[Page 7] WHen Queene Marie, that late­ly possessed the crovvne and kingdome of England, had re­signed her soule vnto God, and her bodie to nature: the lordes spirituall and tēporall, & the comons of the realme receaued into that crovvne and dignitie, the lady Elizabeth her sister, à Princesse yonge and beau­tifull, and aboundantly adorned with the gif­tes of nature, and princely education. The King of Spaine, albeit he had bene maried vnto the deceased Queene, yet did he neuer seke to possesse himself of the crowne, nor to appropriate vnto him, any Cities, Castels, Portes or other places within the realme, nor in any sorte to oppugne the entrance of the newe Queene, but in all loue and actes of amitie, he did manifest his well ly­king of her highe aduauncement: aswell in the geuing vnto her all his late wyves Iewels, which were of great value, as in his earnestly labou­ring with the French for the restitution of Calis, to the encrease of her dominions.

A litle before the death of the aforesaid Quee­ne, there was à treaty of peace begun, betwene England, Spaine, and Fraunce, including by consequēce Scotlād, & Flaunders, the which peace notwithstanding the aforesaid Queenes de­ceasse, went forward, and was fully concluded.

[Page 8] Thus stood the realme of England shortly after this Queenes coming to the crowne, in per­fect peace and amitie with all the countries next adioyning, and those also, neither in ciuil broyles among themselues, nor in dissention with their neighbours abrode. The Moores of Grana­da, liued in obedience to the king of Spaine, the names of Huguenots and Gheuses, were in Fraūce and Flaunders vtterly vnknowne and vnhard [...], and in Scotland was no contention for gouernement.

But as the Serpent, being subtiler then all the beasts of the feild, did somtyme seduce the first woman and Queene of the world, to breake the cōmaundemēt of God, wherby herself was forced to exile, and her posteritie made subiect for euer after to such infinite calamities: So wanted there not now a fly Sicophant, to sug­gest this princesse to breake the vnitie of Gods Churche, and eft-soones to prosecute such vio­lent attempts against other princes, the old allies of her predecessors, as thereby herself and realme is brought vnto these present feares, and to expect such insuing daungers, as God may per­mit to fall vpon them.

Very probable it is, that the Queene, so she might haue enioyed the kingdome, could aswell haue bene contented to haue cōtinued the faith of her auncetours, as to be brought vnto her co­ronation with solemne procession of the Catholyke clergie, and at a masse by a Catholike Bishop to be bothe crowned & anointed: at what tyme, she vowed by othe to defend and maintayne that Catholyke faith and religion▪ the which [Page 9] point I do only here alleage, for proof of her meaning not to chaunge religion, wherein yf she had firmly remained, she should haue left vnto the world a farr greater memorie of her giftes of nature and educatiō. But hauing once reposed cō fidence in this suggester, he shadowed his sinister practises vnder her aucthoritie, and lefte the ob­loquie of his owne vniust actions, to redound vnto her, and her estate. For this person, vnto whose wylinesse was ioyned a wōderfull ambi­tion, who beeing by birth but of meane degree, & thereby denied to be set in equalitie, with the nobilitie and peeres of the realme, for the better satisfying of his insatiable desire of greatnesse, resolued that the best way for his aduancement, must be by innouation, and that in no lesse mat­ter, then in points of faith, and religion, for that by experience late before in the other Queenes dayes, he could neither by the greatnesse of his beades, creeping to the crosse, nor exterior shew of deuotiō before the highe altar, fynde his en­trāce into highe dignitie, to be so speedie as by this meanes he deemed it. And therefore among other his fraudulent reasons, he sinisterly perswaded the Queene, that she could not stand perma­nent in her crowne and kingdome, vnlesse she did condescend vnto the alteration of religion▪ and hereby he so farr abused the sexe and capaci­tie of his Princesse, that the gate vnto all ensuiug iniquitie was spedely opened. He then promo­ted vnto authoritie one Nicolas Bacon, with whome before he was lyncked in bādes of affinitie, vvho being also of meane birth, but of an exceding craftie witt, was the more fit to be ioy­ned [Page 10] with himself in the menaging of the nevv gouernement.

I do not here deny, but that any man hovv meane soeuer, may by iust prerogatiue obtaine credit, & honor, by his vertuous endeuours: nei­ther cā any honor be more due, thē that which is atchiued by desert. But how this person with his compagnion haue vsurped their reputation, their actions haue since manifested to all the world, as hereafter shalbe shewed: espetially in the suruiuer, being the beginer, prosecutor, and continuer of the ruyne of England, and the disturbāce almost of euery Christiā regiō. And he that (as is said before) was farr inferior to be matched in ranck, with the nobilite of the realme, hath in a fewe yeares so ouermatched them al, & either by fained crimes cut them of, or by one meanes or other, so maimed them of their due honor and aucthoritie, that he hathe now made himself Dictator perpetuꝰ. The Queene now being broughte, to condescend vnto the chaunge of the old religion, he broughte also the election of the new, to lie in his owne choise: and neither followed the doctrine of the Lutherans of Ger­manie, nor that of the Caluinists of Geneua, but prescribed a composition of his owne inuention. Almost all the old Bishops and clergie he thrust into prison, and there consumed them, and for­ced the others in exile to end the rest of their dayes: and to supply their places, he shufled toge­ther the very rif raf, and refuse of the world. A wedded ministry he would haue (albeit the Queene neuer lyked it) because the fugitiue Apostataes that were novv returned into Englād, & [Page 11] fittest for this nevv function, were for the most parte coopled with yoke fellowes, & had vnited the flesh vnto the world, & the deuill: & the de­fects that wāted to make vp tale, of this ministe­riall multytude, were takē vp without partialitie, frō tapsters, tīckers, & such depe diuynes, & these were sent abrode to preache, & starve the cures throughout the whole coūtrie. Some vestures of the old clergie he left in the churches, whereby the bearded ministers, his trāsformed apes, might somuch the better imitate the outward appa­rence of Catholike priests: & the more to dimi­nish this great conceit, of mutation in faith amōg the people, and to make them wene, that the old seruice was but turned out of Latin into English, and some ceremonies only altered: the Gospels, Epistles, ꝑte of the Letany, & the very Collects vsed before at Masse, were ordayned by a booke of In iūctiōs to be daily red in the churches. The name of this new profession was borrowed from Germany, for the professors would be called Prote­stants (a name vnknovvne vnto all our Catholike auncetors, in all ages, since first they receyued Christianitie) but the chiefest substance of do­trine, was taken frō Geneua, whereunto the compositor, added of himself, an Ecclesiasticall supe­rioritie to the Queene, vvhich Iohn Caluine vvhose doctrine they lyked neerest to follovv, dothe terme to be Antichristian in any tēporall prince, Much more in a vvoomā. and it was neuer chalenged by any prince Christian, before king H. the eighte: nor neuer atributed to any heathen potentate, except by one only people of Persia called the Asasynes: for they in the yeare of our Lord 1253. admited [Page 12] their religion to depend wholy vpon the will of their Prince.

Thus was the protestanticall congregation of Englād created, & erected, most repugnāt to the old Catholike faith, participant of some newe he resies, and yet not consonant to any one reli­gion els: but different and disagreeing from all sectes and religions, past & present vnder heauē: and what confusion it hathe since declyned vn­to in it self, shal here after be declared. The apologie of this Church was written in Latin, & trāslated into English by A.B. with the comendatiō. of M.C. which twaine were sisters, & wiues vnto Cecill, and Bacon, and gaue their assistance and helping hands, in the plot and fortification of this newe erected synagog.

But because so strange and extraordinarie a doctrine, being in an antipathia to all, and in vnitie with none, was vnlykely to haue lōg endurance: espetially wanting such deepe roote of succession from Christ and his Apostles, as hathe these many hundred yeares preserued in vigeur one only entire faith▪ and religion, against all he­resies, schismes, & dissētions whatsoeuer, & the author fearing least with the decay of this late erected Churche, the creator with the creature might fall: he then as impudently reiecting all shewe of moral honesty, as late before he had don his hipocriticall cloke of deuotion, studied to put all countries in garbroiles round about him. And for the effectuating of this his heroical intention, he begā to vse the excercize of a newe skill, & that was alwaies to ꝑswade the Queene, that other princes ment to inuade her domi­nions, [Page 13] when himself ment to drawe her to any violent attempt against them. It is a world to see how his experience hathe since encreased in this practize, & how well he hathe made this deuice to extend, to the encrease of Englands enmi­tie with all the world: and how for his labor, he hathe purchased among fooles the reputation of wisdome, albeit he hathe lost among wisemen the esteeme of honestie.

The first proof of this deuice, to stirr vp tu­mults in other princes dominiōs, he put in practize with Scotland the countrie next adioyning, where-vpon sone after folowed the warres of Lythe, the successe whereof, because it fel not out so well as to his purpose he wished, himself went thether to patche vp a peace, the which he so well disposed of, that they were neuer since out of cōtinuall warres. And for the better & more assured maintenance of discord, he hathe not letted euer since, to hyre some principall persons for yearely wages, to nowrish and continew re­bellions, quarrells, & factions, by which meanes, the treasure of the realme hathe not only bene infinitely wasted, but at sundry tymes, diuers gre [...] troopes of English forces haue bene sent [...]ether, conducted by the Earle of Sussex and o­thers, whereof hathe ensued very great effu­sion of bloud of either nation, diuers horrible murthers, the exyle of the Scottish Queene, and the transposing of the realme, to the rule of an infant, vnder the gouernment of a bastard. But what infortunate endes, this vsurper and sundrie others there sett vp for regentes haue come vn­to, is manifest to the world, and the great mur­thers [Page 14] that haue sprong, throughe the seede of dissention first sowen by this pacifier, haue not ceased euē with the slaughter of that queene, but wil end the lyues of many before they be ended.

Now, as one that of hatred vnto idlenesse, would rather choose to be occupied in iniquitie, then to offend in slothe, in the meane whyle, that these dissentions were entretained in Scotlād, cōsidering that by the mariage of the French king vnto the Scotish queene, their two realmes were lynked together, and that the French king was but an orphane, he neglected not his oportuni­tie, to bring France, to stād in as good termes as Scotland, & therefore he sent ouer Sir Nicolas Throgmortō, to perswade such French vnto rebelliō as he founde to be mutinous, & discōtented: and for furtherance thereof, he promised them assistāce of mony, and munitiō, out of Englād. The vvhich promisse, was accordingly performed. For M. Cecill seldome failed, to kepe his woord in any such couuenant, & the seduced French, so wel kept tutch on the other syde, that they proceded vnto a very flatt rebellion, and so purchased the nevv name of Huguenots. Hugeno­tes. But this assistance not being found sufficient, the more to engage the realme of England in that cause, the Hugue­nots were wrought to deliuer vnto the Queenes hādes, the tovvnes of Newhauen, Diepe, & diuers others: the acceptāce whereof, some of the auncient nobilitie of the realme (that yet remained of the councel) vtterly misliked, and aleaged, that it was an ill president to assist the rebels of other princes, least the lyke might be offred vnto the Queene: which considerate councell auailed [Page 15] litle with him, that mēt to make this, no more but an introduction to greater mischieues. For Vau­ghan, Pellam, and one Portinato, an Italian, were sent ouer to take the view of Newhauen, and these returned with relation, that the English were able with 2000. to defēd it against all the world: and here upon the matter was resolued, notwithstanding all former alleagations: and forward it went, but not without a vizard: for their was a booke written in iustification of that action, to signify to the world, that the intentiō of the English, was but to kepe the possessiō of that towne vntill the king came to age: as thoughe the master of the wardes in England, Cecill. had had the wardship of the French king also. And another reason was, for that the other party (to wit the princes and peeres of the realme, that were of the kings councell) did meane to bring strangers into the countrie, from whome (of all other pla­ces) they had great care to preserue this towne: whereupon a very difficill question might be moued, to wit, whether the English in those dayes were more naturall Frenchmen then other strangers. But leauing the resolutiō of this doubt, cer­taine it is, that there were sent ouer vnto Newhauen 4000. men, which were but 2000. more then were nedefull to withstand all the world: per­haps to remaine in prouision against Nouus or­bis, which peraduenture might come against it also, but how this tovvne was defended frō Fraūce only, by the shame-full abandoning thereof it did appeere. And this losse was not vnaccompa­gned with a greater euill, for the soldiers that re­turned back againe into England, brought with [Page 16] them such a plague of pestilence, as generally in­fected the most partes of the realme, and in the citie of London, and the suburbes, there died in 12. monethes, 20000. persons. And the very Huguenotes themselues, abhorring the fraudulēt dealinges of the English, hauing obtayned a peace and perdon of their king, became the very first, that bent their forces to expulse them, wherein may be noted, with what firme amitie the En­glish & French are vnited, in the discordant v­nitie of the new Gospell. It is further to be obserued, that the French king fynding the English (whose name among the french people is so od­ious) to haue gotten footing in Normandie, to the end that he might be deliuered of them in that prouince, offred to deliuer the towne of Calis presently back againe, into the Queenes possession: The which he was not bound to do, vntill cer­taine yeares were expyred, & this offer by the only perswasion of Cecill was refused, who told the Queene, that she might well kepe the one, and recouer the other: but in fyne all was lost. For the English, as is alredy touched, dishonorablye forsoke Normandie, & the French hostages that lay in Englād for the rendring of Calis, were priuily let go againe into Fraunce (and as it is very probable) by the only deuice and woorking of M. Cecill. The matter of Newhauen, being thus begun with iniustice and ended with shame, the authors practizes for the maintenance of the French rebelliōs, there withall ended not. But he had gained the skill, better to contriue the execution of his owne plots, vnder the aucthoritie of the state, and to be least seene, in those thinges, [Page 17] that most he prosecuted. And there fore procu­red, that with diuers great sommes of mony frō England, diuers troopes of Germaines were le­uyed frō tyme to tyme, and brought into Fraūce, for the assistance of the Huguenots: by which meanes, the confederatie betwene the English and them, was now growen so strong, that they would neuer in any treaty with their king, con­clude any conditions without the counsell and consent of their English confederates (as it was alwaies manifestly fonnde, and prooued) By whose crafty direction they were so gouerned, that they euer obtayned more by making their peace, then by the successe of their warr. And at such tyme as the oportunitie serued not to stirr vp the Huguenotes against the king, they letted not to stir vp his owne brother, and the house of Montmorancie against him, for the prosecuting whereof, the brother of the said Montmorancie, and the Prince of Condie came into England, and there receyued the somme of 50. thowsand poū des: which was past ouer by exchange, by way of Antwerp, and Colen, for the first leuy of men, and bringing in of Casimire. By meanes of which forces, the king was constrained to giue vnto his brother, Aniow, Main, Towrain, & Tours, whereby his partage was made greater, thē any brother to any king of Frannce before him.

