the Common-wealth of Genâ—…way pag. 787. 788. Nature changed IT chanced in our time at Breslaw in Silesia that a certaine young Maide hauing beene present with many others at the execution of a Theefe which was beheaded shee was so troubled there-with as shee fell to haue the falling sicknesse They applyed many remedies which did her no good A certaine Gossip according to the vsuall custome gaue her aduise saying If they gaue this Maide Cattes bloud to drinke the paine would cease Those which gouerned her following this foolish councell made her to swallow some But soone after the poore Mayde changed her naturall disposition and some-times tooke vpon her the nature of a Catte wauling leaping and running as those Beasts doe and watching softlie for Rattes and Mise in euery corner of the house trying by all meanes to catch them Shee continued in these Cattish exercises vntill the vehemencie of her fitte was past Maister MARTIN VEINRICH in his Commentarie of the beginning of Monsters Wonderfull Natures THere was a certaine Gentle man that could not endure an olde woman should looke vpon him and as it happened once that at a banquet there were certaine that had beene inuited vnknowne to him the which could not but looke vpon him his apprehension was so great as hee dyed sodenly In the same Commentarie of Monsters Cattes offend many with looking on them so as some hearing or seeing a Catte tremble and are much afraide the which I beleeue doth not proceed alone from the venome of Cattes but also from their disposition that doe see or heare them for they haue by Nature this influence from Heauen the which is neuer moued to doe her proper action vnlesse the contrarie obiect present it selfe I haue seene many of this minde and disposition in Germanie and some remaining in Goritzia If this proceeds onely of a naturall quallitie which is in fewe they that are subiect vnto it shewe it plainlie For beeing in Germanie and supping in the Winter time in a Stoue with very good company one of the troupe was much subiect vnto that humour The Hostesse knowing the disposition of the Man shutte a little Kitlin which shee had bred vp into a Cofer with-in the Stoue least this man seeing it should be offended But although hee did neither see it nor heare it yet a while after hauing smelt the ayre of a Catte his disposition enemie vnto Cats beeing stirred hee began to sweate growe pale and trembling to crye out not without amazement to all the companie that there was a Catte hidden in some corner of the Stoue MATHIOLVS vpon the 6. Booke of DIOSCORIDES Chap. 25. I haue knowne a Princesse adorned with all vertues of the minde and body that could not endure the sight of a Catte beeing other-wise of an actiue spirit and armed against all the difficulties of the world Shee imputed the cause of this feare to that which happened to her Mother beeing with Childe with her for on a time a Catte did so terrifie her as shee sounded and was long sicke of this accident Cattes did not feare her before that time when as shee did see them but this falling sodenly as it were in her lappe shee was much amazed THOMAS ERASTVS in his Disputations HIPPOLITVS LANZON a Mantouan Gentleman did so abhorre to see a Hedge-hog as if hee were not sodenly drawne away hee would sweate and faint MARCELLVS Dâ—…NATVS in his Admirall Physicall Histories lib. 6. Chap. 4. I haue knowne a Peasant in Normandie that had neuer eate Bread Flesh Fishe nor Cheese Egges were his onely foode and cheefest nourishment BRVGEMIN in his first Booke of Meate Chapt. 24. Wee haue also seene IHON de la CHESMAYE a Parrisien Secretarie to King FRANCIS the first who did so detest and abhorre the smell of fruit or Apples as hee was forced to rise from the Table when any one was brought And if they came but neere vnto his nose hee presently bled If hee did see any by chance and could not retire himselfe he sodenly stopt his nostrils with peeces of bread Wee haue heard that many issued out of the noble familie of CANDALES in Guienne haue bin of that disposition not to endure the smell of Apples The same Author IAMES of FARLI an excellent Phisition in his time doth testifie of him-selfe that it troubled him as much the eating of Garlike as if he had drunke poyson and he added that the same fittes which appeared in them that had drunke poyson came vnto him hauing eating Garlike Some learned men hold that this hatred proceeds of an opinion which wee haue conceiued that those things which we detest are bad eyther to all in generall or to vs in particular The same There was at Chauny in Picardie a Maide of an honest house about sixteene yeares olde the which vnto that age had neuer fed of any thing but of Milke She could not endure the sent of bread and if they had cast neuer so little of the crumme into her Milke shee smelt it a farre off the which I haue seene with mine eyes and carefully obserued The same BRVGERIN lib. 2. chap. 6. I haue knowne a man hating Cheese so much as if they did put neuer so little in his meate hee presently smelt it and did cast vp his gorge after a strange manner MARCELLVS DONATVS liâ—…er 4. of his Physicall obseruations There was an Italian Earle had a foote-man who if hee had eaten an Egge his lippes began presently to swell his face lookt of a purple hew markt with blacke spottes in diuers places foming at the mouth as if he had taken poyson The same Author An Italian Lady faire and vertuous named FRANCISQVINE wife to Count MATHEVV FRANGEPAN a Noble-man of great power and worth was foureteene yeares old before she could euer be drawne to eate any flesh A certaine Cardinall did abhorre the smell of Roses Late Physitions say that there was a whole familie at Milan to whom the vse of Cassia was so contrary as if any one of them tooke it hee dyed The number of those that cannot taste nor drinke any kinde of Wine with-out offence is infinite I haue a Sonne which doth abhorre Colewortes I my selfe if I see Pourslaine I lothe it Euery man hath some particular affection SCALIGER in the 153. Exercitation against Cardan Sect. 10. I haue knowne an olde woman that did flye the vse of Melons in a whote Countrie hosding that meate very agreeable to others of the same place but for them of her age the worst in the world My Father could neuer swallow any parte of a Hare nor of any Fowle Not long since a Noble-man of accoumpt dyed who could neuer eate nor swallow any meate if it were not some-what Salted MARANTA lib. 3. of the Methode to know Simples The youngest Daughter to FREDERIKE King of Naples a worthy Princesse whome I had some-times in cure for that cause that shee could not eate any flesh no not taste it If shee did but put
afterwards It is also a notorious thing that if in any sollemne Feast-day the Nunnes did lead her in procession to make the acte more reuerent by some extraordinarie wonder shee was raised from the ground in the presence of them all aboue three Cubittes high Sometimes shee carryed a little Image of IESVS CHRIST new borne and naked and in weeping for shee could powre out aboundance of teares when shee pleased her haire grewe downe to her heeles where-with shee couered the Image then sodenly her haire appeared in their first length Shee did many such other illusions especially on sollemne dayes to make all more admirable These were her principall miracles In the meane time the Pope the Emperour and the great men of Spaine did write vnto her and by their Letters did beseeche her to haue them and their affaires in recommendation in her prayers yea they asked her aduise in matters of very great importance as it appeared by Letters that were found afterwards in her Closset More-ouer there were many Ladyes and Gentlewomen which did not swadle their Children new borne before the Abbesse MAGDELINE had with her holye hands toucht and blest the swadling bands in like sort all the Nunnes of Spaine were wonderfully well pleased to haue such a Mother to whome they did attribute a good part of the holynesse of their Orders In the end GOD would haue this fraude of Sathan layde open For MAGDELINE after that shee had spent about thirtie yeares in this acquaintance with the Diuell and beene Abbesse twelue yeares shee began to growe wearie of her passed life There-fore after that she had detested these Diuilish Artes and the horrible society of Sathan shee discouered freely and when as they least dreamt of it this notable wickednesse vnto the Visiters of the Order Some Spaniards of credit and very learned haue reported vnto mee that MAGDELINE knowing that the Nunnes had discouered her fraude and that fearing to bee accused shee had preuented them confessing her offence first for that the custome of Spaine is that if any one did freely confesse an offence which deserued a grâ—…euous punishment hee was pardoned Euery one was amazed at this confession the newes thereof was so strange and they were of opinion to inquire more curiously of this matter To proceede more lawfully therein and with better order MAGDELINE was imprisoned in the Couent where she was Abbesse where beeing examined shee confest all and yet the Moore continued his illusions still for whilest shee was in prison watcht narrowly by men that were at the dore of the prison and that they did examine her cause the Nunnes beeing gone into the Church at midnight to sing Mattins MAGDELINES fantosme came and sat in the Chaire in the Quier after the accustomed manner and was seene vppon her knees as it were praying and attending the other Nunnes so as euery one thought verely it had beene their Abbesse and that the Visiters had suffered her to come vnto the mid-night Mattins for the great testimonies shee gaue of her repentance But the next daye following the Nunnes vnderstanding that MAGDELINE came not out of prison reported vnto the Visitors what they had seene the night before They hauing well examined the matter found that MAGDELINE went not out of prison Her processe was in the ende sent to Rome and for that shee had voluntarily confest her offence shee was absolued CASSIODORE RENEY in his Relations ZVINGER in the Theater of mans life volum 5. lib. 4. BODIN lib. 2. of his Demonomania Chap. 7. I will tell you what I haue seene beeing at Calaris a Towne in the Iland of Sardinia whereas then they talked of the arraignment of certaine Witches who they sayd had had conference with them of France and of Nauarre which had beene sought out and punnished not long before A very faire Gentlewoman about seauenteene or eighteene yeares of age being inticed by one of these Witches came to haue conference with a Diuill who came some-time to see her in the shape of a goodly man by meanes whereof he deceiued her and had his pleasure on her shee beeing fallen greatly in Loue with him Hauing entertayned her some-time they descouer that she was a Witch and although shee were conuicted yet could they not get her to confesse her faults but contynuing obstinate she beleeued confidently that the Diuill would saue her as he had promised and transported with the affection which she bare him she spake many things which did terrefie them that heard her To conclude shee suffred her-selfe to bee put aliue into the fire calling still vpon this Diuill and so perished miserably ANT de TORQVEMADO in the 3. iourney of his Hexam An other Gentlewoman rich faire and of a very great quality seeing a knight her neighbour who was rich and a goodly Gentleman shee fell in Loue with him looking on him with great affection but not descouering her passion Some-time after the Diuill espying this Gentlewoman tooke vpon him the shape of this knight and proceedes in such sort as hee winnes the Gentlewoman vpon condition that hee should marry with her Shee who thought it had beene her knight accepted of him and receiued him manie nights into her Chamber where hee late with her In this sort they spent some monethes during the which the Diuill perswaded her not to send any message vnto him for that their businesse must continue secret and when hee should see her hee would not seeme to knowe her and therefore although shee were some-times before the true Knight shee made no shewe of her affection as also shee imputed it to dissimulation that hee spake not vnto her and gaue no signe of that which concerned their Allyance Some-times after the Gentlewomans Mother gaue her Daughter a certaine relick to weare about her Whereat the fayned knight counter fetting an amazement came no more and so some monethes were spent during the which the Gentlewoman knowing that the true Knight made Loue to another shee grewe into an extreame iealousie and not able to endure this distemperature in her braine shee sent one daie to intreate him to come and speake with her hauing some-thing to say vnto him The Knight ignorant of the cause but other-wise a courteous Gentleman went presently vnto her found her alone and sayd that hee was come to heare and receiue her commandements The Gentlewoman seeing him and hearing him speake like one that did scarce knowe her shee beganne to complaine of him for that so longtime hee had not cared to see her nor speake to her The Knight much amazed as one that did not conceiue the meaning of this woman answered her in such sort as shee thought he dissembled to much Growing therefore into choller she beganne to chide him saying that seeing hee had enioyed her so long there were no reason hee should nowe thinke to for-sake her but he must performe the promise which he had made to marry her and if he would do other-wise besides that shee would
