day of his Nativity which was the 13 th of the Calends of May. 13. The Emperour Charles the Fifth was born on the day of Matthias the Apostle on which day also in the course of his Life was King Francis taken by him in battel and the Victory likewise won at Biccoque he was also Elected and Crowned Emperour on the same day and many other great Fortunes befel him still on that day 14. M. Ofilius Hilarus an Actor of Comedies after he had highly pleas'd the people upon his birth-day kept a Feast at home in his own house and when Supper was set forth upon the Table he call'd for a mess of hot broth to sup off and withal casting his eye upon the Visor he had worn that day in the play he fitted it again to his face and taking off the Garland which he wore upon his bare head he set it thereupon in this posture disguized as he sat he was stark dead and cold too before any person in the company perceived any such thing 15. Augustus Caesar had certain Anniversary sicknesses and such as did return at a stated and certain time he commonly languished about the time of his birth-day which was the ninth of the Calends of October a little before Sun-rise M. Tullius Cicero and Antonius being Consuls 16. On the contrary the birth-days of some Men have been very fortunate to them as was that of the great Captain Timoleon general of the Syracusans who obtained for them the chiefest of his Victories upon the day of his birth which thereupon was annually and Universally celebrated by the Syracusans as a day of good and happy fortune to them 17. It is said of Iulius Caesar that he had often found the Ides of Iuly to be very happy and auspicious to him at which time he was also born 18. King Philip of Macedon us'd to celebrate the day of his birth with extraordinary joy as the most favourable and fortunate to him of all other for once upon that day he had a triplicity of good tydings that he was Victor in the Chariot race in the Olympicks that Parmenio his General had gain'd a most important victory and that the Queen Olympias was delivered of his Son Alexander 19. Ophioneus was one amongst the Messenians had the gift of Prophecy and Pausanias says of him that immediately after his birth-day he was annually stricken with blindness nor is that less wonderful in the same person that after a vehement fit of the Head-ach he would begin to see and then presently fall from thence into his former blindness 20. It is a note worthy to be remembred that Thursday was observ'd to be a day fatal to King Henry the Eight and to all his Posterity for he himself died on Thursday the 28 th of Ianuary King Edward the Sixth on Thursday the sixth of Iuly Queen Mary on Thursday the seventeenth of November and Queen Elizabeth on Thursday the four and twentyeth of March 21. Franciscus Baudinus an Abbot a Citizen of Florence and well known in the Court of Rome died upon the Anniversary return of his birth-day which was upon the 19 th day of December he was buried in the Church of St. Silvester in Rome and it was the observation of him that made his Funeral Elegy that the number nine did four times happen remarkably in his affairs he was born on the 19 th day and died on the same being aged twenty nine and the year of our Lord being at that time 1579. 22. Wednesday is said to have been fortunate to Pope Sixtus the Fifth for on that day he was born on the same day made a Monk on that day created General of his Order on the same made Cardinal then chosen Pope and finally on the same inaugurated 23. Friday was observ'd to be very lucky to the great Captain Gensalvo on that day having given the French many notable overthrows Saturday was as fortunate to Henry the Seventh King of England CHAP. VII Of the Signatures and natural marks upon the bodies of some Men. IN Sicily there have been often digg'd up bones of a monstrous and prodigious bigness in all appearance resembling those of a humane body but whether they were the Skeletons of deceased Gyants whether bred and form'd in the Earth by some peculiar influx of the Stars and secret propriety of the Mould whether made by the Artifice of Man and there buried to beget wonder in after times or by the Devils to promote some of their malicious ends is yet variously disputed So concerning the causes of those impressions which some bodies bring upon them from the Womb and carry with them to their Graves there is not so great a clearness as not to leave us in some doubts For if the most of them are occasion'd through the strength of the Mothers imagination there have been others of so peculiar a Form so remote from being thought to leave such lively touches upon a Womans fancy so continued to the Descendants of the same Family and so agreeable with the after fortunes of the person so signed as may possibly encline unto farther enquiries Marinus Barletius reports of Scanderbeg Prince of Epirus that most terrible enemy of the Turks that from his Mothers Womb he brought with him into the World a notable mark of Warlike Glory for he had upon his right Arm a Sword so well set on as if it had been drawn with the pencil of the most curious and skilful Painter in the World 2. Among the people called the Dakes the Children usually have the Moles and Marks of them from whom they are descended imprinted upon them even to the fourth generation 3. Laodice the Wife of Antiochus dream'd that she received a Ring from Apollo with an Anchor engraven upon it Seleucus the Child that she then went with who afterwards was remarkable for his famous exploits was born with an Anchor impress'd upon his Thigh and so also his Sons and Grand-children carry'd the same mark upon the same place from the time of their birth 4. In the Race and Family of the Lepidi it is said there were three of them not successively one after another but out of order and after some intermission who had each of them when thâ—â— were born a little pannicle or thin skin growing over the eye 5. It is observ'd by Plutarch that the resemblance of the Natural properties or corporal marks of some Parents are continued in their Families for many Descents yea and sometimes not appearing in the second or third generation do nevertheless shew themselves in the fourth or fifth or others ensuing some Ages after whereof he brings an example of one in his time call'd Python who being descended of the Spartiatae the Founders of Thebes and being the last of that Race was born with the figure of a Lance upon his body which had been in former Ages a natural
a Table wating on her Master in the Apartment of the Women and over-reaching her self to take a Flagon that stood a little too far from her she chanced to break wind backwards which she was so much ashamed of that putting her Garment over her head she would by no means shew her face after but with an enraged violence taking one of her Nibbles of her Breasts into her mouth she bit it off with such fury that she died in the place 2. In the same Country anno 1639 there was a great Lord who having had an exact search made for all the young handsome Damosels in his Province to be disposed into his Ladies service amongst the rest there was one brought him whom he was so taken with that he made her his Concubine She was the Daughter of a poor Soldier 's widdow who hoping to make her some advantage of her Daughters good fortune wrote her a large Letter wherein she expressed her necessitous condition and how she was forced to sue to her for relief While the Daughter was reading this Letter her Lord comes into the Room when she being ashamed to discover her Mother's poverty endeavours to hide the Letter from him yet could she not convey it away so but that he perceived it The disorder he observed in her countenance made him suspect something of design so that he pressed her to shew him the Letter but the more importunate he was the more unwilling was she to satisfie him And perceiving there was no way to avoid it she thrust it into her mouth with such precipitation that thinking to swallow it down it choaked her This so incensed the Lord that he immediately commanded her Throat to be cut whereby they only discovered the Mother's poverty and the Daughter's innocency He was so mov'd thereat that he could not forbear expressing it by tears and it being not in his power to make any other demonstration of his affection to the deceased he sent for the Mother who was maintained amongst his other Ladies at the time we spake of with all imaginable respect 3. In the speech which Cyrus made to his Sons a little before his death we read this If any of you saith he desire to take me by the hand or to see my eyes let him come so long as I breath but after I am dead and shall be covered I require you my Sons that my body be not uncovered nor looked upon by you or any other person 4. Lucius Crassus when according to the custom of all Candidates he was compelled to go about the Forum as a Suppliant to the people he could never be brought to do it in the presence of Q. Scaevola a grave wise man and his Father-in-law and therefore he besought him to leave him while he was about a foolish business having more reverence to his Dignity and presence than he had respect to his white Gown in which was the custom for them to appear who were suiters to the people for any office in the Commonwealth 5. Iohannes Baptista Lignamineus Bishop of Concordia being sent by his Brother Francis Bishop of Ferrara to Venice was present at that Feast whereat the Duke entertains the whole Nobility four times a year here it was that out of modesty retaining too long the burden of his Belly he fell into a grievous disease of which he also died and was buried at Ferrara 6. Embassadors were sent to Rome from the Cities of Greece to complain of injuries done them by Philip King of Macedon and when the Affair was discussed in the Senate betwixt Demetrius the Son of Philip and the Embassadors forasmuch as Demetrius seem'd to have no way of defence for so many defaults as were objected against his Father with truth enough as also because out of Shamefacedness he exceedingly blushed the Senate of Rome moved with the Modesty of Demetrius acquitted both him and his Father of the Accusations 7. Certain Fishermen of Coos drawing up their Nets some Milesian Strangers agreed with them for their Draught whatsoever it should prove it fell out that they drew up a Table of Gold whereupon a contest grew betwixt the Fishermen and the Buyers and at last improv'd into a War betwixt both the Cities in favour of their Citizens At last it was resolv'd to consult the Oracle of Apollo who answered they should send the Table to that man whom they thought the wisest whereupon it was sent to Thales the Milesian Thales sent it to Bias saying he was wiser than himself Bias sent it to another as wiser than he and so it was posted from one to one till such time as it returned to Thales again who at length sent it from Miletum to Thebes to be consecrate to the Ismenian Apollo 8. The Emperour Maximilian the first of that name forbade expresly that his naked body should be seen after he was dead He was the modestest of all Mortals none of his servants ever saw him obey the necessity of nature nor but few Physicians his Urine 9. The Milesian Virgins were in times past taken with a strange Distemper of which the cause could not then be found out for all of them had a desire of death and a furious itch of strangling themselves many finished their days this way in private neither the prayers nor tears of their Parents or the consolation of their Friends prevailed any thing but being more subtle and witty than those that were set to observe them they daily thus died by their own hands It was therefore thought that this dreadful thing came to pass by the express will of the Gods and was therefore greater than could be provided against by humane industry Till at last according to the advice of a wise man the Council set forth this Edict That every such Virgin as from thenceforth should lay violent hands upon her self should dead as she was be carried stark naked along the Market-place By which means not only they were restrain'd from killing themselves but also their desire of dying was utterly extinguished A strange thing that those who trembled not at death the most formidable of all things should yet though an innate modesty not be able to conceive in their minds much lâ—ss endure a wrong and reproach to that modesty though dead 10. Alvilda the beautâ—ful Daughter of Suiardus King of the Goths is said to be of so great modesty that usually covering her face with her Veil she suffered it not to be sâ—en of any man 11. King Henry the Sixth of England was so modest that when in a Christmass a shew of women was presented before him with their naked Brests laid out he presently departed saying Fie fie for shame Forsooth you be to blame 12. One of the Athenians of decrepit Age came into the Theatre at Athens to behold the Plays and when none of the Citizens receiv'd him into any Seat by chance he came by the place
who thus spake aloud Sir I thank God for the Goods he hath bestowed upon me but more that he hath given me this present opportunity to make it known that I prize the lives of my Countrymen and Fellow-Burgesses above mine own At the hearing of which speech and sight of his forwardness one Iohn Daire and four others after him made the like offers not without a great abundance of prayers and tears from the common people who saw them so freely and readily sacrifice all their particular respects for the Weal of the publick And instantly without more ado they address themselves to the King of England with the Keys of the Town with none other hope but of death to which though they held themselves assured thereof they went as chearfully as if they had been going to a Wedding yet it pleasing God to turn the heart of the English King at the instance of the Queen and some of the Lords they were all sent back again safe and sound 2. When the Grecians of Doris a Region between Phocis and the Mountain Oeta sought counsel from the Oracle for their success in the Wars against the Athenians it was answered that then undoubtedly they should prevail and become Lords of that State when they could obtain any victory against them and yet preserve the Athenian King living Codrus the then King of Athens by some intelligence being inform'd of this answer withdrew himself from his own Forces and putting on the habit of a common Soldier entred the Camp of the Dorians and killing the first he encountred was himself forthwith cut in pieces falling a willing sacrifice to preserve the liberty of his Country 3. Cleomenes King of Sparta being distress'd by his Enemy Antigonus King of Macedon sent unto Ptolomey King of Aegypt for help who promised it upon condition to have his Mother and Child in pledge Cleomenes was a long time ashamed to make his Mother acquainted with these conditions went oftentimes on purpose to let her understand it but when he came he had not the heart to break it to her she suspecting asked his Friends if her Son had not something to say to her whereupon he brake the matter with her when she heard it she laughing said How comes it to pass thou hast concealed it so long Come come put me straight into a Ship and send me whether thou wilt that this body of mine may do some good unto my Country before crooked age consume it without profit Cratesiclea for so was her name being ready to depart took Cleomenes into the Temple of Neptune embracing and kissing him and perceiving that his heart yearn'd for sorrow of her departure O King of Sparta said she let no man see for shame when we come out of the Temple that we have wept and dishonoured Sparta Whilest she was with Ptolomey the Achaians sought to make peace with Cleomenes but he durst not because of his pledges which were with King Ptolomey which she hearing of wrote to him that he should not spare to do any thing that might conduce to the honour or safety of his Country though without the consent of King Ptolomey for fear of an old woman and a young boy 4. Sylla having overcome Marius in Battle commanded all the Citizens of Praeneste to be slain excepting one only that was his intimate Friend but he hearing the bloody sentence pronounced against the rest stepped forth and said That he scorn'd to live by his favour who was the destroyer of his Country and so went amongst the rest who were to be slain 5. Theomistocles the Athenian General after his many famous Exploits was banished the Country and sought after to be slain he chose therefore to put himself rather into the power of the Persian King his Enemy than to expose himself to the malice of his Fellow Citizens He was by him received with great joy insomuch that the King in the midst of his sleep was heard to cry out thrice aloud I have with me Themistocles the Athâ—nian He also did him great honour for he allotted him three Cities â—or his Table provisions and two others for the Furniture of his Wardrobe and Bed While he remain'd in that Court with such Splendour and Dignity the Aegyptians rebelled encouraged and also assisted by the Athenians The Grecian Navy was come as far Cyprus and Cilicia and Cimon the Athenian Admiral rode Master at Sea This caused the Persian King to levy Soldiers and appoint Commanders to repress them He also sent Letters to Themistocles then at Magnesia importing that he had given him the supreme command in that affair that he should now be mindful of his promise to him and undertake this War against Greece But Themistocles was no way mov'd with anger against his ungrateful Country-men nor incited to the War with them by the gift of all this honour and power for having sacrificed he called then about him his Friends and having embraced them he drank Bulls blood or as others say a strong poison and so chose rather to shut up his own life than to be an instrument of evil to that Country of his which yet had deserved so ill at his hands Thus died Themistocles in the sixty fiâ—th year of his age most of which time he had spent in the management of the Republick at home or as the chief Commander abroad 6. The Norvegians going out of their own Country upon any account whatsoever as soon as they return and set their first foot upon that earth they fall prostrate upon the ground and signing themselves with the Cross they kiss the earth And O thou more Christian Land cry they than all the rest of the world so highly do they admire their own Country and its worship with a contempt of all others 7. In the year three hundred ninety three from the Building of Rome whether by Earthquake or other mâ—ans is uncertain but the Forum at Rome open'd and almost half of it was fallen in to a very strange depth great quantities of earth was thrown into it but in vain for it could not be fill'd up The Soothsayers therefore were consulted with who pronounced that the Romans should devote unto that place whatsoever it was wherein they most excelled Then Martius Curtius a person of admirable valour affirming that the Romans had nothing besides Arms and Virtue wherein they excelled he devoted himself for the safety of his Country and so arm'd on Horseback and his Horse well accoutred he rode into the gaping Gulph which soon after closed it self upon him 8. The Tartars in their invasion of China were prosperous on all sides and had set down themselves before the Walls of the renowned and vast City of Hangchen the Metropolis of the Province of Chekiang where the Emperour Lovangus was enclosed Lovangus his Soldiers refused to fight till they had received their arrears which yet at this time he was not able to pay them It
discourse of the nature and efficacy and virtues of them for whereas nature had made him liberal and bountiful though he did not abound in Gold and Riches yet he liberally and willingly did impart what was in his power and drawn out of the treasures of Learning and Experience for whereas he had many secrets in Physick imparted by the best Physicians of Germany France and Italy and many others which he himself had found out and experimented with great success of which had he been sordid and covetous he might have made a large encrease to his private estate yet all these he either published for the common use and good or else communicated to such Friends as desired them of him 11. Galepsus is a Town in Euboea where there be natural hot Baths it is a proper seat fitted by nature for sundry honest pleasures so that it is reputed the publick Hostelry of all Greece there is plenty of Fowl Fish and Venison The Town flourishes most in the midst of Spring in respect of the mighty concourse of people there is at that time who converse familiarly one with another and mutually feast together taking the benefit of the great affluence and abundance of all sorts of provisions that are there But whensoever Callistratus the Professor of Rhetorick is at home his house is open to all Strangers hardly may a man sup any where else than at his own house for he is a man so full of courtesie and hospitality that it is no easie matter to resist the importunity he uses in the invitation of Strangers Amongst other persons of ancient times he seems to imitate Cimon making it his whole and only pleasure to feast many in his house and to receive and entertain Strangers and those from all parts 12. It is written of Celeus that he was the first man who delighted to assemble to his House a number of honourable persons and of good mark which assembly he called Prytanaeum CHAP. XVIII Of the Blameless and Innocent Life of some Persons If Man alone is a wonder the good and virtuous man must certainly be a double one he is such a rarity that Diogenes thought a Candle and Lanthorn in the broad of day scarce a sufficient light to make his discovery by when he went up and down in quest of such a one Vir bonus cito nec fieri nec intelligi potest nam ille alter fortasse tanquam Phoenix Anno quingentessimo nascitur A good man is neither quickly made nor easily understood for like the Phoenix of Arabia there is possibly one of them born in the space of some five hundred years This was the opinion of Seneca and since the world is so seldom enriched with these Jewels the Reader will the less wonder at that poverty of instances that is to be met with in Writers and may do well to have in greater veneration the virtues of those illustrious persons which he is here presented with 1. Camerarius mentions an Inscription upon a Tombstone in Rome near the place of the Jews in these words Iulia B. Prisca vixit Annos XXVI Nihil unquam peccavit nisi quod mortua est i. e. In this only she did amiss that she dy'd 2. M. Portius Cato the Elder lived with that integrity that though he was fifty times accused was yet so many times adjudged innocent nor did he obtain this by favour or wealth but against the favour and riches of almost the whole City His honesty and severity had raised him up very many enemies and much of Envy for he spared no man nor was a friend to any who was not so to the Common-Wealth At last being accused in his old age he required and obtained that Tiberius Sempronius Gracchut one of the chiefest of his enemies should be appointed for his Judge but even he acquitted him and gave sentence that he was innocent through this his confident action he ever after lived both in great glory and equal security 3. It is said of King Henry the Sixth of England that he had one immunity peculiar that no man could ever be revenged of him seeing he never offered a man an injury Once for all let his Confessor be heard speak who in Ten years Confession never found that he had done or said anâ— thing for which he might justly be enjoyned pennance 4. When the Corps of Thomas Howard second Duke of Norfolk was carried to be interred in the Abby of Thetford Anno 1524. No person could demand of him one Groat for debt or restitution for any injury done by him 5. Aristophon the Athenian was used to boast amongst his Citizens of this that whereas he had been ninety five times cited and accused before the Tribunal of Justice yet he had ever been absolved and pronounced innocent in every of those Tryals 6. Iulius Drusus a Tribune of the people had a house that in many places lay open to the eyes of the Neighbourhood there came a workman to him and told him that at the price of five Talents he would so alter it that it should not be liable to that inconvenience I will give thee Ten Talents said he if thou canst make my house perspicuous in every Room of it that so all the City may behold after what manner I lead my life For he was a man of great temperance and moderation Lipsius calls him Livius Drusus and relates the story in somewhat a different manner though to the same purpose 7. Aristides was the most just and honest person amongst all the Greeks and by reason of the glory and Name he had gained was in danger of a Ten Years Exile which from the manner of the suffrage the Greeks call Ostracism While they were now giving in their voices and he himself was present standing in the Croud and Throng of the People there came one to him who not able to write himself desired him being next to him that he would write the Name of Aristides in his Shell viz. him that he would have condemned and banished Do you know him then said Aristides or has he any way injured you Neither said the other but this is that which vexes me and therefore I would he were condemned because I hear him called up and down Aristides the just or honest Aristides took his Shell and wrote his name in it as he had desired 8. Scipio Nasica was judged once by the Senate of Rome and each of those Senators were sworn to speak without passion or affection to be the best and honestest man that ever was from the beginning of the world yet this same man as upright and innocent as he was through the ingratitude of the people was not suffered to dye in his own Country besides he had a repulse from them when he sued for a dignity 9. M. Cato the younger was the admirer or flatterer of no mortal he frequently opposed Pompey â—earing his greatness for
