returned in the Evening he gave all them that attended him 1O Measures of Wheat apiece The same afternoon Massanello's Wife Mother and Sister clad in Cloth of Silver with Chains of Gold and other Rich Jewels went in a stately Coach valued at eight Thousand Crowns to give the Vice-Queen a Visit attended with divers other Gentlewomen and when she came to the Palace Sedans were sent for her and her Company with a Guard of Halberdiers Pages and Lacquies to attend them The Vice-Queen presented her with a rich Diamond giving her great welcome and many Dainties and so returned where they found Massanello so heated with his Wine that he scarce knew what he said or did and thus ended Sunday On Monday Morning he would have resigned his Power but his Wife and Kindred disswaded him and himself conceived that if he should do it he could expect no other but death but now when he came to manage his Authority he committed so many Fopperies and Tyrannical Acts as made him hated by those who before had adored him and the reason of his distempered Brain was conceived to be from a fatal drink given him by the Vice-Roy the day before To which may be added want of Food and Sleep for he was seldom at leasure to do either in regard of multiplicity of business which wholly took him up Early that morning he rode into the Market-place with a naked Sword in his hand striking many for no cause offered A Captain who came to him about business he wounded in the Face and meeting with one that was said to be a Spy he caused his head presently to be chopped off another complaining that his Wife was gone away with another man he caused the Woman to be hanged and the Man to be broken on the wheel Then going to the Kings Stables he took for himself and his Followers six of the best Horses but before he had gone far better bethinking himself he sent them all back again The Vice-Roy himself hearing of such Extravagancies trembled and retired into the inner Palace causing it to be fortified and increased his Guard Then Massanello sent to two Noblemen to come to him into the Market-place upon pain of burning their Palaces if disobeying who returned answer That they would wait on him But instead thereof having secured their Goods they went to the Vice-Roy to complain of their Slavish Condition and whilst they were considering how to remedy it there came two of his chief Friends and Counsellors making the same Complaint saying That they were in continual danger of their Lives and that the People began to hate Massanello for his extream Cruelty whereupon it was concluded That the People should be perswaded to make their Addresses to the Vice-Roy and therein to declare that they would have no more dependance upon him but upon his Excellency only provided that they might be assured to enjoy their Priviledges lately confirmed by Oath This the Vice-Roy willingly assented to and the People were perswaded to accept of the Conditions and Massanello being gone abroad to take his pleasure many of them met with the Vice-Roy where it was concluded That Massanello should be laid hold on and kept in chains during his life but not put to death because of the good he had done for the People At Massanello's return being extreamly inflamed with Wine he began to play many mad Pranks whereupon the Captains of the People apprehended him and put him in Custody under a Guard of Souldiers and the People confederating with the Vice-Roy hastened his End Tuesday July 16 in the Morning Massanello's Secretary meeting some Bands of men going towards the Castle proudly asked them By whose Authority they Acted One of the Captains answered By the Authority of the Vice-Roy Well said the Secretary thy head shall pay for this whereupon the Captain wounded him with his Sword and another shot him through and so they put him into a Sepulchre But the people that adhered to the Vice-Roy drew him out cut off his head and dragged his body about the Streets Presently after Massanello escaping out of Prison went to the Church of the Virgin of Carmine and the Archbishop coming to sing Mass there it being a great Festival day to that Saint Massanello met him saying Most Eminent Lord I perceive that the People will now forsake me and go about to take away my life I desire that a Solemn Procession may be made to this most holy Lady for being to die I shall then die with greater content The Church being full of People Massanello went to the Altar and taking a Crucifix in his hand he commended himself to the People remembring then what great things he had done for them the difficulties he had encountered with and the hatred that he had procured to himself thereby c. and then prostrating himself at the Archbishops Feet he desired him to send the Vice-Roy word That he would willingly renounce his Command and resign it into his Excellencies hand which the Archbishop promised him to do and seeing him all in a sweat he conveyed him into a Dormitory to be refreshed and so he left him Massanello after a while went into the Hall and some that were hired to murther him rushed into the room crying aloud Let the King of Spain live and let none hereafter upon pain of death obey Massanello Massanello seeing them said You go perhaps to search for me behold me here my people Whereupon some shot at him and he crying out Ah ingrateful Traytors fell down dead Then came a Butcher and cut off his Head and carried it upon a Lance first into the Church and then to the Market-place crying out Let the King of Spain live Massanello is dead Massanello is dead and withal they discharged some Harquebusses whereupon the affrighted people slunk away not daring to Revenge their Captains death so that they carried his head up and down the City and the Boys dragged his Body up and down the Streets and at