where to prevent discovery its white colour was changed in an instant into that of the Bush which alteration gave us much trouble and we had never found it again if one of the Company had not discharged a Musket at the noise whereof it rose affrighted and run for its life we did not think it the same yet some ventured after it and others stay'd in the place seeking the white beast The Persuers shot off one of its Legs and then cried to us to forbear seeking and that the Counterfeit Lamb was caught It was the same shaped Beast but the colour was no more white as before but changed into a blackish Gray Its Coat was a Fine Wool the head like a Wolf but not quite so long with very sharp Teeth and a fierce look the hinder parts like a sheep we wondred at this change of colour and imagined it to be that Beast mentioned by by the Learned and is a good Emblem of a Hypocrite Having in three days got over these Mountains and lying down to refresh our selves in the Morning an Alarum was sounded at which we all ran to our Arms and put our selves in Order expecting the coming of the Arabs but no Enemy appeared only a Company of Apes persued by a few Jackalls who made such a noise in running about the branches of the Wood near us yet those upon the skirts of the Army thought them to be the Enemy who had taken the advantage of the place to fall upon us their needless fear did as soon appear as the nimble Creatures recovered the tops of the highest Trees to whose protection they durst commit themselves yet the Alarum continued and ran as nimbly as the Apes all over the Army which could not be stopt till every one was informed of the true cause of the Fright The Cruelties upon the Slaves at Argiers their manner of selling Christians c Page 33 After we had taken all the Country which was revolted we returned to the Maritime City of Argiers My Master was grown very rich and powerful and had got great honour and great wealth for his Services And I having likewise served him faithfully all this time and helped him out of many streights and difficulties by my Advice and Council with whom he constantly consulted in any Exigency according to his promise often made me he gave me my Liberty and a sum of Money to carry me home so that after so many strange Adventures and Discoveries which I had made in this my long time of Slavery I met with a French Vessel of Marseilles in the Harbour wherein I embarqued for my Native Countrey Adventures T. S. 1670. VIII The Adventures Dangers and Troubles of Katherine Dutchess Dowager of Suffolk are very remarkable as we find them recorded in the Book of Martyrs This Dutchess was the Widow of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk and after his death was married to Richard Berty Esq In the first year of Queen Mary Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester knowing this Dutchess to be a zealous Protestant and no good Friend of his resolved to be revenged of her husband first and subpoena'd him before him alledging That it was the Queens pleasure he should presently pay 4000 pound due to her Father from D. Charles late husband to his Dutchess whose Executrix she was Mr. Berty replyed That Debt was already truly satisfied The Bishop answered The Queen would not be put off with payments in the time of Kets Government so he in scorn called King Edward the sixth's Reign Mr. Berty said It was acknowledged to be paid by K. Henry the Eighth If that be true said the Bishop I will shew you favour but Mr. Berty says he I must tell you another thing because I intend you well I hear ill of your Religion and pray is your Lady now as forward to set up Mass as she was to pull it down when she caused a Dog in a Rochet to be carried with her which she called by my name or doth she now think her Lambs as safe as when she saw me vail my Bonnet to her out of the Tower window at which time she said That it was merry with the Lambs when the Wolves were shut up And at another time when my Lord her husband invited me amongst other Lords to Dinner desiring every Lady to chuse him whom she liked best and so place themselves together your Lady taking me by the hand said That since she might not sit by her husband whom she loved best she had chosen me whom she loved worst To which Mr. Berty replyed My Lord Of the device of the Dog she was neither the Author nor Allower As for her words she can answer her self and for the Mass she hath been taught by learned men to abhorre it and therefore if she should outwardly pretend to it she would be a false Christian to Christ and a masquing Subject to her Prince you know my Lord one Judgment reformed is better than a Thousand Transformed Time-servers Yea marry says the Bishop deliberation is good if she were to come from an old Religion to a New but she is to return from a new one to an old one when I was her Ghostly Father she was as earnest a Papist as any My Lord said Mr. Berty she told a Friend lately That Religion went not by Age but by Truth and therefore she was to be converted by Argument and not by Compulsion Pray do you think it possible says the Bishop to perswade her I hope said Mr. Berty you will find no fruits of Infidelity in her The Bishop then perswaded Mr. Berty to take pains in her Conversion promising him large Favours to effect it and so dismist him When Mr. Berty came home he had frequent intimations from his Friends That the Bishop intended to call his Dutchess to an Account for her Faith and therefore they designed to go beyond Sea In pursuance whereof Mr. Berty made such Friends to the Queen as to obtain her License to pass and repass at pleasure to receive several summes of money due to Duke Charles from the Emperor of Germany Mr. Berty went beyond Sea accordingly but without his Dutchess who yet by agreement was to follow and made her escape from this desperate danger in the manner following She dwelt at that time in Barbiean and acquainted none of her Servants with her design but only one old Gentleman neither did she take any but the meanest of her Servants with her fearing the others would not run so dangerous an adventure she took also her young Daughter of a year old with her Upon New-years-day about four a Clock in the Morning she went from her own house and an Herald of the Queens who lay in her house to guard her hearing the noise rose up and came down with a lighted Torch in his hand so that for fear of discovery she was forc't to leave most of her Childs necessaries behind and ordered her Servants to make hast to
Neck who did thy Head unthrall Faithful thou art yet hast no Faith at all I did not have my Fishing as some say But still imploy'd my Nets to catch and lay The Gabels on the ground The Royal Throne I brought into the Market every Stone Can witness it The Nobles I did quell Thou still shalt live but I must fry in Hell While my dragg'd body bleeds so basely slain Thou Triumph'st in the Freedom I did gain Learn hence ye Mortals all Be not too rash and bold To fight for other Men Least you be bought and sold Clarks Mirrour part 1. p. 518. LXXIII And as Inferiour Persons so likewise small and Contemptible things as Beasts Birds Insects and the like have been Scourges and wonderful Afflictions to several People and Nations For we read That Sapores King of Persia besieged the Christian City of Nisibis but St. James the Holy Bishop thereof by his Prayers to Heaven obtained that such an infinite number of Gnats came into his Army as put it into the greatest disorder these small Creatures flew upon the Eyes of their Horses and Tormented them in such a manner that growing furious they threw off their Riders and the whole Army was thereby so scattered and brought into confusion that they were inforced to break up their siege and depart Luther Colloquia p. 245. LXXIV Marcus Varro writeth That there was a Town in Spain undermined with Rabbits Another likewise in Thessaly by Moles or Molewarps In Africa the people were compelled by Locusts to leave their Habitations and out of Gyaros an Island one of the Cyclades the Islanders were forced by Rats and Mice to fly away Moreover in Italy the City Amyclae was destroyed by Serpents In Ethiopia there is a great Countrey lies wast and Desart by reason it was formerly dis-peopled by Scorpions and a sort of Pismires And if it be True that Theophrastâ—s reporteth the Treriens were chased away by certain worms called Scolopendres Annius writes that an Antient City scituate neer the Volscian Lake and called Contenebra was in times past overthrown by Pismires and that the place is thereupon vulgarly called to this day The Camp of Ants In Media saith Diodorus Siculus There was such an infinite number of Sparrows that eat up and devoured the seed which was cast into the ground that men were constrained to depart their old Habitations and remove to other places LXXV About the year of our Lord 872 came into France such an innumerable Company of Locusts that the vast multitude of them darkned the very Light of the Sun they were likewise of a very extraordinary Bigness and had a six-fold Order of Wings six feet and two Teeth the hardness whereof surpassed that of a Stone These eat up every green thing in all the Fields of France At last by the force of the Winds they were carried into the Sea and there drowned After which by the Agitation of the Waves the dead Bodies of them were cast upon the Shores and from the Stench of them together with the Famine they had made with their former devouring there arose so great a Plague that it was verily thought every third person in France died thereof In one of the Cities of France the Inhabitants were driven out and forced to leave it by reason of the multitude of Frogs Gualterus Chron. p. 599. LXXVI The Island of Anaphe heretofore had not a Partridge in it till such time as an Astypalaean brought thither a pair that were Male and Female which couple in a short time did increase in such wonderful manner that oppressed with the number of them the Inhabitants upon the point were inforced to depart from the Island Astypalaea of old had no Hares in it but when one of the Isle of Anaphe had put a brace into it they in a short time so increased that they almost destroyed whatever the Inhabitants had sowed whereupon they sent saith the Historian to consult the Oracle concerning this their Calamity which advised them to store themselves with Grey-hounds by the help of which they killed six Thousand Hares in the space of a year and many more afterwards whereby they were delivered from their Greivance The Inhabitants of the Gymnesian Islands are reported to have sent their Embassadors to Rome to request some other place to be assigned them for their Habitation because they were oppressed by the incredible number of Conies among them And the Baleares through an extraordinary increase of the same Creatures among them did Petition the Emperor Augustus that he would send them some Souldiers against these Enemies of theirs which had already occasioned a Famine amongst them Plin. Nat. Hist lib. 8. LXXVII Myas saith Dr. Heylin was a principal City in Ionia upon an Arm of the Sea but in after-times the water drawing further off the Land brought forth such an innumerable multitude of Fleas that the Inhabitants were fain to forsake the City and went with their Bag and Baggage to retire to Miletus nothing hereof being left but the Name and Memory in the time of Pausanias And Herodotus writes That the Neuri a People bordering upon the Scythians were forced out of their Habitation and Countrey by reason of Serpents For whereas a multitude of Serpents are bred in the Soil it self at that time there came upon them such an abundance of them and so infested them that they were constrained to quit the place and to dwell among the Budini Cassander in his return from Apollonia met with the People called Abderitae who by reason of the multitude of Frogs and Mice were constrained to depart from their Native Soil and to seek out Habitations for themselves elsewhere The Countrey of Troas is exceedingly given to breed great store of Mice so that already they have enforced the Inhabitants to quit the place and depart Justin Hist Lib. 15. LXXVIII In the 17th year of the Reign of Alexander the third King of the Scots such an incredible swarm of Palmer Wormes spread themselves over both Scotland and England that they consumed the Fruits and Leaves of all Trees and Herbs and eat up the Worts and other Plants to the very Stalks and Stumps of them As also the same year by an unusual increase and swelling of the Sea the Rivers overflowed their Banks and there was such an Inundation especially of the Tweed and Forth that divers Villages were overturned thereby and a great number both of men and all sorts of Cattle perished in the Waters Zuinglius Theat Vol. 3. Lib. 2. LXXIX About the year 1610 the City of Constantinople and the Countreys thereabouts were so plagued with Clouds of Grashoppers that they darkned the beams of the Sun they left not a green herb or leaf in all the Countrey yea they entred into their very Bed-chambers to the great Annoyance of the Inhabitants being almost as big as Dormice with red Wings Knowls's Hist of the Turks p. 1308. Thus we see there is nothing so small and inconsiderable
liveth in the profound Abyss of the house of smoke when he shall come thither to steal away any of those bones He told us moreover That it was threescore and fourteen Thousand years since he was begotten on a Tortoise called Migoma by a Sea-horse that was an hundred and thirty fathom long who had been formerly King of the Giants of Fanius He also assured us That the Gifts which were presented to this Idol amounted to a vast sum of Money in a year besides other Revenues which was as much more He added That this Idol had ordinarily Twelve Thousand Priests attending on his Service maintained with all necessaries only to pray for the Dead unto whom these bones belonged who also had allowed them without the Temple six hundred Servants who took care for providing all conveniencies for them As for the Priests themselves they never went without the limits of the Temple but by permission of their Superiors There was also a Seraglio wherein many Women appointed for that purpose were shut up whom their Governesses permitted to have too near an Acquaintance with the Priests of this beastly and Diabolical Sect Pinto's Travels ch 41. And thus will I conclude the ridiculous and Idolatrous ways of Worship among the Heathens in these dark parts of the World XXXI Many strange Events have happened by the Ingenious Stratagems of some men as we find in divers Authors Sir Walver Rawleigh writes That the Island of Sark joining to Guernsey and belonging to that Government was surprized by the French and could never have been recovered again by strong hand having Corn and Cattle enough upon the place to feed so many as would serve to defend it and being every way so inaccessible as it might have held out against the Great Turk Yet in the Reign of Q. Mary by the Industry of a Gentleman of the Netherlands it was in this manner regained He Anchored in the Road with one ship of small burden and pretending the death of his Merchant besought the French being about thirty in number that they might bury their Merchant in hallowed ground and in the Chappel of that Isle offering the French a Present of such Commodities as they had aboard whereunto the French yeilded upon Condition that they should not come ashore with any weapon no not so much as a Knife Then did the Flemings put a Coffin into their Boat not filled with a dead Carcass but with Swords Targets and Carabines The French receiving them at their Landing and searching every one so narrowly that they could not hide a Pen-knife gave them leave to draw their Coffin up the Rocks with great difficulty some of the French took the Flemish Boat and rowed toward the Ship to fetch the Rewards promised them and what else they pleased but being come aboard they were taken and bound The Flemmings on Land when they had carried their Coffin into the Chappel shut the door to them and taking their weapons out of the Coffin set upon the French who ran to the Cliff and called to their Company Aboard the Ship to come to their assistance but finding the Boat came back full of Flemmings they yeilded themselves and the place Rawleigh's History of the World lib. 5. XXXII Notable was the exploit of the surprizing Breda in the Wars of the Low-Countries A River called Merch runs by that City upon which stands a Noble Castle rather for Habitation than Strength Three Leagues from Breda the River falls into a large Channel in Holland and some Barks of Merchandise used to pass to and fro upon that River having Pasports for that purpose The Governor of Breda under the Prince of Parma used sometimes to go to a place about nine Miles off and in his absence his Son commanded in his stead All the while the Father kept in Breda he still caused diligent search to be made in every Boat that passed lest by some trick or other he might be surprized but his Son being young and inexperienced was neither so considerate nor careful as he should have been Among other Boats which passed to and fro some carried Turf which instead of Wood is much used for firing in Friesland Holland and the lower Parts of Flanders who coming from Holland into the River Merch went to Breda and some other Towns thereabout At this time there was a Mariner a Master of a Boat who was well acquainted with the Souldiers that kept the Castle by which all these Boats used to pass who went to Prince Maurice and told him That a considerable company of Souldiers might be hid under the Turf in his boat and that he might thereby very probably surprise the Castle by night and afterward with a supply of Souldiers might easily enter Breda Prince Maurice liked the Stratagem very well and resolved to make Trial of it These Turf-boats are usually of a good length thereby to supply their want of breadth the lesser Rivers and Channels not being capable of Broader The Boat being fitted the Master came with it to Breda and underneath the Turf which was upheld by great Poles were placed fourscore Souldiers all choice men and Captain Charles Harawger an old and Valiant Souldier commanded them The Bark being come into the Castle the young Governour gave Order that it should be searched according to Custom but as that order was carelesly given so it was carelesly executed The Marriners hereby encouraged passed from more serious affairs to Sport and Jollity and so delay'd the time till night came on and invited those Souldiers which came to search the Boat to drink some Wine with them and when they were well warmed with Wine they soon fell asleep The rest of the Souldiers were withdrawn into the Castle to take their rest But on a sudden the Souldiers under the Turf Landed and assaulted them on every side being at first very much astonished but were soon made sensible of the Surprizal and as suddenly left the Castle to these New Guests Some of them were hurt and some slain and the young Governour was taken Prisoner The Captains in the City were in so great Confusion that they could neither break down the Bridge whereby the Castle was joined to the Town neither did they secure any one Gate of the City for some few hours till succours could have come from the Neighbouring Garrison In the mean time Count Hollack and soon after Prince Maurice himself came at whose entrance the Spanish Garrison marched basely and shamefully out and left the City to the Hollanders in 1590. Bentivolio's History of Flanders pag. 264. XXXIII Plutarch relates That Hannibal the General of Carthage intending to remove his Forces to Cassinas his Guides by a mistake of the Punick Tongue led his Army to Cassilinum in Campania which is very Mountainous save a long Valley which stretches it self out into the Sea Fabius the Roman General had shut up the way by which he should get out with Four Thousand Souldiers and the rest of
