saved and had not been discharged which his Master brought to him to teach him the use of it which for fear of his Masters displeasure and their inhumanity he endeavoured to do but they still professing their Ignorance he was forced to shoot it off But the Negroes who expected some delightful thing being frustrated and at the sudden noise and flash of fire which they very much dread fled from him greatly affrighted yet soon after hearing no more of that noise they came up to him again commanding him to do the like He told them he had not Powder which was the cause of the noise but this would not satisfie these Barbarians and therefore thinking it wilfulness they would have murthered him had not his Master rescued him After this in discourse with his Master he told him That naturally the people were civil and simply honest but if provoked full of revenge and that this their barbarous dealing was occasioned by some unhandsome action of carrying a Native away from thence without their leave about a year before they resolving if any came on shore they should never go off alive About 7 weeks after Wats had been in the Country his Master presented him to his King named Efnme King of the Buckamores who immediately gave him to his Daughter called Onijah when the King went abroad he attended him as his Page throughout the whole Circuit of his Dominions which was not above 12 Miles yet he boasted extreamly of his Power and Strength glorying exceedingly that he had a White Man to attend him whom he imployed to carry his Bow and Arrows In several places far from the Seaside the people would run away from him for fear others would fall down and seem to worship him using those Actions as they do to their Gods Their progress was never so long but they could return home at night but never without a handsome load of a cup of the Creature for he seldom or never went abroad and came home sober Their drink is of the best Palm Wine and another sort of strong Liquor called Penrore Wats knew quickly how to humour this profound Prince and if any of the Natives abused him upon his complaint he had Redress as once by striving with a Negro his Arm was broke which by Providence more than skill was set again After some Months the King of Calamanch whose name was Esn mancha hearing of this beautiful White Courted his Neighbour Prince to sell him to him at length they struck a bargain and Wats was sold for a Cow and a Goat This King was a very sober and moderate person free from the treacheries and mischiefs that the other was subject to He would often discourse Wats and ask him of his King and Country whether his Kingdoms and Dominions were as big as his which were not above 25 Miles in length and 15 in breadth Wats told him as much as his understanding and years made him capable of keeping still within the bounds of modesty and yet relating as much as possible to the Honour and Dignity of his Soveraign First informing him of the greatness of one of his Kingdomes the several Shires and Counties it contained with the number of its Cities Towns and Castles the strength of each the infinite Inhabitants and valour of his Subjects One of these Kingdoms was enough sufficiently to amaze this Petty Governour that he had no need to mention any more of His Majesties Glory and Dignity It put him into such a profound Consternation that he resolved to find out some way to shew his respects to this Mighty Prince and told John Wats that if he could find but a Passage he would let him go to England to tell his Maiesty of the great favour and respect he had for him Which did not a little rejoyce our Englishman withal the King told him He would send him a present which should be two Cabareets or Goats which they value very highly the King himself having not above 16 or 18 of them Wats tells the King that the King of England had many Thousands of his Subjects who were under the degree of Gentlemen that had a Thousand Sheep apeice the Flesh whereof they valued at a very much higher rate than Goats Though our Englishman lived very handsomely with this King yet his desires and hopes were for his Native Countrey and at length he obtained a Promise from his King That the first English Ship which came into the Road should have liberty to release or purchase him This very much rejoyced his heart and now he thought every day a year till he could hear of or see some English Ship arrive and oft did he walk to the Sea side to receive some comfort which at length was observed by Jaga a Wizard and the chiefest in 3 or 4 Kingdoms thereabout They are persons that the Natives give very much credit to and on any difficult occasion run to them for satisfaction And though they have vast numbers of them in every place yet this Jaga was the most renowned amongst them One day he comes to Wats and asked him very civilly why he so often frequented that place who told him It was to see if he could discover any English Ship to come in there But Wats being unacquainted with his great fame asked him when he did believe there would one come in Not that he was willing to give credit to any of their Divinations but supposing hereby to please him and answer his expectation Jaga immediately told him That 15 days after an English Ship should come into that Road He then askt him whether that Ship should