him and had renewed all that which was the cause of age the which made him to seeme younger then hee was The Admirall was desirous to knowe the truth and found that the was as it old man had sayd The same Author That aboue written is not impossible addes TORQVEMADO seeing that in our time wee knowe a verie admirable thing of a man mentioned by FERNAND LOPES of Castagneda Historiographer to the King of Portugall in the eight booke of his Chronicle where he sayth that NONNIO de CVGNE being Viceroye at the Indies in the yeare 1536. there was a man brought vnto him as a thing worthie of admiration for that it was auerred by great proofes and sufficient testimony that hee was three hundred and fortie yeares old Hee remembred that hee had seene that Cittie wherein he dwelt vnpeopled being then when he spake one of the chiefe of all the East-Indies Hee had growne young againe fouretimes leauing his white haire and hauing newe teeth When the Viceroy did see him hee had his haire and his beard black although hee had not much And as by chance there was a Physition present the Viceroy would haue him feele this olde mans pulce the which he found as good and as strong as a young mans in the prime of his age This man was borne in the Realme of Bengala and did affirme that hee had at times neere seauen hundred wiâ—…es whereof some were dead and some hee had put away The King of Portugall aduertised of this wonder did often inquier and had yeerely newes by the fleete which came Hee liued aboue three hundred and seauentie yeares The same Castagnede addes that in the time of the same Viceroy there was also found in the Cittie of Bengala an other man a Moore or MAHVMETAN called XEQVEPIR borne in a Prouince named XEQVE who was three hundred yeares olde as hee sayd all those which did knowe him did also certefie it for that they had great presumptions and testimonies This Moore was reputed amongst them for a holie man by reason of his austernes and abstinence The Portugals did conuerse famyliarly with him and besides that the Histories of Portugall are faithfully collected and certefied by verie autenticall witnesses there were in my time both in Portugall and in Castille many witnesses which had seene these old men The same ALEX. BENEDICTVS reports in his practise that hee had seene a woman called VICTORIA who had lost all her teeth and beeing growne bald other teeth came againe at the age of eighteene yeares AMB. PARE Booke 24. Chap. 17. I haue heard Mistris DESBECK saie that shee had knowne a woman seauentie yeares olde the which in certaine monethes for some yeares had her monethly courses verie orderly In the ende comming downe into great abondance shee died Shee reported vnto mee an other memorable Historie that shee had seene and knowne an honorable woman being then a hundred and three yeares olde and soone after died who beeing a hundred and one had her monthly courses very orderly where-with shee felt her selfe wonderfully eased and as it were restored the which continued from the hundred and one yeare vntill her death which was at the age of a hundred and three The Marshalls wife of Pleatenbourck a gentlewoman of the noble famelie of Ketlercks in Wesphalia hauing past seauentie yeares returned to haue her monthly purgations very orderly and was as lustie as shee had beene long before These orderly courses continued foure yeares but in the ende they came in greater abundance then before and yet shee was helthfull vntill the age of eightie foure Shee liued yet sixe yeares and died in the ninetie yeare of her age R. SOLENANDER Booke 5. of his Physicall Obseruations Cons. 15. sect 41. 42. 43. Strange Fearefull and horrible Visions IN the liues of DION and BRVTVS in PLVTARKE wee read of horrible apparitions which appeared vnto them a little before their deaths and wee read in the Histories of Scotland in the life of King ALEXANDER the third a strange cause of a fantosme which appeared vnto him the day of his third marriage presaging his death the same yeare But omitting ancient Histories besides those that wee haue represented in the first Booke wee will adde some in this There is a Noble and ancient familie at Parma called TORTELLES hauing a Castell in the which there is a great Hall vnder the Chimney wher-of there doth sometimes appeare an ancient Woman seeming to be a 100. yeares old This signifieth that some one of the familie shall dye soone after I haue heard PAVLA BARBIANO a worthy Lady of that family report supping one night together at Belioyeuse that a young Maide of that house being sick the old Woman appeared which made all to thinke that the Maide should soone dye but the contrarie happened for the sicke Maide escaped but an other of the same family which before was in very good health dyed sodenly They say this old woman whose shadow appeares was some-times a riche Lady who for her money was slaine by her Nephews which cutte her body in peeces and cast it into the Priuies CARDAN liber 16. Chap. 93. of the diuersitie of things ANTHONY 〈◊〉 of whose despaier I haue spoken else-where the lastnight of his life being layed he imagined to see a very tall man whose head was shauen his beard hanging downe to the earth his eyes sparkling and two torches in his hands whome ANTHONY demanded what art thou who alone like a furie doest walke thus out of season when euery one doth rest Tell mee what seekest thou What doest thou pretend In saying so ANTHONY cast himselfe out of his bedde to hide him-selfe from this vision and died miserably the next day BARTLEMEVV of Bolonia in his life IAMES DONAT a rich gentleman of Venice beeing in bedde with his Wife hauing a waxe candle light in the Chamber two nurses sleeping by in a pallet with a little Childe hee did see one open the Chamber doore verie softly and an vnknowne man putting his head in at the dore DONAT riseth takes his sword causeth two great Lamps to be light goes with his Nurses into the hall where hee findes all shut where-vpon hee retiers backe to his Chamber much amazed The next daie this little Childe not full a yeare olde and who then was well died CARDAN in the same Booke and Chapter Two Italian Marchants being vpon the way to passe out of Piedmont into France did incounter a man of a far heigher stature then any other who calling them vnto him vsed this speech returne to my Brother LODOVVIK and giue him these letters which I send him They being much amazed aske what are you I am sayd he GALEAS SFORZA and so vanished sodenly They turned head towards Milan and from thence to Vigeneue where LODOVVIK was at that time They desire to speake with the Duke saying that they had letters to deliuer him from his Brother The Courtiers laugh at them and for that they
The end was that from that time they poluted themselues with a horrible and infamous Adultery Being plonged into this Gulfe Satan and their filthy lusts did th◅ust them head-long into others that were more horrible and fearefull fo◅ hauing made many practises together the first attempt of their cruell wickednesse was against the Signior of Chabrie who was massacred walking alone in his warren by two murtherers subordned by the Aduocate After this paracide the Adulterers returne to their accustomed filthye course without all shame or remorce giuing scope to theyr execrable lusts the which the eldest son◅e could not disgest and seeing his mother could not liue any where without the Aduocate hee gaue her a graue admonition adding many reasons to excuse his boldnesse This cursed mother dissembling her rage against her Sonne complaynes of his conceit iustifies her selfe impudently and these drops of water of good and necessary aduice did more inflame the fire of their vnbridled lust After shee had bitterly reprehended the indiscretion of her Sonne and highly extolled the Adulterous and Murtherous Aduocate she forced her sonne to make a submissiue speech vnto him full of excuses But not content herewith she resolued to kill him There was a Gallery in the Castle whereas the yong Gentleman did vsually walke to behold the Gardin and pleasant countrie about It was high aduanced and hung ouer a steepe Rocke at the foote whereof lay this Garden The Aduocate by the aduice of this cursed Mother did cunningly loosen certaine boards in the Gallery so as the young Gentleman comming soone after in the morning according to his custome to take the aire of this prospect setting his foote vpon these disioynted boards hee fell down head-long where his brains were beaten out This was the second murther A yonger sonne was yet remayning in the house who doubting nothing that his Mother had beene the cause of these two Parricides was yet greeued to see the Aduocates carriage In the ende hee descouered so much villany in their familiarity as he held them to bee the cruell murtherers of that noble Familye making some shew of his discontent to see their brutish conuersation Hee speakes roughly to the Aduocate and lookes but sowerly of his Mother These wicked wretches resolued to preuent him fearing that he would attempt something against them The Aduocate corrupts one in the house with money to murther him who obserued this young Gentleman so diligently as one day being a hunting whilest his Hunts-men rewarded his Hounds hee staying vpon the side of a Rocke which ouer-looked a lowe champian the descent whereof was very dangerous towards the valey by reason of the steepnesse This murtherer who had all the day watcht for an aduantage did runne behinde him and thrust him downe so forceably as this poore Gentleman was sooner at the bottome slaine then hee felt the murtherer who had so outragiously murthered him These murtherers after all this finding that the seruants of the house did marke and obserue them did practise to mar◅ie together but there was one betwixt them the Aduocates wife They conspire her death and the Aduocate hauing many imaginations lying one night by her he strangled her with a Napkin and shee being ready to giue vp the ghost he began to crie out aloud and to call for his seruants and neighbours to helpe him They come from all parts and he cryes and laments saying that a violent Catarre had suffocated his wife The simple and vulgar sort beleeued this report But the father of this honest Gentlewoman looking neerely into it and seeing her face extraordinarily swelled and her throate black and pale with other signes of a violent death seemed to allow of their opinions and hauing perswaded his Sonne in lawe to prouide for his Wiues funerall hee went speedily to the criminall Iudge and brought him with his officers and some friends to visit this poore carcase and to demand Iustice. The Sonne in Lawe being accused and charged by the Magistrate to answer directly is mute and by his silence confesseth the crime the Phisitions and Surgions hauing giuen their opinion that the Gentlewoman had been strangled The Iudge sends this execrable Parricide to prison who without any torture confesseth the fact The Parliament of Aix aduertised of this fact sends for him to see him As for his detestable associate hauing some notice thereof she packs vp the greatest wealth she had and flyes speedily into Sauoy from thence to Genoa where she changed her name The Aduocate being brought to Aix besides his last Parricide confesseth the detestable crimes before mentioned with all the circumstances He was condemned by a sentence of the Court of Parliament to bee sent backe to Grasse there to bee quartered aliue in the Market-place where he was executed to the great content of his father in Law and of the whole country As for that cruell Ladie of Chabrie shee was condemned by contempt and executed in picture In her voyage to Genoa she was accompanied by a base fellow called IAMES PALLIER who being some-what iealous of the cause of her flight a moneth after her cōming to Genoa in a morning when she was gone into the Towne he tooke away all she had but the apparrell shee wore and was neuer more heard of At her returne finding her selfe bare and naked after many discourses opprest with care and despaire in the end shee went to serue a Widow woman whose Daughters she did teach liuing yet some yeares confounded in her conscience with shame and dying in the hands of GODS Iustice hauing escaped that of worldly Iudges The Historie of our times About fiftie yeares since a Milanois hauing notice giuen him in France that his wife carried her selfe but loosely who beeing wel informed thereof as it seemed tooke post to come the sooner to Milan where being arriued without going vp into his house he caused his wife to bee called for who comming downe speedely to imbrace him counterfetting great ioye at her husbands arriuall she receiued a stabbe with a dagger in exchange of her imbracing calling her villanous wicked disloyall and treacherous After which blowe leauing his wife in that estate as hee should no more neede to feare any such lewde dealing hee tooke his horse and saued himselfe The histony of Italie Many yeares before a rich Gentleman of Sienna called NELLO beeing well aduanced in yeares married a yong Gentlewoman who suffred her selfe to bee corrupted by a young Gentleman vsing a Chamber-maide for the close conuaying of their filthy trade NELLO hauing discouered by the meanes of a seruant of his the wrong that was done him and not able to surprise the yong gentleman that had so vilanous◅y poluted his house hee reuenged himselfe vpon his Wife and her Chamber-maide the which he caused to be strangled in a Countrie house of his whether he had retired himselfe for the better effecting of his purpose where he past the rest of his dayes like a man confined The