Now when by this meanes the French king was thus-much feebled, then was the said Duke of Aniow broughte into England, to be made the make-fyre betweene the two most potent real­mes of Christendome, Spaine, and Fraunce: but vnder the colour and countenance of matrimo­ny: [Page 18] which being in the end conuerted into a mock-mariage: Monsieur receyued his errand to go into the low countries of the king of Spaine, & there was he made, Antiduke of Brabant, the which laudable deuice, yf any in Englād had cōtriued except M. Cecill, or yf it had euer bene practized in any other princes tyme thē in this, it could haue bene no lesse then highe treason. For that, to put an heire apparent of Fraunce in possessiō of Flaunders, is a matter of no lesse moment, thē to giue dooble strengthe vnto an auncient ene­my, and to leaue England, for a future breakfast, vnto a French king. But it pleased God soone to quench the fire, that mōsieur was sent to kindle. For the new duke of Brabant, being subdued by his subiectes, was in the nonage of his raigne, forced with much dishonor, to returne into France. VVhere the remembrance of the deceatful dealinges of England, and the shame that lately he had sustained in the low countries, did make his owne indiscretions apparent vnto himself: and so aggrauated his sicknesse, that the reuenge which he threatned vnto Englād, he was faine to leaue vnto God, and his duchie of Brabant, vnto the right owner: For soone after his arry­uall in Fraunce, with very much grief of mynde he died.

Monsieur being thus departed this world, it was necessarie, that some nevv occasion were soughte out, for the continuance of M. Cecill his eternall resolution, To sovv sedition. which the sinister practi­zes past, and the iniquities of the tyme present, suffred not to be ōg sought for. For he foorwith discouered, that the French king had entretained [Page 19] an il opiniō, of the princes of the house of Guyse, vnto the which house, albeit that the King and his bretheren, the late kinges before him, had bene as much beholding, D. Esper­non. as a king could be vnto his subiectes: yet by the suggestion of a leud mignion, all their manifold desertes were vngrate­fully forgotten.

And then for the better now rishing of these dislikes, an extraordinarie league of amitie was concluded with the french King, who soone af­ter, became so attentiue vnto good instructions, that he cōmitted most horrible murthers, vpon tvvo of the princes of the said house: and what end himself shortly after came vnto, is manifest enough.

But to leaue Scotland and Fraunce in those termes, vvherunto they are novv led: vve vvill come vnto Spaine, as to the matter of greatest momēt, & the subiect of this discours. The King vvhereof, hauing left the Q. of England, pre­sently vppon Q. Maries deceasse, in full possessiō of that kingdome, and by sundry demonstratiōs giuen proof of his entire loue and amitie vnto her: and also of his firme intention to continevv the old concord, that had so long endured be­tweene the kinges of England, and the house of Burgundie, being also at peace with the French king, & hauing placed for the gouernmēt of the Netherlandes, the Duchesse of Parma, he departed into Spaine.

And albeit (as it is wel knowne) he hath euer bene a prince, that by nature is disposed vnto peace, yet cōsidering the greatnesse of the Turk, and his incessant attemptes in the inuading of [Page 20] Christendome, whereof some vniuersall danger mighte be feared to ensue, he determined to em­ploy such meanes as God had giuē him, to withstand the intention of this comon enemy. The which soone after, he began to put in practize, as hereafter shalbe declared.

But this cours of proceeding lyked not him, that had designed his plots vnto other purposes, and that rather sought to woork some speciall domage to the king of Spaine, then to haue the potēcie of the Turck diminished. And therefore for an introduction thereunto, to make him odious vnto the people, certaine players were permitted to scof and iest at him, vpon their comō stages. And the lyke was vsed in contempr of his religiō: first, to make it no better thē Turkishe, by annexing vnto the very psalmes of Dauid (as thoughe the prophet himself had bene the au­thor thereof) this ensuing meeter.

And after, by making it farr more odious and woors, then was the religion of Mahomet. As diuers ministers, did at diuers tymes insinuate vnto the people. And one of them in a sermon at Paules crosse, affirmed that it was a more bet­ter acte to assist Turks, then Papistes. For the which woordes, the L. Buckhurst the same day reproued him, at the shirif of Londons table: but M. minister stoode vnto his tacling, and had (as it seemed) learned his lesson, of the superintēdent of VVinchester, Horne. who published in a printed [Page 21] booke, that it was better to sweare vnto the Turk and turkery, then vnto the Pope and po­pery, and that the Pope is a more perillous ene­my to Christ, then the Turk. But in the meanewhyle it is a good Gospell, that maketh him that tearheth vs to beleeve that Christ is the sonne of God, and sauior of the world, and him by whose meanes, our forefathers were baptised in the name of the Father, Sonne, & holy Ghost, to be woors then he, that denyeth Christ to be the sonne of God, and constreyneth Christians to renounce their christendome.

These preparatiues being thus made, the Moores that inhabited the kingdome of Granada, were excited to rebellion. Vnto whome, althoughe the English would not openly send forces of men, yet they sent them succors of powder, shot, artillery, & other munition of warr. There were also, Iane d Albret. certaine French pirates, that vnder colour of authoritie from the Q of Nauar [...] (that then was) the prince of Condie, the Shatillion, and others, were sent foorth to robbe and endomage the king of Spaine, and his subiects & all these: had free passage and entrance, to and from the portes and hauens of England. And soone after, one Kirkham, and diuers other English of the westcountrey, were permitted to go foorthe to robbe and spoile the Spaniardes, wherof the Spanish Ambassador then resident in England, instantly demaunding redresse and restitution, was denied of either. And the goodes thus taken by piracie, were brought into diuers townes west ward, and there openly sold.

But in the meane whyle, that these lesse iniu­ries [Page 22] were continued, a matter of farr greater mis­chief was practized, to witt, the rebellion of the kinges naturall subiectes of his Netherlandes. VVhere the people, by reason of their great welth, were brought vnto pride, & the nobillitie throughe ouer-lauish expences, declyned vnto pouerty, and the newnesse & libertie of heresy, redy to fynde acceptance with either party, they were the sooner and more easely seduced by the English. The first attēpt, being begū by certaine rogues & vagabōdes, appointed to the spoiling of Churches, lefte the name of Gheuses, to those rebelles euer after: Name of Cheuses. and these Gheuses being thus stirred vp, there was (to begin withall) 60, thousād poūd sterling, sent ouer vnto the prince of Orange, for the leuying of those Ryters, that he broughte against the duke of Alua. The which somme of mony, was paide by sir Thomas Gressam in Antwerp.

By these attemptes and practizes, the king was cōstreyned to withdrawe the forces that he had intended & bent against infidells, to employ them in his owne countries against his owne subiects. VVith whome, being nowe enbranled in warres, there was sent by sea from Spaine for the paymēt of his soldiers aboute the somme of 600. Some vvrite 800000. thovvsand ducats, the which mony, was ceased vpō in the west partes of Englād, notwithstā ­ding the Q. had giuen her pasporte for the saf passage thereof: by which meanes, the kinges af­faires were greatly let and hindred, and thereup­on followed, a generall arrest of all marchants shippes, and goodes, in the lowe countries. And this action tending to some further great incon­ueniēce, [Page 23] the councell assembled at Hampton court, and consulted at sundries tymes in the Queenes presence, whether it were best openly to breake with the king of Spaine or not, and after long deliberation, the whole bodie of the councell concluded, not to breake with him in any vvise. But to make present restitution of the said mony, for diuers causes: and the rather, for that they had but late before displeased the French king, in assisting his Huguenotes, and taking his townes, and might not vvithout imminent pe­rill, incurr the enmitie of two such potēt princes. But notvvithstanding this their generall resolu­tion, being also consented vnto by the Queene, M. Cecill did aftervvardes secretly persvvade her vnto the cōtrarie, whereby the decree made by the vvhole body of the councell, was brokē: contrarie to the prerogatiue of the councell of Englād, which is knovvne to be greater, thē the auctoritie of any kinges councell els in Europe. And hereupon was the arrest of marchants goodes continued, and a stay of trafyke, betwene Spaine, England and the lovv countries, for three yeares together, to the vndoing and detriment, asvvell of many of the subiects of England, as of sundrie the marchantes of the other countries. But in the meane vvhile, al such fugitiues and traitors, as had in the lovve countries cōmitted any enormious crimes, or could pilfer, or violētly robbe or take away, any thing from the king, or his other subiects, were receyued and harbored in England, which vvas novv become the open receptacle of churchrobbers, and priest-kilers.

Yea the very belles of the steeples of Chur­ches, [Page 24] vvere caried into England, and there cast into artillery. And one called Monsieur de Lumay, being also fled thether, receyued there such instructions, that he came ouer into Holland & surprised the tovvne of Briell, vvhich vvas the first tovvne in all those partes, rhat vvas possessed by manifest rebelliō, and the presidēt that Flushing, and diuers other townes shortly after followed. And to assist them in these proceedinges, there were sent ouer with troopes of English forces, Morgan, Sir Humfrey Gilbert, and Chester. And then followed North, Cotton, Candish, and Nor­ris, all being Coronells, & coming the therwith whole regiments. And albeit these supplies were still continued, and men mustred and pres­sed perforce to go ouer vnto this seruice, yet was it colourably shadowed to be don without cō ­sent of superior aucthoritie, and the sending of thē thereby dis-auowed. But on the other syde, when any English for their encreasse of knowlege in military affaires did come ouer, or did in­tēd to come ouet to serue the king of Spaine, they were either before their departure, or vpon their returne, imprisoned and punished. I may not heere omitt, that after the warres of Barbarie, made by Sebastian king of Portugall (wherein the Mahometaines were assisted with munitiō against the Christians by the English, and the­said King was slaine) the nobillitie and people of the realme of Portugall, hauing according to their lawes and customes, receyued the Cardi­nall (as the eldest of the blood royal) to be their king, and he being very aged, and not lykely to marry and haue issue, were entred into consul­tation [Page 25] about the succession of the crowne, which being vnderstood in England, and also that the Cardinall was enclyned vnto the king of Spaine, as his next heire, there was an Embassa­dor forth-vvith sent ouer from England, to offer the Portugales assistance, for the exclusion of the king of Spaine.

