the House is very long and at twelve of the clock it is full of Noblemen they sit upon Carpets on the ground the House is always full of People till midnight The last King Gembe never used to speak in the day but always in the night but this King speaketh in the day howbeit he spendeth most of the day with his Wives And when the King cometh in he goeth to the upper end of the House where he hath his Seat as it were a Throne and when the King is set they clap their hands and salute him saying in their Language Byam Pemba Ampola Moneya Quesinge On the South side of the Kings Houses he hath a Circuit or Village where his Wives dwell and in this Circuit no man may come on pain of death He hath in this place an hundred and fifty Wives or more and if any man be taken within this Circuit if he be with a Woman or do but speak to her they be both brought into the Market-place and their Heads be cut off their Bodies quartered and lie one day in the Streets The last King Gymbe had four hundred Children by his Women When the King drinketh he hath a Cup of Wine brought and he that bringeth it hath a Bell in his Hand and as soon as he hath delivered the Cup to the King he turneth his Face from him and ringeth the Bell then all that be there fall down upon their Faces and rise not till the King have drunk And this is very dangerous for any Stranger that knoweth not the fashions for if any seeth the King drink he is presently killed whatsoever he be There was a Boy of twelve years old which was the Kings Son this Boy chanced to come unadvisedly when his Father was a drinking presently the King commanded he should be well apparelled and Victuals prepared so the Youth did eat and drink afterwards the King commanded that he should be cut in quarters and carried about the City with Proclamation that he saw the King drink Likewise for the Kings Dyet when it is Dinner-time there is a House on purpose where he always eateth and there his Dyet is set upon a Bensa like a Table then he goeth in and hath the door shut and when he hath eaten he knocketh and cometh out so that none see the King eat nor drink for it is their belief that if he be seen eating or drinking he shall presently die This King is so honoured as though he were a God amongst them and is called Sambe and Pongo that is God and they believe that he can give them Rain when he listeth so once a year when it is time to rain which is in December the People come to beg it and bring their Gifts to the King for none come empty Then he appointeth the day and all the Lords far and near come to that Feast with all their Troops as they go in the Wars and when all the Troops of Men be before the King the greatest Lord cometh forth with his Bow and Arrows and sheweth his skill with his Weapons and then he hath a merry Conceit or Jest that he speaketh before the King and kneeleth at his feet and then the King thanketh him for his Love and in like manner they do all The King sitteth abroad in a great place and hath a Carpet spread upon the ground which is some fifteen Fathoms about of fine Eufacks which are wrought like Velvet and upon the Carpet his Seat which is a Fathom from the ground Then he commandeth his Dembes to strike up which are Drums so great that they cannot carry them He hath also eight Pongos which are his Waits made of the greatest Elephants Teeth and are hollowed and scraped light which play also so that with the Drums and Waits they make a Hellish noise After they have sported and shewed the King pleasure he ariseth and standeth upon his Throne and taking a Bow and Arrows into his Hand shooteth to the Sky and that day there is a great rejoycing because sometimes they have Rain which when it happens is a great Confirmation of their Folly Here is sometimes born in this Country White Children which is very rare among them for their Parents are Negroes and when any of them are born they are presented unto the King and are called Dondoes These are as white as any white man and are made the Kings Witches being brought up in Witchcraft and always wait on the King There is no man that dares meddle with these Dondoes if they go to the Market they may take what they list for all men stand in awe of them the King of Longo hath four of them This King is also a Witch and believeth in two Idols which are in Longo the one is called Mokisso a Longo the other is called Checocke This last is a little black Image and standeth in a little House at a Village that is called Kinga which standeth in the Landing-place of Longo The House of Checocke standeth in the High-way where all that go by clap their hands which is the courtesie of the Country Those that be Craftsmen as Fishermen Hunters and Witches do offer to this Idol that they may have good luck This Checocke doth sometimes in the night come and haunt some of his best beloved sometimes a Man sometimes a Boy or a Woman and then they befrantick for the space of three hours whatsoever the frantick Person speaketh that they think is the will of Checocke making a great Feast and Dancing at his House There is another Mokisso which is also in Ringa and it is called Gomberi it is the name of a Woman and is in an house where an old Witch dwelleth and she is called Ganga Gomberi which is the Priest of Gomberi Here once a year is a