Of heraldy p. 14. Chap. 10. Improvements in the military art p 16. Chap. 11. Improvements in Architecture p. 17. Chap. 12. Improvements in mechanicks agriculture c. p. 20. Chap. 13. Improvements in fowling fishing hunting p. 25 Chap. 14 Curiosities in writing cyphering c. p. 26. Chap. 15. Improvements in sculpture picture c. p. 27. Chap. 16. Curiosities in the hydratilick art or water-works p. 27. Chap. 17. Artificial knick-knacks projects and curiosities p. 30. ☞ The NAMES of those modern Authors and Persons of note from whose Printed Works or Manuscripts c. the Author has received great Assistance in the Compiling of this Book◠to name all would be Tedious and the more Vnnecessary because the Reader will find them Cited in the Work it self but those which follow are enough to give an Idea of the undertaking ELias Ashmole Esq Dr. Annesley Mr. Abbot Mr. Adams Dr. Addison Mr. Albin Mr. Allen Mr. Alsop Dr. Atherton Physician of Carmarthen John Aubery Esq Mr. Baxter Dr. Barrow Dr. Bates Sir Nath. Barnardiston Dr. J. Bathurst Mr. Barker Mr. Brand Mr. Beard Dr. Bernard Mr. Boil Mr. Bohun Dr. Bretton Sir Tho. Pope Blunt Mounsieur Brousson Dr. Burnet Lord Bishop of Salisbury Dr. Burthogg Dr. Cave Mr. Edm. Calamy Countess Dowager of Warwick Mr. Claude Mr. Clark Camerarius Mr. Chetwind Mr. Clogie Minister of Wigmore Roger Coke Esq Mr. Crook of Wrington in Somersetshire Gervase Disney Esq Mr. Eliot of New-England Mr. Ereeve Mr. Sam. Fairclough Mr. Flavel Mr. Firmin Dr. Fowler Lord Bishop of Glocester Mr Foe Mr. Francius Tho. Fludd of Kent Esq Mr Fuller Will. Garraway of Ford in Sussex Esq Mr. Grevius Mr Henry Gearing Mr. Glanvil Mr. Goldsmith Dr. Grew Mr. Tho. Gouge Sir Matthew Hale Dr Hammond Mr Hammond Mr Hales of Eaton Mr Henry Henry Hilton Esq Mr. Tho. Hill of Westminster Dr. Horneck Mr. Howe Dr. Hopkins late Bishop of London-derry in Ireland Dr. Holder Mr. Hook Mr. Hurst Mr. Janeway Dr. Johnson Mr. Herbert Jones of Monmouth Mr. J. Jones of Jesus Colledge Oxon. Monsieur Jurieu Mr. Samuel Lawrence Minister at Namptwich in Cheshire Mr. Langford Mr. John Lane of Horsly Lane in Southwark Mr. Lewis of Cardigan-shire Dr. Lightfost Lewis du Moulin Mr. Jo Lydal Mr. Increase Mather of Harvard Colledge in New-England Mr. Cotton Mather of New-England Dr. Mayo Mr. Mead Mr. Machin Andrew Mackpherson of Scotland Mrs Elizabeth Moore Mr. Morden Dr. More Dr. Needham Mr. Knight Sir John Norris Mr. Norwood of Deptford Mr. Ortwinius Mr. Parsons Sir Will. Petti Dr. Perizonius Philosophical Transactions Sir Peter Pet Dr. Plot Mr. Henry Read of Barnham Mr Geo. Ridpath Paul Ricaut Esq Mr Tim. Rogers Dr Sherlock Mr Sinclar Mr. Sacheverel Dr. Salmon Mr. Simpson Mr. Singleton of Hogsdon Square Dr. Stern Mr. Slingsby Bethel Dr. Stillingfleet Lord Bishop of Worcester Mr. John Showers Mr. Slater Mr. Smithies Mr. Spademan of Roterdam Mr. Steel Mr. Joseph Stevens Mr. Spanhemius Mr John Stewart Provost of Aaire in Scotland Mr. Stubbs Dr. Jer. Taylor Dr. Thomas Taylor Mr. Nathanael Taylor Dr. Edmond Trench Mr Thomas Tilson Minister of Aylesford in Kent Dr Tenison Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Tillotson late Archbishop of Canterbury Mr. Tyson Mr Veal Mr Nath Vincent Bishop Vsher Dr Wallis Dr Wake Dr Walker Mr Wanley Sir Christopher Wren Dr Willis Bishop Wilkins Daniel Waldow Esq Mr Dan Williams Counsellor Wiat of Serjeants Inn near Fleet-Street Mr Nicholas West of Putney in Essex Sir Peter Wyche Mr Patrick Wian Minister of Lesbury Mr Woodcock Mr Wilson Mr White Mr John Young M A of Magdalene Hall Mr. HERBERT's POEM upon Providence O Sacred Providence who from End to End Strongly and sweetly movest Shall I write And not of thee thro' whom my fingers bend To hold my Quill Shall they not do thee 〈◊〉 Of all the Creatures both in Sea and Land Only to Man thou hast made known thy ways And put the Pen alone into his Hand And made him Secretary of thy Praise Beasts fain would sing Birds ditty to their Notes Trees would be running on their native Lute To thy Renown But all their Hands and Throats Are brought to Man while they are Lame and Mute Man is the World's High-Priest He doth present The Sacrifice for all while they below Vnto the Service mutter and assent Such as Springs use that fall and winds that blow He that to Praise and Laud thee doth refrain Doth not refrain unto himself alone But robs a Thousand who would Praise thee fain And doth commit a World of Sin in one The Beasts say Eat me but if Beasts must teach The Tongue is yours to Eat but mine to Praise The Trees say pull me But the hand you stretch Is mine to write as it is yours to raise Wherefore most sacred Spirit I here present For me and all my fellows Praise to thee And just it is that I should pay the rent Because the Benefit accures to me We all acknowledge both thy Power and Love To be exact transcendent and Divine Who dost so strongly and so sweetly move While all things have their Will yet none but thine For either thy Command or thy