who supposing the King had forgot them converted them to his own use Alphonsus dissembled the matter instead of those put on other Rings and kept on his accustomed way After some days the King being about to wash he who had received but not restored the former put forth his hand to take from him his Rings as he had used to do But Alphonsus putting his hand back whispered him in the Ear I will give thee these Rings to keep as soon as thou hast returned me those I did formerly entrust thee with and further than this he proceeded not with him 15. Sarizanarus was the Author of that Hexastick which was made of the famous City of Venice Viderat Adriacis Venetam Neptunus in undis Stare Vrbem et toti ponere Iura mari Nunc mihi Tarpeias quantumvis Iupiter Arces Objice illa tui moenia Martis ait Sic pelago Tibrim praefers Vrbem aspice utramque Illam homines dices hanc posuisse Deos. The Poet had small reason to repent of his ingenuity for as a reward of his pains he had assign'd him out of the publick treasury of that state an hundred Zecchins for every one of those verses which amounts to three hundred pounds of our money 16. When Henry of Lancaster sirnamed the Good Earl of Darby had taken Bigerac in Gascoign Anno 1341. He gave and granted to every Soldier the house which every one should seize first upon with all therein A certain Soldier of his brake into a Mint Masters house where he found so great a mass of money that he amazed therewith as a prey greater than his desert or desire signified the same unto the Earl who with a liberal mind answered It is not for my state to play Boys play to give and take Take thou the money if it were thrice as much 17. At the Battel of Poictiers Iames Lord Audley was brought to the black Prince in a Litter most grievously wounded for he had behaved himself with great valour that day To whom the Prince with due commendations gave for his good service four hundred Marks of yearly Revenues the which he returning to his Tent gave as frankly to his four Esquires that attended him in the Battle whereof when the Prince was advertised doubting that his gift was contemned as too little for so great good service the Lord Audley satisfied him with this answer I must do for them who deserved best of me these my Esquires saved my life amidst the enemies and God be thanked I have sufficient revenues left by my Ancestors to maintain me in your service Whereupon the Prince praising his prudence and liberality confirmed his gift made to his Esquires assign'd him moreover six hundred marks of like Land here in England 18. King Canutus gave great Jewels to Winchester Church whereof one is reported to be a Cross. worth as much as the whole Revenue of England amounted to in a year and unto Coventry he gave the Arm of St. Augustine which he bought at Papia for an hundred Talents of Silver and one of Gold 19. Clodoveus Son of Dagobert King of France in a great death caused the Church of St. Dennis which his Father had covered with Plates of Silver to be covered with lead and the Silver given to the relief of the Poor 20. Isocrates the Son of Theodorus the Erecthian kept a School where he taught Rhetorick to an hundred Scholars at the rate of one hundred drachms of silver a piece He was very rich and well he might for Nicocles King of Cyprus who was the Son of Evagoras gave him at once the summ of twenty Talents of Silver for one only oration which he dedicated unto him 21. The Poet Virgil repeated unto Augustus Caesao three Books of his Aeneads the Second Fourth and Sixth the latter of these chiefly upon the account of Octavia Sister to Augustus and Mother of Marcellus whom Augustus had adopted but he died in the Eighteenth year of his Age. Octavia therefore being present at this repetition when Virgil came to these Verses at the latter end of the sixth book wherein he describes the mourning for Marcellus in this manner Heu miserando Puer si qua fata asperarumpas Tu Marcellus eris Alas poor Youth if Fates will suffer thee To see the Light thou shalt Marcellus be Octavia swooned away and when she was recovered she commanded the Poet to proceed no further appointing him Ten Sesterces for every verse he had repeated which were in number twenty one So that by the bounty of this Princess Virgil received for a few Verses above the Summ of fifty thousand Crowns CHAP. XXVIII Of the Pious Works and Charitable Gifts of some men WHereas saith the Learned Willet the professors of the Gospel are generally charged by the Romanists as barren and fruitless of good works I will to stop their mouths shew by a particular induction that more charitable works have been performed in the times of the Gospel than they can shew to have been done in the like time in Popery especially since the publick opposition of that Religion which began about two hundred and fifty years since counting from tâ—e times of Iohn Wickliâ—fe or in twice so much time now going immediately before To make good this he hath drawn out a Golden Catalogue of persons piously and charitably devoted together with their works out of which I have selected as I thought the chiefest and most remarkable to put under this head only craving leave to begin with one or two beyond the compass of his prescribed time which I have met with elsewhere 1. In the Reign of King Henry the Fourth the most deservedly famous for works of Piety was William Wickham Bishop of Winchester his first work was the building of a Chappel at Tichfield where his Father and Mother and Sister Perrot were burled Next he founded at Southwick in Hampshire near the Town of Wickham the place of his Birth as a supplement to the Priory of Southwick a Chauntry with allowance of five Priests for ever He bestowed twenty thousand marks in repairing the houses belonging to the Bishoprick he discharged out of prison in all places of his Diocess all such poor prisoners as lay in execution for debt under Twenty pounds he amended all the high ways from Winchester to London on both sides the River After all this on the Fifth of March 1379. he began to lay the foundation of that magnificent structure in Oxford called New Colledg and in person laid the first Stone thereof In the year 1387. on the twenty sixth of March he likewise in person laid the first stone of the like Foundation in Winchester and dedicated the same as that other in Oxford to the memory of the Virgin Mary 2. In the Reign of King Edward the Fourth Sir Iohn Crosby Knight and late Lord Mayor of London gave to the Repairs of the Parish Church of Henworth in Middlesex forty
Sword and with force enough let drive at the place the Virgin had design'd him the sword entred so far into her throat that with one and the same blow he cut off his hopes of enjoying the Virgin and her fears of loosing her Virginty 19. Timoclea was a Lady of Thebes and at the sack of it was forcibly ravish'd by a Thracian Prince and she revenged the injury in this manner dissembling the extream hatred which she bare to her ravisher she told him she knew a place wherein much Treasure and store of Gold was conceal'd she led him to an out-place belonging to the house where there was a deep well while the over covetous Thracian lean'd over to look into it She tripp'd up his heels and sent him headlong to the bottom of it with a quantity of stones after him to hinder his resurrection from thence for ever to the world being afterwards brought before Alexander and charged with the death of this Captain of his she confessed the fact and when he asked who she was I am said she the Sister of that Theagenes who died sighting valiantly against thy Father in the Fields of Cheronaea the generous Prince freely dismiss'd her 20. There was a Maid called Lucia who lived a Virgin amongst many others and whose exquisite beauty was sought unto with vehement solicitation by a powerful Lord who having Command and Authority in his hands sent messengers to seise on this innocent Lamb and whilst they were at the gate menacing to kill her and set all on fire if this poor creature was not delivered into their hands the Maid came forth what is it said she you demand I beseech you tell me whether there be any thing in my power to purchase your Lord and Masters Love yea answered they in a flouting manner your eyes have gained him nor ever can he have rest tell he enjoy them Well go then said she only suffer me to go to my Chamber and I will give satisfaction in this point The poor maid seeing her self betwixt the Hammer and the Anvil she spake to her eyes and said how my eyes are you then guilty I know the reservedness and simplicity of your glances nor have I in that kind any remorse of conscience But howsoever it be you appear to me not innocent enough since you have kindled fire in the heart of a man whose hatred I have ever more esteemed than his love Quench with your blood the flames you have raised Whereupon with a hand piously cruel She digged out her eyes and sent the torn reliques embrewed in her blood to him who sought her adding Behold what you love He seized with horror hastned to hide himself in a Monastery where he remained the rest of his days 21. The Consul Manlius having overthrown the Army of Gallogrecians in Mount Olympus part were slain and part made prisoners amongst others was the Wife of Prince Orgiagon a woman of surpassing beauty who was committed to the custody of a Centurion and by him forcibly ravished Her ransome was afterwards agreed upon and the place appointed to receive it from the hands of her friends when they came thither and that the Centurion was intent both with his eyes and mind upon the weighing of the Gold she in her Language gave command to them that were present that they should kill him When his head was cut off she took it up in her hands went with it to her husband and having thrown it at his feet she related the manner of the injury she had received and the revenge she had taken who will say that any thing besides the body of this woman was in the power of her enemies for neither could her mind be overcome nor the chastity of it violated 22. I will shut up this Chapter with the illustrious Example of Thomas Aquinas this great person had determined with himself to consecrate the flower of his age to God and the desirable vertue of Chastity his Parents opposed this Noble resolution of his by flatteries and threats and such other Arts as they supposed might be of use to them upon this occasion but without any success their Son remained constant to his purpose in despite of all their endeavors Whereupon they took this other course When Thomas was one day in his Chamber all alone they sent in to him a young Damosel of an admirable beauty who with a countenance composed to lasciviousness began with various allurements and feminine flatteries to invite him to wickedness All things seemed to speak in her her voice and form her eyes and clothes her gestures and perfumes the youth perceived the delightful poison began to slide into his heart and therefore turning himself Lord Jesus said he suffer me not to commit this filthy wickedness in thy sight or for the sake of carnal lust to loose the joys of Eternal Life this said he catch'd up a burning brand out of the fire with which he drave out this Syren before him and shut his Chamber door upon her happily by this means escaping the snare that was spread before him and by which he was so near to have been entangled CHAP. XXXI Of Patience and what power some men have had over their Passion EVery man knows how to row in a calm and an indifferet Pilot will serve to direct the course of a Ship when the season is quiet and serene but the conduct of that Governor is most praise worthy who knows how to steer his vessel aright when the winds are enraged and some furious tempest has put the tumultuous waves into a vehement commotion In like manner it is a small commendation to appear mild when nothing is said or done to displease us but to repress our rising passions and to keep down our resentments in the midst of injurious provocations so noble a victory deserves an Elogy which perhaps the greatest of Conquerors never merited 1. King Robert was one of the greatest Kings that ever wore Crown of France on a time he surpriz'd a Rogue who had cut away half of his Cloak Furred with Ermins to whom yet so taken and in an act of that insufferable presumption he did no further evil but only said mildly to him save thy self and leave the rest for another who may have need of it 2. King Henry the sixth of England was of that admirable patience that to one who struck him when he was taken Prisoner he only said forsooth you wrong your self more then me to strike the Lords Anointed 3. It s said that Philip the second King of Spain having written a letter with his own hand with much study and labor to be sent to the Pope when he asked for sand to be cast upon it his Secretary half a sleep powred the Ink in the Standish upon it in stead of the former this would have put most into a fury yet behold a person of this eminency bare it without speaking one angry word to
with Arrows Those of his Company having almost reached the top of the Wall were slain with Stones or wounded and carried into the Camp 27. The Romans having won the Tower Antonia the Jews â—led into the Inner Temple and there maintained sight from the ninth hour of the night to the seventh hour of the day at which time the Romans had the worst of it This was observed by Iulian a Centurion born in Bithinia who at that time stood by Titus in Antonia he therefore presently leaped down thence and all alone pursued the Jews who had the Victory in the Inner Temple And the whole multitude â—led deeming him by his force and tourage not to have been a man in the midst of them he slew all he lighted upon whilst for haste the one overturned the othe This deed seemed admirable to Caesar and terrible to his Enemies Yet did the destiny befal him which no man can escape for having his Shooes full of sharp Nails as other Soldiers have running upon the Pavement he slipped and fell down his Armour in the fall making a great noise whereat his Enemies who before fled now turned again upon him Then the Romans in Antonia fearing his life cryed out but the Jews many at once strook him with Swords and Spears He defended many blows with his Shield and many times attempting to rise they strook him down again yet as he say he wounded many neither was he quickly slain because the nobler parts of his body were all armed and he shrunk in his neck a long time till other parts of his body being cut off and no man helping him his strength failed Caesar sorrowed to see a man of that force and fortitude slain in the sight of such a multitude The Jews took his dead body and did beat back the Romans and shut them in Antonia only the brave Iulian left behind him a renowned memory not only amongst the Romans and Caesar but also amongst his Enemies CHAP. XXXVII Of the fearless Boldness of some Men and their desperateâ— solutions SOme men have within them a Spirit so daring and adventurous that the presence and more than probability of any disaster whatsoever is not able to conjure down To desperate Diseases they apply as desperate Remedies and therein Fortune sometimes so befriends them that they come off as successfully with their Presumptions and Temerities as others who mannage their Counsels with the greatest care and conduct they are able 1. A Dutch Sea man being condemned to death his Punishment was changed and he was ordered to be left at St. Hellen's Island This unhappy person representing to himself the horrour of that Solitude fell upon a resolution to attempt the strangest action that ever was heard of There had that day been interred in the same Island an Officer of the Ship The Sea-man took up the body out of the Coffin and having made a kind of Rudder of the upper board ventured himself to Sea in it It happened fortunately to him to be so great a Calm that the Ship lay immoveable within a League and half of the Island when his Companions seeing so strange a Boat â—loat upon the Waters imagined they saw a Spectre and were not a little startled at the resolution of the man who durst hazard himself upon that Element in three boards slightly nailed together though he had no confidence to find or be received by those who had so lately sentenced him to death Accordingly it was put to the question whether he should be received or not some would have the Sentence put in execution but at last mercy prevailed and he was taken aboard and came afterwards to Holland where he lived in the Town of Horn and related to many how miraculously God had delivered him 2. The French King Charles the Eighth through the weakness of Peter de Medices in his Government had reduced the City of Florence unto such hard terms that he had the Gates of it set open to him he entred it not professing himself friend or foe to the Estate in a triumphant manner himself and his Horse armed with his Lance upon his thigh Many Insolences were committed by the French so that the Citizens were driven to prepare to fight for their Liberty Charles propounds intolerable Conditions demanding high summs of money and the absolute Rule of the State as by right of Conquest he having entred armed into it But Peter Caponi a principal Citizen catching these Articles from the King's Secretary and tearing them before his face bad him sound his Trumpets and they would ring their Bells Which bold and resolute words made the French better to bethink themselves and came readily to this Agreement that for forty thousand pounds and not half that money to be paid in hand Charles should not only depart in peace but restore whatever he had of their Dominion and continue their assured friend 3. Henry Earl of Holsatia sirnamed Iron because of his strength being gotten into great favour with Edward the Third King of England by reason of his Valour was envied by the Courtiers who one day in the absence of the King counselled the Queen that for as much as the Earl was preferred before all the English Nobility she would make tryal whether he was so nobly born as he gave out by causing a Lyon to be let loose upon him saying that the Lyon would not so much as touch Henry if he was Noble indeed They got leave of the Queen to make this Tryal upon the Earl He was used to rise before day and to walk in the base Court of the Castle to take the fresh Air of the morning The Lyon was let loose in the night and the Earl having a night Gown cast over his Shirt with his Girdle and Sword and so coming down the Stairs into the Court met there with the Lyon bristling his hair and roaring he nothing astonished said with a stout voice Stand stand you Dog At these words the Lyon couched at his feet to the great amazement of the Courtiers who looked out of their holes to behold the issue of this business The Earl laid hold of the Lyon and shut him within his Cage he left his Night-cap upon the Lyon's back and so came forth without so much as looking behind him Now said the Earl calling to them that looked out at the Windows let him amongst you all that standeth most upon his Pedigree go and fetch my Night-cap but they ashamed withdrew themselves 4. In the Court of Matthias King of Hungary there was a Polonian Soldier in the King's Pay who boasted much of his valour and who in a bravado would often challenge the Hungarians to wrastle or skirmish with the Sword or Pike wherein he had always the better One day as he stood by a great Iron Cage in which a Lyon was kept the greatest and fiercest that had been seen of a long time he began
to say to those that were in his company Which of you dares to take a piece of flesh out of this Lyon's throat when he is angry None daring to take it in hand You shall see added the Polonian the proof of my Speech All that day following the Lyon had not any meat given him the next day they threw him the fore Quarters of a Sheep the Lyon begins to grunt to couch down at his Prey and to eat greedily Herewith the Polonian enters and loâ—king the Lyon betwixt his legs gives him a blow with his fist upon the Jaw crying hah you Dog give me the flesh The Lyon amazed at such a bold voice let go his hold shewing no other Countenance but casting his eye after the Polonian that carried the flesh away 5. The City of Rome being taken by the Gauls and those that fled to the Capitol besieged in this distress some of the Romans that were fled to Veientum brought that same Camillus whom before they had ungratefully forced into Exile to take upon him the Supreme Command He answered that while those in the Capitol were safe he took them for his Country and should obey their Commands with all readiness but should not obtrude himself upon them against their will But all the difficulty was to send to them that were inclosed in the Capitol by the way of the City it was impossible as being full of Enemies But amongst the young men of Ardaea where Camillus then was there was one Pontius Cominius of a mean Birth but desirous of Glory and Honour who offered himself to this piece of service He took no Letters to them lest being taken the design should be betrayed to the Enemy But in meat habit and pieces of Cork under it he performed part of his journey by day-light as soon as it grew dark being near the City because the Bridge was kept by the Enemy he could not that way pass the River with his light Garment therefore bound about his head and bearing up himself upon his Cork he swam over the River and perceiving by the fire and noise that the Guards were awake he shunn'd them and came to the Carmental Gate there all was silent and the Capitoline Hill was most steep and hard to ascend By this way he climbs up and at last came to the Sentinels that watched upon the Walls he salutes them and tells them who he was He was taken up led to the Magistrates acquaints them with all his business They presently create Camillus Dictator and by the same way dismiss Pontius who with the same wonderful difficulty escaped the Enemy as before and came safe to Camillus and Camillus to the safety of his Countrey 6. In the Reign of Tham King of China there was a Colao an Officer not unlike that of our Duke who having been Tutor to the King was very powerful with him and to preserve himself in his Grace and Favour studied more to speak what would please the King then to tell him the truth for the good of his Estate The Chineses forbare not to speak of it amongst themselves and to tax the flattery of this Coloa once some Captains of the Guard were discoursing this Point at the Palace when one of them being a little warmed with the Discourse secretly withdrew himself went into the Hall where the King was and kneeling down upon his knees before him the King asked what he would have Leave said he to cut off the head of a flattering Subject And who is that said the King Such a one who stands there replied the other The King in a rage What said he against my Master darest thou to propound this and in my Presence too Take him away and strike off his head When they began to lay hands upon him he caught hold of a wooden balanster and as there were many pulling of him and he holding with a great deal of strength it brake by this time the King's heat was over he commands they should let him go and gave order that the balanster should be mended and that they should not make a new one that it might remain a witness of the Fact and a memorial of a Subject that was not afraid to advise his King what he ought to do 7. Phocion the Athenian was a man that stood with unmoveable constancy against the Multitude the Nobles Fortune and Death it self There was once an Oracle recited at Athens viz. that there was amongst them one single man that ever dissented from the agreeing opinions of all the rest All the people were enraged and enquired after that man Now pray said Phocion surcease your enquiry I am the man you seek for for not one thing of all that you do did ever please me 8. In a Parliament at Salisbury in the twenty fifth year of King Edward the First the King requires certain of his Lords to go to the Wars in Gascoigne which needed a present Supply by reason of the death of his Brother Edmund but all the Lords made excuses each for themselves Whereupon the King in great rage threatned they should either go or he would give their Lands to others that would Upon this Humphry Bohune Earl of Hereford High Constable and Robert Bigod Earl of Norfolk Marshal of England made their Declaration that if the King went in Person they would attend him otherwise not which Answer offended the King more and being urged again the Earl Marshal protested he would willingly go thither with the King and march before him in the Van-guard as by right of Inheritance he ought to do But the King told him plainly he should go with any other though he went not himself in person I am not so bound said the Earl neither will I take that Iourney without you The King swore By God Sir Earl you shall go or hang. And I swear by the same Oath said the Earl that I will neither go nor hang and so departed without leave 9. Avidius being General of the Army when a part of the Auxiliaries without his privity had slain three thousand of the Sarmatians upon the Banks of the Danubius and returned with a mighty Spoil the Centurions expecting mighty Rewards for that with so small Forces they had overthrown so great a number but he commanded them to be seized and crucifyed For said he it might have fallen out that by a sudden eruption of the Enemy from some Ambush the whole Army might have been hazarded But upon this Order of his a Sedition arose in the Army when he straight goes forth into the midst of the Mutineers unarmed and without any Life-Guard where unappalled he spake in this manner Kill me if you dare and give a glorious instance of your corrupted Discipline When they saw his undaunted boldness they all grew quiet and willingly submâ—tted themselves to Discipline which thing not only preserved the Romans themselves in obedience but struck such an awe into
they were that were his Confederates Zeno named not one of them but all such as were of most credit with the Tyrant these he rendred suspected to him and reproching the Citizens with their fear and cowardise he excited them to so suddain and vehement impulse of mind that they stoned the Tyrant Phalaris in the place 12. Theodorus a wise and excellent person wearied the hands of all the Tormentors that Hieronymus the Tyrant exposed him to the severity of his Scourges the Racks he was stretched upon the Burning Irons he was tortured with could never be able to extort from him a confession of the names of them that were with him in the Conspiracy or to betray the Secret he was intrusted with but instead of this in the extremity of his sufferings he impeached the principal Favourite of the Tyrant and that person he most relyed upon in the Government and thereby deprived him of one that was most faithful to him CHAP. XLVIII Of such who in their raised Fortunes have been mindful of their low Beginnings AT the Coronation of the Emperors of Constantinople it was customary to present them with several sorts of Marbles and of different colours by the hand of a Mason who was then to bespeak the new Emperor to this purpose Chuse mighty Sir under which of these Stones Your pleasure is that we should lay your bones They brought him Patterns for his Grave-stone that the prospect of death might contain his thoughts within the due bounds of modesty and moderation in the midst of his new Honours And it was doubtless to keep them humble that the following persons were so mindful of their obscure beginnings 1. Pope Benedict the Eleventh was born of mean Parentage nor was he unmindful of his primitive poverty when advanced to this high degree of honour While he was in the Monastery his Mother was a Laundress to the Monks and being now made Pope he sent for her to come to him she came and the great Ladies supposing it unfit to present her to his Holiness in her homely Attire had furnished her in such manner that she now appeared almost another woman Being thus brought into the presence of her Son the Popâ— dissembled his knowledge of her And what mean you said he bring me my Mother as for this Lady I know her not â—s my Mother is a Laundress and it is with her that I desire to speak They therefore withdrew her from the Presence stripp'd her of all her costly Ornaments and having dressed her up in her old rags they again returned with her then the Pope embraced her In this habit said he did I leave my Mother in this I know her and in this I receive her The Emperors of China elect their Wives out of their own Subjects and provided they are otherwise accomplished as in Beauty and inclinations to Vertue they regard not her Estate or Condition in so much that for the most part they are the Daughters of Artizans One of these was the Daughter of a Mason and when she was Queen kept ever by her an iron Trowel when the Prince her Son upon any occasion behaved himself more haughtily than became him she sent to shew him that instrument with which his Grand-father used to lay Stones for his Living by which means she reduced him to better temper 3. Aâ—athocles who from the Son of a Potter came to be King of all Sicily would yet never wear Diadem nor have any Guard about him He also caused his name to be engraven in Greek letters upon Vessels of Earth these Vessels he disposed amongst the richest of his Pots of Silver and Gold that he might be thereby imminded from whence he descended 4. Willegis Arch-Bishop of Mentz from a base condition ascended to the highest Dignities yet would he leave behind him a perpetual mark of his humility and a remembrance of his mean Quality to his Successors Being of a poor House and Son to a Carter he caused these words following to be written in great letters in his lodging Chamber Willegis Willegis recole unde veneris Willegis Willegis remember whence thou camest He caused also the Wheels and other Instruments of a Cart to be there hung up in remembrance of his Pedigree Lesâ— the Second of that name of a base Descent was for his Vertues chosen King of Polonia Anno 780. But he ruled as a Prince descended from ancient Kings and all his life time upon solemn days when he was to appear in his Royal Robes he caused a Garment of course Cloth which he had worn before to be cast over them thereby to keep in remembrance his former life 6. When Libussa Princess of Bohemia had first ennobled and then married Primislaus the third of that name who before was a plain Husbandman In remembrance of his â—irst condition he brought with him at such time as he was to receive the Royalties a pair of wooden Shooes and being asked the cause he answered that he brought them to that end that they might be set up for a Monument in the Castle of Visegrade and shewed to his Successors that all might know that the first Prince of Bohemia of that Race was called from the Cart to that high Dignity and that he himself who from a Clown was brought to wear a Crown might remember he had nothing whereof to be proud These Shooes are still kept in Bohemia as a precious Relick and the Priests of Visegrade carry them about in Procession upon every Coronation day This Prince having encreased his Kingdom built the City of Prague and walled it about did long reign happily and left a numerous Posterity 7. Iphicrates that noble General of the Athenians in the midst of his Triumphs cryed out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from what to what from how great misery and baseness to how great blessedness and glory are we exalted 8. Thomas Cromwel was born at Putney in Sussex his Father was a Black-smith and though he could do little to his Education by reason of his Poverty yet such was the pregnancy of the Son that through various Fortunes and Accidents he was first knighted by King Henry the Eighth then made Master of his Jewel house then one of the Privy Council then Master of the Rolls then Knight of the Garter and lastly Earl of Essex Great Chamberlain of England and the King's Vicegerent to represent his own Person Now whereas men advanced from mean and base degree to high Dignity usually grow proud forgetting what they were and whence they came and casting off their old friends who were formerly beneficial to them it was sar otherwise with this noble Earl as appears by sundry examples Riding in his Coach with Arch-Bishop Cranmer through Cheapside he spyed a poor woman of Hounslow to whom he was indebted for several old Reckonings to the value of forty shillings he caused her to be called unto him asked her whether he
