Brother I beseech you for you are as dear or dearer to me than my self But the Father to prevent the misfortune resolved to separate them whereupon they grew so troubled and Melancholy that he was constrained to delay his design till an occasion happened which invited all three the Father and his two Sons to a War betwixt the Kings of Narsinga and Pegu upon Title of Territories But by the Mediation of some Persons a Peace was concluded upon Condition that these two young Princes should marry the two Daughters of the King of Narsinga and that the King of Pegu should confer on him that married the elder all the Countreys he took in the last War with the Kingdom of Martaban and the other Brother besides the Kingdom of Tazatai should have that of Verma The Nuptials consummated each departed to his Territory Lands spaciously divided Now it after happened that the King of Tazatai was engaged in a sharp War with the King of Mandranella and sent to the two Brother Princes for Aid who both hastened unknown to each other to his assistance He from Verma came secretly to Town with one Servant only to visit a Lady who had been once their Ancient Mistris and the other Brother being upon the same design they met at the Ladies Gate by Night not knowing one another where furious with Jealousie after some words they drew and killed each other One of them dying gave humble thanks to Heaven for preventing the direful destiny foretold him that he should kill his Brother hereupon the other knowing by his Voice and Discourse drawing near his end himself crept to him and embraced him with Tears and Lamentations and so both dolefully ended their days together The Father having tydings of it and seeing his white hairs led by his own fault to so hard Fortune overborn with Grief and despair came and slew himself upon the Bodies of his Sons and with the greif and Tears of all the People were buried all three in one Monument which shews us the Danger of too much Curiosity Le Blanc's Travels Tom. 1. XX. There is a Remarkable History of one Abner an Eastern King in the Indies who having a Son born gave immediate Order for his Confinement to a stately and spacious Castle where he should be delicately brought up and carefully kept from having any knowledge of Humane Calamities or Troubles And gave special command that no distressed Person should come into his Company nothing sad nothing Lamentable nothing unfortunate no poor man no old man none weeping nor disconsolate was to come near his Pallace Youthfulness Pleasures and Joy were alwayes in his Presence nothing else was to be seen nothing else discoursed of in his Company But alass in process of time the Prince longed this made him sad in the very midst of his Joyes and what should he long for but not to be so cumbered with Delights The grief of Pleasures made him request his Father to loose the Bonds of his miserable Felicity This desire of the Son crossed the Intention of his Father who was forced to give over his device to keep him from sadness least by continuing it he should make him sad He therefore gave him his Liberty but charged his Attendants to remove out of his way all objects of Sorrow the blind the maimed the deformed and the old must not come near him But what diligence is sufficient to conceal the Miseries of Mortality The Prince in his Recreations meets with an old Man Blind and Leprous The sight astonishes him he startles trembles and faints like those that swound at the Apparition of a Spirit and inquires of his Followers what that thing might be And being told that it was Man he was so extreamly concerned thereat that he disliked Pleasures condemned Mirth and despised Life he rejected the Kingdom and Royal Dignity and bid adieu to all the Blandishments of Fortune at once spending the remainder of his days in a Religious Retirement from the vanities of the World and in preparations for Eternity Vaughan Florilegus pag. 126. XXI The Ingenious Dr. R. Plat in his Natural History of Oxfordshire gives an Acconnt of two strange Accidents which as he saith are to be reckoned among those things which are unaccountable One is That in the year 1649 when the Commissioners for surveying the Mannour House Park Deer Woods and other the Demeasnes belonging to Woodstock Mannor in that County came thither and sat and lodged therein they took up their Lodgings in the Bed-chamber and withdrawing Room thereof the former whereof they also made their Kitchen The Council Hall their Brewhouse The Chamber of Presence they sate in to dispatch business and made a Woodhouse of the Dining-room October 14 and 15 they had little disturbance but on the 16 there came as they thought somewhat into the Bedchamber where two of the Commissioners and their Servants lay in the shape of a Dog which going under their Beds did as it were gnaw their Bed-cords but on the morning finding them whole and a quarter of Beef which lay on the ground untouched they began to entertain other thoughts Octob. 17. Something to their thinking removed all the Wood out of the Dining-room into the Presence-Chamber and hurled the Chairs and Stools up and down that room From thence it came into the two Chambers where the Commissioners and their Servants lay and hoisted up their Beds feet so much higher than their heads that they thought they should have been turned over and over and then let them fall down with such a force that their bodies rebounded from the bed a good distance and then shook the Bedsteads so violently that themselves confest their Bodies were sore with it October 18 something came into the Bed-chamber and walkt up and down and fetching the Warming Pan out of the withdrawing Room made so much noise that they thought five Bells could not have made more And Octob. 19. Trenchers were thrown up and down the Dining Room and at them that lodged there whereof one of them being shaken by the Shoulder and awakened put forth his head to see what was the matter but had Trenchers thrown at it October 20. The Curtains of the Bed in the withdrawing Room were drawn to and fro and the Bed-stead much shaken and eight great Pewter Dishes and three dozen of Trenchers thrown about the Bedchamber again whereof some fell upon the beds this night they also thought whole Armfulls of Wood had been thrown down in their Chambers but in the morning they found nothing moved On the 21 of October the keeper of their Ordinary and his Bitch lay in one of the Rooms with them which night they were not disturbed at all But October 2. though the Bitch kenelled there again to whom they ascribed their former nights rest both they and the Bitch were in a pitiful taking the Bitch opening but once and that with a whining fearful yelp October 23. They had all their Cloths pluck'd
that the good of his Subjects was his only care called an Assembly of the 3 Estates of the Kingdom who being convened and the King seated in his Royal Throne the Bishop of Elvas made a Speech to them to the following purpose That one of the first Laws of Nature was the uniting men together from whence Cities and Kingdoms had their Original and by which they after defended themselves in War and maintained themselves in Peace That for this cause His Majesty had called this Assembly to consult for the better service of God defence in War and Government in Peace That there could be no service of God without Vnion in Religion no defence without Vnion amongst men no regular Government without Vnion of Councils That His Majesty did expect to be informed by his Loyal Subjects what was for the good of the State That they were to render thanks to the Almighty who had given them a King that would govern them by known Laws That His Majesty did not esteem those Tributes lawful which were paid with Tears and therefore did from that present take off from his Subjects all Taxes that had been imposed by the Kings of Spain because His Majesty was not willing to Reign over their goods nor over their heads nor over their Priviledges but over their hearts hoping that they would find out a sweet expedient to defend their Country against their Potent Enemy who threatned to make them all slaves and to destroy and annihilate their Nation That they would therefore considering his Majesties goodness and their own Honour manifest at once to the world that as never Subjects had such a gracious King so never King had such Loyal Subjects The Bishop having ended his Speech the most ancient Officer of the Chamber of Lisbon stood up and in the name of all the 3 Estates who stood up likewise returned humble thanks to His Majesty for this gracious bounty heartily professing That they did not only offer up their Goods but their Lives to His Majesties service earnestly intreating him to dispose of both as he pleased And to manifest that their Hearts and Mouths agreed in this free offer of themselves to His Majesty they presently voted that two Millions should be immediately raised by this Kingdom But the King wisely and politickly declined the imposing a Tax on his Subjects choosing rather to accept of their Benevolence which made every one strive who should offer most so that instead of the Two Millions there was in short time brought into the Treasury Four Millions of Gold Nor was this Money intended by them nor imployed to any other use then to maintain the Grandeza and Splendor of the K. and Kingdom there being no need of Money for the payment of Souldiers every one offering to serve freely and at their own charge against their vowed enemies the Spaniards Thus was this Kingdom utterly lost to the Spanish Monarchy King Alphonso the 6th lately removed from the Government and his Brother Don Pedro now Reigning and likewise Her Majesty of England Q. Katherine being the Sons and Daughter of this K. John in which Family the Government is like still to continue and never to revert back to the Spaniard who lost at this time not only Portugal but with it all they enjoyed by that Kingdom in the East-Indies the Terceâ—a Islands and other Islands in the Atlantick Sea the Kingdom of Algarve Brazile with all they had in Africa except the Town of Ceuta which was the whole that remained to the Spanish Nation of all those great Dominions Hist Portugal Pag. 61. 