carry him away To which he answered very doubtfully but told him He should be offered to the Master of the Ship and if they did not agree so that he were brought to shore again he should not be sold but would dye for grief These 15 days seemed very tedious to Wats who cast many a look on the Sea with an aking heart The 14th day he went to the highest Hill thereabout but could discover no Ship the next morning he went again 2 or 3 times but saw none About 2 or 3 hours after some Moors came running and told the King there was a Canoe coming for so they called our Ships At which our Englishman rejoyced heartily in hope of release yet durst not shew it for fear of Punishment or Death for though he lived better now than with his first Master yet his service was far worse than the slaves in Turkey and their Diet worse than Dogs meat he had therefore cause enough of inward joy The Ship came immediately in and Wats goes presently to Jaga to know if it were an English Ship who assured him it was It happened to be the St. Malo's Merchant Captain Royden Commander who hastned to dispatch his business took in his Negroes and was ready to sail and our Englishman heard not a word what should become of him the King never offering
Lyon Key taking with her only two Women and her Child she was no sooner out of doors but the Herald followed whereupon she stepped into the Charterhouse Gate so that he could not see her the Herald finding some things she had lost fell to ransacking them and in the mean time she hasted away knowing the place only by name where she should take boat Her Servants also divided themselves and only one of them knew the way thither Thus she attired in a mean habit and they that were with her took their way into Finsbury Fields where by the special Providence of Heaven near Moregate she and all her Company met and went together to Lyon-Key a Barge was there ready for her but the morning was so extream misty that the Steersman would not venture out without great intreaty Soon after the Council were informed of her departure whereupon some came presently to her house to inquire out the manner of her escape and to take an Inventory of her Goods and Orders were issued to apprehend her so that the noise of her Flight was at Leigh in Essex before her Arrival When she came thither the old Gentleman her Servant carried her privately to a Merchants house near Leigh naming her Mistriss White where she stayed till she had made some new Provision for her Child in the room of that left behind her at Barbican When the time came she was to take Shipping she hardly escaped Discovery and being ' twice carried into the Seas almost within sight of Zealand by contrary Winds was driven back to the place whence she came And at her last return the searchers suspecting she might be in that Ship examined her Servant that came to buy Victuals who told them such an innocent Story of a Merchants Wife which was on Shipboard that they searcht no further and so at last the safely arrived in Brabant where she met with her Husband who apparelling her and her Women like Dutch Froes they travelled to Santon and had leave from the Magistrates to live privately there but it being reported they were greater Personages than they pretended the Bishop and Magistrates resolved to seize and examine them both of their Condition and Religion but Mr. Berty having secret notice thereof took his Dutchess his Child and the two Women and about three Afternoon in February walked out as if to take the Air intending that Night to get to Wesel and the better to conceal his design they went on Foot and left the rest of their Family at Santon They had not gone above an English Mile but there fell a mighty Rain which dissolved the Frost and Ice and so made the wayes deep and slippery which proved extream tedious to these new Lacquies and no Waggon to be gotten so that Mr. Berty was forced to carry the Child and the Dutchess his Cloak and Rapier the Women being sent before At last near seven a Clock in the dark Evening they came to Wesel seeking after such a tedious Journey to repose and refresh their wearied Limbs in an Inn but they all refused to entertain them though they offered a considerable sum for the same judging them to be ill People In the mean time the poor Babe cried bitterly the Dutchess wept as fast the Weather was extream Cold and the Heavens rained as fast as the Clouds could pour Mr. Berty destitute of all Worldly Succour and relief for him and his in this deplorable Condition resolved to carry the Dutchess with her Infant into the Porch of the great Church and so to buy some Coals Food and Straw for their Repose that night or at least till he could procure some better Lodging Mr. Berty could speak little Dutch and could meet with none who understood either English French Italian or Latin till going toward the Church he heard two Boys speaking in Latin who stepping to them promised them two Stivers if they would bring him to a Walloons house and so it pleased God he happened into a house where Mounsieur Rivers a Minister was at Supper he had formerly been in England and received some Courtesies from this good Dutchess Mounsieur Rivers going to the door and seeing Mr. Berty his Dutchess and Infant in that lamentable Case with Rain Mire and Dirt and in Apparel so