this sweetnesse and pleasing delight of shewes in the Church hath its sowre sawce once a yeer besides the sowrenesse of poverty which followeth to them by giving so many gifts unto the Preist for to shew that in their Religion there is some bitterness sowrenesse they make the Indians whip themselves the weeke before Easter like the Spaniards which those simples both men and women perform with such cruelty to their owne flesh that they butcher it mangle and teare their backs till some swound nay some as I have known have died under their own whipping and have selfe murthered themselves which the Preists regard not because their death is sure to bring them at least three or foure Crownes for a Masse for their soules and other offerings of their friends Thus in Religion they are superstitiously led on and blinded in the observance of what they have been taught for the good and profit of their Preists then for any good of their soules not perceiving that their Religion is a Policy to inrich their teachers But not onely doe the Fryers and Preists live by them and eat the sweat of their browes but also all the Spaniards who not onely with their worke and service being themselves many given to idlenesse grow wealthy and rich but with needlesse offices and authority are still fleecing them and taking from them that little which they gaine with much hardnesse and severity The President of Guatemala the Judges of that Chancery the Governours and High Justices of other parts of the Country that they may advance and inrich their meniall servants make the poor Indians the subject of their bountifulnesse towards such Some have offices to visit as often as they please their Towns and to see what every Indian hath sowed of Maiz for the maintenance of his wife and children Others visit them to see what fowles they keepe for the good and store of the County others have order to see whether their houses bee decently kept and their beds orderly placed according to their Families others have power to call them out to mend and repaire the high wayes and others have Commission to number the Families and Inhabitants of the severall Townes to see how they increase that their Tribute may not decrease but still bee raised And all this those officers doe never perform but so that for their pains they must have from every Indian an allowance to bear their charges which indeed are none at all for as long as they stay in the Town they may call for what fowles and provision they please without paying for it When they come to number the Townes they call by lift every Indian and cause his chiidren sonnes and daughters to be brought before them to see if they bee fit to be married and if they be of growth and age and bee not married the fathers are threatned for keeping them unmarried and as idle lives the Towne without paying tribute and according to the number of the sonnes and daughters that are marriageable the fathers tribute is raised and increased untill they provide husbands and wives for their sons and daughters who as soone as they are married are charged with tribute which that it may increase they will suffer none above fifteen yeers of age to live unmarried Nay the set time of age of marriage appointed for the Indians is at fourteen yeers for the man and thirteene for the woman alleadging that they are sooner ripe for the fruit of Wedlock and sooner ripe in knowledge and malice and strength for worke and service then are any other people Nay sometimes they force them to marry who are scarce twelve and thirteene yeeres of age if they find them well limbed and strong in body explicating a point of one of Romes Canons which alloweth fourteene and fifteen yeers nisi malitia suppleat aetatem When I my selfe lived in Pinola that Town by order of Don Iuan de Guzman a great Gentleman of Guatemala to whom it belonged was numbred and an increase of tributary Indians was added unto it by this meanes The numbring it lasted a full week and in that space I was commanded to joyne in marriage neer twenty couple which with those that before had been married since the last numbring of it made up to the Encomendero or Lord of it an increase of about fifty Families But it was a shame to see how young some were that at that time were forced to marriage neither could al my striving and reasoning prevail to the contrary nor the producing of the Register Booâ—… to show their age but that some were married of between twelve and thirteene yeers of age and one especially who in the Register booke was found to bee not fully of twelve yeers whose knowledge and strength of body was judged to supply the want of age In this manner even in the most free act of the will which ought to bee in marriage are those poore Indians forced and made slaves by the Spaniards to supply with tribute the want of their purses and the meannesse of their Estates Yet under this yoke and burden they are cheerfull and much given to feasting sporting and dancing aâ—… they particularly shew in the chief feasts of their Townes which are kept upon that Saints day to whom their Town is dedicated And certainly this superstition hath continued also in England from the Popish times to keep Faires in many of our Towns upon Saints dayes which is the intent of the Papists to draw in the people and country by way of commerce and trading one with another to honor worship and pray to that Saint to whom the Town is dedicated or else why are our Faires commonly kept upon Iohn Baptist Iames Peter Matthew Bartholomew Holy Rood