last his head was thrown into one Ditch and his Body into another And thus as the Almighty for the sins of the Egyptians punished them by small and inconsiderable means so did he Correct Humble and Chastize the Stately proud City of Naples by so mean a Person who in ten dayes time acted the part of the Greatest Monarch upon Earth and then fell to the lowest Contempt and died the most vile death of the greatest Malefactor Thus Massanello being raised by the popular Air slain and scorned by the same people Honoured and Idolized by the same persons may be compared to a Ball tossed up and down by Fortune The voice went afterward that a Chappel should be built for him and the prime Wits of Naples composed several Epitaphs upon him amongst which the following is thus Englished by J. H. Esq Massanello's Lamentation concerning the People of Naples I did expect from thee a better Fate Ingrateful City People more ungrate Thou chop'st his
dishonour of the Emperor Mincelius pleaded That he was enjoyned by the Senate to do it which the Magistrates also affirmed The Prefect appealed then to the Council of Prague and commanded that Mincelius should be kept under an Arrest till he had answered them The Consuls that came with him protested against this affirming That their City could not want his Ministry offering to stand bound for his appearance and at length they prevailed after having given a Bond of Two Thousand Crowns for his forth coming Hereupon the Prefect poured out all his Indignation upon Cotterus removing him from his former Prison into a Dungeon where Malefactors used to be Tortured wherein he lay in Hunger Dirt and Cold for above three Months Now a special Providence from Heaven appeared For Cotterus his Enemies understood that a compleat Book of all his Prophecies was in the hand of a Citizen of Sprotovia This they got and carried it to the Governour of Oppersdorf who after he had read it was much taken with Cotterus and would no more meddle against him He also perswaded the Prefect to have his cause heard in the City of Glogow and prevailed that Cotterus should have an Advocate allowed him In the mean time the Prefect married a Noble Virgin and at the weeks end his Office necessitated him to go Sagan and in his return he was to lye at Sprotovia but as soon as he came into the Suburbs of that City he was taken with a violent pain in his Bowels whereupon he sent for a Physitian who not knowing what to make of his Disease forbore to administer any thing to him till the next Morning that he might see farther But it pleased God the Praefect died that night and in that very place where he had sworn to see these men hanged This dreadful Judgment being known to the Enemies of Cotterus they removed him out of the Dungeon into a better Prison and after some Months space they sentenced him and brought him to the Town-Stocks fastened a Collar of Iron about his Neck and set over his head a Paper thus written This is the false Prophet which foretold such things as came not to pass There he stood an hour after which he was banished out of all the Emperors Dominions upon pain of death From hence he went to Lusatia under the Jurisdiction of the Elector of Saxony where he lived quietly till the day of his death which was in the year 1647. But before this that is in 1628 when the Persecution grew hot in Silesia there was in the City of Spretovia one Adam Pohl a good Friend to Cotterus who knowing the great want and necessity he was brought unto not through any fault of his own but by Gods Providence he entertained him at his house gratis and Cotterus continued with him by the space of half a year to the time of his Imprisonment During which time Adam Pohl fell dangerously sick and after a while had his Nerves and Sinews so shrunk up that he could make no use of his Legs but for a half a year together was confined to his Bed But it pleased God that the very morning before the Emperours Commissioners came with Armed Troops to reform the City as they called it his Wife being risen and gone down there appeared by his Bedside a young man in white Clothing who after he had saluted him said Adam This is the day wherein God hath decreed to take Vengeance upon the Citizens of this City for their Ingratitude Arise go in the name of the Lord put on thy Cloths take thy wife and young Daughter and fly from hence make hast and so he disappeared After which Pohl prayed earnestly and then began to move his hands and feet and trying to rise found that he could stand on his feet whereupon he called to his Wife for his Cloths which had been laid up in a Chest all that half year of his lameness and when he was drest he fell down on his knees and praised God Then taking his Wife and Daughter he hasted to the City-gate and having sent for Mincelius to meet him there who was astonished to see him with sighs and Tears they took Council together and resolved to go to Gorlits and by Gods strength and as he judged the Ministry of an Angel he and his little Daughter went afoot eight miles that day Historia Prophetarum pag. 22. XXV Linschoten in his Discoveries and Voyages to the East-Indies gives this Account That in the Island of Ceylon there is a high Hill upon the top whereof standeth a great House as big as a Cloyster In this place in time past shrined in Gold and precious Stones was kept the Tooth of an Ape which was esteemed the holiest thing in all India and had the greatest resort to it from all the Countries round about it so that it surpassed St. James in Gallicia and St. Michaels Mount in France by reason of the great Indulgences and Pardons that were there daily to be had For which cause it was sought unto with much Devotion by all the Indians within four or five hundred Miles round about in vast multitudes But it