Compare 1577 edition: 1 After the death of this duke,A great pesti|lence. by reason of great heat and distemperance of aire, happened so fierce & quicke a pestilence, that fiftéene yeares warre past consumed not the third part of the people, that one|lie foure moneths miserablie and pitifullie dispatched & brought to their graues. So that if the number had béene kept by multiplieng of vnities, & out of them to haue raised a complet number, it would haue mooued matter of verie great admiration. But it should séeme that they were infinit, if consideration be had of the comparison, inferred for the more effectuall set|ting foorth of that cruell and ceaselesse contagion. And suerlie it soundeth to reason, that the pestilence should fetchawaie so manie thousands, as in iudge|ment by proportion of fiftéene yeares warre one maie gather; and manie more too. For euerie man knoweth that in warres, time, place, persons, and meanes are limited: time of warre begun and en|ded; place circumscribed; persons imbattelled, and weapons also whereby the fight is tried: so that all these haue their limitations, beyond which they haue no extent. But the pestilence, being a generall infection of the aire, an element ordeined to main|teine life, though it haue a limitation in respect of the totall compasse of the world; yet whole climats maie be poisoned: and it were not absurd to saie, that all and euerie part of the aire maie be pestilentlie cor|rupted; and so consequentlie not limited: wherefore full well it maie be said of the pestilence (procuring so great a depopulation) as one saith of surfetting:

Ense cadunt multi, perimit sed crapula plures.Auson.

Compare 1577 edition: 1 The councellors of the yoong duchesse of Burgog|gnie sent to K. Edward for aid against the French king.1478. Anno Reg. 18. About the same time had the queene of Eng|land sent to the ladie Margaret duchesse of Burgog|nie, for the preferrement of hir brother Anthonie erle Riuers to the yoong damsell. But the councell of Flanders, considering that he was but an earle of meane estate, and she the greatest inheritrice of all christendome at that time, gaue but deafe eare to so vnméet a request. To which desire, if the Flemings had but giuen a liking eare by outward semblance, and with gentle words delaied the sute, she had beene both succoured and defended. Whether king Edward was not contented with this refusall, or that he was loth to breake with the French king, he would in no wise consent to send an armie into Flanders against the French king: but yet he sent ambassadours to him with louing and gentle letters, requiring him to grow to some reasonable order & agréement with the yoong duchesse of Burgognie, or at the least to take a truce with hir at his request.

Compare 1577 edition: 1 EEBO page image 704The ambassadours of England were highlie re|ceiued, bountifullie feasted, and liberallie rewarded, but answer to their desire had they none; sauing that shortlie after, the French king would send ambassa|dours, hostages, and pledges to the king of England their maister, for the perfecting and concluding of all things depending betweene them two; so that their souereigne lord & they should haue cause to be contented and pleased. These faire words were one|lie delaies to driue time, vntill he might haue space to spoile the yoong damsell of hir townes and coun|tries. And beside this, to staie king Edward from taking part with hir, he wrote to him, that if he would ioine with him in aid, he should haue and in|ioie to him and his heires the whole countie & coun|trie of Flanders, discharged of homage, superioritie and resort, to be claimed by the French king, or his successors.