it was raised and made in that manner Pliny saith it contained threescore and Ten Cubits in height and that it was twelve years before it was made though many able Workmen continually wrought about it and that it cost Three Hundred Talents This Statue was so immeasurably great that it seemed as if the Earth could no longer sustain it so that what was twelve years in making having stood sixty six years was pulled down in an instant by an Earthquake After this fall which was in the time of Pliny many went to see and wonder at it for saith he there were few men who could imbrace one of its Fingers the least of which was greater than any other man whatsoever standing with his two Legs striding over an Haven between the Legs whereof Ships might pass with their Masts and Sails up This wonderful Colossus lay there ruined for a very long time the Rhodians being forbid by an Oracle to erect it again or possbly pretending such an Oracle to save that charge yet they held the Brass and the other Materials thereof almost sacred which none ventured to meddle with till Mnavias the Aegyptian General in the year 600 finding in himself no such scruple of Conscience made a Prey thereof for after he had overcome Constance the Emperor in a Sea-fight and had conquered the Isle of Rhodes he sold this Image as it lay on the ground to a Jew who loaded nine hundred Camels with the Brass thereof Treasury of Time Vol. 2. IV. The Third Wonder of the World Historians have recorded to be The Pyramids of Egypt and if all be certain which they have written of them they are truly admirable they were vast and stupendions Structures many in number three most celebrated and one the principal of all scituate on the South of the City of Memphis and on the Western Banks of Nilus they ended in a sharp point like a flame of fire from whence they had their name It is related that for erecting them there were three hundred and threescore Thousand men imployed for Twenty years together They were built by the vanity of the Aegyptian Kings and used for their Sepulchres when dead yet many times only to keep their Subjects in imployment and upon these it is thought the Israelites were imployed by Pharaoh when they cryed to the Lord and he delivered them by the hand of Moses The largest and chief of the Worlds seven Wonders is scituate most part of it on the top of a Rocky hill which riseth an hundred Foot above the Plain with a gentle and easie ascent the height of the Scituation adding to the Beauty of the Work and the Rock to the Strength thereof It was built for the Sepulcher of Cheops an Aegyptian King Each side of this Pyramid is six hundred ninety three Foot according to English measure so that the whole Circumference of the Basis and Foundation contains four hundred eighty thousand two hundred and forty nine Square Feet or eleven English Acres of ground the height and breadth are both the same that is six hundred ninety three foot The Ascent to the top is contrived in this manner From all the sides without the Ascent is by degrees the lowermost step is about four foot high and three in breadth which running about the Pyramid in a level makes on every side of it a long but narrow walk The second now is like the first retiring inward from the first three feet and so runs about the Pyramid In the same manner is the third Row placed above the second and so in order the rest like so many stairs rising one above another to the top which is about nine foot square consisting of three Stones only yet large enough for threescore men to stand upon No Stone in the whole Building being so little as to be drawn by any of our Carriages yet were brought thither from the Arabian Mountains but how brought and by what Engine mounted is an equal wonder The Degrees by which men ascend are not all of an equal depth for some are about four foot others scarcely three and the higher they ascend the more they diminish both in bredth and thickness These are all made of massy and polished Stones the bredth of every step being one single and intire Stone containing thirty foot of stone the number of these steps is two hundred and seven On the North-side ascending 38 feet upon an Artificial Bank of Earth there is a square and narrow Passage leading into the inside of this Pyramid containing in length ninety two feet and an half The Structure of it hath been the labour of an exquisite hand as appears by the smoothness and eveness of the work and by the close knitting of the joints It is now an habitation for great ugly Batts of about a foot long At the end of this entrance you must climb up a massy stone eight or nine foot in height where you enter into a Gallery the pavement whereof is of smooth and polished white Marble the breadth is above five foot and the height the like the length of this Gallery is one hundred and ten foot At the end of this begins a second Gallery a very stately piece of work not inferior in Curiosity of Art or richness of Marerials to the most sumptuous Buildings It is divided from the former by a Wall at the end whereof