you are so liberal of to some of them, is only to gild the chains you intend to put upon them all. I am satisfied, if they knew you but half so well as I do, or had but seen your kindness to the province of Utrecht, after it had been wheedled into a surrender, they would have little rea son to trust to your kindness. Monsieur, said the Frenchman, what is all this to the English? Sir, said the captain, I think it is a fair warning to the English, to stand upon their guard, and to endeavour to put themselves out of the danger of falling under the kindness of the French. Pray, monsieur, said the French merchant (being a little cooled with the rough humour of the captain) what are those usages which the province of Utrecht complains of? Look you here, said the captain, with that he pulled a little book out of his pocket, written in French, intituled, Advis fidele aux veritables Hollandois, all this is true, and more than this I know to be true, when your gallant Duke of Luxemburgh, and the surintendant Robert, had broken their backs with quarter and plunder, and payments, and confiscations, and the devil and all, the Marquess de Lovois sends them a letter of consolation, a cup of comfort, an egg broken into a pale of water, which you shall hear, if you have patience. Messieurs, l'ay receu vostre Lettre 23 du mois passe, &c. but because, sir, said he, you understand and speak English so well, as to make you pass for any thing, if you can but leave your shrug and your jernies and bongres, I will not trouble the company with a language I do love as little as it may be they understand, and therefore I will endeavour to teach the marques to speak English, for he is a civil, obliging, complaisant person. "Messieurs, I have received your letter of the twenty-third of the "last past, by which I have seen all the reasons which you represent, to "make me understand, that the city and province of Utrecht are not "in a condition to satisfy the demands, which Monsieur Robert hath "made. I do easily judge that you cannot do it without great trouble, "but, since necessity has no law, and that the armies of the king must ❝be maintained, you ought to accommodate yourselves to the said "Sieur Roberts, so as to furnish what he demands, otherwise it is impos❝sible, but you must fall into a most grand desolation; and, to mend "the matter, the honest Sieur Robert tells them in short, that, since they made such an impossibility to raise the money demanded, he "would cause fire to be set to the four quarters of the city, and he "would light it in the middle himself, a fin de reduire en cendre une "ville, qui n' estoit qui a charge et inutile au roy mon maistre, to "the end I may reduce a city into ashes, which is unprofitable, and a 66 charge to the king my master." Is this true or not, sir? Monsieur, said the Frenchman, but what is all this to the Eng lish? Sir, answered the captain, I think it is a fair warning to the English, to stand upon their guard, and to endeavour to put themselves out of the danger of coming under the power of the French, and, if possible, to put the French out of the power of putting them in danger. Why, sir, replied the other, the French have no designs upon you, but only as your own fears and apprehensions persuade you. What, cried the captain, the French without designs? you shall as soon find a monkey without tricks; from the onion porridge-man to the marshal you are all politicians and designers, You have, you say, an hundred sail of ships, and two-hundred thousand men, and you have no designs nor ever had I warrant you to make yourselves masters of Flanders, Germany, Holland, and England at last. But, by your favour, sir, you must pass through fire as well as water, before it comes to that. Well, Monsieur, said the Frenchman, I hope for all this that there will be a peace, and, it may be, I have some reason for my conjecture; I assure you, we merchants are in hopes, that you will not enter upon a war, which must be so great a hazard and charge to the nation. Sir, said the captain, you offer fair, but I cannot imagine, why you should be so troubled for the charge of the war, though I hope it will come to your share at last to defray it, unless you are afraid we should so impoverish ourselves by a war, that, when you come to visit us, we should not be worth the plundering, and London would be good for nothing, but a second fire, as Robert said of Utrecht; and for my own particular, and I hope all true English hearts are of the same tough old metal, you shall first try how you can digest our steel and iron before you taste of our gold and silver. I found my two gentlemen were running into a heat, and therefore I thought it better to make a tack, as the boat then did, to some other discourse, which we presently did, and so past the time till we came to Dover peer. As we parted, the monsieurs bid us adieu, and, with the grace of a shrug particular to his nation, he told me he should be obliged infinitely, if he had the good fortune and honour to meet me upon the Exchange. Farewell, said the captain, and have