The wolfes are so destructive to the sheip heir that if a man kill a wolfe and take its head and its taille and carry it thorow the country willages and little borrowes, the peasants as a reward will give him som egges, some cheese, some milk, some wooll, according as they have it. They have also many stratagemes to take the wolfe. Amongs others this: they dig a wery dip pit, wheir they know a wolfe hantes; they cover it with faill,[207] fastens a goose some wery quick, which by its crying attracks the wolfe who coming to prey on the goose, zest[208] plumpes he in their, and they fell him their on the morning.
We have sein that witty satyre that Howel has about the end of his Venitian History in French. The French Ministers of the Religion are exceedingly given to publish their sermons, in that like to the English. Vitnesse Daille'es sermons; Jean Sauvage, Ministre at Bergerac, betuixt Limosin (wheir they eat so much bread when they can get it) and Perigord, dedicated to Mr. de la Force, living at present their, Mareschal de France, father of Mareschal Turaines lady: wt diverses others we have sein. We have sein a catechisme of Mr. Drelincourt which we fancied exceedingly.
The halfe of France wt its revenues belongs to the Ecclesiasticks, yea, the bueatifullest and the goodliest places. To confine our selfes wtin Poictiers, the rents of whosse convents, men and women togither, wil make above six 100 thousand livers a years, besydes what the bischop hath, to wit, 80,000 livres a year. The Benedictines, a wery rich order as we have marked, have 30,000 livres in rent; the Feuillans[209] 20,000; besydes what the Jacobins, Cordeliers, Minims, thess de la Charité, Capucyns, Augustins, the Chanoines of Ste. Croix, St. Radegonde, St. Peter, the cathedral of Poictiers, Notre Dame la grande, St. Hilaires, wt other men and al the women religious, have, being put togither wil make good my proposition.
We had almost forgot the Jesuits, who, above 50 years ago, entred Poictiers wt their staffes in their hand, not a 100 livres amongs them all, since have wt their crafty dealings so augmented their Convent that they have 40,000 livres standing rent. Whow they come be this is not uneasy to dewine, we toucht it a litle already. If any fat carcasse be on his deathbed, they are sure to be their, undermine him wt all the slights imaginable, wring donations in their faveurs from them, of which we know and have heard seweral exemples: vitness the Abby at Bourdeaux, whom they undermined, and he subtilly getting a grip of his testaments tore it and so revocked his will. Also that testament so agitate by the Jesuits and the sone of the deceased who was debauched before the Duke of Parme, the Jesuits relaying on thesse words that the fathers Jesuits sould be his heirs, providing that they gave his sone _ce qu'ils voudront_, what they would: the Duk turning them against the Jesuits exponed them, that what they would have themselfes that that sould be given to his sone.