happened that in the year 1554 when the Portugals made a Road out of India and entred the Island of Ceylon they went up upon the Hill where they thought to find great Treasure because of the Fame that was spread abroad of the great resort and Offerings in that place They diligently searched the Cloister and turned up every Stone thereof yet found nothing but a little Coffer made fast with many precious Stones wherein lay the Apes Tooth This Relique they took with them to Goa which when the Kings of Pegu Siam Bengala Bisnagar and others heard of they were much greived that so costly a Jewel was in that manner taken from them Whereupon by Common Consent they sent their Ambassadors to the Vice-Roy of India desiring him of all Friendship to send them their Apes Tooth again offering him for a Ransom besides other Presents which they then sent to him seven Hundred Thousand Duckets in Gold which the Vice-Roy for Covetousness of the Money did intend to do But the Arch-Bishop of Goa disswaded him from it saying That they being Christians ought not to give it to them again being a thing wherewith Idolatry might be furthered and the Devil worshipped but rather were bound by their Profession to root out and abolish all Idolatry and Superstition By this means the Vice-Roy was perswaded to change his Mind and flatly denied the Embassadors Request having in their Presence first burnt the Apes Tooth the Ashes whereof he caused to be thrown into the Sea The Embassadors departed astonished that he refused so great a sum of Money for a thing which he so little esteemed Not long after there was a Benjane or Priest that had gotten another Apes Tooth and gave out that he had Miraculously found the same Apes Tooth that the Vice-Roy had and that it was revealed
meritorious They generally caused their Children to pass through the Fire to him that is betwixt two Fires made before him The Carthaginians worshipped this Idol under the name of Saturn and indeed Baal and Saturn and Moloch are reputed to be all one The Image of this Idol was of Brass wonderful for its greatness having the face of a Bullock and Arms spread abroad like a man that openeth his hands to receive something of another This Image was hollow and had seven Closets or Apartments within One for Wheat-Flower of the finest a second for Turtles a third for a Sheep a fourth for a Ram a fifth for a Calf a sixth for an Ox and to him that would offer his Son or Daughter a seventh Concave or Chamber was opened and then while the Child was burning in the Idol with the Fire that was made under him the Parents and such as were present were to Dance and to play upon Timbrels and beat upon Drums that they might not hear the Sorrowful cryes of their Child while thus Sacrificing Anammeleck and Adrameleck the Gods of Sepharvaim mentioned 2 Kings 17 are supposed to be the same with this Idol whose Priests were called Chemarim from their blackness The place of this Idol amongst the Israelites was Tophet the Valley of the Sons of Hinnom that is Of Lamentation or Roaring from the cryes of them that were offered The Carthaginians being greatly distressed by Agathocles they barbarously at one time offered or burnt to this Moloch their Saturn no less than two hundred choice Youths of their Nobility This Idolatrous Custom continued to the days of Tiberius The Philistines and all that Seacoast were called Phoenicians and they Worshipped Dagon what Dagon was saith P. Martyr is not well known but by the derivation of his name which signifieth a Fish it seems he was a Sea-god Above his Belly he was of Humane shape beneath like a Fish When Cicero saith The Syrians worshipped a Fish it may be supposed to be this Dagon and it may be they intended Neptune saith P. Martyr or I know not what Devil Lucian saith he saw the Image of it in Phoenicia not unlike that of a Mermaid the upper half like a Woman and the lower like a Fish in reverence of whom the Phoenicians were said to abstain from Fish They offer to it Fishes of Gold and Silver and the Priests all day long set before it true Fishes roasted and Boiled which afterwards themselves did eat At Ekron was worshipped Baalzebub that is The Lord of Flies so called either from the abundance of Flyes that attended the multitude of his Sacrifices from which inconvenience it is said the Sacrifices to the true God in the Temple of Jerusalem were wholly free or because he was the God of their Larder or Buttery to drive away Flies or for that he was Worshipped in the form of a Fly though others write that it was a name given him in Scorn and Derision calling him the Fly Lord. Godwins Antiquities lib. 4. Purchas Pilgrim Tom. 1. XXIX Some Leagues from the Town of Junquilen in China saith Ferd. Pinto in his Travels we arrived at a place incompassed with great Iron Gates in the midst whereof stood two mighty Statues of Brass upright sustained by Pillars of Cast Mettal of the bigness of a Bushel and seven Fathom high the one of a Man the other of a Woman both of them 74 spans in height having their hands in their Mouths their Cheeks horribly blown out and their Eyes so staring that they affrighted all who looked upon them Having demanded of the Chineses the meaning of these Figures they told us That the Male was he which with those mighty swoln Cheeks blew the Fire of Hell to torment all those miserable wretches that would not liberally bestow Alms in this Life And for the other Monster that she was the Portress of Hell gates where she would take notice of all those that did her good in this World and letting them fly away into a River of very cold water would keep them hid there from being tormented by the Devils as other Damned were At such time as we arrived there we found twelve Bonzoes or Priests upon the Place and with Silver Censers