County of Warwick Esquire He liv'd with the said Mary in one house full fifty two years and in all that time never buried Man Woman nor Child though they were sometimes twenty in houshold He had Issue by the said Mary five Sons and seven Daughters The said John was Mayor of the Town 1559. And again Anno 1572. The said Mary liv'd to ninety seven years and departed the eight of December 1611. She did see before her departure of her Children and Childrens Children and their Children to the number of one hundred forty and two 20. In St. Innocents Church-yard in the City of Paris is to be seen the Epitaph of Yoland Baily Widow to Mounsieur Dennis Capel a Proctour at the Chastelet which doth shew that she had lived eighty four years and might have seen 288. Verstegan saith 295 of her Children and Childrens Children she dy'd the seventeenth of April 1514. Imagine how she had been troubled to call them by a proper denomination that were distant from her in the fourth and fifth degree 21. In Markshal Church in Essex on Mrs. Honywoods Tomb is this Inscription Here lyeth the body of Mary Waters the Daughter and coheir af Robert Waters of Lenham in Kent Esquire wife of Robert Honywood of Charing in Kent Esquire her only Husband who had at her decease lawfully descended from her 367. sixteen of her own body 114 Grand-children 228. in the third Generation and nine in the fourth She liv'd a most pious life and in a Christian manner dyed here at Markshal in the ninety third year of her age and in the forty fourth of her Widowhood May 11. 1620. 22. Dame Esther Temple Daughter to Miles Sands Esquire was born at Latmos in Buckinghamshire and was marryed to Sir Thomas Temple of Stow Baronet She had four Sons and nine Daughters which liv'd to be marry'd and so exceedingly multiplyed that this Lady saw seven hundred extraâ—ted from her body Reader I speak within compass and have left my self a reserve having bought the truth hereof by a wager I lost saith Dr. Fuller Besides there was a new Generation of marriageable Females just at her death Had the Off-spring of this Lady been contracted into one place they were enow to have peopled a City of a competent proportion though her Issue was not so long in succession as broad in extent I confess very many of her descendants dy'd before death the Lady Temple dy'd Anno 1656. 23. Iohn Henry and Thomas Palmer were the Sons of Edward Palmer Esquire in Sussex It happened that their Mother being a full Fortnight inclusively in labour was on Whitsunday deliver'd of Iohn her Eldest Son on the Sunday following of Henry her second Son and the Sunday next after of Thomas her third Son This is that which is commonly call'd superfoeâ—ation usual in other Creatures but rare in Women the cause whereof we leave to the disquisition of Physicians These three were Knighted for their Valour and success as in their Nativiâ—ies 24. Another Example of superfoetation I will set down for the stories sake in the year of our Lord 1584. dyed the Noble Lord Philip Lewis of Hirshorne at his mansion House in the Palatinate three Miles from Heydelberg he left no Heir but his Lady was with Child his Kindred forthwith enter upon the Rents and Royalties and to gain the more full and perfect knowledge of them soon after the death of her Lord they pluck from her waste the Keys of all private places and that not without violence the better to enable them for the search they intended This outrage redoubled the grief of the poor Lady so that within few days after she fell in travel and brought forth a Son but dead and wanting the Skull Now were the next Heirs of the deceased Noblemam exceeding jocund as having attained to their utmost hopes and therefore now us'd the Estate as their own But it pleased God as out of a stone to raise up a Son to that desolate and disconsolate Widow For though she was not speedily deliver'd of him after the 〈◊〉 yet she remained somewhat big after her delivery suspecting nothing but that it was some prâ—â—ternatural humour or some disease that was remaining in her body She therefore consulted the Physicians who all thought any thing rather to be the cause of her disease than that in the leaâ—â— they suspected a second Birth so long after the â—irst They therefore advis'd her to go to the Baths by the Rhine she accordingly did as a sad and comfortless Widow attended only with one Maid came thither Iuly 1584. where it so fell out she found Augustus the Elector of Saxony together with the Princess his Wiâ—e as also many other Princes and their Ladies by which means all lodgings were so foretaken up that she could not find entertainment in any Inn especially being not known of what quality she was coming thither with so private a retinue as a single Maid At last discovering to the Governour of the place who she was and her last misfortunes not without some difficulty she procured lodging in his House for that night wherein she came thither But that very night when it was the tenth week from her former delivery it pleased God to send her in her aâ—â—liction and amongst strangers a lovely Boy The fame of which came to the ears of the Illustrious Princes who were then in Town The Elector of Mentz made her a noble provision for her Lying in The Elector of Saxony also sent her by way of Present one thousand Dollers Also all the Rents and Royalties before seiz'd upon were restored to this lawful Heir of her Husbands and Child of hers who also is yet alive saith Câ—spar Bauhinâ—s Superâ—oetation is by the distant Births of divers not raâ—ely confirmed A Dutch Woman in Southwark some twenty years since having invited divers of her Neighbours to her Upsitting found her self not well on a sudden and rising from the table was forthwith brought to bed of another This falling on a time into our discourse one then present reported that the like befel a Sister of his who three months after the birth of her first Son was delivered of a second CHAP. XXVI Of the strange Agility and Nimbleness of some and their wonderful feats HOmer in the commendation of the activity of Meriones calls him the Dancer in which Art he was so famous that he was known not only amongst the Greeks but to the Trojans also his enemies probably because that in time of Battel he made shew of an extraordinary quickness and nimbleness of body which he had acquired unto himself by the practice of this Art some of these who follow though they wanted an Homer to recommend them to posterity have excell'd not only Meriones in point of agility but have attain'd the utmost of what a humane body in this kind is capable of acquiring 1. Amongst those shews which were presented to the people
