his Arms kissed him and promised him large Rewards if he would live in his Court but he with much Thankfulness refusing to receive any besought the King that he would not disclose what he had said in regard his Resolution was to continue in that Pilgrims state and so they there parted with Tears From whence the Earl bent his Course towards Warwick and coming thither not known of any for three days together took Alms at the hands of his own Lady as one of those twelve poor People unto which she daily gave Relief her self for the Safety of him and her and the Health of both their Souls And having rendred thanks to her he repaired to an Hermite that resided amongst the shady Woods hard by desiring by Conference with him to receive some Spiritual Comfort where he abode with that holy Man till his Death and then succeeded him in that Cell and continued the same course of Life for the space of two Years after but then discerning Death to approach he sent to his Lady their Wedding Ring by a trusty Servant wishing her to take care of his Burial adding also that when she came she should find him lying dead in the Chappel before the Altar and moreover that within fifteen days after she her self should depart this Life Whereupon she came accordingly and brought with her the Bishop of the Diocess as also many of the Clergy and other People and finding his Body there did honourably interr it in that Hermitage and was her self afterwards buried by him leaving her paternal Inheritance to Reynburn her only Son Which departure of our famous Guy hapned in the Year of our Lord 929. and of his own Age the 70. The Life of St. Patrick the Irish Apostle SAint Patrick was born in the Marches between England and Scotland in a Town by the Sea-side named Eiburn whose Fathers name was called Calphurnius a Deacon and Son to a Priest his Mother named Couches was Sister to St. Martin that famous Bishop of Tours in France Patrick of a child was brought up in Learning and well instructed in the Faith being much given to Devotion The Irish-men in those dayes assisted with some Scots and Picts were become arch-Pirates greatly disquieting the Seas about the Coasts of Britain and used to sack little small Villages that lay scatteringly along the shore and would lead away the Inhabitants captive home into their Countrey And as it chanced Patrick being a Lad of sixteen years old and a Scholar then in Secular Learning was taken among others and became Slave to an Irish Lord called Macbuaine from whom after the term of six years he redeemed himself with a piece of Gold which he found in a Clod of Earth that the Swine had newly turned up as he followed them in the time of his Captivity being appointed by his Master to take charge of them and keep them And as Affliction commonly maketh men Religious the regard of his former Education had stamped in him such remorse and humility that being thenceforth weaned from the World he betook himself to Contemplation ever lamenting the want of Grace and Truth in that Island and alluring one of that Nation to bear him company for exercise sake he departed thence and got him into France ever having in his mind a desire to see the Conversion of the Irish People whose Babes yet unborn seemed to him in his dreaming from forth their Mothers Wombs to call for Christendom In this purpose he sought out his Uncle Martin by whose means he was placed with Germanus the Bishop of Auxerre continuing with him as Scholar or Disciple for the space of forty Years all which time he bestowed in the study of Holy Scriptures Prayers and such godly Excercises Afterwards being renowned thorough the Latine Church for his Wisdom Vertue and Learning he went to Rome bearing Letters with him in his Commendation from the French Bishops unto Pope Celestine to whom he uttered his whole Mind and Secret Vow which long before he had conceived as touching Ireland Celestine invested him Arch-Bishop and Primate of the whole Island set him forward with all Favour he could bringing him and his Disciples onward to their Country In the twenty third Year of the Emperour Theodosius the younger being the year of our Lord 430 Patrick landed in Ireland and because he spake the Tongue perfectly and withal being a reverend Personage in the eyes of all Men many listened and gave ear to his preaching And the rather because as some Writers have recorded he confirmed his Doctrine with divers Miracles of which that called St. Patricks Purgatory is most remarkable the description of which out of Giraldus Cambrensis an eminent Irish Author take as followeth In the Parts of Ulster saith he there is a Pool or Lake which environeth an Island in the one part whereof there standeth a Church much enlightned with the brightsome recourse of Angels the other part is ugly and gastly as it were a Bedlam alotted to the visible Assemblies of horrible and grisly Bugs This part of the Island containeth nine Caves and if any dare be so hardy as to take his lodging a Night in one of them strait these Spirits claw him by the back and tug him so ruggedly and toss him so crabbedly that now and then they make him more frank of his Bum than of his Tongue a payment correspondent to his entertainment This place is called St. Patrick's Purgatory of the Inhabitants for when St. Patrick laboured the Conversion of the People of Ulster by setting before their eyes in great heat of Spirit the Creation of the World the Fall of our Progenitors the Redemption of man by the blessed and precious blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ the certainty of Death the Immortality of the Soul the general Resurrection the day of Judgment the Joyes of Heaven the Pains of Hell how that at length every man small and great young and old rich and poor King and Keisar Potentate and Pesant must either through God's gracious mercy be exalted to the one to flourish in perpetual Felicity or through his unsearchable Justice tumbled down to the other to be tormented in eternal misery These and the like grave and weighty Sentences wherewith he was abundantly stored so far sunk into their Hearts as they seemed very flexible in condescending to his Doctrine so that some proof of his strange preaching could have been verified whereupon without farther delay they spake to the Prelate after this manner Sir As we like of your preaching so we dislike not of our Liberty you tell us of many gew gaws and strange Dreams you would have us to abandon Infidelity to cage up our Liberty to bridle our Pleasure for which you promise us for our toyl and labour a Place to us as unknown so as yet uncertain You sermon to us of a Dungeon appointed for Offenders and Miscreants indeed if we could find that to be true we should the sooner be
third was of Pearls wherein was Abraham and the huge huge Angel of Death with his Book and Pen in Hand writing the Times and mens Lives which fatal opinions make them hardy In the fourth he beheld an infinite company of Angels whereof every one was a thousand times bigger then the Globe of the earth exactly to an inch each of them had ten thousand Heads every head threescore and ten thousand tongues and every tongue praised God in seven hundred thousand several Languages Amongst other of these Angels saith he was one named Phatyr or the Angel of mercy who was of that immense greatness that every step he trod was twelve times more than the distance betwixt the Poles This Angel said he had a Quill or Pen of orient Pearl of such a length never a Scrivener in London hath the like that an excellent Arabian Courser could hardly reach to the end of it in five hundred years continual galloping with this Pen saith he doth God record all things past present and to come in such a mysterious Character that none but He and Seraphael can understand it with this Quill were written all the hundred and four Holy Books viz. the ten which Adam received Seth fifty Enoch thirty and Abraham the Remainder this Pen forsooth also writ Moses Law David's Psalms Christ's Gospel and Mahomet's Alcoran The fifth Heaven of Diamond and in it Moses the sixth of Ruby and in it John Baptist in the seventh Heaven he saw the Throne of God supported by seven Angels each of them so great that a Faulcon with incessant flying could scarce in a thousand Years reach the distance of one Eye from another fourteen everlasting burning Candles hung about the Throne whose length according to Mahomet's measure was as much as a Horse could run in five hundred Years There saith this Blasphemer did he see the Almighty who bid him welcome and stroked him on the Face with his hand which was a thousand times colder than Ice Here Mahomet for shame of his own Baseness blush'd a thing he never did for lying and sweat six drops which he wiped from his Brow and threw into Paradise where one became a Rose another a Grain of Rice and the other four became four Learned Men viz. Armet Sembelin Almamed Moler-zed and Seh-nassin Then returning to his Elmparac or Mule he rode back to his house at Mecha all this was done in the tenth part of the Night but when he was requested to do thus much in the Peoples sight he answered Praised be God I am a man and an Apostle The Book Asear saith Bellonius telleth further That in his Journey Mahomet heard a Womans Voice crying Mahomet Mahomet but he held his Peace afterwards another called him but he gave no Answer Mahomet asked the Angel who they were He answered That the one was she which published the Jews Law and if he had answered her all his Disciples should have been Jews the other was she which delivered the Gospel whom if he had answered all his Followers had been Christians Now who would think People should be so credulous to believe such antick Stories but his other Opinions were full as ridiculous as concerning the Day of Judgment that he should paint it out by a great and fearful Duel betwixt him and Death who being overcome shall be so enraged that he shall destroy all the World presently and being armed in flaming Brass shall sound his Trumpet to each