the Mother had also giuen him the like councell to escape but GOD by his power did so staie him as hee had no power to flie Beeing carried to prison and examined at the first hee couered his parricyde accusing his Father that hee had slaine himselfe But his excuses beeing found friuolous hee was condemned to haue his right hand cut off then to bee pinched with hot pincers and in the ende hanged by the feete vpon a gibet and strangled with a stone of sixe score pound which should bee hanged at his necke A wicked counterfet beeing prisoner with him aduised him to appeale vnto Paris But hauing freely confessed the Parricide hee reuoked his appeale and was executed The History of our times Of the Heart of man Diuers Histories thereof in our time HAuing perced an Impostume grown of a long time vpon the seauenth turning ioynt where through the venom of his corruption it had made a great ouerture and gnawne the innermost membrane of the heart those which were present beheld one part of the heart which I did shewe them A. BENIVENIVS in his booke de abditis causis Chap. 42. Two Bretheren gentlemen falling out at tables the one of them gaue the other a wound with his knife iust on the seege of the heart the hurt gentleman bleeding exceedingly was carried and layed on a bed whereas all signes of death appeered Beeing sent for I applied that to the heart which I thought â—…it to strengthen it The patient hauing beene as it were at deathes doore vntil midnight beganne to come to himselfe and hauing vsed all the meanes possible I could deuise for his preseruation at length I sawe him cured whereby I knewe the heart had not beene perished as at the first I doubted but the filme or Capsula thereof called PERICALDION by the Greekes was lightly tainted The same Author Chap. 65. We haue seene ANTHONY ALâ—…IAT hurt and hauing his Pericordian vntoucht True it is that hee did sigh very much and lowd The internall parts beeing hurt bring death foure waies either through necessity of their function and office as the Lunges or by reason of the excellency of their nature as the Hart or through much losse of bloud as the Liuer the great arteries and veines or through the malignity of Symptomes and accidents as the neruie parts the ventricle and bladder Although some parts be incurable yet are they not mortall of absolute necessity otherwise death would ensue vpon the incurable hurts of boanes gristles and lygaments The Pericordion then is not mortall of it selfe but because it is impossible to attaine it without offending many other noble parts CARDAN in his Commentarie on the Aphorismes of Hipocrates booke 6. apb 18. Anatomizing a Scholler of mine dead in the Vniuersitie of Rome I found that this yong man had no Pericardion by meanes whereof in his life-time hee swounded very often and seemed as one dead through which defect at length hee died COLVMBVS booke 15. of his Anatomy A certaine Theefe being taken downe from the gallowes where he had bene hanged and not quite strangled was carefully looked vnto and recouered But like an vngratious wretch as he was returning to his old trade againe hee was apprehended and throughly hanged Wherevpon we would needes Anatomize him and wee found that his heart was all heary Which is likewise reported among the Grecians of Aristomenes of Hermogenes the Rhetorician of Leonydas of Lysander and others namely of a dog that ALEXANDER the great had This haire denotes not onely promptitude of Courage and peruerse obstinacy but many times valour contemning all danger BENIVENIVS in Chap. 83. de Abditis causis Vpon a certaine time making the Anatomy of a man at Ferrara wee found his heart cleane couered ouer with haire and indeede he had beene all his life time a desperate ruffian and a notable theefe AMATVS the Portingale in Centur. 6 Cur. 65. Being at Venice and present at the execution of a very notorious theefe the hangman that quartered his bodie found his heart meruailous hairye M. A. Muret booke 12. of his dyuers readings Chap. 10. I haue seeâ—…e the sepâ—…um that distinguisheth the ventrycles of the heart to be a gristle in some mens Bodies in others the left ventricle wanting or so little as it could hardly bee discerned Columb booke 15. of his Anatomy I found in two mens bodies that I opened a boane in the rootes of the great artery and of the arteryall vaine CORN GEMMA in the 2. booke of his Cyclognomia pag 75. In another I found a little boane betweene the gristly circles of the heart the chiefe artery and arteriall veine like to the boane which is commonly found in the heart of a stagge CORN GEMMA in the 1. booke Chap. 6. of his Cosmocritif Doctor MELANCHTHON in his first booke of the Soule testifies of CASIMIR Marquise of Brandebourg a Prince greatly afflicted in his life time with sundry griefes and consumed with long watchings that beeing opened after his decease the humor enclosed in the fylme of the heart was â—…ound quite dried vp and the heart so scorched that it was like a peare burnt in the fire TH. IORDAN in the 1. booke of signes of the plague Chap. 16. Not long since a Romaine gentleman died after hee had languished along time Being opened no heart appeared neither was there any part of it but the fylme left the vnmeasurable heate of his long sicknesse hauing wholy consumed it BERN. IELASIVS in the 28. Chap. of the 5. booke of the nature of things A young Prince being sickly and very much troubled with a payne at the heart assembled a great many Physitions togither for to consult of his dissease Among others there was a young practitioner who declared how he had read in certaine notes that the vse of garlick euerie morning expells a kinde of worme that feedes vpon the heart But both the remedy and the young man that propounded it were despised Not long after this Prince died and his body was opened by the commandement of his Father for to see the cause of his sicknesse death The dissection made they found a white worme hauing a sharpe bill of horne like a pâ—…llets gnawing the heart The Physitions tooke it aliue and layd it on a table in a circle made of the iuyce of garlick The worme began to writh and wriggle euery way still eschuing the iuyce that compassed it about Finally surmounted by the strength and sauor of the garlick it died within the circle to the astonishment of those that had despised so easie a remedie I. HEBANSTEIF in his treatise of the plague It is not long agoe that in the great Duke of Tuscans Court a certaine Florentine beeing assistant at the merry conceites of a pleasant iester was suddainly seized with vnexpected death whereat the company and his friends being much abashed for their better satisfaction after he was knowne to bee starke dead they had him opened and there was
no cause discerned of such a death but only a liue worme which the A◅atomists found in the capsula or filme of the heart P. SPHARER Physition in his Obseruations A certaine woman hauing voyded for the space of many da◅es together a thick and purulent vrine at length died and beeing opened was found interressed in the heart with certaine impostumes and two stones I. HOVLIER Comment 1. on the 6. booke sect 2. aphoris 4. of HIPPOCRAT and the Comment on the 75. aph of the 4. booke The Emperour MAXIMILIAN the second had three little stones found in his heart of the bignes of a pease but not of equall quantity and weight In his life time hee was very much afflicted with a panting of the heart I. WIER in the 4. booke Chap. 16. of the impostures of euill spirits In the heart of IEROME SCHEIBER that died at Paris in the yeare 1547. was opened in the presence of SYLVIVS HOVLIER FERNEL professors in Physick there was foūd an hard blackish roūd stone as big as a nutmeg and weyghing Certaine drammes to the great wonder of all men AER MVRGEL Physition In diuers mens hearts there are found Cornes or hard things like vnto stoanes of the bignes of a nut in others fat in the ventricles or verie thicke Carnosities sometimes of two pounde weight or other substance like the marrowe of sodden beefe Also tumors impostumes of the bignes of an hens egge which in some haue caused co◅ruption of the membrane of the heart in others wasting of the heart it selfe in others mattory and long congealed vlcers The History of them are described by the Doctors of Physick BENIVENIVS IACOT VESALIVS ERASTVS COLVMBVS FERNELIVS HOVLIER IOVBERT and others in their obseruations Commentaries and disputations Which it shall suffise to haue touched in a worde Touching the hurts of the heart FERNELIVS in the fi◅t booke of his Panthologia Chap. 12. holds that if they bee not deepe and penetrated farre into the ventricles of the heart the person hurt dies not presently To which effect IOHN SCHENCK of Grafenberg Doctor of Phisick at Fribourg recounts in the 2. booke of his Physickall Obseruations Obserue 209. that hee had heard a learned Physition tell how a certaine scholler studying at Ingolstad beaing stabbed with a poygnard into the heart the two ventricles wherof were found pearced through and through ranne a good way bleeding and liued a full houre after speaking and cōmending himselfe to GOD. I protest I haue seene a gentleman at Thurin which fought with another that gaue him a thrust vnder the left pappe penetrating euen into the substance of the heart and yet for all that he struck diuers blowes at his enemy that ranne away from him pursuing him the length of two hundred pace and then fell downe dead to the ground After which I opened him and found a wound in the very substance of the heart so bigge that one might haue laid his finger in it and a great quantity of bloud falne vpon the Diaphragma AMER PARE in the 9. Booke Chap. 32. Of Comets IN this Section I will briefly represent the Comets seene in Europe for these hundred yeares or thereabouts adding that which GARCEVS in his Meteorologie LICHOSTENES and others haue obserued vpon this point In the yeare 1500. in the moneth of Aprill a Comet appeared in the North vnder the signe of Capricorne The same yeare Prince CHARLES was borne afterwards Emperor the 5. of that name and SOLYMAN Sultan of the Turkes Soone after folowed the spoile which the Tartares made in Polonia the famine in Swabe a plague throughout all Germanie the taking of Naples by the French A rising of the peasants in the Bishop rike of Spire against the Bishop and the Canons the taking of Modon and some other places in Morea by the Turkes ISMAEL Sophie expelled out of the kingdome of Persia by the Turkes whereof they ceazed The second yeare after the plague made a horrible spoile almost throughout all the whole world the which had for fore-runners figures of crosses falling out of the ayre vpon mens clothes A warre followed in Bauaria two yeares after this plague after the which many great men both spirituall temporal died The Emperor MAXIMILIAN the 1. vanquished the Guelders and then the Hongariens whom he reduced vnder his obedience In the yeare 1506. a Comet appeared in August towards the North couering the signes of Leo and Virgo hauing neere vnto the Chariot a thick and shining taile stretched out betwixt the wheeles of this Chariot for which cause some Astronomers called it the Peacocks taile In September after died PHILIP the 1. king of Spaine father to CHARLES and FERDINAND Emperors The same yeare the Turkes were defeated in battaile by the Persians and on the other side they tooke Modon in Morea from the Christians and defeated their fleete Then followed a ciuill warre betwixt BAIAZET and his sonne SELIM and FRANCIS SPORCE Duke of Milan was taken in Italy by the French As for that which happened in the following yeares the History of our time doth shew it as well in respect of warres Inundations death of famous men and merueilous alterations in Europe the causes whereof we will attribute to the iust iudgements of GOD punishing the sinnes of the world we say only that Comets seeme oftentimes to be fore-runners and Trumpets of the wonderfull iudgements of the Lord as a French Poet speaking of a Comet seene in the yeare 1577. said in the 2. day of his weeke O frantick France why doost not thou make vse Of the strange signes whereby the Heauens induce Thee to repentance canst thou teare-lesse gaze Euen night by night on that prodigious blaze That hairy Comet that long streaming Starre Which threatens Earth with Famine Plague and Warre The Almighties Trident and three forked fire Wherewith he strikes vs in his greatest ire But let vs consider the other Comets according to the order of the yeares In Nouember 1523. there was seene a Comet and soone after the heauens seemed all on fire casting forth infinite flames of lightning vpon the earth the which did tremble afterwards there hapned strange Inundations of water in the realme of Naples Soone after followed the taking captiuity of Francis 1. King of France Germanie was troubled with horrible seditions LEVVIS King of Hungary was slaine in battaile against the Turkes There were wonderfull stirres throughout all Europe and Rome was taken and spoiled by the imperiall Armie In the same yeare of the taking and sack of Rome which was 1527. there was seene another more fearefull Comet then the precedent there followed after it the great spoiles which the Turkes made in Hungary a famine in Swabe Lombardie and at Venice warre in Zuitzerland the siege of Vienna in Austria the Sweat in England the ouer-flowing of the Sea in Holland and Zeland where it drowned a great Country and an Earthquake in Portugall which continued eight dayes In the yeare 1531. from
her maide And then turning her selfe vnto them shee sayd wee haue often heard tell of the last day but wee neuer regarded it till now we see it come which sayd they all fell downe on their knees calling vnto GOD for mercie Therevpon a furious gust of winde tore away the roofe of the house and tearing downe the walles brake the posts seelings and bords of the Stoue all to fitters But in the middest of this feareful tempest the Mother Children Maide remained safe and vnhurt although the timber stones flew as thick as hayle about their eares Satan seeming to bee in the middest of this storme and confounded by the feruent praier of the little flock darted a great beame of twelue foote long as though it had beene an arrowe flying in the aire with the ayde of a violent whirle-winde iust through the windowe of the Stoue at this poore company kneeling against a bench But the holie Angells turned it another way so that it lighted with terrible fury in a corner right against the fornace of the Stoue The same tempest ouerthrewe a Country-mans house vpon his wife and some of their neigbors which were in it at that time and yet they were neuer hurt with the ruine FINCEL in his 3. booke of the meruayles of our time IOHN SPAVGEMBERG Minister of Northuse going to an hot house according to the manner of the Germains and remayning there a good while with his Children bathing themselues assoone as euer they were gone out of it the place sanke and fell downe without hurting any body I MANLIVS in the first booke of his Collections Vpon Easter eue 1565. after horrible whirle-winds thunder lightning hayle and signes of fire in the aire a violent inundation of waters disgorged it selfe vpon a great village named Groesse in the dioces of Friberg in Misnia the torrents and streames wherof swelled with such fury in an instant that they ouer whelmed forty houses in that village without the losse of any creature saue one Childe There were many preserued as it were by miracle two Children with their mother were sound vntouched of the water vnder the ruines of a house in a heape of strawe also two others in a Cellar a nurse with her Childe leaning against a Ladder a blinde man in his entry and diuers others both great and small in high places which with-stood the fury of the water PH LONICER in his Theater of examples in the example of the 3. Commandement pag. 198. I knewe an honorable woman of singular pietie and modestie that some twenty yeares since through an extraordinary and long suppression of her tearmes was a great while and at times very sorely troubled in minde so that she was often determined to haue killed her husband sleeping and her selfe after One day her keeper being gone forth about some businesse shee rose out of her bed and in her smock ranne into a garden behinde her house where by a rope of the well which was seauen or eight fathom she let herselfe downe to the bottom and then by the same rope got vp againe and returned all wet to her Chamber hauing beene vp to the Chin in water Not long after seeming to be some-what better she walked abroad and carryed along with her a Son of hers that is now