EVery Historian knows the Pretensions of the French to the Empire: And as to the Low-Countries, there was a Book Printed in the Savoy 1667. Transla­ted out of French; whose Title was, A Dialogue concern­ing the Rights of Her most Christian Majesty. To which I shall only add, That at that very Time when Robert Earl of Flanders died sans Issue, whereby the said Earldom, accor­ding to Tenure, fell into the French King's Hands; he by Consent of the Lords of the Country, was put into Peace­able Possession thereof. But if this King had no Title, yet some think he does not amiss, to make himself some Amends for the Surprizal of Navarre. And if Navarre, his Grand-Father's Native Kingdom, and Paternal Inhe­ritance, were restor'd, and Flanders then suffer'd to be quiet, it would be well for the Kings and People of those Countries. King David made choice of Pestilence, rather than War.

As to the Pretensions to the Empire: The Designs and Actions succeeding, and pursuant to them, have made a great Noise and Stir: But the Raising the Siege of Vien­na, evidently shews, That God, per quem Reges regunt, Prov. 8.16. has Establish'd it where it is. And if in the Time of Charles the Simple, the Francones and Saxones were distasted with the French, and chose an Emperor of their own Blood, (Henricus Auceps) certainly the Ger­man Nation, after so long an Establishment, will be ve­ry loth to change their accustomed and usual Succes­sion.

We read in Holy Writ, of a Time and Season when Kings go out to Battle. This Great Louis goes not to War up­on such Customary Account: His Inclination to Arms is Sidereal and Natural. Chaucer, in his Tale of the Wife of Bath, says,

If then he must be doing, (for so it is) What Happi­ness would redound to Europe, if he turn'd his Inclina­tion, [Page 5]Endeavour and Arms against the Turk? No Prince fitter or abler to cope with him, than he.

Pieter van den Broeck, in his Voyages and Travels, com­pares the King of Spain, and the Great Turk together: Says he; In macht zyn dese Malcanderen seer gelyck. In Power these Two are very much alike. But as the Roman Empire, (according to the Prophecy of the Druids) Tran­salpinis Gentibus portenditur, is transferr'd to the Transal­pine Nations; so the Potentia Hispanica, Pyreneos transi­vit Montes, & Gallis transfertur; the Spanish Greatness is got over the Pyrenean Hills, and resides in the French Tents.

But to return: He hath in this kind the Precedent of his Predecessors; Philip the First, Lewis the Seventh, that went to the Holy-Land in Person against the Saracens and Turks; Philip the Second, Lewis the Ninth.

I have mentioned before, this Great King hath asserted his Title to Flanders: He may be pleased then to re­member, That Baldwin Earl of Flanders, (his Predeces­sor as to that Province) was Anno 1194. chosen Empe­ror of Constantinople; and that Charles the Eighth had that Title confer'd upon him by Pope Alexander the Sixth. An Empire certainly easier to be attain'd, than that of Germany; being so strongly guarded with so many Prince­ly Satellites, for Interest sake. On the contrary, the O­ther must stand per se, having so many Enemies round about, (the Curse and Maledictions of so many oppressed Vassals); and no Christian Prince, though lying remote, but would contribute Men and Money to so Universal a Good, were it set on foot.

If this Empire be not attainable in Toto; yet certain­ly in Part, and some goodly Limbs thereof, it is attainable and atchievable.

