They considered not that his promises were farre too great, than that being pope he was either able or EEBO page image 812 ought to obserue, for that he had of so long conti|nuance inioied the name of iust and vpright, that pope Alexander himselfe (his greatest enimie) spea|king ill of him, in all other things could not but con|fesse him to be true of his word. A praise which he made no care to defile and staine, to the end to be|come pope; knowing that no man more easilie be|guileth an other, than he that hath the custome and name neuer to deceiue anie. Which practise of dissi|mulation was much frequented of those that aspired & possessed the popedom; insomuch that the same was in Alexander the sixt so notable, that it was a pro|uerbe ordinarilie in Rome,A prouerbe vpon the popes dissem|bling, Gui [...]c. 305. that the pope did neuer the thing which he said, and his sonne the duke of Ua|lentinois seldome spake that which he ment. Which kind of people (pretend they what they will) are ex|cluded from the rest of Sion, as the psalmist saith:

Buch. in Psal. 15. Quem fraudis expers simplicitas iuuat,

Vrgétque rectum propositi tenax,

Nec mente saeuus grata blandam

Edocuit simulare linguam,

Perpetua requie fruetur.]

In this yeare the king kept his Christmasse at Greenewich, where was such abundance of viands serued to all comers of anie honest behauiour, Abr. Fl. ex Ed. Hall in Hen. 8 fol. xv. Christmasse pastimes or delights at Gréenwich. as hath béene few times séene. And against Newyéeres night was made in the hall a castell, gates, towers, and dungeon, garnished with artillerie and weapon after the most warlike fashion: and on the front of the castell, was written Le forteresse dangereux, and within the castell were six ladies, cloathed in russet sattin, laid all ouer with leaues of gold, and euerie one knit with laces of blew silke and gold. On their heads, coifs, and caps all of gold. After this castell had béene caried about the hall, and the quéene had beheld it, in came the king with fiue other, apparel|led in coats, the one halfe of russet sattin, spangled with spangles of fine gold, the other halfe of rich cloth of gold, on their heads caps of russet sattin, embro|dered with works of fine gold bullion.

These six assaulted the castell. The ladies seeing them so lustie and couragious,The king & fiue other as|saile the ca|stell. were content to solace with them, & vpon further communication, to yéeld the castell and so they came downe & dansed a long space. And after the ladies led the knights into the ca|stell, and then the castell suddenlie vanished out of their sights. On the daie of the Epiphanie at night, the king with eleuen other were disguised, after the maner of Italie,Maskers dis|guised after the Italian fashion. called a maske, a thing not seene be|fore in England: they were apparelled in garments long and broad, wrought all with gold, with visors and caps of gold. And after the banket doone, these maskers came in, with six gentlemen disguised in silke, bearing staffe torches, and desired the ladies to danse; some were content, and some refused. And af|ter they had dansed, and communed togither, as the fashion of the maske is, they tooke their leaue and de|parted, and so did the quéene, and all the ladies.]