was found entire having receiv'd no damage at all by the flames this Toe that was so able to preserve it self after his death had also in his life time a healing kind of vertue in it against Diseases of the Spleen which us'd to retreat at the powerful touch of it Kornman de Mirac Mortuor lib. 3. cap. 8. pag. 8. 7. I know a Family at Liege in which all the Persons of both Sexes sick and well Summer and Winter sleeping and waking have their Nostrils extreme cold whence it fell out that administring Physick to two Brothers seiz'd with a burning Fever when upon the eleventh day there was no Crisis nor any appearance that there would be finding the Nostrils of both of them colder then Ice I adjudg'd they would die and so did three other Physicians with me yet both escap'd and are yet alive being the 14 th year after their Disease 8. A certain Canonical Person who having perfected his course in Philosophy had studied Divinity for five years space in Lovain by his over intense study he arriv'd at last to be a very Fool. Five years since he camâ— to the Spa where he was purg'd and drank the Waters but in vain Without my consent he would bleed often in a month and notwithstanding the clamours of all who were present he would not suffer the vein to be clos'd till above thirty and sometimes forty ounces of blood were slow'd out this he continued for three years and more When I told him by this means he would incur the danger of a Cachexy and Dropsie he was not mov'd at all In the mean time he daily eat divers handfuls of Wheat raw and unground When once he complain'd that his Potions did not work well with him I at last gave him two grains of our white Elaterium by which when he had been strongly purg'd he took them unknown to me more then twenty times notwithstanding all which he is well nor can we observe or discern that his strength is in the least impair'd by so many blood-lettings and purgations 9. Demophon the Steward to Alexander the Great is reported to be of that strange Constitution that standing in the Sun-shine or being in a hot Bath he was ready to freeze for cold and on the contrary would sweat in the shade 10. Quintus Curtius tells of Alexander the Great that as often as he sweat there issued a fragrant odour from his body that dispers'd it self amongst all that were near him the harmony of his Constitution was such as occasion'd that natural Balsom to slow from him 11. Not far from the City of Rome amongst the Falisci there are some few Families who are call'd Hirpiae who in that annual Sacrifice that is made to Apollo at the Foot of the Mountain Soracte use to walk upon the heaps of the live Coals of the burnt Wood and yet receive no damage by the fire 12. That is exceeding wonderful which is related by Iovianus Pentanus concerning one Coâ—an of Catana in Sicily sirnamed the Fish who liv'd longer in the Water then on the Land he was constrained every day to abide in the Water and he said that if he was long absent thence he could scarce breath or live and that it would be his death to forbear it he was so excellent in swimming that as a sea-Sea-Fish he would cut the Sâ—as in the greatest storms and tempests and in despight of the resisting Waves swim more then five hundred furlongs at once At last in the Sicilian Sea at the Haven of Mâ—ssâ—na diving for a piece of Plate which the King had caus'd to be cast in as a prize to him that could fetch it from the bottom he there lost his Life for he was never seen after either devoured by a Fish or engaged in the Concaves oâ— the Rock 13. It is related of the Lord Verulame that he had one peculiar temper of body which was that he fainted always at an Eclipse of the Moon though he knew not of it and consider'd it not 14. Rodericus Fonsâ—ca a Physician of great reputation in Pisa bought for his Houshold employment a Negro slave she as often as she pleas'd took burning Coals into her hands or mouth without any hurt at all this was confirm'd to me by Gabriel Fonseca an excellent Physician in Rome and by another of deserved credit who told me he had frequently seen the trial and red hot Coals held in her hand till they were almost cold and this without any impression of fire left upon her and I my self saw the same thing done by a She-Negro in the Hospital of the Holy Ghost to which I was Physician 15. It is â—amiliarly known all over Pisa oâ— Martinus Ceccho a Townsman of Monteluâ—o that he us'd to take hot Coals in his hand put them in his mouth bite them in pieces with his Teeth till he had extinguish'd them he would thrust them up as a suppository into his Fundament and tread upon them with his baâ—e feâ—t he would put boiling lead into his mouth and suffer a burning Candle to be held under his Tongue as he put it out of his mouth and many such other things as may seem incredible all this was confirm'd to me by divers Capuchins and my worthy Friend Nicholaus Accursius of the Order of St. Francis 16. Andrenicus Comnenus Emperour of Greece was of that sound and firm Constitution vigorous Limbs c. that he us'd to say he could â—ndure the violence of any Disease for twelve Months together by his sole natural strength without being beholding to Art or any assistance of Physick CHAP. IX Of Natural Antipathies in some Men to Flowers Fruits Flesh Physick and divers other things WE read in the Poet of one saying Non amo te Sabidis c. Thee Sabidis I do not love Though why I cannot tell But that I have no love to thee This I know very well Thus the seeds of our aversion and Antipathy to this or that are often lodged so deep that in vain we demand a reason of our selves for what we do or do not The Enemies of our Nature work upon us it seems whether we are aware or not For the Lady Hâ—nnage of the Bed-chamber to Queen Elizabeth had her Cheeks blister'd by laying a Rose upon it while she was asleep saith Sir Kenelm Digby and worse hath be fallen others though awake by the smell of them 1. Cardinal Don Henrique a Cardâ—na would fall into a swound upon the smell of a Rose saith Ingrassia and Laurentius Bishop of Vratislavia was done to death by the smell of them saith Croâ—erus de rebus Polon lib. 8. 2. The smell of Roses how pleasing soever to most Men is not only odious but almost deadly to others Cardinal Oliverius Câ—raffa during the season of Roses used to inclose himself in a Chamber not permitting any to â—nter his Palace or come near him that had a
meanness of his Spirit had cast a dishonour upon his Victory 5. Thomas Woolsey Cardinal when he went his last Embassy into France had in his retinue nine hundred Horse of Nobles Gentry and others he rode like a Cardinal very sumptuously on his Mule with his spare Mule and spare Horse trapped in Crimson Velvet upon Velvet and his Stirrups gilt Before him he had his two great Crosses of Silver his two great Pillars of Silver the Kings Broad Sâ—al of England and his Cardinals Hat and a Gentleman carrying his Valence of fine Scarlet all over richly embroydered with Gold wherein was his Cloak and his Harbingers before in every place to prepare lodging for his Train As he was great in power so no less in pride and insolence he told Edward Duke of Buckingham that he would sit on his skirts for spilling a little water on his Shooe and did afterwards procure his head to be cut off he presumed to carry the Great Seal of England with him beyond the Seas he demolished forty Monasteries to promote his own Buildings And dared in Conference to say familiarly Ego Rex meus I and my King But when once he was declined in his favour with the King and commanded to retire he was upon the way at Putney met by Mr. Norrice who had some comfortable words to deliver him from the King and a Ring of Gold in token of his good will to him The Cardinal at hearing of this quickly lighted from his Mule alone as though he had been the youngest of his men and incontinent kneeled down in the dirt upon both his knees holding up his hands for joy of the Kings comfortable Message Mr. Norrice said he considering the joyful news you have brought me I could do no less than rejoyce every word pierced so my heart that the sudden joy surmounted my memory having no regard or respect to the place but I thought it my duty that in the same place where I received â—his comfort to laud and praise God on my knees and most humbly to render to my Soveraign Lord my hearty thanks for the same Talking thus upon his knees to Mr. Norrice he would have pulled off a Velvet night-cap which he wore under his scarlet Cap but he could not undo the knot under his chin wherefore with violence he rent the Laces of his Cap and pulled his said Cap from his Head and kneeled bare-headed when Mr. Norrice gave him the Ring he said If I were Lord of the Realm one half were too small a reward for your pains and good news but desired him to accept a little Chain of Gold with a Cross of Gold wherein was a piece of the Holy Cross which he ware about his Neck next his body and said he valued at more than a thousand pounds CHAP. XXXIX Of the Vain-glorious Boasting of some men WHen Alcibiades then but young was boasting himself of his Riches and Lands Socrates took him into a room and shewed him the Map of the World Now said he where is the Country of Attica When Alcibiades had pointed to it Lay me then said he your finger upon your own Lands there When the other told him they were not there described and what said Socrates do you boast your self of that which is no part of the Earth He that hath most hath nothing to boast of and great boasts for the most part as they betray great folly so they end in as great derision 1. Oromazes had an inchanted Egg in which this Impostor boasted that he had enclosed all the happiness in the world but when it was broken there was found nothing in it but wind 2. Mr. Iohn Carter Vicar of Bramford in Suffolk an excellent Scholar and a modest person being at Dinner at Ipswich in one of the Magistratâ—s Houses where divers other Ministers were also at the Table one amongst the rest who was old enough and had learned enough to have taught him more humility was very full of talk bragged much of his parts and skill c. and made a challenge saying Here are many learned men if any of you will propound any question in Divinity or Philosophy I will dispute with him resolve his doubts and satisfie him fully All at the Table except himself were silent for a while then Mr. Carter when he saw that no other would speak to him calling him by his name I will said he go no further than my Trencher to puzle you here is a Sole now tell me the reason why this fish that hath alwayes lived in the salt water should come out fresh To this the forward Gentleman could say nothing and so was laughed at and shamed out of his vanity 3. Ptolomaeus Philadelphus was a wise Prince and learned amongst the best of the Egyptians but was so infatuated by unseasonable and high luxury that he grew to that degree of sottishness as to boast that he alone had found out immortality and that he should never dye Not long after being newly recovered of a sharp fit of the Gout and looking out of his Window upon the Egyptians that dined and sported on the banks of the River Nilus with a deep sigh he wished he was one of them 4. Eunomius the Heretick boasted that he knew the Nature of God at which time notwithstanding St. Basil puzled him in twenty one questions about the body of an Ant. 5. Paracelsus boasted that he could make a man immortal and yet himself dyed at fourty seven years of age 6. Pompey the Great at such time as the news of Caesars passing Rubicon came to Rome boasted that if he should but once stamp with his foot upon the â—arth of Italy forthwith armed troops of Horse and Foot would leap out thence yet was he put to a shameful flight by that enemy he so much despised 7. Sigismund King of Hungary beholding the greatness of his Army which he led against Bajazaet the first hearing of the coming of the Turks army in his great jollity proudly said What need we fear the Turk who need not at all to fear the falling of the Heavens which if they should fall yet were we able to hold them up from falling upon us with the very points of our Spears and Halberds yet this Insolent was then vanquished and enforced to fly not unlike another Xerxes being driven to pass the Danubius in a single and little Boat this was at the Battle of Nicopolis Anno 1396. 8. Abel by bribes bestowed in the Court of Rome from Archdean of St. Andrews got himself to be preferred Bishop there and was consecrated by Pope Innocent the fourth at his return he carried himself with great insolence They write of him that in a vain-glorious humour one day he did with a little Chalk draw this line upon the Gate of the Church Haec mihi sunt tria Lex Câ—non Philosophia Bragging of his knowledge and skill in those Professions and