• [Page 6]1. There is Cyprus; a wonderful Antient Kingdom, even as old as the Destruction of Troy; and was in the French Hands Two hundred thirty and odd Years: An Island commodious for Shipping. See Heylin; and Fa­vine, in his Theatre of Honour, speaking of the House of Lusignan, and the Military Order of the Sword in that I­sland.
• 2. Crete or Candy; a brave Island, and also commodi­ous for Shipping: which was in the Power of the Em­peror Baldwin aforesaid, who gave it to Boniface of Mont­ferrat: It hath one Haven, called Suda, capable of One thousand Ships. This Great Prince, being Master of This, or Cyprus, (being so Potent in Shipping as he is of late become) What might he not be able to do in the Levant, (having already Marseilles and Thoulon, famous Retraicts for a Navy) against the Barbarous Turks? Heylin tells us, The Florentine Duke, with a Fleet of Six Sail, over­aw'd the Turk in the Mediterranean.
• 3. There is also Morea, or Peloponnesus; Six hundred Miles in compass: The most pleasant Country of all Greece, abounding in all things necessary for the Life of Man, and in such also as do serve for Delicacy and Content; adorn­ed with many goodly Plains, swelled with Fruitful Hills; well stored with Ports and Havens, on all Sides thereof: A Place easie to be fortified into the Quality and Circum­stances of an Island, by Immuring the Isthmus, being but Six Miles in length, done by the Venetians in Fifteen Days. Historians tell us, That Demetrius King of Ma­cedon, Julius Caesar, and Caligula attempted to cut through the Isthmus, and make it a perfect Island: By none more eagerly pursued, than by the Emperor Nero; who took Spade in hand, to hearten on his Souldiers: Yet, at last, the Souldiers being frighted with the Blood which abun­dantly broke forth, with the Groans and Roarings which [Page 7]they continually heard, and with the Spirits and Furies always in their Sights, perswaded the Emperor to desist. Who knows, but that Great Lewis, that hath not long since cut a Navigable River quite through his Famous Kingdom, à Mari us (que) ad Mare, from Sea to Sea, may be the Man that shall effect what Heaven denied to the fore­named Princes? Faxit Deus.
• 4. Mount Athos in Greece, standing in a Peninsula: The Isthmus of which being once cut through by Xerxes, (but since closed again) gives a Probability of what I mention, as to Morea. The Hill many Miles in Circuit; Three Days Journey long, as says Heylin.
• 5. The foresaid Morea, and also Achaia, have been in the Hands of Princes of the House of France: So also Athens, as we find it confirmed to us by Saint Marthe's Genealogick History of France, pag. 1162, 1167, &c. Me­mento, and Incouragement enough, to stir up this Great Prince of whom we speak, to set this treated-of Design afoot, from such just Pretensions.
• 6. I will not speak of Armenia, held as a Kingdom Two hundred ninety and six Years; and by the fore-recited House of Lusignan, Five Descents: And lies near to Cyprus. See Favine.

If any object, The French Monarch came off but somewhat flatly, in his Design upon Sicily: I confess it. When most Unchristianly he broke the Tenth Commandment, by Co­veting and unjustly entring upon his Brother and Neigh­bor's Propriety; what could any Man expect else? He that perhaps hath said, I will give him the Heathenish Turks for his Inheritance, Psal. 2.8. I am sure, never command­ed him to disturb the Catholick King in Sicily; in whose, and his Predecessor's Hands, it hath been Two hundred and fifty Years: And the French having no Pretensions, but (first) from an unjust Donation of Ʋrban the Fourth, [Page 8]and (secondly) a pettish wayward, inconstant Bequeath­ment of Joan Queen of Naples; who had first settled it upon the House of Arragon, whose Descendants now enjoy it at this Day.

The Frenth have always been the Grand Undertakers a­gainst the Saracens and Turks, in the Holy-Land, as I have said before: And Theophilus Garenciers, in his Comment upon Nostredamus, p. 391. says, The Turks themselves have a Prophecy from among themselves, their Monarchy shall be subverted by a King of France.

Bartholomeus Georgenitz recites a Turkish Prophecy con­cerning the taking of Constantinople; which is stiled, Rubrum Pomum, the Red Apple: And it hints, ‘That Post duode­cimum Annum, after the Twelfth Year shall appear the Sword of the Christians, which shall every where put the Turk to Flight.’