104. The remarkable revolutions in the Empire of China and the entire Conquest thereof by the Tartars happened in the same year 1640 As if some fatal influence had inclined most Nations to changes and distractions at that time It cannot therefore be unpleasant to give a brief account thereof The Inhabitants of China enjoyed all the pleasures of peace under the Government of their last Emperour who was the most absolute Monarch that ever ruled those vast Territories when in the year 1640 a year fatal to several States those Clouds began to gather which shortly after produced such a storm as ruined the whole Empire The name of the present Emperour was Zunchin a deceitful and unfortunate name for in the Chinese Language it signifies successful omen or Soveraign Dominion but how false a prognostick this was appeared quickly This Emperor was of a most courteous and good disposition and certainly his Subjects who enjoy'd great Plenty and all the advantages of Peace lived truly happy under so Excellent a Prince But it is not sufficient for a Prince to be Good and to govern mildly and peaceably unless he likewise takes care not to have ill Officers who make use of their Credit under him to gratifie their Private Passions and to extend their Ambition beyond all Bounds and Limits yet some Authors have branded him for Covetousness and that after a great Famine which happened in the Northern Provinces occasioned by an unheard of number of Locusts he imposed upon his Subjects as high Taxes as they paid formerly in fruitful flourishing times the former Money being all mispent and the Souldiers not paid Whereupon the number of the Mutineers daily increased who enriched themselves by Plunder and Rapine For as Semedo in his History of China intimates Rebellion is the usual Effect of Extortion and Tyranny especially where the Prince would have more from the People than they are able to give And therefore Theopompus saith he King of the Lacedemonians when his wife told him that because he had eased the People of many Taxes he would leave his Son a poorer Kingdom than he received from his Father answered Relinquo sed Diuturnius that is I shall leave him a more lasting Kingdom Happy had it been for Zunchin Emperor of China had he been of Theopompus his Mind But saith my Author though I find him charged with Covetousness yet I am not very apt to suspect him so guilty of that Vice as of another usually more fatal to Princes which is a facile Nature easie to be wrought upon by others and too inclinable to favour and indulge themselves and not willing to undergo the weight of Affairs From whence it was that though under the Reign of his Brother Thienking who preceded him in the Imperial Throne Zunchin so opposed his Darling Favourite the Eunuch Guei and all the Eunuchs his Partisans that at last he prevailed with his brother to banish them all his Court to the great Satisfaction of the whole Empire and when his Brother dying without Issue the Imperial Crown fell to him at his first taking possession thereof he so persecuted the Eunuchs who by abuse of their Authority under his Brother had made themselves abhorred by the whole Nation that Guei in despair poysoned himself yet at last this very Emperor suffered himself by the crafty insinuation of some about him contrary to his own Judgment to be
Artifice to be satisfied therein she caused one to come as in great hast and to tell Praxiteles That his Shop was on Fire he being startled at the News cryed out Is the picture of Cupid and the Satyr safe By this Subtilty she found out wherein the Artist himself believed he had expressed most skill and thereupon she chose the Cupid Zuinglius's Theatre vol. 3. lib. 3. LXXXVI Dr. Fuller relates this passage in his Holy State That a poor Beggar in Paris being very hungry staid so long in a Cooks Shop who was dishing up his Meat till his Stomach was satisfied only with the smell thereof The Cholerick Cook demanded of him to pay for his Breakfast the poor man denied it and the Controversie was referred to the deciding of the next man who should pass by which chanced to be the most notorious Idiot and Changeling in the whole City He on the Relation of the matter determined That the poor mans Money should be put between two empty dishes and the Cook should be recompenced with the gingling of the poor mans Money as he was satisfied with the smell only of the Cooks meat and this is affirmed by credible Writers as no Fable but an undoubted Truth Fullers Holy State lib. 3. LXXXVII Antiochus the Son of Seleucus daily languished and wasted away under a disease whereof the cause was uncertain to the great Trouble and Affliction of his Father who therefore sent for Erasistratus a famous Physitian to attend the cure of his beloved Son who addressing himself with his utmost dexterity to find out the root of his Infirmity he perceived it was rather from the trouble of his Mind than any effect of his Constitution But when the Prince could not be prevail'd with to make any such acknowledgment by frequent feeling of his pulse he observed it to beat with more Vigor and strength at the naming or presence of Stratonica who was the beloved Concubine of his Father Having made this discovery and knowing the Prince would rather dye than confess so dangerous a Love he took this Course He told Seleucus that his Son was a dead man For saith he he languishes for the love of my Wife And what said Seleucus have I merited so little at thy hands that thou wilt have no respect to the Love of the young man would you said Erasistratus be content to serve the love of another in that manner I would heaven said Seleucus would turn his love toward my dearest Stratonica Well said Erasistratus you are his Father and may be his Physitian he loves none but Stratonica Seleucus immediately gave Stratonica to Antiochus and Threescore Thousand Crowns as a reward to the prudent Physitian Camerarij Horae Sub. ch 1. LXXXVIII Camerarius tells out of Cedrenus how the Queen of Sheba when she saw that Solomon had expounded all her hardest Riddles caused one day certain young Boys and Girls apparelled all alike to be set before the King none being able by their Faces and looks to discern the one Sex from the other to the end that therein she might have further Trial of King Solomons Wisdom He knowing the Queens intent presently made some water to be brought in a great Basin bidding them all to wash their Faces by this device he easily discerned the Males from the Females for the Boyes rubbed their Faces hard and lustily but the Girls being shamefac't did hardly touch theirs with their Fingers ends Camerarii Horae subces Cent 1. Thus we find Quickness of Apprehension and Maturity of Judgement are instead of the Cord and Pulley whereby some men have prevailed to bring Truth to Light when she hath lain reserved and concealed LXXXIX Various have been the means whereby some Persons have arrived to preferment for I find saith Muretus it is related in the Commentaries of the Greeks That Semiramis was the Concubine of one of the King of Assyria's Slaves As soon as Ninus that Great Monarch had taken notice of her he was so surprized with her Beauty and Wit that he siezed her for himself and by degrees she gained such an Empire over him that he could deny her nothing nor was there any thing but she durst ask And when once she had let fall in discourse There was one thing she did earnestly desire and he had bid her freely and openly speak it whatever it was I have desired said she to sit one day in your Throne and to do Justice and that for that whole day all should obey me as they do you The King smiling granted her Request and forthwith sent out his Edict That on such a day all men whatsoever should obey the Commands of Semiramis for such was the Kings pleasure When the day came the Lady ascends the Throne in her Royal Apparel a mighty Concourse there was she at first to try their obedience commands something to be done of no great moment when she perceived she was exactly obeyed in all her Precepts she commands the Guards of the Kings Body that they sieze the King himself It is done the King is brought She orders him to be bound it is performed she commands that they strike off his head she is presently obeyed and though hereby we may observe the great Folly of this Prince and the base Ingratitude of such kind of Cattle she being advanced by him Yet by this means she prolonged the date of her Empire many years which she ruled with great wisdom success and glory Aelian Vari Hist Lib. 7. Ch. 1. XC In the time of William Rufus King of England there was one Roger a poor Priest serving a cure in a Village near Caen in Normandy It chanced that Henry the Kings youngest brother passing that way made some stay in the Village and being desirous to hear Mass this Roger then Curate was the man to say it which he dispatched with such speed and celerity that the Souldiers who commonly love not long prayers commended him for it telling their Lord That there could not be found a fitter Priest for men of War than he Whereupon Henry appointed him to follow him and when he came to be King preferred him to many great places and at last to be Chancellor of England and Bishop of Salisbury When King Stephen came to the Crown he held this man in as great account as his Predecessor King Henry had done and perhaps in greater He arrived to such wealth that he built the Castles of Salisbury the Vies Sherburn Malmsbury and Newark to which there were no structures comparable in the Kingdom He had also Forty Thousand Marks in Money which together with his Castles the King siezed into his own hands upon Displeasure Baker's Chronicle Page 71. XCI There was in the City of Capua saith Sir Walter Rawleigh an ambitious Noble man called Pacuvius Calavius his credit grew and was upheld by furthering all popular desires there was at this time a Plebeian faction in the Town and that so prevalent that all was governed by
