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 New-lights 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 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 Hell-hounds 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 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 ( 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 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 , 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 well-temper'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 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 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 't was 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 't was 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 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 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 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 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 .