soon as the Veins of his Head were swollen with blood the string would burst asunder 4. The diligent Bartholinus tells of a Religious Person of forty years of Age who had the hinder part of his skull so firm and compact though Hippocrates affirm it to be the weakest thereabouts that he was able to endure a Coach-wheel to pass over it without any sensible damage to him 5. Amongst the rarities of Pope Paul the Fourth there is to be seen saith Columbus the Head of a Gyant for it is the biggest that I ever beheld in which the lower Jaw is so connate and conjoyned to the Head that it utterly wants all motion and could not but do so when the Person was living for I saw with these eyes the first joynt of the Neck so fastned to the hinder part of the Head that it is impossible it should ever move 6. In the County of Transtagana in Portugal near the Town call'd Villa Amaena there liv'd a Rich Man whose Wife was brought to bed of a Man-child which at his birth had a broad and hard knot upon his Fore-head his Parents by the advice of the Physicians made little of it the child being arriv'd â—o five years of Age it also was in that time much grown out so that the Physicians betook themselves to frequent purgations but all in vain for the knot without any pain grew out into a Pyramidical Horn of the length of a Span broad at the root of it and at the point the thickness of a Man's thumb end being grown to Man's estate he would not suffer it to be cut off though both Physicians and Surgeons affirm'd it might be done without danger he addicted himself to his studies and made singular progress therein 7. Hildanus reports he saw a Man who came into the World with a horn in the midst of his Fore-head it was inverted like to that of a Rams and turn'd upwards to the coronel â—uture or the top of his head 8. Twenty eight years after the death of Cardinal Ximenes the Grave wherein his body lay was digg'd up his bones taken out and his Head once the Palace of the greatest Judgement that ever appear'd in Spain his skull was found to be all of a piece without any â—uture the mark of a strong brain but withal the cause of the continual Head-achs he was so very subject unto in his Life the vapours that ascended into the head wanting that vent which is so usual in others 9. The Aegyptians have skulls generally of that hardness that hardly can they be broken with a stone that is flung at them on the contrary the skulls of the Persians are so very weak that they are broken with a small and inconsiderable force The cause of this is believed to be that the Aegyptians from their Boyage are used to cut their hair and their skulls are thus hardned by the heat of the Sun which also is the reason that few of them are bald on the other side the Persians do not cut their hair from their infancy and are accustomed to have their heads always cover'd with their Shasnes or Turbants 10. Albertus the Marquess of Brandenburgh who was born the 24 th of November Anno Dom. 1414. and had the sirname of the German Achilles had no junctures or sutures in his Skull as is yet to be seen at Heilbronna where it is kept 11. Nicholo de Conti saith that in his time the Sumatrians were all Gentiles and the Man-eaters amongst them used the skulls of their eaten enemies instead of Money exchanging the same for their necessaries and he was accounted the richest Man who had most of those skulls in his house 12. In Thebet amongst the Tartarians the people in times past bestowed on their Parents no other Sepulcher then their own Bowels and yet in part retain it making fine cups of their deceased Fathers skulls that drinking out of them in the midst of their jollity they may not forget their Progenitors 13. The Men of the Province of Dariene paint themselves when they go to the Wars and they stand in need of no Helmet or Head piece for their skulls have such natural hardness upon them that they will break a Sword that is let drive upon them 14. Iohannes Pfeil liv'd at Lipsia and while he practis'd Physick there a Citizen was his Patient who was so vehemently troubled with a daily and intollerable pain in his head that by reason of it he could take no rest either night nor day the Physician prescribed to him all things that might seem convenient for him and procure other Medicines at his own charges but all to no purpose for the sick Man over-powred with the extremity of his pain and want of rest gave up the Ghost Pfeil his Physician with leave of his Friends dissected the Head of the Deceased and in the brain found a stone of the magnitude and figure of a Mulberry by eating of which fruit the Patient had said he had contracted his Disease this stone was of an Ash colour and he afterwards shewed it unto many as matter of singular admiration 15. Pericles the Athenian was of a decent composure in respect of the other parts of his body but his Head was extraordinary great and very long in the figure and shape of it no way answering to the other lineaments of his body Hereupon it is that almost all the Statues that remain to be seen of him have Helmets upon the heads of them The Artificers taking that course to hide that natural deformity that was in â—â— Illustrious a Person 20. Philocles a Comical Poet was Aeschylus his Sisters Son this Man had a Head that was sharp raised and pointed in the Crown of it like a Sugar-loaf 21. Mahomet that great impostor and the framer of the Alcoran is said to have a head of an unusual and extraordinary bigness CHAP. XII Of the Hair of the Head how worn and other particularities about it APuleius thought the hair of the Head to be so great and necessary an Ornament that saith he the most beautiful Woman is nothing without it though she came from Heaven be born of the Sea brought up in the Waves as another Venus though surrounded with the Graces and attended with all the Troops of little Cupids though Venus girdle be about her and she breath Cinamon and sweet Balsom yet if she be bald she cannot please no not so much as her own Vulcan As a Beast without Horus a Tree without Leaves and a Field without Grass such saith Ovid is one without Hair It is without doubt a considerable ornament and additional beauty how some have worn it and concerning other accidents about it see the following examples 1. Cardanus relates of a Carmelâ—te that as oâ—t as he kemb'd his head sparks of fire were seen to â—ly out of his Haiâ— and that thereupon he was invited to feasts that
