how they have been rewarded 119 Chap. 17. Of the envious Nature and Disposition of some men 120 Chap. 18. Of Modesty and the Shame-faced Nature of some men and women 122 Chap. 19. Of Impudence and the shameless Behaviour of divers persons 124 Chap. 20. Of Iealousie and how strangely some have been affected with it 125 Chap. 21. Of the Commiseration Pity and Compassion of some men to others in time of their Adversity 127 Chap. 22. Of the deep Dissimulation and Hypocrisie of some men 128 The THIRD BOOK CHap. 1. Of the early appearance of Virtue Learning Greatness of Spirit and Subtlety in some Young Persons 130 Chap. 2. Of such as having been extream Wild and Prodigal or Debauched in their Youth have afterwards proved excellent Persons 132 Chap. 3. Of Punctual Observations in Matters of Religion and the great regard some men have had to it 134 Chap. 4. Of the Veracity of some Persons and their great Love to Truth and hatred of Flattery and Falshood 137 Chap. 5. Of such as have been great Lovers and Promoters of Peace 139 Chap. 6. Of the signal Love that some men have shewed to their Country 140 Chap. 7. Of the singular Love of some Husbands to their Wives 142 Chap. 8. Of the singular Love of some Wives to their Husbands 144 Chap. 9. Of the Indulgence and great Love of some Parents to their Children 147 Chap. 10. Of the Reverence and Piety of some Children to their Parents 149 Chap. 11. Of the singular Love of some Brethren to each other 152 Chap. 12. Of the singular Love of some Servants to their Masters 154 Chap. 13. Of the Faithfulness of some men to their Engagement and Trust reposed in them 157 Chap. 14. Of the exact Obedience which some have yielded to their Superiours 159 Chap. 15. Of the Generosity of some Persons and the Noble Actions by them performed 161 Chap. 16. Of the Frugality and Thriftiness of some men in their Apparel Furniture and other things 164 Chap. 17. Of the Hospitality of some men and their free Entertainment of Strangers 165 Chap. 18. Of the blameless and innocent Life of some Persons 167 Chap. 19. Of the choicest Instances of the most intire Friendship 168 Chap. 20. Of the Grateful Disposition of some Persons and what returns they have made of Benefits received 171 Chap. 21. Of the Meekness Humanity Clemency and Mercy of some men 174 Chap. 22. Of the light and gentle Revenges some have taken upon others 177 Chap 23. Of the Sobriety and Temperance of some men in their Meat and Drink and other things 179 Chap. 24. Of the Affability and Humility of divers Great Persons 181 Chap. 25. Of Counsel and the Wisdom of some men therein 182 Chap. 26 Of the Subtilty and Prudence of some men in the Investigation and discovery of things and their Determinations about them 184 Chap. 27. Of the Liberal and Bountiful Disposition of divers Great Persons 186 Chap. 28. Of the Pious Works and Charitable Gifts of some men 189 Chap. 28. Of such as were Lovers of Iustice and Impartial Administrators of it 192 Chap. 30. Of such Persons as were Illustrious for their singular Chastity both Men and Women 195 Chap. 31. Of Patience and what power some men have had over their Passions 199 Chap. 32. Of such as have well deported themselves in their Adversity or been improved thereby 200 Chap. 33. Of the willingness of some men to forgive Injuries received 201 Chap. 34. Of such as have patiently taken free Speeches and Reprehensions from their Inferiors 203 Chap. 35. Of the incredible strength of Mind wherewith some Persons have supported themselves in the midst of Torments and other Hardship 205 Chap. 36. Of the Fortitude and Personal Valour of some famous Men. 207 Chap. 37. Of the fearless Boldness of some Men and their desperate Resolutions 210 Chap. 38. Of the immoveable Constancy of some Persons 213 Chap. 39. Of the great Confidence of some Men in themselves 214 Chap. 40. Of the great reverence shewed to Learning and Learned Men. 216 Chap. 41. Of the exceeding intentness of some Men upon their Meditations and Studies 218 Chap. 42. Of such Persons as were of choice Learning and singular Skill in the Tongues Chap. 43. Of the first Authors of divers famous Inventions 222 Chap. 44. Of the admirable Works of some curious Artists 224. Chap. 45. Of the Industry and Pains of some Men and their hatred of Idleness 229 Chap. 46. Of the Dexterity of some men in the instruction of several Crâ—atures 230 Chap. 47. Of the Taciturnity and Secrecy of some men instrusted with privacies 232 Chap. 48. Of such who in their raised Fortunes have been mindful of their low beginnings 233 Chap. 49. Of such as have despised Riches and of the laudable poverty of some illustrious persons 234 Chap. 50. Of such Persons as have preferred Death before the loss of thâ—ir Liberty and what some have endured in the preservation of it 237 Chap. 51. Of such as in highest Fortunes have been mindful of humane frailty 238 Chap. 52. Of such as were of unusual Fortune and Felicity 239 Chap. 53. Of the Gallantry wherewith some Persons have received death or the message of it 241 The FOURTH BOOK CHap. 1. Of Atheists and such as have made no account of Religion with their Sacrilegious actions and the punishments thereof 361 Chap. 2. Of such as were exceeding hopeful in youth but afterwards improved to the worse 363 Chap. 3. Of the rigorous Severity of some Parents to their Children and how unnatural others have shewed themselves towards them 364 Chap. 4. Of the degenerate Sons of illustrious Parents 366 Chap. 5. Of undutiful and unnatural Children to their Parents 368 Chap. 6. Of the Affectation of divine Honours and the desire of some men te be reputed Gods 370 Chap. 7. Of unnatural Husbands to their Wives 372 Chap. 8. Of such Wives as were unnatural to their Husbands or evil deported towards them 373 Chap. 9. Of the deep hatred some have conceived against their own Brethren and the unnatural actions of Brothers and Sisters 374 Chap. 10. Of the Barbarous and Savage Cruelty of some men 376 Chap. 11. Of the bitter Revenges that some men have taken upon their enemies 379 Chap. 12. Of the great and grievous oppressions and unmercifulness of some men and their punishments 382 Chap. 13. Of the bloody and cruel Massacres in several places and their occasions 384 Chap. 13. Of the excessive Prodigality of some Persons 385 Chap. 14. Of the Prodigious Luxury of some men in their Feasting 387 Chap. 15. Of the Voraciousness of some great Eaters and the Swallowers of Stones c. 390 Chap. 16. Of great Drinkers and what great quantities they have swallowed 391 Chap. 17. Of Drunkenness and what hath befallen some men in theirs 393 Chap. 18. Of the Luxury and Expence of some Persons in Apparel and their Variety therein and in their other Furniture 395 Chap. 19. Of Gaming
tells of one Cresin who manured a piece of ground which yielded him fruit in abundance while his neighbours Lands were extremely poor and barren for which cause he was accused to have inchanted them otherwise said his accuser his inheritance could not raise such a revenue while others stand in so wretched a condition But he pleading his cause did nothing else but bring forth a lusty Daughter of his well fed and well bred who took pains in his Garden also he shewed his strong Carts and stout Oxen which ploughed his Land his various implements of Husbandry and the whole equipage of his tillage in very good order He then cryed out aloud before the Judges Behold the Art Magick and Charms of Cresin The Judges did acquit him and doubted not but that his Lands fertility was the effect of his Industry and good Husbandry 2. There was one Mises who presented the great King Artaxerxes as he rode through Persia with a Pomegranate of a wonderful bigness which the King admiring demanded out of what Paradise he had gotten it who answered that he gathered it from his own Garden The King was exceedingly pleased with it and gracing him with Royal gifts swore by the Sun that the same man with like diligence and care might as well of a little City make a great one 3. The Emperour Theodosius the younger devoted the day to the Senate to military judicial and other affairs but a considerable part of the night to his studies and Books having his Lamp so made that it would pour in oyl of it self to renew the light that so he might neither lose time nor occasion an unseasonable disturbance to his Servants 4. Cleanthes was a young man and being extremely desirous to be a hearer of Chrysippus the Philosopher but wanting the necessary provisions for humane life he drew water and carried it from place to place in the night to maintain himself with the price of his labour and then all day he was attending upon the doctrines of Chrysippus where he so profited and withal so retained that industry he had while young that he read constantly to his Auditors to the ninety and ninth year of his Age others say Zeno was his Master and that wanting wherewith to buy paper he wrote memorials from him upon the bones of Cattel and the broken pieces of Pots Thus fighting in the night against poverty and in the day against ignorance he became at last an excellent person 5. St. Ierome saith that he himself had read six thousand books that were written by Origen who daily wearied seven Notaries and as many boys in writing after him 5. Demosthenes that afterwards most famous Orator of all Greece in his youth was not able to pronounce the first letter of that Art which he so affected but he took such pains in the correction of that defect in his pronunciation that afterwards no man could do it with a greater plainness his voice was naturally so slender and squeaking that it was unpleasant to the Auditory this also he so amended by continual exercise that he brought it to a just maturity and gratefulness the natural weakness of his lungs he rectified by labour striving to speak many verses in one breath and pronouncing them as he ran up some steep place he used to declaim upon the shores where the waters with greatest noise beat upon the Rocks that he might acquaint his Ears with the noise of a tumultuating people and to speak much and long with little stones in his mouth that he might speak the more freely when it was empty Thus he combated with nature it self and went away Victor overcoming the malignity of it by the pertinacious strength of his mind so that his Mother brought forth one and his own industry another Demosthenes 7. Iohannes Fernandas of Flanders though born blind and pressed with poverty yet by his sole industry attained to rare skill in Poetry Logick Philosophy and such a sufficiency in the Art of Musick that he was able to compose a song of four parts memoriter which others can difficultly do by setting all down in writing 8. Elfred a King of the West Saxons here in England designed the day and night equally divided into three parts to three especial uses and observed them by the burning of a Taper set in his Chappel eight hours he spent in meditation reading and prayers eight hours in provision for himself his repose and health and the other eight about the affairs of his Kingdom 9. Almost incredible was the painfulness of Baronius the compiler of the voluminous Annals of the Church who for thirty years together preached three or four times a week to the people 10. A Gentleman in Surry that had Land worth two hundred pounds per Annum which he kept in his own hands but running out every year he was necessitated to sell half to pay his debts and let the rest to a Farmer for one and twenty years Before that term was expired the Farmer one day bringing his Rent asked him if he would sell his Land Why said he will you buy it If it please you saith the Farmer How said he that 's strange tell me how this comes to pass that I could not live upon twice as much being my own and you upon one half thereof though you have payed rent for it or able to buy it Oh saith the Farmer but two words made the difference you said go and I said come Whaâ—'s the meaning of that said the Gentleman You lay in bed replyed the Farmer or took your pleasure and sent others about your business and I rose betimes and saw my business done my self 11. Marcus Antoninus the Emperour as he was a person of great industry himself so did he also bear so great a hatred unto idleness that he withdrew the salaries of such men as he found to be slothful and lazy in their imployments saying that there was nothing more cruel then that the common wealth should be gnawn and fed upon by such as procured no advantage thereunto by their labours 12. Ioanes Vischerus Rector of the University of Tubing when in the sixty third year of his age so dangerous a year to humane life though weak in body and thereby at liberty in respect of the statutes of the University from his office of teaching yet as alwayes before so then in the last act of his life he so followed his business that so long as he had any strength or ability so long as his voice and spirits permitted he was constant in his meditations comments and teaching And when by reason of the inclemence of the air he could not perform his part in the publick auditory of Physitians he strenuously continued to profess in private at his own house When his wife oftentimes advised and besought him that he would not do it but have some regard to his own health as a man that could