where they dig a ditch in a round circle and there every man declareth his opinion after this consultation the ditch is closed and under pain of Treason and Death all which hath been spoken must be concealed as if it were so buried as they had before represented in their Emblem Purchas's Pilgrimage Tom. 1. LXXII Prodigious and Wonderful was the Revolution at Naples in Italy 1647. Translated from the Italian by James Howel Esq and thus contracted by Mr. Samuel Clark The Duke of Arcos Vice-Roy of Naples under the King of Spain having imposed many Gabels or Taxes upon several Commodities both vendible and edible at last laid a Tax upon Fruit also which more provoked and offended the Multitude than all the former whereupon by their publick Cries and Lamentations they daily sollicited the Vice-Roy as he passed through the Market-place to ease them of that Burden using likewise the mediation of others which not prevailing they were ready to raise a Mutiny which so affrighted the Vice-Roy that he promised quite to take off the Gabel but delaying to do it some of the enraged People one night put fire to some Powder in the Market-place where it was exacted and blew it up There were also dayly bitter invectives and protests against the publick Officers fixed in divers parts of the City At which the Vice-Roy being Alarum'd often Assembled the six Precincts of the City to consult about the business some being for and others against easing the People saying They were but a Company of Tatterdemalions who made all this noise Besides divers Great Men and Merchants of the City had advanced upon this Gabel above six hundred Thousand Crowns and were to pay eighty five Thousand Crowns of Annual Rent This was noised abroad and likewise that if this were taken off another Tax would be set upon Corn and Wine whereupon the enraged People protested they would never endure it While these discontents were hot July 7. 1647. This occasion suddenly presented it self A young man of about twenty years old brisk pleasant and of a middle Stature in Linnen Breeches a blew Wastcoat and barefoot with a Seamans Cap on his head happened to be in the Market-place His Employment was to Angle for little Fishes and also to buy Fish and carry them about to sell he was vulgarly called Massanello and being naturally Crafty he observed the general Murmurings of the People and so went up and down to the Fruiterers Shops and advised them that meeting together the next day in the Market-place they should tell the Countrey Fruiterers that they should buy no more Gabelled or Taxed fruit Accordingly next day they refused to buy but one of the City Officers perswaded them to buy it for the present and promised that the Gabel should be suddenly taken off and so prevailed with them for that time Massanello seeing his expectation frustrated went up and down crying Avant Gabel Down with the Gabel for which some jeered him others considered well of his Words About the same time many Boys being met in the Market-place he bid them say as he said and do as he did and then taught them to cry Let God live c. Let the Pope live Let the King of Spain live and let the ill Government dye This the Boyes cryed up and down which caused much Laughter and Jeering at their Master as if he were Mad or a Fool But he told them You laugh at me now but you shall shortly see what Massanello can do Let me alone and if I do not free you from all your Slaveries let me be held infamous for ever Which words increased their Laughter the more But he minding his business listed about Two Thousand Boys about sixteen or seventeen years old whom he prepared against a great Festival that was approaching giving every one of them a little Cane in his hand The day being come upon which a Feast used to be made by the Boys and meaner sort of People in the Market-place they erected a Castle of Wood which they battered with Sticks and Fruit which drew a great Concourse of People together and at the same time a Quarrel began between the Shop-keepers and Fruiterers the former refusing to buy their Fruit Whereupon a Chief Officer came to still the Commotion and the better to quiet the Citizens he reviled the Countrey Fruiterers threatning to Bastinado them and to send them to the Gallies Amongst these was a Cosen of Massanello's who according to the Instructions given him threw his Baskets of Fruit upon the ground crying out God gives Plenty and the ill Government gives a Dearth I care not a straw for my fruit let every one take of it Whereupon the Boys eagerly gathered it and Massanello cried out Without Gabel without Gabel So that the Officer threatned him with whipping and the Gallies at which the People threw Figs Apples and other Fruit with Fury into the Officers Face But Massanello hit him on the Breast with a Stone encouraging his Militia of Boys to do the like so that if the Officer had not speedily broken through with his Coach and got away to the Palace he had been torn in pieces or stoned to death Upon this success the number of the People still increasing they exclaimed aloud against their oppressions protesting not to pay any more Gabels crying out Let the King of Spain live and let the ill Government die Massanello being thus attended with his Boys and an infinite Company of loose People who were now armed with Pikes and Partizans he leaped upon a Table and with a loud voice cryed Be joyful my Dear Companions give God Thanks that the hour of your Redemption draws near This poor barefooted Fellow as another Moses who freed the Israelites from Pharaoh's Rod shall Redeem you from all Gabels and Taxes Peter a Fisherman with his voice redeemed Rome and with it a world from Satans Slavery to the Liberty of Christ Now another Fisherman which is Massanello shall release Naples and with it a whole Kingdom from the Tyranny of Gabels c. Nor to effect this do I care a rush to be torn in peices nor to be dragged up and down the kennels of Naples Let all the bloud of my body spin out of these veins Let my head skip from my Shoulders by a fatal Steel and be set up in the Market-place on Pole yet I shall dye contentedly and gloriously It will be honour enough to me to think that my bloud and life perish in so glorious a Cause With these and such like Words he so enflam'd the People that they were willing to joyn with him and to begin the work they fired the House next to the Tole-house for Fruit which was burnt down with all the Books of Accounts and other Goods in it This being done the number so increased that every one shut up his Shop being astonished at so sudden a Tumult who burnt down other Gabel-houses for all other Goods with their Books and
returned in the Evening he gave all them that attended him 1O Measures of Wheat apiece The same afternoon Massanello's Wife Mother and Sister clad in Cloth of Silver with Chains of Gold and other Rich Jewels went in a stately Coach valued at eight Thousand Crowns to give the Vice-Queen a Visit attended with divers other Gentlewomen and when she came to the Palace Sedans were sent for her and her Company with a Guard of Halberdiers Pages and Lacquies to attend them The Vice-Queen presented her with a rich Diamond giving her great welcome and many Dainties and so returned where they found Massanello so heated with his Wine that he scarce knew what he said or did and thus ended Sunday On Monday Morning he would have resigned his Power but his Wife and Kindred disswaded him and himself conceived that if he should do it he could expect no other but death but now when he came to manage his Authority he committed so many Fopperies and Tyrannical Acts as made him hated by those who before had adored him and the reason of his distempered Brain was conceived to be from a fatal drink given him by the Vice-Roy the day before To which may be added want of Food and Sleep for he was seldom at leasure to do either in regard of multiplicity of business which wholly took him up Early that morning he rode into the Market-place with a naked Sword in his hand striking many for no cause offered A Captain who came to him about business he wounded in the Face and meeting with one that was said to be a Spy he caused his head presently to be chopped off another complaining that his Wife was gone away with another man he caused the Woman to be hanged and the Man to be broken on the wheel Then going to the Kings Stables he took for himself and his Followers six of the best Horses but before he had gone far better bethinking himself he sent them all back again The Vice-Roy himself hearing of such Extravagancies trembled and retired into the inner Palace causing it to be fortified and increased his Guard Then Massanello sent to two Noblemen to come to him into the Market-place upon pain of burning their Palaces if disobeying who returned answer That they would wait on him But instead thereof having secured their Goods they went to the Vice-Roy to complain of their Slavish Condition and whilst they were considering how to remedy it there came two of his chief Friends and Counsellors making the same Complaint saying That they were in continual danger of their Lives and that the People began to hate Massanello for his extream Cruelty whereupon it was concluded That the People should be perswaded to make their Addresses to the Vice-Roy and therein to declare that they would have no more dependance upon him but upon his Excellency only provided that they might be assured to enjoy their Priviledges lately confirmed by Oath This the Vice-Roy willingly assented to and the People were perswaded to accept of the Conditions and Massanello being gone abroad to take his pleasure many of them met with the Vice-Roy where it was concluded That Massanello should be laid hold on and kept in chains during his life but not put to death because of the good he had done for the People At Massanello's return being extreamly inflamed with Wine he began to play many mad Pranks whereupon the Captains of the People apprehended him and put him in Custody under a Guard of Souldiers and the People confederating with the Vice-Roy hastened his End Tuesday July 16 in the Morning Massanello's Secretary meeting some Bands of men going towards the Castle proudly asked them By whose Authority they Acted One of the Captains answered By the Authority of the Vice-Roy Well said the Secretary thy head shall pay for this whereupon the Captain wounded him with his Sword and another shot him through and so they put him into a Sepulchre But the people that adhered to the Vice-Roy drew him out cut off his head and dragged his body about the Streets Presently after Massanello escaping out of Prison went to the Church of the Virgin of Carmine and the Archbishop coming to sing Mass there it being a great Festival day to that Saint Massanello met him saying Most Eminent Lord I perceive that the People will now forsake me and go about to take away my life I desire that a Solemn Procession may be made to this most holy Lady for being to die I shall then die with greater content The Church being full of People Massanello went to the Altar and taking a Crucifix in his hand he commended himself to the People remembring then what great things he had done for them the difficulties he had encountered with and the hatred that he had procured to himself thereby c. and then prostrating himself at the Archbishops Feet he desired him to send the Vice-Roy word That he would willingly renounce his Command and resign it into his Excellencies hand which the Archbishop promised him to do and seeing him all in a sweat he conveyed him into a Dormitory to be refreshed and so he left him Massanello after a while went into the Hall and some that were hired to murther him rushed into the room crying aloud Let the King of Spain live and let none hereafter upon pain of death obey Massanello Massanello seeing them said You go perhaps to search for me behold me here my people Whereupon some shot at him and he crying out Ah ingrateful Traytors fell down dead Then came a Butcher and cut off his Head and carried it upon a Lance first into the Church and then to the Market-place crying out Let the King of Spain live Massanello is dead Massanello is dead and withal they discharged some Harquebusses whereupon the affrighted people slunk away not daring to Revenge their Captains death so that they carried his head up and down the City and the Boys dragged his Body up and down the Streets and at last his head was thrown into one Ditch and his Body into another And thus as the Almighty for the sins of the Egyptians punished them by small and inconsiderable means so did he Correct Humble and Chastize the Stately proud City of Naples by so mean a Person who in ten dayes time acted the part of the Greatest Monarch upon Earth and then fell to the lowest Contempt and died the most vile death of the greatest Malefactor Thus Massanello being raised by the popular Air slain and scorned by the same people Honoured and Idolized by the same persons may be compared to a Ball tossed up and down by Fortune The voice went afterward that a Chappel should be built for him and the prime Wits of Naples composed several Epitaphs upon him amongst which the following is thus Englished by J. H. Esq Massanello's Lamentation concerning the People of Naples I did expect from thee a better Fate Ingrateful City People more ungrate Thou chop'st his
