Embassadours to the Emperour to certifie hym that they hadde séene many tymes a Tryton or man of the Sea hyde and wythdrawe hym selfe into a caue neare vnto the Sea There was also aduertisement sente to the Emperor Octauian Augustus that vpon the coast of France were founde certayne Mermaydes deade vpon the banke of the ryuer In like sorte Georgius Trapezuntius a man very famous in learning affirmeth to haue seene vpon the border of the Ryuer appearyng out of the water in the fourme of a Woman vntill the nauill whereof seemyng to maruell and beholdyng hir somewhat nearely shée retired into the water Alexander ab Alexandro a great ciuilian Philosopher in the .viij. Chapter of hys thyrd booke assureth for certaintie that in Epyre now named Romain is a certayne fountaine neare the Sea from whence yong Maydes for the necessitie of theyr houses dydde drawe water and that harde by issued a Triton or Sea man and caughte a little damsell whome he caried oftentymes into the sea and after sette hir on lande agayne wherof the inhabitauntes beyng aduertised vsed suche watche and guarde that they tooke hym and broughte hym afore the Iustice of the place afore whome beyng searched and examined founde in hym all partes and membres of a man for whyche they committed hym to certaine garde and kéepyng offeryng hym meate the whyche he refused wyth sorrowfull lamentations after hys kynde not tastyng any thyng that was offered hym and lastly dyed of hunger séeing hym selfe restrayned from the Elemente wherein he was wonte to dwell Many writers nowe a days do witnesse a thyng more strange than any of these if it be true whyche is that the Archduke of Austriche third sonne of the Emperor Ferdinando made to be caried with him to Gennes in the yere .1548 a Mermayd dead the same so astonishing the people that the moste learned men in Italie came to visite and sée him I coulde yet make of more Watermonsters séene in oure tyme as that whych was figured lyke a Monke an other like a Bishop wyth other of lyke resemblaunce whyche importe the more faith bicause they are preferred by thrée of the most notable Fishers in Europe being also figured so amply in the vniuersall Historie of Fyshes that I néede not to enlarge their descriptions for they haue so lernedly discoursed of the propreties of the same that they haue cutte of all hope to suche as shall come after them to aduaunce it with further addition ¶ Wonders of Dogges whiche dyd eate Christians CHAP. xix IF the bones ashes of all those which haue bene persecuted for the name of Iesus Christe were at this day in being and to be séene with our corporall eyes we myghte then confesse that they were able to buylde a great and proude Citie and withal if all the bloud which hath bene shed for his name were gathered together into one certaine place it were sufficient to make a great floud For who soeuer will reade in Eusebius and S. Augustine the â—â—rsecutions burnings butcheries and slaughters which were made of the poore flocke of Iesus Christ in the time of the Emperour Domitian Traian Antonius Seuerus Maximinian Decius Valerian Aurelian Diocletian Maximian with many others he shal not finde so many thousandes slaine in the cruell warres of the TirauÌ„ts as he shal reade to haue shed their blood for y e name of Iesus Christ neither is the sacrifices of so many Martirs and companies of the good so amplie spoken of by Sainct Augustin in his .xviij. booke .lij. chap. of the Citie of God or by Eusebius in his Ecclesiasticall historie or that Orseus writeth so muche to be wondered at or strange as this whereof Cornelius Tacitus maketh mention is wonderfull and worthie to be put in memorie amongest the moste celebrate pourtraicts monsters of this worlde For it did not onely suffise the infamous Tiraunt Nero to make to be burned the bodies of the poore Christians making them serue as torches and blazing linkes to giue light to the Citizens of Rome but also made theÌ„ to be wrapped quicke in the skinnes of certaine sauage beastes to the ende that the dogges thinking they had bene beastes in déede might teare and commit their bodies to pieces Which you may nowe sée by the furious assaultes that Sathan and his accomplices haue builded againste the members of Iesus Christe for there is no Religion which he hath not so furiously persecuted sithens the beginning of the worlde as this of ours wherein although he hath set abroche all his subtilties fraudes malices and inuentions to vndermine it yet notwithstanding it remaineth whole and sounde by the vertue and ayde of the Sonne of God who hath can bridle represse the enuious rage of his enimies And although he hath procured the death of many members of the Churche as Abell Esaie Ieremie Zacharie Policarpius Ignatius and many thousand Martirs and Apostles