the King and his Cubs be taken away 2. To have a Toleration of Religion 3. To procure Aid and Assistance from Forreign Princes 4. To turn out of the Court such as they disliked and place themselves in Offices Watson to be Lord Chancellor George Brook Lord Treasurer Sir Griffin Markham Secretary of State Lord Grey to be Master of the Horse and Earl Marshal of England But it seems they made no Provision for Rawleigh which is no inconsiderable Argument of his Innocency who could have deserved and might have expected as great a reward as any of them had he been engaged in the Plot To oblige to Secrecy Watson draws up an Oath But all is betrayed they are Seized Examined and Tryed at Winchester Nov. 17. 1603. and the Lord Cobham George Brook his Brother Thomas Lord Grey of Wilton Sir Walter Rawleigh Sir Griffith Markham and Sir Edward Parham Knights Bartholomew Brooksby and Anthony Copley Gentlemen W. Watson W. Clark Priests were all found guilty of Treason except Sir Edward Parham who was acquitted and Watson and Clark were executed Nov. 29. George Brook was beheaded Decemb. 5. but here the hand of Justice staid the Lord Cobham Lord Grey and Sir Griffith Markham were pardoned at the place of Execution Sir Walter Rawleigh was left to the Kings Mercy who thought him too great a Male-content to have his Freedom and probably too innocent to lose his Life Therefore he is confined to the Tower where he writ that excellent History of the World wherein the only fault or defect rather is that it wanteth one half thereof which was occasioned as it is commonly related thus Some few days before he suffered he sent for Mr. Walter Burr who formerly printed his first Volume of the History of the World and asking him how it sold Mr. Burr answered It sold so slowly that it had undone him At which words Sir Walter stepping to his Desk reaches his other unprinted part of his History which he had brought down to the times he lived in and clapping his hand upon his breast said with a sigh Ah my friend hath the first part undone thee the second Part shall undo no more this ungrateful World is unworthy of it and immediately going to the Fire-side threw it in and set his Foot upon it till it was consumed As great a loss to Learning as Christendom could have sustained and the greater because it could be repaired by no hand but his While Sir Walter was thus confined Death took away his Mortal Enemy Sir Robert Cecil after Earl of Salisbury who had purchased the Monopoly of Favour and being jealous of Sir Walters Abilities had some fear he might supplant him which was the cause says Osborn that he was brought to the aforementioned Trial However Sir Walter outlived his Designs and Hatred and for all kindnesses bestowed on him the following Epitaph which is certainly affirmed to be his King James was so taken with the smartness of them that he hoped the Author would dye before him The Verses are these Here lies Hobnial our Pastor while er'e That once in a Quarter our Fleeces did share To please us his Cur he kept under Clog And was ever after both Shepherd and Dog For Oblation to Pan his Custom was thus He first gave a Trifle then offered up us And through his false worship such power he did gain As kept him o' th' Mountain and us on the Plain Where many an Hornpipe he tun'd to his Phillis And sweetly sung Walsingham to 's Amaryllis Till Atropos clapt him a P on the Drab For spight of his Tar-box he di'd of the Scab If the Reader desires a key to these Verses he may have it in Osborn's Memoirs Fourteen years Sir Walter had spent in the Tower of whom Prince Henry would say That no King but his Father would keep such a Bird in a Cage and being weary of Confinement his Destiny brought him to his end by Liberty which it could not do by Imprisonment For out of a longing for Liberty he propounded a Project to the King upon which being a well spoken man and of great Capacity he set such colours of Probability especially guilding it over with the Gold he would fetch from a Mine Guiana in the West-Indies without any wrong at all to the King of Spain that the King granted him a limited Commission to undertake it and thereupon with divers Ships accompanied with many Knights and Gentlemen of Quality he set forward on the Voyage but when after long search no such Place nor Treasure could be found he fell upon St. Thome a Town belonging to the King of Spain Sacked Pillaged and Burnt it And here was the first part of his Tragical Voyage Acted in the death of his Eldest Son the last part was acted in his own death at his return For Gundamore the Spanish Embassador did so aggravate this Fact to the King against him that it seemed nothing would give satisfaction but Rawleigh's head without which he seemed to threaten a breach between the two Nations Rawleigh excused his Actions and sent this Defence thereof in a Letter to King James May it please your most Excellent Majesty If in my Journey outward bound I had my men murdered at the Island of St. Thomas and yet spared to take revenge If I did discharge some Spanish Barques taken without Spoil If I did forbear all Parts of the Spanish Indies wherein I might have taken twenty of their Towns on the Sea-coasts and did only Follow the Enterprise I undertook for Guiana where without any directions from me a Spanish Village was burnt which was new set up within three miles of the Mine by your Majesties favour I find no reason why the Spanish Embassador should complain of me If it were lawful for the Spaniards to murder twenty six English-men binding them back to back and then cutting their Throats when they had Traded with them a whole Month and came to them on the Land without so much as one Sword and that it may not be lawful for your Majesties subjects being charged first by them to repel Force by Force we may justly say Oh miserable English If Parker and Metham took Campeach and other Places in the Honduras seated in the Heart of the Spanish Indies burnt Towns killed the Spaniards and had nothing said to them at their return and my self forbore to look into the Indies because I would not offend I may justly say O miserable Sir Walter Rawleigh If I spent my poor Estate lost my Son suffered by sickness and otherwise a World of Miseries If I have resisted with the manifest hazard of my life the Robberies and Spoils which my Company would have made If when I was poor I have made my self Rich If when I had gotten my Liberty which all men and Nature it self do so much prize I voluntarily lost it If when I was sure of my life I rendred it again If I might elsewhere have sold my Ship
the King and Bashaw the Lagaw is the next chief man in this City who is the first Person of the Divan or Council and General of the Armies abroad under whom are the Chenses like our Sheriffs or Justices of Peace next are the Boulgebushes like our Bailiffs who are Servants to the Divan and remain 3 years in their places going out after with the Armies as Comptrollers of the rest There are also other Bushes Captains and Officers of the Militia who wear a badg of Honour on their heads and are distinguished from the rest by their Turbant which is wound about in the form of a Sugar-loaf behind which a Redcross falls down and is a badg of their Office which others must not wear as the Red-scarf is a sign of Command among Christians In the Camp are other Great Officers as Daventees Mouchees c. An Achabasha is an experienced man among them who hath been in several Encounters and commands a Party when it is separated from the main Body He must be an old Man and when he once comes to that Employment he can rise no higher as other Officers can There are most pleasant Gardens and Orchards about Argiers and very good Corn upon the Hills near it with plenty of all things but wine which is forbidden to the Turks and Moors yet those of Argiers have not such scrupulous Consciences but that they will be drunk with wine when they take good store of Prizes Toward the East of the City is a very strong House built and some souldiers to keep Guard it being the Publick Treasury House wherein they every year cast in vast sums of Money according to their success against the Christians which they never take out so that its thought there are many Millions in that Hold When the ships come in there is alwayes something for the Treasury and a good Portion for Mahomet and those that read Prayers which is put into the hands of a Treasurer whom if they find to have converted the least part thereof to his private use he is cruelly put to death in this manner He is stript naked and at the door of the Marabut he is impaled alive that is a stake is thrust into his Fundament and driven leasurely up through his body In this manner he is raised to the top of the steeple of a Mosquet or Church where he is exposed to Publick view for three dayes and then his body is carried out of the City to be given for food to the wild beasts and his Estate sold for the benefit of the Religious men There are excellent Orders to stir them up to their Worship they are often called to Prayers that is in the Morning at twelve a Clock at four afternoon at Sunsetting at Twilight and at Midnight at all which times great numbers of all sorts reâ—ort to their Mosquetts and there in an humble manner on their Faces pray to God and Mahomet Those that are negligent in coming to Prayers are taken notice of and if formerly Christians are excluded from all hopes of Imployment and for the least offence severely Treated The Ceremonies used at Consecrating their Priests are observable The Father of the young man brings him before the Marabut or Cheif Preist who sits in the Principal Mosquette of the City with a numerous attendance to be Witnesses of his Dedication to that Service entring the place the Father holding his son on the right hand they both approach the Marabut and kiss the Hem of his Garment who ask's the Father whether he can read He answers yes and a book is immediately brought usually the Alcoran who reads a page in it If he miss not a word but read it distinctly he is then admitted and his name inrolled in the Order Then a Fellow with a sharp Knife cuts in his right Arm the Figure of an half Moon into the wound is put Gun-powder which being blown up leaves a blue Impression that nothing can take away unless the place be cut off After some Prayers for Confirmation he is obliged to swear by Mahomets Lock to observe certain Rules He is then clothed in another manner before the People and the Marabut takes him into his Armes and gives him a Kiss which sanctifies him for ever The Solemnity ends in Musick and Dancing Their Marriages Circumcisions and other Customs are not much different from the Turks Many other particulars I observed during the Happy time of my Slavery having liberty to walk up and down my business and work being only to wait upon my Lady at the time of her Devotions But after two years she departed this Life leaving me sufficient cause to Lament Another of the Kings Wives was supposed to have poysoned her because he had a greater love for her by reason of her constant Devotions than for the other About six months before her Death she was brought to bed of a Girl somewhat whiter than ordinary which the old Fool thought himself to be the Father of During her sickness she sent to her Cosens house where I lay to speak with him whom she ingaged to release me after her Burial in requital of my good Service and sent me by her Gentlewoman a considerable present in Gold which I did not possess long After her death her Cosen did not perform her request but led me to the Market where I was sold for 300 Dollars I durst not anger him for fear he should publish the Mystery which would infallibly cost me my head My next Master was a Gardiner who put me into his Orchards and there with a good Cudgel made me understand a new Trade I never knew before I endured much with him for he made me labour above my strength and often threatned to stab and kill me therefore fear of Death made me endeavour my escape I was sometimes sent for Lime for a building he had in hand near the Seashore A Vessel was lately arrived from France to redeem the Captives and lay without the Mold at what time I was on the shore it was dusky a Frenchman offered me his assistance I accepted of it and went into his Boat but was discovered before I could get off the Mold and sent back to my Master who punished me with an 100 blows on the soles of my Feet whereby I became unserviceable many days He was soon weary of my Company and sold me to the English Renegado aforesaid I expected from him a kinder entertainment but found worse he was cruel severe to me making me work night and day I often treated for my ransom but his demands were so high that I could not comply with him He abused we wretchedly about five Months and then death put an end to his Tyranny His Executors sold me again among his Goods and Chattels I fell next into the hands of an Italian Renegado who was no kinder to me than my former Masters my work was painful my Diet mean my Labour continual and my Rewards the blows