of very great hope but was then some 4. or 5. yeares old with full entent to drowne him and her selfe in a riuer that was thereby vnto the bridge whereof she made many iournies being still entertained with the Childes comfortable prattle Returning home againe within a while after shee was easily recouered namely by letting of bloud in the Saphena and taking of a gentle purgation After which she had 4. or 5. sweete Children She hath many times told me that in those accidents a man attired in white and of a very pleasing coūtenance appeared vnto her who tooke her by the hand and kindly exhorted her to trust in GOD. Being in the Wel som-what that was very heauy lying on her head and laboring to make her let go the rope for to plunge her ouer head and eares in the water so drowne her this same personage came vnto her tooke her by the arme holpe her to get vp againe which she could neuer haue done of her selfe He also comforted her in the garden and led her very gently to her Chamber where hee vanished away In like manner hee met her as shee was going towardes the bridge and followed her a loofe of vntill such time as she returned home Beeing thorough well shee desired nothing so much as leaue this world and her praiers da◅ely tended to that effect At length GOD heard her and about a moneth before her sicknesse whereof shee dyed going into the kitchen for to wash her handes and her face one of her eye teeth on the right side fell out of her head without any precedent or ensuing paine Wherevpon she went vnto her husband being in bed shewing him the tooth sayd vnto him husband the Lord calls me and it is the accomplishment of my desires O what an happy creature am I Her husband some what mooued there with endeuored notwithstanding to comfort her and falling of purpose into other talke arose went and prayed After that this honorable dame shewed her selfe alwaies merier to her husband and friends then before being graue and seuere to her children and was fairer and lustier then euer she had bin in seauentene yeares that she had liued a wife Towards the end of the moneth there being no apparance of any such matter as she was going to rise betimes in the morning according to her custome for to looke to a young child she had and to tend the affaires of her house shee was constrained to keepe her bed Wherevpon her husband comming in she put him in minde of her tooth and the speeches shee had vsed to him about it and therefore exhorted him to submit himselfe vnto the will of GOD. He being gon vp for to commend his deare moitie vnto him that neuer reiecteth the praiers of his seruants she tooke al her iewells and putting them vp in her purse sent them by her eldest Daughter to him and desired him to keepe them for her sake Hee came downe and gently rebuked her for this apprehension Oh husband sayd shee I haue no neede of any thing in this world for I am going to my GOD. O how blessed am I during her sicknesse which lasted twenty daies I was for the most part present with her beeing tied there vnto for diuers reasons Shee put mee in remembrance againe of that I haue declared before and from so many excellent deliuerances drewe an assured argument of her saluation The day of her decease approching she began to smile and being demanded the cause thereof by mee shee answered softly in mine eare I see my man O how beautifull he is then crying out shee said Stay for mee stay for me All the while
she was sick she made no account neither of children kinsfolkes friends nor of any other thing in the world And when her husband many times brought their children vnto her she sayd nothing but God blesse you God be your Father and Mother and to the yongest of them Hah little Souldiar She neuer commended them but once vnto her husband And after that shee beheld them with a regardlesse eye A quarter of an houre before her departure she called for her Petti-coate to rise and as she was about to go out of her bed she desired to be made vnready and being laid downe againe she sent for her husband and vsed these words vnto him Behold the end of my desire and the beginning of my felicitie IESVS CHRIST is my hope Good husband I desire but one thing of you Pray vnto GOD for me Her husband and children being prostrated on their knees after an earnest praier vnto GOD she closed her eyes as if she had been going to sleepe died with a sweeter countenance then euer she had had in al her life before Extracted out of my Memorials Demoniacks Examples of diuers illusions of Sathan ALthough there be many times some naturall causes of phrensie or madnesse yet is it without question that the Diuill entreth into certaine persons and in them causeth furies torments either with naturall causes or without them seeing such as are so diseased be often cured by remedies which are not naturall Many times also such spectacles are so many prodigies and predictions of things to come Some do◅en yeares since a woman in the country of Saxony which could neither write nor read being tormented of the Diuill and her fit being past she talked both in Greeke and Latin of the warre of Saxony that happened afterward and pronounced words in Greeke and Latin the sence whereof was that there would be great trouble vpon earth and sedition among the people PH. MELANCHTHON in one of his Epistles Foure yeares before that there was a Maide in the Marquisate of Brandebourg who pulling away the haires from the Furre of any ones garment that came before her those hayres were presently turned into peeces of the country money which this maid gnawed on with an horrible grating of her teeth There were diuerse that hauing snatched some of those peeces out of her hand found them to be very money indeed and do keepe them still This maide was very much tormented at times but within a while after she was thoroughly cured and euer since liued in good health She was often-times prayed for and neuer any other ceremonie was vsed The same I haue heard that in Italy there was a woman a very idiot possessed of the Diuell who being demanded of LAZARVS BONAMI a very learned personage accompanied with his Schollers which was the best verse in VIRGIL suddenly answered Discite institiam moniti non temnere Diuos This sayd shee is the best and worthiest verse that euer VIRGIL made get thee gone and come no more to tempt me PH. MELANCHTHON in his epistles G. PRVCER in the 1. booke of his Comentary of Diuinations Chap. 9. P. BOVISTAV in 26. Chap. of his Prodigious Histories ANTHONY BENIVENIVS in the 8. Chap. of his booke of the hidden causes of diseases writeth that hee sawe a young woman of the age of 1◅ yeares whose hands bowed very strangely backwards assoone as a certaine paine tooke her in the bottom of her belly At her fearefull cryes her belly swelled so big that one would haue thought shee had beene gone 8. moneths with child finally she lost her breath and not able to continue in a place shetumbled from one side of the bed to the other putting her head many times betweene her legges as if she would haue plaid some tumbling trick Then being questioned concerning that which had be falne her she neuer remembred any such matter But searching saith he the causes of this disease we were of opinion that it proceeded from a suffocation of the Matrix and from malignant vapours fuming vpward to the detriment of the heart and braine Whervpon we endeuoured to ease her with medicines but that seruing to no purpose she became more outragious then before and at last began to vomit long crooked Yron nailes tagges of points filled within with waxe and wound all about with hayres and so great a portion of her breakfast that it was not possible for any man whatsoeuer to swallowe it whole Hauing sundry times began such manner of vomitings in my presence I mistrusted that shee was possessed of an euill spirit which charmed the eyes of the assistants whilst he cast those things abroad As presently therevpon it was verified by more apparent signes proofes for afterward we heard her making predictions doing other things which surpassed all vehemencie of sicknesse yea all humaine vnderstanding I WIER in the 4. Booke of diabolical impostures Chap. 6. MEINOR CLATH a Gentleman dwelling at Boutenbrouck a Castle in the Duchie of Iuilliers had a seruant named WILLIAM who 14. yeares together was tormented of the Diuill One day swelling mightily about the throate and looking very pale so that they were affraid he would haue falne downe IVDITH his Mistresse a very honest Gentlewoman gathering her folkes together began to call vpon GOD where-vpon there suddainly issued out of this WILLIAMS mouth amongst other trash all the fore-part of a Shepheards breeches Flint-stones some whole some broken little bottoms of thred a false head of haire needles a peece of a boyes silke doublet and a Peacocks feather Being demanded concerning the cause of his sicknesse hee answered that he met with a woman hard by Camphuse which blowed in his face from whence he thought it proceeded But afterward when he was well he confessed that this accusation was not true and that he was induced by the diuill to say so Furthermore he added that all those prodigious things came not out of his body but were throwne against his mouth by the Diuell whilst they saw him vomit One day being more carefully looked vnto by reasō they were afraid he would haue done himselfe some mischiefe his eyes remained so fast closed together that it was impossible to open thē At length GERTRVDE CLATHS eldest daughter of some 12. yeares of age comming vnto him exhorted him to pray to GOD that it would please him to restore his sight againe wherevpon WILLIAM desired her to pray which she did and her eies were immediatly opened to the great amazement of all that were present The Diuil often perswaded him not to giue eare eyther to his Mistresse or any other that troubled his head with talking to him of GOD who could not helpe him seeing hee was once dead as hee had heard it publickly preached Another time striuing to put his hand vnder the Kitchin-maides clothes and shee rating him for it by his name hee answered in a big voice My name is not WILLIAM but BEELZEEVB wherevnto his Mistresse
good and heauenly inspiration seeing hee spake so holylye and deuoutly of the excellencie of Christian religion Although the sicke man knew well that these admonitions proceeded from a sincere and true heart yet for that hee had diuerse times reiected them hee began to frowne saying vnto the Bishop You beleeue as I thinke that I doe willingly nourish this obstinacie in my minde and that I take delight in this vehement passion of despaire If you bee of that opinion you are deceiued I will tell you to the ende you may knowe my resolution that if I could bee perswaded that the iudgement of GOD might by any meanes bee changed or mitigated for mee it should not greeue me to bee tormented ten thousand yeares with the sharpest paines of Hell so as I might haue any hope of rest after this long sufferance But euen in that whereby you doe exhorte me to gather some hope I see all meanes of health and pardon taken from mee For if the testimonies of holye Scripture haue any authoritie as they haue doe you thinke that IESVS CHRIST hath sayd in vaine That he which hath renounced him before men hee will renounce him before his heauenly Father doe you not see that it concernes mee and that it is as it were particularly verified in my person what shall become of him whom the Sonne hath disauowed before his Father when as you say that wee must hope for no saluation but in IESVS CHRIST Therevpon hee did expound certaine passages of the Epistle to the Hebrews and of the second Catholike Epistle of Saint Peter out of the which hee drewe terrible conclusions against himselfe Wee cannot beleeue with what grauitie and vehemencie his wordes were deliuered neyther was there euer man heard pleading better for himselfe then SPIERA did then against himselfe Hee did alledge notable things of GODS Iustice detesting his fore-passed life admonishing all that were about him very earnestlie not to thinke that a Christians life was a light thing and easily discharged That it doth not consist onely in hauing the head Baptized in reading certaine verses and Texts of the Gospell and to bee termed an honest man but it was needfull he should liue as the doctrine of trueth doth command him Therevpon hee repeated a Text out of Saint Peter exhorting vs to shewe through holynesse of life certaine signes of the loue of GOD towards vs and of the confidence wee should haue in him Hee sayde moreouer that hee had knowne many who after they had tasted the sweetnesse of true felicitie they suffered them-selues to bee so carryed away as they had no longer care to performe that which belonged to a Childe of GOD. Hee protested that hee had some-times imagined that his sinnes had beene hidden and that hee could not bee punished for that CHRIST had made satisfaction for them but then hee knew too late that those things belonged onely to the elect and chosen of GOD betwixt whose sinnes and the heauenly and celestiall Throne IESVS CHRIST setts his precious bloud and the dignitie of his obedience as a vale and shadowe to couer them and doth plant them against the diuine vengeance as a high and strong Rampar that sinners repenting them might not bee opprest nor drowned with the deluge and ouer-flowings of their offences and sinnes As for himselfe seeing that hee had renounced our Sauiour IESVS CHRIST hee had as one should say ouerthrowne this strong Rampar with his owne hands so as after this ruine and ouer-flowing the deluge of waters of this vengeance had couered and swallowed vp his soule One of his most familiars said vnto him that he did hold the cause of this his great torment to proceed from aboundance of melancholie humours which did so trouble his braine SPIERA remembring that hee had many times refuted that opinion and seeing they were to begin againe sayd vnto the other you may thinke what you please but GOD in trueth hath troubled my spirit and depriued mee of iudgement seeing it is impossible for mee to haue any hope of my saluation Hauing continued in such and the like speeches during his aboad at Padoua they carryed him backe to his house at Ciuitelle where hee dyed in this despaire This which is worthy of consideration among the Histories of our time is drawne out of a discourse published by Maister HENRIE SCRINGER a learned Lawyer who was then at Padoua did see and many times talke with this poore SPIERA About twenty yeares before a very famous Doctor throughout all Germanie called KRAVS remaining at