a care I do not meet you scattering your bills of exchange in the wrong place, and taking up news to send into France, in lieu of which you will return us suspicions of your own making, to set us together by the ears at home, that so you may be secured from us abroad. The Frenchman gave him a look full of indignation, and away he went to take post immediately for London; I was extremely pleased with the rugged, honest conversation of this captain, and therefore desired, if his atlairs would permit, that we might be companions for that night at Dover, where I had some little affair; he willingly consented to my proposition, and so together we went to an inn, where we had no sooner taken a room, but in came two gentlemen of my relations, who had promised to meet me there; I was very much pleased at their ar rival, and after mutual civilities passed, and that we had, like Englishmen, made some provision for supper, without ever asking what we should pay for it, and got a bottle of good Canary (for my captain would drink no French wine) we presently fell to chat. The first question you may be sure was, What news? and the cap tain was in great haste, what, shall we have a war with France? sir, answered one of my friends, men's opinions are various as their interests; but here is his majesty's speech, which, it may be, is news to you; and, if you please to read it, you may make your conjecture. Cousin, said I, you mistake, if you think it news, or if, in less than a week's time, we do not see in Paris every thing of moment that passes at London: the French trade in Aleppo pigeons; nay, if we will believe them, they would persuade us, that they tell before-hand what will be done. That is an excellent way of intelligence, said the other gentleman; but, for my part, I look upon it as a French artifice; and I am confident, that that trick of pretending to know every thing, amongst us, has done them considerable service; for, certainly, it has given occasion for those jealousies, which now break out amongst us, as if there were a secret intrigue betwixt the French and us, in order to some strange design; and nothing will beat it out of some people's heads, but that this war is only for a colour. Sir, said the captain, here came over with us one of their whisperers, pistole-droppers, news-makers, and away he is posted for London, to fill some people's heads with proclamations of peace, popery, arbitrary government, &c. and others pockets with French money to swear it is true, they have letters from France that confirm it. Cousin, said I, if the French can accomplish this either way, they have done their business. I assure you, there is nothing they dread like a war with England. I saw, upon several posts in Paris, a severe prohibition, so much as to mention such a war; but, if they can drive it off with these reports, by disuniting the king and his subjects, they are lucky people, and safe enough; and, if they can make a peace underhand, though they give as much money for it, as would almost maintain the war, yet they have their aim. Well, said the captain, I doubt nothing; I am assured from a good hand, that, before I get to London, some resolution will be taken. I told you some stories of the French, but I have more of their pranks to acquaint the people with. Honest captain, and fellow-traveller, said I, God send you good luck; I dare say you will bestow your skill upon the French with a good will; but cousin, said I, pray what's the matter? Sir, replied he, they were wise that could tell you; and, for my part, I have little curiosity, and less acquaintance with state affairs; but some people, I find, are displeased: but, prithee, what's that to us? let us drink and be merry, and let the world go which way it will. By your favour, sir, said the captain, there are some people that are displeased, because they resolved before-hand to be so with every thing; but I presume, that you, and every Englishman, are so far concerned, that if you do not look about you, the French will before long spoil both your mirth and drinking; what mean you? (answered the other) I hope they will not spoil our drinking, by cutting our throats, as they say the Danes did, which brought in the custom of pledging, or being pledged when one drank. Sir, said the captain, you may live and drink, and be merry in that hope; but, for my part, I do not intend to trust them: I had rather cut some of theirs fairly, for I hate to have my weasand slit, unless it be in the field. Well, honest, brave captain, said I, your ill usage makes you in a rage against the French, and you think the quarrel moves too slow; but, sir, you must consider, this is an affair of great weight, and it is not good to make more haste than speed. Sir, said he, the greater weight should make the motion more quick; you do not seem to understand the worth of time, nor the brisk humour of the French, and, therefore, I have nothing to say to you; but, I hope, other people do, and will consider it. Come, come, says my cousin, what have we to do with these matters? it was never well