and other kindred were forbidden to carry the name of Ravillac but to take some other and the Substitute of the Kings Attorney General had charge to see the Execution of the said sentence at his Peril De Serres Hist France lib. ult XI Darius King of Persia intituled himself King of Kings and Kinsman to the gods and having notice of Alexander's landing in Asia he so much scorned him and his Macedonians that he gave Order to his Lieutenants of the lesser Asia that they should take Alexander alive whip him with Rods and then convey him to his Presence that they should sink his Ships and send the Macedonian Prisoners beyond the Red Sea In this manner spake the glorious King in a vain Confidence of the multitudes over whom he commanded but observe here a a wonderful Revolution his vast Armies were successively routed by the Macedonians His Riches which were hardly to be reckoned up were seized his Mother Wife and Daughters made Prisoners and himself by the Treachery of Bessus his Vassal taken from the ground where he lay bewailing his misfortune and bound in a Cart covered with hides of Beasts and to add derision and scorn to his adversity he was fastened to the Cart with Chains of Gold and thus drawn on among the ordinary Carriages But the Traytor Bessus being hastily persued by Alexander he brought a Horse to the Cart where Darius lay bound perswading him to mount thereon The unfortunate King refusing to follow those that had betrayed him they cast darts at him wounded him to Death wounded the Beasts that drew him and killed his two Servants that attended him which done they all fled Polystratus a Maceaonian being by pursuit prest with thirst while he was refreshing himself with water spyed a Cart with wounded Beasts breathing for Life and not able to move He searched the same and there found the miserable Darius bathing in his own blood Impatient Death pressing out his few remaining Spirits he desired a draught of cold water which Polystratus presented him with after which he lived but to tell him That of all the best things that the world had and which were lately in his power he had nothing remaining but his last breath wherewith to desire Heaven to reward his Compassion Rawleigh Hist of the World Lib. 4. XII As unfortunate was the end of Philip King of Macedon Father of Alexander the Great who after many famous exploits by him performed and being chosen by all Greece as their General in the Asian Expedition an honour he had long thirsted after consulted the Oracle of Apollo and from thence received as he did interpret it a very favourable answer about his success against the Persians He therefore ordains great and solemn Sacrifices to the Gods marries his Daughter Cleopatra to the King of Epirus and that he might appear amongst the Greeks in his greatest Glory and Magnificence he invites divers Great Persons throughout all Greece to this Nuptial Feast and desires them to bring as many as they pleased with them whom he would also entertain as his Guests There was therefore a marvellous Confluence of People from all parts to these Royal Nuptials and the Musical Contests which he had also ordained At Egis a City in Macedonia was this great Solemnity where he then received divers Crowns of Gold from several Illustrious Persons as also others that were sent to him in his honour from the most famous Cities in Greece even from Athens it self Now was the Feast over and the Musical Concertation deferred till the next day a multitude of People were assembled in the Theatre in the Morning before it was light and at the first appearance of Day then began the Pomp to set forth in which besides other glorious preparations there were twelve Statues of the Gods carried upon huge and Triumphant Arches and together with these a Thirteenth which was the Statue of Philip himself adorned with Divine Habit by which he would have it understood That he was in dignity equal with the Gods themselves The Theatre being now crouded Philip himself appears all clothed in white having ordered his Guards to keep at a distance from him that the Greeks might know he thought himself sufficiently guarded with their Love At this his glorious appearance he was openly extolled and looked upon as the happiest Person amongst all other Mortals But this his dazleing brightness was soon overcast with a black Cloud and all the Pageant of his Glory wrapt up in the Sables of Death For while his Guards kept at their commanded distance there ran up to him Pausanias one of those who had the nearest charge of his body and with a short Gallick Sword he had hid about him for that purpose smote him into the fide and laid him dead at his Foot in the sight of Thousands of his Souldiers and Friends Diodorus Siculus Lib. 16. XIII Bajazet Emperor of the Turks for his fierceness was sirnamed Gilderun that is Lightning a Prince of a great Spirit and who for ten years space had been exceeding fortunate in his greatest Enterprizes This Great Monarch was invaded by Tamerlane the Great Cham of Tartary overthrown in the Battle his Son Mustapha slain and he himself made Prisoner At the first Tamerlane gave him a civil Reception and sitting together he thus said to him O Emperour we are each of us exceedingly indebted to the Divine Bounty I that am thus lame to have received an Empire extending many Thousand miles even from the Borders of India to Sebaste and thou who from the same hand hast another reaching from the same Sebaste to the Confines of Hungary so that we almost part the whole world betwixt us we owe therefore our praises to Heaven which I both have and will be alwayes ready to render accordingly but thou it may be hast been less mindful and of a more ungrateful disposition and therefore thou art now brought into this Calamity But let that pass and now my Friend tell me freely and truly what thou wouldest have done with me in case I had fallen under thy power Bajazet who was of a fierce and haughty Spirit is said thus to reply Had Fortune given me the Victory I would have inclosed thee in an Iron Cage and carried thee about with me as a spectacle of derision to all men Tamerlane hearing this passed the same Sentence upon him Three years almost the miserable Creature lived inclosed in this manner at last hearing he was to be carried into Tartary dispairing then to obtain his Freedom he struck head with such Violence against the Bars of his Cage that he beat his Brains out Turkish History pag. 220. XIV Charles the Gross the 29th King of France and Emperor of the West began to Reign in the year 885. The eyes of the French were fixed upon him as the man that should restore their Estate after many disorders and confusions He went into Italy and expelled the Saracens that threatned Rome being returned he
found the Normans dispersed in divers Coasts of his Realm Charles marches with his Army against them but at the first encounter is overthrown this Check though the loss was small struck a great Terror and at last caused an apparent impossibility to succour the City of Neustria then besieged by them with very great Forces He was therefore advised to Treat with them and to make them of Enemies Friends and to leave them that which he could not take from them Whereupon he yeilded Neustria to them by his own Authority without the consent of the Estates and the Normans called the Countrey Normandy By this and some other things he fell into a deep hatred with the French upon which Charles fell sick and that sickness was accompanied with a distemper of the mind thorow Jealousy conceived against his Queen Richarda After this the Germans dispossess him of his Empire and give it to Arnold and the French reject him from governing that Realm electing in his room Odo Duke of Angiers This poor Prince deposed from all his Dignities was forsaken of every man having so ill provided for himself in prosperity that he had not a house wherein to shrowd himself and being banished the Court he was driven to a poor Village in Swevia where he lived some days in extream want without any means of his own or releif from any man In the end he died neither pitied nor lamented of any man in a Corner unknown till now made famous as being the Theatre of so extraordinary a Tragedy And surely for one of the greatest Monarchs in the World thus to dye without House without Bread without Honour without Mourning and without Memory is a singular instance of the Vanity and inconstancy of this uncertain World Hist France pag. 72. XV. Dionysius the younger King of Sicily had his Kingdom in good constitution and sufficiently fortified having no less then 400 Ships of five or six Oars in a Seat He had one hundred Thousand Foot and Nine Thousand Horse His City of Syracuse had strong Gates and was compassed with high Walls he had in readiness all manner of Warlike Provisions to furnish out 500 Ships more He had Granaries wherein he laid up an 100 Myriads of that measure which contains 6 bushels of Bread Corn. He had a Magazine filled with all sorts of Arms Offensive and Defensive He was also fortified with Confederates and Allies so that he himself thought the Government was fastened to him with Chains of Adamant But being invaded by Dion in his absence his People revolted and behold what a fatal Revolution fell out in his Family Himself had before slain his Brothers and in this Insurrection against him his Sons were cruelly put to death his Daughters were first ravished then stript naked and in short none of his Progeny obtained so much as a decent Burial for some were burnt others cut in peices and some cast into the Sea and he himself died old in extream Poverty his manner being to 〈◊〉 in Barbers Shops and as a Jester to move men to â—aughter Thus in the midst of Greece in a very mean and low condition he wore out the miserable remains of a wretched Life Aelian var. Hist k. Cambuses cruelly kills the Son of One of his Principall Favourites Page 54. After the death of Cyrus Cambyses his Son reigned King of Persia and King Croesus still remained in that Court Now it happened that King Cambyses had slain twelve Persians of Principal rank whom K. Croesus