Halle in Swabe hauing often-times turned his conscience sometimes towards GOD sometimes towards the worlde hauing inclined in the end to the worser part sayd and confest publikely that hee was vndone and fell so deepe into despaire as hee could neyther receiue nor take any comfort nor consolation so as in this miserable and wretched estate of his soule hee slew him-selfe most miserably In the Historie of Germanie Cardinall CRESCENCE being at Verona to passe on farther about some matters of importance was much troubled the 25. of March with writing and hauing laboured very late at night rising a little out of his chaire to take breath he imagined that he did see a black Dog of an exceeding greatnesse hauing fiery eyes and his eares hanging to the ground which came directly towards him and then hid himselfe vnder the Table Hee was presently like one in a sowne but beeing come againe to himselfe hee cryed out alowd calling his seruants that were in the former Chamber and commanded them to seeke this Dogge with a light But not finding him there nor in the anti-chamber a Feauer seized on him and encreased in such sort as hee dyed Towards the ende of his life hee cryed often to his seruants Driue away this Dogge which comes vp to my bed It was not possible to resolue nor to comfort him But hee died in great despaire at Verona Historie of our time SLEIDAN lib. 23. of his Comentaries Vnder the raigne of King FRANCIS the second the Kings Aduocate in the Parliament of Daulphiné called PONSENAS after that he had sold his patrimonie his wiues and borrowed much money of his friends to buie this office hee consumed what remained in keeping of open house hoping to be soone recompenced to the double But beeing falne sicke of a disease vnknowne to the Physitions hee fell into despaire of GODS helpe and mercy and representing daylye vnto himselfe the death of some innocent persons executed at Romans and at Valence whome hee had pursued Hee denyed GOD called vpon the Diuill and made all the horrible curses and Imprecations that might bee imagined His Clarke seeing him in this despaire spake to him of the mercies of GOD alledging certaine passages of the Scripture to that purpose But insteed of turning vnto GOD and asking pardon for his offences he sayd vnto him O STEPHEN how black thou art the young man who was redish hayrd excused himselfe the Aduocate replyed againe
Algadefie was wholie ruined the houses and buildings beeing layd flat with the ground The fiue and twenty of May 1566. about three a clocke in the afternoone a clap fell vpon the Castle of Misnia burnt a floore of a Chamber melted kettles and Pannes spoiling all the Chambers entring and going out at the windowes then downe into the cellars to the great amazement of all but hurt not any person Three yeares after the nineteeneth of Iulie the thunder hauing rored from eight a clocke in the morning till foure in the afternoone the boult about one a clock light vpon the Colledge Church of the Towne-house Much Cattell and some men were found dead in the ficildes amongest other memorable accidents the lightning ceized vpon a Country fellowe who burnt all his Bodie ouer three daies after and then died The Mother of IEROME FRACASTORIVS an excellent Philosopher admirable Poet and happy Physition of our time hauing him in her armes giuing him suck was strooke with a thunder-clap and kild without any touch or hutt to the little Childe which was a presage of the glory that this excellent personage who liued long after and then died of an Apoplexie should bee crowned with Horrible fury IN the memory of our Ancestors a Carpentar of Wilsmarse a famous towne in Saxony some-times possest with a Phrensie traueling one day with some of his owne condition with out saying a worde tooke his hatchet and went towards his house where being entred he cloue in two two of his Children his Wife being great with childe hearing the noise ran to saue the third which hee left falling vpon his Wife and cut her and the fruite she bare in peeces And so being couered with bloud he returned to his companions being askt how he came so he came to his senses And then remembring what he had done he went againe to his house snatcht a knife and gaue himselfe a blow on the brest and fell downe dead vpon the ground CRANTZIVS in his 10. booke of Vandalia Of Giants IN the yeare 1511. the Emperor Mâ—…XIMILIAN 1. being at Ausâ—…ourg at an Assembly of the States they presented a man vnto him of an vnreasonable height greatnesse who at a fewe month-fulls and without any stay did eate a whole Sheep or a Calfe not caring whether it were rost or raw saying that it did but sharpen his appetite SVRIVS in his Commentary of the memorable things of our time IOACHIM the 2. of that name Elector of Brandebourg had a peasant in his Court called Little MICHEL by ANTIPHRASIS for he was eight foot high which is a great stature of a man in our time but little and small in comparison of great men in old time namely of Goliath and others about Iudea MATHEVV HORST in his collection of the combate betwixt DAVID and GOLIATH I haue seene a young mayden of a Giant-like stature whom they did carry from Towne to Towne to shewe her as a prodigious thing for the sight of whome euery man gaue some thing wherewith her Mother that conducted her and she were entertained She was in a hired Chamber by her selfe and there suffred her selfe to be seene with admiration Going as others did I inquired carefully of euery point and did learne both from herselfe and her Mother who was a woman of a meane stature that the maidens Father was not tall that in all their stocke there was not any one that exceeded the height of other persones that her Daughter vntill shee was twelue yeares olde was very little but falling at the same time into a quarten ague which had held her some monethes comming to leaue her shee beganne then to growe all her members beeing proportionable to that height so as when I did see her shee was about fiue and twenty yeares olde neither could I note from the head vnto the sole of the foote any disproportion in any of her members but a fit measure in euery one of them At this age of 25. yeares shee had not yet had her monethly Termes nature seeming to haue required and restrayned this excrementall bloud for the norrishment and preseruation of so great a body Shee was helth-full ill faced black simple and grosse writted and heauy of all her Body for the vitall vertue infused at the beginning into this body according vnto the measure due to the greatnesse of an ordinary person dispersed afterwards into so great a Masse could not with equall power shew the efficacie of his worke as in a meane bodie and experience doth shewe that vertue restrained shewes it selfe more vigorous then when it is two much dispersed for the regard of naturall causes of this extraordinary greatnesse by the meanes of the quarten ague wee will leaue the decision vnto Physitions and will not dispute with them but in a word if a person that is about the age of twelue or twentie yeares comes to growe through a sicknesse so as in proportion of Bodie shee comes to bee twise as heigh as anie other wee must confesse that this force of nature is extraordinarie and admirable We haue drawne this Historie out of MARCELLVS DONATVS a learned Physition Lib. 3. Chap. 14. Whereas he treats amply of the causes of the Giant-like height as his profession did require After the victorie which King LEVVIS the twelfth obtained at the Battaile of Lode beeing gone to Milan I found a young man in the hospitall so great as hee could not stand right vp hauing not suffycient norrishment of nature for the thicknesse of his Bodie and the proportion of his forces Hee was therefore layd vpon two beddes the one ioyned long waies vnto the other the which hee did fill with his length The Samogitiens which inhabite betwixt Prusia and Liuonia are verie talle and yet some-times they ingender Children which come to age are of a verie small stature and some-times others which growe wonderfull great SCALIGER in the 63. exercitation against CARDAN There was in our time in Bourdelois a man of an vnmeasurable heigth and greatnesse by reason whereof he was called the Giant of Bourdeaux King FRANCIS amazed to see so long a body commanded hee should be one of his Guarde Hee was a peasant of a grose spirit so as not able to applye himselfe to a Courtiers life after some dayes hee gaue ouer his Halbard and returned to his Village An honourable person who had seene him Archer of the Guarde did assure mee that hee was of such a heigth as any other man of an ordinarie stature might goe right vp betwixt his legges when hee did stride I. CHASSAGNON in his Treatise of Giants Chap. 6. In the yeare 1571 there was a Gyant seene at Paris whome euery man did runne to see Hee kept himselfe very close in an Inne and no man could haue the sight of him but in paying to see him Entring into the Chamber where hee was kept they did see with admiration a man of a strange height sitting in a Chaire but their wondring
of FOIX who as many thinke was brought vp in magick tooke vpon him to play the person of MARTIN GVERRE furthered therein aswell with his long absence as also that in the lineaments of his face hee some-what resembled him Presenting himselfe vnto the woman at the first shee would not acknowledge him for her hus-band but besides the conformity of bodie hee discouered so many secretts vnto her that had past betweene them two especially in the night after their marriage yea euen to the very apparell hee had left behinde him in a Chest at the time of his departure Things which could not bee knowne but by the right husband that at length not onely she but the most part of his kins-folkes and friends acknowledged him for MARTIN GVERRE in this opinion 4. years past without any contradiction At the end whereof a soldier trauelling that way told that MARTIN GVERRE had lost a leg Not long before this woman was entred into some suspition of her supposed husband by means wherof she tooke wittnesse vnder hand before two Notaries of the soldiers report Which to say truly was but onely vpon heare-say neuertheles it was the first foundation of this wretched TILLIERS misfortune For as it is hard for a lier not to vary so the woman gathered diuers speeches froÌ„ him that made her to misdoubt him and indeed solly cited by PETER GVERRE MARTINS Vnckle she not onely abandoned him but sued him extraordinarily before the Seneschall of Rieux where hee was condemned to death by sentence from the which he appealed to the Parliament of Tholouse which was infinitely trobled about the strangnesse of the case For on the one side TILLIER discouered all the particularities from point to point that had past betweene him BERTRAND before his going away and the talke they had had the first night they lay togither As also how after they had beene married some 7. or 8. years going into the CouÌ„try to one of their kins-folkes wedding because they lacked roome that therfore his wife was to lie with another womaÌ„ it was deuised betweene them that when the rest were a sleepe he shold come lie with his wife likewise howe they had had a Child naming the Priest that baptized it the God-fathers that were 〈◊〉 to it at the Font all with such a resolution and boldnesse that the woman could not tel what to say adding the motiues of his departure the trauells he had sustained both in Spaine and France Which perticularities were fouÌ„d afterward to be true by the report of MARTIN GVERRE himselfe That which makes this History more meruaylous was that this supposed hus-band had neuer conuersed with the other The presumptions that yet made for him were a double tooth a naile growing into the flesh on the right hand certaine moles and a red spot in one eye euen as MARTIN GVERRE had further in that he some-what resembled his sisters who were so besotted that they auouched him for their brother On the other side that which made against him was that a soldier hauing called him ARNOLD by his name hee praied him in his eare not to cal him so but MARTIN GVERRE Besides the which she brought proofe of an Vnckle of his who seeing him in the way of perdition came lamenting vnto him desiring him not to cast himself vtterly away But these proofes were not sufficient to disannull the former for to all obiections that were made against him he answered confidently laying all the cause plotting of his troble on PETER GVERRE his Vnckle whoÌ„ he had threatned a little before to make him yeeld an account of the gardianship that he had sometimes had of him And for to giue some collour to his saying hee desired that his wife might bee sworne to see whither shee would acknowledge him for her right husband or no declaring that he would put his life or death vpon her oth Which so amazed her that she would not accept it These circumstances so mooued the Iudges that they coÌ„mitted the Vnckle and the Niepce to seuerall prisons to the end one should not prompt the other Thinking the woman was drawne to make this accusation by the Vnckle who was in danger of his person As the Iudges were in this suspence it fortuned that the right MARTIN GVERRE came home where at the first sight al his neighbors knew him therewithall being aduertised of the pranke the other had playd him he went directly to Tholousa where he made petitioÌ„ to be admitted as a party in the cause Then were the Iudges more amazed then before because that ARNOLD with an impudent boldnes maintained that this was a CoÌ„nicatching knaue suborned by his aduersaries In this difference the Iudges for to be assured of the truth sent for the Vnckle out of prison set MAR. GVERRE among a great many others apparelled in the same apparel as the counterfet was to see whither he would know him or no but presently he went and picked him out from the rest and with great tokens of ioy gladnesse welcomed him home The like did BERTRAN crauing pardon for the wrong she had vnwittingly done him Neuertheles her husband not taking her words in good paiment with a frouning countenaÌ„ce began to accuse her How is it possible sayd hee that thou shouldst lend consent to this abuse for in mine Vnckle sisters there may be some excuse But none in the priuity that is betweene the man his wife And in this anger hee perseuered a long time notwithstanding any perswasion could be vsed to the contrary Which drewe the Iudges to thinke that it was a very pregnant presuÌ„ption to approue him for the right husband But yet that which held theÌ„ in some doubt was that they of the court examyning MAR. GVERRE whither euer he had receiued the Sacrament of CoÌ„firmation he answered that he had in the towne of Pamieres named the time the Bishop his God-fathers and God-mothers Whervnto ARNOLD seperately made the like answere Notwithstanding the which at last by sentence in the month of September 1560. he was declared attainted conuicted of the matter wherof he was was accused and therfore condemned to do penance in his shirte with a torch in his hand first in open Court afterward before the dore of the chiefest Church in Artiguls and lastly to be hanged and then his body to bee burned til it were consumed to ashes This Iudgement was giuen at Tholouse in the middest of September and afterward executed this wretched man hauing before he died acknowledged the truth of this history which was written since and published by M. IOHN CORRAS a great lawier with certaine Commentaries for to adorne and beautifie it with points of Lawe E. PASQVIER in the 5. booke des Recherches de la France Chap. 19. The yeare 1560. M AVRIAN TVRNEâ—…VS then Greeke reader at Paris Impostor a Comedy of ARISTOPHANES intituled the Waspes where mention is made of Euricles