yet notwithstaÌ„ding he could neuer deface any iote therof for it is writen in like maner that the gates of hel coulde not by any meanes preuaile againste hir albeit that for a certaine time she was put in some perill and was shaken and tossed like a litle barke by the rage teÌ„pestes of the Sea yet surely Iesus Christe did not forsake at any time his espouse but alwayes assisted hir as the head of his bodie watched hir garded hir and maintained hir as is witnessed in the promisses made vnto hir when he saide I will not leaue you my Orpheus I will be with you to the verye laste consummation of the worlde And further he sayeth in Esaie I will put my worde into your mouth and defende you with the shadowe of my hande and those wordes which I put into your mouth shall not be taken from your séede now nor neuer Wherein séeing then that our only religion is true and purified and that it is signed by the bloud of so many Prophetes Apostles and Martirs and confirmed besides with the bloud of Iesus Christ whereof he hath lefte to vs the true Charecter and witnesse of his death that all others be vnlawfull bastards and inuented by the Diuels and men their ministers to the vtter confusion of ours wherefore if it be so pure and holy let vs then indeuour our selues to conserue and kepâ— the same to the ende we maye saye in the last daye to God as the good king Dauid saide Lord I hate them that hate thée I am angrie with them that rise against thée and I hate them with a perfect hate and holde them for mine enimies ¶ A wonderfull historie of diuers figures Comets Dragons and flames which appeared in heauen to the terrour of the people and whereunto the causes and reasons of them be assigned CHAP. xx THe face of Heauen hath bene at diuers times so much disfigured by blasing starres torches fireforkes pillours Lances bucklers Dragons twoo Moones twoo Sunnes at one instant with other like things that whosoeuer woulde recompte
.vij. Emperour proued during his life such an impediment to the state of his health as the cruell and subtill disposition of an abhominable Monk who gaue ende to his dayes by the impoisoning of an hoste he ministred to him Iohn the .xj. Pope ended not his days by the painful reading of the holy scripture or preaching Gods worde to his flock and charge but he finished his terme in a cruell prison smoothered with a pillow Pope Benet the sixte died not in pāpering himself with sundry delicious and daintie banquets as the moste part of those Romishe prelates do at this day but he ended his dayes in prison by the pinching and gnawing pain of extreme famine Pope Victor the thirde deceased not from this vaine and transitorie life as sommoned by the messanger of olde age but celebrating the Masse was cōpelled to yelde vp his vitall breath by an infectious poyson giuen him in the Chalice Then if so many Monarchs and renoumed princes haue ended their liues by so sundry and straunge kindes of death it is nedeful for those which folow exactly to consider of the warnings iudgements of God and especially such by whose vile and detestable order of liuing may be sene as in a glasse the due reward appointed for the same for as y e noble Marcus Aurelius sayth that after euery euil fortune foloweth a good hap and after euery ignominie ensueth great glory euen so I assure you sayth he that for my self I had rather my lyfe were lesse glorious and my death more honorable for as by an vnfortunate death groweth greate suspition of a good life so a good death often times excuseth an euill life Wherein if so many kindes of deathes bothe of Kings and Emperours by vs written séeme strange and feareful vnto you then those folowing wil deserue more admiratiō the same agreeing with our intent for they be wonders by y ◠which we are instructed that when the Iustice of God is inflamed against vs and that hée shootes his arowes as a sharpe punishment for our offences he maketh his ministers and executers of his iust anger the litle and insensible worms of the earth neither doth his wrathe fall altogether vpon the vulgar or people of meane condition but hath also like force vpon Princes and degrées of greate callings whereof appeares a familiar experience in the monstrous death of a King Bishop recorded alreadie vnder the seale and authoritie of 40. or 50. Historians of no lesse credite than vndoubted truthe all whiche agrée in one that King Popeil raigning in Poloniae 246. yeres after Christ was wont amongst his particular curssyngs to vse this blasphemous othe If this be not true I would the Ratts might gnaw me wherin he receiued the iust hier of so execrable an oth for in the ende he was deuoured as you shall reade hereafter The father of King Popeill féeling himselfe to decline from the vanities of this miserable and vncertain pilgrimage