the saddle and left a wound upon the back of the Horse The Mahometans observing that terrible blow provoked him no farther but departed as they came The Almain without mending his pace came up safely to the rest of the Army 26. Iohn Courcy Baron of Stoke Courcy in Somersetshire the first Englishman that subdued Vlster in Ireland and deservedly was made Earl of it he was afterwards surprised by Hugh Lacy corrivaâ— to his title sent over into England and by King Iohn imprisoned in the Tower of London A French Castle being in controversie was to have the title thereof tryed by combat the Kings of England and France beholding it Courcy being a lean lank body with staring eyes is sent for out of the Tower to undertake the Frenchman and because enfeebled with long durance a large bill of Fare was allowed him to recruit his strength The Monsieur hearing how much he had eat and drank and guessing his courage by his stomach or rather stomach by his appetite took him for a Cannibal who would devour him at the last course and so he declined the Combat Afterwards the two Kings desirous to see some proof of Courcy's strength caused a steel Helmet to be laid on a block before him Courcy looking about him with a grim countenance as if he intended to cut with his eyes as well as with his arms sundred the Helmet at one blow striking his Sword so deep into the wood that none but himself could pull it out again Being demanded the cause why he looked so sternly Had I said he fail'd of my design I would have killed the Kings and all in the place Words well spoken because well taken all persons present being then highly in good humour He died in France anno Dom. 1210. 27. Polydamus the Son of Nicias born at Scotussa in Thessalia was the tallest and greatest man of that age his strength was accordingly for he slew a Lion in the Mount Olympus though unarm'd he singled out the biggest and fiercest Bull from a whole Herd took hold of him by one of his hinder feet and notwithstanding all his struggling to get from him he held him with that strength that he left his hoof in his hand being afterwards in a Cave under a Rock the earth above began to fall and when all the rest of his company fled for fear he alone there remain'd as supposing he was able with his Arms to support all those ruines which were coming upon him but this his presumption cost him his life for he was there crush'd to death 28. Ericus the second King of Denmark was a person of huge Stature and equal strength he would throw a Stone or a Javelin as he sate down with much greater force than another that stood as he sate he would struggle with two men and catching one betwixt his knees would there hold him till he had drawn the other to him and then he would hold them both till he had bound them He also would take a rope by both the ends of it and holding it thus in his hands sitting he gave the other part of it to four strong men to pull against him but while they could not move him from his seat he would give them such girds now with the right and then with the left hand that either they were forced to relinquish their hold or else notwithstanding all they could do to the contrary he would draw them all to the feat where he sate 29. The Emperour Tiberius had the joynts of his Fingers so â—irm and strongly compacted that he could thrust his Finger through a green and unripe Apple and could give a â—illip with that force that thereby he would break the head of a lusty man CHAP. XXV Of the marvelous fruitfulness of some and what number of their descendants they have liv'd to see also of superfoetation IN the front of this Discourse it will not be amiss to revive the memory of a Roman Matron in whom there were so many wonders concentred that it would almost be no less to forget her Ausonius calls her Callicrate and thus Epitapheth for her as in her own person Viginti atque novem genitrici Callicrateae Nullius Sexus mors mihi visa fuit Sed centum quinque explevi bene messibus annos Intremulam baculo non subeunte manum Twenty nine birth 's Callicrate I told And of both Sexes saw none sent to grave I was an hundred and five Summers old Yet stay from staff my hand did never crave A rare instance which yet in the two former respects you will find surpass'd in what follows 1. There lyes a Woman bury'd in the Church at Dunstable who as her Epitaph testifies bore at three several times three Children at a Birth and five at a Birth two other times 2. Elionora Salviata the Wife of Bartholomew Frescobald a Citizen of Florence was delivered of fifty and two Children never less than three at a Birth 3. One of the Maid-servants of Augustus the Emperour was delivered of five Children at a Birth the Mother together with her Children were bury'd in the Laurentine way with an Inscription upon them by the order of Augustus relating the same 4. Also Serapia a Woman of Alexandria brought forth five Children at one Birth saith Coelius 5. Anno 1553. The Wife of Iohn Gissinger a Tigurine was delivered of Twins and before the year was out brought at once five more three Sons and two Daughters 6. Here is at Bononia one Iulius Seutinarius yet living and is also a fruitful Citizen himself he came in the World with six Births and was himself the seventh his Mother was the Sister of D. Florianus de Dulphis my Kinsman saith Carpus 7. Thomas Fazel writes that Iane Pancica who in his time was marryed to Bernard a Sicilian of the City of Agrigentum was so fruitful that in thirty Childbirths she was delivered of seventy and three Children which saith he should not seem incredible seeing Aristotle affirms that one Woman at four Births brought forth twenty Children at every one â—ive 8. There is a famous story of the beginning of the Noble Race of the Welfs which is this Irmentrudes the Wife of Isenbard Earl of Altorf had unadvisedly accus'd of Adultery a Woman that had three Children at one Birth being not able to believe that one man could at one time get so many Children adding with all that she deserv'd to be sow'd up in a Sack and thrown into the River and accusing her in that regard to the Earl her Husband It hapned that the next year the Countess felt her self with Child and the Earl being from home she was brought to Bed of twelve Male-children but all of them very little She fearing the reproach of Adultery whereof yet she was not guilty commanded that eleven of them should be taken and cast into a River not far from the House
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
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