Pulpit where he Pray'd and Preach'd to us about an hour and a half his Text was Seek ye the Kingdom of God and all things shall be added unto you In my poor judgement he made an excellent good Sermon and went clearly through without the help of any Notes After Sermon I went with him to his house where I propos'd these several following Questions to him Whether it was true the Book reported of him concerning the Hair whether or no he had a new set of Teeth come Whether or no his Eye-sight ever fail'd him And whether in any measure he found his Strength renew'd unto him He answer'd me distinctly to all these and told me he understood the Newsbook reported his Hair to become a dark brown again but that is false he took his Cap off and shew'd me it It is come again like a Childs but rather flaxen than either brown or grey For his Teeth he had three come within these two years not yet to their perfection while he bred them he was very ill Forty years since he could not read the biggest print without Spectacles and now he blâ—sseth God there is no print so small no written hand so small but he can read it without them For his strength he think himself as strong now as he hath been these twenty years Not long since he walked to Alnwick to dinner and back again six North Country miles He is now one hundred and ten years of age and ever since lâ—st May a hearty body very chearfulâ— and stoops very much he had five Children after he was eighty years of years four of them lusty Lasses now living with him the other dy'd lately his Wife yet hardly fifty years of age he writes himself Machel Vivan he is a Scottish man born near Aberdeen I forget the Towns name where he is now Pastor he hath been there fifty years Windsor Sept. 28. 1657. Your assured loving Friend Thomas Atkins 2. To this may sitly be annex'd a Letter which Plempius saith he saw under the hand of this wonderful old man himself dated from Lesbury Octob. the 19th 1657. to one William Lialkus a Citizen of Antwerp which is as followeth Whereas you desire a true and faithful messenger should be sent from New-castle to the Parish of Lesbury to enquire concerning John Maklin I gave you to understand that no such man was known ever to be or hath lived there for these fifty years last past during which time I Patrick Makel Wian have been Minister of that Parish Wherein I have all that time been present taught and do yet continue to teach there But that I may give you some satisfaction you shall understand that I was born at Whithorn in Galloway in Scotland in the year 1546. bred up in the Vniversity of Edenburgh where I commenc'd Master of Art whence travelling into England I kept School and sometimes preach'd till in the first of King James I was inducted into the Church of Lesbury where I now live As to what concerns the change of my body it is now the third year since I had two new Teeth one in my upper and the other in my nether Iaw as is apparent to the touch My sight much decay'd many years ago is now about the hundred and tenth year of my age become clearer Hair adorns my heretofore bald Skull I was never of a fat but a slender mean habit of body my diet has been and moderate nor was I ever accustomed to feasting and tippling hunger is the best sawce nor did I ever use to feed to satieâ—y All this is most certain and true which I have seriously though over hastily confirmed to you under the hand of Patrick Makel Wian Minister of Lesbury 3. That worthy person D. Pieruccius a Lawyer of Padua and Host to the great Scioppius did assure me that a certain German then living in Italy had at sixty years of age recover'd to himself both new Teeth and black Hair and had extended his life to a great many years with the only use of an extract of black Hellebore with Wine and Roles 4. Alexander Benedictus tells of Victoria Fabrianensis a Woman of fourscore years of Age that then her Teeth came anew and that though the Hair of her Head was fallen off yet it also came afresh 5. Torquemada assures us that being at Rome about the year 1531. it was bruired throughout Italy that at Tarentum there liv'd an old man who at the age of an hundred years was grown young again he had chang'd his skin like unto the Snake and had recover'd a new being withall he was become so young and fresh that those who had seen him before could then scarce believe their own eyes and having continued above fifty yeas in this Estate he grew at length to be so old as he seemed to be made of Barks of Trees whereunto he further adds another story of the like Nature 6. Ferdinand Lopez of Castegnede Historiographer to the King of Portugal in the eighth Book of his Chronicle relateth that Nonnio de Cugne being Viceroy at the Indies In the year 1536. there was a man brought unto him as a thing worthy of admiration for that it was aver'd by good proofs and sufficient Testimony that he was three hundred and forty years old He remembred that he had seen that City wherein he dwelt unpeopled being then when he spake it one of the chief Cities in all the East Indies He had grown young again four times changing his white Hair and recovering his new Teeth when the Viceroy did see him he then had the Hair of his Head and Beard black although he had not much and there being by chance a Physician at the time present the Viceroy willed him to feel the old man's Pulse which he found as good and as strong as a young man in the prime of his age This man was born in the Realm of Bengala and did affirm that he had at times near seven hundred Wives whereof some were dead and some were put away The King of Portugal being advertiz'd of this wonder did often inquire and had yearly news of him by the Fleet which came from thence he liv'd above three hundred and seventy years 7. An old Abbatess being decrepit suddenly became young her monthly coâ—rses return'd her rugged and wrinckled skin grew smooth her hoary hairs became black and new teeth in her head and paps swell'd after the manner as is usual with Virgins 8. The â—lesh of a Viper prepar'd and eaten clariâ—ies the eye-sight strengthens the sinews corroberates the whole body and according to Dioscorides procures a long and healthful age in somuch as they are proverbially said to have eaten a snake who look younger than accustomed nor is the Wine of Vipers less soveraign I have heard it credibly reported by those who were eye-witnesses how a Gentleman long desperately sick was restor'd by these means to health with more
the Books of Aristotle's Metaphysicks forty times and thereby so fixed them in his memory that he was able to repeat them without Book 2. Anthony Wallens by the help of the art of memory in six months space learn'd by heart the whole Epitome of Pagnine with such excellent success that thereby he was enabled well to interpret any place of the holy Scriptures and to give a reason for it 3. Mr. Humphrey Burton a Gentleman of good worth in the City of Coventry being at this time of my writing this viz. Sept. 10. 167â— of the age of eighty and three besides his many and other accomplishments can by the strength and firmness of his memory give the sum of any Chapter in the New Testament and of the Chapters in divers Books of the Old Testament in a Latine Distich with as much readiness and as little hesitation as if he had directly read them out of a Book I my self have frequently put him to the trial wherein though I have observ'd no order but nam'd hâ—â—e a Chapter at the beginning then one towards the end then again return'd to the middle and so on purpose prevented any assistance he might have from an orderly succession and dependance yet could I no sooner name the Chapter and Book whereof I desired the account but he was ready with his Distich 4. Cineas the Embassadour of King Pyrrhus the very next day that he came to Rome both knew and alâ—o saluted by their names all the Senate and the whole order of the Gentlemen in Rome 5. Franciscus Cardulus a learned man was able to write two pages entire which any other man should read in the same order he read them or if any of the company had rather he would repeat them backwards 6. I have heard it from one who was present at the discourse that in the presence of a Prince of Germany when mention was made of Tacitus that Iustus Lipsius did then say that he had the Golden Volume so firm and entire in his memory that nothing had ever slipt him therein he challenged any to make a trial of what he said And go to said he set one here with a Poynard and if in repeating of Tacitus all over I shall miss but in one word let him stab me and I will freely open my Breast or Throat for him to strike at 7. The Works of Homer are his Iliads and Odysses the former consists of twenty four Books and so also the latter His Iliads hath in it thirty one thousand six hundred and seventy Verses and I suppose his Odysses hath no less and yet it is said of Iosephus Scaliger that in one and twenty days he committed all Homer to his memory 8. Antonius the Aegyptian Eremite without any knowledge of Letters yet by the frequent hearing of them read had the whole body of the Scriptures without book and by diligent thinking of them did well understand them saith S. Augustine in his Prologue to his first Book de Doctrina Christianâ 9. Hortensius who for his Eloquence was called the King of Causes of him Cicero writing to Brutus There was saith he in that man such a memory as I have not known a greater in any It 's said of him that sitting on a time in the place where things were exposed to publick sale for a whole day together he recited in order all the things that were sold there their price and the names of the Buyers and by the account taken of them it appeared that he had not been deceiv'd in any of them Cicero comparing him with Lucullus saith Hortensius his memory was the greater for words but that of Lucullus for things 10. Lucius Lucullus a great Captain and Philosopher by an admirable strength of memory was able to give so ready an account of all affairs at home and abroad as if he had had them all at once presented before his eyes 11. Pompeius Gariglianus a Canon of the Church of Capua was of so great a memory as I remember not to have known his like he was so well and throughly known in all Plato Aristotle Hippocrates Galen Themistius Thomas Aquinas and others that as an admirable instance of his memory he would upon occasion not only repeat their sentences but the very words themselves 12. Age saith Seneca hat done me many injuries and deprived me of many things I once had it hath dulled the sight of my eyes blunted the sense of hearing and slackened my Nerves Amongst the rest I have mentioned before is the memory a thing that is the most tender and frail of all the parts of the soul and which is first sensible of the assaults of age that heretofore this did so flourish in me as not only serv'd me for use but might even pass for a miracle I cannot deny for I could repeat two thousand names in the same order as they were spoken and when as many as were Scholars to my Master brought each of them several Verses to him so that the number of them amounted to more than two hundred beginning at the last I could recite them orderly unto the first nor was my memory only apt to receive such things as I would commit to it but was also a faithful preserver of all that I had entrusted it with 13. Lippus Brandolinus in his Book of the condition of humane life reports of Laurentius Bonincontrius that at eighty years of age he had so perfect and entire a memory that he could remember all that had happened to him when he was a Boy and all that he had read in his youth and could recite them in such a manner that you would think he had seen or read them but that very day 14. Aeneas Sylvius in his History of the council of Basil at which himself was present tells of one Ludovicus Pontanus of Spoleto a Lawyer by profession who died of the pestilence at that Council at thirty years of age that he could recite not the titles only but the entire bodies of the Laws Being saith he for vastness and fastness of memory not inferiour to any of the Ancients 15. Fumianus Strada in his first Book of Academical Prolusions speaking of Franciscus Suarez He hath saith he so strong a memory that he hath S. Augustine the most copious and various of the Fathers ready by heart alledging every where as occasion presents it self fully and faithfully his sentences and which is very strange his words nay if he be demanded any thing touching any passage in any of his Volumes which of themselves are almost enough to fill a Library I my self have seen him instantly shewing and pointing with his finger to the place and page in which he disputed of that matter 16. Dr. Raynolds excelled this way to the astonishment of all that were inwardly acquainted with him not only for S. Augustine's Works but also all Classical Authors so that it
there did I dictate Latin Greek and Barbarous names some significant others not so many and so different having not the least dependance one upon the other that I was weary with dictating the Boy with writing what I dictated and all the rest with hearing and expectation of the issue We thus diversly wearied he alone call'd for more But when I my self said it was fit to observe some measure and that I should be abundantly satisfi'd if he could but recite me the one half of those I had caus'd already to be set down He fixing his eyes upon the ground with great expectation on our part after a short pause began to speak In brief to our amazement he repeated all we had wrote in the very same order they were set down without scarce a stop or any hesitation and then beginning at the last recited them all backwards to the first then so as that he would name only the first third fifth and in that order repeat all and indeed in what order we pleas'd without the least errour Afterwards when I was more familiar with him having often try'd him and yet never found him speaking otherwise than the truth he told me once and certainly he was no boaster that he could repeat in that manner 36000 names and which was yet the most strange things stuck in his Memory that he would say with little ado he could repeat any thing he had instrusted with it a year after For my own part I made tryal of him after many days and found he said true He taught Franciscus Mâ—linus a young Patrician of Venice and who had but a weak Memory in the compass of but seven days wherein he had learn'd of him to repeat five hundred names with ease and in what order he pleas'd 26. Francis King of France excell'd well nigh all those of his time in the firmness and readiness of his Memory what every particular Province ought to contribute what Ways and what Rivers were most convenient for their passage out of what Winter Quarters a party of Horse might be most speedily drawn all these and the like matters even concerning the remotest Cities he did comprehend with that singular Wit and Memory that the Nobles who were improved in those affairs by daily and constant imployments thought he held them in his Memory as if they lay there in an Index CHAP. III. Of the Sight and the vigor of that sense in some and how depraved in others IN Cilicia near unto the Town of Cescus there is saith M. Varro a Fountain that hath the name of Nus the Waters whereof have this admirable quality that they render the Senses of all such as taste of them more exquisite and subtile It may be suspected that some of those who are mentioned in the following Examples had cleared their eyes with the