lefte the gouernement and state of the Realme to the disposition of the two vncles of his sonne men no lesse honored of al the cuntrie for the noblenesse of their hearts than wel liked for their sinceritie of life towards God Popeill being come to his full age his father deceassed and the yong man hauing caught betwixte his téeth the bitte of the bridell beganne to gyue hym selfe vnto all wantonnesse and riottous lyuyng in suche sorte that in fewe dayes he became so shamelesse in euill and abhominable doinges that hée lefte no kynde of vice vnassayed in so much that in the ende he cruelly poisoned his two vncles which wicked and vnnaturall facte performed caused himself to be crouned with a cap of floures perfumed with precious ointments the more to solemnize the first entrie of his reigne he caused to be prepared a sūptuous delicate banquet wherunto all the Princes and nobles of his Realme were somoned And as they were banquetting beholde an infinite multitude of Ratts risyng from the dead and putrified corpses of his two vncles the which he with his wife had impoysoned began to assaile that cruell tyrāt amidst his delites the Archers of hys Garde offering to resist the same with maine hande trauailed in vaine for they encountred hym day and nyghte that the poore men cried alas being altogether vnable to defend their maister from the rage of these beastes by reason whereof it was thought good by the aduise of his counsell to enuiron the Prince with fire not knowing that the power of man is any way able to resist Gods appointment they performed their deuise which was no impediment or let to the ratts who passing the hotte flames of fire without any let to the admiration of al men ceassed not to gnaw deuoure this miserable murtherer of his vncles His counsel seing their first intent frustrate of none effecte caused him to be caried in a boate into the middst of a riuer But these beasts not fearyng the rage of the water assailed the boate on euery syde with such rage and impetuositie that the boate-men defending the same in vaine vnderstanding it to procede of some diuine furie were constrayned to thrust the boate to lande committing the king to the mercy of these beasts and he seing himself abandoned of al humaine succour not knowing what to do he and his wife fled into a tower where in the ende by the furie of these little creatures they receyued the iust guerdon of their vnnaturall malicious murder In like maner the Almain◠in al their Chronicles and reportes make mention of the like hystorie of one Hato the .xxxij. Archbishop of Magence at what time there was a cruell famine in the land this Bishop or rauening Woulfe seing the poore people surpressed wyth the gnawing rage of famine and especially those of hys prouince determined I can not tell by what instincte of the diuel to gather together a great number of them into a graunge where in stede of reliefe in this their great and miserable dearth and hunger he committed them to the mercie of the furious and raging flames of fyre whervpon he being asked why he had shewed so vile and execrable tirannie on these miserable and innocent creatures he answered That he burned them for that they differed litle or nothing from Ratts which serued for no other vse than to consume corne Albeit God as witnesseth the Prophet hauing care of the litle sparow wold not suffer this great tyrannie vnpunished for immediately he stirred vp an infinite numbre of Ratts to the vtter destruction and ruine of this vile murderer who fléeing for his more safegarde into a towre builte in a water was by the expresse commaundement of God eaten by these ratts to the very bones which remaine at this day enterred in the monasterie of S. Albyn in Magence and the Towre where this abhominable pastor ended his dayes is yet in being and is called Ratts towre Wherof Munster amongst many others makes mention in
swiftnesse and light condition that no shippe how so euer she be assisted with windes or weather is able to make saile equall with the wing of that Birde whose wings in déede are long and thin but of a meruellous reflection and light whose fethers or more properly shagge or long haire be almost of the hardnesse of a horne thys Birde hath no féete she flieth continually without resting in any place sauing that she stayeth against a trée or bough vpon the which she hangeth and stayeth by a lock of hir loÌ„g hair she is of great price by reason of hir strauÌ„genâ—sse and rarietie the great men of Leuant for a brauery do deck the crests of their armors with the plumes of this Birde they saw it at Noremberg by Iohn Cromerus The Almaines call this bird in their laÌ„guage Luffruogel which signifieth a bird of y e air either by reason y t she liueth in the air or that they make accoÌ„pt she is releued therby