is a Well about three foot over the sides of which are lined with white Marble it is eighty six Cubits in depth hewn through the Rock where the Pyramid stands About 15 foot thence is a square Passage of mighty Stones exquisitely joined containing one hundred and 10 foot at the end of which is an Arched Vault or little Chamber the length about twenty foot and bredth seventeen The length of this second Gallery is 154 feet of white and polished marble both roof Walls and bottom and on each side benches of the same At the end of this Gallery you enter into a square hole which brings you in a little room lined with rich and speckled Theban Marble out of which through another Passage of the same stone most curiously cut you come to the North end of a very sumptuous and well proportioned Room wherein Art seems to contend with Nature the curious work not being inferiour to the Rich Materials It stands in the heart or center of the Pyramid the floars sides and roof all of excellent Theban Marble The Stones which cover this room are of a strange stupendious length like so many huge beams lying flat cross the room and bearing up that almost infinite weight and mass of the Pyramids above Of these there are nine which cover the Roof the length of the Room is 34 English feet the breadth 17 and the height 19 feet In the midst of this glorious room stands the Tomb of Cheops aforementioned of one piece of Marble hollow within and sounding like a Bell but empty For saith Diodorus although the
the death of her Husband lived in continual Tears and mourning and that she died before the Work could be fully finished having drunk the bones of her Husband beaten into Powder which she buried in her own body as the choicest Sepulchre she could provide for him 6. The Fifth Wender of the World was The Temple of Diana at Ephesus in Ionia a Province of Asia Pliny saith it was built by the Amazons and contained four hundred Twenty five foot in length and two hundred and Twenty in breadth so artificially contrived that it was two hundred and Twenty years in finishing It was founded in a Lake to prevent the danger of Earthquakes and it is said that a great quantity of Coal-dust and Wool were laid under the Foundation to secure the moist places It had one hundred and Twenty seven Pillars of Marble seventy foot in height of which Twenty seven were most curiously ingraven and all the rest of Marble polished each of these Pillars were erected at the charge of so many Kings of Asia The doors of the Temple were of Cypress which after four hundred years were as fresh as if they had been new made The roof was of Cedar The Image of Diana which the superstitious vulgar were made to believe came down from Jupiter out of Heaven was made by one Camesia some say of Ebony others of the Vine which having many holes was filled up with Spikenard the moisture whereof closed up the rifts It was adorned with rich and unvaluable Gifts It was contrived by Ctesiphon and after it was finished was fired seven times But last of all by Erostratus who observing the Soveraign Magnificence thereof was resolved to burn it to get himself a Name which he did accordingly but to disappoint him the Princes of those Countreys as some Authors affirm forbid that any man should speak write or record his name yet all this was to no purpose for latter Historians name him and call him Erostratas This glorious Temple was burnt the same night that Alexander the Great was born which gave occasion to that witty scoff That Diana who was counted one of the Goddesses of Midwifry could not attend the Preservation of her Temple being then busied at the birth of so great a Prince Some write that this Temple was afterward rebuilt much more sumptuous and magnificent than before and that the Master of the work was named Democrates 7. The sixth Wonder of the World was the Idol or Image of Jupiter Olympas which stood in his Temple at Achaia between the Cities of Elis and Pisa This Statue was much renowned as well for artificial persections and admirable Workmanship as for the greatness thereof being no less than sixty Cubits high composed by that excellent workman Phidias of Gold and Ivory Some say that Phidias was taxed with only one imperfection that he had not proportioned the Image to the bigness of the Temple because he had made it sitting and so large that if the standing upright were considered the Temple would no ways have been able to have contained it In honour of this Jupiter the Olympicks Games were instituted by Hercules and celebrared on the Plains near this City in the year of the World 2757. The exercises in them were for the most part bodily as running in Chariots running on foot wrastling fighting with Clubs and the like But yet there repaired thither Orators Poets and Musicians and all that thought themselves excellent in any laudable quality to make Tryal of their several Abilities the very cryes who proclaimed the Victories contending who should cry loudest and best play his part The rewards given to the Victors were only Garlâ—â—ds of Palm