But this and the former practizes, being cloked vvith much conning, vvere either deemed able to passe vnespied, or els these kyndes of molestatiōs vvere not thought sufficient▪ And there­fore it vvas held necessary, to attēpt the robbing of the kinges treasure els vvhere, the better therevvith to maintaine his rebelles against him in the lovve countries. And albeit M. Haukins and some others, had had but ill successe in such at­temptes before, there vvas novv one Franncis Drake sent foorthe vnto the VVest Indies, vvhere in the streight of Darien, vnderstanding of certaine mules, that vvere to passe laden vvith gold and siluer, from Panama to Nombre de Dios, he put himself in ambuscade vvith an hundred shot, and sett vppon tvvo vvhole companies of mules, vvhich came only vvith their driuers: and there very resolutely tooke avvay their gold, A terri­ble encounter. not being able to cary the siluer vvith him throughe the mountaines. And coming tvvo dayes after to the house of Crosses, he slevv 6. or. 7. marchantes, and valiantly sett the house on fyre, vvherin vvas burnt the value of 200. thovvsand ducats in marchandize. And so he retyred home againe tovvardes England, vvhere (not longe after for that he had giuē such good proof of his dexteritie) it vvas determyned that [Page 26] he should be employed againe, as being the fitest man to atchiue an enterprize of stealing. And therefore vvith shippes vvel furnished and prouided for his purpose, he vvas sent foorth to at­tēd & lie in vvaite, for more of the Kinges, & his subiects treasure. And in the southe seas, on the back-syde of America, vvhere no pirates had bene before him, and therefore the lesse proui­sion made to vvithstand them, there he and his company, met vvith a ship in the porte of Val­parizo, vvherin vvere but 8. Spaniardes, vvho ta­king the English for freindes, receyued them on boord, vvhere being once entred, they coura­giously tooke out of it 37. thousand ducats in gold. And at another place called Taurapaza, they boldly ventred on shore vnto a Spaniard that lay a sleepe, and had lying besyde him the value of 4. thousand ducats in 13. vvedges of siluer: all vvhich they ouercame & caried vavay, cur­teously leauing the Spaniard as thei found him. They ryfled also 12. shipes that lay at ancker, in the hauen of Lyma, and cutting all the ropes & cables, let thē driue vnto the seas. And in another ship called the Cagafuego, they found precious stones, ievvels, 80 poūd vvaight of gold, & 20. tonne of siluer: vvhere of hauing put themselues in possession, after some smaller pilferies, and sacking of the tovvne of Gnatulca, M. Drake and his company, returned from this very hot and hardy seruice, & in the end, brought all this treasure into Englād. VVhere he vvas so vvell vvel­come, and so liberall in the deuision of shares to some Courtiers, that notvvithstanding the gall­ovves claimed his interest, it neuer gat so great a [Page 27] brauado, for in very despight of wapping, he was at De [...]ford rewarded with the honor of knighthoode, and in the same ship, wherewith he had bene abrode a ro [...]ing.

And albeit that now and then, some poore pi­rate or other (rhroughe the importunate sute of the parties endomaged) haue bene cast away vp­on wapping shore, yet was their sildome or ne­uer, any restitution made of the stolne goodes. Neither should such great mis-hap haue betyded those pirates, had not their chiefest offence bene, in stealing to litle. For M. Drake himself, and di­uers other principal Captaines, haue bene much disgraced, at such tymes, as they returned home with small booties.

But this good successe of an il enterprize, gaue great desyre to the lyke attempt againe. And the new knight of the order of theuīg, by the inequal deuisiō of shares, hauing, had perhaps the least parte alloted vnto himself, was redy enoughe to vndertake it. And not longe after, he was sent forth with a greater number of men and shippes, wherewith he arryued at the Ile of Spagnola, and there sacked the towne of S. Domingo, and other places: where he cōmitted many barbarous cruelties, vpon religious men and women, and re­turning from Carth agena, tooke in his way sun­dry shippes, the people wher-of, he cast into the seas.

These continuall robberies, & spoiles made by the English, vpon the King of Spaine, & his subiects, in & about his Indies, grewe in the end to be so many and so ordinary, that euen the very remembrance that it was iniustice, and the euery▪ [Page 28] forgottē. And for their greater shame & cōfusiō, they haue not letted to put downe many of their actions them selues in print, to the view of the world. And among others which for breuitie I must omitt, M. Thomas Candish in his letter to the lord Chamberlaine writeth, that he had naui­gated all alongst the coast of Chili, Peru, and Nouaspagna. VVhere he made great spoiles, and burnt and sunck 19. saile of Shippes, small and great, and burnt and spoiled all the villages and townes, that euer he landed at: and that he tooke a ship of the Kinges at Califorma, wherein was the somme of the some is omitted in the printed copie. in treasure, and somuch other costly wares as he was not able to carie away: & therefore tooke all the treasure, and sett the ship with the other goodes on fyre. But I will here end these matters, & to auoyde prolixitie omitt sundry of thesame kynde, which by very many haue bene put in practize. And albeit that euery one of thē, hathe not returned with lyke spoile, yet certaine it is, that there vvere neuer any we­sterne voyages made from England, these many yeares past, but (howsoeuer they were in out­ward shewe diuulged) the very meere meaning & intention of thē all, was to robbe the king of Spaine or his subiects, of their Indian treasure. In the continuāce whereof for so-many yeares together, as the king neuer, attēpted any act of hostilitie, either against the Queene her dominions, or subiects, which no prince in the world could haue forborne to do, after so great prouocatiō: so the English on the othersyde, did contrariwise deeme, that the to-many iniuries vvhich they had donne him, vvere al to fevv. And therefore [Page 29] they resolued to offend him much more, and in a farr more apparent and inexcusable manner, in the sight of all the world, then in any their for­mer actions, hovv manifest soeuer.

For vvhen the Archtraitor to his King, & de­stroyer of his country (the P. of Orange) was takē out of the world, and the head-lesse rebels of the Netherlādes, first seeking patronage of the K. of Denmarck, after of the French king, & being by both those iustly denied and reiected, the Eng­lish, dismasking themselues of all former viz­ardes and shadowes, did ouertly receyue them into their protection, to defend them in all open hostillitie, against their naturall and lawful so­ueraigne, the king of Spaine. And thereupon they resolued, to put themselues in possession of sundry the principall porte townes, and other places of those partes. And by a printed declara­tion, went about by diuers weake and indirect reasons, to iustifie that action: vvhereof amonge others, one was, in respect of the aunciēt league betvvene the kinges of England, and the house of Burgundie, and the people of either of those princes: as thoughe the Q. of England mighte by prerogatiue of that league, maintaine the sub­iects of the Netherlandes, against the King of Spaine, their soueraigne, & the chief Prince of the house of Burgundie.

An-other reason vvas, to the end the naturall people of the countrie, should not be oppressed by straungers, as thoughe the English▪ Scotish, Germaines, & others brought in by the States, were lesse straungers, then the Spanish.

But to confirme and make these reasons more [Page 30] sufficient, M. Norris vvas first sent ouer to take possession of certaine porte townes, fortes, and other places in Holland, and Zealand, and soone after the Earle of Leicester (whose experience in chamber woorck exceeded his practize in warr, and the L. Audley, the L. VVilloughbie, and the L. Northe & sundrie other of name▪ came ouer with an army of 10. thowsand men, aswell for the gar­nisons of the places now in their possession, as also to come vnto the feild against the forces of the king of Spaine. And in what sorte, the sup­plies of the garnisons in Holland, Zealand, Bra­bant, and Flaunders, haue since frō tyme to tyme bene continually maintained from England, as also the English troopes for the feild being pre [...]ently in our view and memorie, I will omitt the recytall.

And thus at the last, by this ouert entrance of the English into hostilitie, there was more ma­nifest occasion giuen vnto the king, to vse the lyke againe, and to attempt that, whereunto no former iniuries could prouoke him. And the matter now coming to an opē warr on either syde, either party was to vse his aduantage as he best could. Che piglia piglia, & che non puo, suo danno. And therefore omitting that which since hathe bene donne in those partes, I will briefly touch the Portugall voyage, not in comparing it with the double faced actiōs before rehearsed, but as an ordinary expedition of warr.

It shalbe nedelesse to examine the righte, that Don Anthonio pretendeth to the crowne of that country, since it is soone answered in his illegi­timation. VVhich being by M. Cecill dispensed [Page 31] withall, albeit he be but vicar generall, and not the supreme head himself, requireth no further question. Don Anthonio then, accompaigned with Sir Iohn Norrice, and Sir Frauncis Drake, departed from Englād with aboue 20. thousand soldiers, and mariners: Don Anthonio with full resolution to take possession of Portugall, but M. Drake, with a farr other secret designement, which being vttred by him self vnto the queene, I would be lothe here to repeat, were it not for feare, of leauing the reader in erronius suspitiōs. M. Drake forsoothe, did promisse the Q. very cō ­fidently, to bring the king of Spaine to kisse her pantofle, or els to bring him, I know not to what woful lamentation But such was the disa­strous effect of that iorney, that neither Don An­thonio obtained his expected kingdome, nor Captaine Drake would once enter on shore in Portugall to take the king of Spaine with him.

VVhereof two mighty inconueniences haue ensued, the one is, that the realme of Portugall is still possessed by the right owner: and the other, that the Queenes pantofle is yet vnkist, by the kinge of Spaine.

Neuerthelesse, excepting some 2. or 3. thowsād, all the rest of the soldiers and mariners, shewed more valour thē their leaders, for that they neuer returned back againe, but either remained still in Portugall, or aboute that coast. It is further to be noted, that albeit in that voyage, they could not effectuate their desyre against their enemyes, they did yet without partialitie so set vpon their freindes, that they seazed vpon 50. shippes of the Easterlinges which were bound to Spaine [Page 32] with marchandize, and caried those away with them, and so returned home vnto Plimouthe. VVhere enen at their very landing, there hapned a more strāg encounter, thē before in the whole iorney they had found. For the women of Plimouth, whose husbandes by ill vsage were lost in that voyage, being armed with distaues & other vnusuall weapōs, without any respect vnto kingship, or knighthoode, began so fiersly to assault Dō Anthonio, & Drake, that they were faine to defend them selues by force of legges. This voyage being thus ended, the progresse thereof was printed and published, both in Latin, and English. But the author thereof (in myne opinion) mighte well haue spared his paines, because all mē manifestly knew without booke, what successe the said voyage had had. VVhat sithence hathe bene dōne, in the sending of Shippes and forces towardes the Terceraes and els where, and the successes thereof being ryf in our memorie, I will here omitt: and proceed to giue the reader such satisfactiō as the scope of the premisses haue directed me vnto.

Not withstanding the manifold iniuries, donne by the English vnto the king of Spaine, where-of many haue here bene recyted, & the most of thē do lie opē to the view of the whole world, it is strange, that they cannot yet con­teyne their malice against him, within the limi­tes of ciuill speeches, who not only permitting euery hedgeminister, and cōtemptible person, to raile vpon him at his pleasure, to make this base kynde of dealing more authenticall, haue not letted in the very preambles, and fore frontes of [Page 33] sundrie late proclamations, to note him to be ambitious, Of Nouē ­ber 1591. an vsurper, and a Tyrant: and in this later to call him, the only disturber of the vniuersall peace of Christēdome. VVhich vnseemely & disordered speeches, dothe il beseme the publike writinges of Princes, which ought to haue no affinitie with defamatorie libells. A thing which the King of Spaine, hathe euer detested to do against thē, or other his enemyes: who leaveth the dire­ctnes of his cause to sustaine it self, without the credit, which mighte be giuen thereunto by railing.

Let vs therefore now consider, whether the­said King hathe soughte the disturbance of the state of England, or of any other potentate or state Christian: or whether any may iustly com­plaine, that euer he hathe endeuored to patro­nize himself of, their crownes or countries, or to encroache or incorporate oughte of theirs vnto his, considering his incomparable greatnesse, & the neere situation of his, and their dominions.