Quarter of the World whose affrighting Noise shall make all Creatures to give up the Ghost yea the very Angels also shall die as also Adriel who wrapping his iron Wings about him shall strangle himself with such a hideous Noise as is not to be imagined Then shall ensue a terrible Earth-quake and a violent shower of parching Brimstone which shall turn the World into a disordered Chaos in which Condition it shall remain the space of forty days when God shall take it in his Fist and say Where are now the Haughty Princes the Cruel Tyrants Lascivious Wantons and Covetous Muck-worms of the Earth Then will he rain down Mercy for forty Days and Nights together incessantly which shall reduce the World again into a flourishing Condition Then shall the Angel Seraphiel take a Golden Trumpet in his hand of length five hundred Years Travel from one end to another with which he shall give such a Sound as shall revive again both Angels and Men who shall re-assume their former Estate after this Michael the Arch-Angel comes with a mighty Ballance and poises every man's Actions in either Scale those whose good Deeds out-weigh their evil are put on the right hand the other on the left then is every man loaden with his Sins in a Satchel and hung about his Neck with which they pass on a narrow weak Bridge over the Mouth of Hell now those that be heavy laden break the Bridge and fall therein but such as have but few Sins pass over securely On the other side of the Bridge stands Mahomet who shall be transformed into the shape of a mighty Ram full of Locks and long Fleeces of Wool in which all his Sectaries like Fleas shall shroud themselves then will he jump into Paradise and so convey them all thither Paradise he described to be as many miles about as there be Attomes in the Sun and that it is enclosed with a Wall of ninety times refined Gold ten thousand miles high and three thousand thick having seven Gates to enter in at and is divided into seven spacious Gardens and those sub-divided into seventy times seven several places of Delight In this place he promises to his Mussel-men or true Believers all sensual Pleasures and Delights imaginable namely That they should have Garments of Silk with all sorts of Colours Bracelets of Gold and Amber Parlours and Banquetting-houses upon Floods and Rivers Vessels of Gold and Silver Angels serving them bringing in Gold and Silver Flaggons Milk and Wine curious Lodgings rarely furnished Cushions Pillows and Down-beds most beautiful Women to accompany them Maidens and Virgins with twinkling Eyes Gardens and Orchards with Arbors Fountains Springs and all manner of pleasant Fruit Rivers of Milk Honey and spiced Wine all manner of sweet Odours Perfumes and fragrant Scents yea whatsoever the Flesh shall desire to have In this Paradise saith Mahomet there is a Table of Diamond seven hundred thousand days Journey long does not he think you deserve the Whetstone this is for men to feast upon sitting on Chairs of Gold and Pearl Gabriel the Porter of Paradise hath seventy thousand Keys which belong to his Office and every Key is seven thousand miles long questionless he must be very strong or else those Keys must needs tire him Here saith the Alcoran men shall tumble in all manner of Pleasure reposing upon fair Beds lined with Crimson there shall they gather the Fruits of the Garden to their Contentment there shall they enjoy the Company of fair and beautiful Damsels
Of the great Friendship betwixt Damon and Pithias two Pythagorean Philosophers 271. Another of Christian Friendship 272. The admirable love and affection betwixt Titus and Gisippus two Noble Young men the one of Rome the other of Athens 273. Of Mount Aetna and the fiery irruption there in the year 1669. 287. HISTORIES AND OBSERVATIONS Domestick and Foreign The miraculous and strange Adventures and Deliverances of one Andrew Battel of Leigh in Essex IN the Year of our Lord 1589 one Andrew Battel of Leigh in Essex accompanied with Abraham Cock of Lime-house and accommodated with two Pinnaces of 50 Tuns apiece intending a Voyage to the River of Plate upon the Coast of Brasil were much necessitated for Victuals so that returning Northwards upon the Isle of S. Sebastian going on Land he with four others were taken Prisoners by certain Negro's belonging to the Portugals who sent him to Angola in Africa where he continued in their Service several years when desirous of freedom he attempted an Escape in a Holland Ship but being discovered he was clapt in Prison for two months and then banished to the Fort of Massangano where he lived a miserable life for the space of six years But this nothing daunting his Resolution he with ten other banished men practised an Escape having gotten a Canoo for that purpose and furnished with Musquets Powder and Shot wandering in great misery several days through the extremity of Heat and want of Victuals and Water being forced divers times to make their way through their Opposers with Musquet shot yet e're they could get into a place of security the Captain of the City from whence they came overtook them to whom they were forced to yield and being carried back again for their welcom home were clapt up in Prison with Collars of Iron and great Bolts upon their Legs After three months hard Imprisonment he with four hundred more banished Portugals were by Proclamation for ever destined to the Wars and accordingly he served in many bloudy Fights where whosoever gained all that fell to his share was onely Penury Hardship Wounds and Scars Having thus had his share in Land Service he with sixty more Souldiers were sent in a Frigat with Commodities to Bahia de Tare twelve degrees Southward to trade with the Savages and having made a prosperous Voyage were sent out the second time to the Morro or Cliff of Benguala where they lighted into the hands of the Gaga's a most warlike People and the greatest Canibals or Man-eaters in the world yet by reason of their Commodities and for that they helped the Gaga's against their Enemies they in five moneths space made three gainful Voyages from thence to the City of San Paulo but coming the fourth time the Gaga's were gone up far higher into the Country Being loth to return without Trade they determined that fifty of their Company should follow them and the rest stay with their Ship in the Bay of Benguala Amongst those fifty was Andrew Battel one who marching up the Country were by a great Negro Lord detained whilest such time as the Gaga's were gone clear away into another Land Then did he force them to march with him against his Enemies untill he had clean destroyed them Nor would he then suffer them to depart but upon promise to come again and leave one of their company in pawn with him untill their return Hereupon it was determined to draw Lots who should stay but upon further thoughts they agreed amongst themselves to leave the Englishman and to shift for themselves fearing to be all detained Captives So Battel was fain to stay per force having with him a Musquet Powder and Shot they promising the Negro Lord to come again in two moneths for his redemption But that time expired and none of them returning the Chief of the Town would have put Battel to death and in order thereto stripped him naked and were ready to cut off his Head when one of the chief amongst them interposing his Execution was deferred upon hopes of the Portugals coming and he set loose to walk at liberty But finding no security of his life amongst them he resolved to run away to the Camp of the Gaga's and having travelled a whole night the next day he came to a great Town called Cushil which stood in a mighty overgrown Thicket the People whereof great and small came round about him to wonder at him having never seen a White Man before Here he sound some of the great Gaga's Men with whom he went to their Camp at a place called Calicausamba The Captain of the Gaga's welcomed him kindly continuing in that place for four moneths together with great abundance and plenty of Cattel Corn Wine and Oyl and great triumphing drinking dancing and banquetting with Mans flesh for as I told you before these Gaga's are the greatest Canibals or Man-eaters in the world Their Captain warreth all by Inchantment and taketh the Devils counsel in all his Exploits Such of his Souldiers as are faint-hearted and turn their backs to the Enemy are presently condemned and killed for Cowards and their Bodies eaten They neither sow nor plant nor bring up any Cattel more than they take by Wars When they take any Town they keep the Boys and Girls of thirteen or fourteen years of age as their own Children but the Men and Women they kill and eat These little Boys they train up in the Wars and hang a Collar about their Necks for a disgrace which is never taken off till he proveth himself a Man and brings his Enemy's Head to the General and then it is taken off and he is a Freeman and is called Gonzo or Souldier This maketh them desperate and forward to be free and counted Men. When their chief Captain undertaketh any great Enterprize against the Inhabitants of any Country he maketh a solemn Sacrifice to the Devil in the morning before the Sun riseth He sitteth upon a Stool having on each side of him a Man Witch then he hath forty or fifty Women which stand round about him holding in each hand a wild Horses Tail wherewith they do flourish and sing Behind them are great store of Drums and other Instruments which always play In the midst of them is a great Fire upon the Fire an Earthen Pot with white Powders wherewith the Men-witches do paint him on the Forehead Temples and thwart the Breast and Belly with long Ceremonies and Inchanting Terms Thus he continueth till Sun is down then the Witches bring him his Weapon which is fashioned like a Hatchet and put it into his Hand bidding him be strong against his Enemies for his Mokiso which is the Devil is with him Presently there is a Man-child brought which forthwith he killeth then are four Men also brought before him two whereof as it happeneth he presently striketh and killeth the other two he commandeth to be killed without the Fort. When they bury the dead they make a Vault in the ground and