BELLAY attribute to the diuine vengeance because hee kept not the promise which hee made with such an imprecation to the Millanois His death â—…ell on the 6. of May 1527. To this purpose I will adde another Historie though it be ancient reported by ALBERT CRANT in his 6. Booke of the affaires of Saxony Chap. 45. where hee writes that the Emperor FREDERICK the first being in Saint PETERS Monastery at Erford the floore whereon hee went suddenly sanke vnder him and if he had not caught hold on an Yron barre of a window hee had fallen into the Iakes of the Monasterie wherein certaine Gentlemen fell and were drowned amongst the which was HENRY Earle of Schuartzbourg who carried the presage of his death in an vsuall imprecation If I do this or that I would said he I might be drowned in the Iakes But omitting other ancient Histories it being no part of our purpose to touch them in these collections but reseruing them for some other hand and worke I will present the examples of our time concerning imprecations and despightfull speaches eyther against GOD or our neighbours A Soldiar trauelling through the Marquisate of Brandebourg feeling him-selfe not well staied in an Inne gaue his 〈◊〉 his money to keepe Not long after being recouered he asked it againe of the woman who had agreed before with her husband to detaine it Wherefore she denyed that she had any of him and rayled at him as if he had done her wrong to aske it whereat the traueller was so enraged that he accused her of disloyaltie and theft which the Host hearing he tooke his wiues part and thrust the other out of dores who iustly incensed with such dealing drew his sworde and ranne against the gate The Host began to crie out that hee went about to breake into his house and robbe him For which cause the Souldier was apprehended carryed to prison and arraigned before the Magistrate ready to be condemned to death The day came wherein sentence was to bee giuen and executed the Diuill entred into the prison and tolde the prisoner that hee should bee condemned to dye neuerthelesse he promised him if so bee hee would giue himselfe vnto him to keepe him from all harme The prisoner answered that he would rather dye innocent as he was then be deliuered by such means The Diuil hauing shewed him againe the danger wherein hee stood and receiuing the repulse promised not-withstanding to helpe him for nothing and worke in such sort that he should be reuenged on his enemies Hee councelled him then when he should be brought to his tryall to maintaine that hee was innocent and to desire the Iudge to let him haue him for his aduocate whom he should see standing there in a blew Cap which should plead for him The prisoner accepted the offer and the next day being brought to the Barre hearing his aduersaries accusation and the Iudges opinion required according to the custome of the place that he might haue an Aduocate to plead his cause which was granted him This craftye Lawyer stood forth and very subtilly began to defend his client alledging that hee was falselie accused and by consequence wrongfully condemned for the Hoste kept away his money and had misused him besides Therevpon hee vp and tolde how the whole matter had past and declared the place where the money was locked vp The Host on the other side defended himselfe and the more impudently denyed it giuing himselfe to the Diuill both body and soule if so be he had it Where-vpon this Lawyer in the blew Cappe leauing his cause layde hold on the Host carried him out of the hall and hoysted him vp so high in the ayre that it was neuer knowne what became of him afterward I. WIER in his 4. booke of Diuelish deuises Chap. 20. PAVL EITZEN in the 6. Booke of his Morales Chap. 18. saith that this happened in the yeare 1541. and that this Souldier came out of Hungarie In the Towne of Rutlingen a certaine traueller comming into an Inne gaue his Hoste a budget to keepe wherein there was a great summe of money At his departure asking it againe the Hoste denyed hee had any and rayled at him for charging him with it The traueller sued him in the lawe and because there was no witnesse of the matter hee was going to put the Host to his oath who was ready and most desirous to take it and gaue himselfe to the diuill if euer he receiued or kept away the Budget that was in question The plaintiffe required some respite to take aduise whether hee should put the defender to his oth or no and going out of the Court he met two men that asked him the occaston of his comming thither He vp and told them the matter Well sayde they wilt thou bee contented that we shall helpe thee in the cause He answred them I not knowing what they were Ther-vpon they returned all three into the Court where the two that came last began to maintaine against the Hoste that the Budget was deliuered vnto him and that he receiued it and locked it vp in such a place which they named The periured wretch could not tell what to reply and as the Iudge was about to send him to prison the two witnesses began to say it shall not need for wee are sent to punish his wickednesse Saying so they caught him vp into the ayre where he vanished away with theÌ„ and was neuer seene more IOHN le GAST of Brisae in the 2. volume of his Table-talke pag. 131. GILBERT COVSIN of Nosereth in his Narrations PETER ALVARADO a Spanish Captaine making warre on the Indians of Peru receiued a grieuous hurt in a skirmish whereof he dyed two dayes after Lying in his death-bed being asked where he felt his paine In my soule said he it torments me when the newes of his death came to his wife BEATRICE a very proud woman then resident at Guattimall she began to rage to make imprecations and to fall out with GOD euen to say That hee could not deale worse with her then to take away her husband There-vpon shee hung all her house with black and began to mourne in such sort that shee could not be drawne to receiue any sustenance or comfort She did nothing but weepe lye along on the ground teare her hayre and demeane her-selfe like a madde woman Amidst her husbands pompous obsequies of whom GOMARA writes that he maried two sisters and was a long time polluted with foule incest and all this despightfull mourning shee forgot not to assemble the chiefest of the towne together and there to make them declare her for Gouernesse of the Country and to sweare fealtie and obedience vnto her But now let vs heere what came to passe vpon these imprecations and despightfull speeches The 8. of September 1541. it rained so mightely for 24. houres together that the next day about nine or ten of the clock at night two Indians came and
off Beeing examined how they could gette out off a strong and close prison Why they haue returned and how they could passe ouer Riuers that were large and deepe They answered that no Yrons walles nor doores could hinder their getting out that they returned by constraint and that they did flye ouer Riuers and runne by land Hetherto I haue set downe the wordes of Doctor PEVCER the which shew that this transformation of Licanthropes nor that of Sorcerers mentioned by BODIN haue no affinitie with the transmutation of the King of Babilon nor with that of LOTS wife and that in this Licanthropia there are manifest illusions of Sathan the which ought not to bee confounded with apparent testimonies of GODS visitation vpon some persons as the Diuines which haue expounded these Histories doe shewe more at large Moreouer IOHN WIER is of a contrary opinion vnto BODIN touching the Licanthropes whereof wee speake and disputes at large thereof in the sixt Booke of Diuelish Deuises Chapter thirteenth and foureteenth where hee manifestlie denyes BODINS reall transformation and doth maintayne that it is onely in the fantasie troubled by the indisposition of the person and by the illâ—…sion of Sathan But wee will leaue their controuersie to such as will looke into it and will propound some examples touching mad-men There are two kindes Some growe so by the poyson of the melancholike humour as well throughout all the bodie as principally in the braine the which beeing not redrest in time simple melancholie becomes frenzie that fuâ—…y and in the end rage which is fearefull and not to bee cured whereof M. PHTER SALIVS and MARCELLVS DONATVS learned Physitions do intreate and propound some histories Let vs speake after them and serue them as an Interpreter to our French-men It is a question if the venimous humor called Rage the which breeds in so many sortes of creatures which impart it vnto man as we knowe may beginne by man himselfe and haue inward beginnings without any accidentall contagion without Reason makes vs to yeeld to this opinion seeing that by the consent of all men mortall poisons may be engendred within man that rage should not bee excluded out of this ranke man differing from a Serpent which spitts poyson no more then from other beastes which are subiect vnto madnesse But for that the Ancients for the most part haue held that no man could growe madde if hee had not beene toucht without by some other person or Beast that was madde it seemes wee should not lightly stray from their opinions notwithstanding seeing that experience may resolue this difficulty I will relate what mine eyes haue seene A woman sixe and thirty yeares old troubled with a continuall feuer called me to helpe her I found her seized of a pestilent ague I gaue her Physick so as eleauen daies after shee was cured Eleauen daies after that she was troubled with a greeuious flixe and an ague I was called and began to incounter this disease the which I surmounted within seauen daies after There remained yet some relikes of a feuer the which seeking to take away this woman fell so to abhorre all Liquors as not onelie shee lothed all Physicall potions and all drinkes for her refection but shee could not endure that anie one should drinke in her presence I knewe by this accident alone that shee was toucht with rage the which did so increase as shee could not endure they should bring any light into her Chamber in regard of her feeding detesting all drinkes and all liquid Physicke And for that her feuer and the tediousnesse of her disease would not suffer her to maintayne her selfe well with solide meates shee became exceeding feeble but shee languished seauen dayes after that shee had begunne to reiect all drinke and Liquide notrishment I found in her no other cause of defect but onelie this disdaine of drinking and taking that which was Liquid Neither did shee complaine of any thing but when they presented it vnto her then should you see her mooue her selfe after a strange manner Except this it was a verie quiet infirmitie and asking her if shee had euer beene toucht with the teeth of any madde Dogge her answere was that no Dogge had euer toucht her hauing had none in her house nor beene in companie where anie was Hauing enquired of her Mother if neuer Dogge had toucht her Daughter at anie time in all her life shee assured mee no. This made mee to doubt whether one by internall principles and of their owne corruption might not become madde For hauing in this infirmity no coniecture of Contagion without and this feare of drinke and liquide things beeing not conioyned with the accidents which are accustomed to accompanie them that are bitten with madde Beastes I did coniecture that this disease grewe from some internall cause which was not so violent comming not by the outwards partes through the byting of some enraged Beaste if wee will not say that the force therof was quenched by the counterpoysons that were giuen her in the cure of her pestilent feuer and by reason of her apparent and great euacuation of badde humours in the Dissenterie or fluxe Besides this experience I was confirmed by the authoritie of CAELIVS AVRELIANVS writing that some-times one growes madde with out anie apparent cause and by the Historie which SORANVS reports saying that hee had seene an Infant which did abhorre the Nurces brests without any precedent Contagion PETRVS SALIVS in his Booke of particuler diseases It happened in the yeare 1573. In September that GABRIEL NOVARE a man of fiftie yeares of age and a widower lyuing in the Duke of Mantouas Countrie beeing at dinner hee felt some-thing hee knewe not what to grate his winde-pipe Hee beganne to take the glasse to â—…ase him of this paine but hee coulde by no meanes possible swallowe that which troubled him within Beeing angrie with him-selfe hee runnes to a paile of Water to drinke with his hande but approching to it with his mouth hee fell back-ward hee riseth speedely goes his way and doth not suppe that night The next daie both at dinner and at supper hee feeles the like accident The third daie hee came to mee on horse backe and by the waie as hee rode hee did eate some store of grapes at his pleasure Hauing vnderstood all from him to knowe his greefe exactly I offer to his mouth at two or three seuerall times a glasse full of Water I call my friendes to see and beholde this spectacle at euery time his heart pantes and swells hee trembles hee faintes and seemes like one that were strangled When I drawe backe the glasse hee recouers his spirrites vnderstands and discourseth shewes himselfe vigorous hath no feuer is without paine all his functions are whole and perfect onelie hee cannot drinke I prescribed him counterpoysons but within three daies hee dies I serche I sound I consider all yet finde no apparent cause of this Accident MARCELLVS DONATVS lib. 6. Chap.