it was observ'd to succeed with the Patient according to his prognostick CHAP. VII Of the sense of Smelling the curiosity of it in some and how hurt or lost in others BY some one or other of the Beasts man is excelled and surpassed in every of the Senses but in this of Smelling by the most of them It is true we may better spare this at least in the perfection of it than any of the four other notwithstanding which there are manifold uses of it as in other things so for the recreation of the spirits and the preservation of life 1. That is wonderful which is reported of the Indians that at the first coming of the Spaniards thither the Natives could smell Gunpowder at a distance after the manner of our Crows and thereby knew if there were any that carried Guns near unto them 2. There was one Hamar who was a Guide to a Caravan as 't is vulgarly called that is a multitude of men upon their journey these wandered to and fro in the Lybian Sands and whereas he through disease or other accident wanted his sight there being no other who knew the way in those solitudes he undertook the conduct of that almost despairing company He went first upon his Camel and at every miles end he caused the fresh sand such as had any footsteps impressed upon it to be reached up to him and by the wonderful sagacity of his smell when they had now wandered yet further in that sandy and barren wilderness at least forty Italian miles he then told them that they were not far from an inhabited place At first no man believ'd this prediction of his in regard they knew by Astronomical Instruments that they were four hundred and eighty miles distant from Aegypt and fear'd they had rather gone backward than forwards but when in this fear they had journyed more than three days they beheld three Castles inhabited and before unknown to any man The inhabitants were almost utterly unarm'd who perceiving the Caravan as an unaccustomed sight they made haste to shut up their Gates and prepare for defence denying them water which was the only thing they sought After a light conflict the Castles were easily taken where having provided themselves of water they again set forwards This Story is set down by Leo Affricanus from whom I have translated this out of the Italian Tongue saith Camerarius 3. There was one born in some Village of the Country of Liege and therefore amongst Strangers he is known by the name of Iohn of Liege I have been inform'd of this story by several whom I dare confidently believe that have had it from his own mouth and have question'd him with great curiosity particularly about it when he was a little boy there being wars in the Country the Village of whence he was had notice of some unruly scattered Troops that were coming to pillage them which made all the people to â—lie hastily to hide themselves in the Woods that joyned upon the Forest of Ardenne there they lay till they understood that the Soldiers had fired the Town and quit it Then all return'd home excepting this Boy whose fears had made him run further into the Wood than any of the rest and afterwards apprehended that every body he saw through the Thickets and every voice he heard was the Soldiers Being thus hid from his Parents and sought for some days in vain they return'd without him and he liv'd many years in the Woods feeding upon Roots and wild Fruits and Mast. He said that after he had been some time in this wild habitation he could by the smell judge of the taste of any thing that was to be eaten and that he could at a great distance wind by his Nose where wholsome Fruits and Roots did grow In this state he continued shunning men with as great a fear as when he first ran away until in a very sharp Winter necessity brought him to that confidence that leaving the wild places of the Forest he would in the Evening steal amongst the Cattel that were fothered especially Swine and thence gleaned wherewithal to sustain his miserable life he was espyed naked and all overgrown with hair and being believ'd to be a Satyr wait was laid to apprehend him but he winded them as far off as any Beast could do At length they took the wind of him so advantageously that they catched him in a snare At his first living with other people a woman took compassion of him seeing he could call for nothing and supplyed his wants to her he applyed himself in all his occurrents and if she were gone abroad in the Fields or to any other Village he would hunt her out presently by his scent in such sort as Dogs use to do that are taught to hâ—nt dry foot This man within a little while after he came to good keeping and full feeding that acuteness of smelling left him which formerly governed him in his tasting I imagine he is yet alive to tell a better story of himself than I have done for I have from them who saw him but a few years agone that he was an able strong man and likely to live yet a good while longer 4. Of another man I can speak assuredly my self who being of a very temperate or rather spare diet could likewise perfectly discern by his smell the qualities of whatsoever was afterward to pass the examination of his taste even to his Bread and Beer 5. Cardanus confesses of himself that he had always some smell or other in his Nose as one while of Frankincense straight of Brimstone and soon after of other things he saith the cause of it was the exquisite subtlety of his sense the thinness of his skin and the tenuity of his humours 6. That did always seem a wonderful thing to me nor do I know the certain cause of it why some men can smell things that smell well but stinking things will not touch upon their sense nor are they able to perceive them Such a strange property as this is known to be in my honoured Uncle Mr. Iacobus Fiâ—chius the senior Regius Professor of Physick in our University 7. I know a woman saith Schottus who throughout the whole time of her life never had any such smell as to perceive the odour of any one thing whatsoever 8. Christopherus Heersard an Apothecary an industrious and skillful person in his employment told me not long since that by reason of his too frequent use of Camphire preparing and handling it in his Shop he had utterly depriv'd himself of his smell and that from thenceforth he must resolve to want that sense all his other being left entire unto him 9. In the utmost marches of India Eastward about the source and head of the River Ganges there is a Nation called the Astomes for that they have no mouths all hairy over the whole body yet cloathed with the soft Cotton
