likewise many islands such as were never seen before And thus there may be five severall kindes of earthquakes Know also that an earthquake hath both his Antecedentia and Subsequentia The Antecedentia are the signes which go before it and shew that it will be The Consequentia or Subsequentia are the effects which follow after it and shew that it hath been As for the Antecedentia or signes they be of these sorts chiefly First a great tranquillitie or calmnesse of the aire mixed with some cold the reason of which is because the exhalation which should be blowing abroad is within the earth Secondly the sunne is observed to look very dimme certain dayes before although there be no clouds the reason of which is because the winde which should have purged and dissolved the grosse aire is taken prisoner and enclosed within the bowels of the earth Thirdly the birds flie not but sit still beyond their ordinary wont and seem as if they were not fearfull to let any one come neare them the reason of which is because either the pent exhalation sendeth some strange alteration into the aire which slenderly breatheth out of some insensible pores of the earth which it may do though the exhalation comes not out or else it is that they are scarce able to flie for want of some gentle gales for their wings to strike upon it being a thing well known that birds flie more willingly and cheerfully when the aire is of such a temper Fourthly the weather is calm and yet the water of the sea is troubled and rageth mightily the reason of which is because the great plentie of spirits or winde in the bottome of the sea beginneth to labour for passage that way and finding none is sent back again whereupon soon after it shaketh the land This is evermore a certain signe Fifthly the water in the bottome of pits and deep wells is troubled ascending and moving as if it boyled stinking and is infected the reason of which is because the exhalation being pent and striving to get forth moveth some stinking mineralls and other poisonous stuffe to the springs of those waters and they with the strugling exhalation stirre and attaint them Sixthly there is a long thin cloud seen in a cleare skie either a little before sunne-setting or soon after now this is caused by reason of the calmnesse of the aire even as Aristotle observeth that in a quiet sea the waves float to the shore long and straight I do not think that this alone can be any more then a very remote signe unlesse it be joyned with some of the other signes already mentioned for although such a cloud may be seen yet every calm brings not an earthquake neither are all places alike subject to them The last signe and that which cannot but be infallible is the great noise and sound which is heard under the earth like to a groning or very thundering And yet some say that this is not alwayes attended with an earthquake for if the winde finde any way large enough to get out it shaketh not the earth Now this noise is made by the struggling of the winde under the earth Next after the Antecedentia the Consequentia of earthquakes would be considered and these as I said be their effects which indeed be not so much the effects of the earthquake as of the exhalation causing the earthquake The first whereof may be the ruine of buildings and such like things together with the death of many people About the 29 yeare before the birth of Christ was an earthquake in Iurie whereby thirtie thousand people perished In the fifth yeare of Tiberius Emperour of Rome thirteen cities of Asia were destroyed in one night by an earthquake Some say but twelve Lanq. chron In the 66 yeare of Christ three cities of Asia were also by the like accident overthrown namely Laodicea Hieropoliâ—… and Colossus Again in the yeare of Christ 79 three cities of Cyprus came to the like ruine and in the yeare following was a great death of people at Rome And in the yeare 114 Antioch was much hurt by an earthquake at which time the Emperour Trâ—…jan being in those parts escaped the danger very difficultly Eusebius placeth it in the second yeare of the 223 Olympiad and Bucholcerus setteth it in the yeare of Christ one hundred and eleven Eusebius makes mention of another before this in the 7 yeare of Trajan this was that which in Asia Greece Calabria overthrew nine severall cities About the yeare of Christ 180 or 182 the citie Smyrna came to the like ruine for the restauration whereof the Emperour remitted ten yeares tribute About the yeare of Christ 369 Eusebius again telleth of an earthquake which was in a manner all over the world to the great damage of many towns and people The like was in the yeare 551 at which time a quave of the earth swallowed a middle part of the citie Misia with many of the inhabitants where the voice of them that were swallowed was heard crying for help and succour He also in the yeare 562 mentions another wherewith the citie Berintho was overthrown and the isles called Câ—…y grievously shaken Again he writeth of a great tempest and earthquake in the yeare 1456 wherein as he hath it out of Chronica chronicorum there perished about Puell and Naples 40 thousand people Also in the yeare 1509 the citie of Constantinople was sorely shaken innumerable houses and towers were cast to the ground and chiefly the palace of the great Turk insomuch that he was forced to fly to another place Thirteen thousand perished in this calamitie Again in the yeare 1531 in the citie Lisbon a thousand foure hundred houses were overthrown or as some say one thousand five hundred and above six hundred so shaken that they were ready to fall and their churches cast unto the ground lying like heaps of stones This earthquake was attended with a terrible plague and pestilence And thus do these examples confirm the first effect A second is the turning of plain ground into mountains and raising up of islands in the sea as Thia in the time of Plinie and Therasia which as Seneca witnesseth was made an island even in the sight of the mariners or whilest they were looking on Thus also Delos Rhodos and sundry others came to be islands A third effect is the throwing down of mountains and sinking of islands and such like Thus perished the Atlantick island as I shewed before yea thus also perished by the breach of the earth those famous cities of Achaia viz. Helice and Buris of which Ovid writeth thus Si quaras Helicen Burin Achaeidas urbes Invenies sub aquis Et adhuc ostendere nautae Inclinata solent cum moenibus oppida mersis If thou would'st Helice and wish'd Buris finde Th'Achaean cities never lost in minde The water hides them and the shipmen show Those