Feast made and Ganga Gomberi speaketh under the ground and this is a common thing every year I have asked the Negroes what it was and they told me it is a strong Mokisso that is come to abide with Chacocke There is a place two Leagues from the Town of Longo called Longeri where all their Kings be buried and it is compassed round about with Elephants Teeth pitched in the ground as it were a Pale being ten Roods in compass These People will suffer no white man to be buried in their Land and if any Stranger or Portugal come thither to trade and chance to die he is carried in a Boat two miles from the shore and cast into the Sea There was once a Portugal Gentleman that came to trade with them and had his House on shore thiâ— Gentleman died and was buried four moneths thaâ— year it did not rain so soon as it was wont which beginneth about December so that they lacked Rain some two months Then their Mokisso told them that the Christian which was buried must be taken out of the Earth and cast into the Sea and so he was taken up and cast into the Sea and
others had a Flitch for proof whereof I have found out the Record of the House and the Names of the several Persons that at several times had it There was one Stephen Samuel of Little Easton in the County of Essex Husband-man that came to the Priory of Dunmow on our Lady-day in the seventh year of King Edward the Fourth and required a Gammon of Bacon and was sworn before Roger Rulcot then Prior and the Covent of that place as also before the multitude of other Neighbours and there was a Gammon of Bacon delivered unto him Also one Richard Wright of Badesnorth near the City of Norwich in the County of Norfolk came and required of the Bacon of Dunmow on the 17 day of April in the twenty third year of the Reign of Henry the sixth and according to the form of the Charter was sworn before John Canon Prior of the place the Covent and many other Neighbours and there was delivered unto him a Flitch of Bacon Hereby appeareth it was given according to Charter or Donation by some conceited Benefactor to the House and it was not to be doubted but at such a time the bordering Towns and Villages would resort and be Partakers of their Sport and laugh to scorn the poor Mens pains Also it is to be remembred that in the Year of our Lord 1510. upon Munday being the eighth day of September in the second year of King Henry the Eighth that Thomas Lee of Coxal in Essex was sworn before John Taylor the Prior of the House and the Covent as also before a Multitude of other Neighbours and there was delivered unto him a Gammon of Bacon Of what we find in credible Authors concerning the famous Guy Earl of Warwick THIS Guy was Son unto one Siward Baron of Wallingford who married unto Felicia sole Daughter and Heiress of Rohand the first we read of the Saxon Race that was Earl of Warwick and in her Right became Earl of that Earldom who for his Valour hath ever since been and yet is so famous that the Vulgar are of Opinion he was a Man of more than an ordinary Stature and the Welch taking notice of his brave Exploits will needs have him to be descended from Brittish Parentage Soon after his Marriage with Felicia aforesaid being now pretty well stricken in Years he went on Pilgrimage to the Holy-Land where he abode for some space during which time viz. Anno 926. in the third Year of King Athelstane the Danes having invaded England cruelly wasted the Countries where they march'd so that there was scarce a Town or Castle that they had not burnt or destroyed almost as far as Winchester and hearing that the King with his Nobles then was in that City consulting about some timely means to prevent the utter loss of all they sent Messengers to him proposing that either he would forthwith resign his Crown to the Danish Generals viz. Aulafe and Govelaph or submit to hold this Realm of them doing Homage and Fealty and paying Tribute according to their Appointment or lastly that the whole Dispute for the Kingdom should be determined in a single Combate by two Champions for both sides this being added by Aulafe that if in that Duel King Athelstane's Champion had the Victory he would presently depart the Land with his Army but otherwise without any more ado it should wholly belong to the Danes Of which Proposals King Athelstane accepted the last and calling together his Nobles offer'd that Province viz. Hantshire for a reward to him that should conquer the Danish Champion called Colbrand and to the end that God would direct him in the choice of one to undertake this Combate he enjoyned a Fast for three days in which with earnest Prayers and abundant Tears he besought his Favour but in this choice the English were exceedingly astonish'd forasmuch as one Herand a most valiant and hardy Knight of this Nation was then beyond Sea seeking after Reynburn the Son of his Lord and Master Earl Guy that had been stollen away by Merchants of a Foreign Country in his Infancy as also that Earl Rohand Guy's Father-in-law the most valiant of a thousand was dead and also Guy himself as we said before was gone in Pilgrimage to the Holy Land But it so fell out that God being moved with the sorrowful Tears and Intercessions of the English sent a good Angel to comfort the King as he lay upon his Bed the very Night of the