full of Perfumes of Aloes and Benzoin they smoke those two Devilish Monsters and chanted out aloud Help us even as we serve thee whereunto divers other Priests answered in the name of the Idol with a great noise So I promise to do like a good Lord. In this manner they went as it were in a Procession round about the place singing with an ill-tuned Voice to the sound of a great many Bells that were in Steeples thereabout In the mean time there were others that with Drums and Basons made such a noise as I may truly say put them all together was most horrible to hear Pinto's Travels ch 28. XXX The same Author proceeds thus We arrived saith he at the great Temple of Snignafatur in Tartary where we saw an inclosure of above 3 Miles in Circuit in which were built 164 Houses very long and broad after the fashion of Arsenals all full of up to the very Tiles of Dead mens Skulls whereof there was so great a number that I am loth to speak it since it will hardly be credited without each of these Houses were also great Piles of Bones belonging to these heads which were three fathom higher than the Ridges of them so that the Houses seemed to be buried no other part of them appearing but the Frontispiece where the Gate stood Not far from thence upon the Southside of them was a kind of Platform whereunto the ascent was by certain Stairs of Iron winding about and through four several doors Upon this Platform was one of the Tallest the most deformed and dreadful Monsters that can possibly be imagined standing upon his feet and leaning against a mighty Tower of hewen Stone It was made of cast Iron and of so great and Prodigious a Stature that by guess he seemed to be above thirty fathom high and more than six broad This Monster held in both his hands a Globe of the same Iron being thirty six spans in the compass of it we demanded of the Tartar Ambassador the explication of so Monstrous a thing You must know said he that this great Saint which you see here is the Treasurer of the bones of all those that are born into the World to the end that at the last day he may give to every one the same bones which he had upon Earth so that he who in this life shall be so ill advised as not to honour him nor present him with something will be but in an ill case For he will give him some of the rottenest bones he can meet withall and one or two less than he should have by means whereof he will become deformed lame and crooked The Globe he holdeth in his hands is to fling at the head of the Gluttonous Serpent that
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
Neck who did thy Head unthrall Faithful thou art yet hast no Faith at all I did not have my Fishing as some say But still imploy'd my Nets to catch and lay The Gabels on the ground The Royal Throne I brought into the Market every Stone Can witness it The Nobles I did quell Thou still shalt live but I must fry in Hell While my dragg'd body bleeds so basely slain Thou Triumph'st in the Freedom I did gain Learn hence ye Mortals all Be not too rash and bold To fight for other Men Least you be bought and sold Clarks Mirrour part 1. p. 518. LXXIII And as Inferiour Persons so likewise small and Contemptible things as Beasts Birds Insects and the like have been Scourges and wonderful Afflictions to several People and Nations For we read That Sapores King of Persia besieged the Christian City of Nisibis but St. James the Holy Bishop thereof by his Prayers to Heaven obtained that such an infinite number of Gnats came into his Army as put it into the greatest disorder these small Creatures flew upon the Eyes of their Horses and Tormented them in such a manner that growing furious they threw off their Riders and the whole Army was thereby so scattered and brought into confusion that they were inforced to break up their siege and depart Luther Colloquia p. 245. LXXIV Marcus Varro writeth That there was a Town in Spain undermined with Rabbits Another likewise in Thessaly by Moles or Molewarps In Africa the people were compelled by Locusts to leave their Habitations and out of Gyaros an Island one of the Cyclades the Islanders were forced by Rats and Mice to fly away Moreover in Italy the City Amyclae was destroyed by Serpents In Ethiopia there is a great Countrey lies wast and Desart by reason it was formerly dis-peopled by Scorpions and a sort of Pismires And if it be True that Theophrastâ—s reporteth the Treriens were chased away by certain worms called Scolopendres Annius writes that an Antient City scituate neer the Volscian Lake and called Contenebra was in times past overthrown by Pismires and that the place is thereupon vulgarly called to this day The Camp of Ants In Media saith Diodorus Siculus There was such an infinite number of Sparrows that eat up and devoured the seed which was cast into the ground that men were constrained to depart their old Habitations and remove to other places LXXV About the year of our Lord 872 came into France such an innumerable Company of Locusts that the vast multitude of them darkned the very Light of the Sun they were likewise of a very extraordinary Bigness and had a six-fold Order of Wings six feet and two Teeth the hardness whereof surpassed that of a Stone These eat up every green thing in all the Fields of France At last by the force of the Winds they were carried into the Sea and there drowned After which by the Agitation of the Waves the dead Bodies of them were cast upon the Shores and from the Stench of them together with the Famine they had made with their former devouring there arose so great a Plague that it was verily thought every third person in France died thereof In one of the Cities of France the Inhabitants were driven out and forced to leave it by reason of the multitude of Frogs Gualterus Chron. p. 599. LXXVI