he returned for England and quickly getting his Commission renevved makes with all speed for Ireland again but before his Arrival there he was prevented with the News of Queen Mary's Death and so the Lives of many and the Liberties of more poor Servants of God vvere preserved Of the horrid Murther of Duffe King of Scotland and how miraculously it came to be discovered THis Duffe began his Reign over Scotland about the Year of our Lord 968. being a Prince of an upright Justice and one who would not favour Offences in any Person whatsoever This his zeal of Justice was by his Subjects to whom former Kings had let loose the Reins of Government termed Severity so that the Nobles being restrained from insulting and making Slaves of the Commonalty brake forth into several Insurrections especially in Murray-land who all rose up against the King unless it were the Castle of Fores of which one Donwald was Governour These Rebels seeing they could not prevail upon the King by force hired certain Witches to bewitch him to Death these things being murmured amongst the People and at last coming to the King's Ear who then lay sick of a languishing Disease and could take no rest day nor night he sent two men into Murray-land to discover if they could the Truth of the Business These men dissembling the cause of their Journey did so effectually pursue the same that they were received into the Castle of Fores in the dark of the Night and declared unto Donwald the cause of their coming requiring his Aid for the Accomplishment of the King's pleasure The Souldiers which lay there in Garrison had an inkling that there was some such matter in hand as was talked of amongst the People by reason that one of them kept as Concubine a young Woman which was Daughter to one of the Witches as his Paramour who told him the whole manner used by her Mother and other her Companions with the Intent also which was to make away the King The Souldier having learned this of his Leman told the same to his Fellows who made report thereof to Donwald and he shewed it to the Kings Messengers and therevvith sent for the young Damsel which the Souldier kept as then being within the Castle and caused her upon strict Examination to confess the whole matter as she had seen and knew whereupon learning by her Confession in what House in the Town it was where they practised their hellish Mystery he sent forth Souldiers about the midst of the Night who breaking into the House found one of the Witches roasting upon a wooden Broach an Image of Wax at the Fire resembling in each Feature the King's Person devised as is to be thought by Craft and Art of the Devil another of them sate reciting certain Words of Enchantment and still basted the Image with a certain Liquor very busily The Souldiers finding them occupied in this wise took them together with the Image and led them into the Castle where being strictly examined for what purpose they went about such manner of Enchantment they answered to the end to make away the King for as the Image did waste before the Fire so did the Body of the King break forth in sweat and as for the words of Enchantment they served to keep him still waking from Sleep so that as the Wax ever melted so did the Kings Flesh by which means it should have come to pass that when the Wax were once clean consumed the Death of the King should immediately follow So were they taught by the Devil and hired by the Nobles of Murray-land to do the same The standers by that heard such an abominable tale told by the Witches strait ways brake the Image and caused the Witches according as they had well deserved to be burnt to death It is said that the King at the very same time that these things were a doing in the Castle of Fores slept that night without any Sweat breaking forth upon him at all and being thus restored to his Strength and certified what the Rebels of Murray-land had done he raised an Army and with the same marched against them pursuing them thence unto Rosse and from Rosse into Cathnesse where apprehending several of them he brought them back to the Castle of Fores and there caused them to be hanged on divers Gallowses and Gibbets Amongst those that were thus executed were some Gentlemen of note near of Kin unto Donwald the Captain of the Castle for whose lives he much interceded to the King but receiving from him a flat denial he conceived such an inward malice to his Sovereign and being further instigated by his Wife that he never left off till he found means to murther him which was brought to pass in this wise The King tarrying some time in that Country was accustomed to lie most commonly within the same Castle having a special Trust in Donwald as a man whom he never suspected but Donwald not forgetting the Reproach which his Lineage had sustained by the Execution of those his Kinsmen carried a sorrowful Countenance amongst his Family which his Wife perceiving ceased not to travel with him till she understood what the cause was of his Displeasure which when she had learned by his own Relation she as one that bare no less malice in her Heart towards the King for the like cause on her behalf than her Husband did for his Friends counselled him since the King oftentimes used to lodge in the Castle without any Guard about him other than the Garrison thereof which were wholly at his Command to devise some ways to rid him of his Life Donwald thus by her persuaded as he must needs go whom the Devil drives determined to follow her Advice and the Night before the King vvas to depart he being brought to Bed by tvvo of his Chamberlains those Chamberlains were invited by Donwald and his Wife to a Supper or Collation whereat they sat up so long till they had charged their Stomachs with such full Gorges that their Heads vvere no sooner got to the Pillow but a sleep they vvere so fast that a man might have removed the Chamber over them rather than to have awakened them out of their drunken Sleep These Chamberlains thus secured Donwald called to four of his Servants whom he had made privy to his purpose and declared to them which way they should work the Feat vvho according to his Instructions entered the Chamber wherein the King lay immediately before the Cocks crowing where they cut his Throat as he lay sleeping without any bustling at all which having done by a Postern Gate they conveyed the dead Body into the Fields and throwing it upon a Horse provided ready for that purpose conveyed it to a place distant about two miles from the Castle whereby ran a little River where they stayed and got certain Labourers to help them to turn the Course thereof and diging a deep hole in the Channel they bury the Body
to satisfie her Revenge Paradine keeping her there company a long time imagining no other but that it was the Mistress of his Affections The Queen who spent all this while in soft whispers and dalliance not using any one word whereby she might be discovered perceiving opportunity so aptly to fit her spake thus unto him Knowest thou Paradine who it is that keepeth thee Company Full well quoth he with my Mistress and then named her Thou lyest false Traytor replyed the Queen I am Rosamond thy Sovereigns Wife whom thou hast dared to abuse in this manner and dye thou must by the just Wrath of Albovine except thou save thy Life by killing him advise thee therefore whether his Life or thine own be dearest unto thee When Paradine considered his dangerous estate without any means or escape he resolved to kill the King and for his better furtherance therein both he the Queen and Hermigilde took counsel together contriving his Murther in this manner The King used to Sleep in the heat of the day when all else avoided the Chamber except the Queen Now he being a King of Courage and high Resolution ever slept like a Souldier with his Sword girded about him which at this intended time of Treason the Queen had tied so fast in the Scabbard as he could by no means help himself therewith Paradine and Hermigilde waiting the hour which was upon the Queens coming forth they entered and for all their treading the King heard them and started from his Bed when he saw two men armed with Weapons a sudden fury possessed his Spirit perceiving their intentions were against him he sought to defend himself with his Weapon which failing him by the aforesaid means of the Queen and they with their Weapons every where striking at him and wounding him he caught up a Stool and therewith defended himself for a Space till in the end they deprived him of Life without any noise heard or any suspition of Murther The King being thus Dead all was carried with a smooth Countenance Hermigilde possessed himself of the Palace intending to make the Queen his Wife as immediately he did But notwitstanding all their close packing the Lombards not long after came to the knowledge of their Kings Death and in what manner he was murthered which so incensed them that they purposed severely to revenge the same This being notified to Rosamond and her complices she packed up most of her Jewels and Royal Treasure and fled away thence carrying with them Alvisinda Daughter to King Albovine by his first Wife and hasted with all the speed they could to Ravenna where then governed a Lieutenant of the Empire named Longinus who kept that place for Tiberius Son to the Emperour Constantine of Constantinople by whom they were courteously entertained Not long had they been there but Longinus became enamoured on Rosamond and therefore partly to enjoy her Love partly to possess that Mess of Money and Jewels which she brought with her and partly by her faction to raise a beneficial War against the Lombards he perswaded her to procure the Death of Hermigilde and take him to her Husband to which he found her very tractable for she having lost all love and fear of God respect of Woman-hood and dreadless of the shame of