lieutenant ladislaus of transylvania , being shamefully beaten between the rocks and abruptnesses of novigrade , which loss he repaid to effect ; meeting the same enemy secure by reason of their late victory in the plains of bulgaria , & making them thereby to submit to their former tribute . about this time the cumani received the christian faith , and lewis upon the same religious account marched against the lithuanians ( who depredated russia ) and restrained , and upon their submission pardoned them , and restored to them their duke . lewis had daughters catharina , mary , and hedwiga ; catharine died young , mary with the succession to the crown , was married to sigismund , whose father was charls the 4th emperour ; hedwiga by the consent of the nobles of poland was chosen queen thereof , whom iagello great duke of lithuania afterwards married , and converted his kingdom to christianity , and by the name of uladislaus was worthily registred among the kings of polonia . lewis died at tyrnaw , to the great loss and detriment of hungaria , a man of a couragious and courteous mind , bountiful to learned men , and very skilful in astrology , for which he was stiled ordongos lajos by his people . he used in disguises to visit the towns and places neer his residence , inquiring into the lives and manners of his magistrates and himself , by which he might better correct what was amisse , and if report pleased him enjoy the happinesse and felicity thereof . mary the second daughter of lewis ( her sister hedwiga being married to the king of poland and settled there , by which means a strict league and union was begun between both nations ) was saluted with the title of king of hungaria ; she was betrothed to sigismund of brandenburg , but their minority hindred the present consummation of the match . she governed happily by the prudence of her ministers , and the beloved memory of her father , but as soon as she entrusted the whole menage of the state into the hands of nicholas gara the then palatine ( who by his insolence was unsufferable to the nobles ) a civil dissention , inflamed by the envy and hatred against him , arose in the kingdome , the secret design whereof was , the deposition of her from the throne . some of the grandees thereupon consulted to call in charles surnamed the little son , or as others , nephew of lewis ( who had relieved and afterwards distressed pope vrban ) and was now gloriously invested in the kingdom of naples ( out of italy , ) delegating to him upon this errand , the bishop of zagrabia , who effected the businesse notwithstanding the disswasion of charles his wife . his passage into hungary , was by the way of sipontus and zagrabia , where unexpectedly arrived , he pretended for his rapinous seizure of the scepter , the composure of those tumults and factions in the state. this caused sigismund ( whom his father in his life time had sent into hungary to be educated and fashioned according to the hungarian manners ) to fly into bohemia , while charles being honourably received evey where , surprized the castle of buda , and in presence of the queen and her grandmother ( who wisely tempered and dissembled their resentments ) caused himself to be crowned at alba regalis ; and not long after , was so inveagled and blinded by his parasites ( with whom he most delighted ) that he could not foresee the danger of his unjust usurpation . for the generality and the nobles being estranged in their affections , elizabeth the queen-mother , and the above-named palatine , under colour of a private conference at the house of blasius forgatz , there by a private hand assassinated him , upon the rumour whereof , the italians that came with him , covenanting for their safety , obtained a dismission into their own countrey . the queens were now in hopes of a plenary restitution , when the banus or prince of croatia took upon him the revenge of charles his death , assisted therein by some of his favourers , by whom elizabeth was drowned in the river of bruszula , and mary with somewhat better fortune preserved in custody ; the palatine and forgatz were both cruelly slain . sigismund having notice of charles his fate , and sensible likewise of the danger the queens were in , levyed a great army , for the expence whereof he pawned the marquisate of brandenburg to iodocus and procopius , his cousin germans . his fortune in this expedition was answerable to his strength ; for intent against the croatian , ( who frighted with the danger had articled for his indempnity with mary , whom he had set at liberty ) he possessed himself of that countrey with bosnia , and at quinque ecclesiae , put him to death with thirty of his partakers and conspirators against the queens . the bishop of zagrabia , in respect to his quality , had his goods onely confiscated . thus charles expiated his prodigious lust by the queens , as the queens for the ungovernance and breach of faith by the banus , and he for his cruelty by sigismund , whom hungary now acknowledged as their new and rightful soveraign , as the kingdome of naples did lewis the son of charles . sigismund maintaining his kingdome by the same prudence with which he recovered it , made an expedition against the valachians and moldavians , and slew their vaivod , stephen ; and annex●d them by oath of subjection to the crown of hungary . but war ceased not here , for alexander indevoured to restore the valachians to their liberty ; and being too weak and inferiour in force , called in the turks to his assistance , whom also sigismund put to a most shameful flight , and pursuing them as far as thrace , took in nicopolis . but the death of mary sowered the sweetnesse of this victory ; for uladislaus of poland now pretended a right to the kingdome , by vertue of the agreement made betwixt mary and his wife hedwiga . but iohn canysa the arch-bishop of strigonium , possessing the abrupt passages and difficulries of the mountains , kept out uladislaus , though the turks , far more dangerous , could not be repressed . their design was the recovery of nicopolis , in order whereunto they laid waste the adjoyning dominions of hungary , ( whither their arms in the minority of their empire had not yet reached ) but bajazet the fourth king , having vanquished mark the prince of bulgaria and lazarus the despot of servia , as on the asian side he had conquered the kindome of armenia ; thereafter infested phocis and thessaly , and now threatned with the siege of nicopolis , a further progresse of his victories . to avert this storm , sigismund dealt with him by ambassadors , but words not availing , he prepared with force to encounter this enemy , levying to that end a very select army of hungarians , germans , and french , resolving to crush and suppresse the rising greatnesse of the turk , before he grew too potent with so many additions , which his successful scymitar had annexed to his first mean and inconsiderable patrimony . in this expedition he was accompanied with iohn the hardy , son of philip duke of burgundy , who joyntly retook in many towns seized by the turks in bulgaria , and in one great battel carried away the victory , when the french-men according to the light humour of their nation , were so dissolved by lust and luxury , and became so arrogant withal , that they boasted they could sustain and support the falling heaven with their spears . bajazet having failed of his design upon constantinople , and risen from the seige thereof , was now in person before nicopolis , whither sigismund being also come , he put his army into battalia , giving the van to his hungarians , as best skilled in the turkish manner of fighting , and placing the french as his rear-guard ; who taking this for a disgrace , before sigismund had opened his battel , fell suriously open the turk , whose arrowes so galled and terrified their horses , that their riders being forced to alight , they ran soul upon the hungarians , who misgiving this for a rout ; fell into a present dismay , & thence to flight , wherein numbers of them perished in the danow , iohn of burgundy with abundance of other nobles , was taken prisoner and was ransomed with the sum of 200 thousand crowns . sigismund doubtful of his life in a light galley escaped to constantinople , whence by rhodes , and so to daimatia , and by the help of the archbishop of serigonium , he recovered his kingdome . bajazet fortunated with this victory , not long after became far more miserable then the vanquished , ( so deceitful is the greatest assurance of humane things ) being overcome by tamerlane ( by my author called temir ) the great cham of tartary , and enclosed in an iron cage , made his footstool when he took horse , and wherein betwixt rage and impatient indignation he brained himself against the grates . the misfortune of this field , opened a way to the revenge of those persons who were related to the 30. noblemen , put to death by him at quinque ecclesiae , for by a potent conspiracy , in which ladislaus the king of poland was concerned ( by their invitation of him to assume the scepter ) sigismund was seized on a sudden , and put into the custody of the sons of nicholas the late palatine in the castle of soklos ( buda and the places confining with germany adhering to him notwithstanding ) which gave opportunity to ladislaus , to persue his design upon the kingdome of naples , ( newly transferred by pope alexander from lewis the son of charles aforesaid for his encroachment upon the church territory , to lewis of anjou ) which he reovered in his own right . he was now besieging the often mentioned * iadra , and had forced it from the venetians , when news was brought him that sigismund having over-perswaded , and by promises prevailed on the mother of the sons of nicholas the palatine , had obtained his liberty , and having privily passed into moravia and bohemia , had openly resumed his title and the government , and had put to death stephen the vaivod of transylvania , with some few others as the authors of the late treason against him . hereupon ladislaus thought best for the preservation of his own ( for another defection of the neapolitans was likewise suspected ) to part with iadra and his pretences upon the venetians for a sum of money , and to return : but sigismund had setled himself sure in the government , and was now engaged in a war against the people of bosnia , who had during these late troubles , renounced their allegiance to the crown of hungary . nor did he engage with better fortune against the turks , although weakned by a civil war between the five sons of bajazet , his lieutenant stephen● lossontius , aiding mark the vaivod of mold●via , who had shook off the turkish yoak , being discomfited , and the said vaivod deposed by mahomet the fift king of turky . who to prosecute this quarrel commanded isaac the bassa of bosnia , to invade hungary ; where notwithstanding he was defeated twice by nicholas pe●ri , yet by the negligence and divisions among the hungarians , he had at last the better of it , destroying by fire many towns and villages . rupert the emperour being deceased , pope iohn the 22. dealt with the german princes to elect sigismund in his place , as a person whose regal majesty , magnificence , and virtue , the skill and readinesse of many languages , did excellently adorn and prefer before all the princes , his cotemporaries , as inferiour likewise to none of his predecessors , if successe in battel , and chastity in bed had not been wanting . soon after his assumption to this dignity , he threatned a war against uladislaus of poland , but it was superseded by a truce , which a peace ensued . the turks busie encroachments disturbing and disseising his neighbours , he had belgrade consigned him by george bulchus the despot of servia , who had other places in hungary in exchange thereof : by which means the turks being put to a stand , he had leisure to employ his army against the venetians , aided by the florentines , who had seized several places , but after some bickerings this difference was also composed , for that sigismund was now engaged in a bohemian war in maintenance of his new title to that crown : about this time the councel of constance was held , and pope iohn convicted of 40. crimes , committed to the custody of lewis count palatine of the rhine , and otho colonn● by the name of martin the fifth , placed in the papal chair . at this same councel iohn hus and hierome of prague were condemned and burnt for heretiques , whose death was revenged by iohn zisca and procopius , to the great losse and detriment of sigismund , the great and professed enemy of the reformation . and that it might appear there was more than humane direction in the infliction of the defeats given him by zisca , 15000. hungarians that followed sigismund perished by the breaking of the ice in one expedition . his raign was concluded with a rebellious insurrection of the boors and peasants , resolving to assert their liberty or perish rather than endure slavery ; and in this mood they raged with fire and sword , but their ungoverned and undisciplined multitude rendred them an easie conquest to a small party of experienced soldiers . sigismund departing from prague commended his son in law albertus to the nobles , and at his arrival at znoyma in moravia , departed this life , aged 70. years . he was a very active person , but little beholding to fortune , and by her means deceived in the constancy of his friends . he was a great favourer of learned men , affirming that precedency was justly due to them ; for that riches and regal pompe happen meerly by fate . he connived at and forgave barbara his wife , taken often in the act of uncleannesse , being himself a most infamous adulterer . albert , from duke of austria in a few months was made duke of luxenburg , marquiss of moravia , king of bohemia , and hungary ( though the latter complaining of the spoil and havock made by the turks in that kingdome during the absence of sigismund busied in the affairs of germany and italy , did with much reluctancy consent to his election ) as also of the romans . he swayed the scepter but two years , and was a notable evidence of the inconstancy of the world in his sudden advancement and as speedy fall. he was crowned at alba , whence coming to buda , the germans took upon them the civil administration of the city , together with the placing of officers , as more allied to him than the hungarians ; and in maintainance of this their intrusion , caused a chief noble man that stoutly opposed them to be put to death . this so enraged the hungarians that they flew to their arms , and killed all the germans they met or could tell where to find them , which bloody fury lasted till a certain monk prevailed them to surcease it . at this time the turks wasting rassia , and having subdued synderovia , george bulch●s the despot of the province , commiting the guard of the castle which was the chief residence of his government , to his two sons , betook himself with his third son lazarus for succour and aid into hungary , but albert intent upon his covetousnesse suffered the two princes to be taken , when although amurath ( as the turkish annals have it ) had married their sister some three years before , he caused their privities to be cut off , and their eyes to be put out , upon pretence that they assisted their father as then designing war against him . albert was upon his march when he understood of the taking of the castle ; which dismaying him , he encamped betwixt the river tybiscus and the danow , suffering amurath after the attainment of his design to retire unmolested . during which idling his soldiers got the flux , by inordinate eating of fruit , which same disease at the town of nesmel , took him also away at his return to hungary . elizabeth his wife , being left big with child , was urgent with the nobles that they would regard the issue of the king her husband she then went with ; and in the mean time to her delivery to create an interrex or protector ; to which motion those that were present agreed ; but others would have the scepter translated to uladislaus the third , king of poland , son of iagello aforesaid , by hedwyga a daughter of hungary , to whom the queen should be inter-married , and the posthume child to be instated in austria and bohemia . this counsel , the infancy of the prince and the noyse of the turkish arms did then advise ; whereupon a hasty embassy was dispatched to cracovia , but as speedily followed with the news of her being delivered of a son. the nobles at home now repented of their forwardnesse , but the ambassadors conscious to themselves how far they had gone , persisted in their errand , and notwithstanding the turks instances to the contrary , prevailed upon uladislaus to accept the crown . upon his approach into hungary , elizabeth , who had newly brought out the crown she had secretly purloyned from its place , and crowned her son ladislaus therewith ( for whose good and just government she and zecchius , with the count of cillia had pledged their oaths ) foreseeing the danger , conveyed the crown and her self and son , to frederick the third , emperour . soon after uladislaus arrived at buda , and having modestly declined the government , gently taxing the hungarians of their dissentions as the cause of so many changes , was the more unanimously complemented with the regal title ; zecchius and ladislaus gara , the friends of the orphan prince , being set at liberty performing their offices at his coronation , solemnized with the diadem taken from off the image of st. stephen . his great friends to this advancement were nicholas vylach governour of chroatia , and iohn huniades , who appeared like an auspicious star amidst the many factions in hungary : for the queen assisted by some castellanes and governours of strong holds , did cause great troubles to the king , especially ladislaus gara her former partaker , waged war and tryed the fortune of battel in her sons cause , but was defeated with great losse by huniades and vylach , as were afterwards zechi and gisera ; but to the common and great losse and diminution of the strength of the kingdome , notwithstanding that , iulian the pope's legate interposed the papal authority , by which no more than a cessation for a time , could be obtained . the death of the queen which now happned , serving rather as an incentive then allay to the passions of those who studied her deprived orphans right and interest . by this opportunity amurath the second , had enlarged his conquests in the extremest parts of hungary , and was now in person before belgrade , defended by iohn aurane brother of the prince , or lord of croatia , and so resolutely maintained by him , that after a seige of seven months in which all manner of force by assault and mines were tryed ( but by the valour and vigilance of the besieged repulsed and countermin'd to the losse of thirty thousand men ) the proud turk was constrained to dislodge , when invading the other parts of hungary , he took in novigrod in the confines of servia , abandoned upon his coming by the defendants , from whence also he dispatched isaac bassa of semendria to make a further incursion ; the hungarians by their discords being in no condition to withstand him , till at his return loaden with booty and innumerable christian captives , huniades having privily collected an army and passed the danow , met with him in the province of alba , neer to synderovia , and there vanquished him . to redresse this discomfiture mesithes bassa was employed to open a passage into transylvania by valachia , which at the instance of huniades had newly revolted , which he effected , havocking and laying wast the countrey , and having worsted huniades at the first encounter , was again by him engaged with a sudden raised army , and totally routed , himself , and his son , with twenty thousand turks being slain upon the place . a treaty was now with very unequal terms propounded ; which vladisla●s rejecting , abedin beg was sent by amurath to prosecute the same design upon transylvania and hungary , with an army of fourscore thousand men , at whose approach the valachians being in no capacity to resist him , by the advice of huniades , secured themselves in the inaccessible mountains and hills of the countrey , while the turk raged with all extremity upon what ever he found , till suddenly set upon by huniades with no more then fifteen thousand men at vaskapa , he was miserably overthrown , with the losse of thirty thousand men , and his own life . for this victory a three dayes thanksgivins was appointed , and the ensigns and spoils of the enemy hung up in churches , and huniades proclaimed and extolled as the bulwark and defence of christendome . hereby also the king was encouraged to make an invasion into the turkish territory , accompanyed by iulian the pope's legate , and a multitude of crusado's . at buda he passed the danow , huniades and george the despot , advancing before him , who by light skirmishes drove the enemy back , until the whole army was arrived to the very tops of mount haemus , where there are two passes into macedon and thrace , the one made by trajan , the other by the river saltiza , called by the turks , clissira isladina to this day ; other parties of the hungarians reducing most of the towns in bulgaria . against them amurath dispatcht casa●n bassa or caram beg , with turchan beg , with all the forces of romania and the achanzes , ( soldiers serving without stipend ) who were by the desperate valour of the hungarians utterly defeated , and casan himself taken prisoner . the report of this disaster reaching amurath he summoned and amassed the whole force of his empire ; but winter being far in , and the earth bound up with ice , while the king was upon his return , he retreated likewise , having effected nothing considerable , when perceiving by the calamity of so many misadventures , that his provinces must needs be exhausted by the continuance of the war , he submitted to the intreaty of a peace , using thereto the mediation of george the despot to huniades , and his to the king , who being newly at enmity with the emperour frederick , and his paternal kingdome of poland then in faction and troubles , consented to a ten years cessation , upon this condition , that george the despot should be restored to his principality of servia , his two sons enlarged , and prisoners freed on both sides , that the turk should quit claim to moldavia , but should retain bulgary . amurath having thus avoided the danger that threatned him in those quarters , carried it with him upon ibrahim the caramanian king , in asia the lesse , whom he subdued and vanquished but soon after received into favour . in the mean while eugenius the pope , the venetians and greek emperour , by many perswasions had induced uladislaus ( a young man not skill'd in the affairs of fortune ) to break the truce made with an infidel : and though huniades protested against it , as best able to judge of what would happen , by informing the king that his life and scepter might be taken away , but his truth and plighted faith was in his own keeping ; and that the space of life was short , but a blot of perfidiousnesse everlasting ; yet the king relying upon the pope's dispensation , ( as religion is the only governour of our affections ) and deceived with vain auguries , and the advantages of his puissance , armed himself to his own destruction . for having embodyed his pol●nian and hungarian forces he passed the danow and betgrade , where dracula the prince of moldavia having in vain laboured his desistance from the enterprise , joyned also 4000. men with him . of this expedition amurath having intelligence sent him by mahomet beg governour of nicopolis , to his residence at magnesia , streightwayes crossed over into europe , and at an obscure village named varna , but famous for this great overthrow , joyned battel . in the left wing of the christian army huniades , and one michael niger the duke of scylagy , and brother of huniades , were placed . in the right wing stood bobricius a polonian knight , in the main battel the king. the turks first onset with great noise was upon the right wing , where they opposed camels and dromedaries to the horse , who being therewith affrighted , and the riders no lesse amazed , they were easily put to the rout : but in the left wing , and the main body , the king and huniades , had better fortune , utterly discomfiting both the wings of the infidels ; only amurath himself with his janizaries stood yet unmoved , who seeing the presentnesse of the danger , calling christ to be the avenger of this perfidy ( mr. knols in his turkish history relates , that he pulled the instrument of the truce out of his bosome , and held it up towards heaven ) with great fury prest upon the hungarians and made a very great slaughter , wherein uladislaus against the disswasion of huniades , rushing upon the enemy , by the fall of his horse that was run through , had his head cut off by cheser beg ; the rest of the army being disordered , and so hindering one anothers flight were for the most part slain on the place . huniades himself escaped by valachia , into transylvania , although for a while detained by dracula . there were reckoned to be slain of the kings side 9000 , and of the turks 30 ▪ thousand . this was the end of uladislaus , whom because religion could not rule , the despiser of that religion did destroy . the epitaph on him was this . romulidae cannas , ego varnam clade not avi discite mortales non temerare fidem ; me nisi pontifices jussissent rumpere foedus , non ferret scythicum pannonis or a iugum . the hungarians being thus deprived of their king , conferred the kingdome upon ladislaus the son of albert , whom they had so long with-held from his right of inheritance , entrusting the government with huniades ( sirnamed corvinus ) with the administration of it , both as to war and peace ; who to be revenged of dracula for his detainer of him in his flight , seized him and his two sons . he dispatched likewise an embassy to caesar , concerning the redelivery of the king and crown which the mother of the present king had deposited with him , but neither intreat●es nor force afterwards , by incursions into austria , prevailed any thing . in the mean while the turk prosecuted his successe in hungary with a revenge worthy of so odious a perjury , when huniades in no condition to oppose him , by hidden wayes rendezvouzed an army in servia to recall the enemy to the preservation of his own countrey . to his assistance he invited first george the despot ; who pretending the late agreement , he drew in the beg of schodra ( who was the famous george castriot , called by the turks , scanderbeg , the son of iohn king of the epirots or triballi & had by fained letters of amurath's hand , possessed himself of croja the capital city , as by his valour and vigilance soon after , of most of the kingdome ; and maintained it in a war of 24. years ) and encamped in the plains of cossova , where he engaged the turks three whole dayes together : the first two dayes he had the better of them , but their numbers prevailed in the third : he himself flying was taken prisoner by george the despot , as an infringer of his oath ; but upon the hostage of his son ladislaus , set at liberty ; which the turk resenting , dispatched away frigez beg to invade servia ; to whose releif huniades seemingly reconciled to their despot ( now abominated ) but out of hatred to the name of the turks , speedily advanced , and with a great slaughter vanquished the enemy , taking the beg himself . a bohemi●● scuffle followed this , but was presently composed by the victorious fortune of huniades . at length the emperour restored ladislaus , whom the states of hungary complementd thereupon at vienna , and huniades renounced the administration . ladilaus to auspiciate his reign , came to presburgh , but would trust himself no further within the kingdome , for jealousies were fomented against huniades by ulrick count of cilia , formerly praefect of austria ; but ejected thence by the nobles , and received into favour by this king , who to compose the businesse was at last induced to come to buda . while he staid there amurath vext with his repulse at croja , had retired himself into a monastery , and mahomet his son and successor , after a seige of 50. dayes , took and sacked constantinople , to the shame and terrour of christendome : and having seized servia , with the silver-mine towns therein , from george the despot , bent his force upon belgrade ; which furiously attaquing , and thundring against the walls with his canons , huniades came in hast by water , to the releif of it ; and having made his way into the town , by a vigorous saley beat the enemy out of his entrenchments which they fired , and cloyed and nailed his great guns ; whereupon mahomet retired to his main camp , and thence next morning tormented & sick with the disappointment , fled in hast towards macedonia , but was not pursued , because huniades suspecting likewise some stratagem , contented himself with the slaughter of forty thousand turks . in this conflict huniades received a wound whereof he died ; others say , of a feaver . he was by birth a valachian , and from the place of it called corvinu ; as for the national glory of his atchievements he was called huniades : a person that with small power alwayes worsted great armyes . ladislaus who terrified with the turk's approach , had fled to vienna , came forward now to belgrade , to see the back-steps of the enemy : where resenting the slaughter of the count of cilia by ladislaus the son of huniades , though often provok'd thereunto , he caused him ( by the councel of some ill men ) to be b●headed , and his brother matthias to be imprisoned . but the year after , on the very anniversary of the said fact , as he was solemnizing his marriage in bohemia , he died there , and left another vacancy or interregnum in hungaria . in the beginning whereof michael szylagyi the kinsman of huniades ( supplied with good store of money by his sister elizabeth ) levyed an army in title of matthias ( who was newly sent by ladislaus , in custody , to george pogyb●ad king of bohemia ) as king of hungary , having in ladislaus's life time procured many friends that secretly favoured huniades and his family : others also , for fear of his power consented to his election , at an assembly of the states held at rakos , where his army guarded them . pogybrad certified hereof , inviting his prisoner to dinner , and setting him uppermost , aquainted him with the matter ; and having contracted his daughter to him , conducted him to moravia , where he was saluted king ; and thence in great pomp and magnificence conveyed to buda , where he confirmed and restored all former priviledges ; and by his care , felicity , vertue , and the majesty of his name , united all parties into a perfect peace ; which effected , he sent iohn vitesius the bishop of varadin , his adopted father , to frederick the emperour , to demand the crown ; which he , pretending the kingdome due to himself , and scorning the youth of matthias , refused ; and hereupon ensued a german war , enforced by the predatory eruption of iohn gisera or zisca the bohemian , who had twice worsted huniades himself . frederick , animated and incited by the lord or banus of croatia , invaded the sabarian province , taking the rebels to his assistance , and wasted the countrey far and near , till simon magnus commissioned and spirited by the king 's early courage , met him in the upper hungary , where he discomfited him ; permitting and conniving at the flight of the rebels , who afterwards proved caesar's worst and most dangerous enemies . by this successe caesar was at last constrained to yeild to the demands of matthias , who persisted in a prosecution of them by delivering the crown , adopting also matthias to his son , upon condition that if he died without issue , the emperour should succeed to the crown of hungary . the bohemian war was ended with the same felicity , by sebastian rozgonius , who hunted those predatory thieves out of their lurking places , amidst rocks , lakes , and other fastnesses ; yet so that some years passed before ziscra their chief captain , could be engaged ( several strong holds and passes being maintained by them ) till driven to the mountaines of poland , whence he addrest himself by humble supplication to the king , and was received by him into favour and preferment . telephus his associate had not the same hap , but prolonged a wretched life , in a begging starving condition . this is the larger mentioned for that it lasted almost five years before it was finished , and obliged the utmost endevours of the king , to the extirpation of so villanous a race of men , that disturbed the peace and security of his subjects . the turk during these wars , had put in for his share by invading the eastermost parts , in revenge of his belgrade defeat ; but was so well received by michael szylagy ( somewhile before in disgrace with his beneficiary the king his nephew , by usual court detraction and envy , and newly restored to all his honours and commands ) neer to the banks of savus , by a town called tutach , that it was a question whether there was more blood or water in that reach of the river . haly beg who was then bassa of mysia and commanded that army , flying to synderovia endevoured to repair his losse by a re-inforcement of his enterprise upon transylvania , but was overthrown again by pancratius neer temeswar . matthias in pursuit of this victory , seized dracula prince of valachia , the tributary of the turk : for by the articles between amurath the second , and uladislaus , that investiture was to be sole right of the kings of hungary ; and detained him 10. years a prisoner . from thence he marched to bosnia , the king whereof , stephen , being also despot of servia , in right of his wife the daughter of lazarus deceased , mahomet had caused as perfidiously as inhumanely to be flead alive , the just reward however of his base and prodigious lust , which divided his sons against him. matthias proceeded as far as the superiour ●osnia , and those parts which stretch themselves towards zara and epidaurus , and by the taking of iaycia , reduced the whole kingdome to his hungarian scepter ; mahomet with thirty thousand men came to relieve it , but hearing of matthias his approach sneaked cowardly home . hereupon the venetians ( with other princes , by their ambassadors ) were instant , for the prosecution of the war offering 50000. crowns yearly , for the maintenance of it ; which being accordingly recommenced ; matthias frighted in the same manner at mahomet's appearance , repassed the savus out of r●scia , where he had taken streverich by emerick sepusius , and turned his army upon the frangepanes , who being fortified in the alpes of croatia , refused obedience , but assoon as the king was arrived at zagrabia , they thought best to comply . he tamed also the revolting transylvanians , as he quieted the seditious in moldavia and valachia , by the slaughter of 7000 of them : but his lieutenant michael scylagii , fought unprosperously with the turk , after a most bloody battle , himself being captivated , and although a prisoner of war , yet put to death by those savage infidels . a bohemian war ensued , fomented and enflamed by pope paul the second , who instigated matthias against george pogybrad his father in law , as an heretick , for owning the doctrines of iohn husse , &c. while an excellent opportunity against the turk engaged in a syrian & egyptian war , was by this means pretermitted . matthias in this war had the better of it , zealously executing the edicts & anathema's of the pope , against the bohemians , silesians , and moravians ; nor would a treaty of peace be hearkned to , the papists giving out , that no faith or communion was to be held with such heretiques . whereupon victorinus the son of pogybrade made new levies , but was unhappily worsted and imprisoned at vissigrade , while matthias having subdued spilberg and olmitz was master of moravia , and silesia at his devotion , and was solemnly also declared king of bohemia . pogybrad soon after dying , and by his misfortunes induced to favour matthias his succession to that crown ( his son having been gratis set at liberty a little before , upon the composure of the troubles in moravia ) he transacted with the states of bohemia for his inves●iture in that kingdom , but they had disposed of it to uladislaus son of casimir king of poland . in revenge whereof he issued like a tempest out of moravia into bohemia : but the pope being neutral in the concernments of two catholick princes , and the turks upon the banks of savus at the siege of sabaczium , besides ( which was worst of all ) a conspiracy was hatching at home , he effected nothing . this coniuration was so general , by which casimir was designed to this crown , that but 9. of 70. peers , or senators , were true to their allegiance , among these plotters the chief were vitesius the archbishop , ianus pannonius , and emericus scepusius the former favourers of , and reciprocally favoured by , matthias : the pretence of the defection was , that the church revenues , and other profits of secular offices , were employed solely in the carrying on of war. ladislaus at their invitation came and encamped between nitre and vacia , and was magnificently received by his partakers , but matthias upon the news of it speeding from buda to strigonium , prepared for an encounter , where by scepusius , whom he reclaimed , he so wrought upon vitesius the life of the faction , that upon his reconciliation , and indempnity promised to those that should return to their allegiance within three dayes , his competitor was presently abandoned , and left to reflect , and inveigh against the levity of the hungarians : nor was that all , but being circumvented at nitra , he hardly escaped with 700. of all his number , the pursuit not being given over , till his father by timely dispatches , interposed his requests for his dismission . notwithstanding matthias was not satisfied with this revenge , but continuing in the mountainous part of poland , watched an opportunity of further satisfaction ; as he punished vitesius and ianns , with other of the complices in the treason . while he staid hereabouts uladislaus stomaching the spoil of his countrey , with a just army opposed himself ; and so the businesse came to open war , which determined neverthelesse by a private stratagem in the most covert places and ambushes of that hilly country , in favour of matthias , who by his lieutenants iohn scepusius and paul kinifi , had also depopulated all the provinces as far as cracovia , and brought a miserable desolation thereabouts . by which means the pole was glad to quit his pretences to moravia , silesia , and lusatia , and to part with his claim to the crown of bohemia . during this agreement , solyman the beglerbeg of romania with a hundred thousand men , having in vain attempted scodra , came with an army into moldavia , whom stephen the valiant vaivod thereof overcame with so great a slaughter , that scarce a sign remained of so vast a multitude . to requite this victory , matthias besiged sabarium , whereat happned divers encounters , the besieged being potent and couragious , and the besiegers resolute and adventurous ; he himself for better view , passing in a common habit within the reach of their small shot , in a boat , accompanyed but with one soldier who was kill'd with a bullet ; fortune by a peculiar care of him ( as is her constant respect to such persons ) preserving him from the danger . in fine , by dissembling to rise from the siege , he lulled the garrison into security and then surprized them ; and for the better fortification of the castle , drew the river savus round about it ; and thereafter supplied with money from the pope for the better prosecution of the war , laid all waste as far as synderovia ; and in order to an opportune and commodious siege thereof built three strong castles , as a bridle to curb and represse their forraging for provisions . he was yet intent of carrying his successes fnrther , having embarqued to that purpose on the danow ( alibeg with a plundering party about temeswar , having been also newly defeated , so that there appeared no rub to his design ) when the arrival of his queen beatrice ( who by venice , dalmatia , and carniola had been honourably conveyed to alba , and there crowned , and the marriage celebrated at buda in the presence of all the nobles ) foftned and emasculated his spirit , and corrupted the souldiery , by idling amidst the vanity and luxury of the court , now addicted to sport and pleasure . nor could the calamitous condition of moldavia ( the noble vaivod whereof had in vain struggled against the potent and over-bearing force of mahomet , and saw his country vassaliz'd to that cruel enemy ) awaken matthias out of this sensual stupidity ; the queen proving as another capua to victorious hanibal , till such time as it was almost too late to resist , being on a sudden attaqued by frederick the emperour from the old grudge , although most ungratefully and unhandsomely , and the event was according . for matthias rousing himself followed the enemy into austria ( where the rascians in his service most cruelly raged ) and took in several towns , and was now before vienna , when the emperour ( of no martial disposition ) desired an accommodation , which matthias condescended to , so austria was again restored to frederick . in this war the pope and venetians withdrew their subsidy from matthias as engaged against a christian prince , whereupon ensued an aversness against that state , whose danger had linked their concern with his for some space of time before ; and by that means they lost scodra , croja , and the promontory of taenarus to the turk upon very base conditions , or very calamitous conquest ; that of schodra especially . the peace was now to be confirmed , which was agreed upon before betwixt uladislaus and himself ; and therefore both kings appointed an enterview at olmitz in moravia , where they appeared with a most splendid and pompous train , several theatres and other august temporary edifices being erected for the solemnity , where they treated one another most magnificently , and gave great largesses to the people : matthias not willing to be behind hand in state and grandeur upon such an illustrious occasion : but whilest he diverted himself here , solyman the beglerbeg of greece being advantaged by a dry summer , passed his army over the fords of the rivers savus and dravus , and coming as far as castle-iron , laid wast the whole countrey . the news of this made matthias quit his court-ship , and with all expedition to follow the enemy , who making hast away , he gave order to 16000. of his readiest troops to pursue him ; the which forces over-took him laden with thirty thousand captives , at verbos in illyria , and so routed him , that the remains of his flying army durst not face about to three hundred croats , who alone pursued them ; by which victory , illyria was in a fair way to have been wholly assigned to this triumph , had not the emperour by an inroad towards raab recall'd him ; which injury so incensed matthias that he presently laid seige to mariaburg , and would hardly desist from the enterprize at the earnest entreaties of the pope , and frederick's ambassadors . mahomet the great , having taken scodra as aforesaid , was now returned to constantinople , and vext with the disgrace of solyman's defeat , had commissioned ali beg , isa beg , and balam beg , with sixty thousand men for transylvania , who proceeded with fire and sword as far as alba iulia ; within five miles whereof stephen bathori , the vayvod of transylvania , and paul kinisi count of temeswar , wtth a new levyed army of hungarians , valachians &c. encountered them , and after a long dispute in which the river marusus was filled with blood of both parties , by the valour and encouragement of kinisi totally overthrew them , thirty thousand turks being slain upon the place . the fame of this atchievement made the pope ( apulia in italy being sorely infested by the turks ) to intreat matthias as the onely competent help against those infidels , to undertake the defence of those parts , when at the same time he ungratefully inter-medled beyond his authority , in the placing and preferring bishops in hungaria ; matthias having substituted iohn the cardinal of arragon to be arch-bishop of strigonium in place of iohn of alemannia , his enemy and rebel . about this time died mahomet , leaving his two sons bajazet and zemes to strive for the empire ; the latter being discomfited in two battels , wherein he was assisted by the sultan of aegypt , fled to the grand master of the rhodes who sent him to rome , where at the instance and great bribes of bajazet , he was most unworthily poysoned by pope alexander the sixt ; matthias purposing to make good use of this occasion , had solicited caesar for a confirmation and security of the late peace , which being delayed till the opportunity was lost , and the turks in motion this way , he invaded austria and possessed himself of many towns again ( while bajazet had terribly ruined and wasted moldavia , and in requital thereof was defeated by lupus ( the noble and valiant despot of what remained in those parts ) in two battels : ) and after a six months regular seige took in vienna the capital city thereof ; as iohn scepuusis his leiutenant mastered neustria and other fortresses . the five years that matthias lived afterwards he wholly employed in reforming the manners of his subjects , now addicted to luxury and prone to all other vices ; and in providing for the future glory and magnificence of the succeeding kings , converting his iron into a golden palace ; and designing to build the city of buda after the italian way . he also highly fa●oured learned men , and resolved , upon the settlement of austria by a lasting peace , to employ all his power against the turks ; whereto he was encouraged by many princes , more especially by the snltan's of aegypt , who had lately vanquished ferhates bassa , the beglerbeg of caramania , & afterwards cheser beg , and achmet the mahumetanized son of stephen of bosnia aforesaid , with such a slaughter that it was credited to have exceeded that of tamerlane . but while he prepared for those things death prevented him , by the increasing pains of the gout . a person of great authority with all princes , and worthy to be extolled for his military experience , and his acts of peace ; and so much the more famed and desired by posterity , by how much his successors were inferiour to him in point of courage and vigilant prudence . upon the death of the king , corvinus the bastard son of matthias , having been fed with hopes of his succession to the crown , endevoured to effect it , while 3 great competitors were transacting their interest with the states of hungary , viz. ladislaus king of bohemia , albert prince of poland , both brothers and sons of cassimir and and maximilian king of the romans ; but in conclusion ladislaus carried it by the major voyces , and by the instance and interest of beatrice the dowager queen , who had loved him in her husbands life time , and hoped now to be married to him , although she was by the judgement of god disapointed of her expectation . corvinus not brooking this , although he had articled upon the cession of his claim and delivery of the crown , which he had got into his custody , for an investiture as lord of bosnia , chroatia , and sclavonia , raised an army by the help of the governours of those provinces , but opposed at sarviza by stephen bathori and kinisi , commissioned by the states then assembled in great fear at pesth , he was worsted after a dismall encounter ( wherein brother engaged against brother ) and fled to quinque ecclesiae , where his souldiers broke open his treasure and carried it away . by this means the kingdome was setled in those parts , and ( corvinus submitting upon indempnity to his partakers , and the restoring of what had been taken from him ) uladislaus was crowned at alba regalis , but presently engaged in a war against his competitor and brother albert , who had seized cassovia , * cibinium , and other places , and in fine joyned battel , wherein by the prowesse of vladislaus and the defection of the cassovians , he was overcome , and striving to renew the war , was thrice afterwards beaten out of the field . maximilian's enterprize was more powerfull and fortunate , auspicated also by the viennians , who weary of a forraigners yoak , admitted his forces into the city , which scepusius the governour perceiving , he thought it most advisable to depart secretly out of the castle : and thereupon the other places of austria , returned to their former lord , who proceeded and reduced vesprinium and alba regalis in hungary , and had finished the conquest but that his germans not enduring the climate and other discommodities of the country , mutined for their pay : in the interim uladislaus had collected his army and was upon his march after maximilian , recovering the towns he had lost , and being bent upon a further revenge was diverted by a horrid invasion of the turks as far as the territories of varadin ( then in division by civil broyles ) having endangered belgrade by mastering two of the bulwarks . for which reasons vladislaus was induced to make peace with maximilian , though upon very dishonourable terms , by yielding austria , carinthia , carniola , and styria , seized and possessed by matthias , and delivering some castles of croatia , and sclavonia ; in lieu whereof caesar restored him unto places taken this war in hungary , upon condition of his succession , as was accorded with matthias . at the dyet held thereafter at buda , the kings marriage with beatrice was debated , but because of her sterility and in submission to the pontificall authority , she was put by , and ann the daughter of the prince of anjou , preferred to his bed . in the mean while bajazet made great preparations both by land and upon the ister , for an invasion of hungary , which caused double garrisons to be put into the frontier towns of severinum , sabaczia , and iaycia , and an army of 60 thousand men under the conduct and supreme command of kinisius , to be instantly levyed ; bajazet came first to sophia , then to hadrianople by leisure , but dared not enter hungary , whither he dispatched dandes bassa to uscopia , while he diverted to maxastinum designing upon albania , and meditating a truce with uladislaus , which was accorded to ; neverthelesse respecting more the utility then the faith of the agreement , he sent away two bassa's , the one into valachia , the other to beseige severinum , the former was vanquished by that vayvod , and the other ▪ by kinisius , who also horribly slaughtered those ravenous pillaging bohemians , whom he had appointed for the guard of the confines against that enemy . iohannes corvinus likewise valiantly repulsed the turk from iaycia , but wearied with the refractory pride of the frangepanes , and other noblemen , resigned his government of bosnia , chroatia , and dalmatia , in whose place emericus drencenus was substituted by the king , who repressed the insolence of those grandees , now seeking for protection from the turks : which occasion being welcome to iacup aga , he presently made an incursion into the limits of carinthia , and carniola , and carried away a great prey and spoil by the confines of germany , when drencenus having reconciled frangepanes , with a sufficient army for number encountred him , but frangepanes again revolting , the hungarians were totally routed , and drencenus himself taken prisoner . this losse as is usuall in such cases , was imputed to the sloth of the king by the nobles , when their base covetousnesse was the onely cause of it ; the kings revennue being hardly able to maintain the expence of his family as became the dignity of a king , which poverty proceeded meerly from his honesty , and begat such a contempt of his authority , that he could not make the palatine desist from the seige of one of corvinus his castles , till the noble youth himself revenged the injury , and he was the rather thus slighted because of his ignorance in the hungarian tongue , answering nothing but * well well to what ever story . in the mean while kinisius repaired this late losse by an expedition with 10000. men into mysia , where he took two castles the one of them by the exemplary courage of a chroat who alone maintained the rampire against the enemy till his fellows came to his assistance ; as by another irruption into servia ; having animated the king to a more vigorous prosecution of the war , and brought him upon that account to petri varadin ; whence kinisi with 14000 men , wasted and harrassed all the turks country as far as the suburbs of synderovia , with such a terrour that even constantinople it self trembled for fear of his approach . this noble person survived not long after , being in reference to the present state of affairs another huniades , dying also like him of a feaver . he so abhominated and resented the turkish barbabarities that he always retaliated upon them in a severer manner of torture and punishment . at last the king took courage by the good advice of his friends and councellors , and by force of arms reduced and tamed those seditious grandees of chroatia , the chief of whom were peter arch-bishop of colocza , and laurence duke of syrmia , in whose country the kings steward had been killed , this last he dispossessed of all his castles , and imprisoned at buda , newly before pardoned at the dyet there , by which means all those troubles were composed , and a three years truce confirmed by selymus , who had wrested the turkish empire from his father bajazet , which added something more to the kingdomes welfare . about this time dyed iohn corvinus , ( his widdow intermarrying with george marquesse of brandenburgh ) followed by peter gereb the palatine ( in whose place came emericus perenyi ) and stephen vayvod of moldavia , a person famous next matthias , for his services against the turk and tartars ; in whose room succeeded bogdanus . at buda a consult was managed by the faction of zapolianus or iohn scepusius the vayvod , and the eloquence of verbeczius of forbidding the crown to be ever conferred on forraigners ; as the siculi rebelled the same time and killed the collector of their dues to the king , but the authors were severely punished by paulus tomoraeus . nor ever were the hungarians more deceived then in this truce made with selymus , relying whereon they became defencelesse , for on a sudden all the country as far as the river dravus where it joyns with the danow , was laid wast and desolate : to second this calamity the countreymen and boors rebelled against the nobility , and for the greater enforcement of their designs joyned themselves with the forces raised by thomas the arch-bishop of strigonium , against bajazet's invasion , at the instinct of the pope , to keep the war out of italy at the charge of hungary . there being now upon the peace again , no use for these religious souldiers , they began to be burdensome to the noblesse , and admitted of the peasants as their associates : by , and of , these no lesse then 70000 are reported to have been slain in the space of four moneths , by which the sanctity of these crusado men may be guessed at . at last iohn the vayvod tamed this wicked crew by intollerable famine , and gave them the head of their captain one george szekheli ( notable formerly for his valour ) for food and victual . vladislaus to make up a stricter league with the house of austria , journyed now to vienna , where he had conference with sigismund of poland , and maximilian , by whom , mary his neice by philip , was betrothed to lewis , ladislaus his son , and mary his daughter to charles or ferdinand with a condition of succession in case of no issue ; against this contract and this last clause perinyi objected and though lame caused himself to be carried through the streets of presburg , where he noysed his dissent and refusal , and the invalidity of the match , as done without his ( principally ) and the nobles consent ; but being won by the grant of the office of crown-keeper , just as he should have subscribed the instrument , he died. in the interim iohn the vayvod elevated by his successe against szekelehi , besieged sarno a garrison of the turks , but was so cowardly frighted that he fled and forsook his great guns , at the news of the approach of baly beg , neverthelesse by the valour of michael praxius who sustained the van of the enemy , they were recovered . king ladislaus lived not long afterwards , fitter indeed for ease and quiet , then the rule of the stubborn and eff●ene hungarians ; but whether out of grief and vexation of mind , or the common course of nature , is uncertain . lewis his son succeeded him , having according to the late agreement , married mary the sister of charles the fifth , by their father philip the first of spain . in this prince all things , as his birth , succession , beard , wedlock , and death , were praeproperous and early . at the same time died maximilian , to whom , chiefly by the suffrage of frederick of saxony , succeeded charles the fifth , as did solyman just after the ratification of an eight years truce succeed his father selymus : divine providence so ordering it that those two great potentates should govern the world together , and restrain each other by a mutual dread of one anothers power and vertues . yet solyman was so great an esteemer of his own glory , and so unbounded in his conceits of it , that he demanded of lewis the purchase of a peace with him at a certain tribute , which being denyed , he invaded hungary , and wrested moldaviae , and valachia from that dominion , together with the greatest part of sclavonia . nothing withstanding his arms there but iaycia , defended by the signal valour of peter keglevitius . these victorious proceedings caused lewis to levy an army of 60000. men ; but his exchequer not being sufficient to bear the expence , they were as soon dissolved . in the mean while belgrade ( so often maintained against the turkish power ) was now gained by the fortune of solyman , and the treachery of the governours , who would not admit the succour and assistance , brought by andrew bathori , into the town . hence the conquerour having received a losse from stephen bathori the palatine , who defeated pyrhus bassa , then wasting syrmia , and contented with his former success , dispatched a chiaux with offers of peace to the king ; but his youthful mind swayed by evil counsel and corrupted with the luxury of george marquisse of brandenburgh , was debauched into that perfidious basenesse , that he commanded the envoy to be privily put to death at tata , and for the concealment of the murther , his body to be cast into the fish-pond . solyman was then returned home to the enterprize of rhodes , and lewis his leiutenant had had some successes against the turks , especially christopher frangepanes not onely repulsed them from iaycia , but beat them out of their trenches and took their camp ; as tomori defeated ferhates begogli , while severinum was also reduced ; but the dissentions and divisions that arose in hungary among the nobility for the title of palatine , between verbeczius , zobius , and their party of the multitude against bathori legally so created ; besides that , the reformed religion now took footing in this kingdome , although endevoured by fire to be suppressed , but maintained by prynius in the county of bodrogh and by nadanyi at chrysus ; these concurrent mischeifs i say , brought solyman back into hungary , declaring his intention of revenge for the death of his messenger , which sudden appearance of his caused much dread and terrour , for that no present remedy could be thought on . notwithstanding lewis , without any aid from abroad resolved to encounter him with an army of twenty four thousand men , commanded by the arch-bishop of colocza , and george zapolianus , although disswaded by iohn scepusius and frangepanes , who would have had him withdrawn his person at least , which however would save the kingdome , and to have staid till he had collected the whole force of his kingdome ; but such was his heat and temerity , and the like proud humour of the nobility ( though it proved their common destruction ) the sign often of a great , but now of an unhappy resolution , that an engagement ensued at mohacz , where the hungarians were vanquished and put to a total rout . the king with his prelates and nobles ( to whom it was ignominous to fly and to survive their prince ) being killed on the place . at the news of this overthrow buda was abandoned , the queen with her best moveables flying to presburg , whence she retired to charles the fifth , her brother ; who deputed her to the government of the low countreys , where she presided thirty years , and afterwards weary of the world ( like him ) betook herself to a monastery , and was joyned with him in death . solyman entring buda , abstained from the usurpation of the regality , guessing that a kingdome so slightly gained , might as slightly be lost ; but forbore not the plunder of the countrey , asmuch as lyes betwixt the balaton lake , the danow , and tybiscus , being miserably depopulated . as to this tragedy , and the death of the king , there were many things that portended it ; as that he was born without any skin , which was supplied by the art of the physicians . besides a spectrum appeared before the gate of the castle of buda demanding conference with the king , which being not much regarded , vanished without any presage . and now when as yet the safety of the kingdome was not dispaired of , civil wars subserved fate and helped on the general ruine . the supreme power was unsociable , and interest would not be joyned by the presentnesse of the danger . armies were presently gathered , and as soon dismissed ; fortune not admitting two to the supremacy , & while all men stood still at gaze , the enemy took advantage to disperse them . the fourth book . vvhile this battel was fought at mohacz , iohn zapolyai scepusius the vayvod of transylvania , stayed at szeged , and cajoling the remains of the nobility , came to buda , where he perswaded perenyi the keeper of the crown , to deliver it to him ( conferring upon him therefore the praefecture of transylvania ) and thence speeded with them to alba regalis . a convention being here held , verbeczius opened the present state of affairs in favour of iohn , who was by the assembly accepted and styled king , having passed by ferdinand ; who as well by the favour and good will of many , as by the marriage of ann the sister of lewis , had a good claim and title to the kingdome ; wherefore iohn was advised to begin the war against him , but he following milder then safer counsel , and the opinion of frangepanes , dismissed his forces , hoping to gain the kingdome by largesse and bounty . at the same , bathori the palatine , the perpetual enemy of iohn , held a convention at presburgh , where he maintained the title of ferdinand , by whom perenyus at the solicitation of thurzo , and the confirmation of his former title was brought over , and the crown with the other royal ensigns conveyed into his hands . hereupon ferdinand was proclaimed and inaugurated by paul vardanus , and encouragement given by the hungarians readinesse to assist him . by which means iohn being forced to withdraw , convocated his faithfullest friends to gubaczium ; but not judging it safest to rely upon them , fled to tockay , intending to call the janizaries to his aid ▪ but while that was in agitation , caczianerus an● felsius discomfited his captains with a most cruel slaughter neer the same town , as others of his party were the second time vanquishe● at hernad by the same hand ; where the camp royally stored fell into the victors hands , so that tockay , agria , hatvanum , and all places as far as buda acknowledged ferdinand ; which mutation of affairs made iohn betake himself to the protection of iohn tarnovius the castellan of cracovia ; at whose entertainment of him , sigismund of poland connived , but by no means would assist him with men and money although his brother in law , as consciencious of that league which was between ferdinand and himself . caczinerus carying in the mean time all places before him . nor was frangepanes , iohn's firm friend , much more prosperous in illyria , although he made potent opposition and bestirred himselfe vigourously in his cause , for being shot at the siege of varasdin , which paul caprarius resolutely defended , he there with grief expired , and left that province without any further adoe , in the possession of ferdinand . these lamentable distractions gave occasion to the neighbouring garrisons of the turks to invade the same region and besiege iaycia , which they reduced with many other places ; the proprietor whereof carlovitius , the last of the torquati , dying at medvevarium greatly enriched the family of the noble serini . iohn thus turmoiled and stript of his kingdome , by the mediation of lascus the palatine of siradia proffered to joyn interest with the turk , having used also the diligent endeavours of andrew griti son of the duke of venice , for the accomplishment of this design ; a person of a narrow fortune , but vast hopes , who between flattery and crafty diligence , had gained favour at the port. at his instance solyman ( ambitious of glory ) by conferring a crown he had won , and obliging such an interest to his service , consented to the assertion of iohn's quarrel , rather inclined thereto by the unreasonable peremptorynesse of hoberdanschus a rash man , ferdinand's embassador , who demanded restitution of all places , even belgrade it self ; to which solyman answered , that he would reply to this haughty demand at the walls of vienna . iohn was neverthelesse not idle of himself , but having collected an army , for the furniture of which he pawned his jewels , appointed simon athinensis for his general , to whom adhered many nobles . these defeated liscanus and revayus , ferdinand's captains , while iohn progressing to lippa , met the grand seigniour at mohacz , who proceeded and came to buda , yeilded unto him by the treachery of the germans . this city the turk put into iohns possession , who now carried himself openly as king. strigonium was next yeilded by varadanus commended to iohns clemency by some friends : and now all hungary resounded with the noyse of these victories as far as vienna , whither solyman was come and laid formall siege thereunto ; but by the valour of philip count palatine , and nicholas count of salms , and the policy of ibrahim bassa , who favoured the christians , and therefore retarded the great guns , he was forced to rise after a month , with the losse of 80000 men ; and thence ( having established iohn the crown as it was carried up and down from its depository at visigrade , being taken with perenyus , who by the hostage of his son ( mahumetanized after ) was hardly set at liberty : solyman departed home ) when rogendorf soon besieged k. iohn and griti in buda , but they were at last relieved ; solyman also again returned into hungary the next year and besieged guntzium , but prevailed not against the courage and resolution of the governour : so that while he was engaged here , charles the emperour , and ferdinand , with an army of 130000 men , came to fight him ; but he terrified with their approch , by two wayes , hasted back again , the same ibrahim advising it for the destruction of one or both of the parties thus divided ; but charles glad to see him gone made no use of the advantage ; solyman left casnes with 15000 horse behind him to plunder the confines of germany , but frederick count palatine , general of the ayds of the empire , met him , and put every man of them to the sword. after this inglorious retreat , k. iohn , whether indeed a christian , or awed by fear perceiving the potency of ferdinand , by lascus besought his peace , which was suspended by a present truce . the commissioners of the two kings ( to ascertain the limits of their dominions ) met at strigonium , which town was sequestred into the hands of the king of poland , and frederick of saxony . this good work took its desired effect , while new storms arose in hungary about establishing a person in the place of the palatine banfi newly deceased , which dignity under the title of governour by the advice of lascus to k. iohn , was conferred on griti , who with great largesses had scrued himself into the esteem of the people ; but was so hateful to the nobles , and he consciously obnoxious to them , that by several artifices he made the cheif of them away . whereupon he returned to constantinople in hast , upon pretence of making way to a peace there , where his practises and concealed reserved designs , peices of which he had brokenly imparted , rendred him suspect to iohn for his intimacy with the divan . in the mean while solyman incited by his dreams to an expedition against the persians , dispatcht away a chiaux with the heads of the peace , which were , that clement the pope should be his father ; charles and ferdinand his brothers ; john shall stand to equal conditions , corone , bala , and badra , taken by the valour of andrew doria , shall be recompensed to charl●● by other places . but while the emperour delayed to render those towns , a most ignominious discomfiture of the coronenses by cayr●dine the turks admirall , broke off the frustrated league ; and so that agreement which might have been easily purchased , rose to the price of the ruine of hungary . griti was come back to transalpina by selistria accompanyed with 3000. men , and every where proclaimed his title of governour , vapouring of his vertues which from a private person had raised him to a prince , and that to make peace betwixt emperours , could be nothing less than a divine and immortal action . as he passed the alps at corona , he was accosted by lascus with additional forces out of podolia , by whose assertion he was every where acknowledged as governour . invested with this force & power he sent for cibacus , who was one of those nobles that had disallowed his title , as vain and injurious while the k. was living ; who being betrayed by his servant ( corrupted by one docius an instrument of griti's by a silver cup , the reward of his treason , who told him there was no danger if he went ) npon his arrival the same night , as he was fast asleep in his tent , had his head severed from his body , aud carried to griti to feed and satisfie his most bloody and scelerate revenge . but divine justice was not far behind , for stephen maylat , and other noblemen , within eight dayes raising an army of sixty thousand men , pursued griti , who conscious of his vilanies and his usurped rackt authority , was upon the first news of their arming fled to meggyesium , where by the defection of the townsmen , the turks that were with him were all put to the sword ; his agent docius executed by the axe , and griti in his intended escape taken by the valachians , and offered by them as a victime to the ghost of cibacus . king iohn being required by solyman to aid griti , was nothing troubled when he heard of the news of this his rivals death ; for griti's design and last intendment was his substitution to the crown of hungary . he likewise for better security of the peace , imprisoned lascus , but put in mind of his former good offices converted his restraint into banishment . and here followed a rupture between iohn and ferdinand , leonard cackei delivering cassovia in the upper hungary which was assigned to ferdinand , to king iohn ; to requite which losse , the german attempted transylvania ; the szekelii , the reliques of the old huns , and the * szaszii , a colony of the saxons , seated in a province of that principality , being prone to revolt from the h●ngarian . but when the governours nyari and bamfi by their plundering of sacmar , had discovered the conspiracy , the design came to nothing and iohn soon recovered that town , with the losse o● gothard kunus his fast friend , and a tame white hart which ( like sertorius ) he had alwayes in his company ; the death of whom made him so furiously revengeful , that he put all the prisoners to the sword : while felsius , ferdinand's general , successfully proceeded , and threatned cassovia ; to secure which iohn dispatcht away george monachus , peter perenes , and francis debecus , with equal power and commission , whom felsius by delayes ( which begat a discord between the captains as is natural in competitions ) so necessitated , that forced to retire , he advantagiously set upon them , killing some and driving other some into the river tybiscus , aad together surprized tokay . that he gained not cassovia , the peace struck up at vaccia was the onely hinderance , whereby both kings were to hold what they then had in possession ; the issue of iohn to enjoy transylvania , opulia , and ratibor ; the league to be offensive and defensive , the one's enemies to be the others , and so contrarily , and to be obliged in the prosecution of one anothers designs ; so that the peace with the turk was as good as broken , or not at all regarded . hereupon ferdinand to represse the incursions of mahomet bassa of belgrade ( who had taken posegum , boczo , and beriszlone in sclavonia , and designing the siege of clissia , had erected two castles at salonas for obstruction of relief ) sent away peter crusitius into dalmatia , and cackzianerus to posega . peter was so fear stricken with amurath verbosanus , that many of his men dyed with meer apprehension of the danger : nor did cackzianerus come off much more gloriously , being accompanied with lodowick pecri , lodronius , albert sliccus , lodowick rhaetus , iohn ungnadius , bakitius , and other commanders , with 8000 horse , and 16000 foot , all which he led to destruction . he was come as far as valpone , and had laid seige to essecum , not aware that he was included betwixt posega the enemies garrison , and the danow , when mahomet , amurath , and cassonus , guessing rightly that they were distressed for victual , invented a new way of victory without fighting . for when cackzianerus perceived that neither the governour of zagrabia , no● the spoil of herman castle could afford a competence of victual , he resolved to retreat to valpone , in which march the way being before laid , and passes made good against him , he was set upon by the turks ; bakitius was killed in the streights , others pined with hunger , were wholly consternated . cackzianerus , pecri , and vnguadius , as a most shameful example , first flying away ; lodronius onely stood bravely to it , and fought to the last man ; the rest having no commanders , either confused or pent up in narrow places , were slain or taken prisoners , the camp and the kings great guns falling likewise into the possession of the enemy . this unhappy encounter and a designed revolt thereupon stood cackzianerus at the price of his head ; for with the same successe mahomet and amurath , took in dubicia , iassenocium , and soboczia , and brought a great dread upon both kings , besides that solyman exasperated against peter the cruel and feral vaivod of moldavia , had at the same time by his arms substituted his brother stephen in his place , peter being fled to csikium in transylvani● . hereupon ferdinand and iohn joyned ●orces , the germans amounting to 50 , and the hungarians to 30 thousand men ; at the news whereof , solyman by letters upbraided iohn with his perfidie , and arms taken against him his father , and so known a benefactor ; that he had aggravated his defection by a war , and multiplied one wickednesse by another ; on the other side iohn partly by words , and partly by gifts , endevoured to excuse the fact , conscious to himself also of the slaughter of griti , although not yet charged to him . he pretended that he took arms only to assist him his patron against peter , who● he had besieged in csikium , and to make good this particular d●d upon the surrender send him prisoner , to pacifie solyman , to constantinople yet was not moldavia thus setled , for stephen being a like tyrannical was destroyed by a conspiracy , and one alexius the son of elias , formerly prince , was inducted in his place , but he out of fear of the turks , intending a revolt to ferdinand , was driven out by peter , now restored again by solyman to his former dignity , who being more sanguinous then before ( punishing and torturing his innocent subjects , preventionally by the direction of this politique , that no wise prince afflicts his people because they have , but because they should not offend ) his savage government lasted not long , being succeeded therein by alexander . about the same time king iohn married isabel daughter of the king of poland , but while he mancipated himself to the pleasures of her bed , stephen maylat , and balassi , governours of dacia , quitted their allegiance , and revolted to ferdinand , whom notwithstanding , by the sudden assistance of valentinus tercock , he so quickly reduced , that they seemed to be engaged in the plot , and the defeat of it at the same instant . he dispossessed balassius of several castles , but at this supplication gave him his life ; for either revenge or oblivion follow punishment , and he that spares and is merciful , shews not only his clemency , but confirms his dominion : he besieged also forgarasse a castle of maylats , but being taken with a pain in his head , and gtown frantick therewith , at a town called szar sebessum , he died suddenly , having just before solemnized the birth-day of his onely son iohn sigismund . the civil war which had been laid by the intervention of treaties , now by the death of one of the treating parties broke out again ; essecius and verbeczius the administrators , having recommended their pupil to the tuition and guardianship of solyman , brought forth a banner , the staff of honour , and scymitar , the ensignes of his investiture in the kingdome , when they were indeed the badges of slavery , and so counted and derided by other men . as to ferdinand , he now thought it seasonable , while yet the peace was observed , by his ambassadors and heraulds to try the mind of the turk and the queen , willing rather to reduce the kingdom by fair means , than by blood-shed and war. but understanding that lascus his orator with solyman , was by him imprisoned , and nothing to be effected there , and that the count of salms was meerly delayed by isabel the queen , he proceeded to open hostility , leonard felsius his general reducing vissegrade , vaccia , and pesth ; but his attempt upon buda ( the discord arisen between his germans and hungarians , and their private conferences with their country-men ) unluckily disappoynted . more effectual was the eloquence of perenyus , who being brought over to ferdinand's side by szegessus his ambassador at the wedding of king iohn , where he set forth the power and fortune of charles the emperour , now carried with him alba regalis to the german party . nor was the turk lesse active and stirring , mahomet , amurath , and usref , coming in the depth of winter to the assistance of george mona●hus ( who from the king's fire-maker or ●eweller , was advanced to the highest dignities ) and peter petrovitius ( assigned guardians by the testament of iohn to his son sigismund ) and presently attaqued pesth ; but by the valour of fotiscus ▪ and speciacassius , whose vigorous salleys the turkish camp could not endure , they were repelled with great losse . this so encouraged ferdinand that rogendorf was sent to besiege buda , which monachus and his adherents had re-fortified and made good the walls and bulwarks with needful reparations , and now countermined the besiegers , when thomas bornemisza the provost of the town , and peter palcianus proffered to deliver it to revayus ▪ the time and place appointed , none but hungarians for the better concealing the designe to be engaged in it . all things thus fairly laid , and the general cocksure of the town , fortune shewed him what presumption and mistrust can do in the juncture of the greatest military affairs ▪ for he diffident of the hungarians , and relying upon the constancy of the germans , a● the hour and place agreed on , clapt them into the city , who being betrayed by their tongue , were fallen upon by those who would have been their friends in peace ; & so numbers of them slain , and the rest repulsed . nor did their ill fortune stay here , for mahomet and ulumas bassa of ●osnia , after a naval encounter , while he loytered before buda , landed upon him and over-threw his army , when specia●acassius from pesth fell upon the victors , and abated the dishonour of the day by a like slaughter and terrour brought upon the enemy , but yet so that the fame of solyman arrogated to it self the victory ; for that rogendorf wounded with a pole and flying for fear , died with grief and heartlesse ; his fleet made shift to escape , but his land forces were wholly lost . solyman was now in person again in hungary , & as a token of his affection to the young king , presented his mother with a babylonish garment , and jewells of inestimable value , as he did her son with horses richly trapped , desiring him to be brought into his camp , which request was observed as a command : whither being come , valentinus tercock one of his prime councellors , a man of a various and inconstant mind , was secured ; the child and the rest of his retinue was returned to his mother . verbeczius authour of this counsel of solyman's protection , survived not long after , but troubled in conscience with the evil thereof , gave notable proof of his hearty repentance . in conclusion , solyman by an instrument conferred transylvania , lippa , and temeswar , to the queen and his pupil ; when he swore by god , mahomet , his own head and sword , that he would render buda to the young prince ; in which city he now placed solyman bassa for governour in his own right and title . the queen guided by the necessity of the times , or afraid to dispute the businesse , accepted of the conditions and quitted buda , ever since remaining in the turkish power , as the metrapolis of what they hold in hungary , where solyman gave audience to the counts of salms , & herbensteyn , ferdinand's ambassadors , of whom he insolently , demanded , that their master should presently yeild hungary to him as his benefactour , and pay him a tribute for austria . it was bootlesse to make any reply to ●uch a formidable neighbour , for that the hungarians being deceived with this ostentation and shew of their king , and by their own means disabled from resistance , were not to be considered or relyed upon . the policy of solyman being herein agreeable to that of other potentates ; who to dissolve the present state , pretend the interest of the natural and rightful princes , not that they should govern or have any authority ; but themselves having once gained the people by such arts , make not nice to retain them in subjection by the extremest rigour and violence , as having a pretended good right by their former voluntary complyance and addresse to their auxiliary arms. the losse of buda put all germany into a trepidation as apprehending the vicinity of the danger . at spire and ratisbone , two aids were readily decreed ; maurice the young duke of saxony , offering his service with some voluntier troops at his own charge and raising : perenyus had got together fifteen thousand hungarians ; and paul the third , sent three thousand men under the command of medigius afterward pope pius the fifth , and alexander vitellius . nor were ferdinand's forces of his own levying fewer in number ; ioachim of brandenburg being constituted generalissimo . this was in the year of our lord 1542. when solyman by his generals ulumas , amurath and others , timely opposed his arms. pesth was the first place of encounter , which vitellius , & sforza palavicinus having besieged by a stratagem of a sudden flight thence , the turks were brought by the ambuscadoes of perenyus , into an inclosure . here the turks desperation show'd its victorious effect , though repressed by maurice , and the courage of count nicholas serini's men ▪ pesth was hereupon reattempted , & upon the point of surrender when the germans failed vitellius ; and through the ill conduct , or faint-heartednesse of ioachim were upon their retreat and departure . perenyus was at the same time secured in neustria , as well for his present ambition upon the crown , as his former designs of revolting to the enemy . this enterprize upon pesth , solyman vowed to revenge ; to gratifie which , his chief commanders resolutely took in several towns , and among other prisoners upon surrender , at the delivery of nana , moreus the great bandit , who to save his life renounced his religion . other places , particularly valpone , bravely defended by michael archius against his said generals , he in person reduced , as he did also quinque ecclesiae or 5 kerchen , socklosiae , and strigonium ; although such was the presumptuous confidence of lascanus , and salamanca two spaniards , the governours thereof , that they defied the joynt force of both emperours armies , if engaged against the town ; but their brag and vapour was well recompensed by solyman , who kept his word of quarter for life , no more than they did their duty and courage . tata was next taken , and alba regalis , a very defensible place , as standing in a morasse , and sacred for the sepultures of the kings of hungary , which should have spirited the garrison ; but by the death of varcocius the governour and the firing of the suburbs , which against his advice were left standing to the enemies advantage , it came by storm & the pressing of the turks upon the christians flying out of the said suburbs into the city , into his hands : most of the souldiers escaped over the bogs : to the burghers he shewed himself a fair and benign conquerour : ; while ferdinand was employed among the marcomanni in raising of new levies , a too late remedy to the bad estate of his affairs . and as if this had been the destined period of the kingdome , mahomet iahiogli the bassa of buda , and ussan of strigonium , having distressed visigrade for want of water , took in that town with many other places , which tired out with the calamity of the war , received the turkish yoke , as did several places in illyria from ulamas enforced by the same bassa , and the rather for that ferdinand had displaced peter keglevitius the governour . in whose room count serini was deputed as bildensteyu for styria , both of whom at the plain of selnicia mee●ing with the van of the turks , had terms of a truce offered them , and agreed ; but ulumas coming in the very juncture , the enemy took heart and treacherously engaged them . serini fled to conscha , bildensteyn in danger of drowning in his flight , was preserved by the gallantry and valour of stephen balletitius . this losse was recompensed by the defeat of the garrison forces of strigonium , under cufates and nasuff their colonels , who having taken leva ( the castle being yet notably maintained by melchior balassi ) in the arrogance of their victory were set upon by nyari and put to the slaughter , a number of captives being thereby also redeemed out of their hands . yet by this never so unequal ballance of affairs , did ferdinand obtain a peace of solyman , being intent upon a more unjust design , byassed thereto by the court of rome : for he was now famous for the smalchaldick war , which he managed with great renown to his vertues , by which he highly obliged those persons that suffered by the council of trent's peremptory decrees , and had no open or avowed patron , but maurice the elector of saxony . that war ended , ferdinand held an assembly of the states at tyrnaw , memorable for no other thing then the prosecution of two noble out-lawes , who had licensed to themselves a power and authority of mischief by fortifying of advantagious places ; their names were matthias baso , who was taken at muranum by the count of salms ( who built the fortresse of szolnoc ) and beheaded , and balassi his son in law , who escaped into transylvania . and thither the next story leads us , for george monachus , the raised favourite of k. iohn perceiving how inconsiderable the queens and her sons interest was like to prove in that pent and precarious principality , had privily ingratiated himself with ferdinand , renouncing his master to the count of salms , and abjuring the turk before andrew bathori at opulia , a greater infidel & more perfideous himself . the queen and petrovitius his collegue were not ignorant of these his practises , but could not remedy them ; she therefore designed a journey into poland , which george put by ; but hasty of his enterprize , seized the treasury and plundered it , and forced away the queen from cibinium , having collogued the siculi and saxons to be of his party . to the nobles oposing themselves against this upstart , as a person of a most sordid extraction , mahomet bassa joyned his troops ; but he and his confederates were soon vanquished , and george thereby made paramount in the government , when by a temporary peace he settled all things in statu quo ; but diffiding and conscious of his demerits towards his pupil prince , made an agreement with ferdinand , who thereby drew a war upon himself , greater than the advantage of his present acquist . george was hereupon presently assisted by ioh. baptista castaldus , famous in the german war ; bathori the future vaivod , sirotinius , and nadasdi , and took in alba , but restored the q. her treasure and rich movables , whom szasz sebessius advised to quit the crown and transylvania , and to accept of opulia and an hundred thousand guilders in name of a dower ; which the queen not daring to refuse , neither having command of her person , her mind , or her kingdome , consented to ; and so the regal ensigns were by her delivered to castaldus , while petrovitius yeilded temeswar , lippa , and other towns , to the same prevailing enemy . solyman enraged at these proceedings , imprisoned ferdinands ambassadour at constantinople , and sent away an army under mahomet , beglerbeg of romania , vlumas , achomet and cassonus into transylvania , with orders to reinstate the queen and her son , but under colour of their assistance to reduce the kingdome and that province to his own obedience , who without any considerable opposition took in most of the towns between temesus and marusius , while george and castaldus with other commanders , kept their posts about varadin and those parts , although not inferiour to the enemy , by which means lippa through the inconstancy of the citizens , came into the turkish possession , vlumas being placed governour there : temeswar was likewise attempted but valiantly defended , for that george beseiged lippa , and st. demetrius day was at hand , beyond which usually the janizaries will not continue in the feild . at lippa a cardinals hat procured by ferdinand was presented to george , who by distressing vlumas for provision , and repressing his salleys , had brought him to a surrender , upon terms of free departure , which castaldus dissented from , gr●dging that george should arrogate the supreme command to himself : neverthelesse vlumas having had some private conference with george was dismist with those terms , whom balassi and horvar contrary to articles set upon in his way , but so ineffectually that vlamas made shift to bring his broken forces to adrianople to the provocation of solyman , whom george would by no means have so incensed : and hence castaldus weary of a competitor took occasion to inject suspicions into the head of ferdinand , that george held intelligence with the turk , for which reason it was concluded between them that he should be removed . to effect which , sforza palavicinus andreas lopez , marcus ferrarus , with other spaniards were appointed , marcus in the morning twilight , ( as george quartered at alwinez where he was underwriting some petitions of his souldiers ) rushing into his chamber , ran him through , when sforza with ten others seconded that wound , and with the points and edges of their swords made an end of him , crying upon the name of christ : a deserved end for the betrayer and deserter of his prince and pupill , from whose father he had received such benefits , although the assassinates themselves came after to very untimely ends . pope iulius heard this fact with very great indignation , although palliated with his defection , &c. nor would admit of those excuses , nor be pacified with bribes , made and issued from that estate which george had left , and of which the assassinates were possessed , the turk being in a readinesse for a war , michael toth imparted a design upon segedine to castaldus , who warned all the governours thereabouts to be assistant to the enterprize , which succeeded with good effect , the town being taken , and the castle standing upon its last defence by the resolution of hederbeg the governour , when the hayducks drunk with the excellent wines of syrmia and baronya with which the town abounded , were in their drunkennesse surprized by notice given to haly bassa of buda , by a pidgeon sent from heder , and all the heyducks put to the sword , the chief commanders who did all they could to prevent that excesse ( among whom was aldana governour of lippa , and berezus ) hereby escaping , in lieu of whom the turks light upon another party under nagy and ter●ock , ignorant of what had happened , and captivated them all , as they further enlarged this successe by the taking of vesprinium , delivered by michael ferreus ( the chief governour peteone being excluded by him ) after a mutiny of the garrison caused by his covetousnesse . at the same time elias ( son of peter ) vayvod of moldavia by these alps , invaded hungary , and fa●ling into the richest and luxuriant parts of the country , was packing up a very great spoil , when banfius and other noblemen surprized him , and stripped him of his booty . but a greater danger was feared from achomet , who took temeswar , lozoncius after a forward defence , by the discord of the germans , being forced to yeild it upon terms , which in remembrance of that perfidy used towards vlumas were not at all regarded , and the garrison put to the sword. twenty several other places were either taken or yeilded , which had been formerly in their possession , and all the tract of ground between temesus and chrysus niger , reduced to their obedience . lippa also , although aldana the governour had boasted of the strength of the place , and his own resolution , was out of fear fired by himself , for which he had lost his head , but for the intercession of mary the empresse . dregelum was also taken , though so nobly defended by sondius , that they gave his dead body most honourable sepulchre . not to mention many other places , among the rest salgon , by a stratagem of a great log from the next hill , which the garrison were made believe for a great gun , so that it was with the turks the same thing to come and to conquer . at length erasmus theuffelus and sforza pallavicinus newly returned out of italy with 10000. men , opposed themselves to this torrent , but by their hastinesse and impatience in not staying for the nobility at fileek , and all the elements conspiring their ruin ( their powder and ammunition being blown up at palastus ) they were beaten out of their camp , and both generalls taken prisoners , theuffelus denying himself was sowed in a sack and drowned afterwards in the thracian bosphorus , and sforza ransomed with 15000. crowns , the other captives being set at so cheap a rate , that a german was sold for a peck of barley . szolnock was next attaqued by haly and achomet , and notwithstanding either the promises or threats of laurentius nyari delivered to them by the faint hearted garrison . thence the enemy with a hundred and twenty five thousand men came before agria , wherein were governours dobo and neskeyus , who had in vain implored aid and supplies from the emperour , assisted by some noblemen and 2000. souldiers . it was a sharp and daring seige of both sides , the defendants in a bravery opening the bolikian gate and there after a fierce encounter slaying 3000. turks , which courage of theirs so disheartned achomet that having lost 12000. great shot against the town he broke up from before it , duke maurice ferdinands general having spent a whole summer in his station near raab , without any thing of moment effected against the enemy . the messengers of this successe at agria were richly rewarded , and dobo made prefect of transylvania , nekessius by an untimely and ungratefull accident was killed in a rustick tumult by an axe . ferdinand notwithstanding more afraid of fortune then desirous of conquest , preferred peace , to which purpose he commissioned antony veranczius , and francis zayus to the port , by whose means malvezius the former ambassadour was set at liberty , but he survived it not long , dying in his journey back again thither with a new commission . in his place augerius gislenius busbequius was substituted , but nothing more then a truce of six months could be obtained . the war being therefore continued , it was the good fortune as the valour of count nicholas serinus ( zrynyi by the hungarians ) to defeat vlumas and amurath of clissa by toploczia , who bearing up from this discomfiture plundered and spoiled several towns at their retreat ; while hameza the governour of sezeserinum by a surprize gained filek . busbequius was now returned re infecta from constantinople , without that ferdinand would relinquish transylvania ; and alys a chiaux being sent to bathori the vayvod , commanded him to expell the germans , a new prince of hungary to be chosen , or the queen restored ; to which demands bathori by the connivence of castaldus answered by the promise of a tribute in the name of the states , but for their wresting places out of the hands of those that had them in possession it was not in their power . hereupon aly bassa formerly governour of buda , but now prime vizier , beseiged sigeth most nobly even to admiration defended by stansitius , and preferved by a diversion given the enemy by the palatine nada●di who beseiged some towns of the enemy which toygon of buda had taken from the heyducks , enemies to both parties . aly thus necessitated to rise from zigeth passed the rinnia and came to meet nadasdi , but by the valour of serini and polbaylerus and the auxiliary's of telekessius and ruberius , and which is the main , the prudence and conduct of the generall , he was totally routed : when the palatine suspecting reinforcement of the enemy or contenting himself with the rescue of zigeth , returned to chorgond , where he joyned his forces with young ferdinand , who had obtained leave of his father to make tryall of his first arms in this war. the same hereof bred so great terrour among the turks , it being also rumoured that the christians overspread the whole plain , that aly bassa was preparing for a flight , having with all earnestnesse summoned mahomet the beglerbeg of romania to his assistance , but when upon nadasdi's retreat , it was conceived that he fled , aly returned to his seige of zigeth , but with worse fortune ; losing 10 thousand men in the trenches , the fruit of his vain contempt of the christians . his departure young ferdinand by the advice of nadasdi suffered without any molestation , employing his army to the reduction of corone , and afterwards burnt down graeco-galla , st. martins and many other places , in which the avarice of the germans was so prodigious , that they searched the very entrayls of their enemy's for gold , which they supposed they might have swallowed . but affairs went not on so prosperously in transylvania , by reason of the misunderstanding between dobo and kendius the governours thereof , ( for castaldus either foreseeing the mischief or being called away by charles the fift had quitted that command ) dobo was constant to the king , kendi enclined to isabel and out of that respect and fear of the turks power alwayes impending , with a great party publiquely rebelled , and called in the queen ( who pretended to be unsatisfied of her agreement made with ferdinand ) out of poland , as he did likewise move solyman for assistance who , commanded cassonus and the vayvod of moldavia to that service ; but such was the diligence of dobo and his partisans tahy and zaberdini that the confederates were glad to sue for a 15. dayes truce at the expiration whereof upon pardon they rendred themselves : but their inconstancy upon the next advantage , under new pretences engaged them in the same designes ; for upon the departure of the imperial forces , kendi and balassi call in the queen , and now their businesse was ripe for execution : for huztum was at last yeilded to andrew bathory , as varadinum at the command of ferdinand , being wearied out with these troubles , with tockay by the revolt of francis nemeth to isabel , were likewise delivered ; and now the rebellion was so far spread , that it was high time for ferdinand to apply some excellent hand to the government , but the persons he named to it , proved very insufficient by their personall evils . during this dispute it proved dobo's hard fortune , when things were past remedy , to be seized ( at such time as he had news of his brothers captivity by , the turks , as calamity seldome comes alone ) by perenyi , with whom he had a controversie about the dignity of the crown keeper , in which restraint he was hardly used , to a very just but most envious imputation upon the faith of isabel , who had engaged for his liberty . these losses were a little alleviated by the good conduct of emerius telekessius deputed in the place of puchamus the former governour , who reduced many places , and maintained others against isabel standing near the tibiscus , but all was to no other effect then by those struglings to strengthen the common enemy against their country . for though the enemies effort in this juncture was distant as far as illyria , yet had it the better and facile execution , and although revenged at last by erd●edius the successour of serini to the government ; yet did it not any what allay those feuds at home , whereby tata was gained by hameza by stratagem , and komora , and austria exposed to their armes . the princes of germany were therefore prayed to assist ferdinand , who agreed to a double aid , the levying of forty eight thousand men , who by the turks cunning mention of a peace presently to be concluded , squandred away a whole summers time in their quarters , at raab to the great burden of those whom they came to releive , and did nothing worthy the noise of the very preparation . transylvania altogether as unhappy , now groaned under the oppression of its own princesse . bebecus her great friend and councellor was now delegated to solyman at constantinople , by whom he was favourably received , and honoured with the title of governour ; and the moldavian , and valachian vayvods subjected to him ; by which his power became suspect to the queen , as upon this account also , for that petrovitius and others , would have the young prince conveyed to varadin an university ( cambray the french ambassador urging the motion ) for that it would be dangerous to breed him to the distaff , lest effeminacy and luxury should corrupt his manners . hereupon the queen troubled , consulted with nisovius a polonian , to put the noble men to death , which was agreed on : petrovitius escaped a violent ( by hasting to a sudden and natural ) end , having named the queen and her son , his heirs . but bebecus , francis , and antonius kendy , who had stickled so much for her interest and party , payed for their fondnesse with the losse of their lives , their executioners being prepared by balassius , who for this service was invested with the supreme power of the army ; so sad and calamitous was the face and state of this principality . soon after died isabel , & ioh. sigism . her son endevoured the procuring of a peace , but his ambassadors taunting oration , wherein they said that the king of hungary , meaning iohn , desired but the bounds of the river tibisous , ( denoting no more then transylvania ) frustrated that impertinent solicitation ; and in the mean while balassius ( who in divers encounters had received some brushes from telekessius , and had incurred the hatred of transylvania ) with the money received for the payment of the army , ran away to caesar , bringing over with him sacmar , rivulinum , and other towns ; with the person and interests of nicholas bathori . iohn made complaints of this to the port , that peace was pretended while war was prosecuted ; but by the sagacity and diligence of busbequius his addresse and intrigues was dismist without remedy . not to mention the war in moldavia betwixt iacob heraclides , alexander , visnovecsius , and thomsa , competitors for that vayvodship , wherein both iohn , and ferdinand , and solyman were concerned , for that it would be too large a digression . the affairs of iohn grew worse and worse , for that solyman had consented to an eight years truce , after almost as many years solicitation . stephen bathori yet stuck firm to his part , with francis nemethi , who now joyntly besieged hadad , the town belonging to one sulyoccus , a noble man designing the part of ferdinand ; zayius and balassi came to the releif of it , when bathori advised against any encounter ; but nemethi disdaining the name of a coward would needs perswade him ; though to the losse of the whole army , 24 great guns , with a camp excellently stored , and fifty three ensigns , being taken from the transylvanians : the subjects whereof awaiting the event of this battel took advice of fortune . the whole province was now in trepidation , and their security designed in poland , whither iohn sigismund was upon his departure , had not christopher bathori comforted him with the hopes of the turks assiastnce , by whom he might one day gain hungary also . accordingly ibrahim bassa of buda , and malchoczius of temeswar , came with forces and freed nemethum of the siege , but not from the fire which the south wind blew crosse the water to the other part of the town . at the same time zajus having carried away all the spoil and what was worth any thing set fire to zacmar which neverthelesse defended it self against the turks by the obstinacy of balassi shut up therein ; whose brother iohn coming to his releif with a thousand men , hasanes beg so suddenly routed , as putting his hopes of carrying the town in this exploit , that of the one side it would have been judged there were no other than beasts , as on the other side none but men. not to passe by the insolence of arslanes governour of posega in illyria for the turks , who having plundred all about monozlone , had now pitch'd his silk and golden tents under the soft murmur of the confluents , & as if the enemy were to be vanquished by his pleasures , was now diverting himself in all manner of luxury , when serini a●d tahi fell upon him , and without any difficulty took his tent furnished rather for entertainment than fight , and divided it among their souldiers . so that this civil conflagration , and the intermedling of the turks , had already ruined the people ; in the feilds was vastitude , in the camp want and penury , and the minds of men by their habitude to war , brutalized and transformed into savage principles . a peace therefore as the only and last remedy to this perishing state , was procured by busbequius , at the rate of the yearly tribute of thirty thousand pound : while ferdinand caused his son maximilian to be crowned king of bohemia , and elected emperour , to confirm that dignity in his family , as he did of hungary likewise ; the vanity of which solemnity ibrahim solyman's ambassador beheld and derided , as a prince vassaliz'd and engaged to his master and deprived of so much of his dominions , although the pomp was no way equal to the former triumphs on that occasion . at this inaugauration the hungarians were highly discontented that a palatine was not first created according to custome , a●d that the germans were not dismissed out of the kingdome ▪ but in vain : as was also the neer conclusion of a peace by the embassy of stephen bathori from iohn to ferdinand , the young man being perswaded by bad council , to continue the war in transylvania , the issue whereof was very unprosperous . and now died ferdinand of a consumptive feaver . a prince of a very singular modesty , justice , and tendernesse , having rescinded all the edicts of charles the fifth , against the protestants , and decreed to them liberty of conscience . his unhappinesse in war was rather imputable to the vast power of his enemies and the inconstancy of his own subjects , than his own insufficiencies , the lesse observable , from the vertues and imperial endowments of his son and successour maximilian in his kingdomes and the german empire , which he adorned with his justice and constant tenour of life as much as any of his predecessors in that dignity . nor was he lesse studious of the peace and tranquility of his realms , agreeing to the continuation of it at the instance of sabanus the envoy of solyman intent upon another war ; but iohn disturbed this serenity by his arms in transylvania , stephen bathori alluring the zacmarians to his side , while he himself recovered hadad , bathor , and st. martin and forced other places to condition for a truce of sixty dayes , as zayus and balassius being too weak to encounter him were mustering at cassovia , where they had been surprized and supprest by iohn , but for a storm of rain which hindred any possibility of marching , and sunk his carriages . maximilian being informed of his power , dispatcht away lazrus suendius and andrew bathori to oppose him , valuing the reputation of his first enterprize as of great moment to his future actions : and at the same time sent ambassadors with presents to solyman . suendius by the advantage of the ice , took toacky surrounded like a peninsula , by the confluence of the tybiscus and bodrogh ; sacmar submitted it self as erdoedium yeilded ; the like did szerenczium , and rivulinum to balassius , for that no releif was to be had from the turks , solyman being engaged by sea at the seige of malta , with a fleet of 205 sail. in fine by the humble instances of bathori somlianus and nisovius , suendius , was intreated to a peace , but with very hard conditions . iohn to content himself with the county of bihor , and to quit his pretences to the regal title , and to yeild munkacksum and marmorussa . in sclavonia , mustapha the bassa of bosnia , having taken crupa in sight , and to the ignominy of auspurgerus , who dared not to encounter him , proceeded and stormed novia , and was thence prosecuting his fortune with fifteen thousand men , when petrus erdaedius but with fifteen hundred so lustily accosted him , that he put him to the rout , and slew the turks like so many sheep . nor did the peace in hungary stand firm and inviolable , for hidajetes a new envoy or chiaux solyman , had demanded tockay to be restored to iohn , by which encouragement bekessius and george bebecus ( the son of him that was put to death by isabel , who flying to ferdinand was intercepted by the turks , and begged of solyman by iohn , whom as his benefactour he was obliged to serve ) confer counsels and contrive a war ; so that the conclusion made between suendius , somlianus , and cracsianerus of poland ( who negotiated the accomodation by his kings order ) although ratified , took not its effect : somlianus ( for his prevarication with iohn ) in that treaty , being committed to custody . the war being commenced , the bassa of buda , and hasan beg of fueleck , assisted the transylvanian , who recovered ieneon , desvium , vilagosvarum , pancota , and lastly , after a difficult siege , the strong town of zacmar ; upon the surrender whereof , hasanes enraged for the losse of curtus his major slain during the seige , commanded the garrison to be put the sword , after articles of life and liberty . swendius although equal to the enemy yet delayed engagement , proffered by hasanes , knowing a new treaty was managed at vienna , which new stated the agreement , viz. iohn to have all places taken from him restored , and to be honoured with some present from the emperour . but caesar forbearing the the restitution of tockay , and lingering in other points to be performed on his part , solyman now 80 years old , undertook his last expedition into hungary , and when disswaded thereto by albert vicius , and hoszutothius , maximilian's ambassadors , alleadging there was no mischief intended by their masters delay , he answered in a juvenile heat , that the end of his life was measured out to him , not by his length of years , but the extent of dominion . he was now arrived at belgrade ( where the news of the defeat of arslanes and his dislodgement from the siege of palotta by thurn , met him ) and there gave reception to iohn sigismund , having fetcht him from the other side of the danow in his own barge , and presented him with a stately horse , richly set out , on which he was brought through his guard of ianizaries to his own person ; sigismund himself had the honour of his right hand joyned with his , the rest of his train kissed solyman's knee or the hem of his vest. after some discourse and thanks rendred for his many kindnesses , and his aid and assistance anew implored against the germans , he drew out a petitionary paper containing the oath that solyman had took concerning the redelivery of buda , betwixt hope and fear of what would ensue such an addresse . but such was the generous freedome and clearnesse of solyman's nature , that to rid him of the anxiety he presently commanded his vizier mahomet to conforme in all things with the desire and request of his beneficiary . but mahomet taxing the ingratitude of iohn , upbraiding him with his own tendernesse , as having been more a father to him than solyman , and taking it in scorn that he should keep equal state with him before company , so wrought upon solyman by setting before him how many musselmens lives his quarrel and that place had cost him ; and that it was against the law of mahomet to yeild it to the christians ; that not onely the city was not rendred to him , but he dismist with a prohibition of any further speech or sight of the grand seigniour . at the same time portau bassa took gyula which ladislaus kereczsenius for a while resolutely defended ; but being corrupted by the enemy against the advice and intimation given him of the necessity of the turks departure , by stephen bathori , delivered it upon terms , which the perfidious enemy observed not , how ever by the favour of the night , and the reeds growing thereabouts , some few escaped . he himself , as a just reward for his treason , was by the command of the sultan , rolled down a hill in a barrel stuck full with nails . whos 's first attaque was upon the town of sigeth , wherein was governour count nicholas serini , with two thousand five hundred men ; an incompetent number to the defence of the place , which diverted the storm from agria ( at a town neer to which called soklos the bassa of bosnia had been slain ) upon it self . all military experiments were practised in this seige , the continual discharge of the cannons so rarefying the air , that the noyse of the leagure was heard as far as canisa . aly portau the general of the ordinance doing the part of a valourous and skilful commander , as well by diverting the course of the river , as bringing his men in person to the breaches . nor was serini lesse active and couragious filling the grafts with the slaughtered carcasses of the enemy ; from the shame whereof arose indignation and resentment of their losse , by which both towns the old and the new were taken and sacked . aly portau surviving not that effort , committed the prosecution of the castle to seysedin bassa now destitute of provision and wanting men the few defendants being tired out with constant duty . three dayes before the castle fell into the hands of the turk died solyman , labouring with an anxious expectation of its reduction , and wearied with old age , made more irksome by a pain in his leg and accelerated by the flux . his death was concealed by the policy of mah●met , until selym his son should be seated in the imperial throne , and several menacing edicts fainedly given out to make the turks desperate in the next assault ; when serini being disabled to hold out longer , opening the gates and encouraging his souldiers to die with him ( having put on a rich sute with a hundred peices of gold in his pocket , the reward of him that should kill him ) sallyed out with fury upon the enemy , and died nobly revenged in the midst of them , having slain during the siege no lesse than twenty some say thirty thousand men . the head of this famous person , was made a publique spectacle one whole day ; and the next by mustapha bassa of buda sent to the count of salms , and interred at csaktornya , but by the imperial army in veneration of his great and admirable actions solemnly attended to abdua , and there deposited . the said army , consisting with the aydes of the empire , of 25 thousand horse , and 80 thousand foot , paid chiefly with the money of pope pius the 5th . lay encamped about raab ( where a sad fire happened about this time ) not offering to stir to the relief of sigeth , nor to the suppression of iohn sigismond who aided with a great body of tartars ( his own army amounting to 15000 men ) had ruined the ter●itories of patach munkacks , and bereckshez , sparing neither age nor sex. tockay was defended against him by the valour of iacob ranuger , and matthias calvasius ; the same tartars continued this their ravage of both sides the tibiscus to the county of bodroch and samosch , intending the like upon ●ihor , to such a desolation of the country , that iohn afflicted with the sight of it , when he could neither regain the captives nor perswade them to desist their cruelty , near to debreczinum gave them battel , and victoriously freed his people of these locusts and destroyers ; as , while maximilian retired to vienna having fortified canisa , and thereafter disbanded his army , mahomet took in babozza , and with the honour of the campania retired to belgrade , having met selymus , in his return , at valkovar , who followed his fathers corps ( meanly attended in sign of humane frailty ) to constantinople , where it was interred in a most magnificent mosque built by himself in his life time . the war in transylvania was yet maintained betwixt maximilian and iohn by their generals swendius , and bebecus , who being inferiour in strength to swendius thought by pretences of his revolt to the emperour to gain time , but the sagacity of swendius disappointed his plot , several towns being taken from iohn by seige during this intrigue which we may not here enumerate ; iohn therefore joyned his army with hasan bassa of temeswar , who turned the scale of fortune and retook as many places , but in the midst of this successefull progesse he was violently afflicted with an arthritical distemper , which like a civil war in his microcosme imperseded his bent to the prosecution of his quarrel : nor did hasan at his departure meet with better luck at his arrival at dedesla , in the plunder whereof , his powder took fire and blew up 400 turks into the air : by this means all parties were willing to a composure , which caesar ( the equallest esteemer of fortune , as preferring the commendation of his humanity , before the pleasure of revenge ) had by his ambassadors veranczius and tieffenbach effected at the port , selym being intent upon the conquest of cyprus . it was now the year 1567. when this outward peace was blemished with a foul and most nefarious design against the life of max●milian , with the seizure of hungary , by dobo and balassius ( men highly obliged to him , and who had done him also many signal services ) at the instigation of iohn sigismund but motioned to them by george boscay . it was discovered by george rakoczi , and ruberus by the divine peculiar protection of kings : of this treason they were both by a publick solemn tryal convicted and left to the disposall of caesar , who ( although bal●ssius broke prison and incited the turks to new troubles , adding wickednesse to wickednesse ) pardoned them both with admirable clemency . so that neither way of open war , nor close treachery advantaging iohn , he ran into an extreme hardly suppo●able , clapping up an offensive and defensive league against the turk , and to be managed as caesar should upon occasion direct , thereby renouncing to the friendship protection and favour he had received all along from the ottoman family , which caused divers discourses and reflections upon him , ( but to be a christian or not a christian is of no concernment to the law of nations ) although maximilian at the same time being urged by the venetians and the pope to joyn with them in their league a while before the battel of lepanto ( when the turk lost 250 sail of ships and galleys , and 25000 men , vluzales dexterously escaping with 30 , and afterwards by his fabian delayes , restored their naval power ) most religiously refused . by this peace it was concluded that iohn should enjoy with the title of most serene prince of transylvania , the provinces of bihor , carasna , marmarosse , and the exteriour szolnoc , to have the same friends and enemies with caesar , selymus to be held in amity , and this treaty to be concealed ; but if it should happen that iohn should be expelled by the turks out of transylvania , he should then be invested in opulia ; all former differences to be put in oblivion and himself to be under the clientele of maximilian . with the confirmation hereof bekessius was sent to the emperour , where understanding by blaudrata that iohn could not live long , he designed the government to himself , delaying the ratification by pretences of his indisposition and grief ( and thereby his incapacity ) for the languishing condition of his prince ; who being a batchelor , and disappointed of the marriage of ioan daughter of albert of bavaria , added that grief to his other distempers ; which having horribly tortured him 54 dayes together brought him to his death at georgyen , and was the last accumulation of the ruines of this family . a man of a sharp and quick spirit , but infected with the company of sordid and base people of both sexes , and thereby prone to all vices , but of all those his contempt of religion , was the greatest and most notorious . by his death bekessius took courage to pursue his ambitious designs , relying on the turk , and his interest in the souldiery , but selymus with the good liking of caesar also , having preferred stephen bathori , a man famous both for war and peace to that principality ; bekessius mad with rage and shame , that he should be deceived in the opinion he cherished of the souldiery ( which he had boasted abroad ) who concurred with fortune against him , posted to fogarasse and there laid up and secured iohn's treasure , endevouring all wayes and means to raise enemies against stephen ; but the troubles of mollavia by another change of their vayvods deferred the publick eruption of the intended hostility in which interval happened this phanatick story . one gregory carachondius of rivulinum , sirnamed black from the event of his exploit , under the specious vail of sanctity and pretence of revelations had inveigled the vulgar in the head that god would by him expell the turk out of hungary , hereupon having collected a rabble of 5000 men , ( who admired him not only for his spirit of prophesie , but his strength of arm , by which he would streighten a horse-shooe ) he marched to the seige of miklosum , where he said it was revealed him that either the walls would fall down of themselves , or the turks be b●rnt by fire from heaven , which the turks counterfeiting by setting fire to bundles of straw and reeds about the castle , these mad fellowes took it for fulfilling of his praediction , but when they perceived near at hand , that the walls and castle stood , they drew off very melancholly , and were in that mood set upon by sazvares governour of szolnoc and miserably slaughtered : notwithstanding their captain would not desist , but pretending this losse to have happened for their sins , he laid seige to zolnoc , where he was disappointed in the same manner ; from thence to debreczinum where for contempt of his authority , he commanded the mayor to be hanged , but a tumult preventing the execution , he was taken by the multitude and his head chopt off , and shewed for a spectacle of whimsicall ambition . yet was even this wild fellowes death ( such the madnesse of the infected herd ) endevoured to be revenged though after a short politique connivence suppressed by nicholas bathori . the like scene almost was acted in illyria by the boors there , who rebelled against the nobility and gentry , who had held them indeed in very hard servitude ; their number was ten thousand , who proclaimed one matthew geubecz for the king , and unmercifully handled their former masters , tearing like dogs those that resisted them . but 800 men easily routed them . and their k. being taken , had his flesh pulled off with burning pincers , and a red hot iron crown put upon his head , expiating by that regall embleme his affront to the regall dignity . maximilian was now intent upon gaining the good will and favour of the estates towards the settling his family in the supreme power , having in his own sight caused his son rudolph to be crowned king at presburgh , notwithstanding that the burghers generally grudged that the germans were not removed out of the kingdome , nor a palatine created according to custome , besides that their liberties were infringed , &c. which inflamed at last into tumults and uproars . nor was stephen bathori's government quiet or composed , for bekessius neither reducible by his menacing edicts , nor the intreaties and perswasions of the nobility , was now beseiged in fogarasse , which being ill manned , he privately upon a swift asian horse escaped to caesar , the castle was after delivered by paul giula afterwards secretary to stephen , and with it all the treasure bekessius had hoarded , fortune and prudence deserting him together , for while he coveted titles beyond his reach , he lost an ample estate , in his power to have preserved it . amurath the 3d. succeeded selymus in the ottoman throne , having seen five of his brothers strangled in his presence , but more humanely inclined to a peace with christendom , as being by dream admonished to a war against the heretique persians . this tranquility stirs in poland succeeded ; for charles the ninth of france , dying , his brother henry newly made king of poland , withdrew suddenly thence , and left the poles in an interregnum and vacancy , as after they decreed at warsaw , but could not agree about the successour . the competitors were caesar , iohn of sweden , and ivan vasilowich duke of mosco , for as yet stephen bathori minded not the matter , thinking it above his reach ; but samuel sborovius then in exile in transylvania , for the slaughter of vapovius castellan of primislaw , having every where proclaimed the worth of the person , drew peter sborovius then palatine of cracovia , to his opinion ; stephen by their counsel therefore put in his name and stood for the election , by an unusual felicity being in a short time a baron , prince , and king. nor was he unworthy of his advancement . to detain him in transylvania , caesar commissioned bekessius to attempt it , who came with such sudden secrecy as far as radnot , that bathori knew not of an enemy , although in the middle of his principality , and had been easily conquered if bekessius had not lost by delayes what he had gained by his good speed ; for while he argued with bathori about articles of a new agreement , the form where of bathori , thus surprized , desired to be mended and mitigated onely , he called in mahomet the governour of lippa with his forces to his assistance , with which couragiously he vanquished bekessius . the hungarian prisoners he released freely , but his transylvanian rebels were thralled to the turks . such the calamity of victory , even when it favours good men , whose natural clemency it perverts by its revenge . bathori departing for poland , quitted transylvania to his brother christopher , having married neer this time with anne the daughter of sigismund augustus his late predecessour in that kingdome , whither bekessius ( fled from his discomfiture to scepusium ) with an admired confidence soon after followed , and in a prostrate manner addressed himself to the king , whose generosity not only forgave him , the most implacable of all his enemies , but preferred him to the command of the hungarian forces then serving him against the dantzickers quarrelling for their priviledges , and the muscovites , against both whom he was very successful , driving the last of the two out of livonia . in the mean time a quarrel and rupture happened betwixt the turks and the emperour about certain prisoners taken by a stratagem of balassi , in revenge whereof , aly beg of alba , seized several towns belonging to balassi ; and though istuanfi the emperors agent would have perswaded the bassa of buda that the league was still in force and those particular actions not to be construed as a breach thereof , yet the turks prone to a new war , invaded illyria and brought a great calamity upon it , defeating auspergerus the emperour 's general with all his army neer radonia , and after took in and burnt businium czasium , suacicium , and szrinyum , as he had before seized topusca , bonitium , and all the places between the rivers of colapis , dobra , and meresnicia . this year 1576. died maximilian the emperour , worthily renowned to posterity for his moderation and justice , to whose supreme greatness , nothing was wanting but fortune . although he was very constant to the religion of his ancestors , yet was he not therefore severe to the protestants , as requiring piety onely : that speech of his to the bishop of olomucza leing very memorable , that christian religion teacheth rather to suffer killing , than to kill ; and that it is a grievous impiety to lord it over mens consciences , which is the same insolence as to invade heaven . rudolphus the second of that name emperour , succeeded his father to a troublesome and more unquiet government ; for the turks playing fast and loose with the late treaty of peace , had made an irruption into sclavonia , and taken gonsdansc in sclavonia , and spoyled their silver mines , and had opened a way for their excursions into carniola . to stop which danger lest his patience might embolden the enemy , rudolphus dispatcht away his uncle charles to that government ( as he did delegate his brother ernestus to the care of hungary ) while he intended some respite from businesse in bohemia . this viceroyship the hungarians highly stomached , requiring their election of a palatine , and their lawes , and inveighing against the intrusion of this new example . charles being arrived in illyria , quietly reduced all the places taken three years before by ferhates of bosnia , and founded carolostad in memory of his victorys ; the like successe had battyani against aly beg of sygeth , who designing to disturbe his fortifications at barcai in the very nick of the atchievement of his design , was by the policy of battyani encouraging his flying souldiers with the shout of the enemy runs , wrested out of a compleat triumph and made a sacrifice to the vindictive sword. the same event attended scanderbeg the son of the famous ulumas governour of posega , by whose overthrow illyria was reduced in a manner to rudolphus . and as if fate had treasured up her wrath against the turk for this time , sasvares the sanjack of szolnoc , thinking to have trapt colonitz and bathori , was caught himself ; for having surrounded the christians and opprest them with multitudes , even to desperation of any escape , just as they were yeilding to the sword of the enemy , came in to their rescue rajbicius sent from andrew barbelius the governour of agria , who flanking the turks with his musqueteers hem'd in three hundred of them and slew them , and took prisoners four hundred more , with thirteen ensigns ; which indignity sasvares proudly resenting as dishonourable for a musselman to be beaten by a christian , revengefully burnt and levelled several towns , and with a full prey was returning home when serinus and raibicius gave him the second course of the same entertainment , he himself stript of his vainglorious humour disguised in a horse-rubbers habit hardly escaping to tybiscus . the news of this overthrow was soon carried to constantinople , whereat sinan bassa the prime vizier , was transported into a most violent rage , encreased by another defeat given to ferhates bassa of bosnia , who with nine thousand men invading carniola , had been pitifully overthrown by the count of thurn & erdoedius falling on his reer , and with the losse of four men , killing four thousand : but these objections at the port ( as being done by way of reprizal and defence , the tucks being taken out of their bounds w●th christian booty ) paulus eyzingarus and henry lichtensteyn the emperours ambassadours so solved and satisfied , that amurath declared that they suffered in their own wrong , nor would he support them therein , to the disturbance of the peace . soon after dyed christopher bathori prince of transylvania , who had enjoyed his government the quiettest of all his predecessors , leaving his young son sigismund to his brother stephen , who committed him to the tuition of three noblemen , but they rivalling the power thereof to the detriment of the publique good , the governance of the prince was conferred upon iohn geczi the provost of varadin , a person eminent for his wisdome and integrity of life : at which time an epidemicall disease raged gradually through all the parts of europe , and in the month of september infested germany and hungary , it was called the morbus vervecinus , for that like sheep , the diseased were seized with a cold and a cough , there were also several earthquakes at presburgh , vienna , and zagrabia . at bihigium in chroatia in the middle of the night , a multitude of ducks and geese fought in the air , and next morning some thousands of them were found slain with mutuall wounds upon the grounds , affording plenty of good chear to the inhabitants . these portents signified the frequency of military actions ; hasan governour of sigeth depopulated all that hitherto untouch'd plat of territory , lying between the river mura and dravus , and through the easie pursuit of count serinus escaped with a great booty over the arrhabon to his garrison . palfi requited this by counter-designing against isaac of alba , whom missing in the dark , by day break he found and put to the rout . nadasdi , speciacassus , hussarus , and others took coppanum from the turks , and puft up with the fortune of the atchievement would needs beseige bnda , driving the cattell away from about the town , but ferhates now bassa of buda , so repayed their arrogance , that with the losse of 22 ensignes , they fled for their lives . but a greater war impended out of poland , stephen bathori being deceased , equally lamented by the poles and transylvanians ; for the sborovian faction , whom stephen for their crimes had depressed , ( although his raisers ) had deprived iohn samoiscius ( who had married grisel the kinswoman of stephen ) of his chancellorship in that kingdome . at the next diet there appeared these competitors , piestas , one of the nobles , theodor duke of musco , maximilian the brother of caesar , sigismund son of iohn the third king of sweden , and the son of the tartar cham , who pretended his power and sufficiency of defending poland , his frugality and continence ; as to religion , their pope should be his pope , their luther his luther . in fine , sigismund by the endevour and interest of samoyscius carried it from them all , the sborovians labouring for maximilian , the lithuanians contrarily proposing the decision might be by lot ; but the sborovians would by no means consent to it . in the mean while zamoyschus aided by iohn geczi out of transylvania took cracovia and therein the regalia ; and lighting upon maximilian at clepardia , with the slaughter of a thousand , and three hundred prisoners , made him run to bicini , where being in vain perswaded to a safer refuge he was besieged and taken and custoded in rodlone ; his brother a most unactive prince regarding neither his honour nor the danger . the pope was therefore intreated to take the cause into his hands by his nuncio aldobrandinus afterwards clement the eighth , who so managed the businesse , that maximilian for his liberty with the further ransome of fourty thousand dollars , quitted his pretences to that crown , to which by the vanity of sborovius and stanislans , he had been a year so fondly wedded . to return to sazvares the busie governour of zigeth , now upon another excursion between the rivers mur and cernicia , where he ravaged with such insolence , that his officers suspecting his interception by some ambush or engagement , advised him to some private way of retreat , which he resecting and vapouring that he would face serini before his garrison of canysa , was encompassed at paulinum by the conjoyned forces of nadasdi trautmansdorff , battyani , and serini , and there with the slaughter of two thousand , and as many prisoners put to flight , he himself difficulty escaping , and respiting a death by the honour of the sword to a glasse of poyson , which to prevent strangling at constantinople , he took in his way thither , as he was commanded by the grand seigniour . the same fate besel ferhates bassa of buda , who having raised the contribution of the county to excessive rates , thereby to satisfie his rapine , and over and above to bribe out his oppression , which the poor peasants were unable to pay , was in his forcible levying of it ( though accompanyed with twelve thousand men ) totally routed by two thousand five hundred hungarians , under the command of sigismund racockzi , stephen homonai and other , between hernad and barsonyos , two thousand killed and four hundred taken , with the losse of six hundred . this defeat cost ferhates his life , the just price of his too eager covetousnesse , as the victory ascribed to the hungarians was particularly referred to those liberties and priviledges they lately enjoyed by the concession of rudolph at a late diet sometime before held in presburgh . but these were but pastime velitations and praeludia to the open war which ensued , ●or sinan & osman bassa having after many ill successes and losses especially in the late fight at masul in persia , concluded a peace with mahomet hodaband the king thereof , sought to peice up in the west what was diminished from their empire in the east , by transferring the war into europe , on which sinan was so resolutely bent , that to remove all opposition , he caused the mufti zealously inclined against the persian , to be poysoned ata banquet ; and hasanes of bosnia was ordered to seek an occasion of the rupture , which he expiated with his own life . the dance was begun by him in illyria , where between czisium and ivanicia , he committed terrible spoil , and took-several towns ; but upon his retreat to gradisca , labohatius , and michael szekely , set upon a regiment newly passed the river colapis , and cut it off in the view of hasanes , who durst not make to their relief . in the same havocking manner , hasanes surnamed the little , the governour of sigeth , took kiskamaromum by a sudden scalado , while the other mad with revenge , and assisted by rustan and erdeogli , encamping near colapis , took ranovicia and gara , and founded petrinia by a river of that name , which he afterwards finished . he stormed siscia , but was beaten off by the valour of n●cholas micacius , who incensed him yet further by a stratagem , for pretending a rendition of the town , he received by articles five hundred turks who were to take possession , all of whom he put to the sword. all these outrages did erdoedius the emperours governour , bear with till now , when taking arms he reduced monozlone , and hence occasion was taken by the turks to declare a war. for amurath being of himself sufficiently exasperated , was more enflamed by sinan , and therefore commands were sent away to hasanes to provide that the grand seigniours provinces received no damage , and if any were offered , to revenge it ; hereupon he besieged and took * bihigi●m , and by private wayes making towards erdoedius , surprized him , in his expectation of supply and assistance , with his camp and great guns . this losse charles the uncle of rudolph , the next governour no way remedied , things growing worse and worse every day in that province , no lesse then five thousand christians being trodden down & surcharged by numbers neer petrinia ; sciscia was the second and third time attempted by hasanes , such his thirst of revenge and the arrogance of his mind , with a battery of 24 great guns . when fortune changed her countenance , for although the abundance of rain that fell of a sudden saved him the first of these times from an engagement by palfi and nadasdi , which was attributed to his conduct , yet the next bout he escaped not so , for having newly passed colapis and arrived at selinum , erdoedius with other of the nobility , and 8000 men , fell couragiously on him and shamefully vanquished him , 12000 turks being slain ( so that ordera and colapis were discoloured with blood ) among whom was mahomet the ●on of a sister of amuraths ( whose death at her solicitation did not a little put forward the intended expedition ) many spahi , officers , and men of note . hasan himself thinking to have escaped over the bridge , already thronged with the flying remains , was with some of his valientest souldiers forced off the bridge into the river and there drowned . the camp and rich tents with all the great guns , bag and baggage came intirely into the conquerours hands . so god arose in the