My Author observes, The Exposition made by the said Bartholomeus, (who wrote of the Original and Manners of the said Turks) fell not out well: For, says he, 'Tis not only Twelve Years, but an Hundred Years, since their Winning of the said Constantinople.

Now, for my part, my Opinion is: It is not meant of Twelve simple or singular Years, but of Twelve certain Numbers of Years; as Twenty Years is a compleat Num­ber in a Man's Age, (Aetas Perfectionis) when the Cor­poral Strength, and Mental Intellect come to a Perfection. Now Twelve times Twenty is Two hundred and forty. Constantinople was taken One thousand four hundred fifty and two; take that from One thousand six hundred eigh­ty and four, and there remains Two hundred thirty and two; which wants Eight Years of Two hundred and forty. Suppose then Great Louis should now set Hand to Sword; probably, in so many Years, he might do the Work; Turcam quaqua versum in fugam agere, (as the Pro­phecy [Page 9]has it): Having first beat him out of the Pourlieus before-mentioned, at the end of the said Term, he might become Master of the Red Apple, possest Sixty Years by Baldwin, and his Successors. Notredamus says;

Danubius, and the Rhine, Two eminent and principal Rivers, are put for the Country where they run, viz. Ger­many; so the Rhone and Loire for France: A figurative manner of Speech, common among Poets. I could give several Instances; but let one (out of Martial) suffice, Lib. 10. Ep. 26. to Varus, that Eminent Roman Commander;

[Page 10] The Great Turk is meant by the Great Camel; an Ani­mal abounding in his Dominions, and which he makes great use of in his Armies for Carriage. We read of Three hundred of them, that swam over the Danubius, (at the late Seige of Vienna) to the Christians.

By the Cock is meant the French King, Gallus in Latine. Here is a plain Prediction; The French King is the Prince ordain'd by God, for the Destruction of the Turk.

I will give you Garenciere's Exposition, pag. 391. as follows. Though I am not of his Mind, in Translating Moins evolu Saturne, viz. less than an Age; that is, One hundred Years. Now, Saturn runs his Course in Thirty Years, or there-about: But let's hear him.

‘Foix is a Country of France near Gascony; where (the Author says) a King, with a Blue Turban, shall come, and shall Govern less than an Age; that is, One hundred Years: After which, another King shall come with a White Turban, and shall Conquer Bizance; that is, Con­stantinople.’

‘The Blue or Green Turban is attributed to the Great Turk;’ and the White one to the King of France. Thus Garencieres.

For my part, I should think Foix should be Foy Fides, the Land of Christendom: For what the Great Turk should do in the little Country of Foix, I cannot imagine: But he hath held a Part of Hungary many Years, &c. Or, it [Page 11]may be, by Foix he means France, (Pars pro Toto); for an Eminent Country it was. Heylin doth tell us, ‘The Earls of it lived in a Condition equal to most Kings in Christendom; That at one Time there were Four Queens of the Family; and, That the latter Kings of Navarre, and present Kings of France descend from it.’ Be it as it will, still the Rex Gallus must be the Cock of the Game, that must do the Work.

If Notredamus be but as effectual in these Fore-tellings, as he was in the Firing of London, and another Tragical Effect, Horresco ruminans, omitto lubens, they will assured­ly come to pass. You shall hear his Stanza.

Thus Translated:

By the Antient Lady is meant the Cathedral of St. Paul; and the many other subordinate Parochial Churches, de­stroy'd, are those of her Sect; her Dominellae or Ancille, her Hand-maids.

The Prophecies of Joachim say thus. ‘The Turk shall be destroy'd by Three Nations: By the French, Propter bonos Equites, for their excellent Cavalry; by the Eng­lish, Propter bonos Marinarios, for their excellent Seamen; [Page 12]and by the Venetians, Propter bonum Consilium, for their prudent Counsels.’ This Prophecy is worthy of Remark; and still the French in the Van.