the most be of opinion y t the female hath one receptacle or retreat vnder hir wings where she layeth and hatcheth hir egges Wherefore the kings of Marmin in the Iles of Moluques not long sithens were persuaded did beleue y t their soules were immortal by the consideration of this Birde being moued by no other argument if not that they obserued one litle bird of extreme beautie which at no time touched the earth but sometimes fell dead from the height of heauen And as the Mahometists trauailed with them they shewed them this birde persuading them that she came from Paradise which was a delicious place where the dead soules toke their repose wherby that people grosse and barbarous beleuing that which the Turkes declared to them begaÌ„ very curiously to examine of their law and in the ende became Mahometists and folow at this day the Mahomet law for which cause they name that birde Manucodiata that is to say the birde of God which birde they haue in such reuerence and honour that the Kings hauing hir aboute them accompte themselues sufficiently guarded from all perill and daunger of warre wherupon the Kings of the Isles aforesayd did send to Charles the fift Emperor fiue of these litle birdes dead for as we sayd before they were neuer taken by any man aliue Maximilianus Transsiluanus Gesnerus pursuing the Historie of this birde addeth yet that whiche foloweth I haue saith he attained to write these things by the letters of Melchior Guillandin Beruce a man great in science and doctrine whiche were brought vnto me to Padoue by the which he writeth hir the birde of Paradyse as here foloweth Albeit those which haue left in writing the nauigation of the Spaniards to straunge countreys assure and affirme that there is a little bird bred and borne in the Isles of Moluques very pleasaunt and of singular beautie wherof the body is but litle notwithstandyng by reason of the hugenesse of hir feathers she séemeth more great which be brode and houering disposed in a rounde in such sort that they represente the circuite of a circle That little birde representeth in greatnesse and forme a Quaile being adorned and decked with feathers of diuers colours most faire and bautifull contenting very muche the eyes of those which behelde hir hir head proportioned to the body somewhat more great than a swallow hir fethers which decke the height of hir from the vppermoste part of the bones of the skurfe of hir neck to the mydst of hir beake be short great hard thick and of a yealowe colour and shineth like the purest golde or the beames of the Sunne the others which couer hir chin be moste delicate tender and resemble a piercyng coloure like to the gréene and not much vnlike to those whiche we see vpon the heades of Canardes being directly against the sunne That birde hath no féete and is very like a Hearon touching the feathers of hir wings sauing that they be more tender and long holden of a broune colour participating with redde and blacke The male of that birde hath a hole vpon the skurfe of his back where the female putteth and hatcheth hir egges and not relieued by other meate than the dewe of heauen whiche serueth them for meate and drinke And who lyst to visite the inwarde parts of thys byrde shall fynde hir full of fat or grease whereof I may boldly talk bicause I haue séene two without legs which is contrary to the writing of Aristotle who affirmeth that no birde wanteth féete he dwelleth alwayes in the ayre I am sure this would amaze you to write wholy the form of this bird by his particulars as Gesnerus writeth according to the witnesse of the foresayd authors Albeit who is desirous to sée a more ample description thereof reade that which the sayd Gesnerus hath written in the chapter where he treateth of the birde of Paradise or in the boke of Auium natura Hieromeus Cardanus in his bokes de subtilitate or place where he writeth of perfect beasts reporteth the like to that which foloweth In the sayd Isles of Moluques they haue found vpon the laÌ„d or in the sea one dead bird called Manucondiata which is as much to saye in the Indians toung as the birde of God or Birde of Paradise whiche they haue not séene on liue for that it hathe no féete Which for my part I haue séene thrée or .iiij. tymes and alwayes wanting those membres she dwelleth continually in the aire and that very high and farre of Shée beareth a body and a beake muche like the sea swallowe both in bignesse and other forme the quilles of hir wings and tayle be full as bigge as those of an Eagle when she aduaunceth or stretcheth them abroade Hir feathers bee very small and moste lyke reseruing their litlenesse to the plumes of a Pehenne or a she Peacocke and differing in that poynt from the Peacocke hym selfe bycause these feathers haue not suche starres or eyes as