The Lady riding naked through Coventry Together wit the natural and artified rarities in every County in England with several curious Sculptures Price One Shlling IV. VVOnderful Prodigies of Judgment and Mercy discovered in above 300 memorable Histories containing 1. Dreadful Judgments upon Atheists Blasphemers perjured Villains c. As of several forsworn Wretches carried away by the Devit and how an horrid Blasphemer was turned into a black Dog c. 2. The miserable ends of many Magicians Witches Conjurers c. with divers strange apparitions and illusions of the Devil 3. Remarkable predictions and presages of approaching Death and how the event has been answerable with an account of some Appeals to Heaven against unjust Judges and what vengeance hath fallen upon them 4. The wicked Lives and woful Deaths of several Popes Apostates and Persecutors with the manner how K. Hen. 2. was whipt by the Popes order by the Monks of Canterbury and how the Queen of Bohemia a desperate Persecutor of the Christians was swallowed up in the Earth alive with all her followers c. 5. Fearful Judgments upon bloody Tyrants Marderers c. also how Popâ—el King of Poland a cruel Tyrant his Queen and Children were devoured by Rats and how a Town near Tripoly in Barbary with the Men Women Children Beasts Trees Walls Rooms Cats Dogs Mice and all that belonged to the place were turned into perfect Stone to be seen at this day for the horrid crimes of the Inhabitants c. 6. Admirable Deliverances from imminent Dangers and Deplorable Distresses at Sea and Land Lastly Divine Goodness to Penitents with the dying Thoughts of several famous Men concerning a future state after this Life Imbelliâ—hed with divers Pictures Price One Shilling V. HIstorical Remarks and Observations of the Ancient and present state of London and Westminster shewing the Foundations Wills Gates Towers Bridges Churches Rivers Wards Hâ—…s Companies Government Courts Hospitals Schools Inns of Court Charters Franchises and Priviledges thereof with an account of the most remarkable Accidents as to Wars Fires Plagues and other occurrences for above Nine hundred years past in and about these Cities and among other particulars the Rebellion of Wat. Tyler who was slain by the Lord Mayor in Smithfield and the Speech of Jack Straw at his Execution The Murder of King Hen. 6. and likewise of Edward 5. and his Brother by Richard 3. called Crook-back The Insurrection in London in King Henry 8. time and how 411 Men and Women went through the City in their shifts and ropes about their Necks to Westminster-Hall where they were pardoned by the King with several other Remarks to this Year 1681. and a discription of the manner of the Trial of the late Lord. Stafford in Westminster-Hall Illustrated with Pictures with the Arms of the 65 Companies of London and the time of their Incorporating Price One Shilling VI. The Fourth Edition of the Wars in England Scotland and Ireland being near a third part enlarged with very considerable Additions containing an impartial Account of all the Battles Seiges and other remarkable Transactions Revolutions and Accidents which have happened from the beginning of the Reign of King Charles the First 1625. to His Majesties happy Restauration 1660. And among other particulars the Debates and Proceedings of the Fourforst Parliaments of King Charles The Murder of the Duke of Buckingham by Felton The Tumults at Edenburgh in Scotland upon the reading the Common-Prayer The Insurrection of the Apprentices and Seamen and their assaulting of A. B Laud's House at Lambeth Remarks on the Trial of the E. of Strafford and his last Speech The horrid and bloody Rebellion of the Papists in Ireland and their murdering above 200000 Profestants in 1641. The Death of Arch-Bishop Land Duke Hamilton Lord Capel Mr. Love Dr. Hewet and others The illegal Trial of King Charles 1. at large with his last Speech at his Suffering And the most considerable matters which happened till 1660. with Pictures of several remarkable Accidents Price One Shilling VII THe Young mans Calling or the whole Duty of Youth in a serious and compassionate Address to all young Persons to remember their Creator in the days of their Youth Together with Rmarks upon the Lives of several excellent young Persons of both Sexes as well ancient as modern who have been famous for Virtue and Piety in their Generations namely on the Lives of Isaac and Joseph in their Youth On the Martyrdom of seven Sons and their Mother and of Romanus a young Nobleman with the invincible courage of a Child of seven years old who was martyred On the Martyrdom of divers holy Virgins and Martyrs On the Life of that blessed Prince King Edw. 6. with his earnest Zeal for the Protestant Religion and his ingenious Letters to his Godfather A. B. Cranmer when but 8 years old with his last words and Prayer against Popery On the Life and Death of Queen Jane as her learned Dispute with Fecknam a Priest about the Sacrament her Letters to her Father the Duke of Suffolk to her Sister and to Harding an Apostate Protestant On the Life of Queen Elizabeth in her Youth with her many Sufferings and Dangers from bloody Bonner and Gardiner and her joiful Reception to the Crown On the Religious Life and Death of the most Noble and Heroick Prince Henry eldest Son to King James And also of the Young Lord Harrington c. With Twelve curious Pictures Illustrating the several Histories Price Eighteen Pence All sold by Nath Crouch at his shop at the sign of the Bell in the Poultry near Cheapside 1683. FINIS
up in his Gown and Shoes as he was and laying his Body by that of his Wives burnt them both together the Sepulcher of these Two is yet to be seen at Tarentum and is called The Tomb of the Two Lovers Valer Max. lib. 4. XVI And though the Female be the weaker Sex yet such has been the fidelity and incredible strength of affection in some that they have oft-times performed as great things as the most generous Men they have despised death in the most dreadful shapes and all sorts of difficulties by an invincible Love to their Hushands in the greatest extremity Of which Histories are not silent for we râ—ad that Eumenes burying the dead that had fallen in the Battel of Gabine against Antigonus amongst others there was found the Body of Ceteas the Captain of those Troops that had come out of India this man had two Wives who accompanied him in the Wars one which he had newly married and an other whom he had married some years before but both of them bore an intire love to him for whereas the Laws of India require that one Wife shall be burnt with her dead Husband both these offered themselves to death and strove with that ambition as if it had been some glorious prize they sought after before such Captains as were appointed their Judges the younger Wife pleaded That the other was with Child and that therefore she could not have the benefit of that Law The elder alledged That whereas she was before the other in years it was also fit that she should be before her in Honour since it was customary in other things that the Elder should have place The Judges when they understood by Midwives that the Elder was with Child passed Judgment that the younger should be burnt which done she that had lost the cause departed rending her Diadem and tearing her Hair as if some grievous calamity had befallen her the other full of Joy at her Victory went to the Funeral Fire magnificently drest up by her Friends and led along by her Kindred as if to her Wedding they all the way singing Hymns in her Praises When she drew near the fire taking off her Ornaments she delivered them to her Friends and Servants as tokens of Remembrance they were a multitude of Rings with variety of precious Stones Chains and Stars of Gold c. This done she was by her Brother placed upon the combustible matter by the side of her Husband and after the Army had thrice compassed the Funeral Pile fire was put to it and she without a word of complaint finished her life in thell ames Diod Siculus lib. 9. XVII Arria the Wife of Cecinna Paetus understanding that her Husband was condemned to die and that he was permitted to chuse what manner of death liked him best she went to him and having exhorted him to depart this life couragiously and bidding him farewel gave her self a stab into the Breast with a Knife she had hid for that purpose under her Cloaths then drawing the Knife out of the wound and reaching it to Paetus she said The wound I have made Paetus smarts not but that only which thou art about to give thy self Camer Spare hours Whereupon Martial hath an Epigram to this purpose When Arria to her Husband gave the Knife Which made the wound whereby she lost her life This wound dear Paetus grieves me not quoth she But that which thou must give thyself grieves me XVIII The Prince of the Province of Fingo in the Kingdom of Japan in the East-Indies hearing that a Gentleman of the Country had a very beautiful Woman to his Wife got him dispatched and having sent for the Widow some days after her Husbands death acquainted her with his desires she told him she had much reason to think her self happy in being honoured with the Friendship of so great a Prince yet she was resolved to bite off her Tongue and murder her self if he offered her any violence but if he would grant her the favour to spend one month in bewailing her Husband and then give her liberty to make an entertainment for the Relations of the Deceased to take her leave of them he should find how much she was his Servant and how far she would comply with his affections it was easily granted a very great Dinner was provided whither came all the Kindred of the deceased the Gentlewoman perceiving the Prince began to be warm in his Wine in hopes of enjoying her promise she desired liberty to withdraw into an adjoyning Gallery to take the Air but as soon as she was come into it she cast her self headlong down in the presence of the Prince and all her dead Husbands relations and so put an end to her life Mandelsloes Travels XIX In the Reign of the Emperor Vespasian there was a Rebellion in France the chief Leader of which was Julius Sabinus they being reduced the Captain was sought after to be punished but he had hid himself in a Vault or Cave which was the Monument of his Grand-father he caused a report to be spread of his death as if he had voluntarily poysoned himself and the better to persuade men of the truth of it he caused his House to be set on fire as if his body had therein been burnt he had a Wife whose name was Eponina she knew nothing of his safety but bewailed his death would not be comforted there were only two of his freed men who were privy to it they pitying their Lady who was determined to die and in order thereunto had abstained from all manner of meat for three days together thereupon they declared her purpose to her Husband and besought him to save her that loved him so well it was granted and she was told that her Sabinus lived she came to him where they lived with secrecy and undiscovered for the space of nine years together she conceived and brought forth Children in that solitary Mansion at last the place of their abode came to be known they were taken and brought to Rome where Vespasian commanded they should be stain Eponina producing and shewing her Children Behold O Caesar said she these I have brought forth and brought up in a Monument that thou mightest have more suppliants for our Lives O cruel Vespasian that could not be moved with such words as these well they were both led to death and Eponina joyfully died with her Husband who had been before buried with him for so many years together Lipsius Monitor lib. 2. XX. Portia the Daughter of Cato and Wise of Marcus Brutus when she conjectured by the fleepless and disturbed nights of her Husband that he had conceived some great thing in his mind and concealed it from her in suspition of her weakness she to give her Husband an instance of her Constancy and Secrecy made her self a deep wound in her Thigh with a Razor upon which there followed a stream of blood weakness and a Feaver When Brutus
