having before enjoyed all other Offices in that Court successively; and his
vertues and merits were so much esteemed by Henry the fourth, who knew exceeding
well the difference between man and man, that the place of Parliament of the
Supream Counsel of Bearn, being yoyd, and this great Prince upon some weighty
considerations did bestow that place upon him, and not onely that, but by reason of
his other great employments, he did suffer him to execute the place by a Deputy,
and did not prefer any to that place, whereby he might receive a prejudice thereby;
but he quietly enjoyed it till he dyed, being some fifteen years after, in the goch.
yeer of his age. He was a younger brother, issued from one of the Noblest Families
in Bearn; he lost one of his brothers at that famous battle fought near Paris,
and another was Governor of Nantes in the Province of Britany. But not to
make so great a digression, and to come home to our Marshal, whose life being full
of glory, needeth not to borrow any from his Predecessors: He had four brothers
and two sisters, the eldest of them was married to Mr. d Espalungue a Gentelman
of great worth; and the younger to Mr. d Attagnan, who was Governor of Mo[unr]taner,
and Leiutenant of Bayonne, under the Earl of Grammont Toulongern, who
is brother to the Marshal Grammont.
His brothers are four, and known by these several distinctions: The eldest
doth execute the place of President in the said Parliament of Navarre, and Lord
chief Justice, and Government, with the title of Lord Treasurer for the Kings
Revenues in Bearn, and Councellor of state in Ordinary: The second is Mr.
de Pont d' Oly, who liveth in Bearn : The third is Mr. Berg[unr]re, who after some yeers
in the wars was made Colonel of a Regiment of Horse, and since was Field Marshal.
This whom we write of, was the fourth, and the youngest, was known by the
name of Abbor Gassion, and had the grant from the King, for the Bishoprick of
Oleron in Bearn, and the Abbey of Luc in the same Country.
This Birth, joyned with the good opinion generally received of him, chiefly
in that empire, his tender age, he was of so lofty a spirit, as that he thought much to
yeeld, or give place unto any, adding withal, the care his parents had for his education,
being brought up under those that were both capable and diligent to present
him in learning of Sciences, and other things fit for a Gentleman to learn;
where he continued till he had attained the age of sixteen yeers, having by that
time attained to a sufficient knowledg in Philosophy, and other like Sciences,
Being thus come to this period of life and learning, and being in a fit time to
make choice what course of life he would imbrace, weighing on the one side the
benefits, profits, and the like, which he might reap by following the study of law;
to which course, his parents had intended to bring him up to, and on the other
side, the inconveniences which might happen to him, cheifly in that he saw the
place of President was already possest by his eldest brother, thinking no place that
was left which might be fit for him, he took a resolution to follow Martiall Imployments,
which he easily obtained from his father, who rejoyced that some of his
family should again follow that employment, which they had left formerly, to follow
that law, seeing the head of their family was deceased, without male heires.
France being at that time in a quiet state, as also the neighbouring Countryes,
Italie only expected, therefore he went thither to serve the Duke of Savoy, but some
differences happening between Lewis the thirteenth, and the said Duke, and King
having made an Expresse Command to all his subjects, to forsake their service,
and so to returne home, by reason the said Duke did side with the house of Austria,