we sée in the tayle of a Peacocke The backe of the male of this birde is holowe where by moste reason the female dothe laye hir egges seing hir belly is also hollow the same arguyng that by the hollownesse of the one and other she layeth and hatcheth hir eggs there is in the taile of the male a thréede of the length of thrée shaftments blacke in colour neither rounde nor square of an ordinarie bignesse not much vnlyke to a Shoemakers thréede by the whyche it may be presumed that the female is tied and ioyned to his backe whilest she layeth and hatcheth hir egges It is moste certaine that as she remayneth continually in the ayre so lykewise when hir wyngs and tayle be drawne into a roundnesse she supporteth hir selfe that way and being wearie she becommeth as she was afore She doth lyue by none other foode than by the dewe of Heauen whiche serueth hir bothe to eate and also to dryncke the same arguing a wonderfull diligence and maruell of Nature to make
physition of Vienne writ in a Latine worke which he sent for a wonder to Ferdinando Emperor at that day And although he haue dilated on this Historie sufficiently yet notwithstanding I will write thereof more at large in that I shal be able He writeth to the Emperour Ferdinando that in the yeare .1545 there was at Vienne in Austrice a certain woman named Margareta the wife of a Citizen of that towne called George Wolczer who being quicke with childe from S. Bartholomew day to S. Luce and then vpon point to be deliuered she began to féele y e sharpe and dolorous pangs which women accustomably tast and suffer in the bringyng forth of their children caused hir mother and certain other sage women to be called for hir better helpe therin But when they came to the great conflict of Nature and hoped to haue receiued the childe they perceiued such a brute noise as it had ben a thunder clap within the belly of that poore martir y t which made them to thinke that the child was dead with the great striuing and battaile that it had with Nature The noise being at last appaised they coulde not perceiue or iudge any mouing or life in the infant whiche was cause after they had imployed all their labour and arte in vaine thynking to draw the child out of the mothers belly they wer coÌ„strained in the ende to abandon and leaue hir for a time to the helpe and mercy of almightie God Albeit after certaine dayes hir dolor griefe renued that she was not only forced to vse for helpe herein the aduises of the most excelleÌ„t and best experimeÌ„ted physitions in that prouince but also all others elswhere whose fame was most renoumed and celebrated for their excellencie in that arte who with all their physike resolutiue attractiue suppuratiue were not able to deliuer hir from this misery or otherwise comfort hir than with that which the angel sayd to the Prophetâ— Dispone domus tuae quia morieris Whereupon she seing hir self voide of hope to receiue help at mans hands determined to take truce wich nature and perseuer constantly in this hir martirdom the which she continued with extreme dolor the space of foure yerâ—â— carying this dead caryon in hir belly which being exâ—â—ed she resolued in hir self that it was most expedient to expose some ready death rather than to suffer hir selfe continually to pine by the crueltie of that torment Wherfore resting vpon this deliberatioÌ„ she made to be called the Surgions Physitions at whose handes she requested to be opened And in the yeare .1550 the .xij. day of NoueÌ„ber they opened hir belly from which they drewe the childe half rotten which she had caried the space of fiue yeares And after purging and phisiking hir they restored hir by the ayde of God to suche perfect health that she remayneth at this day on liue and so whole that she may yet conceiue and bring forth children As it is more amply declared in the Latine worke sente vnto the Emperour Ferdinando ¶ A wonderfull historie of a Monster hauing the shape of the face of a man who was taken in the forrest of Haueberg in the yere .1531 whose portraict Georgius Fabritius sent to Gesnerus drawen naturally as he is here figured CHAP. xxxj LIke as those which admeasure the greatnesse of the workes of God according to the capacitie of their vnderstandings could scarsly be persuaded that this monster which is here figured shuld be naturall Euen so in my iudgement as I haue oftentimes protested that I wil not fil or pester my wrytings with any fabulous matter or history wherby I shal not be able to verifie the same by the authoritie either of some famous author Greeke or Latin sacred or prophane for as Gesnerus in his History de quadrupedibus viuiparis wryteth that in the Forest of Saxonie in the coast of Dace there was taken certain moÌ„strous beasts hauing y e shape of the face of a man wherof the