The Venetians very lately, Speremus influente, favente Deo, with their Confederates, have begun to dare the Turk. No doubt, they proceeded upon good Ground and Advisement: And they made good Preparations. But where's the French Cavalry, and the English Mariners, to make up Joachim's Ternary?

I heard an honest Divine say, when the French made the great Inrodes into Belgia; ‘That certainly, this was the Man should, in a due Time, ruin the Turk: But he was first to do wonderful things else-where, to give Proof of his Conduct, Management and Success.’

‘And that, if he did not in time endeavour such a Thing, (being a Great Second Cyrus, see Isa. 45. Ver. 1, 2, 3.) he must expect ill Success, if not something worse.’

I know a certain Person (curious in Astrology, that, not­withstanding all these wonderful Acts already gloriously performed, fears exceedingly, he will make an End, though not so violent and bloody as Great Cyrus the First; yet lugubrous and untimely enough.

For my part, I cannot (like the Cloak Party) furiously decry Astrology, being a singular and innocent Science, be­fitting any Man of Parts above the Vulgar: But I love to joyn Divinity with it. And therefore, I firmly believe, that as the Sun and Moon (those great Lights) stood still [Page 13]in favor of worthy Joshua, (Chap. 10.) and that the First of these went Ten Degrees backward, for a Sign to Heze­kiah, (2 King. 20.11. Isa. 38.8.) that all Malevolent In­fluences are averted from this Great French Prince, for the Good of Christendome, and Downfal of the Turk.

I have already mentioned, the French Monarch is become Potent in Shipping: But he is not King of the English Mariners; which must make up the Ternary, according to Joachim.

Strange Revolutions have happened in England, since the Year 1678. That Generous Maximus Marinus, (men­tion'd in Day-Fatality, pag. 7.) once Great Admiral of Ar­ragon, and till the Year 1673. Lord High Admiral of Eng­land, is now again, at length, Re-invested in all his Ho­nors; and that, in spight of that Crew, mention'd by Introductio ad Latinam Blasoniam, pag. 165. with strange Prophetick Reflection.

He, I say, is Restor'd, influenc'd by a Divine Power and Favor, and the Benevolent Rays of Fraternal Love; the Love of the Greatest Sea-Prince in the World, Charles le Bon, & le Grand; One born for the Good of Christen­dom, to make Amends for his Miraculous Restorement.

[Page 14] Pray God incline the Heart of the Great French Cyrus, the Heart of the Great Charles of Great Britain; and then the French Cavalry, and the English Mariners, (influenc'd by the Auspicious Genius and Success of Prince Maximus Marinus, his Royal Highness) will be assistant to the Venetian Counsels and Undertakings, already upon the Wheels.

To satisfie the Curious, I have added Geornitz Prophe­cy verbatim, as I find it in Latine, Translated out of Per­sian:

‘Our Emperor shall come. He shall get the Kingdom of the Gentiles Prince: Also, he shall take the Red Apple, and shall bring it under his Subjection: And if the Sword of the Christians shall not rise after the Seventh Year, he shall have Dominion over them unto the Twelfth Year. He shall build Houses, plant Vineyards: Shall hedge about his Orchards, shall get Children. And after the Twelfth Year, shall appear the Sword of the Christians, which shall put the Turk to Flight every where.’

It is to be noted, That the Sword of the Christians is principally understood of the French; because he is com­monly stiled, the Most Christian King.

[Page 15] To Conclude, and shut up All: It is confest, that in all Ages have been Prophecies of Future Events; yet ma­ny times so obscure, as not to be understood, or if under­stood, not to be believed. But truly, what is here pro­duced seems obvious to every Man's Understanding: And as to the Qualification and Possibility of the Person, no­thing can be objected; and who, besides Him, can lay Claim to such Pretensions and Encouragements? Prov. 21.1. God rules the Heart of Kings. Let all Christendom pray, That God would incline the Heart of the Most Chri­stian King, to so Pious an Enterprize.