was the first Firebrand who kindled that lamentable and long War wherein the Netherlanders traded above fifty years in bloud For intending To increase the number of Bishops To establish the Decrees of the Council of Trent and to destroy the Power of the Council of State composed of the Natives of the Land by making it appealable to the Council of Spain and by adding to the former Oath of Allegiance many particulars for settling the Bloudy Spanish Inquisition and curbing their Consciences in matters of Religion These harsh unreasonable and Illegal Invasions upon their Civil and Religious Rights and Liberties were the first occasions of those dreadful Broyls and Devastations which after happened To appease which Ambassadors were dispatched to Spain from the Netherlands whereof the two first came to violent Deaths the one being beheaded and the other poysoned but the two last Count Egmond and Horn were still fed with false hopes till Philip the second had prepared an Army under the Conduct of the D. of Alva to compose the difference by Arms For as soon as he came to the Government he established the Bloet-Rad as the Hollanders termed it or Council of Bloud made up most of Spaniards Count Egmond and Horn were apprehended and afterward Beheaded Citadels were erected and the Oath of Allegiance with the Political Government of the Countrey in divers things altered This powered Oil on the Fire formerly kindled and put all in Combustion The Prince of Orange retires thereupon his eldest Son was surprized and sent as Hostage into Spain and above 5000 Families leave the Countrey Many Towns revolted which were afterward reduced to obedience which made the Duke of Alva say That the Netherlands belonged to the King of Spain not only by Descent but Conquest After this he attempted to impose the Tenth Penny for maintenance of the Garrisons in the Citadels he had erected at Grave Vtretcht and Antwerp where he caused his Statue made of Canon Brass to be erected trampling the Belgians under his Feet but all the Towns withstood this Imposition so that at last matters succeeding ill with him and having had his dear Friend Pacecio hanged at the Gates of Flushing after he had likewise traced out the Platform of a Citadel in that Town he was recalled back to Spain Don Lewes de Requiseus succeeded him who came short of his Predecessors Exploits and dying suddenly in the Feild the Government was invested for the time in the Council of State The Spanish Souldiers being without a Head gathered together to the number of 1600 and committed such Outrages up and down that they were Proclaimed Enemies to the State hereupon the Pacification at Gaunt was Transacted one Article whereof was That all Forreign Souldiers should quit the Countrey This was ratified by the King and observed by Don John of Austria who succeeded in the Government yet Don John retained the Lands-Knights still as some thought for Invading England He kept the Spaniards also hovering about the Frontiers for all occasions Certain Letters were intercepted which made a Discovery of some Projects and caused the War to bleed afresh Don John was hereupon proclaimed an Enemy to the State and the Arch-Duke Matthias was sent for who being a Man of small Performance and improper for the Times was dismist but upon Honourable Terms Don John soon after dyes some said of the Pox then comes in the Duke of Parma a man as of a different Nation being an Italian so of a differing Temper and more Moderate Spirit and of greater performance than all the rest reducing several Cities and great Towns to the Spanish Obedience He had threescore Thousand Men in Pay the choicest which Spain and Italy could afford At this time the French and English Ambassadors interceding for a Peace had a short answer of King Philip the second who said That he needed not the help of any to reconcile himself to his own Subjects and reduce them to Conformity but what difference there was he would refer to his Cosen the Emperor Hereupon the business was Treated at Colen where the Spaniard stood as high a Tiptoe as ever and notwithstanding the vast expence of Bloud and Treasure he had been at for so many years and that matters began to exasperate yet more which would prolong the War for ever he would abate nothing in point of Ecclesiastic Government but would impose the bloudy Spanish Inquisition upon their Souls and Turkish Slavery upon their Bodies and Estates Hereupon the States perceiving that King Philip could not be wrought either by the solicitations of other Princes or their own supplications so often repeated That they might enjoy the Freedom of Religion with other Civil Rights Freedoms and Infranchisements to which he was obliged by Oath being provoked likewise by that Ban or Proclamation which was published against the Prince of Orange That whosoever killed him should have 5000 Crowns They at last absolutely renounced and abjured the King of Spain for their Soveraign They broke his Seals changed the Oath of Allegiance and fled into France for Succour They set up the Duke of Anjou recommended to them by Queen Elizabeth to whom he was a Suitor for their Prince who attempted to render himself Absolute and so thought to surprize Antwerp but received there an ill-favoured repulse Yet nevertheless the Vnited Provinces for so they termed themselves ever after fearing to distast their next great Neighbour France made a second Offer to that King To desire his Protection and Soveraignty But he had too many Irons in the Fire at home the Vnholy League growing daily stronger against him he therefore answered them That his Shirt was nearer to him than his Doublet Then had they recourse to Queen Elizabeth who partly for her own Security and partly for Interest in Religion reacht them a supporting hand and sent them Men Money and the Earl of Leicester for their Governour who not agreeing with their Humor was soon recalled without any outward dislike on the Queens side for she left her Forces still with them but upon their Expence She lent them afterward some Considerable Sums of Money and received the Towns of Brill and Flushing for her Security and ever after the English were the best Sinews of their War and the Atcheivers of the greatest exploits among them Having thus made sure of the English they held the Spaniard tack many years and during those Traverses of War were very Fortunate against him At last a Treaty of Peace was propounded which the States or seven Provinces would not agree to singly with the King of Spain unless the Provinces that yet remained under him would engage themselves to the performance of the Articles besides they would not Treat either of Peace or Truce unless they were declared Free-States and Treated by the Title of The High and Mighty States of the Vnited Provinces all which was granted and so a Truce was Concluded which ended in a Peace that has continued without any
Possession of the New World for the Kings of Spain Octob. 11. 1492. Afterwards he discovered and took Possession of Hispaniola and with much Treasure and Content returned to Spain and was preferred by the King for this good Service first to be Admiral of the Indies and in conclusion to the Title of the Duke De la Vega in the Island of Jamaica The next year he was furnished with 18 Ships for further Discovery in this second Voyage he discovered the Islands of Cuba and Jamaica and built the Town of Isabella after called Domingo in Hispaniola from whence for some severities used against the mutinous Spaniards he was sent Prisoner to Castile but very honourably entertained and cleared from all Crimes imputed to him In 1497. he began his Third Voyage in which he discovered the Countries of Paria and Cumana on the firm Land with the Islands of Cubagna and Margarita and many other Islands Capes and Provinces In 1500 he began his fourth and last Voyage in the course whereof coming to Hispaniola he was unworthily denied entrance into the City of Domingo after which scowring the Sea-Coasts he returned back to Cuba and Jamaica and from thence to Spain where six years after he died and was buried Honourably at Sevil where to this day an Epitaph remaineth on his Tomb far short of his merit which is to this purpose Christophorus genuit quem Genoa clara Columbus c. I Christopher Columbus whom the Land Of Genoa first brought forth first took in hand I know not by what Deity incited To scour the western Seas and was delighted To seek for Countreys never known before Crown'd with success I first descry'd the shore Of the New World then destin'd to sustain The future yoak of Philip Lord of Spain And yet I greater matters left behind For men of more means and a braver mind Columbus dying left two Sons behind him of which the youngest called Ferdinand died unmarried the the eldest named Diego succeeded his Father in the Admiralty of the Indies and the Dukedom of Vega and married the Duke of Alva's Daughter but having no issue by her he spent the greatest part of his Estate in Founding a famous Library in Sevil which he furnished with Twelve thousand Volumes and endowed with a liberal Revenue to maintain the same But though his Family be extinct yet his Fame shall live renowned to all Posterities as the first Discoverer of this New World and consequently the greatest and most Fortunate Advancer of the Spanish Monarchy though in his life-time so envied and maligned by most of the Spaniards that Bobadilla being sent into those parts for redress of Greivances loaded him with Irons and returned him Prisoner into Spain Nor did they only endeavour to deprive him of the honour of this Discovery after his Death by pretending that he had seen the Charts and Descriptions of some unknown Spaniard but in his Life-time they would often say That it was a matter of no such difficulty to have found these Countreys and that if he had not done it then some body else would have done it for him But he confuted their peevishness by this modest Artifice desiring some of them who had insolently enough contended with him about this Discovery to make an Egg stand firmly upon one of its ends which when after many Trials they could not do he gently bruising one end of it made it stand upright letting them see thereby without any further reprehension how easie it is to do that thing which we see another do before us Heylin's Cosmography Lib. 4. II. Columbus having thus led the way was seconded by Americus Vespusuis an adventurous Florentine employed therein by Emanuel King of Portugal in 1501 on a design to find out a nearer way to the Molucca's than by the Cape of Good Hope who though he passed no further than the Cape without having so much as a sight of the great River De la Plata which washeth the South parts of that Countrey yet from him to the Great Injury and neglect of the first Discoverer the Continent or Main Land of this Countrey hath the name of America by which it is still known and commonly called To him succeeded John Cabot a Venetian in the behalf of King Henry the seventh of England who discovered all the North-East Coasts thereof from the Cape of Florida in the South to New-foundland in the North causing the American Royale's or little Kings to turn Homagers to the King and Crown of England After whom there followed divers private Adventurers and Undertakers out of all parts of Europe bordering on the Ocean Ferdinando Magellanus was the first that compassed the whole World and found the South Passage called Fretum Magellanicum or the Magellan Streights to this day Heylin's Cosmog Lib. 4. III. But the most famous of all the Spaniards as I suppose saith P. Jovius for the Discovery of New Lands and People was Ferdinando Cortesius or Corter to whom the Spaniards stand indebted for the Kingdom of Mexico He was born in Medeline a Town of Estremadura in Spain 1485 and in the 19 year of his Age employed himself in the Trade and business of America for the improvement of his Fortune In 1511 he went as Clerk to the Treasurer for the Isle of Cuba where he so well husbanded his Affairs by carrying over Kine Sheep and Mares and bringing Gold for them in Exchange that in short time he very much improved his stock and now resolving to venture all his Credit both in Friends and Money he furnished himself with eleven Ships and with 550 Men set sail from Spain and arrived at the Island of Santa Cruce and sailing up the River Tabasco sacked the Town of Pontoncon the Inhabitants refusing to sell him Victuals After this by the help of his Horse and Ordinance he discomfited forty Thousand of the naked Indians who were gathered together to revenge themselves for the plundering their Town he then received the King thereof in Vassallage to the Crown of Spain Being told that Westward he should meet with some Mines of Gold he turned his Course for the Haven of St. John de Vlloa where landing he was entertained by the Governor of Montezuma King of Mexico who understanding of his coming and that he was a Servant of so Great an Emperor as Charles the fifth he sent him many rich Presents both of Gold and Silver Cortez inflamed at the sight thereof resolved to go unto the place where such Treasures were and took Possession of the Countrey in the Name of Charles the fifth King of Spain and Emperor of Germany and building there the Town De la Crux he left 150 of his men therein and attended with only 400 Foot 15 Horsemen and 6 pieces of Ordinance he pursued his Enterprize and having cunningly gained to his assistance those of Zempoallan Tlascala who were ill affected to Montezuma he marched on toward Mexico plundring in his way the Town of Chololla
Almagro that after they had wasted this rich Countrey of Peru and divided the Spoil among them yet they destroyed one another for Pizarro envying Almagro for being Governour of Cusco and not himself sent his Brother Ferdinand to Challenge him who was so fortunate as to take Almagro Prisoner and delivered him bound to Francis his Brother who cused him to be strangled privately in Prison and afterward publickly beheaded Ferdinand was after sent to Spain with a great Mass of Gold to clear himself of the death of Almagro yet could not so well justifie himself but that all his Treasure was seized and himself secretly made away in Prison Soon after this the kindred and Friends of Almagro whose Estate Pizarro had seized consulted with Don Diego Almagro his Son to revenge the death of his Father Twelve of them undertook the Business who coming into Francis Pizarro's house at Lima he being then Marquess and Governour of Peru they suddenbroke into it and immediately killed a Captain who guarded the entrance of the Hall and Martin of Alcantara so that he fell dead at his brother the Marquess his Feet who though he saw his men thus slain before his eyes and himself left alone in the midst of his Enemies yet he still made a stout defence till all falling upon him at once he was stabbed into the Throat and died Lastly Gonsal had his head cut off by the Emperours Command and thus finished they their wretched dayes answerable to their cruel Deserts Thus have we seen the deplorable Ends of Two of the most mighty and glorious Monarchs of this New World and peradventure of all our Western parts who were Kings over so many Kingdoms And these are the cursed Fruits of Covetousness and Ambition for which so many goodly Cities were ruined and destroyed so many Nations made desolate such infinite Millions of harmless innocent People of all Conditions Sexes and Ages wofully Massacred and Murdered and the richest fairest and best part of the World turned to a Field of Bloud And though we have the Vanity to call those Nations Barbarous who are not so wickedly knowing as our selves yet the ingenious discourse and Replies of these naked Americans shew that their Honesty Truth and Integrity have been the chief occasions of exposing them to the Slavery and Barbarity of these wicked Treacherous and Idolatrous Spanish Christians of which it may not be amiss to give the following Instance Certain Spaniards coasting along the Sea in search of Mines happened to Land in a very Fruitful Pleasant and well peopled Countrey who declaring to the Inhabitants That they were quiet and well meaning People coming from far Countreys being sent from the King of Castile the greatest King on the Habitable Earth unto whom the Pope representing God on Earth had given the Kingdoms and Dominions of all the Indies and that if they would become Tributary to him they should be kindly used and courteously dealt withal They likewise desired them to give them some Victuals to eat and some Gold wherewith to make certain Physical Experiments They also declared to them That they ought to believe in one God and to embrace the Catholick Religion adding withall some Threats thereunto The Indians having patiently heard them one of them returned this Ingenious answer That possibly they might be quiet and well meaning People though their Countenances shewed them to be otherwise And as for their King since he seemed to beg he appeared to be poor and needy And for the Pope who had made that distribution he seemed to be a man who loved mischief and dissention in going about to give that to a third man which was none of his own and so to make it questionable and raise quarrels among the ancient Possessors thereof As for Victuals they should have part of their store and for Gold they had but little and that it was a thing they very little valued as being utterly unprofitable for the service of their lives whereas all their care was to pass their time happily and pleasantly and therefore what quantity soever they should find of it except what was employed in the service of their Gods they should freely take it As touching one only God the discourse of him had very well pleased them but they were resolved by no means to change their Religion in which they had so long time lived so happily neither indeed did they use to take advice or Counsel but from their Freinds and Acquaintance As concerning their high words it was a sign of great want of Judgment to threaten those whose nature condition strength and power was utterly unknown to them And that therefore they should with all speed hasten out of their Countrey and Dominions since they were used to take in good part the kindnesses and discourses of Strangers but if they did not suddenly depart they would deal with them as they had done with some others shewing them the Heads of divers Persons lately executed sticking upon Stakes about their City Montaign's Essays Lib. 3. V. John Cabot succeeded Columbus in this Countrey who on the behalf of King Henry the seventh of England discovered all the North-East Coasts of America from the Cape of Florida in the South to New-found-land in the North causing the American Royolets or petty Kings to turn Homagers and swear Allegiance to the King and Crown of England In 1496 Sebastian Cabot his Son rigged up two Ships at the charge of the same King Henry who intended to go to the Land of Cathay and from thence to turn towards India to this purpose he aimed at a passage by the Northwest but after certain dayes he found the Land ran toward the North He followed the Continent to the 56 Degree under our Pole and there finding the Coast to turn toward the East and the Sea covered with Ice he turned back again Sailing down by the Coast of that Land towards the Equinoctial which he called Batalaos from the number of Fishes found in that Sea like Tunnies which the Inhabitants call Bacalaos Afterward he Sailed along the Coasts to 38 Degrees and Provisions failing he returned into England and was made Grand Pilot of England by King Edward the sixth with the allowance of a large Pension of 166 pound 13 shillings four pence a year Hackluits Voyages Vol. 3. VI. Sir Francis Drake was born nigh South Tavestock in Devonshire and brought up in Kent being the Son of a Minister who fled into Kent for fear of the six Bloudy Articles in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth and bound his Son to the Master of a small Bark which Traded into France and Zealand his Master dying unmarried bequeathed his Bark to him which he sold and put himself into farther Employment at first with Sir John Hawkins and afterward upon his own Account In the year 1577 Dec. 13. He with a Fleet of five Ships and Barks and 174 Men Gentlemen and Saylors began that Famous Navigation of his wherein he