others witnessed the applause they gave him by the sighs that parted from them and others again cried out with the Poet Ingenium coeleste suis velocius annis Surgit ingratae fert malè damna morae A Heav'n-born wit preventing his own years Is rise and loss by base delayes he fears 11. Claudius Rufus hath left in writing that many years agone in those daies when Caius Sulpitius and Licinius Stolo were Consuls there Reigned a great Pestilence at Rome such a mortality as consumed all the Stage-players indifferently one with another Whereupon at their instant prayer and request there repaired out of Tuscany to Rome many excellent and singular Actors in this kind amongst whom he who was of greatest reputation and had carried the name longest in all Theatres for his rare gift and dexterity that way was called Hister of whose name all other afterwards were called Histriones 12. Astydamas the son of Morsymus was a Player so noted in his time that the people decreed he should have a Statue erected in the Theatre in honour of him more especially for that in the acting of Parthenopaeus he had performed it with that dexterity and grace as merited an applause from them all This Player therefore framed a Title and Inscription for his own Statue In which he had not been over-sparing in his own praises this Title he read amongst the people that in case it should be approved by them it might be disposed with his Statue but the people were so offended with the man for being so very lavish in his own praises that by general vote it was decreed That so arrogant a Title as that should not be admitted Suidas saies This Title was to this purpose Would I had liv'd with them or they with me Who for sweet speaking so renowned be I then no doubt had gain'd the chiefest praise This they Envy who can no Envy raise CHAP. XV. Of men notably practised in Swimming and how long some have continued under Water CUstom and long practise of any thing doth seem to divest man of his own nature and to adopt another instead thereof aâ— we may perceive upon divers occasions and particularly in respect of what follows 1. Spunges are gathered from the sides of Rocks fifteen fathom under water about the bottom of the Streights of Gibraltar The people that get them are so trained up in diving from their childhood that they can endure to remain under water such a continuance of time as if it was their own proper element 2. Amongst those remarkables which have been in our time we knew of late a man not of any generous extraction but of the meaner sort who was a Mariner at some times for a stipend and at other times got his living by fishing This man was known in a sharp season of the year and some times in a troubled Sea in one day to have swimmed from Aenaria an Island amongst the Pithecusae over-against Naples as far as to Prochytas which is almost â—ifty Furlongs and at some times to have returned in one and the same day When this seemed unto all men utterly incredible he voluntarily made offer of himself to perform it multitudes came to behold this sight and when at Aenaria he had leaped into the Sea a Boat that followed him on purpose observed him swimming at some distance before them that were in it till such time as he came to shore at Prochyta in safety 3. Historians do much admire the valour and strength of Sertorius his first Warfare was under Scipio against the Cimbrians who had passed over into Gaul in this War when a Party of the Romans had fought unfortunately it happened that Sertorius was grievously wounded and had lost his Horse in this case with his Breast-plate upon him and his Shield and arms in his hand he threw himself into the Rhodamus a swift River and striving against the adverse Waves he swam over it and not without great admiration of the enemy he got over in safety to their own Army on the other side 4. Scaevola a man of admirable valour having alone defended a Rock all the day from the whole Forces of the Britains when night came on threw himself into the Sea and laden with a heavy Shield and two Coats of Mail by swimming he gat safe unto Caesar who having publickly applauded him of a private Souldier made him a Centurion 5. Those few people that dwell in the Islands of Lar and Cailon are almost transformed into the nature of Fishes so excellent swimmers are they that seeing a Vessel on the Seas though stormy and tempestuous they will swim to it though it be distant from them five or six miles and this only to beg an Alms their own food being nothing but Fish and they very poor 6. They fish for Pearl in the South Sea near Panama and in the North Sea in divers places as in the Isle Margareta towards the coast of Paria where the Oysters feed upon Cubuca The Pearls of greater price are called Quilates or Carats For this fishing they choose the best winded men and such as can contain longest under water At Barlovento Cula and Hispaniola I have seen them stay three quarters of an hour under water and I was told they have had some who have continued the whole hour The General of Margaita keeps many of these men who are Slaves to him called Boâ—ze one of these Pearls was brought to the King of Spain as big as a Pidgeons egge valued at 14000. Ducats by some at 100000. and it was called a Peregrina 7. The Grecians did use to breed up their children with liberal education they were well instructed in Wrastling and also were taught to swim well This was the reason that very few of the Greeks perished in the Naval fight with Xerxes at Salamine for being well skilled in swimming when any of their Ships were broken or in danger of sinking they quit them and leaping into the Sea swam safely to Salamine on the otherside the Persians being generally unpractised herein for the most part perished in the Sea 8. Henry the third the Emperour of the Romans in revenge of the death of Peter King of Hungary besieged Pisonium It was here that a certain Hungarian his name was Zothmundus an incomparable swimmer was sent in the dead of the night by the Governour to get by swimming privily under the enemies Ships this he did and with a small Wimble or Piercer he so bored them in the bottom of the Keel that about two and three a clock in the morning divers of them began to sink By this Artifice the Forces of the Germans were so broken and impaired that they were constrained to break up the Siege and to depart 9. Alphonsus King of Sicily and Arragon besieged the City of Bonifacia a Colony of the Genowayes in the Island of Corsica he had there more especially one vast Ship
roots with great care and then bruise them with stones till they become so soft as to cleave together of which they make a kind of Cakes of the bigness of a Brick as much as they can well hold in their hand and having baked them a while in the Sun they feed upon them 10. The Hylophagi are a people who live near unto these the manner of whom is with their wives and children to march into the Wood-land or fielden Country where they climb up into the trees and crop off the most tender branches of the boughs and young sprouts of them with which they fill their bellies and feed lustily upon By continual custom they have acquired such a dexterity in climbing that which may seem incredible they will leap from tree to tree like Squirrels and their bodies being lean and light they climb upon the smaller branches without danger if their feet slip they catch hold on the boughs with their hands and save themselves from falling or if they chance to fall they are so light that they receive little damage thereby 11. The Inhabitants of the Island of Corsica feed not only upon little Dogs that are tame but upon those also that are wild and therefore Cardan saith of them that they are cruel unfaithful bold prompt nimble strong according to the nature of the Dog the Thracians also fed upon Dogs 12. In a corner of Caramania dwell the Chelonophagi who feed upon flesh of Tortoises and cover their houses with the shells of them they are rough and hairy all over the body and are covered with the skins of fishes In the shells of the larger Tortoises which are hollow they sit and row about as in a Boat they use them also as a Cistern to preserve water in so that this one fish is the food and furniture the house and ship of this people 13. The Ancients fed upon Acorns especially the Arcadians made them their continual and daily food 14. The Inhabitants of Cumana both men women and children from their youth upwards learn to shoot in Bows Their meat is Horsleeches Bats Grashoppers Crevises Spiders Bees and raw sodden and roasted Lice They spare no living Creature whatsoever but they eat it which is to be wondred at considering their Country is so well replenished with good Bread Wine Fruit Fish and all kind of flesh in great abundance Hence it is observed that these people have always spots in their eyes or else are dim of sight though some impute this to the property of the water in the River of Cumana 15. In our Travel with the Ambassador of the King of Bramaa to the Calaminham we saw in a Grot men of a Sect of one of their Saints or rather of a Devil named Angemacur these lived in deep holes made in the midst of the Rock according to the rule of their wretched order eating nothing but Flies Ants Scorpions and Spiders with the juyce of a certain herb growing in abundance thereabouts much like to Sorrel These spent their time in meditating day and night with their eyes lifted up to heaven and their hands closed one within another for a testimony that they desired nothing of this World and in that manner died like beasts but accounted the greatest Saints and as such after they are dead they burn them in the fires whereinto they cast great quantities of most precious Perfumes the funeral Pomp being celebrated with great state and very rich offerings they have sumptuous Temples erected to them thereby to draw the living to do as they had done to obtain this vain-glory which is all the recompence the World gives them for this excessive penance 16. We likewise saw others of a Sect altogether diabolical invented by a certain Gilen Mitray these have sundry orders of penance and that their abstinence may be the more agreeable to their Idol some of them eat nothing but filthy spittle and thick snot with Grashoppers and Hens dung others clods of blood drawn from the veins of other men with bitter fruits and herbs brought them from the Woods by reason whereof they live but a short time and have so bad a look and colour that they fright those that behold them 17. In the Empire of Calaminham there is a sort of people called Oquens and Magores who feed on wild beasts which they catch in hunting and which they eat raw they also feed on all kind of venemous Creatures as Lizards Serpents and Adders and the like 18. Anchimolus and Moschus the Sophists throughout their whole life drank nothing but water and satisfied their hunger with Figs alone These were their only food yet were they no weaker than others that used better diet only such an unacceptable and filthy smell came from them when they sweat that no man could endure to be with them in the Bath but industriously avoided their company CHAP. XIV Of some persons that have abstained from all manner of Food for many years together THE Ocean continually floweth into the Mediterranean Sea by the Straights of Gibraltar and the Euxine always floweth into the same Sea by the Propontick yet is there no appearance that the Mediterranean is more filled though no passage whereby it sends forth its waters is discovered nor seemeth the Euxine Sea any thing lessened though there appears no supply of waters to it but by some small Rivers Thus there are many abstruse things in Nature almost every where to be met with which when we cannot solve for the most part we resolve not to credit though never so well attested as in the following Chapter 1. Paulus Lentulus a Doctor of Physick in the Province of Bearn a Canton in Swisserland hath published a Book intituled A wonderful History of the fasting of Apollonia Schreira a Virgin in Bearn he dedicated it to King Iames of England at his first coming to the Crown where he tells us that himself was with the Maid three several times and that she was by the command of the Magistrates of Bearn brought thither and having a strict Guard set upon her and all kinds of tryals put in practice for the discovery of any collusion or fraud in the business in conclusion they found none but dismissed her fairly In the first year of her fasting she slept very little in the second not at all and so continued for a long time after 2. Margaret a Girl of about ten years of age born in a Village named Roed about two miles from Spires began to abstain from all kind of sustenance An. Dom. 1539. and so continued for three years walking in the mean season and talking and laughing and sporting as other children of that age use to do yet was she by special order of the Bishop of Spires delivered into the hands of the Pastor of the Parish and by him narrowly observed and afterwards by the command of Maximilian King of the Romans committed to the keeping