Messenger is come to thee our will and pleasure is that thou send us by him thy head unto Constantinople In vain was it to dispute the command of his Lord and thus the miserble man perished 3. William the Conquerour for his game and the pleasure he took in hunting enforested thirty miles in Hamshire pulled down thirty six Parish Churches and dispeopled all the place chasing the inhabitants from the places of their inheritance But the just hand of God was visible and remarkable upon his posterity for this his grievous oppression for in this very New Forest his two Sons Richard by a pestilent air and King William Rufus by the shot of an Arrow and his Grandson Henry son of Duke Robert by hanging in a bough as Absolom came to their untimely ends 4. Anno Dom. 1570. at Ryâ— in Sussex there was a strange example of Gods judgements upon a covetous oppressive Gentleman and one that desired to grind the faces of the Poor This Gentleman living near the Sea had a Marsh wherein upon poles Fishermen used to dry their Nets for which he received of them yearly a sufficient sum of money but at length not being content with it he caused his servants to pluck up the poles not suffering the Fishermen to come upon his ground any longer except they would compound at a larger rate but it came to pass the same night that the Sea breaking in overwhelmed all his Marsh which saith Hollinshead continueth in that manner to this very day 5. Lucullus the Roman Consul visiting the Cities of Asia found the poor country afflicted and oppressed with so many evils and miseries as no man living could believe nor tongue express for the extream and horrible covetousness of the Farmers Customers and Roman Usurers did not only devour it but kept the people also in such miserable bondage and thraldome that Fathers were forced to sell their goodly Sons and Daughters ready for marriage to pay the interest and use money of that which they had borrowed to pay their fines withall yea they were forced to sell the Tables dedicated to the Temples the statues of their gods and other Ornaments and Jewels of their Temples and yet in the end they themselves were adjudged for bondslaves to their cruel Creditors to wear out their dayes in miserable servitude And yet the worst of all was the pain and torment they put them to before they were so condemned for some they imprisoned and cruelly racked others they tormented upon a little brazen Horse set them in the Stocks made them stand naked in the greatest heat of Summer and on the Ice in the deepest of Winter so that bondage seemed to them a relief of their miseries and a rest from their torments Lucullus found the Cities of Asia full of such oppressions whereof in a short time he exceedingly eased them 6. King Iohn of England was a great oppressour on a time a Jew refusing to lend this King so much mony as he required the King caused every day one of his great teeth to be pulled out by the space of seven dayes and then the poor Jew was content to give the King ten thousand marks of silver that the one tooth which he had left might not be pulled out The same King assaulting the chastity of the Daughter of Robert Fitzwater called Mawd the fair and by her repulsed he is said to send a messenger to give her poyson in a poached Egg whereof she died not long after he himself had but little better fate being poysoned at Swinestead Abbey 7. Luther reports that he being at Rome a great Cardinal died and left behind him great store of mony Before his death he had made his Will and laid it in a Chest where his mony was After his death the Chest was opened and therein by the mony was found written in Parchment Dum potui rapui rapiatis quando potestis I scrap'd together while I could That you should do so too I would 8. Five Brethren of the Marshalls successively Earles of Pembrook dyed issueless Which Mathew Paris attributeth to the judgement of God upon them for their Fathers iniquity who detained from the Bishop of Firning certain Manours which he had violently taken from him 9. Lewis the eleventh King of France having been a great oppressour of his Subjects by excessive Taxes and enforced Contributions when he grew old resolved to redress that and other mischiefs whereby they had been oppressed but was in a short time after this purpose prevented by death 10. Anno Dom. 1234. in the reign of King Henry the third there was a great dearth in England so that many people died for want of victuals At which time Walter Grey Arch-bishop of York had great store of Corn which he had hoarded up for five years together yet in that time of scarcity refused to relieve the poor with it but suspecting lest it might be destroyed with Vermine he commanded it to be delivered to Husband-men that dwelt in his Mannors upon condition to return him as much New Corn after Harvest but behold a terrible judgement of God upon him for his covetousness and unmercifulness to the poor When men came to one of his great Stacks of Corn near to the Town of Rippon there appeared in the sheaves all over the heads of Worms Serpents and Toads so that the Bayliffs were forced to build a high wall round about the Stack of Corn and then to set it on fire lest the venemous creatures should have gone out and poysoned the Corn in other places CHAP. XIII Of the bloody and cruel Massacres in several places and their occasions THe Naturalists tell us of a Serpent who is therefore called Haemorrhois that wheresoever he bites he makes the man all over bloody It seems his poyson hath a particular command over the blood so as to call it all into the outward parts of the body The vulgar rout and headstrong multitude when once it is enraged is such another kind of Serpent wheresoever the scene of its insolency is it makes it all over bloody This unbridled torrent bears all down before it and being transported with its own fury it knows no difference of age sex or degree till it hath converted a flourishing place into an Akeldama or a field of blood In the year 1506. in Lisbon upon the tenth day of April many of the City went to the Church of Saint Dominicks to hear Mass On the left side of this Church there is a Chapel much reverenced by those of the Country and called Iesus Chapel Upon the Altar there stands a Crucifix the wound of whose side is covered over with a piece of Glass Some of those that came thither to do their devotions casting their eyes upon this hole it seemed to them that a certain kind of glimmering light came forth of it Then happy he that could first cry a miracle and every one said that God
meanness of his Spirit had cast a dishonour upon his Victory 5. Thomas Woolsey Cardinal when he went his last Embassy into France had in his retinue nine hundred Horse of Nobles Gentry and others he rode like a Cardinal very sumptuously on his Mule with his spare Mule and spare Horse trapped in Crimson Velvet upon Velvet and his Stirrups gilt Before him he had his two great Crosses of Silver his two great Pillars of Silver the Kings Broad Sâ—al of England and his Cardinals Hat and a Gentleman carrying his Valence of fine Scarlet all over richly embroydered with Gold wherein was his Cloak and his Harbingers before in every place to prepare lodging for his Train As he was great in power so no less in pride and insolence he told Edward Duke of Buckingham that he would sit on his skirts for spilling a little water on his Shooe and did afterwards procure his head to be cut off he presumed to carry the Great Seal of England with him beyond the Seas he demolished forty Monasteries to promote his own Buildings And dared in Conference to say familiarly Ego Rex meus I and my King But when once he was declined in his favour with the King and commanded to retire he was upon the way at Putney met by Mr. Norrice who had some comfortable words to deliver him from the King and a Ring of Gold in token of his good will to him The Cardinal at hearing of this quickly lighted from his Mule alone as though he had been the youngest of his men and incontinent kneeled down in the dirt upon both his knees holding up his hands for joy of the Kings comfortable Message Mr. Norrice said he considering the joyful news you have brought me I could do no less than rejoyce every word pierced so my heart that the sudden joy surmounted my memory having no regard or respect to the place but I thought it my duty that in the same place where I received â—his comfort to laud and praise God on my knees and most humbly to render to my Soveraign Lord my hearty thanks for the same Talking thus upon his knees to Mr. Norrice he would have pulled off a Velvet night-cap which he wore under his scarlet Cap but he could not undo the knot under his chin wherefore with violence he rent the Laces of his Cap and pulled his said Cap from his Head and kneeled bare-headed when Mr. Norrice gave him the Ring he said If I were Lord of the Realm one half were too small a reward for your pains and good news but desired him to accept a little Chain of Gold with a Cross of Gold wherein was a piece of the Holy Cross which he ware about his Neck next his body and said he valued at more than a thousand pounds CHAP. XXXIX Of the Vain-glorious Boasting of some men WHen Alcibiades then but young was boasting himself of his Riches and Lands Socrates took him into a room and shewed him the Map of the World Now said he where is the Country of Attica When Alcibiades had pointed to it Lay me then said he your finger upon your own Lands there When the other told him they were not there described and what said Socrates do you boast your self of that which is no part of the Earth He that hath most hath nothing to boast of and great boasts for the most part as they betray great folly so they end in as great derision 1. Oromazes had an inchanted Egg in which this Impostor boasted that he had enclosed all the happiness in the world but when it was broken there was found nothing in it but wind 2. Mr. Iohn Carter Vicar of Bramford in Suffolk an excellent Scholar and a modest person being at Dinner at Ipswich in one of the Magistratâ—s Houses where divers other Ministers were also at the Table one amongst the rest who was old enough and had learned enough to have taught him more humility was very full of talk bragged much of his parts and skill c. and made a challenge saying Here are many learned men if any of you will propound any question in Divinity or Philosophy I will dispute with him resolve his doubts and satisfie him fully All at the Table except himself were silent for a while then Mr. Carter when he saw that no other would speak to him calling him by his name I will said he go no further than my Trencher to puzle you here is a Sole now tell me the reason why this fish that hath alwayes lived in the salt water should come out fresh To this the forward Gentleman could say nothing and so was laughed at and shamed out of his vanity 3. Ptolomaeus Philadelphus was a wise Prince and learned amongst the best of the Egyptians but was so infatuated by unseasonable and high luxury that he grew to that degree of sottishness as to boast that he alone had found out immortality and that he should never dye Not long after being newly recovered of a sharp fit of the Gout and looking out of his Window upon the Egyptians that dined and sported on the banks of the River Nilus with a deep sigh he wished he was one of them 4. Eunomius the Heretick boasted that he knew the Nature of God at which time notwithstanding St. Basil puzled him in twenty one questions about the body of an Ant. 5. Paracelsus boasted that he could make a man immortal and yet himself dyed at fourty seven years of age 6. Pompey the Great at such time as the news of Caesars passing Rubicon came to Rome boasted that if he should but once stamp with his foot upon the â—arth of Italy forthwith armed troops of Horse and Foot would leap out thence yet was he put to a shameful flight by that enemy he so much despised 7. Sigismund King of Hungary beholding the greatness of his Army which he led against Bajazaet the first hearing of the coming of the Turks army in his great jollity proudly said What need we fear the Turk who need not at all to fear the falling of the Heavens which if they should fall yet were we able to hold them up from falling upon us with the very points of our Spears and Halberds yet this Insolent was then vanquished and enforced to fly not unlike another Xerxes being driven to pass the Danubius in a single and little Boat this was at the Battle of Nicopolis Anno 1396. 8. Abel by bribes bestowed in the Court of Rome from Archdean of St. Andrews got himself to be preferred Bishop there and was consecrated by Pope Innocent the fourth at his return he carried himself with great insolence They write of him that in a vain-glorious humour one day he did with a little Chalk draw this line upon the Gate of the Church Haec mihi sunt tria Lex Câ—non Philosophia Bragging of his knowledge and skill in those Professions and
he added the Estates thereof to the house of Austria He was coursely used in the Low Countries by a company of rude Mechanicks detained in Prison which he endured with patience and after nine Months freed himself with admirable prudence He was joined Emperour with his Father in his Fathers life-time with whom he Reigned seven years and after his decease he Reigned alone twenty five years more his Motto was Tene mensuram respice finem 97. Charles the â—iâ—th this man was the glory of the House of Austria a Puissant Prince he liked three Books especially Polybius's History Machiavel's Prince and Castalion's Courtier In fifteen Wars which he waged for the most part he was successful the last of which was by Cortez and Pizarro in the newly discovered parts of America where in twenty eight Battels he beâ—ame Master of so many Kingdoms Near home he took Rome by the Duke of Burbon captivated the French King Francis in the Battel of Pavia frighted Solyman the Turk from Vienna setled Muly Hassen in his Kingdom in Africk he defeated Barbarossa that formidable Pirat and took Tunis By the Popes continual instigations he carried a hard hand towards the Protestants whose patience and perseverance with intervenient crosses abated his edge at last Wearied at length with the Worlds incessant troubles he devested himself of all Imperial Authority and retired to a Monastery his Motto was Plus Vltra opposite to that of Hercules He Reigned thirty and seven years 98. Ferdinand the first Arch-Duke of Austria the brother of Charles King of Hungary and Bohemia elected King of the Romans by the procurement of Charles Anno 1531. upon whose resignation he was chosen Emperour Anno 1558. a compleat and judicious Prince Under him in the treaty of Passaw was granted Liberty of Conscience to the Professours of the Augustane Confession which much startled the Fathers of the Trent Council as also did the grant to the Bohemians for receiving the Supper in both kinds He subdued Iohn Sepusius Vaywode of Transylvania and strongly kept back the Turk from encroachments upon his Dominions his Motto was Fiat Iustitia pereat mundus 99. Maximilian the second the son of Frederick elected King of the Romans in the life of his Father Anno 1562. succeeded in the Empire after his decease He was constant to the Tenent that mens Consciences are not to be forced in matters of Religion In his time began the Wars in the Low Countryes chiefly occasioned by the Spanish cruelty executed by the Duke of Alva the Civil Wars in France the Massacre of the Protestants began at Paris the famous defeat was given to the Turks in the Sea-sight at Lepanto he Reigned twelve years married his two daughters to two Puissant Princes Elizabeth to Charles the ninth King of France and Anna his eldest to Philip King of Spain his Motto was Dominus providebit 100. Rodolphus the second the eldest son of Maximilian a Prince much addicted to Chymistry he granted liberty of Religion to the Protestants had great Wars against the Turks with whom in the year 1600. he concluded a Peace but being undermined by his brother Matthias was forced to surrender to him the Kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia and to content himself with Austria and the Empire only In his time Henry the fourth King of France was stab'd by Ravilliac and the Gunpowder Treason was hatched here in England his Motto was Omnia ex voluntate Dei 101. Matthias brother of Rodolphus King of Hungary Bohemia and Arch-Duke of Austria succeeded in whose time were sown the seeds of that terrible War which had almost destroy'd the Empire the Protestants standing for their Priviledges in Bohemia were withstood by some of the Emperours Council of whom they threw Slabata and Fabritius Smesantius with a Secretary out of a Window at Prague his Motto was Concordia lumine major Having no children he declared 102. Ferdinand the second of the House of Gratz to be Emperour this Prince was more zealously affected to the See of Rome than any of his Predecessours and a great enemy of the Protestant Religion occasioning thereby that long and bloody War in the Empire of Germany The King and Queen of Bohemia forsaken of their States are forced to â—ly he is proscribed and put out of his Elâ—ctâ—rship Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden like a tempest falls upon Germany and frâ—es divers oppressed Princes but at last was slain in the Battel at Lutzen uncertain whether by the â—nemy or the Treason of his own his Motto was Legitime certantibus 103. Ferdinand the third son of Ferdinand the second broke the great power of the Swedes who were called in for the support of the German liberty against the violent resolutions of Ferdinand the second For he overthrew them at the Battel of Norlingen This Prince is the twelfth Emperour of the House of Hapsburg anâ— the ninth of the House of Austria without intermission The cause of which is to be attributed to Charles the fifth who procured in his life-time that his brothâ—r might be chosen King of the Romans as his Successour in the Empire A Policy which hath ever since been continued by his Successours and the Germans are the more willing to hâ—arken to it because the Austrian Princes are not only Natives but also better able to back the Empire in its compleat Majesty than any other of the Nation The Motto of this Emperour is Pietate Iustitia In the Collection of these Emperours I have made use of Suetonius Zonaras Carion ....... Heylen Sympson Prideaux and others CHAP. II. Of the Eastern Greek and Turkish Emperours 1. COnstantinus aged thirty one in the year 306. took upon him the care of the Empire he overcame Maxentius and Licinius restored Peace to the Church took Byzantium and having enlarged it called it Constantinople and New Rome He died in Nicomedia Anno 337. aged sixty five Gault tab Chronogr p. 279. 2. Constantius his son succeeded him in the East he favoured the Arrians hearing that Iulianus his Kinsman conspired against him he made Peace with Sapores the Persian King and moved towards him but in his march seised with a Fevor he died Anno 361. Gaulter tab Chron. p. 283. 3. Iulianus succeeded Sirnamed the Apostate son of Constantius the brother of Constantine the Great at first a Christian afterwards a professed enemy of the Gospel fortunate in his Wars against the Almanes Franks and other Transalpine Nations whilest he was a Christian. Prodigiously slain in the Persian War when become a Persecutor aged thirty eight his Motto was Pennis suis perire grave he Reigned but one year and eight months dying he threw his blood up into the Air saying Satiare Nazarene Zon. tom 3. fol. 119. 4. Iovian or Iovinian chosen by the Army a Religious Prince made Peace with the Persian setled the affairs of the Church who being dead Valentinian one of mean birth but great abilities in War was elected Emperour he Reigned
you forgotten that our Sâ—nate is humane and moderate towards those they treat with But the people are high spirited and desirous of great matters If therefore in the Assembly of the people you shall declare you come with full power they will impose upon you what they please rather deal so with them as if you had not the full power and I for my part will do all I am able in favour of your State and confirm'd it to them with an Oath Next day at the Assembly of the people Alcibiades with great civility demanded of the Embassadours in what quality they came whether as Plenipotentiaries or not They denied what they had said before in the Senate and declared before the people that they had not full power to conclude matters Hereupon Alcibiades immediately cryed out That they were a sort of unfaithful and inconstant men no way to be trusted by this means he so excited both the Senate and People against them that they could do nothing CHAP. VI. Of such as were eminent Sea-men or discoverers of Lands or Passages by Sea formerly unknown WHen Anacharsis was once asked which he thought to be the greatest number of the living or the dead Of which sort said he do you take those to be that Sail upon the Seas He doubted it seems whether they were to be reputed amongst the living who permitted their lives to the pleasure â—f the Winds and Waves Had all others been possessed with the same timerous Sentiments the World had wanted those Noble Spirits who could not rest satisfied till by their own hazards they had brought one Hemisphere to some acquaintance with the other 1. Christopher Columbus born at Nervy in the Signiory of Genoa being a man of great abilities and born to undertake great matters could not perswade himself the motion of the Sun considered but that there was another World to which that glorious Planet did impart both his life and heat when he went from us This World he purposed to seek after and opening his design to the State of Genoa Anno 1486. was by them rejected Upon this repulse he sent his Brother Bartholomew to King Henry the seventh of England who in his way happened unfortunately into the hands of Pirates by whom detain'd a long while at last he was enlarged As soon as he was set at liberty he repaired to the Court of England where his proposition found such a chearful entertainment at the hands of the King that Christopher Columbus was sent for to come thither also But Christopher not knowing of his brothers imprisonment and not hearing from him conceived the offer of his Sâ—rvice to have been neglected and thereupon made his desires known at the Court of Castile where after many delayes and six years attendance on the business he was at last furnished with three Ships only and those not for conquest but discovery With this small strength he sailed on the Ocean more than sixty daies yet could see no Land so that the discontented Spaniards began to mutiny and refused to move a foot forwards just at that time it happened that Columbus did discern the Clouds to carry a clearer colour than they did before and therefore besought them only to expect three daies longer in which space if they saw not Land he promised to return toward the end of the third day One of the company called Roderigo de Triane descried fire an evident token they drew near unto some shore The place discovered was an Island on the Coast of Florida called by Columbus St. Saviours now counted one of the Lucaios Landing his men and causing a Tree to be cut down he made a Cross thereof which he erected near the place where he came on Land and by that ceremony took possession of the New World for the Kings of Spain October 11. 1492. Afterwards he discovered and took possession of Hispaniola and with much Treasure and content returned to Spain and was preferred by the Kings themselves for this good service first to be Admiral of the Indies and in conclusion to the title of the Duke De la Vega in the Isle of Iamaica The next year he was furnished with eighteen ships for more discoveries in this second Voyage he discovered the Islands of Cuba and Iamaica and built the Town of Isabella after called Domingo in Hispaniola from whence for some severities used against the mutinous Spaniards he was sent Prisoner to Castile but very honourably entertained and absolved of all the crimes imputed to him In 1497. he began his third Voyage in which he discovered the Countrys of Pana and Cuâ—â—na on the firm land with the Islands of Cubagna and Margarita and many other Islands Capes and Provinces In 1500. he began his fourth and last Voyage in the Course whereof coming to Hispaniola he was unworthily denyed entrance into the City of Domingo by Nicholas de Ovendo then Governour thereof After which scowring the Sea-Coasts as far as Nombre de Trias but adding little to the fortune of his â—ormer discoveries he returned back to Cuba and Iamaica and from thence to Spain where six years after he dyed and was buried honourably at Sevil Anno 1506. 2. Columbus having led the way was seconded by Americus Vesputius an adventurous Florentine employed therein by Emanuel King of Portugal Anno 1501. on a design of finding out a nearer way to the Molucca's than by the Cape of good Hope who though he passed no further than the Cape of St. Augustines in Brasile yet from him to the great injury and neglect of the first Discoverer the Continent or main Land of this Country hath the name of America by which it is still known and commonly called 3. To him succeeded Iohn Cabott a Venetian the Father of Sebastian Cabott in behalf of Henry the seventh King of England who discovered all the North Out-coasts of America from the Cape of Florida in the South to New-found-land and Terra de Laborador in the North causing the American Roytolets to turn homagers to the King and Crown of England 4. Ferdinandus Cortesius was as I suppose the most famous of all the Spaniards for the discovery of new Lands and People For passing the Promontory of Cuba that points directly to the West and is under the Tropick of Cancer and leaving Iucatana and Colvacana on the left hand he bent his course till he attained the entrance of the great River Panucus where he understood by Interpreters he had in his former Voyage that these were the Shores of the Continent which by a gentle turning was on this side connected with the Shores of Vraban but on the other Northward after a vast tract oâ— Land did conjoyn it self with those Countreys which Seamen call Baccalaurae He also was informed that the large and rich Kingdoms of Mexico were extended from the South to the West these Kingdoms he was desirous to visit as abounding in Gold and all kind of plenty the