Ancestors and dâ—…ing their Wealth and Wives amongst the mercenary Soldiers he had hired withal he sent Murderers after such as he had banished not suffering any place of retreat to be safe to them he had also framed an Engine or rather an Image of his Wife which after her name he called Apega with admirable Art it was fashioned to her resemblance and was clothed in such costly Garments as she her self used to wear as oft as the Tyrant cited before him any of the rich Citizens with a design to milk them of their Money he first with a long and very civil Speech used to represent to them the danger that Sparta was in the number of the Soldiers he kept about him for their safety and the great charge he was at in sacred and civil affairs if they were wrought upon by this means it sufficed but if otherways and that they would not part with their money he then used to say Possibly I am not able to persuade you yet it is likely that Apega may and then with a shew of familiarity he takes the man by the hand and leads him to this Image which rises and imbraces him with both Arms she draws him to her Breasts in which and likewise in her Arms were sharp iron Spikes and Nails though hidden within her cloths herewith she griped the poor wretch according to the pleasure of the Tyrant who laughed at his cruel death Rawleighs Hist World XXIV Not many years since there was a notable piece of inhumane Villany discovered in the City of Naples which was this There was one Francisco Severino a publick Notary that had a Sister who was a young Widow but he being to pay her six hundred Ducats toward her Dowry instead thereof he clapt her up together with a little Daughter of hers into a dark Cave betwixt four Walls where he fed them with Bread and Water and some few roots for seventeen years together the Widow had also a Son under the care of an Uncle all that while who being come to Age demanded of this Notary his Mothers Dowry thinking she had been dead the rumor hereof flying among the People who were then in Arms they rushed into the Notaries House and the Woman in the Cave hearing an extraordinary noise began to shriek which being heard the People broke down the Wall where they found two Women like Savages with long dishevel'd hair hanging about their Shoulders whereupon the Villany being discovered the Notary was put to exemplary punishment Howels Hist Naples XXV Sha Sefi a late Emperor of Persia when he came into the World had his hands all bloody which his Grand-Father Sha Abbas hearing of said That this Prince would often bath his hands in blood and so it proved for as soon as he came to the Crown he made away Rustan-Can the Generalissimo of his Army and several other Lords he caused to be cut in pieces and slew with his own hands all his own Relations and what other Person soever he was any way distrustful of by this means so accustoming himself to blood that when he was incensed he spared none he caused the Eyes of his only Brother to be put out and two of his Uncles after he had put out their Eyes he caused them to be cast down headlong from an high Rock saying That having lost the benefit of their Eyes they were useless to the World He dispatched Isa Can another of his Uncles after he had cut off the heads of his three Sons upon a Trivial occasion saying That he could now never be faithful to him at least it was impossible he should love him after he had dealt so by him In 1632. He having forced the Turks to raise the Siege before Bagdat at a private meeting of his Lords they said among themselves That since in his tender Age he had committed so many Cruelties it was likely that in time he would extirpate all the Grandees of Persia Scinel-Chan presently discovered this to him advising him to secure himself against them by taking away those of most credit among them the Tyrant replied Thy advice is good and I will begin with thee for thou art a Person of the greatest Age and Authority among them and therefore must needs be of the Conspiracy And presently after he killed him with his own hands he slew his Lord High Chancellor within a few days after by running him into the Body with a Cymiter and then caused his head to be cut into small bits and thus he dealt with most of the rest who were at the Meeting aforesaid when he came to Casbin he sent for all the Lords and Governors of his Provinces to come to him they all obeyed save two who thought it enough to assure the King of their Fidelity by sending each of them one of their Wives and one of their Sons but he being not satisfied herewith sent their Wives to the publick Bawdy-Houses and exposed their Sons to the Sodomitical brutality of his Grooms and common Hangmen then he sent for Immanuel Can Governor of Shiras and as soon as he came he caused his head to be cut off and the heads of his fifteen Sons these unparallel'd Cruelties frighted all that came near him and put some upon a Resolution to shorten his days by Poyson in which some of the Ladies in the Seraglio had an hand which coming to his knowledge he revenged himself the night following causing a great Pit to be made in the Garden wherein he buried forty Women alive some Ladies and among them his own Mother Ambas Tra. p. 265. XXVI Innumerable are the Examples of Barbarity in the world let us therefore add a few instances of the Perfidiousness and Treachery of some men there is nothing under the Sun that is more detestable than a Traytor who is commonly followed with the Execrations and Curses of those very men to whom his Treason hath been most useful so that it is seldom but these perfidious ones meet with their just rewards from the hands of their own Patrons however the vengeance of Heaven where the Justice of men fails doth visibly fall upon them XXVII The City of Sfetigrade in Hungary being defended against Amurath the second Emperor of the Turks was then watered but with one great Well in the midst of the City into which a traiterous Person having contracted for a mighty reward to cause the City to be yielded up to the Turks had cast a dead Dogs this had been no great matter to other men but he well knew that the Garrison consisted of the Soldiers of Dibra who as they were the most valorous of all Epirus so were they more Superstitious then the Jews about things clean and unclean and he knew they would starve die any kind of death nay deliver up the City rather than drink of that polluted water nor was he deceived for it was soon delivered upon certain conditions he that corrupted the water was rewarded with three
before his Father who had also a Father in Heaven by whom he hoped to be forgiven and if he would please to grant him his life he would assure him to be ever after a Loyal and Obedient Son who lived and would continually live in a constant forrow for what was past and if he intended to deal otherwise with him he yet desired him to remember That he was his own flesh and blood and that though the offence were only his yet the just Father must needs bear a part of the punishment inflicted upon the guilty Son but that in shewing mercy no inconvenience could ensue and that if he should be inexorable he should lose the most Obedient Son that ever Father had having ended these and many other words to the same effect he with great humility prostrated himself upon the Earth expecting his Fathers Sentence either of Life or Death this struck so great an impression into the Emperors heart to hear and see his Son shew such humility and to shed so many tears that he could not forbear to do the like and commanding him to arise from the ground with joy mixed with tears both from himself and his Attendants he immediately pardoned him and restored him to his Grace and Fatherly love and to the same Offices and Dignities he had before and from thence forward the Son continued constant in that Loyalty and Duty which he owed to his Father and Soveraign Lord so long as they lived together Imperial Hist p. 423. XXXVII A Son of the Lord Montpensier an Italian going to Puzzuolo to visit the Sepulcher of his Father was so overcharged with Passion that after he had washed all the parts of his Monument with his lamentable Tears he fainted and fell down dead upon the Sepulcher of his Father Guichardine Ital. Hist p. 261. XXXVIII Decimus Emperor of Rome had a purpose and earnest desire to set the Crown upon the head of his Son Decius out he utterly refused it saying I fear lest being made an Emperor I should forget that I am a Son I had rather be no Emperor and a dutiful Son than an Emperor and such a Son as hath forsaken his due obedience let then my Father bear the Rule and let this be my Empire to obey with all humility whatsoever he shall command me By this means the Solemnity was put off and the young Man was not Crowned unless you will say that his signal Piety towards his Parent was a more glorious Crown to him than that which consisted of Gold and Jewels Valer. Maxim lib. 4. XXXIX In the Civil Wars of Rome between Augustus and Mark Anthony as it often falls out that Fathers Sons Brothers Brothers take contrary part so in that last Battel at Actium where Augustus was Conqueror when the Prisoners as the Custom is were counted up Metellus was brought to Octavianus whose face tho much changed by anxiety and imprisonment was known by Metellus his Son who had been on the contrary part withtears therefore he runs into the imbraces of his Father and then turning to Augustus This thy Enemy said he hath deserved death but I am worthy of some reward for the service I have done thee I therefore beseech thee instead of that which is owing me that thou wouldst preserve this man and cause me to be killed in his stead Augustus moved with this piety though a great Enemy gave to the Son the life of the Father Lonic Theat 273. XL. Demetrius the King of Asia and Macedonia was taken Prisoner in Battel by Seleucus King of Syria after which Antigonus his Son was the quiet possessour of his Kingdom yet did he change the Royal Purple into a mourning habit and in continual tears sent abroad his Ambassadours to the Neighbouring Kings that they would interpose in his Fathers behalf for the obtaining of his Liberty he also sent to Seleucus and promised him the Kingdom and himself as an hostage and security if he would free his Father from Prison after he knew that his Father was dead he set forth a great Navy and went out to receive the body of the deceased which by Seleucus was sent toward Macedonia he received it with such mournful Solemnity and so many tears as turned all men into wonder and compassion Antigonus stood in the Poop of a great Ship built for that purpose cloathed in black bewailing his dead Father the Ashes were inclosed in a golden Urn over which he stood a continual and disconsolate Spectator he caused to be sung the Virtues and Noble Atchievements of the deceased Prince with voices form'd to Piety and Lamentation the Rowers also in the Gallies so ordered the stroaks of their Oars that they kept time with the mournful voices of the others in this manner the Navy came near to Corinth so that the Rocks and Shores themselves seemed to be moved to mourning Plutarchs Lives Thus far of Paternal and Filial Love let us proceed to that between Brethren XLI It is usually counted rare to see Brothers live together in mutual love and agreement with each other and it is likewise commonly observed that their Animosities have been managed with greater rancour bitterness than if they had been the greatest Strangers on the other side where this Fraternal Love has rightly seated it self in the Soul it has appeared as real and vigorous as any other sort of Love whatsoever of which there want not very remarkable Instances In the year 1585. the Portugal Ship called St. Jago was cast away upon the Shallows near St. Lawrence and towards the Coast of Mosambique here it was that divers Persons had leapt into the great Boat to save their lives and finding that it was overburdened they chose a Captain whom they swore to obey who caused them to cast Lots and such as the Lot fell upon to be cast overboard there was one of those that in Portugal are called New Christians who being allotted to be cast overboard into the Sea had a younger Brother in the same Boat that suddenly rose up and desired the Captain that he would pardon and make free his Brother and let him supply his place saying My Brother is elder and of better knowledge in the World than I and therefore more fit to live in the World and to help my Sisters and Friends in their need so that Thad rather die for him than live without him at which request they saved the elder Brother and threw the younger at his own desire into the Sea who swum at least six hours after the Boat and though they held up their hands with naked Swords willing him that he should not once come to touch the Boat yet laying hold thereon and having his hand half cut in two he would not let go so that in the end they were constrained to take him in again both these Brethren I knew saith my Author and have been in company with them Linschotens Voyages p. 147. XLII When the Emperor
Augustus had taken Adiatoriges a Prince of Cappadocia together with his Wife and Children in War and had led them to Rome in Triumph he gave order that the Father the elder of the Brothers should be slain The designed Ministers of this Execution were come to the place of restraint to this unfortunate Family and there inquiring which of the Brethren was the eldest there arose a vehement and earnest contention between the two young Princes each of them affirming himself to be the Elder that by his death he might preserve the life of the other when they had long continued in this pious Emulation the Mother at last not without difficulty persuaded her Son Dyetentus that he would permit his younger Brother to die in his stead as hoping that by him she might be more probably maintained Augustus was at length certified of this great example of Brotherly love and not only lamented that act of his severity but gave an honourable support to the Mother and her surviving Son Heywoods Hist Women XLIII Heliodorus the Brittain had afterward the Sirname of Pius upon this occasion the People provoked with the Cruelty and Avarice of Archigallus had deposed him and raised Heliodorus to the Throne of his Brother one time when the King went on hunting he accidentally met with his Brother Archigallus in a Wood whose altered visage and ragged cloths gave sufficient evidence of his afflicted condition as soon as the King knew him though he was not ignorant how he had sought his Restoration both by force and fraud yet he lovingly imbraced him and caused him privately to be conveyed into the City The King pretended he was sick and giving forth that he would dispose of the Affairs of the Realm by his last Will and Testament he called his Nobles together he then signified that he would confer in private with each of them singly and as every man entered into his Chamber he caused him to be laid hold on threatning him with death if he would not consent to the sparing of his Brother and that he should resign the Throne and Kingdom to him having by this means gained an universal assent he then opened the business in the presence of them altogether so that Archigallus was restored to the Kingdom and he dying in few years Heliodorus succeeded him with equal Justice and Glory Fulgosus Examples p. 634. XLIV There was a Soldier in the Camp of Pompeius who in the War with Sertorius perceiving a Soldier on the other side to press hard upon him he sought with him hand to hand and having