Lady dayes and the like and not as well a day or two before or a day or two after which would bee as good and fit dayes to buy and sell as the other True it is our Reformation alloweth not the worshipping of Saints yet that solemne meeting of the people to Fairs and mirth and sport upon those daies it hath kept and continued that so the Saints and their dayes may bee and continue still in our remembrance There is no Town in the India's great or small though it be but of twenty Families which is not dedicated thus unto our Lady or unto some Saint and the remembrance of that Saint is continued in the mindes not onely of them that live in the Towne but of all that live farre and neere by commercing trading sporting and dancing offering unto the Saint and bowing kneeling and praying before him Before this day day cometh the Indians of the Town two or three Moneths have their meetings at night and prepare themselves for such dances as are most commonly used amongst them and in these their meetings they drinke much both of Chocolatte and Chicha For every kind of dance they have severall houses appointed and masters of that dance who teach the
Galeons for fear of Turkes and Hollanders whom the Spanish Dons shake and tremble at set forward our fleet with a pleasant and prosperous gale with a quiet and milken sea untill we came to the Golfe called Golfo de Yeguâ—… or of kicking Mares whose waves and swelling surges did so kick our ships that wee thought they would have kicked our St. Anthonies gilded image out of our ship and bereaved my Antonio Melendez of his gilt and painted idol to whom hee daily bowed and prayed against the mercilesse element and that all our ships galleries would have been torn from us with these spurnings and blowes of that outragious Golfe But at last having overcome the danger of this Golfe the eight Galeons took their leave of us and left our Merchant ships now to shift for themselves The departure of these Galeons was most solemnly performed on each side saluting each other with their Ordnance visiting each other with their Cock-boates the Admirall of the Fleet feasting with a stately dinner in his ship the Admirall of the Galeons and the like performing most of the other ships to the severall Colonells and Captains and other their allied friends that were of the Roiall Fleet. Here it was worth noting to heare the sighes of many of our Indian Apostles wishing they might return again in any of those Galeons to Spain their zeal was now cold and some endeavoured many waies for Calvo his licence to returne which could not be granted others imployed themselves most of that day in writing letters to their friends and Sisters in Cales Thus dinner being ended and the two Admiralls solemnly taking their leaves the warning piece being shot off for the Galeons to joyn together and turne their course to Spain we bad mutuall adieu crying one to another Buen Viaie Buen passage we kept our course towards America sailing before the wind constantly till we came to America a thing worth noting in that voiage from Spain to the Indies that after the Islands of Canaria are once left there is one constant wind continuing to America still the same without any opposition or contrariety of other winds and this so prosperous and full on the sailes that did it blow constantly and were it not interrupted with many calmes doubtlesse the voiage might be ended in a moneth or lesse But such were the calmes that many times we had that we got not to the sight of any land till the twentieth day of August so that neer six weeks we sailed as on a river of fresh water much delighting and sporting our selves in fishing many sorts fishes but especially one which by the Spaniards is called Dorado the golden fish for the skin and scales of it that glitter like gold of this sort we found such abundance that no sooner was the hooke with any small bait cast into the sea when presently the Dorado was caught so that we tooke them many times for pleasure and cast them againe into the sea being a fish fitter to be eaten fresh then salted Many were the feasts and sports used in the ships till wee discovered the first land or Island called Desseada The last day of Iuly being according to the Jesuites Order and Romes appointment the day of Ignatius their Patron and founder of their Religion the gallant ship called S ta Gertrudis wherein went 30 Jesuites for theirs and their Saints sake made to all the rest of the Fleet a most gallant shew shee being trimmed round about with white linnen her flags and top gallants representing some the Jesuites arms others the picture of Ignatius himself and this from the evening before shooting off that night at least fifty shot of Ordinance besides four or five hundred squibs the weather being very calme and all her masts and tacklings hung with paper Lanthornes having burning lights within them the waits ceased not from sounding nor the Spaniards from singing all night The daies solemne sport was likewise great the Jesuites increasing the Spaniards joy with an open procession in the ship singing their superstitions Hymnes and Anthemes to their supposed Saint and all this seconded with roaring Ordnance no powder being spared for the compleating of that daies joy and triumph The fourth of August following being the day which Rome doth dedicate to Dominick the first the founder of the Dominicans or Preachers Order the ship wherein I was named St. Ambony strived to exceed S ta Gertrudis by the assistance of the 27 Dominicans that were