These two Execrable Murthers, together with the Murtherers, as they agree, and hold parallell in many things, so they differ in some other.

They agree touching the Atrocity and hainousness of the main Act, both the Murthers being perpetrated upon the Sacred Persons of two Great Christian Kings; And that They were Murther'd by their own vassals who were bound unto Them by so­lemn Oathes of Alleageance, Fidelity and Obedience; They agree, that as the French Assassin alledg'd that he was lead thereunto by certain Illuminations which he was contented to call afterwards Tentations, so the In­fernall Murtherers in England pretended to have New­lights ever and anon; They both agreed in an abomi­nable kind of blasphemy, in that they made God him­self the chief Author thereof, and that it was his work more then Mans.

They differ, In that the Murther in France was com­mitted [Page 2] by one single Assassin, for he would never con­fesse in the highest agonies of Torture, that any knew of it but Himself, no not his Ghostly Fathers, for fear of discovery; for so he said the Intent might be pu­nish'd for the Deed.

But the English Murtherers, may be call'd an ugly Hydra with many heads, who after divers previous con­sultations committed the Crime.

The Murther in France was sudden, close and Clan­destin, But that in England was long a moulding, It was done in the face of the Sun, and pretended to be done according to Justice, and the Laws, in which particular they far exceeded Ravaillac in a hellish kind of impu­dence; It was done before the chief Gate of his own House which was always held a sanctuary.

Moreover, Henry the Fourth was quickly put out of pain, but King Charles was Crucified as it were long be­fore His death; For those Murtherers like so many Hell­hounds may be sayed to have worried Him up and down from place to place, from prison to prison a great while, where they studied how to make him weary of His life before they took it away; For they berest him of those things which conduce to the common comfort of mankind, (whereof the most infamous Fclou is not barr'd of,) as Wife, Children, Chaplains, Servants; and place still about Him those whose faces He most ab­horrd, which put Him in perpetuall apprehensions of being Murtherd privately; And if He was found to like any of His Keepers, they were presently removed from about Him.

Lastly, The Murtherers differ in point of punishment, for though the English were higher in mischief, being not onely Traytors to Him their King upon earth, but [Page 3] also to the great King of Heaven, and to their own Coun­try, having so sacrilegiously plunder'd the One, and plung'd the Other in blood and war, yet They had but a short kind of punishment, lasting scarce a quarter of an hower, which took away the sense of feeling the rest.

But He of France had lingring Tortures insted of punishments, which extended to the utmost length of time, possibility of sense, and possibility of nature, as is mention'd in this Incomparable Histroy, which touching this point begins as followeth.

There was a gentle Calme through all Christendom, and France had not the least share of it, having continu­ed twenty years together in a constant repose without the lest tintumarre, or motion of Armes, A rare thing amongst so spritefull and quicksylver'd people to whom Peace becomes a surfet any longer then they have pick'd up their crummes to feed a new war, say there was a Ca­tholique peace throughout Europe when Henry the Fourth of France would needs get a horse-back upon a great Martiall design which was a mystery for the time, so that all men stood at a maze what he meant, the busi­ness was carried so closely, whereupon he raiseth a po­tent Army of Horse and Foot.

But behold the greatest example of the libricity and instableness of mundane affairs, and of the sandy foun­dation whereon the highest pomp and purposes of Men are grounded that any Age can parallell, For this Great King (as I told you before,) having a most powerfull and a kind of irresistible Army of about 40000. com­batants, all choice men, conducted by Veteran Com­manders, and the most expert that Europe could afford, and all of them well appointed and in perfect equipage; The King having also a mount of gold as high as a lance [Page 4] (as the French writers have it,) estimated at sixteen mil­lions of treasure to maintain this Army; He having as­sur'd his Confederates abroad, and settled all things at home; He having also caused his Queen to be Crownd in the highest magnificence that could be with intent to appoint Her Regent in his absence.

Behold this mighty King amongst these triumphs of his Queen, being to go the next day to his Army, when his spirits were at their highest elevation, and his heart swelling with Assurances rather then Hopes of successe and glory, going privately in the afternoon to his Arse­nal to view his Artillery, He was stop'd in a small street by so contemptible a thing as a Colliers cart, and there, from among the armes of his own Nobles who were with him in the Coach, he was thrust violently out of the world by one of the meanest of his own vassalls, who with a prodigious hardiness fastning his foot upon the Coach-wheel reach'd him ore the shoulders of one of his greatest Lords, and stab'd him to the very heart, and with a monstrous undantedness of resolution making good his first stab with a second, dispatched him sudden­ly from off the earth, as if a Mouse had strangled an Ele­phant.

The French stories speak of divers Auguries and pre­dictions of his death; but I will insert here a passage or two that are not to be found in any Printed Author, therefore not vulgar, And our intent is to refrain from stuffing this Piece with any thing that hath been too much blown upon. The first is a Prophecy in an Italian Manuscript from a good hand written above a hundred years since, which runs thus, Un Gran Re di Francia havendo le spalle al papa voltate [Page 5] sinchmerd poi a Roma, dallo piu alto della sua gloria.