thus admonished Do not O King said he indulge thine Anger and Rage in every thing but refrain your self It will be for your advantage to be prudent and provident and foresight is the part of a wise man but you upon slight occasions put to death your Countreymen and spare not so much as young Children If you shall go on to do often in this manner consider if you will not give occasion to the Persians to revolt from you your Father Cyrus laid his strict Commands upon me that as often as occasion should require I should put you in mind of those things which might conduce to your profit and welfare Cambyses snatch up a bow and arrow with intention to have shot Croesus through therewith but he hastily fled Cambyses thus prevented commanded his Ministers to put him to death but they supposing the King would repent himself and then they should be rewarded for his safety kept him privately alive It was not long before Cambyses wanted the Counsel of Croesus and when his Servants told him that he yet lived Cambyses rejoyced thereat but ordered them to be slain who had disobeyed his Commandment in preserving him whom he had condemned to Death This Cambyses was a very bloudy Tyrant which might be partly occasioned by his Flatterers for having a mind to marry his Sister he was told by his Lawyers That they knew no Law which admitted such Marriages but that there was a Law that the Persian Kings might do what they listed which Maxim he often put in Practice For on a time desiring to be truly informed by Prexaspes his beloved Favorite what the Persians his Subjects thought of his Conditions He answered They were followed with abundance of praise from all men only it was observed by many that he took more than usual delight in the Taste of Wine Cambyses being enraged at this reproof replied And are the Persians double Tongued then who also tell me that I have in all things excelled my Father Cyrus Thou Prexaspes shalt be my witness whether in this report they have done me right For if at the first shot I pierce thy sons heart with an Arrow then it is false that hath been spoken but if I miss the mark I am then pleased that the same be counted True and my Subjects believed And immediately he shot an Arrow at the innocent Child who falling down dead with the stroke Cambyses commanded the body to be opened and his heart was found sticking upon the Arrow at which this monstrous Tyrant greatly rejoycing shewed it to his Father with this saying instead of an Epitaph Now Prexaspes thou maist resolve thy self and conclude that I have not lost my wits with wine but the Persians there 's who report such things of me He died miserably afterward in Egypt without any Son or Successor of his Family Rawleigh Hist World Lib. 3. XVII Strange and bloudy was the Consequence of a small accident at Lisbon in Portugal Upon April 10 1506. many of the City went to the Church of St. Dominick to hear Mass On the left side of this Church there is a Chappel much reverenced by those of the Countrey and called Jesus Chappel Upon the Altar there stands a Crucifix the wound of whose side is covered over with a peice of Glass some of those who came thither to do their Devotions casting their eyes upon this hole it seemed to them that a kind of Glimmering Light came out of it Then happy
liveth in the profound Abyss of the house of smoke when he shall come thither to steal away any of those bones He told us moreover That it was threescore and fourteen Thousand years since he was begotten on a Tortoise called Migoma by a Sea-horse that was an hundred and thirty fathom long who had been formerly King of the Giants of Fanius He also assured us That the Gifts which were presented to this Idol amounted to a vast sum of Money in a year besides other Revenues which was as much more He added That this Idol had ordinarily Twelve Thousand Priests attending on his Service maintained with all necessaries only to pray for the Dead unto whom these bones belonged who also had allowed them without the Temple six hundred Servants who took care for providing all conveniencies for them As for the Priests themselves they never went without the limits of the Temple but by permission of their Superiors There was also a Seraglio wherein many Women appointed for that purpose were shut up whom their Governesses permitted to have too near an Acquaintance with the Priests of this beastly and Diabolical Sect Pinto's Travels ch 41. And thus will I conclude the ridiculous and Idolatrous ways of Worship among the Heathens in these dark parts of the World XXXI Many strange Events have happened by the Ingenious Stratagems of some men as we find in divers Authors Sir Walver Rawleigh writes That the Island of Sark joining to Guernsey and belonging to that Government was surprized by the French and could never have been recovered again by strong hand having Corn and Cattle enough upon the place to feed so many as would serve to defend it and being every way so inaccessible as it might have held out against the Great Turk Yet in the Reign of Q. Mary by the Industry of a Gentleman of the Netherlands it was in this manner regained He Anchored in the Road with one ship of small burden and pretending the death of his Merchant besought the French being about thirty in number that they might bury their Merchant in hallowed ground and in the Chappel of that Isle offering the French a Present of such Commodities as they had aboard whereunto the French yeilded upon Condition that they should not come ashore with any weapon no not so much as a Knife Then did the Flemings put a Coffin into their Boat not filled with a dead Carcass but with Swords Targets and Carabines The French receiving them at their Landing and searching every one so narrowly that they could not hide a Pen-knife gave them leave to draw their Coffin up the Rocks with great difficulty some of the French took the Flemish Boat and rowed toward the Ship to fetch the Rewards promised them and what else they pleased but being come aboard they were taken and bound The Flemmings on Land when they had carried their Coffin into the Chappel shut the door to them and taking their weapons out of the Coffin set upon the French who ran to the Cliff and called to their Company Aboard the Ship to come to their assistance but finding the Boat came back full of Flemmings they yeilded themselves and the place Rawleigh's History of the World lib. 5. XXXII Notable was the exploit of the surprizing Breda in the Wars of the Low-Countries A River called Merch runs by that City upon which stands a Noble Castle rather for Habitation than Strength Three Leagues from Breda the River falls into a large Channel in Holland and some Barks of Merchandise used to pass to and fro upon that River having Pasports for that purpose The Governor of Breda under the Prince of Parma used sometimes to go to a place about nine Miles off and in his absence his Son commanded in his stead All the while the Father kept in Breda he still caused diligent search to be made in every Boat that passed lest by some trick or other he might be surprized but his Son being young and inexperienced was neither so considerate nor careful as he should have been Among other Boats which passed to and fro some carried Turf which instead of Wood is much used for firing in Friesland Holland and the lower Parts of Flanders who coming from Holland into the River Merch went to Breda and some other Towns thereabout At this time there was a Mariner a Master of a Boat who was well acquainted with the Souldiers that kept the Castle by which all these Boats used to pass who went to Prince Maurice and told him That a considerable company of Souldiers might be hid under the Turf in his boat and that he might thereby very probably surprise the Castle by night and afterward with a supply of Souldiers might easily enter Breda Prince Maurice liked the Stratagem very well and resolved to make Trial of it These Turf-boats are usually of a good length thereby to supply their want of breadth the lesser Rivers and Channels not being capable of Broader The Boat being fitted the Master came with it to Breda and underneath the Turf which was upheld by great Poles were placed fourscore Souldiers all choice men and Captain Charles Harawger an old and Valiant Souldier commanded them The Bark being come into the Castle the young Governour gave Order that it should be searched according to Custom but as that order was carelesly given so it was carelesly executed The Marriners hereby encouraged passed from more serious affairs to Sport and Jollity and so delay'd the time till night came on and invited those Souldiers which came to search the Boat to drink some Wine with them and when they were well warmed with Wine they soon fell asleep The rest of the Souldiers were withdrawn into the Castle to take their rest But on a sudden the Souldiers under the Turf Landed and assaulted them on every side being at first very much astonished but were soon made sensible of the Surprizal and as suddenly left the Castle to these New Guests Some of them were hurt and some slain and the young Governour was taken Prisoner The Captains in the City were in so great Confusion that they could neither break down the Bridge whereby the Castle was joined to the Town neither did they secure any one Gate of the City for some few hours till succours could have come from the Neighbouring Garrison In the mean time Count Hollack and soon after Prince Maurice himself came at whose entrance the Spanish Garrison marched basely and shamefully out and left the City to the Hollanders in 1590. Bentivolio's History of Flanders pag. 264. XXXIII Plutarch relates That Hannibal the General of Carthage intending to remove his Forces to Cassinas his Guides by a mistake of the Punick Tongue led his Army to Cassilinum in Campania which is very Mountainous save a long Valley which stretches it self out into the Sea Fabius the Roman General had shut up the way by which he should get out with Four Thousand Souldiers and the rest of