of a hard Cudgel I could not long endure this Service and therefore sought to displease my Patron and make him sell me to another He gave me next to an Officer of the Militia who was so well pleased with my Person and Countenance that he resolved not to part with me for any Money I offered him 800 Dollars he told me I should first go with him into the Countrey and at his return I should have Liberty to be redeemed if I behaved my self well The Turks about this time sent a strong Army to gather the Contributions of the People and to relieve Tremisen or Climsan a strong Populous City in the Inland parts of Africa which commands all the rest of Countrey and was now besieged by the Arabs their deadly Enemies Having run through so many strange and unexpected Fortunes and Adventures I doubted not but to meet with as much variety in this Expedition my Master was Commander of an 100 men he was very passionate and Lascivious but withal valiant Our Army was composed of a thousand Horse and two thousand Foot besides Slaves and Servants with which strong Party we set forward and found the Countrey very fruitful of Corn and Fodder As we past by a Wood we had the sight of several wild Beasts that returned from seeking their Prey Our Vanguard shot at many of them one of our Company to shew his Valour met a Lyon that advanced toward us and with his Scymiter in his hand encountred him but the sport almost cost the Fellow his Life for the Lyon was very strong and struck him down twice with his Paws and the last time in a rage bit off part of his Arm and would have instantly devoured him had we not all shot at him and fixed above an hundred Bullets in his Body We found the Fellow almost dead with fear under the Lion He was glad with the loss of some of his Flesh to have so happily escaped none pitying him since his rashness deserved it In three Leagues we came to a little Valley fruitful of Palms and Olivetrees with a small Rivulet covered with Strawberry Bushes and a Grove at the end Wherein I saw a flying Serpent about the bigness of an ordinary Dog with a large mouth and Tongue about four foot long we shot at it but could not kill it It threatned some of our men who ventured to go near it and would not go till a great number came toward it I saw it near a pleasant Fountain but could not learn the name It had Wings of divers colours especially Red and White bigger than those of our winged Fowls but I could not discern the substance of them It hovered long over our heads and had not the noise of our Guns frighted it away I think it had ventured among us again all the Birds that saw it at a distance fled away I imagined it to be a kind of Basilisk a desperate Serpent and extraordinary venemous it was admired by all of us having never seen the like which made me believe it some Inland Creature not usually seen near the Sea-Coasts Our business in this Journey was to gather Contribution of the Inhabitants who do not willingly pay and therefore the Turks are forced to go in great numbers to oblige them to it The third day we passed over high Mountains fenced on all sides with craggy Rocks so that we were forced to climb over them Our Horse took a Compass about by a way more easie About noon the Sun was extraordinary hot which caused us to seek a repose under the shady Trees that grew in this stony ground as I was resting my self between sleep and waking a great venemous Scorpion fixed her sting in my naked Leg so gently that I had not felt it had I not been told thereof I had heard much of this Serpent and being stung began to fear the increase of the Venom but some had already killed it and brought the bloud to me to apply to the Wound which wonderfully gave present Cure for it had no sooner touched the Tumor but it began to decrease and out of the little wound came forth a Liquor white as Milk by which I found the bloud of the Scorpion hath an attractive Virtue I had no sooner escaped this Adventure but I fell into a worse My Master had sent me to the Rear of the Army to buy Victuals for himself it being there sold ready drest As I was returning loaded I fell down a steep Rock with my Burden but for fear my Master should Cudgel me I soon recovered my self From this unhappy place we removed up a Hill into a Countrey uninhabited but by Monsters and wild Beasts whereof we saw a great many This Mountain is part of the Atlas and runs through all this Kingdom and Fez as far as the Main Ocean part thereof being in the second Region of the Air and so cold that in some Corners which are not exposed to the Sun there was a great deal of Ice and Snow Here we found plenty of Woods and Trees and several sorts of Birds we killed one that had 4 Legs like a Beast Its body was as big as a Turky-cock and the head like an Owl its Tail was extream broad the Feathers Gray and the head black it flies slowly and was therefore killed without difficulty Toward Evening we saw several sorts of Lyons go out of their Dens when the Jackals began to bark the Noblest is called the Royal Lyon of shape bigger and stronger and a more couragious Voice when any of the rest meet such a one they seem to yeild a respect to him He is graver in his motion fiercer in the Encounter and undaunted in the greatest danger others are smaller every night we were visited with several Companies of wild Creatures some of whom had the boldness to break in upon us but never returned back to tell news One Evening we discovered a great Beast afar off and some of us went nearer to discharge our Guns at it It was a Monster of a large size the head like a Lion the Paws like a Bear the hinder parts much like an Ass When it was killed every one in the Army had a sight thereof and I then remembred the saying of the Romans Africa alwayes produces something new for there is every year some strange Creature or other to be seen in those remote places some make it their business to watch them when they come into the World and imploy all their Art to catch them and shew them for money In this wild place were several other sorts of Beasts and Serpents one of a strange nature seeming like a white Lamb which fled before us Our Captain thought it to be so and that it had straggled and therefore we had order to persue it and coming near it made more hast than ordinary to shift among the Trees but being very weary and over-fat it could not escape us yet ran into one of the Bushes
dishonour of the Emperor Mincelius pleaded That he was enjoyned by the Senate to do it which the Magistrates also affirmed The Prefect appealed then to the Council of Prague and commanded that Mincelius should be kept under an Arrest till he had answered them The Consuls that came with him protested against this affirming That their City could not want his Ministry offering to stand bound for his appearance and at length they prevailed after having given a Bond of Two Thousand Crowns for his forth coming Hereupon the Prefect poured out all his Indignation upon Cotterus removing him from his former Prison into a Dungeon where Malefactors used to be Tortured wherein he lay in Hunger Dirt and Cold for above three Months Now a special Providence from Heaven appeared For Cotterus his Enemies understood that a compleat Book of all his Prophecies was in the hand of a Citizen of Sprotovia This they got and carried it to the Governour of Oppersdorf who after he had read it was much taken with Cotterus and would no more meddle against him He also perswaded the Prefect to have his cause heard in the City of Glogow and prevailed that Cotterus should have an Advocate allowed him In the mean time the Prefect married a Noble Virgin and at the weeks end his Office necessitated him to go Sagan and in his return he was to lye at Sprotovia but as soon as he came into the Suburbs of that City he was taken with a violent pain in his Bowels whereupon he sent for a Physitian who not knowing what to make of his Disease forbore to administer any thing to him till the next Morning that he might see farther But it pleased God the Praefect died that night and in that very place where he had sworn to see these men hanged This dreadful Judgment being known to the Enemies of Cotterus they removed him out of the Dungeon into a better Prison and after some Months space they sentenced him and brought him to the Town-Stocks fastened a Collar of Iron about his Neck and set over his head a Paper thus written This is the false Prophet which foretold such things as came not to pass There he stood an hour after which he was banished out of all the Emperors Dominions upon pain of death From hence he went to Lusatia under the Jurisdiction of the Elector of Saxony where he lived quietly till the day of his death which was in the year 1647. But before this that is in 1628 when the Persecution grew hot in Silesia there was in the City of Spretovia one Adam Pohl a good Friend to Cotterus who knowing the great want and necessity he was brought unto not through any fault of his own but by Gods Providence he entertained him at his house gratis and Cotterus continued with him by the space of half a year to the time of his Imprisonment During which time Adam Pohl fell dangerously sick and after a while had his Nerves and Sinews so shrunk up that he could make no use of his Legs but for a half a year together was confined to his Bed But it pleased God that the very morning before the Emperours Commissioners came with Armed Troops to reform the City as they called it his Wife being risen and gone down there appeared by his Bedside a young man in white Clothing who after he had saluted him said Adam This is the day wherein God hath decreed to take Vengeance upon the Citizens of this City for their Ingratitude Arise go in the name of the Lord put on thy Cloths take thy wife and young Daughter and fly from hence make hast and so he disappeared After which Pohl prayed earnestly and then began to move his hands and feet and trying to rise found that he could stand on his feet whereupon he called to his Wife for his Cloths which had been laid up in a Chest all that half year of his lameness and when he was drest he fell down on his knees and praised God Then taking his Wife and Daughter he hasted to the City-gate and having sent for Mincelius to meet him there who was astonished to see him with sighs and Tears they took Council together and resolved to go to Gorlits and by Gods strength and as he judged the Ministry of an Angel he and his little Daughter went afoot eight miles that day Historia Prophetarum pag. 22. XXV Linschoten in his Discoveries and Voyages to the East-Indies gives this Account That in the Island of Ceylon there is a high Hill upon the top whereof standeth a great House as big as a Cloyster In this place in time past shrined in Gold and precious Stones was kept the Tooth of an Ape which was esteemed the holiest thing in all India and had the greatest resort to it from all the Countries round about it so that it surpassed St. James in Gallicia and St. Michaels Mount in France by reason of the great Indulgences and Pardons that were there daily to be had For which cause it was sought unto with much Devotion by all the Indians within four or five hundred Miles round about in vast multitudes But it happened that in the year 1554 when the Portugals made a Road out of India and entred the Island of Ceylon they went up upon the Hill where they thought to find great Treasure because of the Fame that was spread abroad of the great resort and Offerings in that place They diligently searched the Cloister and turned up every Stone thereof yet found nothing but a little Coffer made fast with many precious Stones wherein lay the Apes Tooth This Relique they took with them to Goa which when the Kings of Pegu Siam Bengala Bisnagar and others heard of they were much greived that so costly a Jewel was in that manner taken from them Whereupon by Common Consent they sent their Ambassadors to the Vice-Roy of India desiring him of all Friendship to send them their Apes Tooth again offering him for a Ransom besides other Presents which they then sent to him seven Hundred Thousand Duckets in Gold which the Vice-Roy for Covetousness of the Money did intend to do But the Arch-Bishop of Goa disswaded him from it saying That they being Christians ought not to give it to them again being a thing wherewith Idolatry might be furthered and the Devil worshipped but rather were bound by their Profession to root out and abolish all Idolatry and Superstition By this means the Vice-Roy was perswaded to change his Mind and flatly denied the Embassadors Request having in their Presence first burnt the Apes Tooth the Ashes whereof he caused to be thrown into the Sea The Embassadors departed astonished that he refused so great a sum of Money for a thing which he so little esteemed Not long after there was a Benjane or Priest that had gotten another Apes Tooth and gave out that he had Miraculously found the same Apes Tooth that the Vice-Roy had and that it was revealed
his Army he had securely placed upon the Mountains or with a part of them troubled the Reer of his Enemy Here Hannibal found himself in a Trap and his Army was dejected with fear apprehending an Impossibility of freeing themselves out of these Streights Hannibal therefore causes two Thousand Oxen of his Prey that he drove along with him to be caught and fastens to each of their Horns Torches and Faggots of dry sticks These being lighted he caused the Oxen to be driven up to the top of the Mountains and in the mean time with the main of his Army silently and in the dark Marches to the outlet of the Valley The Oxen marched in order till the Fire about their Horns got to the quick and then they ran up and down as mad their Fronts and Tails blazing and firing the Bushes as they went The Romans amazed at this unwonted and terrible Spectacle supposing that they were on all sides shut in by the Enemy quitted their Post and thereby gave free Liberty for Hannibal to March through the narrow Passage Fabius not knowing whereto this Subtilty of the Enemy tended kept himself within his Camp in good Order but by the first light in the Morning it was easily discerned that by this Stratagem Hannibal had made his escape Plutarch in Fab. p. 178. XXXIV Fernando Camero Governor of Dourlans in Flanders for the Spaniand 1596 being advertised that the Citizens of Amiens a proud People and little practiced in Arms would not receive the Garrison that the King offered them for the preservation of he Town was resolved to do it by Policy having also Intelligence with some within the Town and thereupon attires 40 or 50 stout Souldiers like Countrey Peasants loaden with many burdens and armed underneath with Daggers and short pieces and Marching with about 700 Horse and 5000 Foot he lays several Souldiers in Ambush near the Town and the next day sends some of his disguised Souldiers to one of the City Gates following a Cart which being under the Portcullis one of the pretended Peasants cut the Horse-trace which disorder'd the Horses and stopt the Gate Upon which the others presently discover their Arms sieze upon their Corps de Guard and give a sign to those that lay in Ambush who being both Horse and Foot immediately enter the Town go directly to the Market-place take the Fort and sieze upon the Armory and Ammunition which King Henry the 4th of France had lately sent and in the end forced the Townsmen to a Composition for the Redemption of their Goods D'Avila's History of France lib. 15. XXXV Remarkable have been the escapes of some men from Death and the Grave of which I shall give some Instances Aristomenes General of the Messenians had with too much courage adventured to set upon both the Kings of Sparta and being in that fight wounded and fallen on the ground was taken up senseless and carried away with fifty of his Companions There was a deep natural Cave into which the Spartans used to cast headlong such as were condemned for the greatest Offences To this Punishment were Aristomenes and his Companions adjudged All the rest of these poor men dyed with their falls Aristomenes howsoever it came to pass took no harm yet it was harm enough to be imprisoned in a deep dark Dungeon among dead Carcasses where he was likely to perish with hunger and stench But a while after he perceived by some small Glimmering of Light which perhaps came in at the top a Fox that was gnawing upon a dead body hereupon he bethought himself that this Beast must needs know some way to enter the place and get