Let vs looke first into Italy, whether the ter­ritories of the Church, Venice, Piemont, Florence, Genua, or any other prince or state els, have cause to cōplaine. Looke whether he hathe bene offensiue to Lorraine, Treuers, Cleue, Colē, Liege, or to the Esterlinges. Did not the realme of Portugall (next vnto him) stand in it self, with all the iles and remote places, belonging to thesame, in all peace and securitie, til by iust discent the tytle of all fell vnto him? and do not the people now liue vnder him (excepting the trooble they sustaine by the English) in as great felicitie as euer they did vnder any their former princes? vvhat great [Page 34] impudēcie is it then, for any so palpably to be-lie him, in whome the cleane contrary (to their slaunderous reproches) is most euydēt? & to the end, that the vniust calumnies of the aduersary may be more apparent: let vs also consider the Kinges procedinges, aswell towardes some other Christian princes, as to the Queene and realme of England in particular.

First it is very manifest, Anno. 1559. that after his depar­ture from the lowe countries, at which tyme he peaceably possessed those, & the rest of his kingdomes, and dominions: his firme resolutiō was, for the generall defence of Christendome, to make warr against the Turk, and other Maho­mertaines. And to that end, he first vpon his peace made with Fraunce, called all his forces of Spa­niardes and others, oute of Flaunders, and sent them into Italy: and thence employed them, against the enemies of Christianitie. First at Pinion de velis, then to Zerbi, then to La Racha, and other places of Africa. And the Isle of Malta being strongly besieged, & in very great perill to be lost, he sent thether a great army to succor it, and defeated the forces of the Turk. He also prouided such troopes, for the yeare ensuing (which he sent thether vnder the conduct of the Marquis of Piscara) that the Turk was forced to giue ouer, & leave his second enterprize: albeit he came very strongly prouided, for the taking thereof, & therein to recouer his honor, lost the yeare before. And after all this, the king of Spaine for the more repose and tranquilitie of Christen­dome, ioyned in league against the Turk with the Pope, & the Venetians, whereof followed the [Page 35] great victory, obtained by Don Iohn de Austria his generall, at Lepanto. These pointes albeit but briefly touched may serue for a demonstra­tion of his princely resolution, to maintaine the concord of Christians, and to offend their comō enemy. Yea the king of Tunis, being by the Turk expulsed, he restored him again vnto his king­dome.

But moste redy he was to giue aid and assi­stance, to Christian princes. VVhen being op­pressed by the insolencie of their rebells, they desired his help: and amonge others, to the French king. Vnto whose ayd, he sent in the first troo­bles, 3. thowsand Spaniardes, who were present at the battaile of Dreux.

And afterward from the lowe countries, he sent the Counte of Mansfeild at two seuerall tymes, both with horse, and foote. He sent also, the Counte of Arenberg, the Baron of Erge, and diuets others, to assist thesaid king, at sundry tymes. All which forces, sent by the King of Spaine, from tyme to tyme into Fraunce, himself of his princely and liberall mynde, euer main­tayned & payed at his owne charges. And there is nothing that more declareth his moderation, iustice, and equitie, towardes his Christian neighbours, then his sweete and Christianlyke demeanour, towardes the realme of Fraunce. VVhere neither, by the minorites of the late kinges, nor ciuill discentions of the subiects, he would take aduantage, to chalenge or encroache, any parte of that countrie. VVhereas yf he had bene so greedy and ambitious, as his aduersaries do bely him to bee, he would not haue omitted in so [Page 36] many oportunities, to have chalenged all Fraūce to hymself. VVho hathe at this present, thesame right by his daughter, and farr more cleere, then had somtyme the noble prince, King Edward the third of England, thereunto. And yet as the world seeth, he neither thē, nor now, hath chalē ged any such thīg at all: & this is a singular praise and an eternall glory, to this most puissant prince of all ages, and in this tyme especially to be mar­uayled at, that he attēpteth nothing, nor wageth any warres, that are not iust, honorable, and allowed bothe by the lawes of God and man. And as touching the Queene of England, I will omitt some great and especiall acts of amitie, shewed by himself vnto her, whē he was maried vnto her sister, whereof her self is not ignorant, but dothe best know them: And I will briefly relate some points before touched.

First vpon the deceasse of Queene Mary his wyf, he gaue vnto this Queene al her Iewelles, which rightly appertayned vnto himself. And being aboute the conclusion of a peace with the Frēch king, after the taking of S. Quintynes, he delt very instantly for the rendring of Calis vnto the English, insomuch as vvithout the restoring thereof, he refused the accord, & stode so resolute vpon this point, that in the end the French vvere faine to tell him, that albeit the English did soli­cite him to include the deliuery of Calis in his peace, yet had they secretly alredy cōcluded their peace with them, without that condition. And this was donne by a close practize of M. Cecill, who sent ouer one Guido Caualcante an Italian, to conclude it vvithoute the knowlege of the [Page 37] Queenes Ambassadors, vvho vvere there appointed to solicite it. VVhich extreme duble dealing, could not yet brede any auersion in his mynde against the English, insomuch, that after they began to fall from the doing vnto him, one iniu­rie in the neck of another, which still encreased from a fewe to many, and from lesser to greater: yet would he neuer begin any attempt against them, nor neuer make somuch as any shewe of any one acte of hostilitie whatsoeuer, vntill such tyme as they came so farr, as to the very taking of his townes into their owne possessions, as is aforesaid. VVhich is a most great and sufficient argument, of his grounded affection vnto that Queene and countrie. For moste rarely is it foūd, that any King or Prince could so continually disgest and ouersee, such great vvronges and iniuries, as he hathe receyued from England: and much lesse himself, that hathe greater meanes to reuenge them, then any other potentate lyuing in the world. And had doubtlesse lōg since dōne it, had it not proceeded of a most singular affectiō vnto that Prince and people, & hope of redresse and amendment.

Thus much may serue to shewe, whether the King of Spaine hathe soughte so many yeares to trooble the state of England. But contrariwise, vvhether the state of England hathe so long soughte the disturbance of him, and almost of all other their neighbours, I leaue the reader to iud­ge by the premisses, & the cōfirmation of those, I referr to the testimony of all the nations of Europe, to the end there may be a sufficiēt num­ber of witnesses, to check the extreme impuden­of [Page 38] the malitious aduersary, In the late proclamatiō. who is not ashamed to say, that the repose of Christendom, by the king of Spaines vvarres, & by no other meanes, is nowdisturbed: which otherwise mighte come to an vniuersall peace. But as touching the vni­uersall peace, yf it were to be such as this paci­fier would prescribe it vnto him, I must needes confesse, that I do greatly doubte vvhether the king of Spaine would thereunto be perswaded: because in al-lykelyhode, it must be in this manner. Conditiōs of an vniuersall peace. First, that he should recall such forces, as of great compassion vnto the naturall people of Fraūce, he hathe sent thether to defend them, against a relapsed Huguenote, that vvould make them renegates from the faith, as himself is.

Secondly, that he should suffer his rebells of Holland and Zealand, quietly to possesse the places they do hold, and to take vnto them all the rest of the low countries also: conditionally, that the English mighte still kepe the possession of such porte townes as they haue, & haue some half a dosen more annexed vnto them, Thirdly that the English rouers, might peaceably go to his Indies, and there take away his treasure, and his Indies also. And these fewe aricles being thus accorded, then might England Fraunce, the Netherlandes, and Germany, be in farr better possibilitie, to extirpate the Catholyke religion in Italy, to bring the Moores into Spaine, & then to conclude that vniuersall peace, which passeth all vnderstanding: And include in the-same, the great Turk the king of Fesse, and Marrocco, and other infidells, with whome England is alredy leagued.

[Page 39] And thus hauing declared sundrie of the iniuries, dōne by the English, vnto other princes and people, & espetially vnto the King of Spaine & his subiects, & also in what laudable, & most honorable manner, the said King hathe demeaned himself vnto thē, and other his Christian neigh­bours: It shall now be necessary, to touch the presēt estate, wherein the realme of Englād stādeth. The which for the better intelligēce of the reader I will reduce into fower pointes, and in con­clusion, it shall manifestly appeere, vvhether some fewe persons accused, or their chiefest accuser, are or is the cause, of the present and expected calamities of England.

The first shalbe, touching matters of faith and religiō. wherein there was neuer such great and wonder­full confusion.

The second, touching exterior enemyes, whereof the realme had neuer somany nor none so puisant.

The third, of the sundry competitors for the crowne, and the vncertainty of the successor.

The fourth and last shall concerne the ouerthrow of the Nobilitie, and the generall oppression of the people.

THE realme of Englād hathe at sūdry tymes bene subiect, to diuers great molestations, aswell throughe ciuill dissentiō, as inuasions, and forreyne warres. And howsoeuer the vvisdome of the vvriter of the late Proclamatiō, hath ouer­much presumed vpō the readers ignorance, in extoling the cōtinuall peace & trāquillitie of Eng­lād, yet yf the present state thereof be rightly looked into, it wilbe foūde to exceede all former afflictiōs what soeuer. And first for matters of religion, [Page 40] let vs consider what they are come vnto. The Protestantized Caluinisme being but of 33. yeares antiquitie, and peculiarly chosen and compounded of many, and fully agreeing with none, is now growen vnto such diuision in it self, as is very wonderful: and being established by aucthoritie of a Parlamentall synode, and ad­uanced vnto the highe tytle, of the glorious Gospell of Christ, hathe not yet bene able so fewe yeares, to retaine that credit and esteeme, but is growen cōtemptible, detected of Idolatry heresy, and many superstitious abuses, by a purified sorte of professors of the same Gospell. And this contention is yet become more intricate, by reasō of a third kynde of Gospellers called Brownistes. VVho being directed by greater feruor of the vnholy ghoste, do expressly affirme, that the Protestanticall Church of Englād, In the cō ­futation of Brovvnisme. is not gathered in the name of Christ, but of Antichrist, & that it woorshipeth not God truly, but after a fals & idolatrous manner: and that yf the Prince or magistrate vnder her, ‘do refuse or defer to reforme the Churche, the people may without her con­sent, take the reformatiō into their owne hādes. Yea, and that the ministry yf their ensue not re­formation, may for some causes excomunicate the Queene.’ And one VVillam Hacket, affirming that he had within him the very soule of our Sauior, did send his two prophets to depose her. Into such termes, is the vnitie of the Gospell now come, insomuch, that there was neuer more bitter, and vehement writing, betwene any Ca­tholikes & Heretykes, then of late there hathe bene betwene the professors of one same Gospell, [Page 41] VVhose false faith is not only detected in their owne woordes and writings, scoffed at, and turned by themselues into a fooles cote: but confirmed in the euill lyues and conuersations, of theire very ministers. And yet notwithstanding their manifest treasonable attēpts, dissention in religion, & practize of euill lyf, the whole force and rigor of persecution is bent against the Ca­tholykes, whose great vertue, modesty, and patience, dothe manifeste in them a farr differēt spirite from the others. They neuer discharged pistoles, nor yet threwe daggers at preachers in there sermons in this Queens tyme, as did the others in the dayes of Queene Mary. At Pau­les crosse. Neither haue they entred into Churches and wounded Ministers at Seruice, At vvest minster. as one of them did a Priest at Masse in the tyme of the said Queene. Nor yet during the raigne of the Queene that now is, haue they cōmitted any violent actes in Chur­ches, as Puritaines haue not letted to do in her owne chapell, by ouerthrowing, & casting downe the ornamēts thereof, euen in dispight of her. Neither haue they attempted to murther any principall person of her Court, as did Burchewe, in wounding a Gentleman in stede of Sir Christopher Hatton: M. Hau­kins. but haue suffred with exceding pa­tience, the greatest iniuries, vexations, & barba­rous vsage, that flesh and bloudis able to endure. Only puritaines are tolerated to say, do, & write what they list: be it either in flat deniall of the Supremacie, or other rebellious actions: & these they can excuse by some deuice or other, or els they can call with full exclamation, Dimitte no­bis Barabam, but against Catholykes only they [Page 42] cry, Nos legem habemus, and Crucifige Crucifige Neither had VVilliā Hacket bene excuted for his blasphemy or treason, yf he had not opēly before so many people, pronounced the Queens deposi­tion. And seeing that so many barbarous lawes, as with great diligence and all extremitie, haue these many yeares bene vsed, could nether extinguish the Catholyke partie at home, nor ruyne the Semenaries abrode which more & more haue encreased, not by force of armes, but by euydent truthe: To giue the more colour vnto a more cruell persecution, the very author of all present and future mischiues, dothe seeke by imaginarie feares, to drawe mennes considerations from greater calamities and miseries, and to turne the hatred which himself hathe deserued, vpon a fewe poore Priestes and Iesuites, by publishing that they are sent into the realme, to perswade men to assist the King of Spaine in an intended inuasion, whereas they are not otherwise sent, but to exercise their priestly office and function, as they go vnto the Indies, & other places where the exercise of their religion is also prohibi­ted.