succeeded his Father in the Kingdom Anno Domini 918. 16. The Wife of Simon Knâ—uter of Weissenburgh went with child to the ninth month and then falling into Travail her pains were such as that they occasioned her death and when the assistants doubted not but that the child was dead also in the Womb they dispos'd of the Mother as is usual in the like occasion but after some hours they heard a cry they ran and found the Mother indeed dead but deliver'd of a little Daughter that was in good health and lay at her feet Salmuth saith he hath seen three several women who being dead in Travail were yet after death delivered of the Children they went with CHAP. V. Of what Monsters some Women have been delivered and of praeternatural births IT is the constant design of provident Nature to produce that which is perfect and complete in it's kind But though Man is the noblest part of her operation and that she is busied about the framing of him with singular curiosity and industry yet are there sundry variations in her mintage and some even humane medals come out thence with different Errata's in their Impressions The best of Archers do not always bore the white the working brains of the ablest Politicians have sometimes suffered an abortion nor are we willing to bury their accidental misses in the memory of their former skilful performances If therefore Nature through a penury or supersluity of materials or other causes hath been so unfortunate as at sometimes to miscarry her dexterity and Artifice in the composition of many ought to procure her a pardon for such oversights as she hath committed in a few Besides there is oftentimes so much of ingenuity in her very disorders and they are dispos'd with such a kind of happy unhappiness that if her more perfect works beget in us much of delight the other may affect us with equal wonder 1. That is strange which is related by Buchanan It had saith he beneath the Navel one body but above it two distinct ones when hurt beneath the Navel both bodies felt the pain if above that body only felt that was hurt These two would sometimes differ in opinions and quarrel the one dying before the other the surviving pin'd away by degrees It liv'd 28. years could speak divers Languages and was by the King's command taught Musick Sandy's on Ovid Metam lib. 9. p. 173. 2. Anno 1538. There was one born who grew up to the stature of a Man he was double as to the Head and Shoulders in such manner as that one face stood oppositâ— to the other both were of a likeness and resembâ—â— each other in the beard and eyes both had the â—ame appetite and both hungred alike the voice of both was almost the same and both loved the same Wife 3. I saw saith Bartholinus Lazarus Colloredo the Genoan first at Hafnia after at Basil when he was then 28. years of Age but in both places with amazement This Lazarus had a little Brother growing out at his breast who was in that posture born with him If I mistake not the bone called Xyphoides in both of them grew together his left foot alone hung downwards he had two arms only three fingers upon each hand some appearance there was of the secret parts he moved his hands ears and lips and had a little beating in the breast This little Brother voided no excrements but by the mouth nose and ears and is nourish'd by that which the greater takes he has distinct animal and vital parts from the greater since he sleeps sweats and moves when the other wakes rests and sweats not Both receiv'd their Names at the Font the greater that of Lazarus and the other that of Iohannes Baptista The natural Bowels as the Liver Spleen c. are the same in both Iohannes Baptista hath his eyes for the most part shut his breath small so that holding a Feather at his mouth it scarce moves but holding the hand there we find a small and warm breath his mouth is usually open and always wet with spittle his head is bigger then that of Lazarus but deform'd his hair hanging down while his face is in an upward posture Both have beards Baptista's neglected but that of Lazarus very neat Lazarus is of a just stature a decent body courteous deportment and gallantly attir'd he covers the body of his Brother with his Cloak nor could you think a Monster lay within at your first discourse with him He seemed always of a constant mind unless that now and then he was solicitous as to his end for he feared the death of his Brother as presaging that when that came to pass he should also expire with the stink and putrefaction of his body and thereupon he took greater care of his Brother then of himself 4. Lemnius tells of a Monster that a certain Woman was deliver'd of to which Woman he himself was Physician and present at the sight which at the appearing of the day fill'd all the Chamber with roaring and crying running all about to find some hole to creep into but the Women at the length stiâ—led and smother'd it with pillows 5. Iohannes Naborowsky a noble Polonian and my great friend told me at Basil that he had seen in his Countrey two little Fishes without scales which were brought forth by a Woman and as soon as they came out of her Womb did swim in the Water as other Fish 6. Not many years agoe there liv'd a Woman of good quality at Elsingorn who being satisfied in her count prepared all things for child-birth hired a Mid-wife bought a Cradle c. but her big belly in the last month seemed to be much fallen which yet not to lessen the report that went of her she kept up to the former height by the advantage of cloaths which she wore upon it Her time of Travail being come and the usual pains of labour going before she was deliver'd of a creature very like unto a dormouse of the greater size which to the amazement of the Women who were present with marvellous celerity sought out and found a hole in the Chamber into which it crept and was never seen after I will not render the credit of these Women suspected seeing divers persons have made us Relations of very strange and monstrous births from their own experience 7. Anno Dom. 1639. our Norway afforded us an unheard of example of a Woman who having often before been deliver'd of humane births and again big after strong labour was delivered of two Eggs one of them was broken the other was sent to that excellent person Dr. Olaus Wormius the ornament of the University in whose study it is reserv'd to be seen of as many as please I am not ignorant that many will give no credit to this story who either have not seen the Egg or were not present when the Woman was deliver'd of it In
the Heavens those of the Spots and Dinettick motion of the Sun the mountainous protuberances and shadows of the body of the Moon about nineteen magnitudes more of fixed Stars the Lunulae of Iupiter their mutual Eclipsing one another and its turning round upon its own Axis the ring about Saturn and its shadow upon the body of that Star the Phases of Venus the increment and decrement of light amongst the Planets the appearing and disappearing of fixed Stars the altitude of Comets and nature of the Via Lactea In the Air its spring the more accurate History and nature of Winds and Meteors the probable height of the Atmosphere have been added by the Lord Bacon Des Cartes Mr. Boyle and others In the earth new Lands by Columbus Magellan and the rest of the discoverers and in these new Plants new Fruits new Animals new Minerals and a kind of other world of Nature from which this is supplyed with numerous conveniencies for life In the Waters the great motion of the Sea unknown in elder times and the particular Laws of flux and reflux in many places are discovered The History of Bathes augmented by Savonarola Baccius and Blanchellus Of Metals by Agricola and the whole Subterranean World described by the universally Learned Kircher The History of Plants much improved by Mathioluâ— Ruellius Bauhinus and Gerhard besides the late account of English Vegetables published by Dr. Merrett a worthy Member of the Royal Society and another excellent Virtuoso of the same Assembly Mr. Iohn Evelyn hath very considerably advanced the History of Fruit and Forest Trees by his Sylva and Pomona and greater things are expected from his preparations for Elysium Britannicum a noble design now under his hands The History of Animals hath been much enlarged by Gesner Rondeletius Aldrovandus and more accurately enquired into by the Micographers and the late Travellers who have given us accounts of those more remote parts of the Earth that have been less known to these amongst whom the ingenious Author of the Carribees deserves to be mentioned as an instance In our Bodies Natural History hath found a rich heap of Materials in the particulars of the Venae Lacteae the Vasa Lymphatica of the Valves and Sinus of the Veins the several new passages and Glandules the Ductus Chyliferus the Origination of the Nerves the Circulation of the Blood and the rest 15. Great men and Learned saith Pliny who know more in natural causes than others do feared the extinction of the Stars or some mischief to befall them in their Eclipses Pindaruâ— and Stesichorus were subject to this fear attributing the failing of their lights to the power of Witchcraft CHAP. XXIII Of the Sloathfulness and Idleness of some men IT is said of the Elder Cato That he used to inflame the minds of his fellow Souldiers to the love of Industry Labour and Vertue with such kind of Memorials as this Si cum labore quippiam rectè geris Labor recedit facta rectè permanent Quod si jocosè nequiter quid egeris Abit voluptas turpe factum permanet which because it pleased me in the reading and may possibly do the like to some others for the sake of the English Reader I will adventure thus to translate When what is good we do perform with pain The pains soon pass the good deeds still remain When slothfully or basely ought is done Those base deeds stay when all the pleasure 's gone Indeed all the Ancient Romans were such haters of Idleness that whereas Agenotia which was to stir up to action Stimula which was to put on further and Strenua which was to make men Strenuous were all three received as Goddesses to be worshipped in Temples within the City they would not receive Quies or rest as a Goddess in publick but built a Temple for her in the Lavicanian way which was without the City And thither may those unprofitable Members of the Common-wealth go with their Sacrifices who are like unto these that follow 1. Altades the twelfth King of Babylon an idle and slothful person laid down these two as his Maxims He is a vain and foolish man who with continual labour and misery makes War to the destruction of himself and others His other was this He is the most fool of all that with toyl and labour heaps up Treasure not for himself but his Posterity From this idle Philosophy he collected two things That no War was to be made because of the labour and a second That we should enjoy the riches and glory that was got by the sweat and miseries of others Accordingly he framed his life and spent his whole time amongst Whores and Catamites 2. There was saith Olaus Magnus a Stage-player who was grown to an unreasonable corpulency and well he might for he could eat as much as ten men and daâ—ly used so to do one of the Kings of Denmark being informed of him and that he lived a kind of idle liâ—e that he might no longer be a publick grievance and a devourer of that â—ood which was only due to them that laboured in their employments he caused him to be hanged up 3. Varia Servilius descended of a Pretorian Family was remarkable for no other thing save only his idleness in which he grew old insomuch as it was commonly said by such as passed by his house Varia hic situs est Here lies Varia speaking of him as of a person that was not only dead but buryed 4. Domiâ—ianus the Emperour the son of Vespatianus and Domicilla while he held the Empire was so given up to sloth and idleness that he spent most part of his time in pricking of flies to death with the point of a needle or bodkin so that when once it was demanded of one who was come out from him Who was with the Emperour His answer was Ne musca quidem Not so much as a flie 5. Alexander the son of Basilius Macedo was Emperour when he was a young man about twenty years of age at which time and after he was so devoted to sloth and idleness that laying aside the care of all matters of weight and Moment he minded nothing else but Hunting Horses and Dogs placing therein all his employment and delight 6. Romanus the Grandchild of Romanus Laucapenus was a man the most slothful of all other men he wholly resigned up himself to drinking of Wine to idleness and other pleasures so that the care of the Empire was intrusted in the hands of Iosephus Bringa the Praefect meerly upon the account of the extreme wretchlesness of the Emperour 7. Charles the son of Ludovicus Carolinus King of France when he succeeded his father in the Kingdom was so noted for his singular sluggisâ—ness that he was commonly called Charles the slothful for he minded nothing that was serious insomuch that he consumed and wasted away with meer idleness and dyed young leaving his Throne to be possessed by his
concerning his Love to Truth 17. Euricius Cordus a German Physician hath this honour done to his memory It is said of him that no man was more addicted to truth than he or rather no man was more vehemently studious of it none could be found who was a worser hater of ing and falshood he could dissemble nothing nor bear that wherewith he was offended which was the cause of his gaining the displeasure oâ— some persons who might have been helpful to him if he would but have sought their favour and continued himself therein by his obsequiousness Thus much is declared in his Epigrams and he saith it of himself Blandire nescis ac verum Corde tacere Et mirare tuos displicuisse libros Thou canst not flatter but the truth dost tell What wonder is 't thy Books then do not sell. Paulus Lutherus Son to Martin Luther was Physician to Ioachimus the Second Elector of Brandenbuog and then to Augustus Duke of Saxony Elector It is said of him that he was verè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lover of liberty and freedom of Speech far from â—lattery and assentation and in all points like unto that Rhesus in Euripides who saith of himself Talis sum et ego rectam sâ—rmonum Viam secans nec sum duplex vir Such a one am I that rightly can Divide my Speech yet am no double man The virtues of this Luther were many and great yet I know not any wherein he more deservedly is to be praised than for this honest freedom of speaking wherein he mightily resembled his Father 19. When I lived at Vtricht in the Low Countries the Reply of that valiant Gentleman Colonel Edmonds was much spoken of There came a Country-man of his out of Scoâ—land who desiring to be entertained by him told him that my Lord his Father and such Knights and Gentlemen his Cousin and Kinsmen were in good health Colonel Edmonds turning to his friends then by Gentlemen said he believe not one word he says My Father is but a poor Baker in Edinburg and works hard for his living whom this Knave would make a Lord to curry favour with me and make you believe that I am a great man born when there is no such matter CHAP. V. Of such as have been great Lovers and Promoters of Peace THere is a certain Fish which Aelian in his History calls the Adonis of the Sea because it liveth so innocently that it toucheth no living thing strictly preserving peace with all the offspring of the Ocean which is the cause it is beloved and courted as the true darling of the Waters If the frantick world hath had any darlings they are certainly such as have been clad in Steel the destroyers of Cities the suckers of humane blood and such as have