diseases were felt rivers dried up and plagues were increased Tamerlain K. of the Scythians and Parthians with an innumerable host invadeth Asia calling himself the WRATH OF GOD and DESOLATION OF THE EARTH as did Attilas of whom it is written that he named himself THE SCOURGE OF GOD. 6. Also in the yeare 1529 appeared foure Comets and in the yeares 1530 1531 1532 and 1533 were seen in each yeare one Lanquet saith that there were three within the space of two yeares upon which these and the like changes and calamities followed viz. A great sweating sicknesse in England which took away whole Myriads of people The Turk in the quarrell of Iohn Uvavoyda who laid claim to the crown of Hungary entred the said kingdome with two hundred and fiftie thousand fighting souldiers committing against the inhabitants thereof most harsh and unspeakable murders rapes villanies and cruelties A great famine and dearth was also in Venice and the countrey thereabout which swept away many for lack of sustenance The sweating sicknes also vexed Brabant and a great part of Germanie and especially the citie Antwerp where it consumed five hundred persons in the space of three dayes Great warres concerning the Dukedome of Millain between the Emperour Charles the fifth and Francis the French King All Lusitania or Portugall was struck with an Earth-quake insomuch that at Ulisippo or Lisbon a thousand and fifty houses were thrown down and 600 so shaken that they were ready to fall which made the people forsake the citie and runne into the fields and as for their churches they lay upon the ground like heaps of stones Upon this followed a great pestilence in those parts But a little before viz. in the yeare 1530 was a great deluge in Brabant Holland Zeland and the sea-coasts of Flanders as also an overflowing of the river Tyber at Rome occasioned by unseasonable tempests of winde Upon the neck of which troubles the Turk comes again into Hungarie and Austria but he was beaten back and a great company of his men slain and taken Unto which may be added how the sect of the Anabaptists not long after brought new tumults into Germanie 7. And for that last Comet in the yeare 1618 saith a Germane writer Praesagium ipsius jam â—…heu est in manibus nostris meaning that they felt by dolefull experience the sad events which followed after it Wherefore seeing these and the like accidents have been attendant upon the appearing of Comets it may well be said that although they have their causes in nature yet Nunquam futilibus excanduit ignibus aether The skie never burnt with such fires in vain For as one saith Loquitur cum hominibus Deus non modò linguâ humanâ per Prophetas Apostolos Pastores sed nonnunquam etiam ipsis Elementis in formas imagines diversas compositis That is God speaketh with men not onely with the tongues of men by Prophets Apostles and Teachers but sometimes also by the very Elements composed or wrought into divers forms and shapes there being a Theologicall end of sending Comets as also a Naturall and Politicall end But first before I come to that I think it not amisse to speak something concerning these their events and accidents namely whether it can be shewed why they should be wrought either so or so To which it is answered that in some sort we may give reasons for this and shew the causes of their significations For being Comets they consist of many hot and drie Exhalations And hot and drie Exhalations do not onely stirre up heat drie and parch the aire which may cause drought especially when much of the earths fatnesse is drawn away with the Exhalation and drought bring barrennesse but also the bodies of living creatures upon the distemper of the aire are mainly hurt suffering detriment in the consumption of their radicall moisture and suffocation through the poysonous breathings which the bellows of the bodie suck in and receive insomuch that there cannot but be sicknesses plagues and much mortalitie Besides which that they should usher in warres seditions changes of kingdomes and the like may also proceed from the same cause For when the Aire is distemperately heated then it is very apt so to disorder and dry up the bloud in humane bodies that thereby great store of red and adust choler may be purchased and this stirreth up to anger with the thought of many furious and violent actions and so by consequent to warre and from warre cometh victorie from victorie proceedeth change of commonwealths and translations of kingdomes with change of Laws and Religion for Novus Rex nova Lex New Lords new Laws Unto which also may be added that because great personages live more delicately then other men and feed more daintily having as many new fashions in their diets as in their clothes for their boards as for their backs that their bodies therefore are more subject to infection and will take the poyson of an intemperate aire before more temperate livers whereupon necessity inforceth that they die sooner in such a calamitie then other people as he once witnessed that said Plures pereunt gulâ quà m gladio Besides the death of great ones is more remarkable then when inferiour persons die so that if but some of them be taken away in common calamities it is as if they were onely aymed at because they are obvious to every ones eye as cities standing upon hills which cannot be hid And now that our bodies should follow the temperature of the Aire is nothing doubted seeing every lame aking or bruised joynt doth witnesse it even to the very ignorant But that our mindes and manners should follow the temperature of the bodie is more strange and wonderfull Yet true it is that by the mediation of humours and spirits as also through ill disposed organs the minde also suffereth For the bodie is Domicilium animae the souls house abode and stay so that as a Torch saith one gives a better light and a sweeter smell according to the matter it is made of in like manner doth our Soul perform all her actions better or worse as her organs are disposed or as wine savours of the cask where it is kept so the soul receives a tincture from the body through which it works For the Understanding is so tied to and captivated by his inferiour senses that without their help he cannot exercise his functions and the Will being weakened so as she is hath but a small power to restrain those outward parts but suffers her self to be overruled by them of which I shall have occasion to speak more in the fourth dayes work untill when I leave it in the mean time adding that Comets do not alwayes when they bring sicknesses corrupt the aire through immoderate heat and drinesse but sometimes also through immoderate heat and moisture as also by immoderate windes which may bring the
naturall place wherein either of them live or that we consider their resemblance in parts or their manner of motion For first the place of fishes is the water the place of fowls the aire both which are diaphanous cleare moist and easie yeelding elements Secondly that which finnes be to fishes wings and feathers are to birds And thirdly that which swimming is to fishes in the waters flying is to birds in the aire The one moves himself by his sinnes the other by his wings The one cuts and glideth through the liquid aire the other shoots and darteth through the humid water The one makes paths in that subtil concave between heaven and earth the other draws furrows in the ploughed sea and both tracts are indiscernible either place again closing no longer open then their native dwellers flit through their yeelding gates And first of all me thinks I see the loftie Eagle king of birds towring on high in the heaven-aspiring aire And amongst all fowls the Eagle onely can move her self straight upward and downward perpendicularly without any collaterall declining Munster This bird is commended for her faithfulnesse towards other birds in some kinde though sometimes she shew her self cruell They all stand in awe of her and when she hath gotten meat she useth to communicate it unto such fowls as do accompany with her onely this some affirm that when she hath no more to make distribution of then she will attach some of her guests and for lack of food dismember