Permission Lay hands on all They are thy right and left The first puts on with speed and expedition The other curbs Sins Stealing Pace and Theft Nothing escapes them both All must appear And be dispos'd and dress'd and tun'd by thee Who sweetly temper'st all If we could hear Thy Skill and Art what Musick would it be Thou art in small things great not small in any Thy even Praise can neither rise nor fall Thou art in all things one in each thing many For thou art infinite in one and all Tempests are Calm to thee they know thy hand And hold it fast as Children do their Fathers Which cry and follow Thou hast made poor sand Check the Proud Sea even when it swells and gathers Thy cupboard serves the World The meat is set Where all may reach No Beast but knows his feed Birds teach us Hawking Fishes have their Net The great prey on the less they on some weed Nothing ingender'd doth prevent his Meat Files have their Table spread e're they appear Some Creatures have in Winter what to Eat Others do sleep and envy not their cheer How finely dost thou times and seasons spin And make a twist Checker'd with Night and Day Which as it lengthens winds and winds us in As Bowls on but turning all the way Each Creature hath a wisdom for his good The Pigeons feeds their tender off-spring crying When they are Callow but withdraw their Food When they are Fledge that need may teach them flying Bees work for Man and yet they never bruise Their Masters Flow'r but leave it having done As fair as ever and as fit to use So both the Flow'r doth stay and Honey run Sheep Eat the Grass and Dung the ground for more Trees after bearing drop their Leaves for soil Springs vent their Streams and by expence get
the Odiousness of the Fact and to impute the Treason to the discontented Puritans Fawkes coming into Flanders found Owen unto whom after the Oath he declared the Plot which he very well approved of but Sir William Stanley being now in Spain Owen said that he would hardly be drawn into the Business having Suits now in England at the Court Yet he promised to engage him all that he could and to send into England with the first so soon as the Plot had taken Effect Upon this Fawkes to avoid further Suspicion kept still in Flanders all the beginning of September and then returning receiv'd the Keys of the Cellar and laid more Powder Billets and Faggots which done he retired into the Country and there kept till the end of October In the mean time Catesby and Peircy meeting at the Bath it was there concluded that because their numbec was but few Catesby himself should have power to call in whom he would to assist their design by which Authority he took in Sir Everard Digby of Rutlandshire and Francis Tresham Esq of Northamptonshire both of them of sufficient State and Wealth For Sir Everard offer'd Fifteen Hundred Pounds to forward the Action and Tresham Two Thousand But Peircy disdaining that any should out-run him in Evil promised Four Thousand Pounds out of the Earl of Northumberland's Rents and ten swift Horses to be used when the Blow was past Against which time to provide Ammunition Catesby also took in Ambrose Rookwood and John Grant two Recusant Gentlemen and without doubt others were acquainted also with it had these two grand Electors been apprehended alive whose own Tongues only could have given an Account of it The business being thus forwarded abroad by their Complices they at home were no less active For Peircy Winter and Fawkes had stored the Cellar with thirty fix Barrels of Gunpowder and instead of Shot has said upon them Bars of Iron Logs of Timber Massie stones Iron Crows Pickaxes and all their working Tools and to cover all great Store of Billets and Faggots so that nothing was wanting against that great and terrible day Neither were the Priests and Jesuits slack on their parts who usually concluded their Masses with Prayers for the good Success of their expected Hopes Upon Thursday in the Evening ten Days before the Parliament was to begin a Letter directed to the Lord Monteagle was deliver'd by an unknown Person to his Footman in the Street with a strict Charge to give it into his Lords own Hands which accordingly he did The Letter had neither Date nor Subscription and was somewhat unlegible This Letter was imparted to the Earl of Salisbury then Principal Secretary and they both presently acquainted the Lord Chamberlain next to the Earl of Worcester and Northampton and last to the King as followeth My Lord Out of the Love I bear to some of your Friends I have a care of your Preservation Therefore I would advise you as you tender your Life to devise some Excuse to shift off your Attendance at this Parliament For God and Man have concurr'd to punish the Wickedness of this time And think not slightly of this Advertisement but retire your self into your Country where you may expect the Event in safety For though there be no Appearance of any Stir yet I say they shall receive a terrible Blow this Parliament and