Nativity of St. John Baptist directing that he should rise early on the Morrow taking two Bishops with him and get up to the top of the North-gate of that City staying there till the hour of Prime and then should he see divers poor People and Pilgrims enter thereat amongst which there would be a personable Man in a Pilgrim's Habit bare-footed with his Head uncovered and upon it a Chaplet of white Roses and that he should entreat him for the love of Jesus Christ the devotion of his Pilgrimage and the preservation of all England to undertake the Combate for he should conquer the mighty Colebrand and deliver his Realm from the Danish Servitude Whereupon King Athelstane with fervent Zeal hasted betimes in the Morning to Mass and sent for the Arch-bishop of Canterbury with the Bishop of Chichester to whom he related his Vision taking them along to the Gate assigned About this time it happened that our famous Guy returning from his Pilgrimage landed at Portsmouth and being there advertised of Sir Herand's Absence as also of Earl Rohand's Death together with the great distress that the King and his Nobles were then in hasted towards Winchester immediately and coming at night to an Hospital but little distant from the North-gate of that City in which place afterwards the Hospital in honour of the Holy Cross was founded where he rested himself and on the next morning went with other poor people to the City Gate to which place the King being come for the purpose before specified and espying one neatly clad in a white short sleeved Gown reaching to the mid-leg with a Garland of Roses upon his Head and a large Staff in his Hand but looking wan and much macerated by reason of his travelling bare-foot and his Beard grown to a very great length he concluded that the same was the Man described to him by that Angel and being full of Joy told those that were there with him as much The Palmer for so was he at that time called taking notice of the King and Bishops put off his Chaplet and reverently saluting them entered the Gate whereupon the King hasted down and laying hold of his Coat tendered him Entertainment with desire to hear some News but the Palmer returning humble Thanks answered that the Hour to take up his Lodging was not yet come for that he intended first to visit the Churches of that City and there offer up his Prayers unto God but afterwards seek some Food for to refresh himself withal which being
and William being convinced by the Reasons of his Brother John staid beyond the Seas where he proved a very violent and virulent Papist Of which strange Accident Dr. Alabaster who had made Tryal of both Religions and amongst many notable Whimzies had some fine Abilities made this following Epigram Bella inter geminos plusquam Civilia fratres Traxerat ambiguus Religionis apex Ille Reformatae fidei pro partibus instat Iste Reformandum denegat esse fidem Propositis causae rationibus alterutrinque Concurrere pares cecidere pares Quod fuit in verbis Fratrem capit alteruterque Quod fuit in fatis perdit uterque fidem Captivi gemini sine captivante fuerant Et victor victi transuga castra petit Quod genus hoc pugnae est ubi victus gaudet uterque Et tamen alteruter se superasse dolet Thus Englished by Dr. Heylin In points of Faith some undetermin'd Jars Betwixt two Brothers kindled Civil Wars One for the Churches Reformation stood The other thought no Reformation good The Points propos'd they traversed the Field With equal Skill and both together yield As they desired his Brother each subdues Yet such their Fate that each his Faith did lose Both Captives none the Prisoners thence to guide The Victor flying to the vanquish'd side Both joy'd in being conquer'd strange to say And yet both mourn'd because both won the day Why the Fish called Tunny is not suffered to be sold at Venice THE Story goes How the Genoa's having seized on a part of Venice and driven the Venetians into their Houses a Woman running to a Window to behold the Tumult by chance threw down a Mortar of Brass which lighting upon the head of their General struck him dead to the Earth whereupon discomfited the Genoa's retired in such haste that they left a number of their men behind them who saved themselves for a time by mingling with the Venetians being not to be distinguished by Habit Language Favour nor Behaviour At length all generally were commanded to ascend an high Tower where not unlike as the Gileadites served the Ephramites a Sheep being set before them they were compelled to name it so being distinguished the Name differing in their Dialect they were thrown down head-long The Genoa's having after taken certain of their Gallies wherein were the Prime of their Gentry in Revenge of that Cruelty caused them to be cut in pieces and drest like Tunny nailing their hands to the bottom with Scedules of Time containing their Names and so sent it thither to be sold who bought and had almost devoured it all before it was discovered And indeed it is said that this Tunny doth in taste much resemble Flesh as also in colour and solidity so as it is reported how certain Merchants being bound to serve the French Army at the Siege of Naples with so many Tun of Tunny and not able to perform it hearing of a late fought Battel in Barbary repaired to the place and supplied