unlike what he had seen them in England was so overwhelmed with sorrow and tears that for some time he could neither speak to them nor they to him At last they saluted each other and he brought them to his house into which God knows they entred joyfully Mr. Berty changing his Clothes with the good Man of the House the Dutchess with his Wife and their Infant with the Child of the House Here they continued some time and then hired a House where they discovered themselves freely and lived in good fashion but whilst they past the time here with some content in hope of resting after their Tedious Travels Sir John Mason Queen Mary's Ambassador in the Netherlands gave them private notice of a design for seizing and carrying them back to England managed by the L. Paget For the D. of Brunswick being to pass by that City with ten Companies of Souldiers to assist the Emperour against the French it was contrived that he should suddenly apprehend them and carry them away from Wesel Upon this Information Mr. Berty with his Dutchess Child presently fly into the Palatinate and found Protection in Wincheim but the money which they brought out of England being almost spent they began to faint under their heavy burden being almost out of heart and hope in this their distressed condition at which time it pleased God to provide wonderfully for them by the following means One John a Lasco being driven out of England at Queen Maries coming to the Crown after many troubles and adventures returned into Poland his Native Countrey where he found great favour with that King and understanding the Condition of Mr. Berty and his Dutchess whom he had known in England he gave an account thereof to the King of Poland and the Palatine of Vilna who presently wrote to them to come thither with great offers of kindness They returned Letters full of Thanks to the King and Palatine and sent with them all the remainder of the Jewels which they had brought from England and having received Letters of Conduct for their Security in April 1557 the Dutchess with her Husband and Family began their Journey toward Poland By the way they met with many dangers One was occasioned by a Captain of the Lantgraves who quarrelled with Mr. Berty about a Spaniel of his and with his Horsemen set upon them by the way thrusting their Boar-spears through the sides of the Waggon where the Children and Women were yet it pleased God none of them were hurt Mr. Berty had only four Horsemen with him and in the quarrel the Captains Horse was slain under him upon which a Rumor was presently spread about the Countrey that
he came to a little Village where he met with some who were travelling to Vienna in Austria whereupon changing his former intentions he went in their Company to that City Whilst he continued there professing himself one of the Dominican Order he was brought to preach before Maximilian 2. Emperor of Germany who likeing the Man and his manner of Preaching would have retained him if by Letters from Pope Paul 3. he had not been required to send him back to Rome as one that was condemned for Heresie The Emperor being unwilling to deliver him and on the other hand not willing to quarrel with the Pope sent him privately away with Letters of safe Conduct and so travelling through Germany he came into England where being informed of the Reformation begun in his own Countrey he went into Scotland and offered his Service to the Church but the long disuse of his Native Language having lived abroad 24 years made him unuseful at the first only now and then he preached a Sermon in Latin to the Learned in Magdalens Chappel in Edenburgh â—nd in the year 1567. having recovered the use of â—he language he was appointed Minister of Holy-rood House Next year he was removed to Edenburgh and was joyned as Colleague with Mr. Knox for Nine years space Then by Order of the General Assembly he was removed to Montress where he continued two years and upon the Death of Adam Heriot was removed from thence to Aberdeen having the inspection of the Churches of Mar and Buchan committed to his care In 1579 he was called to be K. James his Minister and served in that charge till born down with the weight of years he was forced to retire himself After which time forbearing all Publick exercises he lived privately at home comforting himself with the remembrance of the Mercies of God that he had experienced in his life past and this year Decemb. 12. without any pain he died peaceably at Edenburg in the 88 year of his Age. A. B. Spotswood History of Scotland pag. 461. X. The Great King Henry the Fourth of France saith Mr. Howell was as remarkable an Example of the Lubricity and unstableness of Mundane Affairs and of the Sandy Foundation whereon the highest Pomp and purposes of men are grounded as almost any Age can Parallel For this Illustrious Prince having a most potent and irresistible Army composed of Forty Thousand Combatants all choice men led by Old Commanders and the most expert Europe could afford in a perfect Equipage having also a Mount of Gold as high as a Lance estimated at sixteen Millions to maintain this Army having assured his Confederates abroad setled all things at home caused his Queen to be Crowned with the highest Magnificence imaginable and appointed her Regent in his absence behold this mighty