them Her sight is sharp and quick insomuch that being in the highest part of the aire she can easily see what falleth on the land and thereupon the sooner finde her prey It is said that she can gaze upon the sunne and not be blinde and will fight eagerly against the Dragon for the Dragon greedily coveting the Eagles egges causeth many conflicts to be between them The Poets have called her Joves bird and Jupiters armour-bearer because she is never hurt with lightning She is a bird tenderly affected towards her young insomuch that she will endanger her own bodie to secure them bearing her young ones on her back when she perceiveth them to be assaulted with arrows Hares Harts Geese and Cranes are such creatures as this bird useth to prey upon And for her practise in killing the Hart thus it is when she laboureth to drive the Hart headlong to ruine she gathereth saith Munster much dust as she flieth and sitting upon the Harts horns shaketh it into his eyes and with her wings beateth him about the mouth untill at last the poore Hart is glad to fall fainting to the ground The Eagle buildeth her nest in the rocks and high places and the propertie of the young Eagle is when she findeth a dead carcase first of all to pick out the eye And so saith one do all seducing hereticks first put out the right eye of knowledge that thereby they may the better leade along their seduced Proselites And note that although the Eagle be very tender over her young yet when they be able to flie of themselves she casteth them out of her nest because she would have them shift and no longer depend upon their damme Which is a good example saith the same authour for domesticall discipline namely that parents should not bring up their children in idlenesse but even from their youth exercise them in honest labour training them up to some vocation Moreover Aristotle writeth that when the Eagle waxeth old the upper part of her bill so groweth over and increaseth that in the end she dieth of famine But Augustine observeth further that when the Eagle is thus overgrown she beateth her bill upon a rock and so by striking off her cumbersome part she recovereth her strength and eating to which the Psalmist alludeth Psal. 103. 5. Which maketh thee young and lustie as an Eagle The Phenix saith Munster is a noble bird and is but one in the world Cornelius Valerius whom Plinie mentioneth doth witnesse that when Quintus Plautius and Sex Papinius were Consuls one was seen to flie into Egypt And Tacitus also writeth that when Lucius 〈◊〉 and Pâ—…ulus Fabiâ—…s were Consulâ—… another was likewise seen to flie thither and yet not another but the same rather for there was not above two yeares difference in the time of this appearance Vitellius and Fabius being Consuls in the yeare of the citie 786 and Plautius with Papinius in the yeare 788. Dion was perswaded that this bird thus shewing her self did betoken the death of Tiberius but our countreyman Mr Lydiat rather thinketh that it pointed out the time when Christ that true Phenix did both die and rise again and so also thinketh Carion in his chron lib. 3. This bird if we may beleeve what is written is about the bignesse of an Eagle having a glittering brightnesse in the feathers of her neck like unto gold in other parts purple with an azured tail but so as in some places it is of a rose colour her head hath on it a plume or tuft of feathers Some say she liveth five hundred yeares others give her six hundred and sixtie and as Plinie writeth this bird hath her setled habitation in Arabia Felix When she waxeth old she is said to make her a nest of Cassia with branches of the frankincense tree into which she putteth other odours and so dieth upon them and then out of her bones and marrow there springeth first a little worm which afterwards comes to be a young Phenix Howbeit many think that all this is fabulous for besides the differing reports which go of this bird what species or kinde of any creature can be rehearsed whereof there is never but one and whereas the Lord said to all his creatures Increase and multiplie this benediction should take no place in the Phenix which multiplieth not And again seeing all creatures which came into the Ark came by two and two the male and female it must needs follow that the Phenix by this means perished And so saith one As for the Phenix I and not I alone think it a fable because it agreeth neither to reason nor likelihood but plainly disagreeth to the historie of the creation and of Noahs floud in both which God made all male and female and commanded them to increase and multiplie The Griffon is a creature if there be any such for many doubt it which whether I may reckon amongst the birds or beasts I cannot tell Howbeit as I finde him marked by Aelianus he is thus described namely that he is a kinde of beast with foure feet keeping most of all in India being as mightie in strength as a lion he hath wings and crooked talons black on the back and in the forepart purple His wings be somewhat white his bill and mouth like an eagles bill his eyes fierie he is hard to be taken except he be young he maketh his nest in the high mountains
Yet it is not so farre forth to be understood as that in their substances they shall be quite burnt up but rather that they shall be purified in their vicious qualities which the vanitie of sinne hath laid upon the model of the whole world And this S. Paul points at when he saith that the creature it self shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious libertie of the sonnes of God For we know saith he that the whole creation groneth and travaileth in pain together untill now And again in the hundred and second Psalme where the Prophet saith that the heavens and the earth shall perish and wax old he sheweth that their perishing shall onely be a changing For as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed Whatsoever therefore is spoken of their consuming passing away and perishing is meant onely in respect of their corruptible qualities the substance still abiding and so shall the fire at the last day serve for a purging not for an utter consuming There shall indeed be nothing unchanged because all things shall be renewed and each thing brought into a perfect state Acts 3. 21. A new heaven and a new earth 2. Pet. 3. 21. Not new by creation but by commutation Non per interitum pristinorum sed commutationem in melius as saith S. Hierome Not by a destruction of the old but by a change into a better Which thing is yet further seen even in the little world Man who is the Epitome of the greater world it self For he in the substance of his bodie shall not be destroyed but changed and in stead of corruption shall put on incorruption as saith S. Paul beholding at the last day his Redeemer not with other saith Job but with these same eyes In like manner the greater world in stead of corruption shall I verily think put on incorruption and being purged by the fire shall be delivered into the glorious libertie of the sonnes of God It shall not be delivered onely in the libertie of the sonnes of God that is when they are delivered but it shall be delivered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into their libertie as it is Rom. 8. 