the quantity with man's Flesh dress'd in the same manner which proved so over-high a feeding most easily converting into the like that their Bodies broke forth into loathsome Ulcers and from that Infection the Disease that taketh from them the name And Scalliger in his 181 Exercise upon Cardan and the 19 Section doth also affirm that it proceeded not originally from the Impurity of Women but from Contraction and that the Spaniards did first transport these rare Wares from the Indians as common among them as the Measels amongst us and equally contagious which seemeth to confirm the former Assertion they having been Man-eaters for the most part Of Machamut a Moorish King of a poysonous Nature MR. Purchas in his Pilgrimage relateth of one Machamut a Moorish King who deserveth mention for one thing wherein the Sun hath scarce beheld his like He so accustomed himself to Poysons that no day passed wherein he took not some for else he himself had dyed saith my Author as it fareth with Amsian or Opium the use whereof killeth such as never took it and the Disease such as have and beyond that which we read of Mithridates in the like Practice His Nature was transform'd into so venmous an Habit that if he did mean to put any of his Nobles to Death he would cause them to be set naked before him and chewing certain Fruits in his Mouth which they call Chofolos and Tambolos with Lime made of Shells by spitting upon him in one half hour deprived him of Life if a Fly sat upon his hand it would presently fall off dead Neither was his Love to be preferred to his Hatred or with Women was his Dealing less deadly for he had three or four thousand Concubines of whom none lived to see a second Sun after he had carnally known them His Mustachos or Hair of his upper Lip was so long that he bound it upon his Head as Women do with an Hair-lace and his Beard was white reaching to his Waste Every day when he arose and when he dined fifty Elephants were brought into the Pallace to do him reverence on their Knees accompanied with Trumpets and other Musick Caelius Rhodiginus mentions the like of a Maid thus nourished with Poysons her Spittle and other Humours coming from her being deadly such also as lay with her carnally presently dying Avicenna hath also a like Example of a man whose Nature infected with a stronger Venom poysoned other venomous Creatures if any did bite him And when a great Serpent was brought for Tryal he had by the biting thereof a two days Fever but the Serpent died the other did not harm him A notable Imposture of one Margaret Ulmer at Elsing in Germany ABout the Year of our Lord 1545. there was one Margaret Ulmer the Daughter of John Ulmer a single Woman who thorough grievous Sickness and extremity of Pain had her Belly so exceedingly swelled that it over-shadowed her Face and in compass was more than ten hands breadth she said that she fed divers living Creatures in her Belly yet neither did she eat nor drink but took only some Apothecaries Confections and used the smell of Herbs and Flowers There was heard by those that stood by the Bed where she lay the Voices of divers living Creatures as the crowing of Cocks the cackling of Hens the gagling of Geese the barking of Dogs the bleating of Sheep the braying of Asses the grunting of Swine the bellowing of Cattel and the neighing of Horses She voided Serpents and Worms of a marvellous greatness about fifty in number When the Report hereof was spread abroad not only in the Towns and Villages adjoyning but almost thorough all Germany multitudes resorted to the place to see the Miracle and beheld the Maid with no less Wonder then Compassion who also gave her much Money The advice of divers Physicians and Chyrurgions was asked and at last the Physicians of the Emperour Charles the fifth and of Ferdinand King of the Romans and
to have Christian Burial but a Learned Divine a Jacobine by Religion made so excellent an Oration to the Pope against the unkind Parents of the deceased Lovers that Obsequies were granted and Burial given them and an aged Woman a Servant to Lucretia who had been the means of their private Marriage was by Authority of Justice burned alive because she had not advertised the Parents thereof A third Story as dismal as the two former here followeth Damoiselle Geneviefue Daughter unto Monsieur Megrelim a Gentleman in ordinary in the Court of Francis the second King of France espoused her self by Word only and without Knowledge of any in her Fathers House to one that was School-master unto her Brethren named Medard a Picar by Nation born in Laon a young man of passable Handsomness and of indifferent Knowledge for his time being about twenty three years old After some space being thus contracted she found her self to be with Child and fearing the Displeasure of her Parents especially of her Mother who was a very severe Woman she forsook her Father's House and the goodly City of Paris accompanied with none but her Troth-plighted Husband the School-master Travelling thorough the Country they made their stay in a great Burrough Town of Champaign where likewise he became School-master taking great Pains to supply their Necessities Within some few Months after their residing there Medard died and she five days after the death of her Husband one Evening