revenge of this perfideousnesse , being most wise to know , most equal to discern , and most just to punish . petrinia had been at the same time demolished by erdoedius , but that his collegue having a longing eye upon a peace , diswaded him . amurath the more incensed by sinan and his sister , swore by god and mahomet , he would be revenged , and thereupon denounced war against the emperour , who first deprecated the same by his oratour poppelius whom with presents he dispatched to the port , alleadging that invaders are justly punishable ; but he perceiving the turks bent , openly declared , that if the war were brought upon his master , the perpetual law of nature had directed and principled men to resist and repel force and injury by any manner of defence . to which the matter being left , the money designed for the tribute was staid at vienna for better uses , as on the other side the embassador was confined to a private house . the war thus opened ; hasan now beglerbeg of gree●e , dislodged serini and ekenperg obstinately bent upon the reduction of petrinia , and by his peculiar fortune took the often mentioned siscia , the besieged being in no hope of relief . sinan being arrived in person , took vesprinium yeilded by speciacassius sor want of water , amidst so many springs , but possessed by the enemy : as palotta by the fear of ornandius was rendred to him likewise . to obviate his further progresse count palfi , serini , and count hardeck with 10000 foot and 1000 horse of veterane soldiers made up instantly to 40000. by the confluence of voluntiers from all the towns hastned to engage him , but he retreating before them , and having stored his garrisons , they set down before alba regalis , the outward town whereof was taken from isaac the governour , by the valour of peter hussar , but while for want of great guns the seige was protracted , mehemet and hasanes with 20000. select men came before the town unexpectedly , and there made a stand : mohemet in contempt of the enemy , as of an undisciplined and rude multitude , declaring , that they should have fair play for they lives ; but when both armies came to be ranged in battalia , they were so afraid of each others aspect and order , that they stood two hours gazing upon one another , without advancing a foot forward . at last palfi vigorously began upon the janizaries ( to whose valour encouragement is given , both by provision in their youth , and happinesse hereafter if slain in battel the only incentive to great actions , as rewards and pensions are allowed to prolifick parents according to the number of their sons , who succed likewise to their pay and stipend when deceased , by which means there ariseth a love of generation , and a vehement desire of dying ) who so stifly maintained their ground , that they covered it with their dead bodies rather then to flinch from it living serinus and hardeck did likewise so presse upon their horse , that in fine , 4000 of them , with 6000. of their foot were slain upon the place . the news hereof being brought to sinan he hasted away back to constantinople , but the reason of his sudden departure was not to be guessed at . nor did christopher teiffenbach , bathori , and homonnai lesse bestir themselves , prompted thereunto by palfi , first reducing sabaton by rinia , then besieging filek the garrison whereof troubled with a new disease of the vertigo , at palsi's approach yeilded themselves , as did ten strong places more , the last of which was palanka : all of them with ca●sar's fortune , he came , see , and overcame . matthias being made governour of hungary , at which time also to the duke of parma succeeded ernestus in the government of the low countries ; palfi and hardeck to hold fortune by the forehead , resolutely and secretly attempted novigrad , the governour meheneth seeing as soon as hearing of them , who notwithstanding manfully defended the place , till matthias came into the camp , to whom it was honourably rendred the 42. year after its revulsion from the hungarian crown . with the same current of successe serini recovered bersencia , segusdium in illyria ; and tieffenbach forced iasbrynium , and besieged hatvan , which hasan of buda attempting to relieve with ten thousand men , was there vanquished , and 25 ensigns , with 17. great guns left to the victor . but so speeded not matthias , who with an army of 50. thousand men besieged strigonium , for although he had intercepted their relief by the danow , by the valour of francis balassius , and was by the treason of the thracian soldiers , possessed of the old town , as of the mount of st. thomas , by the fall of caralibeg , and isaac the governours yet by a supply of 500. janizaries , who by negligence of the guards slipt into the town , and the news of the approach of sinan the vizier from constantinople , he broke up his siege ; although maximilian in trial of his better fortune against the turkish power in illyria , had razed petrinia , and had recovered rastowitz , gora , and siscia . sinan followed with a 100 thousand turks , and 60 thousand tartars , having reduced tata and st. martin , came and beleagured raab , by the ancienter name called iaurinum , governed by count hardeck , who gloried that such a singular opportunity was afforded him , wherein he might give proof of his virtue : but these proved but magnificent words : for perliny's mounts being taken by the resolute courage of the enemy , wherein ( for that perlini was famous for fortification ) the garrison mainly confided , and valentinus torus his bulwark subverted by mine ; the defendants who had no relyance now but upon matthias , attending the enemy neer at hand , grew faint-hearted . in the interim cazy general of the tartars , swimming the river over against st. vitus , was bravely received by palfius on the other shore , supplied with fresh men by matthias , who at the same instant gave notice to hardeck to make a brisk salley ; he himself making so vigorous an impression upon sinan's camp , reduced now to the number of 60 thousand , that without doubt had not palfi received a dangerous wound , and could have been assisted with some naval power , the turks had been overthrown ; but being thus disappointed , he drew off in some disorder to ovarum , which sinan made advantage of , and slew a number of his men in his passing his bridge laid over the danow . hereupon hardeck and perlinius not willing to wait two dayes longer for relief from matthias , delivered raab , for which being seized , they were both condemned and beheaded at vienna . there were found in this well stored city 150 guns ; of the garrison 6000 were slain , and 3000 dismissed . thereafter sinan forced papa , but from commorra he was repulsed with a vast slaughter of his men , in the opposite isle of czallok●es by the valour of praunius and starcitius , and obliged to rise thence by the fear of the approach of matthias ; notwithstanding at his return to constantinople he boasted that he had reduced caesar to the necessity of intreating a peace . indeed the emperour sent stanislaus paulovius , and wenceslaus berca his embassadors to the king of poland , requesting him to take arms with him against the enemy of the name of christ ; but samoiscius the great chancellor , and only minister of state , put them off contemptuously , telling them that his king was in league with the turks , and that christ required he should observe it : nor could they be ignorant what punishment both divine and humane attended the breach of the law of nations . sigismund bathori was more pliable . geczi his tutor was newly dead , leaving him at the age of 17. years under the protection of the turks , ( by which his provinces had flourished in all prosperity ) and a full exchequer , but his youthful mind transporting him to the desire of martial employment , restrained only by his faith given to infidels , his confessors perswaded him to send to rome to pope vrban the seventh for satisfaction of his conscience , whether he were bound to pay them tribute or no ? when by the jesuits oracle , who are never without a new device to perplexe and interrupt the general commerce of the world , he was easily solved and freed from all manner of obligation . after this discharge or dispensation , to colour his taking up arms , he objects against sinan bassa , his pride , arrogance , and several injuries sustained from him by his people , and therewith summons a diet or assembly at sebessum , where he opened his purpose , but the estates generally dissenting , and objecting the just defeat of vladislaus at varna , though absolved by pope eugenius , and that if glory were the incentive to the war , he should remove all impiety with which glory could not consist : but if wealth was aimed at the enemy was more potent , nor could it advantage any man when gained by infamy ; he dissolved this convention , and called another at thorda , where he declared that he believed in the roman catholick church , by which being set at liberty , he was ignorant how he could yet be obliged to his conditions with the turks ; but perceiving the same party to be too potent here also , he withdrew his presence , and having packt up his rich moveables , and committed the administration to his uncle balthasar , withdrew out of the principality with iosica his chancellor to kuevara . transylvania streight multiplied into division , for sigismund protested he would renounce the government unlesse the turk were abandoned by the estates , bidding the people to follow some few factious persons , and see what would come of it ; whereupon the vulgar in a rage , by a brute instinct readily complied with this princes will , none daring so much as to mutter against it , and sent away gabriel kendi with two other nobles to bring him back to claudianopolis , where by the instigation of stephen bockskay governour of varadin , and gasper cornissius governour of marmorusse , he was highly incensed against the chief of the refractory noblemen , whose blood he thirsted and liberally shed . their names were stephen lazar , and michael kalmandi , captains of his guard , alexander one of his former tutors , and prince of the senate , gabriel kendi , iohn ifju , gregory barnomiza , the son of him who was so renowned for his service at agria , and iohn forro the heads and ornaments of the kingdome , all of them ( such the rash fury and cruelty of sigism●nd ) of a sudden , and without any tryal or cause shown , beheaded in the market place of the said city . they all suffered with exemplary constancy , rather gratulating then grudging at their fortune , not a word coming from , though reproached by sigismund as they went to execution , in any unseemly regestion or complaint . not long after to satisfie his blood thirstinesse , his own uncle balthasor bathori , lupus kovasoczi , once his tutor , francis kendi , and iohn bornamisza , were strangled at gyula , whose large and inestimable revenues he seized to himself ; lonyas , salanczi , szylvasi , gerendi , obtained pardon for the same fault . sigismund boasted of this cruel fact as his justice , and while all other men trembled at the sight of it , he with a dire countenance unmoved beheld their tragedies . this perpetration over , by stephen booskay , he confirmed the league with the emperour against the turks , having engaged aaron and michael the vayvods of moldavia and valachia , in the same confederacy . by that conclusion betwixt the emperour and him , it was agreed that sigismund should hold and enjoy all dacia without any tribute by the title of high and mighty prince , as also what he should recover and take from the turks in hungary , without any pretensions by the emperour , but his family extinguished transylvania should be united to hungary ; he should marry maria christina daughter of charles the arch-duke ; & if it should happen that he were beaten by the turks , that he should have a retreat into bohemia or silesia . while this was transacting , amurath the grand signior dyed , and mahomet his eldest son succeeded , having solemnized his fathers funeralls with the death of 18 of his brethren strangled by a bow string , which scelerate beginning of his raign the christians successe noted to the world : for caesar having implored aid throughout germany and italy , was supplied after this large manner . the pope sent 1000. horse , and 12000. foot under his generall sigismund francis aldobrandin , florence 1000 horse , and 3000. foot , ferrara 1500. mantua 1000. tyrol 4000. bavaria 3000. foot , bohemia 2000. horse , 600. dragoons , and 6000. foot , sile●ia 1500. horse , 2000. foot , austria 2000. horse , 6000. foot , franconia 1000 horse , suevia 4000 foot , the nobility of the two last places and of the rhine by themselves 4000 foot , which were numerously increased by the hungarian army under count palfi . matthias was made by the emperour generalissimo , and under him charles count mansfield ( upon this occasion created a prince ) who had lately done the king of spain excellent service under ernestus in the low countries ; nor was he himself unfurnished of an army , carrying with him under his own ensigns , by the conduct of adolph swartzenburgh , &c. a 1000. curassiers , 1000. dragoons , and 6000. walloon foot out of flanders . with this noble army ( and most strictly disciplined ) sufficient to terrifie the world , having traversed the county about alba to amuse the enemy , he came at last and clapt down before strigonium , & presently erected castles a futlong distant from one another on the mount of st. thomas for the security of his camp. twice by the tumultuary onset of the hungarians and walloons , were the walls attempted and they repelled , but the walloons enraged with the repulse , renewed it of themselves singly , possessed the rampire and drove the enemy into the inner town , while palfius took the fort of parcanum , on the other side the water opposite to strigonium and razed it , and with the same successe defeated their releif under hasan the beglerbeg , and the bassa of buda amounting to thirty thousand men , his own forces making no more than the tenth part of them . he was engaged in an ambuscade , but desperation not onely saved his own men but put the enemy to flight , neverthelesse he must have fallen by their fresh numbers but that the walloons came readily and unexpectedly to his assistance . but the turks through very fear , and the consideration of the losse of the town , came on very boldly ( mansfeld having taken the charles bulwark ) and engaged the besiegers in a most terrible and bloody fight ; but such was the chearful readynesse of the christians , advantaged by those castles aforesaid , which grivously annoyed the turke with shot , that 14000 of them were slain and their camp taken . immediately after which glory accrued to those other felicities and accomplishme●ts of the noble mansfeld , he fell sick of a surfeit by too greedy eating of melons a common disease among the germans in hungary ) and died before the town , much lamented and honoured by all men . the seige was neverthelesse continued by matthias , who had newly welcomed the duke of mantua to the camp , and the water-town gained when the same defeated turks endevoured again its releif ( their life and honour being concerned in it ) but were routed by the walloons again under oberenprucius , who came opportunely to the relief of nadasdi beset with their whole power , and too late expecting the succour of charles burgrave : which being told mahomet the governour of strigonium , distressed also for water , he yeilded the city the fifty second year after its captivity by solyman ; and now vissigrade , vaccia , and all the towns as far as pesth , resounded with this victory , which dismissed matthias to vienna , having placed palfi governour of strigonium , and sent maximilian with part of the army into upper hungary to have an eye to the affairs with triffenbach in those parts . in illyria , serinus and hebberstain took babocza ; erdoedius , &c. petrinia , restored to the turks with rastowitz and gara . greater was the effort as greater was the power of sigismund , who having solemnized his nuptials at alba iulia , with the two vayvods had shook off the turkish yoke , and had ignominiously treated his envoy . for his general george barbelius and his united nobility , took in a great number of towns ; michael the vayvod of valachia , and albertus kyrali sent him as his assistant by sigismund carrying the war further to prevent sinan's design upon them at home . by them floccium neer nicopolis was seized , arsena burnt , and selistria plundred ; achomat the eunuch sent by sinan to their seizure with twenty five thousand men , they engaged and totally routed , so that thrace seemed to be joyned to germany , and probably enough , if there had been as much prudence in retaining as there was valour in getting of it . michael returned to bucorestum , but kyrali sliding over the danow now frozen , warmed his fingers with the fire of several noted ●owns in bulgaria . sinan like a tempest departed from constantinople with menaces and curses against these revolters , took bucor●st , and fortified tergowist the metropolis of valachia ; michael and kyrali as unable to resist , passing over the untrodden alps ●o novigrad . in whose pursuit , sinan being himself engaged , sent away twelve thousand men to make an invasion upon his countrey , ten thousand of whom were presently slain , and a consternation brought upon the whole turkish camp ; even sinan himself was meditating of a flight , and hardly retained by the memory of his past actions , for he was so far forward , that he was crowded off the bridge , straitned with runnawayes , and two ▪ of his teeth beaten out ; the shame whereof converted into desperation , whereby he drove michael into his furthest retreats amongst rocks and precipices : to which streights reduced , he experimented the present deliverance of almighty god , being rescued by the advance of sigismund with an army of twenty thousand horse and thirty thousand foot , enforced by the siculi , cosacks , and valachians , upon promise of liberty . by the notable valour of these siculi , tergovist was regained , it being not advisable to leave any place possessed by the enemy in their reer . the news of this recovery made sinan fly to bucorestum , which town he burned , and destroyed all manner of provision , thinking want and hunger would have stopt sigismund's pursuit , and in great hast passed the danow , but not with such speed ; for sigismund being at his heels surprized eight thousand turks , the reer-guard of those christians he was carrying into captivity , of this side the river , every man of whom were presently put to the sword and killed in a moment . sinan hereupon partly with greif and old age , and not without suspicion of poyson , breathed out his unhappy soul , obnoxious to the revenge of the bassa's for the arrogance and insolence of his great fortune , which is subject not onely to others envy , but mens own miscarriages and misdemeanours . sigismund entrusting the reduction of the army to boczkay , arrived at stephanopolis , where he displaced aaron from his vayvodship of moldavia as suspect of perfidy , and settled stephen resvan ; but him , iohn samoiscius provoked by the slaughter & cruel usage of some podolians , overcame and vanquished after two or three successful encounters , and having taken him drove a stake through his groyns and set him aloft for a spectacle , substituting in his place ieremy mogilla , as tributary to the turk , but beneficiary to the kingdome of poland . nothing is to be mentioned of maximilian , but that he in vain besieged szolnoc , being destitute of firing in a very cold and unseasonable autumne , followed by a most rigorous winter . this february , sigismund disquieted with the care of the future , as the hatred of his past affairs , journyed to prague to the emperour , where he was honourable received ; but during his stay there was seized with a feaver which turned to the small pox ; at which time the siculi rebe●led , pretending they were deceived of their promised liberty , but were by boczkay soon reduced and severely punished . dalmatia had a share of these troubles , berthusius a knight of rhodes , having intelligence that ibrahim bassa governour of clissa , was at the mart of drilon , having acquainted lencovitius with his design , with five hundred segnians by a hole in the precipice of the rock not observed by the turks , crept into the fortresse , and mastered the turks , whom they slew betwixt sleeping and waking . ibrahim mad at this losse , came and besieged it with apardi bassa of bosnia , whom lencovitius with 5000 men drawn out of the adjacent garrisons drove with much gallantry out of their trenches and leagure , with a total rout ; but too secure of an unfledged victory , was by the unexpected return of ibrahim ( who had collected his scattered dispersed remnants among the hills and woods ) himself discomfited , remembring nothing of the encounter but the prey they had lost : lencovitius got into clissia , whence fearing the want of water , he escaped with 200 men , leaving the rest to the sword or captivity ; and clissia fainting with thirst lost to the bargain . while caesar was busied at his diets held at prague , vienna , presburgh , and ratisbone , as sigismund at claudianopolis , * the noise of mahomets vast preparations had terrified all those parts of christendome . to be before hand with him therefore , herbersteyn , and dracovitius the successor of erdoedius ( a man whose noble acts had raised him beyond all accessions of felicity , so that he had nothing to fear but fortune ) invested constanicia , attempted to be relieved by apardis of bosnia , but he was beaten and the town taken ; with the like fate achomet the eunuch with 20 noised to be a 100 thousand men , coming too late to his assistance , besieged petrinia joyntly with him ; to the relief hereof drascovitius , lencovitius , erdeodus , and heberstayn , assayed to passe the colapis , but neither ford nor bridge being feasible , they retreated toward the head of the river , which the enemy mistaking for a flight , suddenly by swimming and wading passed over in pursuit of them , but was so gauled in his passage by musquet shot , and so well received at his landing , that happy was he could get back again , in which endevour many of them perished . at siscia● the christians found passage , and the enemy besieging it , whose scouts they put to flight , sending with them the terror and rumor of a numerous army , with which they advanced and besieged the besiegers , who valorously attempted to break through , or to carry the place , but were at last , what by the bullets from the castle , and the sword from the camp , reduced to the discretion of the victor . onely aphus and odaverdus , achomet's assistants escaped away . in hungary the ballance of ill fortune we●● equal , solyman bassa of temeswar , and en●nehan of belgrade , besieged lippa , whence the obstinacy of the besieged , and the fame 〈◊〉 barbelius had repulsed them , and sigismun● subdued nagylachum at the same time , toge●ther with the tartar cham , ( who in mo● savage manner destroyed the countrey ) in th● great plain betwixt belgrade and temeswar , a● pursued him almost 30. miles : maximili● also besieged hatvanum aided by swartzr●●burgh , his forces amounting to 20000. foot , and 15000. horse : the governour of this place was arslanes the son of saralibeg● , a youth of great virtue above his age , who by a fortunate and vigorous salley so terrified the general of the ordnance that he abandoned his battery . he was incited the more to this gallantry , by his mother fatima , a woman of a virile and noble spirit , who set before him the reward of victory or an honourable glorious death , if vanquished ; but such was his fatal oversight , that while his men wearied with toyle and anguished with wounds , were taking their repose by his order , and had abandoned their stations , the christians entred , and with turkish cruelty put them all to the sword. arslanes making a resolute opposition fell not unrevenged . this slaughter at ha●vanum , agria expiated ; for sultan mahomet with 200 thousand men , a greater number then solyman e're brought into christendome , being arrived at belgrade sent away gyaffer bassa an eunuch before him to that place , the christians as accustomed to the war , being no way daunted at his approach . his first assault was with great constancy and courage repelled , and the maintenance of the town resolved on by tersco , nyari , and kinski the commanders , but the germans and walloons being afraid of their lives , articled and delivered it , although they saved not their lives thereby , being first stripped and then put to the sword. nyari hiding himself in their camp , as barisonius and kinnski in the belgrade tower , escaped away in the night . at length maximilian came to rimaszombathum , and at rimaszecsum sigismund bathori joyned his forces with him , amounting to 32 thousand horse , and 28 thousand foot . at keresture both armies engaged , and the turks by the valour of the fronteers of swarzemburgh's , palfi's , and kyrali's brigades , with the losse of 8000. men , and 43. great guns , were driven back to the camp , which mahomet opposed to the christians ; maximilian seeing the presentnesse and heat of the souldiers , passed over the morasse before him , and came to succour his companions . hereupon ensued in the turks camp , great lamentation and fear , mahomet himself flying to szolnoc , while the slaughter was continued upon his men . and now without dispute the turk had been totally routed , when the christians neglecting the pursuit , and disorderly rifling their camp , were themselves put to flight . it is reported that there were not above 500. turks that made this first resistance , by whose hardnesse cicala bassa streight collected 40. thousand more , and furiously prosecuted this turn of fortune , slaying these camp pillagers like sheep : of whom ( by meer fear only ) 10. others say 20 thousand were missing , with all the baggage which fell to the enemy : so that a brave victory was slot by covetousnesse . nor did the enemy carry away an unbloodyed conquest , leaving behind him twenty , others write , fifty thousand slain . mahomet to constantinople , and maximilian troubled in mind ( and having gathered his dispersion ) to vienna , while serini worsted the governour of zigeth ( puft up with this event ) at his siege of babocza , and palfi confirmed the wavering towns of strigonium and vacia . sigismund to be installed and honoured with the order of the godlen ●leece , took a journy to prague , appearing much troubled at this unhappy issue of the war , and the conscience of his facts , being by nature more difficile to blot out the memory of them , than to commit them in his anger ; and therefore now he resigned his principality for fear of the turk , and his own concerns to maximilian , although advised by caesar that the affections of the people were more enclined to a prince of their own nation , and that the present exigence of affairs could not but cause some discontents in the state ; notwithstanding he persisted in his humour , and gave a divorce to his wife , conditioning for the principality of opulia , fifty thousand pounds , and a cardinals hat to be obtained for him by the emperour ; he seeming to loath the unstable state of greatnesse , being yet himself the ficklest of all . maximilian stood more firmly to his businesse resolving to recompence his late losse ; and suddenly ( accompanyed by palfi and his other generals ) forced tata with a petard , and besieged papa ; the governour whereof semendrus had sent him word to know , whether he that had dared to fight with mahomet would try his force upon his castle ? if so , let him but come and give him liberty to draw his sword given him by the sultan ; and to a person of such valour and boldnesse as him , the gates should be opened . this garrison being forced at last to render , the walloons in revenge slew most of them , the rest were saved by the means of the above-named commanders . maximilian likewise beleagured raab ; but such was the confidence of aly bassa the governour thereof , that he set open the gates and drove the cattel out of the town to graze , shewing much jollity at the businesse ; for soon after came mahomet the vizier , with 80000 men , and took vacia and tata , after a siege of five weeks , & maximilian being of no competent force to oppose , having done sufficiently by defeating the tartars a little while before , retreated to csallokena , where he encamped , and built several castles to secure his entrenchments which mahomet attempting , was by the courage of colonitzius and nadasdi , with losse disappointed ; as was sigismund bathori with 14 thousand before temeswar , from whence he was dislodged by a numerous multitude of turks and tartars ; but yet so easily that he took chanada in his return home . the estates being assembled at presburgh , stephen szulai , nicholas istua●fi , and bartholomew pecfi , were delegated to receive the government from sigismund , as being fully resolved for a private life , by the examples of dioclesian , who retired to salonas , and charles the fifth , to the monastery of iustus ; but with greater moderation than constancy : passing now from kovasockzium thorough hungary into silesia : so the hungarians , siculi , and saxons , swore allegiance to the emperour , against whom the turk having effected nothing by his chiauxes , threatned an army of three hundred thousand men ; but fortune had otherwise disposed a kindnesse for him at hand , by prompting swarzemburg and palfi to the recovery of raab , by the device of a petard and the secret close conveyance of the design . swarzemburg to this purpose chose out 2050 of his most daring souldiers , and palfi 3000 ; these without drum or trumpet passed over the memphon woods in the silence of the night being guided by felnemeth newly discharged out of the prison of that place : but nothing contributed so much to the successe of this enterprize as the confidence of the enemy , who boasted , that when the weather-co●k upon one of the towers should crow out , then raab should be regained by the christians . being thus arrived unseen or unheard , to the walls of the town , babacurtus to whom the lesser petard was entrusted , found the outward gate , and that leading to albae ( by the fatal negligence of the enemy ) not locked up , which he straightwayes opened , when they all took it for an omen that the presence of god was with them , and that he had been by prayers interessed in the attempt . to the inward gate the petard was applied which shivered it in peices , and broke the bars and hinges , making way for babacurtus and oberenpruccus , to enter and gain the market place . swarzemburgh staied at the gate careful of the event , as to avoyd confusion among one another , and to secure them of aid ; and now the enemy half naked ran to arms ; but as if cold water had been poured upon them , were assoon stupified and amazed ; yet at the last raged with such fury in revenge of their unavoidable death , that three ianizaries put five hundred to flight . in this hazzardous juncture palfius came to the succour of swarzenburgh , and one of his horsemen refusing to alight , dismounted first himself , and by his example animated the rest to follow him . a bloody fight being now renewed , haly bassa was slain , and the opened-day discovered an entire victory to the christians . a very great spoil was here divided ; an hundred eighty eight great guns sent to the emperour , by whom babacurtus the messenger was rewarded with 4000 gulders , & a 1000 anually ; swarzemburgh with a hundred thousand gulders , and the town of hustopecsium and government of raab ; palfius because it was a service due to his countrey , was very well content with a cup worth a thousand pound . but in transylvania fortune shewed her self partial in respect to this her indulgence at raab . michael the vayvod of valachia , a valiant prince , had voluntarily embraced the present state of the emperours affairs , by a league ratified with his commissioners at tergovistium , by which the sons of michael were to succeed their father in the principality ; to acknowledge the emperour without any tribute ; his family failing , the estates shall have the power of election ; the league to be offensive and defensive . this affair so happily transacted in valachia , was crossed by another in transylvania . sigismund with his usual inconstancy ( his crimes suffering him no where to be at quiet , but hurrying him from place to place ) in a disguise arrived in transylvania , and came to claudianopolis , pretending non-payment of his pension , and other dis-satisfaction ; and was there by the magistrates received as their prince , as to whose government they had been accustomed . the like did stephen bosskay captain of the guards , who partly with perswasions , and partly with terro●r , awed his collegue cornisius and moses szekely governour of the siculi , to a complyance with the faction ; the force and armed power whereof constrained the commissioners above-named , who had in vain expected sigismund racockzi the emperours general , to swim with the present current of affairs , and to complement his return to the government ; which the vulgar so madly entertained that they were ready to limb cornisius for putting them in mind of their oath to the emperour . the commissioners were soon after summoned to appear before sigismund , which as necessity required they obeyed , to whom he ( as his custome was ) excused the business , complaining that the principality of opulia answered not the promises made concerning it : but neverthelesse he would continue his faith to the emperour ; and so dismissed them to cassovia . the province thus in commotion , mehemeth satergis bassa with 60000 men , came to fish in those troubled waters ; and although deprecated by sigismund , laid siege to varadin ; the governour whereof george kyraly maintained it in the right of the emperour , who sent to him with supplies nyari and rederus . thirty dayes the city was besieged , at the expiration whereof the turks incommodated with rain and tempestuous weather were forced to rise : as did matthias the same day , and by the same intemperance of the weather from buda , having besieged it just so many dayes together ; but he lost not the whole expedition as did the turk , for in the beginning thereof he took palotta , vesprinium , and other places . sigismund thus established endevoured his reconciliation with the emperour , and received his wife again , so that there was again a right understanding , by the clemency and good nature of rudolphus , established between them ; insomuch that he sent basta with an army to aid him against the turks . but another freak taking him in the head , while he seemed to intend a firmer and stricter union , having substituted his uncle , cardinal andrew bathori , and the bishop of varmia ( by the policy of samoiscius , who designed upon these provinces ) to the government , he himself again repudiated his wife , and breaking off the treaty with caesar , privily fled into poland . by which means the principality was engaged in great troubles ; for the cardinal presently possessed himself of the whole country , whereupon ensued hostility betwixt him and maximilian ; basta with his army moving from cassovia to the expulsion of bathori , having obliged michael the vayvod of valachia to be constant to his late league ; who the better to conceal his design , pretended to take part with the cardinal , buying powder and bullets in his countrey which he intended to use against him ; and first took corona , and drew the siculi to his party , and in a sudden encounter , ( but obstinately maintained ) put andrew to flight , who hoping to escape over the oytozian alps into poland , was there torn in peices by the siculi . this event determined the allegiance of the transylvanians to maximilian , by his commissioners michael the vayvod , and basta mahomet the grand seigniour being deterred by his mother and his cheif sultana , from going any more in person to the war , having been so neerly endangered at keresture , that in his flight for hast he lost his turbant , committed the expedition to ibrahim his chief vizier . to be ready prepared against this invasion , zwarzemburg , palfi , and nadasdi , reduced tata , and attempted alba regalis by petards clapt to the gates ; but their designe being discoverd , the garrison salleyed out and routed the frenchmen that had the orders of the engine , and seized one of the petards , which was carried to buda , where the barbarians , not daring to discharge it , bastinadoed the frenchmen they had taken to the experiment , when it flew into peices and miserably mangled and killed the standers by . ibrahim being arrived , pretended peace and gave notice thereof to palfi , whereupon deputies met in the island of vizze , equally distant between strigonium and buda . the turk demanded fileck , strigonium , novigrad , raab , with future security ; the christians stand to their just possession of them ; that peace would be welcome , but not upon such terms . ibrahim perceiving no advantage could be expected this way , the christians also declining battel , made an irruption into the countrey , and most barbarously laid wast all that tract of ground which lies betwixt the rivers waegh , nitre and ippolus ; multitudes of sick and diseased persons at the pesthenian bathes , were abandoned to the cruelty of the enemy , and crawling in the roads made most horrible lamentations . nor spared he any place sacred , or profane , or condition of men ; of whom with children and infants crying after their parents , he carried 3000 away into captivity . this desolation swarzemburg helplessly beheld , although instigated by palfi to set upon those ravenous miscreants ; but he was loth to hazzard his army . palfi himself therefore impatient of the insolence , set upon a party of six thousand at palankin , and destroyed them ; and upon the retreat of ibrahim , with the highest rage burnt down , & took in several towns , and among the rest coppan , and dombo . it was now the year 1600. famous for the great jubile of clement the eighth , when michael the vayvod of transylvania , elated with his prosperous successes , ambitiously affected the soveraignty of all dacia , and by keeping transylvania in his power began to be suspected by the emperour , as he was likewise hated by other of his neighbours for his invasion of moldavia , in prosecution of his quarrel against sigismund ; who to revenge his uncles death , did now instigate samo●schus to send aid to ieremy of moldavia , and to furnish him with an army for an expedition into transylvania , in which he was assisted by moses sz●kely , francis vas , and gabriel bethlen ( better known to the english by the name of bethlehem gabor ) michael having timely notice of their embodying ( leaving his wife and his son peterschones in transylvania ) speedily passed over the alps , and at nester fell unexpectedly upon ieremy and sigismund , and made a great slaughter of the poles and cossacks , with the discomfiture of thirty thousand of his enemies . by this victory he possessed himself of suchava and all moldavia ▪ and horribly havocked bessarabia , russia , and podolia . samoyscius impatient of this insolence , having collected an army at bosorum , wrested the victory out of the victors hands , and drove him out of moldavia iuto the abruptnesses of the mountains by the river sereczinum , whither having also pursued him by the incess●nt diligence of the cossacks , he thence drove him round into transylvania from whence he first began the war ; when judging it neither safe nor necessary to engage his polish army in an enemies countrey , he deputed michael szekhely to follow him & to seize the principality . this basta opposed , sending csaka as from the emperour , to bid them desist from invasion of his dominions ; to which when samoyscius answered that there was no other design , but to prosecute michael as the common enemy and onely cause of these troubles by the turks ; basta enough offended against michael , offered his own army to his suppression , upon the same account as csaki managed his commission to samoyscius , to gain the principality to himself . the vayvod understanding this conjunction , sent to desire leave that he might be heard in his own defence , which being denyed , he levyed an army of twenty thousand men ; but was again defeated and forced to fly to tergovistia , whence ( being betwixt the hammer and the anvile , basta & moses szekeheli ) he escaped over the severine alps to prague , where he hoped to vindicate and clear his actions , as csaki foolishly , yet impudently laboured , in the absence of maximilian , for his investiture in transylvania ; not considering that dignity is not hastily to be desired & prosecuted , although by a person of great merits : time must be attended in which it may appear that by such preferment a man hath rather given then received a benefit . as the distempers of the great ones were monstrous , so was the malign dispositions of the souldiery . the french garrison of papa mutyning for their pay , had seized and secured the governour michael marochi , and slew all that opposed them , conditioning with the turk , for their arrears , to deliver them the castle ; but the turk , either mistrusting them , or too tenacious of his money , made no use of the advantage . news hereof being brought to swarzemburg , he laid siege to them , losing a great many men by a fierce eruption of the french , who knew what they might trust to if taken , wherein himself also was slain by a bullet . rederus succeeded him in the supreme command , who beat the french back into the town and there closely shut them up ; but he also died of a sudden disease before the surrender , and left the atchievement to nadasdi ; who having reduced them to a dog-hunger , and starved them to skin and bone , made them yeild the place ; at which time some few were by the pittyful souldiers knockt on the head , the rest were tortured to death with most exquisite cruelties , some of them choaked to death upon the wheels of a water-mill , after many descents and ascents ; some roasted with a slow fire ; and others given to the dogs . transylvania is our next stage , troubled with a smatch of the same disloyalty to the emperour ; who delaying his answer to their commissioners , sigismund again stept in and recovered the principality , vacating those powe●s and instructions given them to treat . next he imprisoned cornifius , pancratius , senegus , and others , who favoured the emperours title . this afforded an occasion to michael's restitution , who being dismist from prague with a substitutory command and power , and seemingly reconciled with basta by th● mediation of gonzaga governour of varadin , joyntly engaged sigismund and his generals barbelius ( lame with the gout and cramp ) and moses szekehely , as their army ( in a confusion and without any care ) was descending from the mountain of doroslone , and soon put them to flight . here were slain ten thousand , and a hundred and thirty ensigns taken . this new successe so exalted the mind of the vayvod that he could in no wise brook basta's superiority ( by so many prosperous accidents transported indeed from a just and moderate man , to very ungoverned and rapinous actions . ) they were both at claudiopolis where the old grudge seemed to have been wholly forgotten , when basta by a crue of bloody walloons caused him to be assassinated ; and his companions and followers to be dispersed and to fly for their lives ; by which artifice and impudence together , he imposed on the emperour that he was killed in a fair manner and upon a just quarrel , which the emperour was glad to dissemble , while from this impune and flagitious fact he took courage to proceed to greater and more dedecorous and base practises . for now under colour of heresy and schism and the care of the emperour's revenue ; whatever silver or other moneys could be discovered was seized by him , so that the people when they looked for a protection , perceived their was no such thing meant them by this stork , who pilled and fleeced them to their skin ; glory is cherished by industry ; when there is no room for that , vertue her self is very unpleasant , and where rewards attend the vicious , scarce any will be good gratis . bistricia had refused to open the gates to him , which he forced and basely plundred , seizing all their best wealth in money and attire to his own use , and then gave it a spoyl to his souldiers , who left not a covering to the women . nay , so miserable was the calamity of the transylvanians at this time , that they were neer famished , all their cattel being driven into silesia ; and one measure of wheat sold at 25 guilders , which money would have bought formerly two hundred . thus by leisurable degrees did the divine justice and indignation proceed to punish and revenge the breach of their league with the turks , the heavynesse of the infliction computing for the delay of it . sigismund fled to brassone to excite and engage the turks , in which affair after he had fruitlesly employed moses szekelehy , he began to sink and despond and finally cast himself upon the emperour , of whom after a truce condescended to by basta , he obtained pardon , and a yearly revenue of 50000 guilders , with the principality of lobkowitz which maintained him among the bohemians to an old & unreverenced age. but the stirs in transylvania ceased not with him : for another intestine war was kindled by moses szekelehi and bethlen gabor , in pretence of asserting their countrey , but really , it was a turkish design : these two basta encountered between alba iulia and varadgya , & after a bloody dispute put them to flight : both the captains escaped , but whither ? to bectessus the bassa of temeswar , as more humane then the german christians ; whose outrages and their generals uncontrolled power and insolence was solely imputable to the sloth and degenerous idlenesse of rudolph . basta used this victory with all extremity of fire ▪ and sword , to such a ruine and destruction of the commonalty , gentry and nobility , that they wished for turkish and tartarian slavery . the state of styria in the western parts of hungary was alike calamitous , groaning under the tyranny of the enemy and the pressures of their lawful soveraign . ibrahim bassa with the aga of the janizaries with a body of them amounting to twenty four thousand , arrived at mohacz intending the siege of strigonium ; but at the intreaty of nasaff governour of sigeth , whose contributaries herbensteyn had severely handled ; they first blocked up and took babocza , and then besieged canysa , where george paradyser was governour ( the same who perswaded the surrender of clissia in illyria ) who with the heighth of courage maintained it against the turks , after he had sustained great losse by the blowing up of his powder , which was supplied to him by george serinus ; and at the same time came matthias the arch-duke , and philip emanuel duke of mercoeur , with 25 , others say but fourteen thousand to his releif . this duke did excellent service against the enemies horse , and in his last encounter with them gave them so notable a defeat , that it was not doubted but that the enemy would rise & be glad to be gone ; but provision being scarce in their camp ( of which the turks are alwayes frugal and yet better provided ) they were forced to forsake the town , and that in such haste and disorder , that paradyser daunted therewith ( although he knew the necessity of the turks departure ) for that the horse had nothing but a few leaves to feed upon , and was encouraged to hold out till their return , delivered the place to the enemy , upon condition of a free departure , which brought him to vienna , where being publiquely convicted he lost his head upon a scaffold , ibrahim after this acquist was very solicitous about a peace , but while it was negotiated he died . ferdinand , afterwards emperour , the nephew of rudolphus by charles his brother , was at this time governour of styria , carniola , and carinthia ; he in the year 1660. had married mariana the daughter of will. duke of bavaria , which lady being a zealous catholick , would not enter the limits of his dominions until purged of haeresie , & the libertys granted to those of the augustan confession were taken away ; which the arch-duke at the instance of the jesuits rescinded , and by oath obliged himself to the pope that he would severely handle the professors of the protestant religion within his dominions , and hereupon they were either banished and forced from their houses , or plundred and killed , with such inhumanity that the papists blowing up their churches with gun-powder , raged against the bones of the dead and the graves of them , common and allowed to all men ; insomuch that what the turks had spared , was not spared by them . to these outrages , the protestants opposed the treaty at passaw ▪ and challenged the assurance and faith plighted by the arch-duke himself , by which in 1581. he confirmed his fathers agreement with the states , during which space of eighteen years and upwards , he had received the sum of nine hundred thousand florens of the rhine , the price of their liberty of conscience ; but notwithstanding this manifesto they were commanded to depart , and those that stayed spoyled and undone . no hopes of redresse appearing , and the rumour of bozckay's proceeding in hungary in favour of the religion inviting them thither , they forsook their countrey and prosperously seated themselves there . to omit the barbarity practised on the inhumed corps ( as the demolishing of their churches at gratz ) of william zimmerman the protestant and an eminent minister of the place , which they threw into the river mur. but ferdinand's successe was answerable to this injustice , he was engaged in the siege of canysa ( assisted therein by aldobrand the popes legate with his italian forces ) wherein none but roman catholicks by the advice of sigismund count of thurn , afterwards drowned , were suffered to be listed , lest the impiety of the protestants might cause the enterprise to miscarry . the governour of the town was hasanes , who with 800 men and as many more received from zigeth and buda , ( by the negligence of orphus gallonius the general of the ordinance ) resolutely maintained it ; this orphus in filling the ditches with wood from the adjoyning forrest ( which work went slowly forward ) was shot with a culverin bullet and killed . nor did caesar porta his successour make much more haste or speed , being tired out with the enemies salleys : no more then the relief from matthias to animate his cousin , which consisted of 6000 men led by christoph. roseworm , and the duke of mercoeurs leiutenant general : for by the unexperience of the general and officers ( who failing of their reinforced attempts had no mind to venture again ) they protracted so long , till cold winter with storms and frosts made them desert their stations ( a thousand horsemen being frozen stiff in one nights time ) being also surcharged with snow , hunger , wearinesse , and which is worst of all , over-watching in at●●nding the industrious enemy ; who now by their departure gained their ordinance ; and satisfied their cruelty upon the sick and wounded persons left behind . thus the protestants , who were scandalized from being present , were saved from the ruine that involved the papists . far more renownedly did the duke of mercoeur deport himself at alba , which he besieged with twenty thousand men ; christopher roseworm with great labour and diligence passing a thousand men over the bog to the subburbs , two whereof the insulary and the destiacan were easily gained , others being encouraged by the adventure to follow them . the enemy having nothing but the city to defend made a resolute resistance , but was in fine beaten off the walls , and the town regained in the 58 year after it had been taken by solyman . this victory the licentiousnesse of the souldiers greatly blemished , the city being ransacked by them , where they spared not the bones of the kings from which the turks had religiously abstained . the new garrison consisting of a thousand german foot , and six hundred hungarians , was committed to the government of marcus insulanus , famous for his defence of varadin , and michael vatai . the report of this losse being brought to hasanes , he joyned with the vizier bassa , resolving to attempt mercoeurs camp , to whose rescue very opportunely came matthias ; the fight was managed with equal spirit and strength till the hungarians began to flinch , at which time amurath bassa of buda , with mahomet beg were slain with a bullet , which changed the fortune of the day , and put the turks to flight . there were slain 5000. of them , but yet they gave not over their design , for the next year , the noble duke of mercoeur being dead at norimberg , hasanes returned to alba , and before the governors had repaired the ruins of the fortifications , was close at the walls , whereupon the germans basely betrayed the town . the garrison was dismissed , but insulanus and vatai being interrogated , if the delivery was made with their consent , to which they answered peremptorily in the negative , were both of them laid hold on , and made captives , the turks saying , that their promise was made to the willing , nor were they obliged to them with whom they had made no contract . to maintain this violent turkish war the estates of germany proffered 80 months pay to the emperour , whose general roseworm , to recompence the losse of alba , besieged buda , while althamius who succeeded palfi in the government of strigonium valiantly gained pesth ; buda being hereby hard put to it , hasan with 30 thousand men came to besiege it , and had beaten roseworm , who passed the danow to encounter him , to the very walls of pesth , when matthias came in and rescued him : but they parted so equally that both sieges were carried on at the same time , in which nothing was memorable but an engagement of craczius , the general of the horse , with the turks , in which he was worsted , until hasan for want of provision departed for belgrade , and left roseworm in his old leagure . the christians were much animated at the sight of it , taking in after him colocza , paxus , and other places 60. miles below buda , by the heyducks ; and the budenses the more spirited and quickned to a resistance , as they made appear in their salleys and resolute eruptions , seizing their very cannons , and nailing up their touch holes , which was acted while roseworm was playing at cards , and carelesse of the matter ; this dishonour was seconded with a greater danger , oner and ibrahim beg having drained the garrisons of alba , sygeth , and canysa , came afresh to their relief , but after a sharp conflict they were overthrown by nadasdi , &c. while collonicz sustained and repelled the besieged . notwithstanding such was the unclemency of the weather , by showers , frost , and snow , that matthias cursing the place where he had been so often unfortunate , was forced to draw off to winter quarters , leaving albert princestayn to the defence of pesth . the plague and earthquakes in h●ngary and austria this year denoted the ensuing mutations in the kingdome ; for the tartars and turks by a most sudden irruption laid wast all the country , extending westward to papa , the mountain of camenesum , and what ground lyes between the rivers dravus and the mur to perlatum , not without the indignation of count george serini , then lying on his death bed . transylvania was in the usual variable condition , there was a general famine , with a scarcity of money , and all other mischiefs arising thence ; the soldier demanded his pay and provision , which being not to be had , a defection followed , and the army marched to zacmar . upon their departure , moses szekhelij was constituted prince , and did homage to mahomet , and aided by bectessus the bassa of temeswar , and the affections of the people took in caransebesse , alba inlia , claudiapolis , * cibinium , and soon after possessed himself of all transylvania , but this good fortune lasted not long , for radulo the successor of michael in the vaivodship of valachia a friend of the emperours , and who made good his predecessors league , surprized him by night , routed his turks and tartars , and sent 30. standards to prague . there were slain in this fight moses himself , with many nobles , and 4000. others , revenged in part soon after by the defeat of the count of solms who was sent prisoner to constantinople , the reciprocation of which ill fortune , befel the aforesaid bassa of temeswar , and albertus nagii , whom henry duval count of tampyrium , and lewis rakoczi totally vanquished , and again recovered transylvania to the emperour , who by the advice of iohn molard , and nicholas ●rukhayser , appointed a decemvirate for the government of the province , which continued till annulled by boczkay . things succeeded as prosperously in hungary , but the covetousnesse of the governours spoiled all ; nadasdi and collonicsius subdued laccu●● and bolondvarum , and cruelly wasted the country in revenge of the late irruption , and before amurath of buda could joyne with hasanes , forced him to fight and routed him , at last came hasanes , and faced roseworm encamped at strigonium , who no way declining the encounter , which lasted till evening with great fury , put the infidels to the run , ( the great guns having peppered the janizaries ) with the losse of 7000 men . the fruit of this victory was the reduction of hatvanum , newly restored to the turk , and the firm munition and strengthning of pesth . this year sultan mahomet , unable to go or scarce stand upon his legs by reason of his fatnesse , died among his concubines , pathick boyes , and troops of eunuchs , leaving his son achmet a stripling to the succession in the government , who presently applied himself to peace . in order whereto commissioners met in the fields neer to rakos , but the turks insisting on the restitution of strigonium and raab , and the emperour demanding canysa , the treaty came to nothing . the year 1604. began with the old grievances in transylvania concerning religion , and the great church of cassovia , that had been granted by basta to the cannennicks of amna , besides that iohn barbianus the count of belgiocosa and the emperours governour in that town by his jesuiticall and most severe inquisition was horribly dreaded by the protestants , an infinite number of whom he had banished out of their countrey : about this time came an ambassadour from hodabanda king of persia , offering his assistance against the turk , in this j●ncture of the minority of achmet , and advising the christians to unity , which so encouraged rodolph , that he resolved to employ all his forces against that enemy . basta was therefore placed in the command of roseworm , thought too slow in the service , barbianus made governour of transylvania , and collonicz in the room of thurzo of that part of hungaria which lyes beyond the danow to dravus . hasanes hearing of these preparations took the feild and frighted the governour out of pesth and the garrison out of hatvanum , strigonium was by him in vain beseiged , & thereby the turkish power had in contempt , for that the hungarians perceived they were more oppressed by their own souldiers and the feuds of their commanders , then they were by their enemies . this , and some other instigations and instincts concerning their privileges , the insolence of the germans and the late inquisitions , caused them to adhere to stephen bocskay , then appearing in transylvania , to which province the turks had preferred gabriel bethlen , but he modester in prosperous then adverse fortune , had passed it to bocskay , and made himself a partisan to his designs , having with bectessus of temeswar , attempted lippa : but while he lingred there , lewis racokzi , and the count of tampirium , surprized their camp and made a great slaughter , the bassa and bethlen made a shift to escape half naked and half a sleep ; bethlen leaving his cloaths to be ransacked ; where were found some letters with the heads of the conspiracy agreed upon between bocskay and himself , which were afterwards confirmed by some of the prisoners . barbianus , the matter being so full of danger , instantly hasted to the camp at rokomaza , and put the souldiers in readinesse , and summoned bocskay , who made many tergiversations and delayes but denyed the confederacy . this encreased the suspition , and advised barbianus to put it to a speedy decision by battel . the heyducks were at first induced to take up arms with him , but understanding the peril of their religion , although their commanders had been newly ensnared by an oath of fidelity to caesar , they revolted to the confederates . thereafter ensued a fight at adorjanyum , where bocskay prevailed against becsius one of the emperours generalls , by a casuall firing of his train of powder , and took his camp richly furnished , which ill successe so ferretted barbiani shut up by forces on every hand , and informed likewise that valentine homonnai was declared for bocskay , that he departed from tockay , as he fled before from varadin ( mistrusting the defence of both places ) and came to cassovia where iohn bocacius the mayor of the city being a lutheran denyed him entrance , whose examples eperjessum , cibini●m the lesse and other places soon after followed . bocskay departing for cassovia , sent before him blasius lippai ( whom for his brute valour he raised from a sordid degree to a great command , and afterward for his insolence beheaded him , and reduced his wife to her former condition ) who was wellcomed and the magazines and treasures afterwards opened to bocskay , soon after saluted and presented there with all the princely ensignes and ornaments by rako●zi , homonnai , nyari and other the chieif noblemen ; in the mean while blasius lippai befieging barbianus in scepusium , was repelled by the valour of thurzo , as blasius nemethus the captain of the heyducks ranging for prey , was intercepted by basta , defeated , and his head struck off . basta with 15000 men shook the confidence of the confederates , whereupon they strengthened themselves with the assistance of mahomet the grand vizier , and encountred the imperiallists at the river moldava , where although they stood the first shock yet were they not able to endure the firm constancy of the germans ; who thereupon recovered szendreira and freed ruberus beseiged in tockay : basta being thus every day victorious admonished bocskay , to lay down his arms , and frame and compose his seditious mind to his duty and aleigeance ; to which bocskay answered , that war was better than peace unlesse transylvania were left wholly to him ; and the generals , governours , and castellanes of hungary be all of that nation , that the forraign souldiery be put out of the realm , and the free exercise of religion allowed . but this confidence of basta was soon blasted , for his coveteousnesse having made him odious to his souldiers who were without pay , they fell into a mutiny and assaulted him in his quarters ( the convoy of twenty nine waggons laden with money and cloth for the souldiery , themselves having stollen and carried them away , part into poland , and part to bocskay : ) neverthelesse having something pacified the souldiers he attempted cassovia but in vain , & thence retreated to leuchovia , his army deserting him in the way ; insomuch that francis redei with a small party of 2000 heyduhks , and the bent of the people , took in twenty towns : besides many castles betwixt the rivers sayon , ippolus , and waegh , revolted to him . these successes caused the emperour to send away the bishop of vesprinium , and sigismund forgacz his ambassadors to bocskay , to whom ( the turk being very observant and intent upon his actions ) he at the first audience publickly profest , that if they were sent from the hungarian nobility , their embassy was welcome and acceptable to him ; but otherwise , if they came from the emperour it was to no purpose , for that he had engaged so far that he could not possibly recede . at a diet held at szerencsium soon after , he laid down the causes of his present undertaking , namely , the defence of religion , the liberty and safety of the people . at the end of which oration he was confirmed by the estates in the principality , and the roman , lutheran , and calvinian doctrines received promiseuously . the cheif praefecture of transylvania , and the supreme command of the army was conferred , the first on sigismund rakoczi , the latter on valentine homonn●● from this diet in 〈◊〉 he returned into transylvania , where he was met with a turkish chiaux , who presented him with the usual ensigns of the investiture from the grand seigniour , to whom he dispatched ●way stephes corlatus , and george kikedi , his ambassadors with the homage and presents , the more envious , for that some german youths were added thereunto . from cassovia , rocskay invited stephen illyeshazi ( fled for his treason ) out of poland , and by the valour of the heyduckes took trincinum , f●eleck , zackmar ; as nitria by the inconstancy of the garrison was delvered to francis redei by sigismund forgacz the bishop of the place . which losses with want of money so disabled basta , besides that he was in great danger of his life , that he fled to presburgh , where collonitz endevoured to relieve him , but his souldiers turned sides ; tyrnaw hereupon yeilded , and stanislaus and christopher thurzo submitted to redejus . hence the war was carried into moravia by eight thousand heyducks and a thousand turks , commanded by dengelegius who brought away 4000 captives thence ; and tockay was at the last extremity delivered by reuberus , whose fidelity and valour bocskay himselfe commended . the revolt of the isle of csallockoes followed this rendition , and gave advantage to 6000 of the confaederates ( so were bocskay's party called ) to make an attempt upon presburgh ( burning in their way thither st. george and other towns ) whence being rejected by basta , they turned their invasion upon austria , which they destroyed as far as prinquelia . at the same time nemethus to enlarge this devastation passed the da●●bius at sabaria , to whom nadasdi and other noblemen for fear of their own territories , joyned themselves ; and even to the wonder of the barbarians , sacked all that tract of ground lying betwixt layla and arrhabon , pretending religion as the incentive to this im●ane cruelty ; although they unmercifully tortured the reformed ministers , and sold very infants for slaves to the turks , to such a detestation , that god caused blood to drop out of gold paid by a turk to a christian for one of those captives . this countrey desolated , he fell next into styria , and barbarously used the town , situated betwixt arrhabon , pingua , and lappinicia ; and had almost shook the allegiance of drascovitius the governor of illyria ; but he recovering himself , and assisted by : trautsmandorf , raised an army of ten thousand men and drove nemethus out of sclavonia together with his partakers , among whom were some tartars , to zigeth , coppan , and other their respective holds and garrisons : by which mean● drascovitius gained to himself great authority and renown . but these most horrid divisions hastned the common ruin ; for mahomet the now prime vizier , who had delivered strigonium himself to the christians , besieged it in person , which bocskay quarrelled , alleadging that by his league with them no city in hungary ought to be taken by the turks ; but being not master of himself , he sent homonnai either at the request or command of mahomet with 6000 men : and not long after the town within ten years of its reduction , was delivered by william oetingensis and his germans ; who diffiding in the hungarians dismist them out of the town , not to this onely disadvantage , for they presently thereupon joyned with redejus against the emperour , to whom ersek●yvarum was yeilded by the consent of matthias , upon the promise of rodejus that it should not come into the tark● ●●ands , but be restored when ever the wa● should be composed . mahomet the vizier now summoned boczkay to buda , to the solemnization of the marriage of the bassa of that city , who met him on his way as far as rakos , and introducted him in state , where boczkay did homage for transylvania , and submitted it under the protection of the turks : whereupon he was presented with a crown as king also of hungary ( supposed to have been the constantinopolitan emperours , or the despots of thrace ) and a sword embellished with gold , jewels , and other ornaments ; all which ( except the crown ) boczkay accepted , but that he refused , acknowledging caesar to have been duly crowned , for which his modesty was worthily praised , however he may be justly taxed of sedition and rebellion . by reason of this fealty the vizier made him tribute free for ten years , those expired , the yearly tribute of ten thousand guilders to be paid at the port for the upper transylvania , at which agreement the janiza●●es made great acclamations of felicity , as expecting a donative and gratuity . a diet was soon after held by boczkay at corpona , whither came sigismund forgacz from caesar , with conditions of peace , to which the turk engaged by the rebel bassa's of aleppo and caramania , was inclinable also in his own behalf , having first seen boczkays propositions . this overture came to a conclusion at vienna , managed by illyeshazi and mlasodo●itius , on the part of the transylvanian caesar consenting to whatsoever propositions , as knowing boczkay must ere long dye without issue . the terms were , a general and mutual amnesty and oblivion , a toleration of the roman , lutheran , and calvinian professions , a palatine to be elected by the votes of the hungarians ; the chambers and new courts to be abolished ; the treasury to be regulated by new commissioners , the hungarians to redeem the castles pawned to the germans ; the government to be administred by hungarians ; but raab and comorra may be governed by deserving germans ; all transylvania , with that part of hungary which sigismund bathori enjoyed , to belong to boczkay , together with the lordships of tockay , sacmar , &c. which for want of issue , shall revert to caesar : if the peace be not concluded with the turk they shall joyn arms ; bishops descended of the nobility to have voyce and place in counsel , others not . this was ratified by the dep●ties of all the upper hereditary provinces of the emperour and firmed by the eminentest nobility of both sides . varadin was herewith yeilded to bocskay , having all along been stoutly defended against him by baptista pecsius , as st. george and b●zinium were rendred to illyeshazi . the peace was also concluded with the turk for 20. years . achmet the sultan to call caesar father , he achmet son , both to be saluted by the name of caesars ; all differences arising to be composed by the governours of raa● and buda . the castles and fortresses to stand , but no new ones to be built , only the hungarians may repair vaccia ; caesar shall pay this year 200 thousand imperials , but nothing afterwards ; every three years the emperours shall interchange presents , and a faithful friendship shall be consolidated between them . this transaction was followed by the death of boczkay , who professed himself willing to dye , so that he had had the opportunity of purging himself , before the world and the empire , of sedition . he declared valentine homonnai by his last will , for prince of transylvania , which homonnai gaped after , but the transylvanians chose sigismund rakoczi , and although he made great reluctancy pretending several excuses , yet at last they compelled him to clausenburgh , and made him assume the principality , while homonai mad with rage , having plundered boczkay's treasures committed to him , retired to ungnade ; by whose example szecfi and paul nyari shared the like entrustments among themselves , the deserved and desired end of goods got by violence and oppression . just before the confirmation of this turkish peace , an embassador from persia , came to prague , and there by extolling his masters power , and his resolution of destroying the o●toman name and nation , put a demur to the ratification , which passed not till somewhat after , when matthias the brother of the emperour , was possessed of the crown of hungary ; the turk was instant to have it finished , and stormed exceedingly at the delay , for that serdar bassa who had possessed himself of aleppo , damascus , and tripoli , with a formidable power , under smooth & dutiful pretences threatned constantinople . in the mean while ( and the licentious rapines of the heyducks upon all such intervalls ) matthias , his brothers viceroy , prepared his way to the crown of hungary , urged thereunto by illyeshazi , whose interest rudolphus had used at the diet at ratisbone to prefer ferdinand the nephew of charles his brother ; hereupon souldiers were listed by matthias , to obviate the designs of the spaniards , who would advance ferdinand as more catholick then himself : with these , under pretence of repressing the heyducks , he came suddenly to presburgh , and was received into the castle by the archbishop and cardinal pazman and illyezhazi , at whose instances he possessed himself of the crown . by him the late articles of vienna were confirmed ( the hungarians being obstinate to those terms ) and upon that score austria and moravia also joyned with him , and vowed to live and dye in his cause . having from hence raised an army of 20. thousand men , he marched to prague , where the emperour delaying of his grants to the bohemians , ( who had armed themselves in vindication of their religion , and the same priviledges with the papists ) found himself so disappointed , that he condiscended to the inauguration of matthias , in the kingdome of hungary . he arrived at presburgh the 22. of october , where he allowed the priviledges aforesaid , the election of a palatine within a year after the others decease , which dignity had been vacant 46. years , ever since nadasdi , together with the expulsion of the jesuits . from thence he went to cassovia , at which diet held there , sigismund racockzi , as prince of transylvania did him fealty , and soon after resigned the principality to gabriel bathori , having gained the confirmation from achmet , and an uninteressednesse from matthias . in all things , he shewed himself a person of great justice and modesty , in declining his assistance of the rebels in poland , and transferring this soveraignty to another , when he was so beloved and courted by the people . to passe by new commotions and discontents of the hungarians about their religion now invaded and infringed , but vindicated by the elector of saxony , and other protestant princes , who by arming themselves over-ruled matthias ; we return to matters of state : illyezhazi the new palatine , built a new fabrick in the castle of presburgh , for the conservation of the crown ; and collonicsius was advanced to a higher dignity in that kingdome , which had hitherto been in no condition to respect his merit . as to war it had its divertisement in transylvania ; radulo the noble vayvod of valachiae , refused homage to bathori , who incensed thereat ( and designing the seizure of all dacia which the turks had promised to boczkay ) raised a puissant army such as was hardly seen there before , and gave him battle at brassovia , where he was totally routed by the valour of the said vayvod ; which opportunity matthias in confederacy with that gallant person , so improved , that he possessed himself of clausenburgh , and other chief holds by his general forgacz , while bathori betook himself to the mountains . this enterprize was the more easily carried on against him , for that his prodigious lust made him odious to his subjects , whose beautifullest wives and daughters he frequently and most openly vitiated . notwithstanding such was his fortune , that he beat forgacz out of his dominions , and forced him to hide himself in the woods of bohemia , after he had suffered very great extremities . yet the same vicissitudinary fortune undid bathori , betrayed by his embassador andrew geczi to the grand seigniour , who designed the principality to himself , and whom the bassa of buda would have confirmed , but that bathori betook himself ( such the reciprocation of these interests ) to the protection & friendship of matthias , now elected emperour of germany , by whose assistance the at instance of thurzo the palatine in the room of illyeshaeci geczi was overthrown , & at the same time bethlen gabor substituted by the turks to the same dignity , at the price which bathori had payed for it . he enraged with this affront ( besides that he was a man of a most incredible strength ) ravagely fell upon his poor subjects , who yet again bore with him while he renewed his debaucheries , whose vengeance every one of the nobles incited . at this juncture bethlen made use of the turks power and subdued lippa , aradum , and other places , whose rendition made bathori , suspectfull of all people , to betake himself by a speedy flight from clausenburg to * varadin , where admitted into the castle , consultation was held concerning him by the nobles , who advised gregory nadanyj , and george szylasi to assassinate him , and they after some reluctancies of conscience animated by the mortall jealousie of decsius a preacher of the calvinist faction , whose wife bathori most leudly loved , at the second resolution assaulted & slew him in the street of varadin called velenze , as he was going to the baths . bethlen was immediately acknowledged by the transylvanians , and confirmed for his presents & acknowledgments , both by the turk and emperour . his first act was the vindication of bathori's death , by the popular fury permitted upon his assassinates , whom he summoned to the dyer ( with a salvo statu ) then held at medgysium . at the same time achmet was ready at adrianople with an army to invade hungary , but the emir of sidon ( who derives himself from godfrey of bu●loyn ) gave him a diversion ; as did the cossacks plague him in the euxine sea , by burning 24 of his galleys , and infesting thracia also by land , but the chief remora of all was his death in the year 1617. mustapha his brother succeeded him , but was presently deposed , and osman achmets son aged 16 years was saluted emperour , who survived not long after , being strangled by daout bassa . not to mention the war now commenced between the emperour and the venetians about pyracies committed by the uschock● and chroats upon their maritine territories , as publick in a discourse by it self , which war was managed with great resolution by both parties in dalmatia and friuli . the event of this unkind war , redounded to a good and amicable understanding between matthias and ferdinand , who was now adopted to the crown , provided that he intermedled not during the life of the emperour ; and the next year he was crowned king of hungary , at which time three suns appeared denoting the mischeifs ( if they may be so construed ) that befell his dominions in the ensuing war of bohemia , first managed by ernest count mansfeld for the reformed , and count bucquoy for the emperour matthias , who wearied with a lingring and continual distemper having lived 62 years , and governed hungary 12 , as germany 7 years , deceased with the blessings of a peace to his subjects . ferdinan the 2d . by the endevours of matthias being elected king , administred the government government by many alterations , the cause of which changes was the same with the usuall excesses of arbitrary innovation , for he recalled the jesuits in hatred of the protestants , and very much infringed the articles of bocskay , which made them have recourse to the count of thurn then in arms near vienna . at the same time the bohemian estates prevailing no more as to liberty of conscience , conferred the kingdome on frederick count elector palatine , who animated by his wife the only daughter of iames king of england , ( of whose assistance together with the dutch , he was made confident , as assured of a nearer help from bethlen gabor upon the same account of religion ) accepted thereof : the hungarians raised hereupon by teiffenback , thrust themselves into silesia , more intent upon the prey then studious of the cause , while bethlen having repulsed homonnai , who had introduced the jesuits into claudiopolis , either hung or banished them , publishing a proclamation against the entertainment or reception of any of that society . and now in pursuance of his confederacy with frederick the count palatine , he rushed into hungary , with an army of 18000 men , and 18 great guns , where meeting with a discontented part of the nobles by the infringment of the abovesaid articles , and strengthned by them , he took in cassovia by his lieutenants redei and szecsi , and by fair words cajoled andrew docrius the generall of upper hungary by pretence of peace-making into a captivity in transylvania wherein he dyed . this proceeding so frighted the jesuits and friers , that they made what hast they could out of his way , so many places rendring themselves ( led by the examples of the mine towns , of which rosnoboyana was the first ) as fileck , v●●zia , tyrnaw , nitria , posing , &c. that they knew not where to be secure , only comorra and raab firmly garrisoned by austrians withstood his fortune . part of the army therefore was employedin an irruption into moravia , the other being joyned with thurn beseiged presburgh , wherein was the palatine of hungary with a small garrison , and some troops of bucquoy in the suburbs , the which he presently cut off , and thereupon the city yeilded it self with the crown & other regal ornaments , and gave him liberty by the seizure of some interjacent places , as viscetus and eberstorph to carry the terrour , with the sight of his arms , to vienna . but here the misfortune that befell george rakoczi , whom he had left his vicegerent in transylvania , impeded his further progresse : george honnonnai a firm adherer to the house of austria , having fled from his late defeat into poland , with a fresh supply thence , returned and encountred rakoczi , by whom he was worsted ; but recruited with present supplies engaged him again , which fight had lasted two dayes , when homonnai by the counterfeit of a flight drew him into his ambushes and there discomfited him , the foot were all of them slain , rakoczi and the horse escaped by flight . this emergency recalled gabor from vienna , after he had caused himself to be proclaimed king of hungary in defyance of ferdinand , and contracted a firmer league with the bohemians , to the designation of higher matters . ferdinand was absent at the diet at franckfurt , when the bohemians revolted , where having complained , as also to the kings of france and england of their insolence , he appointed maximilian of bavaria his generall the duke of saxony and the catholick elector being also made sure to his interest , and besides a truce was concluded on with gabor to michaelmasse . and now ready for a war in germany , the french suspended it by their interposition at ulms. that not proving durable , ioachim ernestus the marquesse of anspach , was entrusted by frederick with the charge of the palatinate and the government of heydelberg , who being ready to engage with maximilian , was not only diverted and recalled by spinola's arrivall , who took in oppenheim , baccharach , and other places , but corrupted also by his gold , although the prince of aurange had engaged to his assistance . maximilian freed of this enemy , marched to prague with an army of 25 thousand men , attended with count bucquoy , whose troops in the night surprized the hungarians , sent to aid the palatine by bethlen , that were quartered upon the white-hill and carried away 1500 horses after a great slaughter committed on the riders . this ominous defeat so heightned maximilian that he dared the enemy to an engagement , against the advise of bethlen , who would have had the bohemians temporize till he could personally assist them , but such was the palatines fate , that a battel ensued , wherein at first by the rout of the young prince of anhalt , the bohemians seemed to be fortunate , but the sudden flight of 8000. hungarians altered the case , and gave the imperiallists a compleat victory . frederick with his princesse fled to vratislavia , and bohemia as not long after moravia and silesia accepted of the emperours conditions . bethlen summoned a diet in hungary at ersekuyvarum , where partly betwixt force and good will he was again proclaimed king , the majesty of which title his valour ( as having been two and forty times present in battel ) magnificence and popularity very well suited , and now he began to act as a king ▪ tampirius generalissimo of hungary therefore opposed his army consisting of ten thousand men , and by water and land laid siege to presburgh , and took the suburbs and the fort before them ; but while he unwarily viewed the castle he was slain with a dart. the fall of the general made the souldiers desert the siege , and suffer bethlen to ravage austria , where he had effected great matters , but that the over-throw of his confederates at prague spoyled his designs . the elector palatine being yet at uratislavia in the marquisate of silesia , did very much urge him to proceed and to continue his successes , for that speedily he would bring an army out of england and denmark to his assistance . and indeed ernestus count mansfield , brother of charles that was so famous for the siege of strigonium , having gained pilsa and taborum , was advanced into the palatinate , and had reduced things there to some better conditlon ; but in the mean while bohemia was quite lost , the palatine proscribed , the jesuits restored , and the reformists driven out of the kingdome . the french king endevoured a peace between the emperour and bethlen at hamburg , but with no successe ; for gabriel would neither renounce his regal title nor give way to the estates of hungary to transact with ferdinand , but called in an army of turks and tartars , by which means he drew envy upon himself , and the estates grew eager against his government and returned to their former allegiance . george szecsi was first received into favour , who drew a great many with him ; and took francis redei away perforce , who languished away for greif not long after . as to matter of action , charles ●ongaevall count of bucquoy , having subdued and tamed the moravians , with an army of 2200 men , and 22 great guns marched directly against bethlen , who retreating into transylvania , and the german and hungarian garrisons diffe●ing among themselves , recovered presburg , with tyrnaw , ovarum , schutt , and all that tract of ground as far as newhausel , which he also besieged , and brought it to extremity ; when stanislaus thurzo salleyed out upon the foragers , and lighting upon bucquoy , who too rashly engaged in their assistance killed him after sixteen wounds , his horse being shot under him ; his dead body with the slaughter of many imperialists , was brought off and redeemed from the hungarians , and in the beginning of iuly enterred at vienna . by his death the affairs of caesar were shaken , for the walloons refusing another general , gave opportunity to the enemy of reducing many places ; gabriel having raised a new army and overthrown the nobles of hungary ; ersekuyvarum was also abandoned by the garrison : so that finding the kingdome naked and destitute of defence , he joyned with the count of thurn and the marquisse of i●gerendorf and forced tyrnaw ; presburg he in vain attempted ; whence by the invitation of iagerendorf he made an irruption into moravia , and seized and pillaged several places ; but being opposed here by the emperours new generals , esterhasius , wallensteyn and hanibal donaw , who set upon him on every side , ( and iagerendorf departed from silesia , as his transylvanians for want of provision were privily slipt home ) he bethought himself of a peace , which at the instance of his ambassadors was first treated of at oedinburg , but conc●uded at szentmicklosium , whereby bethlen retaining tockay and cassovia , with seven other lordships in hungary , was to yeild up and resign the crown with all other places and cities in that kingdome ; to forbear the regal title and be content with the name of roman prince , should enjoy opulia and ratibor , the state of religion , and the jesuites to be restored to the places they were in before . thus the elector palatine was disappointed here also , as mansfield , and christian duke of brunswick had been unsuccessful against tilly , so that driven out of his haereditary countreys , he fled into holland ; the electoral dignity was conferred on maximilian of bavaria ; when , the estates of the empire perceived that the power they had given the emperour was used by him against themselves . iagerendorf being expelled out of silesia , again implored bethlen to the assistance and support of the churches ; whereupon the flame of the but newly quenched conflagration broke out again . bethlen delivered vaczia to the turks , with whom and the tartars to the number of eighty thousand excited by the count of thurn , he invaded hungary ; pretending first religion , then the money not paid , nor the conditions of the treaty at oedinburg performed . at tyrnaw he defeated the regiment of tieffenbach , and falling into moravia drove swarzemburg before him and besieged him in the metropolis , building four great bulwarks before that part of the city where the onely egresse was , and keeping strong guards on that side where it was fenced with the lake and woods : neverthelesse swarzemburg by a frugal apportioning of the allowance of provision , held out the place till the winter , when the grand seigniour being rightly informed of the quarrel by caesar , with the menace of his scymitar , recalled bethlen ; and the turks and tartars impatient of the delay and the cold , refused to obey him , altho●gh some of them were therefore hanged up : besides the aids out of germany appeared not , so that he was compelled to make a truce , and the garrison ( almost famished ) delivered from the siege . his title of the roman prince , or prince of the romans , was abolished ; his coadjutors the turks , left to get home as well as they could , in which return many were stripped and slain , and satisfied for their fellows cruelty , and plunder . in the beginng of may this year the peace was confirmed , and redintegrated : iagerendorf quite disseised of silesia , & thurn expell'd out of moravia , and bethlen deprived of that part he held in hungary , but restored to opulia , and ratibor taken from him in the beginning of these troubles : and lastly , the kingdome of hungary acknowledged her old soveraign , ferdinand ernestus eldest son of ferdinand the second , being crowned at ovarum , where were present his father , his queen and children , caraffa the popes nuncio , and the spanish and florentine ambassadors ; bethlen also sent his thither , being taken up with the solemnity of his nuptials with catharine the daughter of iohn sigismund marquiss of brandenburgh , who was married at alba iulia . at this diet at ovarum , great was the unanimity and concord of the estates , by whose resolutions the guards and forts against canysa were strongly fortified , the license of polygamy restrained , the road secured , and the tribute and tax duely settled , and other things enacted which concerned the safety of the kingdome . ezterhesius was substituted to the dignity of palatine in the room of thurzo . next succeeded the coronation it self : the regal diadem , robes , sword , and globe , with the noyse of the cannon , and the gladsome acclamation of the people ( wishing all happinesse to the king and kingdome thus restored ) were conveyed from presburg in this order ; first went the german trumpeters , then th● barons , the masters of the horse with their squadrons armed cap a pe ; next followed the hungarian noblemen , the deputies or governours of dalmatia , sclavonia , and croatia ; then the servants of the palatine covered with the skins of leopards and tigers , then the palatine himself in the middst between the german and hungarian barons , the crown and the other royal ensigns being laid upon a chariot . the cardinal peter pazman , and arch-bishop of strigonium , put the crown on the king's head in the great church ; where were present a great confluence of schollars to attend the cardinal , from the colledges of vienna , and tyrnaw , and elsewhere ; the hungarians being here asked if they did accept him for their king , with one voice answered , we do ; we will and require it , let the king live and reign long , and govern us . the king ( the divine service performed ) turned his chair towards the people , and laying the sword of st. stephen upon their shoulders , created four knights ; when mounting his horse , in an hungarian habit he galloped up a little hill , and there brandishing his sword four times to the four quarters of the world , thereby declared his majesty and his empire : medals of gold and silver being at the same time thrown among the people . for conclusion , he was nobly treated at a most sumptuous royal feast by the nobles . a new storm over-clouded this serenity : bethlen instigated by count mansfield in the month of iuly , invaded hungary again , whither the said count joyned with the duke of weymar ( being beaten out of germany , the netherlands and bohemia ) was bending his forces , but both of them although additioned by forces from bethlen , who resented his losse of opulia and ratibor , were vanquished by wallensteyn . who being afterwards recoyled by the turks about nitria , fought with dubious fortune against the said mansfeldians , still recruiting upon every disaster , as if they had been the sons of antaeus . but upon the news brought to bethlen that 40. thousand tartars his confederates were slain in poland , he found it high time to bethink of peace , by which on shameful conditions he departed out of hungary , & quitted his confederates mansfield and weymar , renouncing also his tartarian friendship , with an obligation to free all christian captives with the turks . mansfield suspecting this collusion , with his most expedite and nimble troops hasted to the venetians , leaving the rest of his forces to weymar , but taken in bosnia with a flux , proceeding ( as some report ) from poyson he took into his bowells , he expired his busie and versatile soul there . weymar also having possessed himself of hohenwold and iabelunca , and designing his efforts upon hungary , discontented with those practises of the transylvanian , soon wasted away , aged 32. years , much beloved and lamented by his party for his moderate , yet valiant actions and deportment in silesia . him bethlen followed , tortured with such an excessive pain in his feet , that he commanded the soles of them to be lanced , to give passage to the fluid humour ; to this was added the disease of the holy fire , which gave occasion to the papists invectives , that all the elements conspired against him , being persecuted with fire , water , iron , &c. and that his end was worthy of his actions . he bequeathed to each of the emperours a horse , with jewells , trappings , and furniture , worth 40. thousand guilders , to his wife a 100 thousand guilders and as many thousand imperials , and florens , with 3 royalty's , to hold and enjoy for her life ; having given this testimony of caesar , that it was a very hazzardous thing to war with him , as a person who was neither deprest with adverse nor lifted up with prosperous fortune . by his death cassovia , tockay , and all the places granted to him for his life , reverted to the emperour ; and his widow , although proclaimed prince of transylvania , yet wanting title and right as being a stranger , whether spontaneously , or against her will , quitted the administration , having procured stephon czakius whom she loved , to be named for prince , and indevoured at the ottoman port to have him invested ; but the transylvanians rejecting the princesse , were divided into two other parts , some would have stephen bethlen , the brother of the deceased gabriel ; others stood for george rakoczi , whose fortune and wonderful felicity , carried it from all his competitors , catharius the agent at constantinople , prevaricating and acting for rakoczi , as did several castellans by the liberality of the princess granted unto csakius , who took fortune to their counsellour , csakius speeds thither ; and comes to muncacksum , given him by the same hand and desired admission , but iohn balling the governour of the place presenting the ordnance against him , told him he had delivered it to rakoczi , and had received the hereditary government of it for his rendition . bethlen at the same time possessed himself of most of the other places in transylvania , but by the detestable disloyalty of his son stephen , and his son in law david zolyomi , and the disaffection of all forraign princes , he was forced to abandon his pretensions , for rakoczi invited by those two persons came to varadin , where by their suffrage and advancement , he wrested the principality from stephen , created prince thereof , who being of a mild and quiet disposition , and more desirous of a private life , by his own interest promoted rakoczi , against czakius , and forgave his son and son in law , not forgiven by god the just avenger of their unnatural offence , ( he himself receiving the name of governour : ) for not long after his son stephen , a youth otherwise of great learning and virtue , having been bred up with his brother peter at leyden , dyed at ecsedium , his body being horribly eaten up with worms : david zolyomi was committed to perpetual imprisonment by rakoczi , whom he had helped to prefer . caesar likewise had dispatcht esterhasius the palatine of hungary , with a strong army to possesse himself of transylvania , but before his arrival rakoczi had setled himself ; and by stephen bethlen the governour of dacia , pro hac vice , in an irruption into hungary , overthrew him and took several cities ; the sultan himself , while yet the peace was in force betwixt him and the emperor , of his own accord sending 10000. men to ersekuyvarum to his assistance , in testimony of his affection to , and approbation of rakoczi , who wasted the countrey on purpose to divert esterhasius ; wherefore the emperour not willing to bring a greater war upon himself , by designing upon others , presently acquiesced . but this provocation determined not so on the part of rakoczi , whose offence thereat , the swede by an embassy to him , so aggravated ( finding the german war like to rest upon his own single shoulders ) by other fetches of the common cause of religion , &c. that rakoczi began to arm , intending at once to be revenged of caesar , esterhausius , and cszakius together , and to that purpose made sure of the protection and favour of the grand seigniour , who assented to his proposed enterprise , and commanded the bassa of buda and the moldavians to assist him therein . csakius no lesse vigilant in his affairs , being supplied with mony by gabors widdow , pressed an engagement with rakoczi , and continued and renewed it five several times by the indifference of fortune , yet so distastful to rak●czi , that he was willing to a peace , whereby csakius was to enjoy what he held in transylvania without any molestation . this province thus settled , arose another intestine feud ; stephen bethlen with peter his son , had killed a kinsman of rakoczi's , and suspecting his revenge , had gathered an army of turks and tartars , and brought them to gyula , out of meer fear intending to take upon him the government , which he had for quietnesse before resigned . rakoczi detesting this wavering faith of the turks submitted to the austrians , from whom he was supplied out of silesia with three regiments of foot and one of horse ; against those the turks opposed themselves , but by the cunning and policy of iames gyori ( a person skilled in their language who pretended to be faithful to bethlen , and betrayed his and their designs to rakoczi ) and by the valour of sigismund cornicsius , twenty five thousand of them were slain at szalcula . soon after david zolyomi having leavyed 2000. horse to the assistance of the king of sweden , to whose war in germany the transylvanians were very much affected , rakoczi either true to the emperour , or suspecting this as ●ome design for his father in law , disbanded all his troops . this injury stuck so close to zolyomi that he resolved to kill him as he was a hunting , but his conscience reclaiming , he warned rakoczi that he should forbear hunting on his prefixed day , but to send some armed men , to such places , where they should find the assassinates prepared for the execution , who being accordingly discovered and slain , solyomi , bound in chains of the weight of 50 pound was cast into a most squalid and dolefull dungeon , which had one onely prospect against a wall by a window , of a cubits length and bredth , where he was kept from any humane converse the whole course of his life : so that in what he sinned by advancing rakoczi before his father in law in that he was thus severely punished , alleviated onely by the honourable respects shewed him by vrbanus reoti the governour of the castle , who laboured all he could for his enlargement ; but neither caesars intreaties could prevail in that point . bethlen , when he could neither obtain oblivion and indempnity for his late actions , nor procure his son in law's deliverance , invited the turks again , who had excused their late expedition in behalf of bethlen , protesting their exact observation of the peace ; but the palatine versed in those frauds of the infidel listed the heyducks , and watched every event . many encounters happned betwixt rakoczi and bethlen , and oftentimes with losse to the turks , which so vexed the sultan that he commanded the vizier to be flead alive . but at last the businesse was composed by the mediation of friends , and bethlen restored acknowledge rakoczi , whom the turk again confirmed . ferdinand the second , being now deceased , his eldest son the third of that name , succeeded him in all his dominions , and seemed to have restored to hungaria and transylvania , a most blessed peace ; had it not been for the jesuites who raised new troubles : for the catholick nobles grudged that the protestants by the former war had extorted some things in favour of their religion , and the lutherans had built a very beautiful church at presburg , which caesar resenting had sent his inhibition , and disallowed his former concessions . the protestants hereupon addressed themselves to rakoczi as their sanctuary and anchor , who had been also offended with the emperour upon this account : there was found at varadin in the vault of ladislaus and sigismund , a treasure , with a crown , scepter , and jewells , one of which being a diamant ( as my authour hath it ) was as big as a hens egg set in a locket , which glittered and shone like a lighted torch , there being an anathema added that no man presumed to meddle with them , while the necessity of the castle should require it : these ferdinand demanded , but rakoczi refused them . add to this a worser evil ; it happned that so ne hungarian nobles , as forgaczi , illyeshazi , and others , turned roman catholicks , and some catholicks obtained lordships where the protestant religion was before exercised , which they took upon them to restrain , and converted their churches to catholick uses . these innovations and the force that obtruded them , rakoczi desired the emperour to remove , and to observe those immunities and priviledges which he and the estates had confirmed to the protestants ; but the emperour , either not valuing rakoczi , or secure of hungary ( for that the turk engaged in the east , had concluded a peace for twenty years ) put him off with continual delayes ; and raised an army of hungarians against the swede , who neverthelesse would not stir out of their countrey . rakoczi on the other side held intelligence with general torstenson then in silesia , and resolved to arm , having in vain mediated but for the restitution of three hundred protestant churches shut up by the emperour ; besides that there was a present pique and grudge between him and homonnai , who had driven away all the protestants out of his government , and had seized the wines of tockay , which were to be sent as the annual present to the grand seigniour . there was at this time at the transylvannia court , the ambassadors of poland , sweden , france , and austria ; the last of whom being slightly dismissed , rakoczi proclaimed open war against ferdinand the third , and with 70000 men invaded hungary ; the reasons of which , published in a manifesto were these ; that since the last nineteen years , hungary had been reckoned among the hereditary provinces , that civil and secular offices were conferred upon ecclesiastical persons , and lands of maintainance assigned them ; and protestants put by from all places , and iesuites introduced , against their consent and will. his first effort was upon the castles of homonnai , which he ruined and demolished , committing great slaughter and rapine , using f●re and sword to extremity . next he compelled cassovia to a surrender , in vain defended by count forgacz . to oppose his further progresse the emperour dispatched away count buchain with twenty thousand men , while the palatine was employed in raising eight thousand hungariaus ; the first encounter proved not so prosperous to the transylvanian ; but the continual revolt of the hungarians was cheaper then victory , which now favoured him in his repulse of adam forgacz , from rimaszombathum ; buchain was advised by nadasdi to make a diversion by the way of agria into transylvenia , and so hem him in by getting below him ; but in this he onely trifled away time , while rakoczi ( most of the strong places being possessed by the catholick party ) besieged tyrnaw , which at last opened its gates to general douglasse and his son sigismund , where the bishops and noblemen ( now crest-fallen ) humbly intreated canysius the protestant preacher of the place , to mediate with the victor that he would take them into his clemency ; which was granted at his intercession . and now rakoczi distrusting this eager favour of fortune , inclined to a composure , which caesar more desirous of , both for that the climate agreed not with his forrain souldiery , and the huge price of grain , the unsuccessful siege of cassovia , with the forced retreat of bouchain to presburgh , readily consented to , and hastily concluded , to the great vexation and anger of the swede . this peace was proclaimed on st. bartholomew's day , by which seven lordships in hungary were confirmed to the transylvanian , 90 churches restored to the protestants , and the rest of their priviledges confirmed to them . torstenson thus forsaken of his confederate was abandoned by his fortune , and forced to rise from the siege of prunna . in the mean while died the palatine ▪ to whom drascovitius was substituted , and the instrument of the transylvanian pacification was made publick , notwithstanding both parties in hungary were as imbittered as ever about the extermination of the jesuits , and ready to draw one upon another . the next year ferdinand the fourth , was crowned king of hungary , the peace continuing with the turks , but so fallaciously that three hundred of them were got privily into raab , where being discovered by a woman , they were all of them slain and the city preserved by the divine favour and protection . in the year 1648 died prince rakoczi , to whom succeeded his son george ; as ferdinand the fourth , crowned king of the romans , a prince of more hopes then glory , after he had lived to the age of 22 years , deceased in the year 1653. and leopold ignatius his brother succeeded him in all his dignities , kingdomes , and dominions in the year 1656 the swede having invaded poland , and almost conquered the hither part ( so that the many garrisons he was forced to man , had almost drayned his army ) by his ambassadors invited prince rakoczi to the spoyl and his assistance ; and such was the evil fate of transylvania , and rakoczi in particular , that allured by the great advantages the ruin of that kingdom promised him , he confederated himself with the swede , maintaining correspondencies and intrigues with all his allyes , particularly , with the pretended protector of england , to whom he sent an envoy to transact his concerns of money ; to the payment whereof the king of sweden had by pact obliged the said usurper , the consideration and satisfaction whereof , are of no great moment to this discourse . the transylvanians betaking themselves to their arms , from which they had been longer disused than throughout the whole series of their history ( the turks having been sometime before engaged against the persians , and lately against the venetians , and labouring with their own mis-carriages and errours of government ) little imagined they should wear them so long ( if ever it be their hap to put them off without parting with their liberty and religion ) and to such a calamitous defence of their own countrey . in fine , an army of 16000 men was presently raised and put under the command of backos gabor , which were the van of those forces that rakoczi intended for this expedition , himself following in person with another army ; who as soon as they were entered poland in most horrible manner fell a ravaging and sacking the towns , and pillaging the churches , and defacing the beauties thereof in hatred of the roman catholick religion ; so that a fearful desolation was made as they passed . to passe by other occurrents of his proceedings in this kingdome , after he had joyned with the swedes , the enterprize of cracovia may suffice for instance of his hostility in this kingdome , which he besieged , and after a short defence had it surrendred to him ( the swedes and he , demolishing almost the city of casimir , built on the other side the weysel ) it being one of those places which was to be assigned him with the palatinate thereof , for his share , in recompense of his service . this place in the ballance of the swedish fortune being besieged by feild marshal lubomirsky , rakoczi came to its relief , and gave a notable defeat to the pole , who raised his siege and fled before him . the said prince afterwards embodying with the swedes in lithuania , took in the strong city of biscia litinsky being there personally present with the king of sweden , and where he took his last leave of him , returning to samoysch , to secure his footing and maintain what he had gotten ; but the danish war interveening and calling the king of sweden away to the defence of his own kingdome ; and the duke of brandenburgh falling off likewise , and renouncing that kings interest ; besides that , the pole had newly made a league with the house of austria , who upon caution and articles were to supply him with an army of 16000 men , then upon their march out of silesia ; rakoczi perceived that the whole brunt of the war was like to fall upon him , now deserted and abandoned by all his partakers . and therefore he thought it high time to apply himself to the wayes of peace ( the turk having also countermanded him sometime before at the instance of the polish ambassador at constantinople , who it was thought , had bribed rakoczi into that disfavour and hatred with the grand seignior , who now peremptorily commanded him , he having delayed to comply with his first orders of return , so surrender his principality to his cousin reada or radus ) and in tendency thereunto made offer of a surrender of all those places he had taken during this war , thinking thereby also to have satisfied the tukish emperour , provided he might have safe egresse out of that kingdome , which was now very hazzardous , for that the poles and austrians had way-laid him in the mountainous passages by which he must needs return . but the poles so stomached the loss & prejudice they received from him causelesly , especially his church-robberies , that they delayed him with an answer to this effect : that being tied to such articles with the house of austria , and the king of hungary , they could make no agreement without them : which artifice being understood by rakoczi , more forces drawing likewise against him ; besides that , another party of 12000. of them had invaded his dominions in hungary , and in revenge burnt down thirty six villages ; he resolved to make his way with his sword while there was a possibility of effecting it , which with much difficulty and hazard , being several times set upon , and forced to fight his way ; by good guides and happy conduct he atchieved , but brought a sorry army home in comparison of what he marched out with . this same year died the emperour ferdinand the third , leaving behind him two sons , ignatius leopol●us , and charles ioseph ; the eldest of whom being a minor , much canvasing there was about the election of a caesar ; for that by the custome and golden bull of the empire no person under the age of eighteen years ( of which he lacked one ) is capable of being chosen to that dignity . notwithstanding he had been crowned king of hungary soon after the death of his brother ferdinand ( who as was mentioned before deceased in 1653. ) with the usual solemnities , which we forbear to recite , because mentioned at large before . prince rakoczi being thus retreated into transylvania , was there again by a chiaux commanded to resign the principality to radus ; but he , hoping either to make his peace at the port with the usual purchase , and so countermine his enemies , or trusting at last to his interest in the souldiery , and his people , and his own abilities ( as indeed he was a prince very well skilled in military affairs , and of personal valour , and great spirit ) delayed any such surrender , but strengthned himself all that he could , and dispatcht away embassadors to crave aid of the neighbouring princes against this threatned encroachment of the t●rks , but the pole and the austrians had conceived such rancour against him , the first for his invasion , and the other for his league with the swede , that they abandoned him to his fortune . neverthelesse the princes of moldavia , and valachia , promised their assistance , as their common cause ; while the turk disturbed at home this year 1658. by the mutininies of the janizaries and the insurrections of the bassa of aleppo , permitted rakoczi to be quiet ; but the next year he thrust in an army by way of valachia , against whom that vayvod making opposition was by them totally routed , and eight thousand of his men slain , and he forced by a timely submission and great presents and promises of hostility against rakoczi , to purchase his peace and establishment in his dignity . soon after the bassa of buda being commanded upon the same service , marched to lippa , and thence to arad town and castle , whose suburbs the transylvanians fired , which the turks officers who had the avantgurd perceiving and supposing the enemy had deserted the place , in great hast and disorder marched to the quenching of the flame ; but the transylvanian and hungarian forces not far distant , making advantage of this rout , and falling upon them in the smoke , so routed them that they were driven back to their body with great losse , where being received in with their waggons with which they were barricado'd , the whole army of rakoczi advanced , and with their great cuns so shivered them , that they were compelled to forsake their camp , and to fly , in which many of them perished in the river mor. there were here taken prisoners , mustapha beg , the bassa of agria , the coll. aga of the janizaries , the aga of buda , and aga of lippa , the beg of waitzen was drowned , with many other men of note . for this defeat the grand seignior threatned to flea the bassa of buda , if he did not presently bring him rakoczi's head , and forthwith imprisoned the emperours and the french kings ambassadours . in 1660. the turk sent a greater force then before , into transylvania . in the mean while prince rakoczi march'd with a considerable force before hermanstad , and it came to a bloody encounter , wherein rakoczi deported himself valiantly , killing 17 men with his own hand ; and so the infidels for that bout were forced to quit the field , and leave the victory to the transylvanians , leaving likewise upon the place , 6 or 7000 turks , and tartars . rakoczi in the persuit received five wounds , and five dayes after this fight ( iune the sixth ) he was brought to great-waradiu , where he departed this life . the fall of this prince ballanced the advantage of the tictory , and exceedingly animated the turks , who pressing more and more eagerly upon the transylvanians , drove them every where to their strong holds : whereupon general souches had order from vienna , to draw toward transylvania , and make it good against the turks ; and he forthwith march'd thither with a considerable body , and possessed himself of several holds . iuly the 14 of the same year , the turk with 100000 men laid close siege to great-waradin , which was stoutly defended by one collonel gaude a scotchman , the governour of the town . during the siege , the turk sent abroad strong parties to subdue smaller towns , forcing the people unto several works , as the building of bridges , and the like , putting them to the sword at last for their reward : at one time killing 150 christians , and at another , loading 20 wagons with christians heads which they carried away . on the 6 of august , that brave souldier and governour collonel gaude was slain by a shot , and ( the besieged being left without any hope of relief ) this strong place surrendred unto the turk upon accord ; being a passage into transylvania , hungary , and poland . after the death of rakoczi , his cousin radus being disliked of by the turk as unfit for his designs , there started up one barckay a ●reature of the turks , making himself prince of transylvania , whom the turk protected and supplyed with forces , whereby he undertook to reduce several places , siding in pretence with general souches ( who well understood this violence of the turks , to be a design not only upon transylvania , but also upon the empire it self , ) and making large promises under hand , that whatsoever he got by the turkish ayd , was meant for the good of the emperour , to whom he intended a just and honourable restitution , reserving only waradin to remain under the power of the prince of ttransylvania ; but the matter proved otherwise in the end . toward the end of this year , a blazing-starre appeared with the tayl toward dalmatia , and the head toward transylvania , which the ensuing calamities portended sadly of the war. soon after this , the labolizish peasants rebelled against the christians in transylvania , whom they partly put to the sword , some they took prisoners , and others they sold to the turk , the right successour of rakoczi was remini ianos ( by many transylvanians received and entertained for such ) who was bitterly persecuted by barckay and the turks . in 1661. ianos fought them at thassabat , and made a great slaughter : but at last , oppressed with numbers , he left transylvania , and retreated to tockay . and now it appeared that the turks businesse was not to stop there , but to fall also upon hungary . whereupon his imperial majesty granted commissions for the raising of an army , which was dispatched part of it into transylvania . in the interim ; count nichola serini began to look to himself , and raised a strong fort on the wall over against canischa naming it serinswar : getting together a strong body of croats , and other nations , that lay heavy upon the quarters thereabout : which the turks stomach'd not a little , however they carried it fair at present , and a while they talk'd of nothing but peace , but at last they brake out into high expressions , that they would have serinswar demolished , count serini punish'd , and transylvania subjected to the power of the turk by way of reparation . none of which followed ; but the christians lookt upon it as every mans interest to do his best to defend himself against the ambition and outrages of this common enemy ; and there being nothing now to be expected but a great turkish warre , which was already begun by parties ; the christians entred upon the borders of turky , drawing toward stul-weissenburg , and offen : and they subdued zamock , warda , erzy , and hirr : all these being inconsiderable houses , and castles , which with their defenders were blown up , and fired . while this was doing , the turks gathered together a mighty army consisting of asiatick , african , and europaean people . to this numerous army , they had likewise provided an incredible proportion of victuals , ammunition , and artillery . neverthelesse , several treaties were set a foot , which the turk so long insisted upon , till he had gained his end , and drawn a formidable power into the field , to break in upon the christians , who laboured as much as in them lay , to preserve the peace ; seeming to take small notice of the turks hostile preparations . the army of the christian : in hungary co●sisted of 38000 german soldiers , who had the turks for their open , and the hungarians for their private enemies ( the animosity being so great , that many times it came to blowes betwixt the germans and the hungarians . ) these troups finding themselves under many inconveniencies , partly from the hungarians , who denyed accommodation to the germans , and partly from diseases arising from the disagreement of the climate , were much weakned and diminished . hungary is questionlesse a very brave country , and abounds in wine and other fruits ; which taken to excesse , breed dangerous surfeits . the hungarians in their deportment are generally grave , and modest , but being affornted by the germans , and others not of their own religion , they are apt to revenge , and hard to be reconciled . toward the month of october , the dutch army was exceedingly pester'd with surfeits , so that betwixt those that dyed ; a number that lay sick , and others that were carried out of the country , it fell to a low ebbe : and moreover ; being then as far as clausenburg , in transylvania , they were put to some distresse for victuals and forage : the enemy increasing daily more and more against them for in those parts the turkish power was strongest . about this time , the upstart prince barckay fell into disgrace , and the turk preferred one apaffi to that dignity in his stead . against him , remini ianos bore up , opposing him , and his promoters in the head of 8000 men , and fortune so far befriended him in the first engagement , as to deliver his great enemy barkay into his hands , whose head he caused to be struck off , and then for a while the people flocked in to him , and augmented his army ; yet neither their aid nor his valor availed him when being surrounded on all sides , and striving to clear his passage , he seemed only careful how he might fall with honour : for his army through many skirmishes , diseases , and great scarcity of provision , was melted away , and hope of succour there was none left ; the german army by the like accidents being weakned and put to a retreat . upon these terms it was , that he committed himself to places of more security , and in sakmar , he with others , expected the issue of the treaty . but the turks , ( as has been said already ) making use of a treaty only for their own advantage , put themselves into a stronger posture : in the mean time discharging their choler with great indignation , as well against the valiant venetians , ( that have held them tack so long in candia ) as against the neutral valachians ; and now and then against the half-conquered transylvanians ; but not a word all this while , nor so much as a look of displeasure against hungary . this deceit of a treaty lasted till the year 1663. and then the fury of these infidels brake out , not only upon transylvania , and hungaria ; but upon some of the emperours hereditary countries also . upon iuly the 17. the grand vizier came in great pomp and magnificence to offen , encamping himself in the pesterfield , being four german miles in compass . his army was upward of a hundred thousand men , above one hundred great guns , and of wagons , and beasts , a number not to be believed . his first work was to lay two ship-bridges over the danube ; the one near to gran , and the other not far from parkham . his forces being quarter'd about those parts in prodigious multitudes , it was as yet doubtful , whether he would fall upon newhausel , or raab ; having his eye indifferently upon both , and lying still for a good while without action . but the design had shew'd it self much sooner , if a continual fall of rain , and the overflow of the danube had not hindred him : however at length , he passed some thousands of his army over the bridge near parkham toward the side of newhausel ; when immediately a report was spread by some of the pesants that were turn'd to the turk , that the river had torn their ship-bridges , and that those 4000 turks that had passed over , were now cut off from the main body . this rumor it was that inveigled the governour of newhausel ( count forgatz ) into a couragious but an unhappy resolution , which was to fall upon those 4000. turks , upon the supposition , that the miscarriage of the bridge had cut off their retreat . it is very true , that he was earnestly disswaded form that attempt , and told , that the body was greater then he imagined , but still persisting in his resolve to fight them , upon the 28 of iuly , with his hungarians , hussars and heyducks , and 11 troups of germans , and 500 musquetiers ( in all 6000 strong ) he marched up to them , and finding the enemy four times stronger then he expected , became sensible of the abuse although alas ! for the infidels having gotten certain intelligence of the christians design , and of their coming , caused the bridges presently to be repaired , which they had purposely disordered , and marching over with a strong power surrounded them . the hungarians and hussars , that were appointed to stand for a reserve , seeing the enemy come on so strong , betook themselves to flight ; but the germans and heyducks that gave the onset behaved themselves stoutly , and sold a dear victory to the turks . at last by multitudes they were overcome , and those that could not get away were miserably cut , and mangled . forgatz , and some few others escaped to newhausel . this combat lasted about three hours , and about 3000 of the germans , and heyducks were put to the sword. after this victory , the turks being therewith encouraged , and the christians not a little dejected , the enemy made ready to lay a formal siege unto newhausel : which after many attempts and approaches they battered so furiously , that frederick and serin-sconces were beaten to the ground , and with incredible labour and delving , raised a mount of earth so high that from thence , they could command the town , and beat the besieged from the walls . whereupon the hungarians whispered one another to surrender , ( out of a fear to dispute it any longer ) which moved the garmans likewise to speak of an accord , and sent to the grand vizier demanding honourable conditions , whose answer was , that they should set down their own terms , leaving only their great guns in the fort. on the 26 ' of september the christians marched out with 2422 sound , and armed men , and four peice of ordnance . at this surrender , the enemy got seventy piece of ordnance ; great store of arms , powder , wine , meal , and corn. in the mean while , some 1000 of tartars , moldavians , and valachians , as bad brutes as the worst of the infidels , drawn hither in hope of plunder , made their way over the waegh by force , puting those christians to the sword that guarded the pas● , and so crossing the mountains , they entred into moravia , and the parts about olmitz , which towns , together with a great number of the neighbouring villages , they burnt to the ground . their guides and leaders they had from among the boors of the country , who most unnaturally and treacherously shewed them the wayes and passes , and had therefore for their pains some share of the booty . this havock lasted in moravia 10 dayes , and then they pass'd over the march-stream into austria ( at which time , the country people with their best moveables were fled to vienna . ) at length , having laden themselves with all manner of booty , they return'd to the camp at newhausel , where they exposed the men and beasts , which they had taken up in several places , to common-sale in the market : while these things were doing , the turks busied themselves against the fort serinswar , and by way of stratagem attempted clausenburgh in transylvania ; but at both places they were repuls'd with losse and shame . at which time count serini with a considerable body of croatians , and other neighbouring people ; made a sudden incursion into turky , to the great dammage of the infidels . at his return the said count was made generalissimo of all the emperors forces , then rendezvouzed at presburgh under their former general montecuculi . newhausel being reduced , which was supposed , and vainly hoped , would have disappointed the turks progresse , and successe for this year ( being declined so far as the depth of winter ) the grand vizier undertook some farther conquest ; and with his army , leaving a sufficient garrison , and other numbers to repair and better fortifie the fort , by bringing the river niutre round about it , marched towards presburgh , the capital city or mehropolis of lower hungary , and with his approach gave out ●umours of his resolution to attaque it , relying on his first fortune , and those popular insinuations he had spread abroad of his reality , justice , and tendernesse to such places as should come into his masters protection , with which thriving artifice he had already gained upon the credulity of most of the pesants and indefensible places . besides the honour of the place , as the repository of the crown of hungary ( which the hungarians most religiously reverence , as placing the safety and glory of their nation therein , and which being seized , would have intituled the winner and wearer to the kingdome ) the convenience thereof as freeing his way to vienna , on one part ; and to commorra , raab , or newhausel on the other ; and contrarily incomodating his attempt upon the island of schut , by its neighbourly correspondence and assistance in case of danger , where at present the general count serini was enquartered , was a great motive and enticement to an attempt against it . but such had been the vigilance and care of count strozzi , a famous and experienced souldier , in providing and furnishing the city , wherein the hope of the kingdome was concerned , and his courage , and all other excellent qualities of a governour , so known and believed by this discreet vizier , that contenting himself with the submission of modern , st. george , posing , and other places that lay open and exposed to his power , and the bravery and gallant designment of so high an enterprise , with the unimpeded conduct of the affair ; he retreated honourably : and as if he had proceeded so far meerly upon a plot and designe to surprize some places by his sudden return , he presently invested niutra , a place neer newhausel , and as well fortified , and more respected , because of its ecclesiastical concernment , as being a bishops see ; and by terrifying menaces and preparations for a storm , soon wrought upon the defendants to a surrender , who by the articles thereof were conveyed to presburgh . the speedy and lucky event of this rendition , was effectual to his practises on other places ; for upon the same score tyrnaw , and some other towns thereabouts , opened their gates and submitted to him , upon his common terms of religion and liberty ; which successe invited him to the siege of schinta , a very strong and considerable fortresse , and a magazine of a great and the best quantity of the emperours artillery ; but by the fidelity and valour of the governour and his men , was repulsed thence , and glad to abandon the enterprize , for that october was more than half spent , and the climate did much incommodate his asian and african souldiery . therefore to provide them of warmer winter quarters , to keep them well and in health against the spring , he repassed his great guns with some of his army , over his ship-bridge to gran or strigonium , rum ouring that when he had disposed of those unuseful peices in the depth of winter , he would return himself with his europeans to prosecute the war ; but in fine , he passed over his whole army , being followed in his rear , in expectation of advantage , by general serini , who having parted with general montecuculi ( conjoyned in attendance of the newhausel design upon the island of schut ) did at last cut off some six hundred janizaries , with two hundred pesonio's , or baggage people , engaged in the defence thereof , which they resolutely maintained , by barricadoing themselves among the waggons , so that serini's hussars were forced to alight and follow them a foot in their advantages , and there couragiously slew them . this was some expiation of that defeat given to count forgaz very near the same place , as a fortnight before his brother and he had defeated two great parties , but not with so great successe . this happned about the last of october , and so those parts of this side the danow , conceived some joyful hopes of a respit till the coming of the spring . but the vizier by those other after accessions had so strongly fixt himself , by leaving a garrison of 4000. men in newhausel , and 1500 in niutre , besides a body of 10000. men to be ready to assist upon all occasions , that the christians are still kept to their arms , to attend their motion and to guard themselves . and to increase the danger , apaffi the prince of transylvania , whom they looked upon as under a constraint of compliance with the turks , and a secret well-wisher to the christian cause , discovered himself a declared and profest enemy , being inveigled with an investiture of those places taken this campagnia , and upon the total conquest , with the crown of hungary ▪ for as soon as they were rid of the infidels , he wi●h his half christians , valachians , moldavians , intermixed with tartars , and his own plundering transylvanians , undertook the lieutenant-ship of the winter war ; those nations being better able , as inured to the climate , to undergo the extremities of the weather . apaffi's first designe was upon the berg towns , or mine-hills , whence the hungarian gold is fetcht , which as soon as he had parted with the grand vizier , then retreating to belgrade , he attempted , and this the easier for that there was no resistance in readinesse to oppose him ; the forces that were raised by the counts of cochary and tekelly , in the vpper hungary , for the most part ( for that the lower was already joyned with serini , or awed by the turks ) were a little before ( maugre the enemys design of impeding them ) already arrived to the grosse of the army ; which also for want of necessaries for man and horse , devoured by the turks was now dispersed into quarters . the two first obstacles of his design upon the mine-towns ; and which barred his entrance , were the two towns of levents and novigrad , reputed one of the prime places of upper hungary ; levents was also well appointed , having in it a castle manned with couragious souldiers , and firmed with thick walls , flankers , and turrets , that accordingly gave the enemy a rude and unwelcome entertainment , but their numbers being not to be wearied , and no relief to be expected by the besieged , it was yeilded by agreement , and the articles , according to the modern policy of the turks , punctually observed . from thence apaffi marched to novigrad , lying further in upper hungary , which after a stout but short resistance not without suspicion that the governour was of apaffi's party ( more obvious now by his retreat into the enemies countrey , and the neutrality or rather assistance of the whole province , as to the generality , towards apaffi ) was rendred likewise and the garrison dismist , but not into christian quarters , being set to work , and enjoyned to be in a readinesse to assist their late besiegers . the enemy encroaching thus upon the mine towns , some regiments which could be best got together , were sent to enforce them , and to hinder the enemy from settling their winter quarters in those places , which were neverthelesse much despaired of , for that apaffi with his aids threatned cass●via the metropo●is of vpper hungary with a present siege , as he did in effect beleagure fillek , some ten miles distant , prejudging that : the christians ▪ if once able to take the field , would carry the war into these quarters , of which therefore they would betimes possesse themselves ; and therefore notwithstanding the prevention aforesaid , they soon after seised on shoninitz , cre●nitz , and other towns of the mines ; and by threatning letters and summons terrified the people thereabouts to an acquiescence and submission under their command : they faced likewise tockay ( the strongest hold of all ) with parties ; but neither their courage , multitudes , practises , or hopes , served them to the adventure of a siege . naverthelesse to countenance such resolutions , they spread rumours abroad , as if the grand vizier would presently return , and orders were indeed to that purpose dispatcht to the magistrates of● frystad to make ready two bridges over the waegh , so broad as that whole squadrons might passe over there a breast , upon the design of another irruption into moravia . this news caused count serini , who till then continued in the island uf schut ▪ observing the designs of them at newhausel , to put himself into motion , which presented him with some considerable booties ( but inconsiderable parties ) designed for constantinople ; and that was all he was able to do ; the auxiliaries of the empire amounting in all not to above 8000. men , under the command of the count of hohenlo , ( whose ancestors were famous in the low country war ) by their surfeits upon the fruits of the countrey , which are in great abundance in the hereditary dominions , being so diseased that they were in no condition or capacity for any field service ; to increase these auxiliaries the swedes were neer their arrival from bremen , with seven hundred horse well mounted ; but now like to have met with some danger at erford , as the hessen darmsted ayds perished with a greater misfortune upon the danubius in their passage to vienna . neither were the frontire garrisons better conditioned , by want of many necessaries , even raab , and commorra , where the officers that surrendred newhansel had ben newly acquitted , so that amidst so many exigences and streights every thing was feared to excesse . the emperour himself was at this time departing from vienna to the diet he had summoned at regenspurgh , to consider with the princes of germany of some quick expedient to redresse those evils , leaving the arch-duke charles ioseph , to govern in his absence , who ( to add affliction to misery ) is since deceased , and the direct line of the imperial family ( save in the person of the present emperour ) totally extinguished ; a matter of no small moment to some designs in the world , especially since the pope and the french were so neer a rupture ; yet to alleviate the present distresse , providence was pleased to bestow on the vigilance and conduct of count serini , a very remarkable successe . some forces of apaffi intermingled with tartars , and many turks , pursuing their design of another invasion into moravia ; having also an eye upon the island of schut , had privily laid a bridge over the river mur , and had passed two thousand horse already over it ; of which serini having good and timely notice by a discharge of a cannon , he rose from his post , and with his troops so fiercely charged them , that betwixt surprized and dismaid , and fairly worsted , they betook themselves back to the bri●ge , where rancountring with numbers of their fellows passing over in great haste to them , they could neither go forward , nor backward , but were forced to take the river , which spared none : there escaped very few of those two thousand . this was done in the morning , novemb. 