21. If it were onely in their libertie or when they are delivered then in stead of a changing there might be a consuming which is in some sort a deliverie because although quite taken away there is then no longer a subjection unto vanitie but seeing it is into the libertie of the sonnes of God it shall like mans glorified bodie put on incorruption and so suo modo in its kinde be partaker of an incorruptible state But in this changing I think we may fitly exempt all such creatures which now serve onely for the necessitie of mans life as those which be for food clothing and the like because then at the end of the world I mean there shall be an end likewise of all such needs Yet there are those who comprehend the brute beasts also and other creatures having sense and life within the limits of this libertie but they do somewhat qualifie their meanings as thus They shall not be partakers of the glorie of the sonnes of God yet in their kinde they shall be fellows with them in that glorious state like as once they were in Paradise before man had fallen But whether I may embrace this opinion I know not and that in regard of the foresaid reason unto which others also assent saying Istas naturas rerum non mansuras in extremo die nisi aliquid opus habiturae sint Wherefore we may rather relie upon this without any such speciall respect unto those creatures namely that the worlds fabrick consisting of heaven and earth shall not be destroyed but renewed according to the qualities by the purging fire For the moon shall shine as the sunne and the light of the sunne shall be sevenfold as saith the Prophet Esay chap. 30. 26. which S. Hierome expoundeth thus viz. that the sunne and moon shall receive that admired augmentation of light as a reward of their labours Yea and Zachary also witnesseth that there shall be but one perpetuall day for there shall be so great light that there shall be no difference between day and night as some observe from thence Neither is it a marvel saith Chrysostome that the creatures should at that time be illustrated with so great splendour and light for kings upon the day when they inaugurate their sonnes are wont to provide not onely that they may come forth with all singular pomp and appearance but also that their servants may be well adorned Much more therefore may we think when Christ shall sit in glorious majestie upon his throne and the just who are the sonnes of God shall be admitted to their paternall heritage and kingdome that then God Almighty shall cause that all his creatures be decked with an extraordinary brightnesse beautie and lustre For although it be said that the moon and the sunne shall shine no more but rather that the Lord himself will be for an eternall light yet it meaneth not that those starres should perish but that the uncreated light shall be more glorious So that as now the greater light obscures the lesse in like manner it shall be then when we come into that citie which wanteth not the sunne or moon It is not said Solem lunam non habebit sed Non indigebit ut luceant in ea that the citie shall have no sunne and moon but that it shall not want them to shine in it silently declaring that then indeed shall be those luminaries yet they shall not then perform as now the same uses of light being subject to motion and an incessant wheeling up and down to cause a rising and setting yea and to distinguish one time and day from another For time is but as a space borrowed and set apart from eternitie which must at the last return to eternitie again This for the heavens And as for the earth our Saviour promiseth amongst other blessings a blessing to the meek saying that they shall inherit the earth which promise of his saith one we see is not performed in this world and therefore to be then expected when there is a new heaven and a new earth for the saints of God and when the whole creation which now groneth shall be delivered into the glorious libertie of the sonnes of God Thus some But in this new heaven and earth we must not expect any terrene pleasures as the carnall Jews do dream as the Turks beleeve or as that Heretick Cerinthus held and after him the Millenaries or Chiliasts because such pleasures are fading and corruptible joyes farre unfit for saints whose very bodies have put on incorruption We look therefore for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousnesse as saith S. Peter 2 Pet. 3. 13. and spirituall delight unto eternitie as
dayes of weekly labour and that the seventh age shall begin at the resurrection as was figured in Henoch the seventh from Adam who died not as did the six before him but was taken up into heaven Unto this I assent as probable But that each age should have a thousand yeares is still denied and as in setting them down according to Scripture will be manifest The first is from the creation to the floud and this by S. Peter is called the old world 2. Pet. 2. 5. The second is from the floud to Abraham Matth. chap. 1. The third from Abraham to David Matth. chap. 1. The fourth from David to the captivitie Matth. chap. 1. The fifth from the captivitie to Christ. Matth. chap. 1. The sixt is the time after Christ called in many places the last age and the last of times as in Hebrews chap. 1. 1. God saith the Apostle who at sundry times and in divers manners spake unto the fathers by the Prophets hath in these last dayes spoken to us by his Sonne And again S. Peter calls this the last of times 1. Pet. 1. 20. S. John also saith Little children it is the last time 1. John 2. 18. These I grant to be the six ages of the world but who is so mad as to say or think that there were just thousands of yeares betwixt each or any of them The Septuagints make more then thousands between some of them and the Hebrews they make lesse excepting the first age Yet if you will know their lengths according to that which is none of the worst accounts take them thus and this account I may afterwards prove in another work The first hath 1656 yeares The second if we end it at the beginning of Abrahams peregrination and giving of the promise hath the just number of 423 yeares The third if we end it at the death of Saul and beginning of Davids kingdome after him containeth the number of 866 yeares The fourth if we begin the captivitie in the first yeare of Nebuchadnezzar hath 448 yeares The fifth containeth the length both of the Chaldean Persian and Grecian Monarchies together with so much of the Roman greatnesse as was past before Christ came into the world amounting in all to the summe of 605 yeares or there abouts although we reckon no further then the birth of Christ. But go rather to his baptisme and then this age is 634 c. The sixth and last hath so many yeares as are from the time of mans redemption untill now for hitherto this age hath continued and shall not be ended untill the last trumpet be blown and Surgite mortui venite ad judicium Arise you dead and come to judgement be sounded in our eares To which purpose divine Du Bartas that noble Poet brings in our father Adam speaking of these ages thus setting them down as if the speech had been uttered by him to his sonne saying The First begins with me the Seconds morn Is the first Ship-wright who doth first adorn The hills with vines that Shepherd is the Third Who after God through strange lands leads his herd And past mans reason crediting Gods word His onely sonne slayes with a willing sword The Fourth 's another valiant Shepherdling That for a cannon takes his silly sling And to a scepter turns his shepherds staff Great Prince great