after Supper in a publick place declared to all such as gave Favour to her the whole History of their fore-passed Love her Marriage by promise her Extraction want of Government and the Injury done by her to her Servants desiring very heartily Pardon both of God and them so feigning as if she intended to go to Bed with her young Infant which was about six Weeks old she went and hanged her self that Night on a Beam-end of a poor Cottage which they had taken upon hire Certain Observations upon Kings of several Nations A Menophis one of the Kings of Egypt being blind was assured by some of his Wizards that if he washed his Eyes with the Urine of a Woman which had never known any but her own Husband he should be restored to his Sight After a long Search and many vain Tryals he met with one whose Water cured him whom he took to Wife and causing all the rest whom he had made Tryal of to be brought together to a Town called Gleba Rubra he set the said Town on Fire and burnt both it and all the Women therein assembled Sesostris another King of Egypt was a Prince of so great Wealth and Substance that he brought in Subjection all his neighbouring Kings whom he compelled in turns to draw his Chariot It hapned that one of these unfortunate Princes cast his Eye many times on the Coach-wheels and being by Sesostris demanded the cause of his so doing he replyed that the falling of that Spoke lowest which but just before was in the height of the Wheel put him in mind of the Instability of Fortune which the King considering of would never afterward be so drawn in his Chariot And indeed he found the same quickly after to be true by woeful Experience for leading his Army against the Scythians whom in conceit he had already conquered he found himself deceived in his Expectation These Scythians marvelled that a King of so great Revenues would wage War against a Nation so poor with whom the Fight would be doubtful the Victory unprofitable but to be vanquished a perpetual Infamy and Disgrace so joyning Battels Sesostris was discomfited and pursued even to his own home by the Enemy learning him by that to moderate his Prosperity and to beware of Fortunes Instability Charles the second King of Navarr was a Prince much given to Voluptuousness and sensual Pleasure which so wasted his Spirits that in his old Age he fell into a kind of Lethargy to comfort his benummed Joynts he was bound and sowed up naked in a Sheet steeped in boiling Aquavitae The Chyrurgion having made an end of sowing him and wanting a Knife to cut off the Thred took a Wax Candle that stood lighted by him but the Flame running down by the Thred caught hold on the Sheet which according to the nature of Aquavitae burned with that Vehemency that the miserable King ended his days in the Fire Ewen the third also King of Scotland was a Prince much addicted or rather wholly given over to Lasciviousness insomuch that he made a Law that himself and his Successors should have the Maiden-head or first Nights lodging with every Woman whose Husband held Land immediately from the Crown and the Lords and Gentlemen of all those whose Husbands were their Tenants or Homagers This was it seems the Knights Service which men held their Estates by and continued in force till the days of Malcolm Conmor who marrying Margaret Sister to our King Edgar Atheling at her Request abolished the same and ordained that the Tenants by way of Commutation should pay unto their Lords a Mark in Money which Tribute the Historians of that Nation say is still in force Roderick the last King of the Goths in Spain had for the Governour of one of his Provinces an honourable Person named Count Julian whom he sent upon an Embassy to the Moors of Africa and in the mean time defloured his Daughter Cana which the Father took in such indignation that he procured the Moors amongst whom he had gotten much credit to come over into Spain This request they performed under the Conduct of Musa and Tariffe and having made a full Conquest subjected it to the Great Caliphs or Mahometan Emperours It is recorded that at the first coming of Tariffe into Spain a poor Woman of the Country being willingly taken Prisoner fell down at his feet kissed them and told him that she had heard her Father who was letter'd say that Spain should be conquered by a People whose General should have a Mole on his right shoulder and in whom one of his hands should be longer than the other He to animate his Souldiers against the next encounter uncloathed himself and shewed the mark which so encouraged them that they now doubted not the Victory Roderick had in his Army 130000 Foot and 25000 Horse Tariffe had 30000 Horse and 180000 Foot The Battel continued seven dayes together from morning to night at last the Moors were victorious What became of King Roderick was never known his Souldiers took one arrayed in the Kings Apparel whom upon examination they found to be a Shepherd with whom the King after the Discomfiture had changed clothes It is recorded also in Rodericus Toletanus that before the coming of those Saracens King Roderick upon hope of some Treasure did open a part of the Palace of long time forbidden to be touched but found nothing but Pictures which resembled the Moors with a Prophecy that whensoever the Palace was there opened the