Men coveting withal to advance the down-faln estate by marrying with the Emperours Lieutenant gave to Hermigilde an empoysoned Potion at his coming forth of his Bath perswading him that it was most Sovereign for his Health by which perswasion he drank a good part thereof but when he found it to afflict his Body so as he plainly perceived himself to be poysoned drawing forth his Sword in extremity of Rage he compelled Rosamond to drink up all the rest that remained in the Cup. So that at one instant time they were both justly requited for the Death of Albovine Tidings hereof being brought to the Lieutenant Longinus he caused the young Lady Alvisinda to be seized on and sent her with all her Jewels and Treasure to the Emperour Tiberius at Constantinople with Paradine also as a Prisoner who for reward of his former Treason to his Sovereign had his eyes pulled forth after which he lived but a while and then dyed most miserably The miseries of inforted Marriage exemplified in a story of a Knight in Warwickshire Murthered by his own Lady IN the days of Queen Mary there lived at Shirford in Warwick-shire one Sr. Walter Smith Knight who being grown an Aged Man at the death of his first Wife considering of a Marriage for Richard his Son and Heir then at Mans Estate to that end made his mind known to Mr. Thomas Chetwyn of Ingestre in Staffordshire a Gentleman of an ancient Family and a fair Estate who entertaining the motion in behalf of Dorothy one of his Daughters was contented to give 500 pound Portion with her But no sooner had the old Knight seen the young Lady then that he became a Suiter for himself being so captivated with her Beauty that he tender'd as much for her besides a good Joynture as he should have received in case the Match had gone on for his Son Which liberal Offer so wrought upon Mr. Chetwyn as that with sparing not for arguments to perswade his Daughter to accept of Sr. Walter for her Husband adding to his perswasions something of Menaces that at length with much unwillingness she consented thereunto Whereupon the Marriage ensued accordingly but with what a tragique Issue will quickly be seen for it was not long ' ere that her affections wandering after younger men she gave entertainment to one Mr. William Robinson then of Drayton-Basset a young Gentleman of twenty two years of age Son to George Robinson a rich Mercer of London and grew so impatient at all Impediments which might hinder her full Enjoyment of him that she rested not till she had contrived a way to be rid of her Husband For which purpose corrupting her waiting Gentlewoman and a Groom of the Stable she resolved by their help and the assistance of Robinson to strangle him in his Bed appointing the time and manner how it should be effected And though Robinson failed in coming on the designed Night perhaps thorough a dismal Apprehension of so horrid a Fact she no whit stagger'd in her Resolutions for watching her Husband till he was fallen asleep she then let in those Assassinates before specified and casting a long Towel about his Neck caused the Groom to lye upon him to keep him from strugling whilst her self and the Maid straining the Towel stop'd his Breath It seems the good old Gentleman little thought that this his Lady had acted therein for when they first cast the Towel about his Neck he cryed out help Doll help but having thus dispatch'd the Work they carried him into another Room where a Close-stool was plac'd upon which they set him and after an hour that the Maid and Groom were silently got away to palliate the business she
made an Out-cry in the House wringing her hands pulling her Hair and weeping extreamly with pretence that missing him for some time out of Bed she went to see what the matter was and found him accidentally on the Close-stool in that Posture which subtile and feigned Shews of Sorrow she acted so to the Life as prevented all suspicion of his violent Death And not long after went to London setting so high a value upon her Beauty that Robinson her former Darling perhaps for not keeping touch with her as before is related became estranged But within two Years following it so hapned that this woeful deed of Darkness was brought to light and that by the means of the Groom one of the Actors thereof above specified who being entertained a Servant with Mr. Richard Smith Son and Heir to the murthered Knight and attending him to Coventry with divers other Servants his guilty Conscience which had oftentimes before flew in his Face made him become so sensible of his Villany and being in his Cups a bad cause of a good effect that out of good Nature he took his Master aside and upon his Knees humbly desiring Forgiveness of him for the Murther of his Father made him acquainted with all the Circumstances belonging thereunto which tho' it struck in Mr. Smith a great Amazement and Abhorrency of the Fact yet discreetly he gave him good Words but privately commanded some other of his Servants to have an especial Eye on him that he might not escape when he had slept and better considered what might be the Issue thereof but notwithstanding this strict Charge those careless Servants either not knowing the horridness of his Fact or out of love to his Person suffer'd him to escape and that on one of his Master's best Horses who being thus mounted hasted presently into Wales attempting to go beyond Sea but being hindred by contrary Winds after three Essays to launch out was so happily pursued by Mr. Smith who spared for no cost in sending to several Ports that he was apprehended and brought Prisoner to Warwick as was also about the same time the Lady and her Gentlewoman who notwithstanding the Circumstances before recited did all of them with great Boldness deny the Fact the Groom to his other Wickedness most impudently charging Mr. Smith endeavour of corrupting him to accuse the Lady his Mother-in-law falsely to the end he might possess her Joynture but afterwards upon his Arraignment he was so smitten at apprehension of that load of guilt which lay upon him that he publickly acknowledged it and stoutly justified what he had so said to be true to the Face of the Lady and her Maid who at first with a great deal of Confidence pleaded their Innocency but at last seeing each particular Circumstance so clearly discovered and avowed they both confessed the Fact for which having Judgment to dye the Lady was burnt at a Stake near the Hermitage on Wolvey Heath towards the side of Shirford Lordship where the Country People to this day shew the place and the Groom with the Maid suffer'd Death at Warwick This was on May 15. in the third Year of Queen Mary's Reign A remarkable Story of the occasion which made the Danes first to invade England and of their murthering St. Edmund AT such time as the West-Saxons had gotten the Sway of the whole Heptarchy there reigned under them in the Kingdom of Northumberland as Vice-roy one Osbright who as he followed his disport in Hunting came to the House of a Nobleman named Beorn Bocador whose Lady of passing Feature in his Absence gave him honourable Entertainment and intreated both himself and Train to repose themselves there a while after their wearisom Delights The Vice-roy already ensnared with her Beauty accepted her courteous offer not so much to tast her Meats as to surfeit his Eyes with her rare Beauty and lasciviously to dote in his own Affections The Dinner ended and all ready to depart as though some weighty matters were to be handled he commanded an Avoidance from the Presence and taking the Lady into a withdrawing Chamber under pretence of secret Conference greatly tending to the Advancement of her Lord and self most unnobly being not able to prevail by smooth Persuasions did by force violate her constant Chastity which Dishonour thus received and her Mind distracted like to Thamar's at her Husbands Return all ashamed to behold his Face whose Bed had so been wronged with floods of Tears she thus set open the Sluces of her Passions Had thy Fortunes accorded to thy own Desert or thy Choice proceeded as by Vow was obliged then had no stain of Blemish touched thine Honour nor cause of Suspicion once approached thy Thought nor had my self been my self these blushing Cheeks had not invited thy sharp peircing Eye to look into my guilty and defiled Breast which ow thou may'st see disfurnished of Honour and the Closet of pure Chastity broken up only the Heart and Soul is clean yet fears the Tincture of this polluted Cask and would have passage by thy revenging hand from this loathsome Prison and filthy Trunk I must confess our Sex is weak and accompanied with many Faults yet none excusable how small soever much less the greatest which Shame doth follow and inward Guilt continually attend Yours is created more inviolable and firm by whose Constancy as our flexible Weakness is guarded so our true Honours by your just Arms should be protected O Beorn Beorn for Husband I dare not call thee revenge therefore my Wrongs that am now made thy Shame and Scandal of my Sex upon that hideous Monster nay incarnate Devil Osbright O that very name like Poyson corrupts my Breath and I want Words to deplore my Grief who hath no Law but his Lust nor measure of his Actions but his Power nor priviledge for his loathsome Life but his Greatness whilst we with a self Fear and servile Flattery mask our Baseness with crowching Obedience and bear the Wrongs of his most vile Adulteries Thou yet art free from such dejected and degenerate Thoughts nor hast thou smoothed him in his wicked and ever-working Devices be still thy self then and truly noble as thou art It may be for his place thou owest him respect but what therewith the loss of Honour Thine Affection but not thy Bed thy Love but not thy beloved yet hast thou lost at once all these and he thy only Bereaver thou wast my Stay whilst I stayed by thee and now being down revenge my Fall The Instinct of Nature doth pity our Weakness the Law of Nations doth maintain our Honour and the Sword of Knight-hood is sworn by to be unsheathed for our just Defence much more the link of Wedlock claims it which hath lock'd two Hearts in one But alas that Ward is broken and I am thy Shame who might have been thy Honour Revenge thy self therefore on him and me else shall this hand let out the Ghost that shall still attend thee