Thus rendred into English,

To this may be added the speech of Francico Corvini a Toscan Astrologer, who the night before the said Henry the fourth was slain, leaning upon a balcone in Florence which is near upon 600. miles distant from Pa­ris, and as he was prying into the motions of the stars, he suddenly broke out of his speculations into these words, To morrow one of the greatest Monarks of Chri­stendome is to be slain And the very next day the mor­tal stab was given by Ravaillac: Adde hereunto a me­morable presaging Dreame that the Queen mother had the night before the murther was committed, for after the triumphs of her Coronation, she dreamt that the diamonds and jewells that were in her Crown were all turn'd to perl, which have been always held the em­blemes of Tears.

That Ravaillac was observed to have been a melan­choly odde humorist a great while, one who had at times some fits and flashes of Illuminations as his friends gave out afterwards; Now, such is the strength of Ima­gination and force of Fancy, that having let in false Idoeas into the brain, and being fomented by some fatuous Zeal, [Page 6] it hurls a man headlong oftentimes upon desperate attempts and undertakings, of inevitable danger, making him mis­prise his own life, so that he may be master of anothers, spe­cially when the enterprise is heated with hope of Merit, Re­venge, and Fame.

Thus fell one of the compleatest Kings under which the Flower de luces ever flourish'd, a spriteful and well­temper'd Prince, excellently vers'd in the study and knowledge of men, always well dispos'd, pleasant and witty, Close in his Counsells, and constant in his pur­poses, Parsimonious, yet open-handed to Cadetts or younger brothers, whom he lov'd to see about Him ra­ther then Elder brothers, who were already advanc'd by Nature; And lastly, though this be but a quarter Character of Him, He was a great discerner of worth and vertue, a brave quality, and one of the prime Requi­sites in a King; For subjects are industrious or dissolute, They have aspiring thoughts to vertue, and get good Parts according as their Prince hath judgment to distinguish and value their worth, and so to employ and advance them.

The memory of this King is yet as fresh in France, as if he had been taken away but yesterday, and his death was universally resented, as much as admired, both at home and abroad.

But though the Sun was thus suddenly set in a dark ruddy cloud in the French firmament, yet no night en­sued, for another did presently rise up, shot his rayes through every corner of that part of the hemisphere, viz. Lewis the Thirteenth, &c.

The report of that monstrous Parricide committed on the Person of so glorious a King did penetrat all hearts, and made a strange kind of consternation to seize upon the minds of men. Though it was no new [Page 7] thing in France to have their King torn away from them so, for it was fresh in the memory of many thousands, how two and twenty years before Henry the third his immediate Predecessor was dispatch'd away in that man­ner, but the Assassin presently found his tomb in the very place where he did perpetrate the Fact, being im­mediately hack'd to pieces.

The Court of Parliament presently met that after­noon, and declar'd Dame Maria de Medice Queen Re­gent of all France, which was the next day confirm'd by the young King her Son sitting Himself on the bed of Royall Justice; This was done without any opposition or scruple at all, for King Henry had design'd her for Queen Regent before during his absence in the wars, and the reverence that all had to the judgment of so wise and well belov'd a King advantag'd the work, with a fa­vorable conjuncture of other circumstances; For both the Princes of the blood were then absent, The Count of Soillons was far up in the Country, where he had retir'd not without some discontentment; The Prince of Conde was then in Italy. There were also two great Armies in motion, one under the Marshall Lesdigueres in Dauphine, The other under the command of the Duke of Nevers in Champanis ready to suppresse any insurrection.

The Queen Mother being thus establish'd in her Re­gency put three things to present consultation.

1. The security of the Kingdome,

2. A satisfaction to Justice for the Murther of the King.

3. His Obsequies, or rites of Funerall.

Concerning the first and last, it makes nothing for our present purpose, but touching the second which was the expiation of the Kings bloud, and satisfaction to [Page 8] and how Ravaillac should be punished much pains was taken: At his first examination, they would have perswaded him that the King was not dead but like to recover, whereat he smiled, saying, that he knew well enough the Work was done, for 'twas not he but the hand of Heaven that did it: Being thereupon ask'd, how he durst embrue his hands in the bloud of Gods Anointed, the most Christian King, and his Soveraign Naturall Prince? at the word most Christian, he smiled again in a king of slighting manner; Being searched, there was found about him a pair of beads, and a heart made of Cotten with a piece of wood in it, which he was made to believe was a part of that very Crosse whereon Christ suffer'd: All means imaginable were assayed to make him discover if he had had any Instigators or complices in this Infernall plot, but he still answer'd positively and constantly he had had none at all, saying, that he durst never speake of it to any, no not to his Confessor for fear of discovery; for so he might have been punished for the Will only, without the Decd; yet a Jesuit and a Cordelier Fryer who were his Ghostly Fathers, were strictly examin'd, but nothing could be had out of them; Thereupon there arose a nice question among the Di­vines, viz. Whether the Priest was bound to reveale the Confesions of his Penitent? But 'twas only propounded, and so left only problematical and undecided for that time.