his Army he had securely placed upon the Mountains or with a part of them troubled the Reer of his Enemy Here Hannibal found himself in a Trap and his Army was dejected with fear apprehending an Impossibility of freeing themselves out of these Streights Hannibal therefore causes two Thousand Oxen of his Prey that he drove along with him to be caught and fastens to each of their Horns Torches and Faggots of dry sticks These being lighted he caused the Oxen to be driven up to the top of the Mountains and in the mean time with the main of his Army silently and in the dark Marches to the outlet of the Valley The Oxen marched in order till the Fire about their Horns got to the quick and then they ran up and down as mad their Fronts and Tails blazing and firing the Bushes as they went The Romans amazed at this unwonted and terrible Spectacle supposing that they were on all sides shut in by the Enemy quitted their Post and thereby gave free Liberty for Hannibal to March through the narrow Passage Fabius not knowing whereto this Subtilty of the Enemy tended kept himself within his Camp in good Order but by the first light in the Morning it was easily discerned that by this Stratagem Hannibal had made his escape Plutarch in Fab. p. 178. XXXIV Fernando Camero Governor of Dourlans in Flanders for the Spaniand 1596 being advertised that the Citizens of Amiens a proud People and little practiced in Arms would not receive the Garrison that the King offered them for the preservation of he Town was resolved to do it by Policy having also Intelligence with some within the Town and thereupon attires 40 or 50 stout Souldiers like Countrey Peasants loaden with many burdens and armed underneath with Daggers and short pieces and Marching with about 700 Horse and 5000 Foot he lays several Souldiers in Ambush near the Town and the next day sends some of his disguised Souldiers to one of the City Gates following a Cart which being under the Portcullis one of the pretended Peasants cut the Horse-trace which disorder'd the Horses and stopt the Gate Upon which the others presently discover their Arms sieze upon their Corps de Guard and give a sign to those that lay in Ambush who being both Horse and Foot immediately enter the Town go directly to the Market-place take the Fort and sieze upon the Armory and Ammunition which King Henry the 4th of France had lately sent and in the end forced the Townsmen to a Composition for the Redemption of their Goods D'Avila's History of France lib. 15. XXXV Remarkable have been the escapes of some men from Death and the Grave of which I shall give some Instances Aristomenes General of the Messenians had with too much courage adventured to set upon both the Kings of Sparta and being in that fight wounded and fallen on the ground was taken up senseless and carried away with fifty of his Companions There was a deep natural Cave into which the Spartans used to cast headlong such as were condemned for the greatest Offences To this Punishment were Aristomenes and his Companions adjudged All the rest of these poor men dyed with their falls Aristomenes howsoever it came to pass took no harm yet it was harm enough to be imprisoned in a deep dark Dungeon among dead Carcasses where he was likely to perish with hunger and stench But a while after he perceived by some small Glimmering of Light which perhaps came in at the top a Fox that was gnawing upon a dead body hereupon he bethought himself that this Beast must needs know some way to enter the place and get out for which cause he made shift to lay hold upon it and catching it by the Tail with one hand saved himself from biting with the other hand by thrusting his Coat into the mouth of it so letting it creep whether it would he followed it holding it as his Guide till the way was too streight for him and then dismissed it The Fox being let loose ran through an hole at which came a little Light and there did Aristomenes dig so long with his Nails that at last he clawed out his Passage and so got home in safety and afterwards became very famous and renowned as both the Corinthians and Spartans afterward found to their cost Heylin's Cosmog pag. 580. XXXVI In the year 1357 There was a great Plague at Colen in Germany amongst many others who were infected with it was a Noble Lady her name was Reichmut Adolch she lived in the New-Market where her house is yet to be seen she being supposed to dye of it was accordingly buried The Sextons knew that she was buried with a Ring upon her Finger and therefore the night following they came privately to the Grave and digged up the Coffin and opened it Upon which the buried Lady raised up her self the Sextons ran away in a terrible Fright and left their Lanthorn behind them which she took up and made hast to the house of her Husband by whom she was known and received in Afterwards being attended with all care and diligence she perfectly recovered and lived to have three Sons by her husband all whom she devoted to the Ministry The Truth of all is confirmed by a publick Monumental Inscription erected in Memory of so strange a thing and is yet to be seen in the entrance of the Apostles Church in that City Wanly's Hist Man pag. 626. XXXVII I cannot but contemplate saith N. Causin upon that Prodigy so loudly proclaimed by the Greek Historians There was a Father and a Son in a certain Ship which as it fortuned Split upon the Rocks The Fathers Age not able to grapple with the Waves was soon overwhelm'd and drowned The Son labouring to save his Life saw a Carcass floating upon the Water and mistrusting his own Strength mounted himself upon it and by this help reached the shore in safety He was no sooner free of his danger but he knew the Corps to be that of his dead Father who gave him life by his death as he had afforded him birth by his Life XXXVIII I read in the Relations of Muscovia saith the same N. Causin published by the Embassador Demetrius of the Memorable Fortune of a Countrey Boor The man seeking for honey leapt down into an hollow Tree where he fell into such plenty of it that it sucked him in up to the Breast He had lived two dayes upon Honey only and finding that his Voice was not heard in that solitary Wood he despaired of freeing himself from his Liquorish Captivity but he was saved by a strange chance A huge Bear came to the same Tree to eat of the Honey whereof these Beasts are very greedy he descended into the Tree as a Man would do with his hinder parts forward which being observed by the poor forlorn Creature he desperately catcht hold of his Loins the Bear in a lamentable fright laboured with all his power to get
out and thereby drew out the Peasant from his sweet Prison which otherwise had proved his Tomb. Causin's Holy Court Tom. 1. and 3. XXXIX Dr. Fuller in his Worthies gives 3 notable instances of this kind First Sr. Richard Edgcomb being zealous in the cause of Henry Earl of Richmond afterward King Henry the seventh was in the time of King Richard the Third so hotly persued and narrowly searched for that he was forced to hide himself in the thick woods at his House at Cuttail in Cornwal Here extremity taught him a sudden Policy which was to put a stone in his Cap and tumbled the same into the water while these Persuers were fast at his heels who looking down after the noise and seeing his Cap swimming thereon supposed that he had desperately drowned himself and deluded by this honest fraud gave over their farther persuit leaving him at liberty to escape over into France XL. A Second is of one John Thornborough preferred by Queen Elizabeth to be Dean of York and Bishop of Lymerick in Ireland where he received a most remarkable deliverance in manner following Lodging in an Old Castle in Ireland in a large room partitioned but with Sheets or Curtains with his Wife Children and Servants in effect a whole Family These all lying upon the ground on Matts or such like in the dead time of the night the Floor over head being Earth and Plaister as in many places is used and overcharged with weight fell wholly down together and crushing all to pieces that was above two foot high as Cup-board Table Forms Stools rested at last on certain Chests as God would have it and hurt no living Creature He was after made Bishop of Worcester by King James XLI A Third Relation is concerning Sir Richard Edgcomb who fighting valiantly for the King at Edghil Battle received twenty six wounds and was left on the ground among the dead Next day his Son Adrian Scroop obtained leave of the King to find and fetch off his Fathers Corps and his hopes pretended no higher than a decent interment thereof Such a search was thought in vain amongst many naked bodies with wounds disguised from themselves and where pale death had confounded all Complexions together However he having some general notice of the place where his Father fell did meet with his Body that had some heat left therein which with rubbing within a few Minutes increased to motion that motion within some few hours into sense that sense within a day into speech that speech within certain weeks into a perfect recovery living more than Ten Years after a Monument of God's Mercy and his Sons Affection The Effect of this story I received from his own mouth in Lincoln Colledge Fuller's Worthies Page 151. 175. 274. XLII In the Year 1568 upon the Eve of All Saints by the swelling of the Sea there was so great a deluge as covered certain Islands of Zealand a great part of the Sea-Coast of Holland and almost all Friezland in which Province alone Two Thousand persons were drowned many men who had got up to the tops of Hills and Trees were ready to starve for hunger but were in time saved by Boats Among the rest upon an Hill by Sneace they found an Infant carried thither by the water in its Cradle with a Cat lying by it the poor Babe was soundly sleeping without any fear and then happily saved Strada XLIII William of Nassau Prince of Orange as he lay in his Camp near the Duke of Alva's Army some Spaniards in the night broke into his Camp and some of them run as far as the Prince of Orange's Tent where he lay fast asleep He had a Dog lying by him on his Bed that never left barking nor scratching of him on the face till he had awakened him and by this means he escaped the danger Strada XLIV In the Earthquake of Apulia in Italy which happened in 1627 on the last day of July one writeth That in the City of St. Severine alone Ten Thousand Souls were taken out of the World and that in the horror of such infinite ruines and Sepulchre of so many Mortals a great Bell thrown out oâ— the Steeple by the Earthquake fell so fitly over a child that it inclosed him and doing him no harm made a Bulwark for him against any other danger And who ballanced the motion of this Metal but the same fingers that distended the Heavens even the Almighty Providence of God Causin's Holy Court Tom. 3. XLV Mr. Lermouth alias Williamson Chaplain to the Lady Anne of Cleve a Scotchman being cast into Prison for the Protestant Religion as he was on a time meditating he heard a voice probably of an Angel saying to him Arise and go thy wayes whereunto when he gave no great heed at the first he heard the voice a second time upon this he fell to his Prayers and about half an hour after he heard a voice the third time speaking the same words whereupon rising up immediately part of the Prison Wall fell down and as the Officers came in at the outward Gate of the Prison he went out at the breach leaped over the Prison Ditch and in his way meeting a Beggar he changed his Coat with him and coming to the Sea shore he found a Vessel ready to set Sail into which he entred and escaped Clarks Examples Vol. 1. Pag. 18. XLVI Richard White and John Hunt being apprehended by the Mayor of Marlborough in Queen Marie's Reign they were sent to Salisbury and kept a long time in Lollard's Tower and at last were brought before Bishop Capon and other Commissioners and there examined of their faith of which they made a stout and zealous Confession from which they could not be removed neither by frowns nor flatteries so that at length they were Condemned at the Sessions to dye and with other Malefactors were delivered over to Sir Anthony Hungerford the High Sheriff to be Executed But the Evening after Mr. Clifford Son in Law to Sir Anthony came to him exhorting and intreating him earnestly in no case to have a hand in the death of those two innocent persons Sir Anthony hearing him went presently to one Justice Brown to ask advice who told him that if he had not a Writ from above for their Execution he could not answer the doing it but if he had he must then do his Office The Sheriff hearing this took his Horse the next day and went out of Town leaving these men in Prison Dr. Jefferies the Bishop's Chancellor hearing of it rides after him and overtaking him told him He had delivered two Condemned men into his hands and wondred that he went away before he had Executed them according to his Office The Sheriff told him He was no Babe to be taught what belonged to his Office If you have said he a Wit to discharge me for the burning of them I know what I have to do Why said the Chancellor did not I give you a Writ