27. when serini brought two field peices and 300. of his foot to face the enemy , who stood on the other side the water and managed a revengeful skirmish all the day long , and then retreated towards canisia , from whence they are dreaded to reinforce this their first attempt , being exceedingly enraged at this disgraceful disappointment . there was mention made in the diet , of mars . turenne to succeed in the supreme command in hungary , by means of an invitation and request to the french king , but it was more out of complement to oblige that king , then any such resolution of the states of the empire , who have found it the greatest difficulty of the whole affair as to the ricks aid , to satisfie the pretensions and ambitions of their own princes to that command , and in fine have concluded without constituting any generalissimo , but left the army to their distinct generalls of horse and foot. the emperours general is count mountecuculi , the feild marshalls are the paltsgrave of sultzbach for horse , and general spar a subject of the marquesse of brandenburg , of foot. over the ayds , the generall of horse is leopold marquesse of baden ; of foot , vlrick duke of wittenberg , with count fugger m. gen. of horse , duke adolph of holstein , duke gustave of durlach , ( the younger house of baden ) and baron de souches major general of foot. the ayds of the four circles of the rhine without their auxiliaries will amount to 28000 men , the other circles out of which the hereditary provinces of austria , bohemia , and are to be excepted will make as many more , which with the 13000 advanced by the pope , and the french forces , and the aforenamed auxiliaries will make up a body of 80000 men , besides the emperours own army , which will amount and is to be made up to 40000 men effectif . in the mean time of these consultations at regensburg , apaffi the prince of transylvania , was driving on his designs in that province , working upon the emperours necessities and the discontents of the garrisons of zekelkeyt and clausenburg , which in conclusion for want of pay , dismist their officers and submitted the towns to him , having been held by the emperour ever since the troubles and death of prince rakoczi . zacmar also wavered , but was happily reclaimed by some moneys that came opportunely , to satisfie the souldiers . the year proving very mild and gentle in the depth of winter , had frustrated many designes of the tartars , who had taken up their quarters in hungary to be ready for some invasion , whereupon overburdening the places and garrisons they were in , and provisions growing scarce , after some quarrels 'twixt the turks and them for victuall , they dispersed themselves for better accommodation . at the same time count nicholas serini the emperours general took advantage of this their separation , and the benefit of a sudden frost , and with his army consisting of between 30 and 35000 men , among whom were the german ayds under count hohenlo , made an invasion into the turks countrey , in the lower hungary and parts of croatia , as far as esseck near the conjunction of the danow and the river dravus , a place infamous for the descent of caczianerus king ferdinand's the first 's generall , and the noble lodr●●us , defeated there hard by , by the policy of the turks , as mentioned before . this bridge it the onely passage the turks have , besides sudden shifts by boats , &c. for conveyance from belgrade , otherwise called greek we●ss●nburg , and those parts possessed by the turk , both for waggon and artillery , so that the 〈◊〉 count well knowing what disadvantage the breaking down thereof would cause to the turks designs at the approaching campagnia , resolved to destroy it or render it unserviceable to the enemy ; and fortune so favoured the enterprize , that maugre all opposition made by the enemy , he in one night and day had so maimed and disjoynted it , that a great part of it fell into the dravus , the rest being set on fire towards the turks side , but hastily quenched by them ; since when they have been very busie in repairing it , the grand vizier storming exceedingly , that it was no better defended , and ( for which he hath called the officers appointed to maintain it , into question for their lives ) but it is judged impossible , that it can be reedifyed this summer , so as to be made able to bear carriages , which will be a great stop to the turks progresse by way of lower hungary . count serini having finished this exploit with so good successe , laid waste all the countrey round about of this ( that is ) the northern side of the dravus , betwixt that and the danow , among which were many places formerly the possessions of his noble ancestors ( who enjoyed a 〈◊〉 and plentifull reven●ue in those parts , encreased by the additions of the patrimony of the carlovitii and torquati , which fell-likewise to them ) but now thralled to those infidels ; insomuch that some have reckoned ●1000 vil●ages burnt by him , but the turk●sh desolation hath scarse left so many for him to destroy . this work being over , and having thus revenged himself for the spoil of his fortunes , he thought it time to return ; for that there were severall confident rumours that the enemy with a great body was marching after him , although it proved a meer lye raised and industriously spread by the turks for fear of further mischief to be done them by his staying in those parts , where h●s name was grown most formidable , and the effects of his conduct highly dreadful . but yet he made not such hast , but that in his way home he made a halt at quinque ecclesiae and summoned it , which the tow●men seemed to entertain , and by that means drew some of his forces not suspecting hostility under reach of their cannon , which they furiously discharged upon them , and killed some eminent officers and men of valour ; which action so incensed serini , that he gave order for a present storm , by which the town was mastered and entred , and the plunder thereof given to the souldiers , and soon after sack'd and set on fire , the souldiers and such as escaped , flying into the castle , which held out and was in prudence given over by the genera●l , whose men having been so much toyled and wearied already were in no condition for a seige , and a sudden attempt was improbable of successe . here were slain many officers , the greatest number whereof was of the germans under count holenlo . from hence , passing by zigeth ( the town and castle whereof were so famously defended by his grandfather as too tite and tedious a peice of work ) he fell upon segess a town distant westward two hungarian miles ( 18 english ) from zigeth , which he took by assault , with the losse of more officers of note , requited upon the turks by a promiscuous slaughter of them all ( as for tartars no quarter was any where allowed them ) and there he left a garrison in the very midst of the enemies country and came home by canysia , which place he had designed to besiege , but his army being much diminished , the enterprize is laid aside , till he shall be recruited with new levyes , answerable to so great an undertaking , in which affair he is at present employed ; but it is feared the sudden appearance of the grand seignior who will open this campagnia in person , will put him on other councels and designes . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a44720-e870 the derivation of the huns scithia their place of extraction . it s description and division . the asian scythia . scythia now called tartary . it s desart and inhabitable side the antiquity of the scythians , their propagation . their change of name into huns. the destruction of the huns. the former inhabitants of hungary . the danubius . the description of dacia . pannonia whence so called . the invitation of the huns into europe . * or roxolans now russes . b●lamber their first captains conquest . attila his son succeeds him . * not chaalans in burgundy as is mistaken , by a place called maurice neer the river matrona or marn in france . the original of the venetians attila's death . his title . his two sons succeed . the intestine feuds of the huns their destruction ▪ * now called siculi . the lombards possesse hung●●y ▪ * the o●●ginal of the firrt huns. the avares poss●sse themselves of hungary . afflict the roman dominions . the avares extinguished . the remains of the old huns repossesse themselv●s their successes . the huns defeated by luithpoldus . * auspurg seated neer the river rhodanum , on whose banks this feild was ●ought . lewis the emperour defeated the second time by the hun● . their ravage and devastations . they invade grecia . the description of hungaria as then possessed by that nation . * not that in lower hungary . the germans arm against them . their second expedition into italy . the italians under berengrius vanquished . they master all places . the divisions in italy and rome . the huns third and fourth expedition into italy . the germans under henry the emperour , refuse the tribute . defeat the huns at meersburgh . the hungarians stunned & stupified withthe losse . their fortune changeth . huns invade italy again . as germany also . the huns totally and finally overcome by otho the great●● sense of misery the way to christianity . geysa the first king of hungary . his zeal to christianity . his actions . stephen the second king. his atchievments peter the 3d. king. peter deposed . abas the 4th . king. abas slain at sh●ba . peter restored . deposed by andre● & his eyes put out , &c. andrew the 5th . k. his war with germany . bela the 6th . king. his virtues solomon the 7th . k. bela's sons pacified . geysa the 8th . king. the emperors of germany no right in hungary . geysa dieth . ladislaus 9th . king his brother succeeds . * the reason why the hungarians have such a veneration for that sacred symbol of majesty . the strange forlorn condition of solomon . ladislaus his valour . russes . his successes . ladislaus invited to the holy land war coloman the tenth king. the crusado brought into hungary . peter the hermit's ●verthrow godscalk● like fortune by coloman ▪ godfrey of bollign his safe passage through hungary . feud betwixt the royal brethren . stephen the 10th . king. calo johannes defeated . stephen puts himself into a monastery , and resigns bela the 11th . king borichus the bastard son of coloman solicited to invade the government . geysa the 12. king. manuel the greek emperors exploits . the holy war resumed . stephen the 13th . king. bela the 14 king. emerick the 15. k. andrew the 16 k. his expedition into the holy land. bela the 17. king. the tartars invade hungary . the tartar r●vage the country stephen the 18 k. ladislaus the 19th . king. the original of the house of austria . rudolphus emperour . the tartars reinvade hungary . andrew the 20 k. andrew established in the government . wencess●us chosen king by the nobility . charles named for king , and imposed upon the hungarians by the pope . otho duke of bavaria chosen k. by the nobility . charles the 21 k. of hungary . the virtues of charles lewis the 22. king. the tart●rs beaten and expelled out of hungary . the histor● of j●an the v●ulter●us qu ▪ of naples . lewis success against her . avignion how invested in the pope . lewis's successe against the venetians the genoese and venetian quarrel . invention of guns . joane taken in castel novo ●n naples . lewis of anjou invested in naples . lewis chosen king of poland . his exploits aainst his rebels . his death . mary notwithstand-ing her sex styled the 23. king. charles assassinated sigismund husband of mary undertakes and effects her restitutio●s . sigismund his 〈…〉 . mary dies , the title to the succession disputed . bajazet's great successes . the battle of nicopolis most fatal to the christians . bajaze● a sad spectacle of humane frailty . sigismund seized and made a prisoner . * the city of z●ra . sigismund ●reed . the hungarians ●●orsted by the turks . belgrad●● put into the possession of sigismund . the death of sigismund . albert of austria succeeds . the 25. k. rascia subdued by the turks . albert dies . divisions in hungary about a new king uladislaus of poland innaugurated . albert's relict wages war in right of her son. belgrade in vain beseiged by amurath . huniades his exploits and atcheivements . uladislaus his succesful invasion of the turkish territory . his victory over the turks . amurath begs a cessation . uladislaus perswaded by the pope to break his truce with the tu●k . the fatal battel of varna . ladislaus the 26. k. scanderbeg . huniades defeated in the plains of cossov● . constantinople taken by mahomet . belgrade besieged by him , defeated there by huniades . his●●amented death . a● interregnum in hungaria . matthias saluted the king. frederick the em●erour mal●s war against him . matthias his war with the band●ts of the mountains the turks make war against matthias . an expedition into bosnia . matthias ●●alous for the pope . a treasonable conspiracy against matthias . ladislaus defeated . matthias his war in poland . schodra in vain besieged . sabarium taken by matthias . matthias war against the emperor frederick . solyman the beglerbeg of romania defeated by him . defeats the turks in transylvania . his sucesse in austria . his vertues and commendations . his death . corvinus his bastard claims the crown . corvinus defeated . his submission and agreement . * hermanstaet . vienna restored to maximilian with other places in austria . uladislaus makes peace with maximilian . bajazet dareth not enter hungary . his bassa's defeated . diencenus defeated by jacup aga . * dobrse the same with the russes . kin●sius successes . his death . the king punisheth his seditious grandees . insurrections and outrages in hungary by the clergy souldiers . the death of king ladislaus . lewis succeeds his father ladislaus & is the 29. king. belgrade taken by solyman . the barbarous perfidy of lewis divisions and innovations about religion in hungary . lewis his unadvised rashnesse . the fatal battel of mohacz : lewis killed . buda taken by solyman . civil wars ensue this calamity . john named king by a convention of the hungaran nobility at alba regalis . john beaten and dispossessed by ferdinand . john flyes for shelter into poland . john complyes with the turks and joyns interests . solyman undertakes his cause and quarrel . vienna besieged 1529. the siege raised . peace concluded betwixt john & ferdinand . griti's designs . solyman's terms of peace . griti ' s end. cibacus murdered by him . a rupture between k. john and ferdinand * siculi . felsius the emperours general 's successe . john and ferdinand friends . the lamentable defeat of caczianerus and lodronius the noble valour of lodronius . solyman accuseth j●hn of perfidy & ingratitude . his excuse new troubles betwixt both kings . the death of john. solyman invited to be guardian to his son. ferdinand ' s intrigues . buda besieged by rogendorf . defeated there . solyman in person again in hungary . caeesses the q. and her son. buda put into the turks possession . solyman's insolent demands to ferd●nand aids offered ferdinand . 1542. solyman's su●cesses . strigonium taken . alba regalis yeilded to him . visigrade taken . count serini defeated by ulumas . a peace procured ferdinand george monachus his designs isabel the q. resigns her right and interest . solyman's resentment of these proceedings . the fatal end of george . george monachus assassinated . the attempt of the hungarians upon segedine . 1553. vesprinium yeilded to the tu●ks . their further successes . theuffelus and pallavicinus defeated . agria nobly defended by dobo and neskeyus . 1555. count serini his successes . aly the bassa of buda defeated . 1556. dissentions ●n tran●ylvania between the governours . the emperours ●osses in transylvania . 1560. the queens administration in transylvania . she puts sundry noblemen of her party to death . the death of q. isabel . john sigismund worsted in transylvania . arslanes defeated by count serini . the calamitous condition of transylvania and hungary . 1562. the death of ferdinand . maximilian succeeds in the kingdome to his father ferdinand 1564. maximilian's successes in transylvania . 1565. a peace concluded between john and maximilian . new troubles in transylvania by the turks . composed again . solymans last expedition into hungary . 1566. his enterview with john sigismund . john requests buda to be delivered to him but in vain . gyula betrayed to the turks by the governour kerecsenius . count nicholas serini besieged in sigeth . 1566. solyman in the 47. year of his reign dieth at quinque ecclesiae three dayes before the surrender of sigeth . zigeth taken . the death of the noble count serini . john sigismund aided with an army of tartars . their cruel rapine makes him engage and vanquish them . various success●s in tran●ylvania . sig●smunds soul practises . 1567. 1570. the peace betwixt maximilian and sigismund . the death of sigismund . 1571. bekessius his ambitious designes upon the succession , but conferred on stephen bathori . 1572. a phanatick story in hungary . 1574. the same acted in illyria . the seeds of new troubles in hungary . as also in transylvania . bekessius ruined . affairs of poland relating to hungary . bathor●'s successes . 1575. elected k. of poland his generosity to bekessius . a new rupture with the turks . the death of maximilian . rudolphus the second succeeds his father maximilian . 1579. the turks vanquished 1583. 1584. 1585. prodigies in hungary . 1586. frequent military actions in hungary . 1586. affairs in poland . decemb. 2. anno regni 10. maximilian , rudolph's brother taken prisoner and civilly treated by samoyscius the chancellour of poland . 1587. s●svares defeated , poysons himself . fe●hates bassa defeated by racockzi . 1590. military actions in illyria by the rupture begun by bassa hasanes . * the place where the prodigy of the ducks and geese lately happened . the exploits of hasanes 1592. hasanes rowed and drowned , 12000 tur●s slain sinan bassa arrives in hungary . has●nes & mehemet bassa defeated at alba regalis . 1594. novigrad and other places reduced by the hungarians & the turks defeated . strigonium in vain besieged by matthias . raab besieged and taken by sinan bassa . the boldnesse and courage of the tartars co●nt hardeck the governour & perlini beheaded at vienna . 1595. 1594. novemb. young sigismund the prince of transylvania headily engages against the turks . his declaration thereof to the estates ; & their disallowance . his cruel proceedings with the refractory nobility . strangles his own uncle balthasor with others . his league with the emperour . mahomet the 3d. succeeds his father amurath . the large supplies given the emperour . count mansfield gene●all . 1584. strigonium besieged by count manfeld . the courage of the walloons the turks attempting the releif of the town defeated , 14000. slain . mansfeld dies of a surfeit . turks again defeated . strigonium yeilded sigismund's enterprises and successes conjoyned with the two vayvods of valachia and moldavia . sinan invades hungary . michael the vayvod distressed . sinan bassa defeated as he in flight passed over the danow sinan's death . revolutions in moldavia . 1594. o●●ob . 1596. the christians unsuccessful attempt on clissia . * clausenburg . the turks defeated before petrin●● in illyria . the affairs o● hungary . the siege of harvanum , taken by m●ximilian . agria yeilded to sultan mahomet in person . the battel of keresture betwixt mahomet and maximilian . 1596. 26. oct. mahomet returns to constantinople . sigismunds despondencies and fluctuations . vascia's suuccesses in hungary . palfi's & swarzemburgh's successful enterprize upon raab . raab surprized & taken after a sharp & bloody dispute . sigismund resumes ●be principolity of transylvania by means of b●●zkay . sigismund's excuses . the turks intermeddle and besiege varadin but repulsed . sigismunds new practises . alba regalis attempted by petards in vain . ibrahim the cheif viziers expedition into hnngary . his ravaging crueltys the end of michael the valiant vayvod of valachia . samoyscius his revenge against him . michael defeated flyes to prague . csaki ' s intrigues . the french mutiny at papa . their punishment . sigismund resumes his principality . sigismund defeated . the vayvods assassinated . sigismund's & the transylvanians breach of league with the turks severely punished . affairs in illyria . canysa yeilded to the turks by paradyser for which he lost his head at vienna . ferdinands outrages against the protestants canysa besieged by ferdinand the siege broken up . alba regalis taken by the d. 〈◊〉 merc●ur . 〈◊〉 regained by the turks . the sieges of buda & pesth . buda's seige broke up . 1603. * hermanstad . radulo the vayvods successes against the rebels in transylvania . sultan mahomet dies . 1603 persecution against the protestanes in transylvania . bocskay appears in transylvania . the imperiallists worsted by bocskay . bocskay's appearance in transylvania● assisted by the nobility . basta deserted by his souldiery for want of pay. bockskays ●nswer to the emperours ambassadours . his success●s . presburgh attempted and austria invaded by bockskay● partys . the like ravage made in styria by nemethus and others . s●rigonium 〈◊〉 again to th● tu●ks 1605. in the th●●d year of the reign of 〈◊〉 boczkay doth homage to the great vizier at buda for transylvania . the emperor makes peace with bocskay , the reason thereof . the articles of the peace . peace with the turk also . the conditions of it . bocskay dyeth and appointeth homonnai for his successor but the people chuse rakoczi . matthias gains to himself the crown of hungary . matthias allows the hungarians their privileges . rakoczi ' s modesty . prince bathori defeated by radulo vayvod of valachia . he recovers his losses again . his infamous lust . * which he rode in one day being distant 150 english miles . prince bathori assassinated by some of the nobles . achmet in preparation for war in hungary dies 1617. sultan o●man strangled . the emperors matthias dieth . ferdinand the 2d . k. of hungary . the bohemian war in brief . bethlen gobor takes part with frederick k. of bohemia . bethlen ' s successes in hungary . rakoczi his vice roy defeated by homonnai . the marquesse of anspach his treachery . the treachery of the marquiss of anspuch . the king of bohemia defeated at prague . bethlen stiled king of hungary . tampiri slai● . bohemia lost . 1621. newhausel besieged by bucq●oy . bucquoy slain . 1621. gab●iel's new later● prises in hungary . a peace betwixt gabor & the emperour . 1622. a new rupture on the part of bethlen g●b●r gabor deserted by the turk renews the peace with disadvantage . 1624. ferdinand the 3d. k. of hungary . 1626. the coronation of ferdinand the third . new stirs and an invasion into hungary by bethlen 1627. the death of count mansfeld . and of the duke of weymar . sacer ignis and of bethlen gabor . anno 1628. divisions in transylvania about election of a new prince 1631. rakoczi established prince of transylvania . unnatural disloyalty punished . rakoczi incensed against the emperour . csakius forceth his peace from rakoczi . turks assist against r●koczi and are defeated . the vengeance that pursued david zolyomi . 1633. bethlen raiseth a new war against rakoczi 1637. troubles about religion in hungary . maintained and abetted by rakoczi . 1639. 1642. rakoczi sl●ghted by the emperour . 1644. war proclaimed by rakoczi against ferdinand his manifest and successes . rakoczi yeilds to a peace with the emperour . 1645. general torstenson abandoned by rakoczi . ferdinand the 4th . k. of hungary . 1646. raab designed upon by the turks . rakoczi's and ferdinands death . the swedes invade poland . rakoczi joyns with him . the transylvanians ravage poland . cracovia taken by the swedes and rakoczi . rakoczi's actions in poland . deserted by the swede . rakoczi commanded by the grand seigniour to retire out of poland . and to surrender his principality . fights his way out of poland . 1657. the death of eerdinand the 3d. emperour● the vayvod of valachia worsted in his quarrel . turks defeated at arad . the turks again defeated at hermanstadr . the death of rakoczi . varadin yeilded . remini janos the successor of rakoczi oppressed with numbers . a warbegun in hungary . the german army moulders away . j●mes forced to desist from his claime . the turks appear with a formidable army in hungary . count forgatz defeated . the siege of newhausel . an invasion into moravia . count serini made generalissimo . the grond vizier's aspect upon presburgh . niutra taken by the vizier . tyrnaw likewise and other places . comes before schinta in vain . the vizier departs out of hungary . his rear attaqued . apaffi appears for the turks . 〈◊〉 actions he attempts the mine towns. novigrad and leventz yeilded to apaffi . apaffi seizeth some of the mine towns. count serini moves from his quarters . the emperour to the diet at regensburg . the death of the arch-duke charles joseph . the turks defeated in their passage over the mur , by count serini . the force of the empire sum●ed up . severall places revolt in transylvania to ap●ffi . count serini's expedition into the turks country . the bridge of esseck burnt by him . count serini layes waste the country round about . the town of quinque ecclesiae stormed and sacked by him . s●gess taken and garrisoned by him . count strini's honourable return . cottoni posthuma divers choice pieces of that renowned antiquary, sir robert cotton, knight and baronet, preserved from the injury of time, and exposed to publick light, for the benefit of posterity / by j.h., esq. selections. 1672 cotton, robert, sir, 1571-1631. 1672 approx. 487 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 179 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2006-02 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a34709 wing c6486 estc r2628 12697718 ocm 12697718 65928 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a34709) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 65928) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 684:12) cottoni posthuma divers choice pieces of that renowned antiquary, sir robert cotton, knight and baronet, preserved from the injury of time, and exposed to publick light, for the benefit of posterity / by j.h., esq. selections. 1672 cotton, robert, sir, 1571-1631. howell, james, 1594?-1666. [8], 351 p. printed for richard lowndes ..., and matthew gilliflower ..., london : 1672. dedication signed: james howell. consists of 16 pieces, each (except the first) have special t.p. "the life and raign of henry the third," listed in the contents, is replaced by "the danger wherein this kingdome now standeth." includes bibliographical references. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng catholic church -england. ambassadors. prerogative, royal -england. wager of battle. great britain -politics and government -1603-1714. 2005-08 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-08 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-11 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2005-11 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-01 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion cottoni posthuma : divers choice pieces of that renowned antiquary sir robert cotton , knight and baronet , preserved from the injury of time , and exposed to publick light , for the benefit of posterity . by j. h. esq london , printed for richard lowndes at the white lion in duck lane , near smith-field , and matthew gilliflower at the sun in westminster-hall , 1652. to his worthily honoured friend , sir robert pye knight , at his house in westminster . sir , the long interest of friendship , and nearness of neighbourhood , which gave you the opportunity of conversing often with that worthy baronet , who was author of these ensuing discourses , induced me to this dedicatory address . among the greeks and romans ( who were the two luminaries that first diffused the rayes of knowledge and civility through these north-west clymes , ) he was put in the rank of the best sorts of patriots , who preserv'd from putrefaction and the rust of time , the memory and works of vertuous men , by exposing them to open light for the generall good ; therefore i hope not to deserve ill of my country , that i have published to the world these choice notions of that learned knight sir robert cotton , who for his exact recerchez into antiquity , hath made himself famous to posterity . plutarch in writing the lives of others , made his own everlasting ; so an antiquary while he feels the pulse of former ages , and makes them known to the present , renders himself long-liv'd to the future . there was another inducement that mov'd me to this choice of dedication , and it was the high respects i owe you upon sundry obligations , and consequently the desire i had that both the present , and after times might bear witness , how much i am , and was sir , 3. nonas april . 1651. your humble , and truly devoted servant . james howell . to the knowing reader , touching these following discourses , and their author . the memory of some men is like the rose , and other odoriferous flowers , which cast a sweeter and stronger smell after they are pluck'd ; the memory of others may be said to be like the poppie , and such vegetalls that make a gay and specious shew while they stand upon the stalk , but being cut and gather'd they have but an ill-favour'd scent ; this worthy knight may be compared to the first sort , as well for the sweet odor ( of a good name ) he had while he stood , as also after he was cut down by the common stroke of mortality ; now , to augment the fragrancy of his vertues and memory , these following discourses , which i may term , not altogether improperly , a posie of sundry differing howers , are expos'd to the world. all who ever knew this well-weighed knight , will confess ▪ [ what a great z●l●t he was to his countrey , how in all parliaments , where he fervid so often , his main endeavours were to assert the publick liberty , and that prerogative and priviledge might run in their due channels ; he would often say , that he himself had the least share in himself , but his countrey and his friends had the greatest interest in him : he might be said to be in a perpetual pursuit after vertue and knowledge ; he was indefatigable in the search and re-search of antiquity , and that in a generous costly manner , as appears in his archives and copious library ; therefore he may well deserve to be ranked among those worthies — quorum imagines lambunt hederae sequaces ; for an antiquary is not unfitly compar'd to the ivie , who useth to cling unto ancient fabriques and vegetals . in these discourses you have 1. a relation of proceedings against ambassadors who have miscarried themselves , and exceeded their commission . 2. that the kings of england have been pleased to consult with their peers in parliament for marriage of their children , and touching peace and war , &c. 3. that the soveraigns person is required in parliament in all consultations and conclusions . 4. a discourse of the legality of combats , duells , or camp-fight . 5. touching the question of precedency between england and spain . 6. touching the alliances and amity which have interven'd betwixt the houses of austria and england . 7. a discourse touching popish recusants , jesuits and seminaries . 8. the manner and means how the kings of england have supported and improv'd their states . 9. an answer to certain arguments urg'd by a member of the house of commons , and raised from supposed antiquity , to prove that ecclesiastical laws ought to be enacted by temporal men . 10. the arguments produc'd by the house of commons concerning the priviledge of every free-born subject . 11. a speech delivered in the house of commons assembled at oxford in the sirst year year of the last king. 12. a speech delivered before the councell table , touching the alteration of coyn. 13. valour anatomized in a fancy , by sir philip sidney . 14. a brief discourse concerning the power of the peers and commons of parliament , in point of judicature . 15. honesty , ambition and fortitude anatomized , by sir francis walsingham . 16. the life and raign of henry the third , complied in a criticall way . these discourses , being judiciously read , will much tend to the enriching of the understanding , and improvement of the common stock of knowledge . a relation of the proceedings against ambassadors who have miscarried themselves , &c. in humble obedience to your grace's command , i am emboldened to present my poor advice to this the greatest , and most important cause that ever happened in this state , the quiet of the kingdom , the honour of the prince , the safety of the spanish ambassadors person exposed hereby to the fury of the people , all herein involved : a consideration not the least for the reputation of the state , and government , though he little deserved it . the information made to his sacred majesty by him , that your grace should have plotted this parliament ; wherein if his majesty did not accord to your designs , then by the authority of this parliament to confine his sacred person to some place of pleasure , and transfer the regal power upon the prince : this information if it were made by a subject , by the laws of the realm were high treason , to breed a rupture between the soveraignty and the nobility , either by reports or writings , and by the common law is adjudged no less : the author yet knowing that by the representing the person of a soverain prince he is by the law of nations exempt from regal tryal , all actions of one so qualified being made the act of his master , until he disavow : and injuries of one absolute prince to another , is factum hostilitatis , and not treason . the immunity of whom civilians collect as they do the rest of their grounds from the practice of the roman state , deducing their arguments from these examples . the fabii ambassadors from rome were turned safe from the chades with demand of justice against them onely , although they had been taken bearing arms with the ethrurian their enemies : the ambassadors of the tarquines , morte affligendos romani non judicârunt , & quanqnam visi sunt ut hostium loco essent , justamen gentium voluit . and where those of syphax had plotted the murder of masinissa , non aliud mihi factum quàm quod sceleris sui reprehensi essent , saith appian : the ambassadors of the protestants at the counsell of trent , though divulging there the doctrine of the churches , contrary to a decree there enacted , a crime equivalent to treason , yet stood they protected from any punishment : so much doth public conveniency prevail against a particular mischief ; that the state of rome though in case of the most capital crime , exempted the tribunes of the people from question , during the year of office : and the civilians all consent , that legis de jure gentium indictum est & eorum corpora salva sint , propter necessitatem legationis , ac ne confundant jura comercii inter principes , the redress of such injuries , by such persons , the example of modern and best times will lead us to . vivia the popes legate was restrained by henry the second , for exercising a power in his realm , not admitted by the king , in disquiet of the state , and forced to swear not to act any thing in praejudicium regis vel regni . hen. 3. did the like to one of the popes ambassadors ; another flying the realm secretly , fearing , timens pelli sui , as the record saith . edward 1. so restraining another until he had , as his progenitors had , informed the pope of the fault of his minister , and received satisfaction of the wrongs . in the year 1523. lewis de pratt : ambassador for charles 5. was commanded to his house , for accusing falsly cardinal wolsey to have practised a breach between hen. 8. and his master , to make up the amity with the french king ; sir michael throgmorton by charles the 9. of france , was so served , for being too busie with the prince of condy in his faction . doctor man in the year 1567. was taken from his own house in madriil , and put under a guard to a straiter lodging , for breeding a scandal ( as the conde teri said ) in using by warrant of his place , the religion of his country , although he alledged the like permitted to ghusman de silva their ambassador , and to the turk no less then in spain . in the year 1568. don ghuernon d' espes vvas ordered to keep his house in london , for sending scandalous letters to the duke d' alva unsealed . the bishop of rosse in the year 1571. vvas first confined to his house , after to the tower , then committed for a good space to the bishop of ely his care , for medling with more business then belonged to the place of his imployment : the like was done to dr. alpin and malvisett the french ambassadors successively , for being busie in more then their masters affairs . in the time of philip the second of spain , the venetian ambassador in madrill , protecting an offendor that fled into his house , and denying the heads or justices to enter his house , vvhere the ambassador stood armed to vvithstand them , and one bodavario a venetian , whom they committed to prison , for his unruly carriage , and they removed the ambassador unto another house , until they had searched and found the offendor : then conducting back the ambassador , set a guard upon his house , to stay the fury of the people enraged . the ambassador complaining to the king , he remitted it to the supreme councel ; they justified the proceeding , condemning bodavario to lose his head , and other the ambassadors servants to the galleys , all vvhich the king turned to banishment , sending the whole process to inego de mendoza his ambassador at venice , and declaring by a publick ordinance unto that state , and all other princes , that in case his ambassadors should commit any offence , nnworthily , and disagreeing to their professions , they should not then enjoy the privilege of those officers , referring them to be judged by them vvhere they then resided . barnardino de mendoza , for traducing falsly the ministers of the state to further his seditious plots , vvas restrained first , and after commanded away in the year 1586. the last of spanish instruments that disquieted this state , a benefit vve found many years after by their absence , and feel the vvant of it now by their reduction . having thus shortly touched upon such precedent examples , as have fallen in the vvay , in my poor observation , i humbly crave pardon to offer up my simple opinion what course may best be had of prosecution of this urgent cause . i conceive it not unfit , that vvith the best of speed , some of the chief secretarries vvere sent to the ambassador by vvay of advice , that they understanding a notice of this information amongst the common people , that they cannot but conceive a just fear of uncivil carriage towards his lordship or his followers , if any the least incitement should arise ; and therefore for quiet of the state , and security of his person , they vvere bound in love to his lordship to restrain as vvell himself as followers until a further course be taken by legal examination , vvhere this aspertion begun , the vvay they onely conceived secure to prevent the danger ; this fear in likelyhood vvill be the best motive to induce the ambassador to make discovery of his intelligence , when it shall be required : i conceive it then most fit , that the prince and your grace to morrow should complain of this in parliament , and leaving it so to their advice and justice , to depart the house , the lords at the instant to crave a conference of some small number of the commons , and so conclude of a message to be sent to the ambassador to require from him the charge and proofs ; the persons to be sent , the two speakers of the two houses , vvith some convenient company of either , to have their maces and ensigns of office born brfore them to the ambassadors gate , and then forborn , to shew fair respect to the ambassadors , then to tell them that a relation being made that day in open parliament of the former information to the king by his lordship , they vvere deputed from both houses , the great councel of the kingdom , to the vvhich , by the fundamental law of the state , the chief care of the kings safety and public quiet is committed , they vvere no less the high court of justice , or supersedeas to all others , for the examining and correcting all attempts of so high a nature as this , if it carry truth ; that they regarded the honour of the state , for the catholicks immoderate using of late the lenity of soveraign grace to the scandal and offence of too many , and this aspersion now newly reflecting upon the prince and others , meeting vvth the former distaste ( which all in publique conceive to make a plot to breed a rupture between the king and state , by that party maliciously layd ) hath so inflamed and sharpned the minds of most , that by the access of people to term and parliament , the city more filled then usual , and the time it selfe neer may day ( a time by custom apted more to licentious liberty then any other ) cannot but breed a just jealousie and fear of some disorder likely to ensue of this information , if it be not aforehand taken up by a fair legal tryal in that high court : neither want there fearful examples in this kind in the ambassadors genoa upon a far less ground in the time of parliament , and is house demolished by such a seditious tumult : the parliament therefore , as well to secure his lordships person , followers and friends , from such outrages , to preserve the honour of the state , which needs must suffer blemish in such misfortunes , they were sent thither to require a fair discovery of the ground that led his lordship so to inform the king , that they might so thereupon provide in justice and honor , and that the reverence they bear unto the dignity of his master , may appear the more by the mannerly carriage of his message . the two that are never imployed but to the king alone , were at this time sent , and that if by negligence of this fair acceptance , there should happen out any such disaster and danger , the world and they must justly judge as his own fault : if upon the delivery of this message the ambassador shall tell his charge , and discover his intelligence , then there will be a plaine ground for the parliament to proceed in examination and judgment ; but if ( as i believe ) he will refuse it , then is he author scandali both by the common and civil laws of this realm , and the parliament may adjudge it false and untrue , and declare by a public act , the prince and your grace innocent , as was that of the duke of gloucester , 2 rich. 2. and of york in henry the sixth his time , then may the parliament joyntly become petitioners to his majesty , first to confine his ambasiador to his house , restraining his departure , until his majesty be acquainted with his offence , and aswell for security as for further practice to put a guard upon the place , and to make a proclamation that none of the kings subjects shall repair to his house without express leave : and to send withal a letter , with all speed , of complaint against him to the king of spaine , together with a declaration under the seals of all the nobility and speaker of the commons in their names as was 44 hen. 3. to the pope against his legat , and 28 edw. 1. requiring such justice to be done in this case , as by the leagues of amity , and law of nations is usual , which if the king of spain refuse , or delay , then it it transactio criminis upon himself , and an absolution of all amity and friendly intelligence , and amounts to no less then a war denounced . thus have i by your leave , and command , delivered my poor opinion , and ever will be ready to do your grace the best service , when you please to command it . that the kings of england have been pleased usually to consult with their peers in the great councel , and commons in parliament , of marriage , peace , and war. written by sir robert cotton , knight and baronet , anno 1621. london , printed in the year 1672. that the kings of england have been pleased usually to consult with their peers in the great council , &c. to search so high as the norman conquest , it is necessary to lay down the form and government of those times , wherein the state of affairs then lead in another form of publick councels ; for the people brought under by the sword of william , and his followers to subjected vassallage , could not possess in such assemblies the right of their former liberties , division and power having mastered them , and none of their old nobility being left either of credit or fortune , what he retained not in providence as the demesnes of the crown , or reserved not in piety for the maintenance of the church , he parted to those strangers that sailed along with him in the bark of his adventure , leaving the natives ( for the most part ) as appeareth by his survey in no better condition then villenage ; he moulded their customs to the manner of his own country , and forbore to grant the laws of the holy edward so often called for . to supply his occasions of men , mony , or provisions , he ordered that all those that enjoyed any fruit of his conquest , should hold their lands proportionably by so many knights fees of the crown , and admitted them to infeoff their followers , with such part as they pleased of their own portions , which to ease their charge they did in his and his sons time , by two infeoffments , the one de novo , the other de veteri ; this course provided him the body of his war , the money and provision was by hydage assessed on the common people ; at the consent of their lords , who held in all their signiories such right of regality , that to their vassals ( as paris saith ) quot domini tot tyranni , and proved to the king so great a curb and restraint of power , that nothing fell into the care of majesty after , more then to retrench the force of this aristocracy that was like in time to strangle the monarchy . though others foresaw the mischief betimes , yet none attempted the remedy , until king john , whose over hasty undertakings , brought in those broyls of the barons wars . there needed not before this care to advise with the commons in any publick assemblies , when every man in england by tenure held himself to his great lords will , whose presence was ever required in those great councels ; and in whose assent his dependent tenants consent was ever included . before this kings time then , we seek in vain for any councel called , he first as may be gathered ( though darkly by the record ) used their counsels and assents in the sixth year of his raign . here is the first summons in records to the peers or barons , tractaturi de magnis , & arduis negotiis , it was about a war of defence against the french ; and that the commons were admitted at this time , may be fitly gathered by this ordinance , viz. provisum est assensu archiepiscoporum , comitum , baronum , & omnium fidelium nostrorum angliae , quod novem militis per angliam inveniend . decimarum , &c. and this was directed to all the sheriffs in england , the ancient use in publishing laws : from this there is a breach until the 18 hen. 3. where the next summons extant is in a plea roll of that year , but the ordinances are lost : from hence the records afford us no light until the 49 of the same king , where then the forme of summons to bishops , lords , knights , and burgesses , are much in manner though not in matter to those of our times . this parliament was called to advise with the king pro pace assecuranda & firmanda , they are the words of the writ , and where advice is required , consutation must needs be admitted . to this king succeeded edward his son , a wise , a just , and fortunate prince , his raign , and so long to the fourth of his grandchild , we have no light of publick councels in this kind , but what we borrow in the rolls of summons , wherein the form stood various according to the occasions , until it grew constant in the form it is now , about the entrance of rich. 2. the journal rolls being spoiled , by the injury of times or private ends . this king in the fifth of his raign called a parliament , and therein advised with his lords and commons for suppressing of llewellen prince of wales , and hearing that the french king intended to invade some pieces of his inheritance in france , he summoned a parliament , ad tractand . ordinand . & faciend . cum praelatis proceribus & aliis incolis regni quibuslibet hujusmodi periculis & excogitatis malis sit objurand . inserting in the writ that it was lex justissima , provida circumspectione stablita : that quod omnes tangit ab omnibus approbetur . in 34. super ordinatione & stabilimento regis scotiae , he made the like convention . his son the second edward , pro solennitate sponsalium & coronationis , consulted with his people in his first year , in his sixth year , super diversis negotiis statum regni & expeditionem guerrae scotiae specialiter tangentibus , he assembled the state to advise ; the like he did in the eighth . the french king having invaded gascoin in the thirteenth year the parliament was called , super arduis negotiis statum , gasconiae tangentibus . and in 16. to consult ad refraenand . scotorum obstinentiam & militiam . before that edward the 3. in his first year would resolve whether peace or war with the scotish king , he summoned the peers and commons , super praemissis tractare & consilium impendere . the chancellor in anno quinto declareth from the king the cause of that assembly , and that it was to consult and resolve , whether the king should proceed with france for recovery of his signiories , by alliance of marriage , or by war ? and whether to suppress the disobedience of the irish , he should pass thither in person or no ? the year following he re-assembleth his lords and commons , and requireth their advice , whether he should undertake the holy expedition with the french king that year , or no ? the bishops and proctors of the clergy would not be present , as forbidden by the canons such councels , the peers and commons consult , applauding the religious and princely forwardness of their sovereign to this holy enterprize , but humbly advise a forbearance this year for urgent occasions . the same year , though at another sessions , the king demanded the advice of his people , whether he should pass into france to an enterview as was desired for the exepediting the treaty of marriage : the prelates by themselves , the earls and barons by themselves , and the knights of the shires by themselves , consulted apart , for so is the record ; and in the end resolved , that to prevent some dangers likely to arise from the north , it would please the king to forbear his journey , and to draw towards those parts where the perils were feared , his presence being the best prevention ; which advice he followed . in the following parliament at york the king sheweth how by their former advice he had drawn himself towards the north parts , and now again had assembled them to advise further for his proceedings , to which the lords and commons having consulted apart , pray further time to resolve , until a full assembly of the state , to which the king granting , adjourneth that sessions . at the next meeting , they are charged upon their allegiance and faith , to give the king their best advice ; the peers and commons consulting apart , deliver their opinions , and so the parliament ended in the 13. year the grands and commons are called to consult and advise how the domestick quiet may be preserred , the marches of scotland defended , and the sea secured from forrein enemies ; the peers and cammons having apart consulted , the commons after their desire not to be charged to counsel in things des quenx ils mont pas cognizance , answer , that the guardians of the shires , assisted by the knights , may effect the first , if pardons of felony be not granted . the care of the marches they humbly leave to the king and his counsel , and for the safeguard of the seas , they wish that the cinque ports , & marine towns , discharged for the most part from the main burthens of the in-land parts , may have that left to their charge and care , and that such as have lands neer the coasts be commanded to reside on those possessions . the parliament is the same year reassembled avisamento praelatorum , procerum , necnon communitatis , to advise de expeditione guerrae in partibus transmarinis , at this , ordinances are made for provision of ships , arraying of men for the marches , and defence of the isle of jersey , naming such in the record , as they conceive fit for the imployment . the next year de la pool accompteth in parliament the expences of the wars , a new aid is granted , and by several committees in which divers are named that were no peers of parliament , the safeguard of the seas , and defence of the borders are consulted of . in the 15 year , de assensu praelatorum procerum & aliorum de consilio , the kings passage into france is resolved of . anno 17. badlesmere , instead of the councel declareth to the peers and commons , that whereas by their assents the king had undertaken the wars in france , and that by mediation of the pope a truce was offered , which then their soveraign forbore to entertain without their well allowance ; the lords consult apart , and so the commons returning by sir william trussel an answer , their advice and desire is to compose the quarrel , approve the truce , and the popes mediation . the popes undertaking proving fruitless , and delays to the french advantage , who in the mean space allied with scotland and others , practized to root out the english nation in france : this king again assembled the year following , in which the peers and commons after many days meditation , resolve to end it either by battel or peace , and no more to trust upon the mediation or message of his holiness . in the 21 year , the chief justice thorpe declaring to the peers and commons that the french wars began by their advice first , the true after by their assents accepted , and now ended , the kings pleasure was to have their counsels in the prosecution , the commons being commanded , que ils se deveroyent trait ensemble & se quils ensenteroient monstrer au roy & aux gravitur de son consilio , who after four days consulting , humbly desire the king to be advised by his lords and others , more experienced then themselves in such affairs . to advise the king the best for his french imployments a parliament was summoned anno 25. herein the king for a more quick dispatch willeth the commons to elect 24. or 30. of their house to consult with the lords , these to relate to their fellows , and the conclusion general by the lords to the king. in the 27 a great counsel is assembled , many of the lay peers , few of the clergy , and of the shires and burroughs but one a peece . this was for the prosecution of the french wars , when honorable peace could not be gotten ; but the year following a truce offered , the king forbore to entertain , until he had the consent of the peers and commons , which they in parliament accorded unto before the popes notary , by publick instrument . the dallying of the french king in conclusion of peace , and the falling off of the duke of brittany , having wrought his end with france by reputation of the english succour , is the year following declared in parliament , and their advice and aid required for the kings proceeding . in the 36. year he calleth a parliament to consult whether war or peace by david king of scots then offered , should be accepted ? in the 40. the pope demanding the tribute of king john , the parliament assembled , where after consultation apart , the prelats , lords , and commons advise the denyal , although it be by the dint of sword. in 43. the king declares to the peers and commons , that the french against the articles of the truce , refused payment of the moneys , and delivery of the towns , summoning la brett , and others the kings subjects in gascony to make at paris their appeals , and had forraged his of bontion , requiring , whether on their breach he might not again resume the stile and arms of france . the lords and commons had apart consulted , they advised the king to both , which he approving , altered the inscription and figure of his seal . two years after it was declared to the peers and commons , that by their advice he had again resumed the stile and quarrel of france , and therefore called their advice for the defence of the realm against the french , securing of the seas , and pursuing of the warre , of which they consult , and resolve to give the king an aid ; the like of councel and supply was the year succeeding . in the 50 a parliament to the purposes of the other two was summoned ; and the year following the king in parliament declaring how the french combined underhand against him with spain and scotland , required their advice , how peace at home , the territories abroad , security of the sea , and charge of the war might be maintained . i have the longer insisted in observing the carriage of these times , so good and glorious , after ages having not left the journal entries of parliament so full , which with a lighter hand i will pass through . richard , his grand child succeeded to the crown , and troubles , having nothing worthy his great fortunes , but his great birth ; the first of his raign he pursued the steps of his wise grandfather , advising with peers and commons how best to resist his enemies , that had lately wronged many of his subjects upon the sea coasts . in the second year he again consulted with his people , how to withstand the scots , who then had combined with the french to break the truce . in the third he called the advice of parliament , how to maintain his regality , impaired by the popes provision , how to resist spain , france and scotland , that had raised wars against him , how to suppress his rebells in guyen and ireland , and how to defend the seas . the like in the fourth year following at winsor ; the year succeeding at a great councel , the king having proposed a voyage royal into france , now called the parliament to determine further of it , and it is worthy observation , for the most before any proposition of war or peace were vented to the commons , a debate thereof proceeded in the great councel to stay it fitter to popular advice . the quarrel of spain continuing , the duke of lancaster offered a voyage against them , so that the state would lend him money , after consultation they granted aid , but not to bind them to any continuance of wars with spain . in the sixth the parliament was called , to consult about defence of the borders , the kings possessions beyond sea , ireland and gascoyne , his subjects in portugall , and safe keeping of the seas ; and whether the king should proceed by treaty of alliance , or the duke of lancaster by force ; for the conquest of portuguall , the lords approve the dukes intention for portuguall , and the commons advise , that thomas bishop of norwich , having the popes croiceris should invade france . the same year the state was re-assembled to consult , whether the king should go in person to rescue gaunt , or send his army ; the commons after two dayes debate crave a conference with the lords , the effect is not entered in the roll , only they bid sir thomas puckering their speaker protest , that counsells for war did aptly belong to the king and his lords ; yet since the commons were commanded to give their advice , they humbly wished a voyage royal by the king ; if not , that the bishop of norwich ought with the advantage of the popes croiceris be used in that service , who accepted the charge with ill success ; he further for the commons prayed , that the kings unkle should not be spared out of the realm , before some peace be setled with the scots , and that the lord de la sparre sent with propositions from spain , may first be heard . the chancellor in the seventh year in the name of the king willeth the lords apart , and so the commons , to consult whether peace or war with scotland , or whether to resist or assail the kings adventure with spain , france , or flanders . their opinion is not entered in the rolls ( an omission usual by the clarks neglect ) only their petition is recorded , that the bishop of norwich may accompt in parliament the expence of the monies , and be punished for his faults in the service he undertook , both which are granted . at the next sessions the same year the commons are willed to advise upon view of articles of peace with the french , whether war , or such a unity should be accepted ; they modestly excused themselves as too weak to consult in such weighty affairs ; but being charged again as they did tender the honour , and right of the king , they make this answer , quils intendent que ancunes serm●s & terres que mesme lour leeige auroit ●it pur cest accord in guien si serront tenns dobt roy francois par homage & service mars ne persont uny que lour dit leeige voiroit assenter trope legierement de temer dicens francois pertiel service la villa de callis & aultres terres conquises des francoise per lespreneve verroit la comen ense faest fait si autrement lour perroit bien faire , giving their opinions rather for peace than war ; peace with france not succeeding the eighth year , the body of the state was willed to advise , whether the king in his own person , or by sending of forces against the french , spain , flanders and scotland , should proceed . this king having assembled at oxon his great counsel to advise whether he should pass the seas or no , with an army royal , and they not daring to assent without greater counsel . a parliament the tenth year to have the advice of the commons , as well as of the lords was called , and how the realm should be governed in their sovereign his absence . the truce with france was now expired , the parliament was called in the 13th to advise upon what conditions it should be renewed , or otherwise how the charge of the war should be susteined ; at this assembly , and by consent of all , the duke of lancaster is created duke of aquitaine , the statute of provisions now past . the commons a party in the letter to the pope . the year succeeding a parliament is called , for the king would have advice with the lords and commons for the war with scotland , and would not without their counsels conclude a final peace with france . the like assembly for the same causes was the year ensuing , the commons interesting the king to use a moderation in the law of provisions , to please at this time their holy father , so that the statute upon their dislike may again be executed ; and that to negotiate the peace with france the duke of aquitaine may rather than another be imployed . to consult of the treaty with france for peace , the king in the seventeenth calleth a parliament ( the answer of the lords is left unentred in the roll ) the commons upon their faith and allegiance charged , advised that with good moderation homage may be made , for guien an appenage of the french croine so it trench not to involve the other pieces of the english conquest , their answer is large , modest and worthy to be marked . now succeedeth a man , that first studied a popular party , as needing all to support his titles . he in the fifth year calleth a parliament to repress the malice of the duke of orleance , and to advise of the wars in ireland and scotland ( neither counsels or supplies are entred in the roll ) and to resist an invasion intended by france and brittain , he assembleth the state again , the like was the second year following for france . in this the commons confer with , for guard of the sea , and make many ordinances , to which the king assenteth , the peace with the merchants of bruce and foins is debated , and a proclamation published , as they resolved ; by the speaker the commons complain of 96 pieces of importance lost in guien the year before , need of the defence of the borders , and sea coasts , to suppress the rebellion in wales , and disloyalty of the earl of northumberland ; they humbly desire , that the prince may be dispatched into those parts with speed , and that the castle of manlion the key of the three realms might be left to the care of the english , and not to charls of navarre a stranger , and to have a vigilant eye of the scotish prisoners . in the tenth the parliament is commanded to give their advice about the truce with scotland , and preparation against the malice of the french , his son , the wife and happy undertaker , advised with the parliament in the first year , how , to cherish his allies , and restrain his enemies ; for this there was a secret committee of the commons appointed to conferr with the lords , the matter being entred into a schedule touching ireland , wales , scotland , callis , gunien , shipping , guard of the seas , and war , provision to repulse the enemies . in the second he openeth to the parliament his title to france , a quarrel he would prosecute to death . if they allowed and ayded , death is in his assembly enacted to all that break the truce , or the kings safe conduct . the year following peace being offered by the french king , and the king of the romans arrived to effect the work , the king refuseth any conclusion until he had thereunto advice and assent of the lords and commons , for which occasion the chancellor declareth that assembly . in the fourth and fifth , no peace being concluded with france , he calleth the state together to consult about the warr , concluding a treaty of amity with sigismund king of the romans by allowance of the three estates , and entred articles into the journal rols . the same year , by the duke of bedford . in the kings absence a parliament was called , to the former purposes , as appeareth by the summons , though in the roll omitted , the like in the seventh . the treaty with france is by the prelates , nobles , and commons of the kingdom perused and ratified in the 11. of his raign . his son more holy then happy succeeded , adviseth him the second year with the lords and commons , for the well keeping the peace with france ; consulteth with them about the delivery of the scottish king , and the conclusion of it is confirmed by common assent . and in the third year they are called to advise and consent to a new article in the league with scotland , for change of hostages . and in the ninth conclude certain persons by name to treat a peace with the dolphin of france . the treaty at arras , whither the pope had sent as mediators two cardinals , not succeeding . the king in parliament , anno 14. sheweth he must either lose his title , stile , and kingdom of france , or else defend it by force , the best means for the prevention thereof he willeth them to advise him . he summoneth again the next year the state , to consult how the realm might be best defended , and the sea safe kept against his enemies . in the twentieth the commons exhibite a bill for the guard of the sea , ascertain the number of ships , assess wages , and dispose prizes of any fortune , to which the king accordeth , and that the genoways may be declared enemies for assisting the turks in the spoyl of the rhode knights , and that the privileges of the pruce and hans towns merchants may be suspended , till compensation be made to the english for the , wrongs they have done them , to which the king in part accordeth . the king by the chancellor declareth in parliament anno 23. that the marriage with margaret the king of sicils daughter was contracted for enducing the peace made with france , against which the lords , as not by their advice effected , make protestation , and enter it on the roll. in the 25. the king intended to pass in person into franch , and there to treat a peace with the king , adviseth with the lords and commons in parliament , and letters of mart are granted against the brittains , for spoyle done to the english merchants . the lord hastings , and abbot of gloucester declare in parliament anno 27. the preparation of the french , the breach by them of the peace , the weak defence of normandy , and the expiration shortly of the truce , requiring speedy advice and remedy . in the 29. it was enjoined by parliament , to provide for defence of the sea and land against the french. it was commanded by the king to the states assembled , anno 33. to advise for well ordering of his house , payment of the soldiers at callis , guard of the sea , raising of the siege of barwicke made by the scots against the truce , dispoiling of the number of 13000 soldiers , arrayed the last parliament , according of differences amongst the lords , restraining transportation of gold and silver , and acquitting the disorders in wales ; of all which , committees are appointed to frame bills . edward the fourth by the chancellor declareth in his seventh year to the lords and commons , that having made peace with scotland , entred league with spaine and denmark , contracted with burgundy and britany for their ayd in the recovery of his right in france , he had now called them to give their counsels in proceeding , which charge in a second sessions was again proposed unto them . the like was to another parliament in his twelfth year . after this time their journalls of parliament have not been well preserved , or not carefully entred , for i can find of this nature no record , untill the first of hen. 7. wherein the commons , by thomas lovell their speaker , petition the king to take to wife elizabeth daughter to edw. 4. to which the king at their request agreeth . the next is the third of hen. the 8. in which from the king the chancellor declareth to the three estates the cause of that assembly : the first to devise a course to resist the invasion of the scots , next how to acquit the quarrel between the king of castile , and the duke of geldres his allie ; lastly for assisting the pope against lewis king of france , whose bull expressing the injuries done the sea apostolick , was read by the master of the rolls in open parliament ; the chancellor , the treasurer , and other lords sent down to the commons to confer with them . the last in the 32d of the same year , where the chancellor remembring the many troubles the state had undergone , in doubtful titles of succession , declareth , that although the convocation had judged void the marriage of anne of cleve , yet the king would not proceed , without the counsel of the three estates : the two archbishops are sent to the commons with the sentence sealed , which read , and there discussed , they pass a bill against the marriage . in all these passages of publick counsells , wherein i have been much assisted by the painful labour of mr. elsings , clerk of the parliament , and still observe , that the soveraign lord , either in best advice , or in most necessities , would entertain the commons with the weightiest causes , either forrain or domestique , to apt and bind them so to readiness of charge , and they as warily avoyding it to eschew expence ; their modest answers may be a rule for ignorant liberty to form their duties , and humbly to entertain such weighty counsells at their soveraigns pleasure , and not to the wild fancy of any factious spirit . i will add one forrain example to shew what use have been formerly made by pretending marriages , and of parliaments to dissolve them , their first end served . maximilian the emperour , and ferdinand of spain , the one to secure his possessions in italy , the other to gain the kingdom of navarre , ( to both which the french king stood in the way ) projected a marriage of charls their grand-child , with mary the king of englands sister , it was embraced , and a book published of the benefits likely to ensue the christian world by this match , upon this ground , ferdinando beginneth to incite henry the 8th to war with france , presents him with succours , and designs him guien to be the mark , and dorset sent with men and munition to joyn with the spanish forces then on the borders of navarre , the noise is they came to assist ferdinand in the conquest of that kingdom , which though false , gained such reputation , that albred was disheartned , and ferdinand possesed himself of that his successors since retained , his end served , the english army weak and weather-beaten , are returned fruitless . maximilian then allureth the young and active king to begin with france on the other side , turwin and turney is now the object , whither henry goeth with victory , but better advised ( with that pittance ) makes an end by peace with france , whose aim and heart was set on millain . a new bait the old emperour findeth out to catch the ambitious young man , he would needs resign unto him the empire , too heavy for his age to bear : the cardinal sedunensis is sent over to sign the agreement , which he did ; and france must now again be made an enemy : to prevent this danger francis released his title to naples , and offereth laogitia his daughter to maximilians granchild charls , at noyon this is acted in the dark , and at arno the french commissioners came up the back stairs with 60000 florins , and they engrossed covenants , when the abused king of englands ambassador pace , went down the other ; the good cardinal returneth home , meeteth by the way this foul play of his master , and writ to the king of england , not in excuse , but in complaint , contra perfidiam principum , an honest letter . ferdinand and maximilian dead , francis and charls are competitors for the empire . henry the 8th is courted for his help by both ; the one with the tye of alliance ( for the infant dolphin had affyed henry the 8ths daughter ) the other with the like , and daughter , he will make his daughter a queen in praesente , which the dolphin cannot do , and by his favour an empress . to further france was but to win ambition to prey upon all his neighbours . the english king is won , and winneth for spain the imperial wreath , which charls in two letters i have of his own hand then thankfully confessed . from aquisgrave he cometh crowned in haste to england , wedded at windsor the kings daughter , contracteth to joyn in an invasion of france , to divide it with his father in law , by the river of rodon , and sweareth at the altar in pauls to keep faith in all . bourbon is wrought from france , and entreth the province with an army , paid with king henries money ; suffolke passeth with the english forces by picardy : but charles the emperour , who should have entred guyen-faileth , drawing away burbon from a streight siege marseilles , to interrupt francis then entred italy , and so the enterprize of france is defeated , the french king as it pavie taken prisoner by pescaro , led to grone , hurried into spain by the emperours galleys , and forced at madrid to a hard bargain ; without privity of henry the 8th or provision of him , who had been at the greater charge of that war. now the emperour affecteth that monarchy that hath ever since ( as some say ) infected the austrian family . rome , the fatal old seat of government , must be the seat of his empire : burbon , and after moncado are directed to surprize it . angelo the observant fryer is sent before the pope , consigned by the emperours election , who meant ( as his own instructions warrant ) to restore that right again to the imperial throne . charls will follow him from barcellona with an army ; but before , he must call a parliament at toledo , whether by election or affection , i dare not divine , that assembly maketh protestation against their masters marriage with england , and assign him isabella of portugal for a wife , the instruments are sent signed by the imperial notary to henry the 8th . and charls bemoneth the streight he is forced into by them , but before all this he had wrought from rome , a dispensation for his former out-hand marriage ; sending not long after gonzado ferdinando his chaplain , to invite the earl of desmon to rebell in ireland . and to invite james the first , by promise of a marriage to christian of denmarks daughter , his neece ; to enter the english borders , to busie the english king , for asking a strict accompt of that indignity . henry the 8th with providence and good success over-wrought these dangers , and by the league of italy he forced him to moderate conditions at the treaty of cambray , 1529. he being made caput foederis against the emperour . i may end your honours trouble with this one example , and with humble prayers , that the catholique may have so much of princely sincerity , as not to intend the like , or my good gracious master a jealous vigilancy to prevent it , if it should , &c. that the soveraigns person is required in the great councells , or assemblies of the state , as well at the consultations as at the couclusions . written by sir robert cotton , knight and baronet . london , printed in the year 1672. that the soveraigns person is required in the great counsels , or assemblies of the state , &c. since of these assemblies few diaries , or exact journal books are remaining , and those but of late , and negligently entred , the acts , and ordinances only reported to posterity are the rolls , this question though clear in general reason , and conveniency , must be wrought for the particular , out of such incident proofs , as the monument of story , and records by pieces leave us . and to deduct it the dearer down , some essential circumstances of name , time , place , occasion , and persons , must be in a general shortly touched , before the force of particular proofs be laid down . this noble body of the state , now called the houses in parliament , is known in several ages , by several names consilia the counsels in the old times , after magnum , commune , and generale , consilium , curia magna , capitalis , and curia regis ; sometimes generale placitum , and sometimes synodi and synodalia decreta , although aswell the causes of the common-wealth as church were there decided . the name of parliament , except in the abbots chapters , not ever heard of until the raign of king john , and then but rarely . at the kings court were these conventions usually , and the presence , privy chamber , or other room convenient , for the king in former times as now then used ; for what is the presenst house of lords , but so , as at this time , and was before the fyring of the pallace at westminster , about the seventeenth of henry the eighth , who then and there recided . improbable it is to believe the king was excluded his own privie chamber , and unmannerly for guests to barre him the company , who gave to them their entertainment . it was at first as now edicto principis , at the kings pleasure . towards the end of the saxons ; and in the first time of the norman kings , it stood in custome-grace , to easter , whitsontide , and christmas fixed . the bishops , earls , and lords , ex more , then assembled ( so are the frequent words in all the annalls ) the king of course then revested with his imperial crown by the bishops and peers assembling , in recognition of their pre-obliged faith and present service , until the unsafe time of king john , by over-potent and popular lords , gave discontinuance to this constant grace of kings , and then it returned to the uncertain pleasure of the soveraigns summons . the causes then as now of such assemblies , were provisions for the support of the state in men and money , well ordering of the church and common wealth , and determining of such causes , which ordinary courts nesciebant judicare ( as glanvill the grand judge under henry the second saith ) where the presence of the king was still required , it being otherwise absurd to make the king assentor to the judgments of parliament , and afford him no part in the consultation . the necessity thereof is well and fully deduced unto us in a reverent monument not far from that grave mans time in these words , rex tenetur omni modo personaliter interesse parliamento , nisi per corporalem agritudinem detineatur . then to acquaint the parliament , of such occasion of either house , causa est quod solebat clamor & murmur esse pro absentia regis quia res damnosa & periculosa est toto communitati parliamenti & regni cum rex à parliamento absens fuerit , nec se absentare debet , nec potest nisi duntaxat in causa supradicta . by this appeareth the desire of the state to have the kings presence in these great counsels by express necessity . i will now endeavour to lead the practise of it from the dark and eldest times to these no less neglected of ours . from the year 720. to neer 900. during all the heptarchy in all the councels remaining composed ex episcopis , abbatibus , ducibus , satrapis , & omni dignitate optimatibus ecclesiasticis scilicet & secularibus personis pro utilitate ecclesiae , & stabilitate regni pertractand . seven of them are rege praecedente and but one by deputy ; and incongruous it were and almost non-sence , to bar his presence that is president of such an assembly . the saxon monarchy under alfred , ethelred , and edgar in their synods or placita generalia went in the same practise and since . thus ethelwald appealed against earl leofrick from the county and generale placitum before king ethelred and edgira the queen , against earl goda to eldred the king at london , congregatis principibus & sapientibus angliae . in the year 1502. under edward the confessor statutum est placitum magnum extra londinum quod normanni ex francorum consuetud . parliamentum appellant where the king and all his barons appealed goodwin for his brother alureds death , the earl denyed it , and the king replyed thus , my lords , you that are my liege men earls and barons of the land here assembled together have heard my appeal and his answer , unto you be it left to do right betwixt us . at the great councel at westminster 1072. in easter week , the cause of the two archbishops lanfrank and thomas , ventilata fuit , in praesentia regis willielm . and after at winsor , finem accepit in proesentia regis . at the same feast in the year 1081. ( the usual time of such assemblies ) the king , the archbishops , bishops , abbots , earls , and chief nobility of the kingdom present ( for so are the words of the records ) the cause between arsast bishop of norway , and baldwyne abbot of bury was also argued , et ventilata in publica jubet rex teneri judicium causis auditis amhorum . the diligence of his son the learned henry the first in executing of this part of his kingly function is commended to posterity , by walter mape , a learned man , trained up , and in favour with henry the second , in these words , omnia regali more moderamine faciebat , neminem volebat agere justitia vel pace . constituerat autem ad tranquilitatem omnium ut diebus vacationis , vel in domo magna subsidio copiam sui faceret , usque ad horam sextam , ( which was till twelve as we now accompt ) secum habens comites , baronet , proceres , & vavasores , to hear , and determine causes , whereby he attained the surname of leo justitiae in all stories , and so out-went in quiet guidance of the state his best progenitors . the next of his name that succeeded is remembred every where for his debates and his disputes he had in person with thomas the archbishop , and others of his part , at the great counsels both at london , clarendon , and northampton , for redress of the many complaints of the commons , against the outrages and extortions of the clergy ; one thousand five hundred and fifty seven , die penticostis apud sanctum edmundum , the same king diademate insignitus , with the bishops , abbots , earls , and barons of the kingdome , sate daily himself and heard all the debates , concerning the liberties and charters of battle abbey . the interlocutory speeches as well of the king , as lords and parties are at full related in a register of that church . the sute between the church of lincolne and saint albanes , in praesentia regis henry archepiscop . & episcop . omnium angliae , & comitum & baronum regni , was at westminster debated and ended : and had alone of memory and truth been a protector of the publick records of the state , as awe of the clergies sensure was a guard to theirs , in tempestuous times , we had not been now left to the only friendship of monkes diligence ; for example in this kind . at lincolne the archbishops , some bishops , but all the earles and barons of the realme , una cum rege johanne congregati ad colloquium de concordia regis scotiae , saith the register of that church . this use under king henry the third , needeth no further proofe , than the writ of summons ( then framed ) expressing that kings mind and practise ; it is nobiscum & praelatis & magnatibus nostris quos vocari fecimus super praemissis tractare & consilium impendere , which word nobiscum implieth plainely the kings presence ; what the succeeding practise was , from the fifteenth year of the second edward , the proper records of this inquiry ( the journall books being lost ) i am enforced to draw from out the rolls of acts , wherein sometimes by chance they are remembred . edward the second was present in parliament in the fifteenth year of his raigne at the complaint against the spencers , and at the second parliament that year , for the repeale of that banishment . in the fourth of edward the third , the king was present at the accusation of roger mortimer , but not at the tryall . and the next year in the treaty of the french affaires . in the sixth year intererat rex in causa johannis de gray & willielmi de zous . the same year the second day in parliament , the king was present at the debate about his voyage into scotland . in the fifteenth year the king in the painted chamber sitting with the lords in consultation , the archbishop after pardon prayed , that for better clearing himself , he might be tryed in full parliament by his peers ; which was granted . in the seventeenth in camera alba , now the court of requests , rex cum magnatibus conveniunt communes super negotiis regni . in the tenth of richard the second , the king departed from the parliament in some discontent , when after some time , lords are sent to pray his presence , and informe his majesty that if he forbear his presence amongst them fourty dayes , that then ex antiquo statuto , they may returne absque do●igerio regis , to their severall homes . henry the fourth began his first parliament the first of november , and was the twenty seventh of the same moneth at a debate about the duke of brittany , the thirtieth day the cause of the archbishop of canterbury was before him proposed only . the third of november he was at the debate , whether the commons had right of judicature yea or no. on the tenth he was with the lords in their consultation about the expedition against the scots ; the creation of the duke of lancaster , and prohibition of a new sect for entring his kingdom . some ordinances were at this time consulted of before him about the staple , and the sentence against haxey after dispute revoked . this king began his second parliament , the twentieth of january , and on the ninth of february was present to make agreement betwixt the bishop of norwich , and thomas of erpingham . on the twentieth day of the same moneth he was present at counsell for repressing the welch rebells ; for revocation of stipends , and concerning the priors aliens . on the 26. they advise before the king of the cistertians order . on the second of march of the statute of provisions the keeper of the privy seal , of relieving the two universities . and on the ninth of march , they mediate before the king a reconciliation betwixt the earl of rutland and the lord fitzwater . he also began a parliament in the fifth year upon the fifteenth of january , and on the twentieth they advise before the king of guarding the seas , and the welsh rebellion . on the eighth of february the earl of northumberland is charged before the king , and in his presence , and by his permission , divers of whom he knew no harme , were removed from the court. the next day at the petition of the commons , he took upon him to reconcile the earles of northumberland and westmerland . and on the two and twentieth of february of the earles of northumberland and dunbarre . in a parliament of 27 of hen. the 6. a challenge of seate in parliament betwixt the earles of arundell and devonshire , was examined and appointed by the king with the advice of the lords . in that great capitall cause of the duke of suffolke , the 28 of hen. 6. i finde not the king once present at the debates , but the duke appealing from his tryall by peerage , to the king , is brought from out of the house of lords to a private chamber , where the king after the chancellor in gross had declared his offence , and his refusall , the king himself ( but not in place of judgement ) adjudged his banishment . by the rolls of edward the fourth , it appeareth that he was many dayes , besides the first and last of parliament , and there was entred some speeches by him uttered , but that of all the rest is most of remark , the reporter then present thus tells it . this of the duke of clarence and the king , tristis disceptatio inter duos tantae humanitatis germanos , nemo arguit contra ducem nisi rex , nemo respondit regi nisi dux , some other testimonies are brought in , with which the lords are satisfied , and so formârunt in eum sententiam damnations , by the mouth of the duke of buckingham , the steward of england , all which was much distasted by the house of commons . the raigne of henry the seventh affords us upon the rolls no one example . the journall bookes are lost , except so much as preserves the passages of eight dayes in the twelfth year of his raigne ; in which the king was some dayes present at all debates , and with his own hand the one and thirtieth day of the parliament , delivered in a bill of trade then read , but had the memorials remained , it is no doubt but he would have been as frequent in his great councell of parliament , as he was in the starre-chamber , where by the register of that court it appeareth as well in debate of private causes , that toucheth neither life nor member , as those of publique care , he every year of all his raign was often present . of henry the eighth , memory hath not been curious , but if he were not often present , peradventure , that may be the cause , which the learned recorder fleetwood , in his preface to the annalls of edward the fifth , richard the third , henry the seventh , and henry the eighth hath observed in the statutes made in that kings dayes , for which cause he hath severed their index from the former : and much lay in the will of wolsey , who ever was unwilling to let that king see with his own eyes . edward the sixth , in respect of his young years may be vvell excused , but that such was his purpose it appears by a memorial of his own hand , vvho proportioning the affairs of councell to several persons , reserved those of greatest vveight to his own presence in these vvords . these to attend the matters of state , that i will sit with them once a week to hear the debating of things of most importance . unfitness by sex in his two succeeding sisters , to be so frequent present as their former ancestors , led in the ill occasion of such opinion and practise . most excellent majesty , your most humble servant in discharge of obedience and zeal , hath hastned up this abstract , vvhich in all humility he offers up unto your gracious pardon . presumption to enter the closet of your counsell is far from his modesty and duty , vvhat hath been your powerfull command , he hath made his work , vvhat is fit to be done vvith it , is only your divine judgment . he dares not say presidents are vvarrants to direct ; the success ( is as vvorthy observation ) as the knowledge of them , sometimes have made ill example by extension of regal power , through ill counsels vvith ill success . some as bad or vvorse vvhen the people have had too much of that , and the king too little , the danger no less . to cut out of either of these patterns to follovv , vvere but to be in love vvith the mischief , for the example . the clearer i present this to your highness , the nearer i approach the uprightness of your heart , the blessed fortune of your happy subjects : pardon , most sacred majesty , that i offer up unto your admired vvisdome , my vveak , but dutifull observations out of all the former gathering . in consultations of state and decisions of private plaints , it is clear from all times , the king not only present to advise and hear but to determine also , in cases criminal , and not of bloud , to bar the king a part vvere to exclude him the star-chamber , as far from reason as example . the doubt is then alone in crimes meer capital ; i dare not commend too much the times that lost these patterns , either for the causes or effects ; but vvish the one and other never more . to proceed by publick act of commons , peers , and king , vvas most usuall . appeals are given by lavv of hen. 4. of this in novv debate , the vvay i fear , as yet obscure , as great advice to state is needfull for the manner , as for the justice . the example in the cause of the duke of suffolke , 28 hen. 6. vvhere the king gave judgement vvas protested against by the lords . that of the duke of clarence of edw. 4. vvhere the lords and the high stevvard the duke of buckingham gave judgement , vvas protested against by commons , in both of these the king vvas sometimes present , but vvhich of those may suit these times i dare not guess . that of primo rich. 2. of gomeneys and weston , accused by the commons plaint for treason , vvas tried by the lords in absence of the king , but sentenced by the lord scroop , stevvard for the king. the accused vvere of the rank of the accusers , commons and not lords : hovv this vvill make a president to judg in causes capital , a peer of parliament , i cannot tell . but if i should conceive a vvay ansvverable as well to parliament as other courts , if the king and the lords vvere tryers , and the commons assenters to the judgment to hear together the charge , and evidence ; the lords as doth the jury in other courts , to vvithdravv , to find the verdict , and then the stevvard , for the king , to pronounce the sentence . it passeth so by vvay of act and course that carrieth vvith it no exception , and likely to avoid all curious questions of your highness presence there . if your humble servant hath in this expression of his desire to do you service , presumed too far , his comfort is , that vvhere zeal of duty hath made the fault , benignity of goodness vvill grant the pardon . a discourse of the lawfullnes of combats to be performed in the presence of the king , or the constable and marshall of england . written by sir robert cotton , knight and baronet . 1609. london ; printed in the year 1672. a discourse of the lawfullnes of combats to be performed in the presence of the king , &c. combat . where difference could not be determined by legal proof or testimony , there was allowed the party his purgation . which was either canonicall or legall . the first by oath , and called canonicall , because it is lawfull . the other , which was either per aquam candentem , ferrum ignitum , or duellum , called vulgare , because it was brought in by the barbarous people , without the pretext of any law ; untill the gothish and lombard kings , seeing their subjects more addicted to martiall discipline than to civill government , reduced those trialls to form and rule : which constitutions are now incorporated in the civill law. from the northern nations ( of which the saxons and normans , or northmanni are part ) it was brought into this land , and although it grew long ago , both by the decrees of desiderius luitprandus , and the mother church , discontinued amongst the lombards , as soon as they grew civilized in italy ; yet it continued till of late with us , as a mark of our longer barbarisme : neither would we in this obey the see of rome ; to which we were in many respects observant children ; which , for that in the duell , condemnandus saepe abslovitur , & quia deus tentatur , decreed so often and streightly against it . in england this single combat was either granted the party by license extra-judiciall , or legall process . the first was ever from the king , as a chief flower of his imperiall crown , and it . was for exercise of arms especially . thus did richard 1. give leave for tournaments in five places in england ; inter sarum & winton ; inter stamford & wallingford , &c. ita quod pax terrae nostrae non infringetur , nec potestas justiciara minorabitur : for performance whereof , as likewise to pay unto the king according to their qualities or degrees , a sum of money proportionable , and that of a good value and advantage to the crown , they take a solemn oath . the like i find in 20 e. 1. and 18 e. 3. granted viris militaribus comitatus lincoln , to hold a just there every year . richard redman and his three companions in arms , had the licence of rich. 2. hastiludere cum willielmo halberton , cum tribus sociis suis apud civitat . carliol . the like did h. 4. to john de gray ; and of this sort i find in records , examples plentifull . yet did pope alexand. the fourth , following also the steps of his predecessors , innocentius & eugenius , prohibit throughout all christendome , detestabiles nundinas vel ferias quas vulgo torniamenta vocant , in quibus milites convenire solent ad oftentationem virium suaram & audaciae , unde mortes hominum & pericula animarum saepe conveniunt . and therefore did gregory the tenth send to edward the first his bull pro subtrahenda regis praesentia à torniamentis à partibus franciae , as from a spectacle altogether in a christian prince unlawfull : for , gladiatorum sceleribus non minus cruore profunditur qui spectat , quàm ille qui facit , saith lactantius . and quid inhumanius quid acerbius dici potest , saith saint cyprian , then when homo occiditurs in voluptatem hominis , & ut quis possit occidere peritia est , usus est , ars est , scelus non tantùm geritur , sed docetur . disciplina est ut primere quis possit , & gloria quòd periunt . and therefore great canstantine , as a fruit of his conversion ( which honorius his christian successor did confirme ) established this edict : cruenta spectacula in otio civili & domesticâ quiete non placent : quapropter omninò gladiatores esse prohibemus . and the permission here amongst us no doubt , is not the least encouragement from foolish confidence of skill , of so many private quarrells undertaken . combats permitted by law , are either in causes criminal or civil , as in appeals of treason , and then out of the court of the cons●able and marshal ; as that between essex and montford in the raign of henry the first , for forsaking the kings standard . that between audley and chatterton for betraying the fort of saint salviours in constant , the eighth year of richard the second . and that of bartram de vsano , and john bulmer , coram constabulario & mariscallo angliae de verbis proditoris , anno 9. h. 4. the form hereof appeareth in the plea rolls , anno 22. e. 1. in the case of vessey : and in the book of the marshals office , in the chapter modus faciendi duellum coram rege . in appeals of murther or robbery , the combat is granted out of the court of the kings bench. the presidents are often in the books of law ; and the form may be gathered out of bracton , and the printed reports of e. 3. and h. 4. all being an inhibition of the norman customes , as appeareth in the 68th . chapter of their customary ; from whence we seem to have brought it . and thus far of combats in cases criminall . in cases civill , it is granted either for title of arms out of the marshals court ; as between richard scroop and sir robert grosvenor , citsilt , and others , or for title of lands by a writ of right in the common-pleas , the experience whereof hath been of late : as in the case of paramour ; and is often before found in our printed reports , where the manner of darraigning battail is likewise ; as 1 h. 6. and 13 eliz. in the l. dyer expressed . to this may be added , though beyond the cognisance of the common law , that which hath in it the best pretext of combat ; which is the saving of christian ●loud , by deciding in single fight , that which would be otherwise the effect of publick war. such were the offers of r. 1. e. 3. and r. 2. to try their right with the french king body to body . and so was that between charles of arragon , and peter of terracone for the isle of sitilie , which by allowance of pope martin the 4th . and the colledge of cardinalls , was agreed to be fought at burdeux in aquitain . wherein ( under favour ) he digressed far from the steps of his predecessors , eugenius , innocentius , and alexander ; and was no pattern to the next of his name , who was so far from approving the combat between the dukes of burgundy and glocester , as that he did inhibit it by his bull ; declaring therein ; that it was detestabile genus pugnoe , omni divino & humano jure damnatum , & fidelibus interdictum ; and he did wonder and grieve , quod ira , ambitio , vel cupiditas honoris humani ipsos duces immemores faceret legis domini & salutis aeternae , qua privatus esset quicunque in tali pugna decederat : nam saepe compertum est superatum fovere justitiam ; et quomodo existimare quisquam potest rectum judicium ex duello , in quo immicus veritatis diabolus dominatur . and thus far combates , which by the law of the land , or leave of the soveraign , have any warrant . it rests to instance out of a few records , what the kings of england , out of regal prerogative have done , either in restraint of martial exercises , or private quarrels , or in determining them when they were undertaken : and to shew out of the registers of former times , which what eye the law and justice of the state did look upon that subject , that durst assume otherwise the sword or sceptre into his own hand . the restraint of tournaments by proclamation is so usuall , that i need to repeat , for form sake , but one of many . the first edward , renowned both for his wisedome and fortune , publice fecit proclamari , & firmiter inhiberi , ne quis , sub forisfactura terrarum & omnium tenementorum , torneare , bordeare , justas facere , aventuras quaerere , seu alias ad arma ire praesumat , sine licentia regis speciali . by proclamation r. 2. forbad any but his officers , and some few excepted , to carry any sword , or long bastard , under pain of forfeiture and imprisonment . the same king , in the 19th of his raign , and upon the marriage with the french kings daughter , commanded by proclamation , ne quis miles , armiger , seu alius ligeus aut subditus suus , cujuscunque status , aliquem francigenam , seu quemcunque alium qui de potestate & obedientia regis existerit , vpon what pretence soever , ad aliqua facta guer●●rum , seu actus armorum exigat , sub forisfactura ominum quae regi forisfacere poterit . and as in the kings power it hath ever rested no forbid combates , so it hath been to determine and take them up . thus did r. 2. in that so memorable quarrel between mowbray and hereford , by exiling them both . and when sir john de anestie , and tho. de chatterton , were ready to fight , candem quaerelam rex in manum suam recepit , saith the record . and de mandato regis direptum est praelium inter johannem bolmer , & bartramum de vesana in the time of henry the fourth . sir john fitz-thomas being produced before the earl of glocester , deputy of ireland , and there challenged by sir william devessy to have done him wrong , in reporting to the king , that sir william aforesaid should have spoken against the king defamatory words , of which sir john there presented a schedule : willielmus , audito tenore schedulae praedictae , dementitus est praedictum johannem , dicendo ; mentitus est tanquam falsus , & proditor , & denegavit omnia sibi imposita , & tradidit vadium in manum justiciarij , qui illud ad misit . et praedictus johannes advocavit omnia & dementitus est simil . dictum willielm . whereupon the combat was granted , and the time and place inrolled : but the process was adjourned into england before the king ; who with his counsell examining the whole proceeding , and that quia willielmus attachiatus fuit ad respondend . johanni praedicto super diffamatione principaliter , & non sit citatus in regno isto placitare in curia regis , placita de diffamationibus , aut inter partes aliquas , duellum concedere in placitis de quibus cognitio ad curiam regis non pertinet ; and for that the judge , vadia praedictorum johannis & willielmi cepit priusquam duellum inter eos consideratum & adjudicatum fuit , quod omnino contra legem est & consuetudinem regni : therefore , per ipsum regem & concilium concordatum est , quod processus totaliter adnulletur : and that the said john and willlam eant inde sine die ; salva utrique eorum actione sua si alias de aliquo in proedicto processu contento loqui voluerint . in a combat granted in a writ of right , philip de pugill , one of the champions , oppressus multitudine hominum se defendere non potuit : whereupon the people against him in perpetuam defamationem suam in eodem duello creantiam proclamabant , which the king understanding , assensu concilii statuit , quod praedict . philippus propter creantiam praedict . liberam legem non omittat , sed omnibus liberis actibus gauderet sicut ante duellum gaudere consuevit . what penalty they have incurred , that without law or license have attempted the practise of arms , or their own revenge , may somewhat appear by these few records following william earl of albemarle was excommunicated pro torniamento tento contra praeceptum regis . to which agreeth at this day for the duell the councel of trent , and that held at biturio in anno 1584. john warren earl of surrey was fined at a thousand marks pro quadam transgressione in insultu facto in alanum de la zouch . talbois was committed to the tower for attempting to have slain the lord cromwell . and because robertus garvois insultum fecit , & percussit edwardum filium williel . mi , inquisitio facta est de omnibus tenementis & catallis praedicti roberti . edw. dallingrige accused by sir john st. leger before the kings justices pr● venatione , & aliis transgressionibus , answered , that these accusations were false , and threw down his glove , and challenged disrationare materias praedictas versu● praedictum johannem per duellum . sed quis contra legem terrae vadiavit inde duellum , he was committed to prison , quousque satisfaceret domino regi pro contemptu . sir nicholas de segrave , a baron , challenged sir john de cromwell , and , contrary to the kings prohibition , because he could not fight with him in england , dared him to come and defend himself in france : therein ( as the record saith ) subjecting as much as in him lay , the realm of england to the realm of france , being stayed in his passage at dover , was committed to the castle , & brought after to the kings bench ; and there arraigned , before the lords , confesled his fault , & submitted himself to the king , de alto & basso : wherefore judgement is given in these words , et super hoc dominus rex volens habere avisamentum comitum , baronum , magnatum , & aliorum de consilio suo , injunxit . eisdem , in homagio fidelitate & ligeantia quibus ei tenentur , quod ipsi considerent quails poena pro tali facto fuerit infligenda . qui omnes , habito super hoc consilio , dicunt quod hujusmodi factum moeretur poenam amisionis vitae , whereupon he was committed to the tower , & ro. archerd , that attended him into france , was committed to prison , arraigned , & fined at 200 marks . in the end , & aftermuch intercession , the l. segrave was pardoned by the king , but could not obtain his liberty , until he had put in security for his good behaviour . but this course holdeth proportion with an ancient law made by lotharius the emperor in these words , de hiis qui discordiis & contentionibus studere solent , & in pace vivere noluerint , & inde convicti fuerint , similiter volumus , ut per fidejussores ad nostrum palatium veniant , & ibi cum nostris fidelibus consider●bimus quid de talibus hominibus faciendum sit . a breif abstract of the question of precedencie between england and spaine ; occasioned by sir henry nevill the queen of englands ambassador , and the ambassador of spain , at calais , commissioners appointed by the french king , who had moved a treaty of peace in the 42. year of the same queen . collected by robert cotton esquire , at the commandment of her majesty . anno domini 1651. london , printed in the year 1672. a brief abstract act of the question of precedency between england and spain , &c. precedency of the king in respect of place antiquity as a kingdom or a christian kingdom . or eminency of the throne royal or person nobility of bloud or antiquity of government . precedencie of england in respect of the antiquity of the kingdome . to seek before the decay of the roman empire the antiquity of any kingdome is meer vanity , when as the kingdomes of christendome , now in being , had their rising from the fall thereof ; at which instant vortigern a native of this isle , first established here a free kingdom four hundred and fifty years after christ , and so left it to the saxons , from whom her majesty is in discent lineal ; and it is plain , that as we were later then spain reduced under the roman yoak , so we were sooner infreed . subsequence of spain . spain since the dissolution of the roman empire entituled no king , till of late , for attalaricus from whom they would , upon slender warrant , ground their dissent , was never stiled rex hispaniae , but gothorum , and the kingdom of castile , wherein the main and fairest antiquity of spain rested , begun not before the year of christ 1017. whereas they were but earls of castile before ; so that the kingdome of the english began ( which was alwayes as beda observeth a monarch in a heptarchie ) 460. years at the least before the kingdom of castile or spain . precedency of england in respect of antiquity of christian religion . joseph of aramathea planted christian religion immediately after the passion of christ , in this realm . and aristobulus one of them mentioned by saint paul , romans 6. was episc . brittanorum , and likewise simon zelotes . the first christian king in europe was lucius surius . the first that ever advanced the papacy of rome , was the emperour constantinus born at yorke . of whom in the roman laws near his time is written qui veneranda christianorum fide romanum munivit imperium ; and to him peculiarly more than to other emperours are these epithitons attributed , divus divae memoriae , divinae memoriae orbis liberator , quietis fundator , reipublic . instaurator , publicae libertatis auctor , magnus maximus , invictus ; restitutor urbis romae , atque orbis . and there have been more kings and princes of the bloud royall , confessors and martyrs in england , than in any one province in europe . and from ethelbert king of kent , ( converted anno 596 ) untill this day , christianity hath been without interruption continued . subsequence of spain . in the time of claudius , saint james preached in spain ; but gained only nine souls . so did he in ireland as vincentius saith ; and they cannot count christian religion to be then planted in spain , which shortly after was first tainted with the heresie of priscilian , then with gothish arianism , and after defaced with moorish mahumetism from 707 years after christ , in continuance 770 years , untill ferdinando , king of arragon and castilia utterly expelled the moors . precedency of england in respect of the more absolute authority politicall . the queen of englands power absolute in acknowledging no superior , nor in vassallage to pope or emperour . for that subjection which by king john was made to inno●entius the third , after in parliament , per praeceptum domini papae septimo julii , cum fidelitate & homagio relaxatur omnino . sir thomas moore in his debellation , saith , the church of rome can shew no such deed of subjection , neither that the king could grant it of himself . and engubinus in his defence of constantines dodation , nameth not england , where he recited all the foedary kingdomes of the papacy ; the peter-pence were not duties but eleemosina regis , neither the rome-scot , but regis larga benignitas : parem non habet rex angliae in regno suo : multo fortius nec superiorem habere debet saith bracton . ipse non debet ess e sub homie , sed sub deo , & habet tantum superiorem judicem deum : likewise in appointing magistrates ; pardoning life , appeal , granting privileges , taking homage , and his jura majestatis not limited in censu nummorum , bello judicando , pace ineunda . eleutherius the pope 1400 years ago , in his epistle to lucius king of brittain , stiled him vicarius dei in regno suo ; so is the king of england in edgars lawes ; and baldus the lawyer saith , rex angliae est monarcha in regno suo ; and malmesbury , post conversionem ad fidem tot & tantas obtinuit libertates quot imperator imperia . subsequence of spain . the king of spain hath no kingdom , but is foedory either to france or castila , enthralled by oath of subjection , and vassallage , from king henry , to charles the fifth of france 1369. ex foedere contracto : and for the netherlands , there is homage due to the french king , or the papacy , as arragon to innocentius the third , by king peter 1204. confirmed by ferdinand and alphonsus 1445. and from james , by the like oath , 1453. and to sardinia and corsica the king of arragon , from the bishops of rome , were under oath of subjection invested : ex formula fiduciae . the kingdom of portugall in vassallage to the pope under an annuall tribute . and the canaries , hesperides , and gorgon islands subjected to the see of rome , under the chief rent of four hundred florins , by lewis king of spain , 1043. of both the indies alexander did reserve the regalities of sicilia , the church is chief lord. and granado and navarre were made foedary to the pope , under julius the second . naples at every change sendeth a palfrey , as a heriot , due to the church of rome , and of the empire he holdeth the dukedom of millaine . so that it is questionable among civilians : whether he be princeps which holdeth in feodo all of others . his absolute authority restrained in arragon , by justitia arragonica . in biscay and other places , by particular reservations . and his jura majestatis in censu nummorum , bello judicando , pace ineunda &c. limited by the priviledges of the state , as at brabant and elsewhere in his spanish territories ; ex propriis constitutionibus & privilegiis . precedency of england in respect of more absolute authority ecclesiastical . her majesties power more absolute in this ( confirmed by ancient custome and privilege ) than any other christian prince . for no legat de latere in england , de jure allowed , but the archbishop of canterbury . if any admitted by courtesie , he hath no authority to hold plea in the realm , contrary to the the laws thereof : placita 2 hen. 4. and before he was admitted and entered the realm , he was to take oath , to do nothing derogatory to the king and his crown . placita anno prim● henri 7. no man might denounce the popes excommunication , nor obey his authority on pain to forfeit all his goods , without assent of the king or his counsel . placita 23 and 34 edw. rot. dunelm . henry the first called a provincial councel , so did canutus and others . no appeal to rome without the kings licence : anno 32 & 34 edw. 1. inventure of bishops and churchmen , in the kings hand . ex matt. paris & hen. huntington . de gestis pontific . donelm placita . 32 edw. 1. and in the 32 edw. 3. where the reason of the kings ecclesiastical authority , to suspend or bestow church livings is yielded , quia reges angliae unguntur in capite . subsequence of spain . the king of spain can prescribe no custome to prohibit the popes legat , nor useth any authority penall over the clergy ; spain can produce no example of any provincial councel by call of the king for. bodin lib. 1. cap. 6. towards the end writeth , that the kings of spain , non sine magna mercede impetraverunt sixti pontificis romani rescripto ne perigrinis sacerdotia tribuerentur . appeals from the king to rome allowed . so the kings of spain , have meerly no power ecclesiastical , having dispoyled himself of all , by inthralling their kingdom to the church of rome . precedency of england , in respect of eminency of royall dignity . the kings of england are anointed as the kings of france , who only have their preheminence before other kingdoms declared by miracle , in the cure of the regius morbus , which they can effect only ; and that of antiquity : for edward the confessor healed many . 2. they are superiour lords of the kingdome of scotland and man , and vicarii imperii ; as edward the third and oswald intituled rex christianissimus : ve . peda lib. 2. 3. they are named filii adoptivi ecclesiae , as the emperour filius primogenitus , and the king of france , filius natu minor : vide platina . 4. they are accompted among reges super illustres , in this order : imperator , rex franciae , rex angliae & franciae , vide corsettus . 5. england in the general councels at constance and pisa , was made a nation , when as all christianity was divided into four nations , itallicam , gallicam , germanicam , & anglicam . ex lib. sacrarum ceremoniarum ecclesiae romanae . 6. whereupon seat accordingly was allowed at the three general councels , viz. constance , pisa , sienna , to the english ambassadors next to the emperour on the left hand , and to the king of france on the right hand : which were their ancient seats before the spaniards at basill 1431. begun to contend for precedency . where it was in the first session ordered , that all legats should hold such their places , as they had enjoyed heretofore , according to their worth and antiquity : yet in the councel of trent the precedency of france with spain was made questionable . augustus de cavalles , as the strongest reason to bar the french interest , inferred the queen of england from her ancestors , both in respect of inheritance , conquest , and gift , de jure queen of france . by which reason when he doth shake or overthrow ( as he thinketh ) the precedency of france , he doth consequently strengthen the precedency of england . and in treaty between henry the seventh , and philip of castile , 1506 the commissioners of england did subsign betore the other , and in the treaty of marriage with queen mary , anno 1553 those of england are first rehearsed . and at burbrough anno 1588. they gave it to her majesties ambassadors . and yet in respect of the eminency of this royal throne , to the see of canterbury was granted by vrbane , at the councel of claremount , anno 1096. for ever , the seat in general councel , at the popes right foot , who at that time uttered these words ; includamus hunc in orbe nostro tanquam alterius orbis pontificem maximum . subsequence of spain . 1. the kings of castile are never anointed , neither hath the spanish throne that vertue to endow the king therein invested , with the power to heal the kings evil : for into france do yearly come multitudes of spaniards to be healed thereof . 2. no kingdom held in fee of him . 3. spain then not remembred one of the sons of the church . 4. the king of spain placed last after the king of england inter super illustres , by the said corsettus . 5. the kingdome was then comprised under itallica natio , and no nation of it self , as in old it was called iberia minor , as a member of italy , iberia major . england being britannia major . at which time the spaniard contented himself with the place next to the king of france . precedency of england before spain , in respect of the nobility of blood. her majesty in lineal discent is deduced from christian princes for 800 years , by ethelbert a christian 596. and the matches of her progenitors most royal with france , germany , spain . subsequence of spain . for their antiquity of discent as kings of spain is chiefly from the earls of castilia about 500 years since . for they cannot warrant their discent , from atalaricus the goth , and as dukes of austria from the earls of hapsburgh only about 390 years since . their matches anciently for the most part with their subjects , and of late in their own blood . precedency of england , in respect of antiquity of government . her majesty having raigned now most happily 42 years . this we would not have alledged , but that the spanish ambassador at basil , objected in this respect the minority of henry the sixth . her sex herein nothing prejudicial , when as both divine and humane laws do allow it , and accordingly spain , england , and hungary , insomuch , that mary queen of the last , was always stiled , rex mario hungariae . vide tilius . subsequence of spain . the king of spain yet in the infancy of his kingdome . for the precedency may be alledged , viz. the antiquity of the kingdom , when as castile , arragon , navar and portuguall , had their first kings about 1025. the ancient receiving of the christian faith , by joseph of aramathea , simon zelotes , aristobulus , yea by st. peter , and st. paul , as theodoretus , and sophrinius do testifie . the kingdome is held of god alone , acknowledging no superiour , and in no vassalage to the emperour or pope , as naples , sicilia , arragont , sardinia , and corsica , &c. sir thomas moore denyeth , that king john , either did , or could make england subject to the pope , and that the tribute was not paid ( pag. 296. ) but the preter-pence , were paid to the pope , by k. john , by way of alms. the absolute power of the king of england , which in other kingdomes is much restrained . england is accompted the fourth part of christendome ; for in the councel of constance all christianity was divided , in nationem , viz. italicam , germanicam , gallicanam & anglicanam , and accordingly gave voices . england in the opinions of the popes is preferred , because in it is conteined in the ecclesiastical division , two large provinces , which had their several legatinati when as france had scantly one . the emperour is accompted major filius papae , the king of france filius minor , the king of england , filius adoptivus . the archbishops of canterbury , are accompted by the people , tanquam alterius orbis papae , and anointed to have place in general councels , at the popes right foot . the title of defensor fidei , as honourably , and as justly bestowed upon the kings of england , as christianissimus upon the french ; or catholicus upon the spaniard . edward the third , king of england , was created by the emperour , vicarius perpetuus imperii ; cum jure vitae necisque in omnes imperii ; snbditos , and the kings of england , papae vicarii , by pope nicholas the second , vide copgrave . innocentius the fourth , the pope said , vere hortus deliciarum est anglia , vere pateus inexhaustus ubi multa abundant , &c. king hen. 2. elected king of jerusalem by the christians . richard the first conquered the kingdome of cyprus , and gave it unto guy lusigrian , whose posterity raigned there until of late years . kings of england are superiour lords of the kingdom of scotland , and are absolute kings of all the kingdom of ireland . england is not subject to imperial and roman laws , as other kingdoms are , but retaineth her ancient laws , and pura municipialia . king henry the sixth was crowned king of france at paris . the kings of england did use the stile of a soveraign , viz. alti conantis dei , largiflua , clementiae qui est rex regum & dominus dominorum . ego edgarus anglorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 omniumque regum insularumque oceani britanici circumjacentium , cunctarumque nationum quae infra cam includuntur , imperator ac dominus . a remonstrance of the treaties of amity and marriage before time , and of late , of the house of avstria and spain , with the kings of england , to advance themselves to the monarchy of europe . written by sir robert cotton , knight and baronet . london , printed in the year 1672. a remonstrance of the treaties of amity and marriage before time , and of late of the house of avstria and spain , &c. most excellent majesty , we your lords spiritual and temporal and the commons of your realm assembled in this your parliament , having received out of your meer grace , your royal command , to declare unto your highness our advice and counsel , for the further continuing , or final breaking of the two treaties between your majesty , the emperor , and the spanish king touching the rendition of the palatinate , to the due and former obedience of your illustrious son the prince palatine ; and that of marriage , between the lady mary infant of spain , and the most excellent prince your son , now prince of wales ; we conceive it not unfit to offer up to your admired wisdom and consideration these important motives that induced our subsequent advice and resolution . by contemplation whereof , we assume to our selves that your majesty apparently seeing the infinite calamity fallen of late unto the christian world , by means of these disguised treaties of amity , and marriage before time , frequently used with your progenitors , and now lately with your self by the house of austria , and spain ; to advance themselves to the monarchy of europe , will graciously be pleased to accept our humble advice . maximilian the emperor , and ferdinand of spain uniting by marriage the possessions of the house of austria , the netherlands , arragon , castile , sciciliae , and their new discoveries , to one succeeding heir , began ( though a far off ) to see a way whereby their grandchild charls , might become the master of the western world , and therefore each endeavoured by addition of territories , to facilitate that their desired end . france was the only obstacle , whose ambition and power then was no less than theirs ; he lay in their way for gelders , by siding with duke charls ; for navarre , by protecting albert their king , for their peeces in italy , by confederation with the state of venice ; and for naples and millain by pretence of his own . they were too weak to work out their way by force , and therefore used that other of craft . lewis is offered for his daughter claude the marriage of charls their grandchild , it is at bloys accepted , and to them confirmed by oath : the claim of france to naples by this released one hundred thousand crowns yearly , by way of recognition only to france reserved , who is besides to have the investure of millain for a sum of money , which the cardinal d'amboyes , according to his masters covenant , saw discharged . ferdinand thus possessed of what he then desired , and maximilian not meaning to strengthen france by addition of that dutchy or repayment of the money , broke off that treaty to which they were mutually sworn , affiancing charls their heir to mary the daughter of henry the 7th ; to whose son arthur , ferdinand had married katharine his youngest daughter . this double knot with england , made them more bold ( as you see they did ) to double with france : but he prince of wales his untimely death , and his fathers that shortly followed , enforced them to seek out , as they did , another tye , the spirit and power of lewis , and their provocations justly moving it : they make up a second marriage for katharine with henry the eighth , son of henry the seventh ; and are enforced to make a bull dated a day after the popes death to dispence with it ; and consummate per verba de praesenti , by commissioners at callis , the former nuptuals of charles and mary , publishing a book in print of the benefit that should accrew to the christian world by that alliance . henry the eighth left by his father young and rich , is put on by ferdinand to begin his right to france by the way of guyen ; and to send his forces into spain , as he did , under the marquess dorset , to joyn with his father in law for that design , by reputation whereof albert of navarre was enforced to quit that state to spain ; who intended as it proved , no further use of the english army than to keep off the french king from assisting albert , until he had possessed himself of that part of navarre , which his successors ever since retain . for , that work ended , the english forces were returned home in winter , nothing having advanced their masters service . the next year to assure henry the eighth , grown diffident by the last carriage of maximilian and ferdinand , whose only meaning was to lie busying of the french king at home , to make an easie way abroad to their former ends , project to the english king an enterprise for france , to which they assured their assistance , by mutuall confederacy at mecklin ; for which bernard de mesa , and lewis de carror , for castile and arragon , and the emperor in person gave oath , who undertook , as he did , to accompany henry the eighth to turwyn . ferdinand in the mean time dispatching the vice-roy of naples into italy , to busie the french king and venetian , that the english king with facility might pursue the conquest of france . henry the eighth had no sooner distressed the french king , but ferdinand , respecting more his profit than his faith , closed with lewis , who renounced the protection of navarre and gelders , so bee and maximilian would forsake the tye they had made with henry the eighth . the vice-roy of naples is instantly recalled from bressa ; a true with spain and france concluded ; quintean sent to the emperor to joyn in it ; don john de manuel , and diego de castro imployed to work the emperor , and charles the grandchild to exchange the marriage of mary , henry the eighths sister , with reve the second daughter of the french king : and lewis himself to take elanor their neece to wife : and to clear all dispute about the conditions , a blanck is sent from spain to the french king to over-write what he please . henry the eighth perceiving this close and foul play , entertaineth an overture made by the duke de longavil then prisoner in england , for a marriage of mary his sister with the french king , which effected , the two subtile princes failed of their ends . lewis dead , and francis succeeding , he made his first entrance a league with england , the recovery of millane which he did , the protection of his neighbours , and reduction of the swisses from the imperial side , for which he imployed to them the bastard of savoy . maximilian and ferdinand seeing by this all their new purchases in danger , and that they had now no disguised marriage again to entertain the credulity of henry the eighth , they work upon his youth and honour . the emperor will needs to him resign his emperial crown ; as wearied with the weight of government and distraction of europe , which needed a more active man then his old age , to defend the liberty of subjects , and majesty of princes from the tyranny of france . that he had made the way already for him with the electors ; that he would send the cardinall sedunensis , with ample commission into england to conclude the resignation , which was done . that at aquisgrave he will meet henry the eighth , and there give up his first crown , from thence accompany him to rome , where he should receive the last right of the imperiall dignity , putting verona into his protection , then assailed by the venetians ; and giving him the investiture of millane in feodo , more imperiali , then in possession of the french , to tye his aid the faster against these states . hereupon henry the eighth concluded a defensive league with the bishop of mesa and count daciana , authorised commissioners from the emperor , arragon , castile , and sendeth his secretary master pace with money , for maximilian had already borrowed and broken to entertain the swissers into pay and confederacy against france . charles the grandchild must feign a difficulty to sway his league , untill the emperor at henry the eighths cost , was fetched from germany to the netherlands to work his nephew to it , who in the interim had closely contracted a peace by the grandfathers consent with france . no sooner had maximilian received ten thousand florins of the english king to bear his charge , but the treaty of noyon , was closely between him ; arragon and castile concluded , whereby the ten thousand crowns for recognition of naples was passd from france to the emperor , and charles himself affianced to loysia the french kings daughter , and also darkly carried , that when master pace at agno came down from the emperor with his signature of the confederacy , the french kings ambassador went up the back stairs , with six thousand florins , and the transaction of the pension of naples to maximilian , and there received his confirmation of the treaty at novon ; notwithstanding the same day the emperor looking upon his george and garter , wished to wingfield , henry the eighths ambassador , that the thoughts of his heart were transparent to his master . so displeasing was this foul play to the cardinall sedunensis , the emperors chief counsellor , that he writ contra perfidiam principum , against the falshood of his own lord , a bitter letter to the english king ; who finding again how his youth and facility was overwrought by these two old and subtill princes , his vast expences lost , his hopes of france lesned , and that of the emperor vanished ( for maximilian is now conferring the title of rex romanorum to one of his nephues ) concludeth , by mediation of the admiral of france , a peace with that king ; a marriage for the dolphin francis with the lady mary , and the re-delivery of tournay , for a large summe of money . not long after maximilian dieth , leaving the imperial crown in competition of france and castile . charles , whose desire was , as his ancestors , to weave that vvreath for ever into the austrian family , began to fear the power of his corrivall , vvith vvhom the pope then sided , and the english king stood assured by the late marriage of their two children . to draw off the pope he knew it vvas impossible , he vvas all french. to vvork in henry the eighth , he found the inconstancy of his predecessors , and the new match to lie in the vvay . to clear the one , he is fain , in his letters into england , to load his two grandfathers vvith all the former aspertions , his years , and duty , then tying him more to obedience then truth : but that he vvas a man , and himself now ; that mutuall danger vvould give assurance , vvhere otherwise single faith might be mistrusted ; france vvas in it self , by addition of britany , more potent than ever , this man had rejoyned to it some important pieces in italy , and should his greatness grow larger up by accession of the imperiall crown , how easie vvere it to effect indeed what he had fashioned in fancy , the monarchy of europe . as for the young lady , who was like to lose her husband if henry the eighth incline to this counsell , and assist castile in pursute of the emperor ; he was contented ( for loisia of france , espoused to him by the treaty at noyon , was now dead ) to make up the loss of the lady mary by his own marriage with her ; a match fitter in years , for the dolphin was an infant , as great in dignity ; for he was a king , and might by the assistance of her father be greater in being emperor . thus was henry the eighth by fears and hopes turned about again , and pacy forthwith sent to the electors with instructions & money , who so wrought that charles was in july chosen emperor : and that it was by the sole work of henry the eighth , himself by letters under his hand acknowledged . from aquisgrave , he commeth crowned the next year for england , weddeth at winsor the lady mary ; concludeth by league the invasion of france , and to divide it with henry the eighth by the river of rodon , making oath at the high altar at pauls for performance of both those treaties . hereupon france is entred by the eng●ish army , and burbon wrought from his allegiance by a disguised promise of this emperor of elianor his sister for wife , to raise forces against his master , which he did , but was paid by the english king. the french king to carry the wars from his own doors , maketh towards milan ; whereby burbon and his forces were drawn out of province to guard the imperialls in italy . at pavie they met , and the french king was taken prisoner , and forthwith transported into spain ; where at madrid the emperor forced his consent to that treaty , whereby he gained burgundy , and many portions in the netherlands ; leaving henry the eighth who had born the greatest charge of all that warre , not only there unsaved , but calling a parliament at toledo , taketh by assignment of his states , isabella of portugall to wife , procuring from pope clement a bull to absolve him of his former oaths and marriage , working not long after by ferdinandus his chaplain , the earl of desmond to rebell in ireland , and james the fifth of scotland , by promise of marriage with his neece the daughter of denmarke ; to whom he likewise sent munition , and money , to busie henry the eighth at home , that he might be the less able to requite these indignities he had so done him . and to shew that his ambition was more than his piety , he ordered by instructions , first the duke of burbon , and after hugo de monsado to surprise rome and the pope ; sending angelo an observant frier thither , whom he had assigned to the papall throne , intending to reduce the choise of the see from the cardinals again , to the empire , and there to set up a first monarchy . but his design by a needfull confederacy , as now of the pope , french king , princes of italy and others , vvith henry the eighth , vvho vvas made caput faedoris , vvas to the safety of all christian princes , prevented happily , and he himself reforced at cambray in the year one thousand five hundred twenty and nine , to re-deliver the french king , and many pieces of that crown he had vvrested avvay by the treaty of madrid , and to sit dovvn vvith moderate and fair conditions against his vvill . his vvaking ambition vvould not long let him rest , but again he plotteth to break the knot betvveen the french and english kings . to vvork this , he assureth , by contract , his assistance in furtherance of henry the eighths title to france ; and to make the greater belief , offereth a marriage to the lady mary , so she might be declared again legitimate . henry the eighth accordeth vvith him , and advanceth his army into france , vvhere he had no sooner recovered bulleyn , but the emperor catching advantage on the french kings necessities , falleth off from his former faith and promise , making up a peace perpetuall vvith france , vvhereby all claim from the crovvn of arragon , naples , flanders , arras , gelders , and other parts vvas released , and mutuall confederation for restitution of the catholick religion concluded betvvixt them both . edward the sixth succeeding his father forbears all treaties vvith spain , but those of intercourse , persisting as formerly in union vvith the princes of germany , and his other allies , preventing those expences and dangers , vvhich his fathers belief and confidence of spain had tasted of before . his sister and successor mary , entertaining that fatall amity vvith the emperour and his sonne , by marriage , embarqued her estate in a dangerous vvarre , vvhereby the realm vvas much impoverished , and callice lost . her sister of happy memory succeeding made up that breach , by that three-fold treaty at cambray , 1558. where king philip as bound in honour , stood bound for aid in recovery of calice ; but his ovvn ends by that convocation served , he left her after to vvork out her safety her self alone ; yet fearing that a union of france and your realms , in the person of your most vertuous mother , then married into france , he under a seigned pretence of marriage , vvrought , by caraffa ▪ and his faction of other cardinalls , a stay of the popes declaration against the queen of england , more his own fears , than his love procuring it . yet the princely disposition of this noble lady , taking those pretences for reall favours , was not wanting both with her counsell and purse ; for she imployed many of her ablest ministers to mediate , and disbursed upon the assurance of brabant , and the good towns of flanders whose bonds are yet extant , for reduction of those provinces to his obedience , one hundred and fifty thousand pounds . but when she found his aim to be the violating of their ancient liberties , and in it saw her own danger involved ; her counsell advised her , not to leave the assistance of those people , france , and those other princes that lay as her self in danger , to be swallowed up in his ambitious ends , who , when he intended the conquest of her estate , to blind her with security , presented by carlo lanfranco , and the prince of parma , a proposition of peace ; graced with as many arguments of honest meaning , as his progenitors had used to her father , which she accepted , but not without a prudent suspition . for when the treaty was in height , the brought his invincible navy to invade the realm , the success whereof was answerable to his faith and honor , she left not that injury without revenge , but forced him in his after raign , to that extremity , that he was driven to break all faith with those princes that trusted him ; and paid for one years interest , about twenty five thousand millions of crowns . so lovv and desperate in fortunes your highness found him , when to all our comforts you took this crown ; then from the abundant goodness of your peaceable nature , you were pleased to begin your happy raign with general quiet , and with spain the first , which should have wrought in noble natures a more gratefull recompence than after followed : for long it was not before tyrone was heartned to rebell against your highness , and flying , had pension at rome , paid him from the spanish agent . his son odonell tirconell , and others your chiefest rebells , retained ever since in grace and pay with the arch-dutchess , at spains devotion . as soon as your eldest son of holy memory now with god , was fit for marriage , they began these old disguises , by which before they had thriven so well , &c. twenty four arguments , whether it be more expedient to suppress popish practises against the due allegeance of his majesty . by the strict executions touching jesuits and seminary priests ? or , to restrain them to close prisons , during life , if no reformation follow ? written by sir robert cotton , knight and baronet . london , printed in the year 1672. twenty four arguments whether it be more expedient to suppress popish practises against the due allegeance to his majesty . by the strict execution touching jesuits , and seminary priests , &c. i am not ignorant , that this latter age hath brought forth a swarm of busie heads , which measure the great mysteries of state , by the rule of their self-conceited wisdomes ; but if they would consider , that the commonwealth , governed by grave counsellors , is like unto a ship directed by a skilfull pilot , vvhom the necessities of occasions , and grounds of reason , vvhy he steereth to this , or that point of the compass , are better knovvn , then to those that stand a loof off , they vvould perhaps be more sparing , if not more vvary in their resolutions ; for my ovvn particular i must confess , that i am naturally too much inclined to his opinion , vvho once said , qui bene latuit , bene vixit , and freshly calling to mind the saying of functius to his friend , at the hour of his untimely death , disce meo exemplo mandato munere fungi : et fuge seu pestem — i could easily forbeare to make my hand-vvriting the record of my opinion , vvhich nevertheless i protest to maintain rather deliberatively , than by the vvay of a conclusive assertion ; therefore vvithout vvasting precious time any longer vvith needless prologues , i vvill briefly set dovvn the question in the terms follovving , viz. wh●ther it be more expedient to suppres popish