out for which cause he made shift to lay hold upon it and catching it by the Tail with one hand saved himself from biting with the other hand by thrusting his Coat into the mouth of it so letting it creep whether it would he followed it holding it as his Guide till the way was too streight for him and then dismissed it The Fox being let loose ran through an hole at which came a little Light and there did Aristomenes dig so long with his Nails that at last he clawed out his Passage and so got home in safety and afterwards became very famous and renowned as both the Corinthians and Spartans afterward found to their cost Heylin's Cosmog pag. 580. XXXVI In the year 1357 There was a great Plague at Colen in Germany amongst many others who were infected with it was a Noble Lady her name was Reichmut Adolch she lived in the New-Market where her house is yet to be seen she being supposed to dye of it was accordingly buried The Sextons knew that she was buried with a Ring upon her Finger and therefore the night following they came privately to the Grave and digged up the Coffin and opened it Upon which the buried Lady raised up her self the Sextons ran away in a terrible Fright and left their Lanthorn behind them which she took up and made hast to the house of her Husband by whom she was known and received in Afterwards being attended with all care and diligence she perfectly recovered and lived to have three Sons by her husband all whom she devoted to the Ministry The Truth of all is confirmed by a publick Monumental Inscription erected in Memory of so strange a thing and is yet to be seen in the entrance of the Apostles Church in that City Wanly's Hist Man pag. 626. XXXVII I cannot but contemplate saith N. Causin upon that Prodigy so loudly proclaimed by the Greek Historians There was a Father and a Son in a certain Ship which as it fortuned Split upon the Rocks The Fathers Age not able to grapple with the Waves was soon overwhelm'd and drowned The Son labouring to save his Life saw a Carcass floating upon the Water and mistrusting his own Strength mounted himself upon it and by this help reached the shore in safety He was no sooner free of his danger but he knew the Corps to be that of his dead Father who gave him life by his death as he had afforded him birth by his Life XXXVIII I read in the Relations of Muscovia saith the same N. Causin published by the Embassador Demetrius of the Memorable Fortune of a Countrey Boor The man seeking for honey leapt down into an hollow Tree where he fell into such plenty of it that it sucked him in up to the Breast He had lived two dayes upon Honey only and finding that his Voice was not heard in that solitary Wood he despaired of freeing himself from his Liquorish Captivity but he was saved by a strange chance A huge Bear came to the same Tree to eat of the Honey whereof these Beasts are very greedy he descended into the Tree as a Man would do with his hinder parts forward which being observed by the poor forlorn Creature he desperately catcht hold of his Loins the Bear in a lamentable fright laboured with all his power to get
Physicians had left him as a person whose case was utterly desperate and his Servants eager after the spoil enter his Chamber and seize upon all the Ornaments of it They took down the Hangings Pictures Statues carry out the Carpets Cushions and the very Clothes of their Master yea his Cardinals Gown while he yet breathed and looked upon them The Cardinal kept an Ape and he observing how his Fellow servants had been busied comes also himself into the Chamber looks round about him to see what was left for him he finds nothing but only the Cardinals Cap which lay neglected upon the ground this the Ape merrily takes up and puts upon his own head This Spectacle moved the almost dying Cardinal to an extream laughter the laughter broke the Impostume and after he had well vomited he was restored to his health and to the recovery of his imbezelled Goods Wanly's Hist Man pag. 631. LI. In the year 1602. saith the famous Crollius I saw at Prague a Bohemian Countrey Fellow named Matthew aged about 36 years this man for 2 years together with a strange and unheard of Dexterity in his Throat used often in Company of such as sate drinking to take a knife af the usual bigness with a haft of Horn and this after the manner of a Jugler he would put down his Throat and drink a good draught of Ale after it which was given him for his pains But he could recover it at his pleasure and with a singular Art take it by the point and draw it out But by I know not what misfortune the day after Easter the same year he swallowed the same knife so far that it went down into his very Stomach and by no Artifice of his could be drawn back any more He was half dead through the apprehension of death that would undoubtedly follow but after he had retained the knife in manner aforesaid for the space of seven weeks and two days entire by the use and means of Attractive Plaisters made up with Loadstone and other things the knife point by a natural impulse began to make its way out near the Orifice of the Stomach which the Patient perceiving though by many perswaded to the contrary because of the imminent hazard of his Life was very earnest that incision might be made and so the knife drawn out which he at length obtained to be done by many intreaties and upon Thursday after Whitsontide about seven a Clock in the Morning all was happily performed by Florianus Mathis of Brandenburg the chief Chirurgeon both of the City and Kingdom The Knife is laid up amongst the Emperors Rarities and shewed as an incredible miracle by the Courtiers and others in the City the length of this Knife is nine Inches and the colour of it was so changed as if it had all that time lain in the Fire The Countrey Fellow in some few weeks by the care of his expert Chirurgion without any further Sickness or Trouble and contrary to the Judgment of Physitians recovered his former health so perfectly that soon after he married and lived many years Crollius Chymistry pag. 125. LII This mans Recovery was very admirable but that which follows seems yet more strange being much more likely to kill than cure as having been the occasion of many a mans Death but however since a credible Author reports it I shall do the same Paleologus the Second Emperor of Constantinople was dangerously sick and when Nature nor the Art of his Physitians could any way help him and that he had kept his Bed for a whole year to the great prejudice of the State His Empress was informed by an old Woman that it was impossible her husband should recover unless he was continually vexed and provoked by her harsh dealing and ill usage for by that means the humors that were the occasion of his sickness would be dissipated and discharged This advice was approved and by this way of contrary cure as one would think the Empress proceeded For she began continually to vex and torment him to an exceeding height scarce observing him in any one thing that he commanded with these frequenâ— and incessant vexations the malignant Humors were dispersed by the Augmentation of heat and the Emperor did so perfectly recover that throughout those twenty years in which he afterward lived even to the sixtieth year of his Age he remained sound and well Camerarius's Spare Hours Cent. 3. LIII A certain man saith Solenander lay sick upon his Bed and in all appearance entring upon the last moments of his life at which time came an Enemy of his and inquires of his Servant where his Master was He is said he in his bed and in such a condition that he is not likely to live out this day But he as the manner of the Italians is resolving he should dye by his hands enters his Chamber and giving the sick Person a desperate Stab departs but by the Flux of Bloud that issued from that wound and the diligent attendance of his cure the man recovered receiving as it were a new life from him who came for no other purpose than to assure himself of his death Schenk Observat lib. 5. LIV. Sir John Cheek was once one of the Tutors to King Edward the 6th and afterwards Secretary of State much did the Kingdom value him but more the King for being once desperately sick the King carefully enquiring of him every day at last his Physitian told him there was no hope of his Life being given over by him for a dead man No said the King He will not dye this time for this morning I begged his life from God in my prayers and obtained it which accordingly came to pass and he soon after contrary to all expectation wonderfully recovered This saith Dr. Fuller was attested by the old Earl of Huntington bred up in his Childhood with King Edward to Sir Thomas Cheek who was alive in 1654. and eighty years of Age. Lloyds State Worthies pag. 194. LV. Duffe the Threescore and eighteenth King of Scotland laboured with a new and unheard of Disease no cause was apparent all Remedies insignificant his body languishing in a continual sweat and his strength apparently decaying insomuch that he was suspected to be bewitched which was increased by a rumor that certain Witches of Forrest in Murray practiced his destruction arising from a word which a Girl let fall That the King should dye shortly who being examined by Donald Captain of the Castle and Tortures shewed her Confessed the Truth and how her Mother was one of the Assembly And when certain Souldiers were sent in search they surprized them roasting the waxen Image of the King before a soft Fire to the end that as the wax melted by Degrees so should the King dissolve by little and little and his life should waste away with the Consumption of the other But the Image being broken and the Witches hanged for this Treason the King recovered his wonted
Kings Powderhouse that was out of the City but when they came thither found it all put in Water and so were disappointed In the mean time the Vice-Roy had strengthened his Guards with a Thousand Germans eight hundred Spaniards and a Thousand Italians fortifying all places about him He sent also for another Regiment of Germans from Pozzolo which the People hearing of met them slew some and took the rest Prisoners That morning also the Spanish Guard had Imprisoned two mean fellows for some Insolencies but the people set upon the Guard slew some and threatned to tear in pieces all the Spaniards in Naples if they were not released to prevent which they were set free Then the Vice-Roy sent some Lords to Massanello with an instrument wherein he granted as much as they desired the day before that is To take off all the Gabels but this satisfied not the people they would now have more and all his Officers and Nobles should oblige themselves to restore all their priviledges granted by King Ferdinand and Frederick and the Emperour Charles the fifth and also that a Law should be enacted That never any more Gabels should be imposed upon them The Vice-Roy perceiving that they still grew upon him sent amongst them the Lords that were most Popular who told them That his Excellency was ready to give them all satisfaction The people answered That by their forementioned Priviledges no New Tax was to be imposed without consent of the Pope and if any were that the City might defend their Liberties with the sword without any mark of Rebellion against their Prince and therefore they demanded the Original of those grants With which answer the Lords returned to the Vice-Roy who immediately summoned all the Councils to consider what return to make to them In the mean time New Processions were made by the Priests and the Sacrament and Reliques were laid forth in the Churches to implore the Divine Assistance in such an Exigency Then came a Lord from the Castle and brought a Copy of their Priviledges assuring them that it agreed with the Original this pleased them at first but when it was read it was found imperfect whereupon the people raged exceedingly saying That they were mocked and betrayed and that they would be revenged upon all the Nobility and taking the Duke that brought it they cast him into Prison who hardly escaped but by the intercâ—ssion of Peronne one of the Chiefs who with a Priest called Julio Genovino were joined in Assistance to Massanello The first order they made was to burn down the Houses of Sixty Persons who had been Projectors and Officers in the Custom-houses and had inriched themselves by the blood of the people This was performed so strictly that one for taking a little Towel out of those Houses was killed another for a Horse-crouper had Fifty lashes on his back and some others for small Trifles were hanged by the Command of Massanello and he that pityed the burning of those mens Houses or Goods was held no friend to the people the houses were very stately out of which they threw all sorts of Plate Dishes Stools Tables Chairs Carpets Tapestry and abundance of Money all which they carried into the Market place and burned crying out These goods are our blood and as these burn so the Souls of those Dogs that own them deserve to burn in Hell-fire In one of these Palaces besides all sorts of rich Furniture were brought out Twenty Three great Trunks which were full of Rich Cloth of Gold Tissue costly Embroideries that dazled the Eyes of the Beholders a Cabinet of Pearls and Precious Stones yet nothing was saved from the fire The Vice Roy being desirous to put an end to these Combustions and Burnings sent a Printed Instrument for abolishing all Gabels with a General Pardon which took no effect because the pardon was not so full as they desired but percieving that the Nobility in General were hated he resolved to employ two Advocates of the people committing to their care and prudence the quieting of them who told him nothing would quiet them unless the Original Charter of Priviledges granted by Charles 5 were delivered to them which he therefore ordered to be searcht out In the mean time Massanello commanded all the Merchants in the Name of the people to be ready in Arms for their service And himself went with his Train to all the Houses of the Gentry and others to search for Arms taking all they found of all sorts which were many Thousands with Nine Pieces of Ordnance Two Canons they took out of a Ship and Seven more out of another all which they planted at the mouths of Principal Streets Thus ended the second day the Sun scarce appearing on the third Morning when the enraged People ran to the house of a Rich Farmer of the Gabel upon Corn and it is incredible what a world of Goods very precious both for quantity and quality were found in his house all which they burned to Ashes only two Boxes of Gold were preserved and deposited in the King's Bank Then went they to the Palace of the Duke of Caivano who was Secretary of the Kingdom where they burned his Books Writings and Library with infinite store of Rich Moveables and Utensils Coaches Sedans Couches rare silver Vessels and Jewels of all kinds store of Curious Pictures all which were burned save some that they sent to Churches as counting them holy pieces yet burned their Rich Frames and harassed the house to the ground The fire was so great that it took hold of a Neighbouring Monastery of Nuns and burnt down a gallant Library The like Desolations were made in all houses that Massanello appointed to destruction which were many of the stateliest in all Naples In one of them was found an inestimable Wardrobe fit for a King which was all destroyed Others hid their Richest Moveables in Monasteries which were by the command of Massanello brought out and burned Whilst the People were thus revenging themselves on their supposed Adversaries by the diligence of those that were imployed the Original Charters of their Priviledges were found out which being carryed to the Vice Roy he immediately sent them word of it promising all satisfaction but they finding that delayes were made demanded to be Masters of the Tower where the great Bell hung to sound to war at any time as also of a Port which they thought might be prejudicial to them and to have the use of the Artillery and Arms of the City therein and before they could have an answer Ten Thousand of them Besieged and Assaulted the Tower forcing the Souldiers to depart leaving all their Arms behind them Then by the Command of Massanello the great Bell was rung and the Arms brought forth yet with a Protestation That they intended not to rebel but only to secure the people The Charter not yet appearing the People grew so furious that they drew forth other goods to be burnt amongst which they
