Epistolæ Ho-elianæ familiar letters domestic and forren divided into sundry sections, partly historicall, politicall, philosophicall, vpon emergent occasions / by James Howell.

LXX. To Captain William Bridges in Amsterdam.

My noble Captain,

I Had yours of the tenth current, and besides your avisos, I must thank you for those rich flourishes wherwith your letter was em∣brodered evry where; The news under this clyme is that they have mutinied lately in divers places about the Excise, a bird that was first hatch'd there first amongst you; heer in London the tu∣mult came to that height that they burnt down to the grownd the Excise house in Smithfield, but now all is quiet again; God grant our Excise heer have not the same fortune as yours there, to be∣com perpetuall; or as that new gabell of Orleans, which began in the time of the Ligue, which continueth to this day, notwithstan∣ding the cause ceas'd about threescore yeers since; touching this I remember a pleasant tale that is recorded of Henry the Great, who som yeers after peace was established throughout all the whole body of France, going to his town of Orleans, the Citizens petitioned him that his Majesty would be pleased to abolish that new tax; the King asked who had impos'd it upon them, they an∣swered Monsieur de la Chatre, (during the civill Wars of the Ligue) who was now dead; the King replied Monsieur de la Cha'tre vous a liguè qu'il vous desligue, Monsieur dela Chatre ligu'd you, let him then unligue you for my part; now that we have a kind of peace, the goals are full of souldiers, and som Gentlemens sons of quality suffer daily, the last week Judge Riv•…•…s condemn'd four in your County at Maidstone Assizes, but he went out of the world before them though they wer executed four daies after; you know

the saying in France, that la guerre sait les larrons, & la paix les a∣meine an gibet, War makes thieves, and peace brings them to the gallowes. I lie still heer in limbo, in limbo innocentium, though not in limbo infantion, and I know not upon what star to cast this mis∣fortune; Others are heer for their good conditions, but I am heet for my good qualities as your cosin Fortescue geer'd me not long since, I know none I have, unless it be to love you, which I would continue to do, though I tug'd at an oar in a Gallie, much more as I walk in the Galleries of this Fleet: In this resolution I rest

Fleet, 2 Sept. 1645.

Your most affectionat Servitor, J. H.