of his repulse and that during his life CONTAREN must neuer hope to be aduanced Being possest with a violent passion of choller and despight hee watcht a time when as the Duke came downe into the golden Chappell to heare Masse Hee staies vpon the staires makes shewe to haue some businesse of importance to impart vnto him Those did accompanie the Duke went aside that CONTAREN might haue the more libertie to speake vnto him Then hee drewe forth a poinard from vnder his cloake with the which hee had slaine the Duke if the Ambassador of Sienna had not staied CONTARENOS arme so as insteede of striking him into the bodie hee did hit him in the cheeke neere the nose Presently manie Senators runne thether they saue the Duke and seize vpon CONTAREN who sought by all meanes for to saue himselfe Afterwardes hee had his hand cut off vpon the same staiers and then was hanged in the accustomed place Such was the rewarde of his violent passion SABELLICVS Booke 1. of his 3. Decade The violence of despaire was strange in LAVRENCE LEVRENTINIAN a learned Physition at Florence Hauing bought a house and paied a third part of the price with a condition that if hee payd not the rest with in sixe months it should be lost The time beeing come hauing no money to satisfie he was so troubled as without any further aduice he cast himselfe head-long into a deepe Well at what time PETER SODERIN great Gonfalonier of Florence gouerned the Common-weale before the Rule of the Medicis P. IOVIVS in the Life of famous men I haue seene a man which grewe fearefull and amazed of him-selfe crying out some-times like a Child though otherwise he had as much Force and courage as any man could haue It is reported also of a Noble-man of Spaine that hee was so full of feare that if they did but shutte any doore of the house where-in hee was at a certaine howre in the night hee conceyued such a feare and was so troubled as often-times hee would cast himselfe out at the Windowes ANT. TORQVEMADO in the third iourney of his discourses I haue seene a woman my neere K◅ns-woman trobled with a certaine Melancholike humour which some terme Mirrachie the which doth some-times cause frenzie and madnesse in them that are toucht with it so to helpe her selfe with discretion and reason as it could neuer vanquish her It was strange to see the combate betwixt Reason and Melancholie in this Woman which cast her-selfe groueling vppon the ground in the extremity of her fitte tare her clothes cast stones at them that lookt on her fought with them that met her and committed many such other follies but through reason shee continued so constant as in the end this humour left her remayning as sound and perfect of iudgement as before In the same Author In the yeare 1558. the Curate of Curpre in Scotland seeing that his Parishoners to the contempt of the authoritie which hee thought to haue ouer them were in despight of him entred into his Parish Church and beaten downe all the Images hee fell into such a choller melanchollie and despayre by reason of this acte as hee slew him-selfe with his owne hands BVCHANAN liber 6. of his Historie of Scotland A certaine man did so abhorre all Phisicke as the verye smell of a potion did so mooue him as hee was forced to goe seuen times to the stoole instantly whereas hee that had taken the same po◅ion should goe but thrice Maister AMBROSE PARE in his Introduction to Surgerie Chap. 22. A Groome of the Lord of Lansacs Chamber reported that a French Gentleman beeing in Poland had a quarten Ague and walking along the Riuer of Vistula in the beginning of his fitte hee was thrust by a friend of his in iest into the Riuer where-with hee was so terrified that although hee could swimme very well and the other also that thrust him yet hee neuer after had any feuer The same Author Chap. 23. At the Campe at Amiens King HENRIE the second commanded mee to goe to Dourlan to dresse many Captaines and Souldiars which had beene hurt by the Spaniards at a sallie Captaine Saint AVEIN lying neere to Amiens as valiant a Gentleman as any was in his time in France although hee had when the Alarum was giuen a fitte of a quarten Ague risse out of his bed and went to Horse to command a parte of his company where hee was shot through the necke with a Harguebuze the which made him to apprehend death so much as hee presently lost his Ague and was afterwardes cured of his wound and liued long after The same Author FRANCIS VALLERIOLA a most famous Physition at Arles writes in the 4. obseruation of the 2. booke of his obseruations of an Inhabitant of the said Towne of Arles called IOHN BERLE who had lyne manye yeares bed-ridde by reason of a palsey It happened that the chamber whereas hee did lye was on fire burning the bordes and some stuffe neere vnto his Bedde Hee seeing him selfe in danger to bee burnt with much payne got vnto a Window out at the which hee cast him-selfe and beganne presently to walke and was cured of his palsey The same VALERIOLA writes in the same Obseruation a strange History of a Kins-man of his called IO◅N SOBIRAT who laye at Auignon lame of both his Legges hauing had his Hammes shronke vp with a Convulsion about sixe yeares One day he grewe into so great a choller against his seruant as reaching at him to strike him the Sinewes stretcht forth presently and grewe supple so as his Legges recouered their strength and he went right vp so cōtinued euer after The same Author The Arch-Bishop of Bourges a verye olde Man who had not gone of fowre yeares before hearing that a certaine troupe of horse which the Earle of Montgommery had brought from Orleans had surprized Bourges and knowing howe much hee had wronged and offended them that were then at that instant the strongest carried away with this apprehension he found his legges so well as he went on foote from his Chamber into the street and so to the great Towre causing all his money and plate to bee carryed with him The History of the first troubles of France vnder CHARLES the 9. lib. 7. At the same time neere to Issoudun in Berry the Seigneor of Condray whose Castle was beseeged by the Lord of Yuoys troupes hauing a little before taken certaine poore men and deliuered them to the Seigneor of Sarzay then commanding in Yssoudun who had commanded them to bee hanged hee fearing to bee taken saued himselfe in a farme house of his called Roueziers where he dyed of Feare In the same Historie and in the same booke In a Towne in Italy called Eugubio there was a Man much tormented with Iealousie who seeing that hee could not descouer if his Wife abandoned her selfe to any other hauing threatned to doe her a shrewd turne hee gelded himselfe that if afterwards shee should
happen to bee with child shee should presently be found guilty of Adultery Lib. 1. Of the conference of Antient wonders with moderne I haue seene with mine eyes a Gentle-man sitting by a Gentle-woman an honest Widdow whom hee sought to marrye as afterwards hee did Discoursing with her one day at Dinner a Veyne of the Temple neere vnto his Eare opened of it selfe from the which there issued and came very much blood the which he thought to stoppe with his Hand-kercher I was sitting at the table with them in a Castle whether I was called to cure a Gentleman that was sicke MAT. CORNAX lib. 1. Of his consultations of Physicke chap. 3. A yong mayden being kept from marriage grewe so sad as shee wept continually and would admit no comfort whereof followed an extreame paine in her head which bread a falling sicknes whereof soone after she died The same Author A certain Knight an Albanois hauing after great su◅e obtayned an honest Italian Widowe to his wife beeing one of the fairest women of her time after some months he grew iealous of her without any cause with a wonderfull strang passion For he had no opinion of her that shee eyther had or would wrong her honor but only he was trobled what should become of her after his death fearing least any other should enioye so rare a beauty Vpon this passion which did torment him continually he takes a furious resolution One night which was the last hauing shewed all the loue he could deuise vnto his wife who loued him sincerely in the ende he drew a naked Dagger from vnder his beds head and imbracing his wife with the one hand hee stabbed her with the other Which done he strikes himselfe to the heart and dies presently The wife not quite dead reports the whole history to such as came running ◅n at the crie of her chamber-maide and that the Knight had discouered his strange and cruell Iealousie a little before hee strooke her and then she died quietly Hist. of Italy A young Gentleman in the Emperor CHARLES the fift his Court beeing in loue with a Gentle-woman wrought so as partly by loue partly by force he had her maiden-head the which beeing knowne and hauing cōmitted this act in the Emperors Court he was committed to prison and condemned to loose his head and hauing notice giuen him ouer night that the next day should ende his life that night was so terrible vnto him and wrought such an impression as the next day comming out off prison to go before the seate of Iustice heare the sentence of death no man did know him no not the Emperor him-selfe For feare had so chaunged him that whereas the day before hee had a Vermillion hewe of a flaxen hayre and of a pleasing aspect hee was now like vnto a bodye taken out off the Graue hauing the hayre of his head and beard like to one of seuentye yeares olde and hee had the resemblance more of one that had beene hanged then of a lyuing man The Emperor thinking there had bin some fraud vsed and that some other offender had beene foysted into this Gentlemans place who was not yet 28. yeares old hee caused a search to bee made whence this wonderfull and sodaine change should come and then beholding wistly this poore offender thus terrefied the desire of iust vengeance was conuerted and turned into mercye and as it were reuiued out of a deepe amazement hee said vnto him I pardon thy offence commanding that they should let him goe adding withall that hee had beene punished sufficiently for his fault without the losse of his head LEVINVS LEMNIVS lib. 2. chap. 2. Of the complexion of mans body Where-vnto hee dooth adde certaine reasons of this strange alteration The which I heere set downe adding some words for the better explaning thereof Beeing demanded of a great personage the cause of this prodigious change I answered that wee must impute it to the deepe apprehension and attentiue thought of approching death peercing through the heart for the affection and passion of the minde beeing amazed was so violent and so bitter to the young Gentleman as the vitall spirits were almost quencht and suffocated in him all the parts of the bodye loosing their liuely and pleasing colour did wither and fade sodainely so as the rootes of the hayre nourished and watred by the fuming vapour that is betwivt the skinne and the flesh as the herbes in the ground that are toucht with a cold and drie quality they did wither and presently loose their naturall beautye for euen as the leaues of Trees and Vines in the heate of Sommer growe some times y◅alow and pale by any excesse of heate hayle rayne or a cold Northerly wind euen so the vigour of the bodye the colour the outwarde shewe the hayre which is no part but simply a dependance of the bodye takes the colour of gray or white because that which did maintayne them is quencht The which wee doe see happen to most men that haue beene in dangers in the Warres or in hazard at Sea or that haue beene toucht with dangerous diseases for then they thinke but of one thing which is that Death hath taken them by the throat if not perchance through long custome solide instruction and good resolution by the precepts of true Philosophie and by the assistance of more then a humane spirit they bee not accustomed nor vsed to feare so much The which wee see is ordinary and common in manye olde Souldiars and Martiners in regard of their long and continuall practise When as the horrour of Death surpriseth anye one or that the imagination thereof more bitter then death it selfe is framed in the thought they die sometimes before they are dying as it hath happened vnto many or else the Senses are dulled and mortefied so as the offenders feele not the stroakes as we haue seene in many that haue beene be-headed and broken vppon the Wheele resembling men that haue Apoplexies Lethargies falling-Sicknes Sowndings or like to others which open their eyes yet neither see nor knowe any man The dangers incident to Sea and Land whereas the Image of Death appeares before their eyes and doth fixe it selfe more strongely in the thought make them that are in them to tremble and looke pale the blood retires it selfe and flies from all parts towards the fortresse of the heart all the parts of the body in an instant want their norishment not any one doth discharge his due function but the feete stagger the sight growes dymme the force fayles the vnderstanding becomes blunt the spirit dull the cheekes leane and withered the tongue fumbling and the teeth shaking in the head To conclude there is no man how strong and confident so euer that is not amazed when any mortall danger surpriseth him sodainely True it is that a Christian fixing his hope in the grace of GOD recouers his spirits by little and little shakes of feare assures himselfe and becomes
of Langey who fought neere him and would haue succoured him hee sayde vnto him My Sonne heere it is that I must dye with my Armes in my hand trouble your selfe no more for mee but goe speedily and succour the King our Lord and if you escape remember mee and that I am dead in the bed of honour P. IOVIVS lib. 6. of the life of the Marquis of PESCARA In the Battaile of Varne where as Ladi slaus King of Hungarie was slaine and his Armie defeated a French Gentleman exceeding valiant past through all the Turkish squadrons and charged into AMVRATHS gardes against whom hee coucht his Launce and struck at him with his Cimyter But not able by reason of many thousands of enemies which stopt the passage to returne backe after that hee had slaine a great number of Turkes hee was beaten downe vpon the heapes of them where hee dyed gloriously CVSPINIAN in his Emperours GALEAS BARDASSIN a Sicilian Knight beeing one day at the seege of Plombin some-what farre from the Campe to vewe the Towne there went forth three horsmen to take him Hee marcht towardes them in steede oâ—…â—…lying and gaue so great a blowe with the pomell of his sword vnto the first that was armed as hee ouerthrewe him from his Horse hee takes the second by both the armes lifted him out of the sadle and threw him downe running after the other euen vnto the Towne gates FVLGOSIVS Booke 3. Chap. 2. The Emperour MAXIMILIAN the first hauing assayled the Grisons about the ende of the yeare 1499. in the first incounter which was neere vnto Vuerdenberg a Suisse of Glaris called IOHN du VAL in a straight made head against twenty men at armes and kept them from passing with his pike in his hand whereof he ouerthrewe three The enemies amazed at the valour of this braue Suisse promised him faire warres and led him safe vnto their Campe from whence they sent him without ransome with an ample testimony of his valour STVMPHIVS in his History of Suisserland In the yeare 1552. SOLIMAN caused MAHVMET BASSA to beseege a strong place in Transiluania called Themesuar defended by the Earle of Losana for FERDINAND King of Hungary after-wards Emperor This Earle seeing a mighty army round about him debarred of succors and betrayed by two Spaniards which had abandoned him to yeeld vnto the Turkes hee beganne to parle and obtained a composition to depart with all his soldiars with their liues and goods The Bassa against his promised faith caused all the soldiars to be slaine cutts off the Earles head A Spanish Knight called ALPHONSO PEREZ de SAIAVEDRE making way with his sword and ouerthrowing them that would haue stayed him hee sought to saue him-selfe through the swiftnesse of his horse in the neerest place of retreate being pursued by fiue hundred Turkish horse-men which could not ouertake him Being almost out of danger hee fell into a Quagmire where both hee and his horse perished The Turkes seeing him downe pursue and cut off the head of this valiant man the which beeing carried to Mahumet and hearing that it was a Spaniard I beleeue it sayd hee for hee was valiant ASC CENTORIVS lib. 4. Of the warre of TRANSILVANIA When as the Turkes besieged Belgrade in Hungary one of their soldiers desirous to plant his ensigne in an eminent place went vp into an high Tower Hee was presently followed by a Hungarian or a Bohemian who seeing that he could hardly dislodge him from thence layes fast hold of him and then casts himselfe with him from the top of the Tower where both were slaine with the fall BONFIN lib. 8. Decad. 