Prophet Poet Psalmograph The Fifth begins from that sad Princes night Who sâ—…es his children murdred in his sight Or from poore Iudahs dolefull heavinesse Led captives on the banks of Euphrates Hoped Messias shineth in the Sixt Who mockt beat banisht buried crucifixt For our foul sinnes still selfly-innocent Must fully bear the hatefull punishment The Last shall be the very resting-day Aire shall be mute the waters works shall stay The earth her store the starres shall leave their measures The sunne his shine and in eternall pleasures We plung'd in heaven shall aye solemnize all Th' eternall sabbaths endlesse festivall Thus farre Du Bartas But from hence I proceed and on the sudden I have met some other sorts of calculatours For so various are mens searching heads that these things have not onely been boulstered out by Rabbinicall traditions sabbaticall symboles and the like but also by sundry other fancies Some have pretended revelations and thereby deluded many Amongst whom learned Gerard makes mention of a certain woman of Suevia in Germanie who was called Thoda she in the yeare of Christ 848 prophesied that by the apparition of an Angel it was revealed unto her that the world should end that very yeare After whom there were others as true prophets as her self namely in the yeares 1062 1258 1345 1526 1530 c. He in the yeare 1526 ran up and down the streets in the citie of S. Gallus in Helvetia crying with horrid gestures that the day of the Lord was come that it was present And he in the yeare 1530 did so strongly prevail with some that he perswaded them the last yeare of the world was come whereupon they grew prodigall of their goods and substance fearing that they should scarcely spend them in so short a time as the world was to continue But this surely was an Anabaptisticall trick and a chip of that block which maketh all things common boasting of visions and dreams in an abundant manner Others have pitched upon certain Mathematicall revolutions and thereby constituted a time amongst whom Ioannes Regiomontanus is said to be one who partly thought that the yeare 1588 should adde an end to the world because at that time was a great conjunction of Saturn Jupiter Mars Upon which occasion I remember these verses Post mille expletos à partu Virginis annos Et post quingentos rursus ab orbe datos Octogesimus octavus mirabilis annus Ingruet is secum tristia multa trahet Si non hoc anno totus malus occidet orbis Si non in nihilum terra fretúmque ruent Cuncta tamen mundi sursum ibunt atque deorsum Imperia luctus undique grandis erit That is When from the Virgins birth a thousand yeares With full five hundred be compleat and told The Eightie Eighth a famous yeare appeares Which brings distresse more fatall then of old If not in this yeare all the wicked world Do fall and land with sea to nothing come Yet Empires must be topsie turvie hurl'd And extream grief shall be the common summe Which what it was the event hath shewed Others again dream of secrets in Cabalisticall conclusions Some subscribe to Analogies taken from Jubilees or from the yeares of Christs age and the like Yea and to omit many sundry others have their tricks and devices in Arithmeticall numbers whereby they can directly calculate the time and make the superstitious multitude admire them and lend a more then greedie eare to their feared predictions Such a one was he who out of these words MUNDI
vertice visus Iuli Fundere lumen apex tactúque innoxia molli Lambere flamma comas circum tempora pasci Behold the lively crown Of soft Iulus head With light was circled round A flame his temples fed But toucht not having hurt nor feeling harm The licking fire his hairs would scarcely warm Livie also maketh mention of two others upon whom the like Meteor appeared For Servius Tullius when he was a childe even as he lay sleeping had his hair on his head as if it were all on a fire And upon the head of Marius that worthy Romane was the like appearance even whilest he was making an oration to his souldiers And I my self do also know one who hath often protested to me that as he lay in his bed one night his head was all on a flame which hurt him not although it greatly scared his wife and him as I have heard them both confesse Moreover others testifie how they have been scared in their beds by a kinde of light sticking to their coverings like dew upon the nap of a frieze coat which must needs be this Ignis Lambens caused by some kinde of clammie sweat proceeding from among them For that a clammie sweat will cause these things is manifest in the nimble currying of a foggie horse visible sparks appearing and coming from him if it be done in the dark But of these kindes of fierie Meteors enough Sect. 2. Parag. 4. Of such fierie Meteors as are impurely mixt Article 1. Of Comets NOw follow those which are Ignita mixta and lesse pure coming so to passe when the Exhalation through the admixtion of some vapour is more slimie grosse and impure For those Meteors already described were meerly Fumes without the admixture of Vapours unlesse it might be some little in one of a glutinous nature or composition Now these Ignita mixta are usually divided into two sorts for they are either such as continue long or else such as are but for a little while Those that continue long are Comets or blazing starres And a Comet is a fierie Meteor whose matter is an Exhalation hot and drie fat and clammie drawn by vertue of the heavenly bodies into the highest part of the aire and sometimes into the starrie Region where it is closely conglutinated into a great lump by reason of supply that it hath from below so long as there is a working to exhale it and being thus compacted and exhaled it is set on fire in convenient time by the excessive heat of the place where it resteth Sometimes it continues burning long sometimes but a little while seven dayes is the least time whereas some have been seen six moneths all which cometh to passe by reason either of the paucitie or plentie of the matter whereof it consisteth That last Comet which was seen of us viz. Anno Domini 1618 was perspicuous by the space of one moneth namely from the 18 day of November untill the 16 day of December next following and was farre above the highest Region of the aire overlooking even the moon her self as Longomontanus proveth in a book of his where he treateth of new starres and such appearances as have been seen in the heavens since the yeare of our Lord God 1572. But in a Comet two things especially are considerable the one the colour the other the fashion both which arise out of the diverse disposing of the matter Their colours are principally three 1. If the matter be thin then the colour is white 2. If meanly thick then the colour is ruddie looking like fire 3. If very thick then their colour is like the burning of brimstone or of a blew appearance Yet know that they are not alwayes exactly of these three colours without any difference but as neare them as the disposing of their matter will suffer as in stead of white we sometimes have them of a yellowish colour in stead of blew of a watchet or greenish colour and the like Concerning their fashions if we stand upon a curious examination of them they may be manifold and yet as Aristotle accounteth they are principally but two all their other shapes being dependant on these two For first either they seem round having beams round