or such slight remembrances and yet the Greeks no less esteemed this small sign of Conquest and Honour than the Romans did their most magnificent Triumphs those who were Conquerors therein were met by the Principal Men of the City wherein they lived and a Passage was broken through the main VValls of the Town for their Reception as if the ordinary Gates were not capable of so high an honour or able to afford them entrance The Judges of these Games were some Citizens of Elis appointed for that purpose Of these Games Horace thus writes Some in Olympick dust take Pride Their Chariots and themselves to hide Whom the won Mark and Palm so priz'd Like to the Gods hath Eterniz'd Such as like heavenly Angels come With an Elean Garland home VIII The seventh Wonder of the World was The Tower of Pharos which stood in an Isse of that name near the City of Alexandria in Egypt a mile distant from the Land but joyned to the Continent by Cleopatra Queen of Egypt upon this occasion The Rhodians then Lords of the Sea used to exact some Tribute and acknowledgment out of every Island within those Seas and consequently out of this Their Ambassadors being sent to Cleopatra to demand this Tribute she detained them with her 7 days under pretence of celebrating some solemn Festivals and in the mean time by making huge dams and banks in the Sea with incredible charge and speed she united Pharos to the shoar so that it was no longer an Island which finished she sent away the Rhodians empty handed with this witty jeer That they were to take Toll of the Islands but not of the Continent A work of great Rarity and magnificence both for the bigness of it taking up seven Furlongs of ground and for that incredible speed wherewith it was finished As for the Watch-Tower called Pharos by the name of the Island it was built by Ptolomy Philadelphus King of Egypt for the benefit of Saylors the Sea on that coast being very unsafe and full of flats to guide them over the Bar of Alexandria Deservedly esteemed one of the Worlds seven Wonders It was of a wonderful height ascended by degrees and having many Lanthorns on the top wherein Lights were burned every night flaming like a Beacon for direction to Seamen It was erected of Marble marvellous in curious Workmanship and scituate upon a Mountain incompassed with Water the chief Workman was Sostratus who ingraved on the work this Inscription Sostratus of Cnidos the Son of Dexiphanes to the Gods Protector for the Safeguard of Saylors This Inscription he covered with Plaister and thereon ingraved the name and Title of the King who was the Founder to the end that the Kings name being soon wasted and washed away his own which was written in Marble might be eternized to Posterity as the Founder thereof Nigh unto Pharos Caesar pursuing Pompey into Egyt and having discontented Plolomy the King thereof by demanding pay for his Souldiers Caesars Navy lying here at Anchor was assaulted by Achilles one of young Ptolomys Commanders Caesar himself being then at Alexandria but hearing of the skirmish he hastned to Pharos resolving to succour his Navy in Person but the Egyptians coming upon him on all fides he was compelled to leap into the Sea and swim for his
a multitude of Miracles and Prodigies of Nature I shall now proceed to those of Art The Chineses look upon themselves as the wisest People upon the face of the Earth they use therefore to say That they see with both Eyes and all other Nations but with one only and thereupon they boast though I know not with what Truth and Justice that the most famous Inventions which have been so lately known to us in Europe have been no Strangers to them for many Ages past however I shall relate what are most observable both in these and other Nations It is likewise recorded that Augustus Caesar having several ways adorned and fortifyed the City of Rome putting it into a condition of bravery and security for after times he thereupon gloried That he found Rome of brick and left it of Marble and certainly nothing makes more for the just Glory of a Prince than to leave his Dominions in better State than he found them Yet the vast Expences of some Princes and People had been more truly commendable and their mighty works more really glorious had they therein consulted more of the Publick good and less of their own Ostentation However it may not be unpleasant nor unprofitable to describe them and likewise to relate the most curious Inventions and Rarities in all Ages even to these times which have been more favourable to Learning than the former and wherein Arts have been thereby improved to the height 1. But first concerning Buildings the most famous structure we first read of was immediately after the Universal Deluge or Noah's Flood for Nimrod the Son of Chus the Son of Cham perswaded the People to secure themselves from the like after-claps by building some stupendious Edifice which might resist the fury of a second Deluge This Counsel was generally imbraced Heber only and his Family as the Tradition goes contradicting such an unlawful attempt