a Table wating on her Master in the Apartment of the Women and over-reaching her self to take a Flagon that stood a little too far from her she chanced to break wind backwards which she was so much ashamed of that putting her Garment over her head she would by no means shew her face after but with an enraged violence taking one of her Nibbles of her Breasts into her mouth she bit it off with such fury that she died in the place 2. In the same Country anno 1639 there was a great Lord who having had an exact search made for all the young handsome Damosels in his Province to be disposed into his Ladies service amongst the rest there was one brought him whom he was so taken with that he made her his Concubine She was the Daughter of a poor Soldier 's widdow who hoping to make her some advantage of her Daughters good fortune wrote her a large Letter wherein she expressed her necessitous condition and how she was forced to sue to her for relief While the Daughter was reading this Letter her Lord comes into the Room when she being ashamed to discover her Mother's poverty endeavours to hide the Letter from him yet could she not convey it away so but that he perceived it The disorder he observed in her countenance made him suspect something of design so that he pressed her to shew him the Letter but the more importunate he was the more unwilling was she to satisfie him And perceiving there was no way to avoid it she thrust it into her mouth with such precipitation that thinking to swallow it down it choaked her This so incensed the Lord that he immediately commanded her Throat to be cut whereby they only discovered the Mother's poverty and the Daughter's innocency He was so mov'd thereat that he could not forbear expressing it by tears and it being not in his power to make any other demonstration of his affection to the deceased he sent for the Mother who was maintained amongst his other Ladies at the time we spake of with all imaginable respect 3. In the speech which Cyrus made to his Sons a little before his death we read this If any of you saith he desire to take me by the hand or to see my eyes let him come so long as I breath but after I am dead and shall be covered I require you my Sons that my body be not uncovered nor looked upon by you or any other person 4. Lucius Crassus when according to the custom of all Candidates he was compelled to go about the Forum as a Suppliant to the people he could never be brought to do it in the presence of Q. Scaevola a grave wise man and his Father-in-law and therefore he besought him to leave him while he was about a foolish business having more reverence to his Dignity and presence than he had respect to his white Gown in which was the custom for them to appear who were suiters to the people for any office in the Commonwealth 5. Iohannes Baptista Lignamineus Bishop of Concordia being sent by his Brother Francis Bishop of Ferrara to Venice was present at that Feast whereat the Duke entertains the whole Nobility four times a year here it was that out of modesty retaining too long the burden of his Belly he fell into a grievous disease of which he also died and was buried at Ferrara 6. Embassadors were sent to Rome from the Cities of Greece to complain of injuries done them by Philip King of Macedon and when the Affair was discussed in the Senate betwixt Demetrius the Son of Philip and the Embassadors forasmuch as Demetrius seem'd to have no way of defence for so many defaults as were objected against his Father with truth enough as also because out of Shamefacedness he exceedingly blushed the Senate of Rome moved with the Modesty of Demetrius acquitted both him and his Father of the Accusations 7. Certain Fishermen of Coos drawing up their Nets some Milesian Strangers agreed with them for their Draught whatsoever it should prove it fell out that they drew up a Table of Gold whereupon a contest grew betwixt the Fishermen and the Buyers and at last improv'd into a War betwixt both the Cities in favour of their Citizens At last it was resolv'd to consult the Oracle of Apollo who answered they should send the Table to that man whom they thought the wisest whereupon it was sent to Thales the Milesian Thales sent it to Bias saying he was wiser than himself Bias sent it to another as wiser than he and so it was posted from one to one till such time as it returned to Thales again who at length sent it from Miletum to Thebes to be consecrate to the Ismenian Apollo 8. The Emperour Maximilian the first of that name forbade expresly that his naked body should be seen after he was dead He was the modestest of all Mortals none of his servants ever saw him obey the necessity of nature nor but few Physicians his Urine 9. The Milesian Virgins were in times past taken with a strange Distemper of which the cause could not then be found out for all of them had a desire of death and a furious itch of strangling themselves many finished their days this way in private neither the prayers nor tears of their Parents or the consolation of their Friends prevailed any thing but being more subtle and witty than those that were set to observe them they daily thus died by their own hands It was therefore thought that this dreadful thing came to pass by the express will of the Gods and was therefore greater than could be provided against by humane industry Till at last according to the advice of a wise man the Council set forth this Edict That every such Virgin as from thenceforth should lay violent hands upon her self should dead as she was be carried stark naked along the Market-place By which means not only they were restrain'd from killing themselves but also their desire of dying was utterly extinguished A strange thing that those who trembled not at death the most formidable of all things should yet though an innate modesty not be able to conceive in their minds much lâ—ss endure a wrong and reproach to that modesty though dead 10. Alvilda the beautâ—ful Daughter of Suiardus King of the Goths is said to be of so great modesty that usually covering her face with her Veil she suffered it not to be sâ—en of any man 11. King Henry the Sixth of England was so modest that when in a Christmass a shew of women was presented before him with their naked Brests laid out he presently departed saying Fie fie for shame Forsooth you be to blame 12. One of the Athenians of decrepit Age came into the Theatre at Athens to behold the Plays and when none of the Citizens receiv'd him into any Seat by chance he came by the place