to have Christian Burial but a Learned Divine a Jacobine by Religion made so excellent an Oration to the Pope against the unkind Parents of the deceased Lovers that Obsequies were granted and Burial given them and an aged Woman a Servant to Lucretia who had been the means of their private Marriage was by Authority of Justice burned alive because she had not advertised the Parents thereof A third Story as dismal as the two former here followeth Damoiselle Geneviefue Daughter unto Monsieur Megrelim a Gentleman in ordinary in the Court of Francis the second King of France espoused her self by Word only and without Knowledge of any in her Fathers House to one that was School-master unto her Brethren named Medard a Picar by Nation born in Laon a young man of passable Handsomness and of indifferent Knowledge for his time being about twenty three years old After some space being thus contracted she found her self to be with Child and fearing the Displeasure of her Parents especially of her Mother who was a very severe Woman she forsook her Father's House and the goodly City of Paris accompanied with none but her Troth-plighted Husband the School-master Travelling thorough the Country they made their stay in a great Burrough Town of Champaign where likewise he became School-master taking great Pains to supply their Necessities Within some few Months after their residing there Medard died and she five days after the death of her Husband one Evening after Supper in a publick place declared to all such as gave Favour to her the whole History of their fore-passed Love her Marriage by promise her Extraction want of Government and the Injury done by her to her Servants desiring very heartily Pardon both of God and them so feigning as if she intended to go to Bed with her young Infant which was about six Weeks old she went and hanged her self that Night on a Beam-end of a poor Cottage which they had taken upon hire Certain Observations upon Kings of several Nations A Menophis one of the Kings of Egypt being blind was assured by some of his Wizards that if he washed his Eyes with the Urine of a Woman which had never known any but her own Husband he should be restored to his Sight After a long Search and many vain Tryals he met with one whose Water cured him whom he took to Wife and causing all the rest whom he had made Tryal of to be brought together to a Town called Gleba Rubra he set the said Town on Fire and burnt both it and all the Women therein assembled Sesostris another King of Egypt was a Prince of so great Wealth and Substance that he brought in Subjection all his neighbouring Kings whom he compelled in turns to draw his Chariot It hapned that one of these unfortunate Princes cast his Eye many times on the Coach-wheels and being by Sesostris demanded the cause of his so doing he replyed that the falling of that Spoke lowest which but just before was in the height of the Wheel put him in mind of the Instability of Fortune which the King considering of would never afterward be so drawn in his Chariot And indeed he found the same quickly after to be true by woeful Experience for leading his Army against the Scythians whom in conceit he had already conquered he found himself deceived in his Expectation These Scythians marvelled that a King of so great Revenues would wage War against a Nation so poor with whom the Fight would be doubtful the Victory unprofitable but to be vanquished a perpetual Infamy and Disgrace so joyning Battels Sesostris was discomfited and pursued even to his own home by the Enemy learning him by that to moderate his Prosperity and to beware of Fortunes Instability Charles the second King of Navarr was a Prince much given to Voluptuousness and sensual Pleasure which so wasted his Spirits that in his old Age he fell into a kind of Lethargy to comfort his benummed Joynts he was bound and sowed up naked in a Sheet steeped in boiling Aquavitae The Chyrurgion having made an end of sowing him and wanting a Knife to cut off the Thred took a Wax Candle that stood lighted by him but the Flame running down by the Thred caught hold on the Sheet which according to the nature of Aquavitae burned with that Vehemency that the miserable King ended his days in the Fire Ewen the third also King of Scotland was a Prince much addicted or rather wholly given over to Lasciviousness insomuch that he made a Law that himself and his Successors should have the Maiden-head or first Nights lodging with every Woman whose Husband held Land immediately from the Crown and the Lords and Gentlemen of all those whose Husbands were their Tenants or Homagers This was it seems the Knights Service which men held their Estates by and continued in force till the days of Malcolm Conmor who marrying Margaret Sister to our King Edgar Atheling at her Request abolished the same and ordained that the Tenants by way of Commutation should pay unto their Lords a Mark in Money which Tribute the Historians of that Nation say is still in force Roderick the last King of the Goths in Spain had for the Governour of one of his Provinces an honourable Person named Count Julian whom he sent upon an Embassy to the Moors of Africa and in the mean time defloured his Daughter Cana which the Father took in such indignation that he procured the Moors amongst whom he had gotten much credit to come over into Spain This request they performed under the Conduct of Musa and Tariffe and having made a full Conquest subjected it to the Great Caliphs or Mahometan Emperours It is recorded that at the first coming of Tariffe into Spain a poor Woman of the Country being willingly taken Prisoner fell down at his feet kissed them and told him that she had heard her Father who was letter'd say that Spain should be conquered by a People whose General should have a Mole on his right shoulder and in whom one of his hands should be longer than the other He to animate his Souldiers against the next encounter uncloathed himself and shewed the mark which so encouraged them that they now doubted not the Victory Roderick had in his Army 130000 Foot and 25000 Horse Tariffe had 30000 Horse and 180000 Foot The Battel continued seven dayes together from morning to night at last the Moors were victorious What became of King Roderick was never known his Souldiers took one arrayed in the Kings Apparel whom upon examination they found to be a Shepherd with whom the King after the Discomfiture had changed clothes It is recorded also in Rodericus Toletanus that before the coming of those Saracens King Roderick upon hope of some Treasure did open a part of the Palace of long time forbidden to be touched but found nothing but Pictures which resembled the Moors with a Prophecy that whensoever the Palace was there opened the
and William being convinced by the Reasons of his Brother John staid beyond the Seas where he proved a very violent and virulent Papist Of which strange Accident Dr. Alabaster who had made Tryal of both Religions and amongst many notable Whimzies had some fine Abilities made this following Epigram Bella inter geminos plusquam Civilia fratres Traxerat ambiguus Religionis apex Ille Reformatae fidei pro partibus instat Iste Reformandum denegat esse fidem Propositis causae rationibus alterutrinque Concurrere pares cecidere pares Quod fuit in verbis Fratrem capit alteruterque Quod fuit in fatis perdit uterque fidem Captivi gemini sine captivante fuerant Et victor victi transuga castra petit Quod genus hoc pugnae est ubi victus gaudet uterque Et tamen alteruter se superasse dolet Thus Englished by Dr. Heylin In points of Faith some undetermin'd Jars Betwixt two Brothers kindled Civil Wars One for the Churches Reformation stood The other thought no Reformation good The Points propos'd they traversed the Field With equal Skill and both together yield As they desired his Brother each subdues Yet such their Fate that each his Faith did lose Both Captives none the Prisoners thence to guide The Victor flying to the vanquish'd side Both joy'd in being conquer'd strange to say And yet both mourn'd because both won the day Why the Fish called Tunny is not suffered to be sold at Venice THE Story goes How the Genoa's having seized on a part of Venice and driven the Venetians into their Houses a Woman running to a Window to behold the Tumult by chance threw down a Mortar of Brass which lighting upon the head of their General struck him dead to the Earth whereupon discomfited the Genoa's retired in such haste that they left a number of their men behind them who saved themselves for a time by mingling with the Venetians being not to be distinguished by Habit Language Favour nor Behaviour At length all generally were commanded to ascend an high Tower where not unlike as the Gileadites served the Ephramites a Sheep being set before them they were compelled to name it so being distinguished the Name differing in their Dialect they were thrown down head-long The Genoa's having after taken certain of their Gallies wherein were the Prime of their Gentry in Revenge of that Cruelty caused them to be cut in pieces and drest like Tunny nailing their hands to the bottom with Scedules of Time containing their Names and so sent it thither to be sold who bought and had almost devoured it all before it was discovered And indeed it is said that this Tunny doth in taste much resemble Flesh as also in colour and solidity so as it is reported how certain Merchants being bound to serve the French Army at the Siege of Naples with so many Tun of Tunny and not able to perform it hearing of a late fought Battel in Barbary repaired to the place and supplied the quantity with man's Flesh dress'd in the same manner which proved so over-high a feeding most easily converting