Waters of this Fountain or some other of the like quality thereby attaining to a quick-sightedness not inferiour to that of the Lynx it self 1. There was not many years since a Spaniard call'd Lopes at Gades who from an high Mountain call'd Calpe would see all over the opposite strait out of Europe unto the Affrican shore the passage from whence as Cleonardus witnesseth is no less than three or four hours sail in a calm Sea he could â—rom the top of this Mountain discern all that was doing in that far distant Haven or upon the Land near unto it and did discover it so that by the industry of this notable spy they of Gades did oftentimes avoid those designs which the Pyrates had upon them This was told me by a person of great Honour and Dignity who there receiv'd it from himself in the presence of others and amongst other things he said of him that his Eye-brows had hair upon them of an extraordinary length 2. We find incredible examples of the quickness of eye-sight in Histories Cicero hath recorded that the whole Poem of Homer call'd his Iliads was written in a membrane or piece of Parchment in so small a Character that the whole was to be couched and inclosed within the compass of a Nut-shell 3. The same Writer makes mention of one that could see and discern out right 135 miles and saith he Marcus Varro names the man calling him Strabo Of whom he further adds that during the Carthaginian War he was wont to stand and watch upon Lilybaeum a Promontory in Sicily to discover the Enemies Fleet loosing out of the Haven of Carthage and was able at that distance to count and declare the very just number of their Ships 4. Tiberius the Emperour had eyes of an extraordinary bigness and those such which is the wonder that could see even in the night and darkness but it was so only for a small time at the first opening of them after sleep by degrees they aâ—terwards grew dull and he could see no more than others 5. Iosephus Scaliger in the life of his Father writes both of him and himself that both of them having blewish eyes they could sometimes see in the night as well as we can in the twilight and that this continued with him from his childhood to the twenty third year of his age 6. Even in our age saith Pierius I have heard Marcus Antonius Sabellicus while he studied Greek with us affirm of himself that as oft as he was wak'd in the night he was able for some time very clearly to discern the Books and all other furniture of the Chamber where he lay 7. Hieronymus Cardanus in the beginning of his youth had that in common with Tiberius and the rest that he could see in the dark as soon as he wak'd all that was in the room but soon after all that ability did desert him he says the cause was the heat of the brain the subtilty of the spirits and the force of imagination 8. Caelius having related out of Pliny the History of Tiberius his seeing in the dark saith moreover that the same thing had sometimes happened to himself calling God to witness that he spake nothing but the truth 9. Gellius writes that in the remotest parts of the Country of Albania the Inhabitants there do grow bald in their childhood and that they can see much more clearly in the night than in the day for the brightness of the day dissipates or rebates the edge of their sight 10. Fabritius ab Aquapendente relates the History of a man of Pisa who had such a constitution of the eye that he could see very well in the night but either not at all or else very obscurely in the day 11. Sophronius in his Book of Spirits tells of Iulianus a Monk that for the space of seventy years he never lighted nor had a Candle who nevertheless was used to read Books throughout in the darkness of the night 12. Asclâ—piodorus the Philosopher and Scholar of Proclus was able in the thickest of the darkness to discern
age the then Consuls were L. Crassus and Q. Scaevola his eloquence had then the approbation of the whole people of Rome and which is more of the Consuls themselves who were more judicious than all the rest What he had so well begun in his early youth he afterwards so perfected in his maturer age that he was justly reputed the best Orator of his time and perhaps never excelled by any but his own Pupil M. Tullius Cicero 12. Alexander gave manifest presages of his future greatness while he was yet in his first youth when a Horse called Bucephalus of extraordinary fierceness was brought to King Philip and that no man was found that durst bestride him young Alexander chanced at that time to come to his Father and with great importunity obtain'd leave to mount him whom he rode with that art and managed with such singular skill in his full cariere and curvetting that when he descended his Father Philip embracing him with tears said Son seek out a greater Kingdom for that I shall leave thee will be but too little for thee The greatness of his mind he had before discovered for when he was a Boy at School and that there he was told of a victory his Father had newly obtain'd If said he sighing my Father conquer all what will be left for me when they that stood by replyed That all these would be for him I little esteem said he of a great and large Empire when I shall be deprived of all means for the gaining of Glory 13. Herod the first Son of Antipater Prefect of Galilee when he was not above fifteen years of age contrary to the manner of those of his age left the School and put himself into Arms wherein the first proof he gave of himself was that he set upon Ezekias the Captain of an Army of Thieves who molested all Syria and not only routed his Forces but slew the Leader himself shewing by this beginning that except in cruelty he would prove nothing inferiour to any of the Kings his Predecessors 15. C. Martius Coriolanus in the Latine War which was made for the restitution of Taâ—quinius to his Kingdom shewed an admirable boldness though then very young for beholdiâ—g now a Citizen of Rome beaten down and now ready to be slain by the Enemy he ran into his assistance and gave him life by the death of him that pressed so eagerly upon him for which act of valour the Dictator put a Civick Crown upon his young Hâ—ad an honour that persons of a mature age and great virtue did rarely attain unto He afterwards prov'd a person of incomparable valour and military virtue 15. Adeodatus the Son of S. Augustine before he was fifteen years of age was of so prodigious a wit that his Father saith of him Horrori mihi erat istud ingenium he could not think of it but with astonishment for already at that age he surpassed many great and learned men he also verified the saying of Sages Ingenium nimis mature magnum non est vitale such early sparkling wits are not for any long continuance upon earth for he lived but a few years 16. C. Cassius when very young hearing Faustus the Son of Sylla magnifying the tyranny that his Father exercised in Rome was so moved at it that he gave him a blow upon the face in publick the matter was so heynous that both it and the persons came before Pompey the great whâ—re though in so great a presence the young Câ—ssius was â—o far from being terrified that on the contrary he cryed thus out to his Adversary Go to Faustus said he repeat again those words wherewith I was before so far provoked by thee that I may now also strike thee a second time By this action he gave a notable instance how jealous he would afterwards prove of the Roman Liberty for it was he who with Brutus conspired against Iulius Caesar and slew him as the invader of it and after died with the reputation of being Romanorum ulâ—imus the last true Roman 15. Ianus Drusus that famous Scholar had a Son so singular that from fifteen years old to twenty when he died he wrote excellent Commentaries on the Proverbs and other Books that were not unacceptable amongst the Learned that looked upon them 18. Edburg the eighth Daughter of King Edward in her childhood had her disposition tryed and her course of life disposed by her Father in this manner he laid before her gorgeous Apparel and rich Jewels in one end of a Chamber and the New Testament and Books of Princely Instructions in another wishing her to make her choice of which she liked she presently took up the Books and he her in his Arms and kissing her said Go in God's name whither he hath called thee and thereupon placed her in a Monastery at Winchester where she virtuously spent her whole life after 19. Lewis Duke of Orleance was owner of the Castle at Crucy his Constable was the Lord of Cawny whose Wife the Duke's Paramour had a child not certain which was the Father whereupon Cawny and his Wife being dead a controversie arose the next of kin to Cawny claiming the Inheritance which was four thousand Crowns per annum This controversie depending in the Parliament of Paris the child then eight years old though both instructed by his Mother's Friends to save his Mother's credit and to enjoy so ample an inheritance himself as Cawny's Child yet being asked answered openly to the Judges My heart giveth me and my noble courage telleth me that I am the Son of the noble Duke of Orleance more glad am I to be his Bastard with a mean living than to be the lawful Son of that cowardly Cuckold Cawny with his thousand Crowns inheritance The next of kin had the estate and the young Duke of Orleance took him into his Family who after proved a most valiant and fortunate Warriour against the English in the days of Henry the Sixth and is commonly called the Bastard of Orleance 20. Theodoricus Meschede a German Physician had a Son of the same name who at the age of fifiteen years surpassed in Eloquence and Learning many of those who had gained to themselves fame and reputation thereby He wrote to Trithemius and other learned men of that age almost numberless Epistles upon divers subjects with that Accuracy and Ciceronian Eloquence that for his wit dexterity and promptitude in writing and disputation he became the wonder and admiration of those he had any conversation with CHAP. II. Of such as having been extreme Wild and Prodigal or Debauched in their Youth have afterwards proved excellent Persons THose Bodies are usually the most healthful that break out in their youth and many times the Souls of some men prove the â—ounder for having vented themselves in their younger days Commonly none are greater enemies to Vice than such as formerly have been the slaves of it and have been
with some pleasure in the perusal of them 1. Charles the Great was so great a Lover of his Sons and Daughters that he never dined or supped without them he went no whither upon any journey but he took them along with him and when he was asked why he did not marry his Daughters and send his children abroad to see the world his reply was That he was not able to bear their absence 2. Nero Domitius the Son of Domitius Aenobarbus and Agrippina by the subtlety of his Mother obtained the Empire She once enquired of the Chaldeans if her Son should reign they told her that they had found he should but that withal he should be the death of his Mother Occidat modo imperet said she let him kill me provided he live to be Emperour And she had her wish 3. Solon was a person famous throughout all Grecce as having given Laws to the Athenians being in his Travels came to Miletum to converse with Thales who was one of the seven wise men of Greece these two walking together upon the Market place one comes to Solon and told him that his Son was dead aâ—flicted with this unexpected as well as unwelcome news he fell to tearing of his Beard Hair and Cloaths and fouling of his face in the dust immediately a mighty conâ—lux of people was about him whom he entertained with howlings and tears when he had lain long upon the ground and delivered himself up to all manner of expressions of grief unworthy the person he sustain'd so renowned for gravity and wisdom Thales bade him be of good courage for the whole was but a contrivance of his who by this artifice had desired to make experiment whether it was convenient for a wise man to marry and have children as he had pressed them to do bur that now he was sufficiently satisfied it was no way conducible seeing he perceived that the loss of a child might occasion a person famous for wisdom to discover all the signs of a mad man 4. Seleucus King of Syria was inform'd by Erasistratus his Physician that his Son Antiochus his languishment proceeded from a vehement love he had taken to the Queen Stratonice his beautiful and beloved Wife and that his modest suppression of this secret which he had found out by his art was like to cost the life of the young Prince The tender and indulgent Father resigned her up unto his Son by a marvellous example overcoming himself to consult the life and contentment of his Son 5. M. Tullius Cicero was so great a Lover of his Daughter Tulliola that when she was dead he laboured with great anxiety and his utmost endeavour to consecrate her memory to posterity he says he would take care that by all the monuments of the most excellent wits both of Greek and Latine she would be reputed a Goddess how solicitously doth he write to Atticus that a piece of ground should be purchased in some eminent place wherein he might cause a Temple to be erected and dedicated to Tulliola He also wrote two Books concerning the death of his Daughter wherein it is probable that he made use of all that riches of wit and eloquence wherein he was so great a master to perswade the people that Tulliola was a Goddess 6. The elder Cato was never so taken up with employment in any aâ—â—air whatsoever but that he would always be present at the washing of his Son Cato who was but newly born and when he came to such age as to be capable of Learning he would not suffer him to have any other Master besides himself Being advised to resign up his Son to the Tutorage of some learned servant he said he could not bear it that a servant should pull his Son by the ears nor that his Son should be indebted for his Learning and Education to any besides himself 7. Agesilaus was above measure indulgent to his children the Spartans reproached him that for love of his Son Archidamus he had concerned himself so far as to impede a just judgment and by his intercession for the Malefactors had involv'd the City in the guilt of being injurious to Greece He used also at home to ride upon the Hobby-horse with his little children and being once by a friend of