imprinted the deepest scars upon the face of the Universe These are the men it hath Crown'd with Lawrels advanc'd to Thrones and â—latter'd with the misbecoming Titles of Heroes and Gods while the Sons of peace are remitted to the cold entertainment of their own vertues Notwithstanding which there have ever been some who have found so many Heavenly Beauties in the face of Peace that they have been contented to love that sweet Virgin for her self and to Court her without the consideration of any additional Dowry 1. The Inâ—abitants of the Island Borneo not far from the Moluccas live in such detestation of war and are so great Lovers of peace that they hold their King in no other veneration than that of a God so long as he studies to preserve them in peace but if he discover inclinations to war they never leave till he is fall'n in Battle under the Arms of his Enemies So soon as he is slain they set upon the Enemy with all imaginable fierceness as Men that fight for their liberty and such a King as will be a greater Lover of peace Nor was there ever any King known amongst them that was the perswader and Author of a war but he was deserted by them and suffer'd to fall under the Sword of the Enemy 2. Datanes the Persian being employed in the besieging of Sinope received Letters from the King commanding him to desist from the Siege Having read the Letter he adored it and made gratulatory sacrifices as if he had received mighty favours from his Master and so taking Ship in the very next Night he departed 3. The Emperour Leo who succeeded Martianus having given to Eulogius the Philosopher a quantity of Corn one of his Eunuchs told him that such kind of largess was more fitly bestowed upon his Soldiers I would to God said the Emperour that the state of my Reign was such that I could bestow all the stipends of my Soldiers upon such as are learned 4. Constantinus the Emperour observing some differences amongst the Fathers of the Church called the Nicene Council at which also hmself was present At this time divers little Books were brought to him containing their mutual complaints and accusations of one another All which he received as one that intended to read and take cognizance of them all But when he found that he had received as many as were intended to be offered he bound them up in one bundle and protesting that he had not so much as looked into any one of them he burnt them all in the sight of the Fathers giving them moreover a serious exhortation to peace and a Cordial Agreement amongst themselvrs 5. It is noted of Phocion a most excellent Captain of the Athenians that although for his military ability and success he was chosen forty and five times General of their Armies by universal approbation yet he himself did ever perswade them to peace 6. At Fez in Africk they have neither Lawyers nor Advocates but if there be any controversies amongst them both parties Plaintiff and Defendant came to their Alsakins or Chief Judge and at once without any further appeals or pitiful delays the Cause is heard and ended It is reported of Caesar to his great commendation that after the defeat of Pompey he had in his custody a Castle wherein he found divers Letters written by most of the Nobles in Rome under their own hands sufficient evidence to condemn them but he burnt them all that no Monument might remain of a future grudge and that no man might be driven to extremities or to break the peace through any apprehension that he lived suspected and should therefore be hated 8. Iames King of Arragon was a great enemy to contentions and contentious Lawyers insomuch as having heard many complaints against Semenus Rada a great Lawyer who by his Quirks and Wiles had been injurious as well as troublesome to many he banished him his Kingdom as a man that was not to be endured to live in a place to the Peace of which he was so great an enemy 9. I read of the Sister of Edward the Third King of
Lettuce head or else some new gathered sharp and tart Apple that had a kind of winish liquor in it Thus lived this great person after a fashion that some Coblers and Botchers would almost be loth to be obliged unto 3. Ludovicus Cornarius a Venetian and a learned man wrote a book of the benefit of a sober life and produceth himself as a testimony hereof saying Vnto the fortieth year of my Age I was continually vexed with variety of infirmities I was sick at Stomach of a Fever a Plurisie and lay ill of the Oout At last this man by the perswasion of Physicians took up a way of living with such temperance that in the space of one year he was freed almost of all his diseases In the seventieth year of his Age he had a â—all whereby he brake his Arm and his Leg so that upon the Third day nothing but death was expected yet he recovered without Physick for his abstinence was to him instead of all other means and that was it which hindred a recurrency of malignant humours to the parts affected In the eighty third year of his Age he was so sound and chearful so vegete and so entire in his strength that he could climb hils leap upon his horse from the even ground write Comedies and do most of those things he used to do when he was young If you ask how much meat and drink this man took his daily allowance for bread and all manner of other â—ood was twelve ounces and his drink for a day was fourteen ounces This was his usual measure and the said Coraraius did seriously affirm that if he chanced to exceed but a few ounces he was thereby apâ— to relapse into his former diseases All this he hath set down of himself in writing and it is aâ—â—â—xed to the book of Leonardus Lessius a Physician which was Printed at Amsterdam Anno Dom. 1631. 4. Philippus Nerius at Nineteen years of Age made it a law to himself that he would refresh his body but once a day and that only with bread and water and sometimes he would abstain even from these cold delights unto the third day Being made Priest his manner was to eat some small thing in the morning and then abstain till Supper which never consisted of more than two poched Eggs or instead of these some pulse or herbs He would not suffer more dishes than one to be set upon his Table he seldom eat of Flesh or Fish and of white Meats he never tasted his Wine was little and that much diluted with water and which is most wonderful he never seemed to be delighted with one dish more than another 5. Cardinal Carolus Borromaeus was of that abstinence that he kept a daily fast with bread and water Sundays and Holy-days only excepted and this manner of life he continued till his death He kept even festivals with that frugality that he usually fed upon Pulse Apples or Herbs Pope Gregory the Thirteenth sent to him not only to advise but to command him to moderate these rigours But the Cardinal wrote back to him that he was most ready to obey but that withal he had learned by experience that his spare eating was conducting to health and that it was subservient to the drying up of that Flegm and humours wherewith his body did abound whereupon the Pope left him to his pleasure He persisted therein therefore with so rigid a constancy that even in the heat of Summer and when he had drawn out his labours beyond his accustomed time he would not indulge himself so far as to tast of a little wine nor allow his thirst so much as a drop of water 6. The Aegyptian Kings fed upon simple diet nor was any thing brought to their Tables besides a Calf and a Goose for Wine they had a stated measure such as would neither fill the belly nor intoxicate the head and their whole life was managed with that modesty and sobriety that a man would think it was not ordered by a Lawgiver but a most skilful Physician for the preservation of health 7. Cato the younger marching with his Army through the hot sands of Lybia when by the burning heats of the Sun and their own labour they were pressed with an immoderate thirst a Soldier brought him his Helmet full of water which he had difficultly found that he might quench his thirst with it But Cato poured out the water in the sight of all his Army and seeing he had not enough for them all he would not tast it alone By this example of his temperance and tolerance he taught his Soldiers the better to endure their hardship 8. When Pausanias had overcome Mardonius in Battel and beheld the splendid Utensils and Vessels of Gold and Silver belonging to the Barbarian he commanded the Bakers and Cooks c. to prepare him such a Supper as they used to do for Mardonius which when they had done and Pausanias had viewed the Beds of Gold and Silver the Tables Dishes and other magnificent preparations to his amazement he then ordered his own servants to prepare him such a Supper as was usual in Sparta which was a course repast with their black broth and the like When they had done it and the difference appeared to be very strange he then sent for the Grecian Commanders and shewed them both Suppers And laughing O ye Greeks said he I have called you together for this purpose that I might shew you the madness of the Median General who when he lived such a life as this must needs come to invade us who eat after this homely and mean manner 9. Alphonsus the Elder King of Sicily had suddenly drawn out his forces to oppose the passage of Iacobus Caudolus over the River Vulturnus he had forced his Troops back again but being necessitated to stay there all day with his Army unrefreshed A Soldier towards evening brought him a piece of Bread a Radish and a piece of Cheese a mighty Present at that time But Alphonsus commending the Soldiers liberality refused his offer and said it was not seemly for him to feast while his Army fasted 10. Iulian the Emperour first a Deacon then a wretched Apostate yet was otherwise highly to be commended for his many good qualities so temperate that he never had any war with his Belly so chast that after the death of his Wife he never regarded women and would not see the Persian Captive Ladies nor suffer Cooks nor Barbers in his Army as being Ministers of intemperance As for Stage-Plays he never but once a year permitted them in his Court and then he saith of himself that he was more like to one that detested than one that was a spectator of them 11. Agesilaus King of Sparta was sent for into Aegypt to assist that King against his enemiess at his arrival all the Kings great Captains Nobles and an infinite number of people went to see
come he most earnestly desired of his friends that being enclosed in the Cirque by the Souldiers they should every man be slain not for any crime they were guilty of but as he said That when he was dead there might be a real just and universal grief at his funeral when there should be no Family exempt from this calamity 4. Tiberius the Roman Emperour shew'd himself a good Prince all the while that Germanicus and Drusus were alive he seemed to have a mixture of vertue and vice while his mother was in being but afterwards he brake out into all kind of infamous and execrable actions proceeding in his Villanies to such a height that at some times through the torment of his own conscience he not only repented of what he had done but professed he was weary of his life 5. Nero Emperour of Rome at his first coming to the Throne was a mirrour of Princes as he was afterwards of Monsters The Emperour Trajan gave this Elogium of him That the best of Princes came far short of the first five years of Nero but he soon out-liv'd his own innocency and a far less commendation for he poyson'd his brother forc'd his Master Seneca to bleed to death ripp'd up the belly of his Mother set the City of Rome on fire while he himself on the top of a Tower sang and play'd the burning of Troy and indeed abstain'd from no kind of excesses in vice and wickedness till having made the world too long a-weary of him he was forced to become his own Executioner 6. C. Caligula though very young governed the Empire the first and second year of his Reign with most noble directions behaving himself most graciously towards all men whereby he obtained the love and good liking of the Romans and the favour of his other Subjects but in process of time the greatness of his Estate made him so forgetful of himself as to decline to all manner of vice to surpass the limits of humane condition and to challenge to himself the title of Divinity whereby he governed all things in contempt of God 7. Heraclius the Eastern Emperour in his old age did much degenerate from the vertues of his youth for in his first years his Government was laudable happy and fortunate afterwards he fell to the practise of forbidden acts dealing with Soothsayers and Magicians he fell also into the Heresie of the Monothelites and made an incestuous Marriage with Martina the daughter of his brother after which his fortune chang'd the oriental Empire began to decline and he lost all Asia 8. Bassianus Carracalâ—a was so courteous and pleasant and obsequious in his Childhood to his Parents his friends and indeed unto all the people that every man was the admirer of his piety meekness and good nature but advancing further into years he was so changed in his manners and behaviour and was of so cruel and bloody a disposition that many could scarcely believe it was the same person whom they had known in his Childhood 9. Boschier in his penitential Sermons relates of a Fryer that alwaies din'd on a Net till he had obtain'd the Popedom then he bad them take the Net away seeing the Fish was taken Another in his younger time and mean estate liv'd only upon bread and water saying that Aqua panis vita carnis but being afterwards advanc'd chang'd his diet and then said Aqua panis vita canis A third there was that being low Preached exceedingly against the Pride vices and sins of men in place and power but being afterwards raised to preferment he changed his note and to one that admired at it he reply'd by prophaning that