into the like that their Bodies broke forth into loathsome Ulcers and from that Infection the Disease that taketh from them the name And Scalliger in his 181 Exercise upon Cardan and the 19 Section doth also affirm that it proceeded not originally from the Impurity of Women but from Contraction and that the Spaniards did first transport these rare Wares from the Indians as common among them as the Measels amongst us and equally contagious which seemeth to confirm the former Assertion they having been Man-eaters for the most part Of Machamut a Moorish King of a poysonous Nature MR. Purchas in his Pilgrimage relateth of one Machamut a Moorish King who deserveth mention for one thing wherein the Sun hath scarce beheld his like He so accustomed himself to Poysons that no day passed wherein he took not some for else he himself had dyed saith my Author as it fareth with Amsian or Opium the use whereof killeth such as never took it and the Disease such as have and beyond that which we read of Mithridates in the like Practice His Nature was transform'd into so venmous an Habit that if he did mean to put any of his Nobles to Death he would cause them to be set naked before him and chewing certain Fruits in his Mouth which they call Chofolos and Tambolos with Lime made of Shells by spitting upon him in one half hour deprived him of Life if a Fly sat upon his hand it would presently fall off dead Neither was his Love to be preferred to his Hatred or with Women was his Dealing less deadly for he had three or four thousand Concubines of whom none lived to see a second Sun after he had carnally known them His Mustachos or Hair of his upper Lip was so long that he bound it upon his Head as Women do with an Hair-lace and his Beard was white reaching to his Waste Every day when he arose and when he dined fifty Elephants were brought into the Pallace to do him reverence on their Knees accompanied with Trumpets and other Musick Caelius Rhodiginus mentions the like of a Maid thus nourished with Poysons her Spittle and other Humours coming from her being deadly such also as lay with her carnally presently dying Avicenna hath also a like Example of a man whose Nature infected with a stronger Venom poysoned other venomous Creatures if any did bite him And when a great Serpent was brought for Tryal he had by the biting thereof a two days Fever but the Serpent died the other did not harm him A notable Imposture of one Margaret Ulmer at Elsing in Germany ABout the Year of our Lord 1545. there was one Margaret Ulmer the Daughter of John Ulmer a single Woman who thorough grievous Sickness and extremity of Pain had her Belly so exceedingly swelled that it over-shadowed her Face and in compass was more than ten hands breadth she said that she fed divers living Creatures in her Belly yet neither did she eat nor drink but took only some Apothecaries Confections and used the smell of Herbs and Flowers There was heard by those that stood by the Bed where she lay the Voices of divers living Creatures as the crowing of Cocks the cackling of Hens the gagling of Geese the barking of Dogs the bleating of Sheep the braying of Asses the grunting of Swine the bellowing of Cattel and the neighing of Horses She voided Serpents and Worms of a marvellous greatness about fifty in number When the Report hereof was spread abroad not only in the Towns and Villages adjoyning but almost thorough all Germany multitudes resorted to the place to see the Miracle and beheld the Maid with no less Wonder then Compassion who also gave her much Money The advice of divers Physicians and Chyrurgions was asked and at last the Physicians of the Emperour Charles the fifth and of Ferdinand King of the Romans and
small Turrets which are made open with Lights every way that a man in them may be easily seen and heard Now their Moolaas or devout Priests do five times every day ascend unto the tops of those high Turrets whence they proclaim as loudly as they can possibly speak their Prophet Mahomet thus in Arabian La alla illa alla Mahomet Resul-alla that is There is no God but one God and Mahomet the Messenger from God Upon a time Tom Coriat when their Moolaa was to cry as aforesaid he got upon an high place directly opposite to one of those Priests and contradicted him thus La alla illa alla Hasaret Eesa Benalla that is No God but one God and the Lord Christ the Son of God and farther added that Mahomet was an Impostor and all this he spake in their own Language as loud as possibly he could in the ears of many Mahometans that heard it But whether Circumstances considered the zeal or discretion of our Pilgrim were more here to be commended I leave to the judgment of the Reader No doubt but had this bold attempt of his been acted in many other places of Asia it would have cost him his Life with as much torture as cruelty could have invented But he was here taken for a Mad-man and so let alone Haply the rather because every one there hath liberty to profess his own Religion freely and if he please may argue against theirs without fear of an Inquisition as this our Pilgrim did at another time with a Moolaa who had called him Giaur that is Infidel or false Believer which Mr. Coriat took in such Dudgeon that he made a Speech to him as followeth Mr. Coriat's Speech to a Mahometan But I pray thee tell me thou Mahometan dost thou in sadness call me Giaur That I do quoth he Then quoth I in very sober sadness I retort that shameful word in thy Throat and tell thee plainly that I am a Musulman and thou art a Giaur for by that Arab word Musulman thou dost understand that which cannot properly be applyed to a Mahometan but only to a Christian so that I do consequently infer that there are two kinds of Musulmen the one an Ortho-musulman that is a true Musulman which is a Christian and the other a Pseudo-musulman that is a false Musulman which is a Mahometan What thy Mahomet was from whom thou dost derive thy Religion assure thy self I know better than any one of the Mahometans amongst many Millions yea all the particular Circumstances of his Life and Death his Nation his Parentage his driving Camels thorough Aegypt Syria and Palestina the marriage of his Mistress by whose Death he raised himself from a very base and contemptible Estate to great Honour and Riches his manner of cozening the sottish People of Arabia partly by a tame Pidgeon that did fly to his Ear for meat and partly by a tame Bull that he fed by hand every day with the rest of his Actions both in Peace and War I know as well as if I had lived in his time or had been one of his Neighbours in Mecha the Truth whereof if thou didst know as well I am persuaded thou would'st spit in the face of thy Alcoran and trample it under thy Feet and bury it under a Jakes a Book of that strange and weak matter that I my self as meanly as thou dost see me attired now have already written two better Books God be thanked and will hereafter this by God's gracious Permission write another better and truer yea I would have thee know thou Mahometan that in that renowned Kingdom of England where I was born Learning doth so flourish that there are many thousand Boys of sixteen years of Age that are able to make a more learned Book than thy Alcoran neither was it as thou and the rest of you Mahometans do generally believe composed wholly by Mahomet for he was of so dull a Wit he was not able to make it without the help of another namely a certain Renegado Monk of Constantinople called Sergis so that his Alcoran was like an Arrow drawn out of the Quiver of another man I perceive thou dost wonder to see me so much inflamed with Anger but I would have thee consider it is not without great cause I am so moved for what greater Indignity can there be offered to a Christian which is an Artho-musulman than to be called Giaur by a Giaur c. By this which hath been said you may perceive our Coriat thus distinguished that himself was the Orthodox Musulman or true Believer The Moolaa the Pseudo-Musulman or false true Believer a distinction which must needs make an Intelligent Reader to smile It also shews what an opinion he had of his former writings and how if he had returned what a bustle he would have made in the World with another Volume but death prevented him for having left it Thomas Rowe the English Ambassador at Mandoa he went to Surat where he was over-kindly used by some of the English who gave him Sack which they had brought from England he calling for it as soon as he first heard of it and crying Sack Sack is there such a thing as Sack I pray you give me some Sack and drinking of it though moderately for he was a very temperate man it increased his Flux which he had then upon him and this caused him within a few days after his very tedious and troublesome Travels for he went most on foot at this place to come to his journeys end for here he overtook Death December 1617. and was buried under a little Monument like one of those usually made in our Church-yards upon whom a joking Wit made this Epitaph Here lies the Wonder of the English Nation Within the bosome of old Tellus maw For fruitless Travel and for strange Relation He past and repast all thy eyes e're saw Odcomb produc'd him many Nations fed him And worlds of Writers through the World have spread him The reason inducing the Mahometans to often Prayer exemplified by a Story IN a great City where Mahomet was zealously professed there lived say they a devout Musulman who for many years together spent his whole day in the Mosquit or Church in the mean time he minding not the World at all became so poor that he had nothing left to buy bread for his Family yet notwithstanding his poor condition he was resolved still to ply his Devotions and in a morning when he perceived that there was nothing at all left for the further subsistence of himself and houshold took a solemn leave of his Wife and Children resolving for his part to go and pray and dye in the Mosquit leaving his Family if no relief came to famish at home But that very day he put on this resolution there came to his house in his absence a very beautiful young Man as he appeared to be who brought and gave unto his Wife a very good quantity of