his found so doing he entreated him not to discover that act of his to any man till such time as he himself was become the Father of Children 8. Antigonus resented not the Debauches Luxury and drunken Bouts of his Son Demetrius to which that Prince in times of peace was overmuch addicted though in time of war he carried himself with much sobriety When the publick fame went that Demetrius was highly enamoured of Lamia the Courtisan and that at his return from abroad he kissed his Father What said Antigonus you think you are kissing of Lamia Another time when he had spent many days in drinking and pretended he was much troubled with Rheum I have heard as much said Antigonus but is it Thasian or Chian Rheum Having heard that his Son was ill he went to visit him and met with a beautiful Boy at the door being entred the Chamber and sate down he felt of his pulse and when Demetrius said that his Feaver had newly left him Not unlike Son said he for I met it going out at the door just as I came hither Thus gently he dealt with him in all these his miscarriages in consideration of divers other excellent qualities he was master of 9. Syrophanes a rich Aegyptian so doted on a Son of his yet living that he kept the Image of him in his House and if it so fell out that any of the servants had displeased their Master thither they were to flie as to a Sanctuary and adorning that Image with Flowers and Garlands they that way recovered the favour of their Master 10. Artobarzanes resign'd the Kingdom of Cappadocia to his Son in the presence of Pompey the Great the Father had ascended the Tribunal of Pompey and was invited to sit with him in the Curule Seat but as soon as he observ'd his Son to sit with the Secretary in a lower place than his fortune deserved he could not endure to see him placed below himself but descending from his Seat he placed the Diadem upon his Sons head and bade him go and sit in that place from whence he was lately risen tears fell from the eyes of the young man his body trembled the Diadem fell â—rom his head nor could he endure to go thither where he was commanded And which is almost beyond all credit he was glad who gave up his Crown and he was sorrowful to whom it was given nor had this glorious strife come to any end unless Pompeys authority had joyned it self to the Father's will for he pronounced the Son a King commanded him to take the Diadem and compelled him to sit with him in the Curule Seat 11. Mahomet
who supposing the King had forgot them converted them to his own use Alphonsus dissembled the matter instead of those put on other Rings and kept on his accustomed way After some days the King being about to wash he who had received but not restored the former put forth his hand to take from him his Rings as he had used to do But Alphonsus putting his hand back whispered him in the Ear I will give thee these Rings to keep as soon as thou hast returned me those I did formerly entrust thee with and further than this he proceeded not with him 15. Sarizanarus was the Author of that Hexastick which was made of the famous City of Venice Viderat Adriacis Venetam Neptunus in undis Stare Vrbem et toti ponere Iura mari Nunc mihi Tarpeias quantumvis Iupiter Arces Objice illa tui moenia Martis ait Sic pelago Tibrim praefers Vrbem aspice utramque Illam homines dices hanc posuisse Deos. The Poet had small reason to repent of his ingenuity for as a reward of his pains he had assign'd him out of the publick treasury of that state an hundred Zecchins for every one of those verses which amounts to three hundred pounds of our money 16. When Henry of Lancaster sirnamed the Good Earl of Darby had taken Bigerac in Gascoign Anno 1341. He gave and granted to every Soldier the house which every one should seize first upon with all therein A certain Soldier of his brake into a Mint Masters house where he found so great a mass of money that he amazed therewith as a prey greater than his desert or desire signified the same unto the Earl who with a liberal mind answered It is not for my state to play Boys play to give and take Take thou the money if it were thrice as much 17. At the Battel of Poictiers Iames Lord Audley was brought to the black Prince in a Litter most grievously wounded for he had behaved himself with great valour that day To whom the Prince with due commendations gave for his good service four hundred Marks of yearly Revenues the which he returning to his Tent gave as frankly to his four Esquires that attended him in the Battle whereof when the Prince was advertised doubting that his gift was contemned as too little for so great good service the Lord Audley satisfied him with this answer I must do for them who deserved best of me these my Esquires saved my life amidst the enemies and God be thanked I have sufficient revenues left by my Ancestors to maintain me in your service Whereupon the Prince praising his prudence and liberality confirmed his gift made to his Esquires assign'd him moreover six hundred marks of like Land here in England 18. King Canutus gave great Jewels to Winchester Church whereof one is reported to be a Cross. worth as much as the whole Revenue of England amounted to in a year and unto Coventry he gave the Arm of St. Augustine which he bought at Papia for an hundred Talents of Silver and one of Gold 19. Clodoveus Son of Dagobert King of France in a great death caused the Church of St. Dennis which his Father had covered with Plates of Silver to be covered with lead and the Silver given to the relief of the Poor 20. Isocrates the Son of Theodorus the Erecthian kept a School where he taught Rhetorick to an hundred Scholars at the rate of one hundred drachms of silver a piece He was very rich and well he might for Nicocles King of Cyprus who was the Son of Evagoras gave him at once the summ of twenty Talents of Silver for one only oration which he dedicated unto him 21. The Poet Virgil repeated unto Augustus Caesao three Books of his Aeneads the Second Fourth and Sixth the latter of these chiefly upon the account of Octavia Sister to Augustus and Mother of Marcellus whom Augustus had adopted but he died in the Eighteenth year of his Age. Octavia therefore being present at this repetition when Virgil came to these Verses at the latter end of the sixth book wherein he describes the mourning for Marcellus in this manner Heu miserando Puer si qua fata asperarumpas Tu Marcellus eris Alas poor Youth if Fates will suffer thee To see the Light thou shalt Marcellus be Octavia swooned away and when she was recovered she commanded the Poet to proceed no further appointing him Ten Sesterces for every verse he had repeated which were in number twenty one So that by the bounty of this Princess Virgil received for a few Verses above the Summ of fifty thousand Crowns CHAP. XXVIII Of the Pious Works and Charitable Gifts of some men WHereas saith the Learned Willet the professors of the Gospel are generally charged by the Romanists as barren and fruitless of good works I will to stop their mouths shew by a particular induction that more charitable works have been performed in the times of the Gospel than they can shew to have been done in the like time in Popery especially since the publick opposition of that Religion which began about two hundred and fifty years since counting from tâ—e times of Iohn Wickliâ—fe or in twice so much time now going immediately before To make good this he hath drawn out a Golden Catalogue of persons piously and charitably devoted together with their works out of which I have selected as I thought the chiefest and most remarkable to put under this head only craving leave to begin with one or two beyond the compass of his prescribed time which I have met with elsewhere 1. In the Reign of King Henry the Fourth the most deservedly famous for works of Piety was William Wickham Bishop of Winchester his first work was the building of a Chappel at Tichfield where his Father and Mother and Sister Perrot were burled Next he founded at Southwick in Hampshire near the Town of Wickham the place of his Birth as a supplement to the Priory of Southwick a Chauntry with allowance of five Priests for ever He bestowed twenty thousand marks in repairing the houses belonging to the Bishoprick he discharged out of prison in all places of his Diocess all such poor prisoners as lay in execution for debt under Twenty pounds he amended all the high ways from Winchester to London on both sides the River After all this on the Fifth of March 1379. he began to lay the foundation of that magnificent structure in Oxford called New Colledg and in person laid the first Stone thereof In the year 1387. on the twenty sixth of March he likewise in person laid the first stone of the like Foundation in Winchester and dedicated the same as that other in Oxford to the memory of the Virgin Mary 2. In the Reign of King Edward the Fourth Sir Iohn Crosby Knight and late Lord Mayor of London gave to the Repairs of the Parish Church of Henworth in Middlesex forty
and that with so much appetite and delight as that he needed not the cure of Aristotle's drowsiness to awake him 11 Sir Iohn Ieffrey was born in Sussex and so profited in the study of our Municipal Laws that he was preferred secondary Judge of the Common Pleas and thence advanced by Queen Elizabeth in Michalmas Term the nineteenth of her Reign to be Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer which place he discharged for the term of two years to his great commendation This was he who was called the plodding Student whose industry perfected nature and was perfected by experience It is said of him Nullus illi per otium dies exit partem noctium studiis vindicat non vacat somno sed succumbit oculos vigilia fatigatos cadentesque in opere detinet He spent no day idly but part of the nights he devoted to study he had no leisure to sleep but when surprised by it for want of it his weary eyes when closing and falling by reason of his overwatching he still held to their work and compelled to wait upon him 12. Aristotle the Philosopher is said to be so addicted to his meditations that he unwillingly gave way to that necessary repose which nature called upon him for and therefore to repress the ascent of vapours and thereby to hinder his being overtaken with sleep he used sometimes to apply a vessel of hot oyl to his Stomach and when he slept he would hold a brazen Ball in his hand over a Basin that so when the Ball should fall down into it he might again be awaked by the noise of it 13. Callistus the third hath this as part of his character set down by the Pen of Platina that he was sparing in his diet of singular modesty in his speech of easie access and that although he was arrived to fourscore years of Age yet even then he remitted nothing of his usual industry and constancy in his studies but both read much himself and had others who read to him when he had any time to spare from the great weight of his affairs 14. Iacobus Milichius a German Physician was so enflamed with a passionate desire of Learning that he would not spare himself even then when ill in respect of his health and when old age began to grow upon him when some of his friends would reprehend this over-eagerness of his and his too much attentiveness to his studies his reply was that of Solon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. I grow old in learning many things He was so careful and sparing afterwaâ—d of his time that no man could find him at his own house but he was either reading or writing of something or else which was very rare with him he was playing at Tables a sport which he much delighted in after dinner After Supper and in the Night he was at his Studies and Lucubrations which was the reason that he slept but little and was also the cause of that disease which took away his life for the over constant and the unseasonable intention of his mind in his studies was doubtless the occasion of that affliction which he had in his Brain and Stomach so that he dyed of an Apoplexy Nov. 10th 1559. 15. Iacobus Schegkius though he was blind many years together had frequent fits of an Apoplexy was in extreme age and found therein a deficiency of all his strength yet could not he indulge himself in idleness but continued then intent upon his thoughts and meditations had one to read for him and put forth most learned Commentaries upon the Topicks of Aristotle CHAP. XLII Of such Persons as were of choice Learning and singular skill in the Tongues WHen Basilius Amerbachius heard of the death of Theodorus Zuingerus a German Physitian he sighed and brake out in these words Piget me vivere post tantum virum cujus magna fuit Doctrina sed exigua si cum Pietate conferatur It grieves me to live after so great a Person whose Learning was great but if compared with his Piety but small The Piety of these Persons underwritten for ought I know was as great as their Learning however since the Learning of most of them hath survived them we have the less reason to be sorry that we come after them 1. Wonderful is that Character which Vives gives of Budaeus himself being a man of eminent parts France saith he never brought forth a sharper Wit a more piercing Iudgment one of more exact diligence and greater Learning nor in this Age Italy it self There is nothing written in Greek or Latin which he hath not read and examined He was in both these Languages excellent speaking both as readily perhaps more than the French his Mother tongue He would read out of a Greek Book in Latin and out of a Latin one in Greek Those things which we see so excellently written by him flowed from him extempore He writes more easily both in Greek and Latin than the most skilful in those Languages understand Nothing in those Tongues is so abstruse which he hath not ransack'd and brought as another Cerberus out of Darkness into Light Infinite are the significations of Words Figures and Properties of Speech which unknown to former Ages by the only help of Budaeus studious men are now acquainted with and these so great and admirable things he without the direction of any Teacher learned merely by his own industry I speak nothing of his knowledge in the Laws which being in a manner ruin'd seem by him to have been restored Nothing of his Philosophy whereof he hath given such an Instance in his Books De Asse which no man could compose without an assiduous conversation in the Books of all the Philosophers He adds that notwithstanding all this he was continually conversant in Domestick and State Affairs at home and abroad in Embassies and concludes all with that Distich which Buchanan made of him Gallia quod Graecia est quod Gracia barbara non est Vtraque Budaeo debeâ— utrumque suo That France is turn'd to Greece that Greece is not turn'd rude Both owe them both to thee their dear great learned Bude 2. Tostatus Bishop of Abulum at the age of two and twenty years saith Possevine attained the knowledge of all Arts and Sciences For besides Philosophy and Divinity Canon and Civil Laws History and the Mathematicks he was well skill'd both in the Greek and Latin Tongues So that it was written of him by Bellarmin Hic stupor est mundi qui scibile discutit omne The Wonder of the World for he Knows whatsoever known may be He was so true a Student and so constant in sitting to it that with Didymus of Alexandria he was thought to have had a body of Brass and so much he wrote and published that a part of the Epitaph engraved upon his Tomb was Primae natalis luci folia omnia adaptans Nondum sic fuerit pagina trina