practises , against the due allegiance to his majesty , by the strict execution touching jesuit● and seminary priests : or to restrain them to close prisons , during life , if no reformation follow . in favour of the first division . i. there are not few , who grounding themselves on an antient proverb , a dead man bites not , affirm , that such are dangerous to be preserved alive , who being guilty , condemned , and full of fear , are likely for purchase of life and liberty , to inlarge their uttermost in desperate adventures , against their king and countrey . ii. no less is it to be feared , that while the sword of justice is remiss , in cutting off heinous offendors against the dignity of the crown , the mis-led papall multitude , in the interim , may enter into a jealous suspence , whether that forbearance proceed from fear of exasperating their desperate humours , or that it is now become questionable , whether the execution of their priests , be simply for matter of state , or pretended quarrel for religon . iii. and whereas in a remediless inconvenience , it is lawful to use the extremity of laws against some few , that many by the terrour of the example , may be reformed ; what hope can there be that clemency may tame their hearts , who interpret his majesties grace in transporting their priests out of his realm , to be a meer shift to rid the prisons of those whom conscience could not condemn of any capital crime . iv. neither are their vaunting whisperings to be neglected , by which they seek to confirm the fearful souls of their party , and to inveigle the ignorant , doubtful or discontented persons : for if the glorious extolling of their powerful friends , and the expectance of a golden day , be suffered to win credit with the meaner fort , the relapse cannot be small , or the means easie to reform the error , without a general combustion of the state. v. let experience speak somewhat in this behalf , which hath evidently descryed , within the current of few years , that the forbearance of severity , hath multiplied their roll in such manner , that it remains as a corrosive to thousands of his majesties well-affected subjects . vi. to what purpose serves it to muster the names of the protestants , or to vaunt them to be ten for one of the roman faction ? as if bare figures of numeration could prevail against an united party , resolved , and advised before hand , how to turn their faces with assurance , unto all dangers , while in the mean time , the protestants neastling in vain security , suffer the weed to grow up that threatneth their hane and merciless ruine . vii . sometime the oath of supremacy choaked their presumptuous imaginations ; and yet could not that infernal smoke be smothered , nor the locusts issuing thereout be wholly cleansed from the face of this land. now that the temporal power of the king , conteined in the oath of allegiance , is by the papall see , and many of the adorers thereof , impudently avowed to be unlawful ; shall the broachers of such doctrine be suffered to live , yea and to live and be relieved of us , for whose destruction they groan daily ? viii . to be a right popish-priest , in true english sense , is to bear the character of a disloyal renegado of his natural obedience to his soveraign , whom if by connivency he shall let slip , or chastise with a light hand , what immunity may not traiterous delinquents in lesser degrees expect , or challenge , after a sort , in equity and justice ? ix . if there were no receivers , there would be no theeves : likewise if there were no harbourers of the jesuits , it is to be presumed , that they would not trouble this isle with their presence , therefore rigor must be extended against the receiver , that the jesuits may be kept out of dores ; were it then indifferent justice , to hang up the accessary , and let the principal go free , namely to suffer the priest to draw his breath at length , whiles the entertainer of him under his roof submits his body to the executioners hands ? without doubt if it be fit to forbear the chief , it will be necessary to receive the second offender in , to protection , wherewith a mischief must ensue of continual expence , and scandalous restraint of so great a number . x. reputation is one of the principal arteries of the common-wealth , which maxime , is so well known to the secretaries of the papacy , that by private forgeries , and publique impressions of calumniations , they endeavour to wound us in that vital part ; howsoever therefore some few of that stamp , being better tempered then their fellows in defence of this present government , have not spared to affirm that tyranny is unjustly ascribed thereunto , for so much as freedome of conscience after a sort may be redeemed for money , notwithstanding there want not many pamphleters of their side , who approbriously cast in our teeths , the converting of the penalty inflicted on recusants , and refusers of the oath of allegiance , from the kings exchequor , to a particular purse , sure we cannot presume , that those libellers may be diswaded from spitting out their venome maliciously against us , when they shall see their priests mewed up without further process of law , for either they will attribute this calm dealing to the justice of their cause , the strength of their party , or patience ; or that tract of time hath discovered out laws , importing over much sharpness in good pollicy to be thought fitter for abrogation , by non-usance , than repealed by a publique decree . xi . moreover it is fore-thought , by some , tht if these seminaries be only restrained , they may prove hereafter like a snake kept in the bosome , such as bonner , gardiner , and others of the same livery shewed themselves to be , after liberty obtained in queen maries time , and if the loss of those ghostly fathers aggrieve them , it is probable , that they will take arms sooner , and with more courage , to free the living , then to set up a trophy to the dead . xii . howsoever , the jesuits band is known in their native soyl , to be defective in many respects , which makes them underlings to the protestants , as in authority , arms , and the protection of the laws , which is all in all ; nevertheless they insinuate themselves to forraign princes , favouring their party , with promises of strong assistance at home , if they may be well backed from abroad ; to which purpose they have divided the inhabitants of this realm into four sects , whereof ranking their troupes in the first place ( as due to the pretended catholiques ) they assumed a full fourth part to their property , and of that part again they made a subdivision into two portions , namely , of those that openly renounced the estabilished church of england , and others , whose certain number could not be assigned , because they frequented our srevice , our sacraments , reserving their hearts to the lord god the pope : the second party they alot to the protestants , who retain yet ( as they say ) some reliques of their church : the third rank and largest was left unto the puritans , whom they hate deadly , in respect they will hold no indifferent quarter with papistry : the fourth and last maniple they assign to the politicians , huomoni ( say they ) senza dio , & senza anima , men without fear of god , or regard of their souls , who busying themselves only in matter of state , retain no sense of religion . without doubt , if the authors of this partition have cast their accompt aright , we must confess that the latter brood is to be ascribed properly unto them ; for if the undermyning of the parliament house , the scandalizing of the king in print , who is gods anointed , and the refusal of natural obedience , be marks of those , that neither stand in awe of god or conscience , well may the papists boast , that they are assured of the first number , and may presume likewise of the last friendship , when occasion shall be offered ; for the preventing of which combination , it is a sure way , to cut off the heads that should tie the knot , or at least to brand them with a mark in the forehead before they be dismissed , or ( after the opinion of others ) to make them unwelcome to the feminine sex , which now with great fervency imbraceth them . these are for the most part arguments vented in ordinary discourse , by many who suppose a priests breath to be contagious in our english air . others there are , who maintain the second part of the question , with reasons not unworthy of observance . in favour of the second division . i. death is the end of temporal woes ; but it may in no wise be accounted the grave of memory ; therefore howsoever it is in the power of justice to suppress the person of a man , the opinion for which he suffered ( conceived truly , or untruly in the hearts of a multitude ) is not subject to the edge of any sword , how sharp or keen soever . i confess that the teeth are soon blunted that bite only out of the malice of a singular faction , but where poyson is diffused through the veins of a common-wealth , with inermixture of bloud good and bad ; separation is to be made rather by patient evacuation , than by present incision ; the greatest biter of a state is envy , joyned with the thirst of revenge , which seldome declares it self in plain colours , until a jealousie conceived of personal dangers , breaketh out into desperate resolutions ; hence comes it to pass , that when one male-contented member is grieved the rest of the body is sensible thereof , neither can a priest or jesuit be cut off , without a general murmur of their secretaries , which being confident in their number , secretly arm for opposition , or confirmed with their martyrs bloud ( as they are perswaded ) resolve by patience and sufferance to glorifie their cause , and merit heaven . do we not daily see , that it is easier to confront a private enemy , than a society or corporation ? and that the hatred of a state is more immortal , than the spleen of a monarchy , therefore except it be demonstrated , that the whole roman city , which consists not of one brood , may be cut off at the first stroke as one entire head , i see no cause to think our state secured , by setting on the skirts of some few seminaries , leaving in the mean time a multitude of snarlers abroad , who already shew their teeth , and only wait opportunity to bite fiercely . i will not deny , that , what we fear , we commonly hate , provided alwayes , that no merit hath interceded a reconciliation ; for there is great difference between hatred conceived against him that will take away the life , and him that may justly do it , and yet in clemency forbears to put it in effect ; for the latter breedeth reverend aw , whereas the former subjecteth to servile fear , alwayes accompanied with desire of innovations , and although it hath been affirmed of the church of rome , quod pontificium genus semper crudele , nevertheless out of charity let us hope , that all devils are not so black as they are painted , some , or perhaps many of them there are , whom conscience , or in default thereof , pure shame of the world will constrain to confess that his majesty most graciously distinguisheth the theory of popery ; from the active part thereof , as being naturally inclined , parvis peccatis veniam , magnis severitatem commodare , nec poena semper , sed saepius poenitentia contentus esse . ii. mistaking of punishments legally inflicted , commonly proceeds from fond pitty , or the interest which we have in the same cause ; both which beget blind partiality ; admit then , that the papall side , affecting merit by compassion , may be nearly touched with the restraint of their seminaries , it cannot be denyed i hope , except they had the hearts of tygers , that in humanity they will prefer their ease of durance , before the rigor of death ; and albeit that parsons , bellarmin , and the pope himself , constrain their spiritual children , to thrust their fingers into the fire , by refusing the oath of allegiance , notwithstanding we have many testimonies in judicial courts , and printed books , that the greater part of them are of that theban hunters mind , who would rather have seen his dogs cruel acts , then have felt them to his own cost . garnett himself also in one of his secret letters , that after his death he should not be inrolled amongst the martyrs , because that no matter of religion was objected against him ; yet it plainly appeared in his demeanour , that he would gladly have survived the possibility of that glory , if any such hopes had remained . neither is it to be presumed , that being in prison , he would ever have conceived that we durst not touch his reverence , or that the law was remiss which had justly condemned him , and left his life to the kings mercy . it was the distance of the place and not parsons that interpreted the sending over-seas of the priests to be a greater argument of their innocency , than of his majesties forbearance ; for had father parsons himself been coram nobis , his song would rather have been of mercy then justice . it is truly said , that we are all instructed better by examples then precepts , therefore if the laws printed , and indictments recorded , cannot controul the calumniations of those that wilfully will mistake treason , for religion : by the execution of two or three of that back-biting number , i doubt not but the question may readily be decided . — namque immedicabile vulnus , ense recidendum est , ne pars sincera trahatur . iii. to dally with pragmatical papists , especially with those that by their example and counsel pvevert his majesties subjects , i hold it a point of meer injustice ; for , what comfort may the good expect , when the bad are by connivency free to speak , and imboldened to put their disloyal thoughts into execution ? for explaning therefore of my meaning , it is necessary to have a regard unto the nature of the kings liege-people , that are to be reformed by example of justice , and others , forraigners , who will we , nill we , must be censurers of our actions ; it hath been truly observed that the nations of europe , which are most remote from rome , are more superstitiously inclined to the dregs of that place , then the nearer neighbours of italy , whether that humour proceeds from the complexion of the northern bodies , which is naturally more retentive of old customes , than hotter regions ; or that the vices of the city , seated on seven hills , are by crafty ministers of that see , concealed from the vulgar sort , i list not now to discuss ; but most certain it is , that the people of this isle exceed the romans in zeal of their profession ; in so much that in rome it self , i have heard the english fugitives taxed by the name of pichia pelli inglesi , knock-brests , id est , hypocrits ; now as our countrey-men take surer hold-fast of papall traditions , then others ; so are they naturally better fortified with a courage to endure death for the maintenance of that cause ; for this clymate is of that temperature out of which vegetius holdeth it fittest to chuse a valiant souldier , where the heart finding it self provided with plenty of bloud to sustain suddain defects , is not so soon apprehensive of death or dangers , as where the store-house of bloud being small , every hazzard maketh pale cheeks and trembling hands : angli ( say ancient writers ) bello intrepidi , nec mortis sensu deterrentur ; and thereunto botero the italian beareth witness in his relations ; many strangers therefore coming out of forraign parts among the rarities of england desire to see whether report hath not been too lavish , in affirming that our condemned persons yield their bodies to death with cheerfullnesse , and were it not that by daily experience we can call our selves to witness of this truth , i could produce the reverend judge fortescue , who in commendation of our english laws , made suitable ( as he well observeth ) to the imbred conditions of the imhabitants of this soil , avoweth , that the english people in tryal for criminal causes , are not compelled by tortures to confess as in other nations it is used , for as much as the quality of the english is known to be less fearful of death than of torments , for which cause if the torments of the civil law were offered to an innocent person in england , he would rather yield himself guilty , and suffer death , then endure the horror of lingring pains . insulani plerunque fures ( saith one ) and so true it is , that this countrey 〈◊〉 stained with that imputation , notwithstanding that many are put to death , to the end that others by their fall , might learn in time to beware ; if then it do appear that terrour prevails not , to keep men from offences which are condemned by law , and conscience , what assurance can there be to scare those , who are constantly satisfied in their minds , that their sufferings are either expresly , or by implicitation for matter of religion and health of their souls ; in such case to threaten death to english-men , quibus nihil interest humine sublimi ne putrescant , is a matter of small consequence , purpuratis gallis , italis , aut hispanis , ista minitare , to a setled resolution it boots not to shew the dreadful visor of death ; menaces to prolong a wearisome life , prevail much more in such cases . rightly did clement the eighth consider , that by burning two english-men in rome for supposed heresie , he rather impaired his cause than better'd it , insomuch that many present at the resolute death of mr. marsh , who was brought to dust in campo di sancta fiore , spared not to proclaim himself a martyr , carried away of his ashes for a relique , and wished their souls in the same place with his ; which news brought to the popes ear , caused him ( as it was bruited about rome ) solemnly to protest , that none of the english nation should publiquely from that time be consumed with fire : on the other side if we read the volumes written in praise of their priests constancy , the martyrology or callender of martyrs , and path way of salvation as it were , chalked out unto the papists , by sacrifizing their lives for the pope , we shall find that by taking away of one we have confirmed and united many , whereof i could give particular instance , if i thought any scruple were made in that point . as for forraign parts which hold with the papall supremacy , it is clear that they will be severe , and partial judges in this cause ; for albeit that here in england , it is well known to all true and loyal subjects , that for matter of roman doctrine , no mans life is directly called into question ? but that their disobedience in reason of state is the motive of their persecution ; nevertheless where a great canker of christendome is rooted in a contrary opinion , and things in this world are for the most part esteemed by outward appearance , this land cannot escape malicious scandalls , neither shall there be want of colleges to supply their faction with seminaries ; therefore again and again , i say , that if the state of the question were so set , that it were possible by a general execution of the priests , and their adherents , to end the controversie , i could in some sort with better will , subscribe thereunto ; but seeing i find little hope in that course , i hold it safer to be ambitious of the victory , which is purchased with less loss of bloud ; and to proceed as tully teacheth his orator , vvho vvhen he cannot vvholly overthrow his adversary , yet ought he to do it in some part , and with all endeavour to confirm his own party in the best manner that may be . iv. he that forbeareth to sow his ground in expectance of a good winde or favorable moon , commonly hath a poor crop and purse ; so shall it fare with this state ; if private whisparings of discontented persons , that never learn't to speak well , be too nicely regarded , yet ought they not to be sleightly set at nought , lest our credit grow light , even in the ballance of our dearest friends . the papisticall libellers inform against us , as if we were desirous to grow fat with sucking of their bloud , the very walls of their seminary colledge at rome are bedawbed vvith their lying phansies , and in every corner the corner-creepers leave some badge of their malicious spleen against us , crying out of cruelty and persecution ; but if the penalty of death be changed into a simple indurance of prison , what moat in our eyes can they finde to pull out ? or vvith vvhat rhetorick can they defend their obstinate malapartness , which with repaying us ill for good , deserve to have coals of indignation poured upon their heads ? visne muliebre consilium ? said livia to augustus ; let severity sleep a while , and try what alteration the pardoning of cinna may procure ; the emperour hearkned to her counsell , and thereby found his enemies mouthes stopped , and the fury of their malice abated . some there are perchance that will term this clemency innovation ; and vouch the president of that city , which permitteth none to propound new laws , that had not a cord about their necks ready for vengeance , if it were found unprofitable ; but let such stoicks know , that there is great difference between the penning of a law , and advice giving for the manner of executing it ; neither ( by their leaves ) are all innovations to be rejected , for divine plato teacheth us , that in all common-wealths upon just grounds , there ought to be some changes , and that states men therein must behave themselves like skilfull musicians , qui artem musices non mutant , sed musices modum . v. that an evil weed groweth fast , by the example of the new catholique increase , is clearly convinced ; but he that will ascribe this generation simply to his majesties heroicall vertue of clemency , argueth out of fallacy , which is called ignoratio elenchi ; was not the zeal of many cooled towards the last end of queen elizabeths raign ? hath not the impertinent heat of some of our own side bereft us of part of our strength , and the papacy with tract of time gotten a hard skin on their consciences ? parva metus primo , mox sese attollit in altum ? but if we will with a better insight behold how this great quantity of spaun is multiplied , we must especially ascribe the cause thereof to their priests , who by their deaths prepare and assure more to their sect , than by their lives they could ever perswade ; it were incivility to distrust a friend , or one that hath the shew of an honest man , if he will frankly give his word , or confirm it with an oath , but when a protestation is made upon the last gasp of life , it is of great effect to those that cannot gainesay it upon their owne knowledge . the number of priests which now adayes come to make a tragicall conclusion is not great ; yet as with one seal many patents are sealed ; so , with the loss of few lives numbers of wavering spirits may be gained , sanguis martyrum , semen ecclesieae ; and though those priests having a disadvantagious cause , are in very deed but counterfeit shadowes of martyrs unto a true understanding , yet will they be reputed for such , by those that lay their souls in pawn unto their doctrine , with whom if we list to contend by multitude of voices , vve shall be cried down vvithout all peradventure , for the gate of their church is vvide , and many there are that enter thereinto . vi. by divers means it is possible to come to one and the self same end ; seeing then that the summe of our vvell-vvishing is all one , namely that popish priests may have no power to do harm , it is not impertinent to try sundry paths , vvhich may lead us to the perfecting of our desires . politicians distinguish inter rempublicam constitutam & rempublicam constituendam , according to the severall natures vvhereof statists art to dispose of their counsells and ordinances ; vvere now the rhemists and romulists new hatched out of the shell , the former course of severity might soon bury their opinions with their persons , but since the disease is inveterate , variety of medicines is judicially to be applyed . the romans did not punish all crimes of one and the selfsame nature vvith extremity of death ; for some they condemned to perpetuall prison ; and others they banished into an island or some remote countrey ; even in the case of religion they vvere very tender to dip their fingers in bloud ; for vvhen cato vvas consull , ( and it seemed good unto the senate to suppress with violence the disordered ceremony of the bacchanalls , brought by a strange priest into the city ) he vvithstood that sentence , alledging that there vvas nothing so apt to deceive men as religion , vvhich alwayes pretends a shew of divinity : and for that cause , it behoved to be very vvary in chastising the professors thereof , lest any indignation should enter into the peoples minds , that some-what vvas derogated from the majesty of god. others ( more freely ) have not spared to place relgion , ( i mean that religion vvhich is ignorantly zealous ) amongst the kinds of frenzie , vvhich is not to be cured otherwise than by time given to divert , or qualifie the fury of the conceipt , tantum religio potuit suadere malorum . vii . howsoever in valuing the power of a city or strength of arguments , quality and vvorth is to be preferred before number ; nevertheless vvhere the uttermost of our force is not known , it imports much to have it conceived ; that the multitude stands for us , for doubts and suspicions cast in an enemies vvay evermore makes things seem greater , and more difficult than they are indeed ; vve have by gods mercy the sword of justice drawn in our behalf , which upon short warning is able to disunite the secret underminers of our quiet ; we have a king zealous for the house of the lord , who needeth not to feare less success in shutting up of priests , than our late queen had , in restraining them in wisbich castle , where lest their factious spirits should grow rusty , they converted their cancer to fret upon themselves , and vomitting out gall in quod-libets , shewed that their disease was chiefly predominant in the spleen ; what tempests they have raised in their college at rome , their own books , and many travellers can witness ; the storm whereof was such , that sixtus quintus complained seriously of the vexation which he received oftner from the english scholars , then all the vassals of the triple crown ; and untruly is the magistrate noted of negligence or overmuch security , that layeth wait to catch the foxes , and the little foxes which spoyl the vineyard , though afterwards without further punishment he reserve them to the day wherein god will take accompt of their stewardship ; for if aristotles city , defined to be a society of men assembled to live well , be the same which in our law , hath reference to the maintaining of the people in peace , so long as we taste of the sweet of a peaceable government we cannot say but that we live well , and that the city consisting of men and not of walls is happily guided . viii . an oath is a weak bond to contain him that will for pretended conscience sake hold not faith with heretiques , or by absolution from a priest thinketh himself at liberty to fly from any promise or protestation whatsoever ; therefore when i remember that watson the priest , notwithstanding his invectives against the jesuits , gained liberty to forge his traiterous inventions , and had others of his society in the complot , i judge if safer to make recluses of them , than to suffer such to dally with us by books , and some idle intelligences cast abroad onely as a mist to bleare our eyes . but how shall we finde the meanes to apprehend those disguised romanists that borrow the shape of captaines , merchants , gentlemen , citizens , and all sorts of people , and by equivocation may deny themselves to be themselves ? in answer to this question , i will first shew the reason why they are not pursued and taken , and hereafter make an overture how they may be bolted out of their hutches ; the nature of man howsoever in hot bloud , it be thirsty of revenge , in a cold temper it hath a kind of nausea as i may call it , or a distaste of taking away the lives , even of the nocent , insomuch that in all sises and sessions , an offender can hardly be condemned , whom the foolish pitty of man will not after a sort excuse , with laying some imputation on the judge , part on the jury , and much on the accuser ; and such is their blind affection , that the prisoner who perhaps was never recommended for handsomeness , will be esteemed of them , for one of the properest men in the company ; from hence it comes that the name of serjeant , or pursevant is odious , and the executioner , although he be the hand of justice , is esteemed no better than an enemy of mankind , and one that lost honesty and humanity in his cradle ; reverend master fox was wont to say , that spies and accusers were necessary members in a common-wealth , and deserved to be cherished , but for his own part he would not be any of that number , or wish his friends to affect such imployments ; and albeit that the law permits , and commands every man to apprehend a felon , do we not see commonly very many content to stand by and look on while others performe that office ? likewise it is evident , that if such as are tender of their reputations , be very scrupulous personally to arrest men , for civill actions of debt , they will be more unwilling instruments of drawing their bodies to the rack or the gallowes , especially when there is any colour of religion to be pretended in their defence ; the diversity of mens faces is great , but the difference of their minds in this case is more variable , wherein the meanest have thought as free as the highest ; besides this , there are too many of the blind commonalty altogether popish , though indeed they make honourable amends for their treason ; verily i know not what misguiding of the mind it is , that maketh men forecast the possibility of alteration in matters of relgion , and for that respect they are exceeding backward in discovery , and laying hands on seminaries , yea and are timorous in enacting sharp lawes against them , as those that silently say amongst themselves , sors hodierna mihi , cras erit illa tibi . s●me also survive ? who , remember that in queen maries time , the protestants alledged a text , that the tares should not be plucked up before harvest , nay shall i speak a buggs word , there is no small number that stand doubtfull whether it be a gratefull work to cross popery , or that it may be done safely without a foul aspersion of puritanism , or a shrewd turn of their labours , at some time or other , by which unhappy ambiguity it comes to pass , that these animalia amphibia ( the priests i mean ) that prey on the souls and bodies of either sex , unatached , revell where they list , though they be more seen than a man dancing in a net ; how much fitter were it for us couragiously to invite them to our party , by preaching or confuting them by writing , and unto the state wherein we stand , wisely to apply the saying of the assirian king to his souldiers , you are fools ( quoth he ) if there be any hope in your hearts to redress sorrow by flight , or rather indeavour to make them fly that are the causers of your grief , assuring your selves , that more perish in flight , then in the battail , even as many seeking to meet the papists half way discomfort our own party . ix . it followeth now ( according to the method prescribed ) that an overture be made to get the jesuits and their shadowes the priests , into possession ; it hath been heretofore recited , that the unwelcome name of a bloud-sucker , a busie-body , or a puritane , hath been shrewd scar-crowes unto many honest minds ; by abrogating therefore of those or such like imputations many will be stirred up to undertake the apprehending of the adversaries unto the truth , especially when for their pains and time imployed , they shall deserve and have the title of good patriots , dutifull subjects , and zealous christians ; how ready is every common person to carry a malefactor to the stocks , rather then unto the gaole or execution ? and doubtless they will be no less forward to attach a priest , when they are assured that the worst of his punishment shall be a simple restraint within the walls of an old castle . a certain kind of people there is , with whom money playes a more forcible orators part , then any perswasion of the dutifull service which they owe to the commonwealth , these men will not be negligent to give intelligence , and also to procure it faithfully ; provided that reward may help to line their thread-bare purses , and exempt them from need to sell liberty unto seminaries ; and where assurance of gaine is propounded for discovery , what master or house-keeper will trust his servant with keeping of his priest , or sleepe quietly while he is engaged to the danger of a mercenary ? i remember that in italy it was often told me , that the bountifull hand of sir francis walsingham made his intelligencers so active , that a seminary could scarcely stir out of the gates of rome without his privity , which success by mediation of gold may as readily be obtained from syvill , ●●●●dolid , doway , 〈◊〉 paris , and any other places , and by forewarning given of their approach , they may be waited for at the ports , and from thence soon conveyed to a safe lodging . but whence shall the stream flowe that must feed this bounty ? it is a doubt easily satisfied , if some thousands of poundes out of the recusants penalties be reserved in stock , and committed by his majesty unto the disposition of zealous distributers , who will not be afraid to conclude perdat fiscus , ut capiat christus ; neither need we seeke any further succour to repair decayed castles , and therein to defray the charge of the priests , with a sure guard to keep them , than the aforesaid forfeitures that by the justice of the law may be collected ; which course if every it come happily to be entertained , and that recusancy cease to be an ignominious prey to the subject , the proceedings for religion shall be less blamed , and perhaps altogether unjustly accused by any graceless gretzerus or cacodaemon johannes , tincting their pens in gall and vineger ; for besides occasion of calumniation given by sutes of that nature , it is evident that many recusants that would be indicted for the king , and the effecting the project aforesaid , shall escape without punishment , and be borne out against the power of a private person ; begging to no other purpose , than hath heretofore been used : and albeit the penalty be rated at 20 l. a moneth , yet was it never the law-makers intent , that such as were not able to pay so great a summe , should go scot-free , but that according to the proportion of their ability , they should do the penance of their purses , whereas now if the voice of the people ( which is said to be the voice of god ) is to be credited , the poorer sort is skipt over , as if they owed no souls to god , nor duty to their soveraign . a poor man ( saith one ) is to be pittied , if he offend through necessity , but if he do amiss voluntarily , he is more severely to be chastised , for so much as wanting friends , and meanes to bear him out , if sheweth that this fault proceeds from presumption . x. let us now pre-suppose , that all the whole regiment of jesuits of seminaries were lodged in safe custody , may we then perswade our selves , that popery will vanish like a dumb shew ; i am clearly resolved that though it receive a great eclipse , notwithstanding without other helps the kingdome of antichrist will onely be hidden , as a weed that seems withered in the winter , and is ready to sprout out vvith the spring . temporall armes are remedies serving for a time , but the spirituall sword is permanent in operation , and by an invisible blow workes more than mortall man can imagine . the word of god carrieth this two-edged weapon in his mouth , which is to be used by faithfull ministers of the church , whom pure zeal , without respect to worldly promotion , or persons , ought to encourage : of judges the scripture saith estote fortes ; and daily we see , that sitting in their judiciall seats , god inspireth them with greater courage , than when , as private persons , they are to give their opinions ; no less is the power of the holy ghost in his servants , that out of the pulpit are to deliver his ambassage ; let them therefore not be dismaid to speak out plainly , and tell the truth , without running a middle course between heat and cold , unprofitable discanting upon the scripture , with an old postile , or for want of better matter waste the poor time shut up in an hour-glass , with skirmishing against the worthy pillars of our own profession : rumor which is ever ready to take hold of evill , hath raised a secret , though ( as i hope ) a causless suspicion , that there should be some combination underhand , by changing the state of questions , to put us in our old dayes to learn a new catechisme , and when they have brought us out of conceipt with the reverend interpreters of the word , to use us then as the wolves ( mentioned in demosthenes apology ) handled the shepheards when they had delivered up their dogs . most sacred was that speech of our gracious king concerning vorstius , he that will speak of canaan , let him speak the language of canaan . how can we draw others to our church , if we cannot agree , where , and how to lay our foundation ? or how may we cleanse the leprous disease of dissention , which the papists which are least assured to themselves , and most doubtfull of their salvation , are not ashamed to ascribe unto many of us ? i would not have ministers indiscreet like dogs to barke against all , whether they know or know them not , i like better the opinion of aristotle , who adviseth those that stand in guard of a place , to be curst onely to such as are about to endammage the city : if pursevants or other civil officers , would learn to keep this rule , they might go about their business with much credit . the imagined fear of inviting the romish faction by force to deliver their ghostly fathers out of prison , moves me not a whit ; for i cannot believe that they esteeme them at so dear a price , as they would runne the hazard , by freeing others out of hold , to put themselves into their places . some will say that a man of straw is a head good enough for a discontented multitude ; that the papists are very chollerique it appears sufficiently by their writings , yet it hath pleased god to send those curst cowes short hornes ; that when they should not finde a man of sufficiency to serve their turn , they were faine to do homage to garnetts straw , forgetfull as they are that such stubble cannot endure the tryall of fire : but unto us , that ought to be doers , as well as professors of the gospell , let this remain as a memorable theorem ; religion is the mother of good order , good order is the cause of prosperous fortune , and happy successe in all counsells , and enterprises , therefore in what estate soever there wanteth good order , it is an evident argument that religion goes backward . xi . i have ever held it for a kinde of injustice to omit the execution of mean lawes , made to prevent the effects of idleness , and then to apply main extremity of the sword , when the proling habit gotten by that vice comes to light ; no less is the course uncharitable ( with pardon for this presumption be it spoken ) when we spare them that have no religion at all , and censure those that can give an accompt of somewhat tending to that purpose . he that is in misery must be born withall if he speake miserably , and when the child from his mothers brest hath sucked nothing but popery , a man had need to be angry with discretion if he hear him speake in the voice of a papist . god calleth some by miracle , but the ordinary meanes is his word ; if that meanes in any place of this land be wanting , of what religion is it likeliest the people will be ? i suppose that few men will gainesay my assertion , that outward sence will direct them to popery , which is fuller of pageants than of spirituall doctrine ; and what is the cause that after so many yeares preaching of the gospell , the common people still retaine a scent of the roman perfume ? the cause is for that the formall obedience of coming to church hath been more expected than the instruction of private families , publique catechizing is of great use , but the first elements thereof are to be learnt at home , and those things which we learn from our parents , sticke more surely in our mindes ; what was the cause why the spartans continued their government so many revolutions of times , without mutation ? histories record , that learning their countrey customes from their infancy , they could not be induced to alter them ; and in this our native soile we perceive , that the common lawes which rely on antient customes , are better observed than late statutes , of what worth soever they be : so doth it fare with the poore people , which being once seasoned with the old dreggs of papisme , will hardly be drawn from it , till the learning of the true faith be growne to a custome . i will prescribe no order nor officers , to effect this ; but i suppose that the antient laudable course , by the bishops confirmation , will not be sufficient to fulfill so great a taske , the minister must and ought to be the principall and immediate hand to give assistance to so gracious a worke ; and in case any be defective in their duty , the reverend bishops may take notice thereof in their severall visitations . perhaps it will be thought a hard task to constrain old people to learn the a. b. c. of their christian beliefe , but how hard soever it be , i hold it no incivility to prepare people of all ages for the kingdome of heaven . by the order contained in the book of common prayer , on sundayes and holy-dayes , half an houre before evensong the curate of every parish ought to examine children sent unto him , in some points of the catechisme ; and all fathers , mothers , masters and dames , should cause their children , servants , and prentises , to resort unto the church at the time appointed , there to heare and be obediently ordered , by the curate , untill such time as they have learnt all that in the said booke is commanded , and when the bishops shall appoint the children to bee brought before them , for their confirmation , the curate of every parish shall send or bring the names of those children of his parish which can answer to the questions of the catechisme ; and there ought none to be admitted to the holy communion , untill such time as he can say his catechisme , and bee confirmed , many times i have stood amazed , to behold the magnificence of our ancestours buildings , which their successours at this day are not able to keepe up , but when i cast mine eyes upon this excellent foundation laid by the fathers of the church , and perceive their children neglect to build thereupon , with exceeding marvell , i rest almost besides my selfe , for never was there better ground-plot layd , which hath been seconded with lesse successe : it was not the bull of pius quintus on the bishop of londons doores , or the forbearing to hang up priests that have wrought this apostacy , but the idleness and insufficiency of many teachers , conspiring with the peoples cold zeale , that hath beene the contriver of this webb . untill the eleventh yeare of queene elizabeths raigne , a recusants name was scarcely knowne , the reason was because that the zeale begotten in the time of the marian persecution was yet fresh in memory , and the late persecutors were so amazed with the sudden alteration of religion ; that they could not chuse but say , digitus dei est hic . in those dayes there was an emulation betweene the clergy and the laity ; and a strife arose whether of them should shew themselves most affectionate to the gospell ; ministers haunted the houses of worthiest men , where jesuits now build their tabernacles ; and poor countrey churches were frequented with the best of the shire ; the word of god was precious , prayer and preaching went hand in hand together , untill archbishop grindai●s disgrace , and hatefields hard conceipt of prophecying brought the flowing of those good graces to a still water ; the name of a papist smelt ranck even in their owne nostrills , and for pure shame to be accompted such , they resorted duely both to our churches and exercises ; but when they saw their great coriphaeus sanders had slily pinned the names of puritans upon the sleeves of the protestants that encountered them with most courage , and perceived that the word was pleasing to some of our own side , they took heart at grasse , to set little by the service of god , and duty to their soveraign . therewith start up from amongst us , some that might have been recommended for their zeale , if it had been tempered with discretion , who fore-running the authority of the magistrate , took upon them in sundry places and publiquely to censure whatsoever agreed not with their private conceipts , with which grosse humours vented in pulpits and pamphlets , most men grew to be frozen in zeal , and in such sort benummed , that whosoever ( as the worthy lord keeper bacon observed , in those dayes ) pretended a little spark of earnestnesse , he seemed no lesse than red fire hot , in comparison of the other . and as some fare the worse for an ill neighbours sake , dwelling beside them , so did it betide the protestants , who seeking to curbe the papists , or reprove an idle drone , were incontinently branded with the ignominious note of precisian , all vvhich vvind brought plenty of vvater to the popes mill , and there vvill most men grinde vvhere they see apparance to be vvell served . xii . if without great inconveniency , the children of the papists could be brought up out of their company , it were a happy turn , but i finde it to be full of difficulty ; there is provision made to avoid popish school-masters , but there is no word against popish school-mistresses , that infect the silly infants while they carry them in their arms ; which moveth me to suppose that the former proposition to examine how children and servants are brought up , and truely to certifie the list of the communicants and recusants , will be the readiest means to let his majesty know the yearly increase or decrease of the church in every diocesse . and whosoever shall send his children , or any of his majesties subjects to be placed in monasteries or seminary colleges , or popishly to be brought up in forraign parts , i think that for punishment both one and the other worthily might be diffranchised of the priviledge due to english men , so farre forth as any good by the laws may descend to them , but not to be exempted from the penalties thereof in the regall jurisdiction of the crowne . i know well that contradiction is odious , and makes a man seem ambitious to be though tmore understanding than others , in which case the spaniard useth only to 〈◊〉 me 〈◊〉 presumptuous , whom he would call foole , if civility would bear it ; but in my defence , i hope it shall suffice againe to revive my former protestation , that i discourse by the way of proposition , rather than arrogantly of defining any thing , with pardon therefore may i bee permitted to say , that the first easie law of twelve pence , inflicted on him that could not give a reasonable excuse for his absence from church on sundayes , was one of the best ordinances that hath hitherto been enacted ; but while we sought to make new statutes , savouring of more severity , we neglected the old , and were loath to execute the new , for it is a certaine rule , that whosoever in policy will give liberty , and yet seem to suppresse a crime , let him procure sharpe lawes to be proclaimed , which are necessary only for some times , and rare occasions , to be put in execution , but not to be an ordinary worke for every day of the weeke ; daily use likewise teacheth us , that it is lesse grievous to punish by an old lawe than by a new , for so much as truth it selfe seldome gets credit without proof , and it is hard to free the people of suspition , that new lawes are not rather invented against the particular persons and purses of men , than against their corrupt manners ; by force of which reason i am induced to conceive , that the old use of the church contained in good nurture , and ecclesiasticall censures , will much more prevaile to muzzle popery , than any fresh devises whatsoever ; neither do i thinke it blame-worthy to affirme , that our cause hath taken harme by relying more on the temporall than the spirituall armes , for while we trusted that capitall punishments should strike the stroke , we have neglected the means which would for the most part have discharged the need of such severity ; the oath of allegiance is not offered generally to servants and mean people , who if they had taken the oath , by absolution of a priest might recoyle from it , or change their opinion at leasure , without any ready meanes to discover their legerdemaine , that oath i feare will not be often pressed , and to them that shift from place to place , how can it be tendred ? the principall papists now cover themselves in the crowd of the multitude , but if we can discover the affection of the multitude they will easily be unmarked , and being singled out rest ashamed of their nakedness ( which under correction of better judgement ) may be effected , if every new commer to inhabit in a town , and servants newly entertained , within a week or fourteen dayes , be caused to repaire to the minister , there in presence of the church-wardens and other honest men , to subscribe unto such briefe and substantiall articles concerning faith and allegiance as shall be according to gods word and justice ordained to distinguish the sheep from the goats ; in forrain countreys every host is bound to bring his guest before an officer , there to certifie his name , with the occasion of his comming , and intended time of aboade in those parts , and in case he stay longer , he must again renew his licence ; so curious and vigilant are they also to keep their cities from infection , that without a certificate witnessing their comming from wholsome places , they may not escape the lazaretto ; no lesse ought we to be watchful to prevent the contagion of our souls , than the other nations are of their bodies . every thing is hard and scarcely pleasing in the beginning , but with time some such course may be readily put in execution , which i propound rather as matter for betterheads to work on , than peremptorily to be insisted on in the same termes ; but lest any charge me with temerity , that where i desire to know the multitudes inclination , by the means aforesaid , i satisfie my self with their parrats language , pronouncing it knows not what , i think it not impertinent to put them in mind , that heretofore i have required instruction , both precedent and subsequent , and am ever of the mind , that though all this cannot be done at once , yet it is necessary alwayes to be doing our best ; knowing , that not to go forward in religion , is the ready way to go backwards ; it is not the outward obedience of comming to church , that discovers the inward thought of the heart , it is the confession of the tongue that must utter those secrets , and where the curates are insufficient , or the parish great , i wish they had catechists to assist them , maintained by the purses of the recusants , which pension being collected for gods cause , will free us of scandall , though it grieved them to pay the spirituall army waged against their owne stratagems ; surely by giving them way in petty matters , they are grown to be very masterfull in their party . plato affirmeth that the popular state proceeded from the licence which the people took to make immoderate applauses in the theaters , when as by arrogating that immunity without controllment , in presence of their governours , and perceiving the nobility to joyn with them in the same passions , they thought their heads as worthy to governe , as any of those were made out of the same mould : in like manner while we suffer ignorance openly to maintain such petty glimps of popery as are thought to be searce worthy to be looked at , in small matters run an indifferent course , which neither makes sure friends nor feeble foes , unawares they take the bridle from us , and eat out religion , as it were by an insensible gangrena : principiis obsta , sero medicina paratur cum mala per-longas invaluere moras . for by sufferance of breaking small laws people are boldned to set the greater at nought . to comprehend all things in a law which arc necessary to the reformation , i neither hold it profitable nor expedient , yet it is discretion to provide for the most important , smaller matters whereof the lawes speak not are to be commended to the discretion of parents , ministers and other reverend persons , who by example and advice may prepare younglings by education and custom to obey the laws , especially such as are in high place ought in this behalf to be like caesars wife , non , solum crimine , sed etiam criminis suspitione vacare , and with such circumspection to behave themselves , that the world may conceive , in requiring obedience to god , and their soveraign , that they hold the multitude rather for companions than slaves ; if great men take another way , they may seduce many by example , though by words they expresse not their concealed opinions , t●ce & leq●re said god to moses , it is the speech of the heart , which utters more than letters , or sillables . and in our common lawes it is held maintainance , when a great person onely by his presence countenanceth a cause ; neither let us secure our selves with this argument , the papists are pliable in small matters , ergo , they will yeeld in greater ; and because they took no arms in 88. therefore it were needlesse curiosity to suspect them now : for who knowes not that small baits are used to take the greatest fish , vt cum esca una etiam hamus devoretur . warinesse is the sinews of wisdome , and nothing is more dangerous than to be secure in matters of state. therefore for the laws already made , i wish that the most effectuall of them which least concern life , may be executed ; for better it were not to make them , than by neglect to set them at liberty : seeing that many offences there are which men would abstain from , if they were not forbidden , but when a strict commandement is avoided without punishment , thereout springs an unbridled license and hardly to be reformed by any rigour . to conclude , i say freely , that whoso endeth his dayes by a naturall death , he shall be subject to many mens dooms for every particular offence ; but when for religions sake a man triumpheth over the sword , that one eminent vertue razeth out the memory of other errours , and placeth him that so dieth in paradise , ( if common opinion may be lawfully vouched ) vvhich glory having many followers and admirers , maketh even dull spirits to affect their footsteps , and to sell their lives for the maintenance of the same cause . i need not envy the name of a martyr to the jesuite ; for his cause if it be rightly vveighed , will blanch that title ; but i desire to have all those lineaments defaced , vvhich may compound that counterfeit image ; in prosecuting of vvhich purpose , if i have failed in my advice , and by confused handling , intricated the question , i humbly request , that a vvise mans verdict may mitigate the heavinesse of the censure . it is neither good to praise bad counsels , because of their good successe , nor to condemn good counsels , if the event prove not fortunate , lest many be animated to advise rashly , and others disheartned to counsell gravely . illi mors gravis incubat qui notus nimis omnibus ignotus moritur sibi . august 11. anno domini 1613. the manner and meanes how the kings england have from time to time supported and repaired their estates . written by sir rob. cotton knight and barronet , anno nono jacobi regis annoque domini 1609. london : printed in the year 1672. the manner and means how the kings of england have from time to time svpported and repaired their estates . the kings of england have supported and repaired their estates , first , by an annual proportioning their issues , and expences , with their certain and casual revenues . and that either by advice of their privie covncel , or by parliament ▪ secondly , by abating and reforming the excess of houshold , &c. thirdly , by raising of money , and improving the revenues of the crown . first , for proportioning of the issues , &c. henry 4. anno 12. when the revenue and profits of the kingdome , together with the subsidy of wool , and tenth of the c llergie , amounted to no more then 48000l . of which 24000 marks were alotted for expence of house ; most of the rest to the guard of the sea , and defence of this kingdome , the realme of ireland , and dominions in france : in this estimate the profits by wards and marriage , was but 1000 l. and then an ordinance was made by the king , prince , and all his counsel there named in the roll. the like was anno 11. when for the charge of house was appointed 16000 l. and 7000l . to the city of london , in discharge of the kings debt to them . henry 5 , anno 2. did the like as his father , entring upon the roll as an ordinance in future , that the treasurer of england , or the exchequer shall annually make declaration of the state of their office , and the revenue of the realme , together with the charge of the kings house , chamber , wardrobe , garrisons , navy , and debts . anno 3. henry 5. the like assignments were made proportionable to the revenue which in the great custome of woolls , the petty custome , tunnage and poundage , revenue of wales , and the dutchie of cornwall , the hamper , the accounts of sheriffs , escheators , the exchange of bullion , and the benefit of wards and marriage ( then rated at but one thousand marks apiece ) rose not to above 56966. l. and being at such time as he undertook the conquest of france . anno 9. henry 5. the revenue of the kingdome amounting to 55743. l. 10. s. 10. d. was so by the king with advise of his counsel ordered , as before . and by this record it appeareth , that that clerks of the navy , and not the treasurer was the officer only for that place . henry 6. anno . 12. in parliament , cromwell then treasurer , delivering up an account of the exitus and introitus of the exchequer , setled the estate of his expence , of which there was allowed for his house 16978. l. and to his chamber and wardrobe 2000 l. the rest to defray the debts and necessary occasions of the state. queen elizabeth anno 12. at which time besides the wards and dutchy of lancaster the profit of the kingdome was 188197. l. 4. s. the payments and assignments 110612. l. 13. s. of which the houshold was 40000. l. privy purse 2000.l . admiralty 30000. l. which by an estimate 1. may , anno 1604. was 40000. l. and is now swolne to near 50000l . yearly by the errour and abuse of officers . secondly , by abating and reforming the excess , 1. of houshold . 2. of retinue and favorites . 3. of gifts and rewards . first , for abating and reforming the excess of houshold , either , by parliament or councel table . 1. by parliament . anno 3. edward 2. an ordinance was made prohospitio regis , in ease of the people oppressed with purveyance by reason of the greatness thereof ; and the motive of that ordination was , a l'honneur de dieu , et a honneur , et profit de sainct eglise , et a l'honn●ur de roy et a son profit , et au profit de son peuple , selon droit et resonel serment que le dist nostre signeur le roy fist a son coronement . and about this time was the king's house new formed , and every officer limited his charge and salary . anno 36. edward 3. the houshold was reformed at the petition of the people . anno primo richard 2. the houshold was brought to such moderation of expence , as may be answerable to the revenues of the crown . and a commission granted at the petition of the commons to survey and abate the houshold ; which not taking desired effect , anno 5. the commons petition that the excessive number of menial servants may be remedied , or otherwise the realm will be utterly undone , and that his houshold might not exceed the ordinary revenues of the realm . anno 4. henry 4. the people crave a reformation of the kings house . and anno 7. that he would dismiss some number of the retinue ; since it was now more chargeable , but less honourable then his progenitors ; and that the antient ordinances of the houshold , in ease of the people might be kept , and the officers of the houshold sworn to put the ordinances and statutes in due execution , and so consider the just greifs of his subjects by unjust purveyance contrary to the statute . that hereafter vous poiez vivre le voz biens propres en ease de vostre peuple , which the king willingly doth , as appeareth by an ordination in councel , whereby the charge of the houshold is limited to 16000 markes . annis 12. & 18. henry 6. the charge of the kings house is reduced to a certainty , and lessened by petition and order in parliament . anno 12. edward 4. the king promiseth to abate his houshold , and hereafter to live upon his own : so setling a new forms his court which is extant in many hands , intuled , ordinations for the kings house . and to ease the charge of the kings house , the queens have allowed a portion of their joynture suting to their own expence to the treasurer of the houshold . thus did philip the wife of edward 3. and likewise henry 4. wife anno 7. and henry 6. wife allowed 2000. l. a year out of her estate . 2. excess of the houshold abated and reformed by the councel-table . edward 2. caused his houshold to be certain in allowances , making thereof a book by way of ordinance , which is called aul. regis . henry 4. causeth his son the prince , and the rest of his councel , to ordain such moderate governance of his house , that may continue au plaisir de dieu et du peuple . henry 6. anno 27. reduced his charge of house to 12000. l. whereof 2000. l. was out of the queens joynture . edw. 4. anno duodecimo reformeth it again , and publisheth a book of orders for their better direction . which after cardinal woolsey for the more honour and profit of the king amendeth , and that still remaineth the ground-work of the present government : which being now so much corrupted , it may seem fit , either to put down the tables , and leave all attendants to allowance of money , as france and spain doth , or else ●y setting up the hall again , reduce the houshold to the best , first , and most magnificent order . so all things being spent in publique , will be to the kings honour , and the secret waste by chamber , diet , and purloining , prevented to the kings benefit . for there is never a back-door in court that costs not the king 2000. l. yearly , and few mean houses in westminster , that are not maintained with food and firing , by the stealth of their court-instruments . by abating and reforming the excess of retinue and favorites . thus did henry 2. with william de ipre earl of kent , a netherlander , and all his countreymen and followers ; when they grew heavy and a burthen to this state , unable to foster more then her own natural children . thus richard 1. did with otho earl of york , and all the bavarians , although he was the sonne of his sister , taking from him that earldome , for that the people opposed it , and giving him in exchange the title of poictife . thus henry 3. did with his half-brethren the earl of pembroke , and the bishop of winchester , and all the poictons theit followers . thus did edward 2. by this ordinance , que tout le lignage sire pieres de gaveston soit entirement ouste de estre entoines le roy et de son service . item burgois de til soit ouste et son fias que est mereschal del ' eschequer . item que bertram assabi et son frere et ceux de gascoigne , et aimyrick de friscomband soint oustre et ses terres prises en le main le roy. thus richard 2. did with the bohemians anno 10. by an act of parliament at the petition of the people surcharged . thus henry 4. did likewise with the gascoignes and welch overburthening and impoverishing the king and realm with perpetual suits , so that in courts ( as the record saith ) there were ne ad mill substance des personnes vaylantes et suffesants : si besoigne seroit mes de rascaile pur la grendre part . by abating and reforming the excess of gifts and rewards . hence was it that the wisdome of former time , foreseeing the mischief that the open hand of the soveraign may bring , the state made a law 21. richard 2. that whatsoever cometh to the king by judgement , escheate , forfeiture , wardship , or any other wayes , , shall not be given away , and that the procurer of any gift , shall be punished . this the parliament continued 7. henry 4 , until the king were out of debt , making frustrate the grant , and ordaining a penalty of double value to every mover or procurer of any such . the like anno 11. henry 4. and that no petition for any thing should be delivered the king , but in the presence of the councel , who might examine it , least the king's wants should light upon the commons . and to keep the hand of henry 6. from wasteful giving , the councel induced him to convey to the arch bishop of canterbury and others , all profits , by wards , marriages , reliefs , escheats and forfeitures , to defray the charge of his house . it is one of the greatest accusations against the duke of somerset , for suffering the king to give away the possessions and profits of the crown in manner of a spoil : for so are the words of the record . and it was made the first and cheifest article to depose richard 2. for wasting and bestowing the lands and revenues of the crown upon unworthy persons , and thereby over-charging the commons by exaction . thirdly , raising of money , and , improving the revenues of the crown . either by the grant of the subject , or power absolute in the soveraign . 1. grant of the subject , which is general , as in parliaments , or particular by lones compulsive or benevolent . general , as in parliaments , wherein they give the king part of their own , by way of retribution only ; as for defence of the state. hence grew the scutage granted to hen. 2. richard 1. john , and henry 3. to edward 1. divers fifteens and tenths for his wars against the scots and welshmen . the subsidie of woolls and other contributions to edward 3. for his wars : and the like granted to richard 2. annis 2. 3. 7. so they may be imployed in the wars : and particular treasurers to accompt in parliament . so in the 8. and 9. of henry 4. on the like condition . tunnage and poundage begun the 45. edward 3. had hence its original ; and therefore 13. henry 4. and 1. henry 5. they are granted so in express words ; and that they proceed of good-will , and not of duty . presidents of this nature are plentifull in all the rolls . for maintenance of religion and the church . as in the year 1166. to henry 2. was given twelve pence in the pound : and in the 18. edward 1. a fifteenth was granted to expel the jews . and anno 4. richard 2. a tenth of the clergie , and a fifteenth of the commons , for his help to suppress the wicklivian heresie . for support of the laws and liberty of the common-wealth . so did the state to henry 3. anno 27. for confirmation of the great charter , for the like anno 15. was granted 29. edward 1. and 13. edward 3. and 7. henry 4. that the laws may be executed against purveiors . for redress of the agrievances . as in the 15. edward 3. so that the king would perform their petitions , or else they held themselves not bound to pay the ninth they had given . the like was the 7 , 8 , 9 , 10. and 11. richard 2. the 10. and 15. granted the 4. and 7. of henry 5. is upon condition , that the king laid no impositions upon the state. and 7. edward 4. the state releiveth the king , so he will promise to live hereafter upon his own , and not burthen the state , the which he there protesteth to perform . and it is to be observed that to improve the grants of subsidies to the extreamest value , there were new commissioners appointed to survey and advance mens fortunes above the estimate of the former taxes , and commissions have been granted out , as 3. richard 2. or to enable him out of his own by an act of resumption of lands , offices , annuities . thus did henry 3. anno 6. and edward 2. anno 5. to 9. & 10. by an ordination of the prelates , earles and barons . all grants made by edward 3. to unwornthy persons , richard 2. resumed anno primo , and by henry 4. anno . 6. all pattents for life or years since 4. edward 3. were resumed . at the petition of the people hen. revokes all grants out of the principality made to unworthy persons , and all annuities out of the customes of wools , deducting out 10000. l. a yeare out of all other annual pensions ratably , leaving the remain , if any , to the pattentees . hen 6. annis 28. 29. 33. resumeth in england all lands , offices , liberties and grants from annis primo , and the like anno 21. in ireland . so did edward 4 annis 4. 7. 12. and henry 7. anno 2. resumed all grants made by edward 4. or richard 3. particular by lones or benevolences . voluntary , or compulsive . first upon lones voluntary , as upon assurance of bond of the nobility . so was william de la poole bound for edward 3. anno 13. in great summes , and the. duke of glocester anno 20. henry 6. and the cardinal pawned ws silver vessels for henry 6. debt . vpon pawn of jewels . thus did henry 3. anno 26. to the archbishop of york , and when his own were at gage , he took aurum et jocalia faeretri sancti edwardi confessor . and pawned them . edward 1. imployed one andevar ad jocalia sua impignoranda . edward 2. pawned his jewels to the lord beaumont . edward 3. pawned magnam coronam angliae to sir john wessingham for 8. years . richard 2. pawned vasa aurea et diversa jocalia to sir robert knolls . henry 4. invadiavit tabellam et tresellas suas argenteas de hispania . henry 5. pawned his great crown to the rich bishop of winchester . henry 6. to the same man then cardinal pawned many parcels of his jewels in the 10 , 12. and 29. of his reign , and the like to many others . and the late queen to ease her people did the like with her jewels in the tower , besides the often morgage of her land . lones voluntary upon assignments of customes and subsidies . so did cardinal beauford lend 10000. l. to henry 6. anno 22. upon security of the customes of london and southampton , the king indenting to turn the course of most trade thither . and henry 6. anno 15. and edward 4. anno 12. did secure their debts by assignment over of the next subsidie or aide that shall be granted from the church or laity to them , being a devise in truth to draw on a supply the sooner from the state. lones voluntary upon the great seal or the privy seal . the great seal , under which they should have without paying fee a patent sealed for repayment of their dues by a day certain . the privy seal , which is of late the most in use ; and it is worthy of observation to see the willingness of former times in respect of these . in the 13. of henry 4. there is a roll intituled les nomes de ceux que ont da prester an roy les somnes escrits . the arch-bishop of canterbury lent 1000. marks , the bishop of lincoln as much , the bishop of norwich 600. l. the bishop of london 500. markes , the bishop of bath 400 marks , the lord privy seal 200. l. the clerks of the chancery 1000. markes . particular grants of the subject by lone compulsive . so were the merchants of florence , venice and luke , compelled by an order in councel 3 henry 3. because they had by grace et sufferance du roy graunts , priviledges et reportants grand lucre pour le exercise de leur merchandre en le angle terre . and the persons that refused to lend were committed to the fleet , neither were the english more free , in anno 30. henry 6. divers being enjoyned to attend the councel-table , or else to pay the demanded lone . in the time of henry 8. anno 14. of his reign he exacteth by way of lone , ten pounds in the hundred of all goods , jewels , utensils and land , and according to the extreamest rate revealed by oath of the possessors . notwithstanding there is a law 2. richard , 2. that none shall be denyed in demand of any lone , his reasonable excuse . particular grants of the subjects by contribution or benevolent gifts . these were of old usual and free , and therefore called liberalitas populi , by richard 1. and curialitas , by ed 1. ed. 3. henry 4. and henry 5. confessed to proceed ex spontane voluntate , nec de jure vendicare potest . yet did henry 6. anno 20. in an instruction to commissioners imployed in procuring a benevolence , say , that for so much as by the law he might compel all his subjects , and at their own charge to attend his ; yet he was contented to spare such as would but contribute asmuch after his degree and reputation as two days in his personal service would stand him in , thereby implying a necessity in them to give , to escape a further expence . this law , upon which henry 6 : grounded himselfa was by a statute in queen maries time repealed . and that since repealed this last year , hath made are reviving of the former , whereby the king is readmitted into his old advantages , and the subject in the former mischief . and henry 8. anno 17. although he entituleth the benevolence he sought with no other stile then an amicable grant , yet he threatened the refusers with convention before his councel , imprisonment , and confiscation of goods . the kings raise money , and improve and revenues of the crown , by power absolute in the soveraign , in disposing , 1. lands , 2. merchandize . 3. regalities . 1. lands , as by selling ; which hath been often the old , if they were not of the antient demeasne-land , which our forefathers held impious to alienate from the crown , and those were such lands as go under the title of terra regis , in the book of domesday , and were the lands of edward confessor : of other lands i never observed question , neither do ever find that acts of resumptions ever reached to lands that were sold for valuable consideration . by passing in fee-farm , except places of the kings residence , parks , spacious wastes or forrests , all the lands of the the crown , which remain either in the annexation , custody lands , or queens jointure , and exceed not yearly 32000. l. these , although largely estated out in several natures , some for lives , some for years , will one with the other be advanced to a treble rent , which amounting to 96000. l. leaving an annual improvement of 64000. and if the offer be not made restrictive for the new tenant , there is no doubt but his majesty shall find ready and hearty undertakers amongst the gentry and nobility too , who have any place of residence neer any his majesties mannors ; and the kings security the better , since their abilities will settle the pre-farm rent upon more land then the purchase . if any shall object against this , a loss by fines and profits of courts , a prejudice in not serving necessity ( as of late ) by sales or diminution of regalities in seisure of so many royalities . it may be answered to the first , that the casual profits of courts never defrayed to the present officers their fees and expences ; and this appeareth from a collection made the 44. year of the late queen , where the total issue of such certain charge exceeded the receipt of such chances above 8000. l. to the second , if looking upon the several rates of the kings lands , exposed to fee-farm sales , we find some at 50. other at 21. years as to the late contracters , and make out of these extreams a medium of the largest 40. years , and set on the other side the common and current estimate for dead rents 15. years purchase : we must find , that 50 l. land sold un-improved respectively to the like trebled by a fee-farm , will be 250. l. loss to his majesty in the sale . as for regalities , though it may adde somewhat to a subject , in increasing such his petty command , it can nothing to a sovereign , whose transcendent power drown'd in it all such subordinate dependances & regards . but if we consider besides the former improvement , the increase of casual advantage , and diminution of certain charge , we shall have just cause not to continue this course ; for if the commissioners in this business , may be ordered by instruction to reserve upon every mannor of above 30. per annum , a tenure in knight-service by half a fee , and of above 50. l. in capite by an intire fee , and of the purchase to pay his rent into the receipt himself half yearly , and strike there his tally : the former will advance the revenue accidental of the crown in wardships , primier seisin , alienation and aides ; and the latter cut off at once so many their unnecessary receivers , auditors , stewards , bayliffs and clerks , as stand the king in yearly above 12000. l. as for other dues or casual revenues , which now fall under the charge of these officers , the collection and payment may be as it hath been with the rest from the time of henry 2. until of late dayes laid on the sheriffs of the shire , and all the accounts left to the 2. auditors of the press to draw up , and clerk of the pipe to enter in magno rotulo as in former time , for it must seem strange to all men of judgement , that it should be with those officers ( who had their beginning but since the 25 , year of henry 8. by addition of his new revenue of 150000. l. from the suppressed monasteries ) otherwise then with all things in nature , and reason , cessante causa cessat effectus , not to be discontinued , when as all crown-annexed lands that gave them their just imployment , are for the most part passed from the soveraign into the subjects possession . besides this of the general disposing in fee-farm , there hath been a project in particular to infranchise the copy-holders in the several mannors , which i should hold to be of more prejudice to his majesty then the others , bringing with it all the former inconveniences , loss of fines , regalities , and advantages of sale , and being without many of the advantages , as wardships , primiers seisein , alienation and aids ; for no man will buy quillets but in soccage , and discontinuance or officers , who must still remain , though they can bring the king but little benefit . kings raise money , and improve their revenues , by farming out for years , lands , casualties , or wastes . as in the 7. henry . 4. the state held it more just to help the king out of his own , then to burthen the common-wealth , and therefore gave way by parliament to the king to improve up his lands , though in lease provided that the leassee should have refusal of the bargain if he would . edward 1. anno 2. granted a commission to farm out all such wastes , quod absque iniuria alterius fieri potest . and in anno 15. asserted a great part of his woods for rent , and disforrested in most counties of england for a summe of money they gave him . and it was not the least of charitable thrift in the king , to reduce much of his waste to habitation of christians , especially the remote forrests , which would increase many thousand families for his service , and bring many thousand pounds to his coffers . but in the carriage of this business there must be much caution to prevent commotion , for in them there are many that have right of common sans nombre . and the resolution in agreement with them must be suddain , and confident , for multitudes are jealous and inconstant . and the instruments to effect this , must be such as are neighbours , interessed and popular , not strangers ; and the first demise to the inhabitants , and at under and easie values . kings raise money , and improve the revenues of their crown , by manuring of lands . thus did henry 3. anno 13. in removing out of most of his parks as gillingham , brigstock , cliff , woodstock , haverel , &c. all mens cattle pro bobus , pro lardaria regis in parcis praedictis impinguendis . and edward 1. commanded all the escheators in england . excolere seminare & appropriare ad maximum regis proficuum ownes terras , quae regi & coronae suae devenerint per mortem aliquorum vocationem episcopatium , &c. kings raise money and improve the revenues of their crown by merchandise 1. trading themselves . 2. licencing others to trade in commodities , 3. improving customes . lawful or unlawful . 1. trading themselves . thus did edward 1. anno 22. seise into his hands all the wools in the kingdome , as the merchants were lading them in the ports , giving them security of payment at a long day , and a short price , and then transporting them to his own best and readiest sale . thus did edward 3. anno 12. with all the tin. and henry 6. anno 20. by advice of his councel took up by way of purveyance great store of grain , and transported it into gascoigne , where by reason of a dearth , the price was extream . in anno 31. he arrested all the tin in southampton , and sold it to his own present use : and in the year following using the advantage of the statute , which bound all men to trade the staple commodities to no other place but call●ce , vented himself many sacks of wool to other ports of better advantage . and the late queen anno 1567. causeth by warrant of privy seal a great proportion of beer to be purveyed , transported and sold to her use beyond the seas . kings raise money and improve the revenue of their crown by licencing others to trade commodities . lawful or vnlawful . 1. lawfully , but solely . thus did henry 6. by approbation of parliament , with all the trade of allome , for two years granted to the merchants of southampton for 8000. 1. and again for the like sum to those of genoway . 2. unlawful or prohibited . thus did many of the kings , ( after such time as the heavy burthen of imposition began in the miserable necessity of henry 3. called then by no better name then maltolt ) and continued until the 15. year of richard 2. by divers intermissions , for then i find the last petition of many in parliament against it , was altogether taken away . for when richard 2. and his successors found the revenue lessened , by the importunate cry of their people , whereby impositions were laid aside , they began to advise another supply out of the unbounded power of supposed prerogative , and finding a greedy desire of one merchant to prevent another of his market ( restrained by that act or statute , which tyed them to one time , and to one port callaice , for all staple commodities ) they used to sell licences with a clause of non obstante of any statute , whereby they dispensed with multitudes , to trade with what commodities and to what places they would . to the merchants of newcastle richard 2. gave leave to carry wool-fells &c. to any other port besides callaice , upon condition that they should pay for them custome and subsidie according le sage discretion de vouz ou de vostre sage counceil . to diverse citizens of london , henry 4. in the like sort dispenceth for great quantity of tinne for seven years , paying 400. 1. yearly above the usual custome . henry 6. annis 5. 21. 30. reneweth to the town of newcastle the same licence they had anno 20. richard 2. and granteth 600. sacks of wool to benedict benoni merchant of florence , with non obstante any statute or restraint : in this year such licences were so frequent , that the town of callaice complained in parliament of their decay thereby ; yet without relief as it seemeth . for the same king anno 36. giveth leave to lawrence barbarico to transport from london to cicester 12000. sacks of wool to what ports he list : and edward 4. anno 10 , borrowing 12000 , l. of divers merchants , permitteth them non obstante any law to carry any staple commodities to the straits of morocco until they were satisfied their sum . henry the 7. raiseth much money , by giving leave to many merchants to trade inward and outward commodities prohibited , as to alonso de burgues great proportions of ode anno 6. and to a multitude of others all kind of grain and other forbidden things , as in annis 20 , 21 , 22. kings raise money and improve the revenues of the crown , by improving customes . by 1. farming out of ships . 2. raising the book of rates . 3. farming the customes . 1. farming out of ships . to the merchants , and taking security of them , either to bting in or carry out yearly asmuch commodities , as shall yield the king in customes the sum agreed on , or else to make it up out of their own money . thus did henry 7. many years , not only with his ships , but with divers stocks of money . 2. raising the book of rates . this was in some sort done consensis mercatorum by edward 1. and edward 3. and again in henry 8. time , of which the house of burgundie complained , as against the treaty of entercourse ; and of late so stretched , as it is feared it will prove the overthrow of trade : neither do i find this course at any other time . as a branch of this , may aptly fall out the benefit princes made by a prerogative power of imposing inward and outward upon commodities , over and above the antient custome of subsidie . the first that used this course after the statute was settled , from a king of voluntary government after the conquest ( when as kings ruled more by the edge of the sword then by rule of law ) was henry 3. about the entrance of his reign ; but finding it to be an apparent overthrow of commerce and trade , and against the great charter ; made proclamation anno 16. in all ports of england that all merchants might come faciendo rectas et debitas consuetudines , nec sibi timeant de malis toltis , for it had no better name then maletolts . some impositions being laid by edward 1. he in anno 25. taketh them away , with promise that neither he nor his successors should do any such thing without assent of the parliament , granting in anno 31. to the merchants many immunities , as release of prisage , for which they requite him with some increase of customes , but not as imposed by his own power : for he in anno 34. declareth that no tallage or aide should be levied without the assent of parliament , nor nothing to be taken of woolls by colour of maletolt . in edward 2. time , it appeareth that levying of new customes and raising of old , was the destruction of traffique , and therefore repealeth all maletoltes , only in anno 11 , 12. taketh by way of lone , and with leave of the merchants , some former increase upon wools , ascribing nothing to any supream power to impose . the like did ed. the 3. anno 1. confirming in anno 2. the great charter for free traffique : but having about anno quinto granted certain commissions for a new kind of raising tallage , the people complained the year following , whereupon he repealed the said commissions , and promiseth never to assess any , but as in time of his ancestors . after in anno 11. by reason of a statute then made ( restraining all men upon pain of death for transporting any wools without licence from the king and councel ) edward the third made great advantage by selling of dispensations of that law , and grounded upon it many impositions ; but it grew so heavy upon the people , that their discontentments so far increased , that the king was enforced to cause the arch-bishop of conterbury to perswade them to patience by his godly exhortations , yet notwithstanding he continued by gentle intermissions the advantage he had by that late undecimo , taking an improvement of custome for opening the passage that thereby was shut in anno 13. until the same year the state made purchase of their former freedome , and discharge of the malotolt , by granting the tenth sheafe and fleece &c. and thus it continued all his reign , being a time of great necessity and expence by reason of his wars , he sometimes taking an advantage either to raise an imposition , or else to gain aide from the people in discharge thereof , they continually urging the injury in barring them their birth-right : and the king on the other side the greatness of his own occasions , and it may be gathered by record , that thus it held on until the 15. richard 2. in which year is the last petition against impositions , generally grounded in likelyhood from the kings power in restraining or permitting trade all the time after ; though licences with non obstante were ordinary , yet were they to private persons and for particular proportions of commodities , whereby the kings succeeding raised no less benefit then by sale of any general permission . to this of imposition i may add the rule i find , anno 12. henry 6. made in councel , that the value of all goods for the payment subsidie , shall be rated of commodities domestique as they may be sold between merchant and merchant : and if forreign , then so it shall appear upon oath of the merchant or his factor , they stood them in at the first ; and the general maxime which limits all regall advantage upon trade of merchants is , ut causa honesta sit et necessaria , ratio facilis , tempus idoneum . 3. farming out of customes . so did edward 3. with the new and old customes at london for 1000. markes monethly to be paid unto the wardrobe . the like he did anno 17. richard 2. anno 20. letteth out for term of life the subsidie of cloth in divers countries . and edward 4. anno 1. the subsidie and usuage of cloth. thus did henry 8. with his customes , and since his time , the late queen , and our now soveraign master ; and it was so then in use in the best governed state rome , which let out portions and decim's to the publicans . kings raise money , and improve the revenues of the crown . by regalities ; 1. temporal , as for liberties . penalties of lawes , letters of favour . 2. mixt. liberties . in granting , restraining or renewing them . it is a course usual , that kings have raised in money by calling in question the charters and liberties of corporations , leets , free-warrens , and other royalties . thus did richard 1. proclaiming , quod omnes chartae et confirmationes , quae prioris sigilli impressione roberaverint , irritae forent nisi posteriori sigillo roborentur . and henry 3. anno 10. enjoyned all qui suis volebant libertatibus gaudere , ut innovarent chartas suas de novo regis sigillo , getting money thereby . edward 1. by divers commissions with articles ( called articuli de ragman ) annexed to them , called in question about anno 70. all the liberties and freedomes of england ; gilbert de thorneton his attorney putting information by quo warranto against all persons , as well bodies politick as others ; whereby they were inforced anew to renew their charters and fines for their liberties . the like was in anno 13. edward 3. in whose time anno 9. all clauses of allowances by charter of amerciaments , fines , &c. imposed by the kings ministers upon any of the tenants , of other men were adjudged void , and the penalties made payable to the kings officers , unless they made a new purchase of their liberties . and this was one of the usualest and easiest meanes to raise money from the people ; because it lighteth onely upon the best abilities . and if there were now but 20. l. taken of every corporation ; of every person that holdeth by charter his liberties 5.l . for renewing them : and of every one that claimeth by prescription 10. l. for purchase of a charter , all which would be easie and acceptable , it would amount to above 100000. l. for penal lawes that have been sometimes but with ill success wrought upon . when richard 2. anno 22. began this course , appointing in all his commissions and instructions , bushey onely to be of the quorum for compounding with the delinquents , it wrought in the affection of his people such distaste , that it grew the death of the one , and deposition of the other . no less fatal was the like to empson : and there is no string will sooner j●rre in the common-wealth then this , if it be generally touched . for letters of fav●●● . either for mitigation of dispatch of justice . of the first sort there be many found in henry 6. and edward 4. time , sometimes of protection , although by course of the common law none are warrantable but to such as are going in obsequium regis , or ibidem moraturi , sometimes freeing men from arrests by calling them up to appear before the kings councel : sometimes in causes highly criminal releiving the prisoner , in commanding the judges to make stay of all proceeding upon supposal of indirect practises until the king was better informed . of the second sort there are many in henry 7. time , where the king hath taken money for writing to the judges of assize his letters of favour . for offices . thus did king john with the chancellor-ship , selling it for term of life to gray for 5000. markes : divers offices now in the gift of the master of the rolls were engaged to the chancellour and treasurer of england , as are to be found in record of henry 4. henry 5. and henry 6. to be passed by warrant of the kings hand , and upon some consideration . and henry 7. renewed this course , using dudley as his instrument to compound with suitors of those and any other places . and by that record we find the chancellor , the chief justice , the keepers of most of the records , the clerks of the assizes and peace , the masters of his game and parks , and what else carrying either profit or reputation , paid to the king some proportion of money for their places . neither is this different from the course of other states . for in france lewis 12. called the father of his country , did so with all offices not being of judicature , which his successors did not forbear . in spain it is usual , and vasqui the spanish advocate defendeth the lawfulness of it : and charles the fifth prescribeth it to his son , as a rule in his last instruction , drawing his ground of reason and conveniency , from the example and practise of the see at rome . the like might be of all inferiour promotions that are or may be in the kings gift , whether ecclesiastical or temporal , if they were after the true value in profit and reputation listed into rankes , according to the several natures of their imployments respectively . for honours . and that either by power legal or election . of the first it is only in respect of land , whereby every man is to fine when the king shall require , that hath ability to be made a knight and is not , of this sort there be plenty of examples . the other out of choise and grace , as hugo de putiaco bishop of durham , was by king richard 1. created earl of northumberland for a great sum of money : and i doubt not but many of these times would set their ambition at as high a price . and for his majesty now to make a degree of honour hereditary , as barronets , next under barons , and grant them in tail , taking of every one 1000. l. in fine , it would raise with ease 100000. l. and by a judicious election be a meanes to content those worthy persons in the common-wealth that by the confused admission of many knights of the bath held themselves all this time disgraced . for the coine and bullion . by which although some kings out of a last shift , have seemed to relieve themselves , yet was it in truth full of danger and distrust to the common-wealth ; being an assured token of a bankrupt state : and to the prince in conclusion , of most disadvantage . for the revenues of the crown being commonly incertain rents , they must in true value , howsoever in verbal sound , be abated to the proportion that the money shall be abased . and every man will rate his commodity in sale , not according to the accompt of pence or pounds , but to the weight of pure silver contained in the currant money . as for example , that which was before the dec●ying of the coine worth five shillings the pouud weight , will ( if the allay be to the half ) be held at ten shillings ; and so in every proportion respectively . for money is not meerly to be esteemed in respect of the sculpture or figure ; but it must value in pecunia quantum in massa : and silver is a commodity as other wares , and therefore holdeth his estimation as they do according to the goodness . and the lord treasurer burleigh in anno 1561. when the currant of state-councel affected an abasement of coine , after a grave deliberation advised the queen from it , and never would give way to any such resolution in his time . but that benefit which truly the king might more make of bullion then now he doth , is to erect again cambium regis his own exchange . an office as antient as before henry 3. and so continued unto the middle of henry 8. the profit of it being now ingrossed among a few gold-smiths , and would yield above 10000. l. a year if it were heedfully regarded , and then should the king himself keep his mint in continual work , and not stand at the devotion of others to supply bullion , and should never want , the materials , if two things were observed : the one to permit all men bringing in bullion , to trade outward the value thereof in domestick commodities at an abated custome . the other to abate the mighty indraught of forreign manufactures , and unnecessary wares , that the outward trade might over-balance the inward , which otherwise will ( as it hath done ) draw on this desperate consumption of the common-wealth : which anno 27. edward 3. was otherwise , for then the exitus exceeded the introitus by far , and in the last times of the late queen as in anno 1573. for at this time the unmeasurable use of luxurious commodities was brought in ( as wines , spices , silk , and fine linnens , &c. ) for of the latter sort of above ten groats the ell there is above 360000. l. yearly spent , which is half the value of our cloths transported , maketh the state to buy more then they do sell , whereas a good father of a family ought to be vendacem and not emacem . besides the condition of our people is now such , that the greater part neither get nor save , which in a private house is an apparent argument of ruining , and must be no less in a common-wealth . and it is observed generally , that hence the want of bullioin now is such , that there is not money in specie sufficient to pay the lenders their principal , so that usury is paid for money upon supposition , and not really . if then his majesty shall be pleased by advise of his councel , to advantage himself any otherwise by coinage , it will be safer to do it upon a simple mettal , then by any implyant or beater suite , which well governed states both modern and antient used : for rome in her increase and greatest pitch of glory had their money aere argento , auro puto puro , and so have all the monarchies absolute at this day in christendome . and i believe it may be wrought to his majesty of good value , and to the state of much ease , if it may be put in practise with discreet caution and constant resolution ; for the danger onely may be in the venting of the quantity , which may clogge the state with useless money , or extension of the example , which may work in by degrees an embasement of bullion . the proportion that i would hold beneficial and safe , should be in the mass , at first 120000. l. by which his majesty should gain 10000. clearly : the increase annual 12000. l. in which his majesty should gain 1000. and the limitation , that none be enforced to take any but in summes under 20 s. and then but the twentieth part proportionably . against this some may object , that it will either not advantage the king so much as it projected , either from the difficulty in venting , or facility in counterfeiting , or else prejudice the estate with a worthless money . the benefit to the king will easily fall out , if he restrain retailers of victual and small wares from using their own tokens , for in and about london , there are above 3000. that one with another cost yearly 5. l. apiece of leaden tokens , whereof the tenth remaineth not to them at the years end , and when they renew their store , which amounteth to above 15000. l. and all the rest of this realm cannot be inferiour to the city in proportion . and the form and figure may with an engine so subtilly be milled , that the charge will prevent all practise of false play . for the prejudice since london , which is not the 24. part of the people of the kingdome , had in it found above 800000. by a late inquiry by order of the late queen , and so falleth out to be 2 d. a person , in the intire state it may nothing , either of loss by the first uttering being so easie , nor burthen any with too great a mass at a time , since continual use will disperse so small a quantity into so many hands . but on the other side will be to the meaner sort ( except the retailers that made as much advantage formerly of their own tokens , as the king shall now ) of necessary use and benefit : for the buyers hereafter shall not by tyed to one seller and his bad commodities , as they are still , when his tokens , hereafter made currant by authority , shall leave him the choise of any other chapman ; and to the poor in this time of small charity , it will be of uch relief ; since men are like to give a farthing almes , that will not part with a greater sum . besides , it cannot but prevent much waste of silver , that is by the minting pence and half pence occasioned , there will be no cause hereafter to cut any bullion into proportion so apt for losse : what that hath been may be conjectured , if we mark but of the great quantities from the peny downward since henry 8. time stamped , how few remain : whereas of all the coines from three pence upward which are manual , plenty pass still in dayly payment . regalities mixt . as for restitution of the temporalities of abbots and bishops . for which henry 7. received great sums . corrodies in cathedral churches . and having in every cathedral and collegiate church , as incident to his crown a corradary , made money of it , at the highest rate he could . vacancy of bishopricks . the benefit at the vacancy of any bishop some kings have used to their best advantage , making a circular remove of as many as in reputation and profit was inferiour to the place void . concurrent jurisdiction as the pope had in former times . besides , there are two of no mean commodity . the one is grounded upon a concurrent jurisdiction with every ordinary in the diocess , which the king by having the power papall in that point invested in him by act of parliament , may exercise by his commission , or otherwise remit to the ordinary for some valuable respect . thus did cardinal woolsey with warham the arch-bishop , and all other the bishops of the kingdome , after he had got his legative power . and this if it were put in practise would draw to the king 20000. l. in his coffers . tenths of the church-lands now in the laity . the other is the short account yielded the king of such ecclesistiacal tenths and duties , as were often or annually paid unto the pope in former times , and now by statute invested in the crown : for in former times the see of rome received them not , as only out of the meer spiritualities , but also from out of all the temporalities of spiritual persons ; which land being now divided from the church into the hands of the laity ; yet ought they to pay this duty , since they were settled in the crown by a former law , and no subsequent ever hath discharged them . an ansvver to certain arguments raised from supposed antiquity , and urged by some members of the lower house of parliament , to prove that ecclesiastical laws , ought to be enacted by temporal men. written by sir rob. cotton knight and barronet . london : printed in the year 1672. an ansvver to certain arguments raised from supposed antiquity , and urged by some members of the lower house of parliament , to prove that ecclesiastical lawes ought to be enacted by temporal men. what , besides self-regard , or siding faction , hath been the main reason of the lower lay-house labour in parliament , to deal with lawes of the church , the milder members have yielded a right which they would maintain by former presidents , raising the same from 1. primitive use . 2. middle practise . 3. interrupted continuance . professing the same by the laws of 1. the roman empire . 2. the saxon kings . 3. the english parliaments so to do . which since it may raise a prejudice to the church's peace , or to the soveraign's power , unopposed ; i will make way ( in a word or two ) to the better answer of some other pen. what they say is not to be denied , that in course of civil laws under the christian emperours , there be often constitutions ecclesiastical ; and in the councels of the church ( frequent ) the soveraign's power , and sometimes the presence of lay-ministers ; yet may their assertion admit to the first , this answer of justinian ; principes , sapientes , episcoporum monita , pro fide & religione christiana , leges synodicis canonibus conformes edidere , recte judicantes , sacerdotum sanctiones merito majestatis regiae nuturoborari . so that those decrees of the civil lawes , will prove but confirmative of former canons , as may be gathered by that of volentinian and martian . emperours , who wrote unto paladius , their praefectus pratorii , that all constitutions , that were against the canon of the church should stand void . and to the second , that their presence was to dignifie , and not to dispute ; the direction proveth , that the emperor theodosius gave to candidianus an earl , by him to the ephesian councel sent ; non ut quaestiones seu expositiones communicaret , cum sit illicitum quia non fit in ordine sanctissimorum episcoporum , ecclesiasticis tractatibus intermisceri . and valentinian the elder , though petitioned by the bishops to be present at their synod , said ; sebi , qui unus e laicorum numero esset , non licere hujusmodi negotiis se interponere . and by the council of carth. and affrican , likewise it appeared ; that even princes would intermeddle with these matters ; but saepius rogati ab episcopis . and the emperor gratian taught , as zozimus saith , omnes laicos nihil potestatis inres ecclesiasticas posse sibi vindicare . and the former emperor . enacted ; in causa ecclesiastici alicujus ordinis cum judicare debere , qui nec manere impar est , nec jure dissimilis , sacerdotes de sacerdotibus judicare . according to that saying of constantine the great ; vos enim a deo nobis dati estis dii , & conveniens non est ut homo judicet deos. thus then stood the practice of the primitive church ; which when it was in those times otherwise , as under constantius the arrian , athanas . saith of him ; haereseos veneno imbutos milites , sicarios , eunuchos comites , faciebat sacerd. judices , & cogebat umbratiles synodas , quibus ipse cum monstris illis praesiperet . whereas otherwise that emperor , even in the height of pagan greatness , ascribed to their pontifices and sacerdotes in common right , propter religionem comitia habere propria , and that stabili sententiâ rarum erat , quod tres pontifices communi decreto statuissent the second objection . ecclesiastical laws enacted in parliament . to the second , as it is in the former true , that many canons of the church are interlaced with the common-wealths , although the saxon laws , and that the establishment should be by parliament , which they infer out of the frontispian , of inas statutes in these words : ego inae rex , ex tractatione episcoporum , et omnium aldermannorum meorum , & seniorum sapientu● regni mei , & confirmatione populi mei ; do ordain &c. yet may receive this answer . first , that the commons did but confirm and not dispute ; which to this day is in their summons comprized only ad consuet udinen . but whosoever shall collate the transcript copy with the original , called textus roffensis , will find these ordinances , not called leges but synodalia , and almost all by the king and church-men onely made . neither was it new in this isle that priests directed alone the government , when as the best record of our eldest memory saith , that the druides , ( a religious pagan order ) not only divinis intersunt , religiones interpretantur , but de omnibus ( as caesar saith ) controversis publicis privatisque confirment , sive de heridet amento , sive de finibus , & praemia & paenas constituunt . and if any , sive privatus , aut populus decreto eorū non stererit , sacrificiis interdicunt . and this excommunication amongst them , was paena gravissima . neither did the times of christianity here bereave the church of all such will. for in the saxon time they intermedled in the framing of the temporal lawes , and ought , as appeareth by an ordinance of that time de officiis episcopi : cum seculi judicibus interesse ne permittent si possint , ut illinc aliqua pravitatum germina pullulaverint . and surely , since these time until of late , the inferiour ministers of the church , aswel as bishops , had suffrage in parliament . for john de rupescissa ( a story as old as king john's time ) saith , anno 1210. convocatum est parliamentum londoniae , presidente archiepiscopo cum toto clero . & tota secta laicali . and in the 8. of edward the 3. the members of parliament defective in their appearance , the king chargeth the arch-bishop to punish the defaults of the clergie , as he would the like touching the lords and commons . and in third of richard the second , against a petition in parliament contradicting provisions , the prelates and whole clergy , make their protestations ; and to a demand of the lay-commons , for the king's aide the year following , the whole clergy answered , that they used not to grant any but of their free will. and in the eleventh of the same king , the archbishop of canterbury made openly in parliament a solemne protestation for himself , and the whole clergie of his province , entered by word ; the effect whereof was , that albeit they might lawfully be present in all parliaments , yet for that in those parliament matters of treason were to be intreated of , whereas by the canon law they ought not to be present , they therefore absented themselves , saving their liberties therein otherwise . and in the 21. of richard the 2. for that divers judgements were heretofore undon ; for that the clergie were not present ; the commons prayed the king , that the clergie would appoint some to be their common proctor , with sufficient authority thereunto . the bishops and clergie therefore being severally examined , appointed sir thomas piercy their proctor to assent as by their instruments appeareth . and the same year , upon the devise of sir thomas bussey , most of the bishops and lords were sworne before the king again , upon the cross of canterbury , to repeal nothing in this year enacted . so did sundry the proctors of the clergy , and most of the commons , by holding up one of their hands , affirmed that they the same would do . in the judgement of the duke of norfolk , and earl of warwick the same year , the name and assent of the procurator of the clergy alleadged . and in the first of henry 4. the bishop of assaph , for arch-bishop and bishops ; the abbot of glassenbury , for all religious persons ; the earl of gloucester , for dukes and earls ; the lord of barkley , for barons and barronets ; sir thomas irpingham chamberlain , for batchelors and commons of the south ; sir thomas gray , for batchelors and commons of the north ; sir william thirming and john mekham justices , for the whole estates , came to the tower to king richard to whom sir william thirming , for and in the name of them all , pronounced the sentence of deposition , and the words or resignation of homage and loyalty . and when it was enacted anno 6. henry 6. by the king , lords temporal and commons , that no man should contract or marry himself to any queen of england , without the special licence and assent of the king , on pain to lose all his goods and lands ; the bishops and all the clergie to this bill assented , so far as it was not against the law of god. and thus far for answer to the second part . the third reason . ecclesiastical lawes enacted in parliament . the last , which they granted from presidents , parliaments since the conquest , they infer out of the phrase , and out of the practise ; the first by these words : rex wintoniae celebravit magnum concilium coram episcopis , comitibus , & baronibus , mistaking the word , as intending a provincial synod , whereas it was in those dayes equal and usual for their parliament , that french phrase never having admission in that sence here untill the time of henry 2. and then but rarely . that great assembly being formerly instiled magnum consilium ; and until of late often enjoyed the same name . and this is evident out of the words of benedictus abbas in the life he wrote of the 2. 2. henry ; circa festum sancti pauli , venit dominus rex usque northampton , & magnum ibi celebravit consilium de statutis regni sui coram episcopis , comitibus baronibus terrae suae , & per consilium militum & hominum suorum . here the intent manifesteth the nature of that assembly , and the fuller , in that the same author in the same year , saith , that richardus cantuar. archiepiscopus , and rogerus eboracensis cum sufraganeis suis congregatis apud westmonasterium in capella monachorum infirmiorum tenuerunt consilium ; or their convocation ; which had been needless if in their first , they might have done their church-affaires . here might i enter into a large and just discourse , as well of the authority as antiquity of their convocation or synod provincial , no less antient , as beda mentioneth , then in the year 686. when austin adjutorio regis , &c. assembled in councel the brittain bishops ; from which unto this day there is successive record of councels or convocations , less interrupted then of parliament . practice . now touching our practise to ordain in parliaments lawes ecclesiastical , either meer or mixt , although it be by record evident , yet must it admit this difference : first , that it sprung not from our dispute , or desire , but solely from the petitions of the church , as usual is in all the rolls of parliament , receiving their distinct title from those of the commons . and this they did to adde seculare brachium to their former cannons , too weak to reach to corporal punishments ; as in the fifth of richard 2. when to suppress the schismes , the clergy became in parliament the petitioners to the kings laity ; where these words of their assistance are , excluding the commons from any power of advice : habita prius bona & matura deliberatione de communi consilio ipsius archiepiscopi , suffraganeorum suorum , aliorumque clericorum , super quo idem archiepiscopus supplicavit , ut pro debita castigatione illorum qui conclusiones schismaticas praedicare voluerint , animo obstinato dignaremur apponere brachium regiae potestatis ●idem . and this aide was in order in the conquerors time ; who by edict commanded , that every marshal , episcope & deo faceret rectum secundum canones & episcopales leges . which if he doth not , after excommunication , fortitudo et justitia regis adhibeatur . and this even in the primitive church , was thought convenient : because as saint ambrose saith , for the like intent , to the emperor valentinian ; non tantas vires sermo mecus habiturus est pro trinitate bellum gerens , quantum edictum tuum . hence it is that at this day , the king's authority is annexed ever to the convocation ; as in the antient church were the like decrees of kings ; as those of eruigius ratifying the twelfth councel of toledo . nemo illiciator vel contemptor vigorem his institutionibus subtrahat , sed generaliter per cunctas regni nostri provincias hoec canonum instituta nostrae gloriae temporibus acta , et autoritatis debitae fastigia praepollebunt , & irrevocabili judiciorum exercitie prout constituta sunt in omnibus regni nostri provinciis celebres habebuntur . si quis autem haec instituta contemnat , contemptor se noverit damnari sententia ; id est , ut juxta voluntatem nostrae gloriae , et excommunicatas à nostro caet●resiliat ; & in super decimam partem facultatis suaefisci partibus sociandam , amittat . but that the church-laws ever moved from the lay-members , i take it as far from president , as it is besides nhe nature of their commission : the bishops and clergy being onely called in the writ to that service , the word being , to come in fide & delectione , ad declarandum consilium & avisamentum , & ad consentiendum iis quae tunc de avisamento & assensu cleri nostri ( and not the commons ) cotigerit affirmari . but if any shall object unto me , that many laws , as that of the supremacy in henry 8. time , had first the ground in parliament ; it is manifested , by the dates of their acts in convocations , that they all had properly in that place the first original . and that this was the use of old , nothing will leave it so clear , as to observe the fruitless success of the laity , in all their endeavours to establish ecclesiastical laws ; and this i will manifest by the kings answer out of record , so far as the rolls of parliament will admit me , successively . until the 11. of edward the first , there is no record extant ; but in that the commons petition to the king , that a law may be made against usurers ; the king gave answer , that it must be remedyed , coram ordinariis . and when they desired remedy , de multimodis injustis vexationibus eis factis per officiales & alios ministros ecclesiae ; the king replyed ; cancellarius emendat in temporalibus ; archiepiscopus faci●t in spiritualibus . from hence there is a lack of record near to the 8. of edward 3. in which parliament the commons desire an act to restrain the clergie in their trivial citations ; whereunto they received from the king but this answer onely ; that the king will charge the bishops to see it remedyed . and the first of richard the 2. preferring the like petition against corruption of ordinaries , to do according to the lawes of holy church . and in the fifth of the same king , they complain against abuses in ecclesiastical courts . respons . the king will charge the clergy to amend the same . and in the 15. year , when they required an act to declare the age of the titheable wood ; they had for answer , the king would move the bishops for order between this and the next parliament . and in the 17 of richard 2. when they petiotioned for a residing learned ministry , so as the flock for want might not perish ; they had replyed , that the king willeth the bishops to whom that office belongeth , to do their duties . henry the 4. in his second year , desired by the lords and commons to pacify the schisme of the church ; answereth , he will charge the bishops to consider the same . and in his fourth year , being importuned for an act for residency of ministers ; replyed le roy command an prelats et perentrecy ils empurvoient de remedie . and in the eleventh of the same king , to the like petition ; respons : ceste matiere appartient a st. eglise et remede en la darraine convocation . in parliament under the 5. henry and his first year , the king answereth the commons petition , against oppressing ordinaries ; if the bishops do not redtess the same , the king will. and in anno 3. henry 6. to a petition that non-residents should forfeit the profit of their living ; gave answer , that he had delivered the bill to my lord of canterbury , and semblably to my lord of york ; charging them to purvey meanes of remedy . and in the year following , to a petition that patrons may present upon non-residencie ; respons : there is remedy sufficient in the law spiritual . since then it is plain by these rehearsed answers , that from the conquest , they have received but weak admittance : and by the edict of the first king william in these words , a sharp restraint ; defendo et mea authoritate interdico , ne ullus laicus homo de legibus quae ad episcopum pertinent se intromittat . and that the saxon synodals , are rather canon-laws , then lay-mens acts. and the practise of the primitive church , if well understood , but a weak prop to their desire , it may not seem distastful from the king ( walking in the steps of his ancestors , kings of this land ) to return ( as formerly ) the commons desires to their proper place , the church-mans care . and to conclude this point in all parliaments , as martian the emperor did the chalcedon councel ; cessat jam profana contentio ; nam vere impius & sacrilegus est , qui posttot sacerdotum sententiam , opinionisuae aliquid tractandum reliquit . and with the letter of gods law ; qui superbicrit nolens obedire sacerdotis imperio , ex decreto judicis morietur hono . the argument made by the command of the house of commons ( out of the acts of parliament , and authority of law expounding the same ) at a conference with the lords , concerning the libertie of the person of every freeman . written by sir rob. cotton knight and barronet . london : printed in the year 1672. the argument made by the command of the house of commons ( out of the acts of parliament , and authority of law , expounding the same ) at a conference with the lords , concerning the liberty of the person of every freeman . my lords , vpon the occasions delivered by the gentlemen , your lordships have heard , the commons have taken into their serious consideration the matter of the personal liberty : and after long debate thereof of on divers dayes , aswell by solemn arguments as single proportions of doubts and answers , to the end no scruples might remain in any mans breast unsatisfyed ; they have , upon a full search and clear understanding of all things pertinent to the question , unanimously declared , that no freeman ought to be committed , or detained in prison , or otherwise restrained by the command of the king , or the privy councel , or any other , unless some cause of the commitment , deteinor , or restraint be expressed , for which by law he ought to be committed , detained or restrained : and they have sent me with other of their members to represent unto your lordships the true grounds of such their resolution , and have charged me particularly ( leaving the reasons of law and presidents for others ) to give your lordships satisfaction , that this liberty is established and confirmed by the whole state , the king , the lords spiritual and temporal , and the commons , by several acts of parliament , the authority whereof is so great , that it can receive no answer , save by interpretation or repeal by future statutes : and those that i shall mind your lordships of , are so direct to the point , that they can bear no other exposition at all ; and sure i am , they are still in force . the first of them is the grand charter of the liberties of england ; first granted 17. johannis regis , and revived 9. hen. 3 : and since confirmed in parliament above 30. times . the words are these ▪ cap. 29. nullus liber homo capiatur vel imprisonetur , aut disseisetur de libero tenemento suo , vel libertatibus , vel liberis consuetudinibus suis , aut ut lagetur , aut exuletur , aut aliquo modo d●struatur : nec super eum ibimus , nec super eum mittemus , nisi per leg ale ●udiciu● parium suorum , vel per legem terrae . these words nullus liber homo , &c. are express enough . yet it is remarkable , that mathew paris ( an author of especial credit ) doth observe fol. 432 that the charter 9. henry 3. was the very same as that of the 17. of king john ( in nullo dissimilis are his words ) and that of king john he setteth down verbatim fol. 342. and there the words are directly , nec ●um in carcerem mittemus : and such a corruption as in now in the point might easily happen betwixt 9. henry 3. and 28. edward 1. when this charter was first exemplified : but certainly , there is sufficient left in that which is extant to decide this question : for the words are , that no freeman shall be taken or imprisoned but by the lawful judgement of his peers ( which is by jury ; peers for peers , ordinary juryes for other , who are their peers ) or by the law of the land : which law of the land must of necessity be understood to be of this notion , to be by due process of the law ; and not the law of the land generally : otherwise it would comprehend bondmen ( whom we call villaines ) who are excluded by rhe word liber : for the general law of the land doth allow their lords to imprison them at their pleasure without cause , wherein they only differ from the freeman , in respect of their persons , who cannot be improsoned without a cause . and that this is the true understanding of these words , per legem terrae , will more plainly appear by divers other statutes that i shall use , which do expound the same accordingly . and though the words of this grand charter be spoken in the third person ; yet they are not to be understood of suits betwixt party and party ; at least not of them alone , but even of the kings suits against his subjects , as will appear by the occasion of the getting of that charter ; which was by reason of the differences between those kings and their people ; and therefore properly to be applied unto their power over them , and not to ordinary questions betwixt subject and subject . secondly , the words per legale judicium parium suorum immediately preceeding the other of per legem terrae , are meant of trials at the kings suit , and not at the prosecution of a subject . and therefore if a peer of the realm be arraigned at the suite of the king upon an indictment of murder , he shall be tryed by his peers ; that is by nobles : but if he be appealed of murder by a subject , his tryal shall be by an ordinary jury of 12. freeholders , as appeareth in 10. edward 4 6. 33. henry 8. brooke title trials 142 stamf. pleas of the crown lib. 3. cap. 1. fol. 152. and in 10 edward 4. it is said , such is the meaning of magna charta . by the same reason therefore , as per judicium parium suorum extends to the kings suit ; so shall these words per legem terrae . and in 8. edward 3. rot . parl. m. 7. there is a petition , that a writ under the privy seal went to the guardian of the great seal , to cause lands to be seized into the kings hands ; by force of which there went a writ out of the chancery to the escheator , to seize against the form of the grand charter , that the king or his ministers shall out no man of free-hold without reasonable judgement , and the party was restored to his land ; which sheweth the statute did extend to the king. there was no invasion upon this personal liberty until the time of king edward 3. which was eftsoon resented by the subject : for in 5. edward . 3. cap. 9. it is ordained in these words : it is enacted , that no man from henceforth shall be attached by any accusation , nor fore-judged of life or limb , nor h●s lands , tenements , goods nor chattels seized into the kings hands against the form of the great charter and the law of the land. 25. edward 3 , cap. 4. is more full ; and doth expound the words of the grand charter ; and is thus : whereas it is contained in the great charter of the franchises of england , that none shall be imprisoned nor put out of his freehold , nor of his franchise nor free custome , unless it be by the law of the land. it is accorded , assented and established , that from henceforth none shall be taken by petition or suggestion made to our lord the king , or to his counsel , unless it be by indictment or presentment of his good and lawful people of the same neighbourhood where such deeds be done , in due manner , or by process made by writs original at the common law , nor that none be put out of his franchises nor of his freeholds , unless he be due brought in answer , and forejudged of the same by the course of the law , and if any thing be done against the same , it shall be redressed and holden for none . out of this statute i observe , that what in magna charta and the preamble of this statute , is termed by the law of the land , is by the body of this act expounded , to be by process made by writ original at the common law ; which is a a plain interpretation of the words , law of the land , in the grant charter . and i note that this law was made , upon the commitment of divers to the tower , no man yet knoweth for what . 28 edward 3. cap. 3. is yet more direct ; ( this liberty being followed with fresh suit by the subject ) where the words are not many , but very full and significant : that no man , of what estate or condition soever he be , shall be put out of his lands or tenements , nor taken , nor imprisoned , nor disinherited , nor put to death , without he be brought in answer by due process of the law. here your lordships see , the usual words , of the law of the land , are rendered by due process of the law. 36. edward . 3. rot. parl. n. 9. amongst the petitions of the commons one of them ( being translated into english out of french ) is thus . first , that the great charter , and the charter of the forrest , and the other statutes made in his time , and in the time of his progenitors , for the profit of him and his communalty , be well and firmly kept , and put in due execution , without putting disturbance , or making arrest contrary to them , by special command , or in other manner . the answer to the petition , which makes it an act of parliament , is : our lord the king , by the assent of the prelates , dukes , earles , barons , and the communalty hath ordained and established ; that the said charters and statutes be held and put in execution according to the said petition . it is observeable that the statutes were to be put in execution according to the said petition ? which is , that no arrest should be made contrary to the statutes , by special command . this concludes the question , and is of as great force as if it were printed . for the parliament-roll is the true warrant of an act , and many are omitted out of the books that are extant . 35. edward 3. rot. parl. nu . 20. explaineth it further . for there the petition is : item , as it is contained in the grand charter and other statutes , that no man be taken or imprisoned by special command without indictment or other process to be made by the law upon them , aswel of things done out of the forrest of the king , as for other things ; that it would please our said lord ; to command those to be delievered , that are so taken by special command , against the form of the charters and statutes aforesaid . the answer is , the king is pleased , that if any man find himself greived , that he come and make his complaint , and right shall be done unto him . 37. edward 3. cap. 18. agreeth in substance when it saith , though that it be contained in the great charter , that no man be taken , nor imprisoned , nor put out of his freehold without process of the law : nevertheless divers people make false suggestions to the king himself ; as well for malice or otherwise , whereof the king is often grieved , and divers of the realm put in damage , against the form of the the said charter , wherefore it is ordained that all they which make suggestions , shall be sent with the same suggestions before the chancellour , treasurer and his grand council ; and that they there find surety to pursue their suggestions : and incur the same pain that the other should have had if he were attainted , in case that his suggestion be found evil ; and that then process of the law be made against them , without being taken and imprisoned against the form of the charter and other statutes . here the law of the land in the grand charter is explained to be without process of the law. 42. edward 3. at the request of the commons by their petitions put forth in this parliament , to eschew mischief and damage done to divers of his commons by false accusers , which oftentimes have made their accusation more for revenge and singular benefit than for the profit of the king or of his people ; which accused persons , some have been taken and sometime caused to come before the kings council , by writ or otherwise , upon grievous pains against the law , it is assented and accorded for the good governance of the commons , that no man be put to answer without presentment before justices or matter of record , or by due process and writ original according to the old law of the land : and if any thing from henceforth be done to the contrary , it shall be void in the law and holden for error . but this is better in the parliament-roll , where the petition and answer ( which make the act ) are set down at large 42. edward 3. rot. parl. n. 12. the petition item , because that many of the commons are hurt and destroyed by false accusers , who make their accusations more for their revenge and particular gaine , than for the profit of the king or his people : and those that are accused by them , some have been taken , and others are made to come before the king's councel , by writ or other command of the king , upon grievous pains , contrary to the law. that it would please our lord the king , and his good council , for the just government of his people , to ordain , that if hereafter any accuser purpose any matter for the profit of the king , that the matter be sent to the justices of the one bench or the other , or the assizes , to be enquired and determined according to the law ; and if it concern the accuser or party , that he take his suit at the common law , and that no man be put to answer , without presentment before justices , or matter of record , or by due process and original writ , according to the antient law of the land ; and if any thing henceforward be done to the contrary , that it be void in law , and held for error . here , by due process and original writ according to the antient law of the land , is meant the same thing as per legem terrae in magna charta . and the abuse was , that they were put to answer by the commandment of the king. the king's answer is thus . because that this article is an article of the grand charter : the king will that this be done as the petition doth demand . by this appeareth that per legem terrae in magna charta is meant by due process of the law. thus your lordships have heard acts of parliament in the point . but the statute of westminster the first cap. 15. is urged to disprove this opinion , where it is expresly said , that a man is not replevisable who is committed by command of the king. therefore the command of the king without any cause shewed , is sufficient to commit a man to prison . and because the strength of the argument may appear , and the answer be better understood , i shall read the words of that statute , which are thus : and forasmuch as sheriffs and others , which have taken and kept in prison , persons detected of felony , and oftentimes have let out by replevin , such as were not replevisable ; because they would gaine of the one party , and grieve the other . and forasmuch as before this time it was not certainly determined what persons were replevisable , and what not , but onely those that were taken for the death of a man , or by commandment of the king , or of his justices , or for the forrest ; it is provided , and by the king commanded , that such prisoners as before were outlawed , and they which have abjured the realm , provers , and such as be taken with the manner , and those which have broke the kings prison , theives openly defamed and known , and such as be appealed by provers , so long as the provers be living , if they be not of good name , and such as be taken for burning of houses feloniously done , or for false money , or for counterfeiting the kings seal , or persons excommunicate taken at the request of the bishop , or for manifest offences , or for treason touching the king himself , shall be in no wise replevisable , by the common vvrit or without vvrit . but such as be indicted by larceny , by inquests taken before sheriffs or bayliffs by their office , or of light suspition , or for petty larceny , that amonnteth not above the value of 12 d. if they were not guilty of some other larceny aforetime , or guilty of receipt of felons , or of commandment or force , or of aid in felony done , or guilty of some other trespass for which one ought not to lose life or member ; and a man appealed by a prover ; after the death of the prover if he be no common thief , nor defamed , shall from henceforth be let out by sufficient surety , whereof the sheriff will be answerable , and that without giving ought of their goods . and if the sheriff or any other let any go at large by surety , that is not replevisable , if he be the sheriff , constable , or any other bayliff of fee which hath keeping of prisons , and thereof be attained , he shall lose his fee and office for ever . and if the under-sheriff , constable or bayliff of such as hath fee for keeping of prisons , do it contrary to the will of his lord , or any other bayliff being not of fee , they shall have 3. years imprisonment , and make a fine at the king's pleasure . and if any with-hold prisoners replevisable after they have offered sufficient surety , he shall pay a grievous amerciament to the king ; and if he take any reward for the deliverance of such , he shall pay double to the prisoner , and also shall be in the great mercy of the king. the answer is , it must be acknowledged , that a man taken by the command of the king is not replevisable , for so are the express words of this statute , but this maketh nothing against the declaration of the commons : for they say not , that the sheriff may replevin such a man by surety , scilicet manucaptores : but that he is bayleable by the kings court of justice : for the better apprehending whereof , it is to be known , that there is a difference betwixt replevisable , which is alwayes by the sheriff upon pledges or sureties given , and baileable by a court of record , where the prisoner is delivered to his baile and they are his jailors , and may imprison him , and shall suffer for him body for body , as appeareth 33. & 36. edward 3. in the title of mainprise , plit . 12 , 13. where the difference betwixt baile and mainprise is expresly taken . and if the words of the statute it self be observed , it will appear plainly that it extends to the sheriffs and other inferiour officers , and doth not bind the hand of the judges . the preamble , which is the key that openeth the entrance into the meaning of the makers of the law ) is : forasmuch as sheriffs , and others , which have taken and kept in prison persons detected of felony . out of these words i observe , that it nominateth sheriffs ; and then if the justices should be included , they must be comprehended under the general word , others ; which doth not use to extend to those of an higher rank , but to inferiours : for the best , by all course is first to be named ; and therefore if a man bring a writ of customes and services , and name rents and other things , the general words shall not include homage , which is a personal service , and of an higher nature ; but it shall extend to ordinary annual services , 31. edward 1. droit 67. so the statute of 13. elizabeth cap. 10. which beginning with colledges , deans and chapters , parsons and vicars , and concludes with these words , and others ( and others having spiritual promotions ) shall not comprehend bishops , that are of an higher degree , as appeareth in the arch-bishop of canterbury his case reported by sir edward cook lib. 2. fol. 466. and thus much is explained in this very statute , to the end when it doth enumerate those were meant by the word other , namely under-sheriffs , constables , bayliffes . again , the words are sheriffs and others , which have taken and kept in prison . now every man knoweth , that judges do neither arrest nor keep men in prison ; that is the office of sheriffs , and other inferiour ministers ; therefore this statute meant such only . and not judges . the words are further , that they let out by replevin such as were not replevisable . this is the proper language for a sheriff : nay more express afterwards , in the body of the statute : that such as are there mentioned , shall be in no wise replevisable by the common vvrit ( which is de homine replegiando , and is directed to the sheriff ) nor withour writ ( which is by the sheriff , ex officio ) but that which receives no answer , is this : that the command of the justices ( who derive their authority from the crown ) is there equalled as to this purpose with the command of the king ; aud therefore by all reasonable construction , it must needs relate to officers that are subordinate to both , as sheriffs , undersheriffs , bayliffes , constables , and the like : and it were an harsh exposition to say , that the justices might not discharge their own command ; and yet that reason would conclude as much . and that this was meant of the sheriffs and other ministers of justice , appeareth by the recital of 27. edward 3. cap. 3. and likewise by fleta , a manuscript so called , because the author lay in the fleet when he made the book . for he lib. 2. cap. 52. in his chapter of turns , and the views of the hundred courts in the countrey , and setteth down the articles of the charges that are there to be enquired of ; amongst which , one of them is , de replegialibus injuste detentis & irreplegialibus dimissis ; which cannot be meant of not bailing by the justices . for what have the inferiour courts of the countrey to do with the acts of the justices ? and to make it more plain , he setteth down in his chapter ( that concerns sheriffs onely ) the very statute of west . 1. cap. 15. which he translates verbatim out of the french into latine , save that he renders , taken by the command of the justices thus , per judicium justitiariorum , and his preface to the statute plainly sheweth that he understood it of replevin by sheriffs : for he saith , qui non debent per plegios dimitti , qui non declaret hoc statutum ; and per plegios is before the sheriff . but for direct authority , it is the opinion of newton chief justice , 22. henry 6. 46. where his words are these : it cannot be intended but the sheriff did suffer him to go at large by mainprise : for where one is taken by the vvrit of the king , at the commandment of the king , he is replevisable ; but in such cases his friends may come to the justices for him if he be arrested , and purchase a supersedeas . this judge concludes , that the sheriff cannot deliver him that is taken by the command of the king , for that he is irreplevisable , which are the very words of the statute : but saith he , his friends may come to the justices , and purchase a supersedeas . so he declares the very question , that the sheriff had no power , but that the justices had power to deliver him who is committed by the kings command , and both the antient and modern practise manifests as much . for he that is taken for the death of a man , or for the forrest , is not replevisable by the sheriff ; yet they are ordiuarily bayled by the justices , and were by the kings vvrits directed to the sheriffs in the times of edward 1. & edward 2. as it appears in the close rolls , which could not be done if they were not baileable : and it is every dayes experience that the justices of the kings bench do baile for murder , and for offences done in the forrest ; which they could not do , if the word irreplevisable in westminster l. were meant of the justices as well as the sheriffs . for the authorities that have been offered to prove the contrary , they are in number three . the first is 21. edward 1. rot . 