in a schedule that by the instigation of Satan mov'd with false suspicions he had murdered his innocent Wife and having tied this Note to his Left Arm he threw himself headlong from the top of his House into the Street by which â—all he died 8. Ionuses a great Bassa of the Turks upon an overthrow of the Christians beheld amongst other Captives then taken the Lady Manto a most beautiful Greek as much surpassing all other the companions of her misfortune in loveliness as the Sun doth the lesser Stars Ionuses with this one view was himself taken prisoner and finding her outward perfections no less graced with inward virtues and her honourable mind answerable to her rare â—eatures he took her to his Wife honouring her far above all the rest of his Wives and Concubines and she again in all dutiful Loyalty seeking to please him for a space she lived in all worldly felicity and bliss not much inferiour to one of the great Sultanesses But not long after the Bassa more amorous of her person than secured in her virtues and aster the manner of sensual men still fearing lest that which so much pleased himself gave no less contentment to others also began to have her in distrust although he saw no great cause more than his own conceit not grounded upon any her evil demeanour but upon the excess of his own liking which mad humour of it self still more and more encreasing in him he became so froward and imperious that nothing she could say or do could now so please to content him but he still thought some one or other to be partakers with him Thus he tormented himself and her with his own passionate distrust until at length the fair Lady grieved to see her self thus without cause suspected and wearied with the insolent pride of her peevish Husband determined secretly to depart from him and so return again into her own Country Her purpose she discovered to one of her Eunuchs to whom she had also delivered certain Letters to be by him conveyed unto such of her Friends whose help she was to use in her intended slight These Letters the false Eunuch opened and so for the more clear manifestration of the matter delivered them unto the Bassa his Master who therewith enraged and calling her unto him forthwith in his fury with a Dagger stabbed her to the heart and slew her and so together with the death of his love cured himself of so tormenting a jealousie 9. Leontius an Athenian Philosopher had a Daughter called Athenais of admirable beauty and a singular wit the Father with a secret presage of her good fortune had left his whole estate and at his death only bequeathed to her an hundred Crowns saying that her fortune would be sufficient for her Upon this occasion she falls out with them and was thereupon by them forced to Constantinople Then it was that she insinuated her self and commended her cause to Pulcheria the Emperour's Sister whom she so much pleased that hearing she was a Virgin she caused her to be baptized nam'd her Eudoxia and married her to her Brother Theodosius the Emperour with whom she could do all things This was her ascent now hear her fall Upon the day of Epiphany as the Emperour return'd from Church with great pomp and magnificence a certain Countryman a Stranger brake through the press accosteth Theodosius who was of most easie access and presented him with an Apple of an extraordinary size esteem'd at that time a rare fruit the Emperour receiveth it gratefully and commanded to give the good man presently to the value of an hundred and fifty Crowns As soon as he was return'd to the Palace he goes to visit the Empress and full of joy gave her the fair present for a great rarity The good Empress having understood that Paulinus a great Favourite of Theodosius kept his Bed sick of the Gout to please and comfort him had sent him the Apple not mentioning from whom she had received it Paulinus was seised with so great a joy at such a favour from a person so eminent that the contentment he received charm'd at that time the pain of his Gout He so admired this goodly fruit that he judged it worthy of Imperial Hands and forthwith he sent it to the Emperour excusing himself through his indisposition that he was not himself the messenger Theodosius knew the Apple which he had very lately put into the Empress's hands whereupon a furious jealousie began to lay hold on his gentle spirit he instantly sends for Eudoxia and to sound her heart demanded what was become of the â—air Apple he had given her The poor Princess was overtaken something appeared on the brow of her Husband whereby she perceived thaâ— his â—air Soul was not in its ordinary situation she therefore declin'd entreaty and thinking to underprop her innocenâ—y with a lie said she had eaten the Apple The Emperour urged her upon this answer she who already was involv'd tumbled her self further into the snare and that she might not seem a Liar sware by the life and health of her Husband she had eaten it He to convince her of this impudence drew the fatal Fruit out of his Cabinet The Empress at the sight of it turn'd pale and was so confounded she had not courage eâ—ough to speak one only word Theodosius retireth in an instant with his heart drenched in Gall and Bitterness the poor Eudoxia on the other side poureth her self into tears without comfort The Prince Paulinus who knew nothing of that which passed was that night put to death without any form of process When the Empress understood of his sudden and unexpected death she then well saw that the Emperour was tainted with the venom of most cruel jealousie Eudoxia was remov'd from councel and manage of affairs deprived of the Imperial Bed and so went a voyage to Palestine to satisfie her Devotion 10. Theodebert King of France married Deutera she was a Widow before and had by her former Husband a most beautiful Daughter which she took along with her It was not long ere the Queen suspected that her Daughter had stollen the heart of her Husband from her and although there was no such thing yet so strong was her jealousie that her maternal affection gave place to it and without admitting of any leisure wherein a discovery of the truth might be made she caused the young Lady to be slain 11. Hippocrates the Physician had a smack of this disease for when he was to go from home as far as Abdera and some other remote Cities of Greece he wrote to his Friend Dionysius to oversee his Wife in his absence although she lived in his House with her Father and Mother who he knew would have a care of her yet that would not satisfie his jâ—alousie he would have his especial Friend Dionysius to dwell in his House with her all the time of his peregrination and to observe her