in her All was performed both by night and day as formerly in S ta Gertrudis both with powder squibs lights Waits and musick And further did the Dominicans joy and triumph exced the Jesuites in that they invited all the Jesuites with Don Iohn Nino de Toledo the President of Manila with the Captaine of the ship of S ta Gertrudis to a stately dinner both of Fish and Flesh which dinner being ended for the afternoones sport they had prepared a Comedy out of famous Lope de Vega to be acted by some Souldiers Passengers and some of the younger sort of Fryers which I confesse was as stately acted and set forth both in shewes and good apparell in that narrow compasse of our ship as might have been upon the best stage in the Court of Madrid The Comedy being ended and a banquet of sweet meates prepared for the closing up of that daies mirth both ours and S ta Gertrudis Cock-boat carried backe our invited friends bidding each other adieu with our Waits and chiefest Ordnance Thus went we on our Sea Voiage without any storme with pleasant gales many calmes dayly sports and pastimes till we discovered the first land called Desseada upon the twentieth day of August CHAP. VI. Of our discovery of some Islands and what trouble befell us in one of them THe Admirall of our Fleet wondring much at our slow sailing who from the second of Iuly to the 19 of August had seen nor discovered any land save only the Islands of Canaria the same day in the morning called to Councell all the Pilots of the ships to know their Opinions concerning our present being and the neernesse of Land The Ships therefore drew neere unto the Admirall one by one that every Pilot might deliver his opinion Here was cause of laughter enough for the passengers to heare the wise Pilots skil One saying we were three hundred miles another two hundred another one hundred another fifty another more another lesse all erring much from the truth as afterward appeared save onely one old Pilot of the smallest Vesseâ—… of all who affirmed resolutely that with that small gale wherewith wee then sailed wee should come to Guadalupe the next morning All the rest laughed at him but he might well have laughed at them for the next morning by Sun-rising wee plainly discovered an Island called Desseada by the Spaniards or the desired Land for that at the first discovery of the India's it was the first Land the Spaniards found being then as
may wear a rapier and dagger and enjoyeth many other liberties which to the rest of the Indians are denied No Towne hath so many Dons in it of Indian blood as this Don Philip de Guzman was Governour of it in my time a very rich Indian who kept up commonly in his stable a dozen of as good Horses for publike shewes and ostentation as the best Spaniard in the Countrey His courage was not inferiour to any Spaniard and for defence of some priviledges of his Town sued in the Chancery of Guatemala the proud and high minded Governour of the City of Chiapa spending therein great sums of money till he had overcome him whereupon he caused a feast to be made in the Towne both by water and land so stately that truly in the Court of Madrid it might have been acted This Towne lyeth upon a great river whereunto belong many boats and Canoas wherein those Indians have been taught to act sea-fights with great dexterity and to represent the Nymphes of Parnassus Neptune Aeolus and the rest of the heathenish Gods and Goddesses so that they are a wonder of their whole nation They will arme with their boats a siege against the Town fighting against it with such courage til they make it yeeld as if they had been trained up all their life to sea-fights So likewise within the Town they are as dexterous at baiting of buls at juego de Cannas at Horse-races at arming a Campe at all manner of Spanish dances instruments and musick as the best Spaniards They will erect Towers and Castles made of wood and painted cloth from them fight either with the boats or one against another with squibs darts and many strange fire-works so manfully that if in earnest they could perform it as well as they do it in sport and pastime the Spaniards and Fryers might soon repent to have taught them what they have As for acting of playes this is a common part of their solemne pastimes and they are so generous that they nothing think too much to spend in banquets sweet-meats upon their Friers and neighbouring Towns whensoever they are minded to shew themselves in a publike feast The Towne is very rich many Indians in it that trade about the Country as the Spaniards do They have learned most trades befitting a Common-wealth and practise and teach them within their Town They want not any provision of fish or flesh having for the one that great river joyning unto their Towne and for the other many Estantia's as they call them or farmes abounding with cattell In this Towne the Dominican Fryers bear all the sway who have a rich and stately Cloister with another Church or Chappel subordinate unto it The heat here is so great that both Fryers and Indians commonly wear a linnen towel about their necks to wipe off the constant swet from their faces which maketh the Friers sit longer at their dinner then els the would do for that at every bit they eate and draught they drinke they are faine to make a stop to wipe their dropping browes Yet the evenings are fresh and cool which are much made of there and spent in the many walkes and gardins which joyne close unto the River side Two or three leagues from the Towne there are two Ingenio's