slain him he went about to strip him of his Arms which when he had done he found it was his Brother who had fallen under him whereupon having a long time curst his unhappy Fate he carried his dead Brother into the Camp and having covered the Body with a precious Garment he laid the Corps upon the Funeral Pile and put fire to it which done he immediately drew the same Sword wherewith he had slain his Brother and thrust it into his own Breast and so falling prostrate upon the dead Body of his Brother they were both burned together Valerius Maximus p. 146. XLV There was a report though a false one that Eumenes King of Asia was slain by the fraud of Perseus upon the news whereof his Brother Attalus seized upon the Crown and married the Wife of his Brother but being informed of Eumenes his return he went forth to meet him not without apprehensions of fear in regard of what he had done in his absence Eumenes made no shew of his displeasure only whispered him in the Ear That before he married another Mans Wife he should besure her Husband was dead This was all and not long after dying though by his Wife he had a Son of his own yet he left the Kingdom to his Brother together with the Queen his Wife Attalus on the other side that he might not be surpassed in Brotherly love though he had many Children by his own Wife yet he educated that Son she had by Eumenes to the hope of the Kingdom and when he came of sufficient Age freely resigned up all to him and lived a private life many years after Burtons Melancholy p. 564. XLVI Darius King of Persia being extreamly provoked by Crimes of an extraordinary nature had pronounced Sentence of death upon Ithaphernes his Children and the whole Family of them at once the Wife of Ithaphernes went to the Kings Pallace and there all in tears was so loud in her mournful Lamentations that her cries coming to the Kings Ear moved him in such manner to compassion that the King sent her word That with her own he gave her the life of any single Person whom she would make choice of among the condemned the Woman begged the life of her Brother Darius wondred that she should rather ask his life than that of her Husband or any of her Children and therefore asked her the reason who replied That since her Father was dead she could never hope for a Brother more if she should lose this but that her self being but young as yet might hope for another Husband and other Children Darius was moved with this answer and being inclined to Brotherly love as well as prudence he gave her also the life of her eldest Son Heywoods Hist Women XLVII Tiberius being at Ticinum and hearing that his Brother Drusus lay sick in Germany he immediately put himself on an hasty Journey to give him a visit he passed the Alps and the Rhine and changing his Horse night and day he travelled outright two hundred miles with only one Person in his Company as his Guide Drusus though at that time labouring for life being informed of his coming commanded his Legions with their Ensigns to march out and meet him and to salute him by the Title of Imperator or Emperor he ordered a Praetorial Tent to be erected for him on the right hand of his own and gave him the Confular and Imperial name at the same time yielding this honour to his Brother and his Body to death Valerius Maximus p. 146. XLVIII Great was the love of Timolaeon the Corinthian to his Brother for when in a Battel with the Argives he saw his Brother fall down dead with the wounds he had received he leaped over the dead body of his Brother and with his Shield he protected the body as it lay and though in this enterprize he was sore wounded himself yet would he not retreat into any place of safety till such time as he had seen the dead body of his Brother carried off from the Field Fulgosus lib. 5. XLIX Neither has the extraordinary Love of Servants toward their Masters wanted great Examples some of whom have discovered eminent Fidelity and Virtue so that Fortune may seem to have treated them injuriously not to allot them as great advantages as their Masters they lived under for we read that the Servant of Vrbinius Panopion knowing
that the Soldiers commissioned to kill his Master were come to his House at Reatina changed cloths with him and having put his Masters Ring upon his Finger he sent him out at a postern door but went himself to the Chamber and threw himself upon the Bed where he was slain in his Masters stead Panopion by this means escaped and afterwards when the times would permit it erected a Noble Monument with a due inscription in memory of the true Fidelity of so good a Servant Lipsius Monitor p. 332. L. The Hungarians had conspired against Sigismund King of Hungary and Bohemia but the Plot being discovered the principal persons were all taken brought to Buda and there beheaded Stephanus Contius was the chief of these Conspirators who having thereupon lost his Head Chioka his Esquire lamented the death of his Lord with such outcries that the King took notice of him and said unto him I am now become thy Lord and Master and it is in my power to do thee much more good than can be expected from that headless Trunk To whom the young man replied I will never be the Servant of a Bohemian Hog I had rather be torn into a thousand pieces than to desert a Master of so great Magnanimity as all the Bohemians together are not able to equal And thereupon he voluntarily laid down his Head on the block and had it severed from his Shoulders that he might no longer survive his Master Zuinglius Theat p. 215. LI. Grimoaldus Duke of Benevento was invited by Gondibert King of the Lombards to assist him against Partharis his Brother he came accordingly and having thrown out the one he slew the other Brother he came to defend and so made himself King of Lombardy and when he knew that Partharis was retreated to Calanus Duke of Bavaria he wrought so that he was expelled from thence Partharis not knowing whither to betake himself in safety comes as a suppliant and commits himself to the faith of Grimoaldus but he observing that numbers of his Subjects flocked daily to visit him and fearing lest by the favour of the People he should some time or other recover the Kingdom not regarding his Oath he resolved to make him away and that he might perform it with less noise and tumult he intended first to make him drunk and then send his Guards to cut his Throat while he lay buried in Wine and sleep This Counsel of his was not so privately carried but that it came to the ear of Partharis he therefore commands his Cup-bearer to give him Water constantly instead of Wine lest his troubled head should prove unmindful of the danger he was in nor could he abstain altogether from drinking lest Grimoaldus his Spies should discover that he had intimation of his Intentions the better therefore to colour the matter after large drinking he caused himself to be carried by his Servants into his Chamber as if to sleep out his debauch there he consults with Hunulphus his most faithful Servant who thought it not safe to go forth since the Servants of Grimoaldus stood watching at the Gate but in regard necessity compelled and that there was no other way of escape he orders it thus he covers his Head and Shoulders with the skin of a Bear which was there by chance after the manner of a Country Clown and lays upon his back a Mattress as if he was a Porter to carry it away and then with good blows of a Cudgel drove him out of the Chamber by this Contrivance he passed unknown through the Guards and accompanied with one Servant got safe into France about midnight the Guards came to kill Partharis but were opposed by Hunulphus who besought them not to disturb the rest of his Master now sleeping but to suffer him to sleep out the large drinking he had that night twice they were thus put back but the third time they broke by force into the Chamber and not finding Partharis whom they had determined to kill they inquire of Hunulphus what was become of him who told them plainly he was fled and confessed that himself was the contriver of his flight Grimoaldus admiring his fidelity who to save his Master had cast himself into such manifest danger of his life freed him from that punishment that all cried he was worthy of and with many promises allured him that from thenceforth he would change Masters and serve him with the like fidelity as he had done the former Dinoth Memorab p. 301. LII There was a Citizen of Rome condemned by the Sentence of the Triumvirate who for fear of his life fled and hid himself in a Cave of the Earth one of his Servants observed the approach of them that came to murther him and having thereupon advised him to retire to the lowest and most secret part of the Cave he himself put on his Masters Gown pretending to the Pursuers that he was the Person they sought after being desirous to save the life of his Patron with the loss of his own but one of his fellow Servants betrayed him in this officious Design so that the Master was fetched out of his hiding place and slain when this was known to the People of Rome they would not be satisfied till the betrayer of his Master was Crucified and he that attempted to save him was set at liberty Dinoth p. 293. LIII The Tyrians having maintained long Wars against the Persians were much weakned thereby which occasioned their slaves being many in number to rise against their Masters whom they put all to the Sword together with their Children and then seized upon their Houses together with their Wives whom they Married only one of these slaves being more merciful than the rest spared his Master Straton and his Son and hid them the slaves having thus got possession of all consulted together to chuse a King and concluded that he who could first discern the Sun at his rising should be King whereupon the forementioned slave consulted with his Master about the business who advised him when others looked into the East that he should look into the West for which he was well scoffed at by his Companions but presently he espied the Sun-beams shining upon the high Towers and Chimnies in the City and so challenged the Kingdom his Companions would needs know who taught him his wit at last he told them whereupon fetching out old Straton they gave him not only his life but elected him their King who having once been a Master and free born they thought was fittest to rule all the rest that were slaves Justin Hist lib. 18. LIV. Menenius was in the number of those that were condemned by the Triumvirate and when a Servant of his perceived that his Masters House was inclosed with a company of Soldiers that came to kill him he caused himself to be put into a Litter wherein his Master used to be carried and ordered some of his fellow Servants to carry him forth in it the
with many and cruel blows and threatned to be beheaded to which he answered You worship such Gods as will perish like dung upon the Earth but as for me come life come death I will worship none but the God of Heaven and Earth Acts and Mon. Vol. 1. XXVI St. Origen when he was but seventeen years old his Father being carried to Prison had such a fervent mind to suffer Martyrdom with him that he would have thrust himself into the Persecutors hands had it not been for his Mother who in the night time privately stole away his Cloths and his very shirt also whereupon more for shame to be seen naked than for fear of death he was forced to stay at home yet he writ thus to his Father Pray Sir be sure you do not change your Resolution for my sake Clarks Mar. XXVII Valence the Emperor being an Arrian sent Messengers to St. Basil to persuade him to imbrace that Heresy they gave him good words and promised him great Preferment if he would do it but he answered Alas Sir these Speeches are fitter to catch little Children that look after such things than such as me who being taught and instructed by the Holy Scriptures had rather suffer a thousand deaths than that one syllable or tittle of Gods Word should be altered the Governor being in a rage threatned him with confiscation of his Goods Torments Banishment and Death Basil replied He need not fear Confiscation that had nothing to lose nor Banishment to whom Heaven only is a Country nor Torments when his Body may be dashed in pieces by one blow nor Death which is the only way to set him at liberty and I wish it would fall out so well on my side that I might lay down this Carcase of mine in the Quarrel of Jesus Christ and in the defence of his Truth The Praefect told him that he was mad I wish said he that I may be for ever thus mad Clarks Examples XXVIII The same Emperor Valence coming to the City of Edessa perceived that the Christians did keep their Assemblies in the Fields for their Churches were pulled down and demolished whereat he was so inraged that he gave the President Methodius a box on the Ear for suffering such their Meetings commanding him to take a Band of Soldiers and to scourge with Rods and knock down with Clubs as many as he should find of them this his order being proclaimed there was a Christian Woman who with a Child in her Arms ran with all speed toward the place and was got amongst the ranks of those Soldiers that were sent out against the Christians and being by them asked whither she went and what she would have she told them That she made such hast lest she and her little Infant should come too late to be partakers of the Crown of Christ amongst the rest of those that were to suffer When the Emp. heard this he was confounded desisted from his enterprize and turned all his fury against the Priests and Clergy Wanly Hist Man p. 214. XXIX St. Chrysostom stoutly rebuked the Empress Eudoxia for her Covetousness telling her That she would be called a second Jezabel and when she sent him a threatning Message Go tell her said he I fear nothing but Sin and when she