King amongst these Triumphs of his Queens being to go next day â—o his Army when his Spirits were at the highest elevation and his heart swelling with assurances rather than hopes of Success and Glory going one Afternoon to his Armory he was stopped in a small streâ—t by so contemptible a thing as a Colliers Carâ— and there from amongst the Arms of his Nobles he was thrust out of the World by the meanest of his own Vassals the Villain Ravilliac who with a Prodigious Confidence put his Foot upon the Coach-wheel reached him over the Shoulders of one of his greatest Lords and stabbed him to the very heart and with a monstrous undauntedness of Resolution making good his first stab with a second dispatched him suddenly from off the Earth as if a Mouse had strangled an Elephant Sic parvis pereunt ingentia rebus And thus the smallest things Can stop the Breath of Kings Let us now see the deserved punishment of this Notorious bloudy Wretch This Francis Ravillac was born in Angoulesme by Profession a Lawyer who after the committing of that Horrid Fact being siezed and put upon the Rack May 25. the 27 he had Sentence of Death passed on him and was executed accordingly in the manner following He was brought out of Prison in his Shirt with a Torch of two pound weight lighted in one hand and the Knife wherewith he Murdered the King chained to the other he was then set upright in a Dung-cart wherein he was carried to the Greve or place of Execution where a strong Scaffold was built At his coming upon the Scaffold he crossed himself a sign that he died a Papist then he was bound to an Engine of wood made like St. Andrew's Cross which done his hand with the Knife chained to it was put into a Furnace then flaming with Fire and Brimstone wherein it was in a most Terrible manner consumed at which he cast forth horrible cryes like one tormented in Hell yet would he not confess any thing After which the Executioner having made Pincers Red hot in the same Furnace they did pinch his Paps the brawns of his Arms and Thighs the Calves of his Legs with other fleshy parts of his Body pulling out Collops of Flesh and burning them before his Face then they poured into those wounds scalding Oyl Rosin Pitch and Brimstone melted together after which they set a hard Roundel of Clay upon his Navel having a hole in the middle into which they poured melted Lead at which he again roared out most horribly yet confessed nothing But to make the last act of his Tragedy equal in Torments to the rest they caused four strong Horses to be brought to tear his body in pieces where being ready to suffer his last Torment he was again questioned but would not reveal any thing and so died without calling upon God or speaking one word concerning Heaven His Flesh and Joints were so strongly knit together that those four Horses could not in a long time dismember him but one of them fainting a Gentleman who was present mounted upon a mighty strong Horse alighted and tied him to one of the Wretches Limbs yet for all this they were constrained to cut the flesh under his Armes and Thighs with a sharp Razor whereby his body was the easier torn in pieces which done the Fury of the People was so great that they pulled his dismembred Carcass out of the Executioners hands which they dragged up and down the dirt and cutting off the fllesh with their Knives the Bones which remained were brought to the place of Execution and there burnt the Ashes were cast in the Wind being judged unworthy of Earths Burial By the same Sentence all his Goods were forfeit to the King It was also ordained that the House where he had been born should be beaten down a recompence being given the owner thereof and never any house to be built again on that ground That within fifteen dayes after the Publication of the Sentence by sound of Trumpet in the Town of Angoulesme his Father and Mother should depart the Realm never to return again if they did to be hanged up presently His Brethren Sisters
found the Normans dispersed in divers Coasts of his Realm Charles marches with his Army against them but at the first encounter is overthrown this Check though the loss was small struck a great Terror and at last caused an apparent impossibility to succour the City of Neustria then besieged by them with very great Forces He was therefore advised to Treat with them and to make them of Enemies Friends and to leave them that which he could not take from them Whereupon he yeilded Neustria to them by his own Authority without the consent of the Estates and the Normans called the Countrey Normandy By this and some other things he fell into a deep hatred with the French upon which Charles fell sick and that sickness was accompanied with a distemper of the mind thorow Jealousy conceived against his Queen Richarda After this the Germans dispossess him of his Empire and give it to Arnold and the French reject him from governing that Realm electing in his room Odo Duke of Angiers This poor Prince deposed from all his Dignities was forsaken of every man having so ill provided for himself in prosperity that he had not a house wherein to shrowd himself and being banished the Court he was driven to a poor Village in Swevia where he lived some days in extream want without any means of his own or releif from any man In the end he died