or Farmes of Sugar the one belonging to the Cloister of the Dominicans of the City of Chiapa the other unto the Cloister of this Towne which containe neer two hundred Blackmores besides many Indians who are imployed in that constant worke of making Sugar for all the Country Hereabouts are bread great store of Mules and excellent horses for any service The Towne of Chiapa of the Indians and all the Townes about it want nothing but a more temperate climate and cooler aire and Wheat which there cannot bee sowne yet for Spaniards and such as cannot live without it it is brought from Chiapa of the Spaniards and from about Comitlan yet this is not generally acknowledged a want by reason of the great plenty of Maiz which all the Townes enjoy and which is now more used both by Spaniards and dainty toothed Fryers then bread of Wheat Yet your poore Spaniards and some Indians who have got the trick of trading from them doe gaine not a little in bringing to these Townes bisquets of wheaten bread which though it be dry and hard yet because they are novelties to the Indians they get by changing them for other commodities especially of Cotton wooll which here is more abounding then in the Valley of Copanabastlau Upon this Country of Chiapa of the Indians bordereth the Province of Zoques which is absolutely the richest part of Chiapa This reacheth on the one side to Tabasco and by the River named Grijalva sendeth commonly the Commodities which are in it with safety unto St. Iohn de Ulhua or Vera Cruz. It trafiqueth also with the Country of Iucatan by the Haven called Puerto Real which lyeth betweene Grijalva and Iucatan Yet these two the River of Tabasco alias Grijalva and Puerto Real though they bee commodious to this Province of Zoques yet they are causes of daily feares unto the Spaniards who well know the weaknesse of them and that if a forraine Nation should manfully thrust into that Country by any of these two wayes they might so conquer all Chiapa and from thence passe easily unto Guatemala But the River of Tabasco lying low and being somewhat hot and the Towns about it infested with many gnats and the chiefest commodity there being but Cacao have often discouraged both our English and Hollanders who have come up some part of the River and minding more the foresaid reasons then what was forward to bee had have turned back losing a rich Country and slighting an eternall name for few and frivolous present difficulties In this Province of Zoques the Towns are not very bigge yet they bee very rich the chief Commodities are Silk and Cochinill whereof the latter is held the best of America and the store of it so great that no one Province alone exceeds it Few Indians there are who have not their Orchards planted with the trees whereon the worms breed which yeeld unto us that rich Commodity not that the Indians themselves esteem otherwise of it then as they see the Spaniands greedy after it offering them mony for it forcing them to the preservation of it in those parts which have proved most successeful for this kind There is great store of silk in this Country in so much that the Indians make it their great Commodity to imploy their wives in working Towels with all colours of silk which the Spaniards buy and send into Spain It is rare to see what works those Indian women will make in silk such as might serve for Patterns and samplers to many School-Mistresses in England The people of this Country are witty and ingenious and faire of complexion the Country towards Tabasco is hot but within in some places
when they have killed it they let it lie in the woodin in some hole or bottom covered with leaves for the space of about a week untill it stinke and begin to be full of wormes then they bring it home cut it out into joynts and parboil it with an herbe which groweth there somewhat like unto our Tanzy which they say sweetneth it again and maketh the flesh eat tender and as white at a peice of Turkey Thus parboiled they hang up the joynts in the smoke for a while and then boyle it again when they eat it which is commonly dressed with red Indian pepper and this is the Venison of 〈◊〉 whereof I have sometimes eaten and found it white and short but never durst be too bold with it not that I found any evill taste in it but that the apprehension of the wormes and maggots which formerly had been in it troubled much my stomack These Indians that have little to doe at home and are not employed in the weekly service under the Spaniards in their hunting will looke seriously for Hedge hogs which are just like unto ours though certainly ours are not meat for any Christian. They are full of pricks and brisles like ours and are found in woods and fields living in holes and as they say feed upon nothing but Amits and their egs and upon dry rotten sticks herbes and roots of these they eat much the flesh being as white and sweet as a Rabbit and as fat as is a Ianuary hen kept up and fatted in a Coope Of this meat I have also eaten and confesse it is a dainty dish there though I will not say the same of a Hedge-hog here for what here may be poyson there may be good and lawfull meate by some accidentall difference in the creature it selfe and in that which it feeds upon or in the temper of the air and climate This meat not only the Indians but the best of the Spaniards feed on it and it is so much esteemed of that because in Lent they are commonly found the Spaniards will not be deprived of it but do eat it also then alleadgging that it is no flesh though in the eating it be