confederating with his other Enemies had procured his banishment as he went out of the City he said None of these things trouble me for I said before within my self if the Queen will let her banish me the Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof if she will let her saw me asunder the Prophet Isaiah was so used if she will let her cast me into the Sea I will remember Jonah If she will let her cast me into a burning fiery Furnace or to the wild Beasts the three Children and Daniel were so dealt with If she will let her stone me or cut off my head I have St. Stephen and John the Baptist for my blessed Companions If she will let her take away all my goods and substance naked came I out of my Mothers Womb and naked shall I return thither again He was so beloved that on a time when he was like to be silenced the people cried out we had better want the shining of the Sun then the Preaching of Chrysostom Clarks Lives p. 78. XXX In the persecution of the Church under the Arrian Vandals who committed all manner of Cruelties upon the true Christians there were a great number condemned to be burnt in a Ship to which they were accompanied by a multitude of their Brethren being led like innocent Lambs to the Sacrifice and looking upon their weighty Chains and Irons wherewith they were loaded as rare Jewels and Ornaments they went with all cheerfulness and alacrity to the place of Execution even as though they had gone to a Banquet singing praises with one voice unto the Almighty as they went along the Streets saying This is our desired day more joyful to us then any Festival behold now is the accepted time now is the day of Salvation when for the faith of our Lord God we suffer death that we may not lose the Garment of Faith and Glory The People likewise with one voice cried out Fear not O Servants of God neither dread the Threats of your Enemies die for Christ who died for us that he might redeem us with the price of his saving blood Amongst them was a little Boy to whom a subtle Seducer said why hastest thou my pretty Boy unto death let them go they are mad take my Counsel and thou shalt not only have life but great advancement in the Kings Court to whom the Lad answered You shall not get me from the fellowship of these Holy Men who bred me up and with whom I have lived in the fear of God and with whom I desire to die and with whom I trust I shall obtain the Glory to come and so being all put into the Ship they were burnt together Clarks Martyr XXXI Among others who were terribly tormented they tortured Women and especially Gentlewomen stark naked openly without all shame and particularly a young Lady called Dyonisia whom they saw bolder and more beautiful than the rest they first commanded her to be stripped stark naked and made ready for the Cudgels who spake stoutly to them saying I am assured of the love of God vex me how you will only my Womanhood disclose you not But they with the greater rage set her naked upon an high place for a publick spectacle then did they whip her till the streams of blood did flow all over her body whereupon she boldly said Ye Ministers of Satan that which you do for my reproach is to me an honour And beholding her only Son that was young and tender and seemed fearful of Torments checking him with a Motherly Authority she so incouraged him that he became more constant than before to whom in the midst of his terrible Torments she said Remember O my
Child that we are Baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity let us not lose the Garment of our Salvation lest it be said cast them into utter darkness where is weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth for that pain is to be dreaded that never endeth and that life to be desired that always lasteth The Youth was so incouraged hereby that he persevered patient in all his sufferings till in the midst of his Torments he gave up the Ghost and many by this Ladies Exhortations and Example were converted to Christianity and animated in their sufferings Not long after Cyrillus the Arrian Bishop of Carthage stirred up Hunrick the Tyrant against the Christians telling him That he could never expect to enjoy his Kingdom in peace so long as he suffered any of them to live hereupon he sent for seven eminent Christians to Carthage whom he first assaulted with flattery and large promises of Honour Riches c. if they would imbrace his Faith but these Servants of Christ rejected all his offers crying out One Lord one Faith one Baptism saying also do with our Bodies what you please torment them at your will it is better for us to suffer these momentary pains than to indure everlasting Torments Before this Hunrick sent his Commissioners to impose the following Oath upon them under the utmost penalty You shall swear that after the death of our Lord the King his Son Hilderick shall succeed him in the Kingdom whereupon some cryed out we are all Christians and hold the Apostolical and only True Faith and seeing further into the subtlety of this Oath refused it other well meaning men offered to take it whereupon they were divided asunder and committed to custody the names of both Parties and of what Cities they were being taken in writing and soon after the King sent them this Message As for you that would have taken the Oath because you contrary to the rule of the Gospel which saith swear not at all would have sworr the Kings Will is that you shall never see your Churches nor Houses more but be banished into the Wilderness and there shall till the ground But to the refusers of the Oath he said Because you desire not the Reign of our Lord the Kings Son you shall therefore be immediately sent away to the Isle of Corse there to hew Timber for the Ships Clarks Martyr XXXII In the eighth Primitive Persecution under Valerianus Sixtus Bishop of Rome with his six Deacons were accused for being Christians whereupon being brought to the place of Execution they were all beheaded St. Lawrence also another Deacon following Sixtus as he went to Execution complained that he might not suffer with him but that he was secluded as the Son from the Father to whom the Bishop answered That within three days he should follow him bidding him in the mean time to go home and if he had any Treasures to distribute them among the Poor the Judge hearing mention of Treasures supposing that Lawrence had great store in his Custody commanded him to bring the same to him Lawrence craved three days respite promising then to declare where the Treasure might be had in the mean time he caused a great number of poor Christians to be gathered together and when the day of his answer was come the Persecutor strictly charged him to make good his promise but valiant Lawrence stretching out his Arms over the poor said These are the precious Treasures of the Church these are the Treasures indeed in which Christ hath his Mansion But O what Tongue is able to express the fury and madness of the Tyrants Heart how he stamped stared raved like one out of his wits his Eyes glowed like Fire his Mouth foamed like a Boar he grindeth his Teeth like an Hell-hound and then he bellows out Kindle the fire make no spare of Wood hath this Villain deluded the Emperor Away with him whip him with Scourges jerk him with Rods buffet him with Fists brain him with Clubs what doth the Traytor jest with the Emperor Pinch him with fiery Tongs gird him with burning Plates bring out the strongest Chains and Pireforks and the grate of Iron set it on the fire bind the Rebel hand and foot and when the grate is red hot on with him rost him broyl him toss him turn him upon pain of our high displeasure do every man his Office O ye Tormentors Immediately his command was obeyed and after many cruel Tortures this meek Lamb was laid I will not say upon a Bed of fiery Iron but on a soft down Bed so mightily did God work for his Servant and so miraculously did he temper this Element of Fire that it was not a Bed of consuming pain but of nourishing rest unto Lawrence so that the Emperor and not Lawrence seemed to be tormented the one broyling in the flesh the other burning in his heart when this Triumphant Martyr had been pressed down with Fire-forks for a great while in the mighty Spirit of God he spake thus to the Tyrant This side is now roasted enough Turn up O Tyrant Great And try whether roasted or raw Thou thinkst it's better meat By the couragious Confession of this worthy and valiant Deacon a Roman Soldier was converted to the same Faith and desired to be Baptized whereupon he was called before the Judge Scourged and afterward be headed Acts and Mon. XXXIII In the Arrian Persecution in Africa there was one Saturus a Nobleman eminent for Piety whom the Tyrant much laboured to withdraw from the Christian Profession but he refusing the King told him that if he presently consented not he should forfeit his House his Lands his Goods and his Honours that his Children and Servants should be sold and his Wife should be given to his Camel-driver or one of the basest of his Slaves but when threats prevailed not he was cast into Prison and when his Lady heard her doom she went to her Husband as he was praying with her Garments rent and her hair dishevel'd her Children at her heels and a sucking Infant in her Arms and falling down at her Husbands feet she took him about the Knees saying Have compassion O my sweetest of me thy poor Wife and of these thy Children look upon them let them not be made Slaves let not me be yoaked in so base a Marriage consider that what thou art required to do thou dost it not willingly but art constrain'd thereunto and therefore it will not be laid to thy charge But this valiant Soldier of Christ answered her in the words of Job Thou speakest like a foolish Woman thou actest the Devils part If thou truly lovedst thy Husband thou wouldst never seek to draw him to sin that may separate him from Christ and expose him to the second death know assuredly that I am resolved as my Saviour Christ commands me to forsake Wife Children House Lands c. that so I may enjoy him and be his Disciple And accordingly he was
which the Kings Book was stuffed neither is it any wonder if I contemn and bite an earthly King when as he feared not at all in his writings to blaspheme the King of Heaven and to prophane his Truth with virulent Lies When Luther came to die the Will which he made concerning his Wife and Child was as follows O Lord God I thank thee that thou wouldst have me live a poor and indigent Person upon Earth I have neither House nor Land nor Possessions nor Money to leave thou Lord hast given me Wife and Children them Lord I give back to thee nourish instruct and keep them O thou Father of Orphans and Judge of the Widows do to them as thou hast done to me When he was ready to die Justus Jonas and Caelius said to him O Reverend Father do you die in the constant confession of the Doctrine of Christ which you have hitherto Preached to which he answered Yea which was the last word he spake He made this verse some time before his death Pestis eram vivus moriens ero mors tua Papa I living stopt Romes breath And dead will be Romes death One saith of him that Luther a poor Fryar should be able to stand against the Pope was a great Miracle that he should prevail against the Pope was a greater and after all to die in peace was the greatest of all Clarks Mirror XXXIX Mr. Woodman a Martyr in Queen Maries Reign speaks thus of himself When I have been in Prison wearing Bolts and Shackles sometimes lying upon the bare ground sometimes sitting in the Stocks some times bound with Cords that all my Body hath been swoln and I like to have been overcome with pain sometimes forced to lie about in the Woods and Fields wandring too and fro sometimes brought before the Justices Sheriffs Lords Doctors and Bishops sometimes called Dog Devil Heretick Whoremonger Traytor Thief Deceiver c. yea and they that did eat of my Bread and should have been most my Friends by Nature have betrayed me yet for all this I praise my Lord God that hath separated me from my Mothers Womb all this that hath happened to me hath been easy light and most delightful and more joyful Treasure than ever I possessed Acts and Mon. XL. Archbishop Cranmer by the wily subtilties and large promises of the Papists was drawn to subscribe to a Recantation yet afterward by Gods great mercy he recovered again and when he was at the stake and the fire kindled about him he stretched out his right hand wherewith he had subscribed and held it so stedfastly and unmoveably in the flame saving that he once wiped his face with it that all men saw his hand burned before the fire touched his Body he also being replenished by the Holy Spirit did abide his burning with such constancy and stedfastness that always standing in the place his body moved no more than the stake to which he was bound Acts and Mon. XLI Henry Prince of Saxony when his Brother George sent to him that if he would forsake his Faith and turn Papist he would leave him his Heir but he made him this Answer Rather than I will do so and deny my Saviour Jesus Christ I and my Kate each of us with a staff in our hands will beg our bread out of his Countries Luth. Colloq p. 248. XLII Mr. James Bainham being at the stake in the midst of the burning fire his Legs and Arms being half consumed spake thus to the standers by O ye Papists behold you look for Miracles and here now you may see one for in this fire I feel no more pain than if I were in a Bed of Down and it is to me as a Bed of Roses Acts and Mon. XLIII The Earl of Morton a Religious and Prudent man who was sometimes Regent in Scotland in King James his Minority when the King had taken the Government into his own hand was falsly accused and unjustly condemned by his crafty and malicious adversaries the morning before he suffered Mr Lawson and two or