of his own Sect Mahomet saith he hath given us a Law which sheweth the perfection of felicity to consist in those things which concern the Body whereas the Wise and Sages of old had a greater desire to express the felicity of the Soul then of the Body as for the bodily felicity though it were granted them yet they regarded it not nor esteemed it in comparison of the felicity which the Soul requireth Mahomet had also in him a spice of the transmigration of Souls from one Body unto another by which means he devised how a Camel might pass through the Eye of a Needle the Soul of a Sinner for Purgation entring first into the Body of a Camel then of a lesser Beast and finally of a little Worm which should creep through the eye of a Needle and so become perfect The Saracens his Followers esteem Rice as a great Delicacy by reason of their Tradition that it came of Mahomet's Sweat for say they when Mahomet compassed the Throne of God in Paradise God turned and looked on him which made the modest Prophet sweat and wiping it off with his finger six drops fell out of Paradise one whereof produced the Rose the second Rice the other four his four Associates Concerning the Death of this Impostor there is several Opinions The Book of the Policy of the Turkish Empire saith That he was poysoned by one of his Disciples called Albunor to make Tryal of his boasting Prophecy That he would rise again within three days after his Death This Albunor after coming to see him found his body torn in pieces and devoured of Dogs whereupon gathering together the Bones that remained into a Coffin he caused them to be buried Mr. Smith in his Gods Arrows against Atheists saith That sitting up late one Evening in his Palace and having taken his fill of Wine wherein one of his Companions had poured some Poyson felt his wonted Sickness approaching and made haste forth saying He must needs depart to confer with the Angel Gabriel and go aside lest his glorious Presence should be an occasion of their Deaths forth he went and remembring that a soft place was best for his Falling Sickness down he fell upon a Dunghil groveling along with great Pain foming at the Mouth and gnashing his Teeth The Swine came about the Dunghil fell upon him wounded him sore and had eaten him up had not his Wife and others of his House heard the noise of the Hogs and rescued the false Prophet however he died fourteen days after His Death happened in the sixty third Year of his Age and in the eleventh after his Hegira or Flight dying at Medina and was buried there in the Grave of Avisee his Wife Here is a stately Temple and huge erected with elegant and magnificent Structures daily encreased and adorned by the Costs of the Othomans and Gifts of other Princes Within this Building is a Chappel not persectly square covered with a goodly Roof under which is the Urn of Stone called Hagiar Monauar sometimes belonging to Avisee aforesaid This is all covered with Gold and Silk and compassed about with Iron Grates gilded within this which shineth with Gold and Gems Mahomet's Carcass was placed and not lifted up by force of Load-stone or other Art but that stone Urn lieth on the ground The Musulman Pilgrims after their return from Mecha visit this Temple because Mahomet yet living was wont to say That he would for him which should visit his Tombe as well as if he had visited him living intercede with God for a life full of Pleasures Therefore do they throng thither with great veneration kiss and embrace the grates for none have access to the Urn of Stone and many for love of this Place leave their Country yea some madly put out their Eyes to see no Worldly thing after and there spend the rest of their days So zealous are these sottish People in this sensual senceless irreligious Religion Of the Talmud of the Jews their Dreams concerning Adam c. THIS Talmud saith that Adam's Body was made of the Earth of Babylon his Head of the Land of Israel his other members of other Parts of the World so R. Meir thought he was compact of the Earth gathered out of the whole Earth as it is written Thine eyes did see my Substance now it is elsewhere written The eyes of the Lord are over all the Earth There are twelve hours of the Day saith R. Aha in the first whereof the Earth of Adam or earthly matter was gathered in the second the Trunk of his Body fashioned in the third his Members stretched forth in the fourth his Soul infused in the fifth he stood upon his Feet in the sixth he gave Names to the Creatures in the seventh Eve was given him in Marriage in the eighth they ascended the Bed two and descended four in the ninth he received the Precept which in the tenth he brake and therefore was judged in the eleventh and in the twelfth was cast out of Paradise as it is written Man continued not one night in honour The Stature of Adam was from one End of the World to the other and for his Transgression the Creator by laying on his Hand lessened him for before saith R. Eleazar with his Hand he reached a reacher indeed the very Eirmament His Language was Syriack or Aramitish saith R. Juda and as Raschlakis addeth the Creator shewed him all Generations and the wise men in them His sin after Jehuda was Heresie R. Jsaac thinketh the nourishing his foreskin They farther tell that he was an Hermaphrodite a Man-woman having both Sexes and a double Body the Female part joyned at the Shoulders and back parts to the Male their Countenances turned from each other This they prove by Moses his words So God created Man in his Image Male and Female created he them and he called their name ADAM Yet after this is mention of Adam's solitariness and forming of Eve out of his side that is cutting the Female Part from the Male and so fitting them to Generation Thus doth Leo Hebraeus reconcile the Fable of Pluto's Androgynus with Moses's narration out of which he thinketh it borrowed For as he telleth that Jupiter in the first forming of Mankind made them such Androgini with two Bodies of two Sexes joyned in the Brest divided for their Pride the Navil still remaining as a Scar of the wound then made so with little difference is this their Interpretation of Moses As ridiculous and extravagant are their Opinions about their Womens Conceptions and Travel and of one Lilich a she Devil which should kill their children to prevent which they have divers expedients which take out of their own Writings as followeth When a Jewish Woman is great with Child and near her Time her Chamber is furnished with necessaries and then some holy and devout Man if any such may be had with Chalk maketh a Circular Line round and in the Chamber upon all the
of honourable Love and therefore give due thanks to God if there remain among you any token of the ancient Wisdom of your most Noble Progenitors But I shall not stay you long in my preamble but come to the matter It is not unknown to you all wherefore I came to this City and how that happening into the house of Chremes I found there his Son Gisippus of my own age and in every thing so like each other that neither his Father nor any other man could discern of us the one from the other but by our own means or shewing insomuch as there were put about our Necks Laces of sundry Colours to declare our Personages What mutual agreement and Love hath been always between us during this eight years that we have been together ye all be witnesses that have been beholders and wonderers at our most sweet Conversation and consent of Appetites wherein was never any discord or variance And as for my part after the Decease of my Father notwithstanding that there was descended unto me very large Possessions fair Houses with abundance of Riches also I being called home by the importunate Letters of my Allyes and Friends which be of the most noble of all the Senators offering me the advancement to the highest dignities in the Publick-Weal as also the loving Letters from my tender Mother wherein she accuseth me of unkindness for my long tarrying especially now in her most discomfort Yet could not all this once remove me from my dear Friend Gisippus and but by force could not I nor yet may be drawn from his sweet company I choosing rather to live with him as his companion and fellow yea as his Servant rather than to be Consul of Rome Yet this my kindness hath he well requited or as I may say redoubled delivering me from the death yea the most painful death of all other I perceive you wonder hereat noble Athemans and no marvel for what Person should be so hardy to attempt any such thing against me being a Roman and of the Noble blood of the Romans or who should be thought so Malicious to slay me who as all ye be my judges never trespassed against any Person within this City No no my Friends I do not suspect any of you I perceive you desire to know what he was that would presume on such an enterprise It was Love noble Athenians the same Love which as your Poets feign did wound the most part of the Gods who constrained Jupiter to transform himself into a Swan a Bull and divers other likenesses The same Love that caused Hercules the vanquisher and destroyer of Monsters and Gyants to spin on a Wheel sitting amongst Maidens in Womens Apparel The same Love that caused to assemble the Princes of Asia and Greece in the Fields of Troy The same Love I say against whose Assaults may be found no resistance hath suddenly and unawares stricken me to the heart and that with such force that I had immediately dyed had not the incomparable Friendship of Gisippus holpen me I perceive you would fain know who she is that I loved I will no longer delay you noble Athenians it is Sophronia the Lady whom Gisippus had chosen for his Wife and whom he most intirely loved But when his most gentle heart perceived that my love was in a much higher degree than his towards that Lady and that it proceeded neither of wantonness nor any corrupt