such a diversity of stores and so faithfully as that he could call for them at his pleasure 12. Hugo Grotius was born at Dâ—lph in the Low-Countries Anno 1583. Vossius saith oâ— him that he was the most knowing as well in Divine as Humane things The greatest of men saith Meibomius the Light and Columen of Learning of whom nothing so magnifick can be either said or writ but that his vertue and erudition hath exceeded it 13. Claudius Salmasius a Learned French Critick of whom Rivet thus that Incomparable Person the Great Salmasius hath wrote of the Primacy of the Pope after which Homer if any shall write an Iliad he will spend his pains to no purpose C. Salmasius saith Vossius a man never enough to be praised nor usually to be named without praise The Miracle of our Age and the Promus Condus of Antiquity saith Guil. Riveâ— The Great Ornament not only of his own Country France but also of these Netherlands and indeed the Bulwark of the whole Commonwealth of Learning saith Vossius 14. Hieronymus Alâ—ander did most perfectly speak and write the Latine Greek and Hebrew with many other Exotick and Forreign Languages He first taught Greek at Paris soon after he was called to Rome by Pope Leo the Tenth and sent Ambassador into Germany By Pope Clement the Seventh made Bishop of Brundusium and by Pope Paul the Third he was made Cardinal 15. Andreas Masius was a great Linguist for besides the Italian French Spanish and the rest of the Languages of Europe he was also famous for no mean skill in the Latin Greek Hebrew and Syriack Thuanus gives him this Character a man of a sincere candid and open disposition endowed with rare and abstruse Learning and who to the knowledge of the Hebrew Chaldee and the rest of the Oriental Tongues had added exceeding piety and a diligent study of the Holy Scriptures as appears by his Commentary He wrote learnedly on Ioshua and assisted Aâ—ias Montanus in the Edition of the King of Spain's Bible and first of all illustrated the Syriac Idiom with Grammatical Precepts and a Lexicon 16. Carolus Clusius had an exact skill in Seven Languages Latin Greek Italian French Spanish Portugal and Low Dutch a most acute both Writer and Censor of Histories that are not commonly known As also most Learned in Cosmograpâ—y saith Melchior Adam in his Lives of the German Physicians Lipsius thus sported on him Omnia naturae dum Clusi arcana râ—cludis Clusius haud ultra sis sed aperta mihi 17. Gulielmus Canterus born 1542. besides his own Belgick Tongue was skill'd in Latin Greek Hebrew the German French and Italian so that one saith of him If any would desire the Specimen of a Studious Person and one who had wholly devoted himself to the advancement of Learning he may find it exactly expressed in the Person of this Gulielmus Canterus 18. Lancelot Andrews born at All-Hallows-Barking in London Scholar Fellow and Master of Pembrook-hall in Cambridge then Dean of Westminster Bishop of Chichester Ely and at last of Winchester The World wanted Learning to hear how learned this man was so skill'd in all especially the Oriental Languages that some conceive he might if then living almost have served as an Interpreter General at the confusion of Tongues He dyed in the first year of the Reign of King Charles the First and lies buried in the Chappel of Saint Mary Overies having on his Monument a large elegant and true Epitaph 19. Gerhardus Iohannes Vossius Professor of Eloquence Chronology and the Greek Tongue at Lâ—yden and Prebend of Canterbury in England an Excellent Grammarian and General Scholar one of the greatest Lights in Holland He hath written learnedly of almost all the Arts. Bâ—chartus saith thus of his Book De Historicis Graecis a work of wonderful Learning by the reading of which I ingeniously profess my self to have been not a little profited 20. Isaac Causabone a great Linguist but a singular Grecian and an excellent Philologer Salmasius no mean Scholar himself calls him that Incomparable Person the Immortal Honour of his Age never to be named without praise and never enough to be praysed He had a rare knowledge in the Oriental Tongues in the Greek scarce his Second much less his equal saith Capellus 21. Iames Vsher the Hundredth Archbishop from St. Patrick of Aâ—magh A divine saith Voetius of vast reading and erudition and most skilful in Ecclesiastical Antiquity The great Merits saith Vossius of that great and every way learned Person in the Church and of the whole Republick of Learning will never suffer but that there will be a grateful celebration of his memory for ever by all the Lovers of Learning Fitz Simonds the Jesuitâ— with whom he disputed though then very young in one of his Books gives him this Title Acatholicorum Doctissimus the most Learned of all the Protestants 22. Iohn Selden a Learned Lawyer of the Inner Temple he had great knowledge in Antiquity and the Oriental Languages which he got after he fell to the Study of the Law He is honourably mentioned by many Outlandish men He wrote in all his Books 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above all Liberty To shew that he would examine things and not take them upon trust Dr. Duck saith thus of him to the exact knowledge of the Laws of his Country he also added that of the Moâ—aical and the Laws of other Nations as also all other Learning not only Latin Greek and Hebrew but also a singular understanding and knowledge of the Oriental Nations 23. Iohn Gregory born at Amersham in the County of Buckingham 1607. He was bred in Christ-church in Oxford where he so applied his Book that he studied sixteen hours in the four and twenty for many years together He attained to singular skill in Civil Historical Ritual and Oriental Learning in the Saxon French Italian Spanish and all Eastern Languages through which he miraculously travelled without any Guide except that of Mr. Dod the Decalogist for the Hebrew Tongue whose Society and direction therein he enjoyed one Vacation near Banbury As he was an excellent Linguist and general Scholar so his modesty set a greater lustre upon his Learning He was first Chaplain of Christ-church and thence preferred Prebendary of Chichester and Sarum and indeed no Church Preserment compatible with his Age was above his Desertâ— After twenty years trouble with an Hereditary Gout improved by immoderate study it at last invaded his Stomach and thereof he died Anno 1646. at the Age of thirty nine years He died at Kidlington and was buried at Christ-church in Oxford This Epitaph was made by a Friend on his Memory Ne premas cineres hosce Viator Nescis quot sub hoc jacent Lapillo Graeculus Hebraeus Syrus Et qui te quovis vincet Idâ—omate At ne molestus sis Ausculâ—a causam auribus tuis imbibe Templo exclusus Et
own time and King Canutus the sixth almost to the year of Christ 1200. but more like a Poet than Historian commonly also omitting an account of the time 30. Conradus Abbot of Vrsperga a Monastery in Suevia as worthy of reading as any of the German Writers hath described the Affairs of Germany beginning two hundred years after the Flood and carrying on his relation to the twentieth year of Frederick the second that is Anno Dom. 1230. 31. Iohannes Aventinus wrote the Annals of the Boii and memorable matters of the Germans in seven Books beginning from the Flood and continuing his History to Ann. 1460. 32. Iohannes Nauclerus born not far from Tubinga hath an intire Chronicon from the beginning of the World to his own time and the year of our Lord 1500. in two Volums 33. Albertus Crantzius hath brought down the History of the Saxons Vandals and the Northern Kingdoms of Denmark Sweden Gothland and Norway to Ann. 1504. 34. Iohannes Sleidanus hath faithfully and plainly written the History of Luther especially and the contests about matters of Religion in the Empire of Germany the Election and Affairs of Charles the fifth Emperour and other of divers of the Kings of Europe from Anno Dom. 1517. to Ann. 1556. 35. Philippus Comineus wrote five Books of the Expedition of Charles the eighth into Italy and Naples and eight Books of the Acts of Lâ—wis the eleventh and Charles Duke of Burgundy worthy to be read of the greatest Princes 36. Froisardus wrote the sharp Wars betwixt the French and English from Anno 1335. to Ann. 1400. 37. Hiâ—ronymus Osorius wrote the Navigation of the Portugals round Africa into India and the Acts of Emanuel King of Portugal from Anno 1497. to his death in twelve Books 38. Antonius Bonfinius in four Decades and an half hath wrote the History of the Hungarian Kings to the death of Matthias the son of Huniades and the beginning of the Reign of Vladislaus 39. Polydor Virgil hath wrote the History of England in twenty six Books to the death of Henry the seventh 40. Iustinus flourished Anno Christi 150. and wrote a compendious History of most Nations from Ninus the Assyrian King to the twenty fifth year of Augustus compiled out of forty four Books of Trogus Pompeius a Roman Ecclesiastical Writers I have here no room for but am content to have traced thus far the steps of David Chytraeus in his Chronology whose help I have had in the setting down of this Catalogue CHAP. IX Of the most famous and ancient Greek and Latin Poets THE Reader hath here a short account of some of the most eminent of Apollo's old Courtiers as they succeeded one another in the favour of the Muses not but that those bright Ladies have been I was about to say equally propitious to others in after-times nor is it that we have given these only a place here as if our own Land were barren of such Worthies Our famous Spencer if he was not equal to any was superiour to most of them of whom Mr. Brown thus He sung th' Heroick Knights of Fairy Land In lines so elegant and such command That had the Thracian plaid but half so well He had not left Eurydice in Hell But it is fit we allow a due reverence to Antiquity at least be so ingenuous as to acknowledge at whose Torches we have lighted our own The first of these Lights 1. Orpheus was born in Libethris a City of Thrace the most ancient of all Poets he wrote the Expedition of the Argonauts into Colchis in Greek Verse at which he was also present this Work of his is yet extant together with his Hymns and a Book of Stones The Poets make him to be the Prince of the Lyricks of whom Horace in his Book De Arte Poeticâ Sylvestres homines sacer interpresque deorum Caedibus foedo victu deterruit Orpheus Dictus ob hoc lenire Tygres rabidosque leones His Father was Oeagrus his Mother Caliopea and his Master was Linus a Poet and Philosopher Orpheus is said to have flourished Anno Mundi 2737. Vid. Quenstedt Dial. de Patr. vir illustr p. 453. Voss. de Nat. Constit. artis Poet. cap. 13. sect 3. p. 78. Patrit de Instit. reipub l. 2. tâ— 6. p. 83. 2. Homerus the Prince of Poets born at Colophon as Cluverius doubts not to affirm but more Cities besides that strove for the honour according to that in Gellius Septem urbes certant de stirpe illustris Homeri Smyrna Rhodos Colophon Salamis Ios Argos Athenae Many are the Encomiums he hath found amongst learned men as The Captain of Philosophy The first Parent of Antiquity and Learning of all sorts The original of all rich Invention The Fountain of the more abstruse Wisdom and the father of all other Poets à quo cen fonte perenni Vatum Pieriis ora rigantur aquis Of him this is part of Quintilians Charaâ—ter In great things no man excelled him in sublimity nor in small matters in propriety In whom saith Paterculus this is an especial thing that before him there was none whom he could imitate and after him none is found that is able to imitate him He flourished Anno Mund. 3000. Vid. Quenstedt dialog p. 483. Gell. Noct. Attic. lib. 3. cap. 11. p. 104. Quintil. instit orator lib. 10. cap. 1. p. 466. 3. Hesiodus was born at Cuma a City in Aeolia bred up at Ascra a Town in Boeotia a Poet of a most elegant genius memorable for the soft sweetness of his Verse called the son of the Muses by Lipsius the purest Writer and whose labours contain the best Precepts of Vertue saith Heinsuis Some think he was contemporary with Homer others that he lived an hundred years after him I find him said to flourish Anno Mundi 3140. Vid. Quintil. instit orat lib. 10. cap. 1. p. 466. Vell. Pâ—tercul hist. lib. 1. ...... Voss. de Poet. Graec. cap. 2. p. 9. Quenstedt dial p. 478. 4. Alcaeus a famous Lyrick Poet was born in the Isle of Lesbos in the City of Miâ—ylene whence now the whole Isle hath its name what Verses of his are left are set forth by Henricus Stephanus with those of the rest of the Lyricks Quintilian saith of him That he is short and magnificent in his way of speaking diligent and for the most part like Homer he flourished Olymp. 45. Vid. Quenstedt dialog p. 433. Quintil. instit orat lib. 10. cap. 1. p. 468. 5. Sappho an excellent Poetress was born in the Isle of Lesbos and in the City of Eraesus there she was called the ninth Lyrick and the tenth Muse she wrote Epigrams Elegies Iamâ—icks Monodies and nine Books of Lyrick Verses and was the Invetress of that kind of Verse which from her is called the Sapphick she attained to no small applause in her contention first with Stesichorus and then with Alcaeus she is said to flourish about the 46 Olympiad Voss. Instâ—t Poet. lib. 3. cap. 15. p.