three other Ministers of Edenburgh came to visit him asking him how he had rested that night To whom he answered That of a long time he had not slept more soundly now I am said he at the end of my Troubles Some nights before my Tryal I was thinking what to answer for my self and that kept me from sleep but this night I had no such thoughts When he came to the Scaffold he exhorted the People to continue in the profession of the true Religion and to maintain it to the utmost of their power intreating them to assist him in their Prayers to God then going couragiously to the block he laid down his head and cried aloud Into thy hand O Lord I commit my Spirit Lord Jesus receive my Soul Which words he repeated till his head was severed from his Shoulders A. B. Spotswood Hist Scotland p. 314. XLIV The Lord Henry Otto being condemned at Prague for the Protestant Religion at the place of Execution he said I was lately troubled but now I feel a wonderful refreshing in my heart And lifting up his hands to Heaven he added I give thee thanks O most merciful Saviour who hast been pleased to fill me with so much comfort O now I fear death no longer I shall die with Joy About the same time two Dutchmen were taken at Prague and accused by some Monks of Lutheranism for which they were condemned to be burnt as they went to the place of Execution such gracious words proceeded out of their mouths as drew Tears from the Spectators Eyes when they came to the stake they exceedingly incouraged each other one of them saying Since our Lord Christ hath suffered such grievous things for us let us chearfully suffer for him and rejoice that we have found so much favour with him that we are accounted worthy to die for the Word of God The other said In the day of my Marriage I found not so much inward Joy as I now do When the fire was put to them they said with a loud voice Lord Jesus thou in thy sufferings didst pray for thine Enemies therefore we also do the like Clarks Martyrol p. 177. XLV In the year 1555. there was one Algerius a Student of Padua in Italy a young man of excellent Learning who having attained to the knowledge of the Truth ceased not by instruction and example to teach others for which he was accused of Heresy to the Pope by whose command he was cast into Prison at Venice where he lay long and during that time he wrote an excellent Letter to the afflicted Protestants wherein among many other divine expressions he thus writeth I cannot but impart unto you some portion of my Delectations and Joys which I feel and find I have found Honey in the intrails of a Lyon who will believe that in this dark Dungeon I should find a Paradise of Pleasure For in the place of sorrow and death
comforted not only in Spirit but also in Body for he received a certain Tast of the Holy Communion of Saints whilst a most pleasant refreshing did issue from every part of the Body to the seat and place of the Heart and from thence to all the parts again Clar. Mar. p. 94. LIII Bishop Latimer being brought before the Privy Council was there entertained with many scoffs and scorns and from thence was sent Prisoner to the Tower where God gave him such a valiant Spirit that he did not only bear the terribleness of his Imprisonment with admirable patience but he derided and laughed to scorn all the doings and threats of his Enemies Ibid. p. 528. LIV. Mr. John Philpot having lain for some time in the Bishop of Londons Cole-house the Bishop sent for him and among other questions asked him why they were so merry in Prison Singing saith he and rejoicing in your naughtiness as the Prophet speaks whereas you should rather lament and be sad Mr. Philpot answered My Lord the mirth that we make is but in singing certain Psalms as we are commanded by St. Paul to rejoice in the Lord singing together Hymns and Psalms for we are in a dark comfortless place and therefore we thus sollace our selves I trust therefore your Lordship will not be angry seeing the Apostle saith If any be of an upright heart let him sing Psalms And we to declare that we are of an upright mind to God though we are in misery yet refresh our selves with such singing After some other discourse saith he I was carried back to my Lords Cole-house where I with my six Fellow-Prisoners do rouze together in the straw as cheerfully I thank God as others do in the Beds of Down And in a Letter to a Friend he thus writes Commend me to Mr. Elsing and his Wife and thank him for providing me some ease in my Prison and tell him that though my Lords Cole-house is very black yet it is more to be desired of the Faithful than the Queens Pallace the World wonders how we can be so merry under such extream miseries but our God is Omnipotent who turns misery into felicity believe me there is no such joy in the world as the People of God have under the Cross of Christ I speak by experience and therefore believe me and fear nothing that the world can do unto you for when they imprison our Bodies they set our Souls at liberty to converse with God when they cast us down they lift us up when they kill us then do they send us to everlasting life what greater glory can there be then to be made conformable to our Head Christ and this is done by Affliction O good God what am I upon whom thou shouldst bestow so great a mercy This is the way though it be narrow which is full of the Peace of God and leadeth to eternal bliss oh how my heart leapeth for Joy that I am so near the apprehension thereof God forgive me my unthankfulness and unworthiness of so great Glory I have so much Joy that though I be in a place of darkness and mourning yet I cannot lament but both night and day am so full of Joy as I never was so merry before the Lords name be praised for ever our Enemies do fret fume and gnash their Teeth at it O pray instantly that this Joy may never be taken from us for it passeth all the delights in this world this is the peace of God that passeth all understanding this peace the more his chosen are afflicted the more they feel it and therefore cannot fail neither for fire nor water Ibid. p. 534. LV. Thus the Lyon of the Tribe of Juda puts into his Servants his own Spirit from whence proceeds their transcendent zeal and courage for the Truth from this Spirit it was that John Rabeck a French Protestant being required to pronounce Jesu Maria and to join them together in one Prayer answered That if his Tongue should but offer to pronounce those words at their bidding himself would bite it asunder with his Teeth Another Martyr said If every hair of my head were a man I would suffer death in the Opinion and Faith I am now in This Spirit was in St. Athanasius Ambrose Favel and that noble Army of Martyrs one of them told the Persecutors That they might pluck the Heart out of his Body but could never pluck the Truth out of his Heart another said That the Heavens should sooner fall than he would turn a third said Can I die but once for Christ Thus did they undervalue life and despise death through that Divine Valour wherewith they were inspired though death in itself is the King of Terrours and very dreadful to man naturally as by the following Example is demonstrated with which I shall conclude this particular LVI A Christian King in Hungary being on a time very sad his Brother a Jolly Courtier would needs know of him what ailed him O Brother said he I have been a great sinner against God and I know not how to die nor to appear before God in Judgment These said his Brother are melancholy thoughts and withal made a jest at them the King replied nothing for the present but the custom of the Country was that if the Executioner came and sounded a Trumpet before any mans door he was presently to be led to Execution the King in the dead time of the night sends the Hangman to sound his Trumpet before his Brothers door who hearing it and seeing the Messenger of Death flies pale and trembling into his Brothers presence beseeching him to tell him wherein he had offended O Brother replied the King you have never offended me and is the sight of my Executioner so dreadful and shall not I that have greatly and grievously offended God fear to be brought before the Judgment Seat of Christ Clarks Mirrour p. 138. LVII Thus far we have seen the excellent effects of Natural and Christian Magnanimity Courage and Faithfulness there is yet another sort of Fidelity which is exceeding Praise-worthy which is the Faithfulness of some men to their Engagements and the Trust reposed in them the Syrians were looked upon as men of no Faith and not fit to be trusted by any man and that besides their curiosity in keeping their Gardens they had scarce any thing in them that was commendable The Greeks also laboured under this imputation as being as false as they were Luxurious and Voluptuous It is strange that those who were so covetous after all other kinds of improvement and knowledge should in the mean time neglect that which sets a fuller value upon man than a thousand other accomplishments namely his fidelity to his Promise and Trust LVIII Ferdinand the first King of Spain left three Sons behind him Sanctius Alphonsus and Garcius amongst whom he had also divided his Kingdoms but they lived not long in mutual Peace for soon after the death of their Father Sanctius
consolation of their Friends prevailed any thing but being more subtle and witty than those who were set to watch them they dayly thus died by their own hands it was therefore thought that this dreadful thing came to pass by the express will of Heaven and was therefore greater than could be provided against by humane industry till at last according to the advice of a wise Man the Council published this Proclamation That every Virgin which from henceforth should lay violent hands upon her self should dead as she was be carried stark naked along the Market place by which means they were not only restrained from killing themselves but also their desire of dying was utterly extinguished a strange thing that those who trembled not at death which is the most formidable of all things should yet through an innate Modesty not be able to conceive in their minds much less endure a wrong and reproach to that modesty though dead Causins Holy Court p. 42. XIII A young Gentlewoman of Japan in the East-Indies being on her knees at the end of the Table waiting on her Master in the apartment of the Women and over-reaching her self to take a Flaggon that stood a little too far from her she chanced to break wind backwards which she was so much ashamed of that putting her Garment over her head she would by no means shew her face afterward but with an inraged violence taking one of her Nipples of her Breasts into her mouth she bit it off with such fury that she died in the place Mandelsloes Travels p. 190. XIV In the same Country 1639. there was a great Lord who having had an exact search made for all the young handsome Damsels in his Province to be disposed into his Ladies Service amongst the rest there was one brought whom he was so taken with that he made her his Concubine she was the Daughter of a poor Soldiers Widow who hoping to make some advantage to her self by her Daughters Fortune wrote her a large Letter wherein she expressed her necessitous condition and how she was forced to sue to her for relief while the Daughter was reading this Letter her Lord comes into the room and she being ashamed to discover her Mothers poverty endeavours to hide the Letter from him yet could she not convey it away so but that he perceived it the disorder he observed in her countenance made him suspect something of design so that he pressed her to shew him the Letter but the more importunate he was the more unwilling was she to satisfy him and perceiving there was no way to avoid it she thrust it into her mouth so hastily that thinking to swall wit down it choaked her this so incensed the Lord that he immediately commanded her Throat to be cut whereby they only discovered the Mothers Poverty and the Daughters Innocency he was so moved thereat that he could not forbear expressing it by Tears and it being not in his power to make any other demonstration of his affection to the deceased he sent for the Mother who was maintained saith my Author amongst his other Ladies at the time we spake of with all imaginable respect Mandelsloes Travels p. 190. XV. King Henry the sixth of England was so modest that when in a Christmas a shew of Women was presented before him with their naked Breasts laid out he presently departed saying Fie fie for shame forsooth you are to blame Bakers Chron. p. 287. XVI A grave and learned Minister and ordinary Preacher at Alcmar in Holland one day as he walked in the Fields for his recreation was suddenly taken with a lask or looseness and thereupon compelled to retire to the next Ditch but being surprized at unawares by some Gentlewomen of his Parish wandring that way he was so abashed that he did never after shew his head in publick or come into the Pulpit but pined away with Melancholy Burtons Melanch p. 92. XVII Marcus Scaurus was termed The delight and glory of his Country He at such time as he heard the Cimorians beat the Romans at the River Athesis and that his Son who was a Roman Soldier was flying toward the City sent his Son word That he should much more willingly meet with his Bones after he had been killed in sight than to see him guilty of such horrible Cowardice as to fly and therefore that if he had any kind of Modesty remaining in him degenerate Son as he was he should shun the sight of his displeased Father for the memory of his own youth did admonish him what a kind of Son Marcus Scaurus should esteem of or despise Upon this news from the Father the Sons modesty was such that not presuming to shew himself in his sight he was constrained to be more valiant against himself than the Enemy and slew himself with his own Sword Val. Maxim p. 154. XVIII Temperance and Sobriety is likewise a very commendable virtue whether in meat drink or other things and therefore when one of the Spartans was asked why his Countrymen did use to eat and drink so very sparingly he answered It is because we had rather consult for others than that others should do so for us Sharply implying that Luxurious and Intemperate men were utterly indisposed and unfit for Council and that Temperance and Sobriety do usually produce most wholsom advice indeed as all other virtues are obscured by the want of this so both the body and mind are wonderfully improved by it XIX When Pausanias had overcome Mardonius in Battel and beheld the splendid Utensils and Vessels of Gold and Silver belonging to the Barbarian he commanded the Bakers and Cooks to prepare him such a Supper as they used for Mardonius which when they had done and Pausanias had viewed the Beds of Gold and Silver the Tables Dishes and other magnificent preparations to his amazement he then ordered his Servants to prepare him such a Supper as was usual in Sparta which was a course Treat with black Broth and the like when they had done it and the difference appeared to be very strange he then sent for the Graecian Commanders and shewed them both Suppers and laughing said O ye Greeks I have called you together for this purpose that I might shew you the madness of the Median General who when he lived such a life as this must needs come to invade us who eat after this homely and mean manner Cam. Med. p. 365. XX. Augustus Caesar the Master of the World was a Person of a very sparing Diet and as abstemious in his drinking he would feed of course Bread and small Fishes Cheese made of Cows Milk green Egs and the like he drank but a small quantity at once and but thrice at one Supper his Supper consisted generally of three and when he desired to exceed but of six Dishes he delighted most in Rhetian Wine yet seldom drank in the day time but instead of drink he took a sop of Bread in cold water or a