fettered till he was brought to his Trial which was presently after the Tumult was over He was first put to the Rack where he confessed That by the Instigation of the Duke of Mataloni he had sent for those Banditi that Massanello should have been slain That Mines were already made and stored with Gunpowder to blow up many of the People c. After which Confession his head and his brothers were cut off and pitched upon Poles in the Market-place One of the Banditi that was taken promised That if his life might be spared he would make further Discoveries which being granted provided his discoveries proved True He confessed That if the Banditi had succeeded in their design more Troops of Horse would have followed and that they were to have set Fire to some Mines under the Great Market-place at such time as there was the greatest Confluence of People for which end a great quantity of powder was spread up and down in several places under ground by which means beside the destruction of Churches and Houses there would have been at least an hundred and fifty Thousand Persons blown up into the Air and when this was effected the Banditi joining with others of the Gentry should have fallen upon the rest of the People in several places and put them all to the Sword Massanello upon this discovery caused present search to be made and the Vaults and Powder being accordingly found he spared the Mans life but banished him the City and Kingdom for ever and the Powder served the People for their use It was discovered also by another of the Banditi put upon the Rack That by the Contrivance of the Duty of Mataloni and his brother Peronne the Pipes and Aquoe-ducts which brought water to the City were poisoned as also the Corn which being found to be true especially the Cisterns of Rain-Water Notice was given by sound of Trumpet and Bills fixed in all Quarters of the City that none should drink of them Massanello likewise sent Souldiers through all the City to sieze the rest of the Banditi who had taken Sanctuary in divers Churches and Monasteries who being dragged out their heads were chopped off and set upon Poles up and down the Streets They search'd for the Duke of Mataloni but he escaped to Benevento yet whosoever of his Servants Pages or Lacqueys fell into their hands they presently Murdered them And next they vented their Rage against Guiseppe Caraffa and Gregory Brothers to the Duke who were hidden in the Monastery of St. Maries Gregory foresaw the danger and escaped betimes and would have perswaded his Brother to have done the like but he refused and being taken by some of the Rabble he offered them twelve Thousand pound in Gold to let him escape but a Butchers Son with a great Knife cut his Throat and chopped off his head which was fixed upon a Pike with this Inscription This is Don Caraffa 's head a Rebel to his Countrey and a Traytor to the most Faithful People They used his Body also very despitefully as also of four others his Companions whom they murthered with him The head being carried to Massanello he plucked him often by the Whiskers using many opprobrious words against him and made a Speech to the People wherein He told them of the Justice of God which comes surely though slowly to punish the Guilty c. The People still cried out Let Traitors die Let Traitors die and nothing was heard up and down the Streets but shreiking and howlings with horrible Curses which made a hideous noise in the Air. At this Spectacle of Caraffa the Cavaliers were much troubled fearing least the People would destroy them all who were now increased to the Number of one hundred and Forty Thousand Fighting men Massanello supposing that the Vice-Roy had a hand in bringing in the Banditi cut off all Provisions and water from the Castle whereby he his Dutchess his Council and Nobles c. began to find themselves to be in an ill condition whereupon the Vice-Roy sent a Letter to the Archbishop desiring him to make known to the People his sincere Intentions toward them and that he was not only a stranger but an Enemy to the Practices of the Banditi and that if he could catch any of them he would deliver them to the People This the Arch-Bishop did which somewhat allayed the Fury of the People yet Massanello suspecting that there was a Plot to bring in more Banditi to join with the Souldiers for surprising the City he caused Barricadoes to be made at the end of every Street that one only might pass by them at a time which was done with wonderful speed He commanded also That all Houses Palaces Monasteries c. should in the night hang out Lights in their Windows and make Fires in the Streets that they might the more easily discern if any of the Banditi entred and all this to be done upon pain of burning down their Houses which terrified all men to obey And now Massanello had an hundred and fifty Thousand armed men at his beck so that he did no sooner signifie his pleasure but it was done in a Minute If he said Bring me the head of such a man or let such a Palace he burnt or the House of such a Prince be plundered c. It was instantly done without delay or contradiction a Glory that no King or Emperor ever yet attained to He also by sound of Trumpet Proclaimed That the Duke of Mataloni was a Rebel to his King and Countrey and that whoever should bring him in should have thirty Thousand Crowns in Gold and that his head should be a Ransom for one hundred and fifty Banditi c. and thus ended the Fourth day being Wednesday Thursday July 11. Massanello went on with his Imperious commands and truly it is a wonder and will scarcely be believed in after Ages that a poor bare-legged Fisher-boy should have at his Command such a vast number of People as he had the very first day and the second day he was attended by the Civiller and discreeter sort of Men. The third day he made himself Generalissimo over all who willingly obeyed his Commands The fourth and fifth he won Admiration by his prudent and discreet Orders ready dispatches and quick Contrivances and especially by his sprightfulness and Capacity in Negotiating businesses of so great importance The Archbishop who often treated with him wondring at the same seeing him behave himself not like an abject Fellow but some Great Commander having Threats in his Looks Terror in his Gestures and Revenge in his Countenance whereby he subdued all Naples which had in her six hundred Thousand Souls of all sorts He made Trenches set Sentinels laid spies gave signs chastized the Banditi condemned the guilty viewed the Squadrons ranked their Files comforted the fearful confirmed the stout encouraged the bold promised rewards threatned the suspected reproached the cowards applauded the valiant and wonderfully incited the minds of men
by many degrees his Superiors to battels burnings plunder spoil blood and death and it was admired that amongst such a confused multitude he could proceed so regularly in his orders and have them so exactly observed He was very observant to Ladies and Churchmen not suffering any outrage to them yea among such mighty rich goods as were burnt he would not suffer the value of a pin to be converted to his own private use The first order Published by Massanello on Thursday Morning was That none should wear Cloaks Gowns Cassocks c. nor women any Fardingals and that when they went abroad they should tuck up their Petty-coats least they should carry any Arms underneath and it was strange to see what Universal Obedience was given to the same then might you see even the Nobility Churchmen Religious Orders of all sorts going up and down in querpo without upper Garments during Massanello's Reign every one submitting to so vile a fellow This Morning likewise he caused the great Guns to be mounted and planted in the most advantageous places of the City and Guards of Horse and Foot placed near them He commanded all Noble men and Gentlemen to deliver their Arms to persons appointed upon pain of death and though this might expose them to the fury of the people yet they durst not disobey He also set a rate upon all edible Commodities But now by the mediation of the Archbishop Articles were drawn up between the Vice-Roy and the People whereby their Priviledges were confirmed and a general pardon granted and the people were acknowledged for the King's Children and the most Loyal Subjects he had in all his Dominions About Ten a Clock this day it being reported that the Accord was finished and that Massanello was to go to the Vice-Roy to the Castle for confirming it with the hands of the Vice-Roy the Council Royal and the Council of State hereupon an incredible multitude of People Assembled together and command was given under pain of Firing That all Masters of Families should hang their Windows Walls and Balconies with the Richest Silks and Tapestryes that they had and that all the wayes to the Castle should be swept clean Which was no sooner spoken than done by persons of all sorts and ranks Massanello then sent one of his Captains to acquaint the Vice-Roy of his purpose of coming to parlee with him who answered That he might when he pleased for he would gladly see him Presently after cloathing himself in Cloath of Silver with a large Plume of White Feathers in his Hat and a Naked Sword in his hand he mounted on a Prancing Gelding and marched toward the Castle attended by Fifty Thousand of the choicest of the people some on Foot others on Horse-back next after him followed the Archbishop in his Coach on whose right hand rode Massanello's Brother in Cloth of Gold c. The cry was in every corner as they passed along Let the King of Spain live let the most faithful people of Naples live When he came to the Castle he was met by the Captain of the Vice-Roys Guard welcoming him in his Masters name to the Pallace where his Excellency expected him with great desire Massanello returning a grave and short answer stopped and made a sign to the People that they should go no farther there being Twenty Thousand already entred and it was admirable to see how immoveably they all stood and with incredible silence whereupon alighting he began with a loud yet gentle voice to exhort them to return thanks for their good success in obtaining their Liberties telling them That for his own part he desired nothing but the publick good For said he I was offered Two Hundred Crowns a Month all the time of my life if I would have desisted but I do refuse it Moreover if the Archbishop had not enjoyned me and threatned me with Excommunication I would not have apparelled my self as you now see me I would never have altered my Seamans Cloths such a one I was born such a one I lived and such a one I mean to dye after I have once Established the publick Liberty But yet lay not down your Arms till a Confirmation comes from the King of Spain Trust not the Nobles they are Traytors and our Enemies After which he went into the Castle and upon the Stairs the Vice-Roy met him to whom he humbled himself thanking him for condescending to their Articles telling him That he might dispose of him as he pleased either to hang him break him on the Wheel or any other kind of death But the Vice-Roy raised him up telling him That he knew not that he had committed any fault nor had offended his Majesty and therefore he should be cheerful and that he should alwayes respect him And herewith he often embraced him Whilst they were consulting together a rumor arose among that infinite number of people which staid without That Massanello was arrested or some hurt done to him therefore the Vice-Roy took him with the Arch-Bishop unto a Balcony where he might be seen of all who looking on the people said to them Lo I am here I am alive and free Peace Peace at which the multitude exceedingly rejoyced Then said Massanello to the Vice-Roy My Lord you shall see how obedient the People be and so he bid them cry Let God live let the King of Spain live c. which they immediately did and then he added Let the ill Government dye they all cryed so likewise Then putting his finger to his mouth there was a profound universal silence that scarce a man was seen to breath He then with a loud voice commanded that every one there present should depart from that Court under pain of Rebellion and Death which was punctually and presently obeyed whereat the Vice-Roy was much astonished After many discourses it was agreed That the Peoples demands should be printed and subscribed by the Vice-Roy and all his Councils and that the Sunday following they should all come to the Cathedral and there swear to observe them for ever as also to procure the Confirmation thereof from his Catholick Majesty after which Massanello took leave to depart At his departure the Vice-Roy gave him a rich Chain of Gold worth three thousand Crowns putting it about his neck with his own hands and declared him to be the Duke of St. George both which he would have refused but that the Archbishop advised him to the contrary Massanello then went with the Archbishop to his Palace and whilst they were discoursing together a Rumour was spread that many of the Banditi were coming into the City but it proved to be the Marquess of St. Ermo who with his Followers returned from his Countrey house to the City yet had the jealous People almost pulled him to peices had not Massanello at the request of a Lady interposed for his safety and so ended the fifth day being Thursday July 11. 1647. On Friday Morning there came a Boat with
6 Marriners and four men compleatly armed which brought Letters from the Duke of Mataloni to his Secretary and because they were written in dark Cyphers Massanello caused the four men first to be racked and then to have their heads chopped off The same morning he erected another Tribunal of Justice substituting a Leiutenant under him who presently condemned four Banditi and beheaded them Massanello also having left off his Cloth of Silver appeared in his old Mariners habit and yet was obeyed and feared by every one He stood in a Window to give Audience and to receive Petitions which they reached up to him upon the ends of Pikes All his Orders ran in these words Vnder pain of Rebellion and Death and it was wonderful to see so many Commands Bans Commissions and Orders published and affixed to Posts subscribed Thomas Anello Captain General of the most faithful People of Naples all which were executed with incredible readiness and exactness This morning he issued out an order That every one should cut off his great Lock and wear no Perriwigs He likewise renewed his former Order That Church-men should not wear their upper Garment because by that means many Banditi came into the City There was another Order That upon sounding the two a Clock Bell in the night every one upon pain of death should retire to his Lodging And because many of the Nobility and Ladies were retired into the Monasteries and Nunneries he commanded That upon pain of death they should all return to their Houses which was presently obeyed Then he commanded That all the Inhabitants both Natives and Forreigners should set upon their Gates the King of Spain 's Arms on the right hand and the City Arms on the left which was suddenly put in Execution though with much trouble to the Spaniards Many Delinquents were put to death He caused a Baker to be baked to death because he made his bread too light He had seven Secetaries and ten Officers to punish whom he pleased and he was feared and obeyed with as much exactness as if it had been the Great Turk A Choice Horse being sent Massanello worth four Hundred Ducats he sent him presently to the Kings Stable saying That he was too good for his use There were about an hundred Thousand Crowns discovered in a By-place which he caused to be reserved for the Kings Use withal offering the Vice-Roy five Millions if need were Many great Presents being sent him from Gentlemen he would not receive the value of one farthing He employed many to search after the Servants and Kindred of the Duke of Mataloni and his Brother and when they were brought to him he examined them upon the Rack where their Persons and Goods were and at last one confessing that their Goods were hidden in several Churches and Monasteries He caused them immediately to be searcht for both above and under ground whence were brought forth abundance of rich things valued at five Hundred Thousand Crowns besides four Thousand Crowns in ready Money all which being brought to Massanello he employed the Money to pay his Souldiers and laid up the Goods in a Magazine none daring to touch a Rag of it He sent also to make a new search in the Houses whence he had formerly taken and burnt their Goods and found much more in Wells Pits Houses of Office c. with great quantities of Silver and Gold He sent also armed men into the Countrey to burn the House Goods and Furniture of the the Duke of Caivano which was done accordingly as also the Palace of Mataloni with all that was within whom likewise they hanged in Effigie in the Market-place because they could not catch his Person Then he commanded them to burn the Goods of divers other Officers and particularly of the Kings Visitors yet at the request of the Archbishop it was not put in Execution In the mean time the Vice-Roy being besieged in his Castle and deprived of Provisions he sent to Massanello for some supply which he readily consented to sending him 50 Porters loaden with all sorts of Provision and Shops were opened and all People went up and down with as much security as if there had been no Souldiers nor disturbance in the City so strict and rigorous was he in the Execution of Justice At the same time 13 Gallies of Naples arriving at the Port their Admiral sent to the Vice-Roy for a supply of Provisions But he sent Messengers to Massanello who promised them a supply but on condition they should go farther off and none of them come ashore which was done accordingly Presently after came divers from the Castle bringing Presents from the Vice-Roy to Massanello with Thanks for the plentiful provision he had sent him amongst which was a Rich Suit of Clothes for his own wearing The Vice-Queen also sent to know how he did desiring him for her sake to make use of the things that were sent him Saturday July 13. Massanello knowing that his safety consisted in keeping the people in exact obedience which hitherto he had done he punished the least Act of disobedience with death and understanding that the night before some were employed in going about amongst the Shop-keepers to make them sensible of their slavery under him He sent out strict orders for apprehending them and hanged them up before the shops where they had been and among them two of the Duke of Mataloni's Servants were hanged who had brought Letters in the soles of their shoes written in Cyphers which none could understand Then being informed of a Burglary which was committed that night and that it was done by some Banditi who had taken Sanctuary in a Church he caused them to be dragged out and executed A Young Maid complained to him that one of his Souldiers had Murthered her Father whereupon the Brother of the Murtherer promised that if the fault might be remitted he would Marry the Maid but she refusing Massanello caused him to give her Two Hundred Crowns for a Dowry and so pardoned him Now Intelligence being brought that the Banditi were joyned together in divers places to invade the City He made Proclamation That what Banditi soever should discover the Plot he should be absolutely pardoned and a Message of consequence being brought him by a Cavalier He said I will have nothing to do with the Cavaliers God hath set me up for the peoples good and turning to them he said My People pray for me and preserve me well for if you lose me woe be to you The same Morning came in multitudes of People out of the Countrey round about and amongst them Women and Children with swords and staves to do their Homage to Massanello and to be redressed by him of their grievances About the same time he sent to the Vice-Roy to mind him of his promise of coming the next day being Sunday with all his Councellors to confirm his grants by all their Oaths which accordingly was done For after dinner the Vice-Roy