in fatnesse and in taste and in all like unto flesh for that it feeds not upon any thing that is very nourishing but chiefly upon Amits egs and dry sticks It is a great point of controversie amongst their Divines some hold it lawfull others unlawfull for that time it seems the pricks and brisles of the Indian Hedge-hog prick their consciences with a foolish seruple Another kind of meat they feed much on which is called Igâ—…ana of these some are found in the waters others upon the land They are longer then a Rabbit and like unto a Scorpion with some green some black scales on their backes Those upon the land will run very fast like Lizards and will climbe up trees like Squerrils and breed in the roots of trees or in stone walls The fight of them is enough to affright one and yet when they are dressed and stewed in broth with a little spice they make a dainty broth and eat also as white as a Rabbit nay the middle bone is made just like the backe bone of a Rabbit They are dangerous meat if not throughly boiled and they had almost cost mee my life for eating too much of them not being stewed enough There are also many water and land Tortoi's which the Indians find out for themselves and also relish exceeding well unto the Spaniards palate As for drinking the Indians generally are much given unto it and drinke if they have nothing else of their poore and simple Chocolatte without Sugar or many compounds or of Atolle untill their bellies bee ready to burst But if they can get any drink that will make them mad drunk they will not give it over as long as a drop is left or a penny remaines in their purse to purchase it Among themselves they use to make such drinks as are in operation far stronger then wine and these they confection in such great Jarres as come from Spain wherein they put some little quantity of water and fill up the Jar with some Melasso's or juyee of the Sugar Cane or some hony for to sweeten it then for the strengthning of it they put roots and leaves of Tobacco with other kinde of roots which grow there and they know to bee strong in operation nay in some places I have known where they have put in a live Toad and so closed up the Jarre for a fortnight or moneths space till all that they have put in him be throughly steeped and the toad consumed and the drink well strengthned then they open it and call their friends to the drinking of it which commonly they doe in the night time lest their Preist in the Towne should have notice of them in the day which they never leave off untill they bee mad and raging drunke This drink they call Chicha which stinketh most filthily and certainly is the cause of many Indians death especially where they use the toads poyson with it Once I was informed living in Mixco of a great meeting that was appointed in an Indians house and I took with mee the Officers of Justice of the Town to search that Indians house where I found foure Jarres of Chicha not yet opened I caused them to be taken out and broken in the street before his doore and the filthy Chicha to be poured out which left such a stinking sent in my nostrils that with the smell of it or apprehension of its loath somenesse I fell to vomiting and continued sick almost a whole week after Now the Spaniards knowing this inclination of the Indians unto drunkennesse doe herein much abuse and wrong them though true it is there is a strict order even to the forfeiting of the wine of any one who shall presume to sell wine in a Towne of Indians with a mony mulct besides Yet for all this the baser and poorer sort of Spaniards for their lucre and gaine contemning authority will goe out from Guatemala to the Towns of Indians about and carry such wine to sell and inebriate the Natives as may bee very advantagious to themselves for of one Jarre of wine they will make two at least confectioning it with hony and water and other strong drugs which are cheap to them and strongly operative upon the poore and weak Indians heads and this they will sell for currant Spanish wine with such pint and quart measures as never were allowed by Justice Order but by themselves invented With such wine they soone intoxicate the poore Indians and when they have made them drunk then they will cheat them more making them pay double for their quart measure and when they see they can drinke no more then they will cause them to ly down and sleep and in the meane while will pick their pockets This is a common sinne among those Spaniards of Guatemala
man and so after two dayes I tooke post in company of some Spaniards and an Irish Colonel for Canterbury and so forward to Gravesend When I came to London I was much troubled within my selfe for want of my Mother tongue for I could onely speak some few broken words which made mee fearefull I should not bee accknowledged to bee an English man born Yet I thought my kinred who knew I had beene many yeers lost would some way or other acknowledge mee and take notice of mee if at the first I addressed my selfe unto some of them untill I could better expresse my selfe in English The first therefore of my name whom I had notice of was my Lady Penelope Gage widow of Sir Iohn Gage then living in St. Iones to whom the next morning after my arrivall to London I addressed my selfe for the better discovery of some of my kinred whom though I knew to bee Papists and therefore ought not to be acquainted with my inward purpose and resolution yet for feare of some want in the mean time and that I might by their means practice my selfe in the use of my