Nature and the bloodiness of their disposition XXVI Artaxerxes King of Persia had fifty Sons by his several Concubines one called Darius he made King in his own life-time contrary to the Custom of that Nation who having sollicited his Father to give him Aspatia his beautiful Concubine and being denied by him he stirred up all the rest of his Brothers to join with him in a Conspiracy against the old King it was not carried so privately but that the design came to Artaxerxes ear who so incensed thereat that casting off all Humanity as well as Fatherly affection not contented with Prisons or Exile he caused them all at once to be put to death and thus by his own hand he brought a woful desolation into his House which was so lately replenished by so numerous an Off-spring Sabel Exem p. 132. XXVII Ptolomy Phiscon having fetched his eldest Son out of Cyrene he put him to death lest the Alexandrians should set him up King against him whereupon the People pluckt down his Statue and his Images And Ptolomy supposing that this was done by the instigation of his Sister and Wife Cleopatra and not well knowing how to be revenged any other way he commanded his Son Memphitis who was an ingenious and hopeful Child and whom he had by her to be slain before his Eyes and cutting off his head hands and feet put them into a Chest close covered with a Soldiers Coat and gave it to one of his Servants to carry it to Alexandria and to present it to Cleopatra at the Festival of her Nativity when she was in the height of her Jollity this was a sad and grievous Spectacle not to the Queen only but to the whole City and it struck such a damp upon their merry meeting that the Court on a sudden was overcast with a general sadness and the Nobles turning their Festival into a Funeral shewed the mangled Limbs to the People to let them see what themselves were to expect from their King who had thus murthered his own Child A. B. Vshers Annal. p. 494. 28. In the reign of Queen Mary there was one Julius Palmer a Religious man and afterward a Martyr for the Protestant Profession who being driven from the Town of Redding in Barkshire where he taught School went to Evesham where his Mother dwelt hoping to obtain a Legacy which his Father had left him in her hands his Mother hearing before hand what was the occasion of his coming when upon his knees he asked her Blessing she said Thou shalt have Christs curse and mine where-ever thou goest He being amazed at this heavy greeting paused a while and then said Oh Mother your curse you may give me which God knows I never deserved but Gods curse you cannot give me for he hath already blessed me Nay said she thou wentest out of Gods blessing when thou wast banished out of Oxford for an Heretick and now for the like knavery art driven out of reading Alas Mother said he you are misinformed I resigned my places of mine own accord and Heretick I am none for I stand not stubbornly against any truth but defend it to my power well said she I am sure thou dost not believe as thy Father did and as I do nor as our fore-Fathers did but as thou art taught by the new Law in King Edwards days which is damnable Heresy indeed said he I do so believe but it is not Heresy but the truth and not new but as ancient as Christ and his Apostles well said she get thee out of my house and sight and ne're take me for thy Mother more as for money I have none for thee thy Father bequeathed no Legacies to Hereticks Faggots I have to burn thee and more thou gettest not at my hands Mr. Palmer for her cursings returned blessings and Prayers for her and so weeping abundantly he departed from her this so mollified her hard heart that she threw an Angel after him saying Take that to keep thee a true man Book Martyrs vol 3. 29. Doctor Otho Melander reports this horrible Parricide to be Committed in the year 1568. at a place called Albidos in Saxony there lived saith he a Father who had two Sons the one he brought up to Husbandry the other in Merchandise both very obedient dutiful and thriving the Merchant traded to Lubeck where in few years he got a very fair Estate and falling sick even in the chief of his trade he made his will wherein he bequeathed to his Brother about five hundred pound and to his Father ten and some few hours after he had setled his Estate he died but before his death he sent to his Brother to come in Person and receive those Legacies the Father not knowing how things were disposed of dispatched away his other Son with all possible speed to Lubeck being more coverous after what his Son had left him then sorrowful for his death though he were a youngman of great expectation the surviving Son who was the younger arrived at the City and having first deplored the death of his Brother he takes a Copy of the will and receives all the money to a penny and with this new stock he joyfully returns into his own Country where at his first arrival he was gladly welcomed by his Father and Mother who were overjoyed to behold the bags he had brought but when by the reading of the will they saw how the money was disposed and that so little came to their share they first began bitterly to curse the dead Son and then barbarously to rail on the living outfacing him that he had changed the will by altering the old and forging a new one which the innocent youth denying and excusing himself by telling them that the Original was upon record and by that they might be fully satisfied yet all would give them no satisfaction till very weariness made them give over their heavy Cursings then the Son offered them the whole to dispose freely of it at their pleasure which they very churlishly refused and bid him take all and the Devil give him good with it which drew tears from the Sons Passionate Eyes who after asking their blessing which they denied he parted very sadly from them he was no sooner departed from them but they wickedly contrived to get this money by murdering him that very night and when he was innocently asleep in his bed they both set furiously and violently upon him stabbing him with daggers into the breast so that with the Agony of the wounds he opened his Eyes and espying both his Parents with their hands imbrued in his blood he with a loud exclamation uttered these words or to the same purpose O Gold to what dost thou not compel mankind What villany dost thou not persuade them to act for thou causest Parents to sheath their weapons into their own bowels even those of their own Children these dying Speeches were uttered with such a doleful and shrill voice that they were heard
Parricide was infinitely miserable for first near Sumachan Cycala's Son the Turkish General wounded him in the Arm and by that gained the Victory over the Persians the same night he was also assaulted in his Tent by his inraged Countrymen who in his stead cut a Sod omitick Boy his cursed Bed-fellow to pieces missing him who at the first Alarum made his escape and though he so far exasperated the Persians to revenge that he brought the whole Army into Georgia resolving there to act unparallel'd Tragedies yet was he over-reached in his stratagems for upon Parley with the Queen his late Brothers Wife he was shot to death at a private signal given by that Amazon to some Musquiteers ambushed on purpose betwixt both Armies a just punishment for such a Viper Herberts Travels p. 291. XLIV Justin tells of a certain African called Cartallus who by the Vote of the People was raised to an eminent degree of Dignity and was soon after sent upon a solemn Ambassy into a place where his Father with many others were banished he looking upon himself at that time like a Peacock gloriously furnished out with the Cloths and Ornaments of his Imployment thought it was not suitable to his Honour to admit his Father so much as to see him though the old man desired it with great earnestness the unfortunate Father became so much inraged with this contempt of himself and the proud refusal of his Son that he instantly raised a Sedition and mustering together a tumultuary Army of banished men he fell upon his Son although a Magistrate took him and condemned him to death he presently prepared a high Gibbet and attired as he was in Gold and Scarlet with a Crown on his head he hanged up this young disobedient Gallant as a strange spectacle to all beholders Causins Holy Court p. 112. XLV A certain degenerate and cruel Son longing and gaping after the inheritance of his Father which nothing but his lifehindered him from used this villanous means to accomplish his desire he accused his Father of a most abominable Crime namely that he had committed beastliness with a Cow knowing that if he were convicted thereof the Law would take away his life wherein he was guilty of a twofold wickedness one in going about to take away his life whom by nature he ought to have preserved the other in robbing him of his good name which would likewise redound to his Posterity he notwithstanding being possessed by Satan goes before a Magistrate and accuses his Father of this horrid Crime which he says was upon his own knowledge the poor innocent Father is seized and denying all as well he might he is put upon the Rack to extort a confession from him who not being able to endure the torment thereof accused himself but as soon as he was off he absolutely denied it again however this his forced Confession stood for Evidence and he was condemned to be burnt with Fire which was speedily executed and constantly endured by him exclaiming still upon the false accusation of his Son and his own unspotted Innocency as by the issue thereof clearly appeared for his Son not long after fell stark mad and hanged himself and the Judge who condemned him with the witnesses who evidenced his forced Confession on the rack died all within one month after in a most wretched and miserable manner and thus it pleased God both to revenge his death and also to clear his Reptitation and innocency from ignominy and discredit in this world Beards Theat p. 223. XLVI An unnatural Son pretended to keepd is Father in his old age but used him more like a slave than a Father and thought every thing too good for him one day a dainty dish of meat being brought to the Table the Son conveyed it away because his Father should not partake thereof and ordered more ordinary victuals in the room thereof but observe what his dainties turned to when the Servant went to fetch it again he found instead of meat snakes and instead of sawce Serpents to the great terror of his Conscience and further one of the Serpents leaped on his face and catching hold by his lip hung there till his dying day so that he could never feed himself but he must likewise feed the Serpent Idem p. 155. XLVII It is reported of a certain unkind perverse Son that he one time beat his aged Father and drew him by the heir of the head to the threshold who when he was old was likewise beaten by his Son and drawn by the hair of the head not only to the threshold but out of doors into the midst of the street and that be reflected then upon himself saying He was rightly served only that his Son was more severe to him for he left his Father at the door and did not drag him out into the dirt thus did his own mouth bear record of his Impiety Another disobedient Son provided a Hog trough for his poor aged decrepit Father because forsooth he did not eat his meat cleanly enough which his little Son observing asked for what use it was he replyed it was made for his Grand-Father What said the Child must I make you such a one when you are old At which words he was so disturbed that he presently threw away the Hog trough Idem p. 156. LXVII One Garret a Frenchman and a Protestant by Profession was given to all manner of debauchery for which he was cast off by his Father yet he found entertainment in a Gentlemans house of note in whose Family he became a Sworn Brother to a Young Gentleman that was a Protestant soon after Garret came to his Estate and then turned Papist of whose constancy because the Papists could hardly be assured he promised his confessor to prove himself an undoubted Catholick by setting a sure seal to his Profession whereupon he plotted the death of his dearest Protestant friends and thus effected it he invited his Father Mounsieur Seamats who was his sworn Brother and six other Gentlemen of his acquaintance to dinner all dinner time he entertained them with Protestations of his great obligations to them but the bloody Catastrophe followed dinner being ended Sixteen armed men came up into the room and laid hold on all the Guests and this wicked Parricide seized upon his Father and commanding the rest to hold their hands till he had dispatched him he stabbed the old Gentleman crying to the Lord for mercy four times to the heart and then with his Poniard kill'd all the rest but three who were dispatched by these armed Ruffians at their first entrance and then they flung the dead bodies out at a Window into a Ditch Clarks Mirrour p. 78. XLVIII Tarpeia the Daughter of S. Tarpeius betrayed her Father and the Castle whereof he was Governor to Tatius King of the Sabines who then beseiged it upon condition that she should be rewarded with all that the Sabine Soldiers wore upon their left Arms