also devised to be made with the rest covered all with her pretty wings 21. Callimachus was a Workman of great note but he was sirnamed Cacizotechnos for he would alwayes be finding fault with his own Workmanship and could never see when to make an end still thinking he had not shewed Art enough There is a dance of Lacedemonian Women of his making a piece of work which he went about also to amend and when he thought to make it better he marred it in such manner that it lost all the grace that it had before CHAP. XIV Of the most applauded Actors upon Theatres and the Name Riches and Favour of great Persons they have thereby attained unto SOme of these have been Masters of that grace and sweetness in their pronunciation and have expressed things so much to the life by their choice and befitting gesture that they have wonderfully gained upon the minds of men thereby which being observed the most famous Oratours that ever were were not ashamed to become the Scholars of such men as these and had they not so done they had never obtained the perfection of their own Art 1. Richard Burbadge and Edward Allen were two such Actors in Queen Elizabeths time as no Age must ever look to see the like and to make their Comedies compleat Richard Tarleton who for the part called the Clowns part never had his match never will have 2. Andreas Salvadorus was an excellent Scenick Poet in which it was his peculiar happiness to have Lauretus Victorius for an Actor whose praise will continue to late posterity his voice was clear sweet and loud he had a distinct and luscious pronunciation an excellent singer by all which he gave as it were something of divine to every thing he had to deal in which appeared in that when he was gone the things he had pronounc'd seemed not the same in the mouths of others 3. Polus was a famous Actor at Athens of whom it is said that when he was to play such a part as required to be presented with a remarkable passion he privily brought in the Urn and bones of his dead son whereby he so excited his own passion and was moved to deliver himself with that efficacy both in his words and gesture that he filled the whole Theatre with unfeigned lamentations and tears 4. Roscius was so incomparable an Actor that he excelled all Mimicks and Players that came upon the Stage so that whensoever any thing was frigidly or but indifferently personated upon the Theatre the Spectators would commonly cry out Roâ—cius plaies not This man with his utmost study and diligence was subservient to the eyes and ears of the people and therefore he would familiarly glory in this That he did never bring any gesture before the people which he had not well practised at home and there approved of before-hand 5. When Tullius Cicero began to plead in Causes it is said of him That he applied himself to Roscius the Comedian and Aesopus the Tragedian for instructions This Aesopus was famous in Rome for action and they say That once playing the part of Atreus deliberating upon the punishment of Thyestes he was so transported that he struck and slew a servant as he suddenly passed by with the Scepter he then had in his hand This Aesopus in this employ attained to a vast Estate which was afterwards consumed in as much vanity as that whereby it had been gotten 6. Nicocreon of Salamine and Pasicrates the Solian contended with great earnestness since in the Shews that Alexander made at his return out of Aegypt into Phoenicia it fell to their lot to exhibit such Players as were far more conspicuous for their art than any others Pasicrates stood for Athenodorus and Nicocreon for one Thessalus whom Alexander himself favoured yet he discovered not this his inclination till such time as the Judges had pronounced Athenodorus the Victor Then Alexander as he departed said He did commend the Judges nevertheless he had rather have lost a part of his Kingdom than to have seen Thessalus overcome Also when Athenodorus being fined by the Athenians for being absent from their Bacchanals had besought Alexander to intercede by his Letter in his behalf he denied his request therein but paid for him the fine that was imposed upon him 7. Callipedes an Actor of Tragedies had a celebrious name amongst the Grecians and a mighty fame amongst all men for his surpassing skill and dexterity in that faculty This man meeting with Agesilaus saluted him first and then proudly joining himself with those that were walking made ostentation of himself supposing Agesilaus would take occasion to speak familiarly to him but perceiving no notice was taken Dost thou not know me O King said he Agesilaus looking upon him Are you said he Callipedes the Dicelict so the Spartans term those that are Mimicks and the word doth signifie an Idol or Image By this means he repressed the tumour of this mans pride and met with that humour of self-admiration that he was so far over-gone with 8. Demosthenes being once exploded by the people hasted home with his head covered and his mind troubled Satyrus the Tragedian followed him to whom Demosthenes lamentably complained That whereas he was more laborious than all other Orators and that he had much empaired the state of his body in the prosecution thereof yet he could not please the people but that Drunkards and Mariners and illiterate persons held the Pulpit while in the mean time he was rejected You say true said Satyrus but I shall soon remove the cause if you will repeat me some Verses of Euripides or Sophocles without Book Demosthenes pronounced some of them which Satyrus repeated after him with such a decency of countenance and such aptness of gesture that Demosthenes scarce knew them to be the same Here it was that he first understood what an accession of dignity and grace is to an Oration by action and thenceforth he accounted a declamation a thin and vain thing where pronunciation and action was neglected 9. Hippias and Sergius were two Tragedians and Mimicks in Rome who were in such favour with Marcus Antonius that they could do with him almost what they pleased Also Cytheris a woman of the same profession was so much beloved by him that he carried her with him in his Licter as he went from City to City and no less a Retinue waited upon her Licter than if it had been that of his mother 10. Theodorus Zuingerus soon after his childhood gave instance of what his Country might expect from him for in a Play that was publickly exhibited by Thomas Platerus the Father of Foelix when he sustained the person of Cupid with his sweet variety of gesture his becoming action and pleasant pronunciation he so turn'd the faces eyes and minds of all men upon him that tears of joy drop'd from the eyes of some of the Spectators