Neither are they in their Seminaries otherwise exercised, then in other Scooles and Colleges: as are also the Germaines & other nations, in their Seminaries in Roome and els where: which is not of their countrymē falsely and malitiously said to be in treason and sedition, as England only, & no place els dothe proclame.

And it is wounderfull to consider, that not­withstāding the odious clamours of treasonable practizes daily raised against these men: it is [Page 43] well knowne, Cecill & other his instru­ments. that some of their greatest perse­cutors haue not letted, to offer free libertie and secret protections vnto priestes, to reroncyle Ca­tholykes, to say Masse, to heare Confessions, and to do such lyke offices appertaining to their fun­ction, where, and to whome they listed: condi­tionally, that they should afterward discouer vnto thē in what places, & with what persons they had bene. Yea they haue not letted to ap­point some of their spies to go to confession, of purpose to apprehend and betray their ghostly fathers. Such is the impious treacherie of the ad­uersaries, that will not lett to vrge men to the breach of their owne lawes: which argueth, that it is not sinceritie and zeale of religion that they stand vpon, when they will directly apoint the contrary vnto theirs to be exercysed, as also, that themselues do litle feare such treasons, as they pretend to be wrought by priestes, when they seke to lycence them, and not to prohibite them: which proueth also, that themselues do well know, that Catholikes are exercysed in the offices of their religiō, & not in practizes of treason as they vntruly reporte.

And yet for confirmation of the ill opiniō they do labor to make the people to haue of them, the Archpolitike hathe fraudulently prouyded, that when any Catholike or Priest is araigned, the enditemēt is euer farced with many odious matters, as of conspiratie, killing the Queene, stiring the subiects to rebellion, drawing them from their obedience, & the lyke: & yet when they come to proofes, they can proue nothing in the world, but only that he is Priest, or hathe relieued priests [Page 44] and nothing els being witnessed, and somtymes that not knowne neither, but by the priestes, or other parties owne confession, the Iury crieth guilty to all the endytement, and the whole enditement is enroled, as yf the party had bene iustly conuicted of all that therin is conteyned. And vpon this do they so impudently reporte, that none haue beene condēned but for treasō, as they say their enditementes do shew in the recordes. VVhereas yf they had recorded no more then had beene prooued, as in all law and iustice they were bound, they should not finde any one priest ( Ballard only excepted) that euer had any imagination of treason prooued against him. And notwithstanding all the aforesaid enfarced treasons & conspiracies, it is cōmonly seene, that almost at euery araignment and execution, Ca­tholikes are offred their liues & liberties, yf they will but go to the Churche: which doubtlesse can-be no satisfactiō for any temporall treason, but only for matters of religiō. VVhereofno mā of any vnderstanding can remaine ignorant, ex­cept such as was the wise gentleman, that told a freind of his that he had seene a Priest executed, that letted not at the very tyme of his death, to cōmitt Highe treason: and being asked what it was, answered that he began to say his Pater no­ster in Latin. Is it possible quoth the other? I assure you quoth this partie, it is out of all doute, for he begā to say it before a multitude of witnesses and would haue said it vnto the end, but that as hap was, the hangman was redy to dispatche him, before he had half donne. This diepe conceited person, and such as was his compagnion, will [Page 45] without any great scruple belieue the procla­mation, in saying that none are put to death for religion, but for treason. And the aduersary in somuch labouring to detaine from Catholikes, the deserued honor and glory of the cause for which they suffer, dothe thereby proclame his owne iniquitie and iniustice, to all the world, making that to be new Treason, which is nothing els but old faith and religiō. A thing as repugnāt vnto common sence, as yf the Pope should make murther, thefte, or extorsion to be Heresy. Yet such is his great and absurd impudēce, that there is no treason that seemeth greater, nor no crime more vnpardonable in England, then there to be a Catholike, nor yet any offence so seuerely pu­nished. There was neuer Scythian, nor sauage Tartar, that could vse more inhumaine cruelty then to rip vp the bodies of innocent men, being perfectly aliue, to teare out their entrailes, to be consumed with fyre. There was neuer Turk, nor Barbarian, that imposed vpon Christians so great and continuall a tribute, The yea­re deuy­ded into 13. mone­thes. as twenty poundes, for euery eight-and-twentie dayes absence, from their Moskeyes. Nor there were neuer Arrians, or other ennemyes, since the generall persecutions of the Romaine Emperors, that more vexed, spoiled imprisoned, and tortured Catholikes, then dothe now the state of England. And thus haue I abre­uiated vnto the reader, a huge volume of the present lamentable state of religion.

TOuching rhe second point, concerning the nūber of exterior enemyes, how mighte the case be other with England, then now it is, seeing that during the continuance of thirtie and three [Page 46] yeares, they neuer sent foorth any one soldier, nor neuer drew swoord in any iust quarrel, or honorable action. They neuer sought to endo­mage the Turk, the comon enemy of Christen­dome, nor neuer defended any lawful prince or King in all the world: But haue inuented, & prosecuted, the most dishonorable, inglorious, vn­iust, and tyranicall actions, that euer were practized by any Christian state.

VVhen the Queene of Scotland was in her owne realme, and they acknowleged her for the lawful prince of that countrie, did they giue aid vnto her, or vnto her rebells? In the tymes of Frauncis, Charles, and Henry, the late Kinges of Fraunce, was their assistance giuē to thē whome they knew to be lawful Kinges, or to their re­bells? and as for the succour they do now giue vnto Nauarr & his Huguenotes, it is no otherwise then it was before, when they acknowledged thē to be rebells. In this long rebellion in the low countries, whether haue they taken parte with the King their old cōfederate, or with Orange & the other rebells? whē Sebastian king of Portugal warred with the Mahometaines of Africa, gaue they ayd vnto the Christiās, or vnto the infidells?

And since in the realme of Portugall, gaue they help vnto the lawfull prince, or to the bastard his rebell? In the warres of Colen, did the English succur the lawfull Bishop, or the vnlawfull deposed apostata? And yf we shal looke into sea mat­ters, see who it is, that hathe set vp a publike pi­racie, to spare neither freind, nor foe. Aske the Spanish, the Frēch, the Scottish, the Flemish, the Haūce townes, yea the Indies, and further partes of the [Page 47] earth, who they are, that do so cōtinually robbe and spoile thē. Yf the English had but only pro­cured the king of Spaine to be their enemy, they needed not to haue soughte any others: for nei­ther England, nor any other Christian country els, hathe euer had any so great. And as they haue made espetiall choise of the enmitie of the grea­test, so haue they employed the tyme of 33▪ yea­res to deserue it.

And as for the King of Scotland, albeit he do dissemble amōg many lesse iniuries, one so great, as the cutting of of his owne mothers head, yet some of his owne nation, being of good intelli­gence, haue said vnto straungers in defence of their Kinges honor: that albeit they of England haue cut of the head of his mother, he must not therefore by vn-tymely reuenge, cut him-self from the possibilitie of that crowne▪ But hauing once obtained thesame, he will then fall to the cutting of of the heades of those, that assented to that action: and to the confiscatiō of their landes and goodes, therewith to reward his freindes & followers: and so demonstrate vnto the world, that he could politikely chuse a tyme conueniēt to discharge such duty, as is incident vnto the honor and reputation of a King.

And touching Fraunce, albeit that by the death of the three late Kinges, the iniuries dōne vnto them cannot be by them remembred, yet the people of the realme, that were participāt of the wrōges, are still lyuing: in whome the desyre of reuenge, is of late newly reuyued, throughe the assisting of the Huguenote of Nauarr, their capitall enemy, but not their lawfull King.

[Page 48] And last of all, which of al other is the greatest, there extreme enmitie with the chief Bishop, & pastor of Gods Churche. VVhereof ensueth their general discord with all the Catholike Christiās of the world.

Thus the realme of England, being brought into breach of amitie, not only with the Churche of God, but with all their old alies and freindes, yf we now consider with whome they are ioy­ned in true freindship, we shal fynde them to be so fewe as none at all, since they haue neither spared, to offend freind nor foe. But yf we looke what new confederates they haue chosen, in ste­de of the old, we shall see them to be the great Turk, the kinges of Fesse, Marocco, and Algiers, or other Mahometains and Moores of Barbarie, all professed enemies to Christ. Against whome, some of the most noble and famous kinges of England, went in person with great armies, & ob­tained such victories, as will for euer recomend their glorie to all posterities. They are also in lea­gue with a fewe Bere-bruers, and Basketmakers of Holland, The Sta­tes. and Zealand, with a company of Aposta­taes, and Huguenotes of Fraunce, & with their feed pēsioner, the Chaūcelor of Scotlād, who by abusing of the King, hathe gottē credit to woork his ruyne. And the English thus leagued with infidells, heretikes, and rebells, cannot yet presume of any true frindship of them in their hartes. For the French albeit they be Huguenotes, yet are they still French vnto the English, and as heretofore, so euen of late they have shewed themselues vnto such, as were sent from England to assist them. The states of Holland, and Zealand, yf they could [Page 49] possibly thurst out the Englishe, they would not let to do it. And it is well knowne, that some of them of chiefest auctoritie haue secretly concluded and resolued, either presently vpon the Queenes deceasse, or so soone as any oportu­nitie serueth, to bring all their forces together to attempt it.

The freindship of Scotland, although it haue cost many Englishe angels, yet will it prove Scotish in the end. And the great Turk and his consorts, may be by the English excited to in­uade some partes of Christendome, neere vnto them adioyning (as alredy vpon such perswasiō they haue attempted) but good vnto England they can do none, albeit the English would ex­chāge their Geneua Bible, for the Turkish Alcorā, because their situations are to farr distant. But how so euer their new freindes may congratu­late with them, their old alies may rather reioyce in hauing their enmitie, then their amitie. For that by the vnhappy and mischieuous endes, of somany of their late confederates, it is obserued that to be in league with Englād, is malū omē. Et for proof thereof, I will aleadge some examples.

First the Earle of Arren in Scotland, after that he had by the espetiall suggestion of the English, prosecuted the rebellions and dissen­tions in his countrie, became distracted of the vse of reason, and hathe these 30. yeares remay­ned madd.

The Earle of Murray, bastard brother to the Scotish Queene, was slaine with an harque­bushe, in the towne of Lythquo.

The Earle of Lenox was stabbed with daggers,

[Page 50] The Earle of Marr was poysoned.

The Earle of Murton behedded: All which were regents and gouernours of the realme, and sett vp by the English. For I will omit recytall of diuers other Lordes, and gentlemen, that fo­lowed their factions, whose endes also were violēt: Besydes the great nūbers that haue perished in diuers battailes.

In Fraunce, the Prince of Coundie was slaine at the battaile of Iarnac.

The Admirall Shatilian, massacred at Parris, with mumbers of his consorts.

The Cardinall of Shatilian his brother, was poysoned in England.

The Counte of Mountgomery, behedded.

Monsieur the Duke of Aniow, brother to the late King, died of an extraordinary sicknesse, supposed to be poysoned.

And what end the last French King came vn­to is manifest enough. As also that Lanowe, being ioyned with the English forces in Brita­ny, was there slaine.

And to what end Nauarr shall come (being as firmly leagued with the English as were the others) is yet to be expected.

In the low Countries, the Counte of Lumay before mentioned, that surprised the towne of Briel, and had bene the murtherer of some hun­dteths of Priests, being bitten in the arme by an English dogg of his owne, died mad & raging, in the towne of Liege.

The Prince of Orange, that could neither be warned by the infortunate endes, of three of his owne bretheren, Henry, Adolf, & Lodowick, nor by [Page 51] one or two attēpts made vpon his owne person, was lastly slaine with a pistol in the towne of Delf, in Holland.