about them which cometh to passe when the matter is thin on the edgeâ—… and thick every where else or secondly they seem as it were with a beard or tail which cometh to passe when it is but meanly thick towards some one side or other and rather long then round But some would have these two fashions to be three because the tail sometimes hangs downward as well as sidelong and so there is by this means stella crinita stella caudata and stella barbata concerning which I am not much solicitous That therefore which in these things I do much more wonder at is the strange and admired multitude of effects which are produced by them as not onely change of aire but change of heirs also proceeding from the disturbance of states translation of kingdomes bloudy warres and death of Potentates Histories have carefully recorded these things and left them to the consideration of after-times First therefore let it be observed that when the kingdome of the Macedonians came to an end in the last yeare of Perseus which was about the yeare 584 or 585 of the building of Rome a Comet appeared as if it came to point out the last period of that kingdome Secondly when the Emperour Iovian attained to the empire succeeding the Apostata Iulian under whom the Church suffered much persecution when I say the said Iovian was Emperour and that under him both Church and Commonwealth were like to have had a flourishing time had he not been taken away by sudden death then also appeared a Comet shewing that further trouble was yet to be expected Thirdly also when a certain captain of the Goths an Arian named Cajan had raised sedition against the Emperour Arcadius God shewed by manifest wonders that both Arcadius and his citie should be well protected but before this tumult saith Carion a strange Comet was seen great and terrible casting flames down to the very earth the like whereunto no man had ever seen before 4 And again other authours make mention of a strange Comet seen in the yeare of Christ 410 being like unto a two-edged sword which portended many mischiefs For Rome was taken about the same time by Alaricus King of the Goths Sundry calamities happened both in the East and West and so great slaughters of men were about those dayes as no age ever afforded the like All Europe was in a manner undone no small part of Asia was affrighted and Africa also was not void of those evils Warre Famine Drought and Pestilence all of them strove as it were to trouble the whole world 5. Also in these yeares viz. 1400 1401 1402 1403 Comets appeared and great calamities followed sundry and unheard-of
flows out of the same lake makes them white See Plin. in the 103. chap. of his 2 book Plinie also in the former book and chapter makes mention of the river Xanthus which will make the flocks turn red if they drink the water Solinus affirmeth the like of a fountain in Arabia neare to the Red-sea saying in littore maris istius fontem esse quem si oves biberint mutent vellerum qualitatem at fulvo postmodum nigrescant colore To which purpose we may heare Du Bartas descant thus Cerona Xanth and Cephisus do make The thirsty flocks that of their waters take Black red and white And neare the crimson deep Th' Arabian fountain maketh crimson sheep Seneca speaketh of a river which maketh horses red Now these things may be as Dr. Fulk yeelds probable conjecture in that the qualitie of the water may alter the complexion and the complexion being altered the colour of their wooll and hairs may be changed Aristotle in his 3 book chap. 12 de histor animal maketh mention of such like waters also as there is a river in Assyria called Psychrus of that coldnesse which causeth the sheep that drink thereof to yean black lambes in Antandria there are two rivers the one maketh the sheep white the other black the river Scamander doth die them yellow Dr. Will. in his Hexap on Gen. ex Aristot. Plinie makes mention of the Hammonian fountain saying Iovis Hammonis fons interdiu frigidus noctibus fervet The fountain of Jupiter Hammon is cold in the day time and hot in the night Like unto which is that which he calleth the fountain of the Sunne excepting that the water is sweet at noon and bitter at midnight but for the times of cold and heat it is like to the other fountain lib. 2. cap. 103. Some seem to think that this may be the reason namely that the cold humidity of the night nourisheth the heat and by an Antiperistasis causeth it to reinforce it self inward But by day the Sunne-beams sucking up that heat which is in the surface that is to say above the water remaineth cold Others determine thus saying that this may be by the same reason that well-water is colder in summer then it is in winter We have in England wells which make wood and all things else that be cast into them stones the cause whereof is great cold Iosephus de Bello Iudaic. lib. 7. cap. 24. writeth that there is a river in Palestine which passeth between two cities called by these names viz. Arcen and Raphaneâ—… which river is admirable for an extraordinarie singularitie namely that having entertained his violent and swift course for the space of six dayes on the seventh it remaineth dry which being past it runneth as before and therefore is called the river of the Sabbath Du Bartas calleth it the Jews religious river Keeping his waves from working on that day Which God ordain'd a sacred rest for ay In Idumea was a well which one quarter of the yeare was troubled and muddy the next quarter bloudie the third green and the fourth cleare Isiodore makes mention of this and it is called the fountain of Job Seneca and others affirm that there be rivers whose waters are poyson now this may be in regard that they run through poysonous mineralls and receive infection from their fume and the like Such is the water Nonacrinis in Arcadia of which it is recorded that no vessell of silver brasse or iron can hold it but it breaketh in pieces onely a mules hoof and nothing else can contain it Some write that Alexander the great through the treacherie and plots of Antipater was poysoned with this water Curtius calleth it the water of Styx lib. 10. juxta finem In an isle of Pontus the river Astaces overfloweth the fields in which whatsoever sheep or other milch cattell be fed they alwayes give black milk This river Plinie forgetteth not lib. 2. cap. 103. It is reported that in Poland is a fountain so pestilent that the very vapour thereof killeth beasts when they approach unto it There be some waters which make men mad who drink of them Which is in a manner by the same reason that other fountains have made men drunk Some again spoil the memorie and make men very forgetfull which may very well be by procuring obstructions in the brain Fulk Seneca speaketh of a water that being drunk provoketh unto lust Plinie in the second chapter of his 31 book speaketh of certain waters in the Region of Campania which will take away barrennesse from women and madnesse from men And in Sicilia are two springs one maketh a woman fruitfull the other barren The foresaid Plinie in the same book and chapter saith that the river Amphrysus or Aphrodisium causeth barrennesse And again in his 25 book and 3 chapter he speaketh of a strange water in Germanie which being drunk causeth the teeth to fall out within two yeares and the joynts of the knees to be loosed Lechnus a spring of Arcadia is said to be good against abortions In