Artifice to be satisfied therein she caused one to come as in great hast and to tell Praxiteles That his Shop was on Fire he being startled at the News cryed out Is the picture of Cupid and the Satyr safe By this Subtilty she found out wherein the Artist himself believed he had expressed most skill and thereupon she chose the Cupid Zuinglius's Theatre vol. 3. lib. 3. LXXXVI Dr. Fuller relates this passage in his Holy State That a poor Beggar in Paris being very hungry staid so long in a Cooks Shop who was dishing up his Meat till his Stomach was satisfied only with the smell thereof The Cholerick Cook demanded of him to pay for his Breakfast the poor man denied it and the Controversie was referred to the deciding of the next man who should pass by which chanced to be the most notorious Idiot and Changeling in the whole City He on the Relation of the matter determined That the poor mans Money should be put between two empty dishes and the Cook should be recompenced with the gingling of the poor mans Money as he was satisfied with the smell only of the Cooks meat and this is affirmed by credible Writers as no Fable but an undoubted Truth Fullers Holy State lib. 3. LXXXVII Antiochus the Son of Seleucus daily languished and wasted away under a disease whereof the cause was uncertain to the great Trouble and Affliction of his Father who therefore sent for Erasistratus a famous Physitian to attend the cure of his beloved Son who addressing himself with his utmost dexterity to find out the root of his Infirmity he perceived it was rather from the trouble of his Mind than any effect of his Constitution But when the Prince could not be prevail'd with to make any such acknowledgment by frequent feeling of his pulse he observed it to beat with more Vigor and strength at the naming or presence of Stratonica who was the beloved Concubine of his Father Having made this discovery and knowing the Prince would rather dye than confess so dangerous a Love he took this Course He told Seleucus that his Son was a dead man For saith he he languishes for the love of my Wife And what said Seleucus have I merited so little at thy hands that thou wilt have no respect to the Love of the young man would you said Erasistratus be content to serve the love of another in that manner I would heaven said Seleucus would turn his love toward my dearest Stratonica Well said Erasistratus you are his Father and may be his Physitian he loves none but Stratonica Seleucus immediately gave Stratonica to Antiochus and Threescore Thousand Crowns as a reward to the prudent Physitian Camerarij Horae Sub. ch 1. LXXXVIII Camerarius tells out of Cedrenus how the Queen of Sheba when she saw that Solomon had expounded all her hardest Riddles caused one day certain young Boys and Girls apparelled all alike to be set before the King none being able by their Faces and looks to discern the one Sex from the other to the end that therein she might have further Trial of King Solomons Wisdom He knowing the Queens intent presently made some water to be brought in a great Basin bidding them all to wash their Faces by this device he easily discerned the Males from the Females for the Boyes rubbed their Faces hard and lustily but the Girls being shamefac't did hardly touch theirs with their Fingers ends Camerarii Horae subces Cent 1. Thus we find Quickness of Apprehension and Maturity of Judgement are instead of the Cord and Pulley whereby some men have prevailed to bring Truth to Light when she hath lain reserved and concealed LXXXIX Various have been the means whereby some Persons have arrived to preferment for I find saith Muretus it is related in the Commentaries of the Greeks That Semiramis was the Concubine of one of the King of Assyria's Slaves As soon as Ninus that Great Monarch had taken notice of her he was so surprized with her Beauty and Wit that he siezed her for himself and by degrees she gained such an Empire over him that he could deny her nothing nor was there any thing but she durst ask And when once she had let fall in discourse There was one thing she did earnestly desire and he had bid her freely and openly speak it whatever it was I have desired said she to sit one day in your Throne and to do Justice and that for that whole day all should obey me as they do you The King smiling granted her Request and forthwith sent out his Edict That on such a day all men whatsoever should obey the Commands of Semiramis for such was the Kings pleasure When the day came the Lady ascends the Throne in her Royal Apparel a mighty Concourse there was she at first to try their obedience commands something to be done of no great moment when she perceived she was exactly obeyed in all her Precepts she commands the Guards of the Kings Body that they sieze the King himself It is done the King is brought She orders him to be bound it is performed she commands that they strike off his head she is presently obeyed and though hereby we may observe the great Folly of this Prince and the base Ingratitude of such kind of Cattle she being advanced by him Yet by this means she prolonged the date of her Empire many years which she ruled with great wisdom success and glory Aelian Vari Hist Lib. 7. Ch. 1. XC In the time of William Rufus King of England there was one Roger a poor Priest serving a cure in a Village near Caen in Normandy It chanced that Henry the Kings youngest brother passing that way made some stay in the Village and being desirous to hear Mass this Roger then Curate was the man to say it which he dispatched with such speed and celerity that the Souldiers who commonly love not long prayers commended him for it telling their Lord That there could not be found a fitter Priest for men of War than he Whereupon Henry appointed him to follow him and when he came to be King preferred him to many great places and at last to be Chancellor of England and Bishop of Salisbury When King Stephen came to the Crown he held this man in as great account as his Predecessor King Henry had done and perhaps in greater He arrived to such wealth that he built the Castles of Salisbury the Vies Sherburn Malmsbury and Newark to which there were no structures comparable in the Kingdom He had also Forty Thousand Marks in Money which together with his Castles the King siezed into his own hands upon Displeasure Baker's Chronicle Page 71. XCI There was in the City of Capua saith Sir Walter Rawleigh an ambitious Noble man called Pacuvius Calavius his credit grew and was upheld by furthering all popular desires there was at this time a Plebeian faction in the Town and that so prevalent that all was governed by
away and the Magistrates themselves having in vain attempted it departed from her All men bewailed a woman of so singular an example and it was the fifth day since she had tasted any food Her faithful Maid sate by her mournful Mistriss and when her own tears were spent lent her others repairing also the light of the Monument as oft as it required it She was therefore the only discourse of the City and it was confessed by all men that she was the only true and most illustrious example of Conjugal Chastity and Love In the mean time the Governour of the Province had commanded that certain Thieves should be Crucified near to that very Dormitory where the Matron lamented her lately departed Husband The next night therefore the Souldier that was set to guard the Gibbets least any should steal the Bodies thence and bury them percieving a clear light amongst the Monuments and hearing the sighs of some Mourner in a curiosity that is incident to Humane Nature he was desirous to know who was there and what they did He thereupon descends into the Monument where beholding a most beautiful Woman at first sight he stood immoveable Soon after espying the dead body considering her Tears and those injuries she had done to her Face with her Nails judging of the matter as it was that the Woman was not able to bear the death of her Husband He went and fetch'd his Supper into the Monument and began to exhort the Mourner that she would not persist in a vain Greif or distend her heart with unprofitable sighs He represented that the same Fate waited upon them all that all must come at last to that long home and spake such other things as serve to appease such Hearts as are exasperated with Greif But she wounded with unknown Sorrow rent her Breasts with greater Vehemence and pulling off her hair threw it on the breast of her deceased Husband which lay before her Notwithstanding all which the Souldier left not the place but with the same Exhortations attempted to bring the Woman to the tast of some Food At last the Maid corrupted 't is likely by the Odour of the Wine reached out her Conquered hand to receive the Humanity of him that invited her and having refreshed her self with meat and drink she began to attempt upon the obstinacy of her Mistriss What said she will it advantage you if you shall perish with Famine if you shall bury your self alive if you shall render up your uncondemned breath before your appointed time Think you the Ghosts or Ashes of the Dead Regard what Tears their Superiors shed Will you restore him to life again in despight of all the Destinies that oâ—pose it or will you rather forsaking a Feminine Error enjoy the Comforts of Life as long as you may be permitted That very Body which lies extended before you ought to put you-in mind that you should endeavour to live No Person is unwilling to hear when they are advised to save their Lives and therefore the Lady being dry with several days abstinence suffered her Obstinacy to be prevail'd upon and filled her self with meat as greedily as her Maid had done before But with the same Blandishments wherewith the Souldier had prevailed with the Matron to live with the same he attempts her Chastity also The young Man seemed to this chast One neither unhandsom nor uneloquent and the Maid too seeking to get him into her favour repeated ever and anon And will you still resist kind Love nor care Within what solitary Feilds we are To be short the woman abstained not from any kind of Familiarity the victorious Souldier overcame and they lay together not only that night but the next and a third after The entrance of the Monument being closed that it might be supposed the most chast Woman had expired upon the Corps of her Husband But the Souldier delighted with the Beauty of the Woman and also with the Privacy bought what he was able and at the entrance of the night brought it to the Monument where he continued till Morning The Parents therefore of one of the Thieves lately executed perceiving how slightly the Bodies were guarded took down their Son from the Gallows and committed him to the Earth But the Souldier in the Morning perceiving that one of the Gibbets was without its Carcass and fearing the punishment of his neglect told the Woman what had happened and withal that he would not expect the Sentence but would punish himself for his neglect with his own sword beseeching her to afford him a place for Burial and to make a fatal Repository for her Friend as well as for her Husband The Woman no less compassionate than chast cryes out Certainly said she the Heavens will not suffer that at the same time I should behold the Funerals of two men the dearest unto me of all other I had rather part with the dead than slaughter the Living And having said this she commands the body of her dead husband to be taken out of the Coffin cuts off his Nose to disfigure his Face and delivers him to be hanged on the Gibbet that was empty The Souldier made use of the Wit of this Wise Woman and the next day it was the wonder of the People which way the dead Theif was again got upon the Gallows The Woman hereby discovering the instability and unconstancy of Humane Nature in changing her extraordinary Grief for the dead into such an extream doting on the Living and so â—oon to expose the former to the disgrace of a Thief and Malefactor for her kindness to the latter whom she had known but a few days before Wanly's Little World pag. 415. One Hundred Thirty Boys swallowed in a Mountain at Hamel in Germani Page 188. CI. The Seven Provinces or the Commonwealth of Holland were formerly under the Dominion of the King of Spain as well as the other Ten in Flanders are now and Charles the 5th Emperor and King of Spain had a Design to reduce them all to a Kingdom which his Son Philip the second likewise attempted but could never Effect because of the multiplicity and difference of their Rights Priviledges and Immunities which could not possibly be reduced under one Monarchy Philip the second at his Inauguration into these Provinces was sworn to observe these Rights and at his departure for Spain obliged himself by an Oath still to send one of his own bloud to Govern them Moreover at the request of the Knights of the Golden Fleece he promised that all Forreign Souldiers should be removed and that he himself would come to visit them once in every seventh year But being once gone and leaving instead of a Sword a Distaff or unweildy Woman to Govern them He not only broke his promise with them but procured a Dispensation from the Pope to be absolved and freed from his Oath and all this by the Council of the Cardinal Granvil who as the States Chronicler writes
prevailed with to recal those insolent Extortioners and most imprudently made his incensed Enemies his reconciled Confidents And intrusts them with the sole Management of all Affairs who now conceal their Malice against him but forgot not to Study revenge and being backed with his Authority by their Extortion they grind the face of the People enrich themselves render their Master odious to his Subjects endeavour by all Arts to defraud him keep back his Souldiers pay and Provision thereby to occasion Mutinies hold correspondence with the Rebels not acquaint him with the danger that Threatned both him and his Empire and at last admit the whole Army of the Traytors into the very Walls of the City Peking the sad Consequences whereof we shall find hereafter It was in the year 1640 when two Rebels at the same time revolted against their Lawful Soveraign one of them was called Ly or Licungz the other Cham or Changien and though they were but private Subjects of the Emperor of China and Persons of no Consideration either by their Quality or Birth yet they both equally aspired to the Supream Dominion And having drawn to them great numbers of the choicest Souldiers in the Empire they began to make incursions upon the Northern Provinces which border upon Tartary The Emperour in the mean time did not take sufficient care to stifle this Revolt In all likelyhood the Complaints and Informations of those Commanders who guarded the Frontiers never entred the Court so far as to reach the Emperors Ears The Ministers of State and Officers of the Court stopped the Passage having already sold the Empire and their Master by abusing his mild Disposition The saying of Dioclesian is but too True That though a Prince be Good Prudent Observant Careful and Vigilant yet he cannot prevent Treachery if those who are in imployment under Him who ought to serve and advise him Faithfully do contrariwise combine together to surprize him and make ill use of his Authority Either the Ability and Fidelity of the Counsellors must strike a Terror into Rebels or they will soon make themselves a Terror both to the Prince and His Counsellors The two Cheifs of this Rebellion took such advantage by this Pernicious Negligence that those Counsels which if at first executed would with great facility have put an end to these Troubles became now both unfit and impossible to be put in Execution In a short time they gained themselves the Renown of Great and most Valiant Commanders and by this advantage they quickly had Forces enough not only to defend themselves but to inlarge their Conquests their Confederates increasing daily so that by force of Arms they made themselves Masters of Five Provinces The Rebel Cham