Scripture When I was a Child I spake as a Child 10. Lucullus was as sufficient a Warriour in all kind of Service as almost any of the Roman Captains and so long as he was in action he maintain'd his wit and understanding entire But after he had once given up himself to an idle life and sat mew'd up as it were like an house-bird at home and meddled no more in the affairs of the Common-Wealth he became very dull blockish and stupid much like to Sea Spunges after a long Calm when the salt water doth not dash upon them and drench them so that afterwards this Lucullus committed his old age to be dieted cured and ordered by Callisthenes one of his enfranchised bond-men by whom it was thought he was medicined by amatorious drinks and bewitch'd with other Charms and Sorceries until such time as his Brother Marcus removed this Servitor from about him and took upon him the government and disposition of his person during the remainder of his life which was not long 11. Maxentius the son of Maximiamus having seised upon Rome and driven out from thence Severus the son of Galerius Augustus shew'd himself equal and merciful to all men insomuch as that he recommended the Christians unto the care of the Governours of his Provinces but no sooner had he strengthened himself with wealth and quieted Italy and Africk but he turned Tyrant a cruel Persecutor of the Christians and left no sort of impiety or intemperance or villany unpractised by him CHAP. III. Of the rigorous severity of some Parents to their Children and how unnatural others have shewed themselves towards them EVery thing is carryed on by a natural instinct to the preservation of it self in its own being and by the same Law of Nature even the most bruitish amongst the bruitâ— themselves may be observ'd to retain a special kind of indulgence and tenderness towards their off-spring The Monsters of the Sea draw out the breast and give suck to their young ones The extraordinary severities of some Parents to their Children may assure us that there are greater Monsters upon the Land than are to be â—ound in the bottom of the deep and if some of these may extenuate their inhumanities by I know not what vertuous pretences yet the barbarities of the rest must be wholly imputable to their savage nature and the bloodiness of their disposition 1. There was a Peasant a Mardonian by Nation named Rachoses who being the Father of seven sons perceived the youngest of them play'd the little Libertine and unbridled Colt he endeavoured to cure him with fair words and reasons but finding him to reject all manner of good counsel he bound his hands behind him carried him before a Magistrate accus'd him and requires he might be proceeded against as a delinquent against nature The Judges who would not discontent this incensed father nor hazard the life of this young man sent them both to the King which at that time was Artaxerxes The father went thither resolved to seek his sons death where pleading before the King with much fervour and forcible reasons Artaxerxes stood amaz'd at his courage But how can you my friend said he endure to see your son die before your face He being a
them a Mule adorned with the richest Trappings to carry them home to their several Houses Now to enquire with what delicates he treated these Guests whom he so liberally rewarded for their Company is a curiosity only befitting such persons as rather desire to hear of things monstrous than any ordinary instances of luxury 2. Not long since there was a Prelate stranger whose name I will conceal for the honour of his profession who one day invited to a feast all the Nobility of Avignon as well Men as Women where for a beginning of his Pompe at the very entry into the Hall where the Feast was appointed lay spread upon a curious board a great Beef with his head cut off and his entrails taken out having in his belly a whole Hart or Deer of the like dressing stuffed full of little Birds as Quailes Partridges Larks Pheasants and other like the same being so cunningly conjoyned in the belly of the second beast that it seemed some excellent Mathematician had been the Workman thereof But that which made the matter both strange and wonderful was that all the Birds so assembled did roast and turn all alone upon a broach by certain Compass and Conduits without the help of any man For the first course his Guests were presented with store of curious Pastry wherein were inclosed many little Birds quick who as soon as the Crust was taken off began to fly about the Hall There were besides sundry sorts of silver Plate full of Jelly so subtilly conveyed that a man might have seen in the bottom a number of little Fishes quick swimming and leaping in sweet water to the great delight and pleasure of the Assistants Neither is it less strange that all the Fowls which were served upon the Table were larded with Lamprey though it was in a season when they cost half a Crown apiece But that which seals up the Pomp of this proud Prelate was that there was reserved as many quick birds as he was served with dead Fowls at his Table so that if there were a Pheasant sent up dressed there were Gentlemen appointed who presented another alive and all to shew the magnificence of the Priest The consummation of his delights was that the Gentlemen which served him had their faces covered with a Veil lest their breath should offend him or his meat All which I have set down not for imitation but rather that all good Christians should detest this prodigious example of unheard of Luxury 3. Anno Dom. 1470. in the tenth year of King Edward the fourth George Nevill brother to the great Earl of Warwick at his installment into his Arch-bishoprick of York made a prodigious Feast to all the Nobility most of the prime Clergy and many of the great Gentry wherein by his Bill of Fare three hundred quarters of Wheat three hundred and thirty Tuns of Ale one hundred and four Tuns of Wine one Pipe of Spiced Wine eighty fat Oxen six wild Bulls one thousand and four Weathers three hundred Hoggs three hundred Calves three thousand Geese three thousand Capons three hundred Piggs one hundred Peacocks two hundred Cranes two hundred Kids two thousand Chickens four thousand Pidgeons four thousand Rabbets two hundred and four Bittours four thousand Ducks four hundred Hersews two hundred Pheasants five hundred Partridges four thousand Woodcocks four hundred Plovers one hundred Curleus one hundred Quails one thousand Egrets two hundred Rees above four hundred Bucks Does and Roe-bucks one thousand five hundred and six hot Venison Pasties four thousand cold Venison Pasties one thousand dishes of Gelly parted four thousand dishes of plain Gelly four thousand cold Custards two thousand hot Custards three hundred Pikes three hundred Breams eight Seals four Porpuses and four hundred Tarts At this Feast the Earl of Warwick was Steward the Earl of Bedford Treasurer the Lord Hastings Comptroller with many more Noble Officers Servitors one thousand Cooks sixty two Kitcheners five hundred and fifteen But seven years after the King seized on all the Estate of this Archbishop and sent him over Prisoner to Callis in France where Vinctus jacuit in summâ inopiâ he was kept bound in extreme poverty Justice thus punishing his former Prodigality 4. Anno Dom. 1543. Muleasses King of Tunis frighted by the coming of Barbarossa as he was passing out of Sicilia to have met the Emperour at Genoa he was by contrary Winds driven first to Cajeta and afterwards to Naples where he was by the Vice-Roy honourably received and an house appointed for him richly furnished The Neapolitans wondring at the strange attire of the people with the manner of their feeding and curious plenty of all manner of sweet perfumes For into every dish they put in odours of exceeding price so that it was well known that a Peacock and two Pheasants dressed after the Kings Kitchin cost above an hundred Duckats so that not only the dining-room when they were carv'd up but all the house was so filled with the strange and fragrant smell that all they that dwelt near thereabouts were partakers of unusual and delicate perfumes 5. Clodius Aesopus the Tragedian had a huge Charger or Platter wherein he served up at the board all manner of singing birds and such as could imitate the voice of man the birds cost him six hundred Sesterces apiece and the whole Charger six hundred thousand and this he did not that herein he sought to sooth his pallate but only to have a name that he had eaten the resemblers of mans voice 6. A. Vitellus had a famous Platter which for the huge bigness of it was called Minerva's Buckler in this he blended together the Livers of Gilt-heads the brains of Pheasants and Peacocks the Tongues of Phenicopters and the milts of Lampreys brought from the Spanish and Carpathian Seas by the Masters of his Ships and Galleys This Platter is said to have cost a Million of Sesterces all of massy Silver and was long preserved till Adrian the Emperour caused it to be broken in pieces and scattered about This Vitellius Feasted usually three times sometimes four a day every sitting being valued at four hundred thousand Sesterces and he was able with the more ease to go through all these courses of eating by a continual custom of vomiting which it seems amongst these Belly-gods was a continual practice 7. L. Lucullus was a great Statesman whom M. Tullius and Pompey the Great meeting by chance in the Market-place out of a desire to know what his daily fare might be they invited themselves to sup with him that night but upon condition he should give no warning thereof for that they desired not to put him to charge He began at first to put them off with excuses for that time wishing them rather to agree on the next day but they importuning him for the present he demanded of them whether then they would suffer him to give order in what room they should sup That they
life but he having lived in great piety and justice must shut up his days so speedily The Oracle returned that therefore he dyed because he did not that which he should have done for Egypt should have been afflicted one hundred and fifty years which the two former Kings well understood but himself had not When Mycerinus heard this and that he was thus condemned he caused divers lamps to be made which when night came on he lighted by these he carowsed and indulged his genius this course he intermitted not night nor day but wandred through the Fenns and Woods and such places where the most convenient and pleasurable reception was and this he did for this purpose that he might deceive the Oracle and that whereas it had pronounced he should live but six years he intended this way to lengthen them out to twelve 13. Antigonus observing one of his Souldiers to be a very valiant man and ready to adventure upon any desperate piece of service and yet withal taking notice that he looked very pale and lean would needs know of him what he ailed And finding that he had upon him a secret and dangerous disease he caused all possible means to be used for his recovery which when it was effected the King perceived him to be less forward in service than formerly and demanding the reason of it he ingenuously confessed that now he felt the sweets of life and therefore was loth to lose it 14. The most renowned of the Grecian Generals Themistocles having passed the hundred and seventh year of his age and finding such sensible decayes growing upon him as made him see he was hastning to his end he grieved that he must now depart when as he said it was but now chiefly that he began to grow wise 15. The Emperour Hadrianus a little before his death made this complaint and sorrowful Soliloquy Animula vagula blandula Hospes comesque corporis Quae nunc abibis in loca Palidula rigida nudula Nec ut soles dabis Iocos 16. Titus Vespasianus the Emperour going towards the territories of the Sabines at his first lodging and baiting place was seised with a Fevor whereupon removing thence in his Litter it is said that putting by the Curtains of the Window he looked up to the Heavens complaining heavily that his life should be taken from him who had not deserved to dye so soon For in all his life he had not done one action whereof he thought he had reason to repent unless it were one only what that one was neither did he himself declare at that time nor is it otherwise known he dyed about the forty second year of his age 17. C. Caligula the Emperour was so exceeding afraid of death that at the least thunder and lightning he would wink close with both eyes cover his whole head but if it were greater and any thing extraordinary he would run under his Bed He fled suddenly by night from Messina in Sicily as affrighted with the smoak and rumbling noise of Mount Aetna Beyond the River Rhine he rode in a German Chariot between the Straights and the Army marched in thick squadrons together and when one on this occasion had said here will be no small hurliburly in case any enemy should now appear he was so affrighted that he mounted his Horse and turned hastily to the Bridges and finding them full and choaked up with Slaves and Carriages impatient of delay he was from hand to hand and over mens heads conveyed on the other side of the water Soon after hearing of the revolt of the Germans he provided to fly and prepared Ships for his flight resting himself upon this only comfort that he should yet have Provinces beyond Sea in case the Conquerors should pass the Alpes or possess themselves of the City of Rome 18. Amestis the Wife of the great Monarch Xerxes buryed quick in the ground twelve persons and offered them to Pluto for the prolonging of her own life CHAP. XLIV Of the gross Flatteries of some men AS the Heliotrope is alwayes turning it self according to the course of the Sun but shuts and closes up its leaves as soon as that great Luminary hath forsaken the Horizon So