Thank you to Tudor Society member Stephanie for asking this question about something written by Estienne Perlin with regards to Mary, Queen of Scot, France and Scotland. Stephanie asks:

“In the following quote do you know what the ’round machine” refers to:

“How happy oughtest thou to esteem thyself, O kingdom of Scotland, to be favoured, fed and maintained like an infant, on the breast of the host magnanimous King of France, the greatest lord in the whole world, and the future monarch of the round machine, for without him thou wouldn’st have been laid in ashes, they country wasted and ruined by the English, utterly accursed by God.”