But the major part prevailing the Tower of Babel began to rear its Head of Majesty Five Thousand One Hundred Forty six Paces from the Ground having its Basis and circumference equal to its height The Passage to go up went winding about the outside and was of an exceeding great breadth there being not only room for Horses Carts and the likemeans of Carriage to meet and turn but lodgings also for Man and Beast And as Verslegan reports Grass and Corn-fields for their nourishment and admirable it is to consider what multitudes of men there were in the World in so short a space there being but eight persons that came out of the Ark and now this Building was carried on by Five Hundred Thousand Men the Foundation of it was nine miles compass But God by the Confusion of Tongues hindred the Proceeding of this Building one not being able to understand what his Fellow called for which Du Bartas wittily describes Bring me quoth one a Trowel quickly quick One brings him up a Hammer hew this brick Another bids and then they cleave a Tree Make fast this Rope and then they let it flee One calls for Planks Another Morter lacks They bring the first a Stone the last an Ax One would have Nails and him a Spade they give Another asks a Saw and gets a Sieve Thus crosly crost they prate and rail in vain What one hath made another spoils again This makes them leave their work and like mad Fools Scatter their Stuff and tumble down their Tools II. We read in several Ancient Histories of The seven Marvels or Wonders of the World The first whereof they reckoned to be The Walls of Babylon This City of Babylon was seated on the Banks of the River Euphrates which ran through the midst of it over which Semiramuis built a strong and stately Bridge of a mile long binding each stone together with clips of Iron fastened with melted Lead and is the ancientest City of the World first built by Nimrod in the place appointed for the raising of the Tower of Babel and by him made the Imperial Seat of the Chaldeaâ— Kings afterward much beautified and inlarged by Semiramis the Wife of Ninus one of his Successors and finally much increased both in bulk and beauty by Nebuchadnezzar for he added a new City to the old which he compassed about with three Walls and made therein three stately Gates and near his Fathers Palace he built another more stately where he raised Stone Works like mountains which he planted with all manner of Trees He made also Pensile Gardens hanging as it were in the Sky borne upon Arches four-square each square containing four hundred foot filled above with Earth wherein grew all sorts of Trees and Plants The Arches were built one upon another even to fifty Cubits high He likewise made Aquâ—â—iucts for watering these Gardens He erected an Image of Gold in the Plain of Dura sixty Cubits high and six broad These stately Buildings puft him up who therefore arrogated to himself the whole Glory of them saying in his Pride Is not this the great Babel that I have built a City of great Fame and State The compass of the Walls were 365 Furlongs or forty six some say threescore miles according to the number of the days of the year in height two hundred Cubits and fifty Cubits in bredth that six Chariots or Carriages might meet on the top they were finished in one year by the hands of Two Hundred Thousand Workmen The City was foursquare and fifteen miles from one corner to another Insomuch that Aristotle saith It ought rather to be called a Countrey than a City adding withal That when the Town was taken it was three days before the furthest parts of the Town had any Intelligence thereof which taking of the Town must be understood of the surprize thereof by the Medes and Persians in the Reign of Beshazzar when Daniel the Prophet interpreted to that King the words Mene Tekel Peres which were miraculously written by a hand upon the Wall as he was banquetting with his Nobility and foretold the very day before it was taken that God had given his Kingdom to the Medes and Perfians All which was accomplished the might following when Darius King of Media and Persia besieging Babylon took it on a sudden with the help of his Nephew Cyrus the Persian in the time of a great Feast when the King Nobility and People contemning their Enemies being over-confident of their own strength minded only their Sports and Pastimes which we read was surprized after this manner The River Euphrates ran quite through the Town round about whose banks the politick Cyrus cut many and deep Channels into which he in a very short time drained and emptied the River conveying his own Forces into the Town all along the dry and yeilding Channel and in a little 〈◊〉 made himself Master of it the Babylonians being 〈◊〉 in Wine and Debauchery In the Reign of 〈◊〉 Semiramis this City revolted from her and 〈…〉 thereof coming to her as she was ordering 〈…〉 she