the Flatterer is alwayes fawning upon the Prosperous till their fortune begins to â—rown upon them in this not unlike to other sorts of Vermine that are observed to desert falling Houses and the Carcases of the dying Hope and fear have been the occasions that some persons otherwise of great worth have sometimes declined to so low a degree of baseness as to bestow their Encomiums upon them who have merited the severest of their reproofs Even Seneca himself was a broad flatterer of Nero which may make us the less to wonder at that which 1. Tacitus saith of Salvius Otho that he did adorare vulgus projicere oscula omnia serviliter pro imperio adore the people scatter his kisses and salutes and crouch unto any servile expressions to advance his ambitious designs in the attainment of the Empire 2. The like unworthy Arts Menelaus objects to his Brother Agamemnon in the Tragedian thus You know how you the Rule o're Grecians got In shew declining what in truth you sought How low how plausible you apprehended The hands of meanest men how then you bended To all you met how your Gates open flew And spake large welcome to the pop'lar crew What sweetned words you gave ev'n unto those Who did decline and hate to see you gloze How thus with serpentine and guileful Arts You screw'd and wound your self into the hearts O'â—h ' vulgar and thus bought the poor which now Makes you forget how then you us'd to bow 3. Tiridates King of Armenia when he was overcome by Corbulo and brought prisoner to Nero at Rome falâ—â—ng down on his knees he said I am Nephew to the great Lord Arsaces Broâ—her to the two great Kings Vologesus and Pacorus and yet thy Servant and I am come to worship thee no otherwise than I worship my God the Sun Truly I will be such an one as thou shalt please to make me for thou art my fate and fortune Which Flattery so pleased Nero that he restored him to his Kingdom and gave him besides an hundred thousand pieces of Gold 4. Publius Asfranius a notable Flatterer at Rome hearing that Caligula the Emperour was sick went to him and professed that he would willingly dye so that the Emperour might recover The Emperour told him that he did not believe him whereupon he confirmed it with an Oath Caligula shortly after recovering forced him to be as good as his word and to undergo that in earnest which he had only spoken out of base and false Flaâ—tery for he caused him to be slain and as he said lest he should be â—orsworn 5. Canutus King of England and Denmark was told by a Court Parasite that all things in his Realme were at his beck
he advised men to marry their daughters when Virgins for age and women for wisdom thereby obscurely hinting that Virgins were to be instructed To do good to friends and enemies to oblige the one and reconcile the other that going forth we should ask what we are about to do and returning what we have done to be more ready to hear than speak not to dally nor quarrel with our Wives in the presence of others to overcome pleasure and not to be insolent in prosperity he died seventy years of age his saying was A Measure is the best Laert. lib. 1. p. 23 24. 7. Periander the Corinthian was the son of Cypselus he seised upon the Government and became the Tyrant of Corinth being the first that kept a Life-guard about him he said They that would Rule safely must be rather fenced with love and good will than arms that rest is desirable petulancy dangerous gain â—ilthy pleasures fading but honour is immortal He advised to keep promises reveal no secrets to be the same towards our friends fortunate or otherwise and to punish not only those that commit a fault but those also that are about to do it he held his Tyranny forty years and flourished in the thirty eighth Olympiad his saying was In meditation there is all Laert. lib. 1. p. 24 25. 8. Anacharsis the son of Gnurus and brother of Cadvides King of the Scythians came to Athens and was received by Solon as his friend he used to say That the Vine had three Clusters the first of pleasure the second of drunkenness and the third of sorrow and repentance that Sea-men are but four inches distant from death and that the Market-place is a spot of ground where men meet on purpose to deceive oâ—e another Being asked what Ships were the â—afest he replied Those in the Haven when reproached by one of Athens for being a Scythian My Country said he is a reproach to me but thou art so to thy Country When abused by a young man at a Feast Youngster said he if you cannot bear your Wine while young you will carry Water when you are old He is said to have found out the Anchor and the Potters Wheel returning into Scythia he highly commended the Laws of Greece and endeavouring to abolish those of his own Country he was shot dead at a hunting by the King his brother Laert. lib. 1. p. 26. 9. Epimenides the son of Phaestius a Cretans is said to have slept fifty seven years was illustrious amongst the Greeks and a friend of the gods he purged the City of Athens and thereby freed it of the pestilence Phlegon saith he lived one hundred fifty seven years he was contemporary with Solon Laert. lib. 1. p. 29. 10. Pherecydes the son of Badys was a Syrian strange things are reported of him as that walking upon the Shore and seeing a Ship sailing with a prosperous wind he said that Ship would be presently cast away as it was in their sight also having drank water out of a pit he foretold there would be an Earthquake within three daies which also came to pass coming to Messana he warned Perilaus his Host to depart thence with all that he had which he neglecting to do Messana was taken he is said to have died of the lowsie disease he lived in the fifty ninth Olympiad Laert. lib. 1. p. 31. 11. Anaximander the Milesian held Infinityâ— to be the beginning and element of all things not air or water which changed in its parts but immutable in the whole that the Earth is the Center and round that the Moon has no light of her own the Sun is bigger than the Earth and is the purest fire he found out the Gnomon upon Dials first described the compass of Sea and Land and made a Sphear he lived to sixty two years and died about the fifty eighth Olympiad Laert. lib. 2. p. 33. 12. Anaxagoras the son of Euâ—ulus a Clazomenian was noble and rich but left all to his friends when one said he had no care of his Country Yes but I have said he pointing towards Heaven He said the Sun was a red hot iron bigger than Peloponnesus that the Moon was habitable and that there were Hills and Valleys therein that the Milky way was the reflex light of the Sun that the Origine of Winds is the extenuation of the air by the Sun Being asked what he was born for To contemplate said he the Sun Moon and Heavens he said the whole frame of Heaven consisted of Stone and that it was kept from falling by the swift turning of it He died at Lampsacum in the first year of the seventy eighth Olympiad Laert. lib. 2. p. 34. 13. Socrates the son of Sophroniscus was an Athenian he was valiant patient constant and contented His food was so wholsom and he so temperate that though the Pestilence was often in Athens yet he alone was never sick seeing a multitude of things exposed to sale What a number of things said he have I no need of He took no notice of those that reproached or backbited him He was powerful in perswasion and disswading as he apprehended the occasion for either he said it was a strange thing that all men could tell what Goods they had but no man how many friends he hath so remiss are they in that matter that knowledge is the only good thing and ignorance the only evil that Riches and Nobility have nothing of worth in them that his Genius did presignifie future things to him that other men liv'd to eat but he did eat to live Being asked what was the principal vertue of youth He replyed Not to over-do and Whether it were best to marry or live single he answered In both you will repent He advised youth daily to contemplate themselves in a glass that if handsome they might make themselves worthy of it if deformed they might cover it with Learning By the Oracle of Apollo he was judged the wisest of men by which he fell into the envy and hatred of many was accused as the despiser of the old and a setter forth of new gods and thereupon being condemned he drank poyson the Athenians soon after bewailed the loss of him he died in the ninety fifth Olympiad aged seventy Laeâ—t lib. 2. p. 37 38. 14. Aristippus the Cyrenian moved with the glory of Socrates came to Athens and there professing himself a Sophist was the first of the Socraticks that exacted a reward he was a man that knew how to serve every place time and person and he himself aptly sustained what person he pleased upon which account he was more gracious with Dionysius than any other and by Diogenes called the Royal Dog Being asked what he had learned by Philosophy To use all men said he with confidence When one upbraided him that he lived sumptuously If that were evil said he we should not use it in the Festivals of the gods Dionysius asked him the reason Why Philosophers came to
began to spread about the beginning of Domitians Reign after Christ fifty two years 2. Corinthus was a Jew by birth and circumcised taught that all Christians ought to be so also he taught that it was Jesus that died and rose again but not Christ he denied the Article of eternal life and taught that the Saints should enjoy in Ierusalem carnal delights for one thousand years he denied the divinity of Christ he owned no other Gospel but that of St. Matthew rejected Paul as an Apostate from the Law of Moses and Worshipped Iudas the Traytor in most things they agreed with the Ebionites so called from Ebion a Samaritan St. Iohn would not enter the same bath with the pernicious Heretick Corinthus but against his and the Heresie of Ebion he wrote his Gospel he spread his Heresie in Domitian's time about sixty two years after Christ. 3. Carpocrates of whom came the Carpocratians was born at Alexandria in Aegypt he flourished about the year of Christ 109. in the time of Antoninus Pius Eusebius accounts him the father of the Gnosticks and saith That his followers gloried of charmed love-drinks of devilish and drunken dreams of assistant and associate Spirits and taught That he who would attain to perfection in their mysteries must commit the most filthy acts nor could they but by doing evil avoid the rage of evil Spirits They said that Christ was a meer man and that only his soul ascended into Heaven They held Pythagorean transmigration but denied the Resurrection They said not God but Satan made this World And that their Disciples should not publish their abominable mysteries they bored their right ear with a Bodkin 4. Valentinus an Aegyptian lived in the time of Antoninus Pius When Hyginus was Bishop of Rome he began to spread his Heresie He held that there were many gods and that he that made the World was the author of death That Christ took flesh from Heaven and passed through the Virgin as water through a Pipe or Conduit He said there were thirty Ages or Worlds the last of which produced the Heaven Earth and Sea Out of the imperfections of this Creator were procreated divers evils as darkness from his fear evil Spirits out of his ignorance out of his tears springs and rivers and out of his laughter light They have Wives in common and say that both Christ and the Angels have Wives They celebrated the heathenish Festivals were addicted to Magick and what not This Heretick was of great reputation in Rome from whence he went to Cyprus and thence into Aegypt 5. Marcion of whom came the Marcionites was of Sinope a City of Pontus or Paphlagonia being driven from Ephesus by S. Iohn he went to Rome he was the son of a Bishop in Pontus and by his father exiled for Fornication being not received by the Brethren in Rome he fell in with Cerdon maintained his Heresie and became his successour in the time of Marcus Antoninus Philosophus one hundred thirty three years after Christ. He held three gods a visible invisible and a middle one that the body of Christ was only a Phantasm that Christ by his descent into hell delivered thence Cain and the Sodomites and other Reprobates He condemned the eating of flesh and the married life he held that souls only were saved permitted women to baptize and condemned all War as unlawful Polycarpus called him the first begotten of the Devil Iustin Martyr wrote a Book against him 6. Tatianus whence come the Tatiani was a Syrian by birth an Orator and familiar with Iustin Martyr under whom he wrote a profitable Book against the Gentiles he flourished one hundred forty two years after Christ his Disciples were also called Encratit◠from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 temperance or continence for they abstain from Wine Flesh and Marriage When Iustin Martyr was dead he composed his Tenents out of divers others He held that Adam after his Fall was never restored to mercy that all men are damned besides his Disciples that women were made by the Devil he condemned the Law of Moses made use of water instead of wine in the Sacrament and denied that Christ was the seed of David he wrote a Gospel of his own which he called Diatessaron and spread his Heresie through Pisidia and Cilicia 7. Montanus Father of the Montanists his Heresie began about one hundred forty five years after Christ by Nation he was a Phrygian and carried about with him two Strumpets Prisca and Maximilla who sled from their husbands to follow him These took upon them to Prophesie and their dictate were held by Montanus for Oracles but at last he and they for company hanged themselves his Disciples ashamed either of his life or ignominious death called themselves Cataphrygians he confounded the Persons in the Trinity saying That the father suffered he held Christ to be meer man and gave out that he himself was the Holy Ghost his Disciples baptized the dead denied repentance and marriage yet allowed of Incest they trusted to Revelations and Enthusiasms and not to the Scripture In the Eucharist they mingled the bread with the blood of an Infant of a year old In Phrygia this Heresie began and spread it self over all Cappadocia 8. Origen gave name to the Origenists whose errours began to spread Anno Dom. 247. under Aurelian the Emperour and continued above three hundred thirty four years They were condemned first in the Council of Alexandria two hundred years after his death and again in the fifth General Council at Constantinople under Iustinian the first They held a revolution of souls from their estate and condition after death into the bodies again They held the Devils and Reprobates after one thousand years should be saved That Christ and the Holy Ghost do no more see the Father than we see the Angels That the son is co-essential with the Father but not co-eternal Because say they the Father created both Him and the Spirit That souls were created long before this World and for sinning in Heaven were sent down into their bodies as into prisons They did also overthrow the whole Historical truth of Scripture by their Allegories 9. Paulus Samosatenus so called from Samosata near Euphrates where he was born a man of infinite pride commanding himself to be received as an Angel his Heresie brake out two hundred thirty two years after Christ and hath continued in the Eastern parts ever since He held that Christ was meerly man and had no being till his Incarnation that the God-head dwelt not in Christ bodily but as in the Prophets of old by grace and efficacy and that he was only the external not the internal Word of God Therefore they did not baptize in his name for which the Council of Nice rejected their Baptism as none and ordered they should be rebaptized who were baptized by them he denied the divinity of the Holy Ghost allowed Circumcision took away such Psalms as