female in chase by chauÌ„ce was killed of hunters and the male taken by them was brought aliue who afterwardes became domesticall and tame in such sorte as he began to talke a little albeit hys words were imperfect and hoost much like vnto a Goate and touching the rest of his actioÌ„s they were more brutall than humaine For at such time as he was moued by y e ardent heates and motions of nature the women were not in safety with him for he would endeuor himselfe by force to violaâ—e them openly And as an other like to this was taken in the yere .1531 in the Forest de la seigneurie de Salâ—ebourge in Almaine who wold neuer be made tame nor yet endure the loke of a man but liuing in such sorte certaine dayes in the ende died of hunger refusing to be fed of any liuing creature Euen so in the time that Iames the fourth king raigned in Scotland which was in the yere 1409. and y t he sent Iacobus Egilinus in embassage to the French king who by tempest of the seas was cast on land in a certaine Isle of Norway where he saw moÌ„sters like vnto these spoken of before as he witnessed at his return and enquiring of the people of that couÌ„trey what kinde of creatures they were they answered that they were certaine beastes hauing the shape of the face of men who accustomed very often to come by night to their houses which being not repulsed by dogges would deuoure as wel their men as children And I remember that S. Augustine in his boke of the Citye of God maketh mention of sundrye monsters of straungo formes who were found in deserts or elswhere whereupon grew a question whether they were descended of the first man Adam or that they had a reasonable soule or not or whether they should rise as others shall at the generall day of resurrection But for that this matter is a little to long to entreate vpon by reason of the shortnesse of this Chapiter I will therefore reserue it for a nother place more fit and apte for the dissolution therof ¶ A wonderfull History of sundry straunge famines CHAP. xxxij I Doe remember that I haue treated in my third booke of the Theatre of the world howe famine is one of the moste cruell ministers of the iustice of God as he hymselfe witnesseth very often by his Prophets and Apostels sometymes threatning to gyue them for their wickednesse a heauen of brasse and the earth of yroÌ„ that is to say that it shal bring forth nothing albeit I will not forget in this place to make mention of two notable famines noted in the boke of Ecclesiasticus to the ende that drawing our Histories out of the liuely springs of the scripture the same may moue vs y t rather and touche vs the more with remorse euen vpon the hammer of our conscience It is shewed in the .iiij. boke of the kings and .vj. chapter of a famine which happened in Samarie in
suche prouysion for this byrde in the ayre It séemeth not that she shoulde be nouryshed of pure Aire onely bicause it is too subtile and it is not likely that she shoulde be nourished of small Beastes and Flies bycause the substaunce wherevppon these Creatures bée fourmed is not engendred in the aire neither hath there ben founde any such digestion in the bellie of thys Birde as they haue written of hir that haue séene hir deade she hath not hir relief of the vapour which ascendeth from the earth bicause she was neuer sene to discend so lowe besides there is often perill in vapours and this birde is not consumed but by olde age all which proue that she is only fedde and preserued vpon the dewe that falleth in the night Wherwith ende the opinions of Galene and other late writers touching the properties of this bird Neither can it much disagrée from our purpose of straunge birdes to auouche in this place the authoritie of Hector Boetius and Saxo who write that they founde certaine Trées in Scotlande whose frute being lapped within the leaues and the same fallyng into the water in some conuenient time take life and turne into a liuing birde whiche they call a Trée bird This trée groweth in the yle of Pomonne which is not farre from Scotlande towards the north the which is verified in some sort by Aeneas Siluius affirmyng that he hath heard that in Scotlande is a trée growing for the most part vpon the banke of a ryuer which brought forth frute of forme likenesse to a de Caunes réede which being ripe fall off themselues some into the water and some vpon the lande and those whiche take the water are séene to haue life and swymme vpon the waues and after certain time to take wings and flie into the aire which notwithstanding by diligent inquisition hath not ben founde in Scotlande but rather in the Iles of Orchades ¶ A Monstrous Serpent bought by the Venetians in Affrica and sent afterward into Fraunce embalmed as our late writers affirme CHAP. xxxiiij ACcordyng to the testimonie