Poet. Lat. cap. 2. p. 26. Quenstedt dial p. 382. Quintil. de Instit. orator l. 10. c. 1. p. 472. 10. Publ. Ovidius Naso was born at Sulmo an old Town of the Peligni in Italy thus saith he himself Trist. lib. 4. Eleg. 10. Sulmo mihi patria est gelidis uberrimus undis Millia qui novies distat ab urbe decem He excels all others in Elegy and therefore by Dempster is called The Prince of Elegy in the judgement of Seneca he is a most ingenious Poet had he not reduced that plenty of wit and matter into childish toyes his Medaea saith Quintilian shews how much that man was able to perform had he chose rather to govern than indulge his wit he died in his banishment and is buried near the Town of Tomos he flourished Anno Dom. 4. Quintil. de Instit. orator lib. 10. cap. 1. p. 473. Voss. de Poet. Lat. cap. 2. p. 29. Senec. nat Quaest. cap. 27. p. 11. C. Valerius Catullus was born at Verona of no obscure Parentage for his father was familiar with Iulius Caesar and he himself was so accepted at Rome for the facility of his wit and learning that he merited the Patronage of Cicero as he himself acknowledges with thanks He loved Clodia whom by a feigned name he calls Lesbia Martial prefers him before himself he died at Rome in the thirtieth year of his age and that was commonly said of him Tantum parva suo debet Verona Catullo Quantum magna suo Mantua Virgilio He flourished Olympiad 180. Anno Dom. 40. Voss. de Poet. Lat. cap. 1. p. 14. Gell. noct Attic. lib. 7. cap. 20. p. 220. 12. Albius Tibullus of an Equestrian Family in Rome a Poet famous for his Elegies in which he was the first amongst the Romans that excel'd saith Vossius he was in familiarity with Horace and Ovid. He loved Plancia under the feigned name of Delia whereas he was very rich by the iniquity of the times he complains he was reduced to poverty he composed four Books of Elegies and died young for the elegancy of his Verse it is said of him Donec erunt ignes arcusque Cupidinis arma Discentur numeri culte Tibulle tui He flourished A. ab V. C. 734. Quenste dt dial p. 369. Petr. Crinit de Poet. Lat. lib. 3. p. 71. 13. Sex Aurel. Propertius was born in Mevania a Town in Vmbria as he himself somewhere saith Vt nostris tumefacta superbiat Vmbria libris Vmbria Romani patria Callimachi He complains that he was put out of his fathers Lands in that division that was made amongst the Souldiers of the Triumvirate The true name of his Cynthia was Hostia saith Apuleius We have four Books of his Elegies some write that he died in the forty first year of his age he flourished with Ovid Catullus and Tibullus Petr. Crinit de Poet. Lat. lib. 3. p. 71. Voss. de Poet. Lat. cap. 2. p. 31. 14. Cornelius Gallus born at Forojulium was an Oratour and famous Poet from a mean fortune he was received into the friendship of Augustus and by him made the first President of Aegypt when it was become a Roman Province Through his discourse in his Wine at a Feast he came into suspicion of a Conspiratour and being turn'd over to the Senate to be condemn'd for very shame he slew himself in the sixty third year of his age he wrote four Book of Elegies his Lycoris was one Cytheris a freed Maid of Volumnius most of his Writings are lost he flourished Olympiad 188. Voss. de Poet. Lat. cap. 2. p. 25. 15. Decius Iunius Iâ—venaliâ— was born at Aquinum in Italy he spent his studies in writing Satyres following the examples of Lucilius and Horace in which kind he hath gained no mean reputation amongst the learned The Prince of Satyrists saith I. Scaliger his Verses are far better than those of Horace his Sentences are sharper and his phrase more open having offended Paris the Pantomime at eighty years of age in shew of honour he was made Prefect of a Cohort and sent into Aegypt he flourished Anno Dom. 84. Quenstedt dial p. 372. Voss. de Poet. Lat. cap. 3. p. 41. 16. A. Persius Flaccus was born at Volaterra an ancient and noble City in Italy seated by the River Caecina He wrote Satyres wherein he sharply taxes the corrupted and depraved manners of the Citizens of Rome sustaining the person of a Philosopher while he severely reprehends he is instructive much he borrowed out of Plato saith Chytraeus by some he is under censure for his obscurity he flourished in the Reign of Nero Anno Dom. 64. died in the twenty ninth year of his age about the 210 Olympiad Quenstedt dial p. 322. Voss. de Poâ—t Lat. cap. 3. p. 41. 17. N. Valer. Martialis was born at Bilbilis in Celâ—iberia in the Reign of Claudius the Emperour At twenty years age he came to Rome under Nero and there continued thirty five much favoured by Titus and Domitian He was Tribune and of the Order of Knights in Rome after Domitian's death he was not in the like honour and therefore in Trajans time return'd into his own Country and there having wrote his twelfth Book of Epigrams weary of his Country and Life as being ill treated by his Country-men he deceased Voss. de Poet. Lat. cap. 3. p. 46. 18. Statius Papinius born at Naples lived under Domitian he left five Books Sylvarum twelve Thebaidos five Achilleidos Martial liked not that he was so much favoured and in his Writings never mentions him Voss. de Poet. Lat. cap. 3. p. 45. 19. Ausonius the Poet and also Consul at Rome was born in Gascony at Burdigala now called Burdeaux at he tells us himself thus Diligo Burdigalam Roman colo civis in illa Consul in ambabus cunae hic ibi sella curulis Scaliger saith of him That he had a great and acute wit he Stile is somewhat harsh he flourished Anno Dom. 420. Quenstedt dial p. 36. Voss. de Poet. Lat. cap. 4. p. 55. 20. Marcellus Palingenius wrote the Zodiack of like that is of the right way of institution of the life study and manners of men in twelve Books a Work of great Learning and Philosophical he flourished Anno Dom. 1480. Quenstedt dial p. 392. 21. Baptista Mantuanus Sirnamed Hispaniolus a Monk and excellent Poet to whom Mantua gave both birth and name he was accounted the almost only Poet in his age and another Maro he taxed with great freedom and liberty the corruption of the Roman Church the impiety and villanies of the Popes amongst others he thus writes of the Simony and Covetousness of the Popes Venalia nobis Templa Sacerdotes altaria sacra coronae Ignis Thura preces coelum est venale Deusque He wrote divers Verses in praise of the Saints and other excellent Books and flourished Anno Dom. 1494. Quenstedt dial p. 300. CHAP. X. Of Musick the strange efficacy of it and the most famous Musicians THere are four sorts of
Christopher Plantin of Antwerp was a most famous and learned Printer 4. Paulus Manutius succeeded his father Aldus Manutius and was also a famous Printer at Venice 5. Daniel Bombergus was an excellent Printer of the Hebrew Bible and many other Hebrew Books c. 6. In France Crispinus Henry Stephens father to Charles and Charles to Robert Robert to Henry and Henry to Paul were all famous Printers CHAP. XVIII Of such men as were of unusual Dexterity in Shooting with the Bow or otherwise AMongst all those who have excelled in this Art none is more worthy of memory than he who is first mentioned in this Chapter 1. Philip intending to force the City of Olynthus as he laboured with much ado to pass over the Rivers Sandavus chanced to be shot in the eye by an Olynthian whose name was Aster who had before written upon his Arrow Philip beware have at thine eye Aâ—ter this deadly Shaft le ts fly 2. Domitianus the Emperour had such an extraordinary skill herein that when a Boy hath stood at a great distance with his hand extended upon a Wall he would shoot his Arrow so happily that it should pass betwixt his fingers without any harm done to his hand at two shoots he would fix his Shafts in the fronts of wild beasts like a pair of Horns 3. The Emperour Commodus son to Marcus Antoninus and Faustina had a singular skill as well as strength in the casting of Darts and Javelins at a hundred throws he slew so many Lions in the sands of the Theatre he cast them with that incredible force that he transpierc'd an Elephant and the Horn of an Oryx sometimes he slew divers wild beasts with one cast of a Spear and his hand was of that sureness and certainty that whatsoever he had marked out with his eye he would hit with his dart and arrow 4. The Emperour Gratianus had that singular skill in shooting that it was ordinarily said That his Arrows had a Soul and reason within them no man shot quicker nor any man surer than he did 5. Toko a private Souldier in the Army of Harold the fourth King of the Danes boasted amongst others at a Feast that he had so great a dexterity in shooting that he could shoot through an Apple though but a small one that was set at a distance from him upon the top of a staff This coming to the Kings ear he compelled him to make the tryal in his own son and that unless at the first shot he should take off the Apple which should be laid on his sons head he should lose his own head as the reward of his vain boasting Toko reduced to this necessity advises the boy to stand with his head immovable at the twang of the string and turned his face from him that he might not fright at the sight of the Arrow and then taking Arrows out of his Quiver at the first shot he performed it The King asked wherefore he took more Arrows than one To revenge my self on thee said he if I had miscarried which the King took not amiss 6. Paulus Diaconus saith of the Goths That they accustom themselves unto no weapon so much as that of the Bow and lest their children should either languish through sloth or addict themselves unto any prohibited acts they are instructed in diverse exercises but especially in Archery insomuch that they are not suffered to touch a bit of Bread before such time as they have hit the mark that was set up before them There are therefore found boyes amongst them scarce twelve years of age that are so accurate in this Art that being commanded they will infallibly hit with their Arrow the head breast or legs of a small bird that is at a good distance from them and the old men amongst them that yet retain their perfect sight will do the like 7. Catenes a Souldier would shoot his Arrows with so certain an aim and so steady a hand that that thereby he would fetch down the birds that flew in the air at a great distance from him 8. Andreas Agidarius though not so skilful in the Bow as the forementioned were for it is not so usual in Italy had yet such a singular command and skill in the use of his Pistol that there was nothing so small that he could reach with his eye but he would undoubtedly hit it 9. Alphonsus King of Arragon would sometimes throw four Arrows out of an handsling to the distance of forty paces these being pulled out of the places wherein he had shot them at a second trial he would fix again in the same holes and at a third with four other Arrows would hit each of the former on the top 10. When the King of Tâ—ansiana goes into the Field whether to chase or War he hath a Vantguard of an hundred women who carry Cross-bows wherein they will shoot so directly they will hit the breadth of a penny they call these women Memeytas by their Cross-bows they will also discharge three Arrows at a time with such celerity and vigour that lighting upon a Tree they are not to be drawn out they strike themselves so deep CHAP. XIX Of the Hereticks of former Ages and the Heresies maintained by them THat is a memorable thing which is related by more than one That the same day whereon Pelagius was born in Britain St. Augustin was also born in Africk divine Providence so disposing it that the Poyson and the Antidote should be in a manner Twins in respect of the same time It is indeed an old observation that God hath laid poysons and their antidotes close together and so in this case for no sooner did any Heretick arise in the Church of God but there arose with him such as were well able to confute him 1. Nicholas of whom are the Nicholaltans was a Proselyte of Antioch and one of the seven Deacons mentioned Acts 6. he had a most beautiful Wife and being upbraided by the Apostles that he was jealous of her he brought her out before them and to clear himself gave her liberty to marry to whom she pleased neither did he afterwards marry any other but taught his son and his daughters to follow chastity But certain perverse men who boasted that they were his followers gave themselves to all uncleanness teaching that men ought to have their Wives in common they scrupled not to eat of things offered to Idols at their Love-feasts they used to put out their lights and commit promiscuous Adulteries with each others Wifes They said That not God but Angels created the World Not long did they retain this name but were called Gnosticks from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 knowledge as if therein they excelled other men They taught also that in faithful men were two souls one holy of the divine substance the other adventitious by divine insufflation common to man and beasts Their Doctrine