and may be a King but there is a Caput Algol which hinders it And what is that said the Baron Ask me not said la Brosse what it is I must know it replied he In the end he said to him My Son it is that he will do that which shall make him lose his head Whereupon the Baron beat him cruelly and having left him half dead he went down and carried with him the key of the Garret door whereof he afterwards brag'd He had also conference with one Caesar who was a Magician at Paris who told him that only a back blow of the Bourguignon would keep him from being a King He remembred this prediction being a Prisoner in the Bastille and intreated one that went to visit him to learn if the Executioner of Paris was a Bourguignon and having found it so he said I am a dead man and soon after was beheaded for his Conspiracy 23. Upon St. Nicholas day in the year 1422. Queen Katherine Wife to King Henry the Fifth was brought to bed of a Son at Windsor who was by the Duke of Bedford and Henry Bishop of Winchester and the Countesse of Holland christned by the name of Henry whereof when the King had notice out of a prophetick rapture he said Good Lord I Henry of Monmouth shall small time reign and much get and Henry born at Windsor shall long time reign and lose all but Gods will be done 24. On the 30. day of October 1485. was Henry the Seventh with great Solemnity anointed and crowned King of England and even this was revealed to Cadwallader last King of the Britains 797 years past that his Off-spring should reign and bear dominion in this Realm again 25. Although Henry the First came not to the Crown of England by the gift of his Father the Conqueror as his Brother William did yet he came to it by the Prophecy of his Father for when his Father made his Will and divided all his Estate in Land between his two eldest Sons giving to Henry his youngest only a Portion in Money with which division he perceived him to be much discontentend he said unto him Content thy self Harry for the time will come that thy turn shall be serv'd as well as theirs His prediction was accomplished August the 5. An. 1100. he being then crowned in Westminster 26. The Great Cham Cublai intending to besiege the Metropolis of the Province of Mangi made one Bajan Chiusan the General of his Army which name signifies the light of an hundred eyes the Queen that was within the Walls of the City with a Garrison sufficient hearing the name of the General not only delivered the City but also the whole Province into the hands of Cublai for that she had before heard it predicted by the Astrologers that the City should be taken by him that had an hundred eyes 27. Thrasyllus the Mathematician was in the Retinue of Tiberius when he lived at Rhodes as an Exile and though under that cloud and that Caius and Lucius were both alive whose pretences were before his yet he constantly told him that he should be Emperour Tiberius believed him not but suspecting he was suborned by his Enemies to betray him into dangerous words he determined privily to make him away He had a house in Rhodes in which there was a Tower built upon a Rock which was washed by the Sea hither he brought him accompanied by a Servant of his own of great strength resolved to cast him headlong from thence When therefore they were come up Tell me said he by all that is dear unto thee if that is true which thou hast hitherto so confidently affirmed to me concerning the Empire It is said Thrasyllus a certain truth and such is the pleasure of the Stars If then said Tiberius you have such assurance of my Destiny what say you of your own Presently be erected a Scheme and considering the situation and distance of the Stars he began to fear look pale and cryed out I am in doubtful and hazardous state and the last end of my life seems nearly to approach At this Tiberius embraced him and told him he doubted not his skill in predictions acquainting him with his design against his life The same Thrasyllus not long after walking with Tiberius upon the shore of Rhodes having discovered a Ship under Sail afar off told him that Ship came from Rome and therein were Messengers with Letters from Augustus concerning his return which also fell out accordingly 28. Apollonius Tyanaeus was at Ephesus in Asia reading a Lecture in a Grove there a great space both of Land and Sea interposed betwixt him and Rome when he began to speak low and then more slowly streight he looked pale and stood silent at last stepping hastily on some paces as one transported O brave Stephanus said he strike the Tyrant kill the Murderer thou hast struck him thou hast wounded him thou hast slain him This spoke in publick was carefully gathered up the time diligently observed and as it was after well known that Domitian the Emperour was slain in Rome that day and the same hour of the day by one Stephanus that was of his Bed-chamber 29. Diocletian being in Gallia with the Roman Army and at that time but a Knight of Rome and of a slender Fortune paid his quarters but indifferently his Hostess upbraided him that he paid her too sparingly and he on the other side jestingly replied that he would discharge his Reckoning more bountifully assoon as he should be Emperor the Woman who was a Witch told him that he should be Emperour assoon as he had slain the Boar he thereupon betook himself to hunting and had killed many wild Boars yet still found himself never the nearer at last Numerianus the Emperour being slain by the fraud of Aper his Father-in-law Diocletian slew Aper in the Council his name in English is a Boar and thereupon was elected Emperour 30. William Earl of Holland upon the death of Henry Lantgrave of Hassia and King of the Romans was chosen King in his stead after which he warred upon Frisia and subdued it when near unto a City there he light upon a Tomb adorned with great curiosity of Workmanship and asking who was intombed therein he was told by the Inhabitants that at present there was not any body interred therein but that by a secret Fate it was reserved for a certain King of the Romans The King having assured his new Conquest was marching out of Frisia and rode himself before with few of his Attendance to seek out a convenient place for the quartering of his Army when it chanced that his Horse breaking into the Ice overthrew him There were certain fugitive Frisons that lay hid in the reeds thereabouts who observing his misfortune brake out upon him and before any could come in to his assistance he was partly slain by them and partly choaked with his Helmet about him in
in greatness it excelled all those that were famous in old time The Plat or ground of it is said to be four hundred and eighty furlongs the Walls were in height one hundred foot and the breadth of them such that three Carts might meet upon the top of them On the Walls there were one thousand five hundred Towers each of them two hundred foot high It was called Tetrapolis as being divided as it were into four Cities Niniveh Resena Forum and Cale 7. The Pyramids of Egypt are many in number but three of them the most celebrated the principal of all is situated on the South of the City of Memphis and on the Western Banks of Nilus It is accounted chief of the Worlds seven Wonders square at the bottom and is supposed to take up eight Acres of ground Every square is 300 single paces in length it is ascended by 225 steps each step above three foot high and a breadth proportionable growing by degrees narrower and narrower till we come to the top and at the top consisting but of three stones only yet large enough for sixty men to stand upon No stone in the whole is so little as to be drawn by any of our Carriages yet brought thither from the Arabian Mountains how brought and by what Engine mounted is an equal wonder It was built for the Sepulchre of Cheops an Egyptian King who employed in it day by day twenty years together no fewer than three hundred sixty six thousand men continually working on it The charges which they put him to in no other food than Garlick Rhadishes and Onions being computed at a thousand and eight hundred Talents Diodorus Siculus saith of this Pyramid that it stands an hundred and twenty furlongs from Memphis and forty five furlongs from Nilus It hath stood saith he almost a thousand years unto our time but as the Tradition is above three thousand and four hundred 8. Wales anciently extended it self Eastward to the River Saverne till by the puissance of Offa the great King of the Mercians the Welsh or Britains were driven out of the plain Country beyond that River and forced to betake themselves to the Mountains where he caused them to be shut up and divided from England with an huge Ditch called in Welsh Claudhoffa that is Offa's Dike Which Dike beginning at the influx of the Wie into the Severne not far from Chepstow extendeth eighty four miles in length even as far as Chester where the Dee is mingled with the Sea Concerning this Ditch there was a Law made by Harold that if any Welsh-man was found with a Weapon on this side of it he should have his right hand cut off by the Kings Officers 9. The Bridge of Caligula was a new and unheard of spectacle it reached from Putzol to Banli three miles and a quarter he built it upon Ships in a few days and in emulation of Xerxes Over this he marched with the Senate and Souldiery in a triumphant manner and in the view of the people Upon this he feasted and passed the night in dalliance and gaming A marvellous and great work indeed but such as the vanity thereof deprived it of commendation for to what end was it raised but to be demolished Thus sported he saith Seneca with the power of the Empire and all in imitation of a foreign frantick unfortunate and proud King 10. The Capitol of Rome seated on the Tarpeian Rock seemed to contend with Heaven for height and no doubt but the length and breadth were every way answerable The excessive charge that Domitian was at in the building of it Martial after his flattering manner hath wittily described and which I may thus translate So much has Caesar giv'n the Gods above That should he call it in and Cred'tor prove Though Jove should barter Heav'n it self away This mighty debt he never could repay We may in part give a guess at the Riches and Ornaments of it by this that there was spent only upon its gilding above twelve thousand Talents it was all gilded over not the inner Roof only but the outward Covering which was of Brass or Copper and the doors of it were overlaid with thick plates of Gold which remained till the Reign of Honorius 11. Suetonius thus describes that House of Nero's which Nero himself called Domum Auream the Golden House In the Porch was set a Colossus shaped like himself of one hundred and twenty foot high The spaciousness of the House was such that it had in it three Galleries each of them a mile long a standing Pool like a Sea beset with Buildings in manner of a City Fields in which were arable grounds Pastures Vineyards and Woods with a various multitude of tame and wild beasts of all kinds In the other parts thereof all things were covered with Gold and distinguished with precious Stones or Mother of Pearl The Supping-rooms were roofed with Ivory Planks that were moveable for the casting down of Flowers and had Pipes in them for the sprinkling of Ointments The Roof of the principal Supping-room was round which like the Heavens perpetually day and night wheeled about This House when he had thus finished and dedicated he so far forth approved of it that he said he had began to live like a man 12. Ptolomaeus Philopater built a Ship saith Pancirollus that the like was never seen before or since It was two hundred and eighty cubits in length fifty two cubits in height from the bottom to the upper Dâ—cks It had four hundred Banks or Seats of Rowers four hundred Mariners and four thousand Rowers and on the Decks it could contain three thousand Souldiers There were also Gardens and Orchards on the top of it as Plutarch relates in the Life of Demetrius 13. China is bounded on the North with Altay and the Eastern Tartars from which it is separated by a continued chain of Hills and where that chain is broken off with a great Wall extended four hundred leagues in length built as they say by Zaintzon the hundred and seventeenth King hereof six fadom high twelve yards think twenty seven years erecting by continued labour of 70050000 men 14. M. Scaurus the Son-in-law to Sylla when he was Aedile caused a wonderful piece of Work to be made exceeding all that had ever been known by mans hand not only those which have been erected for a month or such a thing but even those that have been destined for perpetuity and a Theatre it was The Stage had three heights one above another wherein were three hundred and sixty Columns of Marble the middle of glass an excessive superfluity never heard of before or after As for the uppermost the Boards Planks and Floors were gilded The Columns beneath were forty foot high wanting two and between these Columns there stood of Statues and Images of Brass to the number of three thousand The Theatre it self was able to receive 80000 persons to sit
that City and all its Inhabitants and was more exactly obeyed in all his orders and commands than ever Monarch had the glory to be in his own Kingdom This most astonishing revolution in the City of Naples began upon Sunday the seventh of Iuly An. 1647. and ended with the death of Masaniello which was upon Iuly the 16. 1647 the tenth day from its beginning 3. The Lord Cromwel was born at Putney a Village in Surrey near the Thames-side Son to a Smith after whose decease his Mother was married to a Sheer-man This young Cromwel for the pregnancy of his wit was first entertained by Cardinal Wolsey and by him employed in many great Affairs The Cardinal falling the King that was Henry the Eighth took him to his service and finding his great abilities advanced him by degrees to these Dignities Master of the Kings Jewel-house and of the Kings Privy Council Secretary to the King and Master of the Rolls Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal made Lord Cromwel and Vicar General under the King over all the Spirituality created Earl of Essex and at last Lord High Chancellor of England 4. In the Reign of King Henry the Second one Nicholas Breakspear born at St. Albans or as others write at Langley in Hartfordshire being a Bond-man of that Abbey and therefore not allowed to be a Monk there went beyond Sea where he so profited in Learning that the Pope made him first Bishop of Alba and afterwards Cardinal and sent him as his Legate to the Norways where he reduced that Nation from Paganism to Christianity and returning back to Rome was chosen Pope by the name of Adrian the Fourth 5. The War betwixt the Chineses and Tartars began in the year 1206. which lasting 77 years at last the Tartars in the year 1288. having totally subdued all that mighty Empire extinguished the Imperial Family of the Sunga's and erected a new Royal Family which they called Iuena of which Tartarian Race nine Emperours by descent ruled the Kingdom of China for the space of 70 years in peace and quietness In this tract of time the Tartars declining from their ancient vigor and having their warlike Spirits softned by the pleasures and delights of the Country there was a contemptible person called Chu he was Servant to one of those that were deputed to offer Sacrifice to their Idols a Native of China and this man presumed to rebel against them At the first he acted the part of a Thief or High way man and being of a generous nature bold quick of hand and wit he gathered such a multitude in a short time that they made up the body of a great Army then deposing the person of a Thief he became a General set upon the Tartars and fought many Battels with them with such fortune and success that in the year 1368. he drove them quite out of the Empire of China receiving for so illustrious an action the whole Empire of China as a worthy reward of his Heroical Exploits It was he that first erected the Imperial Family of the Taminges and was the first Emperour of that Race stiling himself by the name of Hunguuâ— which is the famous Warriour He placed his Court at Nanking near the great River of Kiang and having speedily ordered and established that Empire he made an irruption into Tartary it self and so followed the course of his Victories that he defeated them several times wasted their Territories and finally brought the Oriental Tartars to such streights as he forced them to lay down their Arms to pay Tribute and to beg an inglorious Peace 6. Sinan that great Bassa in the Court of Selymus the First was born of base Parentage as he being a child was sleeping in the shade he had his Genitals bitten off by a Sow The Turkish Officers which usually provided young Boys for the service of the Grand Signior being in Epirus for that was Sinans Country and hearing of this so extraordinary an Eunuch took him amongst others with them to the Court where under Mahomet the Great Bajazet the Second and his Son Selymus he so exceedingly thrived that he was made the chief Bassa of the Court and so well deserved it that he was accounted Selymus his right hand and was indeed the man to whose Valour especially the Turks owe their Kingdom of Egypt in which Kingdom then not fully setled he was also slain 7. Eumenes being a poor Carriers Son attained to such an ability in the Art of War that after the death of Alexander the Great under whom he served he seised on the Provinces of Cappadoâ—ia and Paphlagonia and siding though a Stranger to Macedon with Olympias and the Blood Royal against the Greek Captains he vanquished and slew Craterus and divers times drove Antigonus afterwards Lord of Asia out of the field but being by his own Souldiers betrayed he was by them delivered to Antigonus and by him slain 8. When Alexander the Great had taken the City of Tyre he permitted Ephestion his chief Favourite to chuse whom he would to be King there Ephestion proffered it to him with whom he had lodged a rich and honourable person but he refused it as not touching the blood of their Kings in any degree Then being asked by Ephestion if he knew any of the Royal Lineage yet living he told him there was a wise and honest man remaining but that he was in extremity of poverty Ephestion went to him forthwith with the Royal Robes and sound him in a Garden lading water out of a pit for a little money and in ragged apparel Ephestion tells him the intent of his coming cloaths him in all the Royal Ornaments and brings him into the Forum where the people were convented and delivers him the Soveraignty over them The people chearfully accepted of a person that was so accidentally and wonderfully found out to rule over them His name was Abdolonymus or as others Ballonymus 9. Licungzus at first a common Thief then a Captain of a Troop of Robbers by degrees arrived to that force and power in China that he took all the Province of Honan subjected the Province of Xensi and gave Sigan the Metropolis of it as a prey to his Souldiers These and many other his fortunate Exploits caused him to take the name of King with the addition of Xungvan which sounds as much as Licungzus the prosperous and at last thinking himself secure of the Empire he took the name of Emperour upon him and stiled the Family wherein he thought to establish this Dignity Thienxunam as much as to say obedient to Heaven By which he endeavoured to perswade the Souldiers and people that it was by the disposition of the Heavens that he should reign He besieged Peking the Metropolis of all China and with his victorious Army he entred and took it An. 1644. and coming into the Palace sate him down in the Imperial Throne though it was observed in this first act
that stood near him This young man will be the occasion that no man hereafter will resign a Dictatorship 7. When Sir Henry Wotton returned from his last Embassie into England at all those houses where he rested or lodged he left his Coat of Arms with this Inscription under them Henricus Wottonius Anglo-cantianus Thomae optimi viri filius natu minimus à Serenissimo Iacobo Primo Mag. Brit. Rege in Equestrem titulum adscitus ejusdemque ter ad Rempubâ—icam Venetam Legatus Ordinarius semel ad Confoederatorum Provinciarum Ordines in Iuliacensi Negotio bis ad Carolum Emanuel Subaudiae Ducem semel ad Vnitos Superiorie Germaniae Principes in Conventu Heilbrunensi postremò ad Archiducem Leopoldum Ducem Wittembergensem Civitates Imperiales Argentinam Vlmamque ipsum Romanorum Imperatorem Ferdinandum Secundum Legatus Extraordinarius tandem hoc didicit Animas fieri sapientiores quiescendo 8. Ramirus lived a Monk in a Monastery from whence upon the death of his Brother he was called by the Nobles and people of Arragon to succeed his Brother in the Kingdom the Pope also dispensed with his Vow and he had his allowance to accept of the Kingdom Ramirus therefore left the Monastery married a Wife of whom he had Daughter called Vrraca after which neither conjugal affection nor the desire of a Kingdom two of the strongest bonds amongst men were able to retain him but that he would return unto that Ecclesiastical humility which he had experienced in the Convent where he formerly had lived 9. The Parthians by civil discords had ejected Artabanus their King who endeavoured his Restauration to his Kingdom by the Arms of Iazates King of the Adiabeni The Parthians not only upon the account of an imminent War but moved also with other reasons repented that they had expelled Artabanus They sent therefore Ambassadors both to him and to Iazates giving them to understand that they would most willingly do what they did require them but that upon the expulsion of Artabanus they had set up Cynamus in his stead and having sworn Allegiance unto him as their King they durst not recede from their Oath Which when Cynamus understood he wrote to Artabanus and Iazates that they should come for he would resign up the Kingdom of Parthia to Artabanus When they were come Cynamus went forth to meet them adorned in Royal Robes and the Diadem upon his head assoon as he drew near to Artabanus dismounting from his Horse he thus spake When the Parthians had driven thee Artabanus from the Kingdom and were resolved to confer it on another at their intreaty I received it but so soon as I knew it was their desire to restore it to thee their true and lawful King and that the only hindrance of it was that they should do it without my consent I not only forbare to oppose them but as thou seest of mine own accord and without any other respect I restore it to thee And having so said he took the Diadem from his own head with his own hands he fitted it to that of Artabanus and freely returned to his former privacy 10. Albertus was a Dominick Fryer and for his great Learning sirnamed Magnus he was made Bishop of Ratisbone by Pope Alexander the Fourth but he freely left his Bishoprick and returned home again to Colen that he might retire himself and enjoy the greater quiet for reading and writing 11. In the year of our Lord 1179. and the Reign of King Henry the Second Richard de Lucy Lord Chief Justice of England resigned his Office and became a Canon in the Abbey of Westwood And in the Reign of King Henry III. upon the 29. of Iune An. 1276. Walter Maleclarke Bishop of Carlisle renounced the Pomp of the World and took upon him the Habit of a preaching Fryer 12. In a preliminary Discourse before the Monasticon Anglicanum we have an account of divers Kings in this our Island who for devotions sake left their Crowns and took upon them the Habit and Profession of Monks Such were Pertocus King of Cambria Constantinus King of Cornwal Sebby King of the East Saxons Offa King of the East Saxons Sigebert King of the East Angles Etheldredus King of the Mercians Kynred King of the Mercians Ceolwulphus King of the North Humbers and Edbricthus King of the North Humbers Whereupon one hath wrote these metrical Verses Nomina Sanctorum rutilant cum laude piorum Stemmate regali cum vestitu Monachali Qui Reges facti spreverunt culmina regni Electi Monachi sunt coeli munere digni 13. Prince Lewis the eldest Son of Charles King of Naples at the age of twenty one years and just when he should have been married to the youthful Princess of Majorica did suddenly at Barcellona put on the rough and severe Habit of the Franciscans The Queens and Princesses there met to solemnize the Marriage of his Sister Blanch with Iames King of Arragon employed their Rhetorick to disswade him from it but to no purpose he loved his Sackcloth more than their Silks and as Monsieur Mathieu alluding to the young Princess speaks of him lâ—â—t Roses to make a Conserve of Thorns 14. King Agrippa took the High Priesthood from Simon Canthara and gave it again to Ionathan the Son of Anani whom he esteemed more worthy than the other But Ionathan declared that he was not worthy of this Dignity and refused it saying O King I most willingly acknowledge the honour you are pleased to bestow upon me and know you offer me this Dignity of your fâ—ee will notwithstanding which God judgeth me unworthy It sufficeth that I have once been invested with the sacred Habit for at that time I wore it with more holiness than I can now receive it at this present yet notwithstanding if it please you to know one that is more worthy of this honour than my self I â—ave a Brother who towards God and you is pure and innocent whom I dare recommend to you for a most fit man for that Dignity The King took great pleasure in these words and leaving Ionathan he bestowed the Priesthood on Mathias his Brother as Ionathan had desired and advised 15. Constantine the Third King of Scotland being wearied with the troubles of a publick life renounced his temporal Dignities and Kingdom and betook himself to a private life amongst the Culdees in St. Andrews with whom he spent his five last years and there dyed about the year 904. 16. Celestine the Fifth an Italian and foâ—merly an Anchorite was chosen Pope was a man of pious simplicity though unskilful in the managâ—mâ—nâ— of Affairs this man was easily perswaded by his Cardinals that the employment he had was too great for his capacity so that he had thoughts of resigning and was furthered therein by the crafty device of Boniface who succeeded him For this man feigning himself to be an Angel spake through a Trunk