have sometimes been carried as far as Constantinople though many hundred miles distance and so affrighted them that they have all ran to their Prayers to implore the averting of Divine Wrath The Mountain hath a double top that toward the North ends in a Plain the other toward the South aspires higher which when covered with Clouds prognosticates rain to the Neopolitans In the top there is a large deep hollow in form of an Amphitheater in the midst is a Pit which leads into the Entrails of the Earth the matter thrown up is ruddy light and soft the uttermost brow of the Hill flourishes with Trees and excellent Pasturage the midst is shaded with Chesnut Trees and others bearing divers fruits The lower parts are admirably clothed with Vines which afford the best Greek Wines in the World It hath at divers times made dreadful Eruptions and Devastations which as well as Mount Aetna of which hereafter have been accounted ominous and to portend some woful Calamities to ensue But never any thing appeared so horrible faith my Author as what happened in the Reign of the Emperor Titus eighty years after Christ For then it disgorged such boyling Waves and Flouds of Fire as consumed the Neighbouring Cities And then it was that Pliny the Second that great searcher into Nature and the famous Author of the Natural History and then Admiral of the Roman Navy being desirous to discover the reason thereof was choaked and suffocated in approaching too near to discover so great a mystery of Nature yet not wilfully I suppose though some Authors â—â—sert that he threw himself into it because he could not understand the natural cause of 〈…〉 Condagration At that time there issued 〈◊〉 so great a 〈◊〉 that the very Sun seemed to be 〈◊〉 an 〈◊〉 and likewise huge Stones and such plenty of 〈◊〉 that Rome Africk and Syria were even covered with them and besides Beasts Fish and Foâ—l which were desirâ—â—ed it overwhelmed Herculanâ— and Pumptins two adioyning Cities with Pumiâ—e Stones together with all the People sitting in the Theater There were also heard dismal noises all about the Province and Giants of incredible bigness were seen to stalk up and down the top and edges of the Mountains if the Peoples sanâ—ies were not imposed upon 〈◊〉 their astonishment which extraordinary 〈…〉 was judged either a cause or Presage of a 〈…〉 which reigned in Rome and Italy long 〈…〉 the Roman Historian relates 〈◊〉 the 〈…〉 transported in the Air obsoured and darkned â—â—l Europe and that the Inhabitants 〈…〉 wonderfully affrighted therewith 〈…〉 their Emperor Leo forsook the City and that in memorial of the same they celebrated yearly the 12 of November It likewise burnt in the 6 year of Constantine the Fourth and groaned but ejected no Cinders Platina writes that it flamed in 685 prognosticating the Death of Pope Benedict 2. with the insuing Slaughters Rapines and Deaths of Princes During the Papacy of Benedict 8 and 9. it is said to have done the like and though it hath made divers dreadful devastations yet the fruitful Ashes thrown about did seem to repair the foregoing losses with a quick and marvellous fruitfulness At the foot of the Hill there are divers holes and vents out of which exceeding cold winds do continually issue and which at Padua they let into their Rooms at pleasure to qualifie the heat of Summer In the year 1610 in February Vesuvius began to flame to the great affrightment of the Neapolitans and solemn Prayers and Supplications being ordered they went in Procession with the head of Januarius their Patron and the defender of their City carryed before them whereby the deluded people were perswaded that the destruction which hung over their heads was prevented In 1631 was a new Eruption and again in 1635 was an Earthquake in 〈◊〉 LXVII In the year 1633 likewise the industrious Kircher made a discovery of the Phlegrean or Fiery Plains in the Fields of 〈◊〉 near Naples which being another wonderful Prodigy of Nature may be worth relating Passing by Naples saith he I could not let slip the opportunity of inquiring and looking into those Sulphurous Plains so much celebrated in all Ages Having therefore gone through a Passage under ground called the Grotte arched and made hollow to the Mountain Pausilippus not far from Puteoli between the Jaws of the Mountains a large Plain presents it self to view altogether dreadful and full of horrour in length about Twelve hundred Foot in breadth a Thousand The whole Plain is surrounded with Hills of high and steep Rocks which were formerly very lofty but are since devoured by perpetual Fires In the bottom little hills are seen to burn and flame with a strong smell of Brimstone which is carryed by the Winds through all the Neighbouring Regions even as far as Naples some parts of the Plain have an infinite number of holes and are yellow with a Sulphurish matter the ground when it is touched by those who walk thereon sounds and rattles like a Drum by reason of the hollowness thereof and you may feel as it were not without astonishment boyling waters under your feet and thick fiery fumes to hiss and flow from one place to another with a great crackling noise through the Pipes and Passages under ground which are made by these fiery Exhalations the force of this is very great as