the heavenly Orbs sitting amongst the celestial company of blessed Souls and withal decreed that an Embassy should be sent unto Constantius his Son that he would send unto them the Corps of his Father and that he would honour the City of Rome with the Remainders and Funerals of a most noble and illustrious Prince 15. The death of Titus Vespasian the Emperour being made known in the evening the Senate rushed into the Curia as to bewail the loss oâ— the Worlds perpetual Guardian they then heaped upon him such honours as they had never voted him either present or alive and so decreed he should be numbred amongst the Gods CHAP. XXXIII Of the strange and different ways whereby some persons have been saved from death HE that thinks himself at the remotest distance from death is many times the nearest to it all of us indeed so neighbour upon it that the Poet has most truly said The Gods so favour none that they can say We will live this and then another day Yet as some men who have received the sentence of condemnation in themselves have met with an unlooked for pardon so others have miraculously escaped when to all humane reason they might be numbred amongst the dead 1. Four Christian Slaves being in the Ship of an Algier Pirate resolved to make their escape in a Boat which one of them who was a Carpenter undertook to build the Carpenter set himself on work making wooden Pins and other pieces necessary for the fastning of the boards whereof the Boat was to consist Having appointed a time for the execution of their design they took off five board â— from the room where the provision was kept whereof they used two for the bottom two others for the sides and the third for the Prow and Poop and so made up somewhat that was more like a Trough than a Boat their Quilt served them for Tow and having pitched the Boat well they set it into the water but when they would have got into it they found that two men loaded it so that being in danger of sinking two of the four desisted from that enterprise so that only two an English and a Dutch man adventured in it all the Tackling they had was two Oars and a little Sail all their provision a little bread and fresh water and so they put to Sea without either Compass or Astrolabe The first day a tempest at every wave filled their Boat they were forced to go as the wind drove they were continually imployed in casting out the water the Sea had spoiled their bread and they were almost quite spent when they were cast upon the Coasts of Barbary There they found a little wood wherewith they somewhat enlarged their Boat but narrowly escaping death by the Moors they got to Sea again Thirst troubled them most in which some shift they made with the blood of some Tortoises they took at last after ten days floating up and down they arrived upon the Coast of Spain at the Cape of St. Martin between Alicante and Valencia Those of the Country seeing them at a distance sent a Boat to meet them carried them bread and wine treated them very civilly and found them passage for England this was An. Dom. 1640. 2. An. Dom. 1357. there was a great plague at Coâ—en amongst many others who were infected with it was a noble Lady her name was Reichmut Adolch she lived in the new Market where her house is yet to be seen she being supposed to dye of it was accordingly buried The Sextons knew that she was buried with a Ring upon her finger and therefore the night following they came privily to the Grave and digged up the Coffin and opened it upon which the buried Lady raised up her self the Sextons ran away in a terrible fright and left their Lanthorn behind them which she took up and made haste to the house of her Husband she was known by him and received in afterwards being attended with all care and diligence she perfectly recovered and lived to have three Sons by her Husband all which she devoted to the ministerial Function The truth of all this is confirmed by a publick monumental Inscription erected in memory of so strange a thing and is yet to be seen in the entrance of the Church of the holy Apostles 3. I cannot but ponder that prodigy so loudly proclaimed in the Greek Anthology There was a Father and a Son in a certain Ship which as it fortuned was split upon the Rocks The Fathers age not able to grapple with the waves was soon overwhelmed and drowned The Son labouring to save his life saw a carcass floating upon the water and mistrusting his own strength mounted himself upon it and by this help reached the shore in safety he was no sooner free of his danger but he knew the Corps to be that of his dead Father who gave him life by his death as he had afforded him birth by his life 4. I read in the Relations of Muscovia set out by the Ambassador Demetrius of the memorable Fortune of a Country Boor the man seeking for honey leapt down into a hollow tree where he light into such plenty of it that it sucked him in up to the breast he had lived two days upon honey only and finding that his voice was not heard in that solitary Wood he despaired of freeing himself from his licorish captivity but he was saved by a strange chance A huge Bear came to the same tree to eat of the honey whereof these beasts are very greedy he descended into the tree as a man would do with his hinder parts forward which observed the poor forlorn Creature catched hold of his loins the Bear in a lamentable fright laboured with all his power to get out and thereby drew out the Peasant from his sweet prison which otherwise had proved his tomb 5. Aristomenes General of the Messenians had with too much courage adventured to set upon both the Kings of Sparta and being in that fight wounded and fallen to the ground was taken up senseless and carried away Prisoner with fifty of his Companions There was a deep natural Cave into which the Spartans used to cast head-long such as were condemned to dye for the greatest offences to this punishment were Aristomenes and his Companions adjudged All the rest of these poor men dyed with their falls Aristomenes howsoever it came to pass took no harm yet it was harm enough to be imprisoned in a deep Dungeon among dead carcasses where he was likely to perish with hunger and stench But a while after he perceived by some small glimmering of light which perhaps came in at the top a Fox that was gnawing upon a dead body hereupon he bethought himself that this beast must needs know some way to enter the place and get out for which cause he made shift to lay hold upon it and catching it by the tail with one hand saved