9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,



Ver. 9. Shall bewail her and lament] êïøïõóé , As with the "voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts," Nah_2:7. The chief of these mourners shall be the Spaniard likely; who yet hath no such great cause, if he look well about him; for he is yearly excommunicated by the pope, for detaining him from the kingdom of Sicily, as Baronius witnesseth. (In Respon. Apol. ad Card. Colum.) It were to be wished that he would imitate his predecessor Charles V, who upon a displeasure conceived against Pope Clement VIII, abolished the pope’s authority throughout all Spain, Exemplo ab Hispanis ipsis posteritati relicto, posse Ecclesiasticam disciplinam citra nominis Pontificii authoritatem conservari, saith mine author, i.e. The Spaniards themselves setting forth to the world that the Church may be governed without the pope’s authority. (Scultet. Annul. Decad. ii. p. 2.) But this Charles did in a passion only, and not from a settled resolution. For after this, when Pope Clement and his cardinals were imprisoned by the duke of Bourbon’s men in St Angelo, Caesar in Spain forbade all interludes to be played; and pageants prepared for the joy of the birth of his son Prince Philip to be pulled down. In France, by the court of Parliament, the duke of Bourbon was condemned of treason, his name and memorial accursed, his arms pulled down, his lands and goods confiscated. Neither would King Henry of England answer the emperor’s letters, whereby he excused himself from having any hand in the action. (Speed, 1012.)