no less than marvellous cure which at St. Madernes in Corâ—wall was wrought upon a poor Creeple whereof besides the attestation of many hundreds of the neighbours I took a strict and impartial examination in my last Visitation This man for sixteen years together was fain to walk upon his hands by reason the sinews of his legs were so contracted And upon monitions in his dream to wash in that Well was suddenly so restored to his limbs that I saw him able both to walk and get his own maintenance I found here was neither Art nor collusion The name of this Creeple was Iohn Trelille 13. The night before Polycrates the Tyrant of Samos departed thence to go to Oraetes the Lieutenant of Cyrus in Sardis his Daughter dreamed that she saw her Father lifted up in the air where Iupiter washed him and the Sun anointed him which came to pass for assoon as he was in his Power Oraetes caused him to be hang'd upon a Gibbet where his body so remaining was washed of the rain and the Sun melted the fat of it 14. Alexander the Philosopher a man known to be free of superstition reporteth of himself that sleeping one night he saw his Mothers Funerals solemnized being then a days journey from thence whereupon he waking in great sorrow and many tears told the dream to divers of his acquaintance and friends The time being punctually observed certain word was brought him the next day after that at the same hour as his dream was his mother expired 15. Iovius reporteth that Anno 1523. in a morning slumber Sfortia dreamed that falling into a River he was in great danger of drowning and calling for succour to a man of extraordinary stature and presence who was on the further side upon the shore he was by him slighted and neglected This dream he told to his Wife and Servants but no further regarded it The same day spying a child falling into the water near the Castle of Pescara he thinking to save the child leapt into the River but over-burdened with the weight of his Armour he was choak'd in the mud and so perished 16. The Mother of Scanderbeg dreamed she saw a Serpent that covered all Epiruâ— his head was stretched out into the Turks Dominions where he devoured them with bloody jaws his tail was amongst the Christians and in the Government of the Venetians all which very exactly prefigured her Son 17. A Citizen of Millain was demanded a debt as owing by his dead father and when he was in some trouble about it the image of his dead father appears to him in his sleep tells him the whole process of the business that the debt was by him paid in his life time and that if he looked in such a place he should â—ind a Writing under the hand of his Creditor wherein he did acknowledge himself satisfied Awaking therefore from his sleep and reflecting upon his dream he searched and found all things agreeable to what he had dreamed St. Austin saith that this very Writing was seen by him 18. When Galen had an inflammation about the Diaphragma he was admonished in his sleep that if he purposed to be freed from it he should forthwith open that vein which was most apparent betwixt the thumb and the forefinger and take a quantity of blood from thence he did as he was advised and was presently restored to his former health 19. I remember saith Coelius when I was two and twenty years of age being busied in the interpretation of Pliny and while as yet the learned emendations of Hermolaus Barbarus upon that excellent Author had not performed to him almost all that was requisite I light upon that place which we have in his seventh Book concerning such as grow up beyond the usual proportion which Nature hath assigned and they are called by the Greeks Ectrapeli That word was some trouble to me I knew I had read something concerning it but could neither recal to my memory the Author from whom nor the Book wherein Fearing the censure of unskilfulness I laid my self down to rest the best remedy for a perplexed mind where while my thoughts were still employing themselves about it methought I remembred the Book yea the page and place of the page wherein that was written I sought for When I awaked I recalled what was offered to me in my sleep but valued all as a mere illusion yet being stil haunted with the apprehensions of being reputed an Ignoramus that I might leave nothing unattempted I caught up the Book of which I had dreamed and there found it accordingly 20. When St. Bernards Mother was with child of him she dreamed she had a little white and barking Dog in her Womb which when she had communicated to a certain religious person he as by a Spirit of Prophecy reply'd Thou shalt be the mother of an excellent Dog indeed he shall be the Keeper of Gods House and shall incessantly bark against the Adversaries of it for he shall be a famous Preacher and shall cure many by the means of his medicinal tongue 21. Francis Petrarch had a Friend so desperately sick that he had no expectation of his life when therefore wearied with grief and tears he was fallen into a slumber he seemed to see his sick Friend to stand before him and to tell him that he could now stay no longer with him for there was one at the door that would interrupt their discourse to whom he desired that he would recommend his weak estate and that if he should undertake him he should be restored Presently enters into Petrarchs Chamber a Physician who came from the sick and had given him over as a dead man He came therefore to comfort him But Petrarch with tears recounts to him his dream and with great importunity prevails with him to return to the care of his Friend he did so and e're long the man was restored to his wonted health 22. Two Arcadians of intimate acquaintance travelled together to the City of Maegara where when they were arrived the one goes to lodge with a friend of his and the other betakes himself to an Inn. He that was at his friends house saw in his sleep his Companion beseeching him to assist him for he was circumvented by his Host and that by his speedy resort to him he might deliver him from a very imminent danger Awaked with what he had seen he leaps from his bed and intends to go to the Inn but by an unhappy Fate he desists from his compassionate purpose and believing that his dream had nothing in it he returns both to his bed and his sleep When the same person appears to him a second time all bloody and requested him earnestly that seeing he had neglected him as to the preservation of his life at least he would not be wanting to him in the revenge of his death That he was killed by his Host and that at this
This Work cost three hundred millions of Sesterces Certainly if a man consider the abundance of water that is brought thereby and how many places it serveth as well publick as private the Bains Stews and Fish-Pools Kitchens and other Houses of Office for Pipes and little Rivulets to water Gardens as well about the City as in Mannors and Houses of Pleasure in the fields near unto the City besides the mighty way that these waters are brought the number of Arches that must of necessity be built to convey them the Mountains that are pierced and wrought through the Vallies that are raised and made even and level he will confess that there never was any design in the whole World enterprised and effected more admirable than this CHAP. VI. Of the choicest Libraries in the World their Founders and number of Books contained in them AS Treasures both publickly and privately are collected and laid up in the Republick to be made use of when necessity requires and the greater and rarer they are the more precious they are accounted So the Treasures of Learning and of all good Arts and Sciences which are contained in Books as so many silent Teachers are worthily collected by publick and private persons and laid up amongst the choicest goods of the Common-wealth where they may be made use of to all sorts of persons as their studies incline them or as necessity shall require at any time whether in peace or war The most famous Repositories of Books were as followeth 1. Ptolomaeus Philadelphus the Son of Ptolomaeus Lagus reigning in Egypt and also by the concurrent and laborious endeavours of Demetrius Phalareus there was an excellent Library founded in Alexandria the noblest City of all Egypt in the year before Christs birth 280. and of the World 3720. This Library saith Baronius was enriched with more than 200000 Volumes brought out of all places in the World with exquisite care and diligence Amongst these were also the Books of the Old Testament translated by the LXX After which Translation the King also procured so many Greek Chaldee Egyptian Books and Latine ones translated into Greek as also of divers other Notions that at last he had heaped up therein saith Gellius seven hundred thousand Volumes But alas in how short a time did the splendour of so much vertue suffer an Eclipse for in the 183 Olympiad from the building of the City Caesar fighting in Alexandria that fire which burnt up the Enemies Navy took hold also of this burnt the greatest part of the City saith Orosius together with four hundred thousand Books so that from the founding of it to its destruction there were elapsed only 224 years 2. Eumenes the Son of Attalus and Father of that Attalus who was the last King of Pergamus and who dying made the people of Rome â—is Heir was the Founder of that excellent Library at Pergamus in the year from the Creation 3810. wherein were contained above twenty thousand choice Books 3. Queen Cleopatra about the year of the World 3950. and thirty years before the Birth of Christ gathered together such Books as had escaped the fire of Caesar in Alexandria built a place for them in the Temple of Serapis near to the Port and transferred thither 200000 Books from the Attalick or Pergamenian Library 4. M. Varro by the appointment of Iulius Caesar had the peculiar care committed to him of erecting a publick Library but it had come to nothing but for the helping hand of Augustus who succeeded him It was he that erected a famous Repository for Books in the Hill Aventine adorned it with Porticoes and Walks for the greater convenience of Students and enriched it with the spoils of conquered Dalmatia this was a little before the Birth of Christ and in the year of the World 3970. Nor did the bounty of this great Prince rest there but always aspiring to greater things he opened two other little inferiour to that in the Aventine one whereof he called the Octavian from the name of his Sister and the other the Palatine from the Mount or Hill on which it was erected Over the Keepers of which by his Imperial Order was C. Iulius Hyginnius an excellent Grammarian 5. Fl. Vespasianus about the sixth year of his Empire the seventy seventh from the Birth of Christ and of the World 4050. founded a Library in the Forum at Rome and contiguous to the Temple of Peace as if he thereby intended to shew that nothing was so requisite to advance men in Learning as times of peace 6. The Emperour Trajanus in the tenth year of his Reign one hundred and eight years after the Birth of Christ and from the Creation of the World 4092. built a sumptuous Library in the Market-place of Trajan which he called after his own sirname the Vlpian Library Dioclesian afterwards being to edifie some and adorn other Baths translated this Library unto the Viminal Hill which at this day hath the Gate of St. Agnes opening upon it 7. Domitianus the Emperour erected another near to his own house which he had built upon the Capitoline Hill which yet soon after was reduced to ashes in the Reign of Commodus which happened as Eusebius Dion and Baronius witness in the eighth year of Commodus his Empire the 189. year from the Nativity of Christ and from the Creation of the World about the four thousand one hundred sixty and third 8. Gordianus Senior about the two hundred and fortieth year after Christ built a Library which contained sixty and two thousand Books the greater part whereof were left as a Legacy to the Emperour by Geminicus Gammonicus 9. Constantinus the Emperour by the testimony of Baronius erected a sumptuous Library in the Province of Thrace at Byzantium called New Rome which was enriched with an hundred and twenty thousand Volumes he called that City Constantinople in the year from the Birth of Christ 324. but through the discord of his Sons about the year of the World 4321. and from the Birth of Christ 340. to wit of Constantinus Constantius and Constance the Emperours in the deplorable declination of the Empire and much more by fire it lost its fame and name being burnt by the people in hatred of Basilius the Emperour as saith Zonaras and Cedrenus which happened about the year from the Nativity of Christ 476. but being repaired and increased by the accession of three hundred and three Volumes Leo Isaurus in hatred of sacred Images burnt both it and its Keepers who were Counsellors of great renown This happened about the year of Christ 726. as witnesseth Zonaras Cedrenus and others In this Library was as is reported the gut of a Dragon 120 foot long upon which was written Homers Poems Iliads and Odysses in Letters of Gold 10. The Sâ—ptalian Libâ—aâ—y now in the possession of Manfrâ—d Septala a Patâ—ician of Mâ—llâ—ine 1664. contains seven thousand two hundred ninety Volumes amongst which are many