neither pitied nor lamented of any man in a Corner unknown till now made famous as being the Theatre of so extraordinary a Tragedy And surely for one of the greatest Monarchs in the World thus to dye without House without Bread without Honour without Mourning and without Memory is a singular instance of the Vanity and inconstancy of this uncertain World Hist France pag. 72. XV. Dionysius the younger King of Sicily had his Kingdom in good constitution and sufficiently fortified having no less then 400 Ships of five or six Oars in a Seat He had one hundred Thousand Foot and Nine Thousand Horse His City of Syracuse had strong Gates and was compassed with high Walls he had in readiness all manner of Warlike Provisions to furnish out 500 Ships more He had Granaries wherein he laid up an 100 Myriads of that measure which contains 6 bushels of Bread Corn. He had a Magazine filled with all sorts of Arms Offensive and Defensive He was also fortified with Confederates and Allies so that he himself thought the Government was fastened to him with Chains of Adamant But being invaded by Dion in his absence his People revolted and behold what a fatal Revolution fell out in his Family Himself had before slain his Brothers and in this Insurrection against him his Sons were cruelly put to death his Daughters were first ravished then stript naked and in short none of his Progeny obtained so much as a decent Burial for some were burnt others cut in peices and some cast into the Sea and he himself died old in extream Poverty his manner being to 〈◊〉 in Barbers Shops and as a Jester to move men to â—aughter Thus in the midst of Greece in a very mean and low condition he wore out the miserable remains of a wretched Life Aelian var. Hist k. Cambuses cruelly kills the Son of One of his Principall Favourites Page 54. After the death of Cyrus Cambyses his Son reigned King of Persia and King Croesus still remained in that Court Now it happened that King Cambyses had slain twelve Persians of Principal rank whom K. Croesus thus admonished Do not O King said he indulge thine Anger and Rage in every thing but refrain your self It will be for your advantage to be prudent and provident and foresight is the part of a wise man but you upon slight occasions put to death your Countreymen and spare not so much as young Children If you shall go on to do often in this manner consider if you will not give occasion to the Persians to revolt from you your Father Cyrus laid his strict Commands upon me that as often as occasion should require I should put you in mind of those things which might conduce to your profit and welfare Cambyses snatch up a bow and arrow with intention to have shot Croesus through therewith but he hastily fled Cambyses thus prevented commanded his Ministers to put him to death but they supposing the King would repent himself and then they should be rewarded for his safety kept him privately alive It was not long before Cambyses wanted the Counsel of Croesus and when his Servants told him that he yet lived Cambyses rejoyced thereat but ordered them to be slain who had disobeyed his Commandment in preserving him whom he had condemned to Death This Cambyses was a very bloudy Tyrant which might be partly occasioned by his Flatterers for having a mind to marry his Sister he was told by his Lawyers That they knew no Law which admitted such Marriages but that there was a Law that the Persian Kings might do what they listed which Maxim he often put in Practice For on a time desiring to be truly informed by Prexaspes his beloved Favorite what the Persians his Subjects thought of his Conditions He answered They were followed with abundance of praise from all men only it was observed by many that he took more than usual delight in the Taste of Wine Cambyses being enraged at this reproof replied And are the Persians double Tongued then who also tell me that I have in all things excelled my Father Cyrus Thou Prexaspes shalt be my witness whether in this report they have done me right For if at the first shot I pierce thy sons heart with an Arrow then it is false that hath been spoken but if I miss the mark I am then pleased that the same be counted True and my Subjects believed And immediately he shot an Arrow at the innocent Child who falling down dead with the stroke Cambyses commanded the body to be opened and his heart was found sticking upon the Arrow at which this monstrous Tyrant greatly rejoycing shewed it to his Father with this saying instead of an Epitaph Now Prexaspes thou maist resolve thy self and conclude that I have not lost my wits with wine but the Persians there 's who report such things of me He died miserably afterward in Egypt without any Son or Successor of his Family Rawleigh Hist World Lib. 3. XVII Strange and bloudy was the Consequence of a small accident at Lisbon in Portugal Upon April 10 1506. many of the City went to the Church of St. Dominick to hear Mass On the left side of this Church there is a Chappel much reverenced by those of the Countrey and called Jesus Chappel Upon the Altar there stands a Crucifix the wound of whose side is covered over with a peice of Glass some of those who came thither to do their Devotions casting their eyes upon this hole it seemed to them that a kind of Glimmering Light came out of it Then happy