2. in scrin . which also is in the book of pleas in the parliament at the tower fol. 44. it is not an act of parliament , but a resolution in parliament , upon an action there brought , which was usual in those times . and the case is , that stephen rabab the sheriff of the county of leicester , and warwick was questioned for that he had let at large , by sureties , amongst others , one william the sonne of walter le persons , against the will and command of the king , whereas the king had commanded him by letters under his privy seal , that he should do no favour to any man , that was committed by the command of the earl of warwick , as that man was : vvhereunto the sheriff answered , that he did it at the request of some of the king's houshold upon their letters . and because the sheriff did acknowledge the receipt of the king's letters , thereupon he was committed to prison , according to the form of the statute . to this i answer , that the sheriff was justly punished , for that he is expresly bound by the statute of west . 1. which was agreed from the beginning . but this is no proof that the judges had not power to baile this man. the next authority is 33. henry 6 . in the court of common pleas , fol. 28. b. 29 . where robert poynings esq was brought to the bar upon a capias , and it was returned , that he was committed per duos de concilio ( which is strongest against what i maintain ) pro diversis causis regem tangentibus , and he made an attorney there in an action : whence it is inferred , that the return was good , and the party could not be delivered . to this the answer is plain . first , no opinion is delivered , in that book , one way or other upon the return , neither is there any testimony whether he were delivered or bailed , or not . secondly , it appears expresly that he was brought thither to be charged in an action of debt at another mans suit , and no desire of his own to be delivered or bailed : and then , if he were remanded , it is no way material to the question in hand . but that which is most relyed upon , is the opinion of stanford in his book of the pleas of the crown lib. 2. cap. 18. fol. 72. 73 , in his chapter of mainprise , where he reciteth the chapter of west . 1. cap. 15. and then saith thus : by this statute it appears , that in 4. causes at the common law a man was not replevisable ; to wit , those that were taken for the death of a man , by the command of the king , or of his justices , or for the forrest . thus far he is most right . then he goeth on and saith ; as to the command of the king ; that is understood of the command by his own mouth , or his council , which is incorporated unto him and speak with his mouth ; or otherwise every writ of capias to take a man ( which is the kings command ) would be as much . and as to the command of the justices , their absolute commandment ; for if it be their ordinary commandment , he is replevisable by the sheriff , if it be not in some of the cases prohibited by the statute . the answer that i give unto this is , that stamford hath said nothing whether a man may be committed without cause by the kings command , or whether the judges might not baile him in such case ; but only that such an one is not replevisable ; which is agreed ; for that belongs to the sheriff : and because no man should think he meant any such thing , he concludes his whole sentence touching the command of the king and the justices , that one committed by the justice's ordinary command is replevisable by the sheriff ; so either he meant all by the sheriff ; or at least it appears not that he meant , that a man committed by the king or the privy council , without cause , is not baileable by the justices : and then he hath given no opinion in this case . what he would have said , if he had been asked the question , cannot be known : neither doth doth it appear by any thing he hath said , that he meant any such thing as would be inforced out of him . and now , my lords , i have performed the command of the house of commons , and ( as i conceive ) shall leave their declaration of personal liberty an antient and undoubted truth , fortifyed with seven acts of parliament , and not opposed by any statute or authority of law whatsoever . the objections of the kings councel , with the answers made thereunto at the two other conferences touching the same matter . it was agreed by master attorney general , that the seven statutes urged by the commons were in force , and that magna charta did extend most properly to the king , but he said , that some of them are in general words , and therefore conclued nothing ; but are to be expounded by the presidents , and others , that be more particular ; are applied to the suggestions of subjects , aud not to the kings command simply of it self . hereunto is answered , that the statutes were as direct as could be , which appeareth by the reading of them , and that though some of themspeak of suggestions of the subjects , yet others do not ; and they that . do , are as effectual ; for that they are in qual reason ; a commitment by the command of the king being of as great force when it moveth by a suggestion feom a subject , as when the king taketh notice of the cause himself ; the rather , for that kings seldome intermeddle with matters of this nature , but by information from some of their people . 2. master attorney objected , that per legem terrae in magna charta ( which is the foundation of this question ) cannot be understood for process of the law and original writ : for that in all criminal proceedings no original writs is used at all , but every constable may arrest , either for felony , or for breach of the peace , without process or original writ : and it were hard the king should not have the power of a constable : and the statutes cited by the commons make process of the law , and writ original to be all one . the answer of the commons to this objection was , that they do not intend original writs only by the law of the land , but all other legal process which comprehend the whole proceedings of law upon the cause ; other then the tryal by jury , per judicium parium , unto which it is opposed . thus much is imposed ex vi termini , out of the word process , and by the true acceptation thereof in the statute have been urged by the commons to maintain their declaration ; and most especially in the statutes of 25. edward 3. c● p. 4. where it appeareth , that a man ought to be brought in to answer by the course of the law , having made former mention of process made by original writ . and in 28. edward 3. cap. 3. by the course of the law , is rendred by due process of the law. and 36. edward 3. rot. parl. nu . 20. the petition of the commons saith , that no man ought to be imprisoned by special command without indictment , or other due process to be made by the law. 37 edward 3. cap 18. calleth the same thing process of the law. and 42. edward 3. cap. 3. stileth it by due process and writ original ; where the conjunctive must be taken for a disjunctive ; which change is ordinary in exposition of statutes and deeds to avoid inconveniences , and to make it stand with the rest , and with reason , and it may be collected , that by the law of the land in magna charta ; by the course of the law in 2 5. edward 3. by due process of the law in 28. ed. 3. other due process to be made by the law 36. edward 3. process of the law 37. edward 3. and by due process and writ original 42. edward 3. are meant one and the same thing ; the latter of these statutes referring alwayes to the former ; and that all of them import any due and regular proceeding of law upon a cause , other then a trial by jury . and this appeareth cook 10. 74. in the case of the marsha●●●c ; and cook. 1.99 . sir. james bagg's case , where it is understood of giving jurisdiction by charter or prescription , which is the ground or a proceeding by course of law ; and in s●ld●rs notes ou 〈◊〉 fol. 29. where it is expounded for wager of law , which is likewise a tryal at law by the oath of the party , differing from that of jury : and it doth truly comprehend these and all other regular proceedings in law upon cause , which gives authority to the constable to arrest upon cause ; and if this should not be the true exposition of these words ( per legem terrae ) the king's council were desired to declare their meaning ; which they never offered to do ; and yet certainly , these words were not put into the statute , without some intention of consequence . and thereupon m. serjeant ashley offered an interpretation of them thus ; namely , that there were divers laws of this realm ; as the common law ; the law of the chancery ; the ecclesiastical law ; the law of admiralty or marine law ; the law of merchants ; the martial law ; and the law of state : and that these words , ( per legam terrae ) do extend to all those laws . to this it was answered , that we read of no law of state , and that none of those laws can be meant there , save the common , which is the principal and general law , and is always understood by way of excellency , when mention is made of the law of the land generally ; and that though each of the other laws which are admitted into this kingdom by custome or act of parliament , may justly be called a law of the land ; yet none of them can have that preheminency to be stiled the law of the land ; and no stature , law-book , or other authority , printed or unprinted , could be shewed to prove that the law of the land , being generally mentioned , was e●er intended of any other law than the common law ( and yet , even by these other laws a man may not be committed without a cause expressed ) but it standeth with the rule of other legal expositions , that per legem terrae , must be meant the common law , by which the general and universal law by which men hold their inheritances , and therfore if a man speak of escuage generally , it is understood ( as littleton observeth plt , 99. ) of the incertain escuage , which is a knight●s serviec tenure for the defence of the realm by the body of the tenant in time of vvar ; and not of the certain escuage which giveth only a contribution in money , and no personal service . and if a statute speak of the king's courts of record , it is meant only of the four at westminster by way of excellency : cook. 6. 20. gregories case . so the canonists , by the excommunication , if simply spoken , do intend the greater excommunication ; and the emperor in his institutions , saith , that the civil law being spoken generally , is meant of the civil law of rome , though the law of every city is a civil law , as when a man names a poet , the grecians understand homer , the latinists virgil. secondly , admit that per legem terrae extend to all the laws of the land ; yet a man must not be committed by any of them , but by the due proceedings that are exercised by those laws , and upon cause declared . again it was urged , that the king is not bound to express a cause of imprisonment ; because there may be in it matter of state not fit to be revealed for a time , least the confederates thereupon make means to escape the hands of justice : and therefore the statutes cannot be intended to restrain all commitments , unless a cause be expressed ; for that it would be very inconvenient and dangerous to the state to publish the cause at the very first . hereunto it was replyed by the commons , that all danger and inconvenience may be avoided by declaring a general cause ; as , for treason ; for suspition of treason , misprision of treason , or felony , without specifying the particular ; which can give no greater light to a confederate then will be conjectured by the very apprehension or upon the imprisonment , if nothing at all were expressed . it was further alleadged , that there was a kind of contradiction in the position of the commons , when they say , that the party committed without a cause shewed , ought to be delivered or bailed ; bailing being a kind of imprisonment , delivery a total freedome . to this it was answered , that it hath alwayes been the discretion of the judges to give so much respect to a commitment by the command of the king or the privie councel , ( which are ever intended to be done on just and weighty causes ) that they will not presently set him free , but baile him to answer what shall be objected against him on his majesties behalf : but if any other inferiour officer commit a man without cause shewed , they do instantly deliver him as having no cause to expect their pleasure ; so the delivery is applyed to an imprisonment by the command of some mean minister of justice ; bailing when it is done by the command of the king or his councel . it was urged by master attorney , that bailing is a grace and favour of a court of justice , and that they may refuse to do it . this was agreed to be true in divers cases , as where the cause appeareth to be for felony , or other crime expressed ; for that there is another way to discharge them in convenient time , by their tryal ; ( and yet in those cases the constant practise hath been , antiently and modernly to bayle men ) but where no cause of the imprisonment is returned , but the command of the king , there is no way to deliver such persons , by tryal or otherwise , but that of habeas corpus , and if they should be then remanded , they may be perpetually imprisoned , without any remedy at all , and consequently , a man that had committed no offence might be in worse case then a great offendor ; for , the latter should have an ordinary tryal to discharge him , the other should never be delivered . it was further said , that though the statute of west . i. cap , 15. as a statute , by way of provision did extend only to the sheriff ; yet the recital in that statute , touching the 4. causes wherein a man was not replevisable at common law ( namely those that were committed for the death of a man ; by the command of the king , or the justices , or for the forrest ) did declare that the justices could not baile such an one , and that replevisable and baileable were synonyma , and all one . and that stanford ( a judge of great authority ) doth expound it acordingly ; and that neither the statute not he say replevisable by the sheriff , but generally without restraint ; and that if the chief justiee committed a man , he is not to be enlarged by another court , as appeareth in the register . 1. to this it was answered ; first , that the recital and body of the statute relate only to the sheriff , as appeareth by the very words . 2. that replevisable is not restrained to the sheriff ; for that the word imports no more , that a man committed by the juftice is baileable by the court of the king●s bench. 3. that stamford meaneth all of the sheriff , or at the least he hath not sufficiently expressed that he intended the justices . 4. it was denyed that replevisable and baileable are the same : for , they differ in respect of the place where they are used , bail being in the king's courts of record , replevisable before the sheriff . and they are of several natures , replevisable being a letting at large upon sureties ; bailing , when one traditur in ballium , and the baile are his jaylors , and may imprison him , and shall suffer body for body ; which is not true of replevying by sureties . and bail differeth from mainprize in this , that mainprize is an undertaking in a sum certain , bailing to answer the condemnation in civil causes , and in criminal body for body . and the reasons and authorities used in the first conference were then renewed , and no exception taken to any , save that in 22. henry 6. it doth not appear that the command of the king was by his mouth ( which must be intended ) or by his councel ( which is all one , as is observed by stamford ) for the words are , that a man is not replevisable by the sheriff , who is committed by the writ or commandment of the king. 21. edward 1. rot. 2. dorso was cited by the kings counsel , but it was answered , that it concerned the sheriff of leicestershire only ; and not the power of the judges . 33. henry 6. the king's attorney confessed was nothing to the purpose ; and yet that book had been usually cited by those that maintain the contrary to the declaration of the commons ; and therefore such sudden opinion as hath been given thereupon is not to be regarded , the foundation failing . and where it was said , that the french of 36. edward rot. parl. n. 9. ( which canreceive no answer ) did not warrant but what was enforced thence ; but that these words , ( sans disturbance metter , ou arrese faire , & l'encontre per special mandement on en autre manere ) must be understood , that the statutes should be put in execution without disturbance or stay ; and not that they should be put in execution without putting disturbance or making arrest to the contrary by special command , or in other manner . the commons did utterly deny the interpretation given by the kings councel ; and to justifie their own , did appeal to all men that understood french , and upon the seven statutes did conclude , that their declaration remained an undoubted truth , not controuled by any thing said to the contrary . the true copies of the records not printed which were used on either side in that part of the deba e. inter. record . domini regis caroli in thesaurar . recep . 〈◊〉 . sui sub custodia domini thesaurar . & camer . ibidem remanen . videlicet plac. coram ipso domino rege & concilio suo ad parliamentum su●m post pasc . apud london in ma●erio arch●●piscopi ebor. anno regni domini regis edwardi 21. in t . al. sic . continetur ut sequitur . rot. secundo in dorso . stephanus rabar . vic. leic. & warr. coram ipso domino rege & ejus concilio arrenatus & ad rationem positus de hoc quod cum johan . boutet●urte , edw. del hache , & w. havelin nuper in bal. ipsus vic. per dominum regem fuissent assignat . ad goales domini regis deliberand . idem vic. quendam wi●hel . de petling per quendam appellatorem ante adventum eorum justic . ibidem appellatorem & captum vivente ipso appellatore usque diem de liberationis coram eis sact . dimisit per plevinam contra formam statuti &c. et etiam quendam radum de cokehal , qui de morte horninis judicatus fuit , & per eundem vic. captus , idem vic. per plevinam dimisit contra formam statuti , & etiam eundem radum fine ferris coram eisdem justic . ad deliberationem praed . produxit contra consuetudinem regni . et sci . quendam wilh . fllium walteri la persone , qui per praeceptum com. war. captus fuit , per plevinam contra praeceptum domini regis , cum idem dominus rex per literas suas sub privat . sigillo suo eidem vic. praecepit quod nulli per praecept . praed . com. war. capt . aliquam gratiam faceret &c. et super hoc praefat . johannes botetourte , qui praesens est , & qui fuit primus justic . praedictorum praemissa recordatur . et praedicuts vic. dicit quoad praedictum wilh . de petling , quod ipse nunquam a tempore captionis ipsius wilh per praed . appellat . dimissus fuit per plevinam aliquam ante adventum praedictorum justic . imo dicit quod per dimidium annum ante adventum eorundem justic . captus fuit & semper detent . in prisona absque plevina aliqua quousque coram eis damnat . fuit . et quoad praedictum radum bene cognoscit quod ipse dimisit eum per plevinam , & hoc bene facere potuit ratione & authoritat . officii sui , eo quod capt . fuit pro quadam simplic . transgr . & non pro aliqua felon . pro qua replegiari non potuir . et quoad tertium , videlicet wilh . silium persone , bene cognoscit quod ipse captus fuit per praecept . praed . com. war. & quod dimisit eum per plevinam ; sed dicit quod hoc fecit ad rogatum quorundam de hospitia & cur . domini regis &c. qui eum inde specialiter rogaverunt per literas suas . et super hoc idem vic. quaesit . per dominum regem quis eum rogavit & literas suas ei direxit , & ubi literae illae sunt , dicit quod walt. de langton eum per literas suas inde rogavit ; sed dicit quod literae illae sunt in partibus suis leic. et super hoc idem vic. profert quoddam brev . domini regis de privat . sigillo eidem vic. direct . quod testatur quod dominus rex ipsi vic. praecepit quod omnes illos trangressores contra pacem & de quibus . com. war. ei scire faceret , caperet . & salvo custodiret absque aliqua gratia ei faciend . et quia praed . iustic . expresse recordatur quod ipse & socii sui per bonum & legalem inquis . de militibus . & al. liberis . hominib . eis fact . invenerunt quod praedictus gulielmus de petlenge dimissus fuit per plevinam per mag-num tempus ante adventum eorund . justic . usque adventum eorund . & per vic. praed . & etiam quia praed . vic. cognoscit quod praedictus rad. dimissus fuit per plevinam per ipsum , un . & hoc dicit quod bene facere potuit eo quod captus fuit pro levi transgr . et per record . ejusdem justic . comp . est quod captus fuit pro morte hominis , quod est contrarium dec . praedicti vic . & scil . quia idem vic . cognovit quod recepit literam domini regis per quam rex ei praecepit quod nullam gratiam faceret illis qui capti fuerunt per praeceptum praedicti com. et idem vic. contra praeceptum illud dimisit praedictum wilh . filium walteri per plevinam , qui captus fuit per praeceptum praedicti com. prout idem vic. fatetur . et sic tam ratione istius transg . quam aliarium praedictarum incurrit in poenam statuti , cons . est quod praedictus vic. committatur prisonae juxta formam statuti &c. ex rot. paliamenti de anno regni regis edwardi tertii tricesimo quinto n. 9. primerement que le grande charter , & la charter de la forreste , & les autre estatutes faits en son temps , & de ses progenitors pur profit de luy & de la come , soient bien & ferment gardes , & mis en due execution sans disturbance mettre ou arrest faire , & l'ccontre per special mandement ou en autre manere . respons . nostre sr. le roy per assent de prelates , domines , comites , barones & la come ad ordeine & estabili que les dits charters & estatutes soient tenus & mis en execution selon la dit petition . nu. 2. item come ilsolt contenus en lagrand charter et autres estatutes que nul homme soit pris nemy prisoner per especial mandement sans enditement aut autre due proces affaire per la ley , et sonent foitz ad estre et uncore est , que plusurs gentz sont empeschez , pris et imprisone sans enditement ou autre proces fait per la ley sur eux , sibien de chose fait hors de la forrest le roy come per autre cause que plese a nostre dit sr. comander et deliver ceux que sont issint pris per tiel especial mandement contre la forme des charters et estatutes avanditz . respons . il plest au roy , & sinulse sente greve vingne & face la pleinte , & droit luy sera fait . 33. parl. anno 42. edward 3. n. 12. item pur ceo que plusours de vostre come son tamerce & disturbes per faulx accusors quenx font lour accusements plus pur lour vengeances & singulers profits que pur le profit de roy ou de son peuple , et les accuses per cux ascuns ont est pris & ascuns sont faire ven . deut le conceil l● roy per brief on autre mandement de roy sub gra●de pain encountre laley , plese a nostre sr. le roy & son counceil pur droit gouvernment de son peuple ordeign que si desire ascun accusors purpose ascun matire pur prosit du roy que cele matire soit mander a ses justices del'un banke ou del'autre , ou d' assises dent enquere & terminere selonque laley , & si le touche lai onsour ou partie eit sa so●t a la come ley , & que null home soit mis a respondre sans presentment deut justices , ou chose de record , ou per due process et briefe original , s●lon l'ancient ley de la terre , & si rien desire enovant soit fait a l'enco●tre , soit voide en ley , & tenu pur errour . respons . pur ceo que ceste article est article de la grande charter le roy voet qne ceo soit fait come la petition demande . ex rot. claus . anno regis edwardi primi primom . 1. thomas de clirowe de blechweth captus & detentus in prisona north. pro transgr . forrest . habet literas rogero de clifford justic . forrest . citra trentam quod ponatur per ballium , dat . apud s. martium magnum london 20. die octobris . m. 7 . stephanus de li dely captus & detent . in prisona regis pro trans . per ipsum fact . in ha . regis de lyndeby habet literas . regis galfrido de nevil justic . ultra trent . quod ponatur per ballium . m. 9 . thomas spademan captus & detent . in prisona oxon. pro morte wilh . win. unde rectat . est & habet literas regis vic. oxon. quod ponatur per ballium . ibidem . gulielmus de dene , mathaeus crust , roger de bedell , gulielmus halfrench , robertus wyant , alex. horeux , henric. de shorne , nicholaus de snodilond , turgisius de hertfield , robertus de pole , & richardus galiot capti & detent . in prisona de cantuar. pro morte galfridi de catiller unde appellat . sunt , habent literas regis vic. canc. quod ponantur per ballium dat. &c , 23. die martii . claus . anno secundo edwardi primi m. 12. rex rogero de cliffi justic . forrest citra trent . mandamus yobis quod si robertus unwyne captus & detent . in prisona nostra de aylesburie pro transgr . forrestae nostrae , invenerit vobis duodecim probos & legales homines de balliva vestra qui manucapiant eum habere coram justic . rostris ad plac . forrest . cum in parte &c. ad stand . inde rect . tunc apud robertum si secund . assiam . forreste fuerit repleg . praedictis 12. interim tradit . in ballium sicut praedictum est . et habeatis nomina illorum 12. hominum & ho. bre . dat. 27. die februarii . clauso anno secundo edwardi primi . m. 14. vnwynus de boycot , gaf . de wykenn & hugh de stowe detent . in prisona regis de aylesburie pro trangressione venationis habuer . bre . direct . regis de clifford justic . forrest quod secundum assiam forrest fuerint repleg . ponantur per ballium usque adventum justic . regis ad plac . forreste cum in partes illas venerit . dat. apud codington 28. die decembris . m. 15. gilbertus conray de kedington , & hugh le tailour de kedington capti & detent . in prisona de secundo edwardo pro morte edwardi butting , unde rectati sunt , habuerunt literas regis vic. suff. quod ponantur per ballium . clauso anno 3. edwardi primi . m. 11. galfr. de hayerton captus & detent . in prisona regis ebor. pro morte ade le clerc . unde rectatus est , habet literas regis vic. ebor. quod ponatur per ballium . dat. apud w. 15. die junii . m. 20. robertus belharbe capt . & detent . in prisona regis de newgate pro morte thomae pollard . unde rectat , est , habet literas regis vic. midd. quod ponatur per ballium . dat. 28. die februarii . clauso anno quarto edwardi primi . m. 5. mand. est rad. de sanadwico quod si gulielmus de pattare & johannes filius ejus , walterus home , walt. jorven , henricus pothe & gulielmus cadegan capti & detent . in prisona regis de secundo brianello pro trans . forrest unde rectati sunt , invenerunt sibi duodecim probos & legales homines de balliva sua , viz. quilibet eorum duodecim qui eos manucap . habere coram justic . regis ad plac . forrest . cum in partes ill . venerent , ad stand . inde recto , tunc ipsos willhelmum , johannem , walterum , walterum , henricum & willh . praed . duodecim . scil . secundum assiam forreste fuerint repleg . tradat in ballium ut praedictum est , et habeat ibi nomina illorum duodecim hominum , & hoc . bre . t. rege apud bellum locum regis 29. die augusti . clauso anno quarto edwardi primi . m. 16. henricus filius rogeri de ken de cottesbrook , captus & detent . in prisona nostra north. pro morte simonis le charetter unde appellatus est , habet literas regis vic. north. quod ponit . per ballium . clauso anno quinto edwardi primi . m. 1. mand. est galfrido de nevil justic . forreste ultra trent . quod si walter de la grene captus & detent . in prisona de nott. pro trans . forreste invenerit sibi duodecim probos & legales homines qui eum manucapiant &c. ad stand . inde rect . secundum assiam forreste regis , tunc ipsum walterum praedictis duodecim tradat in ballium sicut praedictum est . dat. decimo sexto die novembris . m. 2. thomas de upwel & jul. uxor ejus capt . & detent . in prisona de vvynbole pro morte stephani southell unde rectati sunt habuer . liter . vic. norff. quod ponantur per ballium . dat apud rocheland 28. die septembris . clauso anno sexto edwardi primi . m. bilherus pesse captus & detent . in prisona regis de norwich pro morte jul. quond . uxoris suae unde rectatus est , habet literas vic. norff. quod ponatur per ballium , t. rege apud vvestmonast . 12. novembris . m. 4. mandat . est vic. nott. scilicet quod si thomas de cadrte rectatus de transg . forrest quam fecisse dicebatur in forresto de shirwood , invenerit sibi sex probos & legales homines de balliva sua qui eum reg. ad stand . rect . coram r. cum r. inde manucap . habere coram rege ad mand . vers . eum loqui voluerit , tunc praed . tho. praed . sex hominib . tradat in ballium juxta manucaptionem supradictam . dat. decimo quinto die decembris . m. 4. thorn. burell capt. & detent . in prisona regis exon. pro morte galf. giffarde unde rectat . est , habet litteras vic. devon. quod ponatur per ballium . clauso anno 3. edwardi secundi . m. 13. adem le piper capt. & detent . in gaole regis ebor. pro morte henr. le simer de escricke unde rect . est , habet literas regis vic. ebor. quod ponatur per ballium usque ad prim . assiam . t. rege apud westm . septimo die febr. m. 14. margareta uxor vvilh. calbot capta & detent . in gaole regis norwic. pro morte agnetis filiae wilh . calbot . & martil . soror . ejusdem agnet . unde rectata est , habet literas regis vic. norff. quod ponatur per ballium . t. rege apud shene 22. die jan. m. 18. johannes frere capt. & detent . in gaole regis exon. pro morte ade de egelegh unde rectat . est , habet literas regis vic. devon . quod ponatur per ballium . t. rege apud vvestm . 8. die de●embris . clauso anno quarto edwardi secundi . m. 7. robertus shereve capt . & detent . in gaole regis de colcestr . pro morte robertile m●igne unde in●i●tat . est , habet literas regis vic. essex , quod ponatur in ballium usque ad pri . assiam . dat. 22. die maii. m. 8. vvilh. filius rogerile fishere de shurborne capt . & detent . in gaole regis ebor. pro morte roberti le monnour de norton unde rectatus est , habet literas regis vic. ebor. quod ponatur per ballium usque ad pri . assiam , dat. 25. die april . clauso anno quarto edwardi secundi . m. 22. thom. ellys de stamford capt . & detent . in prisona regis lincoln . pro morte michael . filii vvilh. de foderingey unde rectatus est , habet literas regis vic. linc. quod ponatur in ballium usque ad pri . assiam . t. rege apud novam vvest . octavo die septembris . patent . anno octavo edwardi pars prima membr . 14. rex omnib . ad quos &c. salutem . sciatis quod cum georgius de rupe de hiber . defunctus pro eo quod ad parliamenta apud dublin in hibern . ann. regni domini edwardi nuper regis angl. praec . nostrivicesimo , & anno regni nostri secundo tenta , non venit prout summonitus fuit , ad ducentas marcas amerciatus fuisset ut accipimus , ac johannes filius praedicti georgii nobis supplicaverit ut habito respectu ad hoc quod praedictus pater suus se a parliamentis praedictis causa in obedientiae non absentavit , per quod ita excessive amerciari deberet , velimus concedere , quod amerciamenta illa quae ab ipso johanne ad opus nostrum per summonitionem sccii nostri dublin jam exigunt , juste moderentur . nos volentes cum eodem johanne gratiose agere in hac parte , volumus & concedimus quod decem librae tantum de praedictis ducentis marcis ad opus nostrum ex causis praemissis leventur ; et praefatum johannem de toto residuo earundum ducentarum marcarum tenore praesentium quietamus . in cujus . &c. t. rege apud novum castrum super tynam . per petitionem de concilio apud novum castrum super tynam . et mandat . est thomae & camerar . de sccio . dublin quod praedictas decem libras de praedictis ducentis marcis de praefato johanne ad opus regis levent , & ipsum johannem de toto residuo inde addict . sccam . exonerari & quietum esse fact . t. ut supra . per eandem petitionem patent . vicesimo septimo edwardi tertii pars prima membr . 13. rex omnibus ad quos &c. salut . sciatis quod de gra . nostra speciali concessimus pro nobis & hered . nostris dilecto , & fideli nostro iacobo daudle de helegh quod ipse ad to tam vitam quietus sit de veniendo ad parliamenta & conciiia nostra & hered . nostrorum ac etiam ad congregationes magnatum & procerum ad mandata nostra vel heredum nostrorum ubicunque faciend . ita quod idem jacobus , quoad vixerit ra●ione non adventus sui ad parliamenta , concilia , seu congregationes hujusmodi , seu personalis comparationis in eisdem per nos vel heredes nostros aut ministros nostros quoscunque non impetatur , occasionetnr aliqual . seu gravetur . concessimus insuper pro nobis & ●ered . nostris praefato jacobo quod ipse toto tempore vitae suae ad laborand . de guerra in servitiis nostris vel hered . nostrorum seu ad homines ad arma , hobelarios , vel sagitarios in hujusmodi servitiis ex nunc inveniend . extta regnum nostrum angl. nisi cum regale servitium nostrum aut heredum nostrorum summonitum fuerit , contra voluntatem suam nullatenus compellatur , nec ea de causa aliquali er impetatur , ita semper quod idem jacobus cum hominibus ad arma & aliis armatis pro defensione regni nostri angl. infra idem regnum quoties aggressus inimicorum nostrorum aut aliud periculum vel necessitas eidem regno immineant una cum aliis fidelibus nostris ipsius regni proficiscat . & homines ad arma , hobelar . & sagittar . juxta statum suum sicut caeteri de eodem regno ea de causa invenire teneatur . in cujus rei &c. t. rege apud west . 20. die april . per ipsum regem . patent . 42. edwardi . 3. part . secunda mem . 13. rex omnibus ball. & fidelibus suis ad quos &c. salutem . sciatis quod de gra . nostra speciali concessimus pro nobis & hered . nostris dilecto & fideli nostro roberto de insula mil. fil . & heredi johannis de insula , quod idem robertus ad totam vitam suam hanc habeat libertatem , videlicet , quod ad parliamenta seu concilia nostra vel hered . nostrorum ex quacunque causa venire minime teneatur . et quod ipse in aliqua jurata , attincta aut magna assisas nos vel heredes nostros tangent . aut aliis juratis , attinctis aut assizis quibuscunque non ponatur &c. et ideo vobis mandamus quod praedictum robertum contra hanc concessionem nostram non molestetis in aliquo seu gravetis . in cujus &c. t. rege apud west . 24. die novembr per breve de privato sigillo . pat. 34. henric. sext . membr . 23. rex omnibus ad quos &c. salut . sciatis quod cum pro quibusdam arduis & urgentibus negotiis nos statum & defensionem regni nostri angl. ac ecclesiae anglicanae contingentibus , quoddam parliamentum nostrum nuper apud palatium nostrum vvest . teneri , & usque ad duodecim . diem hujus instantis mensis novembr . ad idem palatium nostrum adjornari & prorogari ordinaverimus , quia vero dicto parliamento nostro propter certas justas & rationabiles causas in persona nostra non potuetuerimus interesse , nos de circumspectione & industria carissimi consanguinei nostri rich. ducis ebora . plenam fiduciam reportantes , eidem consanguineo nostro ad parliamentum praedictum nomine nostro tenend . & in eod . procedend . & ad faciend . omnia & singula quae pro nobis & per nos pro bono regimine & gubernatione regni nostri praedicti ac aliorum dominorum nostrorum eidem regno nostro pertinent . ibidem fuerint faciend . nec non ad parliamentum illud finiend . & dissolvend . de assensu concilii nostri plenam tenore praesentium commisimus potestatem . dante 's ulterius de assensu ejusdem concilii nostri tam universis & singulis archiepiscopis , episcopis , abbatibus , prioribus , ducibus , comitibus , vice-comitibus , baronibus & militibus cum omnibus aliis quorum interest ad parliamentum nostrum praedictum conventur . scilic . tenore praesentium firmiter in mandatis quod eidem consanguineo nostro intendant in praemissis in forma praedicta . in cujus &c. t. rege . apud vvest . ii. die novembr . per breve de privato sigillo & de dat . praedict . &c. pat. 24. henric. 6. memb . 19. pars prima . rex omnibus balliis & fidelibus suis ad quos &c. salut . sciatis quod cum ubi vvilh. lovell miles ad parliamenta & concilia nostra ad mandatum nostrum , venire teneatur , hinc est quod idem vvilhelmus , ob divers . infirmat . quibus detinetur , absque maximo corporis sui periculo ad parliamenta & concilia praedicta laborare non sufficit , ut informamur . nos praemissa , ac bona & gratuita servitia quae idem vvilh. tam patri nostro defuncto quam nobis in partibus transmarinis impendit , & nobis in in regno nostro angl. impendere desiderat considerantes , de gratia nostra speciali concessimus eidem vvilh. quod ipse durante vita sua per nos vel hered . nostros ad veniend . ad parliamenta seu concilia nostra quaecunque tent . sive in posterum tenen . contra voluntatem suam non arctetur nec compellatur quovis modo , sed quod ipse ab hujusmodi parliamentis & conciliis in futur . se absentare possit licite & impune , aliquo statuto , actu , ordinatione . sive mandaro inde in contrarium fact . ordinat . sive provis . non obstant . et ulterius volumus , & eidem wilhelmo per praes . concedimus quod absentatio hujusmodi non cedat ei in damnum seu prejudicium quoquo modo , sed quod praes . carta nostra de exemptione , per praefatum wilh . seu alium quemcunque nomine suo in quibuscunque locis infra regnum nostrum angl. demonstrat . super demonstratione illa eidem wilh . valeat & allocetur , proviso semper quod idem wilh . ad voluntatem suam , & heredes sui loca sua in parliamenta & conciliis praedictis habeant & teneant , prout idem wilh . & antecessores sui in hujusmodi parliamentis & conciliis ab antiquo habuerunt & tenuerunt , concessione nostra praedicta non obstante . in cujns . &c. t. rege apud west . quarto die febr. per breve de privato sigillo & de data praedicta authoritate parliamenti . clauso anno 27. henric. 6. m. 24. dorso . rex dilecto & fidel . suo hen. bromflete militi baroni de vescy salutem . quia & volumus enim vos & heredes vestros masculos de corpore vestro legitime exeuntes barones de vessey existere . t. rege apud west . 24. die januar. pat. 34. henric. sext . membr . 13 . rex concessit hen. bromflete militi domino vessey qui senio & tantis infirmitatibus detentus existit , quod absque maximo corporis sui periculo labor . non sufficit , quod ipse durante vita sua ad personalit . veniend . ad person . regis , per aliquod breve sub magno vel privato sigillo , aut per literam sub sigillo signeti regis , vel per aliquod ad aliud mandatum regis vel hered . suorum seu ad aliquod concilium , sive parliamentum regis vel hered . suorun ex nunc tenend . nullatenus arctatur neque compellatur contra voluntat . suam &c. t. rege apu● west . 13. die maii. per ipsum regem de dat . praedicta auctoritate parliamenti . a speech delivered in the lower house of parliament assembled at oxford : in the first year of the reign of king charles , i. by sir robert cotton knight and barronet . london : printed in the year 1672. a speech delivered in the lower house of parliament assembled at oxford : in the first year of the reign of king charles . mr. speaker , although the constant vvisdome of this house of commons did well and worthily appear in censuring that ill advised member the last day , for trenching so far into their antient liberties , and might encourage each worthy servant of the publique here to offer freely up his council and opinion : yet since these vvalls cannot conceal from the ears of captious , guilty and revengful men withou● , the councel and debates within : i will endeavour , as my clear mind is free from any personal distaste of any one , so to express the honest thoughts of my heart , and discharge the best care of my trust , as no person shall justly taxe my innocent and publick mind , except his conscience shall make him guilty of such crimes as worthily have in parliament impeached others in elder times . i will therefore , with asmuch brevity as i can , set down how these disorders have by degrees sprung up in our own memories ; how the wisdom of the best and wisest ager did of old redress the like . and lastly , what modest and dutiful course i would wish to be followed by our selves in this so happy spring of our hopeful master . for ( mr. speaker ) we are not to judge , but to present : the redress is above ad querimoniam vulgi . now ( mr. speaker ) so long as those attended about our late soveraign master , now with god , as had served the late queen of happy memory , debts of the crown were not so great ; commissions and g●ants not so often complained of in parliaments ; trade flourished ; pensions not so many , though more then in the late queens time : for they exceeded not 18000. l. now near 120000. l. all things of moment were carryed by publick debate at the council-table ; no honour set to sale ; nor places of judicature . lawes against priests and recusants were executed : resort of papists to ambassadors houses barred and punished ; his majesty by daily direction to all his ministers , and by his own pen declaring his dislike of that profession : no wastful expences in fruitless ambassages , nor any transcendent power in any one minister . for matters of state , the council-table held up the fit and antient dignity . so long as my lord of somerset stood in state of grace , and had by his majesty's favour the trust of the signet seale ; he oft would glory justly , there passed neither to himself , or his friends any long grants of his highness lands or pensions : for that which himself had , he paid 20000. l. towards the marriage-portion of the king's daughter . his care was to pass no monopoly or illegal grant , and that some members of this house can witness by his charge unto them . no giving way to the sale of honours , as a breach upon the nobility ( for such were his own words ) refusing sir john roper's office , then tendred to procure him to be made a baron . the match with spain , then offered ( and with condition to require no further toleration in religion then ambassadours here are allowed ) discovering the double dealing and the dangers , he disswaded his majesty from ; and left him so far in distrust of the faith of that king , and his great instrument gondomar , then here residing , that his majesty did term him long time after a jugling jack . thus stood th' effect of his power with his majesty when the clouds of his misfortune fell upon him . vvhat the future advices led in , we may well remember . the marriage with spain was again renewed : gondomar declared an honest man : poperie heartened , by admission of those unsure , before conditions of conveniencie . the forces of his majestie in the palatinate withdrawn , upon spanish faith improved here and beleived ; by which his highness children have lost their patrimony , and more money been spent in fruitless ambassages , then would have maintained an army fit to have recovered that countrey . our old and fast allies disheartened , by that tedious and dangerous treaty : and the king our now master , exposed to so great a peril , as no wise and faithful councel would ever have advised . errors in government , more in misfortune by weak councels , then in princes . the loss of the county of poyntiffe in france , was laid to bishop wickham's charge in the first of richard the 2. for perswading the king to forbear sending aid when it was required : a capital crime in parliament . the loss of the dutchie of maine was laid to dela poole duke of suffolk 28. henry 6. in single and unwisely treating of a marriage in france . a spanish treaty lost the palatinate : vvhose councel hath pronounced so great power to the spanish agent ( as never before ) to effect freedome to so many priests as have been of late , and to become a sollicitor almost in every tribunal or the ill-affected subjects of the state , is worth the enquiry . vvhat grants of impositions before crossed , have lately been complained of in parliaments ? as that of ale-houses , gold-thred , pretermitted customes , and many more ; the least of which would have 50. edward 3. adjudged in parliament an heinous crime , aswel as those of lyons and latymer . the duke of suffolk in henry 6. time , in procuring such another grant in derogation of the common law , was adjudged in parliament . the gift of honours kept as the most sacred treasure of the state , now set to saile , parliaments have been suitors to the king to bestow those graces ; as in the time of edward 3. henry 4. and henry 6. more now led in by that way onely then all the merits of the best deservers huve got these last 500. years . so tender was the care of elder times that it is an article 28. henry 6. in parliament against the duke of suffolk , that he had procured for himself , and some few others , such titles of honour ; and those so irregular , that he was the first that ever was earl , marquess , and duke of the self same place . edward the first restrained the number , in pollicie , that would have challenged a writ by tenure : and how this proportion may suit with profit of the state we cannot tell . great deserts have now no other recompence then costly rewards from the king ; for , we now are at a vile price of that which was once inestimable . if worthy persons have been advanced freely to places of greatest trust , i shall be glad . spencer was condemned in the 15. of edward 3. for displacing good servants about the king , and putting in his friends and followers , not leaving , either in the church or common-wealth , a place to any , before a fine was paid unto him for his dependance . the like in part was laid by parliament on de la poole . it cannot but be a sad hearing unto us all , what my lord treasurer the last day told us of his majesties great debts , high engagements , and present wants : the noise whereof i wish may ever rest inclosed within these walls . for , what an incouragement it may be to our enemies , and a disheartning to our friends , i cannot tell . the danger of those , if any they have been the cause , is great and fearful . it was no small motive to the parliament , in the time of henry 3. to banish the kings half-brethren for procuring to themselves so large proportion of crown lands . gav●ston and spencer for doing the like for themselves , and their followers in edward the 2. time , and the lady v●ssy for procuring the like for her brother beaumont , was banished the court. michael de la poole was condemned the 20. of richard 2. in parliament , amongst other crimes , for procuring lands and pensions from the king , and having imployed the subsidies to other ends then the grant intended . his grand-child , william duke of suffolk , for the like was censured 28. henry 6. the great bishop of winchester , 50. edward . 3. was put upon the kings mercy by parliament for wasting in time of peace , the revenues of the crown , and gifts of the people , to the yearly oppression of the common-vvealth . offences of this nature were urged to the ruining of the last duke of somerset in edward 6. time . more fearful examples may be found , too frequent in records . such improvidence and ill council led henry the third into so great a strait , as after he had pawned some part of his forreign territories , broke up his house , and sought his diet at abbies and religious houses , ingaged not onely his own iewels , but those of the shrine of saint edward at westminster , he was in the end ( not content , but ) constrained to lay to pawne ( as some of his successors after did ) magnam coronam angliae , the crown of england . to draw you out to life the image of former kings extremities , i will tell you what i found since this assembly at oxford , written by a reverend man twice vice-chancellour of this place : his name was gascoign ; a man that saw the tragedy of de la poole : he tells you that the revenues of the crown were so rent away by ill councel , that the king was inforced to live de tallagiis populi : that the king was grown in debt quinque centena millia librarum : that his great favourite , in treating of a forrieign marriage , had lost his master a forreign dutchie : that to work his ends , he had caused the king to adjourn the parliament in villis & remoti partibus regni , where few people , propter d●fectum hospitii & victualium could attend , and by shifting that assembly from place to place to inform ( i will use the authors words ) illos paucos qui remanebunt de communitate regin , concedere regi quamvispessima . vvhen the parliament endeavoured by an act of resumption , the just and frequent way to repair the languishing state of the crown ( for all from henry 3. but one , till the 6. of henrry 8. have used it ) this great man told the king it was ad dedecus regis , and forced him from it : to which the commons answered , although vexati laboribus & expensis , quod nunquam concederent taxam regi , until by authority of parliament , r●su●eret actualiter omnia p●rtinentia coronae anglioe . and that it was magis ad dedecus regis , to leave so many poor men in intolerable vvant , to whom the king stood then indebtad . yet nought could all good councel work , until by parliament that bad great man was banished : which was no sooner done ; but an act of resumption followed the inrollment of the act of his exilement . that was a speeding article against the bishop of winchester and his brother , in the time of edward 3. that they had ingrossed the person of the king from his other lords . it was not forgotten against gaveston and the spencers in edward 2. time . the unhappy ministers of richard 2. henry 6. and edward 6. felt the weight to their ruine of the like errors . i hope we shall not complain in parliament again of such . i am glad we have neither just cause or undutiful dispositions to appoint the king a councel to redress those errors in parliament , as those of the 42. h. 3. we do not desire , as 5. h. 4. or 29. h. 6. the removing from about the king of evil councellors . we do not request a choise by name , as 14. e. 3. 3. 5. 11. r. 2. 8. h. 4. or 31. h. 6. nor to swear them in parliament , as 35 , e. 1. 9. e. 2. or 5. r. 2. or to line them out their directions of rule , as 43. h. 3. and 8. h. 6. or desire that which h. 3. did promise in his 42. year se act●o●nia per assensum magnatum de concilio suo electorum , & sine eor assensu nihil . we only in loyal duty offer up our humble desires , that since his majesty hath with advised judgement elected so wise , religious & worthy servants to attend him in that high imployemnt , he will be pleased to advise with them together , a way of remedy for those disasters in state , led in by long security and happy peace , and not with young and single councel . a speech made by sir rob. cotton knight and baronet , before the lords of his majesties most honourable privycovncel , at the councel table : being thither called to deliver his opinion touching the alteration of coyne . 2. sept. annoque regni regis caroli 2. london : printed in the year 1672 a speech touching the alteration of coyne . my lords , since it hath pleased this honourable table to command , amongst others , my poor opinion concerning this weighty proposition of money , i must humbly ctave pardon ; if with that freedome that becomes my duty to my good and gratious master , and my obedience to your great command , i deliver it so up . i cannot ( my good lords ) but assuredly conceive , that this intended project of enhauncing the coyne , will trench both into the honour , the justice , and the profit of my royal master very farre . all estates do stand mag is famâ quam vi , as tacitus saith of rome : and wealth in every kingdome is one of the essential marks of their greatness : and that is best expressed in the measure and puritie of their monies . hence was it , that so lohg as the roman empire ( a pattern of best government ) held up their glory and greatness , they ever maintained , with little or no charge , the standard of their coine . but after the loose times of commodus had led in need by excess , and so that shift of changing the standard , the majesty of that empire fell by degrees . and as vopiscus saith , the steps by which that state descended were visibly known most by the gradual alteration of their coine , and there is no surer symptome of a consumption in state then the corruption in money . what renown is left to the posterity of edward the first in amending the standard , both in purity and weight from that of elder and more barbarous times , must stick as a blemish upon princes that do the contrary . thus we see it was with henry the sixth ; who , after he had begun with abating the measure , he after fell to abating the matter ; and granted commissions to missenden and others to practise alchemy to serve his mint . the extremity of the state in general felt this aggrievance , besides the dishonour it laid upon the person of the king , was not the least advantage his disloyal kinsman took to ingrace , himself into the peoples favour , to his soveraign's ruine . vvhen henry the 8. had gained asmuch of power and glory abroad , of love and obedience at home , as ever any ; he suffered shipwrack of all upon this rock . vvhen his daughter queen elizabeth came to the crown , she was happy in council to amend that error of her father : for , in a memorial of the lord treasurer burliegh's hand , i find that he and sir thomas smith ( a grave and learned man ) advising the queen that it was the honour of her crown , and the true wealth of her self and people , to reduce the standard to the antient purity and p●rity of her great grand-father king edward 4. and that it was not the short ends of vvit , nor starting holes of devises that can sustain the expence of a monarchy , but sound and solid courses : for so are the words . she followed their advise , and began to reduce the monies to their elder goodness , stiling that work in her first proclamation anno 3. a famous act. the next year following , having perfected it as it after stood ; she tells her people by another edict , that she had conquered now that monster that had so long devoured them , meaning the variation of the standard : and so long as that sad adviser lived , she never ( though often by projectors importuned ) could be drawn to any shift or change in the rate of her monies . to avoid the trick of permutation , coyn was devised , as a rate and measure of merchandize and manufactures ; which if mutable , no man can tell either what he hath , or what he oweth , no contract can be certain , and so all commerce , both publique and private , destroyed ; and men again enforced to permutation with things not subject to wit or fraud . the regulating of coine hath been left to the care of princes , who are presumed to be ever the fathers of the common-vvealth . upon their honours they are debtors and vvarranties of justice to the subject in ●hat behalf . they cannot , saith bodin , alter the price of the moneyes , to the prejudice of the subjects , without incurring the reproach of faux m●nnoyeurs . and therefore the stories term philip le bell , for using it , falsificateur de moneta . omnino monetae integritas debet queriubi vultus noster imprimitur , saith theodoret the gothe to his mint-master , quidnam erit tutum si in nostra peccetur effigie ? princes must not suffer their faces to warrant falshood . although i am not of opinion with mirror des justices , the antient book of our common law , that le roy ne poit sa mony empeirer ne amender sans l'assent de touts ses counts , which was the greatest councel of the kingdome ; yet can i not pass over the goodness and grace of money of our kings : ( as edward the 1. and the 3. henry the 4. and the 5. with others , who , out of that rule of this justice , quod ad omnes spectat , ab omnibus debet approbari , have often advised with the people in parliament , both for the allay , weight , number of peeces , cut of coynage and exchange ; ) and must with infinite comfort acknowledge , the care and justice now of my good master , , and your lordships wisdoms , that would not upon information of some few officers of the mint , before a free and careful debate , put in execution this project , that i much ( under your honours favour ) suspect , would have taken away the tenth part of every man's due debt , or rent already reserved throughout the realm , not sparing the king ; which would have been little lesse then a species of that which the roman stories call tabulae novae , from whence very often seditions have sprung : as that of marcus gratidianus in livie , who pretending in his consulship , that the currant money was wasted by use , called it in , and altered the standard ; which grew so heavy and grievous to the people , as the author saith , because no man thereby knew certainly his wealth , that it caused a tumult . in this last part , which is , the disprofit this enseebling the coyn will bring both to his majestie and the common-wealth , i must distinguish the monies of gold aud silver , as they are bullion or commodities , and as they are measure : the one , the extrinsick quality , which is at the king's pleasure , as all other measures , to name ; the other the intrinsick quantity of pure metall , which is in the merchant to value . as there the measure shall be either lessened or inlarged , so is the quantity of the commodity that is to be exchanged . if then the king shall cut his shilling or pound nominal less then it was before , a lesse proportion of such commodities as shall be exchanged for it must be received . it must then of force follow , that all things of necessity , as victuall , apparell , and the rest , as well as those of pleasure , must be inhaunced . if then all men shall receive , in their shillings and pounds a lesse proportion of silver and cold then they did before this projected alteration , and pay for what they buy a rate inhaunced , it must cast upon all a double loss . what the king will suffer by it in the rents of his lands , is demonstrated enough by the alterations since the 18. of edward the 3. when all the revenue of the crown came into the receipt pondere & numero , after five groats in the ounce ; which since that time , by the severall changes of the standard is come to five shillings , whereby the king hath lost two third parts of his just revenue . in his customs , the best of rate being regulated by pounds and shillings , his majesty must lose alike ; and so in all and whatsoever monies that after this he shall receive . the profit by this change in coynage , cannot be much , nor manent . in the other the loss lasting , and so large , that it reacheth to little less then yearly to a sixth part of his whole revenue : for hereby in every pound tale of gold there is nine ounces , one penny weight , and 19 grains loss , which is 25 l. in account , and in the 100 1. tale of silver 59 ounces , which is 14 l. 17 s. more . and as his majestie shall undergoe all these losses hereafter in all his receipts ; so shall he no less in many of his disbursements . the wages of his souldiers must be rateably advanced as the money is decreased . this edward the third ( as appeareth by the account of the wardrobe and exchequor ) as all the kings after were enforced to do , as oft as they lessened the standard of their monies . the prices of what shall be bought for his ma●esties service , must in like proportion be inhaunced on him . and as his majesty hath the greatest of receipts and issues , so must he of necessity taste the most , of loss by this device . it will discourage a great proportion of the trade in england , and so impair his majesty's customs . for that part ( being not the least ) that payeth upon trust and credit will be overthrown ; for all men being doubtful of diminution hereby of their personal estates , will call their moneys already out , and no man will part with that which is by him , upon such apparent loss as this must bring . what danger may befall the state by such a suddain stand of trade , i cannot guess . the monies of gold and silver formerly coyned and abroad , being richer then these intended , will be made for the me part hereby bullion , and so transported ; which i conceive to be none of the least inducements that hath drawn so many gold-smiths to side this project , that they may be thereby factors for the strangers , who by the lowness of minting ( being but 2 s. silver the pound weight , and 4s . for gold ; whereas with us the one is 4. and the other 5 s. ) may make that profit beyond-sea they cannot here , and so his majesty's mint unset on work . and as his majesty shall lose apparently in the alteration of monies a 14. in all the silver , and a 25. part in all the gold he after shall receive ; so shall the nobility , gentry , and all other , in all their former setled rents , annuities , pensions and loanes of money . the like will fall upon the labourers and workmen in their s●●tute-wages : and as their receipts are lessened hereby ; so are their issiues increased , either by improving all prices . or disfurnishing the market , which must necessarily follow . for if in 5. edwardi 6. 3. mariae , and 4. elizabethae , it appeareth by the proclamations , that a rumor only of an alteration caused these effects , punishing the author of such reports with imprisonment and pillory ; it cannot be doubted but the projecting a change must be of far more consequence and danger to the state , and would be wished that the actors and authors of such disturbances in the common-wealth , at all times hereafter might undergo a punishment proportionable . it cannot beheld ( i presume ) an advice of best judgment that layeth the loss upon our selves , and the gain upon our enemies : for who is like to be in this the greater thriver ? is it not usual , that the stranger that transporteth over monies for bullion , our own gold-smiths that are their brokers , and the forreign hedgeminters of the netherlands ( which terms them well ) have a resh and full trade by this abatement ? and we cannot do the spanish king ( our greatest enemie ) so great a favour as by this , who being the lord of this commodity by his w●st indies , we shall so advance them to our impoverishing ; for it is not in the power of any state to raise the price of their own , but the value that their neighbour princes acceptance sets upon them . experience hath taught us , that the enfeebling of coyn is but a shift for a while , as drink to one in a dropsy , to make him swell the more : but the state was never throughly cured , as we saw by henry the eighths time and the late queens , untill the coyn was made up again . i cannot but then conclude ( my honourable lords ) that if the proportion of gold and silver to each other be wrought to that parity , by the advice of artists , that neither may be too rich for the other , that the mintage may be reduced to some proportion of neighbour parts , and that the issue of our native commodities may be brought to overburthen the entrance of the forreign , we need not seek any way of shift , but shall again see our trade to flourish , the mint ( as the pulse of the common-wealth ) again to beat , and our materials , by industry , to be a mine of gold and silver to us , and the honour , justice and profit of his majestie ( which we all wish and work for ) supported . the answer of the committees appointed by your lordships to the proportion delivesed by some officers of the mint , for inhauncing his majestie 's monies of gold and silver . 2. september 1626. the first part . the preamble . vve conceive that the officers of the mint are bound by oath to discharge their several duties in their several places respectively . but we cannot conceive how they should stand tyed by oath to account to his majesty and your honors of the intrinsick value of all forreign coyns , and how they agree with the standard of the state ( before they come to the mint ) for it is impossible and needless : in the one , for that all forreign states do , for the most part , differ from us and our money infinitely amongst themselves : in the other ; it being the proper care of the merchants , who are presumed not to purchase that at a dearer rate then they may be allowed for the same in fine gold and silver in the coyn of england , within the charge of coynage . and therefore needless . to induce the necessity of the proposition , they produce two instances or examples ; the one from the rex doller , and the other from the royal of eight ; wherein they have untruely informed your honours of the price and value in our monies , and our trade of both of them . for whereas they say , that the rex doller weigheth 18. penny weight and 12. grains , and to be of the finest at the pound weight , 10. ounces , 10 pence weight , doth produce in exchange 5. s. 2. d. farthing of sterling monies . we do affirm that the same dollar is 18. d. weight 18. grains , and in fineness 10. ounces 12. d , weight , equal to 4. s. 5 . d.ob . of sterling monies , and is at this time in london at no higher price , which is short thereof by 13. grains and a half fine silver upon every dollar , being 2. d. sterling or thereabout , being the charge of coynage , with a small recompence to the gold● smith or exchanger , to the profit of england 3. s. 6. d. per centum . whereas they do in their circumstance averr unto your honours , that this dollar runs in account of trade amongst the merchants as 5. s. 2. d. ob . english money : it is most false . for the merchants and best experienced men protest the contrary , and that it pas●eth in exchange according to the int●insick value onely 4 s. 5. d. ob . of the sterling money , or neer thereabouts , and not otherwise . the second instance is in the royall of eight ; affirming that it weigheth 17. penny weight , 12. grains ; and being but of the fineness of 11. ounces at the pound weight , doth pass in exchange at 5 s. of our sterling moneys , whereby we lose 6 . s . 7 d. in every pound weight . but having examined it by the best artists , we find it to be 11. ounces , 2. d. weight fine , and in weight 17. penny weight , 12. grains ; which doth equal 4. s. 4. d. ob . of our sterling monies , and passeth in london at that rate , and not otherwise , though holding more fine silver by 12. grains and a half in every royall of eight , which is the charge of coynage , and a small overplus for the gold-smiths gain . and whereas they say , that the said royall of eight runs in account of trade at 5 s. of his majestie 's now english money ; the merchants do all affirm the contrary , and that it passeth only at 4 s. 4. ob . of the sterling monies , and no higher ordinarily . and it must be strange ( my honourable lords ) to believe that our neighbours the netherlanders , would give for a pound tale of our sterling silver , by what name soever it passeth , a greater quantity of their monies in the like intrinsick value by exchange ; or that our merchants would , knowing , give a greater for a less to them , except by way of usance . but the deceipt is herein only , that they continually varying their coyn , and crying it up at pleasure , may deceive us for a time , in too high a reputation of pure silver in it , upon trust , then there is , untill a trial ; and this , by no alteration of our coyn , unless we should daily , as they make his majestie 's standard uncertain , can be prevented , which being the measure of lands , rents and commerce amongst our selves at home , would render all uncertain , and so of necessity destroy the use of money ; and turn all to permutation of such things as were not subject to will or change . and as they have mistaken the ground of their proposition ; so have they , upon a specious shew of some momentary and small benefit to his majesty , reared up a vast and constant loss unto his highness by this design , if once effected . for , as his majesty hath the 1argest portion of any both in the entrances and issues ; so should he by so enfeebling of his coyn , become the greatest loser . there needs no other instance then those degrees of diminution from the 18. of edwards , 3. to this day ; at which time the revenue of the crown was paid after five groats the ounce ( which is now five shillings ) which hath lost his majesty two thirds of all his revenue ; and no less hath all the nobility , gentry , and other his majestie 's landed subjects in proportion suffered . but since , to our great comfort ; we heard your honours the last day to lay a worthy blame upon the mint-masters , for that intended diminution of the gold-coyn done by them without full warrant ; by which we rest discharged of that fear : we will ( according to our duties and your honours command ) deliver humbly our opinion concerning the reduction of the silver money now currant to be proportionably equivalent to the gold. the english sterling standard , which was no little honour to edward the first , that setled it from an inconstant motion , and laid it a ground that all the states of europe after complyed to bring in their account , which was of silver an 11 to one of gold , the kings of england for the most part since have constantly continued the same proportion : and spain , since ferdinand , who took from hence his pattern , have held and hold unchangeably the same unto this day : but since with us , a late improvement of gold hath broke that rule , and cast a difference in our silver of six shillings in the pound weight ; we cannot but in all humility present our fear , that the framing , at this time of an equality , except it were by reducing the gold to the silver , is not so safe and profitable as is proposed by those of the mint . for whereas they pretend this , our richness of our silver will carry out what now remaineth : we conceive ( under favour ) it will have no such effect , but clean contrary . for all the currant silver now abroad hath been so culled by some gold-smiths , the same either turned into bullion , and so transported , that that which now remaineth will hardly produce 65. s. in the pound weight one with another ; and so not likely , for so little profit as now it goeth , to be transported . but if the pound sterling should be as they desire , cut into 70. s. 6 d. it must of necessity follow , that the new money will convert the old money ( now currant ) into bullion ; and so afford a trade afresh for some ill patriot gold-smiths , and others , who formerly have more endamaged the state by culling , then any others by clipping ; the one but trading in pounds , the other in thousands ; and therefore worthy of a greater punishment . and we cannnot but have just cause ( my lords ) to fear that these bad members have been no idle instruments , for their private benefit , to the publick detriment , of this new project , so much tending to enfeebling the sterling standard : we further ( under your lord ships favours ) conceive , that the raising of the silver to the gold , will upon some suddain occasion beyond sea , transport our gold , and leave the state in scarcity of that , as now of silver . and to that objection of the proposers , that there is no silver brought of late into the mint ; the causes we conceive to be ( besides the unusual quantities of late brought into the mint in gold ) one the overballasing of late of trade ; the other , the charge of coynage . for the first , it cannot , be but the late infection of this city was a let of exportation of our best commodity , cloth , made by that suspected in every place . to this may be added the vast sums of money which the necessary occasion of war called from his majesty to the parts beyond the seas , when we had least of commodities to make even the ballance there . and lastly , dearth and scarcity of corn , which in time of plenty we ever found the best exchange to bring in silver . and therefore , since by gods great favour the plague is ended , and general trade thereby restored , and more of plenty this year , then hath been formerly these many years , of corn , we doubt not but if the ports of spain were now as free as they were of late , there would not prove hereafter any cause to complain of the want of bullion in the state. the second cause , that the mint remains unfurnished ; will be the charge of coynage , raised in price so far above all other places , constraining each man to carry his bullion where he may receive by coynage the less of loss . and therefore if it may please his majesty to reduce the prices here to the rates of other of our neighbour countreys , there will be no doubt but the mint will beat as heretofore . questions to be proposed to the merchants , mint-masters , and gold-smiths , concerning the alteration of the silver monies . 1. vvhether the englist monies now currant are not as dear as the forreign of the dollar and reall of 8. in the intrinsick value in the usual exchanges now made by the merchants beyond-seas ? 2. whether this advancing will not cause all the silver-bullion , that might be transported in mass or forreign coyn , to be minted with the king's stamp beyond-sea , and so transported , and his mint thereby set less on work then now ? 3. whether the advancing the silver-coyn in england will not cause a transportation of most of that that is now currant to be minted in the netherlands , and from them brought back again , whereby his majestie 's mint will fail by the exported benefit ? 4. whether the advancing the silver coyn , if it produce the former effects , will not cause the markets to be unfurnished of present coyn to drive the exchange , when most of the old will be used in bullion . 5. whether the higher we raise the coyn at home , we make not thereby our commodities beyond-sea the cheaper ? 6. whether the greatest profit by this enhauncing , will not grow to the ill members of the state , that have formerly culled the weightiest peeces , and sold them to the stranger-merchants to be transported ? certain general rules collected concerning money and bullion , out of the late consultation at court. gold and silver have a twofold estimation : in the extrinsick , as they are monies , they are the princes measures given to his people , and this is a prerogative of kings : in the intrinsick they are commodities , valuing each other according to the plenty or scarcity ; and so all other commodities by them ; and that is the sole power of trade . the measures in a kingdom ought to be constant : it is the justice and honour of the king : for if they be altered , all men at that instant are deceived in their precedent contracts , either for lands or money , and the king most of all : for no man knoweth then , either what he hath or what he oweth . this made the lord treasurer burleigh in 73. when some projectors had set on foot a matter of this nature , to tell them , that they were worthy to suffer death for attempting to put so great a dishonour on the queen , and detriment and discontent upon the people . for , to alter this publick measure , is to leave all the markets of the kingdome unfurnished ; and what will be the mischief , the proclamations of 5. edwardi 6. 3. mariae and 4. elizabethae , will manifest ; when but a rumor of the like produced that effect so far , that besides the faith of the princes to the contrary delivered in their edicts , they were inforced to cause the magistrates in every shire respectively to constrain the people to furnish the markets to prevent a mutiny . to make this measure then , at this time short , is to raise all prizes , or to turn the money or measure now currant into disise or bullion : for who will depart with any , when it is richer by seven in the hundred in the mass , then the new monies ; and yet of no more value in the market ? hence of necessity , it must follow , that there will not in a long time be sufficient minted of the new to drive the exchange of the kingdome , and so all trade at one instant at a stand ; and in the mean time the markers unfurnished : which how it may concern the quiet of the state , is worthy care . and thus far as money is a measure . now , as it is a commodity , it is respected and valued by the intrinsick quality . and first the one metall to the other . all commodities are prized by plenty or scarsity , by dearness or cheapness , the one by the other : if then we desire our silver to buy gold , as it late hath done , we must let it be the cheaper , and less in proportion valued ; and so contrary : for one equivalent proportion in both will bring in neither . we see the proof thereof by the unusual quantity of gold brought lately to the mint by reason of the price ; for we rate it above all other countries , and gold may be bought too dear . to furnish then this way the mint with both , is altogether impossible . and at this time it was apparently proved , both by the best artists and merchants most acquainted with the exchange , in both the examples of the mint-masters , in the rex dollar and reall of eight , that silver here is of equal value , and gold above , with the forreign parts in the intrinsick ; and that the fallacy presented to the lords by the mint-masters , is only in the nomination or extrinsick quality . but if we desire both , it is not raising of the value that doth it ; but the ballasing of trade : for buy we in more then we sell of other commodities , be the money never so high prized , we must part with it to make the disproportion even : if we sell more then we buy , the contrary will follow : and this is plain in spain's necessities : for should that king advance to a double rate his reall of 8. yet needing , by reason of the barrenness of his countrey , more of forreign wares then he can countervail by exchange with his own , he must part with his money , and gaineth no more by enhauncing his coyn , but that he payeth a higher price for the commodities he buyeth ; if his work of raising be his own . but if we shall make improvement of gold and silver , being the staple commodity of his state ; we then advancing the price of his , abase to him our own commodities . to shape this kingdom to the fashion of the netherlanders , were to frame a royal monarch by a society of merchants . their countrey is a continual fair , and so the price of money must rise and fall to fit their occasions . we see this by raising the exchange at franckford and other places at the usual times of their marts . the frequent and daily change in the low countries of their monies , is no such injustice to any there as it would be here . for being all either mechanicks or merchants , they can rate accordingly their labours or their wares , whether it be coyn or other merchandise , to the present condition of their own money in exchange . and our english merchants , to whose profession it properly belongs , do so , according to the just intrinsick value of their forreign coyn , in all barter of commodities , or exchange , except at usance ; which we , that are ruled and tyed by the extrinsick measure of monies , in all our constant reckonings add annual bargains at home , cannot do . and for us then to raise our coyn at this time to equal their proportions , were but to render our selves to a perpetual incertainty : for they will raise upon us daily then again ; which if we of course should follow , else receive no profit by this present change , we then destroy the policy , justice , honour and tranquility of our state at home for ever . the danger wherein this kingdome now standeth , and the remedy . written by sir rob. cotton knight and baronet . london , printed in the year 1651. the danger wherein this kingdome now standeth , and the remedie . as soon as the house of austria had incorporated it self into the house of spain , and by their new discoveries gotten to themselves the wealth of the indies ; they began to affect , and have ever since pursued a fifth monarchy . the emperour charles would first have laid the foundation thereof in italy , by surprizing rome . but from this he was thrust by the force and respect of religion , henry the 8. being made caput foederis against him . he then attempted it in high-germany , practising ( by faction and force ) to reduce those petty states to his absolute power . in this henry the 8. again prevented him , by tying the lutber an princes under his confederacy and assistance . his son , the second philip , pursued the same ambition in the nether germany , by reduction whereof he intended to make his way further into the other . this the late queen of england interrupted , by siding with the afflicted people on the one part , and making her self head of the protestant league with the princes on the other side ; drawing in , as a secret of state , the countenance of france , to give the more reputation and assistance to them , and security to it self , spain seeing his hopes thus fruitless by these unions and sleights , began first , to break ( if he might ) the amity of france and england : but finding the common danger to be as fast a tye , he raiseth up a party in that kingdome of his own , by the which the french king was so distressed , that had not the english councel and assistance relieved him , spain had there removed that next and greatest obstacle of his ambition . his councel now tells him , from these examples , that the way to his great work is impassible so long as england lies a let into his way ; and adviseth him , that the remove of that obstacle be the first of his intents . this drew on those often secret practices against the person of the late queen , and his open fury in 88. against the body of the state : for which she ( following the advice of a free councell ) will never after admit of peace , winning thereby the hearts of a loving people , who ever found hands and money for all occasions at home , and keeping sacredly her alliances abroad , secured her confederates , all her time , in freedome from fear of spanish slavery ; and so ended her old and happy dayes in great glory . spain then , by the wisdome and power of that great lady , dispoiled so of his means to hurt , though not of his desire , makes up , with her peaceful successor of happy memory , the golden league , that ( disarming us at home by opinion of security , and giving them a power in our councel by believing their friendship and pretended marriage ) gave them way to cherish amongst us a party of their own , and ( bereaft of power abroad ) to lead in jealousie , and sow a division between us and our confederates ; by which ( we see ) they have swallowed up the fortune of our master's brother , with the rest of the imperial states , distressed the king of denmark by that quarrell , diverted sweden's assistance by the wars with the pole , and moving of him now with the offer of the danish ) crown : and now ( whether from the plot , or our fatality ) it hath cast such a bone between france and us , as hath gotten themselves ( by our quarrel of religion ) a fast confederate , and us a dangerous enemy : so that now we are left no other assurance against their malice and ambition , but the nether-lands ; where the tye of mutual safety is weak'ned by dayly discontents bred and fed between us from some ill-affected to both our securities ; that from the doubtfulness of friendship as now we stand . we may rather expect from our own domestick faction , if they grow too furious , they will rather follow the example of rome in her growing ; that held it equally safe , honourable , and more easie , dare rege●● , th● sub●ugare provincian ; considering the po●er they have their hands , then to gi●e any friendly assistance to serve the present condition of our state. you may see therefore in what terms we stand abroad ; and i fear me , at home , for resistance in no better state. there must be , to withstand a forreign invasion , a proportion both of sea and land-forces ; for to give an enemy an easie passage , and a port to relieve him in , is no less then to hazard all at one stake . and it is to be considered , that no march by land , can be of that speed , to make head against the landing of an enemy , nor no such prevention as to be mr. of the sea. to this point of necessary defence , there can be no less then 240000. l. for the land-forces ; if it were for an joffensive war , the men of less livelihood were the best spared , and were used formerly to make such war , purgamento reipublicae , if we made no further purchase by it . but for safety of a common-wealth , the wisdom of all times , did never interest the publick cause to any other then such as had a portion in the publick adventure . and that we saw in 88. when the ear of the queen and councel did make the body of that large army , no other then of trained bands , which with the auxiliaries of the whole realm , amounted to no less then 24000 . men . neither were any of those drawn out from forth their countries , and proper habitations before the end of may , that there might be no long aggrievance to the publick ; such discontentments being ever to us a more fatal enemy then any forreign force . the careful distribution and direction of the sea and land-forces , being more fitting for a councel of war , then a private man to advise of , i pass over ; yet shall ever be willing and ready ( when i shall be called ) humbly to offer up such observations , as i have formerly gathered by the former like occasions of this realm . to make up this preparation , there are requisite two things : money & affections ; for they cannot be properly severed . it was well & wisely said , by that great and grave councellor the lord burleigh in the like case to the late queen : win hearts , & you may have their hands & purses ; and i find of late , that diffidence having been a defect in the one , it hath unhappily produced the other . in gathering then of money for this present need , there are required three things : speed , assurance , and satisfaction . and the way to gather ( as others in the like cases have done ) must be by that path , which hath been formerly called via regia , being more secure & speedy : for , by unknown and untroden ways , it is both rough & tedious , & seldom succeedeth well this. last way , although it took place as it were by a supply at first , and received no general denyal ; yet since it hath drawn many to consider with themselves and others of the consequence , and is now conceived a pressure on their liberties and against law , i much fear , if now again it be offered , either in the same face , or by privy seal , it will be refused wholly . neither find i that the restraint of those recusants hath produced any other effect then a stiff resolution in them and others to forbear . besides , though it went at the first with some assurance ; yet when we consider the commissions and other forms incident to such like services , as that how long it hangs in hand , and how many delays there were , we may easily see , that such a sum by parliament granted , is far sooner and more easily gathered . if any will make the successes of times to produce an inevitable necessity to enforce it levied ( whether in general ) by excise , or imposition , or in particular upon some select persons ( which is the custom of some countreys ) and so conclude it ( as there ) for the publick state , suprema lege ) he must look for this to be told him : that seeing necessity must conclude always to gather money , as less speedy or assured then that so practised ( which cannot be fitter then by parliament ) the success attendeth the humors of the heedless multitude , that are full of jealousie and distrust ; and so unlike to comply to any unusual course of levy , but by force : which if used , the effect is fearful , and hath been fatal to the state ; whereas that by parliament resteth principally on the regal person , who may with ease and safety mould them to his fit desire , by a gracious yielding to their just petitions . if a parliament then be the most speedy , assured , and safe way ; it is fit to conceive , what is the safest way to act and work it to the present need . first , for the time of the usual summons , reputed to be 40. days , to be too large for the present necessity ; it may be by dating the writ lessened ; since it is no positive law ; so that a care be had that there may be one county day , after the sheriff hath received the writ before the time of sitting . if then the sum to be levyed be once agreed of , for the time there may be in the body of the grant an assignment made to the knights of every county respectively , who ( under such assurance ) may safely give security proportionable to the receipts , to such as shall in present advance to the publick service any sums of money . the last and weightiest consideration ( if a parliament be thought fit ) is , how to remove or comply the differences between the king and subject in their mutual demands . and what i have learned amongst the better sort of the multitude , i will freely declare ; that your lordships may be the more enabled to remove and answer those distrusts , that either concern religion , publick safety of the king and state , or the just liberties of the common-wealth . for religion ( a matter that they lay nearest to their conscience ) they are led by this gro●●d of jealousie to doubt some practise against it . first , for that the spanish match , which was broken by the grateful industry of my lord of bucking ▪ out of his religious care ( as he there declares ) that the articles there demanded might lead in some such sufferance as might endanger the quiet , if not the state of the reformed religion here : yet there have ( when he was an actor principal in the conditions with france ) as hard , if not worse ( to the preservation of our religion ) passed then those with spain . and the suspect is strengthened by the close keeping of this agreement in that point there concluded . it is no less an argument of doubt to them of his affections , in that his mother end others , many of his ministers of neer imployment about him , are so affected . they talk much of his advancing men papistically devoted ; some placed in the camp , of nearest service and chief command : and that the recusants have gotten , these late years , by his power , more of courage and assurance then before . if to clear these doubts ( which perhaps are worse in fancy then in truth ) he took a good course , it might much advance the publick service , against those squeymish humors that have more violent passion then setled judgment ; & are not the least of the opposite number in the common-wealth . the next is , the late misfortunes and losses of men , munition , and honour in our late vndertakings abroad : which the more temperate spirits impute to want of councel , and the more sublime wits to practise . they begin with the palatinate , and by the fault of the loss there , on the improved credit of gondomar , distrusting him for the staying of supplyes to sir horace vere , when colonell cecill was cast on that imployment , by which the king of spain became master of the king's children's inheritance . and when count-mansfield had a royal supply of forces , to assist the princes of our part , for the recovery thereof : either plot or error defeated the enterprize from us , to spains great advantage . that sir robert mansfield's expedition to algiers , should purchase only the security and guard of the spanish coasts . to spend so many hundred thousand pounds in the cales voyage , against the advice of parliament , onely to warn the king of spain to be in a readiness , & so to weaken our selves , is taken for such a sign of ill affection to him , amongst the multitude . the spending of so much munition , victuals , and money in my lord willoughbie's journey , is conceived , an vnthrifty error in the director of it to disarm our selves in fruitless voyages , nay , to some ( over-curious ) seems a plot of danger , to turn the quarrel of spain ( our antient enemy ) that the parliament petitioned and gave supply to support , upon our ally of france : and soon after , a new & happy tye gave much talk that we were not so doubtful of spain as many wish ; since it was held , not long ago , a fundamental rule of their security and our's , by the old lord treasurer burleigh : that nothing can prevent the spanish monarchy , but a fastness of the two princes , whose amity gave countenance and courage to the netherlands and german princes to make head against his ambition . and we see , by this dis-union a fearful defeat hath happened to denmark and that party , to the great advantage of the austrian family . and thus far of the waste of publick treasure in fruitless expeditions : an important cause to hinder any new supply in parliament . another fear that may disturb the smooth and speedy passage of the king's desires in parliament , is the late waste of the kind's lively-hood ; whereby is like ( as in former times ) to arise this jealousie & fear : that when he hath not of his own to support his ordinary charge ( for which the lands of the crown were setled unalterable , and called sacrum patrimonium principis ) that then he must of necessity rest on those assistances of the people which ever were only collected & consigned for the common-wealth . from hence is is like , there will be no great labour or stiffness to induce his majesty to an act of resumption ; since such desires of the state have found an easie way in the will of all the princes from the third henry to the last . but that which is like to pass deeper into their disputes and care , is the late pressures they suppose to have been done upon the publick libertie and freedom of the subject , in commanding their goods without assent by parliament , confining their persons without especial cause declared ; and that made good against them by the judges lately ; and pretending a writ to command their attendance in a forreign war : all which they are likely to enforce , as repugnant to many positive laws , and customary immunities of this common-wealth . and these dangerous distrusts , to the people are not a little improved by this un-exemplified course ( as they conceive ) of retaining an inland army in winter-season , when former times of greatest fear , as 88. produced no such ; and makes them ( in their distracted fears ) to conjecture ( idly ) it was raised wholly to subvert their fortunes to the will of power , more then of law ; and so make good some further breaches upon their liberties and freedoms at home , rather then defend us from any force abroad . how far such jealousies , if they meet with an unusual disorder of lawless souldiers , or an apt distemper of the loose and needy multitude , which will easily turn away upon any occasion in the state that they can side withal , to a glorious pretence of religion and publick safety , when their true intent will be onely rapine of the rich , and ruine of all , is worthy a provident and preventing care . i have thus far delivered ( with that freedom you pleased to admit ) such difficulties as i have taken up amongst the multitude , as may arrest , if not remove impediments to any speedy supply in parliament at this time . which how to facilitate , may better become the care of your lordships judgments , then my ignorance . only i could wish , that to remove away a personal distaste of my lord of buckingham amongst the people , he might be pleased ( if there be a necessity of parliament ) to appear a first adviser thereunto : & what satisfaction it shall please his majesty , of grace , to give at such time to his people ( which i wish to be grounded by president of his best and most fortunate progenitors , & which i conceive will largly satisfy the desires & hopes of all ) if it may appear in some sort to be drawn down from him to the people , by the zealous care & industry that my l. of buck hath of the publick unity & content ; by which there is no doubt that he may remain , not only secure from any further quarrel with them , but merrit an happy memory amongst them of a zealous patriot . for to expiate the passion of the people at such a time with sacrifice of any his majesties servants , i have ever found it ( as in e. the 2. r. the 2. and h. 6. ) no less fatal to the master , then the minister in the end . valour anatomized in a fancie . by sir philip sidney . 1581. london , printed in the year 1672. valour anatomized in a fancie . valour towards men , is an emblem of ability ; towards women , a good quality signifying a better . nothing draws a woman like to it . nothing is more behoveful for that sex : for from it they receive protection , and in a free way too , without any danger . nothing makes a shorter cut to obtaining : for a man of arms is alwayes void of ceremony , which is the wall that stands betwixt piramus and thisby , that is man , and woman : for there is no pride in women but that which rebounds from our own baseness ( as cowards grow valiant upon those that are more cowards ) so that only by our pale asking we teach them to deny ; and by our shamefac'dness we put them in mind to be modest . whereas indeed it is cunning rhetorick to perswade the hearers that they are that already which the world would have them to be . this kind of bashfulness is far from men of valourous disposition , and especially from souldiers : for such are ever men ( without doubt ) forward and confident , losing no time left they should lose opportunity , which is the best factor for a lover . and because they know women are given to dissemble , they will never believe them when they deny . certainly before this age of wit and wearing black , brake in upon us , there was no way known to win a lady , but by tilting , turneying , and riding to seek adventures through dangerous forrests : in which time these slender striplings with little legs were held but of strength enough to marry their widdows . and even in our days , there can be given no reason of the inundation of servingmen upon their mistresses , but onely that usually they carry their masters weapons , and their valour . to be accounted handsome , just , learned , and well favoured , all this carries no danger with it . but it is better to be admitted to the title of valiant acts : at least that imports the venturing of mortality ; and all women delight to hold him safe in their arms who hath escaped thither through many dangers . to speak 2t once ; man hath a priviledge in valour . in cloaths and good faces we do but imitate women ; and many of that sex will not think much ( as far as an answer goes ) to dissemble wit too . so then these neat youths , these women in mens apparell , are too near a woman to be beloved of her ; they be both of a trade , but he of grim aspect , and such a one a lass dares take , and will desire hint for newness and variety . a scar in a mans face , is the same that a mole is in a womans , and a mole in a womans is a jewel set in white , to make it seem more white . so a scar in a man is a mark of honour , and no blemish , for 't is a scar and a blemish in a souldier to be without one . now as for all things else which are to procu●e love , as a good face , wit , cloaths , or a good body ; each of them ( i must needs say ) works somewhat for want of a better ; that is , if valour corri●e not therewith . a good face a●aileth nothing ; if it be on a coward that is bashful , the utmost of it is to be kist ; which rather increaseth than quen●beth appetite . he that sendeth her gifts , sends her word also , that he is a man of small gifts otherwise ; for wooing by signs and tokens , implies the author dumb . and if ovid ( who writ the law of love ) were alive , as he is extant , and would allow it as a good diversity ; then gifts should be sent as gratuities ; not as bribes ; and wit would rather get promise , than love. wit is not to be seen , and no woman takes advice of any in her loving , but of her own eyes , or her wayting woman : nay , which is worse , wit is net to be felt , and so no good bedfellow . wit applyed to a woman makes her dissolve her simperings , and discover her teeth with laughter ; and this is surely a purge for love : for the beginning and original of love is a kind of foolish melancholly . as for the man that makes his taylor his bawde , and hopes to inveagle his love with such a coloured suit , surely the same man deeply hazzards the losse of her favour upon every change of his cloaths . so likewise the other that courts her silently with a good body , let me tell him that his cloaths stand alwayes betwixt his mistriss eyes and him . the comliness of cloaths depends upon the comliness of the body , and so both upon opinion . she that hath been seduced by apparell , let me give her to wit , that men always put off their cloaths before they go to bed ; and let her that hath been inamoured of her servants body , understand , that if she saw him in a skin of cloath ( that is , in a suit made to the pattern of his body ) she would discern slender cause to love him ever after . there are no cloaths fit so well in a womans eye , as a suit of steel , though not of the fashion : and no man so soon surpriseth a womans affections , as he that is the subject of whisperings , and hath alwayes some 20 stories of his own atchievements depending upon him mistake me not , i understand not by valour one that never fights but when he is backt by drink or anger , or hissed on by beholders ; nor one that is desperate , nor one that takes away a servingmans weapons , when perhaps they cost him his quarters wages ; nor one that wears a privy coat of defence , and therein is confident : for then such as make bucklers would be accounted the very scum of the common-wealth . i intend one of an even resolution , grounded upon reason , which is alwayes even ; having his power restrained by the law of not doing wrong . philip sidney . wooing-stuff . faint amorist : what , do'st thou think to taste loves honey , and not drink one dram of gall ? or to devour a world of sweet , and taste no sour ? do'st thou ever think to enter th' elisian fields that dar●st not venture in charons barge ? a lovers mind must use to sayle with every wind . he that loves , and fears to try , learns his mistris to deny . doth she chide thee ? 't is to shew it , that thy coldness makes her do it ; is she silent ? is she mute ? silence fully grants thy sute ; doth she pout , and leave the room ? then she goes to bid thee come ; is she sick ? why then be sure , she invites thee to the cure ; doth she cross thy sute with no ? tush , she loves to hear the woo ; doth she call the faith of man in question ? nay , ' uds-foot , she loves thee than ; and if e're she make a blot . she 's lost , if that thou hit'st her not . he that after ten denials , dares attempt no farther tryals , hath no warrant to acquire the dainties of his chaste desire . philip sidney . sir francis walsingham ' s anatomizing of honesty , ambition , and fortitude . written in the year 1590. london : printed in the year 1672. sir francis walsinghams anatomizing of honesty , ambition , and fortitude . what it is directly that i wil write , i know not : for , as my thoughts have never dwelt long upon one thing ; and so my mind hath been filled with the imagination of things of a different nature : so there is a necessity that this ofspring of so un-composed a parent must be mishaped , answerable to the original from whence it is derived . somewhat i am resolved to write , of some virtues , and some vi●es , and some indifferent things . for , knowing that a mans life is a perpetual action , which every moment is under one of these three heads ; my imaginations have ever chiefly tended to find cut the natures of these things , that i might , ( as much as my frailty ( the inseperable companion of mans nature ) would give me leave ) wear out this garment of my body , with as little inconvenience to my soul as i could , and play this game of conversation ( in which every one ( as long as he lives ) makes one ) with the reputation of a fair gamester , rather than of a cunning one . and first i will write of honesty ; not in its general sense ( in which it comprehends all moral vertues ) but in that particular in which ( according to our phrase ) it denominates an honest man. honesty is a quiet passing over the days of a mans life , without doing injury to another man. there is required in an honest man , not so much to do every thing as he would be done unto , as to forbear any thing that he would not be content to suffer ; for the essence of honesty consists in forbearing to do ill : and to good acts is a proper passion , and no essential part of honesty . as chastity is the honesty of women , so honesty is the chastity of man. either of them once impaired is irrecoverable . for a woman that hath lost her maidenhead , may as easily recover it , as a man that hath once taken liberty of being a knave can be restored to the title of an honest man. for honesty doth not consist in the doing of one , or one thousand acts never so well ; but in spinning on the delicate threds of life , though not exceeding fine , yet free from bracks , and staines . we do not call him an honest man , but a wotthy man , that doth brave eminent acts : but we give him the title of an honest man , of whom no man can truly report any ill . the most eminent part of honesty is truth : not in vvords ( though that be necessarily required ) but in the course of his life ; in his profession of friendship ; in his promise of rewards and benefits to those that depend upon him ; and grateful acknowledging those good turns that he receives from any man. the greatest opposite to honesty is falshood ; and as that is commonly waited upon with cunning and dissimulation , so is honesty with discretion and assurance . it is true , that custome makes some apparently false ; some through impudence , and too much use ; and other some for want of discretion , which if they had had , should have been employed in covering it . and there be some , in whom ( though it be impossible honesty should be a fault in society ) their indiscreet managing of it , makes it holden for a thing that 's meerly a vice , a wonderful troublesome companion . an honest man is as neer an aptitude to become a friend , as gold is to become coyne : he will melt with good offices well done , and will easily take the stampe of true friendship ; and having once taken it , though it may be bended and bruised , yet still will keep his stamp clean without rust or canker , and is not ashamed to be enclosed in it , but is contented to have all his glory seen through it onely . it is of it self a competent estate of vertue , able to supply all necessary parts of it to a man 's own particular , and a man that is born to it , may raise himself to an eminency in all vertues ; though of it self it will not furnish a man with the abilities of doing any glorious thing . it is pity that honesty should be abstracted from the lustre of all other vertues . but if there be such an honesty , the fittest seat for it is the countrey , where there will be little need of any greater ability , and it will be least subject to corruption . and therefore , since it is the foundation upon which a man may build that part of his life which respects conversation , he that builds upon it ( let his actions be never so mean ) shall be sure of a good , though not of a great reputation ; whereas letting it perish , let the rest of the building of his life be never so eminent , it will serve but to make the ruine of his good name more notorious . of ambition . love , honour , and praise are the greatest blessings of this world : all other contents reflect primarily upon the body : and please the soul onely because they please some one or more senses . but those therefore only delight the senses , because the soul by discourse was first pleased with them . for in it self there is more musick in a railing song , thrust upon a good ayre , than in the confused applause of the multitude . but because the soul , by discourse , finds this clamor to be an argument of the estimation which those that so commend it have of it , it likes it self better , and rejoyceth the more init self , because it sees other men value it . for there are two wayes of proving ; the one by reason , and the other by witness ; but the more excellent proof is that of reason : for he that can by reason prove any thing to me makes his knowledge mine , because by the same reason i am able to prove it to another : but if 20. men should swear to me they saw such a thing , which before i did not believe ; it is true , i should alter mine opinion , not because there appeared any greater likelihood of the thing ; but because it was unlikely that so many men should lie : and if i should go about to make others of the fame opinion , i could not doe it , by telling them i knew it , or i saw it ; but all i could say , were , i did believe it ; because such and such men told me they saw it . so in the comfort a man takes of himself ( which grows out of the consideration of how much it self deserves to be beloved ) a vertuous wise fellow will take enough comfort and joy in himself ( though by misfortune he is troubled to carry about with him the worlds ill opinion ) by discoursing that he is free from those slanders that are laid upon him , and that he hath those sufficiencies and venues which others deny . and on the contrary side , he without deserving it ( having the good fortune to be esteemed and honoured ) will easily be drawn to have a good opinion of himself ; as , out of modesty , submitting his own reason to the testimony of many witnesses . ambition in it self is no fault ; but the most natural commendation of the soul , as beautie is of the bodie : it is in men , as beauty is in women . for , as to be naturally exceeding handsome , is the greatest commendation of that sex , and that for which they most desire to be commended ; so that ambition by which men desire honour the natural way ( which consists in doing honourable and good acts ) is the root of the most perfect commendation that a morall man is capable of . those onely offend in their ambition , who out of the earthliness of their minds dare not aspire to that true honor which is the estimation of a man , being as it were the temple wherein vertue is inshrin'd ; and therefore settle their minds onely upon attaining titles and power ; which at the first were , or at least should be the mark whereby to distinguish men according to the rate of their vertues and sufficiencies ; but are now onely arguments of a mans good fortune , and effects of the princes favour . it is true that power is a brave addition to a worthy man ; but a fool , or a knave that is powerful , hath ( according to the degree of his power ) just that advantage of a vertuous prudent man , that adam , before he fell , had of the angels that stood ; an ability to do more ill . as for titles ( which at first were the marks of power ; and the rewards of vertue ) they are now ( according to their name ) but like the titles of books , which ( for the most part ) the more glorious things they promise , let a man narrowly peruse them over , the less substance he shall find in them . and the wooden lord is like the logg that jupiter gave the frogs to be their king ; it makes a great noise ; it prepares an expectation of great matters , but when they once perceived it unactive , and senlesly lying still , the wiser sort of frogs began to despise it , and ( in fine ) every young frogling presumed to leap up and down upon it . some few there are , who ( least the species of our antient worthy lords should be lost ) do preserve in themselves the will and desire , since they want the means , to do brave and worthy acts. and therefore i say , let a man by doing worthy acts deserve honour , and though he do not attain it , yet he is much a happier man than he that gets it without desert . for such a man is before hand with reputation ; and the world still owes him that honour with his deserts cry for , and it hath not paid ; vvhereas that man that hath a great reputation , without deserving it , is behind-hand with the world ; and his honour is but lent , not paid ; and when the world comes to take accompt of its applause , and finds his title of merit ( by which he pretends to it ) weak and broken , it will recall it's approbation , and leave him by so much the more a notorious bankrupt in his good name , by how much the estimation of his wealth that way was the greater . of fortitude . for a man to be compleatly happy there is required the perfection of all morall virtues ; and yet this is not enough ; for , virtues do rather banish misfortunes , and but shew us joy , than establish felicity : vvhich is not onely an utter alienation from all affliction , but an absolute fulness of joy. and since the soul of man is infinitely more excellent than any thing else it can meet withal in this vvorld , nothing upon earth can satisfie it , but in the enjoying of the greatest abundance of all delights that the most nimble witted man can frame to himself ; for that his soul will still have a further desire , as unsatisfied with that it enjoyes . ( therefore the perfection of happiness consists in the love of god ; which is onely able to fill up all the corners of the soul with most perfect joy ; and consequently to fix all its desires upon those celestial joyes that shall never be taken from it . but this , as it cannot be obtained by discourse , but by unfeigned prayer , and the assistance and illumination of gods grace ; so is it not my purpose to prick at it . and for that part of felicity which is attained to by moral virtue , i find that every virtue gives a man perfection in some kind , and a degree of felicity too : viz. honesty , gives a man a good report ; justice , estimation and authority ; prudence , respect and confidence ; courtesie , and liberality , affection , and a kind of dominion over other men. temperance , healthy . fortitude , a quiet mind , not to be moved by any adversity , and a confidence not to be circumvented by any danger . so that all other virtues give a man but an outward happiness , as receiving their reward from others ; onely temperance doth pretend to make the body a stranger to pain , both in taking from it the occasion of diseases , and making the outward inconveniences of vvant , as hunger and cold , if not delightful , at least suffareble . fr. walsingham . a brief discourse concerning the power of the peeres and commons of parliament in point of judicature . written by sir robert cotton , at the request of a peer of this realm . london : printed in the year 1672. a brief discourse concerning the power of the peers , &c. sir , to give you as short an accompt of your desire as i can , i must crave leave , to lay you , as a ground , the frame or first model of this state. when , after the period of the saxon time harold had lifted himself into the royal seat , the great men , to whom but lately he was no more than equal either in fortune or power , disdaining this act of arrogancy , called in william , then duke of normandy , a prince more active than any in these western parts , and renowned for many victories he had fortunately atchieved against the french king , then the most potent monarch of europe . this duke led along with him to this work of glory , many of the younger sons of the best families of normandy , picardy , and flanders , who as undertakers , accompanied the undertaking of this fortunate man. the usurper slain , and the crown by war gained ; to secure certain to his posterity what he had so suddenly gotten , he shared out his purchase , retaining in each county a portion to support the dignity soveraign , which was stiled domenia regni , now the antient demeans ; and assigning to others his adventurers such portions as suited to their quality and expence , retaining to himself dependency of their personal service ( except such lands as in free alms , were the portion of the church ) these were stiled barones regis , the kings immediate free-holders ; for the word baro imported then no more . as the king to these , so these to their followers sub-divided part of their shares into knights fees ; and their tenants were called barones comites , or the like ; for we find , as the kings write in their writs , baronibus suis & francois & anglois ; the soveraigns gifts , for the most part , extending to whole counties or hundreds , an earl being lord of the one , and a baron of the inferiour donations to lords of townships or mannors . as thus the land , so was all course of judicature divided ; even from the meanest to the highest portion , each several had his court of law , preserving still the manner of our ancestors the saxons , who jura per pagos reddebant ; and these are still termed court barons , or the freeholders court , twelve usually in number , who with the thame or chief lord were judges . the hundred was next ; where the hundredus or aldermanus , lord of the hundred , with the chief lords of each township within their limits judged . gods people observed this form in the publique , centuriones & decani judicabant plebem onni tempore . the county or generale placitum was the next ; this was , so to supply the defect , or remedy the corruption of the inferiour , vbi curiae dominarum probantur defecisse , pertinent ad vicecomitem provinciarum . the judges here were comitos , vicecomites , & barones comitatus qui liberas in eo terras h●bent . the last and supream , and proper to our question , was gener ale placitum apud london , vniversalis synodus , in charters of the conqueror , capitalis curia , by glanvile . magnum & commune consilium coram rege & magnatibus suis . in the rolls of hen. the third , it is not stative , but summoned by proclamation ; edicitur generale placitum apud london , saith the book of abingdon ; whither episcopi , duces , principes , satrapae , rectores , & causidici ex omni parte confluxerunt ad istan curiam , saith glanville , causes were referred propter aliquam dubitationem quae emergit in conitatu , cum comitatus nescit dijudicare . thus did ethelweld bishop of winton transfer his suit against leoftine from the county , ●d generale placitum , in the time of king ethildred : queen edgin against goda from the county appealed to king etheldred at london , congregatis principibus & sapientibus aogliae . a suit between the bishops of winton and durham , in the time of saint edward , coram episcopis & principibus regni in praesfentia regis , ventilata & finita . in the 10. year of the conqueror , episcopi , comites , & barones regia potestate e diversis provinciis ad universalem synodum pro causis audiendis & tractandis convocati , saith the book of westminster , and this continued all along in the succeeding kings reigns until towards the end of henry the third . as this great court or councel consisting of the king and barons , ruled the great affairs of state , and controlled all inferiour courts , so were there certain officers , whose transcendent power seemed to be set to bound in the execution of princes wills ; as the steward , constable , and marshal , fixed upon families in fee for many ages : they as tribunes of the people , or ephori amongst the athenians , grown by an unmannerly carriage , fearful to monarchy , fell at the feet and mercy of the king , when the daring earl of leicester was slain at eversham . this chance , and the dear experience henry the third himself had made at the parliament at oxford in the 40. year of his reign , and the memory of the many streights his father was driven unto , especially at runny-mead near stanes , brought this king wisely to begin what his successors fortunately finished , in lessening the strength and power of his great lords . and this was wrought by searching into the regality they had usurped over their peculiar soveraigns ( whereby they were ( as the book at st. albans tearmeth them ) quot domini tot tyranni ) and by weakening that hand of power which they carried in the parliaments , by commanding the service of many knights , citizens , and burgesses to that great councel . now began the frequent sending of writs to the commons , their assents not only used in money , charge , and making laws ( for before all ordinances passed by the king and peers ) but their consent in judgements of all natures , whether civil or criminal . in proof whereof i will produce some few succeeding presidents out of record . when adomar that proud prelate of winchester , the kings half brother , had grieved the state with his daring power , he was exised by joynt sentence of the king , the lords , and commons ; and this appeareth expresly by the letter sent by pope alexander the fourth expostulating a revocation of him from banishment , because he was a church-man , and so not subject to lay censures . in this , the answer is , si dominus rex & regni majores hoc vellent , meaning his revocation , communitas tamen ipsius ingressum in angliam jam nullatenus sustineret . the peers subsign this answer with their names , and petrus de montford vice totius communitatis , as speaker or proctor of the commons ; for by this stile sir j. tiptoft prolocutor affirmeth under his arms the deed of entaile of the crown by king henry 4. in the 8. year of his reign , for all the commons . the banishment of the two spencers in 15. e. 2. praelati comites & barones & les autres peeres de la terre & commons de roialme , give consent and sentence to the revocation and reversement of the former sentence ; the lords and commons accord , and so it is expressed in the roll. in the first of edward the third , when elizabeth the widdow of sir john de burgo complained in parliament , that hugh spencer the younger , robert baldock , and william cliffe his instruments , had by duress forced her to make a writing to the king , whereby she was dispoiled of all her inheritance , sentence was given for her in these words . pur ceo que avis est al evesques counts & barones & autres grandes & a tout cominalte de la terre , que le dit escript est fait contre ley , & tout manere de raison si fuist le dit escript per agard delparliam . dampue elloques al livre ala dit eliz. in the 4th . of edward 3. it appears by a letter to the pope , that to the sentence given against the earl of kent , the commons were parties as well as the lords and peers ; for , the king directed their proceedings in these words ; comitibus , magnatibus , baronibus , & aliis de communitate dicti regni as parliamentum illud congregates iu●unximus , ut super his discernerent & judicarent quod ratione & justitiae conveniret , habere prae oculis , solum deum qui cum concordi & unaenimi sementia tanquam reum criminis laesoe majestatis morti abjudicarent ejus sententia , &c. when in the 50th . of e. 3. the lords had pronounced the sentence against richard lyons . otherwise than the commons agreed ; they appealed to the king , and had redress , and the sentence entred to their desires . when in the first year of r. 2. william weston , and john jennings were arraigned in parliament , for surrendring certain forts of the kings , the commons were parties to the sentence against them given , as appeareth by a memorandum annexed to that record . in i h. 4. although the commons refer by protestation , the pronouncing the sentence of deposition against king richard the second , unto the lords , yet are they equally interessed in it , as appeareth by the record , for there are made proctors or commissioners for the whole parliament , one bishop , one earl , one abbot , one barronet , and two knights , gray and erpingham , for the commons ; and to infer , that because the lords pronounced the sentence the point of judgment should be only theirs , were as absurd , as to conclude that no authority was left in any other commissioner of oyer and terminer than in the person of that man solely that speaketh the sentence . in the second of hen. the 5th the petitions of the commons importeth no less than a right they had to act and assent to all things in parliament ; and so it is answered by the king. and had not the journal roll of the higher house been left ▪ to the sole entry of the clerk of the upper house , who , either out of neglect to observe due form , or out of purpose to obscure the commons right , and to flatter the power of those he immediately served , there would have bin frequent examples of all times to clear this doubt , and to preserve a just interest to the commonwealth . and how conveniently it suits with monarchy to maintain this form , lest others of that well-framed body , knit tinder one head , should swell too great and monstrous , it may be easily thought . for , monarchy again may sooner groan under the weight of an aristocracy , as it once did , then under a democracy , which it never yet either felt or feared . r : c : b. finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a34709-e990 titus livius 2. doc . livius . acta triden . concil . august . de legibus antiq. roman . benedict . in vita hen. 2. record . in scaccar . w●st . claus . edw. ● . lewes in the paper chart. 1523 : notes for div a34709-e2210 william the conqueror . malmsbury . ex lib. feod . in scacc. hen. 1. ex lib. pub . in scacc. chron. de dunstable . mat. paris benedictus monachus in vita hen. 2. gervas . dorch . roger wend●ver . king john. claus . 6 iob. in 3. dorso . petit. 18. hen. 3. claus . 49. hen. 3. in 11. dors . edw. 1. ex rot. parl. in archivis london . claus . 9. edw. 1 . in 12. rot. parl. anno 7 edw. 1. claus . 7 edw. 1. in 3. dors . claus . 34. ed. 1. in dors . edw. 2. claus , 1 edw. 2. in 19. in dors . claus 6 ed. 2. in 3. in dors . claus . 8. in 3. in dors . claus . 13 e. 2. in 13. in dors . claus 16. e. 2. in 27. in dors . ddw . 3. claus . 1 ed. 3. in dors . rot. parl. 5 edw. 3. parl. 6 ed. 3. rot. parl. 6 ed. 3. saff . 2. in 6. rot. parl. 7 ed. 3. rot. parl. 7 e. 3. sess . 2. parl. 7 e. 3. in 6. rot. parl. 13 e. 3. rot. parl. 13 e. 3. sess . 2. parl. 14. e. 3. rot. parl. 18 e. 3. ro. parl. 21 e. 3. parl. 25 e. 3. parl. 27 e. 3. parl. 27 e. 3. parl. 29 e. 3. pa●l . 36 e. 3. parl. 40 e. 3. king john. parl. 43 e. 3. parl. 45 e. 3. parl. 46 e. 3. par. 50 ed. 3. rich. 2. par. 1 rich. 2. in 5 & 6. parl. 1 rich. 2 in 7. parl. 3 rich. 2. in 4. & 5. par. 4 rich. 2. n 2 & 3. parl. 5 rich. 2. in 3. parl. 5. sess . 2. parl. 6. rich. 2. parl. 6 sess . 2. par. 7 rich. 2. parl. 7 sess . 2. par. 8 rich. 2. claus . 9 rie . 2. par. 10 rich. 2. parl. 13 ric. 2. rot. claus . 13. ric. 2. far. 14 ric. 2. parl. 17 ri. 2. henry 4. parl. 5. hen. 4. parl. 6. hen. 4. parl. 7. & 8. hen. 4. in 19 & 20. claus . 7 h. 4. ln 33. in 57. in 59. hen. 5. parl. 1 hen. 5. in 2. in 4. parl. 2 hen. 5. parl. 3 hen. 5. parl. 4 & 5. hen. 5. parl. 5 hen. 5. parl. 7 hen. 5. hen. 6. rot. parl. 2 hen. 6. rot. pa 3 h. 6. rot. pa. 9 h. 6. rot. parl. 14 hon. 6. rot. parl. 15 hen. 6. parl. 20 h. 6. parl. 23 h. 6. rot. parl. 25 hen. 6. in 3. n. 6. parl. 27 h. 6. parl. 29 h. 6. parl. 33 h. 6. edward 4. parl. 7. e. 4. parl. 12 e. 4. henry 7. rot. parl. 1 hen. 7. henry 8. parl. 3 h 8. rot. parl 32. hen. 8. ex iustrumen . orig. tractat. matrimonial . 1510. ex literis orig . legator . ex tract . hen. 8. & maximilian . 1511. ex tract . orig . ex tract . orig . ex liiteris ric. pace legat. reg. anglia . ex literis car. sedunensis . ex literis carol . reg. hisp . ex literis , car. imperat. original . extract . wind. 1522. ex instru . orig . jurament . ex literis richardi ●ace , & lohannis russel . ex tract madristensi 526. ex rot. com. russel & pace . ex iustru . orig . carol. 5. ex instru h. 8. bryano & gardinen . ex literis cuthb tunstall epis lon-legat . hen. 8. in hispan . ex protestat . orig . toledonensi ●arl . ex literis car. wolsey & creg . lusathis . ex instru . signat . ch. im. gonzado ferdinand . capel . suo dat . 24 feb. ●x lib. n n. n.dom. car. ex literis interce●t . à com. northumb. custo● . march. scotiae . extract . orig . in arch. wost . ●x tract . cambrens . 1529. notes for div a34709-e7440 ex consiliis reg. saxon. cantuar. gla●vil . lib. ely. leges etherlredi . ingulphus . croylandensis . registra monaster . palatium regale . westm. regist. eliensis . annales monasteriorum . liber de rollo . regist. de wig. iohannes eversden . mathew paris . hoveden . bracton . glanvill . fleta . modus tenendi parliament . ex registris council . cantuariae . ex consilio withredi regist. ex synodis & legibus alfredi ethelredi , edgari . ex registr . elien . ex registr . abigtounessi . chronicon de waverley . gesta sancti edwardi galice . alured . rivalensis , vita edwardi confessoris . regist. cantuarien . regist. sancti edmundi . walterus mape de nugis curialium . hen. huntingdon . malmsbury . vita tho cantuar per fitz-stephanum . gesta hen. 2 . benedictio abb. authore . regist. monast . de belto . regist , lincoln . liber burtoni ens . monasterii rot. clans . anno 59. e. ● . rot. parl. 15. edw. 2. rot. parl. 4. edw. 3. rot. parl. anno 5. edw. 3. rot. parl. anno 15. edw. 3. rot. pa●l . anno 17. edw. 3. chronicon henrici knighton . rot. parl. anno 1. hen. 4. rot. parl. anno 2. hen. 4. rot. parl. 10. hen. 4. anno 2. hen. 4. rot. parl. rot. parl. anno 4. hen. 4. rot. parl. anno 5. hen. 4. rot. parl. anno 27. h. 6. rot. parl. anno 28. hen. 6. rot. parl. anno edw. 4. registrum cralanden . ex chartis anno 12. h. 7. ex regist . camera stellata . ex annalibus fleetwood recordat . london . memorial . e. 6. propria man● . notes for div a34709-e10000 combat . ex lib. 3. const . car. magni de testibus . bract. l. 3. c. 18. fol. 137. tit . corona . leges lombard . fol. 17. b. lu●●prand● rege . pr●pter consuetudin●m gent. legem impiam vitare non possumus . de papin . hist. l. 9. c. 11. lib. 5. decret . 2. part . ca. 1. qu. 40. rich. 1. parl. anno 20. 20 e. 1. pat 18. e. 3. in 44. part 2. pat. part 3. anno 19. r. 2. m 16. pat. anno 5. h. 4. m. 8. lactan. divin . instit. cap. 6. st. cyp. l. 1. ep. 2. euseb . in vita constant . l. 3. zocomen . l. 1. c. 8. l. 2. cod. & glad . ex cod. theo●os . l. 5. c. 26. f●colinus de brackland cap. 12. h 1. 2. part. pat . 8. r. 2. memb. 8. rot. vascon . anno 9. h. 4. ●lacita coram rege 22 e. 1. bract. l. 3 c. 21 anno. 17 e. 3. & anno. 9 h. 4. ex consuetud . duc. norman . cap. 68. tit. de equela multri fol. 145. breve reg. orig . apud r. g. c. reports anno 1 h. 6. dyer anno 13 eliz. rog. ●ovodeden & adam merimuth in vita e. 3. rot. fran. anno 7 r. 2. m. 21. compane de la faughe regali & spagna . f● 110. joan. de molina chron. de loy● reg. de aragon . fol. 43. balla martini 5. dat in kal. maij anno ●ontific . 8. ●lacita anno 29. & 31 e. 1. rot. claus . anno 19 r. 2. dat . 26 feb. claus in dorso 19 r. 2. com. st. alban . 22 r. 2. 2. pars pat . anno 8 r. 2. rot vascon . anno 9 h. 4. m. 14. placita coram rege . 22 e. 1. rot. parl. anno 23 e. 1 . pat. in dors . 4 h 3. conc. trid. sess 9. t it decreta reform . ex con. biturien . fol 1022. claus , anno 3. e. 1. m. 2. parl anno 24 h. 6. placita de quo warrant● anno 8 r. ● . sussex . placita coram rege trin. 33 e. 1. ex lege longi bard . 45. circa annum 8●● notes for div a34709-e12420 rodericus sanctius . pag 312. beda . baronius . dorothaeus . beda . baronius & donaco constantini . in inscriptionibus antiquis . easci●ulus temporis . tarapha . tarapha . eulogium lib. 5 ex legibus sancti edwardi . ex legibus cenuti . bracton . baldus . malmsbury . ex eug●bino . ex ranolpho n●gro . malmsbury . ex libro b●rn wellensis caenobiae . platina . corsettus . ex lib. sacrarum ceremoniar . virgilius . cosmographia . garsius . vide t●rapha . tilius . anno christi 1025. 1415. ann● christi . 1338. 1065. 1246. 1185. 1191. notes for div a34709-e16990 1503. 1056. 1510. 1512. 1513 1514 1515 1518 1519 1519 1522 1524 1525 1526 1529 14 septemb. 154● 1558 1578 ▪ 150000 li. 1587 1597 25000 mill. of crowns . king james , 1603 16●● 1606 ▪ 1612 notes for div a34709-e20570 mercy fore-running the rapine of a milefactor , is an ill guardian of a princes person . a hard hand , suddenly remitted , is seldom by the rude people interpreted 〈◊〉 the best sense . there is no hope of reformation where there is no confession of the fault . while justice sleeps , the time serves to sow news , and raise factions . fearful spirits , by sufferance , grow insolent and cruel . vnion in a prepared conspiracy prevails more than number . it is hard to perswade those who by reason of their dependency on the pope , are ●carce masters of their own souls . malis benefacere , tantu●dem est ac bonis inal● facere . fellowship i● misery easeth grief , and by the clamor of a multitude , justice is many times condemned . it is not good to set price on that which being sold will bring repentance to the seller . wariness is to be used with those , quines totam servitutem pati possunt , nec totam libertatem . most men write good turns in sand , and the bad in marble . fugitives that crave succour use to lie much in favour of their cause and power . relation de botero . it is a sig● when a faction dares number their side , that there is an opinion conceived of sufficient strength , to attempt some innovation . in a common-wealth there ought to be one head , for which cause a prince must be vigilant , when divers factions arise that by favouring one , and neglecting the other , instead of a head of all he become only a member of one party . discontented minds in beginning of tumults will agree , though their ends ●r divers . a multitude is never united in grose , but in some few heads which being taken away , converteth their fury against the first movers of the sedition . certain germans in henry the seconds time calling themselves publicans were marked with a hot iron in the foreheads and whipped , being thrust out in the winter , with a prohibition that none should receive them into their houses , they dyed of hunger and cold . rooted suspition , being violently handled , groweth more wary , but not less obstinate . if conspirators have one sympathy of mind , the conspiracy is never wholly suppressed , so long as one of them remaineth . opinion setled in a multitude , is like hydraes heads , which must be cured with scarring and not by le●ting bloud . clemency is a divine instinct , and worketh supernal effects . gorticii axiomata politica . tacitus in vita agricol . when traitors in evils will not choose the least , it is an argument that they are desperate , and breath nothing but extremity of mischief . it was a precept of machivells , to put on the mask of religion . so it pleased parsons to cavil , of whom it might be truly spoken , malus malum pejorem esse vult , & sui similem . to bestow benefits on the b●d , maketh them worse and vilifieth the reward of the vertuous . valour is often overcome by weakness , but being too much prized it turneth to unbridled furies . the best laws are made out of those good customes , whereunto the people is naturally inclined . vse to see men dye with resolution , taketh away the fear of death , for which purpose the romans used the fights of their gladiators . the hereticks called publicans when they were whipped they took their punishment gladly , their captain gerrard going before them and singing , blessed are you when men do hate you . andromache● . si vis vitam minitare . seneca ●rag . worldly des●res , may be quenched with godly meditations , our beavenly hopes cannot be abated by earthly punishments . it is a point of wisdome to maintain the truth with as little disputation as may be , least a good cause be marred with ill handling . truth seldome prevaileth with the partiality of the people , which being ignorant is carried away with the outward semblance of things . it is hard to make a rule so general , against which difference of circumstance may not except . he that is culumniated by many , is in danger , first to be suspected by his friends , and shortly to be condemned if the slandes continue . that counsel takes best effect that is fitted to the nature of times and persons . those changes of states are safely made , which reserving most of the ancient form , betters it and reduces the defects into order . the church is most zealous , when persecution is fresh in memory ; when those times are forgotten , we gr●w to loath that which we enjoy freely . in this case the ●uestion is not so much of the truth of it , as who shall be judge , and what censure will be given . in the first 11 years of q. eliz. it was rasier to subdue popery , than now , for then they feared to irritate the state , not knowing how farre severity might extend , now knowing the worst , they are resolved agere & ●ati ●ortia . vulgu● est morosum animal , quod facilius duci , quam cogi potest . many p●rtizans encourage the faint●hearted , and when an one my cannot prevail against number , his thoughts are not how to offend , but how to make a safe retreat . more priests may be shut up in a year than they can make in many . de●s●re of in●●ovation is ●●sh and con●entions ▪ and therefore can hardly agree of a head . t●●ce is alwayes to be wished provided that under the canker thereof , there be not a mischief entertained worse than war if self . an oath is of force , so long as it is thought lawfull , when that opinion is crazed , it doth more hurt then good . one man in another beholdeth the image of himself , and there by groweth compassionate and sen●●ible of that which may fall to himself . what men do unwillingly is never done effectually . when many tumultuous persons assault , there will be a fray . vertue neither praised nor rewarded waxeth cold . an ill name given to a good thing discourageth men from medling with it . wise men do forecast how to do most with least noise . particular officers must be appointed , what is to all is commonly performed by none . the service done for the kings proper use , hath his warrant and countenance , but when a private man hath the gain , neither reward●●r bearing out can be expected ; and by consequence recusants are free . medicines that work in the spirits of men , are of greater force , and cure more surely then outward plaisters . speech is the interpreter of the minde , therefore who so useth in divine matters to speak reservedly , and in a double sense , he will be s●spected to have a double heart , and unfit to teach them that trust him not . a good pust●● is the physician of the soul , and ought to apply his doctrine according to the tenderness or hardness of the conscience ▪ for want of which discretion some mens zeal hath done hurt . false miracles and lying news are the food of superstition , which by credulity delude ignorant people god which is the great law-maker , by his laws prevents sins , to the end punishments may be inflicted on it justly ; as to avoid idolatry , he forbiddeth making of images ; he that cannot live chast , let him marry , &c. a man is said to know so much as he remembreth , and no more ; and we remember best , what we learn in our youth , therefore if we will be wise when we are old , we must be taught when we are young . out of oeconomicall government , the diversity of states grow , & such as a ●rinces house , is the state of the commons for the most part : by which reason a prince may be the survey of his house , have an aim how the common-wealth is affected . by the lawes there were tything men , who gave accompt for ten houholds : some such officers might be good in this case : for i hold the breaking of the breaking of the sabbath to be the ruine of our religion . it were fit also that they learnt how to distinguish the common grounds of propery , whereby the priests deceive poor people . he that knows not the true cause of an evil , cannot help it but by change , which is a dangerous guide of a state. where good men are afraid to call a vice by the proper name , it is a sign that the vice is common , and that great persons ( whom it is not safe to anger ) are infected therewith . ●e schism . anglicano & vis . m●n . eccles . some think that if these mens zeal h●d by order been put to imploy it self otherwayes , and a task set them to doe some good and memorable thing in the church , they might have been reformed , or made harmlesse by diversion . head-strong papists are not easily subdued , yet must they not be suffered to grow to a faction , discretio pro lege discernere quid sic res ▪ must lay the burthen in the right place . w●thout reformation in this point . popery will still encrease , but as all vertuous enterprizes are difficult , so is this most intricate . a wise householder will cast up his reckonings to see what losse or profit he hath made in a year cuevara epist . aure● . the law which took immediate notice of an offence ▪ gave a quick redresse , and corrected the poor as well as the rich . sharp laws that stand upon a long processe , after a manner seem to dispe●ce with the vice . the allegiance to god ought to precede the temporall obedience , for if the first may be obtained , the second will follow of it self . this course will discover more than the oath of allegiance , and prevent many from falling off by reason of the quick discovery . so long as houses and lodgings in london are let to papists ; the priests will be received , and from thence shall the country be infected . if we can prevent the increase of papists , those that now live must either be reformed , or in time yield to nature , and then shall a new age succeed of christians , by education made religious . the br●achers of a bad cause being touched in conscience , at the first move slowly , but if they prevaile they grow tyrannous beyond measure . most men will affect to be such as the highest trusts , and favours . a great man is an idol in the eyes of mean people , and draws many t● imitate his actions . few laws well executed are better than many . a crown of glory once attained , hath power to dispence with former faults ▪ he counsells best , that prefers the cause of god , and the commonwealth before any particular . notes for div a34709-e24070 hen. 4. ex rot . orig . interacta concil . hen. 4. hen. 5. ex rot . in actis council . anno 2. hen. 5. in fin. ex rot . orig . an . 3 hen. 5. ex ordinat . anno 9. hen. 5. hen. 6. ex rot . par. anno 12. hen. 6. n. 24. queen eliza. ex comp . din burghley thesaur . edw. 2. ex angl. m. s. folio 29. ex libro . do. aula regis . edw. 3. rot. pa●l . anno 36. edw. 3 rich. 2. rot. parl. 1. ric. 2. rot. par●an . rich. 2. rot. 4. parl. an . 5. & 6. rich. 2. hen. 4. rot. parl. an . 4 7 & 11. hen. 4. ex ordinat . in rot. act. c●nc●l . an . 11. h●n ● : marked ●r hen. 6 rot. par an . 2. 18. hen. 6. edw. 4 ex. rot . parl an . ●2 . edw. 4. ex lib. ordin . hospitii temp . edw. 4. rot. par. an 27. edw. 3..7 . hen. 4. n. 3. mich. recep . 