The Island of Anaphe heretofore had not a Partridge in it till such time as an Astypalaean brought thither a pair that were Male and Female which couple in a short time did increase in such wonderful manner that oppressed with the number of them the Inhabitants upon the point were inforced to depart from the Island Astypalaea of old had no Hares in it but when one of the Isle of Anaphe had put a brace into it they in a short time so increased that they almost destroyed whatever the Inhabitants had sowed whereupon they sent saith the Historian to consult the Oracle concerning this their Calamity which advised them to store themselves with Grey-hounds by the help of which they killed six Thousand Hares in the space of a year and many more afterwards whereby they were delivered from their Greivance The Inhabitants of the Gymnesian Islands are reported to have sent their Embassadors to Rome to request some other place to be assigned them for their Habitation because they were oppressed by the incredible number of Conies among them And the Baleares through an extraordinary increase of the same Creatures among them did Petition the Emperor Augustus that he would send them some Souldiers against these Enemies of theirs which had already occasioned a Famine amongst them Plin. Nat. Hist lib. 8. LXXVII Myas saith Dr. Heylin was a principal City in Ionia upon an Arm of the Sea but in after-times the water drawing further off the Land brought forth such an innumerable multitude of Fleas that the Inhabitants were fain to forsake the City and went with their Bag and Baggage to retire to Miletus nothing hereof being left but the Name and Memory in the time of Pausanias And Herodotus writes That the Neuri a People bordering upon the Scythians were forced out of their Habitation and Countrey by reason of Serpents For whereas a multitude of Serpents are bred in the Soil it self at that time there came upon them such an abundance of them and so infested them that they were constrained to quit the place and to dwell among the Budini Cassander in his return from Apollonia met with the People called Abderitae who by reason of the multitude of Frogs and Mice were constrained to depart from their Native Soil and to seek out Habitations for themselves elsewhere The Countrey of Troas is exceedingly given to breed great store of Mice so that already they have enforced the Inhabitants to quit the place and depart Justin Hist Lib. 15. LXXVIII In the 17th year of the Reign of Alexander the third King of the Scots such an incredible swarm of Palmer Wormes spread themselves over both Scotland and England that they consumed the Fruits and Leaves of all Trees and Herbs and eat up the Worts and other Plants to the very Stalks and Stumps of them As also the same year by an unusual increase and swelling of the Sea the Rivers overflowed their Banks and there was such an Inundation especially of the Tweed and Forth that divers Villages were overturned thereby and a great number both of men and all sorts of Cattle perished in the Waters Zuinglius Theat Vol. 3. Lib. 2. LXXIX About the year 1610 the City of Constantinople and the Countreys thereabouts were so plagued with Clouds of Grashoppers that they darkned the beams of the Sun they left not a green herb or leaf in all the Countrey yea they entred into their very Bed-chambers to the great Annoyance of the Inhabitants being almost as big as Dormice with red Wings Knowls's Hist of the Turks p. 1308. Thus we see there is nothing so small and inconsiderable
and Goods and put five or six Thousand pound in my pocket and yet have brought her into England I beseech your Majesty to believe that all this I have done because it should not be said to your Majesty That your Majesty had given Liberty and Trust to a Man whose end was only the Recovery of his Liberty and who had betrayed your Majesties Trust My Mutineers told me ' That if I returned for England I should be undone But I believed in your Majesties Goodness more than in all their Arguments Sure I am that I am the first that being free and able to enrich my self have imbraced Poverty and Peril and as sure I am that my Example shall make me the last But your Majesties Wisdom and Goodness I have made my Judges who have ever been and shall ever be Your Majesties most humble Vassal Walter Rawleigh Before Sir Walter made this Voyage the King commanded him upon pain of his Allegiance to give him under his hand promising on the word of a King to keep it secret the number of his Men the Burthen and Strength of his Ships together with the Countrey and River he was to enter which being done accordingly by Sir Walter That very Original Paper was found in the Spanish Governours Closet at St. Thoma so active were the Spanish Ministers that Advertisement was sent to Spain and thence to the Indies before the English Fleet got out of the Thames But now no Apology though never so perswasive could satisfie Gâ—ndamores Rage who as soon as news came of the firing St Thoma desired Audience of the King and 〈◊〉 he had but one word to say His Majesty wondering 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be delivered in one word when he came before him he only bawl'd out Pyrates Pyrates Pyrates And was therefore now resolved to sacrifice the only Favourite left of Queen Elizabeth to the Spanish Interest and who was the only Person of the Earl Essex's Enemies that died lamented and the only Man of Note left alive that had helped to beat the Spaniard in 1588. When Sir Walter was arrived at Plymouth Sir Lewes Steukly seized him and was ordered by the King to bring him to London which could add no Terror to a Person who could expect nothing less and was now forced to use all the Arts imaginable to appease Hls Majesty and defer his Anger