the heavenly Orbs sitting amongst the celestial company of blessed Souls and withal decreed that an Embassy should be sent unto Constantius his Son that he would send unto them the Corps of his Father and that he would honour the City of Rome with the Remainders and Funerals of a most noble and illustrious Prince 15. The death of Titus Vespasian the Emperour being made known in the evening the Senate rushed into the Curia as to bewail the loss oâ— the Worlds perpetual Guardian they then heaped upon him such honours as they had never voted him either present or alive and so decreed he should be numbred amongst the Gods CHAP. XXXIII Of the strange and different ways whereby some persons have been saved from death HE that thinks himself at the remotest distance from death is many times the nearest to it all of us indeed so neighbour upon it that the Poet has most truly said The Gods so favour none that they can say We will live this and then another day Yet as some men who have received the sentence of condemnation in themselves have met with an unlooked for pardon so others have miraculously escaped when to all humane reason they might be numbred amongst the dead 1. Four Christian Slaves being in the Ship of an Algier Pirate resolved to make their escape in a Boat which one of them who was a Carpenter undertook to build the Carpenter set himself on work making wooden Pins and other pieces necessary for the fastning of the boards whereof the Boat was to consist Having appointed a time for the execution of their design they took off five board â— from the room where the provision was kept whereof they used two for the bottom two others for the sides and the third for the Prow and Poop and so made up somewhat that was more like a Trough than a Boat their Quilt served them for Tow and having pitched the Boat well they set it into the water but when they would have got into it they found that two men loaded it so that being in danger of sinking two of the four desisted from that enterprise so that only two an English and a Dutch man adventured in it all the Tackling they had was two Oars and a little Sail all their provision a little bread and fresh water and so they put to Sea without either Compass or Astrolabe The first day a tempest at every wave filled their Boat they were forced to go as the wind drove they were continually imployed in casting out the water the Sea had spoiled their bread and they were almost quite spent when they were cast upon the Coasts of Barbary There they found a little wood wherewith they somewhat enlarged their Boat but narrowly escaping death by the Moors they got to Sea again Thirst troubled them most in which some shift they made with the blood of some Tortoises they took at last after ten days floating up and down they arrived upon the Coast of Spain at the Cape of St. Martin between Alicante and Valencia Those of the Country seeing them at a distance sent a Boat to meet them carried them bread and wine treated them very civilly and found them passage for England this was An. Dom. 1640. 2. An. Dom. 1357. there was a great plague at Coâ—en amongst many others who were infected with it was a noble Lady her name was Reichmut Adolch she lived in the new Market where her house is yet to be seen she being supposed to dye of it was accordingly buried The Sextons knew that she was buried with a Ring upon her finger and therefore the night following they came privily to the Grave and digged up the Coffin and opened it upon which the buried Lady raised up her self the Sextons ran away in a terrible fright and left their Lanthorn behind them which she took up and made haste to the house of her Husband she was known by him and received in afterwards being attended with all care and diligence she perfectly recovered and lived to have three Sons by her Husband all which she devoted to the ministerial Function The truth of all this is confirmed by a publick monumental Inscription erected in memory of so strange a thing and is yet to be seen in the entrance of the Church of the holy Apostles 3. I cannot but ponder that prodigy so loudly proclaimed in the Greek Anthology There was a Father and a Son in a certain Ship which as it fortuned was split upon the Rocks The Fathers age not able to grapple with the waves was soon overwhelmed and drowned The Son labouring to save his life saw a carcass floating upon the water and mistrusting his own strength mounted himself upon it and by this help reached the shore in safety he was no sooner free of his danger but he knew the Corps to be that of his dead Father who gave him life by his death as he had afforded him birth by his life 4. I read in the Relations of Muscovia set out by the Ambassador Demetrius of the memorable Fortune of a Country Boor the man seeking for honey leapt down into a hollow tree where he light into such plenty of it that it sucked him in up to the breast he had lived two days upon honey only and finding that his voice was not heard in that solitary Wood he despaired of freeing himself from his licorish captivity but he was saved by a strange chance A huge Bear came to the same tree to eat of the honey whereof these beasts are very greedy he descended into the tree as a man would do with his hinder parts forward which observed the poor forlorn Creature catched hold of his loins the Bear in a lamentable fright laboured with all his power to get out and thereby drew out the Peasant from his sweet prison which otherwise had proved his tomb 5. Aristomenes General of the Messenians had with too much courage adventured to set upon both the Kings of Sparta and being in that fight wounded and fallen to the ground was taken up senseless and carried away Prisoner with fifty of his Companions There was a deep natural Cave into which the Spartans used to cast head-long such as were condemned to dye for the greatest offences to this punishment were Aristomenes and his Companions adjudged All the rest of these poor men dyed with their falls Aristomenes howsoever it came to pass took no harm yet it was harm enough to be imprisoned in a deep Dungeon among dead carcasses where he was likely to perish with hunger and stench But a while after he perceived by some small glimmering of light which perhaps came in at the top a Fox that was gnawing upon a dead body hereupon he bethought himself that this beast must needs know some way to enter the place and get out for which cause he made shift to lay hold upon it and catching it by the tail with one hand saved
his men to go into the Shallop and to tow off the Ship coming near the Island they saw something which was more like a Ghost than a living person a body stark naked black and hairy a meagre and deformed countenance and hollow and distorted eyes he fell on his knees and joyning his hands together begged relief from them which raised such compassion in them that they took him into the Boat there was in all the Island nor grass nor tree nor ought whence a man could derive either subsistence or shelter besides the ruines of a Boat wherewith he had made a kind of Hut to lye down under The man gave this relation of himself That he was an English man and that a year ago or near it being to pass in the ordinary passage Boat from England to Dublin they were taken by a French Pirate who being forced by a tempest that immediately rose to let go the passage Boat left us to the mercy of the waves which carried us into the main Sea and at last split the Boat upon the Rock where you took me in I escaped with one more into the Island where we endured the greatest extremities Of some of the boards of our Boat we made the Hut you saw we took some Sea-mews which dryed in the wind and Sun we eat raw In the crevices of the Rocks on the Sea-side we found some eggs and thus we had as much as we served to keep us from starving But our thirst was most insupportable for having no fresh water but what fell from the sky and was left in certain pits which time had worn in the Rocks we could not have it at all seasons for the Rock lying low was washed over with the waves of the Sea We lived in this condition six weeks comforting one another in our common misfortune till being left alone it began to grow insupportable to me For one day awaking in the morning and missing my Comrade I fell into such despair that I had thoughts of casting my self head-long into the Sea I know not what became of him whether despair forced him to that extremity or that looking for eggs on the steepy side of the Rock he might fall into the Sea I lost with my Comrade the knife wherewith we killed Sea-dogs and the Mews upon which we lived so that not able to kill any more I was reduced to this extremity to get out of one of the boards of my Hut a great nail which I made shift so to sharpen upon the Rock that it served me for a knife The same necessity put me upon another invention which kept me last winter during which I endured the greatest misery imaginable For finding the Rock and my Hut so covered with snow that it was impossible for me to get any thing abroad I put out a little stick at the crevice of my Hut and baiting it with a little Sea-dogs fat I by that means got some Sea-mews which I took with my hand from under the snow and so I made a shift to keep my self from starving I lived in this condition and solitude above eleven months and was resolved to end my days in it when God sent you hither to deliver me out of the greatest misery that ever man was in The Sea-man having ended his discourse the Master of the Ship treated him so well that within a few days he was quite another creature he set him ashore at Derry in Ireland and saw him afterwards at Dublin where such as had heard what had happened to him gave him wherewithal to return into England 3. Richard Clark of Weymouth in Dorsetshire was a knowing Pilot and Master of the Ship called the Delight which An. 1583. went with Sir Humphrey Gilbert for the discovery of Norembege It happened that without any neglect or default of his the Ship struck on ground and was cast away on Thursday August 29. in the same year Of them that escaped shipwrack sixteen got into a small Boat of a Tun and half which had but one Oar to work withal they were seventy leagues from land and the weather so foul that it was not possible for a Ship to brook half a course of sail The Boat being over-burdened one of them Mr. Hedley made a motion to cast lots that those four which drew the shortest should be cast over board provided if one lot fell on the Master he notwithstanding should be preserved in whom all their safety was concerned The Master disavowed the acceptance of any such priviledge replying they would live or dye together On the fifth day Mr. Hedley who first motioned lot-drawing and another dyed whereby their Boat was somewhat alighted Five days and nights together they saw the Sun and Stars but once so that they only kept up their Boat with their single Oar as the Sea did drive it They continued four days without sustenance save what the weeds which swam in the Sea and salt water did afford On the seventh day about eleven of clock they had sight of and about three they came on the South part of New-found land All the time of their being at Sea the wind kept continually South if it had shifted to any other point they had never come to land but it turned to the North within half an hour of their arrival Being all come to shore they kneeled down and gave God praise for their miraculous deliverance There they remained three days and nights having there plentiful repast upon Berries and wild Pease After five days rowing along the shore they happened on a Spanish Ship of St. Iohn de Luz which courteously brought them home to Biscay Here the Visitors of the inquisition came aboard the Ship put them on examination but by the Masters favour and some general answers they escaped for the present But fearing a second search they shifted for themselves and going twelve miles by night got into France and so safely arrived in England Thus as the Psalmist speaks They which go down into the Sea and occupy in great waters these men see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep 4. It is a story altogether lamentable and a calamity full of astonishment which happened about the Cape de bona Speranza to Manuel de Sousa sirnamed Sepulveda Governour of the Citadel of Diu for the King of Portugal and it is this Having long enjoyed great happiness and honour in the East-Indie he came to Cochin not far from Calecut where he embarked himself in Ianuary 1553. in a great Ship laden with riches and about six hundred persons with him amongst which was his wife his children servants slaves and a great retinue to come into Portugal but the Ship being cast away upon the Coasts of Aethiopia and the Sea having swallowed up well near all that was within it except the persons who saved themselves ashore half naked destitute of all hope to recover their loss again having relyed upon the words