Sardinia be hot wells that heal sore eyes and in Italie is a well which healeth wounds of the eyes In the isle of Chios is said to be a well which makes men abhorre lust and in the same countrey another whose propertie is to make men dull-witted Now these and the like qualities may as well be in waters which are mixed with divers mineralls and kindes of earth as in herbs roots fruits and the like The lake Pentasium as Solinus saith is deadly to serpents and wholesome to men And in Italie the lake Clitorie causeth those that drink of it to abhorre wine Fulk Met. lib. 4. Ortelius in the description of Scotland maketh mention of divers fountains that yeeld forth oyl in great quantitie which cometh to passe by reason of the viscositie or fatnesse of the earth where they passe and from whence they arise The like may be also said concerning pitchie streams c. Some waters are of that temper that men sink not in them although they know not how to swimme The like lake is said to be in Syria in which as Seneca relateth no heavie thing will sink That which Plinie writeth of the fountain Dodone lib. 2. cap. 103. is very strange whereupon Du Bartas makes this descant What should I of th' Illyrian fountain tell What shall I say of the Dodonean well Whereof the first sets any clothes on fire Th' other doth quench who but will this admire A burning torch and when the same is quenched Lights it again if it again be drenched There be some wells whose waters rise and fall according to the ebbing and flowing of the sea or of some great river unto which they are neare adjoyned The reason therefore of this is plain But strange is that which Dr Fulk mentioneth of the river Rhene in Germanie
to raise extraordinarie storms and tempests the windes blow seas rage and clouds drop presently after they seem to call Questionlesse natures instinct works in them a quicker insight and more sudden feeling and foresight of these things then is in man which we see even in other creatures upon earth as in fowls who feeling the alteration of the aire in their feathers and quills do plainly prognosticate a change of weather before it appeareth to us And of these not onely the poets but others also have written The Poets fein there were three Mermaids or Sirens in their upper parts like maidens and in their lower part fishes which dwelling in the sea of Sicilie would allure sailers to them and afterwards devoure them being first brought asleep with hearkening to their sweet singing Their names they say were Parthenope Lygia and Leucasia wherefore sometime alluring women are said to be Sirens Neither can I but admire what I finde recorded in the historie of the Netherlands of a Sea-woman who was taken up in the streights of a broken dike neare to the towns of Campen and Edam brought thither by a sea-tempest and high tide where floating up and down and not finding a passage out again by reason that the breach was stopped after the floud was espied by certain women and their servants as they went to milk their kine in the neighbouring pastures who at the first were afraid of her but seeing her often they resolved to take her which they did and bringing her home she suffered her self to be clothed fed with bread milk and other meats and would often strive to steal again into the sea but being carefully watched she could not moreover she learned to spinne and perform other pettie offices of women but at the first they cleansed her of the sea-mosse which did stick about her She was brought from Edam and kept at Harlem where she would obey her mistris and as she was taught kneel down with her before the crucifix never spake but lived dumbe continued alive as some say fifteen yeares then she died This is credibly reported by the authour of that history by the writer of the chronicles of Holland and in a book called the Theatre of cities They took her in the yeare of our Lord 1403. Moreover Plinie telleth us of Tritons and Nereïdes which were Mermen or Men-fish of the sea And in the yeare 1526 as the authour of Du Bartas his summarie reporteth there was taken in Norway neare to a sea-port called Elpoch a certain fish resembling a mitred Bishop who was kept alive some few dayes after his taking And as the said authour writeth there was one Ferdinand Alvares secretarie to the store-house of the Indians who faithfully witnesseth that he had seen not farre off from the Promontorie of the Moon a young Sea-man coming out of the waters who stole fishes from the fishermen and eat them raw Neither is Olaus Magnus silent in these things For in his 21 book and first chapter having mentioned fishes like to dogs cows calves horses asses lions eagles dragons and what not he also saith Sunt belluae in mari quasi hominis figuram imitantes lugubres in cantu ut Nereïdes etiam marini homines toto corpore absolutâ similitudine c. that is There be monsters in the sea as it were imitating the shape of a man having a dolefull kinde of sound or singing as the Nereïdes There be also Sea-men of an absolute proportion in their whole body these are sometimes seen to climbe up the ships in the night times and suddenly to depresse that 〈◊〉 upon which they sit and if they abide long the whole ship sinketh Yea saith he this I adde from out the faithfull assertions of the Norway fishers that when such are taken if they be not presently let go again there ariseth such a fierce tempest with an horrid noise of those kinde of creatures and other sea-monsters there assembled that a man would think the very heaven were falling and the vaulted roof of the world running to ruine insomuch that the fishermen have much ado to escape with their lives whereupon they confirmed it as a law amongst them that if any chanced to hang such a fish upon his hook he should suddenly cut the line and let him go But these sudden tempests are very strange and how they arise with such violent speed exceeds the bounds of ordinary admiration Whereupon it is again supposed that these monsters are very devils and by their power such strange storms are raised Howbeit for my part I think otherwise and do much rather affirm that these storms in my judgement are thus raised namely by the thickening and breaking of the aire which the snortling rushing and howling of these beasts assembled in an innumerable companie causeth For it is certain that sounds will break and alter the aire as I have heard it of a citie freed from the plague by the thundering noise of cannons and also I suppose that the violent rushing of these beasts causeth much water to flie up and thicken the aire and by their howling and snortling under the waters they do blow up and as it were attenuate the waves and make them arise in a thinner substance then at other times so that nature having all these helps in an instant worketh to the amazement of the mariners and often to the danger of their lives Besides shall we think that spirits use to feed and will be so foolish as go and hang themselves on an hook for a bait They may have occult qualities as the Loadstone hath to work strange feats and yet be neither spirits nor devils for experience likewise teacheth that they die either sooner or later after their taking neither can a spirit have flesh and bones as they have But to conclude Alexander ab Alexandro in the third book of his geniall dayes hath written one whole chapter viz. the 8 concerning these sea-men affirming that it is no fabulous report to say there be such he describeth them to be fish in their lower parts and like to men in their upper parts affirming moreover that they be very venereous and desirous of women loving them or lusting after them Whereupon he relates a storie of a certain woman who was taken up and carried to the sea by one of these Mermen concubitûs causà that he might couple himself with her Which monster the inhabitants took soon after but refusing meat he died and they then made this law that no woman should adventure to come neare the sea except her husband were with her This happened in Epirus a countrey of Greece In the kingdome of Congo which lieth in the African part of the world there is in the river Zaire another kinde of hog-fish differing from that already mentioned It is called Ambize Angulo or Hog-fish It hath as it were two hands and a tail like a target which eateth like pork and