THe third calamitie whereunto England is brought, is of the vulgar multytude vnsene, because it is yet of them vnfelt. And that is, the great confusion, of somany competitors to the crowne, bothe within, & without the realme. VVhich must nedes prognosticate such slaughter & cruell murthers, as neuer were in that, nor in any other country, for such quarrell. VVhen the crowne of England was in contention only, be­tweene the two howses of Yorck, and Lancaster, how lōg it lasted, how many of the bloud Royal & Nobilitie lost their lyues, and what great nū ­bers of thowsandes were slaine, the histories of those dayes can declare. But farr greater extre­mities are we now to expect, among somany do mesticall, and some externe competitors. Euery one of which, thinking himself to be iustly the first, cā aleage many causes for the exclusion of the others. And therefore in all lykely hoode, each one of those, that liue within the realme & Ile, will not forbeare hereafter to attempt by what meanes he may, to preferr himself, and to depresse the others. For the crowne remayning among so many in equall ballance, and each al­most in lyke possibilitie, who of them is it, that will not dare to aduenture the vttermost of his meanes, for the gayning of no lesse a thing, then is the kingdome of England? And what auctho­ritie of any dissolued councel shal prohibite any of the competitors to attempt the same vpō, the dereasse of the Queene? VVhat great apparēce is [Page 52] there then, of the effusion of the blood of many thowsands, & to what desolation is the realme lyke to be brought? how fayned will then this present seeming peace be foūde, whē it shall con­clude in such intricate mortall warres?

And how infinite wilbe the cursinges, and ma­ledictions of all sortes of people, vpon him that hathe caused it, whē it shall appere vnto thē, that as he neuer sought to cōserue thē in peace during the Queenes lyf, so he neuer mēt but to leave thē in warres after her death? At what tyme he may reioyce as once did the tyrāt Nero, to see the citie burne, which himself had, set on fyre. And how soone this great quarrel shalbe begun, is as vncertaine, as the thing that each howre is to be expe­cted. Seeing it dependeth vpō the only lyf of the Queene, wherof there is as litle assurance, as of the lyf of any other mortall creature: and her de­ceasse so-much the nearer, in that she is now de­clyning in age.

TO come vnto the fourth & last parte, cōcer­ning the ouer-throwe of the Nobilitie, and the great and generall oppression of the people: it is first to be considered, that albeit the vniust molestations of other comon-wealths, and the oppressions and cruelties vsed within the real­me, were bothe by M. Cecill begū & prosecuted, yet hathe he so cuningly disposed very many of his affaires, into the handes of other principall actors (espetially since the death of his brother Bacon) that very oftē tymes, his owne plottes & inuentions have seemed the practizes of others. Of these his actors, the late Earle of Leicester, & the secretary VValsingham, were the chiefest. The [Page 53] former of the twaine, for that he had in his youth, by ouermuch attending his pleasures, neglected the obseruation of many secretes, which M. Cecill practized out of Machiauill: yet in the end, he did in fewe yeares profit somuch, and so recouer his negligences past, as that he soone grewe old in iniquitie: and lefte no mischief vn­attempted how abhominable so euer. And at the last (as it seemeth) euen by the iust iudgement of God, the same day seuē night, that he had caused diuers Priestes and other Catholikes, to be cru­elly murthered in diuers places, within and with out the citie of London, he sickned: and as it is thoughte was poisoned, and preuented by one, whome himself had thought by such meanes to have dispatched, he died without any signes of a Christian, more lyke a dogg then a man, & being dead, was as vgly a corse, as he was filthy in manners in his lyf: and in his stomack, were great holes eaten throughe with the poyson. His lādes were presently ceased vpon, for his debtes vnto the Queene, whereby he was as much disgraced, as yf he had rather bene hated, then fauoured of her.

And he that but late before, seemed to cary in himself the very glory of the realme, and that in his lyf tyme was feared of many, thoughe loued of none: was no sooner dead, but iustly condēned of all. Yea exclamed on, cursed and banned to all mischief, by all the people of the land: who ge­nerally reioysed, that so wicked a monster was dead.

And albeit that toward his later dayes, hee be­came the only patrone of the purest professors of [Page 54] the Gospell: yet immediatly after his death, a freind of his bestowed vpon him this Epitaphe.

The Secretary Walsingham, a most violent persecutor of Catholikes, died almost in lyke manner, neuer somuch as naming God in his last extremities, and yet he had bothe speech and memorie, as he shewed by telling the preacher that he heard him, and therefore hee needed not to crie so loude, and these were his last woordes: and in the end, his vryne came foorth at his mouth, and nose, with so odious a stench, that none could endure to come neere him. And not withstanding his great credit and aucthoritie, he died a begger, and more indebted, then his landes could satisfy, and hathe lefte no fame of vertue behynde him.

These twaine, and sundry other inferior in­strumentes, being gon to render an accompt of their infynite euills, & the same impious course of proceeding stil continued, & daily encreasing from ill to woors, dothe plainly manifest vnto the world, who it is, that hathe bene the author and supporter of all mischief, & consequētly the direct occasioner, of whatsoeuer inconueniēces, the realme of England dothe presently sustaine, and what distresses, miseries, perills, or, dangers, [Page 55] it is threatned hereafter to suffer. VVhereunto it seemerh, he is bent with a very full resolution, to hazard and bring it.

And touching the present estate of the Nobi­litie, wherewith the stately courtes of former princes were adorned, their armies in the feild conducted, the comons of the countrie by their great hospitalitie relieued, look whether they are not brought vnto that seruilitie, that yf they apply not themselues to Cecils humour, they must not liue in their countries, but be tyed vnto the courte, or alotted their dwelling, as yf they were his perpetuall wardes? yea rather as pupils, that are kept vnder with roddes, not daring to speake what they think and know: but are set to be ayme-giuers, while others do hitt their marckes. Some of them, he hathe vnde seruedly brought into the disfauor of the prince. Sundry he hathe drawne vpon fained fauours of the courte, to consume themselues to beggery. Others he hathe sent foorth, to become pirates and sea-rouers. And the lyues of some of the principall, by guylefull pretended crymes he hathe taken away, & by one meanes or other, he hathe brought such as be yet lyuing into those ter­mes, that none may be permitted to cary any credit in the comon-welth, except it be some very fewe, whose wisdomes he can easely ouer­rule. By which meanes, there is no subiect in England of more opulence, none of more aucthori­tie, nor none of more power, then himself: and therefore none to withstand his entended mat­che, betweene the Lady Arbella, and his grand­child. VVhereby England may happen to [Page 56] haue a King Cecill the first, that is suddainly meta morphosed frō a grome of the wardrobe, to the wearing of the best robe within the wardrobe.

Concerning the generall oppression of the people, it is no lesse, but rather more lamentable thē the ouerthrowe of the nobilitie: in asmuch, as it tendeth to an vniuersall distruction of the whole body of the realme. As the E. of Darby & others The Lyftenantes and Iustices of shires, who are reputed to liue in best credit in their countries, are no more but the subiects of pursuiuants, catchpoles, & promoters, and must night and day be redy, to waite and at­tend at euery call, of this vile and abiect sorte of people. But the meaner gentlemen and comons, are brought vnto the greatest slauishnesse, and misery, that euer any free borne people haue li­ued in. VVhich whoso shall rightly cōsider, shall easely perceaue, whether England hathe these 33. yeares enioyed peace and tranquillitie, as it is impudently reported to haue dō For yf we first look what often & generall musters haue bene made, what pressinges, and sending foorthe of men, what prouision, chopping, changing, & consuming, of armour, munitiō, artillery, & pouder, since the first yeare of the Queenes raigne: we shall fynde it to giue small proof of a conti­nuall peace.

Let vs call to remembrance what troopes of men haue at sundry tymes beene sent into Scot­land, what forces almost yearely into Ireland, what infynite numbers into the low countries, and continued with dayly supplies, how many thousandes into Fraunce and Britany, what an huge army into Portugall, besydes all the braue [Page 57] men and mariners consumed in sundry voyages or piracies by sea, sent foorth to seeke new habi­tations in Virginia, and by one such meanes or other made away: and we shall fynde the num­ber to be farr greater, then any King of England hathe employed within or without the realme in any his honorable watres. And yf any man should think, that al these troopes haue bene but set forthe in May-games he may call to memorie that their coming home againe declared it not.

Let vs also cōsider, what great numbers of pore women are often tymes lefte in misery, & with their childrē to pyne at home in famyne, whyle their husbandes are sent foorth in forreyne warres: & how-many by this meanes are be­come widowes, and their childeren fatherlesse. And further, what great trooble and vexatiō ge­nerally all artificers, farmers, and husbandmen are put vnto by attending and following so ma­ny generall musters: wherein are also, diuers great and foule abuses comitted. VVhat infinite numbers of freholders, yeomen, and others (di­uers of thē being charged with wyf and familie) are pressed & sent foorth of the realme vnto the warres of forein parts, contrary to the lawes of the coūtrie, by the which it is prouyded that none ought to be pressed, but only to defend the realme, or to recouer some lost patrimony of the crowne: whereof it is not knowne that either Spaine, Portugall, the lowe countries, or the Indies euer were. And yet so exceeding great haue bene the multytudes of men, that by compulsiō haue these late yeares bene sent vnto those partes, that (being well employed) they might haue conquered [Page 58] whole kingdome: and not withstāding this great iniustice and iniury donne vnto them, whē in these seruices and euill actions they haue lost their lyues, they are rewarded with infamy after their deaths, euen by those, that constrained them thereunto, and most contemptibly called the scum & rascallitie of the countrie, whereof it is happely deliuered. And such as after the great miseries (which comonly they do sustaine) do returne home againe into England, they haue by the very report of being Soldiers, purchased the hatefull names of rogues & vagabondes: & being for want of payment, brought vnto pouertie & nakednesse, are made subiect vnto the conductiō and punishement, of euery beadle & catchpole: and lastly euen for very trifles, to the fynall dis­patch of the hangman. VVhat a most vile and hatefull vsage is this, to men of any valor? and how intolerable to be borne by any that beareth in his brest the harte and courage of a soldier, or hathe euer bene conducted by a captaine in the feild? what wrong and iniury can be greater to any one that retayneth the shape of a man? or how is it possible for any English soldier to en­dure it, or for any other to extend it vnto him except this only naturall enemy to all men of ar­mes? that could neuer abyde that euer any man of seruice, capitaine, soldier, or person of braue spirite, should be rewarded but with reproche & misery: whose condition and state of lyf is in all countries in the world most honorable, and was neuer made slauish in England before England came vnto a Cecilian gouernment.

Thus rewardeth he those whome himself employeth [Page 59] to his owne purpose, in the losse and hazarding of their lyues. And yf we shall now con­sider, what infynite numbers of the inhabitants of the land he hathe by one meanes or other cō ­sumed, & dayly entendeth to cōsume, we might iustly feare, that this his course continuing, he would in tyme bring the realme to be a Repub­like of Amasones, yf he had not alredy drawne into it treble as many strangers, as King VVilliam the cōqueror planted therein after his subduing thesame, wherewith himself (as it seemeth) doth meane to erect and fortify his new imagyned kingdome.

Let vs also consider the great decay of Trafike, that of late yeares the countrie is brought vnto, whereby not only many principall marchantes, which were wont to transport great riches and comodities to the realme, are become banckrup­tes, and sundry of them enforced to turne their trade of marchandize into meere piracie, but al­so diuers whole townes are decayed, & the peo­ple compelled to beg, that before were honest­ly sustained by the trade of clothing.

VVhat should I speake of the generall abu­ses of the realme, since they are so great, and so infynite.

There were neuer somany sutes in lawe, nor there was neuer lesse redresse of wronges.

The lawe is exempt from Iustice, and all cau­ses are gouerned by bribes and partialitie.

Conscyence is least accompted of, and coosi­nage is in summo gradu.

The prisons were neuer in any princes daies so full of debtors, and malefactors.

[Page 60] The highe wayes were neuer so replenished with thieues & robbers, & yet were there neuer so many executed for stealing.

There were neuer such numbers of beggers in all partes of the realme, and except lawyers & vsurers, very fewe mē are furnished with mony.