draught without taking his breath for that he fairly drank off his liquor and left no snuff behind him and after he had drank so very much he neither stammered in his speech nor unburdened his stomach by vomiting and how late soever he sate up at the Wine over-night he would be sure to relieve the Morning-watch and Sentinels For these rare qualities he was dubbed Knight by the sirname of Tricongius that is the three Gallon Knight 12. For the like quality C. Piso did first rise and afterwards was advanced to the Provostship of the City of Rome by the same Tiberius namely for that in his Court being now Emperour he sate two days and two nights drinking continually and never stirred foot from the table 13. In the time of William Rufus King of England there was one Roger a poor Priest serving a Cure in a Village near Caen in Normandy It chanced that Henry the Kings youngest Brother passing that way made some stay in the Village and being desirous to hear Mass this Roger then Curate was the man to say it which he dispatched with such celerity that the Souldiers who commonly love not long Masses commended him for it telling their Lord that there could not be found a fitter Priest for Men of War than he Whereupon Henry appointed him to follow him and when he came to be King preferred him to many great places and at last to be Chancellor of England and Bishop of Salisbury When King Stephen came to the Crown he held this man in as great account as his Predecessor King Henry had done and perhaps in greater He arrived to such wealth that he builded the Castles of Salisbury the Vies Sherburn Malmsbury and Newark to which there were no Structures comparable in the Kingdom He had also 40000 Marks in money which together with his Castles the King seised into his own hands upon displeasure 14. Claudius upon the rumour of C. Caligula's being slain was so extremely terrified and so doubtful and solicitous of his own safety that he slily crept forth of a Parlour at the Court wherein he then was and conveyed himself up into a Garret near thereabouts and there hid himself betwixt the Hangings that hung before the door Whiles he lurked close there a private Souldier chancing to run to and fro that way looking for plunder espied his feet and by earnest inquiry and asking who he was happened to take knowledge of him He drew him forth out of the place and when he for fear fell down humbly at his feet took hold of his knees to move his compassion saluted him Emperour From thence he immediately brought him to his Fellow-Souldiers who as yet stood wavering by them was he bestowed in a Litter and for that his own Servants were fled they by turns supported the Litter upon their shoulders and so he was brought into the Pretorian Camp all sad and amazed for fear pitied also by the multitude that met him upon the way as if some innocent had been haled to execution Being received within the Entrenchments he lodged in the Camp all night and in the morning the Souldiers swore Allegiance to him Thus was he unexpectedly made Emperour in the fiftieth year of his age 15. Regillianus was General in Illyricum and the Souldiers being ill-affected to Galienus the Emperour were busying themselves upon new designs It fortuned that many of them supped together and Valerianus a Tribune in his wine and mirth was asking Whence may we believe the name of Regillianus did first come A regno from reigning replied one then said all the Souldiers there present He may then be a King and thus upon the sole occasion of this one word spoken at all adventures he was fetched out of his Tent and saluted Emperour and behaved himself with great Gallantry against the Sarmatians 16. Tacitus the Emperour was dead and Florianus his Brother aspired to the Empire but while the Election was depending the Oriental Armies were resolved to have an Emperour of their own choice They were assembled together on purpose to pitch upon some one when the Tribunes as it was fit in that case advised them to chuse fortem clementem probum Imperatorem they catched at the word and suddenly cryed out Probus Augustus the Gods preserve thee so they clad Probus in Purple and other the Imperial Ornaments and proclaimed him Emperour 17. Pisistratus came this way to the chief Rule and sole Power in the City of Athens He shewed himself very affable and courteous to the Citizens and liberal where occasion required it so that he was looked upon as the sure refuge and Sanctuary of such as were oppressed with injury or poverty The Nobility held this course of his suspected and he was well aware thereof and therefore he bethought himself which way he might cajole the Nobility and procure a Guard about his own person to this purpose he gives himself several wounds and then all wounded and bloody comes into the Market-place tells the Citizens that these were the rewards of his goodness to them and theirs which he had now newly received at the hands of the men of power in the City as also that his life was in perpetual hazard unless they would take â—ome course to secure it unto whom alone he had devoted himself and life The people were moved with indignation they decreed him a Guard about his person by means of which he supprest the Nobility made himself the Tyrant of that City and oppressed the people 18. Phrynichus was chosen General of their Forces by the Athenians not because of any grace or favour he was in with them not for any Nobility in his descent nor that he had the reputation of a rich man for which reasons they had often preferred others but in a certain Tragedy having framed his Poem and Musick so much unto military motion that for this reason alone the whole Theatre cryed out that they would have him for their General supposing that he could not be without military skill who had composed a Poem that had in it a spirit not unfitted to the condition of men of War 19. Alfredus King of the West Saxons went out one day a hunting and passing by a certain Wood he heard as he supposed the cry of an infant from the top of a tree he diligently inquired of the Huntsmen what that was commanding one of them to climb the tree where in the top of it was found an Eagles Nest and therein a pretty sweet-fac'd Infant wrapt up in a Purple Mantle and upon each arm a Bracelet of Gold a sign of the Nobility of his Parents This Child the King carried with him caused him to be baptized and from the Nest wherein he was found he gave him the name of Nesting after he had given him noble Education he advanced him to the Dignity of an Earl CHAP. XI Of sundry Customs that were in use and force with
Body but that his dead Corps was abandon'd by his Nobles and Followers and by his meaner Servants he was dispoil'd of Armor Vessels Apparel and all Princely Furniture his naked Body left upon the Floor his Funeral wholly neglected till one Harluins a poor Country Knight undertook the carriage of his Corps to Caen in Normandy to St. Stephens Church which the dead King had formerly sounded At his entrance into Caen the Covent of Monks came forth to meet him but at the same instance there happen'd a great Fire so that as his Corps before so now his Herse was of all men forsaken every one running to quench the Fire That done they return and bear the Corps to the Church The Funeral Sermon being ended and the stone coffin set in the earth in the Chancel as the Body was ready to be laid therein there stood up one Anselm Fitz-Arthur and forbad the Burial alledging that that very place was the Floor of his Fathers House which this dead King had violently taken from him to build this Church upon Therefore said he I challenge this ground and in the name of God forbid that the body of this dispoiler be covered with the Earth of my Inheritance They were therefore inforced to compound with him for one hundred pounds Now was the Body to be laid in that stone Coffin but the Tomb prov'd too little for the Corps so that pressing it down to gain an entrance the Belly not bowel'd brake and sent forth such an intolerable stink amongst the assistants at the Funeral that all the Gums and Spices fuming in their Censers could not relieve them but in great amazement all of them hasted away leaving only a Monk or two to shuffle up the Burial which they did in haste and so gat them to their Cells Yet was not this the last of those troubles that the Corps of this great Prince met with but some years after at such time as Caen was taken by the French unner Chastilion 1562. his Tomb was rifled his Bones thrown out and some of them by private Soldiers brought as far as England again 2. Katherine de Vâ—â—ois Daughter to Charles the Sixth King of France Widow of King Henry the Fifth she was marry'd after to and had Issue by Owen ap Tudor a Noble Welshman her Body lies at this day unburied in a loose Coffin at Westminister and shew'd to such as desire it It 's said it was her own desire that her Body should never be buried because sensible of her fault in disobeying her Husband King Henry upon this occasion There was a Prophecy amongst the English people that an English Prince born at Windsor should be unfortunate in loosing what his Father had acquir'd Whereupon King Henry forbad Queen Katherine being with Child to be delivered there but she out of the corrupt principle of nitimur in vetitum and affecting her Father before her Husband was there brought to bed of King Henry the Sixth in whose Reign the fair Victories woven by his Fathers Valor were by cowardice carelesness and contentions unravell'd to nothing Yet the Story is told otherwise by others viz. that she was bury'd by her Son King Henry the Sixth under a fair Tomb and continued in her Grave some years until King Henry the Seventh laying the foundation of a new Chappel caus'd her Corps to be taken up But why the said Henry being her great Grand-child did not order it to be re-inâ—err'd is not recorded if not done by casualty and neglect it is very strange and stranger if out of design 3. Aristobulus King of the Jews was by Cn. Pompeius sent to Rome in bonds afterwards he was enlarged by Caesar when he had overcome Pompey and sent into Syria there by the favourites of Pompeys part he was taken away by poyson and for some time deny'd buryal in his Native Country the dead Body being kept preserv'd in Honey till at last it was sent by Marcus Antonius to the Jews to be laid in the Royal Monuments of his Ancestors 4. The great Alexander who had attain'd to the height of Military Glory dy'd at Babylon not without suspicion of poyson this great man for whom so much of the world as he had conquered was so much too little was compell'd to expect the leisure of his mutinous Captains till they would be so kind as to bury him Seven days together his dead Corps lay neglected in those heats of Mesopotamia greater than which are rarely to be found in any Country At last command was given to the Aegyptians and Chaldeans to embalm the Body according to their Art which they did yet was it two years before the miserable remainders of this Heroe could be sent away towards its Funeral then it was receiv'd by Ptolemaeus by him carry'd first to Memphis and some years afterwards to Alexandria where it lay and some ages after was shew'd to Augustus Caesar after his Victory over Antonius and Cleopatra 5. Michael Palaeologus Emperour of Constantinople in the Council at Lions under Pope Gregory the Twelfth was reconciled to the Latin Church there in sign of his agreement he and those that were with him publickly sang the Nicene Creed By reason of which he fell into such a hatred of the Greeks that when he dy'd the Monks and Priests forbad his Body to be bury'd and his Son Andronicus who succeeded him though otherwise dutiful enough not only deny'd him the honour of an imperial Funeral but scarce allow'd him that of a mean person he only commanded a few in the night to carry him far from the Camp and there cover him with Earth that the Body of so great a person might not be torn in pieces by wild Beasts 6. Iacobus Patius had conspired against the Medices for which he was publickly hang'd but by the permission of the Magistrates his dead body was laid in the Monuments of his Ancestors but the enraged multitude dragg'd it out thence and buryed it in the common Field without the Walls of the City where yet they would not suffer it to rest but in another popular fury they fetch'd it out thence drew it naked through the City by the same halter wherewith he had been before hanged and so threw it into the River Arnus 7. The Carcase of Pope Iulius the Second was digg'd up and his Ring taken from off his Finger by the Spaniards at such time as Rome was taken by the Army of the Emperour Charles the Fifth which was Anno Dom. 1527. 8. Scanderbeg the most famous Prince of Epirus dy'd in the sixty third year of his age upon the 17 th of Ianuary Anno Dom. 1466. when he had reigned about twenty four years his dead Body was with the great lamentation of all men buryed in the Cathedral Church of St. Nicholas at Lyssa where it rested in peace until that about nine years after the Turks coming to the siege of Scodra by the way took the
old man then present named Monstier and a Son-in-Law of his who immediately went that night away at ten in the Morning came to Flaming's House with each of them a basket of Cherries and a Green-Goose as if presents from the Husband they were let in by the boy whom they presently murdered yet not so but the woman heard his cry and therefore locked fast the Chamber Door and cry'd for help out at the Window the Neighhours ran in took these two villains one in the Funnel of a Chimney and the other in a Well in the Cellar with nothing but his Nose above Water These two being condemned and brought to the place of Execution Monstier desired to speak with the Smiths Widow of whom he asked forgiveness confessing he had stollen from him his Hammer and had therewith kill'd the Woman at St. Opportunes Thus the Smiths innocency was detected and the Murderer found out after twenty years from the commitment 10. A Murderer at Tubing betray'd his murder by his own sighs which were so deep and incessant in grief not of his fact but of his small booty that being but ask'd the question he confessed the crime and underwent worthy punishment 11. At Tiguri a certain vagabond Rogue in the night had kill'd his companion that lay with him in a Barn and having first removed the dead Corps somewhat out of sight fled betimes in the Morning towards Eglisavium a Town under the government of the Tigurines But the Master of the Barn having in the Morning found the signs of a murder soon after found also the dead body In the mean time the Murderer was got far upon his way yet by the noise of Crows and Jays which follow'd and assaulted him he was taken notice of by some Reapers then in the Field who were somewhat terrifi'd at the novelty of so unusual a thing The Murderer for all this holds on his way and now might he seem to be out of danger when there came such as were ordered to make pursuit after him who enquire of the Reapers if any man had pass'd by that way who tell them they had seen none besides one only fellow who as he passed was ever and anon molested with the Crows and Jays that they thence did conjecture he was some villain and that if they made haste they might undoubtedly take him The wretch was soon after seis'd by them and broken upon the Wheel at his execution with sighs and prayers I heard him acknowledge the providence of God a clear instance of which he had receiv'd in so unusual a detection of himself 12. Anno 1611. Some of the English Embassadors men entred into a quarrel with some of the Iamoglans of the next Seraglio in which Tumult one of the Embassadors men threw a stone and smote a Iamoglan on the forehead that he dyed in a few hours The Aâ—a of the Seraglio complained hereof to the Grand Visier who presently sent the sub-Bassa of Galatia to make inquiry of the fact The Embassador went himself to the Seraglio and sent for his men which had been in the quarrel and willed the Turks to design the man which had thrown the stone who all with one shout ran upon one Simon Dibbins a man that was newly come from Candia where he had serv'd the Venetians and was now entertain'd into the Embassadors service This Simon was not he that threw the stone yet the Turks would have none but him on him they laid hands and drag'd him away The Embassador enterpos'd but in vain the English offer'd great sums for his life but the Turks would have blood for blood The day of execution being appointed the Embassador sent his Chaplain to the Prison to prepare him for death who examining him how he had formerly liv'd he confessed that some few years before he had in England kill'd a man for which he had sled to Candia from whence he came to Constantinople where he was now to suffer for that which he did not the just Judgement of God thus pursuing him he was hanged at the Embassadors Gates 13. Henry Renzovius Lieutenant to the King of Denmark in the Dukedome of Holsatia in a Letter of his to David Chytreus writes thus A Traveller was found murdered in the High-way near to Itzehow in Denmark and because the murderer was unknown the Magistrates of the place caused one of the hands of him that was slain to be cut off and hung up by a string on the top of the room in the Town Prison about ten years after the Murderer coming upon some occasion into the Prison the hand that had been a long time dry began to drop Blood upon the Table that stood underneath it which the Gaoler beholding stay'd the fellow and advertised the Magistrates of it and examining him the Murderer giving glory to God confessed his fact and submitted himself to the rigor of the Law which was inflicted on him as he well deserved 14. Smyth and Gurney two Watermen of Gravesend were some years since hired by a Grasier to carry him down to Tilbury Hope for he intended to go to a certain Fayr in Essex to buy Cattle These villains perceiving he had Money conspired to take away his life and accordingly as they went one of them cut his Throat and the other taking his Money threw him over-board This murther was conceal'd divers years but this Summer 1656. those Murderers as they were drinking together fell out and one of them in his passion accused the other of murder and he again accused him upon which being apprehended and examined they confess'd the fact were condemn'd at Maidstone Aslizes and are hang'd in chains at Gravesend 15. Anno 1656. A Woman in Westphalia being near the time of her travel went to the next village to confess her self in her confession she told the Priest she had newly found a purse â—ull of Money and therefore desired him that he would speak of it publickly that it might be restor'd to the right owner The Priest told her it was sent to her from Heaven that she should reserve it to her self and enjoy it the woman thus inform'd kept the Purse to her self In her return home she was to pass thorow a Grove into which she was no sooner come but the pains of Travel came upon her In the mean time a Noble Person who had lost the Purse rode up to her and demanded if she had not found one she beseeches him That for the Love of God he would ride to the next Village for some woman to assist her in her labour and that she would restore him the Purse he sought after the Nobleman rode as fast as he could to call some woman In which time of his absence came the wicked Priest cuts off the womans head and seises upon the purse The Nobleman returning with the women are witnesses of this Tragical Spectacle but who had done it was unknown It was a time when
of and know them that stood by him and also used then to read Books as Photius in his Bibliothica witnesses of him 13. The Illustrious Count Gaspar Scioppius the honour of his age assured me for a certain truth that Io. Mich. Pierruccius a person of known abilities in Padua when he was young used in the night time to compose very elegant Verses and write them down exactly by that light which issued out of his own eyes 14. An excellent and very discreet person was relating to me that some time since whilst she was talking with some other Ladies upon a sudden all the objects she look upon appear'd to her dy'd with unsual colours some of one kind and some of another but all so bright and vivid that she should have been as much delighted as surprized with them but that finding the Apparition to continue she feared it portended some very great alteration as to her health as indeed the day after she was assaulted with such violence by Hysterical and Hypochondriacal distempers as both made her rave for some days and gave her during that time a bastard palsie 15. Being a while since in a Town where the Plague had made great havock and enquiring of an ingenious man that was so bold as without scruple to visit those that were sick of it about the odd symptoms of a disease that had swept away so many there He told me that he was able to tell divers patients to whom he was called before they took their beds or had any evident symptoms of the Plague that they were indeed infected upon peculiar observations that being asked they would tell him that the neighbouring objects and particularly his cloaths appeared to them beautiâ—i'd with most glorious colours like those of the Rain bow oftentimes succeeding one another And this he affirm'd to be one of the usual as well as early symptoms by which this odd Pestilence disclosed it self and when I ask'd how long the Patients were wonted to be thus affected he answer'd that it was most commonly for about a day 16. I know a Lady of unquestionable veracity who having lately by a desperate fall received several hurts and particularly a considerable one upon a part of her face near her eye had her sight so troubled and disorder'd that as she hath more than once related to me not only when the next Morning one of her servants came to her bedside to ask how she did his clothes appear'd adorn'd with such variety of colours that she was sain presently to command him to withdraw but the Images in her Hangings did for many days after appear to her if the room were not extraordinarily darkned embelished with several offensively vivid colours which no body else could see in them And when I enquired whether or no white objects did not appear to her adorn'd with more luminous colours than others and whether she saw not some which she could not now describe to any whose eyes had never been distemper'd She answer'd me That sometimes she thought she saw colours so new and glorious that they were of a peculiar kind and such as she could not describe by their likeness to any she had beheld before or since and that white did so disorder her sight that if several days after her fall she look'd upon the inside of a Book she fancy'd she there saw colours like those of the Rain-bow and even when she thought her self pretty well recover'd and made bold to leave her Chamber the coming into a place where Walls and Cieling were whited over made those objects appear to her with such glorious and dazling colours as much offended her sight and made her repent her venturousness and she added that the disâ—emper of her eyes lasted no less than five or six weeks though since that she hath been able to read and write much without finding the least inconvenience in so doing CHAP. IV. Of the Sense of Hearing and the quickness or dulness of it in divers men MR. Peacham speaks of a great Lady here in England whose cheek would rise up in a blister at the tenderest touch of a Rose It is no easie matter to assign the true reason of so strange an Antipathy nor can I tell whether it was the exquisiteness of the Sense or some peculiarity in the contexture of the Ear or otherwise that occasioned some sort of sounds to be so unpleasant and even intolerable to some more than others 1. Wenceslaus the Third King of Bohemia was not able to endure the noise of Bells when they were rung so that at the first sound of them he used to stop both his Ears with his Hands by reason of which when he came to Prague they were constrain'd to abstain from ringing especially the bigger Bells 2. Petrus Carrera a Spaniard and Governour of Guleta in Affrica could not bear the smell of Gun-powder nor indure the report of great Guns so that as oft as they were to be discharg'd upon the enemy he ran into subterranean caverns and vaulted places under the ground stopping up both his ears with pieces of silk by which means the taking of the City was made the more easie to Sinan Bassa which fell out Anno 1574. 3. When Sybeni in Italy was destroy'd the noise of that Battle was heard by them upon the same day that it was fought who then were spectators of the Olympick Games in Greece 4. Those who live near unto the place where Nilus hath its fall and where that impetuous River rushes headlong from the high and steep Rocks have their ears so beaten upon with continual noise that they utterly loose their hearing or rather hereby they are brought to that pass that without any trouble they are able to bear those sounds which are intolerable to other men nor can they hear unless they are call'd upon with extreme loudness and vehemency The same thing we may daily observe doth befal Millers and such men as continually live within the noise of a Water-Mill 5. Histiaeus the Milesian Tyrant with his men was left by Darius to defend a Bridge upon Ister against the Scythians in his absence for he was gone upward into the Country Histiaeus had cut off some part of it to secure himself and his party against the Darts of the Scythians and so lay off from it with his Ships when therefore Darius return'd and found him nor his Ships there he commanded an Egyptian with a loud voice to call Histiaeus who was the first of all others that heard the call and that at the first sound of his name whether it was that he was more watchful and intentive than others or that he was more sharp and acute in his hearing than the rest but so it was that he immediately return'd at the summons and joyning his Ships to the Bridge where it was broken he thereby delivered Darius out of the hands of the Scythians who were in