3. DVBRAVIVS lib. 29. saith that the Christian cryed out alowde to the Popes Legate looking downe from the Towre If I cast my selfe head-long with this Dog Turke whether shall my soule goe And that the Legate hauing assured him that it should bee carried presently into Paradise he cast himselfe downe with the Turke and was the cause that the place did yet hold good An other Hungarian did the like at the siege of Iayza BONFIN lib. 10. Decad. 3. They say that when as the Spaniards surprized Constance a frontier Towne of the Suisses in the yeare 1548. one of the Inhabitants seeing one of the Commanders aduance and incourage the other Spaniards to pursue their point and that the Towne was like to bee lost he sodenly went towards him imbraced him and cast him-selfe with him of the bridge into the Riuer where both were drowned Memorials of our time FVLGOSIVS reports that at the first seege of Rhodes the great Maister named PETER D'AVBVSSON a French man tooke vpon him to defend the most dangerous breache being seconded by two of his Nephewes and foure other souldiers who fought so valiantly with him as although they had slaine at diuers charges the Soldiers that came to releeue one another and that hee had beene wounded in fiue places and his armor broken yet the Turkes could get no ground of him but were forced to rayse the seege In the same Booke Chap. 2. In the yeare 1501. the King of Fez being in field with mighty troupes to assayle Tingi a strong Towne vpon the coast of Barbarie held by the Portugalls the Gouernor made a sallie vpon the Moores but finding them too strong hee retired with great difficultie into the towne ditches The fight had continued two houres before hee could get thether in the which the Gouernors sonne was slaine and eight valiant Horse-men the Gouernor himselfe beeing sore hurt in the face with a Iauelyn The Moores followe their point presse the Portugalls and doe all they can to enter pel-mel with them into the Towne The which the Gouernor seeing hee careth the Moores so furiously with a troupe of Horse as in the meane-time the rest retire easily into the Towne The last was called LOVP MARTIN a valiant man who beeing entred did shutte the gate but halfe and when as many cried vnto him that hee should shutte and make fast the gate I will neuer doe that dishonor sayd hee vnto the Portugalls in making the world to thinke that they are afraied Adding that hee was readie to fight vnto the last gaspe to keepe anie from entring by that halfe gate His wordes and deedes were all one for the Moores running to enter hee maintayned the first shocke valiantly vntill that many came to succor him so as the Moores were forced to retire vnto their Campe. OSORIVS Booke 2. Chap. 12. of the History of Portugal The extraordinary valour of a Suisse in the time of our Ancestors shal be heere-vnto added with the leaue of the courteous reader as most worthie to bee often remembred The Suisses to the number of a 1800. or there-bouts hauing broken the great and mightie forces brought by the Daulphin of France neere vnto Basil were all slaine vpon the place fighting with a wonderfull great force and valiant resolution for the helth of their owne Country It happened after the Battaile that a
girle of foure yeares of age voide wormes aliue that were twenty ells long G. HAMBERGER professor in Physicke at Tubinge in certaine questions that were disputed of in the yeare 1574. A young Countrie-Maide foureteene yeares olde being in good helth voided a worme 14. foote long WECKERVS in his Oberseruations An other Country-woman of the age of 35. yeares being greatly troubled with wormes voided one eighteene foote long The same Author A certaine poore Coūtry-maide voided a worme at twice long and large the which was neere fiue ells long GASPAR WOLF in his Obseruations I haue some-times seene sicke persons voide of these large wormes that were forty foote long with such violence as one would haue thought they would cast vp their gutts These wormes haue no hollownes but are compounded of a kinde of white skinne thicke and slymie markt with blacke spotts and without motion They are like vnto points or bands and are ingendred in the Bowells of a rotten Iuice FELIX PLATER in his Obseruations A Padouan Barber remayning at Mantoua about Automne in the yeare 1556 after some fitts of an Ague did cast off these wormes a finger broad and seuen cubits long such as Doctor PLATER hath described MAR. DONATVS Booke 4. of his Admirable Histories Chap. 26. Doctor SCHENCK and QVENTS in their obseruations note two Histories of the like wormes of six seauen and eight Cubits long FERNELIVS Booke 6. Chap 10. of his Pathologia speakes of an other kinde of wormes called ASCARIDES which he sa◅es come out of the fundement then fasten themselues to the buttocks and thighes And Docter IOHN de IESSEN in his obseruations affirmes the same reporting that a little child of one of the chiese Councellors to the Emperor RODOIPHVS the 2. being troubled with the falling sicknesse many Phisitions being assembled togither to consult of the causes of this violent ordinary Infirmity they were much troubled to resolue IRSSEN caused it to be vnswadled visited the fundemēt where he found Ascarides Then with one common consent they applied a Corsey the cause of the disease being taken away by little and little the Child grewe to perfect helth But we must yet propound other Histories of monstrous wormes quite different from the common forme that the reader may see more and more vnto what miseries wee are all subiect through sinne and by these relations learne to humble our selues before our GOD and soueraigne Iudge A Chanoin tormented with the chollicke tooke of the confection called HIERA PIGRA and cast forth a worme like vnto a Lizard but greater hairy hauing foure feete the which was kept aliue in a violl of glasse MONTVVS Booke 4. Chap 19. In the memory of our Fathers a woman with-child at Craco◅ia in Poland was deliuered of one still borne the which had vpon the backe of it a great worme of the forme of a serpent the which did g◅awe this little creature LICOSTHENES in his Histories of Prodigies A young maiden of Louvain in Brabant 15. years old after that shee had endured much shee did voide both from aboue and beneath strange things amongst others by the seege with the excrements a worme a foote and a halfe long greater then a mans Thombe very like vnto an eele the difference was that the taile was verie hairy C. GEMMA Booke 2. Chap. 2. A. BENIVENIVS 2 Physition of Florence writes that a Carpenter called IOHN 40. yeares of age was continually troubled with a paine at his heart without any ease BENIVENIVS hauing giuen him some potion with a great quantity of matter which hee voided he cast vp a good long worme hauing a redde head round and of the bignesse of a great pease hauing the bodie all couered with soft haire a forked taile like a halfe Moone and foure feete as a Lizard AMB. PARE Booke 19. Chap. 3. A Spanish Gentlewoman returning from Peru did assure that she had beene sick many years there and could finde no helpe In the end an Indian held for a great herbalist came to see her made her drink the iuice of Veruein well purified by means wherof soone after she cast vp a worme which shee called a snake all hairy a foote long besides the taile which done shee recouered her helth MONARDVS Booke 3. of the simples of the newe found world in the Chap. of Verueine ANTHONY CAPTAINE a Phisition of Mantoua hath often told mee that a gentleman of that place called LAVRENCE ZAFFARD hauing bin trobled with a melancholike ague a loathing of meate with a paine at his heart which made him to shrike out he did vomit vp a worme the which liued seauen houres it was a foote-long hauing hornes on the head and a 100. feete on either side with the which he crept strangly it was of a reddish collour and flat MACEL DONATVS Booke 4. Chap. 26. of his Histories BONIFACE COCK of Padoua had a little Sonne which remained in a trance as one dead for the space of sixe houres FALLOPIVS a learned Physition prescribed som-thing vnto him with the helpe whereof hee recouered his spirrits and one houre after voided aboute fortie wormes amongst the which there was one blacke hairy with two heads a Cubit long which liued three daies SCHENCH Booke 3. Obseruation 21. A young girle about some nine yeares olde hauing taken the powlder of wormes did cast vp little Caterpillers a liue DODONEVS in his annotation vpon the 58. Chapter of BENIVENIVS Hauing an old woman that was sick of a Pluresie in cure shee cast forth a black Snaile hauing blacke feete long and soft hornes markt being full of filthie matter and two fingers long GESNER lib. 3. of his Epistles pag. 94. I haue seene a Worme which was no longer then the bredth of foure fingers but hauing the backe couered with a reddish haire This Worme had tormented a certaine young man so as there was no hope of life in him but in the end by meanes of a fit drinke hee did vomit vp the Worme and so escaped GABVCIN in his Comentarie of the Lungs Chap. 13. A Tayler in Languedoc not farre from Montpellier being cured of a strange Feuer in the end hee did cast vp a Worme three quarters long the which was round thick and aliue and with it much melancholike and black matter GASP. WOLFIN in his obseruations A Suisse of the Canton of zug a strong man feeling commonly some thing that did pricke him at the orifice of the stomacke being eased by some potions he did cast vp a great number of Wormes of two and three foote long The same A Maide of Briele in Holland did vomit vp a great number of Wormes and which is more a yeare after she voyded Snailes which her Mother did shew mee assuring me that shee had kept one which had liued two dayes P. FOREST lib. 18. Obseruat 19. In the yeare 1578. THIENETE CARTIER dwelling at Saint Maur a widow-woman fortie yeares olde did cast in the beginning of her fitt great abundance of
head Crowned and a Cocke pecking at this head so long vntill it was parted from the bodie and so vanished away There were other Lions and neere vnto the wild Boars head an Vnicorne the which by little little did change into the forme of a Dragon with a great number other beasts of vnaccustomed formes and greatnesse Moreouer vpon an heigh rocke there appeered a fortresse enuitoned with two Campes and all the Heauens seemed to be ful of Townes Villages and Castells but all was presently consumed by fire and all the ruines of this great circuit seemed to be lightning and to fall into a great poole nothing remaining but Towers whereas the great Cittie had appeered vpon the banke of the Lake was seene a mighty Camell seeming to staie therefore to drinke The same In the yeare 1538. before the first expedition of the Landgraues warre the Consull of the Towne of Schmalcalde a man of good worth did see in night as it were before him these following shapes There was an olde man at a table sleeping with his head hanging downe vpon a forme by did lie a Lion In the same Chamber were manie men in long robbes which seemed to consult about this Lion the which in the ende did leape from the forme as it were to flie vppon them with his great pawes They ioyning close togither oppose them-selues against the Lion and giue him manie stabbes with a dagger finally hauing compassed him in by the meanes of a Chaier which they cast vppon him they cut of his tayle but soone after beeing gotten from vnder the Chaire hee returnes to his place and leapes vppon the forme As these men had beegonne againe to goe in and out as it were to conspier the Lions death hee enters into a rage and flies violentlie vpon them who beganne to crie out and to hold open their armes to the olde man that slept who awaking verie sodenlie and lifting vp his head shaking his right hande hee threatned the Lion who perceyuing it retyred him-selfe and looking some-times vppon the olde man hee lept vppon the forme where hee was transformed to IESVS CHRIST standing vp-right and preaching before whom these men falling prostrate as it were to demand pardon and hauing obtained it all these Images vanished The same In the yeare 1545. the day after Whitsunday there were seene in Silesia these shapes A Beare came frō the East leading an Armie in good order against whome marched a Lion from the West with other troupes Betwixt the two Armies did shine a very bright starre Presently they began a fierce charge so as it seemed the bloud did gushe from those bodies that were wounded and that many fell downe dead vpon the place During this Combate an Eagle parting from a certaine high Rocke did houer ouer the Lions troupes After a long fight and when as it seemed to bee ended the Lion appeared againe shining in the middest of his bands but they could not discerne the Beare the body of his Armie beeing broken and disperst about the which there were many olde men with white beards and reuerent countenauces The fight being ended the Lion led back his Armie towards the West and beeing aduanced a good way one mounted vpon a braue White Horse lest the Armie and came to the place of Battaile mounting vpon this Horse a young man that was all armed who was standing vpright and hauing accompanied him towards the East all these figures vanished The same In the yeare 1549. some of the best Citizens of Brunswike traueling by night about some necessarie businesse they did see the Moone enuironed with a very bright Circle and neere vnto it two other Moones This Circle went foure times about it and neere the two other Moones there appeared a Lion all on fire an Eagle which pierst her brest then the figure of the most famous Prince IHON FREDERICK Duke of Saxony and another figure of the Creation of EVE drawne out of ADAMS side them GOD sitting and at his knees ADAM and EVE whom hee intreated louingly as the Father doth often-times his Children After that there appeared a horrible sight of Townes all on fire about the which there was a Camell the figure of IESVS CHRIST hanging vpon the Crosse and about it his Apostles The last figure was most fearefull of them all There was a man standing vpright of a cruell aspect holding in his hand a naked sword with the which hee made shew to strike a young Maiden that was kneeling before him and who with teares in her eyes intreated him to spare her Other shapes were seene in some other places The same Here-vnto Doctor PEVCER addes that which followeth Although it hath beene euer demanded by what vertue such figures were fashioned in the ayre seeing that the regions of the ayre are neuer with-out exhalations whether these exhalations by incounter or being scattered after some distance come to ioyne together and to cause those figures so as the light of heauen giuing them a coulour some are white others redde and fiery according to the qualitie of vapours or else whether the naturall intelligences which fore-see things to come doe cause these figures eyther by the helpe of vapours and exhalations or of some apparent brightnesse For my part I thinke that most of these figures and sights are made and framed by the LORD GOD himselfe or by his holy Angels who for the loue of man-kinde whom they see beloued of GOD set before our eyes by the meanes of these formes a plaine representation and continuance of euents not that wee should foresee that which wee cannot auoyde but beeing admonished by such aduertisements we should thinke of our sinnes sound the depth of dangers and remember in our hearts the admonitions and consolations which are propounded vnto vs in the holy Scriptures so as in the middest of the darts which are cast against vs when as there is no hope but of vtter confusion without rising we may prostrate our selues humbly at his feete and neuer cease with cleane hands and pure conscienses to pray and intreate him that not respecting the merites of the worlds iniquities hee will receiue vs into his protection maintaine and defend vs from the violence of the enemies of our saluation and turne away all the miseries that hang ouer our heads It is also likely that some-times the Diuels are busied about such workes But to conclude the wandring and inconstant incounter of exhalations cannot make such goodly signes and formes so well ordered and of things subiect to the prouidence of GOD if we will not foolishly and wickedly maintaine with Epicures that the world consists and is managed and gouerned by hazard and fortune The end of the first Volume Virg. Aen. l. 6. Deiphebus