Greek Authors and six hundred Manuscripts they are set upon three hundred shelves â—itly disposed with that peculiar order as the study of every particular Science doth require First such as tâ—ach the first Elements of humane Life and the more polite Learning Secondly not a few that contain the Greek Latine Italian Histories and those of other Nations Thirdly such as contain the Precepts of Ethicks the Politicks and the Axioms of Moral Philosophy Fourthly such as pertain to Astronomy Geometry Musick Arithmetick and the Mathematicks Fifthly Philosophy and Physick the prints of living Creatures the History of Minerals and such like Sixthly the Books of both Laws Seventhly School and Practical Divinity Greek and Latine Fathers Commâ—ntaries upon Scripture and the General and Provincial Councils and Synods of the Church 11. The Vatican Library taking its beginning by very mâ—an degrees through the officious propensity of some Popes of Learning who enjoyed peace began so to increase that now it even labours under its own greatness and singularity For it is plain that Sixtâ—s the Fourth and especially Sixtus the Fifth did studiously endeavour the increase of it and withal Clemens the Eighth shewed out his great clemency and love of vertue when he took care upon the intreaties of the most learned Cardinal Baronius that the precious Library which Anarcas Fulvius Vrsinus a most lâ—arned person had heaped together as also all those Manuscripts collected by the most eminent Odoardus Farnesius should be transferred to the Vatican Pope Paulus the Fifth also brought hither the select Manuscripts of Cardinal Altemps to which he adjoined the Library of Heideâ—berg At such time as the Palatine of the Rhine was expelled it then received an accession of three hundred Greek Volumes in Manuscript Also Pope Vrban the Eighth enriched it with divers Greek Copies and when he had appointed Leo Allatius a man exactly skilled in the Greek Learning to be the Keeper thereof there were numbred six thousand Manuscipts an absolute Index of which was expected at the intimation of Cardinal Rusticutius but by what chance or misfortune it came not to light is yet altogether uncertain 12. The Escurial whereof Philip the Second the most potent King of Spain was the Founder hath in it a most noble Libâ—ary in which there are to be numbred seven thousand Greek and Latine Manuscripts which he had collected from several Libraries in Spain and Italy To this Library Cardinal Sirletus a most learned person gave all his Books It is also reported that two otâ—er Libraries did conspire to enrich this that of Antonius Augustuâ— Archbishop of Tarracon and the other of Don. N. the Ambassaâ—our of the King of Spain to the Republick of Venice for this last disposed all his Books to the King by his Will It hath also three thousand Arabick Books teaching the Secrets of Physick Astrology and Chirurgery and such as represent the Instruments subservient to the two last mentioned Facuâ—tiâ—s graphically described which Books it fell to the lot of Philip the Third by his Ships to take from the King of Tunis at such time as fear of a War from the King of Algier perswaded him to convey them to â— know not what Castle in hope of greater â—â—curity 13. Mâ—llaine hath a sumptuous Library the fiâ—st founding of which it owes to Cardinal Charles Borromâ—us who gave his own noble Library unto it and that the nobler in respect of Annotations upon divers Books of the Fathers which he lâ—ft to it written with his own hand Soon after Cardinal Frederick Borromaeus Archbishop also of the same Mâ—llaine assisted it with his endeavours and gave it not the name of his Family but from St. Ambrose who was once Aâ—chbishop there and the Patron of Mâ—llaine he gave it the title of the Ambrosian Library and being resolved to replenish it with Exotick Books he sent forth divers learned and vertuous men furnished with Chalices Patens and such other things as were for Church furniture into Asia to the Monks and Greek Bishops that by exchange or other price they might purchase Greek and Arabick Copies those espâ—cially of the Fathers nor was he disappointed In this Library were twelve thousand Manuscripts forty six thousand printed Volumes in the year 1645. Afterwards being yet increased and the former place too strait another was added as a supplement to it An. 1660. 14. In the higher part of the Palace of the Barberini in Rome the Cardinal Franciscus Barberini Nephew to Pope Vrban the Eighth by his Brother erected a Library in which is contained twenty five thousand choice Books of which number there are no less than five thousand Manuscripts 15. The Augustan Library is enriched with a multitude of Books and contains almost innumerable Greeks Copies in Manuscript if at least we may believe that Index of it which was imprinted at Augusta An. 1595. 16. That at Paris was founded by the most eminent Cardinal Iulius Caesar Mazarini in the endowing of which with a most precious Furniture of Books he neither spared gold or diligence Hither he caused to be transferred from the Archbishop of Trevers forty Chests replete with Manuscripts besides those other Books which he brought thither from the Library of Cardinal Richelieu and from some Provinces of France Of this Library there is an imprinted Index that gives a distinct account both of the number of the Books and names of the Authors in a very faithful relation 17. At Florence near to the Church of St. Laurence there is a Library that owes its founding to the Medicaean Family the Nurse of all kind of Vertues It was built by that Laurence Medices who in his Son gave the World that mild and meek Pastor of the Catholick Flock Pope Leo the Tenth The singularity of the Books in this Library may make amends for their multitude as will appear by the Index of it imprinted at Antwerpe 18. At the University of Leyden the choicest Monument of it is the Library there enriched with many manuscript Copies brought thither out of the East To this so flourishing an Academy Ioseph Scaliger the Son of Iulius Caesar Scaliger who was called the very Soul of Sciences left his own Manuscripts amongst which were divers Hebrew Syriack Greek and Latine ones the Index of which was published at Paris An. 1630. by Iacobus Golius a most excellent Linguist in that University 19. The famous Library at Oxford now called the Bodleian had a good Benefactor of King Henry the Eighth who employed persons into divers parts of the World to collect Books and from Constantinople by means of the Patriarch thereof he received a Ship laden with Arabick and Greek Books together with divers Epistles of the Fathers amongst which was that Epistle of St. Clement to the Corinthians which Baronius in the second Volume of his Annals so lamented as lost and which An. 1657. was printed and illustrated with Notes by N. the Prefect of this Library The
life But when his Brother return'd from Sicily he caught and committed this pleasant person to the care of Physicians by whom he was cured yet affirming that he never liv'd so happily and pleasingly as being altogether freed of trouble and yet in the mean time enjoyed many pleasures 19. A young man troubled with Hypochondriack melancholy had a strong imagination that he was dead and did not only abstain from meat and drink but importun'd his Parents that he might be carried unto his Grave and buried before his â—lesh was quite putrefied By the counsel of Physicians he was wrapped in a winding sheet laid upon a Bier and so carried upon mens Shoulders towards the Church But upon the way two or three pleasant Fellows suborned to that purpose meeting the Herse demanded aloud of them that followed it whose body it was that was there coffin'd aud carried to burial They said it was a young man's and told them his name Surely replyed one of them the world is well rid of him for he was a man of a very bad and vicious life and his Friends have cause to rejoyce that he hath rather ended his days thus than at the Gallows The young man hearing this and vexed to be thus injured rowsed himself upon the Bier and told them that they were wicked men to do him that wrong which he had never deserved that if he was alive as he is not he would teach them to speak better of the dead But they proceeding to deprave him and to give him much more disgraceful and reproachful language he not able longer to endure it leaped from the Herse and fell about their ears with such rage and fury that he ceased not buffeting with them till he was quite wearied and by this his violent agitation the humours of his body altered he awakened as out of a sleep or trance and being brought home and comâ—orted with wholsome diet he within a few days recovered both his pristine health strength and understanding 20. In our memory saith Lemnius a noble person fell into this fancy that he verily believ'd he was dead and had departed out of this life insomuch that when his Friends and Familiars besought him to â—at or urged him with threats he still refus'd all saying it was in vain to the dead But when they doubted not but that this obstinacy would prove his death and this being the seventh day from whence he had continued it they bethought themselves of this device They brought into his room which on purpose was made dark some personated fellows wrappâ—d in their sheets and such grave cloaths as the dead have these bringing in meat and drink began liberally to treat themselves The sick man sees this and asks them who they are and what about They told him they were dead persons What then said he do the dead eat Yes yes say they and if you will sit down with us you shall find it so Straight he springs from oâ—t his Bed and falls too with the rest Supper â—nded he â—alls into a sleep by vertue oâ— a liquor given him for that purpose Nor are such persons restored by any thing sooner than sleep 21. A noble woman though both her Husband and her self were white was yet delivered of a child of the colour of an Aethiopian whom when she was like to suffer as an Adulteress Hippocrates is said to have delivered by explaining the causes of such things and by shewing the picture of an Aethiop in the Chamber where she and her Husband lay and with which it seem'd the â—ancy of the woman had been strongly affected 22. Horace tells of a Noble Argive who in an empty Theatre believ'd he saw and heard I know not what rare Tragedians But that being cured by the care of his Friends he complain'd that they had extorted from him a mosâ— delightful pleasure and had taken from him a grateful errour of his mind Fuit haâ—d ignâ—bilis Argis c. saith the Poet. Who though he heard rare Tragedies of Wit And in an empty Theatre did sit And give applause in other things express'd All well good Neighbour kind man to his Guest A courteous Husband and one who would not Be raging mad at the breaking of a pot Knew hâ—w to shun a prâ—cipice had wit To 'scape a Well and pâ—ss an open pit This man recovered by the helps of art And care of Friends us'd sadly to complain Friends I 'm not sav'd by this your love but slain Robbed of that sweet delight I then did find In the so grateful errour of my mind 23. There was a Lady a Kinswoman of mine who used much to wear black patches upon her face as was the â—ashion amongst young women which I to put her from used to tell her in jest that the next child she should go with whiles the solicitude and care of those patches were so strong in her fancy should come into the world with a great black spot in the midst of its forehead and this apprehension was so lively in her imagination at 〈◊〉 time she proved with child that her Daughter was born marked just as the Mother had fancied which there are at hand witnesses enough to confirm but none more pregnant than the young Lady her self upon whom the mark is yet remaining 24. Pisander a Rhodian Historian laboured under such a melancholy fancy that he was in continual fears lest he should meet his own Ghost for he verily believ'd even while he was alive that his soul had deserted his body Such another person as this was in Ferrara saith Giraldus who could by no means be perswaded by Nicholaus Leonicenus his Physician that it was impossible â—or bodies to walk up and down without their souls he approv'd of such reasons as was propounded granting all the premises but ever when they went about to infer the conclusion he would then cry out he denied the whole of it 25. Menedemus a Cynick Philosopher fell into that degree of melancholy that he went up and down in the dress of a fury saying he was sent as a messenger from Hell to bring the Devils an account of the sins of all Mortals CHAP. II. Of the Comprehensiveness and Fidelity of the Memories of some Men. NExt unto that of Reason man is not endowed with a choicer and more necessary faculty than that of memory the treasury and safe repository of all the Arts and Sciences of all the Axioms and Rules which we have heaped up and with great study labour and long experience laid together for the better conduct and Government of life in this our mortal state It is confessed it is a delicate and frailer part of the soul and first of all others that receives the injurious impressions of age yet how long it hath been retained in some in its wonted vigour how heightned and improved in others see in the following instances 1. Avicenna an excellent Physician and Philosopher read over