health in a Moment Sandy's Ovids Met. lib. 8. LVI And as by these Examples we may observe how strangely some Persons have been saved from death so we find others have unwarily and unwittingly procured and hastened their own death and downfall For we read in Josephus that Anthony being at Laodicea sent for King Herod to answer what was objected against him touching the death of young Aristobulus Herod was an impotent Lover of his Wife Mariamne and suspecting that her Beauty was one cause of his danger before he went he committed the care of his Kingdom to Joseph his Uncle withal leaving him order to kill Mariamne his Wife in case he should hear that any thing evil had befallen him Herod took his Journey and Joseph in Conversation with the Queen acquainted her with the Order he had left with him Herod having appeased Anthony returned with Honour and speaking to the Queen of the Truth and Greatness of his Love in the midst of Embraces Mariamne said to him It was not the part of a Lover to give Commandement that if any thing should befall thee otherwise than well with Anthony I should presently be put to death No sooner were these words out of her mouth but the King entred into a strange Passion and giving over his Embraces he cryed out with a loud Voice and tore his hair saying That he had a most evident proof that Joseph had committed adultery with her because he would not have discovered those things which had been spoken to him in secret except they had greatly trusted each other And in this emotion or rage of Jealousie he hardly contained from killing his Wife yet he gave Order that Joseph should be slain without admitting him Audience or Justification of his Innocence Thus Joseph by his Imprudent revealing a dangerous Secret unwarily procured his own death Josephus Antiquit. lib. 15. LVII The same Author relates that Herod being overcome with pain and troubled with a vehement Cough and almost pined with Fasting was resolved to hasten his own death and taking an Apple in his hand called for a Knife and then looking about him least any stander by should hinder him he lifted up his Arm to Stab himself But Achiabus his Cosen ran hastily unto him and stayed his hand and presently there was great Lamentation made throughout all the Kings Palace as if the King had been dead His Son Antipater then in Prison having speedy news therof was glad and promised the Keepers Money to release him But the chiefest of them did not only deny to do it but also went and immediately acquainted the King with it Herod hearing this commanded his Guard to go and kill Antipater and Bury him in the Castle called Hircanium Thus was that wicked man cast away by his own Temerity and Imprudence who had he had more Patience and Discretion might probably have secured both his Life and the Kingdom to himself for Herod out-lived his death but five days Josephus Antiquities Lib. 1. LVIII King Francis of France had resolved upon the Murder of the Chief Lords of the Protestant Religion this secret of Council had been imparted by the Duke of Anjou to Ligneroles his Familiar Friend He being one time in the Kings Chamber observed some Tokens of the Kings displeasure at the demands of some Protestant Lords whom he had newly dismissed with a shew of Favour Ligneroles either moved with the Lightness incident to youth which often over-shoots discretion or moved with Ambition not to be ignorant of the nearest Secrets told the King in his ear That His Majesty ought to quiet his mind with Patience and laugh at their Insolence for within a few days by that meeting which was almost ripe they would be all in his Net and might be punished at his pleasure With which words the Kings Mind being struck in the most tender sensible part of it he made shew not to understand his meaning and retired to his private Lodgings where full of Anger Grief and Trouble he sent to call the Duke of Anjou charging him with the revealing this weighty secret The Duke confessed he had imparted the business to Ligneroles but assured him he need not fear he would ever open his Lips to discover it No more he shall answered the King for I will take Order that he shall be dispatched before he have time to publish it He then sent for George de Villequier Viscount of Guearchy whom he knew bore a grudge against Ligneroles and commanded him to endeavour by all means to kill him that day which was accordingly executed by him and Count Charles of Mansfield as he hunted in the Feild D'Avila's Wars of France Lib. 5. LIX Fredegundis was a Woman of admirable Beauty and for that Reason entertain'd by Chilperick King of France over whose heart she had gained such an Empire that she procured the Banishment of his Queen and lawful Wife Andovera the death of his own Mother Galfinda yet neither was she faithful to him but prostituted her Body to Landric de la Tour Duke of France and Mayor of the Palace Upon a day the King being to go a Hunting came up first into her Chamber and found her dressing her head with her Back towards him He therefore went softly and struck her gently on the back-part with the hinder end of his Hunting Spear she not looking back What dost thou do my Landric said she It is the part of a good Knight to charge a Lady before rather than behind By this means the King found her Falshood and went to his purposed Hunting but she perceiving her self discovered sent for Landric told him what had happened and therefore enjoyned him to kill the King for his and her safety which he undertook and effected that night as the King returned late from Hunting Hist France pag. 23. LX. Muleasses the King of Tunis was skilled in Astrology and had found that by a fatal influx of the Stars he was to lose his Kingdom and also to perish by a cruel death when therefore he heard that Barbarossa the Turkish Admiral was preparing a Navy at Constantinople concluding it was against himself to withdraw from the danger he departed Africa and Transported himself into Italy to crave Aid of Charles the Emperour against the Turks whom he thought had a design upon him In the mean time he had committed the Government of his Kingdom to Amida his Son who like an ungrateful Traytor assumed to himself the Name and Power of a King and having taken his Father upon his return he put out his Eyes Thus Muleasses drew upon himself that Fate he expected by those very means by which he hoped to have avoided it Wanly's History of Man pag. 458. LXI There was an Astrologer saith Wierus who had often and truly predicted the event of divers weighty Affairs who having intentively fixed his Eyes upon the Face of James Galleacius an Italian Duke and contemplating the same Dispose Sir said he of your
Interest and Pretensions to that Crown The Nobility and People of Portugal were without doubt extreamly amazed to see themselves so suddenly surprized and made subject to a Forreign Prince and especially to a Prince of that Nation against whom they had a natural hatred and antipathy but finding themselves in a condition not able to make resistance they thought they should gain more by freely submitting to the King than to be forced to it They therefore made their humble submission which King Philip met as it were half way and condescended in the Parliament or General Assembly of Estates of that Kingdom to be sworn to these Articles or Capitulations following 1. That the said Philip King of Spain c. Should observe all the Laws Liberties Priviledges and Customs granted to the People by the former Kings of Portugal 2. That the Vice King or Governour should be always the Son Brother Vncle or Nephew of the King or else a Native of Portugal 3. That all the Chief Officers in Church or State should be bestowed upon the Natives of Portugal and not upon strangers Likewise the Governments of all Towns and Places 4. That all Countreys now belonging to the Portugals should so continue to the Commodity and benefit of the Nation 5. That the Portugal Nation should be admitted to all Offices in the Kings House as well as the Spaniards 6. That because the King could not conveniently be always in Portugal he should send the Prince to be bred up amongst them These Articles were shut up or concluded with a Blessing upon such Kings as should observe and keep them and a curse on those who should break or violate them And some Authors likewise affirm that there was another clause added to them signifying That in case which God forbid the King which then was or his Successors should not observe this Agreement or should procure a Dispensation for this Oath the Three Estates of the Kingdom might freely deny subjection and obedience to the King without being Guilty either of Perjury or Treason Though these Articles were thus sworn to and the Cardinal Albertus Archduke of Austria Son to the Emperor and Nephew to the King of Spain appointed Vice-King of Portugal King Philip durst not yet in Person leave the Kingdom for he perceived by their Murmurs and visible discontents that their submission to him proceeded more out of Fear than Love and that as he had in a moment gained that Kingdom so he should as soon lose it if he gave them but the least opportunity For that the People were highly discontented it did easily appear by their Attentive listening after Old Prophecies among which was one of an Old Hermit who