you may experience by stopping any of these holes with an heavy stone or the like for then you shall observe the violence of the smoak presently to throw it up and belch it forth again But an huge Laky Ditch in the same plain did wonderfully affect me It is full of boyling waters very frightful for their blackness that one would imagine it were a Kettle or Caldron boyling with Pitch and Rosin It is likewise admirable that the swallowing Gulph casts forth these boyling waters eight or ten foot above a mans height in the fashion of a spire Steeple or Pyramid In the Mountâ—â—ns and Rocks wherewith this Vulcanian Plain is incompassed there are Pasâ—aâ—es like Châ—mneys some whereof breath out a continual Wind with a terrible sound and raâ—ling and also with such strength that if you cast a stone thereinto it is struck back again to your hand with great fury some of these breathing holes dart forth smoak mixt with flames you would here think your self almost in the midst of Hell where all things appear horrid sad and lamentable and you are even struck breâ—â—hless with the stench of Sulphur Bitumen Napthe and other Earths Clays Marls and Minerals We must not here omit Mr. Sandys his Relation of aâ—most memorable Earthquake and burning which happened near the City Puteoli in 1538. with the new formed Mountain For the famous Lake Lucrinus hard by extended formerly to the deadly Sulphurous Lake Avernus supposed the entrance into Hell by ignorant Antiquity where they offered Infernal Sacrifices to Pluto their God of Hell and to the Manes or Ghosts of their deceased Friends who were
darkned the Face of the Sky The Birds and Fowl about this time either through want of Food or illness of Air which was corrupted with the noisome smells arising from these Burnings were observed to lye dead in all places On the 28th the Grand Current was advanced near the City as far as the old Capucins which struck so great a Terror into the People that most of them left the City only some Officers remaining with such persons as were under their command who have secured and sent away the Magazine and all the Artillery from the Castle A Latter Relation from Catania of April 27. gives this further Account The dreadful Inundation from Monte Gibello having destroyed many Castles and Towns with an infinite loss and utter ruine to the Inhabitants arrived lately with a renewed Force at Mostor-bianco which it has wholly ruin'd from thence passing on to Albanelli in four days space destroyed all the Gardens and Vineyards with 63 Thousand Vines On Wednesday April 16. With an Impetuous Fiery Torrent it came towards Sardanello where all the remainder of the Inhabitants of this City were Spectators of it which resembled a River of melted and burning Brass about ten Ells wide running with swiftness to the Arch of Marcus Marcellus a famous Piece of Antiquity and passing under it ruin'd about 6 Ells of it which was the breadth of the Current in that place from thence it ran to Madonna di Monferrato which it wholly destroyed then falling down to Madonna delle Gratie it entred in at one Gate and passed through another without any considerable hurt and running through the Gate Della Decima filled all the Plain Di Schiara Viva where it was above six Ells deep Then taking its way towards the Bulwark on the Sea-side under the Castle of this City it ran by two Ells deep into the Sea in which to the great wonder of all that saw it it has made its Progress a mile in length and as much in breadth and is drawing towards the Gate of the Channel which gives us great Apprehensions least it may that way Invade the City it self Nor is there less danger on the side Del Tindaro where there runs a great Torrent of the same Active matter which draws near and seems to threaten the Walls and is in that place about a mile in breadth having overflowed and destroyed all the Gardens from the Gate Della Decima as far as Medonna delli Amellati The names of the most considerable Towns and places ruined and destroyed by the dreadful Earthquakes and Irruptions were The Town of Nicolosi wholly ruined Padara and Tre Castagne the greatest part destroyed The Towns of La Guardia Malpasso Campo Rotundo Potielli St. Antonino St. Pietro Mosterbianco Montpileri La Anunicata Faliâ—chi Placchi all wholly overflowed consumed and lost in this fiery Inundation with all the Lands belonging to them no foot-steps of them remaining The Towns of Mascalucia and St. Giovanni de Galermo ruined in part The large Gardens and Vineyards of Albanelli overflown and destroyed The famous piece of Antiquity of Marcus Marcellus much ruined Madonna de Monferrato destroyed besides many Castles Farms and other Places which have run the same Fortune whose names we for brevity pass over LXXX West of the Isle of Sicily in the Tuscan Sea within sight of Messina and 150 miles distâ—â— from Mount Aetna are the Aeolian Islands so caned from Aeolus King thereof who first raught the use of the Sail and by observing the Fire and Smoâ—â— which ascended from these Islands for heretofore they