But it is a woonder to consider, what great & grieueous exactions, haue from tyme to tyme bene generally emposed vpon the people, as all the Lones, the Lottery, gathering for the steeple of Paules, newe impostes and customes of wynes, clothes, and other marchandize, forfaictures, and confiscations of the goodes of Catholikes, forced bene uolences for the sucouring of rebellious bretherē, huge masses of mony raised by priuy seales, and last of all, the great number of subsidies, which haue bene more in the tyme of this Queene, thē those that haue beene leuyed by diuers of her predecessors, and do amount to many millions of poundes: & yfall these do not lie hoorded vp in the Queenes cofers, the Lord Trecherer I trust cā giue her maiestie and the realme good accomp­tes of them in books and papers. But in the meane while, the comons are brought vnto comon beggery, and by the continued and intended exactions, they are lykely to be daily more oppres­sed then other. Infynite are the domesticall mi­series that he hathe deliuered the realme vnto, & most infamous hath he made the English name and nation abrode, for vice, for cruelty, for vn­faithfulnesse and breach of all lawes with their freindes and confederates. In Fraunce, they are counted Churche-robbers, bloody, and vnmerciful, in Portugall, disordered and foole hardie, of [Page 61] all nations in generall, the pyrates of euery sea the sowers of sedition in all countries, the maintainers of all rebellions, and the only Butchers & persecutors of innocent priestes, and Catholikes, that peaceably liue vnder their subiection.

Behold then good reader into what condi­tion, the late so goodly and flowrishing estate of England in a fewe yeares is brought, & how iustly it may be said to be blessed with peace and tranquillitie in regard of former ages.

Call to remēbrance, in what amitie that realme was with other countries, at the Queenes entrāce to the crowne, & those likewise at the same tyme one with another: which mighte happely haue continued for many yeares together, yf the vnhappy enemy of Christian cōcord had not bene the only let and hindrance, & as neither the princes of Fraunce or Scotland, notwithstanding their great molestatiōs by the English, did neuer attempt any reuenge: no more did the King of Spaine make any shewe of hostillitie against them, albeit the iniuries don by them vnto him, without intermissiō haue bene lōgest cōtynued: insomuch, that the English haue scarsly left him or his subiects, any countrie of quiet habita­tion, but disturbed thē in Spaine, in Portugall, in Italy, and in the Indies, & letted not to robbe & spoile them, in all partes of the occean and mediteraneā seas. And hauing for the space of twēty yeares together assisted the rebelles of the lowe countries, and lastly in the open viewe of the world, put thē selues in possessiō of diuers of the kinges townes and cities, being parte of his patrimony: he was in the end euē drawne by extreme [Page 62] violence to some attempt, for the recouery of his right, hauing before somany yeares together, for borne the reuenge of all former wronges: and now (as it seemeth) because he will not giue thē assurance to remit all iniuries past, and to put vp as many as hereafter they may do vnto him, and quietly lett them continew their wrongfull possession of his righte, M. Cecill is become so mad and angry with him, that he raileth vpon him in open proclamation (wherein I suppose I mi­stake not the person) for albeit the proclamatiō be published in the name of the Queene, yet must it needes be written by the directiō of him which is Domine fac totum, who as it seemeth, being in some great choler, was ouer hasty in the choise of his Scribe, or somuch ouer-weened in his owne wisdome, that he thought no one of his fond impertinēt and friuolous reasons could be controled. And therefore with much impudē cie he saith, that the king of Spaine hathe conti­nually disturbed the state of England 33. yeares together, and he greatly laboreth to make the world belieue, that either the king did neuer know, or els had vtterly forgotten, whether the English had euer don vnto him any iniuries at all, and therefore could neuer think vpon any meanes of remedy or reuenge, yf he were not vr­ged forward and put in memorie of them, by a fewe priestes and Iesuites.

He accuseth the Pope, of exhausting the trea­sure of the Churche, without consent of the college of Cardinalles. VVherein he seemeth as thoughe he pitied the wasting of the Churches treasure, who could wish in his harte that the. [Page 63] Pope and all his Cardinalles, were as poore as euer was Iobe.

He would make it seeme an iniury, that this treasure is employed in the warres of Fraunce, because that realme hathe bene a defender of the Romaine Churche in all their oppressiōs: where as it rather might seeme an iniury, yf the Pope should not now relieue them, that had assisted the Church in former oppressions, who I think he cannot meane to haue bene Nauarr and his Huguenotes.

And verely it seemeth, that this mannes great prosperitie do the make him to forget himself, & dothe bereaue him of his iudgement. For who may els imagyne that his vanitie should be so great, or his lack of wiser matter so litle, as to set foorth in proclamation that the King of Spaine did practize with men of base birth of the Eng­lish nation, who giueth credit vnto none, but vnto such as to whome all Christēdome yeildeth honor, for their knowne vertue and wisdome, being also of honorable, or very honest parētage and therefore not base of birth. Neither seemeth he to remēber with what woorshipful squyres he practizeth withall against the King, The Sta­tes. in Hol­land and Zealand: nor yet what Sir walter Raw­leghe dreamed of himself, M. Rau­leghes dreame. how King Henry the eighte told him, that he did very much woōder, that one Cecill was now come to beare so great sway in the courte, whose name in his tyme was so obscure in the countri. Neither cōsidereth he, that albeit by his owne parētage he is but meane, that he hath litle betred himself by his mat­ches, his first wyf being but the sister of a Pedāte, [Page 64] and his later so lately come out of the kitchin, that her posteritie for some discents, must nedes smell of the fat of the frying pan: which were ne­delesse here to be aleaged, were it not to mani­fest his Lordshipes insolent vanitie, in standing vpon such toyes, as with wisemen are esteemed as fethers in the ayre: who in respect of meane parentage do neuer accompt the lesse of wise or woorthy mennes qualities.

It is also a lyke matter of moment, that he speaketh of the Kinges charges for the mainte­nāce of students, vnlesse it be to insinuate cōpas­sion, aswell of his as of the Popes expences: but his saying that they are a number of dissolute yong men, is an exceeding shamefull & mali­tious flaunder.

He would proue that none are put to deathe for religion, because as he saith numbers of men, of welth of contrary religion, are not touched in their lyves, landes, goodes, or liberties, but with the paymēt of a pecuniary somme (which being but a trifle of 20. pounde the moneth he nameth not) and yet many haue scarsly the libertie of their prisons, while theire landes, and goodes are seazed on, for this pecuniary trifle. And yf any fewe for some colour of clemencie be set at liberty, their licence comonly excedeth not a­boue 20. dayes, and it is bothe vnder bondes & sureti [...]es, with limitation of their residence. And because these numbers are not put to death for religion, he seeketh to proue that none are put to death for religion: which he thinketh he may the rather auouch, for that neither Iesuites, Se­minary priestes, nor other Catholikes, are ex­presly [Page 65] cōdemned to death for saying or hearing Masse or the lyke, but the one is condemned and put to death because he is a priest, and the other for receyuing him. VVhereby the world may vnderstand, that no Catholike should be put death for any exercise of his religion, so he would not come in the company of priestes: nor priestes, yf they would remaine and vse their functins in Italy or other countries, should not be put to death for treason in Eng­land.

It is no lesse ridiculous, to call the Lord Cardinall a scholer, who being now threescore yeares of age, hathe bene chosen to be a head and gouernour of colleges and schollers, bothe in England & in other countries, aboue 36. yeares past. And hathe professed in diuers famous vni­uersities, and written so many excellent bookes, as the aduersarie will neuer be able to answere: and in the opinion of the best and wisest of Christendome, was woorthely chosen vnto his pre­sent dignitie, & was of late in very neere electiō to haue bene preferred vnto the highest estate of all others in the world. And it is a parsonall ly, to say that F. Parsons dothe arrogate vnto himself the name of the King Catholikes confessor: whose iust credit and reputatiō, for his knowne wisdome and vertue bothe with this King, and many other noble princes, no English proclamation can be able to diminish.

If M. Cecill himself, had obtayned his estema­tion for vertue and honest endeuours, & so had bene the beginer of his house, it had bene far greater honor and comendation for him, then [Page 66] by the ruyne of somany bothe honorable & vertuous, the consuming and oppressing of the people, & the hazard of the destructiō of the realme so arrogantly to aduaunce himself, and to extole his owne glory in painted pedegrees, borrowed and farr fetched: and his posteritie might then more longer haue retained their honor and re­nowne, then perhappes they are now lyke to do, because great treasure heaped together by ra­pyne wrong, and violēce, is neuer enioyed with long felicitie. For De male quaesitis, vix gaudet tertius haeres. And yf the feares that he dothe faine be true, it is not impossible but his house as it hathe begun, so it may end with himself. And this perhaps he somwhat suspecteth and therefore as all tyrantes are woont, dothe seeke to for­tify himself by the effusion of innocent blood: as thoughe that were the only way to auoyde all reuenges of iniuries, donne to the king of Spai­ne. And that his vniust accusing of innocent mē of treason, could colour his owne exceeding treasons, that hathe broughte the realme into such present misery, and deliuered it vnto so-many ensuing perills and dangers, as it now dothe at­tend.

For it is he, that neither of conscyence, nor any other cause, but meerly for his owne ambi­tiō, hathe wrought the mutation and change of religion, where of such wonderfull inconueniē ­ces haue followed.

It is he, that hathe procured the enmytie, which Englād hathe at this present with so-many Christian Princes and states, & chiefly with the most potent King of the world.

[Page 67] It is he, that for the prosecuting of his impious intentions, hathe sent foorthe so-many thousandes of the naturall people of the realme to be cō ­sumed in forreyne countries.

It is he, that hathe caused so-many great and generall exactions, and that hathe exhausted the treasure of the Queene & realme for the maintenāce of rebells, and purchasing of enemyes to his naturall country.

It is he, that hathe bene the occasion, that the Queene (contrary to her owne honor, Leicester Hatton. and the well lyking of her other counselors which she most affected) hathe made so many offers of ma­riage to forreyne princes: and yet notwithstan­ding hathe euer vtterly perswaded her from ma­riage, thereby to bury her posteritie in her owne body.

It is he, that was one of the most principall contriuers of the deuysed plott, for the treche­rous slaughter of the Scottish Queene, which will redownde vnto the eternall infamy of England, and dothe threaten a continuall reuenge.

It his he, that because he could not somtyme establish such heyr apparent as he listed, hathe lefte the succession of the crowne so confused­ly among somany competitors, bothe within, and without the realme: which tendeth vnto the effusiō of the blood of infynite thowsandes, more then alredy he hathe brought to distru­ction.

It is he▪ that hathe bene the causer of al the inconueniences troobles, and daungers, that the realme hathe alredy past, These 33. yeares. or dothe presently sustaine, or hereafter may suffer, being now [Page 68] brought into such a labyrinth of calamities, as neuer the same, nor any other can be remēbred to haue bene brought vnto. And as this hathe bene wrought by himself and not by Catho­lykes, so himself and not Catholykes, is iustly therefore to be accused and blamed. And how­soeuer he do now in supreame aucthoritie falsly impute vnto others the crymes of treasons, and trecheries: yf the matter might come to any equall hearing before indifferēt iudges, it should cleerely be prooued, that he which wisheth the reformation of his country, cannot be a traitor to his country: but that Cecill being the causer of the most enormious euills thereof, is a traitor himself, and the greatest, that euer England nowrished, and farr more noysome and perni­tious to the realme, then euer were the Spencers, Peeter of Gauerstone, or any other that euer abu­sed either Prince or people. And because no man dare frame an endytement against him, I will heere omit many other articles of highe treasō, but yf any will vndertake to iustifie his actions in his course of gouernment, let him know, that there is sufficiēt matter of reply reserued for him, which is not extracted out of Mother Hubberds tale, Prosopo­poia or mother Hubberds tale. of the false fox and his crooked cubbes, but is to be vttred in plaine prose, and shal lay open to the world, his birth, his lyf, and perhaps his death, seing his detestable actions are such, as do aske vengeance of heauen and earth.