desire or fantasie but in an instant by the only look and that with such fervency as made me so captivated in Cupids thrall that I desired Death rather than life he by his wisdom perceived as I doubt not but that ye now do that it was the very provision of God that she should be my Wife and not his whereto he giving place and more esteeming true Friendship than the love of a Woman whereunto he was induced by his Friends and not by violence of Cupid constrained as I am hath willingly granted to me the interest that he had in the Lady and it is I Titus that have really wedded her I have put the Ring on her Finger I have undone the Girdle of shamefac'dness what will ye more I have lain with her confirmed the Matrimony and made her a Wife This Oration instead of applause was received of the Auditors with a general murmuring and disdainful looks on Gisippus whereupon Titus proceeded thus I wonder noble Athenians what should make you thus to grudge at Gisippus who knew he might find in Greece another Lady as fair and as rich as this he had chosen and one perchance that he might love better But such a Friend as I was having respect to our likeness the long approved concord also my Estate and condition he was sure to find not one also the Lady suffers no disparagement in her blood nor hindrance in her marriage but is much rather advanced no dispraise to my dear friend Gisippus Also consider noble Athenians that I took her not my Father living when ye might have suspected that as well her Riches as her Beauty should have thereto allured me but soon after my Fathers decease when I far exceeded her in Possessions and Substance when the most notable men of Rome and of Italy desired my alliance ye have therefore all cause to rejoyce and thank Gisippus and not to be angry and also to extoll his wonderful kindness towards me whereby he hath won me and all my blood such friends to you and your City that ye may be assured to be by us defended against all the World which being considered Gisippus hath well deserved a Statue of Gold to be set on a Pillar in the midst of your City for an honourable Monument in the remembrance of our incomparable Friendship and of the good that thereby may come to your City But if this perswasion cannot satisfie you but that ye will imagine any thing to the damage of my Friend Gisippus after my departure I vow to God Creator of all things that as soon as I shall have knowledge thereof I shall forthwith resort hither with the invincible Power of the Romans and revenge him in such wise against his Enemies that all Greece shall speak of it to their perpetual dishonour shame and reproach And therewith Titus and Gisippus arose the Athenians for the present dissembling their Malice for the fear they had of Titus Soon after Titus being sent for by the Authority of the Senate and People of Rome prepared to depart out of Athens and would fain have had Gisippus to have gone with him offering to divide with him all his Substance and Fortune But Gisippus considering how necessary his counsel should be to the City of Athens would not depart out of his Countrey though he most earnestly desired the Company of Titus Thus Titus with his Lady is departed towards the City of Rome where at their coming they were of his Mother his Kinsmen and of all the Senate and People most
joyfully received And there lived Titus with his Lady in Joy inexplicable having by her many brave Children and for his Wisdom and Learning was so highly esteemed that there was no Dignity or honourable Office within the City that he had not with much favour and praise atchieved and occupied But to return to Gisippus who immediately upon the departure of Titus was so maligned at as well by his own Kinsmen as by the Friends of the Lady which he to their seeming most shamefully abandoned leaving her to Titus that they spared not daily to vex him with all kinds of reproach that they could devise or imagine and first they excluded him out of their Council and prohibited from him all honest Company but not being therewith satisfied they finally adjudged him unworthy to enjoy any Goods or Possessions left him by his Parents whom he as they supposed by his undiscreet Friendship had so distained wherefore they despoiled him of all things and almost naked expelled him out of the City And thus was Gisippus lately Wealthy and one of the most Noble men of Athens for his kind heart banished his own Country where as a man dismai'd wandring hither and thither finding no man that would succour him atlast remembring in what pleasure his friend Titus lived with his Lady for whom he suffered these damages concluded to go to Rome and declare his misfortune to his friend In short with much pain cold hunger and thirst he came to that City where enquiring for the house of Titus at the last he came to it but beholding it so beautiful large and Princely he was ashamed to enter it being in so simple and mean Array standing by therefore that in case Titus came forth out of his House he might present himself to him He being in this thought Titus holding his Lady by the hand came forth of his Palace and taking their Horses to solace themselves saw Gisippus but beholding his simple Apparel regarded him not but passed forth on their way wherewith Gisippus was so wounded to the heart thinking Titus had contemned his fortune that oppressed with mortal heaviness he fell in a swoon but being recovered by some that stood by thinking him to be sick forthwith departed intending not to tarry any longer but as a wild Beast to wander abroad in the World and so passing forwards he for weariness was constrained to enter into an old Barn without the City where casting himself on the bare ground with weeping and dolorous crying he bewailed his fortune but most of all accusing the ingratitude of Titus for whom he suffered all that misery the remembrance whereof was so intolerable that he determined no longer to live in that anguish and dolour and therewith drew his Knife purposing to have slain himself but the wisdom which he by the study of Philosophy had attained withdrew him from that desperate act And in this contention between wisdom and will fatigate with long Journeys and watch or as God would have it he fell into a deep sleep His Knife wherewith he would have slain himself falling down by him In the mean time a bloody Thief which had robbed and slain a man was entred into the Barn where Gisippus lay intending to lie there all that Night who seeing Gisippus bedewed with Tears and his Visage replenished with Sorrow also the naked knife by him judged that he was a man desperate and so overwhelmed with grief that he was weary of his Life which the said Ruffian taking for a good occasion to escape took the Knife of Gisippus and putting it in the wound of him that was slain put it all bloody in the hand of Gisippus being fast a sleep and so departed Soon after the dead man being found the Officers made diligent search for the Murtherer at last entring into the Barn and finding Gisippus asleep with the bloody Knife in his hand awaked him laying unto him the death of the man and the having of the bloody Knife Gisippus hereat nothing dismai'd desiring death more then life and to die rather by the Laws then by the violence of his own hand wherefore he denied nothing that was laid to his charge but desired the Officers to make haste that he might be shortly out of his life Quickly Report hereof came to the Senate that a man was slain and that a Stranger a Greek born was found in such form as is above mentioned wherefore they forthwith commanded him to be brought into their presence sitting there at that time Titus being then Consul or in other such like Dignity The miserable Gisippus being brought to the Bar with Bills and staves like a Felon it was demanded of him if he slew the man that was found dead he nothing denied it but in most sorrowful manner cursed his fortune naming himself of all others most miserable At last one demanding of what Country he was he confessed to be an Athenian and therewith cast his sorrowful Eyes upon Titus with much indignation breaking forth into fighs and abundance of tears Titus now marking him very well perceived it was his dear friend Gisippus and thinking he was brought in despair by this misadventure he rose out of the place where he sate and falling on his knees before the Judges said that he had slain the man for old malice that he bare to him and that Gisippus being a stranger and all might perceive that he was a desperate Person who to abbreviate his sorrows confessed the act whereof he was innocent to the intent that he would finish his sorrows with death wherefore Titus desired the Judges to give sentence on him according to his merits But Gisippus perceiving his friend Titus contrary to his expectation to offer himself to death for his safeguard more importunately cryed out to the Senate to proceed in their judgment on him that vvas indeed the very offender Thus they of long time with abundance of tears contended which of them should die for the other whereat all the Senate and People were wonderfully abashed not knowing what it meant Now it happened that the Murtherer was in the prease at that time who perceiving the marvellous contention of these two Persons which were both innocent and that it proceeded of an incomparable Friendship was vehemently provoked to discover the truth wherefore breaking through the prease and coming before the Senate spake in this wise Noble Senators I am here come to accuse my self having lived a lewd Life for many years It is not unknown to you that Titus is of noble bloud and one approved to be always a man of excellent Vertue and Wisdom and never was malicious This other Stranger seemeth to be a man full of simplicity and that more is desperate for some evil which hath befallen him I say to you Fathers they both be innocent I am the Person that slew him who was found dead by the Barn and robbed him of his mony and when I found in the Barn this Stranger