all flamed was from thence fabled to be the God of the Winds These were anciently seven but are now eleven Islands of which Liparis is the greatest being ten miles in circuit the Fire went out here about an Age ago So that at this day Strombolo only burns though another called Vulcano smoaks continually It was formerly called Strongile but by corruption Strombolo from the roundness thereof for it seems like an high round Mountain in the Sea out of the top whereo issueth continually a flame like a burning Beacon and exceeding clear so that by night especially it is to be discerned a wonderful way A place so full of horror to the neighbouring Islanders that the more ignorant Papists are made to believe it is the very Jaws of Hell it self The aforenamed Kircher made Observations of this Mountain likewise which he thus relates That on a certain day viewing Strombolo very curiously about threescore miles distant he observed it to be more than ordinarily furious for it appeared wholly overwhelmed with Fire in so great plenty that it seemed to belch out flaming Mountains a most horrendous Spectacle And then saith he I heard a strange kind of dull murmur from the Mountain so far off which seemed to come towards us under the Earth till it reached the subterraneous place where we stood and there uttered such horrible Thundrings within the Earth with such formidable Earthquakes that none of them were able to stand on their Feet After the violence was over getting up again with unspeakable Consternation they beheld the destruction and lamentable subversion of the famous Town of St. Euphemia three miles off which happened at that instant the City being wholly swallowed up for seeking for the Town they found instead thereof what is wonderful to be related nothing but a dark stinking Lake sprung up in its place they could find no men nor Inhabitants Thence passing on their Journey they found nothing else for Two Hundred miles but the Carcases of Cities horrid ruines of Castles Men stragling up and down in the open Fields and through horror and famine pining and withering away LXXXI In April 1669 The Mountain Vesuvius aforementioned cast up more smoak and Ashes than formerly and for several Nights the neighbouring places were much affrighted with the great Flames which issued from it accompanied with unusual noises At the same time they write That the Vice Roy of Sicily having compassion upon the miserable condition of above Thirty Thousand poor People who by their Flight had saved themselves from the Fire of Mount Aetna aforementioned which had destroyed 17 or 18 Towns or Villages and by the dayly approaches to the City of Catania seemed to threaten it with inevitable ruine so that the Inhabitants were leaving the place And that he thereupon sent one of his Officers to take order for the maintenance of those distressed Creatures and disposing of them into places of safety In the same Month 1669 in the night there was a cry made in the Town of Lichfeild in England of Fire Fire and the Bells rang out which frighted many This was occasioned saith Mr. Clark by the sight of a sheet of Fire which hung over that City for the space of half an hour and then disappeared This saith he I had from one that lay in the Town that night Upon July 10. the same year at Weymouth in Dorsetshire between six and nine a
kind of Earthquake the houses in that City being plainly observed to shake The Mountain likewise cast out Ashes in great abundance which were dispersed many miles by the wind and the Sunday after all the Streets of Naples were covered with them as if it had been a deep Snow These Prodigies very much terrified the people and Publick Prayers were made for appeasing the Wrath of Heaven It is added That many great Coals of Fire fell also the dread whereof wrought so much upon the Inhabitants that they removed to other Cities That the terrible Earthquakes have thrown down near Three Thousand Buildings all about the foot of the Mountain and that it roared so loud as to be heard 40 miles distance in a still night It is written from Florence in Italy in the Gazete of Sept. 29. That a few days before there happened one night such a terrible Tempest of Wind Rain Hail and Thunder about 18 miles from that City upon the Mountains of Bologna that for eight miles in length and two in breaâ—lth it swept away all the Branches from the greatest Trees as Oaks Chesnuts and Olives and much more from the smaller Fruit-Trees It destroyed all the Autumn Harvest that was upon the ground and lest not a Vine standing it carryed away all the Roofs and coverings off from the Countrey-mens Houses and some were quite beaten down to the ground and several people killed in their Beds A Church and Steeple were quite ruined and the Bells carryed above a quarter of a mile Many Wild Beasts and Fowl as Deer Hares Foxes Partridges and small Birds were found dead and if it had happened in the day as it did in the night much Cattel and many people must needs have perished for the Hadstones were sound to be from Three to Five Pounds in