27. hen. 6. n. 9. edw. 2. ex aula regis fact . temp . ed. 2. hen. 4. act. concil . 8. hen. 4. marked p. p. hen. 6. ed. 4. ex lib. ord . tem . ed. 4 ordinat . car woolsey hen. 8. hen. 2. ex gervas . doro. bern . rich. 1. ex richardo canonico in vita rich. 1. hen. 3. ex lib. sect. albani & wil. rishang . & lit . baron . papae . edw. 2. ex ordina . 3 ed. 2. in li. legum manuscript fol. 285. rich. 2. ex rot parl. an . 10. rich. 2. he. 4. ex rot . par. an . 7. & 1● . hen. 4. rich. 2. rot. par. an 21. ri 2. an . 2 4 & 5. hen. 4. n 9. hen. 4. rot. par. an . 7. h. rot. par. ann . 11. h. 4. n. 23. hen. 6. pars. parl. 2. an . 25. hen. 6. m. 24. ex rot . parl. an . 28. hen. 6. rich. 2. ex rot . par. an . 1. hen. 4 ex lib. rub . in secto ex jo. eversden . ex hist . roffens . ex rot . parl. temp . ed. 3. ex rot . par. annis . 2 , 3 , 5. rich. 2. rot. parl. 8 , 9. hen. 4. ex rot. parl. an . 13. hen. 4. & 1. hen. 5. ex benedict-monacho in vita hen. 2. ex adam . merioneth ex rot. par. anno 4. rich. 2. ex rad. cogshal . ex hist . roffen . rot. par. an . 23. 3 & 7. hen. 4. ed. 1. 13. ed. rot. par. anno 15. ed. 3. n. 16. ex rot . par. an . 7 8 , 9 , 10. 11. rich. 2. ex rot . par. an . 4. & 7 hen. 5. rot . par. 7. edw. 4. ex original . ; an . 3 rich. 2. rot. ordinat . an . 5. & claus . an 9 & 10. edw. 2. rot. par. an . 1. rich 2. rot. parl. an . 1 , 2 , & 6. hen. 4. ex rot. par. an . 1. & 2. hen. 5. rot par. anno 28 , 29 , 3. hen. 6. ex act . cons . an . 21. hen. 6. rot. par. an . 2 hen. 7. rot. parl. an 13 ed. 3. act . concil . 20. 22 hen. 6. claus . an . 26. hen. 3. clau. 29. ed. 1. rot. fran . an . 9. edw. 2. comune insc . 30 edw. 3. parl. anno 7. rich. 2. parl. anno 5. hen. 5. par. an . 10. 12. 29. hen. 6. act. concil . an . 22. hen. 6. ex billa sign . an . 15 hen. 6. & 12. edw. 4. rot. original . an . 33. hen. 4. marked b ▪ b. rot. act . conc . 13. hen. 4. rot. act . concil . 13. hen. 4. ex ordinat . concil . an . 3. hen. 5. marked n. n. ex instruc . comiss . 14. hen 8. ro● parl 12. rich. ● . ex charta episcop . cant. ro. claus . 29. edw , 1. claus . 35 edw. 3 ex insruct . original 20. hen. 6. ex act . pa●l . an . 3. mariae . ex instructione original . 17. hen. 8. lib. domesday . rot. parl. an . 7. hen. 4. rot. fin . an . 2. edw. 2. rot. ●arl . an . 15. edw. 2. rot. claus . an . 7. edw. 2. rot. claus . an . 13 hen 3. memb . 10. rot. fin . 2 & 3 edw. 1. rot. valcon . 22. edw. 1. rot. alinaig . 12. edw. 3. act concil . an . 10. hen. 6. warrant . sub privat . sigill . an . 9 eliz. reginae . rot. parl an . 29. hen. 6. n. 15. rot. claus . an . 19. hen. 3. rot. parl. 15. rich. 2. ex billa signat . an . 20. rich. 2. ex petit . an . 5. hen. 6. ex act . concil . ex billa original . an . 10. edw 4. ex lib. comp . inter hen. 7. & dudley . ex lib. hen. 7. rot. almaign . 3. edw. 3 rot. claus . 29. ed. 1. ex tract . bruxelles . magna charta 30. dor● . clau . an . 16. hen. 3. n ▪ 20. statut. an 25. ed. 1. rot. parl. 31. edw. 1. cap. 1. & 2. rot claus . an . 11. edw. 2. rot. fin . 1. ed. 3. statute 2. ed. 3. cap. 9. rot par. 6. ed. 3. tat . 11. ed. 3. cap. 1. ro. almaign . 12. edw. 3. memb . 22. indors . stat. 1● . ed. 3. rot. parl. 1. edw. 3. stat. 14. edw. 3. licencegranted by henry 4. henry 5. henry 6. to many merchants with non obstante any statute . ordinat . concil an . 12. hen. 6. merchants . clau. anno . 5. edw. 3. original . 17. edw. 3 rot . 2. ex rod. cogshal . rot. ragman . an . 7 ed. 7. rot. quo warranto 8. ed. 3. rot. warranto 13 edw. 3. instructio original . 22. rich. 2. process con . dudley an . 1. hen. 8. lib. aquitanc . inter hen. 7. & dudley . emilius in vita lewis 12. v●s . cap. 40. ex instructione caroli 5. to ph. l. 2. ex scacar inter rememb . regis 27. ed. 3. ex composit . original . inter ca●d . woolsey , & archiep cant dated 14. hen. 8. notes for div a34709-e31910 3. reasons out of president . 1. imperial constitutons . 2. saxonlaws . acts in parliament justinian . tripartita historia . distinct . 196. 1. nicep . lib. 11. concil . ca●●h . affric . zozimus . ambros . l 5. ep. 32. russ●us ec. clef . hist . l. ● . athan. epist ad solit . vitam agent . dionysius h●lic●rn . saxon laws . leges inae . textus roffensis . leges regum saxorum . eulogium . all the clergy members of parliament proved by record . rot. parl. 18. edw. 3. rot. parl. an . 3. rich. 2. rot. parl. an . 4. rich. 2. rot. parl. an . 11. ri. 2. 11. ● rot. parl. an . 21. rich. 2. n. 9. & 10. rot. parl. an . 21 rich. 2. n. 51. 2. ric. 2. n. 58. 1. hen. 4. rot. parl an . 6. he. 6. n. 27. william m●lmesbury . lib. ecclesiae cantuar. vita hen. 2. beda . provincial consitutions . rot. parl. claus . 5. rich. 2. charae ●ntiquae b. b. ambrosi●s . concil . 11. toletan . ●d consentiendum . writ of summons rot. claus . an . 22. rich. 2. ● . 7. archivis . archiepis . rot. patl. 18. edw. 1. usurie . vex●tion by ord●naries . rot. parl. 8. edw. 3. citations . rot. parl. an . 1. rich. pecuniarie pains . 5. rich. 2. ecclesiastical courts . tythes . 17. rich. 2. n. 43. learned ministery . rot. par. an . 2. hen. 4. ● . 44. 4. hen. 4. 11. hen. 4. rot. par. an . 1. hen. 5. rot. par. an . 3. hen. 6. rot. parl. an . 4. hen. 1. chartae a●iquae b. b. leges saxon. concil . chale . levit. 14. notes for div a34709-e34290 object . 1 . object . 2 . resp . object . 3 . 〈…〉 no. vic. leicester . de ponend . per ballium . deponend . p●● ballium . deponend . par. ballium . adam deponend . in ball . pro georgio de rupe . pro iacobo de audele de non veniendo ad parliamenta . pro roberto de insula milite de nonv● endo ad parliament . pro rich. duce ebor. de tenend . parliamentum nomine regi● . de non veniend . ad parlia . lovel . summonit . parliamenti . pro henrico . dom. vessey de exemptione . notes for div a34709-e40430 honour justice & profit honour edw. 1. hen. 6. hen. 8. queen eliz. edw. 4 iustice● . bodin . theoderet the gothe . mirror des iustices . edw. 1. & 3. hen. 4. & 5. profit . 18. edw. 3. 1573. 5. edw. 6. 3. mariae . 4. eliz. notes for div a34709-e45690 lib. ep. glanvile . e●b sancti etheldredi epise . eliber sancti albans fol. 20● anno 44 , ● . 3. ch●rtaorig . sub●i , ill ann. 8. h. 4. apud rob. cotton rot. parl. am . o 15 e. 2 . rot parl. anno 16. e. 2 . rot. parlanno 1. e. 3. n. 11. parl. anno 〈◊〉 ed : 3. parl. 1. r. 2. n. 38 , 39. parl. 1. h. 4. ho● . parl. an. ● . h. 5. divers historicall discourses of the late popular insurrections in great britain and ireland tending all, to the asserting of the truth, in vindication of their majesties / by james howell ... ; som[e] of which discourses were strangled in the presse by the power which then swayed, but now are newly retreev'd, collected, and publish'd by richard royston. howell, james, 1594?-1666. 1661 approx. 456 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 215 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-05 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a70276 wing h3068 estc r5379 13206616 ocm 13206616 98493 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a70276) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 98493) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 422:3 or 1594:6) divers historicall discourses of the late popular insurrections in great britain and ireland tending all, to the asserting of the truth, in vindication of their majesties / by james howell ... ; som[e] of which discourses were strangled in the presse by the power which then swayed, but now are newly retreev'd, collected, and publish'd by richard royston. howell, james, 1594?-1666. [8], 411 p., [1] leaf of plates : ill. printed by j. grismond, london : 1661. "the first tome" engraved illustrated t.p.: the people is a beast which heads hath many, england of late shew'd this more then any. "no more published"--nuc pre-1956 imprints. each essay has separate t.p. imperfect: bodleian library copy (422:3) lacks t.p. and frontispiece. reproduction of originals in the bodleian library and the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng divine right of kings. political science. great britain -history -civil war, 1642-1649. ireland -history -rebellion of 1641. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-02 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-03 rina kor sampled and proofread 2004-03 rina kor text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion divers historicall discourses of the late popular insurrections in great britain , and ireland , tending all , to the asserting of truth , in vindication of their majesties ; by iames howell esquire ; som of which discourses were strangled in the presse by the power which then swayed , but now are newly retreev'd , collected , and publish'd by richard royston . the first tome . london , printed by i. grismond . 1661. belua multorum capit●…m plebs vana vocatur , plus satis hoc angli ●…uper docuere popelli . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ i : h : the people is a beast which heads hath many , england of late hath shew'd this more then any . to his majesty sir , these historical discourses ( set forth in such variety of dresses ) having given so much satisfaction to the world for the asserting of truth , in vindication of your royal father of ever blessed memory , and som of them relating also to your majesty , i humbly conceiv'd might be proper for your majesties perusal & patronage . concerning the author therof his name needed not to have bin prefix'd , he being so universally well known and distinguishd from other writers both at home and abroad by his stile , which made one of the highest wits of these times say of him , author hic ex genio notus , ut ungue leo. god almighty blesse your majesty with a continuance of happiness , and daily encrease of glory , so prayeth your majesties most loyal , and humble subject , royston . a catalog of the severall peeces that are here contain'd . i. a dialog twixt patricius and peregrin presently after kintonfield battaile , which was the first book that came forth for vindication of his majesty . ii. the second part of that discours . iii. a seasonable advice sent to philip late earl of pembrock , to mind him of the severall solemn oaths wherby he was bound to adhere to the king. iv. a manifesto sent in his majesties name to the reformed churches , and princes beyond the seas touching his religion . v. apologs , and emblemes , in whose moralls the times are represented . vi. of the land of ire , or a discours of that horrid insurrection in ireland , discovering the tru causes therof . vii . the sway of the sword , or a disurs of the common militia or soldiery of the land , proving , that the command therof in chief , belongs to the ruling prince . viii . an italian prospective , through which england may discern the desperat condition she stands in . ix . a nocturnall progresse , or perambulation of most countries in christendom . x. a vindication of his majesty touching a letter he writ to rome from madrid , in answer to a letter which pope gregory the 15th . had sent him upon passing the dispensation for concluding the match . xi . of the trety of the i le of wight , and the death of his majesty . xii . advise from the prime statesmen of florence , how england shold come to her self again , which can be by no other means under heaven , but by calling in the king , and that , in a free confident way without articles , but what he shall be pleas'd to offer himself . the tru informer , who discovers to the world the first grounds of this ugly rebellion and popular tumults in england , scotland , and ireland . deducing the causes therof in an historicall discours from their originall . — neutrum modò , mas modò vulgus . written in the prison of the fleet anno 1642. casuall discourses , and interlocutions betwixt patricius and peregrin , touching the distractions of the times , vvith the causes of them . patricius . surely i shold know full well that face and phisnomy : o heavens ! 't is peregrin . gentle sir , you are well met , and welcom to england , i am heartily glad of your safe arrivall , hoping now to apprehend some happie opportunity whereby i may requite part of those worthy favours i received from you in divers places t'other side side of the sea. peregrin . sir , i am as joyfull to see you , as any friend i have upon earth ; but touching favours , they deserve not such an acknowledgment , i must confesse my self to be farr in the arrear , therfore you teach me what i shold speak to you in that point : but amongst other offices of friendship you have bin pleased to do me from time to time , i give you many thanks for the faithfull correspondence you have held withme , since the time of our separation , by intercours of letters , the best sort of fuell to warm affection , and to keep life in that noble vertue friendship , which they say abroad , is in danger to perish under this cold insulary clime for want of practise . patricius . truely , sir , you shold have had an account of matters hence more amply and frequently , but that of late it hath bin usuall , and allowed by authority , to intercept and break open any letters ; but private men need not complain so much , since the dispatches of ambassadors , whose p●…ckets shold be held as sacred as their persons , h●…ve bin commonly open'd , besides some outrages offered their houses and servants ; nay , since their maj●…sties letters under the cabinet signet have bin broke up , and other counterfeit ones printed and published in their names . peregrin . indeed i must confesse the report hereof hath kept a great noise abroad , and england hath suffered much in point of national repute in this particular ; for even among barbarians , it is held a kind of sacriledge to open letters ; nay , it is held a baser kind of burglary , then to break into a house , chamber , or closet : for that is a plundering of outward things onely , but he who breaks open ones letters which are the idea's of the mind , may be said to rip up his brest , to plunder and rifle his very brain , and rob him of his most pretious and secretest thoughts . patricius . well , let us leave this distastfull subject , when these fatall commotions cease , this custom , i hope , will be abhorred in england : but now , that you are newly arrived , and so happily met , i pray be pleased t●… make me partaker of some forraign news , and how the squares go betwixt france and spain , those two great wheels , that draw after their motion ( some more , some lesse ) all the rest of the western world : and when you have done , i will give you account of the state of things in england . peregrin . i thought you had so abounded with domestick news , that you had had no list or leisure to hear any forrain ; but to obey your commands , you know that i have been any time these six years a land-loper up and down the world , and truly i could not set foot on any chr●…stian shore that was in a perfect condition of peace , but it was engag●…d either in a direct , 〈◊〉 or collaterall war , or standing upon it's guard in continuall apprensions and alarmes of fear : for , since that last flaming usher of gods vengeance , that direful comet of the yeer 1618. appear'd in the heavens , some malevolent and ang●…y ill-aspected star hath had the predominance ever since , and by it's maligne influxes , made strange unusuall impressions upon the humors of subjects , by inci●…ing them to such insurrections , revolts , and tumults ; which caused a jewish rabbi to say lately , that it seems the grand turk thrives extraordinarily in his devotions , it being one of his prime prayers to mahomet , that he shold prevaile with god almighty to continue disentions still among christian princes . and truly , as the case stands , one may say , that the europaean world is all in pieces ; you know well with what fearfull fits of a high burning fever poor germany hath been long shaken , which hath wrought a lethargie in some of her members , by wasting of the vital spirits which shold diffuse themselves equally through that great body ; and how she st●…ll ●…ostereth a cold northern guest ( the swed ) within her bosom , and is in 〈◊〉 fear of a worse from the levant : in the netherlands one shall hear the half-starv'd souldier murmur in every corner , and railing against his king , and ready to mutiny for want of pay . in france you shall see the poor asinin peasan half weary of his life , his face being so 〈◊〉 grownd , ever and anon with new tallies . you know ther are som soverain princes , who have a long time wandred up and down in exile , being outed of their own anti●…nt patrimoniall territories , and little hopes yet , god wot , of restoring them . the world knows how savoy is become of late a kind of province to france ; nay , spain , who hath been so dexterous to put her neighbours ogether by the eares , and to foment war a far off , to keep her own home secure , is now her self in the midst of two fearfull fires , kindled on both sides of her by quite-revolted subjects , viz. the portugues and cat alan , which so puzzles her , that shee cannot tell what saint to pray unto . the venetian also , with the pope , and all the princes of italy , are arming apace ; the hollander onely , salamander like , thrives in these flames : and as i have heard of some that by a long habitu●…l custom could feed on poyson , and turn it to nourishment , so hans alone can turn war to a trade and grow fat by it . now , sir , being weary of eating my bread in such a distracted world abroad , and hoping to take some sweet repose in england , i find that shee is in as bad a case , if not worse , then any other . so much news i give you in a lump , i will be more particular with you som other time , if you please to spare me now . patricius . i hear , not without much resentment , these pithy expressions you have been pleased to make of the torn estate of europe abroad ; and since you mention that blazing star , i remember what a noble knight told me some yeers ago , that the astronomers , who lay sentinel to watch the motion and aspect of that comet , observ'd that the tail of it having pointed at divers climats , at last it seem'd to look directly on these north-west i lands , in which posture it spent it selfe , and so extinguish'd ; as if thereby it meant to tell the world , that these islands should be the stage whereupon the last act of the tragedie should be play'd . and how many scenes have passed already , both here and in ireland , we know , god wot , by too too wofull and fresh experience . peregrin . there is a saying when your neighbours house is on fire , by it's light you may see in what danger your own stands : and was england so blind and blockish , as not to take warning by so many fearfull combustions abroad ? when i took my leave last of her , i left her in such a compleat condition of happines , both in court , country , city and sea , that shee was the envie of all europ , in so much , that that golden verse might be fi●…ly applied to her then golden times , mollia securae perage●…ant otia gentes . the court was never so glorious , being hanselld every yeer almost with a new roya●… off-spring ; the gentry no where more gallan●… and sportfull ; the citizen never more gorgeous and rich , and so abounding with treasure , bullion and buildings , that no age can parallel ; commerce , inward and outward was never at that height ; the customes increasing every yeer to admiration ; the narrow seas were never guarded with braver ships , nor the navie royall for number of vessels and magazines of all sorts of materials was ever so well replenished ; the universities had never such springing dayes : and lastly , the church did so flourish , that amongst the rest of the reformed churches of christendome , i have heard her call'd the church triumphant . besides , ireland was arriv'd almost to the same degree of prosperity , for all the arrerages of the crowne were paid , and not a peny sent hence for many yeeres to maintain the standing army there , or for any other publick charge , as formerly ; trafique came to that mighty height of encrease , that in few years the crown customes and imposts came to be five times higher . in fine , ireland was brought not only to subsist of her selfe , but inabled to contribut towards the filling of the english exchequer , and to make some retribution of those vast expences the crown of england hath been at any time these 400 yeeres to reduce her to civility ; her boggs were almost all dry'd up , and made good land ▪ her mudde-walls turn'd apace to brick in divers places , so that in one sommer that i fortun'd to be there , above 50. new brick-houses were built in one towne . but it hath been the fate of that island , to be 〈◊〉 neer a condition of a setled , happiness , and yet to have some odd accident still intervene to crosse it . in conclusion , there wanted nothing to make england and her united crowns so exactly blessed , that she might have assumed the title of one of the fortunat islands . good lord , how comes it to passe , that she is now fallen into such horrid distempers , and like a distracted body , laying han●…s upon her self , would thrust the sword of civil war into her own bowels ? i beseech you , sir , impart unto me the true cause of this change ; for i know none so capable to do it as your self . patriciu●… . infandum , peregrine , jubes renovare dolorem : first , sir , in the generall you know , that it is with the regions upon earth , as it is with those of the ayre , sometimes we have a clear azur'd skie with soft gentle ventilations , and a sweet serenitie the whole hemesphere over ; at other times we know the face of the heavens is over-cast with frowns , with frog vapors , and thick clouds of various shapes , which look like monsters , hovering up and down , break at last into thunder and fulgurations , and so disquiet and raise a kind of war in the aereall common-wealth . just so in the regions that are dispers'd up and down this earthly glo●…e , peepled with men ( which are but a composition of the elements ) you have sometimes a gentle calm of peace and quietude , with a general tranquillitie all the countrey over ; at other times you have ugly mishapen clouds of jealousies , fears , and discontentments rise up , which break out at last into acts of disobedience , rebellion , and fury . and as those aereall meteors and monsters above , are ingendered of those watery fogs and mists which are drawn up out of fennie and rotten low grounds here upon earth ; so in the region of the mind , the ill vapors which ascend to the brain from rotten and impostumated hearts , from desperate and mal●…-contented humorists are the causes of all civil commotions and distempers in state. but they have much to answer for in the world to come ( though they escape it in this ) who for any private interest or respect whatsoever , either of promotion , vain-glory , revenge , malice , or envie , will embroyl and plunge their own native country in any publick ingagement or civil war , by putting a partition-wall betwixt their soverain prince and their fellow-subjects . truely , in my opinion , these may be called the worst kind of betrayers of their countreys . but i am too far transported from satisfying your request in relating the true causes of these calamities , i will now fall to work , and bring you to the very source of them . ther is a pack of perverse people ( composed for the most part of the scummie and basest sort ) multiplied in england , who by a kind of natural inclination , are opposit so point blank to monarchy in state , and hierarchy in church , that i doubt if they were in heven ( whither 't is to be fear'd they run a great hazard ever to enter , it being a rule , that he who is rotten-hearted to his king , can never be right-hearted to his crea●…or ) i say if these men were in heven , they w●…uld go near to repine at the monarchical power of god almighty himself , as also at the degrees of angels , and the postures of holiness in the church triumphant . they call every crotchet of the brain , tenderness of conscience forsooth : which being well examined , is nothing else but a meer spirit of contradiction , of malice and disobedience to all higher powers which possesseth them . ther are no constitutions either ecclesiastical or civil can please them , but they wold cast both into such and such a mould , which their crack'd brains wold fain devise , yet are never able to bring to any perfection ; they are ever labouring to bring religion to the dock , and to be new trimm'd , but they wold take down her fore-castle , and scarce allow her the kings armes to adorn her : they are great listners after any court-news , and prick up their ears when any thing is spoken of king , queen , or privie councellour , and are always ready , though upon loose trust , to take up any report whereby they may whisper in conventicles and corners , and so traduce the government . these great z●…lots use to look upon themselves most commonly through multiplying glasses , which make them appear to be such huge santons , that it renders them not onely uncharitable in their opinions of others , but luciferian-like proud in their own conceit , insomuch that they seem to scorn all the world besides , beleeving that they are ●…he only elect whose souls work according ●…o the motion of the spirit : that they are ●…he true children of promise , whose faces alone look towards heven ; they are more pleased with some new reach or fancy , ( that may puzzle the pericranium ) than a frenchman is in some new faction in cloathing : they are nearest to the nature of the jew of any people upon earth , and will converse with him sooner than with some sort of christians ; and as in their pharisaicall dispositions they symbolize with the iew , so in some of their positions they jump pat with the iesuit : for though they are both in the extremes , and as contrary one to the other , as the points of a diameter , yet their opinions and practises are concentrique , viz. to depresse regall power ; both of them wold bind their kings in chaines , and the nobles in links of iron ; they both deny all passive obedience , and as the one wold have the morter of the temple tempred with blood , so the other wold beat religion into the brain with the poleaxe . their greatest master-piece of policy is to forge counter●…eit news , and to divulge and disperse it as far as they can to amuse the world , for the advancement of their designs , and strengthing their party : but the iesuit doth it more cunningly and modestly , for he fetcheth his news from far , so that before the falshood of it can be contrould , his work is commonly done , and the news forgotten ; but these later polititians use to raise lies hard by home , so that the grosseness and palpablenesse of them is presently discovered . besides , to avoid the extremes of the other , these later seem to fall into flat prophanness , for they may be called a kind of enemies to the very name , crosse , and church of christ. touching the first , they repine at any reverence to be done unto the name of jesus , though spontaneous , not coercive . for the second , which was held from the beginning to be the badg and banner of a christian , they cry up the crosse to be the mark of the b●…ast ; and for the last , viz. the church , they wold have it to be neither beautifull , holy , nor amiable , which are the three main properties that god requires in his house . to conclude , when any comes to be season'd with this sower leaven , he seems to degenerat presently from the nature and garb of a gentleman , and fals to be of a sordid and low disposition , narrow hearted and close handed ; to be timerous , cunning and jealous , and far from the common freedom , and sweetness of morall society , and from all generous and loyal thoughts towards his king and country . these , these have bin the chiefest machinators , and engeneers englands unhappy divisions , who viper-like have torn the entrailes of their own mother their dear country : but ther were other extern concurrent causes , and to find them out , i must look northward , for there the cloud began to condense first ; you know sir , the scot's nation were ever used to have their king personally resident amongst them , and though king iames by reason of his age , bounty , and long breeding there , with other advantages , drew such extraordinary respect from them , that they continued in good conformity : yet since his death , they have been over-heard to mutter at the remotenesse and absence of their king , and that they shold become now a kind of province by reason of such a distance : some of their nobles and gentry found not at the english court , nor at his majesties coronation in edenburgh that countenance , familiarity , benefit and honours which haply they expected , and 't is well known who he was , that having been denied to be lorded ( david lesley ) took a pet , and went discontented to his country , hoping that some title added to the wealth he had got abroad , should have purchased him more respect . these discontented parties tamperd with the mercenary preachers up and down scotland , to obtrude to the p●…ple what doctrines they put into their mouthes , so that the pulpits every where rung of nothing but of invectives against certain obliquities and solaecismes ( and i cannot tell what ) in government , and many glances they had upon the english church : yet all this while there was not matter enough for an insurrection , nor to dispose the peoples hearts to a mutiny ▪ until by the policy ( as some affi●…med ) of the said discontented party the english lyturgie was sent thither : this by the in●…itement of those fiery pulpiteers , was cryed up to be the greatest i doll that possibly could be brought into their kerke , insomuch that when it was first offer'd to be read , the woman and ba●…er sort of mechaniks threw stooles and stones at the bishops heads , and were ready to tear them in peeces ▪ and here began the storm . 〈◊〉 majesty having notice hereof , sent a most gracious proclamation , signifying , that whereas he had recommended that book to be practis'd amongst them , wherein he himself served god almighty twice a day , he did it out of a pious endeavour to breed an uniformity of publick divine service in all his dominions , specially in that his native kingdom . but since it had produced such dangerous effects , he was contented to revoke it absolutely ; for it was never his purpose to press the practise of the said book upon the consciences of any , he did onely commend , not absolutely command , the use of it ; therefore he exhorted and required that every one unto whom it had given any scandal , shold return to his pristine obedience , and serve god as formerly , offering herewith a gracious pardon , and to passe an act of amnestia for an abolition of all faults passed . peregrin . and would not this suffice ? in naturall motions we find that the cause being taken away , the effect ceaseth , and will not this hold in civil actions ? patricius . no , this wold not serve the turn , but 〈◊〉 was a further reach in it , and for an inch to take an ell : you know the scots since 〈◊〉 single lion came to quarter with our three , are much elevated in their spirits , more respected , emploied and trusted abroad , they are heightned in their resolutions and aims , and will questionless be daily more and more . you have heard of a mine that reach'd from our exchequer to edenburgh . and i beleeve you have not forgot boccolinies balance , that was shewed us in italie , wherein lorenzo de medici weighed all the states of christendom , and throwing in england amongst the rest , you know how much he made her to weigh less by this addition . the former proclamation i say , and pardon would not suffice , but they took opportunity to fish in those troubled waters , and vent their spleen further , by an utter extirpation of episcopacy , and by trampling the mitre under their feet , hoping to have som of the birds plumes , being pluck●… , to feather their own nests ; and they brought their work about ; good lord , what a deal of dirt was presently thrown into the bishops faces by every rurall pettie clerk ! what infamous ballads were sung , what a thick clowd of epidemical hatred hung suddenly over them , so far , that a dog with black and white spots was called a bishop amongst them up and down the streets . the chiefest contrivers of this up-roare , ●…inding their design to go on so well , and perceiving the whole country so eagerly bent against bishops , ( and what artifices and suggestions were us'd to render them so odious is incredible ) but finding withall his majestie unwilling to alter the government his father ( of so fresh and famous memory ) had left him , and to which he had bin sworn at his coronation , they put themselves in arms , and rais'd forces to beat down the mitre with the sword , if the scepter would not do it . to the frontiers they came with a great army , ( not half so great as was bruted ) pretending they came as petitioners ( though they brought their petition upon the pikes ▪ point , ) some of the great ones ▪ about the king grew cold in the action : and what a pacification was then shuffled up , and how a parliament was called thereupon in scotland , with other passages , is a fitter subject for a story then a discourse . peregrin . i could have wished two things , that either his majesty had given them battail then , having the flower of his nobility and gentry with him , who i understood came with all cheerfulnesse and pomptitude to attend him , or else that after the said pacification , his majestie had shaken off all jealousies , and with a royall freedom and a commanding confidence gone amongst them to hancell their new parliament house at edenburgh ; for it is probable , it had averted those showers and cataracts of ●…miseries which have fallen ●…pon us since ; but i pray sir , proceed . patricius . as they say , there is no wind but blows some-body good , so it was thought , this northern clowd did england some advantage , for a parliament was summond hereupon : a parliament do i call it ? it was rather an embryo of a parliament , an ephemeran of 20 ▪ days . in this sitting his majesty declared unto both houses the indignities he had received by his scotch subjects , and therefore propos'd a supply to be made of twelve subsidies to suppress that rebellion ; and in lieu thereof he was willing to forbear and utterly to abolish the ship-money , which he had reason to think legall at first , being advised thereunto by noy his attorney generall , who had such a mighty repute in the law ; yet he would not rest ther , but he advised further with his learned councell , who concurred in opinion with noy ; nor wold he rest ther also , but he had the approbation of all the iudges singly , and afterwards of nine of the twelve jointly upon a demur . this was enough to induce his conscience to hold it legall all this while ; it was clearly proved that the moneys levied this way , were employed to no other but the intended service , the garding of the narrow seas ; and not onely for that , but to preserve his right of dominion in them , being the fairest flower of his crown , which was not onely discoursed of abroad , but began to be questioned by the french cardinall : and touching danger , how could england be but in apparant dangers ? consideri●…g how all her next neighbours were in actuall hostility , which made huge fleets of men of war , both french , dunkerkers , hamburgers and hollanders to sail and flaunt ever and anon in her channells , and hard before her royall chambers : nor came ther one penny of that publick contribution to his privat coffers , but he added much of his own demeans for the maintenance of a royal fleet every sommer : yet he was ready to passe any bill for the utter abolishing of the said ship-money , and for redressing of a●…y other grievances , provided they wold enable him to suppress this scots rebellion : some say the house was inclinable to comply with his majesties demands , but ( as the ill spirit wold have it ) that parliament was suddenly brok up , and i wold they who gave that counsel had bin then in arabia , or beyond the line , in their way to madagascar , who neverthelesse have got to be in high request with this present parliament . among others , old sir harry vane was one , who , when the house seem'd willing to give six subsidies , and the king inclinable to take them ; the said vane being the secretary of state stood up , and said , his majesty expected no less then twelve , which words did so incense and discompose the house , that they drew after them that unhappy dissolution . his majesty being reduced to these straits , and resenting still the insolence of the scot , proposed the busines to his privy councell , who suddenly made up a considerable and most noble summe for his present supply , whereunto divers of his domestick servants and officers did contribut . amongst others who were active herein , the earl of strafford bestir'd himself notably , and having got a parliament to be call'd in ireland he went over , and with incredible celeritie raised 8000. men , who procured money of that parliament to maintain them , and got over those angry seas again in the compasse of lesse then six weeks . you may infer hence to what an exact uncontrollable obedience he had reduced that kingdom , as to bring about so great a work with such a suddennes and facilitie . an armie was also raised ▪ here , which marched to the north , and there fed upon the kings pay a whole summer . the scot was not idle all this while ; but having punctuall intelligence of every thing that passed at court , as farre as what was debated in the cabinet councel , and spoken in the bed-chamber , ( and herein amongst many others , the scot had infinite advantage of us ) he armed also , and preferring to make england the stage of the warre , rather then his own countrey , and to invade rather then to be invaded , he got over the tweed , and found the passage open , and as it were made for him all the way till hee came to the tine , and though there was a considerable army of horse and foot at newcastle , yet they never offered so much as to face him all the while , at newburgh indeed there was a small skirmish , but the english foot would not fight , so newcastle gates flew open to the scot without any resistance at all , where it is thought he had more friends then foes , and who were their friends besides for this invasion , i hope time , and the tribunall of justice will one day discover . his majesty being then at york , summoned all his nobles to appear , to advise with them in this exigence : commissioners were appointed on both sides , who met at rippon , and how the hearts and courage of some of the english barons did boil within them , to be brought to so disadvantageous a treatie with the scot , you may well imagin . so the treatie began , which the scot wold not conform himself to do , unless he were first unrebell ▪ d and made rectus in curia , and the proclamation , wherein he was declared traitour , revoked , alledging it wold be dishonorable for his majesty to treat with rebels . this treaty was adjourned to london , where this present parliament was summoned ( which was one of the chiefest errands of the sco●… , as some think . ) and thus far by these sad and short degrees , have i faithfully led you along to know the tru originals of our calamities . peregrin . truly sir , i must tell you , that to my knowledg these unhappy traverses with scotland , have made the english suffer abroad very much in point of national honour ; therefore i wonder much that all this while ther is none set a work to make a solid apologie for england in some communicable language , ( either in french or latin ) to rectifie the world in the truth of the thing , and to vindicat her , how she was bought and sold in this expedition , considering what a party the scot had here , and how his comming in , was rather an invitation , then an invasion , and i beleeve if it had bin in many parts of the world besides , some of the commanders had gone to the pot . patricius . it is the practise of some states i know , to make sacrifice of some eminent minister , for publick mistakes : but to follow the thred of my discourse . the parliament being sate , his majesty told them , that he was resolved to cast himself wholly upon the affection and fidelity of his people , whereof they were the representative body : therfore he wished them to go roundly on to close up the ruptures that were made by this infortunat war , and that the two armies , one domestick , the other forrain , which were gnawing the very bowels of the kingdom , might be dismissed . touching grievances of any kind ( and what state was ther ever so pure , but some corruption might creep into it ? ) he was very ready to redresse them : concerning the ship-money , he was willing to pass a b●…ll for the utter abolition of it , and to establish the property of the subject ; therefore he wished them not to spend too much time about that . and for monopolies , he desired to have a list of them , and he wold damn them all in one proclamation : touching ill counsellours , either in westminster-hall , or white-hall , either in church or state , he was resolved to protect none , therefore he wished that all jealousies and misunderstandings might vanish : this , with sundry other strains of princely grace he delivered unto them , but withall he told them , that they shold be very cautious how they shook the fram of an ancient government too far , in regard it was like a watch , which being put asunder , can never be made up again , if the least pin be left out . so ther were great hopes of a calm , after that cold northern storm had so blustered , and that we shold be suddenly rid of the scot , but that was least intended , untill som designs were brought about . the earl of strafford , the archbishop of canterbury , the iudges , and divers monopolists are clapt up , and you know who took a timely flight ( lord finch ) to the other side of the sea. and in lieu of these , the bishop of lincoln is enlarged , bastwick , burton , and prynn are brought into london with a kind of hosanna . his majesty gave way to all this , and to comply further with them , he took as it were into his bosom , i mean , he admitted to his privy councell those parliament lords , who were held the greatest zelots amongst them , that they might be witnesses of his secret'st actions , and to one of them ( the lord say ) he gave one of the considerablest offices of the kingdom , by the resignation of another most deserving lord , upon whom they could never fasten the least misdemeanour ; yet this great new officer wold come neither to the same oratory , chappell , or church , to joyn in prayer with his royall master , nor communicat with him in any publick exercise of devotion : and may not this be called a tru recusancie ? to another he gave one of the prime and most reposefull offices about his own person at court ( the earl of essex ) and thereby he might be said to have given a staff to beat himself . moreover , partly to give his subjects an evidence how firmly he was rooted in his religion , and how much he desired the strenthning of it abroad , the treaty of marriage went on 'twixt his eldest daughter , and the young prince of orenge . hereunto may be added as a speciall argument of compliance and grace , the passing of the bill for a trienniall parliament , and lastly ( which is the greatest evidence that possibly can be imagined , of that reall trust and confidence he reposed in them ) he passed that prodigious act of continuance . peregrin . touching the trienniall parliament , there may come some whole some fruit out of it , will keep all officers in awe , and excite the nobilitie , and young gentrie of the kingdome to studie , and understand the government of the land , and be able to sit and serve their countrey in this great senate : but for this act of continuance i understand it not ; parliaments are good physick , but ill meat ; they say abroad that england is turned hereby from a monarchy to a democracy , to a perpetual kind of quingentumvirat ; and whereas in former times ther was a heptarchy of seven ▪ kings in her , they say now she hath seventy times seven . but in lieu of these unparallell'd acts of grace and trust to the parl. what did the parliament for the king all this while ? patricius . they promised , specially upon the passing of the last act , that they would make him the most glorious , the best beloved , and richest king that ever reigned in england : and this they did with deep protestings and asseverations . but there intervened an ill-favoured accident which did much hurt , viz. a discourse ( for truely i think it was no more ) but a discourse ) which some green heads held to bring up the northern armie , to check the puritan partie , and the rabble of the citie : this kept a mightie noyse , and you know who fled upon it , and much use was made of it to make that cloud of jealousie which was but of the breadth of a hand before , to appear as big as a mountaine . yet his majestie continued still in passing acts of grace , and complying with them in every thing ▪ hee put over unto them the earle of strafford , who after a long costly triall ( wherein he carried himself with as much acutenesse , dexteritie and eloquence , as humane braine could be capable of for his defence ) hee was condemned to the scaffold , and so made a sacrifice to the scot , who stayed chiefly for his head , which besides those vast summes of money , was given him to boot . peregrin . touching the earle of strafford , 't is tru , he was full of ability , elocution and confidence , and understood the lawes of england as well as any , yet there were two things , i heard , wherein his wisdom was questioned ; first that having a charge ready against his chiefest accusers , yet he suffered them to have the priority of sute , which if he had got he had thereby made them parties , and so incapable to be produced against him : secondly , that during the time of his tryall , he applyed not himself with that compliance to his iury as well as to his iudges , for he was observed to comply only with the lords , and not with the house of commons . patricius . howsoever , as some say , his death was ●…esolved upon , ( si non per viam justitiae , saltem per viam expedientiae ) which appears in regard the proceedings against him are by a clause in the act not to be produced for a leading case or example to future ages and inferiour courts : i blush to tell you how much the rabble of the city thirsted after his blood , how they were suffered to strut up and down the streets before the royal court , and the parliament it self , with impunity ; they cried out , that if the common law fail'd , club law should knock him down , and their insolency came to that height , that the names of those lords that would not doome him to death , should be given them to fix upon posts up and downe ; and this was the first tumult that happened this parliament , whereof so many followed after their example , being not onely conniv'd at , but backed by authoritie , for there were prohibitions sent from the parliament , to hinder all processe against some of them . these myrmidons , as they termed themselves , were ready at a watchword , so that one might say there was a kind of discipline in disorder . peregrin . were ther any troubled for delivering their votes in the houses ? i thought that freedom of opinion and speech , were one of the prime priviledges of that great nationall senat. patricius . yes , those that were the minions of the house before , became now the subjects of popular malice and detraction , ( as the lord digby now earl of bristol for one ) because against the dictamen of their consciences they would not vote the earl of strafford to death , and renounce their own judgments , and captivate it to the sense of others , yet they stood firm to their first grounds , that he was a delinquent in a high nature , and incapable ever to beare office in any of his majesties dominions . peregrin . i perceive sir by your speeches , that one of the chiefest causes of these combustions may be imputed to the citie of london , which may be called the metropolis of all these evils , and i little wonder at it , for it hath been alwaies incident to all great townes , when they grow rich and populous , to fall into acts of insolence , and to spurne at government ; where so many pots , ( so many braines i meane ) are a boyling , ther must needs be a great deal of froth , but let her look to her self , for majesty hath long arms , and may reach her at last . but the truth is , that london bears no proportion with the size of this island , for either the one shold be larger , or the other lesser : london may be well compared to the liver of a cramm'd italian goose , whose fatning emacerates the rest of the whole body , and makes it grow lean and languish , and she may be well term'd a goose now more then ever , for her feathers are pluck'd apace ; but now that you have done with the earl of strafford , what is become of all the rest who were committed ? patricius . they are still in durance , and have continued so these two years and upward , yet are not proceeded against , nor brought to their answer to this very day , though all the courts of justice have bin open ever since . many hundreds more of the best sort of subjects have bin suddenly clapt up , and no cause at all mentioned in many of their commitments , and new prisons made of purpose for them , where they may be said to be buried alive , and so forgotten as if ther were no such men in the world ( wherof the author was one : ) and how this can stand with magna charta , with the petition of right ( to vindicat which , ther was so much pains taken the last parliament ) let any man of a sane judgment determin . yet one of the judges , who hath an impeachment o●… high treason still lying dormant against him , though he be not rectus in curia himself , is suffered to sit as judge upon the highest tribunall of england , whereas another for a pretended misdemeanour only is barr'd from sitting ther. others who were at first cryed up and branded to be the most infamous projectors and monopolizers of the land , ( as hamilton , holland , &c. ) are not only at liberty , but crept into favour , and made use of . peregrin ▪ hath the house of commons power to commit any but their own members without conference with the lords ? or hath any order or ordinance of one of the houses singly , or of both conjunctly , power to enjoin a virtual , binding , generall obedience without the royal consent ? patricius . the power of parliament , when king , peers , and commons , which is the whole kingdom digested as it were into one volum , is indefinit , but what either of both houses can do of themselves singly or joyntly without the king who is the life of the law , especially when a visible faction reigns amongst them , i will not determin . — tantas componere lites non opis est nostrae — but for my own opinion , i think it is as impossible for them to make a law without the king , as it was for paracelsus to make a human creture without coition of both sexes . the results of parliament without the royall consent , are as matches without fire ; and it is an incontroulable principle , that the old law must be our guide , till new be made , nor is any act of the subject justifiable , but what is warranted by the old . but to proceed in the tru discovery of these domestick scissures , my lord of stafford being gone , we hop'd fair weather wold follow . ( he who was the cause of the tempest ( as they pretended ) being thrown over-board ) but unluckie mists of jealousie grew thicker and thicker ; yet the scots were dismist , having had fidlers fare , meat , drink , and money , for eleven long moneths together . so his majesty went to scotland , where the parliament ther , did but ask and have any thing , though it be the unquestionable prerogative of majesty to grant or deny petitions , and to satisfie his conscience before any councell whatsoever . but during his sojourn ther , this formidable hideous rebellion brok out in ireland , which though it may be said to be but an old play newly reviv'd ▪ yet the scene was never so tragicall and bloody as now : for the barbarismes that have bin committed ther have bin so sanguinary , and monstrously savage , that i think posterity will hold them hyperbolicall ●…when history relates them . the irish themselves affirm ther concurr'd divers causes to kindle this fire : one , was the taking off of straffor●…s head , ( who awd them more then any deputy ever did ) and that one of his accusations shold be to have used the papists ther too favourably : secondly , the rigorous proceedings and intended courses against the roman catholiques here in england . lastly , the stopping of that regiment of irish , who was promised by his majesties royall word and letter to the king of spain , who relying upon that employment , rather then to beg , steal , or starve , turned rebels : and that , which hath agravated the rebellion all this while , and heightned much the spirit of the irish , was the introduction of the scot , whom they hate in perfection above all people els ; and intended lastly the design spoken of in our parliament , to make an absolute conquest , and nationall eradication of them , which hath made them to make vertue of necessity , and to be valiant against their wills . peregrin . indeed i heard that act of staying the irish regiment , considering how the marquesses de velada , and malvezzi , and don alonso de cardenas , who were all three ambassadours here for the king of spain at that time , having by reliance upon the sacred word and letter of a king , imprested money , and provided shipping for their transport , and bin at above 10000. crowns charges , i say this act was very much censured abroad , to the dishonour of his majesty and our reproach . patricius . i am very sorry to hear it . well sir. his majesty by his presence having setled scotland , was at his return to london received with much joy and exultation , but though he was brought in with a hosanna at one end of the town , he found a crucifige at the other : for at westminster ther was a remonstrance fram'd , a work of many weeks , and voted in the dead of night , when most of the moderat and well-thoughted members were retired to their rest , wherein with as much aggravation and artifice as could be , the least moat in government was exposed to publick view , from the first day of his majesties inaugurat●…on to that very hour : which remonstrance as it did no good to the publick but fill peoples heads with doubts , their hearts with gall , and retard the procedure of all businesse besides , so you may well think it could expect but cold entertainment with his majesty , who hoped his great councel , according to their often deep protestations , had done something for his welcom home , that might have made him the best beloved king that ever 〈◊〉 amongst his people . peregrin . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ther is no government upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 up of m●…n , but is subject to corruption ; there is no court of judicature so cleane , but some cobwebs may gather in it , unlesse an act of parliament could be made to free and exempt men from all infirmities and errour ; it cannot be denied , but scotland might have something to complaine of ( though i think least of any ) and so leapt first into the pooll to be cur'd , and what she fish'd besides in those troubled waters 't is too well known : england also no doubt might have some grievances , which his majestie freely offered not onely to redresse for the present , but to free her of all feares for the future , from falling into relapses of that kinde ; but to redresse grievances by armes , by plunging the whole countrey into an intestine warre , this makes the remedy worse then the malady , it is as if one would go about to cure a sick body by breaking his head , or let him blood by giving him a dash on the nose , it is as mad a tricke as his was who set the whole house a fire to roast his egs . but truly sir , in my opinion , his majesty at his return from scotland , might have justly expected some acts of compliance and gratitude from his parliament , considering what unparallel'd acts of grace he had pass'd before . patricius . his majesty did not rest there , but complied further with them by condescending to an act for putting down the star-chamber court the high commission , the court of honour , nay , he was contented his own privy councell should be regulated , and his forests bounded not according to ancient prerogative but late custome ; nay further , he pass'd a bill for the unvoting , and utter exclusion of the spirituall lords from the parliament for ever , whereby it cannot be denied , but by the casheering of 25 votes at a clap , and by excluding the recusant lords besides ( who subsist most by his grace ) he did not a little enervat his own prerogative . adde hereunto that having placed two worthy gentlemen biron and lunsford lieutenants of the tower , he remov'd them both one after the other , and was content to put in one of their election : and lastly , he trusted them with his greatest strength of all , with his navie royall , and call'd home pennington who had the guard of the narrow seas so many yeares . peregrin . truly sir , i never remember to have heard or read of such notable acts of grace and confidence from any king : but would not all this suffice ? patricius . no , but they demanded all the land souldiery and military strength of the kingdome to be disposed of by them , and to be put into what posture , and in what equipage , and under what commanders they pleas'd ; and this was the first thing his majesty ever denyed them , yet he would have granted them this also for a limited time , but that would not serve the turn ; hereupon his majesty grew a little sensible how they inch'd every day more and more upon his royall prerogatives ; and intending to go to his town of hull to see his magazin ( which he had bought with his own money ) with his ordinary train , he was in a hostile manner kept out , canons mounted , pistols cockt , and leveld at him . but whether that unlucky knight ( hotham ) did this out of his fidelity to the parl. or out of an apprehension of feare that some about the king , being mov'd with the barbarousnesse of the action would have pistold him , i will not determine . peregrin . i have read of divers affronts of this kinde that were offerd to the french kings , rochell shut her gates more than once against henry the great , and for the king now regnant , they did not only shut him out of many of his towns , but upon the gates of some of them they writ in legible characters , roy san foy , ville sans peur , a faithlesse king , a fearlesse towne . yet in the greatest heat of those warres , there was never any towne refus'd to let in her king , provided he came attended onely with his own traine ; and besides other people abroad , i heard the scot's nation did abhor that act at hull . but i pray sir go on . patricius . his majesty being thus shut out of one towne , he might justly suspect that an attempt might be made to shut him in , in some other ; therefore he made a motion to the yorke-shire gentlemen , to have a gard for the preservation of his person , which was done accordingly . but i am come to forward , i must go backe and tell you how the king was driven from westminster . when his majesty was return'd from scotland he retir'd to hampton court , whence upon the lord majors and the cities humble sollici●…ation , he came back to white-hal to keep his christmas . but when the bill against bishops was in agitation , which businesse ●…asted neer upon ten weekes , a crue of bold ●…turdie mechanicks , and mariners , came ●…rom the citie and ruffled before white-hall and westminster-hall , and would have violated the abby of westminster , so that for many ●…ights a court of gard was forced to be kept ●…n the body of that church , ( the chiefest sanctuary of the kingdom . ) moreover , his majesty having impeached some of the members of both houses , of high treason , and being denied to have them delivered up , he went himself to the lower house to demand them , assuring the house they should have as faire and legall a triall as ever men had . but as it pleas'd god , they were not there , but retir'd to london for refuge ; the londoners grew starke wilde thereupon , and notice being sent to all the adjacent counties , this act of the kings ( though it wanted no precedents of former times ) was aggravated in the highest degree that possibly could be . hence you may easily inferre , what small securitie his majesty had at white-hall , and what indignities he might have exposed himself unto , by that which had pass'd already from the rabble , who had vilified and cried tush at his proclamations , and disgorg'd other rebellious speeches with impunity : therefore he retird to hampton court ( as we read , our saviour withdrew himselfe once from the multitude ) thence to windsor castle , whence accompanying her majesty , with his eldest daughter to the sea side for holland , and having commanded the prince to attend him against his return at greenwich , the prince had been surpriz'd , and brought to london , had not the king come a little before . thence he removed to yorke , where he kept his court all the sommer . but to returne to london , the very next day after their majesties departure , the countrey about , especially buckinghamshire being incited by the c●…tie and parliament , came in great swarmes , and joyning with the london mechanicks , they ruffled up and down the streets , and kept such a racket , making the fearfull'st riot that ever i beleeve was heard of in parliament time : so those members which formerly were fled into the citie , were brought to the house in a kind of triumph , being garded by land and water in warlike manner by these champions : after this , sundry troops of horse came from all the shires near adjoyning to ●…he parliament , and buckingham men were ●…he first , who while they express'd their ●…ve to ( hamden ) their knight , forgot their ●…worn oath to their king , and in stead of feathers they carried a printed protestation in ●…heir hats , as the londoners had done a lit●…le before upon the pikes point . peregrin . this kept a foul noise beyond sea i re●…ember , so that upon the rialto in venice , ●…t was sung up and down , that a midsummer moon ( though it was then midst of winter ) did raign amongst the english , and you must ●…hink that it hath made the venetian to ●…hrink in his shoulders , and to look but ill-favouredly upon us , since wee 'l have none of his currans . but sir , i heard much of that protestation , i pray what was the substance of it ? patricius . it was penn'd , and enjoyn'd by the par●…iament for every one to take , and it consisted of many parts ; the first was , to maintain the tru potestant religion against all popish innovations , which word popish ( as som think ) was scrued in of purpose for a loop hole to let in any other innovation : the second was to maintain the prerogative an●… honour of the king ; then the power and priviledge of parliament ; and lastly , the propriety and liberty of the subject ; for thre●… parts of this protestation , the people up an●… down seem'd to have utterly forgotte●… them , and continue so still , as if their consciences had bin tied only to the third , viz the priviledge of parliament , and never was ther a poor people so besotted , never wa●… reason and common sence so baffled in an●… part of the world . and now will i go to attend his majesty at york , where , as i told you before , being loth to part with his sword , ( though he had half parted with his scepter before ) by denying the parliament an indefinite time to dispose of the militia , ( alleadging that as the word , so the thing was new . ) he sends forth his commissions of array , according to the old law of england , which declares i●… to be the undoubted right , and royall signorie of the king , to arm or disarm any subject : the parliament sends out clean countermands for executing the said militia , so by this clashing 'twixt the commission of array and the militia , the first flash of this odious unnaturall war may be said to break out . the pulse of the parliament beats yet higher , they send an admirall to the sea ( the earl of warwick ) not only without , but expresly against the kings special command . they had taken unto them a military gard from the city for their protection , without his majesties consent , who by the advice of the lord keeper and others , had offered them a very strong gard of constables and other officers to attend them , which the law usually allows ; yet the raising of that gard in york-shire for the safegard of his majesties person , was interpreted to be leavying of war against the parliament , and so made a sufficient ground for them to raise an army , to appoint a generall ( the earl of essex ) with whom they made publick declarations to live and die . and they assumed power to confer a new appellation of honour upon him , ( excellency ) as if any could confer honour but the king ! and this army was to be maintain'd out of the mixt con●…ribution of all sorts of people ; so a great masse of money and plate was brought into the guild hall , the semstresse brought in her silver thimble , the chamber-maid her bodkin , the cook his spoons , and the vintner his bowles , and every one somthing , to the advancement of so good a work , as to wage war directly against the sacred person of their soverain , and put the whole countrey into a combustion . peregrin . surely it is impossible that a rationall christian people shold grow so simple and sottish , as to be so far transported , without some colourable cause , therfore i pray tell me what that might be ? patricius . the cause is made specious enough , and varnished over wonderfull cunningly ; the people are made to believe they are in danger , and a prevention of that danger is promised , and by these plausible ways the understanding is wrought upon , and an affection to the cause is usher'd in , by aggravation of this danger , as one wold draw a thred through a needles eye : this huge bugbear danger , was like a monster of many heads , the two chiefest were these ▪ that ther was a plot to let in the pope ; and to 〈◊〉 the civil government into a french frame ; it is incredible to think how the pulpits up and down london did ring of this by brainsick lecturers , of whom som were come from new-england , others were pick'd out of purpose , and sent for from their own flock in the countrey , to possesse , or rather to poison the hearts of the londoners , to puzzle their intellectualls , and to intoxicat their brains by their powerfull gifts ; it was punishable to preach of peace , or of caesars right , but the common subject of the pulpit was either blasphemy against god , disobedience against the king , or incitements to sedition ; good lord , what windy frothy stuff came from these fanatick brains ; these phrenetici nebulones ( for king iames gives them no better character in his ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ) who may be said to be mad out of too much ignorance , not knowledg ; who neverthelesse are come to that height of prophaness and pride , that they presume to father all their doctrines , all their non-sense , raptures and ravings upon the holy spirit . nor did the pulpit only help to kindle this fire , but the presse also did contribute much stubble ; what base scurrilous pamphlets were cryed up and down the streets , and dispersed in the 〈◊〉 ? what palpable and horrid lies were daily printed ? how they multiplied in every corner in such plenty , that one might say t●…er was a superfaetation of lies , which continue unto this day ? one while the king of denmark was comming over from the sound : another while the king of france had a huge army about calais design'd for england : another while ther was an army of irish rebels comming over with the privity of the king : another while a plot was cryed up and down to burn london : another while ther were subterranean invisible troups ( at ragland castle ) mustered under ground in wales , and thousands of papists armed in lancashire , and divers reports of this nature were daily blown up , and though the authors of them were worthlesse and mean futilous persons , yet the reports themselves had that credit as to be entertain'd and canvas'd in the high court of parliament . but these false rumors produc'd one politick effect ( and it was the end indeed for which they were dispers'd ) they did intimidat and fill the peoples hearts with fears , and dispose of them to up roars and so to part with money . peregrin . i know ther be sundry sorts of fears ; ther are conscientious fears , and ther are ●…annick fears , ther are pusillanimous fears , and ther are politick fears . the first sort of fear proceeds from guilt of conscience , which turns often to phre●…cy . the second sort of fear may be call'd a kind of chymera , 't is som sudden surprizall or consternation arising from an unknown cause . pusillanimous fear makes a mountain of a mole-hill , and proceeds from poverty of spirit , and want of courage , and is a passion of abject and degenerous minds , and may be call'd cowardise , and this fear is always accompanied with jealousie . politick fear , is a created forg'd fear wrought in another , to bring som design about ; and as we find the astronomers ( the comparison is too good ) do imagin such and such shapes and circles in the heavens , as the zodiak , equinoctiall , colures , zones and topiques with others , though ther be no such things really in nature , to make their conclusions good . so the polititian doth often devise and invent false imaginary fears , to make his proceedings more plausible amongst the silly vulgar , and therby to compasse his ends : and as the sun useth to appear far bigger to us in the morning then at noon , when he is exalted to his meridian , and the reason the philosophers use to give , is the interposition of the vapours which are commonly in the lower region , through which we look upon him ( as we find a piece of silver look bigger in a bucket of water then elsewhere ) so the polititian uses to cast strange mists of fear , and fogs of jealousie before the simple peoples eyes , to make the danger seem bigger : but truly sir , this is one of the basest kinds of policy , nor can i believe ther be any such polititians amongst the cabalists of your parliament , who pretend to be so busie about gods work , a glorious reformation , for you know ther is a good text for it , that god needeth not the wicked man ▪ he abominats to be beholding to liers to bring about his purposes : but i pray sir deal freely with me , do you imamagin ther was a design to bring in the mass●… again ? patricius . the masse ? you may say ther was a plot to bring in mahomet as soon , to bring in the alchoran , or talmud as soon ; for i dare pawn my soul , the king is as cordiall a protestant as any that breathes under his three crowns , which besides his publick deep protestations , and his constant quotidian exemplary open practise , many other convincing private reasons induce me to believe , and it is in vain to think the pope can take footing here to any purpose without the kings leave . you know as well as i sir , that of all the reformed churches in christendom , the lutheran retains most of the roman , both in his positions and practise , and comes much nearer to him then we do , yet i have observed , that from the first day of his reformation , to this , he is as averse , and as far off from rome , as the rigidest calvinist that is ; and shall i think , because ther are som humble and hansom postures , and decent vestures revived in our church ( for they were never abolished ; ) because the communion table stands in the east end where it ever stood since christianity came in all our cathedralls , which shold be a rule to all inferiour churches , though the seperatist cries it up most falsly to be an innovation : because the queen hath a few simple capuchins ( fewer then was allowed by the matrimoniall capitulations ) whither to retire sometimes : because schismaticks were proceeded against with more care , and the government of the church born up ●…ately with more countenance , shall i be●…ieve out of all this that the pope must pre●…ently come in ? shall i believe the weakness ●…f our religion to be such , as to be so easily ●…aken and overturn'd ? yet i believe ther was a pernicious plot to introduce a new religion , but what i pray ? not popery , but presbitry , and with it to bring in the doctrine of buchanan and knox for civill government , and so to cast our church and state into a scots mould . peregrin . indeed i heard the english much derided abroad for resigning their intellectualls in point of religion to the scots , whom from infidels they made christians , and reformed christians first , and now for the english to run to them for a religion , and that the uniformity & reformation shold proceed from them , having disdain'd us formerly , what a disparagement is it thinke you to the anglican church ? this with other odd traverses , as the eclipsing the glory of the king , and bringing him back to a kind of minoritie , the tampering with his conscience , i will not say the straining it so farre , the depriving him of all kind of propertie , the depressing of his regall power , wherein the honour of a nation consists , and which the english were us'd to uphold more then any other , for no king hath more awful attributs from his subjects , as sacred sovereigne , gracious and most excellent majestie , nor any king so often prayed for , for in your morning liturgie he is five times prayed for , whereas other princes are mentioned but once or twice at most in their's : i say that this , with interception of letters , some incivilities offered ambassadors , and the bold lavish speeches that were spoken of the greatest queenes in christendome , and his majesties late withdrawing his royall protection from some of his merchant-subjects in other countreys , hath made the english lose much ground in point of esteeme abroad , and to be the discourse , i will not say the scorne of other people . they stick not to say , that there is now a worse maladie fallen upon their minds , then fell upon their bodies about an age since by the sweating sicknesse , which was peculiar onely unto them and found them out under all climes . others say , there is a pure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amongst them , that they are turn'd to wolves ( as you know it is a common thing in l●…pland ) & that the old adage is verified in them , homo homini lupus ; nay our next neighbours give out , that the saying was never truer then now , rex anglorum , rex diabolorum . nor is it a small disrepute to the english , that the word cavalier , which is an attribute that no prince in christendome will disdain , and is the common appellation of the nobilitie and gentrie in most parts of the world , is now us'd , not onely in libels and frivolous pamphlets , but in publicke parliamentarie declarations , for a terme of reproach . but truely sir , what you have related touching the pulpit and the presse , transformes me into wonder , and i should want faith to beleeve it , did you not speak it upon your knowledge ; but the english when they fall to worke upon a new humour , use to overdoe all people . patricius . you have not yet the tithe of what i could give you , you would little think that coachmen , and feltmakers , and weavers were permitted to preach up and down without controulment , and to vent their froth and venome against church and state , to cry downe our hierarchy and liturgie , by most base and reviling speeches . peregrin . touching your lyturgie , i have heard it censur'd abroad by the regidest calvinists of generva and dort , yet i never heard any other character given of it , but that it is a most pious , pathetick , and perfect peece of devotion , both for the matter and forme of it , which i have been a little curious to observe . it begins with some choise passages of holy scripture , and a previous declaration or monitory to excite us to the worke in hand ; the first addresse wee make to god is by an humble and joynt confession which is appliable to any conscience , and comprehends in it all kind of sins . then followeth a pronuntiation of gods promises and pronesse to pardon and absolve us ; we goe on to the lords prayer , which having bin dictated by our saviour himself we often use , and is as amber throwne in amongst our frankincense , to make the sacrifice more precious and pleasing unto god ; then we proceed to som choice psalms , and other portions of holy scripture taken out of the old and new testament ; then we fall to the symbole of faith , whereof we make a solemn joynt confession in such a posture as shews a readinesse and resolution in us to defend it : and so to the letany , wherein the poor penitent peccant soul may be said to breath out herself into the bosome of her saviour by tender ejaculations , by panting groans , & eviscerated ingeminations , and there is no sin , no temptation whatsoever that humane frailty is subject unto , but you shall find a deliverance from it there , it is so full of christian charity , that there is no condition of people , but are remembred and prayed for there . then wee proceed by holy alternatif interlocutions ( whereby wee heare our selves speak as well as the minister ) to some effectuall short prayers ; because in long prayers the minde is subject to wander , as some zelots now a dayes use to bring their hearers into a wildernesse by their prayers , and into a labyrinth by their sermons . then goe we on to the decalogue , and if it be in a cathedrall , there is time enough for the hearer to examine himselfe , while the musick playes , where and when he broke any of gods holy commandements , and ask particular forgivenesse accordingly in the intervall ; then after other choice portions of scripture , and passages relating to our redemption , and endearing , unto us the merits of it , with a more particular confession of our faith , we are dismissed with a benediction : so that this liturgy may be call'd an instrument of many strings , whereon the sighing soul sends up varions notes unto heaven : it is a posie made up of divers flowers , to make it the more fragrant in the nostrills of god. now touching your bishops , i never knew yet any protestant church but could be content to have them , had they meanes to maintaine the dignitie , which the churches of france with others have not , in regerd the reformation beg an first among the people , not at court , as here it did in engl. for unlesse ther be som supervisers of gods house , endowed with eminent authority to check the fond fancies , and quench the false fatuous fires of every private spirit , and unlesse it be such an authority that may draw unto it a holy kind of awe and obedience what can be expected but confusion and atheisme ? you know what became of the israelites when the wonted reverence to the ark , and the ephod , and the priest , began to languish amongst them : for the braine of man is like a garden , which unlesse it be fenced about with a wall or hedge , is subject you know to be annoyed by all kinde of beasts which will be ready to runne into it ; so the braine unlesse it be restrain'd and bounded in holy things by rules of canonicall authoritie , a thousand wild opinions , and extravagant fancies will hourely rush into it : nor was there ever any field so subject to produce cockle and darnell , as the human brain is rank and ready to bring forth tares of schism and heresie of a thousand sorts , unlesse after the first culture the sickle of authority be applyed to grub up all such noisom weeds . patricius . yet this most antient dignity of bishops is traduced and vilified by every shallow-pated petty clerk , and not so much out of a tru zeal , as out of envy that they are not the like . and touching our liturgy , wherof you have bin pleas'd to give so exact a character , people are come to that height of impiety , that in som places it hath bin drown'd , in other places burnt , in som places torn in pieces to serve for the basest uses , nay it hath bin preached publickly in pulpits , that it is a piece forg'd in the devils shop , and yet the impious foul mouth'd babbler never was so much as questioned for it . nor did the church only eccho with these blasphemies ; but the presse was as pregnant to produce every day som monster either against ecclesiasticall , or secular government . i am asham'd to tell you how som bold pamphleters in a discourse of a sheet or two , wold presume to question , to dispute of , and determin the extent of monarchik jurisdiction , what sturdy doubts , what sawcy quaeries they put , what odd frivolous distinctions they f●…am'd , that the king though he was gods anointed , yet he was mans appointed : that he had the commanding , not the disposing power : that he was set to rule over , not to over-rule the people ; that he was king by human choice , not by divine charter ; that he was not king by the grace of god , so much as by the suffrage of the people ; that he was a creatur●… and production of the parliament : that he had no implicit trust , nor peculiar property in any thing ; that populus est potior rege ; that grex lege , lex est rege potentior ; that the king was singulis major , universis minor , ( wheras a successive monarch — uno minor est iove . — sometimes they wold bring instances from the states of holland , sometimes from the republick of venice , and apply them so impertinently to absolute and independant royalty ; but i find that the discourse and inferences of these grand statists were bottom'd upon four false foundations , viz. that the king of whom they speak must be either a minor , and idiot , an insufferable tyrant , or that the kingdom they mean , is elective ; none of all which is appliable , either to our most gracious and excellently qualified king , or to his renowned kingdom , which hath bin always reputed an ancient successive monarchy , govern'd by one suprem undeposeable and independent head , having the dignity , the royall state , and power of an imperiall crown , and being responsible to none ●…ut to god almighty and his own 〈◊〉 ●…or his actions , and unto whom a body ●…olitick compacted of prelates , 〈◊〉 , and all degrees of people is naturally subject ; but this is a theam of that transcenden●…y , that it requires a serious and solid tractat , rather then such a slender discourse as this is to handle . but i pray excuse me sir , that i have stept aside thus from the road of my main narration ; i told you before , how the clashing 'twixt the commission of array , and the militia , put all things in disarray throughout the whole kingdom ; the parliament as they had taken the first military gard , so they began to arm first , and was it not high time then for his majesty to do some thing think you ? yet he essayed by all ways imaginable to prevent a war , and to conquer by a passive fortitude , by cunctation , and longanimity . how many overtures for an accommodation did he make ? how many proclamations of pardon ? how many elaborat declarations breathing nothing but clemency , sweetness and truth did drop from his own imperious invincible pen , which will remain upon record to all ages , as so many monuments to his eternall glory ? yet som ill spirit stept still in , between his grace , and the abused subject , for by the peremptory order of parliament ( o monstrous thing ) the said proclamations of grace , and other his majesties declarations were prohibited to be read ; fearing that the strength and truth of them wold have had a vertue to unblind , or rather unbewitcht ( for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft ) the poor besotted people : what deep protestations and holy vowes did he reiterate that the main of his designs , was to preserve the tru protestant religion , the known lawes of the land , and the just priviledges of parliament ? how often did he dehort and woo the city of london ( his imperiall chamber ) from such violent courses , so that she may be justly upbraided with the same words , as the prince of peace upbraided ierusalem withall : london , london , how often wold i have gathered thee , as a ●…en doth her chickens under her wings , yet thou wouldst not ? how often did he descend to acknowledg the manner of demanding the one and five members in his publick remonstrances ? and if ther was an errour in the proceedings , how oft did he desire his great councell to direct him in a course how to go on in the empeachment ? which they never did , but wold reserve the priviledge to themselves to be judge and party . peregrin . can your parliament protect high treason ? i am sure the character of an ambassadour cannot , which the late french ambassadour ( who for his time play'd his cards more cunning than ever count gondomar did ) knew well ; and therefore , as i heard som french men say , he got letters of revocation before his designed time : but it seems strange to me , that the king who is the protectour of the law , and fountain of justice , cannot have the benefit of the law himself , which the meanest of his vassals can claim by right of inheritance : 't is strange , i say , that the law shold be a dead letter to him who is the life of the law , but that for omission of some punctillio in the form of the processe , the charge of high treason shold be so slightly wav'd , specially treason of so universall a concernment , that it may be call'd a complication of many treasons ; for if in every petty state it be high treason to treat only with any forrein power without the privity of the prince , it must needs be treason of a higher nature actually to bring them in ; and hereof i could alleadge you many pregnant instances , ancient and modern , but that i do not desire to interrupt you in your relation . patricius . the parliament , as i told you before , armed apace , it was not fitting then his majesty shold sit idle ; therfore he summons those nobles and others , who had an immediate relation unto him by office or service , to attend him at york , according to their particular obligation and oath : but it seems the parliament assumed power to dispence with those oaths , and excuse their attendance , which dispensation prevail'd with som ( tender ) consciences ; yet the great seal posted to court , and after it most of the nobles of the land , with the flower of the gentry , and many of the prime members of the commons house ; so that were it not for the locall priviledge , the parliament for number of members , might be said to be ever since about the king : these nobles and gentlemen resenting his majesties case , and what practices ther were on foot to alter the government both of church and state , not only advised his majesty to a royall war for defence of his crown and dignity , but contributed very chearfully , and have stood constant to the work ever since . peregrin . they have good reason for it , for the security of the nobility and gentry depends upon the strength of the crown , otherwise popular government wold rush in like a torrent upon them . but surely those nobles , and those parliament gentlemen and others , som of whom i understand , were reputed the wisest and best weigh'd men for experience and parts thorowout the whole kingdom , and were cryed up in other parliaments to be the most zealous patriots for the propriety and freedom of the subject , wold never have stuck so firmly to his majesty , had they not known the bottom of his designs , that it was far from his thoughts to bring in the pope or french government ; for therby they shold have betrayed their own posterity , and made their children slaves . patricius . to my knowledge , these nobles and gentlemen are still the very same as they were in former parliaments , wherin they were so cryed up for the truest lovers of their country , and best common-wealths-men ; yet now they are branded , and voted to be seducers , and traytors , because according to their oaths and consciences , they adhere to the king their master and liege-lord , for maintenance of that religion they were baptized and bred in . those most orthodox and painfull divines , which till this parliament began were accounted the precisest sort of protestants , are now cryed down for papists , though they continue still the very same men , both for opinions and preaching , and are no more papists than i am a pythagorean . in fine , a tru english protestant is put now in the same scale with a papist , and made synonyma's . and truly these unhappy schismaticks could not devise how to cast a greater infamy upon the english protestant than they have done of late by these monstrous imputations ; they wold fasten upon him such opinions which never entred into his thoughts , they wold know ones heart better than himself , and so would be greater kardiognosticks than god almighty . but to draw to a conclusion ; the parliaments army multiplyed apace in london , the kings but slowly in the north , so that when he displayed his royal standard at nottingham , his forces were not any thing considerable , so that if the parliaments generall ( essex ) had then advanced towards him from northampton , he had put him to a very great strait ; they encreased somthing at derby , and stafford , but when he was come to shrewsbury , the welch-men came running down the mountains in such multitudes , that their example did much animate the english ; so that his army in lesse than a month that the court continued in shrewsbury , came to near upon twenty thousand horse and foot ; not long before , the nephew princes came over , and the first encounter prince rupert had with the parliaments forces was at worcester , where he defeated the flower of their cavalry , and gave them a smart blow . at shrewsbury his majesty took a resolution to march with his whole army towards london , but after seven days march he understood the parliaments forces were within six miles side-long of him , and so many miles he went out of his road to find them out , and face them : upon sunday morning he was himself betimes upon edge-hill , wher the enemies colours plainly appear'd in vale before keinton ; it was past two in the after-noon before all his infantery could get to the bottom , who upon sight of the enemies colours ran as merrily down the hill , as if they had gone to a morris dance . so his majesty himself being generalissimo , gave command the great ordnance shold flye for a defiance , so the battell began , which lasted above three hours , and as some french and dutch commanders ( who were engag'd in the fight ) told me , they never remembred to have seen a more furious battail for the time in all the german wars . prince rupert pursued the enemies horse like a whirl-wind near upon three miles , and had ther bin day enough , when he came back to the infanterie , in all probability a totall defeat had bin given them : so that the same accident may be said to fall out here , as happened in that famous battell at lewis , in henry the thirds time , where the prince of wales ( afterwards edward the first ) was so eager , and went so far ( by excesse of courage ) from the body of the army in pursuance of the londoners , that it was the fatall cause of the losse of that mighty battail . his majesty ( to his deserved and never-dying glory ) comported himself like another caesar all the while , by riding about and encouraging the souldiers , by exposing his person often to the reach of a musket-bullet , and lying in the field all that bleak night in his coach. notwithstanding that many lying pamphlets were purposely printed here , to make the world believe that he had retir'd himself all the time of the fight ; what partiall reports were made in the guild-hall to the londoners , and by what persons , ( w. and strode ) i am ashamed to tell you : but that his majesty was victorious that day ( a day which i never thought to have seen in england ) ther be many convincing arguments to prove it ; for besides the great odds of men which fell on their side , and cannons they lost , som of their ordnance were nayl'd by the kings troops the next morning after in the very face of their army . moreover , the king advanc'd forward the next day to his former road , and took banbury presently after ; but the parliamenteers went backwards , and so from that day to this , his majesty continueth master of the field . 't is tru , that in som places , as at farnham , winchester , and chichester , they have prevail'd since , but no considerable part of the royall army was ther to make opposition ; and i blush to tell you , how unworthily the law of armes was violated in all those places . peregrin . good lord , how can the souls of those men that were in the parliaments army at keinton battell , dispense with the oaths of supremacy and allegeance , besides the protestation you speak of , they had taken to preserve the person , honour , and prerogative of the king , when they thus actually bandy against his person , and appear in battel with all the engines of hostility against him ? patricius . i wold be loth to exchange consciences with them , and prevaricate so palpably with god almighty ; touching the cavaliers , they may be said to comply with their duties both towards god and their king according to the oaths you mention ; moreover , ther was a strong act of parliament ( for their security ) which was never as much as questioned or controverted , much lesse suspended or repeal'd : but always stood , and yet stands in as full validity and force , as it was the first day it was enacted , and as much binding to an universall obedience , which act runs thus : 13. octobris anno undecimo henrici septimi , anno dom. 1496 it is ordained , enacted , and established by the king our soverain lord , by the advice and assent of the lords spirituall and temporall , and the commons in this present parliament assembled , and by authority of the same , that from henceforth no manner of person or persons whatsoever he or they be , that attend upon the king and soverain lord of this land for the time being in his person , and do him tru and faithfull service of allegiance in the same , or be he in other places by his commandment , in his wars within this land or without : that for the said deed , and tru duty of allegiance , he or they be in no wise convict or attaint of high treason , nor of other offences for that cause , by act of parliament or otherwise by any processe of law , whereby he or any of them , shall lose or forfeit life , lands , tenements , rents , possessions , hereditaments , goods , chattels , or any other things : but to be for that deed and service utterly discharged of any vexation , trouble or loss . and if any act or acts , or other processe of the law hereafter , therupon for the same happen to be made contrary to this ordinance , that then that act or acts , or other processe of the law , whatsoever they shall be , stand and utterly void . provided alwayes that no person or persons shall take any benefit or advantage by this act , which shall hereafter decline their said allegiance . peregrin . this is as plain and fair as can be for securing both the person and conscience of the cavalier , but was ther ever any act or oath , or any thing like an oath that oblig'd englishmen to be tru unto , or fight for the parliament ? patricius . never any , but these men by a new kind of metaphysicks have found out a way to abstract the person of the king from his office , to make his soveraigntie a kind of platonick idea hovering in the aire , while they visibly attempt to assaile and destroy his person and progeny , by small and great shot , and seek him out amongst his life-gard with fire and sword ; yet they give out , they fight not only not against him , but for him , and that their army is more loyall unto him than his owne ; who , they say , fight only for the name king , though they have his person really amongst them , commanding and directing : thus they make him a strange kind of amphibium , they make in one instant a king and no king of the same individuum ; a power which the casuists affirme god almighty never assumed to himself , to doe any thing that implies a contradiction . peregrin . noble sir , you make my heart to pant within me , by the pathetick relation you have been pleas'd to make mee of these ●…uthfull times ; but one thing seems to me to be no lesse then a miracle , how his majestie hath beene able to subsist all this while , considering the infinite advantages the averse partie hath had of him ; for they have all the tenable places and townes of strength , both by land and sea ; they have the navie royall , they have all the amunition and armes of the crown , they have all the imposts and customs , poundage and tonnage ( which they levie contrary to their former protestation before the bill be pass'd ) they have the exchequer at their devotion , and all the revenue of the king , queen , and prince , and lastly , they have the citie of london , which may be eall'd a magazin of money and men , where there is a ready supplie and superfluitie of all things , that may seed , clothe , or make men gay to put them in heart and resolution : truely considering all these advantages , with divers others on their side , and the disadvantages on the kings , it turnes me into a lump of astonishment , how his majestie could beare up all this while , and keep together so many armies , and be still master of the field . patricius . i confesse sir , it is a just subject for wonderment , and we must ascribe it principally to god almightie , who is the protectour of his anointed , for his hand hath manifestly appear'd in the conduct of his affaires ; hee hath been the pilot , who hath sate at the helme ever s●…nce this storme began , and will we hope continue to steer his course till he waft him to safe harbour againe ; adde hereunto , that his majesty for his own part , hath beene wonderfully stirring , and indefatigable both for his body and minde ; and what notable things her majesty hath done , and what she hath suffered , is fitter for chronicle , then such a simple discourse . hereunto may be added besides , that his majestie hath three parts of foure of the peeres , and prime gentrie of the kingdom firme unto him , and they will venture hard before they will come under a popular government and mechanicall corporations , or let in knox or calvin to undermine this church , and bring in their bawdy stool of repentance . peregrin . truely sir , amongst other countreys , i extreamly long'd to see england , and i am no sooner come , but i am surfeited of her already , i doubt the old prophecie touching this island is come now to be verified , that the churchman was , the lawyer is , and the souldier shall be . i am afraid the english have seene their best dayes ; for i find a generall kind of infatuation , a totall eclipse of reason amongst most of them ; and commonly a generall infatuation precedes the perdition of a people ; like a fish , that putrifieth first in the head ; therefore i will trusse up my baggage and over again , after i have enjoyed you some dayes , and received your commands . patricius . dear sir , if you seriously resolve to crosse the seas againe so soon , i may chance beare you company , for as you have since the short time of your sojourn here judiciously observed a national defection of reason in the people of this island , which makes her so active in drawing on her own ruine ; so by longer experience , and by infallible symptomes i find a strange kind of vertigo to have seized upon her , which i feare will turne to the falling sicknesse , or such a frenzie that will make her to dash out her own braines : nor are her miseries , i feare , come yet to the full ; it is the method of the almightie , when he pleases to punish a people , to begin with roddes , to goe on with scourges , and if they will not do , he hath scorpions for them : therefore , i will breath any where sooner then here , for what securitie or contentment can one receive in that countrey , where religion and iustice , the two grand dorique columnes which support every state , are fallen down ? which makes all conditions of men , all professions and trades to go here daylie to utter ruine . the churchman grows every day more despicable , as if he had no propertie in any thing , nor is there any way left him to recover his tithe , but by costly troublesome sutes . the civilian , a brave learned profession , hath already made his last will ; and the common lawyers case is little better ; the courtier cannot get his pension ; the gentleman cannot recover his rents , but either they are sequestred by a high hand of unexampled power , or else the poor tenant is so heavily assess'd or plundred , that he is disabled to pay them in ; all kind of comerce both domestick and forrein visibly decayes , and falls more and more , into the hands of strangers ( to the no small dishonour of the wisedome of this nation ) nor can the tradesman recover his debts , parliamentary protections continue still in such numbers , so that it is a greater priviledge now to be a footman to the meanest of the lower house , then to be of the kings bed chamber : prenti●…es run away from their masters , and against their fathers intent turn souldiers , and for money , which is the soul of trade , i beleeve since the beginning of this parliament , above one half of the treasure of the kingdome is either conveyed to'ther side of the sea , or buried under ground , whence it must be new digg'd up againe . moreover , all things are here grown arbitrary ( yet that word took off the earle of straffords head ) religion , law , and allegiance is growne arbitrary ; nor dares the iudge upon the tribunall ( according to his oath ) do justice , but he is over-awed by ordinance ; or els the least intimation of the sense of the lower house is sufficient to enjoyne him the contrary , so that now , more then ever , it may be said here , — terras astraea reliquit . — peace also hath rov'd up and downe this island , and cannot get a place to lay her head on ; she hoped to have had entertainment in york-shire by the agreement of the best gentlemen in the countrey ; but an ordinance of parliament beat her out of doores ; then she thought to rest in cheshire , and by a solemne covenant she was promis'd to be preserv'd ther , the principal agents of that covenant having protested every one upon the word of a gentleman , and as they did desire to prosper , both themselves , their tenants and friends , , shold strictly observe it ; but the like ordinance of parliament battered down that agreement . then she thought to take footing in the west , and first in dorcetshire , then in cornwall and devonshire , and by the holy tie of the blessed sacrament she was promised to be preserved ther ; but another ordinance of parliament is pursuing her , to dispense with the commissioners of the said agreement for their oaths . lastly , his majesty is mainly endeavouring to bring her in again thorowout the whole land ; but the furious , phrentique schismaticks will have none of her ; for as one of them ( besides a thousand instances more ) preach'd in one of the most populous congregations about the city , it were better that london streets ran with bloud , and that dead carkasses were piled up as high as the battlements of pauls , than peace should be now brought in . and now that peace is shut out , learning is upon point of despair , her colledges are become courts of gard , and mars lieth in mercuries bed . honour also , with her court , lieth in the dust ; the cobler may confront the knight , the boor the baron , and ther is no judicial way of satisfaction ; which makes monarchy fear she hath no long time of abode here . publick faith also , though she had but newly set up for her self , is suddenly become bankrupt , and how could she choose ? for more of the kingdoms treasure hath bin spent within these thirty moneths , than was spent in four-score yeares before ; but she hopes to piece up her self again , by the ruines of the church ; but let her take heed of that , for those goods have bin fatall to many thousand families in this kingdom : yet , she thinks much , that those publick summs which were given to suppresse one rebellion ( in ireland ) shold be employed to maintain another rebellion ( in england . ) and lastly , methinks , i see religion in torn ragged weeds , and with slubber'd eyes sitting upon weeping-crosse , and wringing her hands , to see her chiefest temple ( pauls church ) where god almighty was us'd to be serv'd constantly thrice a day , and was the rendezvouz , and as it were the mother church , standing open to receive all commers and strangers , to be now shut up , and made only a thorow-fare for porters ; to see those scaffolds , the expence of so many thousand pounds , to lie rotting ; to see her chiefest lights like to be extinguished ; to see her famous learned divines dragg'd to prison , and utterly depriv'd of the benefit of the common law , their inheritance : methinks , i say , i see religion packing up , and preparing to leave this island quite , crying out , that this is countrey fitter for atheists than christians to live in ; for god almighty is here made the greatest malignant , in regard his house is plunder'd more than any : ther is no court left to reform heresie , no court to punish any church officer , and to make him attend his cure , not court to punish fornication , adultery , or incest : methinks i hear her cry out against these her grand reformers ( or refiners rather ) that they have put division 'twixt all degrees of persons . they have put division 'twixt husband and wife , 'twixt mother and child : the son seeks his fathers bloud in open field , one brother seeks to cut the others throat ; they have put division 'twixt master and servant , 'twixt land lord and tenant ; nay , they have a long time put a sea of separation 'twixt king and queen ; and they labour more and more to put division 'twixt the head and the members , 'twixt his majesty and his politicall spouse , his kingdom : and lastly , they have plung'd one of the flourishingst kingdoms of europe in a war without end ; for though a peace may be plaister'd over for the time , i fear it will be but like a fire cover'd with ashes , which will break out again , as long as these fiery schismaticks have any strength in this island ; so that all the premisses considered , if turk or tartar , or all the infernal spirits and cacodaemons of hel had broken in amongst us , they could not have done poor england more mischief . sir , i pray you excuse this homely imperfect relation , i have a thousand things more to impart unto you when we may breathe freer air ; for here we are come to that slavery , that one is in danger to have his very thoughts plundered ; therfore if you please to accept of my company , i will over with you by gods help , so soon as it may stand with your conveniency , but you must not discover me to be an englishman , abroad : for so i may be jeer'd at and kickt in the streets ; i will go under another name , and am fix'd in this resolution , never to breathe english aire again , untill the king recovers his crown , and the people the right use of their pericraniums ▪ the second part of a discourse ' twixt patricius and peregrin , touching the distempers of the times . london , printed in the year , 1661. a discours , or parly , continued betwixt patricius and peregrin , upon their landing in france , touching the civil wars of england and ireland . peregrin . gentle sir , you are happily arrived on this shore ; we are now upon firm ground , upon the fair continent of france ; we are not circumscrib'd , or coopt up within the narrow bounds of a rhumatick island ; we have all europe before us . truly i am not a little glad to have shaken hands with that tumbling element the sea ; and for england , i never intend to see her again in the mind i am in , unlesse it be in a map ; nay , in statu quo nunc , while this faction reigns , had i left one eye behind me , i should hardly returne thither to fetch it ; therefore if i be missing at any time , never look for me there . there is an old proverb , from a blacke german , a white italian , a red frenchman , i may adde one member more , and , from a round-headed englishman , the lord deliver us . i have often crossed these seas , and i found my self alwaies pitifully sick , i did ever and anon tell what wood the ship was made of ; but in this passage i did not feele the least motion or distemper in my humors : for , indeed i had no time to taink on sicknesse , i was so wholly tsken up , and transported with such a pleasing conceit , to have left yonder miserable island . peregrin . miserable island indeed ; for i thinke there was never such a tyrannie exercised in any christian countrey under heaven ; a tyrannie that extends not onely to the body , but to the braine also ; not only to mens fortunes and estates , but it reaches to their very soules and consciences , by violented new coercive oaths and protestations , compos'd by lay-men , inconsistent with the liberty of christians . never was there a nation carried away by such a strong spirit of delusion ; never was there a poor people so purblinded and puppified , if i may say so , as i finde them to be ; so that i am at a stand with my selfe , whether i shall pitie them more , or laugh at them . they not onely kisse the stone that hurts them , but the hands of them that hurle it ; they are come to that passive stupidity , that they adore their very persecutors , who from polling fall now a shaving them , and will flay them at last if they continue this popular reigne . i cannot compare england , as the case stands with her , more properly , then to a poor beast , sicke of the staggers , who cannot be cur'd without an incision . the astronomers , i remember , affirme that the moone ( which predominates over all humid bodies ) hath a more powerfull influence o're your british seas then any other ; so that according to the observation of some nevigators , they swell at a spring tide in some places , above threescore cubits high : i am of opinion , that that inconstant humorous planet , hath also an extraordinany dominion over the braines of the inhabitants ; for when they attempt any innovation ( whereunto all insulary people are more subject then other citizens of the world which are fixed upon the continent ) they swell higher , their fancies worke stronglier , and so commit stranger extravagancies then any other : witnesse these monstrous barbarismes and violencies , which have bin , and are daily offered to religion and just●…ce , ( the two grand supporters of all states ) yea , to humane reason it self since the beginning of these tumults . and now , noble sir , give me leave to render you my humble thanks for that true and solid information you pleased to give me in london of these commotions . during my short sojourne there , i lighted on divers odde pamphlets upon the seamstresses stalls , whom i wondred to see selling paper sheets in lieu of holland : on the one side i found the most impudent untruths ( vouch'd by publike authority ) the basest scurrilities , and poorest jingles of wit that ever i read in my life ; on the other side i met with many pieces that had good stuff in them , but gave mee not ( being a stranger ) a full satisfaction , they look'd no further then the beginning of this parliament , and the particular emergences thereof : but you have , by your methodicall relation , so perfectly instructed and rectified my understanding , by bringing me to the very source of these distempers , and led me all along the side of the current by so streight a line , that i believe , whosoever will venture upon the most intricate task of penning the story of these vertiginous times , will finde himself not a little beholden to that relation , which indeed may be term'd a short chronicle rather then a relation . wee are come now under another clime , and here we may mingle words , and vent our conceptions more securely ; it being , as matters stand in your countrey , more safe to speake under the lilly then the rose ; wee may here take in and put out freer ayre ; i meane , we may discourse with more liberty : for , words are nought els but aire articulated , and coagulated as it were into letters and syllables . patricius . sir , i deserve not these high expressions of your favourable censure touching that poor piece ; but this i will be bold to say , that whosoever doth read it impartially , will discover in the author the genius of an honest patriot , and a gentleman . and now methinks i look on you unfortunate island , as if one look upon a ship toss'd up and down in distresse of wind and weather , by a furious tempest , which the more she tugs and wrastles with the foamie waves of the angry ocean , the more the fury of the storme encreaseth , and puts her in danger of shipwrack ; and you must needs thinke , sir , it would move compassion in any heart , to behold a poore ship in such a desperate case , specially when all his kindred , friends and fortunes ; yea his religion , the most precious treasure of all , are aboard of her , and upon point of sinking . alas i can contribute nothing now to my poor countrey but my prayers and teares , that it would please god to allay this tempest , and cast over board those that are the true causers of it , and bring the people to the right use of reason againe . it was well observed by you , sir , that there is a nationall kinde of indisposition , and obliquity of mind that rageth now amongst our people , and i feare it will be long ere they returne to their old english temper . to that rare loyalty and love which they were used to shew to their soveraigne : for all the principles of monarchie are quite lost amongst us , those ancient and sacret flowers of the english diadem are trampled under foot ; nay , matters are come to that horrid confusion , that not onely the prerogative of the crown , but the foundamentall priviledge of the free-born subject is utterly overthrowne , by those whose predecessors were used to be the main supporters of it : so that our king is necessitated to put himself in armes for the preservation not only of his own regall rights , but of magna charta it self , which was neuer so invaded and violated in any age , by such causlesse tyrannicall imprisonments , by such unexampled destructive taxes , by stopping the ordinary processes in law , and awing all the courts of justice , by unheard-of forced oaths and associations , and a thousand other acts , which neither president , book-case or statute can warrant , whereof , if the king had done but the twentieth part , he had been cryed up to be the greatest tyrant that ever was . peregrin . sir , i am an alien , and so can speak with more freedom of your countrey . the short time that i did eate my bread there , i felt the pulse of the people with as much judgement as i could ; and i find , that this very word parliament is become a kind of idoll amongst them , they doe , as it were , pin their salvation upon 't ; it is held blasphemie to speake against it . the old english maxime was , the king can do no wrong ; another nominative case is now stept in , that the parliament can do no wrong , nor the king receive any : and whereas ther was used to be but one defender of the faith , ther are now started up amongst you , i cannot tell how many hundreds of them . and as in the sacred profession of priest-hood we hold , or at least wise shold hold , that after the imposition of hands , the minister is inspired with the holy ghost in an extraordinary manner for the enabling of him to exercise that divine function , so the english are grown to such a fond conceit of their parliament members , that as soon as any is chosen by the confus'd cry of the common people to sit within the walls of that house , an inerring spirit , a spirit of infallibility presently entereth into him ( so that he is therby become like the pope , a canon animatus ) though som of them may haply be such flat and simple animals , that they are as fit to be counsellours , as caligula's horse was to be consull , as the historian tells us . patricius . touching parliament , ther breaths not a subject under englands crown , who hath a higher esteem of it then i , it makes that dainty mixture in our government of monarchy , optimacie and democracy , betwixt whom , though ther be a kind of co ordination of power during the sitting of parliament , yet the two last , which are composed of peers and people , have no power , but what is derived from the first , which may be called the soul that animates them , and by whose authority they meet , consult and depart : they come there to propose , not to impose lawes ; they come not to make lawes by the sword ; they must not be like draco's lawes , written in bloud . their king calls them thither to be his counsellors , not controllers ; and the office of counsell is to advise , not to inforce ; they come thither to intreat , not to treat with their liege lord ; they come to throw their petitions at his feet , that so they may find a way up to his hear●… . 't is tru , i have read of high things that our parliament have done , but 't was either during the nonage and minority of our kings , when they were under protectorship , or when they were absent in a forrain war , or in time of confusion , when ther were competitors of the bloud-royall for the crown , and when the number of both houses was compleat and individed ; but i never read of any parliament that did arrogate to it self such a power paramount , such a superlative superintendence , as to check the prerogative of their soverain , to question his negative voice , to passe things , not only without , but expresly against his advice and royall command : i never heard of parliament , that wold have their king , being come to the meridian of his age , to transmit his intellectualls , and whole faculty of reason to them . i find som parliaments have bin so modest and moderat ( now moderation is the rudder that shold steer the course of all great councells ) that they have declined the agitation and cognizance of som state affaires , humbly transferring them to their soverain and his privy counsell : a parliament man then , held it to be the adaequat object of his duty , to study the welfare , to redresse the grievances , and supply the defects of that particular place for which he served ; the members then us'd to move in their own ( inferior ) sphere , and us'd not to be transported by any eccentric motions . and so they thought to have complyed with the obligation , and discharged the consciences of honest patriots , without soaring above their reach , and roving at random to treat of universals , much lesse to bring religion to their bar , or prie into the arcana imperti , the cognizance of the one belonging to the king , and his intern counsell of state : the other to divines , who , according to the etymologie of the word , use to be still conversant in the exercise of speculation of holy and heavenly things . peregrin . i am clearly of your opinion in these two particulars ; for , secrecy being the soul of policy , matters of state shold be communicated but to few ; and touching religion , i cannot see how it may quadrat with the calling , and be homogeneous to the profession of lay-men , to determine matters of divinity ; who , out of their incapacity and unaptnesse to the work , being not pares negotio , and being carryed away by a wild kind of conscience without science , like a ship without a helm , fall upon dangerous quick-sands ; so that whilest they labour to mend her , they marr her , whilst they think to settle her , they confound her , whilst they plot to prevent the growth of popery , they pave the way to bring it in , by conniving at , and countenancing those monstrous schismes which i observed to have crept into your church since the reign of this parliament : so that one may justly say , these your reformers are but the executioners of the old project of the jesuits , the main part wherof was , and is still , to hurle the ball of discord , and hatch new opinions still 'twixt the protestants , to make factions and scissures between them , and so render their religion more despicable and ridiculous . but methinks , matters are come to a strange pass with you in england , that the iudges cannot be trusted with the law , nor the prelats with the gospell ; whereas from all times , out of their long experience and years , these two degrees of men were used to be reverenced for the chief touch-men , and unquestionable expositors of both , which another power seems now to arrogate to it self , as the inerring oracle of both : but i pray god that these grand refiners of religion , prove not quack-salvers at last ; that these upstart polititians prove not impostors : for i have heard of some things they have done , that if machiavell himself were alive , he wold be reputed a saint in comparison of them . the roman ten , and athenian thirty , were babies to these ; nay , the spanish inquisition , and the bloet-rade ( that councell of bloud ) which the duke of alva erected in flanders , when he swore , that he wold drown the hollanders in their butter-tubs , was nothing to this ; when i consider the prodigious power they have assumed to themselves , and do daily exercise over the bodies , the estates and souls of men . in your former discourse you told me , that amongst multitudes of other mischiefs , wh●…ch this new faction hath wrought , they have put division 'twixt all sorts and sexes , 'twixt all conditious , both of men and women ; one thing more i may say , they have done in this kind : for , they have laboured to put division between the persons of the holy trinity , by making the first person to be offended at that voluntary genuflection and reverence which hath bin from all times practised in the christian church to the name of the second person ; so that iesu worship , as i have read in some of your profane pamphlets , is grown now to be a word of reproach amongst you . but to the point ; ther is one thing i can never cease to wonder at : that whereas at the beginning of this parliament , ther were as able and experienced , as stout and well spoken gentlemen , as any in the whole kingdom , that sate in the house , and made the far major part , i wonder i say , that they wold suffer this giddy-headed faction to carry all before them in that violent manner , that they did not crush this cocatrice in the shell . patricius . first , sir , you know ther is nothing so agreeable to the nature of man , as novelty ; and in the conduct of humane affaires , it is always seen , that when any new design or faction is a foot , the projectors are commonly more pragmaticall and sedulous upon the work ; they lie centinell to watch all advantages , the sand of their brains is always running : this hath caused this upstart faction , to stick still close together , and continue marvellously constant to their ends ; they have bin used to tyre and out-fast , to weary and out-watch the moderate and well-minded gentlemen ; sometimes till after midnight , by clancular and nocturnall sittings ; so that as his majesty saies in one of his declarations , most of their votes may be said to be nought else , but verdicts of a starv'd iury. another reason is , that they countenanced the flocking together of the promiscuous rabble from london , notwithstanding the two severall motions the lords made unto them , that they might be suppressed by parliamentary order : this riotous crue awed the wonted freedom of speech in both houses , cryed up the names , and confronted many of their members : yet these new polititians not only conniv'd at them , but call'd them their friends ; and so they might well enough , or rather their champions ; for they had ordered the matter so , that they were sure to have them ready at their devotion , at the heaving of a finger : and from this tumultuous mongrell crue , they derived their first encouragements to do such high prodigious insolencies they have committed since . adde hereunto , that they complyed exceedingly besides with the common councell of the city , they used to attend them early and late to knock heads together ; and if any new thing was to passe in the house , they wold first wait on them , to know their pleasure , and afterwards it shold be propounded and put to vote in the house : and how derogatory it is to the high law-making-councell , to make their chiefest members wait from time to time on the magistrates of the city , who in former times were used to attend them upon all occasions in westminster , i am ashamed to think on ; nor am i lesse ashamed to remember those base artifices and indirect courses that were practis'd at the election of this pretended major ; here they tack'd about to a second choice ; after the first was legally made , and how the common-councell was pack'd up of the arrandest schismaticks up and down the city . and to that mutinous wealth-swoln city , and the said unbridled pack of oppidans ( seconded afterwards by the countrey clownes ) who offered such outrages to gods house , the kings house , and the parliament house , may be ascribed all miseries , and the miscarriage of things : for they caused his majesty to forsake his own standing palace , to absent himself from his parliament , and make that unpleasing p●…ogresse up and down his kingdom ever since , which put all counsells at a stand , and to be involv'd in a confusion . peregrin . but let me tell you that your britannick sun , though he be now ore-set with these unlucky clouds , engendred of the vapours of distempered brains , and the rotten hearts of many of his own meniall servants , who have proved like the sons of serviah unto him , ingratefull monsters , yet is he still in his own orb , and will , when this foul weather 's passed , and the aire cleared a little by thunder , shine more gloriously and powerfully then before , it being a maxime of state , that rebellion suppressed , makes a prince the stronger ; now rebellion durst never yet look a prince long in the face , for the majesty of gods anointed , useth to dart such fulgent piercing beams , that dazle the eyes of disloyalty , and strikes her stark blind at last . and truly , as you say , i am also clearly of opinion , that these ingratefull londoners , as they were the comencers , so have they been the continuers and contrivers of this ugly rebellion ever since ; they seem to have utterly forgotten who hath given them the sword , and by , and from whom they hold their charter ; their corporations are now grown body politicks , & so as many petty republikes amongst them , so that they begin to smell rank of a hans-town . poor simple annimals , how they suffer their pockets to be pick'd , their purses to be cut ; how they part with their vitall spirits every week ; how desperately they post on to poverty , and their own ruine , suffering themselves in lieu of scarlet-gownes , to be governed by a rude company of red-coats , who 'twixt plundering , assessements , and visits , will quickly make an end of them . i fear ther is som formidable judgment of regall revenge hangs over that city ; for the anger of a king is like the roaring of a lyon ; and i never read yet of any city that contested with her soverain , but she smarted soundly for it at last . the present case of london bears a great deal of proportion with that of monpellier here in france , in charls the seventh's time ; for when that town had refused the publishing of many of the kings edicts and declarations , murthered som of his ministers and servants , abused the church , and committed other high acts of insolency ; the duke of berry was sent to reduce the town to obedience ; the duke pressed them with so hard a siege , that at last the best citizens came forth in procession , bare-headed , & bare-footed , with white wands in their hands , and halters about their necks to deliver the keys of all the gates to the duke , but this wold not serve the turn , for two hundred of them were condemned to the gallies , two hundred of them were hang'd , and two hundred beheaded , the king saying , he offered those as victimes for the lives of his servants whom they had murthered with the false sword of justice . but , sir , i much marvell how your church-government , which from all times hath been cryed up to be so exact , is so suddenly tumbled into this confusion ? how your prelates are fallen under so darke a cloud , considering that divers of them were renowned through all the reform'd churches in christendome for their rare learning and pietie ? at the synod at dort , you know some of them assisted , and no exception at all taken at their degree and dignity , but took precedence accordingly , how came it to passe , that they are now fallen under this eclypse , as so be so persecuted , to be push'd out of the house of peers , and hurried into prison ? i pray you be pleased to tell me . patricius . sir , i remember to have read in the irish story , that when the earl of kildare in henry the eighth's time , was brought before the lord deputy for burning cassiles church , he answered , my lord , i would never have burnt the church , unlesse i had thought the biship had been in it ; for 't was not the church , but the bishop i aim'd at . one may say so of the anglican church at this present , that these fiery zelots , these vaporing sciolists of the times are so furiously enraged against this holy primative order ; some out of envie , some out of malice , some out of ignorance , that one may say , our church had not been thus set on fire , unlesse the bishops had been in 't . i grant there was never yet any profession made up of men , but there were some bad ; we are not angels upon earth there was a iudas amongst the first dozen of christians , though apostles , and they by our saviours owne election : amongst our prelates peradventure ( for i know of no accusation fram'd against them yet ) some might be faulty , and wanting moderation , being not contented to walk upon the battlements of the church , but they must put themselves ●…pon stilts ; but if a golden chaine hath happily a copper link two or three , will you therefore breake and throw away the whole chaine . if a few sho●…makers ( i confesse the comparison is too homely , but i had it of a scots man ) sell calfes skin for neats leather , must the gentle-craft be utterly extinguish ▪ d , must we go bare foot therefore ? let the persons suffer in the name of god , and not the holy order of episcopacy but good lord , how pittifully were those poor prelats handled ? what a tartarian kind of tyranny it was , to drag twice into prison twelve grave reverend bishops , causâ adhuc inaudita , and afterwards not to be able to frame as much as an accusation of misdemeanor against them , much lesse of treason , whereof they were first impeach'd with such high clamors : but i conceive it was of purpose , to set them out of the way , that the new faction might passe things better amongst the peers . and it seemes they brought their work about ; for whilest they were thus reclused and absent , they may be sayed to be thrust out of doores , and ejected out of their owne proper ancient inheritance , and the tower wherein they were cast might be called limbo patrum all the while . peregrin . but would not all this , with those unparallell'd bills of grace you mentioned in your first discourse , which had formerly passed , suffice to beget a good understanding , and make them confide in their king ? patricius . no , but the passing of these bills of grace , were term'd acts of duty in his majesty ; they went so far in their demands that 't was not sufficient for him to give up his tower , 〈◊〉 fleet-royall , his magazines , his ports , castl●… and servants , but he must deliver up his swor●… into their hands , all the souldiery & military forces of the land ; nay , he must give up his very understanding unto them ; he must resigne his own reason , and with an implicit faith or blind obedience , he must believe all they did was to make him glorious ; and if at any time he admonished them , o●… prescribed wayes for them to proceed and expedit matters , or if he advised them in any thing , they took it in a kind of indignation , and 't was presently cryed up to be breach of priviledge . peregrin . breach of priviledge forsooth , there is no way in my conceit , to make a king more inglorious , both at home and abroad , then to disarme him ; and to take from him the command and disposing of the militia throughout his kingdome , is directly to disarm him , & wrest the sword out of his hand : and how then can he be termed a defendor ? how can he defend either himself , or others ? 't is the onely way to expose him to scorn and derision ; truly , as i conceive , that demand of the militia was a thing not only unfit for them to ask , but for him to grant . but , sir , what shold be the reson which mov'd them to make that insolent proposall ? patricius . they cry'd out that the kingdom was upon point of being ruin'd ; that it was in the very jawes of destruction ; that there were forreign and in-land plots against it : all which are prov'd long since to be nothing else but meere chymera's ; yet people for the most part continue still so grossely besotted , that they cannot perceive to this day , that these forg'd feares , these utopian plots , those publick idea's were fram'd of purpose , that they might take all the martiall power into their hands ; that so they might without controulment cast the government of church and state into what mold they pleased , and ingrosse the chiefest offices to themselves : and from these imaginary invisible dangers proceeded these visible calamities , and grinding palpable pressures which hath accompanied this odious warre ever since . peregrin . herein methinks , your statists have shewne themselves politique enough , but not so prudent & honest ; for prudence & policy , though they often agree in the end , yet they differ in election of the meanes to compasse their ends : the one serves himself of truth , strength of reason , integrity , and gallantnesse in their proceedings ; the other of fictions , fraudulence , lies , and other sinister meanes ; the work of the one is lasting and permanent , the others worke moulders away , and ends in infamy at last ; for fraud and frost alwaies end foule . but how did they requite that most rare and high unexampled trust his majesty reposed in them , when he before passed that fatall act of continuance , a greater trust then ever english king put in parliament ? how did they performe their solemn promise and deepe protestations , to make him the most glorious ( at home and abroad ) the richest and best belovedst king that ever raigned in that island . patricius . herein i must confesse , they held very ill correspondence with him , for the more he trusted them , the more diffident they grew of him ; and truly , sir , herein white differs not so much from black , as their actions have been disconsonant to their words : touching the first promise , to make him glorious ; if to suffer a neighbouring nation ( the scot ) to demand and obtain what they pleased of him ; if to break capitulations of peace with a great forrein prince ( the french king ) by the renvoy of the capuchins , and divers other acts ; if to bring the dregs and riffraffe of the city to domineere before his court-gate , notwithstanding his proclamations of repressing them ; if to confront him and seek his life by fire and sword in open field , by open desiance , and putting him upon a defensive war ; if to vote his queen a traytresse , to shoot at her , to way-lay her , to destroy her , if to hinder the reading of his proclamations , and the sleighting of his declarations ( enclosed in letters sign'd and seal'd with his own hand ) for fear they shold bring the people to their wits again ; if to call them fetters of gold , divellish devises , fraught with doctrines of division , reall mistakes , absurd suppositions , though ther never dropt from princes pen , more full , more rationall and strong sinewy expressions ; if to suffer every shallow-brain'd scolist to preach , every pamphletter to print , every rotten-hearted man or woman to prate what they please of him and his queen ▪ if to sleight his often acknowledgment , condissentions , retractions , pronunciations of peace , and proffers of pardon ; if to endeavour to bring him to a kind of servile submission ; if to bar him of the attendance of his domestiques , to abuse and imprison his messengers , to hang his servants for obeying his commission ; if to prefer the safety and repute of five ordinary men , before the honour of their king , and being actually impeach'd of treason , to bring them in a kind of triumph to his house ; if for subjects to article , treat and capitulate with him ; if to tamper with his conscience , and make him forget the solemn sacramentall oath he took at his coronation ; if to devest him of all regall rights , to take from him the election of his servants and officers , and bring him back to a kind of minority ; if this be to make a king glorious , our king is made glorious enough . touching the second promise to make him the richest king that ever was ; if to denude him of his native rights , to declare that he hath no property in any thing but by way of trust , not so much property as an elective king ; if to take away his customs of inheritance ; if to take from him his exchequer and mint , if to thrust him out of his own towns , to suffer a lowsie citizen to lie in his beds within his royall castle of windsor , when he himself would have come thither to lodg ; if to enforce him to a defensive war , and cause him to engage his jewells and plate , and so plunge him in a bottomlesse gulph of debt for his necessary defence ; if to anticipate his revenue royall , and reduce him to such exigents that he hath scarce the subsistence of an ordinary gentleman ; if this be to make a rich king , then is our king made sufficiently rich . concerning their third promise , to make him the best belovedst king that ever was ; if to cast all the aspersions that possibly could be devised upon his government by publique elaborat remonstrances ; if to suffer and give texts to the strongest lung'd pulpiteers to poyson the hearts of his subjects , to intoxicat their brains with fumes of forg'd jealousies , to possesse them with an opinion , that he is a papist in his heart , and consequently hath a design to introduce popery ; if to sleight his words , his promises , his asseverations , oaths and protestations , when he calls heaven and earth to witnesse , when he desires no blessing otherwise to fall upon himself , his wife and children , with other pathetick deep-fetcht expressions , that wold have made the meanest of those millions of christians which are his vassals , to be believed ; if to protect delinquents , and proclaim'd traytors against him ; if to suscitate , authorise , and encourage all sorts of subjects to heave up their hands against him , and levy armes to emancepate themselves from that naturall allegiance , loyalty , and subjection , wherein , they and their fore-fathers were ever tyed to his royall progenitors ; if to make them swear and damn themselves into a rebellion ; if this be to make a king beloved , then this parliament hath made king charles the best beloved king that ever was in england . peregrin . i cannot compare this rebellion in england , more properly then to that in this kingdom , in king iohn's time , which in our french chronicle beares to this day the infamous name of iaquerie de beauvoisin ; the peasans then out of a surfeit of plenty , had grown up to that height of insolency , that they confronted the noblesse and gentry ▪ they gathered in multitudes , and put themselves in armes to suppresse , or rather extinguish them ; and this popular tumult never ceased , till charles le sage debell'd it ; and it made the kings of france more puissant ever since , for it much increased their finances , in regard that those extraordinary taxes which the people imposed upon themselves for the support of the war , hath continued ever since a firm revenue to the crown ; which makes me think of a facecious speech of the late henry the great , to them of orleans : for wheras a new imposition was laid upon the townsmen during the league by monsieur de la chastre , who was a great stickler in those wars ; they petitioned henry the fourth , that he wold be pleased to take off that taxe , the king asked them , who had laid that taxe upon them ? they said monsieur de la chastre , during the time of the league , the king replyed , puis que monsieur de la chatre vous à liguè qu'il vous destigue , since monsieur de la chastre hath leagu'd you , let monsieur de la chastre unleague you , and so the said taxe continueth to this day . i have observed in your chronicles that it hath bin the fate of your english kings to be baffled often by petty companions ; as iack straw , wat tyler , cade , warbecke and symnel . a waspe may somtimes do a shrewd turn to the eagle , as you said before ; your island hath bin fruitfull for rebellions , for i think ther hapned near upon a hundred since the last conquest , the city of london , as i remember , in your story hath rebelled seven times at least , and forfeited her charter i know not how often , but she bled soundly for it at last , and commonly , the better your princes were , the worse your people have been ; as the case stands , i see no way for the king to establish a setled peace , but by making a fifth conquest of you ; and for london , ther must be a way found to prick that tympany of pride wherwith she swells so much . patricius . 