passions ruling others but not able to command themselves although there be few but know that it is a greater point of valour to subdue a mans self then to conquer a strong and mightie citie What Plinie hath written of this beast may be seen at large in the sixteenth chapter of his eighth book to whom and others I referre such as desire more Tigers like lions are bred in the East South and hot countreys because their generation desireth an abundance of heat It is a beast of a wonderfull swiftnesse and in the proportion of his bodie he is like to the Lionesse footed like a Cat and spotted like a Panther excepting that the spots belong and all of a colour Generally they be cruell sharp ravenous and never so tamed but sometimes they return to their former natures but above all in the time of their lust or when they be robbed of their young they are most raging and furious Plinie hath described the manner how the hunters get away their whelps very commonly They come upon horseback and finding the old Tigers from home they take up their young ones and poste away as fast as they can and on the sudden they finde themselves pursued wherefore when the old one cometh neare them they let fall one of her whelps on purpose that whilest she is carrying that to her nest they may escape securely with the rest And sometimes they make round spheres of glasse which they cast before her when she cometh and thinking by reason of her own shadow that she seeth her young ones there she rolleth it to her denne where she breaketh it with her claws and finding her self deluded runneth after the hunters again by which time they are gone too farre for her to finde There is an herb neare the river Ganges growing like Buglosse the juice whereof is such that if it be poured into the mouth of their dennes they dare not come forth but will lie howling there till they die The Panther is a beast little differing from a Leopard or Libbard some think they differ in nothing but in sex In Greek the generall name is Panther the speciall names Pordalis and Pardalis Pordalis is taken for the male and Pardalis for the female And in Latine it is called Pardus and Panthera where it must be again observed that Pardus signifieth the male Panther and Panthera the female Neither is the difference between the Leopard and Panther onely in sex but rather in respect of a mixt and simple generation for there is no Leopard or Libbard but such as is begotten between the Lion and the Panther or the Panther and the Lionesse This is a beast which hath varietie of colours a sweet breath and is very fierce and wilde insomuch that some have therefore called him a Dog-wolf and yet being full he is gentle enough He sleepeth three dayes saith Munster and after the third day he washeth himself and cryeth out and with a sweet savour which cometh from his breath he gathereth the wilde beasts together being led by the smell and then saith Plinie doth he hide his head very cunningly lest his looks should affright them whereupon whilest they gaze upon him he catcheth his prey of which he pleaseth So have I known some hide their ill meanings with fair and sweet-breathed words having hony in their mouthes but gall in their hearts and a direfull intent cruelly to hurt when they seem most of all to please For sugred speeches will catch the credulous neither is all gold that fairly glisters Now the reason why these beasts have such a sweet breath I take to be in regard that they are so much delighted with all kinde of spices and daintie aromaticall trees insomuch that as some affirm they will go many hundred miles in time of the yeare when these things are in season and all for the love they bear to them But above all their chief delight is in the gumme of camphorie watching that tree very carefully to the end they may preserve it for their own use Of Camels there be chiefly three sorts the first called Hugiun of great stature and strength able to carrie a thousand pound weight the second lesse with two bunches on the back and sometimes one upon the breast these are called Becheti are found onely in Asia are fit both for carriage and to ride on The third sort is meagre small not used to burdens yet able to travell above an hundred miles in one day this kinde they call Raguahill The Arabian and Bactrian Camels although they want horns yet they have teeth but on one side And of all the sorts their necks are long nimble by which the whole bodie is much relieved seeing it can reach to most parts their heads are small and feet fleshie in which regard they use to be shod with leather for fear of graveling I mean such as are tame and made serviceable They love grasse especially the blades of barley and when they drink the water must not be cleare but muddie The surname therefore of the Camel is Trouble-bank for they will mud the water with their feet otherwise they take no delight to drink it So have I seen some never better pleased then when they trouble the cleare fountains of justice and pure doctrine with the muddie streams of injustice and errour Or some never better cheered then when they may drink deeply of the dirtie puddles of worldly wealth little regarding the sweet taste of the water of life which is a cleare river running from the throne of God and the Lambe Rev. 22. And as for the bunch upon the Camels back the Scripture doth thereby expresse the swelling pride and confidence of rich worldly men who as hardly enter into the kingdome of God as the Camel with his bunched back can go through the eye of a needle The Horse and the Camel are great adversaries and with his very sight and strong smell the horse is terrified Cyrus therefore being excelled by the Babylonians in horsemanship used this stratagem of the Camels And as for our fine stuffes as grogeram and chamblet they be made of Camels hair as some affirm as also there is a courser hairie cloth to be made of the worst of this hair such as was that garment worn by John Baptist in the wildernesse And of the Camels this one propertie more when their masters load them they will bowe themselves and stoup down to the very ground with their knees patiently enduring to take up their burden So have I seen some as willingly humbled under the crosse and as patiently stouping to take it up and follow their master Christ who went before them For it is a true rule that God can and doth love his children well although he make no wantons of them Moreover the Dromedarie is a kinde of Camel but lesse and