It is a lamentable grief to consider, that the manifold harmes which comonly the afflicted subiects do suffer, the Princes themselues do neuer feele, and that the perills & dangers [Page 69] wherein they do stand, are kept from their sight and knowlege by such, as in whome they repose ouermuch trust and confidence, vntill with vio­lence they do fall vpon their owne heades, and comonly when all remedy is past to auoyde thē. And thus the great euills which are caused by one man, do redownde vnto the vniuersall harme, both of the Prince and people. How greatly dangerous is it then for any Prince, to be wholy led and conducted by the perswasiō of one man, and to deliuer the possessiō of his or her eares, vnto the deceitfull tonge of a flatterer. By such meanes was the puisant Emperor Char­lemaigne, misguyded, whose ouer-great affyance in the wicked counsell of one only Gano, was the occasion of wōderfull harmes, that fell bothe vpon himself and his people: which great incon­uenience is by a moderne Poet greatly lamēted, Ariosto. who amōg other his verses to the same purpose, hathe these ensuing.

And happy were it for the Queene & realme of England, yf all the sustayned or expected har­mes of that Prince or people, being directly cau­sed by one man, might iustly redownd vpon the causer himself. But more happy had it bene, to haue sought in tyme by iust satisfaction of iniu­ries, to haue auoided the deserued reuēges of thē. But most infortunate is it, that he which hathe bene the beginner of these mischieues, & hathe no meaning to redresse them, is yet permitted to plunge the realme into what further calamities himself listeth, and to hazard the shedding of the [Page 70] best bloud of the Nobilitie and People, for the only establishing of his owne house and poste­ritie: to make the ruinated families of the one, & the dead bodies of the other, the steppes to moūt vnto his entended height.

He commaundeth bothe England and Scot­land, he laboureth incessantly with the Queene to make his eldest sonne deputy of Ireland, and (as it is aforesaid) entendeth to match his grandchild with the Lady Arbella, & so to put in for a kingdome yf not for the Monarchie of Albion. And for the better contriuing of the whole domination to himself, This kee­ping of the [...]iue seale hath a mistery in it. he hathe lately brought in his second sonne, to be of the Queenes councell▪ and keper of her priuy seale: the which of wyse-men is much maruailed at, and the rather for that the Queene is repu­ted learned, and therefore seemeth to be the more ouerseene in the choise of so il shapen and crooked a counselor (hauing neither wisdome nor experience) to forgett the precept of the graue Philosopher, who giueth espetial warning of such so marked by nature, in these woordes: Caue ab his, quos natura signauit. And albeit she had forgotten such wise aduice of so aunciēt an author, I wish she had called to mynde the woordes of a later (thoughe of lesse aucthori­tie) which perhaps for her recreation she may somtyme haue red: who in his Macaronicall ver­ses giueth good notes, to beware of such defor­med creatures, saying in admiration.

[Page 71] And yf her Ma ^tie. had bene disposed to prefer him, it seemeth vnto me, that to haue made him a writer vnder some clerck or officier of the courte, had bene very conueniēt for him, because as a courtier told her, he was fittest for such purpose, for that he caried his deske on his back. But such is the omnipotencie of his father, that he plotteth to effectuate greater thinges thē this, and thinketh to determyne bothe of crowne and kingdome, and to dispose of prince and peo­ple, and to purchase his desyred greatnesse with the effusion of the blood of somany thowsandes as he shal list to send vnto the slaughter.

He hathe of late bene very vigilāt to fynde such in the Queenes debt after their deceasse, As Leice­ster and others. as befo­re by her fauour and countenāce, vsed extorsions in the comon welth: but himself yf he were wel looked vnto, would be found much more in her debt, by how much more he hathe menaged her treasure so long a tyme together, and wrong himself into so many matters of gaine, and was neuer yet accomptable for all the thirtene score poundes by yeare, which he hathe exacted of somany Catholike recusants. VVhat should I speake of his pluralitie of offices, wherewith he can neuer be contented, but maketh a monopoly of all thinges within the realme, that any way may turne to his comoditie. By which meanes his gettinges are so infinite, that his seruantes with the very shreddes of his briberies and ex­torsions are able to purchase great reneuewes & to buyld stately palaces: & yet himself is so encroching, that he letteth not to entrude into Chur­che matters, yea and to contend with the B. of [Page 72] Canterbury, about the appointing of preachers.

He kepeth (I knowe not by what vnhappy cō stellation, or rather deuilish enchauntemēt) the fauour of his prince, which neuer subiect somuch abused. He hathe made himself the very owner of her determinations, not permitting her to re­compence the seruice of her other officers & ser­uantes, and diuers tymes when she hathe promised reward, he denieth her the meanes of perfor­mance, and so forceth her to breake and go from her woorde: yea he maketh her accōptable to hī, how she entēdeth to dispose of her owne: which yet must neuer be, but as himself lyketh. Al men may iustly lay vnto him the vndoing of the realme, not somuch cōdemning her whose sexe is easy to be mis-led, nor the rest of the councell whose willes by him are violently ouerruled. He is neither embraced in the courte, nor beloued in the coūtry. He is freindly to none, but for his owne profit. He is not welcome to his peeres, nor of affection followed of his inferiors: but re­sembleth a storme in the aire, which all creatures do feare and shun, and none do loue or desyre.

And albeit that he now in his altytude, dothe manifest in himself the very nature and conditiō of a Tyrant, whose vile and abiect courage is to murther & butcher such as innocētly liue vnder his iurisdictiō: let him not think that thereby he can diuert the iust iudgmēt of God, vnto whome their sacred bloode do the incessantly call for ven geance: Nor that all the reuenges of iniuries, wrō ges, and violences, don vnto other princes, and espetially vnto the King of Spaine, cā possibly be auoyded by his killing of a fewe poore priestes, [Page 73] and Iesuytes, which (he may assure himself) should be remembred, yf there were neither Ie­suyte nor Seminarie Priest liuing in the world.

And he that preserued his Prophets, Apostles, and the holy men of the primitiue Churche in caues, dennes, woodes, & wildernesses, & fed thē miraculously from heauē, will not forsake those that shall serue him sincerely, but will giue thē courage and meanes also, bothe to enter and to abyde in the realme, and there to serue such numbers, as of mercie he will haue saued. Against which apostolicall practize, let him prosecute what new Cecillian Inquisition▪ he can deuise, and to vexe forraine princes abrode, let him make as many shippes to the sea as he list, and to fortifie himself at home, let him commaunde as many musters by land as he pleaseth, our hope and con­fidence is in God, who can dissipate the councell of Achitophel and all others that are against him.

During the tyme of thirty and three yeares, bothe lawe, swoord, & all humaine force hathe bene vsed, to extinguishe the Catholike party, pulpites, proclamations, and all meanes els em­ployed against it: their liuinges & comodities, disposed of by the aduersary: and yet thesame standeth, and putteth him in more feare then euer afore. And yf he were not blynde, & perhap­pes by God himself blynded for his sinnes, he would seeke another way to saue himself ab ira ventura, which is to cease from persecuting of Gods Churche, and to returne vnto the obe­dience thereof, where is mercy, & the only way to remedy all these feares, & to escape that which he feareth not, and that is, eternall damnation.

[Page 74] THus good reader haue I briefly ended this precedent discours, The cōclusion. and declared vnto thee bothe by whose meanes, and in what manner, the realme of England is distressed with somany present calamities, and deliuered to such feares, of greater future troobles.

The mature consideration of the premises, I refer vnto thy indifferent iudgement. The iust blame of these euills, where it is iustly deserued. And the reformation of so great iniquity, to the infynite mercy of almighty God: who vout­saf to woork thesame, by the sweetest, & easiest meanes, that his iustice may admitt.

And now in conclusion I haue not deemed it amisse, to giue the some caueat of a vile and hate­full kynde of dealing, which the aduersary of late hathe vsed, in diuulging nūbers of false and defa­matorie libells: which it seemeth custome hathe made so familiar to the libellers themselues, that by an ordinary habite which therein they haue gotten, they seme to haue forgotten, that there is any difference betwene lying, and telling ttuthe: for otherwise it might be presumed, they would neuer so greatly busy themselues, so egregiously to abuse the world. And albeit as the Psalme saith Mētita est iniquitas sibi, & that these libells do comonly cary their owne discredit in themselues, by being ouercharged with most palpable lies: yet because they tend vnto the furtherance of the pretended Gospell, and that the ne­cessitie of that cause so much requireth it, they must passe without contradiction of them that can detect them of falshoode, and be taken for verities, of those that are not able to discerne [Page 75] them for vntruthes. And therefore in respect of pitie of the abused multytude, I wil make re­citall of some fewe of this kynde, to the end that the reader may giue such creditt vnto the lyke hereafter, as he shall well perceaue the former to haue deserued.

Of these sortes of libells, many do declare great numbers of French & Flemish victories, which are so famous, that sundry of them were neuer knowne nor heard of in all the world, but only in England.

Others are of obscure and tryfling matters, Printed by vv Blac vvall. ex­cept such as is that of the happy conquest of the suburbes of Paris, &c.

Others tell of visions in the ayre, Printed by Nelson. 1590. which are enterpreted to presage detriment to those of the league.

Somtymes they are of prophesied victories before they happen, Printed by VVoolf 1590. and appointed tymes of the death of Princes, as that the duke of Parma should die at martinmas 1590.

Some are of triumphes of victories, Printed by Allde. 1591. before they be obtayned, as when the Earle of Essex, was to go with his forces into Normandie.

Some haue bene set foorthe to make losses seeme victories, Printed 1589. as the discours of the Portugall voyage, And by ponsonby 1591. and the losse of the Reuenge.

And whereas there was one Caçalla & others of his company, Printed by Nelson 1591. executed for Heresy and Apostasie at Validolid in Spaine 30. yeares past: the man­ner of this execution is in an English libell newly set foorth, and said to be for profession of the Gospell, and to be donne but of late.

In lyke sorte is very perticularly set downe, [Page 76] the glorious & constant martirdome of an Englishmā (not lōg since) in the towne of Dunkerck, Printed at Londō. 1590. whose torments endured fowre dayes: & yet there was neuer any such man, nor any such matter hard of in the said towne, as all the inha­bitants will witnesse.

So was it published, Printed by Pur­foot 1591. that the King of Spaine (whome the libeller calleth the Archtyrant of the world) was dead.

And another libell that came foorthe of late entituled A fig for the Spaniard cōtradicteth that lie, Printed by VVoolf 1592. with another as manifest an vntruthe, and saith that Phillip of Spaine is not dead, but lyeth bedred.

In all these and sundry other lyke lybells, As in the forged cō ­fession Printed by VVoolf 1590. it seemeth they haue chalenged vnto themselues a kynde of priuilege, to raile and raue at Princes, and to be-ly and slaunder whome they list: and this good dealing is vsed, for the aduauncement of the cause of the Gospell, but argueth in dede, that all the plotts and practizes of the aduetsary as they first were begun, so haue they bene con­tynued, and so are they still vpholden and vnder­propped, with cogging, foisting, lying and coosi­ning: which equity & truthe hathe euer detested, and all honorable states and honest myndes, do vtterly abhorr. Neither is thesame able to con­tinewe the vsurped credit of the newnamed Gospell, but must needes in tyme bring it to ex­treeme hatred and contempt.

And it seemeth that the exceding malice of some of these libellers, The figgiuer. hath transported them into such a feruour of folly, that they imagyne all Christendome (without any question to the cō ­traty [Page 77] bothe to knowe & acknowledge, Iohn Cal­uyns exposition of the Gospell (as it is vnder­stood in England) to be the very Gospell of Christ in dede: els would they neuer so peremptorily raile at other princes and people, for not em­bracing thesame.

The Sacred Scripture and true Gospell of Christ, as it hathe euer bene inuiolably preser­ued in the Catholike Churche, so is it only of that Churche most highly esteemed, and folo­wed. And no Caluinists or other Sectaries, haue any scripture at all, that they haue not had from that Churche. And by this true Gospell and woord of God, the woord of Caluyne, and mis­named Gospell of Protestants, is clerely proued to be false and flat heresy. And yf the English Gospellers, will not stand to the iudgement of Catholikes in this point, all the Lutherans of Germany will resolutely offer to prooue the same also out of a supposed Gospell of theirs, which they as confidently chalenge to themselues, as any Englishe Gospellers cā possibli claime any other. And therefore my masters in England, must not so run in crie with their peculier Gospell, as to chyde others for nor following the same, when they belieue it not to be true, but do truly belieue it to be false. And so leauing this later clause for A fig to the figmonger. I wish the reader to sus­pect the discordant English Gospell of heresy, and the Gospellers libells, of malitious lies.