quest and pursuit of him CHAP. V. Of the Sense of Feeling the delicacy of it in some and its abolition in others also what Vertue hath been found in the touch of some Persons WHereas in the other senses men are very much excelled and discernibly surpass'd by the bruit Beasts yet the judgement of touch is noted to be more accurate in us than in most other Creatures It is true that this sense is the most abject and inferiour of all other as perceiving nothing but what is conjoyned to it nor that neither but by a medium that is intrinsick and therefore some will not think it matter of much commendation that we are so perfect in this when so comparatively dull in all other senses Howsoever that be methinks I cannot but extremely admire the Histories of those persons wherein this sense hath discover'd it self in its uttermost excellency 1. Meeting casually with the deserved famous Dr. I. Finch extraordinary Anatomist to the now Great Duke of Tuscany and inquiring what might be the chief rarity he had seen in his late return out of Italy into England He told me it was a man of Maestricht in the Low Countries who at certain times can discern and distinguish colours by the touch with his finger I propos'd divers scruples particularly whether the Doctor had taken care to bind a Napkin or Handkerchief over his Eyes so carefully as to be sure he could make no use of his sight though he had but counterfeited the want of it To which I added divers other questions to satisfie my self whether there were any likelihood of collusion or other tricks But I â—ound that the judicious Doctor having gone far out of his way purposely to satisfie himself and his learned Prince about this wonder had been very watchful and circumspect to keep himself from being impos'd upon and that he might not through any mistake in point of memory misinform me he did me the favour at my request to look the notes he had written for his own and his Princes information The sum of which Memorial was this That having been inâ—orm'd at Utrecht that there liv'd one some miles distant from Maestricht who could distinguish colours by the touch When he came to the last named Town he sent a messenger for him and having examin'd him he was told upon enquiry these particulars That the mans name was John Vermaesen at that time about thirty three years of age that when he was but two years old he had the Small Pox which rendred him absolutely blind that at this present he is an Organist and serves that office in a publick Quire That the Doctor discoursing with him over night he affirm'd he could distinguish colours by the touch but that he could not do it unless he were fasting any quantity of drink taking from him that exquisiteness of Touch which is requisite to so nice a sensation that hereupon the Doctor provided against the next Morning seven pieces of Ribbon of these seven colours Black White Red Blew Green Yellow and Grey but as for mingled colours this Vermaesen would not undertake to discern them though if offer'd he would tell that they were mix'd That to discern the colour of the Ribbon he places it betwixt the thumb and forefinger but his most exquisite perception was in his thumb and much better in his right thumb than in the left That after the blind man had four or five times told the Doctor the several colours though blinded with a Napkin the Doctor found he was twice mistaken for he call'd the White Black and the Red Blew but still he before his errour would lay them by in pairs saying That though he could easily distinguish them from all others yet those two pairs were not easily distinguished amongst themselves Whereupon the Doctor desir'd to be told by him what kind of discrimination he had of colours by his touch To which he gave a reply That all the difference was more or less asperity For says he Black feels as if you were feeling needles points or some harsh sand and Red feels very smooth That the Doctor having desir'd him to tell him in order the difference of colours to his touch he did as follows Black and White are most asperous or unequal of all colours and so like that 't is hard to distinguish them but Black is the most rough of the two Green is the next in asperity Grey next to Green in asperity Yellow is the fifth in degree of asperity Red and Blew are so like that they are as hard to distinguish as Black and White but Red is somewhat more asperous than Blew So that Red hath the sixth plaec and Blew the seventh in asperity 2. I know there are many will esteem it a fabulous and feigned thing and I my self should blush to set down the following History in writing to the World were it not now well known to all that are in Rome Iohannes Gambassius Volaterranus from his first youth for twenty years together wrought as a Statuary and made Statues with great fame and reputation to himself Soon after he fell stark blind and for ten years intire lay idle and never work'd yet daily revolving in his mind to find out a way whereby he might recal and retain that glory he had gain'd in the framing of Statues He therefore so supply'd the want of his Eyes with the vigor of his mind that he attempted a deed unheard of in the Memory of all ages He undertook to frame of Clay the Effigies of Cosmo the Great Duke of Hetruria and Tuscany taking for his Pattern a Marble Statue of the same Cosmo which he diligently felt and handled He made it so lively and like that all men were amaz'd at this new Miracle of Art Excited therefore with the excellency of the Work and the acclamations and applause of such as had beheld it he came to Rome in that ample Theatre to present a specimen of his Art It was anno 1636. where first he fram'd the Statue of Pope Vrban the Eight to such an exact resemblance of him as was to the admiration of all men and presented it to Vrban himself He afterwards made the Statues of Duke Braccianus of Gualdus and divers others When he lay sick near St. Onuphrius and I then his Physician he often promised me his workmanship in my own which I utterly refused that my sâ—ight service should not be rewarded with so over great a recompence When most men were amaz'd at this Miracle and suspected that he was not blind he was commanded to work in a dark Chamber wherein he was lock'd up where he finish'd divers pieces unto a perfect likeness lively and strangely expressing the proper beauty of every face the particular kind the grave affable chearful or sad as indeed they were and to speak it in a word he express'd them almost speaking and the hidden manners in their lineaments and thereby convinced all men of
concerning his Love to Truth 17. Euricius Cordus a German Physician hath this honour done to his memory It is said of him that no man was more addicted to truth than he or rather no man was more vehemently studious of it none could be found who was a worser hater of ing and falshood he could dissemble nothing nor bear that wherewith he was offended which was the cause of his gaining the displeasure oâ— some persons who might have been helpful to him if he would but have sought their favour and continued himself therein by his obsequiousness Thus much is declared in his Epigrams and he saith it of himself Blandire nescis ac verum Corde tacere Et mirare tuos displicuisse libros Thou canst not flatter but the truth dost tell What wonder is 't thy Books then do not sell. Paulus Lutherus Son to Martin Luther was Physician to Ioachimus the Second Elector of Brandenbuog and then to Augustus Duke of Saxony Elector It is said of him that he was verè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lover of liberty and freedom of Speech far from â—lattery and assentation and in all points like unto that Rhesus in Euripides who saith of himself Talis sum et ego rectam sâ—rmonum Viam secans nec sum duplex vir Such a one am I that rightly can Divide my Speech yet am no double man The virtues of this Luther were many and great yet I know not any wherein he more deservedly is to be praised than for this honest freedom of speaking wherein he mightily resembled his Father 19. When I lived at Vtricht in the Low Countries the Reply of that valiant Gentleman Colonel Edmonds was much spoken of There came a Country-man of his out of Scoâ—land who desiring to be entertained by him told him that my Lord his Father and such Knights and Gentlemen his Cousin and Kinsmen were in good health Colonel Edmonds turning to his friends then by Gentlemen said he believe not one word he says My Father is but a poor Baker in Edinburg and works hard for his living whom this Knave would make a Lord to curry favour with me and make you believe that I am a great man born when there is no such matter CHAP. V. Of such as have been great Lovers and Promoters of Peace THere is a certain Fish which Aelian in his History calls the Adonis of the Sea because it liveth so innocently that it toucheth no living thing strictly preserving peace with all the offspring of the Ocean which is the cause it is beloved and courted as the true darling of the Waters If the frantick world hath had any darlings they are certainly such as have been clad in Steel the destroyers of Cities the suckers of humane blood and such as have imprinted the deepest scars upon the face of the Universe These are the men it hath Crown'd with Lawrels advanc'd to Thrones and â—latter'd with the misbecoming Titles of Heroes and Gods while the Sons of peace are remitted to the cold entertainment of their own vertues Notwithstanding which there have ever been some who have found so many Heavenly Beauties in the face of Peace that they have been contented to love that sweet Virgin for her self and to Court her without the consideration of any additional Dowry 1. The Inâ—abitants of the Island Borneo not far from the Moluccas live in such detestation of war and are so great Lovers of peace that they hold their King in no other veneration than that of a God so long as he studies to preserve them in peace but if he discover inclinations to war they never leave till he is fall'n in Battle under the Arms of his Enemies So soon as he is slain they set upon the Enemy with all imaginable fierceness as Men that fight for their liberty and such a King as will be a greater Lover of peace Nor was there ever any King known amongst them that was the perswader and Author of a war but he was deserted by them and suffer'd to fall under the Sword of the Enemy 2. Datanes the Persian being employed in the besieging of Sinope received Letters from the King commanding him to desist from the Siege Having read the Letter he adored it and made gratulatory sacrifices as if he had received mighty favours from his Master and so taking Ship in the very next Night he departed 3. The Emperour Leo who succeeded Martianus having given to Eulogius the Philosopher a quantity of Corn one of his Eunuchs told him that such kind of largess was more fitly bestowed upon his Soldiers I would to God said the Emperour that the state of my Reign was such that I could bestow all the stipends of my Soldiers upon such as are learned 4. Constantinus the Emperour observing some differences amongst the Fathers of the Church called the Nicene Council at which also hmself was present At this time divers little Books were brought to him containing their mutual complaints and accusations of one another All which he received as one that intended to read and take cognizance of them all But when he found that he had received as many as were intended to be offered he bound them up in one bundle and protesting that he had not so much as looked into any one of them he burnt them all in the sight of the Fathers giving them moreover a serious exhortation to peace and a Cordial Agreement amongst themselvrs 5. It is noted of Phocion a most excellent Captain of the Athenians that although for his military ability and success he was chosen forty and five times General of their Armies by universal approbation yet he himself did ever perswade them to peace 6. At Fez in Africk they have neither Lawyers nor Advocates but if there be any controversies amongst them both parties Plaintiff and Defendant came to their Alsakins or Chief Judge and at once without any further appeals or pitiful delays the Cause is heard and ended It is reported of Caesar to his great commendation that after the defeat of Pompey he had in his custody a Castle wherein he found divers Letters written by most of the Nobles in Rome under their own hands sufficient evidence to condemn them but he burnt them all that no Monument might remain of a future grudge and that no man might be driven to extremities or to break the peace through any apprehension that he lived suspected and should therefore be hated 8. Iames King of Arragon was a great enemy to contentions and contentious Lawyers insomuch as having heard many complaints against Semenus Rada a great Lawyer who by his Quirks and Wiles had been injurious as well as troublesome to many he banished him his Kingdom as a man that was not to be endured to live in a place to the Peace of which he was so great an enemy 9. I read of the Sister of Edward the Third King of
England and marryed to David King of the Scots that she was familiarly called Iane make peace both for her earnest and successful endeavours therein 10. In old time the Month of March was the first Month amongst the Romans but afterward they made Ianuary tha first the reason of which is thus rendred by some Romulus being a Martial Prince and one that loved Feats of War and Arms and reputed the Son of Mars he set before all the Months that which carried the Name of his Father But Numa who succeeded him immediately was a man of peace and endeavoured to draw the hearts and minds of his Subjects and Citizens from War to Agriculture so he gave the prerogative of the first place unto Ianuary and honoured Ianus most as one who had been more given to politick and peaceable Government and to the husbandry of Ground than to the exercise of War and Arms. 11. The Lord Treasurer Burleigh was wont to say that he overcame Envy and Evil will more by patience and peaceableness than by pertinacy and stubbornness And his private Estate he so manag'd that he never sued any man neither did ever any man sue him whereby he lived and dyed with glory 12. Numa Pompilius instituted the Priests or Heraulds called Feciales whose office was to preserve peace between the Romans and their Neighbouring Nations and if any quarrels did arise they were to pacifiâ— them by reason and not suffer them to come to violence till all hope of peace was past and if these Feciales did not consent to the Wars neither King nor people had it in their power to undertake them 13. Heraclitus was brought by the earnest prayers and entreaties of his Citizens that he would bring forth some sentence of his concerning Peace Unity and Concord Heraclitus got up into the Desk or Pulpit where he called for a cup of sair water which he sprinkled a little bran or meal upon then he put into it a little Glacon which is a sort of herb and so supped it off This done without speaking one word he departed leaving the more prudent and wiser sort of people to collect from thence that if they would cease from immoderate expences and costly matters and betake themselves to such things as were cheap and easie to be had that this was a sure way wherein the lovers of peace and concord might attain unto their desires 14. Otho the Emperour when he saw that he must either lay down the Empire or else maintain himself in the possession thereof by the blood and slaughter of a number of Citizens he determined with himself to die a voluntary death When his Friends and Soldiers desirâ—d him that he would not so soon begin to despair of the â—vent of the War he replyed That his liâ—e to him was not of that value as to occasion a Civil War for the defâ—nce of it Who can chuse but admire that such a spirit as this should be found in a Heathen Prince and he too not above thirty years of age 15. Alphonsus made use of Ludovicus Podius for the most part as his Embassador in Italy as having found him a person of singular diligence and fidelity when therefore this his Embassador gave him to understand that he might easily extort two hundred thousand Crowns for that peace which he was to grant to the Florentines and Venetians This noble and most generous Prince made him this return That his manner was to give peace and not to sell it 16. Servius Sulpitius was an Heathen Lawyer but an excellent person it is said of him that Ad facilitatem aequitatemque omnia tulit neque constituore litium actiones quam controversias tollere maluit He respected equity and peace in all that he did and always sought rather to compose differences than to multiply Suits of Law 11. Sertorius the more he prospered and prevailed in his Wars in Spain the more importunate he was with Metellas and Pompey the Roman Generals that came against him that laying down Arms they would give him leave to live in peace and to return into Italy again professing he preferred a private life there before the Government of many Cities CHAP. VI. Of the signal Love that some men have shewed to their Country JOhn the Second King of Portugal who for the nobleness of his mind was worthy of a greater Kingdom when he heard there was a Bird called a Peliâ—an that tears and gashes her Breast with her Bill that with her own blood thus shed she might restore her young ones to life that were leâ—t as dead by the bitings of Serpents This excellent Prince took care that the figure of this Bird in this action of hers should be added to other his Royal Devices that he might hereby shew that he was ready upon occasion to part with his own blood for the wellfare and preservation of his people and Country Pity it is to conceal their names whose minds have been in this matter as pious and Princely as his not doubting to redeem the lives of their Fellow-Citizens at the price of their own 1. The Town of Calis during the Reign of Philip de Valois being brought to those straits that now there was no more hope left either of Succours or Victuals Iohn Lord of Vienna who there â—ommanded for the King began to treat about the surrender of it desiring only that they might give it up with the safety of their lives and Goods Which conditions being offered to Edward King of England who by the space of eleven months had straitly besieged it he being exceedingly enraged that so small a Town should alone stand out against him so long and withal calling to mind that they had often galled his Subjects by Sea was so far from accepting their petition that contrariwise he resolv'd to put them all to the Sword had he not been diverted from that resolution by some sage Counsellors then about him who told him that for having been faithful and loyal Subjects to thâ—ir Sovereign they deserved not to be so sharply dealt with Whereupon Edward changing his â—irst purpose into some more clemency promised to receive them to mercy conditionally that six of the principal Townsmen should present him the Keys of the Town bare-headed and bare-footed and with Halters about their Necks their lives being to be left to his disposition whereof the Governour being advertised he presently gets him into the Market place commanding the Bell to be tolled for the conventing of the people whom being assembled he acquainted with the Articles which he had received touching the yielding up of the Town and the assurance of their lives which could not be granted but with the death of six of the chief of them with this news they were exceedingly cast down and perplexed when on the sudden there rises up one of their own company called Stephen S. Peter one of the richest and most sufficient men of the Town
drawn thither with his Fleet Being agreed upon the terms the Captains must mutually entertain one another and the â—irst lot fell upon Sextus who received them in his Ship there they supp'd and discoursed with all freedom and mirth when Mâ—nas the freed man of Sextus and Admiral of the Navy came and thus whispered Sextus in the Ear Wilt thou said he that I sâ—all cut the Cables put off the Ship and make thee Lord not only of Sicily and Sardinia but of the whole World it self He said it and it was easie to do it there was only a Bridge which joyn'd the Ship and Shore together and that remov'd the other fell in and who could hinder or oppose the design and upon those two whom he had in his hand all the Roman welfare relyed but Sextus valued his faith given And said he thou Menas perhaps oughtest to have done it and unknown to me But since they are here let us think no more of it for Perjury is none of my property 12. Fabius had agreed with Hannibal for the exchange of Captives and he that had the most in number should receive money for the over-plus Fabius certifies the Senate of this agreement and that Hannibal having two hundred and forty more Captives the money might be sent to reduce them The Senate refused it and withal twitted Fabius that he had not done rightly and orderly nor for the honour of the Republick to endeavour to free those men whose Cowardise had made them the prey of their enemies Fabius took patiently this anger of the Senate but when he had not money and purposed not to deceive Hannibal he sent his Son to Rome with command to sell his Lands and to return with the money to the Camp He did so and speedily came back he sent Hannibal the money and received the Prisoners many of whom would afterwards have repaid him but he freely forgave them 13. Guy Earl of Flanders and his Son were freed from Prison by Philip the fair King of France upon their saith given that in case they could not return the Flemings to their obedience who rebelled and with the English molested Philip that then they should reuurn themselves to their wonted durance They were not able to effect the one and therefore perform'd the other and in that prison Guy shortly after dyed 14. Ferdinand the first King of Spain left three Sons behind him Sanctius Alphonsus and Garcius amongst whom he had also divided his Kingdoms but they lived not long in mutual peace for soon after the death of their Father Sanctius who was of a fierce and violent disposition made war upon his Brother Alphonsus overcame und took him Prisoner and thrust him into a Monastery constrained Religion lasts not long and therefore he privily deserted his Cloyster and in company with Petrus Ansurius an Earl he fled for protection to Almenon King of Toledo He was a Moor and an enemy to the others Religion but there had been friendship and peace betwixt him and Ferdinand the Father of this distressed Prince and upon this account he chose to commit himself unto his faith and was chearfully received by him Long he had not been with him when in the presence of the King the hair of this Prince was observed to stand up an end in such manner that being several times stroked down with the hand they still continued in their upright posture The Moorish Southsayers interpreted this to be a prodigy of evil abodement and told the King that this was the man that should be advanced to the Throne of Toledo and thereupon perswaded to put him to death The King would not do it but preferred his faith given to the fear he might apprehend and thought it sufficient to make him swear that during his life he should not invade his Kingdom A while after King Sanctius was slain by Conspirators at Zamora and his Sister Vrrata being well affected to this her Brother sent him a messenger with letters to invite him to the Kingdom advising him by some craft and with celerity to quit the borders of the Barbarians where he was Alphonsus bearing a grateful mind would not relinquish his Patron in this manner but coming to Almâ—â—on acquainted him with the matter And now said he noble Prince compleat your Royal savours to me by sending me to my Kingdom That as I have hitherto had my liâ—e I may also have my Scepter of your generosity The King embraced him and wished him all happiness But said he you had lost both Life and Crown if with an ungrateful mind you had fled without my privity for I knew of the death of Sanctius and silâ—ntly I awaited whaâ— course you would take and had dispos'd upon the way such as should have return'd you back from your â—light had it been attempted But no more of this all I shall require of you is that during life you shall be a true friend to me and my elder Son Hissemus and so sent him away with money and an honourable retinue This Alphonsus did afterwards take the City and Kingdom of Toledo but it was after the death of Almenon and his Son 15. Iohn the first King of France was overthrown in battle and made prisoner by Edward the black Prince and afterwards brought over into England Here he remained four years and was then suffered to return unto France upon certain conditions which if he could make his Subjects submit to he should be free if otherwise he gave his faith to return He could not prevail to make them accept of the hard terms that were proffered whereupon he returned into England and there dyed 16. Renatus Duke of Berry and Lorrain was taken in Battle by the Soldiers of Philip Duke of Burgundy and was set at liberty upon this condition that as oft as he should be summon'd he should return himself into the power of the Duke while he was thus at liberty it fell out that upon the death of his Brother Lewis King of Naples he was called to succeed him in that Kingdom and at this time it was that the Duke of Burgundy demanded his return according to his oath Renatus well understood that this came to pass by the means of Alphonsus of Arragon who gaped after Naples and he was also proffered by Eugenius the fourth to be dispensed with in his oath notwithstanding all which he determin'd to keep his faith inviolate and so return'd to the Duke by him he was put in safe custody yet at last he was again set at liberty but not before such time as that through this his constrained delay the enemy had secured the Kingdom to himself 17. Antaâ—f King of some part of Ireland warring against King Ethelstan disguised himself like a Harper and came into Ethelstans Tent whence being gone a Soldier that knew him discovered it to the King who being offended with the Soldier for not declaring it sooner the Soldier made this
avitâ Relligione Iaem senescente ne dicam sublatá Mutavit chorum altiorem ut capesceret Vade nunc si libet imitare R. W. 24. Manutius in his Preface to his Paradoxes tells us of one Creighton a Scotch-man who at twenty years of Age when he was killed by the Order of the Duke of Mantua understood twelve Languages had read over all the Fathers and Poets disputed de omni scibili and answered extempore in Verse Ingenium prodigiosum sed de fuit Iudicium He had a prodigious Wit but was defective in Iudgment CHAP. XLIII Of the first Authors of divers Famous Inventions 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 They give out that the most famous inventions that are so lately made known to the Europaean world have been no Strangers to them for a number of Ages that are passed I know not what Justice they may have in these pretensions of theirs but shall content my self to give some account of the most useful amongst them by whom and when they were conveyed down to us 1. The Invention of that Excellent Art of Printing Peter Ramus seems to attribute to onâ— Iohn Faust a Moguntine telling us that he had in his keeping a Copy of Tully's Offices Printed upon Parchment with this Inscription added in the end thereof viz. The Excellent Work of Marcus Tullius I John Faust a Citizen of Ments happily I up 〈◊〉 not with writing Ink or Brass Pen but with an Excellent Art by the help of Peter Gerneshem my Servant finished it was in the Year 1466. the Fourth of February Pasquier saith the like had come to his hands and Salmuth says that one of the same Impression was to be seen in the Publick Library of Ausburg another in Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge and a fifth Dr. Hakewell saith he saw in the Publick Library of Oxford though with some little difference in the Inscription Yet Polydor Virgil from the report of the Moguntines themselves affirms that Iohn Gutenberge a Knight and dwelling in Mentz was the first Inventor thereof Anno 1440. and with him agree divers Learned Persons believing he was the first Inventor of this Invaluable Art but Faust the first who taking it from him made proof thereof in Printing a Book Iunius tells it was the Invention of Lawrence Ians a Citizen of Harlem in the Low Countries with whom joyned Thomas Peters a Kinsman of his for the perfecting of it and that the forementioned Iohn Faust stole his Letters and fled with them first to Amsterdam thence to Collen and aferwards to Ments According to their Books they of China have used Printing this 1600 years but 't is not like unto ours in Europe for their Letters are engraven in Tables of Wood. The Author gives his Manuscript to the Graver who makes his Tables of the same bigness with the Sheets that are given him and pasting the Leaves upon the Table with the wrong side outwards he engraves the Letters as he finds them with much facility and exactness their Wooden Tables are made of the best Pear-tree So that any Work which they print as they do in great numbers remains always intire in the Print of the Table to be Reprinted as oft as they please without any new expence in setting for the Press as there is in our Printing It was brought into England by William Caxto of London Mercer Anno 1471. who first practised it As touching that of Guns though Lipsius calls it the Invention of Spirits and not of men and Sir Walter Raleigh will have it found out by the Indians and Petrach and Valâ—urius refer it to Archimedes for the overthrow of Marcellus his Ships at the Seige of Syracuse Yet the common opinion is that it was first found out by a Monk of Germany Forcatulus in his fourth Book of the Empire and Philosophy of France names him Berthold Swartz of Cullen and Salmuth calls him Constantine Aâ—klitzen of Friburg but all agree that he was a German Monk and that by chance a Spark of Fire falling into a pot of Nitre which he had prepared for Physick or Alchymy and causing it to fly up he thereupon made a composition of Powder with an Instrument of Brass or Iron and putting Fire to it found the conclusion to answer his desire The first publick use of Guns that we read of was thought to be about the year 1380. as Magius or 400 as Ramus in a Battel betwixt the Genowayes and the Venetians at Clodia Fossa in which the Venetians having got it seemes the invention from the Monk so galled their enemyes that they saw themselves wounded and slain and yet knew not by what means nor how to prevent it as witnesseth Platina in the life of Pope Vrban the sixth 3. The Mariners compass is an admirable Invention of which â—odinus thus though there be nothing in the whole Course of Nature that is more worthy of wonder then the Loadstone yet were the ancients ignorant of the divine use of it It points out the way to the skillful Mariner when aâ—l other helps fail him and that more certainly though it be without Reason sense or life then without the help thereof all the Wisards and learned Clerks in the world using the united strength of their wits and cunning can possibly do Now touching the time and Author of this invention there is some doubt Dr. Gilbert our country man who hath written in Latine a large and learned discourse of this stone seems to be of opinion that Paulus Venetus brought the Invention of the use thereof from the Chineses Osorius in his discourse of the Acts of King Emanuel refers it to Gama and his Country men the Portugals who as he pretends took it from certain barbaroâ—s Pirates roaving upon the Sea about the Cape of good Hope Goropius Becanus thinks he hath good reason to intitle it upon his countrymen the Germans in as much as the thirty two points of the Wind upon the Compass borrow the name from the Dutch in all Languages But Blondâ—â— who is therein followed by Pancirollus both Italians will not have Italy lose the prayse thereof telling us that about Anno 1300 is was found out â—t Mâ—lâ—hiâ— or Melphis a Citty in the Kingdome of Naples in the province of Câ—â—â—pania now called Terra di Lovorador But for the Author of it one names him not and the other assures us he is not known Yet Salmuth out of Câ—â—zus and Gomara confidently christens him with the name of Flavius and so doth Dubartas whose verses on this subject are thus translated We 'r not to Ceres so much bound â—or bread Neither to Bacchus for his Clusters red As signior Flavio to thy witty tryal For first inventing of the Seamens Dyal Th' use of th' needle turning in the same