To which intent Manowry a French Quack at Salisbury gave him several Vomits and an Artificial Composition which made him look Gastly and Dreadful full of Pimples and Blisters and deceiv'd even the Physitians themselves who could not tell what to make of his Urine though often inspected it being adulterated with a Drug in the Glass that turned it even in their hands into an earthy humor of a blackish colour and of a very Offensive Savour while he lay under this Politick disguize he penned his Dedication and Apology aforementioned when he was brought to London he was confined only to his own house but finding the Court wholly guided by Gundamore he could hope for little Mercy therefore he designed to escape into France which Sir Lewes Steukly betrayed but the Fate of Traytors pursued him and brought him to a Contemptible end to dye a poor distracted Beggar in the Isle of Lindey having for a Bag of Money falsified his Faith confirmed by the tye of the Holy Sacrament as Mr. Howel relates and also before the year came about was found clipping the same very Coin in the Kings own Palace at Whitehal which he had received for a reward of his Perfidiousness for which being condemned to be hang'd he was forced to sell himself to his Shirt to purchase his Pardon of two Knights The King being willing to Sacrifice the life of Sir Walter Rawleigh to the advancement of the peace with Spain Upon St. Simon and Judes day the Lieutenant of the Tower had a Warrant to bring his Prisoner to the King's Bench Bar in Westminster-Hall where the Attorney General demanded Execution according to the Judgment pronounced against him at Winchester The Lord Chief Justice caused the Indictment Verdict and Judgment to be read and after asked him What he could say why he should not dye according to Law His answer was That this 15 Years he had lived upon the meer mercy of the King and did now wonder h w his mercy should be now turned into Judgment he not knowing any thing wherein he had provoked His Majesties displeasure and did hope that he was clear from that Judgment by the Kings Commission in making him General of the Voyage to Guiana For as he conceived the words to his trusty and well beloved Subject c. did in themselves imply a pardon But the Attorney General told him these words were not sufficient for that purpose whereupon he desired the opinion of the Court To which the Lord Chief Justice replyed That it was no pardon in Law Then began Sir Walter to give an account of his Voyage but was interrupted by the Lord Chief Justice who told him That it was not for any offence committed there but for his first Fact that he was now called in question and thereupon told him That seeing he must prepare to dye he would not add to his affliction nor aggravate his crime knowing him to be a man full of misery but with the good Samaritane would administer Wine and Oyl for the comfort of his distressed Soul You have been said he a General and a great Commander imitate therefore that Noble Captain who thrusting himself into the midst of a battle cryed out aloud Mors me expectat ego Mortem expectabo Death expects me and I will expect Death As you should not contemn so neither should you fear death the one shews too much boldness the other no less cowardice So with some few other Instructions the Court arose and Sir Walter was committed into the hands of the Sheriff of Middlesex who presently conveyed him to the Gate-House in Westminster Yet it has been much wondred at how that old sentence which had lain dormant 16 years and upward against Sir Walter could be now made use of to take off his head afterward Considering that the then Lord Chancellor Bacon told him positively as Sir Walter was acquainting him that he could procure his pardon for a less sum of money then his Guiana preparations amounted to Sir said he the Knee-timber of your Voyage is money spare your Purse in this particular for upon my life you have a sufficient pardon for all that is passed already the King having under his Broad-Seal made you Admiral of your Fleet and given you power of Martial Law over the Officers and Souldiers It was then likewise the opinion of many Lawyers that he who by His Majesties Patent had power of Life and Death over the Kings Leige People should be esteemed or Judged Rectus in curia and free from all Old Convictions Upon Thursday October 29. 1618. This couragious Knight was brought before the
Parliament House in the Old Pallace Yard Westminster where a Scaffold was erected for his beheading though it was reported over night that he should be hanged His Attire was a wrought Night-cap a Ruff band a hair coloured Sattin Doublet with a black wrought Wastcoat under it a pair of black cut Taffety breeches Ash-coloured silk Stockins and a wrought black Velvet Night-gown His first appearance on the Scaffold was with a smiling Countenance saluting the Lords Knights Gentlemen with others of his acquaintance there present when after Proclamation of silence by an Officer he addressed himself to speak in this manner I desire to be born withal because this is the third day of my Feaver And if I shew any weakness I beseech you attribute it to my Malady for this is the hour I look for it Then pausing a while directing himself toward a Window where the Lords Arundel Doncaster and other Lords and Knights sate he with a loud voice spake as followeth I thank God of his infinite goodness that he hath sent me to dye in the sight of so honourable an Assembly and not in darkness But by reason the place where they sate was some distance from the Scaffold that they could not easily hear him he said I will strain my self for I would willingly have your Honours hear me The Lord Arundel answered we will come upon the Scaffold where after he had saluted every