weight the like not known in these parts and the loss is esteemed the greater because not to be redeemed in seven years time XCI In 1682. Oct. 5. A strange Monster was born at Exeter in Devonshire having two perfect heads one standing right as it should the other being in the right Shoulder with Eyes Nose Ears Mouth and Tongue to each head proper it had but two Arms and Hands and two Legs and Feet all in good and comely shapes they which were at the delivery say that they were two as handosme Faces as ever they saw it was living when born but soon expired only giving one sigh at its departure It was soon buried but after taken up again and exposed to the view of numerous Spectators to the great advantage of the Parents Thus have I briefly run over abundance of Strange Prodigies Apparitions and Accidents which have happened in the Heavens Earth and Sea in several Countreys for near Seventeen Hundred years past but as to the Application of the Effects of divers of them to particular Persons or Places I have barely collected most of them from that noted Astrologer Mr. John Gadbury in his Treatise of Prodigies and his Discourse of the three Comets in 1664 and 1665. Though as an Ingenious Gentleman lately observes there may be much doubt and question whether there be any great certainty in these Predictions since they have been judged sometimes to portend evil as well as good for as he says Though that Comet which some interpreted to presage Luthers preaching against Indulgences and the Reformation which followed bespoke evil it may be to the Popes Kitchen yet it was certainly the dawning of the Blessed Light of the Gospel to the Western Parts of Christendom But however as he adds if the terrorand rareness of these Prodigies do upon any Account whatsoever mind us of our Mortality and prepare us for our end as it hath effected upon some in former Ages or to reflect upon our ownor the publick Crimes which may call down Gods vengeance upon us and to implore his mercy and fo rs bearance toward us it may be very useful and profitable for sure it is this Age has need enough of Repentance and without a Comet we want not abundant Notices and Warnings that if we do not forsake our horrid enormities we cannot long escape the signal vengeance of Heaven But saith he the making use of them thereby to read the destiny of Kings Nations and Governments is Irrational Fantastical and Heathenish unbecoming either a Man or a Christian and therefore instead of any dreadful Presages The Blessing of the Almighty be upon the whole Israel of God Amen I cannot better conclude this Subject than by inserting the following Letter written by a famous Prelate of our Church inferior to no man of this Age either for Piety or Learning wherein he declares his thoughts concerning the Comet in August last 1682 which seems fully to comprize all that can be said by the wisest of Mortals concerning Comets The Letter is as followeth My good Friend It seems your Philomathematici as your Almanack-â—â—â—kers usually 〈◊〉 themselves and Astrologers iâ— London 〈…〉 their Judgment concerning the New 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall tell you mine though may be it may signify as little as theirs when they do declare it 1. Then in the General It has been the opinion of 〈…〉 that all Comets portend some 〈…〉 Nations Countreys Cities or particular Persons 〈◊〉 Greeks 〈…〉 All Comets are fore-runners of some Calamities And a Latin Poet and a Pagan â—ould say Nunquam furilibus excanduit ignibus â—â—her 2. But in particular I believe and I think there is good reason for it there are three things concerning Comets which may and other three things which neither are nor certainly can be known For instance 1. Their Motion 2. Their Magnitude 3. Their Altitude whether above or below the Planets may by the Parallax and a good Mathematician be certainly known But then there are other three things which the best Mathematicians neither do nor certainly can know For Instance 1. Their Generation how they are produced and of what matter they are made 2. Their Signification what it is which they do particularly portend and to what Countrey City or Person it relates 3. Their Exit and vanishing how they come to disappear and what becomes of them afterward These things none of your Astrologers and Star-gazers do or by any ground in Nature or Scripture Reason or Revelation can certainly know They may guess and so may you and I and it may be as well as they but 't is only Conjecture not Science they having no ground from which they can certainly conclude their Conjectures to be true Nay I do confidently and truly add and there is evident Reason for it that neither the Pope notwithstanding his Infallibility nor the Devil notwithstanding all his Subtilty can certainly know what any Comet does particularly portend unless it please God who only knows to discover and reveal it to them FINIS The Surprizing Miracles of Art or an Account of the most Magnificent Buildings and Curious Inventions and Rarities in all Ages Part II. HAving related