't is true , ther has bin from time to time many odd insurrections in england , but our king gathered a greater strength out of them afterwards , the inconstant people are alwayes accessary to their own miseries : kings prerogatives are like the ocean , which as the civilians tell us , if he lose in one pla●…e , he gets ground in another . cares and crosses ride behind kings , clowds hang over them . they may be eclypsed a while , but they will shine afterwards with a stronger lustre . our gracious soverain hath passed a kind of ordeal , a fiery triall ; he while now hath bin matriculated and serv'd part of an apprentiship in the school of affliction ; i hope god will please shortly to cancell the indenture , and restore him to a sweeter liberty then ever . this discourse was stopp'd in the press by the tyranny of the times , and not suffer'd to see open light till now . a sober and seasonable memorandum sent to the right honourable philip late earl of pembrock , and montgomery , &c. to mind him of the particular sacred ties ( besides the common oath of alleageance and supremacy ) wereby he was bound to adhere to the king his liege lord and master . presented unto him in the hottest brunt of the late civill wars . iuramentum ligamen conscientiae maximum . london , printed in the year , 1661. to the right honourable , philip earl of pembrock , and montgomery , knight of the bath ; knight of the most noble order of the garter ; gentleman of his majesties bed-chamber , and one of his most honorable privy counsell , &c. my lord , this letter requires no apology , much lesse any pardon , but may expect rather a good reception and thanks , when your lordship hath seriously perused the contents , and ruminated well upon the matter it treats of by weighing it in your second and third thoughts which usually carry with them a greater advantage of wisdom : it concerns not your body , or temporall estate , but things reflecting upon the noblest part of you , your soul , which being a beam of immortality , and a type of the almighty , is incomparably more precious , and rendereth all other earthly things to be but bables and transitory trifles . now , the strongest tye , the solemnest engagement and stipulation that can be betwixt the soul and her creator , is an oath . i do not understand common tumultuary rash oaths , proceeding from an ill habit , or heat of passion upon sudden contingencies , for such oaths bind one to nought else but to repentance : no , i mean serious and legall oaths , taken with a calm prepared spirit , either for the asserting of truth , and conviction of falshood , or for fidelitie in the execution of some office or binding to civill obedience and loyaltie , which is one of the essentiall parts of a christian ; such publick oaths legally made with the royall assent of the soveraigne from whom they receive both legalitie and life ( else they are invalid and unwarrantable ) as they are religious acts in their own nature , so is the taking and observance of them part of gods honor , and there can be nothing more derogatory to the high majesty and holinesse of his name , nothing more dangerous , destructive and damnable to humane souls then the infringment and eluding of them , or omission in the performance of them . which makes the turks , of whom christians in this particular may learn a tender peece of humanity , to be so cautious , that they seldom or never administer an oath to greek , jew , or any other nation , and the reason is , that if the party sworn doth take that oath upon hopes of some advantage , or for evading of danger and punishment , and afterwards rescinds it , they think themselves to be involved in the perjury , and so accessary to his damnation : our civill law hath a canon consonant to this , which is , mortale peccatum est ei praestare juramentum , quem scio verisimiliter violaturum ; 't is a mortall sin to administer an oath to him who i probably know will break it ; to this may allude another wholesome saying , a false oath is damnable , a true oath dangerous , none at all the safest . how much then have they to answer for , who of late yeares have fram'd such formidable coercive generall oaths to serve them for engins of state to lay battery to the consciences and soules of poor men , and those without the assent of their soveraign , and opposit point blank to former oaths they themselves had taken : these kind of oaths the city of london hath swallowed lately in grosse , and the country in detaile , which makes me confidently beleeve that if ever that saying of the holy prophet , the land mournes for oaths , was appliable to any part of the habitable earth , it may be now applied to this reprobate iland . but now i come to the maine of my purpose , and to those oaths your lordship hath taken before this distracted time , which the world knowes , and your conscience can testifie , were divers ; they were all of them solemn , and some of them sacramentall oaths ( and indeed , every solemn oath among the antients was held a sacrament : ) they all implyed , and imposed an indispensible fidelity , truth and loyalty from you to your soveraign prince , your liege lord and master the king : i will make some instances : your lordship took an oath when knight of the bath to love your soveraign above all earthly creatures , and for his right and dignity to live and die &c. by the oath of supremacy you swear to beare faith and true allegeance to the kings highnesse , and to your power to defend all ●…urisdictions , priviledges , preheminences and authorities belonging to his highnesse &c. your lordship took an oath when privie counsellor , to be a true and faithfull servant unto him , and if you knew or understood of any manner of thing to be attempted , done , or spoken against his majesties person , honour , crown , or dignity , you swore to let , and withstand the same to the uttermost of your power , and either cause it to be revealed to himself , or to others of his privy counsell ; the oaths you took when bedchamber man , and l. chamberlain bind you as strictly to his person . your lordship may also call to memorie when you were installed knight of the garter , ( whereof you are now the oldest living except k ▪ of denmark ) you solemnly swore to defend the honour and quarrels , the rights and lordship of your ▪ soveraigne : now the record tells us that the chiefest ground of instituting the said order by that heroick prince edward the third was , that he might have choice gallant men , who by oath and honour should adhere unto him in all dangers , and difficulties , and that by way of reciprocation hee should protect and defend them , which made alfonso duke of calabria so much importune henry the eight to install him one of the knights of the garter , that he might engage king harry to protect him against charles the eighth , who threatned then the conquest of naples . how your lordship hath acquitted your self of the performance of these oaths , your conscience ( that bosome record ) can make the best affidavit ; some of them oblige you ●…o live and dye with king charles , but what oaths or any thing like an oath binds you to live and die with the house of commons , as your lordship often gives out you will , i am yet to learne : unlesse that house which hath not power as much as to administer an oath ( much lesse to make one ) can absolve you from your former oaths , or haply by their omnipotence dispence with you for the observance of them . touching the politicall capacitie of the king , i feare that will be a weak plea for your lordship before the tribunall of heaven , and they who ▪ whisper such chimeras into your ears , abuse you in grosse ; but put case there were such a thing as politicall capacitie distinct from the personal , which to a true rationall man is one of the grossest buls that can be , yet these forementioned oaths relate most of them meerly unto the kings person , the individuall person of king charles , as you are his domestick counsellor , and cubicular servant . my lord , i take leave to tell your lordship ( and the spectator sees sometimes more then the gamester ) that the world extreamely marvels at you more then others , and it makes those who wish you best to be transformed to wonder , that your lordship shold be the first of your race who deserted the crown , which one of your progenitors said , he would still follow though it were thrown upon an hedg : had your princely brother ( william earl of pembrock ) bin living he wold have bin sooner torn by wild horses than have banded against it , or abandoned the king his master , and fallen to such grosse idolatry as to worship the beast with many heads . the world also stands astonished that you shold confederate to bring into the bowels of the land , and make elogiums in some of your speeches of that hungry people which have bin from all times so crosse and fatall to the english nation , and particularly to your own honour : many thousands do wonder that your lordship shold be brought to persecute with so much animosity and hatred that reverend order in gods church ( episcopacy ) which is contemporary with christianity it self , and wherunto you had once designed , and devoted one of your dearest sons so solemnly . my lord , if this monster of reformation ( which is like an infernall spirit clad in white , and hath a cloven head as well as feet ) prevailes , you shall find the same destiny will attend poor england , as did bohemia which was one of the flourishingst kingdoms upon that part of the earth , which happen'd thus : the common people ther repind at the hierarchy and riches of the church , therupon a parliament was pack'd where bishops were abolished , what followed ? the nobles and gentry went down next , and afterwards the crown it self , and so it became a popular confus'd anarchicall state , and a stage of bloud a long time , so that at last , when this magot had done working in the brains of the foolish peeple , they were glad to have recourse to monarchy again after a world of calamities ; though it degenerated from a successive kingdom to an elective . methinks , my lord , under favour that those notorious visible judgements which have fallen upon these refiners of reform'd religion shold unbeguile your lordship , and open your eyes : for the hand of heaven never appeared so clearly in any humane actions : your lordship may well remember what became of the hothams , and sir alexander cary , who were the two fatall wretches that began the war first , one in the north , the other in the south , plymouth and hull . your lordship may be also pleased to remember what became of brooks the lord , and hampden , the first whereof was dispatched by a deaf and dumb man out of an ancient church ( at litchfield ) which he was battering , and that suddenly also , for he fell down stone dead in the twinkling of an eye ; now , one of the greatest cavils he had against our liturgy was a clause of a prayer ther against sudden death ; besides , the fag end of his grace in that journey was , that if the design was not pleasing to god , he might perish in the action : for the other ( hampden ) he besprinkled with his bloud , and received his death upon the same clod of earth in buckingham-shire where he had first assembled the poor country people like so many geese to drive them gaggling in a mutiny to london with the protestation in their caps , which hath bin since torn in flitters , and is now grown obsolet and quite out of use . touching pym and stroud , those two worthy champions of the utopian cause , the first being opened , his stomack and guts were found to be full of pellets of bloud , the other had little or no brain in his skull being dead , and lesse when he was living : touching those who carryed the first scandalous remonstrance ( that work of night and the verdict of a starv'd jury ) to welcome the king from scotland , they have bin since ( your lordship knows well ) the chief of the eleven members impeached by the house . and now they are a kind of runnagates beyond the seas , scorn'd by all mankind , and baffled every where , yea , even by the boors of holland , and not daring to peep in any populous town but by owle-light . moreover , i believe your lordship hath good cause to remember that the same kind of riotous rascals , which rabbled the k. out of town , did drive away the speaker in like manner with many of their memberships ( amongst whom your lordship was fairly on his way , ) to seek shelter of their janizaries the redcoats : your lordship must needs find what deadly fewds fal daily ' twix●… the presbyterian and the independent , the two fiery brands that have put this poor isle so long in combustion . but 't is worthy your lordships speciall notice how your dear brethren the scots ( whom your lordship so highly magnified in some of your publick speeches ) who were at first brought in for hirelings against the king for them , offer themselves now to come in against them for the king : your lordship cannot be ignorant of the sundry clashes that have bin 'twixt the city and their memberships , and 'twixt their memberships and their men of war or military officers , who have often wav'd and disobeyed their commands : how this tatterdimallian army hath reduc'd this cow'd city , the cheated country , and their once all-commanding masters , to a perfect passe of slavery , to a tru asinin condition ; they crow over all the ancient nobility and gentry of the kindom , though ther be not found amongst them all but two knights ; and 't is well known ther be hundreds of privat gentlemen in the kingdom , the poorest of whom , is able to buy this whole host with the generall himself and all the commanders : but 't is not the first time , that the kings and nobility of england have bin baffled by petty companions : i have read of iack straw , wat tyler , and ket the tanner , with divers others that did so , but being suppressed it tended to the advantage of the king at last ; and what a world of examples are ther in our story , that those noblemen who banded against the crown , the revenge of heaven ever found them out early or late at last . these , with a black cloud of reciprocall judgments more , which have come home to these reformers very doors , shew that the hand of divine justice is in 't , and the holy prophet tells us , when gods judgments are upon earth , then the inhabitants shall learn justice . touching your lordship in particular , you have not , under favour , escap'd without some already , and i wish more may not follow ; your lordship may remember you lost one son at bridgenorth , your dear daughter at oxford , your son-in-law at newbury , your daughter-in-law at the charter-house of an infamous disease , how sick your eldest son hath bin ; how part of your house was burnt in the country , with others which i will not now mention . i will conclude this point with an observation of the most monstrous number of witches that have swarm'd since these wars against the king , more ( i dare say ) then have bin in this island since the devil tempted eve ; for in two counties only , viz. suffolk and essex , ther have bin near upon three hundred arraign'd , and eightscore executed ( as i have it from the clerks of the peace of those counties ; ) what a barbarous devilish office one had , under colour of examination , to torment poor silly women with watchings , pinchings and other artifices to find them for witches : how others call'd spirits by a new invention of villany were conniv'd at for seizing upon young children , and 〈◊〉 them on shipboard , where having their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were so transform'd that their 〈◊〉 could not know them , and so were carryed over for new schismaticall plantations to new-england and other seminaries of rebellion . my lord , ther is no villany that can enter into the imagination of man hath bin left here uncommitted ; no crime from the highest treason to the meanest trespasse , but these reformers are guilty of . what horrid acts of prophanes have bin perpetrated up and down ! the monuments of the dead have bin rifled ! horses have bin watered at the church font , and fed upon the holy table ! widows , orphans , and hospitals have bin commonly robb'd , and gods house hath bin plunder'd more then any ! with what infandous blasphemies have pulpits rung ! one crying out , that this parliament was as necessary for our reformation , as the comming of christ was for our redemp●…ion : another belching out , that if god almighty did not prosper this cause , 't were fitting he shold change places with the devil : another , that the worst thing our savoour did , was the making of the dominical prayer , and saving the thief upon the crosse. o immortal god , is it possible that england shold produce such monsters , or rather such infernal fiends shap'd with humane bodies ! yet your lordship sides with these men , though they be enemies to the cross , to the church , and to the very name of iesus christ ; i 'le instance only in two who were esteem'd the oracles of this holy reformation , petrs , and saltmarsh ; the first is known by thousands to be an infamous , jugling and scandalous villaine , among other feats , he got the mother and daughter with child , as it was offered to be publickly proved ; i could speak much of the other , but being dead , let it suffice that he dyed mad and desperate , yet these were accounted the two apostles of the times . my lord , 't is high time for you to recollect your self , to enter into the private closet of your thoughts , and summon them all to counsel upon your pillow ; consider well the slavish condition your dear country is in , weigh well the sad case your liege lord and master is in , how he is bereav'd of his queen , his children , his servants , his liberty , his chaplains , and of every thing in which there is any comfort ; observe well , how neverthelesse , god almighty works in him by inspiring him with equality and calmnesse of mind , with patience , prudence and constancy , how hee makes his very crosses to stoop unto him , when his subjects will not : consider the monstrousnesse of the propositions that are tendred him , wherein no lesse then crown , scepter , and sword , which are things in-alienable from majesty , are in effect demanded , nay , they would have him transmit , and resign his very intellectuals unto them , not only so , but they would have him make a sacrifice of his soul , by forcing him to violate that solemne sacramentall oath hee took at his coronation when hee was no minor , but come to a full maturity of reason and judgement : make it your own case , my lord , and that 's the best way to judge of his : think upon the multiplicity of solemne astringing oathes your lordship hath taken , most whereof directly and solely enjoyne faith and loyalty to his person ; oh my lord ! wrong not your soule so much , in comparison of whom your body is but a rag of rottennesse . consider that acts of loyalty to the crown are the fairest columns to bear up a noblemans name to future ages , and register it in the temple of immortality . reconcile your self therefore speedily unto your liege lord and master , think upon the infinit private obligations you have had both to sire and son : the father kiss'd you often , kisse you now the sun lest he be too angry ; and kings , you will find , my lord , are like the sun in the heavens , which may be clouded for a time , yet he is still in his sphear , and will break out againe and shine as gloriously as ever ; let me tell your lordship that the people begin to grow extream weary of their physitians , they find the remedy to be far worse then their former disease ; nay they stick not to call some of them meer quacksalvers rather then physitians ; some goe further , & say they are no more a parliament then a pye-powder court at bartholmew-fair , ther being all the essentiall parts of a true parliament wanting in this , as fairnesse of elections , freedome of speech , fulnesse of members , nor have they any head at all ; besides , they have broken all the fundamental rules , and priviledges of parliament , and dishonoured that high court more then any thing else : they have ravish'd magna charta which they are sworn to maintain , taken away our birth-right therby , and transgressed all the laws of heaven and earth : lastly , they have most perjuriously betrayed the trust the king reposed in them , and no lesse the trust their country reposed in them , so that if reason and law were now in date , by the breach of their priviledges , and by betraying the said double trust that is put in them , they have dissolved themselves ipso facto i cannot tell how many thousand times , notwithstanding that monstrous grant of the kings , that fatall act of continuance : and truly , my lord , i am not to this day satisfied of the legality ( though i am satisfied of the forciblenesse of that act ) whether it was in his majesties power to passe it or no ; for the law ever presupposeth these clauses in all concessions of grace , in all patents , charters , and grants whatsoever the king passeth , salvo jure regio , salvo jure coronae . to conclude , as i presume to give your lordship these humble cautions and advice in particular , so i offer it to all other of your rank , office , order and relations , who have souls to save , and who by solemn indispensable oaths have ingaged themseves to be tru and loyall to the person of king charls . touching his political capacity , it is a fancy which hath bin exploded in all other parliaments except in that mad infamous parliament wher it was first hatched ; that which bears upon record the name of insanum parliamentum to all posterity , but many acts have passed since that , it shold be high and horrible treason to separat or distinguish the person of the king from his power ; i believe , as i said before , this distinction will not serve their turn at the dreadful bar of divine justice in the other world : indeed that rule of the pagans makes for them , si iusjurandum violandum est , tyrannis causâ violandum est , if an oath be any way violable , 't is to get a kingdom : we find by woful experience that according to this maxime they have made themselves all kings by violation of so many oaths ; they have monopoliz'd the whole power and wealth of the kingdom in their own hands ; they cut , shuffle , deal , and turn up what trump they please , being judges and parties in every thing . my lord , he who presents these humble advertisments to your lordship , is one who is inclin'd to the parliament of engl. in as high a degree of affection as possibly a free-born subject can be ; one besides , who wisheth your lordships good , with the preservation of your safety and honour more really then he whom you intrust with your secretest affaires , or the white iew of the upper house , who hath infused such pernicious principles into you ; moreover , one who hath some drops of bloud running in his veins , which may claim kindred with your lordship : and lastly , he is one who would kiss your feet , in lieu of your hands , if your lordship wold be so sensible of the most desperat case of your poor country , as to employ the interests , the opinion and power you have to restore the king your master by english waies , rather then a hungry forrein people , who are like to bring nothing but destruction in the van , confusion in the rear , and rapine in the middle , shold have the honour of so glorious a work . so humbly hoping your lordship will not take with the left hand , what i offer with the right , i rest , from the prison of the fleet 3. septembris 1644. your lordships truly devoted servant . i. h. his late majesties royal declaration , or manifesto to all forrein princes and states , touching his constancy in the protestant religion . being traduced abroad by some malicious and lying agents , that he was wavering therin , and upon the high road of returning to rome . printed in the year , 1661. to the unbiass'd reder . it may be said that mischief in one particular hath somthing of vertue in it , which is , that the contrivers and instruments thereof are still stirring and watchfull . they are commonly more pragmaticall and fuller of devices then those sober-minded men , who while they go on still in the plaine road of reason , having the king , and knowne lawes to justifie and protect them , hold themselfs secure enough , and so think no hurt ; iudas eyes were open to betray his master , while the rest of his fellow-servants were quietly asleep . the members at westminster were men of the first gang , for their mischievous braines were alwayes at work how to compasse their ends ; and one of their prime policies in order thereunto was to cast asspersions on their king , thereby to alienat the affections and fidelity of his peeple from him ●…notwithstanding that besides their pub●…ick declarations they made new oaths and protestations , whereby they swore to make him the best belov'd king that ever was ; ) nor did this diabolicall malice terminat only within the bounds of his own dominions , but it extended to infect other princes and states of the reformed churches abroad to make him suspected in his religion , & that he was branling in his belief , and upon the high way to rome ; to which purpose they sent missives and clandestine emissaries to divers places beyond the seas , whereof forren authors make mention in their writings . at that time when this was in the height of action , the passage from london to oxford , where the king kept then his court , was so narrowly blockd up , that a fly could scarce passe ; some ladies of honor being search'd in an unseemly and barbarous manner ; whereupon the penner of the following declaration , finding his royal master to be so grosly traduced , made his duty to go beyond all presumptions , by causing the sayd declaration to be printed and publish'd in latin , french and english , whereof great numbers were sent beyond the seas to france , holland , germany , suisserland , denmark , swethland , and to the english plantations abroad , to vindicat his majesty in this point , which produc'd very happy and advantagious effects for salmtisius , and other forrin writers of great esteem speake of it in their printed works . the declaration was as followeth . carolus , singulari omnipotentis dei providentia angliae , scotiae , franciae & hiberniae rex , fidei defensor , &c. universis et singulis qui praesens hoc scriptum ceu protestationem inspexerint , potissimum reformatae religionis cultoribus cujuscunque sint gentis , gradus , aut conditionis , salutem , &c. cum ad aures nostras non ita pridem fama pervenerit , sinistros quosdam rumores , literasque politica vel perniciosa potiùs quorundam industriâ sparsas esse , & nonnullis protestantium ecclesiis in exteris partibus emissas , nobis esse animum & consilium ab illa orthodoxa religione quam ab incunabulis imbibimus , & ad hoc usque momentum per integrum vitae nostrae curriculum amplexi sumus recedendi ; & papismum in haec regna iterum introducendi , quae conjectura , ceu nefanda potius calumnia nullo prorsus nixa vel imaginabili fundamento horrendos hosce tumultus , & rabiem plusquàm belluinam in anglia suscitavit sub pretextu cujusdam ( chimericae ) reformationis regimini , legibusque hujus dominii non solum incongruae , sed incompatibilis : volumus , uttoti christiano orbi innotescat , ne minimam quidem animum nostrum incidisse cogitatiunculam hoc aggrediendi , aut transversum unguem ab illa religione discedendi quam cum corona , septroque hujus regni solenni , & sacramentali juramento tenemur profiteri , protegere & propugnare . nectantum constantissima nostra praxis , & quotidiana in exercitiis praefa●…ae religionis praesentia , cum crebris in facie nostrorum agminum asseverationibus , publicisque procerum hujus regni testimoniis , & sedula in regiam nostram sobolem educando circumspectione ( omissis plurimis aliis argumentis ) luculentissimè hoc demonstrat , sed etiam faelicissimum illud matrimonium quod inter nostram primogenitam , & illustrissimum principem 〈◊〉 sponte contraximus , idem fortissimè attestatur : quo nuptiali faedere insuper constat , nobis non esse propositum illam profiteri solummodo , sed expandere , & corroborare quantum in nobis situm est . hanc sacrosanctam anglicanae christi ecclesiae religionem , tot theologorum convocationibus sancitam , tot comitiorum edictis confirmatam , tot regiis diplomatibus stabilitam , una cum regimine ecclesiastico , & liturgia ei annexa , quam liturgiam , regimenque celebriores protestantium authores tam germani , quam galli , tam dani quam helvetici , tam batavi , quam bohemi multis elogiis nec sine quadam invidia in suis publicis scrip●…is comproban●… & applaudunt , ut in transactionibus dordrechtanae synodus , cui nonnulli nostrorum praesulum , quorum dignitati debi●…a prestita fuit reverentia , interfuerunt , apparet istam , inquimus religionem , quam regius noster pater ( beatissimae memoriae ) in illa celeberrima fidei suae confessione omnibus christianis principibus ( ut & haec praesens nostra protestatio exhibita ) publicè asserit : istam , istam religionem solenniter protestamur , nos integram , sartam-tectam , & inviolabilem conservaturos , & pro virili nostro ( divino adjuvante numine ) usque ad extremam vitae nostrae periodum protecturos , & omnibus nostris ecclesiasticis pro muneris nostri , & supradicti sacrosancti juramenti ratione doceri , & praedicari curaturos . quapropter injungimus & in mandatis damus omnibus ministris nostris in exteris partibus tam legatis , quam residentibus , agentibusque & nunciis , reliquisque nostris subditis ubicunque orbis christiani terrarum aut curiositatis aut comercii gracia degentibus , hanc solennem & sinceram nostram protestationem , quandocunque sese obtulerit loci & temporis oportunitas , communicare , asserere , asseverare . dat. in academia et civitate nostra oxoniensi pridie idus maii , 1644. charles by the special providence of almighty god , king of england , scotland , france , and ireland , defendor of the faith , &c. to all who profess the tru reformed protestant religion , of what nation , degree , and condition soever they be to whom this present declaration shall come , greeting . wheras we are given to understand , that many false rumors , and scandalous letters are spread up and down amongst the reforme●… churches in forein parts by the pollitick , or rather the pernitious industry of som ill-affected persons , that we have an inclination to recede from that orthodox religion , which we were born , baptized , and bred in , & which we have firmly professed and practised throughout the whol course of our life to this moment , and that we intend to give way to the introduction , and publick exercise of popery again in our dominions : which conjecture or rather most detestable calumny , being grounded upon no imaginable foundation , hath raised these horrid tumults , and more then barbarous wars throughout this flourishing island , under pretext of a kind of reformation , which wold not only prove incongruous , but incompatible with the fundamental laws and government of this kingdom , we do desire that the whol christian world shold take notice and rest assured , that we never entertained in our imagination the least thought to attempt such a thing , or to depart a jot from that holy religion , which when we received the crown and scepter of this kingdom , vve took a most solemn sacramental oath to profess and protect . nor doth our most constant practise and quotidian visible presence in the exercise of this sole religion , with so many asseverations in the head of our armies , and the publick attestation of our barons , with the circumspection used in the education of our royall off-spring , besides divers other undeniable arguments , only demonstrate this ; but also that happy alliance of marriage , vve contracted 'twixt our eldest daughter , and the illustrious prince of orenge , most clearly confirmes the reality of our intentions herein ; by which nuptial ingagement it appears further , that our endeavours are not only to make a bare profession thereof in our own dominions , but to inlarge and corroborate it abroad as much as lieth in our power : this most holy religion of the anglican church , ordained by so many convocations of learned divines , confirmed by so many acts of national parliaments , and strengthned by so many royal proclamations , together with the ecclesiastick discipline , and liturgy therunto appertaining , which liturgy and discipline , the most eminent of protestant authors , as well germans as french ; as well danes as swedes and swittzens ; as well belgians as bohemians , do with many elogies ( and not without a kind of envy ) approve and applaud in their publick writings , particularly in the transactions of the synod of dort , wherin besides other of our divines ( who afterwards were prelates ) one of our bishops assisted , to whose dignity all due respects and precedency was given : this religion we say , which our royal father of blessed memory doth publickly assert in his famous confession addres'd , as we also do this our protestation , to all christian princes ; this , this most holy religion , with the hierarchy and liturgy therof , we solemnly protest , that by the help of almighty god , we will endeavour to our utmost power , and last period of our life , to keep entire and inviolable , and will be careful , according to our duty to heaven , and the tenor of the aforesaid most sacred oath at our coronation , that all our ecclesiasticks in their several degrees and incumbences shall preach and practise the same . vvherfore vve enjoyn and command all our ministers of state beyond the seas , aswell ambassadors as residents , agents , and messengers , and vve desire all the rest of our loving subjects that sojourn either for curiosity or commerce in any forein parts , to communicate , uphold and assert this our solemn and sincere protestation when opportunity of time and place shall be offered . charles , par la providence de dieu roy de la grand ' bretagne , de france , et d' irlande , defenseur de la foy , &c. a tous ceux qui ceste presente declaration verront , particulierement a ceux de la religion reformee de quelque nation , degreou condition qu'ils soient , salut . ayant receu advis de bonne main que plusieurs faux rapports & lettres sont esparses parmi les eglises reformees de là la mer , par la politique , ou plustost la pernicieuse industrie de personnes mal affectionnes a nostre government ; que nous auons dessein a receder de celle religion que nous auons professè & pratiquè tout le temps de nostre vie iusques a present ; & de vouloir introduire la papautè derechef en nos dominions , laquelle conjecture , ou calumnie plustost , appuyee sur nul fundement imaginable , a suscitè ces horribles tumultes & allumè le feu d' une tressanglante guerre en tous les quatre coins de ceste fleurissante monarchie , soubs pretexte d' une ( chymerique ) reformation , la quelle seroit incompatible avec le governement & les loix fondementales de ce royaume . nous desi●…ons , quil soit notoire a tout le monde , que la moindre pensee de ce faire n●… a pas entree en nostre imagination , de departir ancunement de cell ' orthodoxe religion , qu' auec la couronne & le sceptre de ce royaume nous sommes tenus par un serment solennel & sacramentaire a proteger & defendre . ce qu' appert non seulement par nostre quotidienne presence es exercies de la dite religion , avec , tan●… d' asseverations a la teste de nos armees , & la publicque attestation de nos barons , avec le soin que nous tenons en la nourrituredes princes & princesses nos ensans , mais le tres-heureux mariage que nous avons conclu entre la nostre plus aisnee , & le tres-illustrie prince d' orenge en est encore un tres-evident tesmoignage , par la quell ' alliance il appert aussy , que nostre desir est de n' en faire pas vne nue profession seulement dicelle , mais de la vouloir estendre & corroberer autant qu' il nous est possible : cest ' orthodoxe religion de leglise anglicane ordonnee par tant de conventione de teologues , confirmee par tant de arrests d' parlement , & fortifie par tant d' edicts royaux auec la discipline & la lyturgi●… a elle appartenant , laquelle discipline & lyturgie les plus celebres autheurs protestants , tant francois , qu' allemands ; tant seudois que suisses , tant belgiens que bohemiens approuent entierement & non sans quelqu envie en leur escrits particulierement en la synode de dort , ou un de nos euesques assistoit , & la reverence & precedence deue a sa dignite ecclesi●…stique luy fut exactement rendue : ceste tres-sainte religion que nostre feu pere de ●…res-heureuse memoire aduoue en sa celebre confession de la foy addressee come nous faisons ceste declaration a tous princes chrestiens ; nous protestons que moyennant la grace de dieu , nous tascherone de conseruer ceste religion inviolable , & en son entier selon la mesure de puissance que dieu amis entre nos mains ; et nous requerons & commandons a tous nos ministres d' estat tant ambassadeurs , que residens , agens ou messagers , & a tous autres nos subjects qui fontleurseiour es paysestrangers de communiquer , maintenir & adouuer cestenostre solennelle protestation toutes fois & quantes que l' ocasion se presentera . apologs , or fables mythologiz'd . out of whose moralls the state and history of the late unhappy distractions in great britain and ireland may be extracted ; some of which apologs have prov'd prophetical . — nil est nisi fabula mundus . london , printed in the year , 1661. to my honored and known friend sir i. c. knight . sir , amongst many other barbarismes which like an impetuous torrent have lately rush'd in upon us , the interception and opening of letters is none of the least , for it hath quite bereft all ingenious spirits of that correspondency and sweet communication of fancy , which hath bin alwaies esteemed the best fuel of affection , and the very marrow of friendship . and truly , in my judgement , this custom may be termed not only a barbarisme , but the ba●…est kind of burglary that can be , 't is a plundering of the very brain , as is spoken in another place . we are reduced here to that servile condition , or rather to such a height of slavery , that we have nothing left which may entitle us free rationall creatures ; the thought it self cannot say 't is free , much less the tongue or pen. which makes me impart unto you the traverses of these turbulent times , under the following fables . i know you are an exquisite astronomer . i know the deep inspection you have in all parts of philosophy , i know you are a good herald , and i have found in your library sundry books of architecture , and comments upon vitruvius . the unfolding of these apologues will put you to it in all these , and will require ▪ your second , if not your third thoughts , and when you have concocted them well , i believe , ( else i am much deceived in your genius ) they will afford you som entertainment , and do the errand upon which they are sent , which is , to communicate unto you the most material passages of this long'd-for parlement , and of these sad confusions which have so unhing'd , distorted , transvers'd , tumbled and dislocated all things , that england may be termed now , in comparison of what it was , no other then an anagram of a kingdom . one thing i promise you , in the perusal of these parables , that you shall find no gingles in them , or any thing sordid or scurrilous , the common dialect and disease of these times . so i leave you to the gard and guidance , of god and vertu who do still advance their favorits , maugre the frownes of chance . your constant servant , i. h. the great conjunction , or , parlement of stars . upon a time , the stars complained to apollo , that he displayed his beams too much upon some malignant planets ; that the moone had too great a share of his influence , and that he was carryed away too much by her motion : they complained also , that the constellation of libra ( which holds the ballance of justice ) had but a dim light , and that the astrean court was grown altogether destructive , with divers other grievances . apollo hereupon , commanded mercury to summon a generall synod , where some out of every asterisme throughout the whole firmament were to meet ; apollo told them , i am placed here by the finger of the almighty , to be monarch of the skie , to be the measurer of time , and i goe upon his errand round about the worl●… every foure and twenty houres : i am also the fountaine of heate and light , which , though i use to dispence and diffuse in equall proportions through the whole universe ; yet there is difference 'twixt objects , a castle hath more of my light then a cottage , and the cedar hath more of me then the shrub , according to the common axiom , quicquid recipitur , recipitur ad modum recip●…entis . but touching the moon , ( the second great luminary ) i would have you know , that she is dearest unto mee , therefore let none repine that i cherish her with my beams , and confer more light on her then any other . touching the malignant planets , or any other star , of what magnitude soever , that moves not in a regular motion , or hath run any excentrick exorbitant course , or that would have made me to move out of the zodiak , i put them over unto you , that upon due legall examination and proof , they may be unspher'd or extinguished . but i would have this done with moderation ; i would have you to keep as neer as you can between the tropiques and temperate zones : i would have things reduced to their true principles , i wold have things reformed , not ruin'd ; i would have the spirit of malice and lying , the spirit of partiality and injustice , the spirit of tyranny and rigour , the base spirit of feare and jealousie to be farre from this glorious syderean synod ; i would have all private interests reflecting upon revenge or profit , to be utterly banished hence : moreover , i would not have you to make grievances , where no grievances are , or dangers where no dangers are . i would have no creation of dangers ; i would have you to husband time as parsimoniously as you can , lest by keeping too long together , and amusing the world with such tedious hopes of redress of grievances , you prove your self the greatest grievance at last , and so from starrs become comets : lastly , i would have you be cautious how you tamper with my soveraign power , and chop logicke with mee in that point ; you know what became of him who once presumed to meddle with my chariot . hereupon the whole host of heaven being constellated thus into one great body , fell into a serious deliberation of things , and apollo himself continued his presence , and sate often amongst them in his full lustre , but in the meane time , whilest they were in the midst of their consultations , many odde aspects , oppositions and conjunctions hapned between them : for some of the sporades , but specially those mongrel small vulgar stars , which make up the galaxia ( the milkie way in heaven ) gather in a tumultuous disorderly manner about the body of apollo , and commit many strange insolencies , which caused apollo ( taking young phosphorus the morning-star with him ) to retire himself , and in a just indignation to withdraw his light from the synod : so all began to be involv'd in a strange kind of confusion and obscurity ; they groaped in the dark , not knowing which way to move , or what course to take , all things went cancer-like retrograde , because the sun detained his wonted light and irradiations from them . morall . such as the sun is in the firmament , a monarch is in his kingdom : for , as the wisest of men saith , in the light of the kings countenance ther is life ; and i believe that to be the morall of this astrean fable . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . or , the great councell of birds . upon a time the birds met in councell , for redresse of som extravagancies that had flown unto the volatill empire ; nor was it the first time that birds met thus ; for the phrygian fabler tells us of divers meetings of theirs : and after him we read that apollonius thyaneus , undertook the interpretation of their language , and to be their drogoman . they thus assembled in one great covie by the call of the eagle their unquestioned hereditary king , and by vertue of his royal authority , complaints were brought , that divers cormorants and harpies , with other birds of prey , had got in amongst them , who did much annoy and invade the publick liberty : sundry other birds were questioned , which caused some to take a timely flight into another aire . as they were thus consulting for advancement of the common good , many rooks , horn-owles and sea-gulls flock'd together , and ●…luttered about the place they were assembled in , where they kept a hideous noise , and committed many outrages , and nothing cold satisfie them , but the griffons head , which was therfore chopt off , and offered up as a sacrifice to make them leave their chattering , and to appease their fury for the time . they fell foul afterwards upon the pies , who were used to be much reverenced , and to sit upon the highest pearch in that great assembly : they called them i dolatrous and inauspitious birds , they hated their mix'd colour , repined at their long train , they tore their white feathers , and were ready to peck out their very eyes : they did what they could to put them in owles feathers ( as the poor sheep was in the woolfs skin ) to make them the more hated , and to be star'd and hooted at whersoever they passed . the pies being thus scar'd , presented a petition to the royall eagle , and to this his great counsell , that they might be secured to repaire safely thither to sit and consult , according to the ancient lawes of the volatill empire continued so many ages without controllment or question : in which petition they inserted a protest or caveat , that no publique act shold passe in the interim . this supplication , both for matter and form , was excepted against , and cryed up to be high treason , specially that indefinite protest they had made , that no act whatsoever shold be of any validity without them , which was alledged to derogate from the high law-making power of that great counsell , and tended to retard and disturb the great affaires which were then in agitation : so the poor pies , as if by that petition they had like the black-bird voided lime to catch themselves , ( according to the proverb , turdus cacat sibi malum ) were suddenly hurryed away into a cage , and after ten long moneths canvassing of the point , they were unpearch'd , and rendered for ever uncapable to be members of that court , they were struck dumb and voice-less , and suddenly as it were blown up away thence , though without any force of powder , as once was plotted aginst them . but this was done when a thin number of the adverse birds had kept still together , and stuck close against them , and also after that the bill concerning them had bin once ejected , which they humbly conceived by the ancient order of that court could not be re-admitted in the same session . they petitioned from the place they were cooped in , that for heavens sake , for the honour of that noble counsell , for truth and justice sake , they ●…eing as free-born denisons of the aiery region , as any other volatills whatsoever , their charge might be perfected , that so they might be brought to a legall triall , and not forced to languish in such captivity . they pleaded to have done nothing but what they had precedents for : and touching the caveat they had inserted , it was a thing unusuall in every inferiour court of judicature , and had they forborn to have done it , they had betrayed their own nest , and done wrong to their successors . it was affirmed they had bin members of that body politique , long before those lower pearch'd birds , who now wold cast them out ; and that they had bin their best friends to introduce them to have any thing do do in that generall counsell : they prayed they might not be so cruelly used , as the solan goose , and redshanke had used them , who were not content to brail and clip their wings only , but to ●…ear them so , that they shold never grow again ; to handle them so unmercifully , was not the way to make their adversaries birds of paradice : in fine , they advised them to remember what the sick kite's mother answered him , when he desired her to pray to the gods for him , how canst thou , said she , expect any good from the gods , whose temples thou hast so violated ? at last , upon the importunity and pitifulness of their petitions , the accusation of treason , which kept such a noise at first , being declined against them , they were released in the morning , but cooped up again before night : and after the revolution of four full moons , they were restored again to a conditionall liberty , under which they remain till this day . ther wants not som , who affirm , that in that great counsell of birds , ther were som decoys ( and 't is well known where decoys were first bred ) who called in , not only these mongrill obstreperous birds from abroad to commit such outrages as were spoken of before , but drew after them also many of the greatest birds , who sate in that assembly , to follow them whither they listed : others , who were of a more generous extraction , disdained to be such buzzards , as to be carryed away hood-wincked in that manner , to be birds of their feather . thus a visible faction was hatched in this great counsell , as if the said decoyes had disgorged and let fall som grains of hemlock seeds amongst them to distemper their brains . or , as if som spinturnix , that fatall incendiary bird , or som ill-boding scritch-owle , which as stories tell us appeared once at rome , in a famous , though unfortunate great counsell ( when ther was a schism in the popedom ) had appeared likewise here . ther wanted not also amongst them som amphibious birds , as the barnacle , which is neither fish nor fowle ; and the cunning ba●…t , who sometimes professeth himself a bird , sometimes a mouse . i will not say ther were any paphlagonian birds amongst them , who are known to have double hearts . but 't is certain , that in this confusion ther were som malevolent birds , and many of them so young , that they were scarce fledg'd , who like the waspe in the fable , conspired to fire the eagles nest , ( and a wasp may somtimes do mischief to an eagle as a mouse to an elephant . ) moreover som of these light brained birds flew so high , that they seemed to arrogate to themselves , and exercise royall power , but foolishly ; for we know what became of the crow upon the ram's back , when she thought to imitate the eagle : and as it was observed that they were most eager to attempt those high insolensies against jove's bird , who had bin stark naked , and as bare as cootes , unlesse he had feathered them ; so that the little ant was more grateful to esops bird ; then those birds were to the eagle their liege lord and master . but the high-born bird with the two golden wings , the noble faulcons , the martlets , the ravens , the swan , the chough , and all the ancient birds of the mountains remained faithful and firm to the eagle , and scorned to be carryed away by such decoyes ; as also the generous ostriches , who unlesse they had had an extraordinary stomach , could not have digested such iron pills as were offered them . amongst other great birds which banded against the eagle , the flying dragons , green and white , were busie , specially the white ; and for the green , considering he was an ancient bird of the mountains , and that his progenitors had bin so renowned for their rare loyaly to the crown , every one wondered that he shold be drawn so far by the forefaid decoyes , as to be the first of his race that shold clap his wings against his soverain liege lord. the aforesaid destractions continued still , and increased more and more in that general convolation of birds ; therfore the turtle wold stay ther no longer , ther was so much gall amongst them : the pelecan flew away , he saw piety so vilified ; the dove was weary of their company , she found no simplicity and plain dealing amongst them : and the kings ▪ fisher , the halcyon ( the emblem of peace ) quite forsook them , he found so mnch jarring , dissentions , and bandings on all sides ; the swallow also , who had so ancient and honourable a rank amongst them , got into another aire , he fore-saw the weather was like to so be foul : and lastly , philomela , the queen of volatills , who was partner of the eagle's nest , abandoned them quite , and put a sea 'twixt her and them ; nay , the eagle himself withdrew his royal presence from them ; so the decoyes aforesaid carryed all before them , and comported themselves by their orders in that hight , as if like the lapwing , every one had a crown on his head ; they so inchanted in a manner , all the common sort of oppidan , rurall , and sea-birds , and infused such a credulity into them , that they believed them to have an inerring spirit , and what came from them , was as tru as the pentateuch : moreover , it was shrewdly suspected , that ther was a pernicious plot amongst them to let in the stork , who is never seen to stay long in any monarchy . morall . moderation is that goden rule wherby all great counsells shold square their deliberations , and nothing can tend more to their honour or dishonour , in point of wisdom : moreover , in a successive hereditary monarchy , when subjects assume regall power , when they bar the holy church of her rights , & of that reverence which is due to her chief professors , it is the most compendious way to bring all things to confusion , and consequently to an inevitable ruine , or som fatal change. and this i hold to be the chiefest morall of this apologue of birds . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the gathering together , or parlement of flowers . upon a time , the flowers assembled , and met in one generall counsell , by the authority and summons of the soveraign rose , their undoubted naturall king , who had taken the lilly for his royall spouse . the dew of heaven fell plentifully upon this happy conjunction , which made them to bourgeon , to propagate and prosper exceedingly , in so much , that the sweet fragrant odor which they did cast , diffused it self over all the earth . to this meeting came the violet , gilliflower , the rosemary , the tulyp , lavender and thyme , the cinquefoyle ( though of a forren growth ) had an honourable rank amongst them , and as some observed , got too much credit with the royal rose . the flowers of the field were admitted also to this great counsell : the couslip , the honysukle and daisie had their delegates there present , to consult of a reformation of certain abuses which had taken rooting in the common wealth of flowers , and being all under the rose , they had priviledge to speak all things with freedome ; complaints were made that much cockle and darnell , with other noxious herbs and tares were crept in amongst them , that the poppie did pullulat too much , with divers other grievances : the successe of this senat , this great bed or posie of living flowers , was like to prove very prosperous , but that the herb briony , wormwood , wolfbane , rue , and melampod ( the emblems of sedition , malice , feare , ambition and iealousie ) thrust in amongst them , and much distempered their proceedings : these brought in with them the bur , which exceedingly retarded and intangled all businesses ; and it was thought that the thistle was too medling amongst them , which made matters grow to that acrimony and confusion , as if the herb morsus diaboli had got in amongst them . amongst many other good-morrows , they propounded to the rose , that he should part with his prickles , and transmit his strength that way to be disposed of by them ; the royall rose liked not this bold request of theirs , though couched in very smooth language , but answered , i have hitherto condescended to every thing you have propounded , much more then ▪ any of my predecessors ever did ; but touching these prickles , which god and nature hath given mee , and are inherent in me and my stock from the beginning , though they be but excressencies , yet you know they fortifie and arm me , armat spina rosam . and by them i protect you and your rights from violence , and what protection i pray can there be without strength ? therefore i will by no means part with them to enfeeble my regall power , but will retain them still , and bequeath them to my posterity , which i would be loth to betray in this point ; nor doe i much value what that silly infected animall , the king of bees tells me sometimes , when humming up and downe my leaves , he would buzze this fond belief into me , how it added much to his majestie , that nature gives him no sting , as all other bees have , because he should rely altogether upon the love and loyalty of his subjects . no ; i will take warning by the eagle , the king of volatills , and by the lyon , king of quadrupedals , who ( as the prince of moralists reports ) when by fayre insinuations the one had parted with his tallons , the other with his teeth and ongles , wherein their might , and consequently their majesty consisted , grew afterwards contemptible to all creatures , and quite lost that natural allegeance and awe which was duc unto the one from all birds , and to the other , from all beasts of field and forrest . morall . every naturall borne monarch , hath an inherent inalienable strength in himself , which is the common militia of his kingdome ; for , though the peoples love ( which oftentimes is got by an apple , and lost by a peare ) be a good cittadell , yet there must be a concurrence of some visible setled force besides , which no earthly power may dispose of without his royall commands : and for him to transmit this strength to any other , is the only way to render him inglorious and despicable , both at home and abroad ; and thus you have the spirit of these flowers , and morall of the fable . the assembly of architects . there was an ancient goodly palace , composed of divers pieces , and partition'd into sundry chambers , halls and courts , which were supported by mixt pillars , partly corinthian , partly ionique , but principally by the dorique the king of columnes , as having the firmest pedestall : some tooke exceptions , and alledged , that some of the said courts were too high , and some of the chambers in this structure were too wide . the lord of this palace call'd together the best masons and architects , to advise with him ( not without him ) for mending of those faults , the better contrivance of the roomes , and to reduce the building to a just proportion . they solemnly met , and falling to consultation hereof , they found that the chamber which was spangled with stars , and where his privat counsell of state did use to sit , were too wide ; they thought that the court erected on the north-side , and that learned court where ecclesiasticall matters were scanned , was too high ; these , with that peculiar court which was erected for the support of honour , they went about in lieu of rectifying , to ruinat and raze to the very ground ; and some of these masons ( for indeed they were rather masons then true architects ) were so precise and over criticall , that they seem'd to find fault with the position of the chappell that belong'd to this palace , because , forsooth , it stood east and west , which situation , only in regard it was ancient , they held to be a superstitious posture ; they seem'd to repine at the decencie , riches and ornament of it , with divers other frivolous exceptions . the lord of the palace said little to that , but touching the errors and disproportions in the foresaid courts and chambers of publick justice , he was very willing they should be amended , and reduced to a true dimension and symmetrie ; and that all other roomes should be searched and swept cleane : but he would be loth to see those ancient pieces quite demolish'd , for that would hazard the fall of the maine fabrique , his princely hereditary patrimony ( descended upon him from so many wise oeconomists and royall progenitors ) in regard of the ●…uncture and contignation those parts had with the whole frame . to mend a thing by demolishing it , is as curing a sick body by knocking him in the head : he told them it was easier far to pull down , then build up ; one may batter to pieces in one houre , that which cannot be built in an age : that everlasting villaine , who burnt the ephesian temple , destroyed , as it were in a trice , what was a rearing up ten long olympiads : he wish'd them further to be very cautious how they medled with th the angulars and basis of that royal structure ; for so they might prove as wise as those architects , who took out som of the foundation stones , to repair the roof . lastly , he told them , that if they intended to pull down any part of his own standing palace , they shold be well advised before hand of the fashion wherof that new fabrick shold be , which they purposed to rear up in the room of the old . moral innovations are of dangerous consequence in all things , specially in a setled well temper'd ancient state ; therfore ther shold be great heed taken , before any ancient court of judicature , erected as a pillar to support justice by the wisdom of our progenitors , be quite put down ; for it may shake the whole fram of government , and introduce a change ; and changes in government are commonly fatall , for seldom comes a better . and this i hold to be the aim of this apologue . the insurrection of the winds . it fortuned , that the winds banded against eolus : and boreas ( the north-wind ) began to bluster first , and wold blow wher he listed , he grew so boisterous , that he is call'd scopa viarum , the high-way beesom , he seem'd to sweep all before him southward , insomuch , that uniting all his strength into one body , he made towards eolus in a hostile armed manner , and so obtained of him what he desired . after his example ( and an odde example it was ) the west-wind , his fellow subject rose up , alledging , that though he blew from the left-side of heaven , yet he deserved to be as much favoured as boreas , in regard he drove a far richer trade , and blew upon a more fertile countrey , which brought in much more benefit to the rest of eolus his dominions ; therfore he would have his liberties also assur'd him , which he alledged were altogether as ancient as the others : this made him puff with such an impetuous violence , that his blasts brought with them ( god wot ) divers showres of bloud , and whole cataracts of calamities : now , as it is observed in the course of naturall things , that one mischief seldom marcheth alone , but ushers in another , and hath alwaies its concomitants , so these north and western gusts , as one wave useth to drive on another , made all the winds in the compasse , both collaterall and cardinall to rise up and rebell against eolus , even under that very clime , and in those horizons , where he kept his principall residence and royal court. and this popular wind ( for 't was no other , take it all joyntly in one puff ) did rage with that vehemency , that it turn'd every wher into fearful flames of fire ( issuing out of a kind of ignis fatuus , which by its repercussions , and furious arietations , did a world of mischief , as if it had bin that incendiary prester wind , or rather an haraucana , that indian gust , which alwaies brings the devil along with it as those savages believe ) had blown here , for , surely god was not in this wind . yet som were so simple , to think that this wind proceeded from divine inspirations ; nay , they came to that height of prophaneness , as to father it upon the holy ghost , though nothing could be more different to his sweet motions , nothing so directly opposit to his soft gentle breeses and eventilatio●…s ; for no holy consecrated thing could stand before this diabolical wind , down went all crosses it met withall ; it batter'd down church and chappel windowes ( and i fear the walls and steeples will next to wrack . ) it was so violent , that it overturn'd all stone tables that stood east-ward ; it blew away all the decent vests and ornaments of the church ; the bishops mitre ( an order contemporary with christianity it self ) did quake like an aspen leaf before it ; nay , it shrewdly shook the very imperial scepter , and crown which stood on eolus his head , so that he was like to become ludibrium ventorum . but the highest deity of heaven , he who walketh upon the wings of the wind , and makes weight for them , and gathereth them in his fist when he pleaseth , hating such an odious rebellion , rebuked these tumultuous winds , he caused a contagious aire , to rush in and mingle with them , and infect them with new d●…seases ; besides whispers of jealousies , doubts and diffidence blew and buzz'd more and more amongst them , so that they could not trust one another ; insomuch , that it made them to fall into confusion amongst themselves , which is the common fate of all rebellions . so eolus recovered his monarchy , and as they say , ther is no wind but blows som body good ; so this turn'd much to the advantage of eolus , for he grew ever after more firm and better establish'd in his regall power , because he put a competent guard in those climes whence all these boistrous winds burst forth , and so secur'd himself ever after , that they could not blow where they listed . popular insurrections being debell'd , turn to the advantage , and render the ruling prince more secure afterwards , or a broken bone being well set , growes stronger oftentimes : and so you have the principal morall of this parable in brief . post-script . sir , i long to receive your opinion of these rambling pieces of fancy , you may , peradventure , have more , when the times are open : surely the wind will not hold stil in this unlucky hole , for it is too violent to last : it begins ( thanks be to god ) to sift already , and amongst those multitudes , who expect the change , i am one that lyeth at the cape of good hope , though a long time under hatches ( in the fleet. ) howsoever , though all the winds in the compass shold bluster upon me ; nay , though a haraucana should rage , i am arm'd and resolv'd to bear the brunt , to welcome the will of god , and possesse my soul with patience . if you desire a further intimation of things , i refer you to a discourse of mine call'd the tru informer , who will give you no vulgar satisfaction . so i am yours , as at first , inalterable . i. h. of the land of ire : or , a discours of that horrid insurrection and massacres which happen'd lately in ireland ; by mercurius hibernicus : who discovers unto the world the tru causers and incendiaries therof . in vindication of his majesty , who is most maliciously traduc'd to be accessary therunto ; which is as damnable a lie as possibly could be hatched in hell ; which is the staple of lies . a lie stands upon one legg , — truth upon two . mercurius hibernicus , his advertisement to the well-temper'd reader . there is a mongrell race of mercuries lately sprung up , but i claim no acquaintance with them , much less any kindred . they have commonly but one weeks time for their conception and birth ; and then are they but like those ephemeran creatures , which pliny speaks of , that are born in the morning , grow up till noon , and perish the same night : i hope to be longer liv'd then so , because i was longer a getting , ther was more time and matter went to my generation . ther is a tale how the tru mercury indeed , descended from heven once in a disguise , to see how he was esteem'd on earth ; and entring one day into a painters-shop , he found ther divers pictures of apollo , iupiter , mars , with others ; and spying his own hanging in a corner hard-by , he asked what the price of that pourtrait might be ? the painter answered , that if he bought any of the rest , he wold give him that into the bargain for nothing : mercury hereupon shaking his white caducean , flung out in indignation , and flew up to heven . shold mercury chance to descend now from his sphear , i think he wold be much more offended to find himself personated by every petty impertinent pamphleter ; yet i believe he would not think it ill that aulicus assumes his shape , nor that the harp , who owes her first invention to him , should be made now his crest . to my honourable friend mr. e. p. sir , if you please to cast your eyes upon the following discours , i believe it will afford you som satisfaction , and enlighten you more in the irish affaires . the allegeance i owe to truth , was the midwife that brought it forth , and i make bold to make choice of you for my gossip , because i am from the prison of the fleet 3. nonas april is 1643. your true servant , i. h. mercurius hibernicus . there is not any thing since these ugly warrs begun , whereof there hath been more advantage made to traduce and blemish his majesties actions , or to alienate and imbitter the affections of his people towards him , to incite them to armes , and enharden them in the quarrell , than of the irish affaires ; whether one cast his eyes upon the beginning and proceedure of that warre ( which some by a most monstrous impudence would patronize upon their majesties ) or upon the late cessation , and the transport of auxiliaries since from thence . there are some that in broken peeces have written of all three : but not in one entire discourse , as this is , nor hath any hitherto hit upon those reasons and inferences that shall be displayed herein . but he who adventures to judge of affaires of state , specially of traverses of warre , as of pacifications , of truces , suspensions of armes , parlies , and such like , must well observe the quality of the times , the successe and circumstance of matters past , the posture and pressure of things present ( and upon the place ) the inducement or enforcement of causes , the gaining of time , the necessity of preventing greater mischiefes ( whereunto true policy prometheus like hath alwaies an eye ) with other advantages . the late cessation of armes in ireland was an affaire of this nature ; a true act of state , and of as high a consequence as could be : which cessation is now become the common subject of every mans discourse , or rather the discourse of every common subject all the three kingdomes over : and not onely the subject of their discourse , but of their censure also ; nor of their censure onely , but of their reproach and obloquy . for the world is come now to that passe , that the foot must judge the head , the very cobler must pry into the cabinet counsels of his king ; nay the distaffe is ready ever and anon to arraign the scepter ; spinstresses are become states-women , and every peasan turned politician ; such a fond irregular humour reignes generally of late yeers amongst the english nation . now the designe of this small discourse , though the subject require a farre greater volume , is , to vindicate his majesties most pious intentions in condescending to this late suspension of arms in his kingdome of ireland , and to make it appeare to any rationall ingenious capacity , ( not pre-occupied or purblinded with passion ) that there was more of honour and necessity , more of prudence and piety in the said cessation , than there was either in the pacification or peace that was made with the scot. but to proceed herein the more methodically , i will lay downe , first , the reall and true radicall causes of the late two-yeers irish insurrection . secondly , the course his majesty used to suppresse it . lastly , those indispensable impulsive reasons and invincible necessity which enforced his majesty to condescend to a cessation . touching the grounds of the said insurrection , we may remember when his majesty out of a pious designe ( as his late majesty also had ) to settle an uniformitie of serving god in all his three kingdomes , sent our liturgie to his subjects of scotland ; some of that nation made such an advantage hereof , that though it was a thing only recommended , not commanded or pressed upon them , and so cald in suddenly againe by a most gracious proclamation , accompanied with a generall pardon : yet they would not rest there , but they would take the opportunity hereby to demolish bishops , and the whole hierarchy of the church ( which was no grievance at all till then ) to which end , they put themselves in actuall armes , and obtained at last what they listed ; which they had not dared to have done , had they not been sure to have as good friends in england as they had in scotland ( as lesly himself confessed to sir william berkley at newcastle ) for some of the chiefest inconformists here , had not onely intelligence with them , but had been of their cabinet-counsels in moulding the plot : though some would cast this war upon the french cardinall , to vindicate the invasion we made upon his masters dominions in the isle of rets ; as also for some advantage the english use to do the sp●…niard in transporting his treasure to dunkerk , with other offices . others wold cast it upon the iesuit , that he shold project it first , to ●…orce his m●…jesty to have recourse to his roman catholick subjects for aid , that so they might , by such supererogatory service ingratiate themselves the more into his favour . the irish hearing how well their next neighbou●…s had sped by way of arms , it filled them full of thoughts and apprehensions of fear and jealousie , that the scot wold prove more powerful hereby , and consequently more able to do them hurt , and to attemp●… waies to restrain them of that connivency , which they were allowed in point of religion : now ther is no nation upon earth that the irish hate in that perfection , and with a greater antipathy , than the scot , or from whom they conceive greater danger : for wheras they have an old prophesie amongst them , which one shall hear up and down in every mouth , that the day will come when the irish shall weep upon english mens graves : they fear that this prophesie will be verified and fulfilled in the scot above any other nation . moreover , the irish entred into consideration , that they also had sundry grievances and grounds of complaint , both touching their estates and consciences , which they pretended to be far greater than those of the scots . for they fell to think , that if the scot was suffered to introduce a new religion , it was reason they shold not be so pinched in the exercise of their old , which they glory never to have altered . and for temporall matters ( wherin the scot had no grievance at all to speak of ) the new plantations which had bin lately afoot , to be made in conaught and other places ; the concealed lands and defective titles which were daily found out ; the new customs which were imposed , and the incapacity they had to any preferment or office in church and state ( with other things ) they conceived these to be grievances of a far greater nature , and that deserved redresse much more than any the scot had . to this end , they sent over commissioners to attend this parliament in england , with certain propositions , but those commissioners were dismissed hence with a short and unsavoury answer , which bred worse bloud in the nation than was formerly gathered ; and this , with that leading case of the scot , may be said to be the first incitements that made them rise . in the cou●…se of humane actions , we daily find it to be a tru rule , exempla movent , examples move , and make strong impressions upon the fancy ; precepts are not so powerful as precedents . the said example of scotland , wrought wonderfully upon the imagination of the irish , and filled them ( as i touched before ) with thoughts of emulation , that they deserved altogether to have as good usage as the scot , their country being far more beneficial , and consequenly , more importing the english nation . but these were but confused imperfect notions , which began to receive more vigour and form after the death of the earl of strafford , who kept them under so exact an obedience , though som censure him to have screwed up the strings of the harp too high ; insomuch that the taking off of the earl of straffords head , may be said to be the second incitement to the heads of that insurrection to stir . adde hereunto , that the irish understanding with what acrimony the roman catholicks in england were proceeded against since the sitting of our parliament , and what further designes were afoot against them , and not onely against them , but for ranversing the protestant religion it self , as it is now practised ( which som shallow-braind 〈◊〉 do throw into the same scales with p●…pery . ) they thought it was high time for them to forecast what shold become of them , and how they shold ●…e 〈◊〉 in point of conscience , when a new deputy of the parliaments election ( approbation at least ) shold come over . therfore they fell to consult of som means of timely prevention : and this was another mo●…ive ( and it was a sh●…ewd one ) which p●…sht on the irish to take up arms. lastly , that army of 8000. men , which the earl of strafford had raised to be transported to england for suppressing the scot , being by the advice of our parliament here , disbanded ; the country was annoyed by som 〈◊〉 those stragling souldiers , as not one in twenty of the irish , will from the sword to the spade , or from the pike to the plough again . therfore the two marquesses that were ambassadors here then for spaine , having propounded to have som numbers of those disbanded forces , for the service of their master ; his majesty by the mature advice of his privy counsell , to occur the mischiefs that might arise to his kingdom of ireland by those loose casheer'd souldiers , yielded to the ambassadors motion , who sent notice hereof to spain accordingly , and so provided shipping for their transport , and impressed money to advance the business ; but as they were in the heat of that 〈◊〉 ▪ his majesty being then in scotland ▪ 〈◊〉 w●…s a sudden stop made of those promised troops , who had depended long upon the spaniards service , as the spaniard 〈◊〉 do●…e on theirs . and this was the last , though no●… the least fatal cause of that horrid insurrection : all which particulars well considered , it had bin no hard matter to have bin a prophet , and standing upon the top of holy-head , to have foreseen those black clouds engendering in the irish aire , which bro●…e out afterwards into such fearful tempests of bloud . out of these premises , it is easie for any common understanding , not transported with passion and private interest , to draw this conclusion . that they who complyed with the scot in his insurrection ; they who dismissed the irish commissioners with such a short unpolitick answer , they who took off the earl of straffords head , and delayed afterwards the dispatching of the earl of leicester , they who hindered those disbanded troops in ireland to go for spain , may be justly said to have bin the tru causes of the late insurrection of the irish ; and consequently , it is easie to know upon the account of whose souls must be laid the bloud of those hundred and odde thousands poor christians , who perished in that war ; so that had it bin possible to have brought over their bodies unputrified to england , and to have cast them at the doores , and in the presence of som men i believe they wold have gushed out afresh into bloud , for discovery of the tru murtherers . the grounds of this insurrection being thus discovered , let us examine what means his majesty used for the suppression of it . he made his addresses presently to his great counsel , the english parliament then assembled , which queen elizabeth and her progenitors did seldom use to do , but only to their privy counsel in such cases , who had the discussing and transacting of all foreign affaires ; for in mannaging matters of state , specially those of war , which must be carryed with all the secrecy that may be , trop grand nombre , est encombre , as the frenchman saith , too great a number of counsellours may be an incumber , and expose their results and resolutions to discovery and other disadvantages , wheras in military proceedings the work shold be afoot before the counsels be blazed abroad . well , his majesty transmitted this business to the parliament of england , who totally undertaking it , and wedding as it were the quarlel ( as i remember they did that of the palatinate a little before by solemn vote ; the like was done by the parliament of scotland also , by a publick joynt declaration , which in regard ther came nothing of it , tended little to the honour of either nation abroad ) his majesty gave his royal assent to any propositions or acts for raising of men , money and arms to perform the work . but hereby no man is so simple as to think his majesty shold absolutely give over his own personal care and protection of that his kingdom , it being a rule , that a king can no more desert the protection of his own people , then they their subjection to him . in all his declarations ther was nothing that he endear'd and inculcated more often , and with greater aggravation and earnestness unto them , then the care of his poor subjects their fellow-protestants in ireland : nay , he resented their condition so far , and took the business so to heart , that he offered to passe over in person for their relief : and who can deny but this was a magnanimous and king-like resolution ? which the scots by publick act of counsel , did highly approve of , and declared it to be an argument of care and courage in his majesty . and questionless it had done infinite good in the opinion of them that have felt the pulse of the irish people , who are daily ore-heard to groan , how they have bin any time these 400. years under the english crown , and yet never saw but two of their kings all the while upon irish ground , though ther be but a salt 〈◊〉 of a few hours sail to pass over . and much more welcom shold his majesty , now regnant , be amongst them , who by general tradition , they confess and hold to come on the paternal side from 〈◊〉 ( by legal and lineal descent ) who was an irish prince , and after king of scotland , wheras the title of all our former kings and queens was stumbled at alwaies by the vulgar . his majesty finding that this royall proffer of engaging his own person , was rejected with a kind of scorn , coucht in smooth language , though the main businesse concerned himself nearest , and indeed solely himself , that kingdom being his own hereditary right . understanding also , what base sinister use ther was made of this insurrection by som trayterous malevolent persons , who , to cast aspersions upon his majesty , and to poyson the hearts of his people , besides publick infamous reports , counterfeited certain commissions in his majesties name to authorize the businesse , as if he were privy to it , though i dare pawn my soul his ( or her ) majesty knew no more of it then the great mogor did . finding also that the commissioners imployed hence for the managing and composing matters in that kingdom , though nominated by the parliament , and by their recommendation authorized by his majesty , did not observe their instructions , and yet were conniv'd at . understanding also , what an inhumane design ther was between them and the scot , in lieu of suppressing an insurrection to eradicat and extinguish a whole nation to make booty of their lands ( which hopes the london adventurers did hugge , and began to divide the bears-skin before he was taken , as his majesty told them ▪ an attempt the spaniard nor any other christian state ever intended against the worst of savages ; the conceit wherof in●…used such a desperate courage , eagerness and valour into the irish , that it made them turn necessity into a kind of vertu . moreover , his majesty taking notice that those royal subsidies , with other vast contributions wherunto he had given way , with the sums of particular adventurers ( amongst whom som aliens ( hollanders ) were taken in , besides the scot to share the country ) were misapplyed , being visibly imployed , rather to feed an english rebellion , then to suppress an irish : nay , understanding that those charitable collections which were made for the reliefe of those distressed protestants , who being stripped of all their livelihood in ireland , were forced to fly over to england , were converted to other uses , and the charity not dispensed according to the givers intention . hearing also that those 5000. men which had been levyed and assigned to goe under the lord wharton , the lord of kerry , sir faithfull fortescue and others were diverted from going to the west of ireland , and imployed to make up the earl of essex army : and having notice besides that the earl of warwicke had stayd certaine ships going thither with supplies , and that there was an attempt to send for over to england some of those scottish forces which were in ulster , without his privity . lastly , his majesty finding himself unfitted , and indeed disabled to reach those his distressed subjects , his owne royal armie all his navall strength , revenues and magazines being out of his hands ; and having as hard a game to play still with the scot , and as pernicious a fire to quench in england , as any of his progenitors ever had : receiving intelligence also daily from his protestant nobility and gentry thence , in what a desperate case the whole kingdome stood , together with the report of the committee that attended his majesty from them expresly for that service , who amongst other deplorable passages in their petition , represented , that all means by which comfort and life should be conveyed unto that gasping kingdome , seemed to be totally obstructed , and that unlesse 〈◊〉 reliefe were afforded , his loyall subject●… there must yeeld their fortunes for a prey , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a sacrifice , and their religion for a 〈◊〉 to the mercilesse rebels . his majesty ( as it was high time for 〈◊〉 ) taking into his princely thoughts those wofull complainrs and cryes of his poore subjects , condescended at last to appoint some persons of honour to heare what the irish could say for themselves , as they had often petitioned ; and god forbid but the king of ireland should receive his subjects petitions , as well as the king of scotland . but his majesty being unsatisfied with what they propounded then , the lord marquess of ormond marched with considerable forces against them , and though he came off with honour , yet no reliefe at all comming thither for many moneths after from the parliament here , who had undertaken the businesse , and had received all the summes and subsidies , with other unknown contributions to that end , matters grew daily worse and worse . to sum up all , his majesty receiving express and positive advice from his lord justices and counsell of state ther , that the whole kingdom was upon point of utter perdition , which was co-intimated the same time to the parliament here , by a special letter to the speaker ; i say his majesty finding that he had neither power of himself , it being transmitted to others ; and that those trustees did misapply that power and trust he had invested in them ( for the time ) to make good their undertaking for preservation of that his fruitfull kingdome ; being impelled by all these forcible reasons , his majesty sent a commission to the lord marquesse of ormond his lievtenant generall ( a most known sincere protestant ) to hearken to a treaty according to their petition ; and if any thing was amisse in that treaty in poynt of honour ( as it shall appeare by comparing it with others , there was none ) we know whom to thank . for out of these premises also , doth result this second conclusion , that they who misapplied those moneys , and mis imployed those men which were levyed with his majesties royall assent for the reduction of ireland : they who set afoot that most sanguinary design of extirpating , at least of enslaving a whole ancient nation , who were planted there by the hand of providence from the beginning : they who hindred his majesties transfretation thither to take cognizance of his own affairs , and expose the countenance of his own royall person for composing of things : they , they may be said to be the true causes of that unavoydable necessity and as the heathen poetsings , the gods , themselvs cannot resist necessity ) which enforced his majesty to capitulat with the irish , and assent to a cessation . it was the saying of one of the bravest roman emperours , and it was often used by henry the great of france , her majesties father , that he had rather save the life of one loyall subject then kill a hundred enemies : it may well be thought that one of the prevalentst inducements that moved his majesty ( besides those formerly mentioned ) to condescend to this irish cessation , was a sense he had of the effusion of his own poor subjects blood , the hazard of the utter extirpation of the protestants there , and a totall irrecoverable losse of that kingdome , as was advertised both in the petition of the protestants themselves , the relation of the committee imployd thither to that purpose , and the expresse letters of the lords justices and counsell there . to prove now , that this cessation of arms in ireland was more honourable and fuller of piety , prudence and necessity , then either the pacification or peace with the scot. i hope , these few ensuing arguments ( above divers others which cannot be inserted here , in regard of the force intended brevity of this discourse ) will serve the turne . 1. in primis , when the pacification was made with scotland his majesty was there personally present , attended on by the floure of his english nobility , gentry and servants , and the enemy was hard by ready to face him. at the concluding of the irish cessation , his majesty was not there personally present , but it was agitated and agreed on by his commissioner , and it hath been held alwaies less dishonourable for a king to capitulate in this kind with his own subjects by his deputy , then in his own person , for the further off he is , the lesse reflects upon him . 2. upon the pacification and peace with scotland , there was an amnestia , a generall pardon , and an abolition of all by-passed offences published , there were honours and offices conferred upon the chiefest sticklers in the war. at the cessation in ireland there was no such thing . 3. when the pacification and peace was made with the scots , there was mony given unto them , as it is too well knowne . but upon the setling of this cessation , the irish received none but gave his majesty a considerable summe as an argument of their submission and gratitude , besides the maintainance of some of his garrisons in the interim ; and so much partly in point of honour . 4. at the concluding of the pacification and peace with scotland , there was a vigorous , fresh , unfoiled english army a foot , and in perfect equipage ; there wanted neither ammunition , armes , money , cloaths , victuals or any thing that might put heart into the souldier and elevat his spirits . but the protestant army in ireland had not any of all these in any competent proportion , but were ready to perish , though there had been no other enemy then hunger and cold : and this implies a farre greater necessity for the said cessation . 5. in ireland there was imminent danger of an instant losse of the whole kingdome , and consequently , the utter subversion of the protestant religion there , as was certified both to king and parliament by sundry letters and petitions which stand upon record : there was no such danger in the affairs of scotland , either in respect of religion or kingdome ; therefore there was more piety shown in preserving the one , and prudence in preserving the other in ireland , by plucking both ( as it were ) out of the very jawes of destruction by the said cessation . we know that in the medley of mundane casualties , of two evils , the least is to be chosen , and a small inconvenience is to be born withall , to prevent a greater . if one make research into the french story , he will find , that many kinds of pacifications and suspensions of armes were covenanted 'twixt that king and som of his subjects , trenching far more upon regall dignity then this in ireland . the spaniard was forced to declare the hollanders free-states , before they could be brought to treat of a truce : and now the catalans scrue him up almost to as high conditions . but what need i rove abroad so far ? it is well known , nor is it out of the memory of man ( in queen elizabeths raign ) that in ireland it self ther have bin cessations , all circumstances well weighed , more prejudiciall to majesty then this . but that which i hear murmured at most as the effect of this cessation , is the transport of som of those souldiers to england for recruting his majesties armies , notwithstanding that the greatest number of them be perfect and rigid protestants , and were those whom our parliament it self imployed against the irish. but put case they were all papists , must his majesty therfore be held a favourer of popery ? the late king of france might have bin said as well to have bin a favourer of hugonotts , because in all his wars he imployed them most of any in places of greatest trust against the house of austria ; wheras all the world knows , that he perfectly hated them in the generall , and one of the reaches of policy he had , was to spend and waste them in the wars . was it ever known but a soveraign prince might use the bodies and strength of his own naturall-born subjects , and liege men for his own defence ? when his person hath been sought and aimed at in open field by small and great shot , and all other engines of hostility and violence : when he is in danger to be surprized or besieg'd in that place wher he keeps his court : when all the flowers of his crown his royal prerogatives which are descended upon him from so many successive progenitors ) are like to be plucked off and trampled under foot : when ther is a visible plot to alter and overturn that religion he was born , baptized , and bred in : when he is in dan●…er to be forced to infringe that solemn sacramental oath he took at his coronation to maintain the said religion , with the rights and rites of the holy anglican church , which som brain-sick schismaticks wold transform to a kirk and her discipline , to som chimerical form of government they know not what . francis the first and other christian princes , made use of the turk upon lesse occasions ; and if one may make use of a horse , or any other bruit animal , or any inanimat engine or instrument for his own defence against man , much more may man be used against man , much more may one rational creature be used against another though for destructive ends in a good cause , specially when they are commanded by a soveraign head , which is the main thing that goes to justifie a war. now touching the roman catholicks , whether english , welsh , irish , or scottish , which repaire to his majesties armies either for service or security . he looks not upon them ●…s papists , but as his subjects , not upon their religion , but their allegiance , and in that ●…uality he entertains them : nor can the pa●…ist be denyed the character of a good subject , all the while he conforms himself to the lawes in generall , and to those lawes also that are particularly enacted against him , and so keeps himself within the bounds of his civil obedience : as long as he continues so , he may challenge protection from his prince by way of right , and if his prince by som accident be not in case to protect him , he is to give him leave to defend himself the best he can , for the law of nature allowes every one to defend himself , and ther is no positive law of man can annul the law of nature . now if the subject may thus claim protection from his prince , it followeth , the prince by way of reciprocation may require assistance , service and supplies from the subject upon all publick occasions , as to suppress at this time a new race of recusants , which have done more hurt then ever the old did , and are like to prove more dangerous to his crown and regal authority then any foreign enemy . but whosoever will truly observe the genius , and trace the actions of this fatal faction which now swayes with that boundless , exorbitant , arbitrary and antinomian power , will find , that it is one of their prime pieces of policy , to traduce and falsifie any thing that is not conducible to their own ends : yet what comes from them must be so magisterial , it must be so unquestionably and incontroulably tru & lawful , that it must be believed by an implicite faith , as proceeding from an in-erring oracle ( as if these zealots were above the common condition of mankind , to whom errour is as hereditary as any other infirmity ) though the thing it self encroach never so grosly both upon the common liberty , the states and souls of men . but if any thing bear the stamp of royal authority , be it never so just and tending to peace and the publick good , yea , though it be indifferent to either side , it is presently countermanded , cryed down , and stifled ; or it is calumniated and aspersed with obloquies , false glosses and misprisions ; and this is become now the common theam wherwith their pulpits ring which makes me think , that these upstart politicians have not long to reign ; for , as the common proverb saith , fraud and frost end foul and are short-lived , so that policy , those counsels which are grounded upon scandals , reproaches and lies , will quickly moulder and totter away , and bring their authors at last to deserved infamy and shame , and make them find a tomb in their own ruines . adde hereunto as further badges of their nature , that black irreconcilable malice and desire of revenge which rageth in them , the aversness they have to any sweetness of conformity and union , the violent thirst they have of bloud , which makes me think on that dis●…ique of prudentius , who seemed to be a prophet as well as poet ( a tru vates ) in displaying the humors of these fiery dogmatists , this all-confounding faction which now hath the vogue , to the punishment , i will not say yet , the perdition of this poor island . sic m●…res produnt animum , & mihi credite , junctus semper cum falso est dogmate coedis amor . thus in english. manners betray the mind , and credit me , ther 's alwayes thirst of bloud with heresie . the sway of the sword ; or a discours of the militia train'd-bands , or common soldiery of the land ; proving , that the power and command therof in chief belongs to the ruling prince , and to no other . sine gladio nulla defensio . the author's apology . t is confefs'd that the subject of this discours were more proper to one of the long-robe , which i am not , i am no lawyer otherwise then what nature hath made me , so every man , as he is born the child of reason , is a lawyer , and a logitian also who was the first kind of lawyer : this discoursive faculty of reason comes with us into the world accompanied with certain general notions and principles to distinguish right from wrong , and falshood from truth : but touching this following discourse , because it relates somthing to law , the author wold not have adventured to have exposed it to the world , if , besides those common innate notions of reason , and some private notes of his own , he had not inform'd and ascertain'd his judgment by conference with som professed lawyers , and those the eminentest in the land , touching the truth of what it treats of ; therfore he dares humbly aver that it contains nothing but what is consonant to the fundamentall and fixed constitutions , to the known clear lawes of this kingdom . from the prison of the flcet 3. nonas mail 1645. i. h. touching the polemical svvord , and command in chief of the militia , &c. government is an ordinance of god for mans good ; the kinds of government are ordinances of men for gods glory : now , among all wo●…ldly affairs there is not any thing so difficult , and fuller of incertitudes as the art of ruling man , for those nimble spirits ( as it is spoken elswhere ) who from apprentices have been made freemen of the trade , and at last thought themselves masters , having spent their youth , their manhood , and a long time of old age therein , yet when they came to leave the world they professed themselves still to be but novices in the trade . there is a known way to break , guide , and keep in awe all other animals , though never so savage and strong ; but there is no such certaine way to govern multitudes of men , in regard of such turbulences of spirit and diversity of opinions that proceed from the rational faculty , which other cretures that are contented only with sense , are not subject unto ; and this the philosopher holds to be one of the inconveniences that attend humane reason , and why it is given man as a part of his punishment . now , why the government over men is ●…o difficult , there may be two main reasons alledg'd , the first is the various events , and world of inexpected contingencies that attend humane negotiations , specially matters of state , which , as all other sublunary things , are subject to alterations , miscarriages , and change , this makes the mindes of men ▪ and consequently the moulds of policy so often to alter , scarce one amongst twenty is the same man as he was twenty yeares ago in point of judgement , which turns and changeth according to the successe and circumstances of things , the wisedome of one day is the foolishnesse of another , posterior dies est prioris magister , the day following becomes the former dayes teacher . the second reason is , the discrepant , and wavering fancies of mens braines , specially of the common peeple , who ( if not restrained ) are subject to so many crotchets and chymeras , with extravagant wanton desires , and gaping after innovations . insulary peeple are observed to be more transported with this instability then those of the continent , and the inhabitants of this i le more then others , being a well-fed spriteful peeple ; in so much , that it is grown a proverb abroad , that the englishman doth not know when he is well : now the true polititian doth use to fit his government to the fancy of the peeple , the ruler must do as the rider , some peeple are to be rid with strong bitts and curbs , and martingalls , as the napollitan , and french our next neighbour , which is the cause that a kind of slavery is entail'd upon him , for the french peasant is born with chains ; other nations may be rid with a gentle small bridle , as the venetian and the hollander , who hath not such boiling spirits as others ; a bridle doth serve also the spaniard , who is the gretest example of stability , and exact obedience to authority , of any peeple ; for though spain be the hottest countrey in christendom , yet it is not so subject to feavers as others are , i mean to fits of intestin commotions : and this was never so much tryed as of late yeers ; for though the present king hath such known frail●…ies , though he hath bin so infortunat , as to have many countreys quite revolted , and rent away from him ; though the ragingst plague that ever was in spain under any king , happen'd of late yeers , which sweep'd away such a world of peeple ; though his taxes be higher then ever were any , though he hath call'd in and engrossed all the common coyn of the countrey , and delivered but the one halfe back again , reserving the other half for himself ; though there 's no legall instrument , no bond , bill , or specialty can be writ but upon his seal'd paper , with sundry other exactions , yet his subjects are still as obedient , and awful unto him , they are as conformable and quiet , as if he were the most vertuous , and victorious prince that ever was ; and this they do principally for their own advantage , for if ther were another governour set up , it would inevitably hurle the whole countrey into combustion and tumults ; besides , they are taught , that as in choice of wives , so the rule holds in governments , seldome comes a better . touching the originals of government and ruling power , questionless the first among mankind was that naturall power of the father over his children , and that despotical domestique surintendence of a master of a house over his family ; but the world multiplying to such a masse of peeple , they found that a confused equality , and a loose unbridled way of living like ●…rute animals to be so inconvenient , that they chose one person to protect and govern ; not so much out of love to the ●…erson , as for their own conveniency and advantage , that they might live more regularly , and be secur'd from rapine , and op●…ression ; as also that justice might be administted ; and every one enjoy his own without fear , and danger : such govern●…urs had a power invested accordingly in ●…hem , also as to appoint subservient , able mi●…isters under them to help to bear the ●…urden . concerning the kinds of government , ●…ll polititians agree that monarchall is the best and noblest sort of sway , having the neerest analogy with that of heaven , viz. a supreme power in one single person ; god almighty is the god of unity , as well as of entity , and all things that have an entity do naturally propend to unity ; unity is as necessary for a well being , as entity is for a being , for nothing conduceth more to order , tranquillity , and quietude , nor is any strength so operative as the united ; the fist is stronger then the hand , though it be nothing but the hand , viz. the fingers united by contraction ; the republick of venice which is accounted the most eagle-ey'd and lastingst state in the world , fo●… she hath continued a pure virgin , and shin'd within her watry orb nere upon thirteen ages , is the fittest to give the world advice herein , for if ever any have brought policy to be a science which consists of certitudes , this state is shee , who is grown a●… dexterous in ruling men as in rowing of 〈◊〉 gally . but whereas the vulgar opinion is that the common peeple there have a shar●… in the government , 't is nothing so , for he great counsel which is the maine hing whereon the republick turns , is compose●… onely of gentlemen who are capable b●… their birth to sit there , having passed twenty five years of age ; to which purpose they must bring a publick testimonial that they are descended of a patrician or noble family . but to return to the main matter , this sage republick who may prescribe rules of policy to all mankind , having tryed at first to govern by consuls and tribunes for som years , she found it at last a great inconvenience , or deformity rather , to have two heads upon one body ; therefore she did set up one soveraign prince ; and in the records of venice the resons are yet extant which induc'd her thereunto , whereof one of the remarkablest was this ; we have observed that in this vast university of the world all bodies according to their several natures have multiplicity of motions , yet they receive vertue and vigour but from one , which is the sun ; all causes derive their originals from one supreme cause ; we see that in one creture there are many differing members , and faculties which have various functions , yet they are all guided by one soul , &c. the island of great britain hath bin alwaies a royal isle from her first creation , and infancy ; she may be said to have worn a crown in her cradle ; and though she had so many revolutions , and changes of masters , yet she continued still royal ; nor is there any species of government that suits better , either with the quality of the countrey , and genius of the inhabitants , or relates more directly to all the ancient lawes , constitutions , and customs of the land , then monarchal ; which any one that is conversant in the old records can justifie ; britannia ab initio mundi semper regia , & regimen illius simile illi caelorum . concerning the many sorts of trust●… which were put in the supreme governor of this land ( for ther must be an implicite and unavoidable necessary trust reposed in every soveraign magistrate ) the power of the sword was the chiefest ; and it was agreeable to holy scripture he shold have it , where we know 't is said , the king beareth not the sword in vain ; the lawes of england did ever allow it to be the inalienable prerogative of the soveraign prince , nor was it ever known ( humbly under favour ) that any other power whatsoever managing conjunctly or singly , did ever pretend to the power of the publick sword , or have the militia invested in them , but this ever remained intire and untransferrible in the person of the ruler in chief , whose chiefest instrument to govern by is the sword , without which crownes , scepters , globes and maces are but bables . it is that instrument which causeth tru obedience , makes him a dread soveraign , and to be feared at home and abroad ; now 't is a maxime in policy , that ther can be no tru obedience without fear ; the crown and scepter draw only a loose kind of voluntary love , and opinion from the people , but 't is the sword that draws reverence and awe , which two are the chiefest ingredients of allegeance , it being a principle , that the best government is made of fear and love , viz. when by fear love is drawn as threed through the eye of a needle ; the surest obedience , and loyalty is caused thus , for fear being the wakefullest of our passions works more powerfully in us and predominates over all the rest ; primus in orbe deus fecit timor . to raise up a soveraign magistrate without giving him the power of the sword , is to set one up to rule a metall'd horse without a bridle ; a chief ruler without a sword , may be said to be like that logg of wood which iupiter threw down among the froggs to be their king , as it is in the fable . moreover , one of the chiefest glories of a nation is to have their supreme governor to be esteem'd , and redouted abroad as well as at home . and what forren nation will do either of these to the king of england if he be armless , and without a sword ? who will give any respect o●… precedence to his ambassadors , and ministers of state ? the sword also is the prime instrument of publick protection , therefore that king who hath not the power of the sword , must have another title given him , the protector of his peeple . now , in a successive hereditary kingdom , as england is known , and acknowledged to be by all parties now in opposition , there are three things which are inalienable from the person of the king : they are , 1. the crowne . 2. the scepter . 3. the sword. the one , he is to carry on his head , the other in his hand , and the third at his side ; and they may be termed all three the ensignes or peculiar instruments of a king : by the first , he reignes , by the second he makes lawes , by the third he defends them : and the two first are but bables without the last , as was formerly spoken . 1. touching the crown or royal diadem of england , ther is none , whether presbyterian , independent , protestant , or others now in action , but confess that it descends by a right hereditary line , ( though through divers races , and som of them conquerours ) upon the head of charles the first now regnant : 't is his own by inherent birth-right and nature , by gods law , and the law of the land , and these parliament-men at their first sitting did agnize subjection unto him accordingly , and recognize him for their soveraign liege lord : nay , the roman catholick denies not this , for though there were bulls sent to dispense with the english subjects for their allegiance to queen elizabeth , yet the pope did this against her as he took her for a heretick , not an usurpresse , though he knew well enough that she had bin declared illegitimate by the act of an english parliament . this imperial crown of england is adorned and deckd with many fair flowers , which are called , royal prerogatives ; and they are of such a transcendent nature , that they are unforfeitable , individual , and untransferrable to any other : the king can only summon and dissolve parliaments : the king can only pardon ( for when he is crowned , he is sworn to rule in mercy as well as in justice : ) the king can only coyn money , and enhance or decry the value of it : the power of electing officers of state , of justices of peace and assize is in the king ; he can only grant soveraign commissions : the king can only wage war , and make out-landish leagues : the king may make all the courts of justice ambulatory with his person , as they were used of old ▪ 't is tru , the court of common pleas must be sedentary in som certain place for such a time ; but that expired , 't is removeable at his pleasure : the king can only employ ambassadours and treat with forraign states , &c. these , with other royal prerogatives which i shall touch hereafter , are those rare and wholsom flowers wherewith the crown of england is embellished , nor can they stick any where else but in the crown , and all confess the crown is as much the king 's , as any private man's cap is his own . 2. the second regall instrument is the scepter , which may be called an inseparable companion , or a necessary appendix to the crown ; this invests the king with the sole authority of making lawes , for before his confirmation all results and determinations of parliament are but bills or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are but abortive things , and meer embryos ; nay , they have no life at all in them till the king puts breath and vigour into them : and the ancient custome was for the king to touch them with his scepter , then they are lawes , and have a vertue in them to impose an obligation of universall obedience upon all sorts of people , it being an undeniable maxime , that nothing can be generally binding without the king 's royall assent , nor doth the law of england take notice of any thing without it : this being done they are ever after styl'd the kings lawes , and the judges are said to deliver the king's judgments , which agrees with the holy text , the king by judgment shall stablish the land : nay , the law presumes the king to be alwaies the sole judge paramount , and lord chief justice of england , for he whom he pleaseth to depute for his chiefest justice , is but styl'd lord chief iustice of the rings ●…ench , not lord chief justice of england , which title is peculiar to the king himself , and observable it is , that whereas he grants commissions and patents to the lord chancellour ( who is no other then keeper of his conscience ) and to all other judges , he names the chief justice of his own bench by a short writ only containing two or three lines : which run thus , regina iohanni popham militi salutem , sciatis quod constitutmus vos justiciarium nostrum capitalem ad placita coram nobis terminandum durante beneplacito nostro ; teste &c. now , though the king be liable to the laws , and is contented to be within their verge , because they are chiefly his own productions , yet he is still their protector , moderator , and soveraigne , which attributes are incommunicable to any other conjunctly or separately . thus the king with his scepter , and by the mature advice of his two houses of parl. which are his highest councel and court , hath the sole power of making laws ; other courts of judicature doe but expound them and distribute them by his appointment , they have but iuris dati dictionem or declarationem , and herein , i meane for the exposition of the lawes the twelve iudges are to be believed before the whole kingdom besides . they are as the areopagites in athens , the chief presidents in france and spaine in an extraordinary iunta , as the cape-syndiques in the rota's of rome , and the republique of venice , whose judgments in point of interpreting lawes are incontroulable , and preferred before the opinion of the whole senate whence they received their being ; and who hath still power to repeal them , though not to expound them . in france they have a law maxime , arrest donné en rebbe rouge est irrevocable , which is , a scarlet sentence is irrevocable , meaning when all the judges are met in their robes , and the client against whom the cause goes , may chafe and chomp upon the bit , and say what he will for the space of twenty foure howers against his judges , but if ever after he traduces them , he is punishable : it is no otherwise here where every ignorant peevish client , every puny barister , specially if he become a member of the house will be ready to arraign and vie knowledge with all the reverend judges in the land , whose judgement in points of law shold be onely tripodicall and sterling : so that he may be truly call'd a just king , and to rule according to law , who rules according to the opinion of his judges ; therefore , under favour , i do not see how his majesty for his part could be call'd injust when he leavied the ship-money , considering he had the judges for it . i now take the sword in hand , which is the third instrument of a king , ( and which this short discours chiefly points at ) it is as well as the two first incommunicable and inalienable from his person ; nothing concernes his honor more both at home and abroad ; the crown and the scepter are but unweildy and impotent naked indefensible things without it . there 's none so simple as to think there 's meant hereby an ordinary single sword , such as ev'ry one carrieth by his side , or som imaginary thing or chymera of a sword ; no , 't is the polemicall publique sword of the whole kingdom , 't is an aggregative compound sword , and 't is moulded of bell-metall ; for 't is made up of all the ammunition and armes small and great , of all the military strengths both by land and sea , of all the forts , castles and tenable places within and round about the whole i le : the kings of engl. have had this sword by vertue of their royall signory from all times , the laws have girded it to their sides , they have employed it for repeling all foren force , for revenging all forren wrongs or affronts , for quelling all intestine tumults , and for protecting the weal of the whole body politicke at home : the peeple were never capable of this sword , the fundamentall constitutions of this kingdom deny it them ; 't is all one to put the sword in a mad mans hand , as in the peeples ; or for them to have a disposing power in whose hands it shall be . such was the case once of the french sword , in that notorious insurrection call'd to this day la iaqueris de beauvoisin , when the pesants and mechanicks had a design to wrest it out of the kings hand , and to depresse all the peers and gentry of the kingdom ; and the businesse had gone so far that the peasans might have prevail'd , had not the prelats stuck close to the nobility ; but afterwards poor hare ▪ brain'd things they desire the king upon bended knees to take it againe ; such popular puffs have blowen often in poland , naples and other places , where while they sought and fought for liberty by retrenching the regall power , they fool'd themselfs into a slavery unawares , and found the rule right , that excesse of freedom turns to thraldom , and ushers in all confusions . if one shold go back to the nonage of the world , when governers and rulers began first , one will find the peeple desir'd to live under kings for their own advantage , that they might be restrain'd from wild exorbitant liberty , and kept in unity ; now unity is as requisit for the wel-being of all naturall things , as entity is for their being , and 't is a receiv'd maxime in policy , that nothing preserves unity more exactly then royal government : besides , 't is known to be the noblest sort of sway ; in so much that by the law of nations , if subjects of equal degrees , and under differing princes shold meet , the subjects of a king shold take precedency of those under any republique . but to take up the sword again . i say that the sword of public power and authority is fit only to hang at the kings side , and so indeed shold the great seal hang only at his girdle , because 't is the key of the kingdom : which makes me think of what i read of charlemain , how he had the imperial seal emboss'd alwaies upon the pommell of his sword , and his reason was , that he was ready to maintain whatsoever he signed , and sealed . the civilians , who are not in all points so great friends to monarchy as the common law of england is , say , there are six iura regalia , six regal rights , viz. 1. potestas iudicatoria , 2. potestas vitae & necis , 3. armamenta , 4. bona adespota , 5. census , 6. monetarum valor : to wit , power of iudicature , power of life and death , all kind of arming , masterless goods , s●…issements , and the value of money . among these regalia's , we find that arming , which in effect is nought else but the kings sword , is among the chiefest ; and 't is as proper and peculiar to his person , as either crown or scepter . by these two he drawes a loose voluntary love and opinion only from his subjects , but by the sword he draws reverence and awe , which are the chiefest ingredients of allegiance , it being a maxime , that the best mixture of government is made of fear and love . with this sword he conferrs honor , he dubbs knights , he creates magistrates , the lord deputy of ireland , the lord mayor of london with all other corporations have their swords from him , and when he entereth any place corporate , we know the first thing that is presented him is the sword : with this sword he shields and preserves all his people that every one may sit quietly under his own vine , sleep securely in his own house , and enjoy sweetly the fruits of his labours . nor doth the point of this sword reach only to every corner of his own dominions , but it extends beyond the seas to gard his subjects from oppression , and denial of justice , as well as to vindicate the publick wrongs , make good the interests of his crown , and to assist his confederates ; this is the sword that edward the third tied the flower deluces unto ( which stick still unto it , ) when having sent to france to demand that crown by maternal right , the counsell ther sent him word that the crown of france was not tied to a distaff , to which scoffing answer he replied , that then he wold tie it to his sword , and he was as good as his word . nor is this publick sword concredited or intrusted by the peeple in a fiduciary conditionall way to the king , but it is properly and peculiarly belonging unto him , as an inseparable concomitant , perpetual usher and attendant to his crown . the king , we know , useth to maintain all garrisons upon his own charge , not the peeples ; he fortifies upon his own charge , not the peeples : and though i will not averr , that the king may impresse any of his subjects , unlesse it be upon an actuall vasion by sea , or a sudden irruption into his kingdom by land , as the scots have often done , yet at any time the king may raise volunteers , and those who have received his money , the law makes it felony , if they forsake his service . thus we see there 's nothing that conduceth more to the glory , and indeed the very essence of a king then the sword , which is the armes and military strength of his kingdom ; wherfore under favour , ther cannot be a greater point of dishonour to a king then to be disarmed , then to have his sword taken from him , or dispos'd of and intrusted to any but those whom he shall appoint ; for as à minori ad majus the argument often holds , if a private gentleman chance to be disarm'd upon a quarrell , 't is held the utmost of disgraces , much greater and more public is the dishonor that falls upon a king , if after som traverses of difference 'twixt him and his subjects , they shold offer to disarm him , or demand his sword of him : when the eagle parted with his talons , and the lion with his teeth and ongles , the apolog tells us how contemptible afterwards the one grew to be among birds , the other among birds , the other among beasts . for a king to part with the sword politic is to render himself such a ridiculous king , as that logg of wood was which iupiter let down among the froggs for their king at the importunity of their croaking ; 't is to make him a king of clouts , or as the spaniard hath it , rey de havas , a bean king , such as we use to choose in sport at twelfnight . but my hopes are , that the two present houses of parliament ( for now they may be call'd so , because they begin to parley with their king , ) will be more tender of the honour of their soveraign liege lord , which , together with all his rights and dignities , by severall solemn oaths , aud by their own binding instruments of protestation and covenant , ( not yet revok'd ) they are sworne to maintaine , and that they will demand nothing of him which may favour of aspertè or force , but what may hold water hereafter : but now , touching the militia or sword of the kingdom , i think , under favour , the king cannot transfer it to any other ; for that were to desert the protection of his people , which is point blank against his coronation oath and his office : what forren prince or state will send either ambassador , resident or agent to him , when they understand his sword is taken from him ? what reformed forein church will acknowledg him defendor of the faith , when they hear of this ? nay , they who wish england no good will , will go near to paint him out , as not long since another king was , with a fair velvet scabbard , a specious golden hilt and chape , but the blade within was of wood . i hope that they who sway now , will make better use of their successes : many of them know 't is as difficult a thing to use a victory well , as to get one ; ther is as much prudence requir'd in the one , as prowesse in the other ; they will be wiser sure then turn it to the dishonor of their king : it being a certain rule , that the glory of a nation all the world over depends upon the glory of their king , and if he be any way obscur'd , the whole kingdom is under an eclipse . i have observed , that among other characters of gallantry , which forein writers appropriat to the english nation , one is , that they use to be most zealous to preserve the honor of their king ; i trust that they who are now up will return to the steps of their progenitors , both in this particular and divers other ; that their successes may serve to sweeten and moderat things , and suppress the popular sword which still rages ; and it had bin heartily wished that a suspension of arms had preceded this treaty , which useth to be the ordinary fore-runner , and a necessary antecedent to all treaties ; for while acts of hostility continue , som ill-favour'd newes may intervene which may imbitter and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ nor can it be expected that the proceedings will go on with that candor and confidence , while the old rancor is still in action ▪ 't is impossible a sore shold heal till the inflamation be taken away ; to cast water into a wound instead of oyle is not the way to cure it : or to cast oyle upon a fire instead of water is not the way to quench it ; poor england hath had a consuming fire within her bowels many years , she is also mortally wounded in all her members , that she is still in a high fever , which hath made her rave and speak idle a long time ; and 't is like to turn to a hectic , if not timely prevented . i pray god she may have no occasion to make use of the same complaint as alexander the great made when he was expiring his last , perii turba medicorum : too many physitians have undon me . to conclude in a word , ther is but one only way , under favor , to put a period to all these fearful confusions ; it is , to put the great master-wheel in order , and in its due place again , and then all the inferior wheels will move regularly ; let the king be restor'd , and ev'ry one will come to his own , all interests will be satisfied , all things quickly rectified ; till this be done , 't is as absurd to attempt the setling of peace , as if one shold go about to set a watch by the gnomen of an horizontall diall when the sun is in a cloud . i. h. an italian prospective , through which great britain ( without any multiplying art ) may cleerly see her present danger , and foresee her future destruction , if not timely prevented . perditio tua ex te anglia . paraenesis angliae . o england ( specially thou besotted city of london ) if thou be'st not quite past cure , or grown careless and desperat of thy self , if the least spark of grace , or ray of reson be yet remaining in thee , be warn'd , be warn'd by this stranger , who having felt thy pulse , and cast thy water very exactly , discovers in thee symptoms of inevitable ruine if thou holdst on this cours . divers of thy own children oftentimes admonish'd thee with tears in their eyes , and terror in their hearts , to recollect thy self , and return to thy old road of obedience to thy soverain prince , but they have bin little regarded , let a foreiners advice then take place , and make som impressions in thee to prevent thy utter destruction . from the prison of the fleet 2. aug. 1647. i. h. an account of the deplorable , and desperat condition that england stands in , sent from london , anno 1647. to the lord francisco barberini , cardinal of the most holy apostolick see , and protector of the english nation , at his palaces in rome . my last to your eminence was but short , in regard i had been but a short time in this countrey , i have now made a longer sojourn here , and taken a leisurely information of all matters ; therefore i shall give your eminence an account proportionably : for by conversation with the most indifferent , and intelligenc'd men , and by communication with the ambassadors here resident , i have taken some paines to pump out the truth of things , and penetrat the interest of all parties . and truly , i find , that that angry star , which hath lowr'd so long upon europe in generall , hath been as predominant , and cast as direfull aspects upon this poor iland , as it hath done upon any other part : truly , my lord , in all probability this peeple have pass'd the meridian of their happinesse , and begin to decline extreamly , as well in repute abroad , as also in the common notions of religion , and indeed in the ordinary faculty of reason : i think verily the ill spirit never reign'd so much in any corner of the earth by those inhumane aud horrid things that i have observ'd among them . nor is it a petty spirit , but one of the greatest cacod●…mons that thus drives them on , and makes them so active in the pursuance of their own perdition . to deduce matters from their originall , your eminency may please to understand , that this king at his accesse to the crown had deep debts to pay , both of his fathers , and his own , he was left ingaged in a fresh warre with spain ; and had another presently after which france , and both at one time , but he came off well enough of those : afterwards never any countrey flourished in that envied happinesse , and wanton kind of prosperity ; this city of london was grown to be the greatest mart , and mistress of trade , of any in the world ; insomuch , as i have been certainly inform'd , the king might have spent meerly upon his customes 4000 crowns a day : moreover , she had a vast bank of money being made the scale of conveying the king of spains treasure to flanders : insomuch that in a few yeers she had above ten millions of his moneys brought hither , which she might have remitted in specie or in marchandize , and for which this king had five in the hundred for coynage : yet could he not get beforehand with the world , having a sister with so many nephews and neeces , having a queen with diverse children of his own , ( at least 16 of the blood-royall ) to maintaine , with divers profuse courtiers besides , which made him more parsimonious then ordinary . the warres then growing more active 'twixt spaine and france , as also 'twixt holland and spaine both by land and sea , and divers great fleets of men of war as well french ( who were growne powerfull that way ) as dunkerkers , spaniards hollanders , and hamburgers , appearing daily in his narrow seas , and sayling close by his chambers , the world wondred this king had no greater strength at sea , in case that any of the foresaid nations should doe him an affront , as some of them had already done , by denying to dash their colours to his ships : insomuch that in holland and other places he was pasquill'd at , and pourtrayed lying in his cradle lullaby'd and rock'd asleep by the spaniard : hereupon being by advertisements from his agents abroad , and frequent advice of his privie councell at home , made sensible of the danger , and a kind of dishonour he was faln into , and having intelligence that the french cardinall began to question his title to the dominion of the narrow seas , considering he employed no visible power to preserve it , he began to consult of meanes to set forth a royall fleet : but in regard the purse of the crowne was lightly ballasted , and that he had no mind to summon the three estates , because of some indignities he had received in former parliaments by the puritan party ( a race of people averse to all kingly government , unlesse they may pare it as they please ) his then atturney generall ( noy ) a great cryed-up-lawyer , put it in his head to impose an old tax called ship-mony upon the subject , which the said lawyer did warrant upon his life to be legall , for he could produce divers records how many of his progenitors had done the like : the king not satisfied with his single opinion , refer'd it to his learn'd council , & they unanimously averred it to be agreeable to the law of the land ; yet this would not fully satisfie the king , but he would have the opinion of his twelve judges , and they also affirmed by their single vouches the said tax to be warrantable ; hereupon it was imposed and leavied , but some refusing to pay it , there was a suite commenc'd , during which all the judges were to re-deliver their opinions joyntly , and the businesse being maturely debated and canvased in open court divers months , and all arguments produc'd pro & con , nine of the said twelve judges concluded it legal . thereupon the king continued the imposition of the said tax , and never was mony imployed so much for the honour and advantage of a countrey , for he sent out every summer a royall fleet to scowre and secure the seas ; he caused a galeon to be built , the greatest and gallantest that ever spread saile : nor did he purse up , and dispose of one peny of this money to any other use , but added much of his own revenues yeerly thereunto : so the world abroad cried up the king of england to be awake againe ; trade did wonderfully encrease , both domestic and forrein in all the three kingdomes ; ireland was reduced to an absolute settlement , the arrears of the crown payed , and a considerable revenue came thence cleerly to the exchequer of england every year , the salaries of all officers , with the pay of the standing army ●…here , and all other charges being defrayed by ireland her self , which was never done before . yet for all this height of pappinesse , and the glorious fruites of the said ship-money , ( which was but a kind of petty insensible tax , & a thing of nothing to what hath hapened since ) there were some foolish peeple in this land which murmured at it , and cryed nothing else but a parliament , a parliament ; and they have had a parliament since with a vengeance . but before this occasion , it was observed , that the seeds of disobedience , and a spirit of insurrection was a long time engendring in the hearts of som of this peace-pampred people , which is conceived to proceed from their conversation and commerce with three sorts of men , viz. the scot , the hollander and the french huguenot . now an advantage happened that much conduced to necessitate the convoking of a parliament , which was an ill-favoured traverse that fell out in scotland ; for the king intending an uniformity of divine worship in all his three kingdoms , sent thither the liturgy of this church , but it found cold and course entertainment ther , for the whole nation , men , women and children rise up a gainst them : here upon the king absolutely revoked it by proclamation , wherein he declared 't was never his purpose to press the practise therof upon the consciences of any ; therfore commanded that all things shold be in statu quo prius , but this wold not serve the turn , the scot took advantge hereby to destroy hierarchy , and pull down the bishops to get their demeans : to which purpose they came with an army in open field against their own native king , who not disgesting this indignity , mustred another english army ; which being upon the confines of both kingdoms , a kind of pacification was plaistred over for the present . the king returning to london , and consulting his second thoughts , resented that insolency of the scots more then formerly : hereupon he summons a parliament , and desires aid to vindicat that affront of the scot. the scot had strong intelligence with the puritan faction in the english parliament , who seemed to abet his quarrel , rather then to be sensible of any national dishonour received from him ; which caused that short-lived parliament to dissolve in discontent , and the king was forced to find other means to raise and support an army by privat loanes of his nobler sort of subjects and servants : the scot having punctual advertisements of every thing that passed ; yea , in the kings cabinet councel was not idle all this while , but rallies what was left of the former army ( which by the articles of pacification ( a little before ) should have bin absolutely dismissed ) and boldly invades england , which he durst never have done , if he had not well known that this puritan party which was now grown very powerful here , and indeed had invited him to this expedition , wold stand to him . this forein army being by the pernicious close machinations of som mongrel englishmen aforementioned , entred into the bowels of the country , the king was forced to call this present parliament , with whom he complyed in every thing , so far as to sacrifice unto them both iudge , bishop , councellor and courtier ; yea , he yielded to the tumbling down of many tribunals of justice , which were an advantage to his prerogative ; he assented that the prelates , who were the most ancient and prime members of the upper house , and had priority of all others , since the first constitution of parliament in the enrollment of all acts , he assented i say that these , who were the greatest prop of his crown shold be quite outed from among the peers ; he granted them also a trienniall parliament , and after that , this perpetuall ; which words , to the apprehension of any rational man , carry with them a grosse absurdity in the very sense of the thing : and touching this last grant , i had it from a good hand , that the queen was a friend to this parliament , and your eminence knows how they have requited her since , but the main open councellor to this fatall act was a scot. now the reason which they alledged for this everlasting parliament was one of the baldest that ever i heard of , it was , that they might have time enough to pay the scots army , wheras in one morning they might have dispatched that , by passing so many subsidies for that use , and upon the credit of those , they might have raised what money they wold . the parliament finding the king so plyable , and his pulse to beat so gently , like ill-natur'd men they fall from inches to ells in seeking their advantages : they grew so peremptory as to demand all the military strength of the kingdom , the tower of london , with the whole royal navy , which they found in an excellent equipage , gramercy ship-money ; so that the benefit of ship-money , which they so clamoured at , turned most to their advantage of any thing afterwards . the scot being fidler-like returned to his country with meat , drink , and money , the king went a while after to keep a parliament ther , wherein he filled every blank , they did but ask and have , for he granted them what possibly they could propound , both for their kirk and state , many received honour , and they divided bishops lands amongst them : for all which unparallel'd concessions of princely grace , they caused an act already in force to be published , viz. that it shold be damnable treason in the highest degree that could be , for any of the scots nation conjunctly or singly to levy armes , or any military forces , upon any pretext whatsoever , without his majesties royal commission ; and this they caused to be don by way of gratitude , but how they perform'd it afterwards the world knowes too well . the king returning to london , in lieu of a welcom to his two houses of parliament ( to whom also before his departure he had passed more acts of grace then all his progenitors , take them all in a lump ) they had patch'd up a kind of remonstrance , which was voted in dead of the night , wherein they expos'd to the world the least moat in former government , and aggravated to the very height every grievance , notwithstanding that the king had redressed all before ; and this remonstrance , which breath'd nothing but a base kind of malice , they presented as a nosegay to their soveraign prince , to congratulat his safe return from a forein countrey ; which remonstrance they caus'd to be printed and publish'd before he could give any answer thereunto . the king finding such a virulent spirit still raign in the house , and knowing who were chiefly possess'd with it ( viz. those whom he had impeach'd before , but saw he could get no justice against them ) in such an extremity , he did an act like a generous prince , for taking the palsgrave with him , he took the first coach he met withall at his court-gate , and went to his house of commons in person , to demand five members , which he wold prove to be traitors in the highest degree 〈◊〉 to be the authors of all these distempers , protesting upon the word of a king , that they shold have as fair & legal a tryal as ever men had ; in the interim he only desir'd that their persons might be secur'd . the walls of both houses , and the very stones in london street did seem to ring of this high cariage of the kings , and the sound went thence to the country , whence the silly plebeians came presently in whole herds to this city , who strutting up and down the streets , had nothing in their mouths , but that the priviledg of parlement , the priviledg of parlement was broken , though it be the known clear law of the land , that the parlement cannot supersede or shelter any treason . the king finding how violently the pulse of the grosly seduced people did beat , and ther having bin formerly divers riotous crues of base mechaniques and mariners , who had affronted both his own court , and the two houses besides , which the commons , to their eternal reproach , conniv'd at , notwithstanding that divers motions were made by the lords to suppresse them , the king also having privat intelligence that ther was a mischievous plot to surprize his person , remov'd his court to the countrey . the king departing , or rather being driven away thus from his two houses , by this mutinous city , he might well at his going away have ubraided her in the