told Alphonso the First King of Portugal of the great Victory he should obtain over the five Kings of the Moors and That his Posterity should reign happily Kings of Portugal but that in the sixteenth Generation his Line should fail but that God at length should have mercy again upon them and restore them Others had regard to a Letter written by St. Bernard to the same King Alphonso the Original of which is reported to have been given to the Portugal Ambassador by Lewis 13 King of France in 1641 the substance whereof was That he rendred Thanks to him for the Lands bestowed upon him and that in recompence thereof God had declared unto him that there should not fail a Native of Portugal to sit upon the Throne unless for the greatness of their Sins God would chastise them for a time but that this time of Chastisement should not last above threescore years Other Prophesies there were of this Nature and to this Effect which put the People in hope of a Deliverance and many flattered themselves that Don Sebastian was yet alive and would come and deliver them nay so foolish were some of them that though they believed him slain at the Battle of Alcazer in Barbary yet they thought he should live again and miraculously come to Redeem them But that which most of all exprest the Peoples discontents was what was publickly spoken by the Mouths of their Orators the Priests in their Pulpits who would ordinarily in their Sermons utter Speeches much to the prejudice of the Spaniards Title and in Favour of the Dutchess of Braganza nor did they spare to do so even in the presence of King Philip himself who would therefore often say That the Portuguez Clergy had made the sharpest War with him Father Lewes Alvarez a Jesuit preaching one day before the Spanish Vice-Roy took his Text Surge attolle Grabatum tuum ambula Take up thy Bed and walk and turning himself to the Vice-Roy Sir said he the meaning of this is Arise take up your pack and be gone home But above all the discontents might be observed in the Noblemens Chappels especially in the Duke of Braganza's where they were used to sing the Lamentations of Jeremiah applying all the scorn and reproach of the Israelites to themselves as Aquam nostram pecunia bibimus We have drunken our water for money c. because of the Excise laid upon Wine and other necessaries by the Spaniards And that other Servi Dominati c. Servants have ruled over us c. And The Crown is fallen from our Heads Most commonly ending with this Prayer and Invocation Recordare Domine c. Remember O Lord what is come upon us consider and behold our Reproach Our Inheritance is turned to Strangers and our Houses to Aliens c. Yet did King Philip bear all these Affronts with an incomparable Patience dissembling with an Admirable Prudence his Passion if he had any for these discontents for he knew the only way to win this Nation to an Obedience and Compliance must be mildness at first whatever he intended to practice afterward and that he had by his exact keeping his Word and Oath won much upon this People appears in that during his whole Reign and that of his Successor King Philip the third who followed his Fathers Footsteps though not with that Craft and Dissimulation they made no Attempts nor were inclinable to revolt only some small bustles with Antonio the Bastard aforementioned and one or two Counterfeit Sebastians not worth mentioning for they as was said keeping their words in most things though they infringed some of their Priviledges had almost brought the People to a willing Slavery But King Philip the fourth committing the whole charge of the Government to his Favourite Count Olivarez who though without doubt an able Statesman yet would seem to have a way in Policy by himself which no body else could understand the reasons of and thereby lost this whole Kingdom and all its Territories For such were the new rigorous ways which he used in the Government of Catalonia and Portugal both People very tender of their Priviledges the least breach of which should have been seconded by a potent Force to have suppressed them in case they should attempt an Insurrection
become the Right and Lawful Lords and Masters What therefore now remains but that I either make my self the Soveraign Monarch of China or lose my Life in these Feilds and there become a Prey to Birds of the Air and Beasts of the Feild there is nothing in all this spacious Empire can gratifie me but either a Throne or a Grave and I will advance my self to such a pitch of Grandeur that if I fall it shall be with such a Crack as shall shiver the whole frame of Government and bury the whole Empire under my Ruins Thus Ly spoke to his Followers that were intirely devoted to him who finding their Resolution he speedily entred upon a most bold and hazardous Design but of high importance for the sudden accomplishing his Pretensions which was to go directly against the very Person of the Emp. and with all his Forces to assault the Imperial Court and Capital City of the Empire fully determining to strike off the Emperors head and to place the Crown on his own By this eminent exploit he knew he should possess himself of the Kings Treasure which would highly strengthen his Party and besides cut off all Power from any of the Royal Family to raise any Forces or to head any who should yet have any sparks of Loyalty in their Breast To execute this Grand Attempt he must make himself Master of the Great City of Pequin where all the Court resided But he could not hope to do this by open Force and therefore resolves to do it by Stratagem and so to surprize the Town that the Thunderclap should be felt before the noise was heard By this sudden surprize he would not leave the Emp. time to prepare either for his defence or flight Otherwise it would have been very difficult for Ly with all his Force he could have raised to have so suddenly reduced this Great City For beside the vast Extent of Pequin it was very well fortified and in time of Peace was guarded with 80000 of the Emp. best Souldiers The Imperial Palace alone is above 2 Miles round and defended with 2 or 3 Walls Ditches and Bulwarks which are all distinct from each other and very strongly guarded Ly foresaw all these difficulties and therefore he had already by Presents and fair Promises bribed several of the Grandees of the Court and Council whereby he found it not difficult to engage them in his Interests A strange thing that when there was not one Person of the common people either in City or Court who could be drawn into this Treason yet several of the Magistrates and Officers of the Court made themselves a detestable Example by entring into a conspiracy against the State and the Person of their Prince The chief of the conspirators were the Eunuchs of the Imperial Palace who were then very potent and considerable in the Court and upon whose Fidelity the Emperor of China much presumed entrusting them with the Guard of his Person and the Government of the State The Tyrant Ly having thus laid his treasonable design he sent into the imperial City of Pequin several of his Trusty and most valiant Commanders disguised like Merchants with instructions to keep open shop and to sell several Rich Merchandizes These counterfeit Merchants were never suspected to be great Commanders and their Apprentices and Servants choice Souldiers But it concerned them to mind their Trade for upon that depended the purchase of the greatest Empire in the world which was put to sale by those who were most of all obliged to preserve and defend it When the bargain was thus made and earnest mutually given those in the City and Court who kept Intelligence with the Tyrant failed not upon several pretences to lessen the Guards and to weaken as much as possible the strength of the place And on a sudden Ly appeared and found the Gates of the Town open and his men victorious in the Conquest of this great City the Inhabitants being so astonished that before they could resist they found themselves under the power of their enemies The Emperor Zunchin did not perceive the deplorable condition of his State till it was past remedy for now he knew that the rage of his enemies would not only take from him by violence his Empire and Crown but his life also and then too late percieved the design of those ill Counsellors who advised him not to raise Forces nor send Money nor Recruits to those Commanders who guarded the Frontiers He now poor Prince saw himself besieged in his own Pallace and was fully convinced he was betrayed and therefore thought of nothing but to depart out of this life by a death worthy of his Dignity and Courage His desperate condition made him feelingly reflect how much in him was to be pityed the too facile and easie natures and disposition of Princes which is usually attended with sad disasters both to themselves and their States The City of Pequin being of a vast extent before the Traytors could by Force enter the Pallace which was very spacious some of the most Loyal Officers and Souldiers made a vigorous resistance which the Emperour lookt upon as a grateful Testimony of their Allegiance since thereby he had liberty to choose his own death which he considered as his last happiness A frail and cruel satisfaction which the pride of man makes him seek out to be his own Executioner that thereby he may dye with the greater renown and pomp During the time of this resistance the Emperour considered how speedily to dispose both of his Royal Family and Person which was in the most Tragical manner that ever Histories related He had but one only Daughter very young which till now had been the hope and desire of the Empire his only Son dying before this direful disaster The Emperour cut her Throat with his own hands and at her own supplication that she might not see her Honour and Illustrious Rank become a shameful Prey to a Tyrant and Traytor who had nothing great and eminent in him but his Treason and Rebellion against his Lawful Soveraign After this horrid Execution the Emperour with his hands yet reeking with the blood of his Daughter went into the Garden of the Pallace accompanied with his Lawful Spouse the Empress for whom he had forsaken six other Wives who had each of them the Title of Queen 30 others who were the most illusttrious Ladies of the Empire and 3000 others of lesser Quality Some of their faithful servants understanding their cruel intentions filled the Air in proclaiming their griefs some cryed My Lord and my Husband others My King and my Master and some my Father every one accenting their sorrow in a tone suitable to their part in this scene of sorrow The heart of this unfortunate Prince was penetrated with so great affliction that it could admit of no Consolation and only comforted himself that he should preserve the Honour of his Empress being altogether unconcerned for his other