and because it was very leaky and not likely to hold out they agreed to chuse a Captain whom they would obey and do as he commanded They chose a Gentleman a Mesticho of India who presently commanded to throw some of them over-board as the lot directed amongst these was a Carpenter who not long before had helpt to dress the Boat who desired them to give him a piece of Marmalade and a cup of Wine and when they had done he willingly suffered himself to be thrown over-board into the Sea and so was drowned In this misery and distress they were twenty days at Sea and in the end got to Land where they found the Admiral and those that were in the other Boat But having escaped this danger those in both Boats fell into another for they had no sooner set foot on shore but they were by the Moors called Caffares spoiled of all their cloaths so that they left not so much as a single rag upon any of their bodies In the end having endured great hunger and misery and other mischiefs they came unto a place where they found a Factor of the Captains of Sofala and Mosambique who holp them as he might and made means to send them unto Mosambique and from thence they went into India where I knew many of them some of them dyed before they got to Mosambique Of those that stayed in the Ship some took Boards Deals and other pieces of Wood and bound them together which the Portugals call Iangada's every man what he could catch all hoping to save their lives but of all those there came but two men safe on shore so that of all the five hundred there were about sixty persons that saved themselves all the rest amongst whom were thirty Women some Jesuits and Fryers were all drowned in the Ship and all this through the wilfulness and pride of a Pilot 7. Great were the dangers and wonderful the deliverances of William Okeley and his Company the relation of which from his own Book I have thus contracted An. Dom. 1639. we took ship at Gravesend in the Mary of London Mr. Boarder Master bound for the Isle of Providence in the West-Indies five weeks we lay in the Downs waiting for a wind and then we set sail and came to Anchor near the Isle of Wight but by this time all our Beer in the Ship stunk and we were forced to throw it over-board and to take in Vinegar to mix with Water for our Voyage The next Lords day we set sail again and coming between the Island and the main Land we stuck fast in the sands but the Tide coming in heaved us off The sixth day after our setting sail from the Isle of Wight we discovered three Turks Men of War who chased us and at break of day boarded and took us having kept us close Prisoners at Sea at the end of five or six weeks they brought us to Algiers where I was sold for a Slave the first Market day to a Patron who told me I must allow him two Dollars a month and live ashore where I would and get it where I could though I knew not where to levy the least Mite of it Wandring up and down I light of an English man in his little shop that traded with Tâ—baco and a few other things his Partner I became with a little money I had reserved and a small modicum my Patron had allowed me for my stock here I got money and hired a Cellar where I laid up some other of my Goods when weary of my slavery I formed a design for my liberty and communicated it to Iohn Anthony Carpenter William Adams Bricklayer Iohn Iephs Sea-man Iohn a Carpenter and two others men of able bodies and useful in the intended project which was to contrive the model of a Boat which being formed in parcels and afterwards put together might be the means of our escape They approved the proposal and in my Cellar we began our work we provided first a piece of Timber of twelve foot long to make the Keâ—l but because it was impossible to convey a piece of Timber of that length out of the City but it must be seen and suspected we therefore cut it in two pieces and fitted it for jointing just in the middle then we provided ribs after which to make the Boat water-tite because boards would require much hammering and that noise was like to betray us we bought as much strong Canvas as would cover our Boat twice over upon the convex of the Carine we provided also as much Pitch Tar and Tallow as would serve to make it a kind of Tarpawling Cere-cloth to swaddle the naked body of our Infant-boat of two Pipe-staves sawed a-cross from corner to corner we made two things to serve for Oars and for our provision we had a little bread and two Leather-bottles full of fresh water we also remembred to buy as much Canvas as would serve for a Sail. We carried out all these in parts and parcels fitted them together in the Valley about half a mile from the Sea whither four of our company carried the Boat on their shoulders and the rest followed them At the Sea-side we stript put our cloaths into the Boat and carried it and them as far into the Sea as we could wade and then all seven got into the Sea but finding she was over-laden two of the seven were content to stay on shore having bid them farewel we lanched out Iune 30. 1644. the Bill of Lading was Iohn Anthony William Adams Iohn Iephs Iohn Carpenter and William Okeley four of us wrought continually at the Oars the fifth was to free the Boat of that water which by degrees leaked through our Canvas our bread was soon spoiled with soaking in the salt water our fresh water stunk of the tann'd skins and Owze yet we complained not Three days with good husbandry our bread lasted us but then pale famine stared us in the face water indeed we might have but it must be salt out of the Sea or that which had been strained through our own bodies and that we chose of the two but we must not have that after a while unless we would accept of the other first and the misery was these did not asswage our thirst but increase it The Wind too for some time was full against us but God rebuked it and made it our friend a second inconvenience was that our labour was without intermission and a third the extremity of the heat by day the season raging hot the beginning of Iuly and we wanted fresh water to cool the heat our labour made it insupportable to our bodies and our little hope made it as grievous to our souls one help we had a poor one he that emptied the Boat threw the water on the bodies of the rest to cool them but our bodies thus scorched and cooled rose up in blisters all over Great pain we felt great dangers we were in
great miseries we endured great wants we were under and had nothing little but hope food and strength If any ask by what directions we steered our course to Mayork whither we designed for the day a Pocket-dial supplied the place of the Compass by night the Stars when they appeared and when not we guessed our way by the motions of the Clouds Four days and nights were we in this woful plight on the fifth all hope that we should be saved was perished so that we left off our labour because we had no strength left only emptied the Boat of water when God sent us some relief as we lay hulling up and down we discovered a Tortoise not far from us asleep in the Sea had Drake discovered the Spanish Fleet he could not have more rejoiced we took up our Oars silently rowed to our prey took it into the Boat with great triumph we cut off her head and let her bleed into a pot we drank the blood eat the liver and sucked the flesh It wonderfully refreshed our spirits and we picked up some crums of hope About noon we thought we discovered Land it 's impossible to express the joy of our raised souls at this apprehension we wrought hard and after further labour were fully satisfied that it was Land and it was Mayork we kept within sight of it all day The sixth of Iuly and about ten a clock at night we came under the Island and crept as near the shore as we could and durst till we found a convenient place where we might thrust in our Weather-beaten Boat When we were come to Land we were not insensible of our deliverance but though we had escaped the Sea we might die at Land we had no food since we eat the liver and drank the blood of the Tortoise therefore Iohn Anthony and my self were sent out to scout abroad for fresh water because we spake some Spanish we came to a Watch-Tower of the Spaniards spake to him on the Watch told him our condition earnestly begged some fresh water and some bread he threw us down an old mouldy Cake but so long as it was a Cake hunger did not consider its mouldiness then he directed us to fresh water which was hard by We stood not telling stories we remembred our brethren left with our Boat and observing the Sentinels directions came to a Well where there was a Pot with strings to draw with we drank a little water and eat a bit of our Cake but the passage was so disused that we had much ado to force our throats to relieve our clamorous stomachs We return to our Boat acquaint them with the good success of our Embassy and all prepare to make to the Well so tying our Boat as fast as we could to the shore we left her to mercy Now we are at the Well it hath water and we have something to draw but God must give us a throat to swallow for William Adams attempting to drink after many essays was not able to swallow it but still the water returned so that he sunk down to the ground faintly saying I am a dead man but after much striving he took a little so refreshed with our Cake and water we lay down by the Well-side till the morning when it was clear day we again went to the Watch-man intreating him to direct us the ready way to the next House or Town where we might find relief he civilly pointed us to one about two miles off and long it was e're our blistered feet could overcome the tediousness of that little way When we came the honest Farmer moved with our relation sent us out bread and water and Olives and seeing us thankful Beggars enlarged his civility to us called us into his house and gave us good warm Bean-pottage which seemed to me the most pleasant food that I ever eat in my life Thence we advanced to the City of Mayork about ten miles from that place that night we lay by a Well-side and in the morning we entred the Suburbs the Viceroy was informed of us and we were commanded to appear before him who after he had examined us and heard our story ordered we should be maintained at his own cost till we could have passage to our own Country but our English Ships seldom trading thither we petitioned the Viceroy for passage in the King of Spains Gallies which were in the Road bound for Alicant which he graciously granted us After some other troubles we met with contrary winds and it was five weeks e're we could reach the Downs where we arrived in Sept. 1644. The Commander of the Ship was Captain Smith of Redriff Mr. Thomas Sanders my Wife's Brother being in Mayork not long after we came thence saw our Boat hung up for a Monument upon the side of the great Church there Mr. Robert Hales was there 1671. and assures me that he saw the naked ribs and skeleton of it then hanging in the same place CHAP. XXXIX Of Conscience the force and effects of it in some men LVcretius boasts of his Master Epicurus that when the minds of men were sunk under the burden of Religion this was he who first did dare to assert the freedom and liberty of Mankind and that so successfully that Religion began to be despised and man was made equal with Heaven it self but if we believe Cotta in Tully he tells us That Epicurus was so far from finding his beloved ease and pleasure in his sentiments that never was School-boy more afraid of a Rod than he was of the thought of a God and Death Nec quenquam vidi saith he qui magis ed timeret quae timenda esse negaret No man more feared the things which he taught should be despised than himself For whatever there is in the Air there is certainly an Elastical power in the Conscience that will bear it self up notwithstanding all the weight that is laid upon it Men may silence for a while the voice of their own Conscience but it will find a time to speak so loud as to be heard in despite of its owner 1. There were two Senators in great reputation at Rome Symmachus and Boethius who had married the Daughter of the former Theodoricus King of the Goths sent for them to him then at Ticinum where he long kept them in prison because they had opposed something which he was desirous should be decreed in the Senate possibly the allowance of Churches to the Arrians Having thus deprived them of liberty he exposed their Goods to open sale and at last caused them both to be slain Not long after their death there was set before him on the Table at supper the head of a great fish there did he think he saw the head of Symmachus with a horrible yawning and threatning him with flaming eyes Immediately therefore he was sore affrighted and trembling caused himself to be carried to his bed Elpidius the Physician was sent for but could not