same words as h. the 3. did upbraid paris , who being by such another tumultuous rabble driven out of her in the time of the ligue , as he was losing sight of her , he turn'd his face back , and said , farewel ingratefull city , i will never see thee again till i make my way into thee through thy walls : yet though the king absented himself in person thus from the two houses , he sent them frequent messages , that they wold draw into acts what he had already assented unto , and if any thing was left yet undon by him , he wold do it ; therfore he will'd them to leave off those groundless feares and jealousies wherwith they had amus'd both city and country ; and he was ready to return at all times to his palace in westminster , provided that his person might be secur'd from the former barbarisms and outrages : but in lieu of a dutiful compliance with their prince , the thoughts of the two houses ran upon nothing but war : the king then retiring into the north , and thinking with a few of his servants only to go visit a town of his ( hull ) he was denyed entrance by a fatal unlucky wretch ( hotham ) who afterwards was shamefully executed with his eldest son , by command of his new masters of the parlement : the king being thus shut out of his own town ( which open'd the first dore to a bloudy war ) put forth a declaration , wherin he warn'd all his people that they shold look to their proprieties , for if he was thus barr'd of his own , how could any privat subject be sure to be master of any thing he had , and herein he was as much prophet as prince ; for the parlement-men afterwards made themselfs land-lords of the whole kingdom , it hath bin usual for them to thrust any out of his freehold , to take his bed from under him , and his shirt from off his very back . the king being kept thus out of one of his townes , might suspect that he might be driven out of another , therfore 't was time for him to look to the preservation of his person , and the country came in voluntarily unto him by thousands to that purpose , but he made choice of a few only to be his gard , as the parlementeers had done a good while before for themselfs : but now they went otherwise to work , for they fell a levying , listing and arming men by whole regiments and brigades till they had a very considerable army afoot , before the king had one musqueteer or trooper on his side ; yet these men are so notoriously impudent , as to make the king the first aggressor of the war , and to lay upon him all the bloud that was split to this day , wherein the devil himself cannot be more shamelesse . the parliamenteers having an army of foot and horse thus in perfect equipage , 't was high time for the king to look to himself , therefore he was forced to display his royal standard , and draw his sword quite out : thus a cruel and most cruentous civil war began which lasted near upon four years without intermission , wherein there happen'd more batta les , sieges and skirmishes , then passed in the nether-lands in fourscore years , and herein the englishmen may be said to get som credit abroad in the world , that they have the same bloud running in their veines ( though not the same braines in their sculls ) which their ancestors had , who were observed to be the activest people in the field , impatient of delay , and most desirous of battaile then any nation . but it was one of the greatest miracles that ever happen'd in this land , how the king was able to subsist so long against the parlamenteers , considering the multiplicity of infinite advantages they had of him by water and land : for they had the scot , the sea and the city on their side ; touching the first , he rushed in as an auxiliary with above 20000. horse and foot compleatly furnish ▪ d both with small and great ammunition and arms , well cloth'd and money'd : for the second , they had all the kings ships well appointed , which are held to be the greatest security of the island both for defence and offence , for every one of them is accounted one of the moving castles of the kingdom : besides , they had all the other standing stone-castles , forts , and tenable places to boot : concerning the last , ( viz. the city ) therein they had all the wealth , bravery , and prime ammunition of england , this being the only magazin of men and money : now if the k. had had but one of these on his side , he had in all probability crush'd them to nothing : yet did he bear up strangely against them a long time , and might have done longer , had he kept the campane , and not spent the spirits of his men before townes ; had he not made a disadvantagious election of som commanders in chief , and lastly , had he not had close traitors within dores , as well as open rebels without ; for his very cabinet councel , and bed-chamber were not free of such vermin , and herein the parlementeers spent unknown sums and were very prodigal of the kingdoms money . the king , after many traverses of war , being reduced to a great strait by crosse successes and counsels , rather then to fall into the hands of the parlementeers , withdrew himself in a serving-mans disguise to the scots army , as his last randevous , and this plot was manag'd by the french agent then residing here ; a man wold think that that nation wold have deem'd it an eternal honour unto them to have their own king and countrey-man throw himself thus into their armes , and to repose such a singular trust in them upon such an extremity : but they corresponded not so well with him as he expected , for though at first when the parlamenteers sollicited their dear brethren for a delivery of the kings person unto them , their note was then , if any forein petty prince had so put himself upon them , they could not with honour deliver him , much less their own native king ; yet they made a sacrifice of him at last for 800000. crownes ; wherupon bellieure the french ambassador being convoyed by a troop of horse from the king towards london , to such a stand , in lieu of larges to the souldiers , he drew out an half crown piece , and ask'd them how many pence that was , they answered 30. he replyed , for so much did iudas betray his master , and so he departed . and now , that in the cours of this historical narration , i have touch'd upon france , your eminence may please to understand , that nothing almost could tend more to the advantage of that k. then these commotions in england , considering that he was embark'd in an actuall war with the house of austria and that this iland did do spain some good offices ; among other , by transport of his treasure to dunkerk in english bottomes , whereunto this king gave way , and sometimes in his own galeons , which sav'd the spaniard neer upon 20. in the hundred , then if he had sent it by way of genoa ; so that som think , though france made semblance to resent the sad condition of her neighbour , and thereupon sent the prince of harcour , and the foresaid monsieur bellieure to compose matters , yet she never really intended it , as being against her present interest and engagements : yet the world thinks it much that she shold publiquely receive an agent from these parlamenteeres , and that the french nobility who were us'd to be the gallantest men in the world to vindicate the quarrels of distressed ladies , are not more sensible of the outrages that have bin offer'd a daughter of france , specially of henry the greats . but to resume the threed of my narration , the king ( and with him , one may say , england also ) being thus bought and sold , the parlamenteers insteed of bringing him to westminster , which had put a period to all distempers , toss'd him up and downe to private houses , and kept the former army still afoot : and truly i think there was never prince so abus'd , or poor peeple so baffled , and no peeple but a purblind besotted peeple wold have suffred themselves to be so baffled : for notwithstanding that no enemy appeer'd in any corner of the kingdome , yet above 20000. tagaroones have bin kept together ever since to grind the faces of the poor , and exhaust the very vitall spirits of town and countrey , and keep them all in a perfect slavery : had the parlament-men , when the scots were gone , brought their king in a generous and frank way ( as had well becom'd englishmen ) to sit among them , and trusted to him ( which of necessity they must do at last ) as they had gain ▪ d more honor far in the world abroad , so they had gain'd more upon his affections then i beleeve they will ever do hereafter . but to proceed , the king having bin a good while prisoner to the parlement , the army snatch'd him away from them , and som of the chiefest commanders having pawn'd their soules unto him to restore him speedily , in lieu thereof they tumbled him up and down to sundry places , till they juggled him at last to that small ile where now he is surrounded with a gard of strange faces ; and if happly he beginns to take delight in any of those faces , he is quickly taken out of his sight . these harsh usages hath made him become all gray and oregrown with hair so that he lookes rather like som silvan satyr then a soverain prince : and truly my lord the meanest slave in st. marks gallies or the abjects captif in algier bannier is not so miserable as he in divers kinds , for they have the comfort of their wifes , children and frends , they can convey and receive letters , send messengers upon their errands , and have privat discours with any ; all which is denied to the king of great britain , nay the young princes his children are not permitted as much as to ask him blessing in a letter . in so much that if he were not a great king of his passions , and had a heart cast in on extraordinary mould , these pressures and those base aspersions that have bin publiquely cast upon him by the parlement it self , had bin enough to have sent him out of the world e're this , and indeed 't is the main thing they drive at , to torture his braine , and tear his very heart strings if they could : so that whereas this foolish ignorant peeple speak such horrid things of our inquisition , truly my lord 't is a most gentle way of proceeding being compar'd to this kings persecutions . as the king himselfe is thus in quality of a captif , so are all his subjects becom perfect slaves , they have fool'd themselfs into a worse slavery then iew or greek under the ottomans , for they know the bottom of their servitude by paying so many sultanesses for every head ; but here , people are put to endless , unknown , tyrannical taxes , besides plundering and accize , which two words , and the practise of them ( with storming of towns ) they have learnt of their pure brethren of holland : and for plundrings , these parliamenteer-saints think they may robb any that adheres not to them as lawfully as the iewes did the egyptians : 't is an unsommable masse of money these reformers have squandred in few years , whereof they have often promis'd and solemnly voted a publick account to satisfie the kingdom : but as in a hundred things more , so in this precious particular they have dispens'd with their votes : they have consumed more treasure with pretence to purge one kingdom , then might have served to have purchas'd two ; more ( as i am credibly told ) then all the kings of england spent of the public stock since the saxon conquest : thus have they not only begger'd the whole island , but they have hurld it into the most fearfull ▪ st chaos of confusion that ever poor countrey was in ; they have torn in pieces the reines of all government , trampled upon all lawes of heaven and earth , and violated the very dictamens of nature , by making mothers to betray their sons , and the sons their fathers , but specially that great charter , which is the pandect of all the laws and liberties of the free-born subject , which at their admission to the house they are solemnly sworn to maintain , is torn in flitters : besides those severall oaths they forg'd themselfs , as the protestation and covenant , where they voluntarily swear to maintain the kings honour and rights , together with the established laws of the land , &c. now i am told , that all acts of parlement here are lawes , and they carry that majesty with them , that no power can suspend or repeal them , but the same power that made them , which is the king sitting in full parlement ; these mongrell polititians have bin so notoriously impudent as to make an inferiour ordinance of theirs to do it , which is point-blanck against the very fundamentals of this government , and their own oaths , which makes me think that there was never such a perjur'd pack of wretches upon earth , never such monsters of mankind . yet this simple infatuated peeple have a saint-like opinion of these monsters , this foolish citie gards them daily with horse and foot , whereby she may be sayd to kisse the very stones that are thrown at her , and the hand whence they came , which a dogg would not do : but she falls to recollect her self now that shee begins to be pinch'd in trade , and that her mint is starv'd , yet the leading'st men in her common-councell care not much for it , in regard most of them have left traffiquing abroad , finding it a more easie and gainefull way of trading at home , by purchasing crown or church lands , plunder'd goods , and debts upon the publick faith , with soldiers debenters ; thus the saints of this iland turne godlinesse into gaine . truly my lord , i give the english for a lost nation , if they continue long thus , never was ther a more palpable oblaesion of the brain , and a more visible decay of reason in any race of men : it is a sore judgment from heaven , that a people shold not be more sensible how they are become slaves to rebells , and those , most of them the scumm of the nation , which is the basest of miseries : how they suffer them to tyrannize by a meer arbitrary extrajudicial power o're their very souls and bodies ▪ o're their very lifs and livelihoods ; how their former freedom is turn'd to fetters , molehills into mountains of grievances , ship-money into accize , justice into tyranny : for nothing hath bin and is daily so common amongst them as imprisonment without charge , and a charge without an accuser , condemnation without apparance , and forfeitures without conviction . to speak a little more of the king , if all the infernal fiends had ligu'd against him , they could not have design'd or disgorged more malice : they wold have laid to his charge his fathers death , as arrand a lie as ever was forg'd in hell : they wold make him fore-know the insurrection in ireland , wheras the spanish ambassador here , and his confessor who is a very reverend irish-man , told me , that he knew no more of it then the grand mogor did : they charge him with all the bloud of this civil war , wheras they and their instruments were the first kindlers of it , and that first prohibited trade and shut him out of his own town : they have intercepted and printed his privat letters to his queen , and hers to him , ( oh barbarous basenesse ! ) but therin they did him a pleasure , though the intent was malitious , their aim in all things being to envenom the hearts of his people towards him ; and this was to render him a glorious and well-belov'd prince , as likewise for making him rich , ( all which they had vow'd to do upon passing the act of continuance , ) but now they have made him poorer then the meanest of all his vassals , they have made him to have no propriety in house , goods , or lands , or as one may say , in his wife and children : 't was usual for the father to hunt in his park while the son hunted for his life in the field , for the wife 〈◊〉 lie in his bedds , while the husband layed wait to murther him abroad ; they have seiz'd upon and sold his privat hangings an●… plate , yea his very cabinets , jewels , pictures , statues , and books . nor are they the honorablest sort of peeple , and men nobly extracted ( as in scotland ) that do all this , ( for then it were not so much to be wondred at ) but they are the meanest sort of subjects , many of them illiterat mechaniques , wherof the lower house is full ; specially the subordinat committees , who domineer more o're nobles and gentry , then the parliament members themselfs their masters use to do . touching those few peers that sit now voting in the upper house , they may be said to be but meer cyphers , they are grown so degenerat as to suffer the commons to give them the law , to ride upon their backs , and do most things without them : ther be many thousand petitions that have bin recommended by these lords to the lower house , which are scornfully thrown into corners and never read ; their messengers have us'd to dance attendance divers hours and days before they were vouchsafed to be let in or heard , to the eternal dishonour of those peers , and yet poor spirited things they resent it not : the commons now command all , and though , as i am inform'd , they are summon'd thither by the kings original writ but to consent to what the king and his great counsel of peers ( which is the tru court of parlement ) shall resolve upon ; the commons i say are now from consenters become the chiefest counsellors , yea controulers of all ; nay som of this lower house fly so high as to term themselfs conquerors , and though in all conferences with the lords they stand bare before them , yet by a new way of mix'd committees they carry themselfs as collegues : these are the men that now have the vogue , and they have made their priviledges so big swoln , that they seem to have quite swallowed up both the kings prerogatives , and those of the lords : these are the grandees , and sages of the times , though most of them have but crack'd braines and crazy fortunes god wot ; nay som of them are such arrand knaves and coxcombs , that 't is questionable whether they more want common honesty , or common sense ; nor know no more what belongs to tru policy then the left leg of a joynt-stool : they are grown so high a tiptoes , that they seem to scorn an act of amnestia , or any grace from their king , wheras som of them deserve to be hang'd as oft as they have haires upon their heads ; nor have they any more care of the common good of england then they have of lapland , so they may secure their own persons , and continue their power now , authority is sweet , though it be in hell. thus , my lord , is england now govern'd , so that 't is an easie thing to take a prospect of her ruine if she goes on this pace : the scot is now the swaying man , who is the third time struck into her bowels with a numerous army : they say he hath vow'd never to return till he hath put the crown on the kings head , the scept●…r in his hand , and the sword by his side ; if he do so , it will be the best thing that ever he did , though som think that he will never be able to do england as much good as he hath done her hurt ; he hath extremely out-witted the english of late years : and they who were the causers of his first and last coming in , i hold to be the most pernicious enemies that ever this nation had ; for t is probable that germany ( viz. ponterland and breme ) will be sooner free of the swed , then england of the scot , who will stick close unto him like a bur , that he cannot shake him off ; he is becom already master of the englishmans soul , by imposing a religion upon him , and he may hereafter be master of his body . your eminence knows there is a periodicall fate hangs over all kingdoms after such a revolution of time , and rotation of fortunes wheele ; the cours of the world hath bin for one nation , like so many nailes , to thrust out another ; but for this nation , i observe by conference with divers of the saddest and best weighdst men among them , that the same presages foretell their ruine as did the israelites of old , which was a murmuring against their governors ; it is a long time that both iudges , bishops and privy counsellors have bin mutter'd at , whereof the first shold be the oracles of the law , the other of the gospell , the last of state-affaires , and that our judgments shold acquiesce upon theirs ; here as i am inform'd ; 't was common for evry ignorant client to arraign his iudg ; for evry puny curat to censure the bishop ; for evry shallow-brain home-bred fellow to descant upon the results of the councell table : and this spirit of contradiction and contumacy hath bin a long time fomenting in the minds of this peeple , infus'd into them principally , by the puritanicall faction . touching the second of the three aforesaid ( i mean bishops ) they are grown so odious ( principally for their large demeanes ) among this peeple , as the templers were of old , and one may say it is a just judgment fallen upon them , for they were most busy in demolishing convents and monasteries , as these are in destroying cathedralls and ministers ; but above all , it hath bin observ'd that this peeple hath bin a long time rotten-hearted towards the splendor of the court , the glory of their king , and the old establish'd government of the land : 't is true there were a few small leakes sprung in the great vessel of the st●…te , ( and what vessel was ever so ●…ite but was subject to leakes ? ) but these wise-akers in stopping of one have made a hundred : yet if this kings raign were parallell'd to that of queen elizabeth's , who was the greatest minion of a peeple that ever was , one will find that she stretch'd the prerogative much further ; in her time as i have read in the latin legend of her life , som had their hands cut off for only writing against her matching with the duke of aniou , others were hang'd at tyburn for traducing her government ; she pardon'd thrice as many roman priests as this king did , she pass'd divers monopolies , she kept an agent at rome , she sent her sergeant at armes to pluck out a member then sitting in the house of commons by the eares , and clapt him in prison ; she call'd them sawcy fellowes to meddle with her prerogative , or with the government of her houshold , she mannag'd all forren affaires , specially the warrs with ireland soly by her privy counsell ; yet there was no murmuring at her raign , and the reason i conceave to be , that there was neither scot or puritan had then any stroke in england . yet , for all their disobedience and grumblings against their liege lord the king , this peeple are exactly obedient to their new masters of the house of commons , though they sit there but as their servants and entitle themselfs so ; and also though in lieu of the small scratches which england might happily have receiv'd before ( all which the king had cur'd ) these new masters have made such deep gashes in her , and given her such deadly wounds that i believe are incurable . my lord , i find by my researches , that there are two great idolls in this kingdom , the greatest that ever were , they are the parliament and the pulpit ; t is held high treson to speak against the one , and the whole body of religion is nailed unto the other , for there is no devotion here at all but preaching , which god wot is little better then prating . the abuse of these two hath bin the source of all the distempers which now raign : touching the latter , it hath serv'd as a subvervient engin to prop up the power and popularity of the first ; these malicious pulpit-men breath out nothing thence but either sedition , schisme or blasphemy : poor shallow brain'd sciolists , they wold question many things in the old testament , and find apocrypha in the new : and such is the violence wherewith the minds of men and women are transported towards these preachmen , and no other part of devotion besides , that in all probability they will in time take a surfet of them : so that give this giddy peeple line enough ther will be no need of catholique arms to reduce them to the apostolick church , they will in time pave the way to it themselves , and be glad to return to rome to find out a religion again . there was here before , as i am informed , a kind of a face of a church , there were some solemnities , venerations and decencies us'd that a man might discover som piety in this peeple ; there was a publick lyturgie that in pithy pathetical prayers reach'd all occasions ; the sacraments were administred with som reverence , their churches were kept neat and comly ; but this nasty race of miscreants have nothing at all of sweetnesse , of piety and devotion in them ; 't is all turn'd to a fatuous kind of zeal after more learning , as if christianity had no sobriety , consistence or end of knowledg at all : these silly things , to imitat the apostles time , wold have the same form of discipline to govern whole nations , as it did a chamberfull of men in the infancy of the church , they wold make the same coat serve our savious at 30. yeers , which fitted him at three : 't is incredible how many ugly sorts of heresies they daily hatch , but they are most of them old ones newly furbish'd ; they all relate to aerius , a perfect hater of bishops , because he could not be one himself . the two sectaries which sway most , are the presbyterians and independents , the presbyterian is a spawn of a puritan , and the independent a spawn of the presbyterian : there 's but one hop 'twixt the first and a iew , and but half a hop 'twixt the other and an infidell ; they are both opposit to monarchy and hierarchy ; and the latter wold have no government at all , but a parity and promiscuous confusion , a race of creatures fit only to inhabit hell : and one of the fruits of this blessed parlement , and of these two sectaries is , that they have made more jewes and athiests then i think there is in all europe besides ; but truly , my lord , i think the judgments of heaven were never so visible in any part of the earth , as they are now here , for there is rebell against rebell , house against house , cittie against army , parlement against scot , but these two sectaries , i mean the presbyterian and independent who were the fire-brands that put this poor iland first in a flame , are now in most deadly feud one against the other , though they both concur in this to destroy government : and if the king had time enough to look only upon them , they would quickly hang , draw , and destroy one another . but indeed all christian princes shold observe the motions and successes of these two unlucky incendiaries , for if they shold ligue together again , ( as they have often plaid fast and loose one with another ) and prevail here , this iland wold not terminat their designs , they wold puzzle all the world besides . their preachmen ordinarily cry out in the pulpit , ther is a great work to be done upon earth , for the reforming all mankind , and they are appointed by heaven to be the chief instruments of bringing it about ▪ they have already bin so busie abroad , that ( with vast sommes of money ) they brought the swed upon the dane , and the very savages upon the english cavaliers in virginia ; and could they confederat with turk , or tartar , or hell it self against them , they wold do it : they are monstrously puff'd up with pride , that they stick not to call themselfs conquerors , and one of the chief ringleaders of them , an ignorant home bred kind of brewer , was not ashamed to vant it publiquely in the commons house , that if he had but 20000. men , he wold undertake to march to constantinople , and pull the ottoman emperour out of the seralio . touching the other grand idoll the parlement , 't is true that the primitive constitution of parlement in this iland was a wholesom piece of policy , because it kept a good correspondence , and clos'd all ruptures 'twixt the king and his peeple , but this thing they call parlement now , may rather be term'd a cantle of one , or indeed a conventicle of schismatiques , rather than a great counsell ; 't is like a kind of headless monster , or som estropiated carkas ; for ther is neither king nor prelat , nor scarce the seventh part of peers and commons , no not the twelfth part fairly elected ; nevertheless they draw the peeple , specially this city , like so many stupid animalls , to adore them . yet though this institution of parlement be a wholsom thing in it self , there is in my judgment a great incongruity in one particular ; and i believe it hath bin the cause of most distempers ; it is , that the burgesses are more in number than the knights of the shires ; for the knights of the shires are commonly gentlemen well born , and bred , and vers'd in the laws of the land , as well as forren governments , ( divers of them ) but the burgesses of towns are commonly tradesmen , and being bred in corporations they are most of them inclining to puritanism , and consequently to popular government ; these burgesses exceeding the knights in number , carry all before them by plurality of voices , and so puzzle all : and now that ▪ i have mentioned corporations , i must tell your lordship , that the greatest soloecism in the policy of this kingdom , is the number of them ; especially this monstrous city , which is compos'd of nothing els but of corporations ; and the greatest errors that this king , specially his father , committed , was to suffer this town to spread her wings so wide ▪ for she bears no proportion with the bignes of the iland , but may fit a kingdom thrice as spacious ; she engrosseth and dreins all the wealth and strength of the kingdom ; so that i cannot compare england more properly than to one of our cremona geese , where the custom is to fatten only the heart , but in doing so the whole body growes lank . to draw to a conclusion , this nation is in a most sad and desperat condition , that they deserve to be pittied , and preserved from sinking , and having cast the present state of things and all interests into an equal balance , i find , my lord , ther be three ways to do it , one good , and two bad . 1. the first of the bad ones is the sword ▪ which is one of the scourges of heaven , especially the civill sword . 2. the second bad one is the treaty , which they now offer the king in that small island wher he hath bin kept captif so long , ( 〈◊〉 which quality the world will account him still while he is detain'd there ) and by tha●… treaty to bind him as fast as they can , an●… not trust him at all . 3. the good way is , in a free confiding brave way ( englishmen-like ) to send for their king to london , where city and country shold petition him to summon a new and free full parlement , which he may do as justly as ever he did thing in his life , these men having infring'd as well all the essentiall priviledges of parlement , as every puntillio of it , for they have often risen up in a confusion without adjournment , they had two speakers at once , they have most perjuriously and beyond all imagination betrayed the trust both king and country repos'd in them , subverted the very sundamentals of all law , and plung'd the whole kingdom in this bottomless gulf of calamities : another parlement may haply do som good to this languishing island , and cure her convulsions , but for these men that arrogat to themselfs the name of parlement ( by a local puntillio only because they never stir'd from the place where they have bin kept together by meer force ) i find them by their actions to be so pervers , so irrational and refractory , so far given over to a reprobat sense , so fraught with rancor , with an irreconcileable malice and thirst of bloud , that england may well despaire to be heal'd by such phlebotomists , or quack-salvers ; be sides they are so full of scruples , apprehensions , and jealousies proceeding from blac●… guilty souls , and gawl'd consciences , that they will do nothing but chop logic with their king , and spin out time to continue their power , and evade punishment , which they think is unavoidable if ther shold be a free-parlement . touching the king he comports himself with an admired temper'd equanimity , he invades and o're-masters them more and more in all his answers by strength of reson , though he have no soul breathing to consult withall , but his own genius : he gains wonderfully upon the hearts and opinion of his peeple , and as the sun useth to appear bigger in winter , and at his declension in regard of the interposition of certain meteors 'twixt the eye of the beholder and the object , so this king being thus o're-clouded and declined , shines far more glorious in the eyes of his people ; and certainly these high morall vertues of constancy , courage and wisdom come from above ; and no wonder , for kings as they are elevated above all other peeple and stand upon higher ground , they sooner receive the inspirations of heaven ; nor doth he only by strength of reason out 〈◊〉 them , but he wooes them by gentlenesse and mansuetude ; as the gentleman of paris who having an ape in his house that had taken his only child out of the cradle , and dragged him up to the ridge of the house , the parent with ruthful he art charmed the ape by fair words and other bland●…ments to bring him softly down , which he did ; england may be said to be now just upon such a precipice , ready to have her braines dash'd out , and i hope these men will not be worse natur'd then that brute animal , but will save her . thus have i given your eminence a rough account of the state of this poor and pittifully deluded peeple , which i will perfect when i shall come to your presence , which i hope will be before this autumnal equinox ; i thought to have sojourn'd here longer , but that i am grown weary of the clime , for i fear there 's the other two scourges of heaven that menace this island , i mean the famin and pestilence , especially this city , for their prophanness , rebellion , and sacriledge ▪ it hath bin a talk a great while whether anti-christ be come to the world or no , i am sure anti-iesus , which is worse , is among this people , for they hold all veneration , though voluntary proceeding from the inward motions of a sweet devoted soul , and causing an outward genuflection , to be superstitious , insomuch that one of the synodical saints here printed and published a book entitling it against iesu worship . so in the profoundest posture of reverence i kisse your vest , as being , london this 12 , of august , 1647. my lord , your eminences most humbly devoted , i. h. a nocturnal progres , or a perambulation of most countreys in christendom , perform'd in one night by strength of the imagination ; which progresse terminats in these north-west iles , and declares the woful confusions they are involv'd at present . the progress of the soul by an usuall dream . it was in the dead of a long winter night , when no eyes were open but watchmens and centinels , that i was fallen soundly asleep , the cinq-out-ports were shut up closer then usually , for my senses were so trebly lock'd , that the moon , had she descended from her watry orb , might have done much more to me then she did to endymion when he lay snoaring upon the brow of latmus hill ; nay , ( be it spoken without prophanenesse ) if a rib had bin taken out of me that night , to have made a new mo●… of a woman , i shold hardly have felt it . yet , though the cousin german of death had so strongly seiz'd thus upon the exterior parts of this poor tabernacle of flesh , my inward parts were never more actif , and fuller of employments then they were that night . pictus imaginibus , formisque fugacib●… adstat morpheus , & variis fingit nova vultibus ora . methought my soul made a sally abroad into the world , and fetch'd a vast compas ; she seem'd to soar up and slice the air to cross seas , to clammer up huge hills , and never rested till she had arriv'd at the antipodes : now som of the most judicious geometricians and chorographers hold that the whole mass of the earth being round like the rest of her fellow elements , ther be places , and poizing parts of the continent , ther be peninsulas , promontories and ilands upon the other face of the earth that correspond and concenter with all those regions and iles that are upon this superficies which we read , countries that symbolize with them in qualities , in temperature of air and clime , as well as in nature of soil ; the inhabitants also of those places which are so perpendicularly opposit , do sympathize one with another in disposition , complexions and humors , though the astronomers wold have their east to be our west , and so all things vice versa in point of position , which division of the heaven is onely mans institution . but to give an account of the strange progresse my soul made that night ; the first country she lighted on was a very low flat country , and it was such an odde amphibious country , being so indented up and down with rivers and arms of the sea , that i made a question whether i shold call it water or land ; yet though the sea be invited and usher'd in into som places , he is churlistly pen'd out in som other , so that though he foam and swell , and appear as high walls hard-by , yet they keep him out , maugre all his roaring and swelling . as i wandred up and down in this watry region , i might behold from a streight long dike wheron i stood , a strange kind of forrest , for the trees mov'd up and down ; they look'd afar off as if they had bin blasted by thunder ; for they had no leafs at all ; but making a nearer approach unto them , i found they were a nomberlesse company of ship-masts , and before them appear'd a great town ( amsterdam ) incorporated up and down with water ; as i mus'd with my self upon the sight of all this , i concluded , that the inhabitants of that country were notable industrious people , who could give law so to the angry ocean , and occupie those places where the great leviathan shold tumble and take his pastime in ; as my thought ran thus , i met with a man , whom i conjectur'd to be 'twixt a marchant and a mariner , his salutation was so homely ; the air also was so foggy , that methought it stuck like cobwebs in his mustachos ; and he was so dull in point of motion , as if the bloud in his veines had bin half frozen : i began to mingle words with him , and to expostulat somthing about that country and people ; and then i found a great deal of down-right civilities in him : he told me that they were the only men who did miracles of late years ; those innumerable piles of stones you see before you in such comly neat frabriques , is a place ( said he ) that from a fish market in effect is come to be one of the greatest marts in this part of the world , which hath made her swel thrice bigger the●… she was 50. years ago ; and as you behold this floating forrest of masts before her mole , so if you could see the foundations of her houses , you shold see another great forrest , being rear'd from under-ground upon fair piles of timber , which if they chance to sink in this marshy soil , we have an art to scrue them up again . we have for 70. years and above without any intermission , except a short-liv'd truce that once was made , wrastled with one of the greatest potentates upon earth , and born up stoutly against him , gramercy our two next neighbour kings , and their reason of state , with the advantage of our situation . we have fought our selfs into a free-state , and now quite out of that ancient allegeance we ow'd him ; and though we pay twenty times more in taxes of all sorts then we did to him , yet we are contented : we have turn'd war into a trade , and that which useth to beggar others , hath benefited us : besides , we have bin and are still the rendevous of most discontented subjects , when by the motions of unquiet consciences in points of religion , or by the fury of the sword , they are forc'd to quit their own countreys , who bring their arts of manufacture , and moveables , hither ; insomuch that our lombards are full of their goods , and our banks superabound with their gold and silver which they bring hither in specie . to secure our selfs , and cut the enemy more work , and to engage our confederats in a war with him , we have kindled fires in every corner , and now that they are together by the eares , we have bin content lately , being long woo'd thereunto , to make a peace with that king to whom we once acknowledged vassalage ; which king out of a height of spirit , hath spent 500. times more upon us for our reduction , then all our country is worth ; but now he hath bin well contented to renounce and abjure all claimes and rights of soverainity over us ; in so much , that being now without an enemy , we hope in a short time to be masters of all the comerce in this part of the world , and to eat our neighbours out of trade in their own commodities : we fear nothing but that exces of wealth , and a surfet of ease may make us careles and breed quarrells among our selfs , and that our generall , being married to a great kings daughter may — . here he suddenly broke the threed of his discourse , and got hastily away , being haul'd by a ship that was sailing hard by ▪ hereupon my soul took wing again , and cut her way through that foggy condens'd aire , till she lighted on a fair spacious , cleare continent , a generous and rich soile mantled up and downe with large woods , where , as i rang'd to and fro , i might see divers faire houses , townes , palaces and castles , looking like so many carkases , for no humane soul appear'd in them ; methought i felt my he art melting within me in a soft resentment of the case of so gallant a countrey , and as i stood at amaze , and in a kind of astonishment , a goodly personage makes towards me , whom both for his comportment , and countenance , i perceiv'd to be of a finer mould then that companion i had met withall before : by the trace of his looks i guessed he might be som nobleman that had bin ruin'd by som disaster : having acosted him with a fitting distance , he began in a masculin strong winded language full of aspirations and tough collision of consonants , to tell me as followeth : sir , i find you are a stranger in this countrey , because you stand so agast at the devastations of such a fair piece of the continent , then know sir , because i beleeve you are curious to carry away with you the causes thereof , that these ruthfull objects which you behold , are the effects of a long lingring war , and of the fury of the sword , a cruentous civill war that hath rag'd here above thirty yeares : one of the grounds of it was the infortunate undertaking of a prince , who liv'd not far off in an affluence of all earthly felicity ; he had the greatest lady to his wife , the bes●… purse of money , the fairest stable of horse ▪ and choicest library of books of any other of his neighbour princes . but being by desperat and aspiring counsells put upon a kingdom , while he was catching at the shadow of a crown , he lost the substance of all his own ancient possessions : by the many powerfull alliances he had ( which was the cause he was pitched upon ) the fewd continued long ; for among others a northern king took advantage to rush in , who did a world of mischiefs , but in a few yeers that king and hee found their graves in their own ruins neer upon the same time ; but now , may heaven have due thanks for it , there is a peace concluded , a peace which hath bin 14. long yeers a moulding , and will i hope , be shortly put in execution ; yet 't is with this fatall disadvantage , that the said northern people , besides a masse of ready money we are to give them , are to have firme footing , and a warm nest ever in this countrey hereafter , so that i fear we shall hear from them too often : upon these words this noble personage fetch'd a deep sigh , but in such a generous manner that he seem'd to break and check it before it came halfe forth . thence my soul taking her flight o're divers huge and horrid cacuminous mountaines ( the alpes ) at last i found my self in a great populous town ( naples ) but her buildings were miserably battered up and down , she had a world of palaces , castles , convents and goodly churches : as i stepped out of curiosity into one of them , upon the west side there was a huge grate , where a creature all in white beckned at me , making my approach to the grate , i found her to be a nun , a lovely creature she was , for i could not distinguish which was whiter , her hue or her habit , which made me remember ( though in a dream my self ) that saying , if dreams and wishes had been tru , there had not been found a tru maid to make a nun of , ever since a cloyster'd life began first among women ; i asked her the reason how so many ugly devastations shold befall so beautifull a city , she in a dolorous gentle tone , and ruthfull accents , the teares trickling down her cheeks like so many pearles , ( such pearly teares that wold have dissolv'd a diamond ) sobb'd out unto me this speech : gentle sir , 't is far beyond any expressions of mine , and indeed beyond humane imagination to conceive the late calamities which have befallen this faire though infortunat city , a pernicious popular rebellion broke out here upon a sudden into most horrid barbarismes , a fate that hangs over most rich popular places that swim in luxe and plenty ; but touching the grounds thereof , one may say that rebellion entred into this city , as sin first entred into the world by an apple : for our king now in his great extremities having almost halfe the world banding against him ; and putting but a small tax upon a basket of fruit to last only for a time , this fruit-tax did put the peeples teeth so on edge , that it made them gnash against the government , and rush into armes ; but they are sensible now of their own follies , for i think never any place suffered more in so short a time : the civill combustions abroad in other kingdomes may be said to be but small squibs compar'd to those horrid flakes of fire which have rag'd here , and much adoe we had to keep our vest all fire free from the fury of it : in lesse then the revolution of a yeer it consum'd above fourscore thousand soules within the walls of this city ; but 't is not the first time of forty , that this luxurious foolish peeple hath smarted for their insurrections and insolencies , and that this mad horse hath o'rethrown his rider , and drawn a worse upon his back ; who instead of a saddle , put a pack-saddle and panniers upon him : but indeed the voluptuousnesse of this peeple was grown ripe for the judgement of heaven . she was then beginning to expostulat with me about the state of my country , and i had a mighty mind to satisfie her , for i could have corresponded with her in the re●…ation of as strange things , but the lady a●…adesse calling her away , she departed in an ●…nstant , obedience seem'd to be ther so precise and punctual . i steer'd my course thence through a most delicious country to another city that lay in the very bosom of the sea , ( venice ) she was at first nothing els but a kind of posie made up of dainty green hillocks , tied together by above 400. bridges , and so coagulated into a curious city ; though she be espous'd to neptune very solemnly once evry ●…eer , yet she still reserves her maydenhead , ●…ad bears the title of the virgin city in that part of the world ; but i found her tugging mainly with a huge giant that wold ravish her ; he hath shrewdly set on her skirts , and a great shame it is , that she is not now assisted by her neighbours , and that they shold be together by the ears when they shold do so necessary a work , considering how that great giant is their common enemy ; and hath lately vow'd seven yeers wars against her ; specially considering , that if he comes once to ravish her , he will quickly ruin her said neighbours , she ( to her high honor be it spoken ) being their only rampart against the incursion of the said giant , and by consequence their greatest security . from this maiden city , mee thought , i was in a trice carried over a long gulf , and so through a midland sea , into another kingdom , ( spain ) where i felt the clime hotter by some degrees ; a rough-hew'n soile , for the most part , it was full of craggy barren hills ; but where there were valleys and water enough , the country was extraordinarily fruitful , whereby nature ( it seems ) made her a compensation for the sterility of the rest . yet notwithstanding the hardship of the soyl , i found her full of abbeys , monasteries , hermitages , convents , churches , and other places of devotion ; as i rov'd there a while , i encountred a grave man in a long black cloak , by the fashion whereof , and by the brimms of his hat , i perceived him to be a iesuit ; i clos'd with him , and question'd him about that country : he told me the king of that country was the greatest potentat of that part of the world ; and , to draw power to a greater unity , they of our order could be well contented , that he were universall head over temporalls , because 't is most probable to be effected by him , as we have already one universall head over spiritualls : this is the monark of the mines , i mean of gold and silver , who furnishes all the world , but most of all his own enemies with mony , which mony foments all the wars in this part of the world : never did any earthly monark thrive so much in so short a tract of time , but of late yeers he hath been ill-favouredly shaken by the revolt and utter defection of two sorts of subjects , who are now in actual arms against him on both sides of him at his own doors . ther hath bin also a long deadly feud 'twixt the next tramontan kingdom ( france ) and him , though the q. that rules there be his own sister , an unnaturall odious thing : but it seems god almighty hath a quarrel of late yeers with all earthly potentats ; for in so short a time ther never happen'd such strange shocks and revolutions : the great emperour of ethiopia hath bin outed , he and all his children by a petty companion : the king of china , a greater emperour than he , hath lost almost all that huge monarchy by the incursion of the tartar , who broke ore the wall upon him : the grand turk hath bin strangled , with 30. of his concubines ; the emperour of muscovy hath bin content to beg his life of his own vassals , and to see before his face divers of his chief officers hack'd to pieces , and their heads cut off and steep'd in strong water , to make them burn more bright in the market place . besides the above mentioned , this king hath also divers enemies more , yet he bears up against them all indifferently well , though with infinit expence of treasure , and the church , specially our society , hath stuck close unto him in these his exigents : whence may be inferr'd , that let men repine as long as they will at the possessions of the church , they are the best anchors to a state in a storm , and in time of need to preserve it from sinking ; besides , acts of charity wold be quite lost among men , did not the wealth of the church keep life in them : hereupon drawing a huge pair of beads from under his cloak , he began to ask me of my religion ; i told him i had a long journy to go , so that i could not stay to wait on him longer ; so we parted , and me thought i was very glad to be rid of him so well . my soul then made another flight over an assembly of hideous high hills , ( pyreneys ) and lighted under another clime , on a rich and copious country ( france ) resembling the form of a lozenge , but me thought , i never saw so many poor peeple in my life ; i encountred a pesan , and asked him what the reason was , that ther shold be so much poverly in a country wher ther was so much plenty : sir , they keep the commonalty poor in pure policy here , for being a peeple , as the world observes us to be , that are more humerous than others , and that love variety and change , if we were suffered to be pamper'd with wealth , we wold ever and anon rise up in tumults , and so this kingdom shold never be quiet , but subject to intestine broils , and so to the hazard of any invasion : but ther was of late a devillish cardinal , whose humour being as sanguin as his habit , and working upon the weaknes of his master , hath made us not only poor , but stark beggars , and we are like to continue so by an eternal war , wherein he hath plung'd this poor kingdom , which war must be maintained with our very vital spirits : but as dejected and indigent as we are , yet upon the death of that ambitious cardinal , we had risen up against this , who hath the vogue now , ( with whom he hath left his principles ) had not the fearful example of our next transmarin western neighbours ( the english ) and the knowledg we have of a worse kind of slavery , of those endles arbitrary taxes , and horrid confusions they have fool'd themselfs lately into , utterly deterr'd us , though we have twenty times more reason to rise then ever they had : yet our great city ( paris ) hath shew'd her teeth , and gnash'd them ill-favouredly of late , but we find she hath drawn water only for her own mill , we fare little the better , yet we hope it will conduce to peace , which hath bin so long in agitation . i cannot remember how i parted with that peasan , but in an instant i was landed upon a large island , and methought , 't was the temperat'st region i had bin in all the while ( england ; ) the heat of the sun ther is as harmless as his light , the evening serene●… are as wholsom ther as the morning dew ; the dog-daies as innocuous as any of the two equinoxes . as i rang'd to and fro that fair island , i spyed a huge city ( london ) whose length did far exceed her latitude , but ne●…ther for length or latitude did she seem to bear any politicall proportion with that island : she look'd , methought , like the iesuits hat whom i had met withall before , whose brimms were bigger then the crown , or like a peticoat , whose fringe was longer then the body . as i did cast my eyes upwards , methought i discern'd a strange inscription in the aire which hung just over the midst of that city written in such huge visible characters , that any one might have read it , which was this : woe be to the bloudy city . hereupon a reverend bishop presented himself to my view , his gray haires , and grave aspect struck in me an extraordinary reverence of him : so performing those complements which were fitting , i asked him of the condition of the place , he in a submiss sad tone , with clouds of melancholy waving up and down his looks , told me ; sir this island was reputed few years since to have bin in the completest condition of happiness of any part on earth , insomuch that she was repin'd a●… for her prosperity and peace by all her neighbours who were plung'd in war round about her , but now she is fallen into as deep a gulf of misery , and servitude , as she was in a height of felicity & freedom before : touching the grounds of this change , i cannot impute it to any other then to a surfet of happiness ; now , there is no surfet so dangerous as that of happinesse : ther are such horrid divisions here , that if they were a foot in hell , they were able to destroy the kingdom of satan : truly sir , ther are crep'd in more opinions among us about matters or religion , then the pagans had of old of the summum bonum , which varro saith were 300. the understandings of poor men were never so puzzled and distracted ; a great while there were two opposit powers ( king and parlement ) who swayed here in a kind of equality that peeple knew not whom to obey , many thousands complyed with both , as the men of calecut who adore god and the devil , tantum squantum , as it is in the indian language ) they adore the one for love , the other for fear : ther is a monstrous kind of wild liberty here that ever was upon earth ; that which was complained of as a stalking horse to draw on our miseries at first , is now only in practice , which is meer arbitrary rule ; for now both law , religion and allegiance are here arbitrary : touching the last , 't is quite lost , 't is permitted that any may prate , preach or print what they will in derogation of their annointed king : which word king was once a monosyllable of som weight in this i le , but 't is as little regarded now as the word pope ( among som ) which was also a mighty monosyllable once among us : the rule of the law is , that the king can do no wrong , ther is a contrary rule now crept in , that the king can receive no wrong ; and truly sir , 't is a great judgement both upon prince and peeple ; upon the one , that the love of so many of his vassals shold be so alienated from him ; upon the other , that their hearts shold be so poyson'd , and certainly 't is the effect of an ill spirit ; both the one and the other in all probability tend to the ruine of this kingdom . but now sir , ( because i see you are so attentive , and seem to be much mov'd at this discourse ) as i have discover'd unto you the general cause of our calamities , which was not only a satiety but a surfet of happinesse , so i will descend now to a particular cause of them ; it was a northern nation ( scot ) that brought these cataracts of mischiefs upon us ; and you know the old saying , out of the north all ill comes forth . far be it from me to charge the whole nation herewith ; no , but onely som pernicious instruments that had insinuated themselfs , and incorporated among us , and sway'd both in our court and counsels : they had a hand in every monopoly ; they had out of our exchequer , and customs near upon 400000. crowns in yearly pensions , viis & modis ; yet they could not be content , but they must puzzle the peace and policy of this church and state : and though they are a peeple of a differing genius , differing laws , customs , and manners unto us , yet for matter of conscience they wold bring our necks into their yoak , as if they had a greater talent of reason , and clearer illuminations , as if they understood scripture better , and were better acquainted with god almighty then we , who brought them first from paganisme to christianity , and also to be reformed christians : but it seems , matters have little thriven with them ; nay the visible hand of heaven hath bin heavily upon them divers waies since they did lift their hands against their native king ; for notwithstanding the vast summs they had hence , yet is the generality of them as beggarly as ever they were ; besides , the civil sword hath rag'd ther as furiously as here , and did as much execution among them . moreover the pestilence hath bin more violent , and sweeping in their chief town ( edenburgh ) then ever it was since they were a peeple . and now lately ther 's the notablest dishonour befaln them that possibly could light upon a nation , in that 7000. of ours shold upon even ground encounter , kill , slay , rout and utterly discomfit thrice as many of theirs , though as well appointed and arm'd as men could be : and truly sir , the advantages that accrue to this nation are not a few by that exploit ; for of late years that nation was cryed up abroad to be a more martial peeple then we , and to have baffled us in open field in divers traverses : besides , i hope a small matter will pay now their arrerages here , and elsewhere ; but principally , i hope they will not be so busie hereafter in our court and counsel , as they have bin formerly . another cause of our calamity is a strange race of peeple ( the puritans ) sprung up among our selfs , who were confederat with those of the north ; they wold make gods house cleane , and by putting out the candle of all ancient learning and knowledge , they would sweep it only by the light of an ignis fatuus : but 't is visibly found that they have brought much more rubbage into it , and wheras in reforming this house , they shold rather find out the groat that is lost , they go about to take away the mite that 's left , and so put christs spouse to live on meer almes : true it is , there is a kind of zeal that burns in them , ( and i could wish there were so much piety ) but this zeal burns with too much violence and presumption , which is no good symptom of spirituall health , it being a rule , that as the naturall heat , so the spirituall shold be moderat , els it commonly turns to a frenzy , and that is the thing which causeth such a giddinesse and distraction in their braines ; this ( proceeding from the suggestions of an ill spirit ) puffs them up with so much spirituall pride ; for the devill is so cunning a wrastler , that he oftentimes lifts men up to give them the greater fall : they think they have an inerring spirit , and that their diall must needs go tru , howsoever the sun goes : they wold make the gospell , as the caddies make the alchoran , to decide all civill temporall matters under the large notion of slander , whereof they forsooth to be the judges , and so in time to hook in all things to their classis : i believe if these men were dissected when they are dead , they would be a great deale of quicksilver found in their braines . proh superi , quantum mortalia pectora coecae noctis habent ! — but i could pitty the giddinesse of their braines , had they not so much gaul in their breasts , were they not so thirsting after blood , so full of poison and irreconcileable malice ; in so much that it may be very well thought , these men are a kin to that race which sprung out of the serpents teeth : these are they which have seduced our great counsell , and led this foolish city by the nose to begin and foment this ugly war , insomuch that if those numberless bodies which have perish'd in these commotions , were cast into her streets , and before her doores , many thousand citizens noses would bleed of pure guilt . not to hold you long , these are the men who have baffled common sence , blasted the beams of nature , and offered violence to reason it self ; these are they who have infatuated most of the peeple of this iland ; so that whereas in times past , som call'd her the i le of angels , she may be term'd now the i le of gulls , or more properly the i le of doggs , or rather indeed ●…he i le of wolfs , there is such a true lycanthrepy com in among us : i am loth to call her the iland of devills , though she hath bin branded so abroad . to conclude sir , the glory of this isle is quite blasted ; 't is tru they speak of peace , but while the king speakes to them of it , they make themselves ready for battle ; i much fear , that ixion-like we imbrace a cloud for peace , out of which there will issue out centaures , and monsters , as sprung out of that cloud . touching that ancient'st holy order whereof you see me to be ; i well hoped , that in regard they pretended to reforme things only , they wold not have quite extirpated , but regulated only this order : it had bin enough to brayle our wings , not to have ●…ear'd them : to have lopp'd and prun'd , not to have destroyed root and branch of that ancient tree which was planted by the hands of the apostles themselfs : in fine sir , we are a lost peeple , 't is no other dedalus , but the high deity of heaven can clue us out of this labyrinth of confusions , can extricat us out of this maze of miseries : the philosopher saith , 't is impossible for man to quadrat a circle ; so 't is not in the power of man , but of god alone , to make a loyall subject of a round head : among other things that strangers report of this iland , they say that winter here hath too many teares in his eyes : helas sir , 't is impossible he shold have too many now , to bewaile the lamentable base slavery , that a free-born peeple is com to : and though they are grown so tame as to kisse the rod that whips them , yet their taskmasters will not throw it into the fire . truly sir , as my tongue is too feeble to expresse our miseries , so the plummet of the best understanding is too short to fadom the depth of them . with this , the grave venerable bishop giving me his benediction , fetcht such a sigh , that would have rended a rock asunder ; and suddenly vanish'd ( methought ) out out of my sight up towards heaven . i presently after awoke about the dawnings of the day , when one could hardly discern dog from wolf ; and my soul , my arimula vagula blandula , being re-entred through the horn gate of sleep into her former mansion , half tyr'd after so long a peregrination ; and having rub'd my eyes , distended my limms , and return'd to a full expergefaction , i began to call my self to account touching those world of objects my fancy had represented unto me that night ; and when by way of reminiscence i fel to examin●… and ruminate upon them ; lord , what a masse of ideas ran in my head ! but when i call'd to mind the last countrey my soul wandred in , methought i felt my heart like a lump of lead within me , when i considered how pat every circumstance might be applyed to the present condition of england : i was meditating with my self what kind of dream this might be ; wherupon i thought upon the common division that philosophers make of dreams , that they are either divine , diabolicall , naturall , or humane . for the first , they are visions more properly or revelations , wherof ther are divers examples in the holy oracles of god , but the puddled cranies of my brain are not rooms clean enough to entertain such : touching the second kind , which come by the impulses of the devil , i have heard of divers of them , as when one did rise up out of his sleep , and fetcht a poyniard to stab his bed-fellow , which he had done , had he not bin awake ; another went to the next chamber abed to his mother , and wold have ravish'd her ; but i thank god this dream of mine was not of that kind . touching the third species of dreams ; which are naturall dreams , they are according to the humor which predominats ; if melancholy sway , we dream of black darksom devious places ; if phlegm , of waters ; if choler , of frayes , fightings , and troubles ; if sanguin predominat , we dream of green fields , gardens , and other pleasant representations ; and the physitian comes often to know the quality of a disease by the nocturnal objects of the patients fancy . humane dreams the last sort relate to the actions of the day past , or of the day following , and som representations are clear and even ; others are amphibious , mongrell , distorted and squalid objects , ( according to the species of trees over troubled waters : ) and the object is clear or otherwise , accorning to the tenuity or grossenesse of the vapors which ascend from the ventricle up to the brain . touching my dream , i think it was of this last kind ; for i was discoursing of , and condoling the sad distempers of our times the day before : i pray god som part of it prove not propheticall ; for , although the frenchman sayeth , songes sont mensonges , dreames are delusions , and that they turn to contraries , yet the spaniard hath a saying , et ciego sonnava que via yera lo que querria . the blind man dreamt he did see light , the thing he wish'd for happen'd right . insomuch that some dreams oftentimes prove tru ; as s. austin makes mention of a rich merchant in milan , who being dead , one of his creditors comes to his son to demand such a sum of money which he had lent his father ; the son was confident 't was paid , but not finding the creditors receipt , he was impleaded and like to be cast in the sute , had not his fathers ghost appeared to him , and directed him to the place where the acquittance was , which he found the next day accordingly . galen speaks of one that dreamt he had a wooden leg , and the next day he was taken with a dead palsie in one whole side . such a dream was that of william rufus , when he thought he had felt a cold gust passing through his bowels ; and the next day he was slain in the guts , by the glance of an arrow , in new forrest , a place where he and his father had committed so many sacrileges . i have read in artimedorus , of a woman that dreamt she had seen the pictures of three faces in the moone like her self , and she was brought to bed of three daughters a little after , who all died within the compas of a moneth . another dreamt , that xanthus water ran red , and the next day he fell a spitting of blood . to this i will add another fore-telling dream , whereof i have read , which was thus : two young gentlemen being travelling abroad in strange countreyes , and being come to a great towne , the one lay far in the citie , the other in an hostry without the wall in the suburbs : he in the city did dream in the dead of night , that his friend which he had left in the suburbs rush'd into his chamber panting and blowing , being pursued by others ; he dreamt so againe , and the third time he might see his friends ghost appearing at his beds side with bloud trickling down his throat , and a poyniard in his brest , telling him , dear friend , i am come now to take my last farewell of thee , and if thou rise betimes , thou shalt meet me in the way going to be buryed ; the next morning his friend going with his host towards the inn in the suburbs wher he left his friend , they met with a cart laden with dung in the way , which being staid and search'd , the dead body was found naked in the dung . i will conclude with a notable dream that osman the great turk had not many years since , a few days before he was murthered by his janizaries , 1623. he dreamt , that being mounted upon a huge camel , he could not make him go , though he switch'd and spur'd him never so much ; at last the camel overthrew him , and being upon the ground , only the bridle was left in his hand , but the body of the camel was vanished : the mufti not being illuminated enough to interpret this dream , a santon who was a kind of idiot , told him , the camel represented the ottoman empire , which he not being able to govern , he shold be o'rethrown , which two dayes after proved tru . by these , and a cloud of examples more , we may conclude , that dreams are not altogether impertinent , but somthing may be gathered out of them ; though the application and meaning of them be denyed to man , unless by special illumination . somnia venturi sunt praescia saepe diei . by dreams we oft may guesse at the next dayes successe . thus have you a rough account of a rambling noctivagation up and down the world : i may boldly say , that neither sir iohn mandevile , or coryat himself travell'd more in so short a time : whence you see what nimble postillions the animal spirits are ; and with what incredible celerity the imagination can crosse the line , cut the tropiques , and pass to the other hemisphere of the world ; which shews that humane souls have somthing in them of the almighty , that their faculties have a kind of ubiquitary freedom , though the body be never so under restraint , as the authors is . they erre as much who think all dreams false , as they who think them alwayes tru . in the prison of the fleet 3. idus decembris 1645. i. h. a vindication of his majesty , touching a letter he writ to rome from the court of spain , in answer to a letter which pope gregory the 15th . had sent him upon passing the dispensation for concluding the match with the i●…fanta . which letter mr. pryn mention's in his book call'd the popish royal favorit , wherby the world is apt to beleeve that his majesty had inclinations to pope●…y . ther goe's also herewith , a clearing of som aspersions that the said mr. pryn cast's upon the author hereof in the same pamphlet , viz. that he was a malignant , and no friend to parlements . wherby , he takes occasion to speak somthing of the first rise , and also of the duty as well as the authority of parlements . to my worthily honor'd friend sir w. s. knight . sir , i have many thanks to give you for the book you pleased to send me , called the popish royal favorite ; and according to your advice ( which i value in a high degree ) i did put pen to paper , and somthing you may see i have done ( though in a poor pamphleting way ) to clear my self of those aspersions that seem to be cast upon his majesty ; but truly sir , i was never so unfit for such a task ; all my papers , manuscripts , and notes having bin long since seized upon and kept from me : adde hereunto , that besides this long pressure and languishment of close restraint ( the sense wherof i find hath much stupified my spirits ) it pleased god to visit me lately with a dangerous fit of sickness , a high burning fever , with the new disease , wherof my body as well as my mind is yet somwhat crazie : so that ( take all afflictions together ) i may truly say , i have passed the ordeal , the fiery tryal . but it hath pleased god to reprieve me to see better daies i hope ; for out of this fatal black cloud , which now ore-sets this poor island , i hope ther will break a glorious sun-shine of peace and firm happinesse : to effect which , had i a jury , a grand-jury of lives , i wold sacrifice them all , and triumph in the oblation . so i most affectionately kiss your hands , and rest your faithfull ( though afflicted ) servant , from the prison of the fleet. i. h. the pre-eminence , and duty of parlement . sectio prima . i am a free-born subject of the realm of england ; wherby i claim as my native inheritance , an undoubted right , propriety , and portion in the laws of the land : and this distinguisheth me from a slave . i claim likewise protection from my soverain prince , who as he is my liege lord is obliged to protect me , and i being one of his liege peeple am obliged to obey him by way of reciprocation ; i claim also an interest and common right in the high national court of parlement , and in the power , the priviledges and jurisdiction therof , which i put in equal ballance with the laws , in regard it is the fountain whence they spring ; and this i hold also to be a principall part of my birth-right ; which great councell i honour , respect , value , and love in as high a degree as can be , as being the bulwark of our liberties , the main boundary and bank which keeps us from slavery , from the inundations of tyrannicall rule , and unbounded will-government . and i hold my self obliged in a tye of indispensable obedience , to conform and submit my self to whatsoever shall be transacted , concluded , and constituted by its authority in church or state with the royal assent , whether it be by making , enlarging , altering , diminishing , disanulling , repealing , or reviving of any law , statute , act , or ordinance whatsoever , either touching matters ecclesiastical , civil , common , capital , criminall , martial , maritime , municipall , or any other ; of all which the transcendent and uncontrollable jurisdiction of that court is capable to take cognizance . amongst the three things which the athenian captain thank'd the gods for , one was , that he was born a grecian , and not a barbarian ; for such was the vanity of the greeks , and after them of the romans in the flourish of their monarchy , to arrogat all civility to themselves , and to terme all the world besides barbarians : so i may say to rejoyce , that i was born a vassall to the crown of england ; that i was born under so well-moulded and tempered a government , which endows the subject with such liberties and infranchisements that bear up his naturall courage , and keep him still in heart ; such liberties that fence and secure him eternally from the gripes and tallons of tyranny : and all this may be imputed to the authority and wisedome of this high court of parlement , wherein there is such a rare co-ordination of power ( though the soveraignty remain still entire , and untransferrable in the person of the prince ) there is such a wholsom mixture 'twixt monarchy , optimacy , and democracy , 'twixt prince , peers , and commonalty , during the time of consultation , that of so many distinct parts , by a rare co-operation and unanimity they make but one body politick , ( like that shea●…e of arrows in the emblem ) one entire concentricall peece , the king being still the head , and the results of their deliberations but as so many harmonious diapasons arising from different strings . and what greater immunity and happinesse can there be to a peeple , than to be liable to no laws but what they make themselves ? to be subject to no contribution , assessement , or any pecuniary erogations whatsoever , but what they vote , and voluntarily yeeld unto themselves ? for in this compacted politick body , there be all degrees of peeple represented ; both the mechanick , tradesman , merchant , and yeoman have their inclusive vote , as well as the gentry , in the persons of their trustees , their knights and burgesses , in passing of all things . nor is this soveraign surintendent councell an epitome of this kingdom only , but it may be said to have a representation of the whole universe ; as i heard a fluent well-worded knight deliver the last parliameut , who compared the beautifull composure of that high court to the great work of god , the world it self : the king is as the sun , the nobles the fixed stars , the itineant judges and other officers ( that go upon messages 'twixt both houses ) to the planets ; the clergy , to the element of fire ; the commons , to the solid body of earth , and the rest of the elements . and to pursue this comparison a little farther ; as the heavenly bodies , when three of them meet in conjunction , do use to produce some admirable effects in the elementary world ; so when these three states convene and assemble in one solemne great iunta , some notable and extraordinary things are brought forth , tending to the welfare of the whole kingdom our microcosme . he that is never so little versed in the annals of this i le , will find that it hath bin her fate to be four times conquered , i exclude the scot for the scituation of his country , and the quality of the clime hath been such an advantage and security to him , that neither the roman eagles would fly thither for fear of freezing their wings , nor any other nation attempt the work . these so many conquests must needs bring with them many tumblings and tossings , many disturbances and changes in government ; yet i have observed , that notwithstanding these tumblings , it retained still the forme of a monarchy , and something there was always that had an analogy with the great assembly of parlement . the first conquest i find was made by claudius caesar , at which time ( as some well observe ) the roman ensignes , and the standard of christ came in together : it is well known what lawes the roman had ; he had his comitia , which bore a resemblance with our convention in parlement ; the place of their meeting was called praetorum , and the laws which they enacted , plebiscita . the saxon conquest succeeded next , which were the english , there being no name in welsh or irish for an english man , but saxon , to this day ; they also governed by parlement , though it were under other names , as michel sinoth , michel gemote , and witenage mote . there are records above a thousand years old of these parlements in the reigns of king ina , offa , ethelbert , and the rest of the seven kings during the heptarchy : the british kings also , who retain'd a great while some part of the isle unconquered , governed and made laws by a kind of parlementary way ; witnesse the famous laws of prince howell , called howell dha , ( the good prince howell ) whereof there are yet extant some british records : parlements were also used after the heptarchy by king kenulphus , alphred , and others ; witnesse that renowned parliament held at grately by king athelstan . the third conquest was by the danes , and they govern'd also by such generall assemblies , ( as they do to this day ) witnesse that great and so much celebrated parlement held by that mighty monarch canutus , who was king of england , denmark , norway , and other regions 150 years before the compiling of magna charta ; and this the learned in the laws do hold to be one of the specialst , and most authentick peeces of antiquity we have extant . edward the confessor made all his laws thus , ( and he was a great legis-lator , ) which the norman conquerour ( who liking none of his sons , made god almighty his heir by bequeathing unto him this island for a legacy ) did ratifie and establish , and digested them into one entire methodicall systeme , which being violated by rufus , ( who came to such a disastrous end as to be shot to death in lieu of a buck for his sacriledges ) were restor'd by henry the first , and so they continued in force till king iohn ; whose reign is renowned for first confirming magna charta , the foundation of our liberties ever since : which may be compar'd to divers outlandish graffes set upon one english stock ; or to a posie of sundry fragrant flowers ; for the choicest of the british , the roman , saxon , danish , and norman laws , being cull'd and pick'd out and gathered as it were into one bundle , out of them the foresaid grand charter was extracted ; and the establishment of this great charter was the work of a parliament . nor are the lawes of this island only , and the freedome of the subject conserved by parlement , but all the best policed countries of europe have the like . the germanes have their diets , the danes and swedes their rijcks dachs ; the spaniard calls his parlement las cortes ; and the french have , ( or should have at least ) their assembly of three states , though it be growne now in a manner obsolete , because the authority thereof was ( by accident ) devolv'd to the king. and very remarkable it is , how this happened ; for when the english had taken such large footing in most parts of france , having advanced as far as orleans and driven their then king charles the seventh , to bourges in berry the assembly of the three states in these pressures , being not able to meet after the usuall manner in full parlement because the countrey was unpassable , the enemy having made such firme invasions up and down through the very bowels of the kingdom ; that power which formerly was inhaerent in the parlementary assembly , of making laws , of assessing the subject with taxes , subsidiary levies , and other impositions , was transmitted to the king during the war ; which continueth many years , that entrusted power by length of time grew as it were habitual in him , and could never after be re-assumed and taken from him ; so that ever since , his edicts countervaile acts of parlement . and that which made the businesse more feasable for the king , was , that the burthen fell most upon the communalty ( the clergy and nobility not feeling the weight of it ) who were willing to see the peasan pull'd down a little , because not many years before , in that notable rebellion , call'd la jaquerie de beauvoisin , which was suppressed by charles the wise , the common people put themselves boldly in arms against the nobility and gentry , to lessen their power . adde hereunto as an advantage to the work , that the next succeeding king lewis the eleventh , was a close cunning prince , and could well tell how to play his game , and draw water to his own mill ; for amongst all the rest , he was said to be the first that put the kings of france , hors de page , out of their minority , or from being pages any more , though therby he brought the poor peasans to be worse than lacquays , and they may thank themselfs for it . neverthelesse , as that king hath an advantage hereby one way , to monarchize more absolutely , and never to want money , but to ballast his purse when he will ; so ther is another mighty inconvenience ariseth to him and his whole kingdom another way ; for this peeling of the peasan hath so dejected him , and cowed his native courage so much by the sense of poverty ( which brings along with it a narrownesse of 〈◊〉 ) that he is little usefull for the war : which put 's the french king to make other nations mercenary to him , to fill up his infantery : insomuch , that the kingdom of france may be not unfitly compared to a body that hath all it's bloud drawn up into the arms , breast and back , and scarce any le●…t from the girdle downwards , to cherish and bear up the lower parts , and keep them from starving . all this seriously considered , ther cannot be a more proper and pregnant example than this of our next neighbours , to prove how infinitly necessary the parlement is to assert , to prop up and preserve the publick liberty , and national rights of a peeple , with the incolumity and well-fare of a countrey . nor doth the subject only reap benefit thus by parlement , but the prince , ( if it be well consider'd ) hath equal advantage therby ; it rendreth him a king of free and able men , which is far more glorious than to be a king of cowards , beggars , and bankrupts ; men that by their freedom , and competency of wealth , are kept still in heart to do him service against any forrain force . and it is a tru maxime in all states , that 't is lesse danger and dishonour for the prince to be poor , than his people : rich subjects can make their king rich when they please , if he gain their hearts , he will quickly get their purses . parlement encreaseth love and good intelligence 'twixt him and his peeple , it acquaints him with the reality of things , and with the tru state and diseases of his kingdom , it brings him to the knowledg of his better sort of subjects , and of their abilities , which he may employ accordingly upon all occasions ; it provides for his royal issue , pays his debts , finds means to fill his coffers : and it is no ill observation , that parlementmoneys ( the great aid ) have prospered best with the kings of england ; it exceedingly raiseth his repute abroad , and enableth him to keep his foes in fear , his subjects in awe , his neighbours and confederates in security , the three main things which go to aggrandize a prince , and render him glorious . in summe , it is the parlement that supports , and bears up the honour of his crown , and settles his throne in safety , which is the chief end of all their consultations : for whosoever is entrusted to be a member of this high court , carryeth with him a double capacity ; he sits ther as a patriot , and as a subject : as he is the one , the country is his object , his duty being to vindicat the publick liberty , to make wholsom lawes , to put his hand to the pump , and stop the leaks of the great vessel of the state , to pry into , and punish corruption and oppression , to improve and advance trade , to have the grievances of the place he serves for redressed , and cast about how to find somthing that may tend to the advantage of it . but he must not forget that he sits ther also as a subject , and according to that capacity , he must apply himself to do his soveraignt businesse , to provide not only for his publick , but his personall wants ; to bear up the lustre and glory of his court ; to consider what occasions of extraordinary expences he may have , by encrease of royal issue , or maintenance of any of them abroad ; to enable him to vindicat any affront or indignity that might be offered to his person , crown , or dignity , by any forrain state or kingdom , or intestin rebellion ; to consult what may enlarge his honour , contentment , and pleasure . and as the french tacitus ( comines ) hath ●…t , the english nation was used to be more ●…orward and zealous in this particular than ●…ny other ; according that to ancient eloquent speech of a great lawyer , domus regis vigi●…a defendit omnium , otium illius labor omni●…m , deliciae illius industria omnium , vacatio ●…lius occupatio omnium , salus illius periculum ●…nium , honor illius objectum omnium . eve●… one shold stand centinell to defend the kings house , his safety shold be the danger of 〈◊〉 , his pleasures the industry of all , his ease ●…old be the labour of all , his honour the ob●…ct of all . out of these premisses this conclusion ●…ay be easily deduced , that , the principall ●…ntain whence the king derives his happiness and safety , is his parlement ; it is that great conduit-pipe which conveighes unto him his peoples bounty and gratitude ; the truest looking-glasse wherin he discernes their loves ; ( now the subjects love hath been always accounted the prime cittadell of a prince . ) in his parlement he appears as the sun in the meridian , in the altitude of his glory , in his highest state royal , as the law tells us . therfore whosoever is averse or disaffected to his soveraign law-making court ▪ cannot have his heart well planted within him , he can be neither good subject , no●… good patriot , and therfore unworthy to breath english aire , or have any benefit , advantage , or protection from the laws . sectio secunda . by that which hath bin spoken , which is the language of my heart , i hope no indifferent judicious reader will doubt of the cordiall affection , of the high respects and due reverence i bear to parlement , as being the wholsomest constitution , ( and done by the highest and happiest reach of policy that ever was established in this island ) to perpetuate the happinesse therof . therfore i must tell that gentleman , who was author of a book entituled the popish royal favorite , ( lately printed and exposed to the world ) that he offers me very hard measure ; nay , he doth me apparent wrong , to term me therin , no friend to parlement , and a malignant ▪ a character , which as i deserve it not , so i disdain it . for the first part of his charge , i wold have him know , that i am as much a friend and as reall an affectionat humble servant and votary to the parlement as possibly he can be , and will live and die with these affections about me : and i could wish , that he were secretary of my thoughts a while , or if i may take the boldnesse to apply that comparison his late majesty used in a famous speech to one of his parlements , i could wish ther were a chrystal window in my breast , through which the world might espye the inward motions and palpitations of my heart , then would he be certified of the sincerity of this protestation . for the second part of his charge , to be a malignant , i must confesse to have som malignity that lurks within me much against my will ; but it is no malignity of mind , it is amongst the humors , not in my intellectuals ; and i believe , ther is no naturall man , let him have his humors never so well ballanced , but hath som of this malignity reigning within him ; for as long as we are composed of the four elements , whence these humors are derived , and with whom they symbolize in qualities ; which elements the philosophers hold to be in a restlesse contention amongst themselves ( and the stoick thought that the world subsisted by this innated mutual strise ) as long i say , as the four humors , in imitation of their principles ( the elements ) are in perpetual reluctancy and combate for praedominancy , ther must be som malignity lodg'd within us , as adusted choler , and the like ; wherof i had late experience , in a dangerous fit of sicknesse it pleased god to lay upon me , which the physitians told me proceeded from the malignant hypocondriacall effects of melancholy ; having bin so long in this saturnine black condition of close imprisonment , and buryed alive between the walls of this fatal fleet : these kinds of malignities , i confesse are very rife in me , and they are not only incident , but connaturall to every man according to his complexion ; and were it not for this incessant strugling and enmity amongst the humors for mastery , which produceth such malignant effects in us , our souls wold be loth ever to depart from our bodies , or to abandon this mansion of clay . now what malignity my accuser means , i know not ; if he means malignity of spirit , as som antipathy or ill impression upon the mind , arising from disaffection , hatred , or rancor , with a desire of som destructive revenge , he is mightily deceived in me ; i maligne or hate no creature that ever god made but the devill , who is the author of all malignity ; and therfore is most commonly called in french le malin esprit , the malignant spirit . every night before i go to bed , i have the grace , i thank god for it , to forgive all the world , and not to harbour , or let roost in my bosom the least malignant thought ; yet none can deny , but the publick aspersions which this my accuser casts upon me , were enough to make me a malignant towards him ; yet it could never have the power to do it : for i have prevail'd with my self to forgive him this his wrong censure of me , issuing rather from his notknowledge of me , than from malice , for we never mingled speech , or saw one another in our lives to my remembrance ; which makes me wonder the more , that a professor of the law , as he is , shold pronounce such a positive sentence against me so slightly . but methinks i over-hear him say , that my precedent discourse of parlement is invol'd in generals , and the topique axiome tells us , that dolus versatur in universalibus , ther is double dealing in universals : his meaning is , that i am no friend to this present parlement ( though he speaks in the plurall number parlements ) and consequently , he concludes me a malignant ; therin i must tell him also , that i am traduc'd , and i am confident it will be never prov'd against me , from any actions , words , or letters ( though divers of mine have bin intercepted ) or any other misdemeanor , though som things are father'd upon me which never drop'd from my quill . alas , how unworthy and uncapable am i to censure the proceedings of that great senate , that high synedrion , wherin the wisdom of the whole state is epitomized ? it were a presumption in me , of the highest nature that could be : it is enough for me to pray for the prosperous successe of their consultations : and as i hold it my duty , so i have good reason so to do , in regard i am to have my share in the happinesse ; and could the utmost of my poor endeavours , by any ministerial humble office ( and somtimes the meanest boat-swain may help to preserve the ship from sinking ) be so happy , as to contribut any thing to advance that great work ( which i am in despair to do , while i am thus under hatches in this fleet , ) i wold esteem it the greatest honor that possibly could befall me , as i hold it now to be my greatest disaster , to have fallen so heavily under an affliction of this nature , and to be made a sacrifice to publick fame , than which there is no other proof , nor that yet urg'd against me , or any thing else produc'd after so long , so long captivity which hath brought me to suck a low ebbe , and put me so far behind in the course of my poor fortunes , and indeed more than halfe undone me . for although my whole life ( since i was left to my self to swim , as they say , without bladders ) has bin nothing else but a continued succession of crosses , and that there are but few red letters found ( god wot ) in the almanack of my age , ( for which i account not my self a whit the lesse happy ) yet this crosse has carried with it a greater weight , it hath bin of a larger extent , longer continuance , and lighted heavier upon me than any other ; and as i have present patience to beare it , so i hope for subsequent grace to make use of it accordingly , that my old motto may be still confirmed , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . he produceth my attestation for some passages in spaine at his majesties being there , and he quotes me right , which obligeth me to him ; and i hope all his quotations wherein he is so extraordinarily copious and elaborate in all his workes , are so ; yet i must tel him , that those interchangeable letters which pass'd between his majesty & the pope , which were originally couch'd in latin , the language wherin all nations treat with rome , and the empire with all the princes thereof , those letters i say are adulterated in many places , which i impute not to him , but to the french chronicler , from whom he took them in trust . the truth of that businesse is this ; the world knows there was a tedious treaty of an alliance 'twixt the infanta dona maria ( who now is empresse ) and his majesty , which in regard of the slow affected pace of the spaniard , lasted above ten yeares , as that in henry the sevenths time , 'twixt prince arthur , and ( afterwards ) queen katherine , was spun out above seven : to quicken , or rather to consummate the work , his majesty made that adventurous journey through the whole continent of france into spaine ; which voyage , though there was a great deale of gallantry in it ( wherof all posterity will ring untill it turne at last to a romance ) yet it prov'd the bane of the businesse , which 't is not the errand of so poor a pamphlet as this to unfold . his majesty being there arriv'd , the ignorant common people cried out , the prince of wales came thither to make himself a christian ; the pope writ to the inquisitor generall , and others , to use all industry they could to reduce him to the romane religion ; and one of olivares first complements to him , was , that he doubted not but that his highnesse came thither to change his religion : whereunto he made a short answer , that he came not thither for a religion but for a wife : there were extraordinary processions made , and other artifices us'd by protraction of things , to make him stay ther of purpose till the spring following , to work upon him the better ; and the infanta her self desir'd him ( which was esteem'd the greatest favour he received from her all the while ) to visit the nunne of carton , hoping that the say'd nunne , who was so much cried up for miracles , might have wrought one upon him ; but her art failed her , nor was his highness so weak a subject to work upon according to his late majesties speech to doctor mawe and wren , who when they came to kisse his hands before they went to spaine to attend the prince their master , he wish ed them to have a care of buckinham ; as touching his sonne charles , he apprehended no feare at all of him ; for he knew him to be so well grounded a protestant , that nothing could shake him in his religion . the arabian proverb is , that the sun never soiles in his passage , though his beams reverberate never so strongly , and dwell never so long upon the myry lake of maeotis , the black turf'd moores of holland , the aguish woose of kent and essex , or any other place , be it never so dirty ; though spaine be a hot countrey , yet one may passe and repasse through the very center of it , and never be sun-burnt , if he carry with him a bongrace , and such a one his majesty had . well , after his majesties arrivall to madrid , the treaty of marriage went on still , ( though he told them at his first comming , that he came not thither like an ambassador to treat of a marriage , but as a prince , to fetch home a wife ; ) and in regard they were of different religions , it could not be done without a dispensation from the pope , and the pope would grant none , unlesse some capitulations were stipulated in favour of the romish catholikes in england , ( the same in substance were agreed on with france . ) well , when the dispensation came , which was negotiated solely by the king of spains ministers ( because his majesty would have as little to do as might be with rome ) pope gregory the fifteenth , who died a little after , sent his majesty a letter , which was delivered by the nuncio , whereof an answer was sent a while after : which letters were imprinted and exposed to the view of the world , because his majesty would not have people whisper , that the businesse was carried in a clandestine manner . and truly besides this , i do not know of any letter , or message , or complement , that ever pass'd twixt his majesty and the pope afore or after ; some addresses peradventure might be made to the cardinalls , to whom the drawing of those matrimoniall dispatches was referred to quicken the work , but this was only by way of civil negotiation . now touching that responsory letter from his majesty , it was no other than a complement in the severest interpretation ; and such formalities passe 'twixt the crown of england , the great turke , the mogor and divers heathen princes . the pope writ first , and no man can deny , but by all morall rules , and in common humane civility his majesty was bound to answer it , specially considering how punctual they are in those countries to correspond in this kind , how exact they are repaying visits , with the performance of such ceremonies ; and had this compliance bin omitted , it might have made very ill impressions , as the posture of things stood then ; for it had prejudiced the great work in hand , i mean , the match , which was then in the heat and height of agitation , his majesties person was ther engaged , besides , and so it was no time to give the least offence : they that are never so little vers'd in businesse abroad , do know that ther must be addresses , compliances , and formalities of this nature us'd in the carriage of matters of state , as this great businesse was , wheron the eyes of all christendom were so greedily fix'd ; a businesse which was like to bring with it such an universal good , as the restitution of the palatinat , the quenching of those hideous fires in germany , and the establishing of a peace throughout all the christian world. i hope none will take offence , that in this particular which comes within the compasse of my knowledg ( being upon the stage when his scene was acted ) i do this right to the king my master , in displaying the truth , and putting her forth in her own colours , a rare thing in these days . touching the vocall forrest , an allegorical discourse , that goes abroad under my name , a good while before the beginning of this parlement , which this gentleman cites ( and that very faithfully , ) i understand ther be som that mutter at certain passages therin , by putting ill glosses upon the text , and taking with the left hand , what i offer with the right , ( nor is it a wonder for trees which ly open , and stand exposed to all weathers to be nipt . ) but i desire this favour , which in common justice , i am sure in the court of chancery cannot be denyed me , it being the priviledge of every author , and a received maxime through the world , cujus est condere , ejus est interpretari ; i say , i crave this favour , to have leave to expound my own text , and i doubt not then but to rectifie any one in his opinion of me , and that in lieu of the plums which i give him from those trees , he will not throw the stones at me . moreover , i desire those that are over criticall censu●…ers of that peece , to know , that as in divinity it is a rule , scriptur a parabolica non est argumentativa , so it is in all other kind of knowledg ; parables ( wherof that discourse is composed ) though pressed never so hard , prove nothing . the●… is another rule also , that parables must be gently used , like a nurses breast ; which if you presse too hard , you shall have bloud in stead of milk . but as the author of the vocall forrest thinks he hath done , neither his countrey , nor the common wealth of learning any prejudice therby ( that maiden fancy having received so good entertainment and respect abroad , as to be translated into divers languages , and to gain the publick approbation of som famous universities ) so he makes this humble protest unto all the world , that though the designe of that discourse was partly satyricall ( which peradventure induc'd the author to shrowd it of purpose under the shadowes of trees , and where should satyres be but amongst trees ? ) yet it never entred into his imagination to let fall from him the least thing that might give any offence to the high and honourable court of parlement , whereof he had the honour to be once a member , and hopes he may be thought worthy again : and were he guilty of such an offence , or piacle rather , he thinks he shold never forgive himself , though he were appointed his own judge . if ther occur any passages therin , that may admit a hard construction , let the reader observe , that the author doth not positively assert , or passe a judgement on any thing in that discourse , which consists principally of concise , cursory narrations of the choisest ▪ occurrences and criticismes of state , according as the pulse of time did beat then : and matters of state , as all other sublunary things , are subject to alterations , contingencies and change , which makes the opinions and minds of men vary accordingly . i will conclude with this modest request to that gentleman of the long robe ; that having unpassionately perus'd what i have written in this small discourse , in penning wherof , my conscience guided my quill all along as well as my hand , he wold please to be so charitable and just , as to reverse that harsh sentence upon me , to be no friend to parlements and a malignant . a glance upon the i le of wight , and upon the unparallell'd concessions of grace his majesty pass'd in that trety , &c. concluding with the horrid murther committed afterwards upon his sacred person . cui dabit partes scelus expiant iupiter ? a glance upon the i le of wight , or an inquisition after truth . who vindicats truth doth a good office not onely to his own country , but to all mankind ; it is the scope of this short discourse , viz. to make som researches after truth , and to rectifie the world accordingly in point of opinion , specially touching the first author and aggressor of the late ugly war in england , which brought with it such an inundation of bloud , and so did let in so huge a torrent of mischiefs to rush upon us . ther be many , and they not only presbyterians and independents , but cavaliers also , who think that the king had taken the guilt of all this bloud upon himself , in regard of that concession he passed in the preamble of the late treaty at the isle of wight ; the aim of this paper is to clear that point , but in so temperat a way , that i hope 't will give no cause of exception , much lesse of offence to any : the bloud that 's sought after here , shall not be mingled with gaule , much lesse with any venom at all . we know ther is no principle either in divinity , law or philosophy , but may be wrested to a wrong sense ; ther is no truth so demonstrative and clear , but may be subject to cavillations ; no tenet so plain , but perverse inferences may be drawn out of it ; such a fate befell that preambular concession his majesty passed at the transactions of the late treaty , in that he acknowledg'd therin that the two houses of parlement were necessitated to undertake a war in their own just and lawful defence , &c. and that therfore all oaths , declarations , or other public instruments against the houses of parlement , or any for adhering to them , &c. be declared null , suppressed , and forbidden . 't is true , his majesty passed this grant , but with this weighty consideration as it had reference to two ends . first , to smoothen and facilitate things thereby to open a passage , and pave the way to a happy peace , which this poor iland did so thirst after , having bin so long glutted with civil blood . secondly , that it might conduce to the further security , and the indemnifying of the two houses of parlement , with all their instruments , assistants , and adherents , and so rid them of all jealousies , and fear of future dangers which still lodg'd within them . now touching the expressions and words of this grant , they were not his own , nor did he give order for the dictating or penning thereof ; the king was not the author of them , but an assentor only unto them : nor was he or his party accus'd , or as much as mentioned in any of them , to draw the least guilt upon themselves . besides , he pass'd them as he doth all lawes and acts of parlement , which in case of absence another may do for him in his politic capacity , therfore they cannot prejudice his person any way . i am loth to say that he condescended to this grant , — cum strict a novacula supra , when the razor was as it were at his throat , when ther was an army of about thirty thousand effectif horse and foot that were in motion against him , when his person had continued under a black long lingring restraint , and dangerous menacing petitions and papers daily ob●…ruded against him . moreover , his majesty pass'd this concession with these two provisos and reservations , first , that it should be of no vertu or validity at all , till the whole treaty were intirely consummated ; secondly , that he might when he pleas'd inlarge and cleer the truth with the reservednesse of his meaning herein , by public declaration : now the treaty being confusedly huddled up , without discussing , or as much as receiving any proposition from himself as was capitulated , ( and reciprocall proposalls are of the essence of all treaties ) it could neither bind him , or turne any way to his disadvantage : therfore under favour , ther was too much hast us'd by the parlement , to draw that hipothetick or provisional concession to the form of an act so suddenly after in the very heat of the treaty , without his majesties knowledg , or the least intimation of his pleasure . add hereunto , that this grant was but a meer preambular proposition , 't was not of the essence of the treaty it self : and as the philosophers and schoolemen tell us , there is no valid proof can be drawn out of proemes , introductions or corollaries in any science , but out of the positive assertions and body of the text , which is only argument-proof ; so in the constitutions and laws of england , as also in all accusations and charges , forerunning prefaces & preambles ( which commonly weak causes want most ) are not pleadable : and though they use to be first in place , like gentlemen-ushers , yet are they last in dignity , as also in framing , nor had they ever the force of laws , but may be term'd their attendants to make way for them . besides , ther 's not a syllable in this preface which repeals or connives at any former law of the land , therefore those laws that so strictly inhibit english subjects to raise armes against their liege lord the king , and those lawes è contrario which exempt from all dangers , penalties or molestation , any subject that adheres to the person of the king in any cause or buarrell whatsoever , are still in force . furthermore , this introductory concession of the kings , wherein he is contented to declare , that the two houses were necessitated to take armes for their defence , may be said to have relation to the necessity , à parte pòst , not à parte antè : self-defence is the universall law of nature , and it extends to all other cretures , as well as to the rationall : as the fluent roman orator in that sentence of his , which is accounted among the critiques the excellentest that ever drop'd from cicero ; est enim haec non scripta , sed nata lex quam non didicimus , accepimus , legimus , verum ex natura ipsa arripuimus , hausimus , expressimus , ad quam non docti , sed facti , non instituti , sed imbuti sum●…s , ut si vita nostra in &c. for this ( meaning self-defence ) is not a written , but a law born with us ; a law which we have not learnt , receiv'd or read , but that which we have suck'd , drawn forth , and wrung out of the very brests of nature her self ; a law to which we are not taught , but made unto , wherwith we are not instructed , but indued withall , that if our lifes be in jeopardy , &c. we may repel force by force . therfore when the house of parliament had drawn upon them a necessity of self defence ( and i could have wish'd it had bin against any other but their own soverain prince ) his majesty was contented to acknowledge that necessity . as for example : a man of war meets with a marchant man at sea , he makes towards him , and assaults him ; the marchant man having a good stout vessell under him , and resolute , generous seamen , bears up against him , gives him a whole broad-side , and shoots him 'twixt wind and water ; so there happens a furious fight betwixt them , which being ended , the marchant cannot deny but that the man of war , though the first assailant , was necessitated to fight , and that justly in his own defence , which necessity he drew upon himself , and so was excusable , à posteriori , not à priori ; as the civilians speak of a clandestine marriage , fieri non debuit , sed factum valet ; it ought not to have been , but being done 't is valid : wherunto relates another saying , multa sunt quae non nisi per acta approbantur . ther are many things which are not allowable til they are pass'd . the kings of france have had sundry civil wars , they have had many bloudy encounters and clashes with their subjects , specially the last king lewis the thirteenth , which turn'd all at last to his advantage ; among other treaties in that of loudun , he was by force of article to publish an edict , dont lequel le roy approuvoit tout le passé comme ayant esté fait pour son service , &c. wherin the king approv'd of all that w●…s pass'd , as done for his service , &c. and these concessions and extenuations are usuall at the close of most civil wars , but ther was never any further advantage made of them , then to make the adverse party more capable of grace and pardon , as also to enable them to bear up against the brunt of laws , and secure them more firmly from all after-claps ; they were pass'd in order to an act of abolition , to a generall pardon , and consequently to a re-establishment of peace ; now , peace and war ( we know ) are like water and ice , they engender one another : but i do not remember to have read either in the french history , or any other , that such royal concessions at the period of any intestin war were ever wrung so hard , as to draw any inference from them , to cast therby the guilt of bloud , or indeed the least stain of dishonour upon the king ; for royal indulgences and grants of this nature are like nurses breasts , if you presse them gently ther will milk come forth , if you wring them too hard you will draw forth bloud in lieu of milk : and i have observed that the conclusion of such treaties in france , both parties wold hugg and mutually embrace one another in a gallant way of national humanity ; all rancor , all plundrings , sequestration , and imprisonment wold cease , nor wold any be prosecuted , much lesse made away afterwards in cold bloud . touching the comencer of this monstrous war of ours , the world knows too well , that the first man of bloud was blew-cap , who shew'd subjects the way , how to present their king with petitions upon the pikes point , and what visible judgements have fallen upon him since , by such confusions of discord and pestilence at home , and irreparable dishonour abroad , let the world judge . the irish took his rise from him : and wheras it hath bin often suggested , that his majesty had foreknowledge therof , among a world of convincing arguments which may clear him in this particular , the lord maguair upon the ladder , and another upon the scaffold , when they were ready to breath their last , and to appear before the tribunall of heaven , did absolutely acquit the king , and that spontaneously of their own accord , being unsought unto , but only out of a love to truth , and discharge of a good conscience : but touching those cruentous irish wars , in regard ther was nothing wherof more advantage was made against his late majesty , to imbitter and poyson the hearts of his subjects against him then that rebellion , i will take leave to wind up the main causes of them upon a small bottom as was spoken elsewhere . 1. they who kept intelligence and complyed with the scot , in his first and second insurrection . 2. they who dismiss'd the first irish commissioners ( who came of purpose to attend our parlement with som grievances ) with such a short unpolitic harsh answer . 3. they who took off straffords head , ( which had it stood on , that rebellion had never been ) and afterwards retarded the dispatch of the earl of leicester from going over to be lord-lievtenant . 4. lastly , they , who hindred part of that disbanded army of 8000 men rais'd there by the earl of strafford , which his majesty , in regard they were souldiers of fortune , and loose casheer'd men , to prevent the mischiefs that might befall that kingdome , by their insolencies , had promised the two spanish ambassadors , the marquesses of veloda and malvezzi , then resident in this court ; which souldiers rise up first of any , and put fire to the tumult to find somthing to do . they , i say , who did all this , may be justly said to have bin the tru causes of that horrid insurrection in ireland ; and consequently 't is easie to judge upon the account of whose souls must be laid the bloud of those hundred and odd thousand poor christians who perished in that war ▪ and had it bin possible to have brought o're their bodies unputrified to england , and to have cast them at the lower house door , and in the presence of som members , which are now either secluded , or gone to give an account in another world , i believe their noses wold have gush'd out with bloud for discovery of the tru murtherers . touching this last fire-brand of war , which was thrown into england , who they were that kindled it first , the consciences of those indifferent and unbiassed men are sittest to be judges , who have bin curious to observe with impartial eyes , the carriage of things from the beginning . i confesse , 't was a fatal unfortunat thing , that the king shold put such a distance 'twixt his person and his parlement , but a more fatal and barbarous thing it was , that he should be driven away from it , that there should be a desperate designe to surprize his person , that ven with his myrmidons , and bourges with his bandogs , ( for so ▪ they calld the riffraff of the city they brought along with them ) should rabble him away , with above four parts in five of the lords , and near upon two parts in three of the commons : yet 't is fit it should be remembred , what reiterated messages his majesty sent from time to time afterward , that he was alwaies ready to return , provided there might be a course taken to secure his person , with those peers and other who were rioted away from the houses , 't is fit it should be remembred , that there was not the least motion of war at all , till hotham kept his majesty out of his own town kingston upon hull , ( for the name whereof shew'd whose town it was ) where being attended by a few of his meniall servants , he came onely to visit her , having peaceably sent the duke of york , and the palsgrave thither the day before ) which act of hotham's by shutting the gates against him was voted warrantable by the house of commons , and it may be call'd the first thunderbolt of war : 't is fit it should be remembred , that a while after there was a compleate army of 16000. effectif horse and foot inrolled in and about london to fetch him to his parliament by force , and remove ill counsellours from about him , ( long before he put up his royal standard ) and the generall then nam'd was to live and die with them : and very observable it is , how that generalls father was executed for a traytor , for but attempting such a thing upon queen elizabeth , i mean to remove ill counsellors from about her by force . 't is also to be observed , that the same army which was rais'd to bring him to his parliament , was continued to a clean contrary end two years afterwards to keep him from his parliament . 't is fit it should be remembred , who interdicted trade first , and brought in forraigners to help them , and whose commissions of war were neere upon two moneths date before the kings . 't is fit it should be remembred how his majesty in all his declarations and publick instruments made alwaies deep protestations , that 't was not against his parliament he raised armes , but against some seditious members , against whom he had onely desired the common benefit of the law , but could not obtain it ; 't is fit to remember , that after any good successes and advantages of his , he still courted both parliament and city to an accommodation ; how upon the treaty at uxbridge , with much importunity for the generall advantage and comfort of his peeple , and to prepare matters more fitly for a peace , he desired there might be freedom of trade from town to town , and a cessation of all acts of hostility for the time , that the inflammation being allayed , the wound might be cur●…d the sooner ; all which was denyed him . 't is fit to remember how a noble lord ( the earl of southampton ) at that time told the parliaments commissioners in his majesties name , at the most unhappy rupture of the said treaty , that when he was at the highest he would be ready to treat with them , and fight them when he was at the lowest : 't is fit the present army should remember how often both in their proposalls , and publick declarations they have inform'd the world , and deeply protested that their principall aime was to restore his majesty to honour , freedom and safety , whereunto they were formerly bound , both by their own protestation and covenant , that the two commanders in chief pawn'd unto him their soules thereupon . let them remember , that since he was first snatch'd away to the custody of the army by cromwells plot , who said , that if they had the person of the king in their power , they had the parliament in their pockets . i say being kept by the army , he never displeas'd them in the least particular , but in all his overtures for peace , and in all his propositions he had regard still that the army should be satisfied : let it be remembred , that to settle a blessed peace , to preserve his subjects from rapine and ruine , and to give contentment to his parliament , he did in effect freely part with his sword , scepter , and crown , and ev'ry thing that was proprietary to him : let it be remembred with what an admired temper , with what prudence and constancy , with what moderation and mansuetude he comported himself since his deep afflictions , insomuch that those commissioners and others who resorted unto him , and had had their hearts so averse unto him before , return'd his converts , crying him up to be one of the sanctifiedst persons upon earth : and will not the bloud of such a prince cry loud for vengeance ? bloud is a crying sin , but that of kings cryes loudest for revenge , and ruine brings . let it be remembred , that though there be some precedents of deposing kings in his kingdom , and elsewhere , when there was a competition for the right title to the crown by some other of the bloud royall , yet 't is a thing not onely unsampled , but unheard of in any age , that a king of england whose title was without the least scruple , should be summon'd and arraign'd , tryed , condemned , and executed in his own kingdom , by his own subjects , and by the name of their own king , to whom they had sworn alleagiance . the meanest student that hath but tasted the laws of the land can tell you , that it is an unquestionable fundamentall maxime , the king can do no wrong , because he acts by the mediation of his agents and ministers , he heares with other mens eares , he sees with other mens eyes , he consults with other mens braines , he executes with other mens hands , and judges with other mens consciences ; therefore his officers counsellors or favorites are punishable , not he : and i know not one yet whom he hath spar'd , but sacrificed to justice . the crown of england is of so coruscant and pure a mettall ▪ that it cannot receive the least taint or blemish ; and if there were any before in the person of the prince , it takes them all away and makes him to be rectus in curia . this as in many others may be exemplified in henry the seventh , and the late queen elizabeth : when she first came to the crown 't was mention'd in parlement , that the attainder might be taken off him , under which he lay all the time he liv'd an exile in france ; it was then by the whole house of parlement resolv'd upon the question , that it was unnecessary , because the crown purg'd all . so likewise when queen elizabeth was brought as it were from the scaffold to the throne ; though she was under a former attainder , yet 't was thought superfluous to take it off , for the crown washeth away all spots , and darteth such a brightnesse , such resplendent beams of majesty , that quite dispell all former clouds : so that put case king iames died a violent death , and his son had been accessary to it , ( which is as base a lie as ever the devil belch'd out ) yet his accesse to the crown had purged all . this businesse about the playster which was applyed to king iames , was sifted and winnow'd as narrowly as possibly a thing could be in former parlements , yet when it was exhibited as an article against the duke of buckingham , 't was term'd but a presumption or misdemeanure of a high nature : and 't is strange that these new accusers shold make that a parricide in the king , which was found but a presumption in the duke , who in case it had been so , must needs have been the chiefest accessary . and as the ancient crown and royall diadem of england is made of such pure allay , and cast in so dainty a mould , that it can receive no taint , or contract the least speck of enormity and foulenesse in it self , so it doth endow the person of the prince that weares it with such high prerogatives ; that it exempts him from all sorts of publique blemishes ; from all attainders , empeachments , summons , arraignments and tryalls ; nor is there or ever was any law or precedent in this land , to lay any crime or capitall charge against him , though touching civill matters : touching propertie of meum and tuum , he may be impleaded by the meanest vassall that hath sworn fealty to him ; as the subjects of france and spaine may against their kings , though never so absolute monarchs . in the constitutions of england , there are two incontroulable maximes , whereof the meanest mootman that hath but saluted littleton cannot be ignorant : the first is , rex in suis dominiis neque habet parem , nec superiorem . the king in his own dominions hath neither peer , or superior . the other is satis habet rex ad poenam quod deum expectet ultorem : 't is punishment enough for a king that god will take revenge of him : therefore if it be the fundamentall constitution of the land , that all just tryalls must be by teers , and that the law proclaimes the king to have no peer in his own dominions , i leave the world to judg , what capacity or power those men had to arraign their late king , to be in effect his accusers and iudges ; and that an exorbitant unsampled tribunall should be erected , with power and purpose to condemn all to cleer none , and that sentence of death should passe without conviction or law upon him that was the heard and protector of all the lawes . lastly , that they who by their own confession represent but the common people , should assume power to cut off him who immediately represented god , cui dabit partes scelus expiandi iupiter ? — well , we have seen such portentous things , that former ages never beheld , nor will future ages ever be witnesse of the like : nay , posterity , after a century or two of yeers will hold what is now really acted to be but romances . and now with thoughts full of consternation and horror , and a heart trembling with amazement and sorrow for the crying flagrant sins of this forlorn nation , specially for that fresh infandous murther committed upon the sacred person of his majesty , i conclude with this hepastick , wherein all cretures ( though irrationall ) that have sence , yea the very vegetalls seeme to abhor so damnable a fact . so fell the royal oake by a wild crew of mongrel shrubs which underneath him grew ; so fell the lion by a pack of currs ; so the rose witherd 'twixt a knot of burrs . so fell the eagle by a swarme of gnatts , so the whale perish'd by a shoale of spratts . in the prison of the fleet 25. febr. 1648. i. h. advice sent from the prime statesmen of florence , how england may come to herself again , which is , to call in the king , not upon articles , but in a free confident way : which advice came immediatly upon the readmission of the secluded members , and coppies therof being delivered to the chiefest of them. it produc'd happy effects . a letter sent from the city of florence , written by a great counsellor there , touching the present distempers of england ; wherein he , with som of the prime statesmen in florence passe their iudgements which is the onely way to compose the said distempers . to my honored , and most endeared patron . it is no small diminution to my former happinesse that i have not receiv'd your commands any time these two moneths , which makes me lodg within me certain apprehensions of fear that som disaste●… might befall you in those new distractions , therefore i pray be pleased to pull this thorn out of my thoughts as speedily as it may stand with your conveniency . we are not here so barren of intelligence , but we have weekly advice of your present confusions , and truly the severest sort of speculative persons here who use to observe the method of providence , do not stick to say , that the hand of heaven doth visibly stirre therein , and that those distractions in army , state , and city are apparent judgements from above , for if one revolve the stories of former times , as i have done many ( but you more ) he will find that it hath been alwaies an inevitable fate which useth to hang over all popular insurrections to end in confusion and disorders among the chief actors themselfs at last ; and we have had divers examples thereof here among us , which hath caus'd us to be so long in quietnesse and peace . but truly sir , give me leave to tell you that your nation hath lost much of their repute abroad all the world over in statu quo nunc ; som do laugh at you ; others do scorn , and hate you ; and som do pitty and comiserat you . they who laugh at you , think you are no better than mand men ▪ having strange magots in your brains bred out of the fat of so long wanton plenty , and peace . they who scorn and hate you , do it for your sacriledge , your horrendous sacrileges , the like whereof was never committed on earth since christianity had first a hole to put her head in . they who pitty you are few , and we are of the nomber of them , as well in the common sense of humanity , as for the advantages , and improvement of wealth which this state hath receiv'd by your trading at ligorne , for that town doth acknowledge her prosperity , and that she is arrived to this flourishing estate of riches , of buildings and bravery by the correspondence she hath had this latter age with england in point of commerce , which yet we find doth insensibly impair every day , and i believe you feel it more ; therefore out of the well-wishes , and true affections we bear unto england , some of the most serious , and soberest persons of this place who are well seasoned in the world , and have studyed men under divers climes , and conversed also much with heavenly bodies , had lately a private junto , or meeting , whereunto i was admitted for one , and two of us had been in england where we received sundry free civilities ; our main businesse was to discourse , and descant upon these sad confusions , and calamitous condition wherein england with the adjoyning kingdomes are at present involved , and what might extricate her out of this labyrinth of distractions , and reduce her to a setled government ; having long canvased the businesse , and banded arguments pro & con with much earnestnesse , all our opinious did concenter at last in this point , that there was no probable way under heaven to settle a fast , and firm government among you , then for the men that are now upon the stage of power to make a speedy application to their own king , their own liege lord and soveraigne , whom god , and nature hath put over them ; let●… them beat their brains , scrue up their witts , and put all the policy they have upon the tenterhooks as farre as possibly they can , yet they will never be able to establish a durable standing government otherwise , they do but dance in a circle all this while , for the government will turn at last to the same point it was before ▪ viz. to monarchy , and this king will be restored to his royall inheritances , maugre all the cacodaemons of hell : our astrologers here , specially the famous antonio fiselli hath had notes to look into the horoscope of his nativity , and what predictions he hath made hitherto of him have proved true to my knowledge , he now confidently averrs , with the concurrence of the rest , that the aspect of all the starrs , and conjunction of the planetts much favour him the next two yeares ; nam medium coeli in genitura caroli secundi regis angliae juxta axiomata astrologiae genethliacae dirigitur ad radios sextiles lun●… anno domini 1660. & significat acc●…ssum ad dominum , for the medium coeli in the geniture of charles the second according to the axiomes of genethliacall astrology is directed to the sextile rayes of the moon , and signifies an accesse to dominion . adde hereunto that a most lucky conjunction followes the same year , in the very centre of the said kings horoscope betwixt iupiter and sol in the moneth of september . when i was employed by this state in paris not many years agoe , i had occasion to make my addresse to your young king , and when i observed his physiognomy , and the lineaments of his face , i seemed to discern in it something extraordinary above vulgar countenances , and that he carryed a majesty in his very looks , and noting besides the goodly procerity , and constitution of his body , he seemed to be cut out for a king. now , in point of extraction , and lineage , it cannot be denyed but he is one of the greatest born princes that ever was in the world ; for whereas his grand-father , and father were allyed onely if you regard forraigne consanguinity , to the house of denmark and the guyses , this king bears in his veines not onely that bloud , but also the blouds of all the great princes of christendom , being nearly linked to the house of bourbon and france , to the house of austria , and consequently to the emperour , and spaine , as also to the duke of savoy , and our grand-duke : moreover he is nearly allyed to all the greatest princes of germany , as the saxe , brandenburg , bavaria , the palsgrave , and to the duke of lorain who descends in the directest line from charlemain ; adde hereunto that the young prince of orenge is his nephew , and which is considerable he is a pure englishman born , whereas your two former kings were forreigners . the queen his mother is of as glorious an extraction , which makes me admire the frontlesse impudence of some of your poor pamphletors who call her ever and anon the little queen , notwithstanding that the world knowes her to be the daughter of henry the great , and queen of great britain , which title and character is indelible , and must die with her. hereunto may be adjoyn'd , that this young king is now mounted to the meridian of his age , and maturity of judgement to govern , and doubtlesse hee is like to make a rare governour , having this advantage of all other soverain princes in the world to have been bredd up in the schoole of affliction so long , to have travelled so many strange countreys and observed the humors of so many nations . but to come to the cardinall point of our communication , after divers debates , and alterations how england might be brought to a stable condition of tranquility and perfect peace , to her former lustre , and glory , the finall result of all , ended in this , that there was no other imaginable meanes to do it then for you to make a timely and fitting humble addresse unto your own king , and without question it is in his power to grant you such an absolute pardon , such an abolition of all things pass'd , such a gracious amnestia , such royall concessions that may extend to the security of every person for the future that was engaged in these your revolutions , both touching his life and fortunes ; unlesse their guilt of conscience be such that like cain or iudas they thinke their sinne is greater then can be forgiven them . now the mode of your application to him may avail much , for if you chopp logique with him too farr , and stand upon puntillios , and too rigid termes , if you shew your selfs full of feares , jealousies , and distrusts , it will intangle , and quite marr the businesse , for in a soveraign prince ther must be an implicit , unavoidable necessary trust repos'd by his peeple , which all the laws that mans brain can possibly invent cannot provide against ; therefore if you proceed in a frank , and confident tru english way you may work upon his affections more powerfully , and overcome him sooner so , then by any outward arms , this way will make such tender impressions , upon that he will grant more then you can possibly expect . some forein historians as the french comines and our guicciardin do cry up the english nation for using to love their king in a more intense degree then other peeple , and to regard his honour in a higher strain , to support which they have bin alwayes so ready , and cheerful both with their persons and purses ; there is now a fair opportunity offered to rake up the embers of these old affections , and to recover the reputation of tru englishmen ; there is no peeple but may sometimes stand in their own light , go astray , and err , for error was one of the first frailties that were entayled upon man ( and his posterity ) as soon as he was thrust out of paradis ; 't is a human thing to err , but to persevere in an error is diabolicall ; you shall do well and wisely to follow the example of the spanish mule , who out of a kind of wantonesse being gone out of the high beaten road into a by path , which led her to a dirty narrow lane full of pitts and holes , at last she came to the top of a huge hideous rock where she could go no farther , for before her ther was inevitable destruction , and the lane was so narrow that she could not turn her body back , therupon in this extremity she put one foot gently after an other , and crablike went backward untill she came again to the common road ; this must be your course , by a gentle retrogradation to come into the kings high road again , and ther is no question but he will meet you more than three parts of the way : if you do not , truly in our opinions you will precipitat your selfs down a rock of inevitable destruction ; for heaven and earth are conspir'd to restore him , and though all the spirits of the air shold joyn with you , you shall not be able to oppose it . i presume you are not ignorant how ●…he two great monarks of spain and france ( which may be said to be the main poles wheron europe doth move ) have comprehended him within the private capitulations of peace , the emperour hath promised to wed his quarrell , and there is no prince or state in christendom but would gladly reach a frendly hand to restore him , being depriv'd of his birth-right , and his royal indubitable inheritance ( as you your felfs confesse ) for observing the fifth commandement , for obeying his father and mother ; from which birth-right he may be said to have been thrust out when he was in the state of innocency , being but in a manner a child , and very young then . now touching your selfs i will not flatter you , but plainly tell you that you have not one friend any where beyond the seas , nay your great confederate the swed ( as i had good intelligence ) could upbraid one of your ambassadors that are now there , that he had not washed his hands clean since they had been embrued in his princes bloud . the time that i sojourned in england i was curious to read your annals , and to make some inspections into your laws , and method of government ; as also into the genius of the peeple , and i find there is no species of government that suits better with the nature of the inhabitants , the quality of the clime , and relates more directly to the civil constitutions , laws , and customs of the land then monarchal ; the i le of great britain hath been alwaies a royall island from her very creation , from her infancy , she may be said to have worn a crown in her cradle , and although she had four or five revolutions and changes of masters , yet she still continued royal , whereunto alludes a saying that i observed in your old records , britannia ab initio mundi semper fuit regia , & regimen illiu●… simile illi caelorum : great britain hath been from the beginning of the world royall , and her government like that of the heavens . therefore , all these premises being weighed in the balance of true judgement you shall do well , and wisely to recollect your selfs , and call in your hopefull young king , whose title your consciences do acknowledge to be unquestionable , otherwise it is not onely improbable but impossible for england to be her self again , and to be setled in any stable government which may reach to posterity ; you may wind up your wits as high as you can , you may consult with your first , second , and third thoughts , but will never be able to settle a fixed government , you will be still at a losse , your debates will be like a skeyn of ravell'd threed , you will be in a labyrinth of confusions , and the end of one , will be still the beginning of another . to conclude , the current and concurrent opinion of all ministers of state here both forren and florentine is , that if you do not make a timely application to your king , you will have all the princes of christendom about your ears , and what a sad calamitous country , what an aceldama will england be then ? therefore if there be a true patriot , and publick soul amongst you , if there be ever any drops of true english bloud running in your veins , or the least spark of nationall fire and affections glowing in your bosoms toward your own dear country , prevent these imminent dangers , and invite your king by discreet and moderate proposals ; the gallant samnit general could tell the romans who had over powred them , that if they gave them easie and gentle capitulations they would perform them , but if they would tye them to too high and strict terms , they would observe them no longer then they cold have opportunity to break them . touching the affairs of italy , we are like to have a general blessed peace this side the alpes , and lombardy who hath been so pittifully harass'd a long time , and hath had her face so often scratch'd , is in a fair way to recover her former beauty ; signor giovanni palavicino , and d. lorenzo minuccio convey their most affectionate respects unto you , and so doth your entire , and faithfull servant . florence this 12th . of march , 1659. ther are divers other large peeces tending to the same subject , which shall be published in the second tome . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a70276-e19310 finch , &c. mechanicks ▪ mariners . 〈◊〉 stra●… . bishops . sco●… . m. hert. e. south . e. westm. e. worce . e. dover . wales . digbies . e. pemb. e wa●…w . arondelle . her majesty . notes for div a70276-e20430 m. hamilt . scot. plut. notes for div a70276-e21690 the scot. the irish. england .