had given commandment to all his Servants as well to my self as others we should only move him to confess himself and dispose of his Conscience but never to mention nor sound in his Ear that dreadful word Death knowing that he should not be able patiently to bear that cruel Sentence His Physician aforementioned used him so very roughly that a man would not have given his Servant such sharp language as he usually gave the King and yet the King so much feared him that he durst not command him out of his presence for though he complained to divers of him yet he durst not change him as he did all his other Servants because this Physician said once thus boldly to him I know that one day you will command me away but swearing a great Oath he added you shall not live eight daies after it which word put the King into so great a fear that he ever after flattered him and bestowed such gifts upon him that he received from him in five months time Fifty four thousand Crowns besides the Bishoprick of Amiens for his Nephew and other Offices and Lands for him and his Friends Philip Comines Hist IX Mecenas the great Friend and Favourite of Augustus was so soft and effeminate a Person that he was commonly called Malcinus he was so much afraid of death that saith Seneca he had often in his mouth this saying All things are to be endured so long as life it continued Of whom these Verses are to be read Make me lame on either hand And of neither foot to stand Raise a Bunch upon my back And make all my Teeth to shake Nothing comes amiss to me So that life remaining be X. Heraclides writes of one Artemon a very skilful Engineer but withal saith of him that he was of a very timerous disposition and foolishly afraid of his own shadow so that for the most part of his time he never stirred out of his house That he had alwaies two of his Men by him who held a brazen Target over his head for fear lest any thing should fall upon him and if upon any occasion he was forced to go from home he would be carried in a Litter hanging near to the ground for fear of falling Plutarch Vit. XI The Emperor Domitian was in such fear of receiving death by the hands of his followers and in such a strong suspition of Treason against him that he caused the Walls of the Galleries wherein he used to walk to be set and garnished with the stone Phengites to the end that by the light thereof he might seeall that was done behind him Suetonius Hist XII Antigonus observing one of his Soldiers to be a very valiant man and ready to adventure upon any desperate piece of Service and yet withal taking notice that he looked very pale and lean would needs know of him what he ailed And finding that he had upon him a secret and dangerous disease he caused all possible means to be used for his recovery which when it was effected the King perceived him to be less forward in Service than formerly and demanding the reason of it he ingenuously confessed that now he felt the sweets of life and therefore was loth to lose it Clarks Mirrour p. 354. XIII Caligula the Emperor was so exceedingly afraid of death that at the least Thunder and Lightning he would wink close with both Eyes and cover his head all over but if the Thunder were very great and extraordinary he would run under his Bed He fled suddenly by night from Messina in Sicily being affrighted with the noise smoak and roaring of Mount Aetna being once in a German Chariot in a streight passage where his Army were forced to march very close together and one happening to say that if any Enemy should now appear it would make a very great hurliburly he was presently so affrighted with the apprehension of the Danger that getting out of the Chariot he mounted his Horse and finding the way filled up with Slaves and Carriages he again dismounted and was from hand to hand conveyed over mens heads till he came on the other side of the water Soon after hearing of the revolt of the Germans he provided to fly and prepared Ships for his flight comforting himself in this that if the Conquerors should come into Italy and possess themselves of the City of Rome yet he should have some Provinces beyond Sea where he might still live Sueton. Hist XIV What a miserable life Tyrants have by reason of their continual fears of Death we have exemplified in Dionysius the Syracusan who finished his thirty eight years rule in this manner removing his Friends he committed the Custody of his Body to some Strangers Barbarians being in fear of Barbers he taught his Daughters to shave him when they were grown up he durst not trust them with a Rasor but taught them how they should burn off his Hair and Beard with the white films of Walnut Kernels and whereas he had two Wives Aristomache and Doris he came not to them in the night before the place was thoroughly searched and though he had drawn a large and deep moat of water about the room and had made a passage by a wooden Bridge yet he himself drew it up after him when he went in and not daring to speak to the People out of the common Rostrum or Pulpit appointed for that purpose he used to make Orations to them from the top of a Tower when he played at Ball he used to give his Sword and Cloak to a Boy whom he loved and when one of his familiar Friends had jestingly said You now put your life into his hands and the Boy smiling thereat he commanded them both to be slain one for shewing the way how he might be killed and the other for approving of it with a smile At last being overcome in Battle by the Carthaginians he perished by the Treason of his own Subjects Wanly Hist Man XV. And this introduces another particular namely the barbarity and bloody mindedness of some Persons Theodorus who was Tutor to Tiberius the Roman Tyrant observing in him while he was a Boy a sanguinary nature and disposition which lay hid under a shew of meekness and a pretence of clemency was used to call him a lump of Clay steeped and soaked in blood and this his prediction of him did not fail in the event this being that savage Tyrant who thought that death was too light and easy a punishment for hearing that Carnulius being in his disfavour had cut his own Throat Carnulius said he hath escaped me and to another who begged of him to die quickly he told him He was not so much in his favour Yet even this cursed Artist in Villany hath been since out-acted by Monsters more overgrown than himself XVI It is in this kind a memorable example that Seneca relates of Piso who finding a Soldier to return from forraging charging him to have slain
him condemned him to death the Executioner being in readiness and he stretching forth his Neck to receive the stroke of the Ax behold in the very instant his Comerade appears in the place whereupon the Centurion who had the charge of the Execution commands the Executioner to forbear and carries back the condemned Soldier to Piso toge her with his Comerade thereby to manifest his innocency and the whole Army waited on them with joyful Acclamations But Piso in a rage gets him up to the Tribunal and condemns both the Soldiers the one for returning without his Comerade and the other for not returning with him and lastly he likewise condemns the Centurion for staying the Execution without Warrant which was given him in charge and thus three suffered death for the innocency of one Causins Holy Court XVII Mahomet the Great first Emperor of the Tarks after the winning of Constantinople fell in love with a most beautiful young Greekish Lady called Irene upon whose incomparable Perfections he so much doted that he gave himself wholly up to her love but when he heard his Captains and chief Officers murmured at it he appointed them all to meet him in his great Hall and commanding Irene to dress and adorn her self in all her Jewels and most gorgeous Apparel not acquainting her in the least with any part of his design taking her by the hand he led this Miracle of Beauty into the midst of his Nobles and Bassa's who dazled with the brightness of this illustrious Lady acknowledged their Errour professing that their Emperor had just cause to pass his time in solacing himself with so peerless a Paragon but he on a sudden twisting his left hand in the soft curls of her hair and with the other drawing out his sharp Scimeter at one blow he struck off her Head from her Shoulders and so at once made an end of his love and her life leaving all the Assistants in a fearful amaze and horror of an act of that Cruelty Turkish Hist p. 351. XVIII Vladus Dracula as soon as he had gained the Kingdom of Moldavia he chose out a multitude of Spear-men as the Guard of his Body after which inviting as many as were eminent in Authority in that Country to come to him he singled out from them all that he thought did not love him or had any inclination to a change all these together with their whole Families he empaled upon sharp stakes sparing neither the innocent age of young Children the weak Sex of Women nor the obscure condition of Servants the Stakes and place where they were set took up the space of seventeen furlongs in length and seven furlongs in breadth and the number of those that were thus murdered and in this barbarous manner were said to be no less than twenty Thousand Idem p. 363. XIX Johannes Basilides Emperor of Russia in 1569. Used for his Recreation to cause noble and well deserving Persons to be sewed up in the skins of Bears and then himself set Mastiss upon them which cruelly tore them in pieces he often invited Michael his Father in Law to banquet with him and then sent him home to his â—…ily through the snow having first caused him to be stript stark naked sometimes he shut him up in a room in his own House till he was almost famished causing four Bears of Extraordinary bigness to be tyed at the door to keep all Provisions from him these Bears he at other times would let loose among the People especially when they were going to Church and when any were killed by them he said His Sons had taken great pleasure in the sport and that they were happy who perished in this manner since it was no small diversion to himself Upon a mere suspition which he had conceived against the City of Novogorod he entred the same and caused to be slain and thrown into the River two thousand seven hundred and seventy Persons without any respect of Age Quality or Sex besides an Infinite number of poor People who were trampled to death by a Party of his Horse and there were so many bodies cast into the River of Volga that being stopped therewith it overflowed the Neighbouring fields the Plague which followed this Butchery was so great that no body venturing to bring provisions into the City the Inhabitants were forced to feed on the dead Carcases The Tyrant took a pretence from this inhumanity to cause all those that had escaped the Plague Famine and his former cruelty to be cut in pieces The Arch-Bishop of this place having escaped the first fury of the Souldiers either as an acknowledgment of the favour or to flatter the Tyrant entertained him at a great Feast in his Archiepiscopal Pallace whither the Duke failed not to come with his Guards about him but while they were at dinner he sent to plunder the rich Temple of St. Sophia and seized on all the treasures which had been brought thither and to other Churches as to places of safety After dinner he caused the Arch-Bishops Pallace to be in like manner Pillaged and then told the Arch-Bishop That it would now be ridiculous for him to act the Prelate since he had not wherewithal to support the dignity of his place that he must put off his rich habit which henceforth would be but troublesome to him and that he would bestow on him a bagpipe and a Bear which he should lead up and down and teach it to dance to get money that he must resolve to marry and that all the other Prelates and Abbots that were about the City should be invited to the Wedding setting down a precise Sum of money which each of them should present to the new married Couple And there were none of them but brought what they had made a shift to save thinking the poor Arch-Bishop should have had it but the Tyrant took all the money and causing a white Mare to be brought he said to the Arch-Bishop This is thy Wife get upon her and go to Mosco the poor Arch-Bishop was forced to obey and as soon as he was mounted they tyed his legs under the Mares belly and thenhung about his neck some Pipes a Fiddle and a Tymbrel and would needs make him to play on the Pipes all the other Abbots and Monks who were present were either cut in peices or with Pikes and Halberds forced into the the River this Tyrant had a particular longing for the money of one Theodore Sircon a rich Merchant whereupon he sent for him to his Camp at Novogorod and having fastened a Rope about his wast he commanded him to be cast into the River drawing him from one side to the other till he was ready to give up the Ghost then he asked him what he had seen under water the Merchant stoutly answered That he had seen a great number of Devils carrying the Dukes Soul with them into Hell the Tyrant replyed Thou art in the right but it 's just I