Lord Thomas Seymour Admiral of England the other was the Dutchess of Sommerset Wife to the Lord Protector of England Brother to the Admiral These two Ladies falling at variance for precedence which either of them challenged the one as Queen Dowager the other as Wife to the Protector who then governed the King and all the Realme drew their Husbands into the quarrel and so incensed the one of them against the other that the Protector procured the death of the Admiral his Brother Whereupon also followed his own destruction shortly after For being deprived of the assistance and support of his Brother he was easily overthrown by the Duke of Northumberland who caused him to be convicted of Felony and beheaded 9. A famous and pernicious faction in Italy began by the occasion of a quarrel betwixt two Boys whereof the one gave the other a box on the Ear in revenge whereof the Father of the Boy that was stricken cut off the hand of the other that gave the blow whose Father making thereupon the quarrel his own sought the revenge of the injury done to his Son and began the Faction of the Neri and Bianchi that is to say Black and White which presently spread it self through Italy and was the occasion of spilling much Christian blood 10. A poor distressed wretch upon some business bestowed a long and tedious Pilgrimage from Cabul in India to Asharaff in Hircania where e're he knew how the success would be he rested his weary limbs upon a Field Carpet choosing to refresh himself rather upon the cool Grass than be tormented by those merciless vermine of Gnats and Muskettos within the Town but poor man he fell à malo in pejus from ill to worse for lying asleep upon the way at such time as Sha Abbas the Persian Monarch set forth to hunt and many Nobles with him his pampered Jade winded and startled at him the King examines not the cause but sent an eternal Arrow of sleep into the poor mans heart jesting as Iphicrates did when he slew his sleepy Sentinel I did the man no wrong I found him sleeping and asleep I left him The Courtiers also to applaud his Justice made the poor man their common mark killing him an hundred times over if so many lives could have been forfeiâ—ed 11. Anno 1568. the King of Sian had a white Elephant which when the King of Pegu understood he had an opinion of I know not what holiness that was in the Elephant and accordingly prayed unto it He sent his Ambassadors to the King of Sian offering him whatsoever he would desire if he would send the Elephant unto him but the King of Sian would not part with him either for love mony or any other consideration Whereupon he of Pegu was so moved to wrath that with all the power he could make he invaded the other of Sian Many hundred thousand men were brought into the field and a bloody Battle was fought wherein the King of Sian was overthrown his white Elephant taken and he himself made tributary to the Monarch of Pegu. 12. A needy Souldier under Abbas King of Persia draws up a Catalogue of his good services and closing it in his pressing wants humbly intreats the favour and some stipend from his god of war for such and such his exploits The poor man for his sawciness with many terrible bastinadoes on the soles of his feet was almost drubbed to death Besides Abbas enquires who it was that wrote it the Clerk made his apology but the King quarrelled at his scurvy writing and that he should never write worse makes his hand to be cut off CHAP. XLIII Of such as have been too fearful of death and over desirous of Life A Weak mind complains before it is overtaken with evil and as Birds are affrighted with the noise of the Sling so the infirm soul anticipates its troubles by its own fearful apprehensions and falls under them before they are yet arrived But what greater madness is there than to be tormented with futurities and not so much to reserve our selves to miseries against they come as to invite and hasten them towards us of our own accord The best remedy against this tottering state of the soul is a good and clear Conscience which if a man want he will tremble in the midst of all his armed guards 1. What a miserable life Tyrants have by reason of their continual fears of death we have exemplified in Dionysius the Syracusan who finished his thirty eight years Rule on this manner Removing his Friends he gave the custody of his body to some strangers and Barbarians and being in fear of Barbers he taught his Daughters to shave him and when they were grown up he durst not trust them with a Rasor but taught them how they should burn off his hair and Beard with the white filmes of Wallnut kernels Whereas he had two Wives Aristomache and Doris he came not to them in the night before the place was throughly searched and though he had drawn a large and deep Moat about the Room and had made a passage by a wooden Bridge himself drew it up after him when he went in Not daring to speak to the people out of the common Rostrum or Pulpit for that purpose he used to make Orations to them from the top of a Tower When he played at Ball he used to give his Sword and Cloak to a Boy whom he loved and when one of his familiar Friends had jestingly said You now put your life into his hands and that the Boy smiled he commanded them both to be slain one for shewing the way how he might be killed and the other for approving it with a smile At last overcome in Battle by the Carthaginians he perished by the treason of his own Subjects 2. Heraclides Ponticus writes of one Artemon a very skilful Engineer but withal saith of him that he was of a very timerous disposition and foolishly afraid of his own shadow so that for the most part of his time he never stirred out of his House That he had always two of his men by him that held a Brazen Target over his head for fear lest any thing should fall upon him and if upon any occasion he was forced to go from home he would be carryed in a Litter hanging near to the ground for fear of falling 3. The Cardinal of Winchester Henry Beaufort commonly called the Rich Cardinal who procured the death of the good Duke of Gloucester in the reign of King Henry the sixth was soon after struck with an incurable disease and understanding by his Physicians that he could not live murmuring and repining thereat as Doctor Iohn Baker his Chaplain and Privy-councellor writes he fell into such speeches as these Fye will not death be hired Will mony do nothing Must I dye that have so great Riches If the whole Realm of England would save my life I am able either
three years ten months and eleven dayes 35. Marcus the first a Roman brought in the singing of the Nicene Creed and the giving of the Pall to the Bishop of Ostia which when others have since fetched there they have paid sweetly for he sate two years eight months and twenty dayes â—6 Iulius the first a Roman Athanasius made hiâ— Creed in his time at Rome which was then aproved by Iulius and his Clergy He ordained Prothonotaries to Register the passages of the Chrch and sate fifteen years two months and six dayes 37. Liberius the first a Roman either through fer or ambition subscribed to Arrianism and Aâ—anasius his condemnation but recovered himself and sate six years three months and for dayes 38. Foelix the second a Roman condescended to communicate with the Arrians though he wâ—re none of them but afterwards in a tumâ—lt was made away by them he sate one yâ—â—r four months and two dayes 39. Damasus the first a Spaniard a friend to Sâ— Ierome who by his procurement much amendeâ— the Vulgar Latine edition He accursed Uâ—urers and appointed Gloria Patri c. to câ—ose up every Psalm he sate nineteen years three months and eleven dayes 40. Syricius the first a Roman he excluded tâ—ose that were twice marryed and admitted Monks into Holy Orders In his time the Tempe of Serapis was demolished and the Idol broken he sate fifteen years eleven months twenty five dayes 41. Anastasius the first a Roman he was carefuâ— to repress the errours of Origen was the first that brought in the standing up at the reading of the Gospel he sate three years and ten dayes 42. Innocentius the first an Albane a great sticklet against the Pelagians in his time Alaricus plundered Rome Innocentius being then at Ravenna he sate fifteen years two months and twenty five dayes 43. Zosinues brought the use of Tapers into the Church forbad Priests to drink in publick or servants to be received into the Priesthood he sate one year three months and twelve dayes 44. Bonifacius the first a Roman the son of Iocundus a Priest he was chosen in a hubub and sedition of the Clergy was shrewdly opposed by Eulalius the Deacon but at last carryed it against him he sate three years eight months and seven dayes To whom there succeeded 45. Coelestinus the first a Campanian he it was that sent Germanus and Lupus hither into England Paladius into Scotland and Patrick into Ireland he first caused the Psalms to be sung in Antiphony he sate eight years ten months 46. Sixtus the third he was accused by one Bassus for getting a Nun with Child but was acquitted by the Synod and his accuser sent into Exile he built much and therefore had the title of Inrichâ—r of the Church he sate eight years 47. Leo the first disswaded Attila from sacking Rome Peter and Paul terrifying the Hunno while Leo spake to him In his time the Venetians setled themselves in the Gulph now so famous he sate twenty one years one month and thirteen dayes 48. Hilarius the first in his time was the rectifying of the Golden Number by Victorinus of Aquitaine and the bringing in of the Letany by Mamerius Claudius of Vienna he sate seven years three months and ten dayes 49. Simplicius the first a Tiburtine he took upon him the jurisdiction of the Church of Ravenna decreed that none of the Clergy should hold a Benefice of any Lay-man he sate fifteen years one month and seven dayes 50. Foelix the third Son of a Roman Priest decreed that no Church should be consecrated but by a Bishop opposed the proposal of Union by the Emperour Zeno to the great confusion of the Eastern and Western Churches sate eight years 51. Gelasius the first an African ordered the Canon of Scripture branding counterfeit books that before passed â—or Canonical or Authentical banished the Manichees and burnt their Books he sate four years eight months and seventeen dayes 52. Anastasius the second a Roman excommunicated Anastasius the Greek Emperour for favouring the Heretick Acatius whose heresie afterwards himself favoured he sate one year ten months and twenty four dayes 53. Symmachus the first a Sardinian carryed it against Laurentius his Competitor he was a Lover of the poor and bountiful to the exiled Bishops and Clergy he sate fifteen years six months and twenty two dayes 54. Hormisda the first the Emperour Iustinus sent him his Embassadours with the confirmation of the authority of the Apostolick seat he condemned the Eutychians in a provincial Synod and sate nine years and eighteen dayes 55. Iohannes the first a Tuscan a man of great learning and piety was cast into prison by Theodorick and there killed with the stench and filth of it he sate two years and eight months 56. Foelix the fourth a Samnite excommunicated the Patriarch of Constantinople divided the Chancel from the Church commanded extream Unction to be used to dying men he sate four years two months and thirteen dayes 57. Bonifacius the second a Roman decreed that no Bishop should choose his Successor and that the Pope if it might be should be chosen within three dayes after his Predecessors death he sate two years two dayes 58. Iohannes the second a Roman condemned Anthemius the Patriarch of Constantinople was sirnamed Mercury for his eloquence Writers say no more of him but that he sate two years and four months 59. Agapetus the first a Roman sent Embassador by King Theodatus to pacifie Iustinian the Emperour for the death of the Noble and Learned Queen Amalasuntha he sate eleven months and nineteen dayes 60. Sylverius a Campanian was deposed by the Empress for refusing to put out Menna and restore Anthemius her Favourite he dyed in exile having sate one year five months and twelve dayes 61. Vigilius the â—irst for breach of promise to the Empress was fetched to Constantinople there with a halter about his neck drawn about the streets and banished he sate seventeen years seven months and twenty dayes 62. Pelagius the first ordained that Hereticks and Schismaticks should be punished with temporal death that no man for mony should be admitted into Orders he sate eleven years ten months and twenty eight dayes 63. Iohannes the third in his time the Armenians did receive the faith of Christ he was setled in his Chair by Narses and sate twelve years eleven months and twenty six dayes 64. Benedictus the first a Roman in his time the Lombards forraged Italy the grief of this and other the Calamities of Italy was the death of this Pope when he had sate four years one month and twenty eight dayes 65. Pelagius the second a Roman was made Pope in the siege of the City by the Lombards without the Emperours consent which election he sent Gregory to excuse he sate ten years two months and ten dayes 66. Gregorius the first sirnamed the Great called himself Servus servorum Dei sent Austin into England to convert the Eastern Saxons withstood the claim of Universal
solicited thereto by Eva an Anchoresse he sat three years one month and four daies 190. Clemens the fourth the greatest Lawyer in France had before his Election a Wife and three Children sent Octobonus into England to take the value of all Church Revenues he sat three years 191. Gregory the tenth an Italian held a Council at Lions wherein was present Michael Paleologus the Greek Emperour who acknowledged there the Procession of the Holy Ghost from Father and Son this Pope sat four years two months and ten daies 192. Adrianus the fifth a Genoway before called Octobonus and Legate here in England in the daies of Henry the third he died before he was consecrated in the fortieth day of his Popedom 193. Iohannes the twenty second a Spaniard and Physician though a Learned man yet unskilled in Affairs he did many things with folly enough he sat but eight months 194. Nicholaus the third first practised to enrich his Kindred he raised a quarrel betwixt the French and Sicilians which occasioned the Massacre in the Sicilian Vesper he sat three years 195. Martinus the fourth a French man he kept the Concubine of his Predecessour Nicholas removed all Pictures of Bears from the Palace lest his Sweet-heart should bring forth a Bear sat four years 196. Honorius the fourth confirmed the Augustine Friers and caused the white Carmelites to be called Our Ladies Brethren he did little more but died having sat two years and one day 197. Nicholaus the fourth preferred persons solely upon respect to their vertue and died of grief to see Church and State in a remediless combustion having sat four years one month 198. Celestinus the fifth an Hermit was easily perswaded to quit the Chair the Cardinals perswading it was above his ability so he resigned was imprisoned and died he sat one year and five months 199. Bonifacius the eighth by his general Bull exempted the Clergy from being chargeable with Taxes and Payments to temporal Princes first set forth the Decretals and instituted the Feast of Iubilee 200. Benedictus the eleventh a Lombard was a man of great humility desired to compose all Brawls but was poysoned in a Figg as some say having sat eight months and seventeen daies 201. Clemens the fifth first made Indulgences and Pardons saleable he removed the Papal See from Rome to Avignon in France where it continued for seven years he sat eight years 202. Iohannes the twenty third he Sainted Thomas of Aquine and Thomas of Hereford challenged Supremacy over the Greek Church and died having sat nineteen years and four months 203. Benedictus the twelfth a man of that constancy as by no means to be sway'd from that which he judged to be right he died in the seventh year and third month of his Papacy 204. Clemens the sixth a dreadful Pestilence in Italy was in his time so that scarce a tenth man remained alive he died having sat ten years six months and twenty eight daies 205. Innocencius the sixth a Lawyer burnt Iohn de Rupe scissâ for foretelling shrewd things of Anti-Christ he sat nine years 206. Vrbanus the fifth a great Stickler for Popish Priviledges he confirmed the Order of St. Brigitt being poysoned as 't is thought he died having sat eight years and four months 207. Gregorius the eleventh returned the Papal Chair again to Rome he Excommunicated the Florentines and sat seven years five months 208. Vrbanus the sixth Gunpowder was Invented in his time he made fifty four Cardinals held a Jubilee to gather money and died having sat eleven years and eight months 209. Bonifacius the ninth scarce thirty years old when made Pope very ignorant and a great seller of Church Livings he sat fourteen years and nine months 210. Innocentius the seventh demanded the Moiety of Ecclesiastical Benefices both in France and England but was stoutly denied he sat but two years 211. Gregorius the twelfth swore to resign for the peace of the Church but collusion discerned betwixt him and Benedict both were outed 212. Alexander the fifth a Cretan a man of great Sanctity and Learning he deposed Ladistaus King of Naples and Apulia and sat but eight months 213. Iohannes the twenty fourth of Naples by his consent a Council was Assembled at Constance where himself was deposed 214. Martinus the fifth condemned Wickcliffè burnt Iohn Husse and Ierome of Prague his Followers he sat fourteen years odd months 215. Eugenius the fourth a Venetian refused to appear at the Council of Basil who thereupon deposed him he sat sixteen years 216. Nicholaus the fifth of Genoua in his time the Turks took Constantinople he built the Vatican and died in the eighth year of his Papacy 217. Calistus the third a Spaniard sent Preachers throughout Europe to animate Princes to War against the Turks sat but three years 218. Pius the second an Italian approved of the marriage of the Clergy and turned out divers Cloystered Nuns and sat six years 219. Paulus the second exceeded all his Predecessours in Pomp and Shew enrich'd his Miter with all kind of precious Stones honoured the Cardinals with a Scarlet Gown and reduced the Jubilee from fifty to twenty five years 220. Sixtus the fourth ordained a Guard to attend his Person was the first Founder of the Vatican Library and brought in Beads sat thirteen years 221. Innocentius the eighth of Genoua much given to excess in drinking and venery he sat seven years and ten months 222. Alexander the sixth first openly acknowledged his Nephews as they call their Bastards to be his sons was incestuous with his daughter and gave himself to the Devil he sat eleven years 223. Pius the third sought to hunt the French men out of Italy but died in the interim of an Ulcer in his Leg having sat twenty five daies 224. Iulius the second more Souldier than Prelate passing over a Bridge of Tyber threw his Key into the River and brandished his sword Excommunicated Lewis of France and sat nine years three months 225. Leo the tenth burnt Luther's Books declaring him an Heretick Luther did the like at Wittenberge with the Popes Canon Law declaring him for a Persecutor Tyrant and the very Antichrist 226. Adrian the sixth a Low-Country man made shew at his entrance of Reformation but was diverted the Lutherans began to spread and the Turks to approach these and other things broke him so that he died in his second year 227. Clemens the seventh of Florence in his time Rome was Sack'd and the Pope made Prisoner by the Duke of Burbon the Popes Supremacy cast off in England by King Henry the eighth some say he died of the lowsie disease 228. Paulus the third called the Council at Trent prostituted his Sister committed incest with his daughter poysoned her husband attempted the chastity of his Neece found in the act he was marked by her husband he was a Necromancer 229. Iulius the third gave his Cardinals Hat to a Sodomitical boy called Innocentius in his time Casa
Clime temperate as scituate under the Aequator Here making advantage of the difference betwixt two Kings contending with each other having strengthned himself but especially by the terrour of his Guns and Horses he overcame Montezuma the most potent of all the Kings made himself Master of the great City Temistitana and took possession of that rich and fertile Country in the Name of his Master But long he did not enjoy it for the same of these great actions drew the envy of the Court upon him so that he was sent for back having as a reward of his virtue received the Town of Vallium from Charles the Emperour to him and his Posterity for ever He afterwards followed Caesar in his African Expedition to Algier where he lost his precious Furniture by Shipwrack Of a mean mans Son of the poor Town of Medelinum Caesar raised him to the degree of a Noble-man some few years after which he dyed at home not as yet aged 5. Sir Francis Drake was born nigh South Tavestock in Devonshire and brought up in Kent being the Son of a Minister who fled into Kent for fear of the six Articles and bound his Son to the Master of a small Bark which traded into France and Zealand his Master dying unmarried bequeathed his Bark to him which he sold and put himself into farther employment at first with Sir Iohn Hawkins afterwards upon his own account Anno 1577. upon the thirteenth of December with a fleet of five Ships and Barks and one hundred seventy four men Gentlemen and Saylers he began that famous Navigation of his wherein he sayled round about the world with great vicissitude of Fortune he finished that Voyage arriving in England November the third 1580. the third year of his setting out having in the whole Voyage though a curious searcher after the time lost one day through the variation of several climates He feasted the Queen in his Ship at Dartford who Knighted him for his service being the first that had accomplished so great a design He is therefore said to have given for his device a Globe with this Motto Tu primus circumdedisti me Thou first didst Sayl round me A Poet then living directed to him this Epigram Drake pererrati novit quem terminus Orbis Quemque simul Mundi vidit uterque Polus Si Taceant homines facient te sydera notum Sol nescit comitis non memor esse sui Drake whom th'encompast Earth so fully knew And whom at once both Poles of Heav'n did view Should Men forget thee Sol could not forbear To Chronicle his fellow Travailer 6. Sebastian Cabot a Venetian rigged up two Ships at the cost of Henry the seventh King of England Anno 1496. intending to the Land of Cathai and from thence to turn towards India to this purpose he aimed at a passage by the Northwest but after certain dayes he found the Land ran towards the North he followed the Continent to the fifty sixth degree under our Pole and there finding the Coast to turn towards the East and the Sea covered with Ice he turned back again sayling down by the Coast of that Land towards the Aequinoctial which he called Baccalaos from the number of fishes found in that Sea like Tunnies which the Inhabitants call Baccalaos Afterwards he sayled along the Coast unto thirty eight degrees and provisions failing he returned into England was made Grand Pilot of England by King Edward the sixth with the allowance of a large pension of one hundred sixty six pounds thirteen shillings and four pence during life 7. Mr. Thomas Candish of Trimley in the County of Suffolk Esquire departed out of Plimouth Thursday the twenty first of Iuly 1586. with the Desire a Ship of one hundred and twenty Tun the Content of sixty Tun and the Hugh-gallant a Bark of forty Tun with one hundred twenty three Persons of all sorts with these he made an admirable and successful Voyage into the South Sea and from thence about the circumference of the whole Earth and the ninth of September 1588. after a terrible Tempest which carried away most part of their Sayls they recovered their long wished for Port of Plimouth in England whence they set forth in the beginning of their Voyage CHAP. VII Of the Eloquence of some men and the wonderful power of perswasion that hath been in their Speeches and Orations AMongst the Heathen Mercury was accounted the God of Eloquence and with the rest of his Furniture they allotted him a Rod or Wand by virtue of which he had the power of conducting some souls to Hell and â—reeing others from thence By which they would signifie that the power of Eloquence is such as it frees from death such as the Hangman waited for and as often exposes innocence to the utmost severity of the Law See something of the force of it in the following Examples 1. Hegesias a Cyrenean Philosopher and Oratour did so lively represent the miseries of humane life in his Orations and fixed the Images of them so deep in the minds and hearts of his Auditors that many of them sought their freedom thence by a voluntary death Insomuch that King Ptolomaeus was enforced to send him a command that he should forbear to make any publick Orations upon that Subject for the future 2. Pericles the Athenian was said to thunder and lighten and to carry a dreadful thunderbolt in his tongue by reason of his Eloquence Thucydides the Milesian one of the Nobles and long his enemy in respect of State matters being asked by Archidamus the Spartan King which was the best Wrastler of Pericles or him As soon saith he as wrastling with him I have cast him to the ground he denies it and perswades that he had not the fall and withall so efficaciously that he makes all the Spectators to believe it Whensoever Pericles was to make an Oration he was very solicitous in the composure of it and whensoever he was to speak in any cause he ever used â—irst to pray to the gods that no single word might fall from his lips which was not agreeable to the present matter in hand 3. Many were famous amongst the Romans for Eloquence but this was never an hereditary priviledge save only in the family of the Curio's in which there were three Oratours in immediate succession to each other 4. Iohn Tiptoft Earl of Worcester was bred in Baliol Colledge he was the â—irst English person of honour that graced Learning with the study thereof in the dayes of King Edward the fourth both at home and in foreign Universities He made so eloquent an Oration in the Vatican in the presence of Pope Pius the second one of the least bad and most learned of his Order that his Holiness was divided betwixt weeping and wondring thereat 5. Demades was the Son of Demaeas a Mariner and from a Porter betook himself to the Commonwealth in the City of Athens all men