one of them severally he proceeded as followeth My Honourable Lords and the rest of my good Friends who come to see me dye I thank my God heartily that he hath brought me into the light to dye and not suffered me to dye in the dark Prison of the Tower where I have suffered a great deal of Adversity and a long sickness and I thank God that my Feaver hath not taken me at this time as I prayed God it might not There are two main points of suspition that his Majesty hath conceived against me wherein he cannot be satisfied which I desire to clear and resolve you in First That I had a Plot with France His Majesty had some cause though grounded upon a weak Foundation to suspect mine inclination to the French Faction for not long before my departure from England the French Agent took occasion passing by my house to visit me and had some conference during the time of his aboad only concerning my Voyage and nothing else I take God to witness Though it was reported I had a Commission from the King of France But this I say for a man to call God to witness to a falshood at any time is a grievous sin and what shall he hope for at the Tribunal of the day of Judgment But to call God to witness to a falshood at the time of death is far more grievous and impious and there is no hope for such a one And what should I expect that am now going to render an account of my Faith I do therefore call the Lord to witness as I hope to be saved and as I hope to see him in his Kingdom which will be within a quarter of an hour I never had any Commission from the King of France nor any Treaty with the French Agent nor with any other from the French King neither knew I that there was an Agent nor what he was till I met him in my Gallery at my lodging unlookt for If I speak not true O Lord let me not come into thy Kingdom I cannot deny that when I came back from Guiana being come to Plymouth I endeavoured to go to Rochel which was because I would fain have made my Peace before I came to England having heard a rumor that there was no hope of my life upon my return to London I would have escaped for the safe-guard of my life and not for any ill intent or conspiracy against the State The second suspition was that his Majesty hath been informed I should speak dishonourably and disloyally of him there is no witness against me but only one Mimical Frenchman whom I entertained rather for his Jests than his Judgment His way was to incroach himself into the favour of the Lords and gaping after some great reward hath falsly accused me of seditious speeches against His Majesty against whom if I did either speak or think a thought hurtful or prejudicial the Lord blot me out of the Book of Life But in this now what have I to do with Kings I have nothing to do with them neither do I fear them I have now to do with God therefore to tell a Lye now to get the favour of the King were in vain It is not a time to flatter nor fear Princes for I am subject to none but death therefore have a charitable opinion of me and think me not now rashly or untruly to confirm or protest any thing Another suspition arose of me in that I perswaded Sir Levves Steukly my Guardian to flee with me from London to France but my answer to this is as to the other that only for my safeguard and nothing else was my intent as I shall answer before the Almighty It is alledged that I feigned my self sick and by Art made my body full of blisters at Salisbury True it is I did so the reason was because I hoped thereby to defer my coming before the King and Council and so by delaying might have got time to have gained my pardon I have an example out of Scripture for my Warrant The Prophet David in case of necessity and for the safeguard of his life feigned himself foolish and mad yet it was not imputed to him for sin As for other Objections that I was brought by force into England that I carried Sixteen Thousand Pounds in money out of England with me more than I made known That I should recieve Letters from the French King and such like He with many Protestations utterly denyed it Concluding thus And now I intreat you all to join with me in Prayer that the great God of Heaven whom I have grievously offended being a man full of all vanity and have lived a sinful life in all sinful callings having been a Souldier a Captain a Sea Captain and a Courtier which are all places of wickedness and vice That God I say would forgive me and cast away my sins from me and that he would recieve me into Everlasting Life and so I take my leave of you all making my peace with God Then Proclamation being made that all men should depart the Scaffold he prepared himself for death giving away his hat and wrought night-cap and some money to such as he knew that stood near him taking his leave of the Lords Knights and other Gentlemen and thanking the Lord Arundel for his Company intreating him to desire the King That no scandalous Writing to defame him might be published after his death adding I have a long Journey to go and therefore will take my leave Then putting off his Gown and
