404 OBSERVATIONS ON A LIBEL. 



and her brother, so the purging of the base-money, 

 the earthly treasure, hath been altogether proper to 

 her majesty s own times ; whereby our moneys bear 

 ing the natural estimation of the stamp or mark, 

 both every man resteth assured of his own value, 

 and free from the losses and deceits which fall out 

 in other places upon the rising and falling of 

 moneys. 



Thirdly, the might of the navy, and augmentation 

 of the shipping of the realm ; which, by politic con 

 stitutions for maintenance of fishing, and the encou 

 ragement and assistance given to the undertakers of 

 new discoveries and trades by sea, is so advanced, as 

 this island is become, as the natural site thereof de- 

 serveth, the lady of the sea. 



Now, to pass from the comparison of time to 

 the comparison of place, we may find in the states 

 abroad cause of pity and compassion in some ; but 

 of envy or emulation in none ; our condition being, 

 by the good favour of God, not inferior to any. 



The kingdom of France, which, by reason of the 

 seat of the empire of the west, was wont to have the 

 precedence of the kingdoms of Europe, is now fallen 

 into those calamities, that, as the prophet saith, 

 &quot; From the crown of the head to the sole of the 

 &quot; foot, there is no whole place.&quot; The divisions are 

 so many, and so intricate, of protestants and catho 

 lics, royalists and leaguers, Bourbonists and Lorain- 

 ists, patriots and Spanish ; as it seemeth God hath 

 some great work to bring to pass upon that nation : 

 yea, the nobility divided from the third estate, and 