too great a freedom and liberty coming once to the House of Omulus his Friend and beholding there at his entrance divers Pillars of Porphry he inquired whence they were brought Omulus told him That it became him that set his foot into another mans House to be both deaf and dumb He meant he should not be curious and inquisitive The Emperor was delighted with this freedom so far was he from resenting it in such a manner as some others would have done Wanly Hist Man p. 204. XLVIII Such has been the invincible patience of some men that the incredible strength of their minds hath not only prevailed over the weakness of their flesh but reduced it to a temper capable of induring as much as if it had been of Brass or something that if possible is yet more insensible Of such a temper Janus Auceps a wicked Person seem'd to be who dwelt in a lone house by the highway side without the East-gate of the City of Copenhagen in Denmark this man in the night had murdered divers Persons and knocked them on the head with an Ax at last he was discovered taken and condemned to a terrible death he was drawn upon a sledge through the City he had pieces of flesh plucked off from his Body with burning Pincers his Legs and Arms were broken his Tongue was pulled out of his Mouth thongs of his skin were cut out of his back his breast was opened by the speedy hand of the Executioner his heart was pulled out and thrown at his face all this the stout-hearted man bore with an invincible courage and when his heart lay panting by his side in the midst of such torments as he yet underwent he moved his head and looked upon the By-standers with a frowning aspect and seemed with curiosity to contemplate his own heart till such time as his Head was cut off Bartholin Anat. XLIX William Collingborn Esq being condemned for making this Rhime on King Richard the Third The Cat the Rat and Lovel the Dog Rule all England under a Hog Alluding to Catesby Ratcliff and Lovel the three great Favourites of Richard in whose arms there was pictured a Hog the poor Gentleman was put to a most cruel death for being hanged and cut down alive his bowels ript out and cast into the fire when the Executioner put his hand into the bulk of his body to pull out his heart he said Lord Jesus yet more trouble and so died to the great sorrow of much people Fabians Chro. p. 519. L. When we were come within sight of Buda in Hungary saith Busbequius there came by the command of the Turkish Bassa some of his Family to meet us with divers great Officers but in the first place a Troop of young men on Horseback made us turn our Eyes to them because of the Novelty of their Equipage which was thus upon their bare heads most of which were shaven they had cut a long line in the skin in which wound they had stuck Feathers of all kinds and they were dewed with drops of blood yet dissembling the pain they rid with as much mirth and cheerfulness as if they had been void of all sense just before me there walked some on foot one of these went with his naked arms on his side in each of which he carried a Knife which he had thrust through his Arms just above the Elbow another walked naked from his Navel upward with the skin of both his Loins so cut above and below that he carried a Club which stuck therein as if it had hung at his Girdle another had fastened a Horse-shoe with divers nails upon the crown of his Head but that was done a long while the nails being so grown in the flesh that the Shoe was made fast in this pomp we entred Buda and were brought into the Bassa's Pallace in the Court of which stood these generous contemners of Pain as I chanced to cast my Eye that way What think you of these men said the Bassa Well enough said I but that they use their flesh in such a manner as I would not use my Cloths being desirous to keep them whole The Bassa smiled at this answer and dismissed us Busbequius Epist p. 226. LI. There is a notable example of tolerance which happened in our times in a certain Burgundian who was the Murderer of the Prince of Orange this man though he was scourged with rods of Iron though his flesh was torn off with red hot and burning Pincers yet he gave not so much as a single sigh or groan nay further when part of a broken Scaffold fell upon the head of one that stood by as a Spectator this burned Villain in the midst of all his Torments laughed at the Accident although not long before the same man had wept when he saw the curls of his hair cut off Wanly Hist Man p. 206. LII It was also an Example of great patience in this kind which Strabo mentions in his Geography that Zarmonochaga the Ambassadour from the Indian King having finished his negotiation with Augustus Caesar according to his own mind and having sent an account thereof to his Master because he would have no further trouble for the remaining part of his life after the manner of the Indians he burnt himself alive preserving all the while the countenance of a man that smiled Fulgosus Ex. p. 348. LIII Most eminent was the example of Hieronimus Olgiatus a Citizen of Millain who was one of those four that did assassinate Galeacius Sforza Duke of Millain being taken he was thrust into Prison and put to bitter Tortures now although he was not above two and twenty years of Age and of such a delicacy and softness in his habit of body that was more like to that of a Virgin than a man though he was never accustomed to the bearing of Arms by which it is usual for men to acquire vigour and strength yet being fastened to that Rope upon which he was tormented he seemed as if he sate upon some Tribunal and free from any expression of grief with a clear voice and an undaunted mind he commended the Exploit of himself and his Companions nor did he ever shew the least sign of Repentance in the times of the intermissions of his Torments both in Prose and Verse he celebrated the Praises of his Confederates being at last brought to the place of Execution beholding Carolus and Francion two of his Associates to stand as if they were almost dead for fear he exhorted them to be couragious and requested the Executioners that they would begin with him that his Fellow-sufferers might learn patience by his Example being therefore laid naked and at full length upon the Hurdle and his Feet and Arms fast bound down to it when others that stood by were terrified with the shew and horrour of that death that was prepared for him he with specious words and assured voice extolled the gallantry of their Action and appeared
unconcerned with that cruel kind of death he was speedily to undergo yea when by the Executioners knife he was cut from the shoulder to the middle of the breast he neither changed his Countenance nor his voice but with a Prayer to God 〈◊〉 ended his life Fulgo Ex. p. 365. CHAP. IV. The Tremendous Consequences of Hatred Revenge and Ingratitude Displayed in many memorable Histories HItherto we have discovered only the light side of the Cloud by shewing the extraordinary effects of Love Friendship Magnanimity Courage Fidelity Chastity Temperance and Humility Let us now consider a little the dark side thereof by giving an account of the dreadful consequences of the contrary Vices that is Hatred Revenge and Ingratitude which three will suffice to give some considerable instances in this Chapter wherein I shall observe the same method as in the former and therefore shall insist first of the extream Hatred in some Persons toward others for as amongst the kinds of living Creatures there are certain Enmities and Dissentions whereof there is no apparent reason to be given as of that betwixt the Spider and the Serpent the Ant and Weasel and the like so amongst Men implacable Hatreds are conceived many times upon undiscernible but most times upon unjustifiable grounds I. When Sigismund Marquess of Brandenburg had obtained the Kingdom of Hungary in right of his Wife it then appeared what a mortal hatred there was betwixt the Hungarians and Bohemians for when Sigismund commanded Stephanus Konth and with him twenty more Hungarian Knights to be taken and brought him in Chains as Persons that had delivered the obedience they owed him not one of all those would name or honour him in the least as their King and before either they or their Servants would change their minds they were desirous to lose their heads Pulgosus p. 1189. 2. Timon the Athenian had the Sirname of Manhater he was once very rich but through his liberality and overgreat bounty he was reduced to extream poverty in which condition he had large experience of the malice and ingratitude of such as he had formerly been helpful to he therefore fell into a vehement hatred of all mankind he was glad of their misfortunes and promoted the Ruine of all men as far as he might with his own safety when the People in honour of Alcibiades attended on him home as they used when he had obtained a Cause Timon would not as he was wont to others turn aside out of the way but would meet him on purpose and use to say to him Go on my Son and prosper for thou shalt one day plague all these People with some signal Calamity which accordingly happened some years after he built him an House in the Fields that he might shun the converse of men he admitted to him only one Apemantus a Person much of his own humour and he saying to him Is not this a fine Supper It would said he be much better if thou wert absent This Timon gave order his Sepulcher should be placed behind a Dunghill and this to be his Epitaph Hic sumpost vitam miseramque inopemque sepultus Nomen non quaeras Dii te Lector male perdant Here now I lie after my wretched fall Ask not my Name the Gods confound you all III. Hyppolitus was also of the same Complexion as he expresses himself in Euripides and Seneca if you will have a tast of his language that in Seneca sounds to this purpose I hate stie curse detest them all Cail't Reason Nature Madness as you please In a true Hatred of them there 's some ease First shall the water kindly dwell with fire Dread Gulphs shall be the Mariners desire Out of the West shall be the break of day And cruel Wolves with tender Lamb-skins play Before a Woman gain my conquer'd mind To quit this hatred and to grow more kind IV. Gualter Earl of Brenne had married the eldest Daughter of Tancred King of Sicily and as Heir of the Kingdom went out with four hundred Horse to take possession thereof by the help of these and a marvellous felicity he had recovered a great part of it but at the last he was overcome and taken Prisoner by Theobaldus Germanus at the City Sarna upon the third day after the Conqueror offered him his liberty and restoration to his Kingdom upon condition he would confirm to Theobaldus what he was possessed of therein but he in an unconceivable hatred to him that had made him his Prisoner replied That he should ever scorn to receive these or greater offers from so base a hand as his Theobaldus had reason to resent this affront and therefore told him He would make him repent his so great insolence at which Gualter inflamed with a greater fury tore his Cloths and broke the swathings and ligatures of his wounds crying out That he would live no longer since he was fallen into the hands of such a man that treated him with Threats upon which he tore open his wounds and thrust his own hands into his Bowels and after that resolvedly refusing all food and ways of cure he forcibly drove out his furious Soul from his Body and left only one Daughter behind him who might have been happier had she not had a Beast to her Father Fulgosus p. 1182. V. Who can sufficiently declare the mighty hatred which Pope Boniface the Eighth bore toward the Gibelline Faction It is the custom that upon Ash-Wednesday the Pope sprinkles some Ashes upon the heads of the chief Prelates of the Church and at the doing of it used to say Remember thou art Ashes and that into Ashes thou shalt return When therefore the forementioned Pope came to perform this to Porchetus Spinola Archbishop of Genoa and suspected him to be a favourer of the Gibellines he cast the Ashes not on his head but into his Eyes and perversely changed the use of the former words into these Remember thou art a Gibelline and that with the Gibellines thou shalt return into Ashes B. Reynolds on the Passions VI. Calvin was so odious to the Papists that they would not name him hence in their Spanish Expurgatory Index p. 204. they give this direction Let the name of Calvin be suppressed and instead of it put Studiosus quidam a certain Student or Schollar and one of their Proselites went from Mentz to Rome to change his Christian name of Calvinus into the adopted name of Baronius Chetwinds Collect. p. 90. VII This passion of Hatred Malice Anger Wrath and Envy is a very dangerous disease where-ever it prevails and like the mischievous evil Spirit in the Gospel it casts us into all kind of dangers and frequently hurries us into the Chambers of Death itself The Sarmatian Ambassadors cast themselves at the Feet of Valentinian the first Emperor of Rome imploring Peace he observing the meanness of their Apparel demanded if all their Nation were such as they who replied It was their Custom to send to him such as