City of Catana by his wonderful illusions he seemed by the extraordinary working of his Charms and Spells to transform men into bruit Beasts and to bestow upon all things else such form and likeness as himself pleased and by general report he drew to him assoon and as easily persons that were distant from thence many days journey as those that were in the same place He did also many injuries and shameful outrages to the Citizens of Catana so that they bewitched with a fearful and false opinion fell to worshipping of him and when for his wicked deeds he was condemned to dye by vertue of his Charms he escaped out of the Hangmans hands causing himself to be carried in the air by Devils from Catana to Constantinople and after that brought back again from thence into Sicilia This made him admired of all the people who thinking the Divine power was laid up in him they ran into an execrable error offering him Divine honours But at last Leo Bishop of Catana inspired suddenly with the Spirit of God in an open place and before all the people laid hands upon this devillish Magician and caused him to be cast alive into a hot burning Furnace where he was consumed to ashes 6. Bodinus reports that of late one of the Earles of Aspremont used to entertain with great magnificence all Comers who received great contentment by the delicate dainties the curious services and great abundance of all things but the men and Horses were no sooner out of the House but they were ready to starve with hunger and thirst 7. There was a young man in Friburg that by the help of a Magician hoped to enjoy a Maid whom he earnestly loved the Devil appeared to them in the likeness of the same Maid and the young man putting forth his hand without the inchanted Circle to embrace her was presently grasped of the wicked Spirit who crushed him against a wall and made the pieces of him fly this way and that way and afterwards cast the remnant of the dead body so torn in pieces at the Conjurer who therewith fell down in the place sore bruised and not able to stir from thence till some hearing a cry and noyse ran to him took him up and carryed him away half dead 8. A German in our time saith Camerarius went to the Wars in Italy and put himself into the company of a Souldier that was a Conjurer and by whom he suffered himself to be governed One time this Conjurer made him stand within a Circle fortified with I know not what Characters Here after many invocations and horrible menaces there appeared at last as it were much against his will a Spirit like a man sore frighted wearing a Hat all torn with a great Toss-pot Feather in it having about him a torn and tattered Sheet looking like a dead Corpse that had been dryed in the Sun and afterwards gnawn with Worms with a gastly look and his feet having other shape than a mans feet As he thus stood the Conjurer would know of him if that Gouletta were taken by the Turks or not the Spirit answered that he could not tell for the present but that the day before the Besieged had defended themselves valiantly He also complained of the Conjurer that by his horrible Inchantments he did importune Spirits too much and having spoken of some other of his hard courses craved a time to think upon that he was asked and then vanished leaving behind him such a terror and stink that these curious Inquisitors had like to have dyed in the place with fear This German would afterwards often swear that as often as the remembrance of this dreadful apparition together with his voice which was small hoarse cut off and choaked as it were between every word did but touch his mind never so little he was ready to swound with fear 9. Bodinus mentions one Triscalinus who in the presence of Charles the ninth King of France and divers others caused the several links of a Gold-chain of a certain Noble man that stood a good distance off to fly as it were one by one into his hand and yet by and by the Chain was found whole and entire He also caused a Priest that was going with his Breviarie under his arm to believe that he carried a pack of Cards so that the Priest blushing threw away his Book afterwards being convicted of many such things as could not be done by any humane power he at last confessed he had performed them by the Cooperation of the Devil 10. In the year 876. the Emperour Lewis then reigning there was one Zedechias by Religion a Jew by profession a Physician but indeed a Magician he seemed in the presence of great Persons to devour men whole to eat up at once a man armed at all points to swallow a Wagon laden with Hay together with the Horses and him that drove them to cut off heads hand and feet and throw them dropping with blood into a great Bason and yet to restore every man his own limb the men remaining perfect entire and without hurt He represented Huntings Races and Military sports such as Justs and Turneaments in the Air. In the midst of Winter in the Emperours Palace he suddenly caused a most pleasant and delightful Garden to appear with all sorts of Trees Plants Herbs and Flowers together with the singing of all sorts of Birds to be seen and heard 11. Delrio tells of a contest betwixt two Magicians in this manner the one had stollen a fair and beautiful Maid had mounted her behind him upon a wooden Horse and so rode with her aloft in the air While they were thus in their journey the other Magician was at that time at a noble Feast in a Castle in Burgundy and being sensible of their flight by the Castle he by his Charms compells the Ravisher to descend and to the view of all presents him in thâ— Court of the Castle looking sadly and not able to stir together with his blushing Prize But the Ravisher was not wanting to himself in this exigent but privily inchaunts him that had thus bound him and as he was looking from a high Window of the Castle into the Court he sitted his head with so large and spreading a pair of Horns that he was neither able to pull in his Head from betwixt the strong Iron bars nor durst he cast himself down from so high a place Being therefore thus horned he was compelled to enter into an agreement with the other and recalling his Charm suffered him to depart with his pray involved in a hollow cloud as also the other suffered him to cast his Horns and return to the Feast not without great laughter of the Company that was present 12. Two Magicians saith the same Author met together in the Queen of Englands Court as I have it from unquestionable witnesses these two agreed that in any one thing they should infallibly
amongst them that was stirred up by vision whose name was Cangius and it was on this manner There appeared to him in a dream a certain person in Armour sitting upon a white Horse who thus spake to him Cangius it is the will of the Eternal God that thou shortly shalt be the King and Ruler of the Tartars that are called Malgotz thou shalt free them from that servitude under which they have long groaned and the neighbour Nations shall be subjected to them Cangius in the morning before the seven Princes and Elders of the Malgotz rehearses what he had dreamed which they all at the first looked upon as ridiculous but the next night all of them in their sleep seemed to behold the same person he had told them of and to hear him commanding them to obey Cangius Whereupon summoning all the people together they commanded them the same and the Princes themselves in the first place took the Oath of Allegiance to him and intituled him the first Emperour in their language Chan which signifies King or Emperour All such as succeeded him were aâ—ter called by the same name of Chan and were of great Fame and Power This Emperour freed his people subdued Georgia and the greater Armenia and afterwards wasted Polonia and Hungary 5. Antigonus dreamed that he had sowed Gold in a large and wide field that the seed sprang up flourished and grew ripe but that streight after he saw all this golden harvest was reaped and nothing left but the worthless stubble and stalks and then he seemed to hear a voice that Mithridates was fled into the Euxine Pontus carrying along with him all the golden harvest This Mithridates was descended of the Persian Magi and was at this time in the Retinue of this Antigonus King of Macedonia his Country of Persia being conquered and his own Fortunes ruined in that of the publick The dream was not obscure neither yet the signification of it The King therefore being awaked and exceedingly terrified resolves to cut off Mithridates and communicates the matter with his own Son Demetrius exacting of him a previous oath for his silence Demetrius was the Friend of Mithridates as being of the same age and by accident he encounters him as he came from the King The young Prince pities his Friend and would willingly assist him but he is restrained by the reverence of his oath Well he takes him aside and with the point of his Spear writes in the sand Fly Mithridates which he looking upon and admonished at once with those words and the countenance of Demetrius he privily flies into Cappadocia and not long after founded the famous and potent Kingdom of Pontus which continued from this man to the eighth descent that other Mithridates being very difficulty overthrown by all the Power and Forces of the Romans 6. The night before the Battel at Philippi Artorius or as others M. Antonius Musa Physician to Octavianus had a dream wherein he thought he saw Minerva who commanded him to tell Octavianus that though he was very sick he should not therefore decline his being present at the Battel which when Caesar understood he commanded himself to be carried in his Litter to the Army where he had not long remained before his Tents were seised upon by Brutus and himself also had been had he not so timely removed 7. Quintus Catulus a noble Roman saw as he thought in his depth of rest Iupiter delivering into the hand of a child the Ensign of the Roman People and the next night after he saw the same child hug'd in the bosome of the same God Whom Catulus offering to pluck from thence Iupiter charged him to lay no violent hands on him who was born for the Weal and preservation of the Roman Empire The very next morning when Q. Catulus espy'd by chance in the street Octavianus then a child afterwards Augustus Caesar and perceiving him to be the same he ran unto him and with a loud acclamation said Yes this is he whom the last night I beheld hug'd in the bosome of Iupiter 8. Iulius Caesar was excited to large hopes this way for he dreamed that he had carnal knowledge of his Mother and being confounded with the uncouthness of it he was told by the Interpreters that the Empire of the World was thereby presaged unto him for the Mother which he beheld subject unto him was no other than that of the Earth which is the common Parent of all men 9. Arlotte the Mother of William the Conquerour being great with him had a dream like that of Mandane the Mother of Cyrus the first Persian Monarch namely that her bowels were extended and dilated over all Normandy and England 10. Whilst I lived at Prague saith an English Gentleman and one night had sate up very late drinking at a Feast early in the morning the Sun-beams glancing on my face as I lay in my bed I dreamed that a shadow passing by told me that father was dead At which awaking all in a sweat and affected with this dream I rose and wrote the day and hour and all circumstances thereof in a Paper-book which Book with many other things I put into a Barrel and sent it from Prague to Stode thence to be conveyed into England And now being at Nuremberg a Merchant of a noble Family well acquainted with me and my Relations arrived there who told me that my father dyed some two months past I list not to write any lies but that which I write is as true as strange when I returned into England some four years after I would not open the Barrel I sent from Prague nor look into the Paper-book in which I had written this dream till I had called my Sisters and some other Friends to be witnesses where my self and they were astonished to see my written dream answer the very day of my fathers death 11. The same Gentleman saith thus also I may lawfully swear that which my Kinsmen have heard witnessed by my Brother Henry whilst he lived that in my youth at Cambridge I had the like dream of my mothers death where my Brother Henry lying with me early in the morning I dreamed that my mother passed by with a sad countenance and told me that she could not come to my Commencement I being within five months to proceed Master of Arts and she having promised at that time to come to Cambridge when I related this dream to my Brother both of us awaking together in a sweat he protested to me that he had dreamed the very same and when we had not the least knowledge of our mothers sickness neither in our youthful affections were any whit affected with the strangeness of this dream yet the next Carrier brought us word of our mothers death 12. Doctor Ioseph Hall then Bishop of Exeter since of Norwich speaking of the good offices which Angels do to Gods servants Of this kind saith he was that
Queen answered And I hope to see your Pope both which prophetick Complements proved true and within a short time one of another 3. I have spent some inquiry saith Sir Henry Wotton whether the Duke of Buckingham had any ominous presagement before his end wherein though ancient and modern stories have been infected with much vanity yet oftentimes things fall out of that kind which may bear a sober construction whereof I will glean two or three in the Dukes case Being to take his leave of my Lord his Grace of Canterbury then Bishop of London after courtesies of course had passed betwixt them My Lord says the Duke I know your Lordship hath very worthily good successes unto the King our Soveraign let me pray you to put His Majesty in mind to be good as I no ways distrust unto my poor Wife and Children At which words or at his countenance in the delivery or at both my Lord Bishop being somewhat troubled took the freedom to ask him if he had never any secret abodement in his mind No replied the Duke but I think some adventure may kill me as well as another man The very day before he was slain feeling some indisposition of body the King was pleased to give him the honour of a visit and found him in his bed where and after much serious and private conference the Duke at His Majesties departing embraced him in a very unusual and passionate manner and in like sort his Friend the Earl of Holland as if his soul had divined he should see them no more which infusions towards fatal ends have been observed by some Authors of no light Authority On the very day of his death the Countess of Denbigh received a Letter from him whereunto all the while she was writing her Answer she bedewed the paper with her tears and after a bitter passion whereof she could yield no reason but that her dearest Brother was to be gone she fell down in a swound her said Letter ended thus I will pray for your happy return which I look at with a great cloud over my head too heavy for my poor heart to bear without torment but I hope the great God of Heaven will bless you The day following the Bishop of Ely her devoted Friend who was thought the fittest preparer of her mind to receive such a doleful accident came to visit her but hearing she was at rest he attended till she should awake of her self which she did with the affrightment of a dream Her Brother seeming to pass through a field with her in her Coach where hearing a sudden shout of the people and asking the reason it was answered to have been for joy that the Duke of Buckingham was sick which natural impression she scarce had related to her Gentlewoman before the Bishop was entred into her Bed-chamber for a chosen Messenger of the Dukes death 4. Before and at the Birth of William the Conqueror there wanted not forerunning tokens which presaged his future Greatness His Mother Arlotte great with him dreamed her bowels were extended over all Normandy and England Also assoon as he was born being laid on the Chamber-floor with both his hands he took up rushes and shutting his little fists held them very fast which gave occasion to the gossipping Wives to congratulate Arlotte in the birth of such a Boy and the Midwife cryed out The Boy will prove a King 5. Not long before C. Iulius Caesar was slain in the Senate house by the Iulian Law there was a Colony sent to be planted in Capua and some Monuments were demolished for the laying of the foundations of new Houses In the Tomb of Capys who is said to be the Founder of Capua there was found a brazen Table in which was engraven in Greek Letters that whensoever the bones of Capys should be uncovered one of the Iulian Family should be slain by the hands of his own party and that his blood should be revenged to the great damage of all Italy At the same time also those Horses which Caesar had consecrated after his passage over Rubicon did abstain from all kind of food and were observed with drops falling from their eyes after such manner as if they had shed tears Also the Bird called Regulus having a little branch of Laurel in her mouth flew with it into Pompey's Court where she was torn in pieces by sundry other birds that had her in pursuit where also Caesar himself was soon after slain with twenty and three wounds by Brutus Cassius and others 6. As these were the presages of the personal end of the great Caesar so there wanted not those of the end of his whole Family whether natural or adopted which was concluded in Nero and it was thus Livia was newly married to Augustus when as she went to her Villa of Veientum an Eagle gently let fall a white Hen with a branch of Laurel in her mouth into her lap She received this as a fortunate presage and causing the Hen to be carefully looked after there came of her abundance of white Pullets The branch of Laurel too was planted of which sprang up a number of the like Trees from which afterward he that was to triumph gathered that branch of Laurel which during his Triumph he carried in his hand The Triumph finished he used to plant that branch also when it did wither it was observed to presage the death of that Triumpheâ— that had planted it But in the last year of Nero both all the stock of white Hens and Pullets dyed and the little wood of Laurel was withered to the very root the heads also of the Statues of the Caesars were struck off by Lightning and by the same way the Scepter was thrown out of the hands of the Statue of Augustus 7. Before the death of Augustus in Rome where his Statue was set up there was a flash of Lightning that from his name Caesar took away the first Letter C. and left the rest standing The Aruspices and Soothsayers consulted upon this and concluded that within an hundred days Augustus should change this life for AESAR in the Hetrurian Tongue signifies a God and the Letter C. amongst the Romans stands for an hundred and therefore the hundredth day following Caesar should dye and be made a God as they used to deiâ—ie their dead Emperours 8. While the Grandfather of Sergius Galba was sacrificing an Eagle snatched the bowels of the Sacrifice out of his hand and left them upon the branches of an Oak that grew near to the place Upon which the Augurs pronounced that the Empire though late was certainly portended thereby to his Family He to express the great improbability he conceived of such a thing replied That it would then come to pass when a Mule should bring forth Nor did any thing more confirm Galba in the hope of the Empire upon his Revolt from Nero than the news brought him of a Mule that
recompence their valor he causeth them all to be taken up and given him again for a sign and token of Honour Whereby from that time forwards they are accounted as Knights and they take all those members wherewith the King hath thus honoured them and tie them all upon a string like a Bracelet or Chain and when they marry or go to any Wedding or Feasts the Bride or Wife of such Knights do wear the foresaid Chain about their necks which amongst them is as great an honour as it is with us to wear the golden Fleece or the Garter in England and the Brides of such Knights are therewith as proud as if they were the mightiest Queens in all the World 43. When any of the Indian Noble-men or Bramenes that is Priests dye their friends assemble together and make a hole in the ground wherein they throw much wood sweet Sanders and other Spices with Rice Corn and much Oil because the fire should burn the stronger Which done thâ—y lay the dead Bramene in it then comes his Wife with Musick and many of her nâ—arest friends all singing certain praises in commendation of her Husbands life encouraging her to follow her Husband and to go with him unto another World Then she taketh all her Jewels and parteth them amongst her friends and so with a chearful countenance she leapeth into the fire and is presently covered with wood and oil so she is quickly dead and with her Husbands body is burnt to ashes CHAP. XII Of the several things that several persons and Nations have set apart and worshipped as their Gods AMongst all the Nations under the whole Canopy of Heaven there are none so barbarous and cruel none that are so utterly lost to all the sentiments of Humanity and Civility but that they have embraced and continued amongst them the notion of a Deity or some Being that ought to be adored by them This is a Principle so deeply engraven in the very Nature of Man that no time nor change nor chance hath ever been able to obliterate it so that rather than men would have nothing to worship they were contented to be obliged to their Gardens for their Gods and indeed herein their ignorance and folly is chiefly to be lamented that they still made choice of any thing rather than the true God to pay their constant homage and venerations unto 1. The Eâ—yptians amongst the many Animals which they esteemed as Gods did especially worship an Ox they called Apis he was black remarkable for some spots of white and in his tongue and tail different from all others The day in which he was calved was held a as Festival throughout the whole Nation At Arsinoe they worship the Crocodile at the City of Hercules the Ichucumon a Creature that is enemy to the Crocodile Others of them adore a Cat some a Falcon others the Ibis and with that religious observation that 't is capital to kill any of these and if by accident or disease any of them dye they honourably interre them and lament over them with all solemnity 2. The Inhabitants of Hispaniola worship Goblins which though they see not yet they believe to wander in the night time about their houses The wooden Images of these they religiously adore calling them Zemini the Disposers of good and bad Fortune 3. In the Province of the Acladans amongst the Tartars every Family doth worship its Progenitor 4. In the Island of Iava they worship whatsoever it is that they first meet and chance to see in the morning and pray unto it all the day after although it be a Hog or worse thing 5. They of Calecut worship the Statue of the Devil the Chappel in which he is adored is not above three paces from the ground in the midst of it is a Throne and a brazen Statue that is framed sitting in it with a Diadem about his head like the Pontifical Mitre amongst the Romans He hath four prominent Horns upon his head his mouth stretched out to an unreasonable wideness a crooked nose threatning eyes cruel countenance crooked hands and feet like to those of a Cock which put together render the Devil wickedly deformed 6. Those of the Province of Manta worship an Emerauld a great and beautiful Gem and this they esteem of as the true Deity the sick came in Pilgrimage to visit it and there offered their gifts which the Cacique and Priests turned to their own profit 7. The Romans made a Goddess of their very City whose Temple was situate upon the top of the Mount Palatine as appears by that of Claudian bringing in the Provinces as Suppliants to visit the Goddess Rome Conveniunt ad tecta Deae quae candida lucent Monte Palatino They meet at the Goddess Temple which doth shine So white and glorious on Mount Palatine And Lucan as a Goddess solemnly directs his Prayer to her Summique O Numinis instar Roma fave coeptis And thou as greatest pow're divine Favour O Rome this enterprize of mine A number of Deities the Romans worshipped that they might do them some good but they worshipped the Feaver or Ague that it might do them the less hurt and harm 8. The Inhabitants of Negapatan have a massie Copper gilded Pagod or Idol mounted upon a triumphant Chariot moved by eight mighty Wheels over-laid with pure Gold the ascent is easie spacious and by many steps on which are placeâ— on a solemn day the Priests and many young Maidens who to enrich the Devil proâ—â—itute their bodies to the libidinous flames of wicked men The procession is not unlike the Thensa used by the superstitious Romans happy is that man rich and poor great and base that can fasten a hand to draw the Chariot yea they account them happiest who out of a frantick zeal temerariously throw their naked bodies in the way that by the ponderousness of the Pagod and his Chariot their wretched bodies may be crushed in pieces being for this thought Martyrs and such is the stupid folly of these men that they perswade their Daughters to become Strumpets to please their Pagods insomuch that it is a great wonder to see so many Girls at such immaturity so impudently delighted with the impure conversation of filthy men 9. In the City of Meacco the Metropolis of Iapan besides seventy Temples wherein they number 3333 Manada's or little Idols there is one more notable than the rest like the Rhodian Coloss huge and wonderful It was built by Tyco-zamma and without much pain and cost was not finished It is framed of gilded Copper its posture is sitting in a chair of seventy â—oot high and eighty broad his head is capable to support fifteen men who may stand together upon it without pressing his Thumb is â—orty inches about and his other limbs proportionable 10. At Dabys is another Manada or Idol no less infamous and resorted to this Devil or Moloch is of