Doublet he called to the Headsman to shew him the Axe which being not presently done he said Prithee let me see it dost thou think that I am afraid of it and having it in his hands he felt along upon the edg of it and smiling spake to the Sheriff saying This is a sharp Medicine but it is a Physician for all diseases Then going to and fro upon the Scaffold on every side he prayed the company to pray to God to assist and strengthen him Being asked on which side of the block he would lay himself he replyed So the heart be right it is no matter which way the head lyeth and then praying after he had forgiven the Executioner having given him a sign when he should do his Office at two blows he lost both head and life his body never shrinking nor moving His Head was shewn on each side the Scaffold and then put into a Red Leather Bag and his wrought Velvet Gown thrown over it which was afterward conveyed away in a mourning Coach of his Ladies The large effusion of blood which proceeded from his Loins amazed the Spectators who judged that he had a stock of nature sufficient to have lived much longer though now near 80 years old He behaved himself at his death with so high and so Religious a resolution as if a Christian had acted a Roman or rather a Roman a Christian and by the Magnanimity which was then conspicuous in him he abundantly bafled their Calumnies who had accused him of Atheism Various were the resentments of his death and several Pasquils as it always happens on such occasions were scattered abroad of the gallantry of his behaviour on the Scaffold these following Verses may give a confirmation and a tast of the Poetry of those times Great heart who taught thee so to dye Death yielding thee the Victory Where took'st thou leave of Life If here How couldst thou be so far from fear But sure thou dyed'st and left'st the State Of Flesh and Blood before that fate Else what a miracle were wrought To triumph both in Flesh and Thought I saw in every stander by Pale Death Life only in thine eye Farewell Truth shall this story say We dy'd thou only liv'dst that day These Verses were found in his Bible in the Gate-house at Westminster Even such is time which takes in trust Our Youth our Joys and all we have And pays us nought but Age and dust Within the dark and silent grave When we have wandred all our wayes Shuts up the story of our dayes Yet from this grave this earth this dust The Lord shall raise me up I trust These two lines Sir Walter writ on the Snuff of a Candle the night before he suffered Cowards do fear to dye but courage stout Rather than live in snuff will be put out Thus dyed the great Sir Walter Rawleigh great sometimes in favour with Queen Elizabeth and next to Drake the great scourge and hate of the Spaniards and Gundamors Triumph who had many things to be commended in his life but none more than constancy in his death A Person of so much worth and great Interest that King James would not execute him without an Apology Authors are perplext under what Topick to place him whether of Statesman Seaman Souldier Chymist or Chronologer for in all these he did excel He could make every thing he read or heard his own and his own he could easily improve to the greatest Advantage He seemed to be born to that only which he went about so Dextrous was he in all his undertakings in Court Camp by Land and Sea with Sword and Pen. Rawleighs Life and Remains XLIV Mr. Howel in his Epistles relates the following pleasant Accident which may be not ungrateful after the former Tragical Account When the Duke of Alva was in Brussels about the beginning of the Tumults in the Netherlands he sate down before Hulst in Flanders there was a Provost Marshal in his Army who was a Favorite of his this Provost had put some to death by secret Commission from the Duke There was one Captain Bolea who was an intimate Freind of the Provosts one Evening late the Provost went to the Captains Tent accompanied with a Confessor and an Executioner as his Custom was and coming into his Presence told the Captain That he was come to execute the Dukes Commission and Martial Law upon him The Captain suddenly started up so struck with amazement that his hair seemed to stand an end asking him wherein have I offended the Duke The Provost replyed Sir I am not to expostulate the business with you but to execute my Commission therefore pray prepare your self for here 's your Ghostly Father and your Executioner The Captain hereupon fell on his knees before the Preist and having finished his Confession the Hangman was going to put the Halter about his Neck but the Provost threw it away and breaking out into a Laughter told him There was no such thing that he had done this only to try his Courage how he could bear the Terror of Death The Captain looked ghastly upon him and said Then Sir get you out of my Tent for you have done me a very ill Office The next morning Captain Bolea though a young Man about thirty had his hair all turned Gray to the admiration of all the World the Duke of Alva questioned him about it but he would confess nothing The next year the Duke was recalled and in his Journey to the Court of Spain he was to pass by Saragossa and this Captain Bolea and the Provost went along with him as his Domestick Attendants The Duke being to repose some days in Saragossa the young old Captain Bolea told him That there was a thing in that Town worthy to seen of his Excellency which was a Casa de Loco a Bedlam-House for there was not the like in Christendom Well said the Duke Go and tell the Warden I will be there to morrow in the afternoon The Captain having obtained this went to the Warden and told him the Dukes Intention and that the cheif occasion which moved him to it was because he had an unruly Provost about him who was oft-times subject to Fits of Frenzy and because he wished him well he had tried divers means to cure him but all would not do therefore he was resolved to try whether keeping him close in Bedlam for some days would do him any good The next day the Duke came with a ruffling Train of Captains after him amongst whom was the Provost very shining brave Captain Bolea told the Warden pointing to the Provost That 's the man whereupon he took him aside into a Dark Lobby where he had plac'd some of his men who muffled him in his Cloke seized upon his Sword and so hurried him down into a Dungeon The Provost lay there two nights and a day after which it happened that a Gentleman coming out of Curiosity to see the House peeped into