forgotten native tongue and that I might enquire what Childs part had been left me by my father that I might learn some fashions and â—…astly that in the meane time I might search into the Religion of England and find how farre my conscience could agree with it and bee satisfied in those scruples which had troubled mee in America for all these reasons I thought it not amisse to looke and inquire after them When therefore I came unto my Lady Gage shee beleeved mee to bee her kinsman but laughed at mee telling mee that I spake like an Indian or Welch man and not like an English man yet shee welcomed mee home and sent mee with a servant to a Brothers lodging in Long Aker who being in the Country of Surrey and hearing of mee sent horse and man for mee to come to keepe Christmas with an Uncle of mine living at Gatton by whom as a lost and forgotten Nephew and now after foure and twenty yeeres returned home againe I was very kindly entertained and from thence sent for to Cheam to one Mr. Fromand another kinsman with whom I continued till after twelfth day and so returned againe to London to my brother Thus my good Reader thou seeâ—…t an American through many dangers by Sea and Land now safely arrived in England and thou maiest well with mee observe the great and infinite goodnesse and mercy of God towards mee a wicked and wretched sinner How I have answered to this Gods gracious calling mee from so farre and remote a Country to doe him service here I will shew thee in the Chapter following and so conclude this my long and tedious History CHAP. XXII Shewing how and for what causes after I had arrived in England I tooke yet another Iourney to Rome and other parts of Italy and returned againe to settle my selfe in this my Country NOw Reader as the stone that is falling the neerer it cometh to its Center more haste it maketh So I the neerer I am coming to the conclusion of this my History more haste I desire to make in this last Chapter for the compleating and finishing of it With brevity therefore I will relate some of my travels in Europe in which I will yeeld to many of my Nation but for America and my travels and experience there I dare boldly challenge all travellers of my Country After my return to London from Surrey I began to expostulate with my younger Brother knowing hee had been present at my Fathers death and had a chief hand in the ordering and executing his last Will and Testament concerning what childs part was left unto mee To which hee made mee answer that my father had indeed left him and my Brother the Colonell and two other sons by a second wife and my owne sister every one somewhat but to mee nothing nay that at his death he did not so much as remember mee which I could not but take to heart and called to minde the angry and threatning letter which I had received from him in Spain because I would not bee a Jesuite Though for the present I said nothing yet afterwards in many occasions I told my Brother I would have the Will produced and would by course of law demand a childs part but hee put me off assuring me I should never want amongst other my friends and kindred with whom hee knew I should bee well accommodated as long as I continued in England After few dayes that I had been in London my kinsman at Cheam desired me to come to live with him where I continued not long for my Uncle at Gatton invited mee to his house offering mee there meat drink lodging horse and man with twenty pound a yeare which hee promised in other waies to make as good as thirty Here I continued a twelve moneth refining my self in my native tongue and though altogether unknown to my Uncle and kindred searching into the Doctrine and truth of the Gospel professed in England for which cause I made many journeys to London and then privately I resorted to some churches and especially to Paulâ—… Church to see the service performed and to heare the Word of God Preached but so that I might not be seen known or discovered by any Papist When in Pauls Church I heard the Organs and the Musick and the Prayers and Collects and saw the Ceremonies at the Altar I remembred Rome againe and perceived little difference between the two Churches I searched further into the Common-Prayer and carryed with me a Bible into the Country on purpose to compare the Prayers Epistles and Gospels with a Masse Book which there I had at command and I found no difference but onely English and Latin which made mee wonder and to acknowledge that much remained still of Rome in the Church of England and that I feared my calling was not right In these my scruples coming often to London and conversing with one Dâ—…de Popham and Crâ—… Connel and Brown English and Irish Dominican Fryers I found their wayes and conversations base lewd light and wanton like the Spanish and Indian Fryers which made me againe reflect upon the Popish Church upheld by such Pillars I came yet to the acquaintaince of one Price Superiour to the Benedictine Monkes whom I found to be a meer States-man and a great Politician and very familiar private and secret with the Archbishop of Canterbury William Land in conversation with my Brother who belonged then unto one Signior Coâ—… the Popes Agent and was in such favour at the Court that hee was sent over by the Queen with a rich present to a Popish Idol named our â—…ady of Sichem in the Low Countries I heard him sometimes say that hee doubted not but to bee shortly Curate and Parish Preist of Coven Garden sometimes that he hoped to bee made Bishop in England and that then I