went to establish himself in that Province which of the five was the most remote from the Emperors Court and took upon him the Title of King with full Resolution to extend his Conquests to the Neighbouring Provinces The other Rebel called Ly having as it appeared framed to himself greater designs approached nearer the Court and had already in his Imagination conquered the whole Empire But judging from the advantage he had received from Cham's Confederacy with him at the beginning how great an obstacle so powerful a Competitor might be to him in process of time he did in all likelihood make him away either by secret Treachery or open Violence some Historians affirming he was cut off by a Party sent against him by Ly or Lincungz who having now no Competitor that could aspire to the Soverainty began to noise abroad his vast Projects and settled himself in the Capital City of the Province Xensi called Singansuase He caused himself to be crowned and took upon him the Title of Emp. of China kept an Imperial Court and acted like a Soveraign Prince threatning in a short time to make himself Master of the Emperors Court and to join Pequin which is the Chief to the five other Provinces It is not certainly known what was the first rise of these 2 Usurpers only it is famed that they were both Generals in the Emperour of China's Armies who perceiving themselves nor Souldiers to be neither regarded nor recompenced for their Services but to be ill used by the Ministers of State they revolted against their King and conspired together to be their own Pay-masters resolving to make the Grandees of the Court understand That those who serve their Prince in his Armies are without Comparison better capacitated to serve or disserve the State than those whose sole Imployment it is by their Court Artifices to ingratiate themselves with their Prince They began at first with Complaints and from Complaints they came to Arms and having once began the Trechery they thought themselves engaged most vigorously to prosecute it Whilst the Flame of Rebellion and Civil War which every day increased threatned the whole Empire of China with a General Ruin and Revolution the Tartar did most attentively and vigilantly watch for some pretext to enter into some or all the Provinces yet he would imbrace none but what was honourable having solemnly sworn Peace with the Royal Family of China and therefore he could not resolve with himself as great an Idolater as he was to violate that Oath which he had taken in the presence of his Idols A great Example to those who boast of the True Religion and yet swear and promise without regarding the performance either of their Oaths or Promises Finally the Tartar judged very truly that if he joined his Forces with any one of the 2 Parties he should in a short time make himself Umpire and Master of one or both he therefore joined with neither but kept an Army under strict discipline on the Frontiers hoping for some favourable Opportunity of passing into China without falsifying his Faith which he desired to keep inviolable Ly in the mean time resolved to secure the whole Empire to himself though it could not be done without difficulty since the Chineses have such a tender and passionate Love to their Soveraigns that they seem rather to Idolize than love them and the present Prince was no less Beloved than any of his Ancestors which the Tyrant being sensible of for his own security took care to pay his Souldiers and resolved with all possible speed to compleat the entire Invasion of the whole Empire But first he thought fit to acquaint his most resolute Commanders and his greatest Confidents with his Resolutions which he did in these Terms My Friends said he the Lot is cast we must now either gain all or lose all we cannot hereafter be greater Rebels than we are already therefore let us dispatch with all expedition the Conquest of the other Ten Provinces of China now that we have made 5 Provinces feel the power of our Swords But most assuredly when we shall have subdued the rest none will be so audacious and rash to call us Rebels and Vsurpers Rebels if Victorious cease to be Rebels and
become the Right and Lawful Lords and Masters What therefore now remains but that I either make my self the Soveraign Monarch of China or lose my Life in these Feilds and there become a Prey to Birds of the Air and Beasts of the Feild there is nothing in all this spacious Empire can gratifie me but either a Throne or a Grave and I will advance my self to such a pitch of Grandeur that if I fall it shall be with such a Crack as shall shiver the whole frame of Government and bury the whole Empire under my Ruins Thus Ly spoke to his Followers that were intirely devoted to him who finding their Resolution he speedily entred upon a most bold and hazardous Design but of high importance for the sudden accomplishing his Pretensions which was to go directly against the very Person of the Emp. and with all his Forces to assault the Imperial Court and Capital City of the Empire fully determining to strike off the Emperors head and to place the Crown on his own By this eminent exploit he knew he should possess himself of the Kings Treasure which would highly strengthen his Party and besides cut off all Power from any of the Royal Family to raise any Forces or to head any who should yet have any sparks of Loyalty in their Breast To execute this Grand Attempt he must make himself Master of the Great City of Pequin where all the Court resided But he could not hope to do this by open Force and therefore resolves to do it by Stratagem and so to surprize the Town that the Thunderclap should be felt before the noise was heard By this sudden surprize he would not leave the Emp. time to prepare either for his defence or flight Otherwise it would have been very difficult for Ly with all his Force he could have raised to have so suddenly reduced this Great City For beside the vast Extent of Pequin it was very well fortified and in time of Peace was guarded with 80000 of the Emp. best Souldiers The Imperial Palace alone is above 2 Miles round and defended with 2 or 3 Walls Ditches and Bulwarks which are all distinct from each other and very strongly guarded Ly foresaw all these difficulties and therefore he had already by Presents and fair Promises bribed several of the Grandees of the Court and Council whereby he found it not difficult to engage them in his Interests A strange thing that when there was not one Person of the common people either in City or Court who could be drawn into this Treason yet several of the Magistrates and Officers of the Court made themselves a detestable Example by entring into a conspiracy against the State and the Person of their Prince The chief of the conspirators were the Eunuchs of the Imperial Palace who were then very potent and considerable in the Court and upon whose Fidelity the Emperor of China much presumed entrusting them with the Guard of his Person and the Government of the State The Tyrant Ly having thus laid his treasonable design he sent into the imperial City of Pequin several of his Trusty and most valiant Commanders disguised like Merchants with instructions to keep open shop and to sell several Rich Merchandizes These counterfeit Merchants were never suspected to be great Commanders and their Apprentices and Servants choice Souldiers But it concerned them to mind their Trade for upon that depended the purchase of the greatest Empire in the world which was put to sale by those who were most of all obliged to preserve and defend it When the bargain was thus made and earnest mutually given those in the City and Court who kept Intelligence with the Tyrant failed not upon several pretences to lessen the Guards and to weaken as much as possible the strength of the place And on a sudden Ly appeared and found the Gates of the Town open and his men victorious in the Conquest of this great City the Inhabitants being so astonished that before they could resist they found themselves under the power of their enemies The Emperor Zunchin did not perceive the deplorable condition of his State till it was past remedy for now he knew that the rage of his enemies would not only take from him by violence his Empire and Crown but his life also and then too late percieved the design of those ill Counsellors who advised him not to raise Forces nor send Money nor Recruits to those Commanders who guarded the Frontiers He now poor Prince saw himself besieged in his own Pallace and was fully convinced he was betrayed and therefore thought of nothing but to depart out of this life by a death worthy of his Dignity and Courage His desperate condition made him feelingly reflect how much in him was to be pityed the too facile and easie natures and disposition of Princes which is usually attended with sad disasters both to themselves and their States The City of Pequin being of a vast extent before the Traytors could by Force enter the Pallace which was very spacious some of the most Loyal Officers and Souldiers made a vigorous resistance which the Emperour lookt upon as a grateful Testimony of their Allegiance since thereby he had liberty to choose his own death which he considered as his last happiness A frail and cruel satisfaction which the pride of man makes him seek out to be his own Executioner that thereby he may dye with the greater renown and pomp During the time of this resistance the Emperour considered how speedily to dispose both of his Royal Family and Person which was in the most Tragical manner that ever Histories related He had but one only Daughter very young which till now had been the hope and desire of the Empire his only Son dying before this direful disaster The Emperour cut her Throat with his own hands and at her own supplication that she might not see her Honour and Illustrious Rank become a shameful Prey to a Tyrant and Traytor who had nothing great and eminent in him but his Treason and Rebellion against his Lawful Soveraign After this horrid Execution the Emperour with his hands yet reeking with the blood of his Daughter went into the Garden of the Pallace accompanied with his Lawful Spouse the Empress for whom he had forsaken six other Wives who had each of them the Title of Queen 30 others who were the most illusttrious Ladies of the Empire and 3000 others of lesser Quality Some of their faithful servants understanding their cruel intentions filled the Air in proclaiming their griefs some cryed My Lord and my Husband others My King and my Master and some my Father every one accenting their sorrow in a tone suitable to their part in this scene of sorrow The heart of this unfortunate Prince was penetrated with so great affliction that it could admit of no Consolation and only comforted himself that he should preserve the Honour of his Empress being altogether unconcerned for his other
Queens and numerous Wives Some few Courtiers who among so many Traytors remained faithful to him attended with a doleful silence upon the Emperour and Empress who could neither speak a word nor shed a tear sorrow had taken such entire possession of their hearts Zunchin was a young Prince endowed with all the qualities that might render him amiable to his People His Royal Spouse the Empress loved him with so tender an affection that to testifie the sincerity of her Passion to him she resolved to dye either with or before him The Prince being very pensive and sollicitous how to prevent greater disgraces went together with those who accompanied him towards a little Grove at the entrance of which he stopped and then the Empress guessing at his design approached to him and giving him her last embraces she parted from that person which was the dearest to her of all things upon Earth with all the grief and sorrow that Humane Nature is capable of and then she entred all alone into the Grove and with a Cord hanged her self upon one of the Trees A dreadful spectacle which might make even those who were more sensless than the Trees lament so direful a death of so great an Empress Presently after the Emperour went and placed himself near his Wife whom he saw hanging upon a Tree having finished her Life by a death as violent as that which he had inflicted upon his Daughter Then poor Prince he asked a little Wine of one of the Lords which attended him not that he was a lover of Wine but on the contrary was the most sober and moderate in his pleasures of all the Princes which ever governed the Empire And was so chast toward women that he never frequented his Seraglio which made his Subjects call him the Chast Prince It was not therefore for the love of Wine but a little to revive and refresh his Spirits And doubtless he had need of great courage to put in Execution what he designed When the Wine was presented to him he sipped a little of it and then biting with violence one of his Fingers and squeezing out his blood he writ therewith these following words The Mandorins or Eunuchs are all Villains they have perfidiously betrayed their Prince they all deserve to be hanged and it will be a laudable Act of Justice to execute this Sentence upon them It is fit they should all suffer death that thereby they might instruct those who succeed them to serve their Prince more Loyally As for the People they are not Criminal and deserve not to be punished and therefore to use them ill will be injustice I have lost my Kingdoms which I recieved in inheritance from my Ancestors In me is finished the Royal Line which so many Kings my Progenitors continued down to me with all the Grandeur and Fame suitable to their Majestick Dignity I will therefore for ever close my eyes that I may not see this Empire descended to me thus ruined and ruled by a Tyrant I will go and deprive my self of that Life for which I can never suffer my self to be indebted to the basest and vilest of my Subjects I have not the confidence to appear before them who being born Subjects are become my Enemies and Traytors It is fit the Prince should dye since his whole State is now expiring And how can I endure to live having seen the loss and destruction of that which was dearer to me than Life The Prince after he had thus writ what his just grief dictated to him he untied his Hair and covering his face presently with his own hands he hanged himself upon a Tree near to that on which the Empress remained strangled This was the Tragical Catastrophe of this unfortunate Monarch The Emperour of China remained thus hanging on a Tree the Prince who was the Idol of his people at the very name of whom Millions of men trembled The Soveraign of above an 100 Millions of Subjects the Monarch of a Kingdom as spacious as all Europe He who counted his Souldiers by Millions and his Taxes and Tributes by hundreds of Millions Finally the Potent Emperour of the great Empire of China is hanged upon a tree and his Royal Consort the Empress upon another near him What a weighty load did the trunks of these trees support But of what weight had it need be to make the great men upon earth duly weigh what all their terrible and ambitious Grandeur is which in so few moments passes from the height of the felicities of this Life to an Abyss of misery This unhappy Monarch finished his Reign at the Age of 32 years He dyed very soon but it was his misfortune he dyed no sooner For whatever King or Emperour he be who reckons his years which have been exposed to such direful Tragedies cannot be said to have lived such a number of years but to have undergone a far greater number of miseries and calamities The Report of the Emperours death being soon spread over the City those Loyal Subjects who had hitherto resisted abandoned their resolution So that Ly presently became Master both of the City and Court taking up his quarters in the Imperial Pallace where he saw himself possessed of all the prodigious treasures of that vast State and was soon after Crowned in the Court at Pequin and Proclaimed Soveraign Emperour of China yet he enjoyed his trayterous usurpation a very short time for the Tartars reckoning all Obligations of the former League of peace made void by the death of Zunchin and all the Royal Family Soon after invaded the Empire of China and made an absolute conquest thereof forcing the Tyrant Ly to fly and hide himself in the Northern parts of the Kingdom who has not since been heard of Neither did the treacherous Eunuchs escape vengeance for they were in a little while most of them destroyed and cut off by the Tartars History of China c. FINIS Advertisements There are lately published by R. Burton four very useful pleasant and necessary books which are all sold by N. Crouch at the Bell next Kemp's Coffee-house in Exchange Ally over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil I. ADmirable Curiosities Rarities and Wonders in England Scotland and Ireland or an account of many remarkable persons and places and likewise of the battels sieges prodigious Earthquakes tempests inundations thunders lightnings fires murders and other considerable occurrences and accidents for many hundred years past and among others The Preaching of K. Hen. 3. to the Monks at Winchester The Quo Warranto sent over Eng. by K. Edw. 1. The manner of the horrid murther of K. Edw. 2. The conspiracy at Oxford and Shrewsbury against K. Hen. 4. discovered by the D. of York and the Articles charged against the K. The battle of Bosworth and the miserable death of Crook-backt Richard The beheading of the L. Cromwel and the E. of Essex with their last Speeches The Rebellion of the Papists in Cornwal c.