since there were so many little states. men, and polite politicians. I believe most people are satisfied of the necessity of a war, to reduce the world to the old balance, and France amongst the rest, that so she may be easy to her neighbours, and they safe from her; and what would any body desire more? It is true, there have been some jealousies, which have clogged the wheels of this great affair; but I can assure you, when I came out of town, it was generally hoped, that a little time would bring all people to a good understanding, councils to unity, and the affair to a happy period. Sir, said the captain, this is a word of comfort, for I dare assure you, that the great hopes of France are grounded upon our divisions, which they are not so ill husbands, but they know how to improve: I heard one of them the other day say, that, he thought that of the great Turk, Solyman, might be applied to the English, who will be of one mind (as he said, the Christian princes would) when all the fingers of his hand were united into one. Come, captain, said I, unity, secrecy, and expedition, added to our courage and power, may do much; and I doubt not, but the necessity, which seems to be upon us, will make them all meet the cause is good, for it is not for sovereignty, but for safety; not for glory, but security, and to preserve the Protestant religion, our lives, liberties, and estates, from the rapine and ambition of the French; and he is no true Englishman, who will not heartily venture his life and fortune, in such a lawful war. Upon which, supper came in, and, having talked ourselves into a good opinion of eating, we gratified our palates, as well as the place would afford; and, not long after, every one retired to his apartment, where, I believe, the captain dreamed of drums, and trumpets, and cannons, and Granado's storms, and battles, for he made a horrible noise in his sleep, lying in the next room to me; for my part, like a person not much concerned, I slept as heartily as the soldier would per. mit me, who gave me several alarms; and I can no more tell, what I dreamed, than I can tell certainly what all men long so much to know, that we shall have a war with France, or such a peace as shall be safe and honourable for England, and all Christendom. THE HISTORY OF THE GUNPOWDER TREASON: COLLECTED FROM APPROVED AUTHORS, AS WELL POPISH AS PROTESTANT.* Sæpe divinitatis opera hæc sunt, et furias in ipso jam successu securas subita ultio excipiat; ne vel unquam improbis timor, vel spes absit calamitosæ virtuti. Jo. Barclaii Conspiratio Anglicana. Printed at London, in 1678. Quarto, containing thirty-two pages. THERE HERE are no conspiracies and insurrections more dangerous to states and governments, than those, that the name of religion is made to patronise; for, when that doth head and manage the party, as it makes it look somewhat considerable in itself, so it doth inspire those, that are concerned, with a certain furious and intemperate zeal, and an ungovernable violence: they then rebel with authority, and kill with a safe conscience, and think they cannot do amiss, as long as it is to do God service. The brother will then deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child; and the children will rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death;' and the laws of nature, which are of themselves sacred and inviolable, shall, in such a case, be despised, and lose their authority. This, this is it, which, in these latter ages more especially, hath disturbed governments, disposed of the crowns of princes, and troubled the peace of the world: from hence spring all those mischiefs, that threatened and perpetually alarmed this nation, during the long and fortunate reign of Queen Elisabeth: from hence proceeded that barbarous and bloody design of the Gun-powder Treason, in 1605: such a design, as the world before never heard of, and which posterity will hardly believe, for the horror of it, say the soberer of their own § authors: such a design, as even some of the Jesuits, after it miscarried, and they saw how ill it was resented by the rest of mankind, professed their detestation of ; but how little to their own vindication, and the satisfaction of the world, will easily appear to any one, that doth impartially inquire into the history and the process of it. For this design was not taken up of a sudden, and what a small company of rash and hot-headed persons did without consideration attempt, but what proceeded from the same original, and was carried on by the same counsels and endeavours, that were in being in the time + The authors, from whence this narrative hath been collected, are, Thuanus; Jo. Barclaii Conspiratio Anglicana. Proceedings against the Traitors, printed in 1606; Historia Missionis Anglicanæ, Societatis Jesu, Collectore Henrico Moro, printed at St. Omers 1660. Andrea EudæmonJoannis Apologia pro Garnetto. Rob. Abboti Antilogia adversus Apologiam Andreæ Eudæmon-Joannis. Bibliotheca Scriptorum Societatis Jesu. Thuanus. Barclay. Rog, Widdrington, in his Apolog. pro Jure Principum, pag. 1. |