of Conradus Licostenes of whome I haue borowed the portraict of this horrible Serpent with vij hâ—â—â—es this monster was sente out of Turkey to the VenetiaÌ„s embalmed who not long after made a presente of it to Francis de Valoys the Frenche King by whome for the rarenesse of it it was valued at six thousande ducates Wherein like as for a more certaintie and truth of the matter I haue ben curious to searche whether there hath ben any such monstrous thing within the courte or not so if it be true as it is to be presumed in respect of the authoritie of him that wryt it I think nature hath neuer brought out or formed any thing more maruellous amongest all the monsters that euer were for besydes the monstrous and fearefull figure of thys Serpent there is yet a further consideration and regarde touchyng the faces which bothe in view and iudgement séeme more humaine than brutal but touchyng the multitude of hir heades me thinketh it oughte to argue no great strangenesse to fynde serpents with two or .iij. heades seing we haue and meane to make mention of bothe men and women that haue hadde no lesse the same being also witnessed by certaine of our late writers who trauailyng into India haue séene the same Ludouicus Vertomanus in his boke of the peregrinations of the Indians sayth that he hath séen in Calycut fourfooted serpents bréeding within certain marshes which contain for the height of their body the bygnesse of a Hog but of an vgly foule and deformed head he maketh also mention of an other kinde of serpents which be so venomous that as soone as they touche or pierce the blood of a man he falleth forthwith dead to the ground He sayth that if the King of that countrey coulde discouer the place of habitation of these serpents he woulde buylde them little caues or cabinets to defende them from the violence and inundation of waters when there hapned any such besides he helde them so deare that if any of them were oppressed or killed by any of his people such as coÌ„mitted the fact were sure to passe the same way the same mouing of a fonde superstitious opinion of the king inhabitants there that these serpeÌ„ts were certain spirites of God which if they were not such in dede they persuaded that their biting or poisoning could not worke such spedy death and destruction to man which maketh that those venomous beastes walke and passe thorowe their townes without perill or hurte and albeit in some one night there hath perished about nine persons of their venomous biting yet can they lose no credit or estimation wyth the Kyng or hys people who besides all these vanities if they meete any of these vgly creatures in the beginnyng of any voyage or enterpryse they doe accompte it a speciall good speede in theyr busynesse such is theyr blyndnesse and such is their mserable superstitioÌ„ Iambol a notable Merchant of Greece affirmeth y t in his trafike to the Indians he founde certain flying Serpentes of the lengthe of two cubites wyth wyngs in theyr foreparte the whiche flie by nyghte and be of so mortall a poyson that yf they lette fall or distill but one droppe of theyr vrine it kylleth forthwyth the creature wherupon it falleth Certaine late Embassadours of Portingale haue broughte from thence to theyr Prince one of these Serpentes embalmed the same carying suche a terrour with it that albeit he were not to be feared and without cause of feare yet very fewe durst approche hym The Auncient Histories enlarge very farre touching the wonders of the monstrous Serpent which appered in Affrica to Attylius Regulus whose feare and force of venom was such that notwithstanding any strength torment of warre engine or other policie whiche he or his people coulde deuise he coulde not be vanquished tyll he had torne in pieces and murdered the moste parte of his armie They agrée all that the skinne of that Serpent contained .xxvj. foote in length whose iawes were hong vp and remayned there for a miracle vntill the warre of Muancya Diodorus Siculus in his .iij. boke treateth of a serpent y t was caried on liue into Alexandria to y e king Ptolomeus Philadelphus no lesse woÌ„derful thaÌ„ true which I wil describe particularly according to the text the rather bicause it coÌ„firmeth in many respects the circumstaÌ„ce effect of our purpose Seing sayth he the noble and bountiful coÌ„sideration of the King to suche as broughte to hym any straunge or monstrous Beastes certaine Hunters determined to present hym in his owne countrey with a quicke serpent wherin although the enterprise imported almoste an impossibilitie yet fortune so fauored their inteÌ„t that within certain dayes after by diligence they brought their purpose to effect for they came to the knowledge of a greate Serpent neare the water of the length of .vij. toises and an halfe who being