Now, Every one did scrue up his invention for the devising some exquisit lasting torment for Ravaillac; among others the Butchers of Paris who are habituated to bloud, propos'd a way to flay him alive, and the tor­ture of excouation should last for three days; Others gave the draught of an Instrument in form of an Obe­lisk [Page 9] where he might be pressd, and the torment should continue a long time, and life continue; Others pro­pounded a way to have his body quite cut off from the hipps downwards, and his bowells to be presently clap'd on a hot iron plank, which should preserve the other half of the body, and the noble parts in pangs of agonie a long while.

But the Court of Justice though it fit to wave all these ways, and to pronounce this Arrest or Sentence of condemnation against him, viz. That Francis Ravaillack Practitioner (or Pleader) in the Town of Angoulesme, a Criminal process being formed against him, and after due Examination, Information, Interrogations, Confession, De­negation, Confrontation of witnesses, at the instances of the Kings Attorney General, for that most wicked, most abo­minable, and most detestable Parricide, committed on the person of the late King Henry the fourth of most good and laudable memory. For reparation of which damnable mur­ther the Court hath declared, and doth doth declare, that the said Francis Ravaillac shall be carried in a tombrell naked in his shirt, with a flaming torch of two pound weight in his hand, before the principall gate of the great Church in Paris there to make honorable amends, and thence to be car­ried to the Greve or common place of execution, where holding the knife in his hand wherewith he perpetrated that most accur sed Parricide, his hand shall be first pierc'd with the said knife, and then burnt up with fire of sulf [...]r upon the open stage; That he shall have the Brodequins or bus­kins fill'd with scalding oyle applied unto his leggs; That he shall be pincerd in the paps, thighs, and braun or calf of the leggs, that holes shall be made up and down his body, wherein boyling lead, burning rozin, and wax metled with sulpher shall be powr'd; That his body afterwards shall be [Page 10] drawn & dismembred by four horses; That his members shall bethen burnt and reduc'd to cinders, and the ashes thrown into the a [...]ir an utter extinction of him in this world: That the House wherein he was born in Angoulesme shall be razd and made even with the ground, provided that he who possesseth it shall be indemnified, and that none shall ever presume to build upon that piece of earth again. That all his goods stable or moveable shall be confiscated to the King; That within fifteen days after the publication of this sentence, his Father and Mother shall quit the Kingdome of France never to return; That his Brothers, Sisters, Uncles, and others of his Kindred shall never for the future bear the name of Ravaillac under pain of being hang'd and strangled, but change it to some other Sirname.

This dismall sentence was executed to the very height of torture, and extended to the utmost length of time, possibility of sense, and possibility of naturall strength, for there were ways invented, and such Cordi­alls given that kept him from syncopps, and fitts of swowning; Before, at the beginning, and in the midst of all his torments, there could be no other confession extorred from him, though he was sifted with all the sa­gacity and artifice that could be, but that the sole mo­tives which hurld him on so desperate an attempt were certain Revelations that he said he had had, which after­wards he was contented to call Temptations; And that he thought he should do a work acceptable to God Al­mighty to take away a King who was a Favourer of Heretiques, and who went about with the Army he had rais'd to perturbe the peace of the Catholique Church, and of the Holy Father the Pope.

The people in generall did love the deceased King so passionately, that nothing but Imprecations, Curses, and [Page 11] all sorts of Maledictions could be heard ecchoing from them, so that none did pitty him, or were heard to pray with him or for him all the while he was upon the scat­fold, and in the midst of his torments, nay scarce any were found that wish'd the salvation of his soul. And touching his Body after it was torn by horses, happy was he that could get any piece of it to cast intoa fire, insomuch that it might be said he was burnt in more then twenty places up and down the City and Suburbs in severall great fires; So Nemesis had her glut, for that infernall Assassin may be said not only to be executed but extinguish'd, or rather annihilated and reduc'd to a non-entity, only he hath a Being in story for an ever­lasting villain, as he who burnt the Temple of Diana.

Thus far goes our Noble Historian, whereby it appears, that the English Clime is far more mild in point of Ju­stice then France, for though the Murther here was altoge­ther of as transcendent a nature, and more horrid then the French, considering all circumstances, and complication of Treasons, it being a thing unexampled since the world began, that a King should be so arraign'd before his own Subjects as a Criminal; nor did their Malice terminate with his life, but after his death they hir'd scurrilous Pamphleters to be­spatter him, and withall caus'd his statutes to be batter'd, his pictures bu [...]nt, and his Armes taken down in Churches; I say, though the English Murtherers were far more abomina­ble, yet their punishment was much more easie and short.

In conclusion, observable it is, that among those varieties of punishments which were insticted upon Ravaillac, there were two that followed him after death; For an Edict or Act of Parliament pass'd, that the House he was born in should be razd to the ground, and not a stone left on a stone, with a kind of Anathema that none should ever build or d [...]ll [Page 12] there again, Another Act pass'd that all his Kindred should take another Sirname, and call themselves no more Ra­vaillac, under pain of being hang'd and strangled.

Which two particulars are humbly recommended to the Great Council of England, viz. the two Houses of Parlia­ment, upon their Re-accesse.