yet they shall not see who hurts them This Counsel is not to be contemned because it may do you good and can do you no harm For the danger is past so soon as you have burnt the Letter and I hope God will give you the Grace to make a good use of it to whose holy Protection I commend you His Majesty after reading this Letter pausing a while and then reading it again deliver'd his Judgment that the Stile of it was too quick and pithy to be a Libel proceeding from the Superfluities of an idle Brain and by these Words That they should receive a terrible Blow at this Parliament and yet should not see who hurt them he presently apprehended that a sudden Danger by a Blast of Gunpowder was intended by some base Villain in a Corner though no Insurrection Rebellion or desperate Attempt appear'd And therefore wished that the Rooms under the Parliament-House should be thoroughly searched before himself or Peers should sit therein Hereupon it was concluded that the Lord-Chamberlain according to his Office should view all Rooms above and below but yet to prevent idle Rumours and to let things ripen further it was resolved that this Search should be deferr'd till Monday the day before the Parliament met and that then it should be done with a seeming slight Eye to avoid Suspect According to this Conclusion the Earl of Suffolk Lord-Chamberlain upon Monday in the Afternoon accompanied with the Lord Monteagle repair'd into these Under-Rooms and finding the Cellar so fully stored with Wood and Coals demanded of Fawkes the counteffeit Johnson who stood there attending as a Servant of small Repute who owned the place He answer'd that the Lodgings belong'd to Master Thomas Peircy and the Cellar also to lay in his Winter-Provision himself being the Keeper of it and Master Thomas Peircy's Servant whereunto the Earl as void of any Suspicion told him That his Master was well provided for Winter Blasts But when they were come forth the Lord Monteagle told him That he did much suspect Peircy to be the Inditer of the Letter knowing his Affection in Religion and the Friendship betwixt them professed so that his Heart gave him as he said when heard Peircy named that his Hand was in act The Lord-Chamberlain returning related to the King and Council what he had seen and the Suspition that the Lord Monteagle had of Peircy and himself of Johnson his Man all which increased His Majesties Jealousie so that he insisted contrary to the Opinion of some that a harrow Search should be made and the Billets and Coals turn'd up to the bottom and accordingly the Search was concluded to be made but under colour of searching for certain Hangings belonging to the House which were missing and conveyed away Sir Thomas Knevet a Gentleman of His Majesties Privy-Chamber was employ'd herein who about Midnight before the Parliament was to begin went to the place with a small but trusty number of Persons And at the Cellar Door entring in finding one who was Guy Fawkes at so unseasonable an Hour cloaked and booted he apprehended him and ransacking the Billets he found the Serpent's Nest stored with Thirty six Barrels of Powder and then searching the Villain he found a Dark-Lanthorn about him three Matches and other Instruments for blowing up the Powder And being no whit daunted he instantly confessed his Guiltiness vowing that if he had been within the House he would have blown up House and self and all and before the Council lamented nothing so much as that the Deed was not done saying The Devil and not God was the Discoverer
take up a Pin he appeared to her and told her that Follet was the cause of all her Troubles and so left her Hitherto I have given you as exact an Account as I could get from them as to the time That which follows I set down without observing the Circumstances of Time or Order of Action because I can learn no certainty of it from them but the Matter of Fact is truth Often when they were gone to Bed the inner Doors were flung open as also the Doors of a Cupboard which stood in the Hall and this with a great deal of Violence and Noise And one Night the Chairs which when they went to Bed stood all in the Chimney-corner were all removed and placed in the middle of the Room in very good order and a Meal-sieve hung upon one cut full of Holes and a Key of an inner Door upon another And in the Day-time as they sate in the House spinning they could see the Barn-doors often flung open but not by whom Once as Alice sate spinning the Rock or Distaff leapt several times out of the Wheel into the middle of the Room upon which she said she thought Follet was in it She had no sooner said the Words but she saw Follet ride by to Sir William York's House about some business with him relating to him as a Justice with much more such ridiculous stuff as this is which would be tedious to relate See the whole Story in Mr. Glanvil's Saducis Triumph p. 499. 2. The Story of the Devil of Mascon is notorious who a long time disturbed the Quiet of Mr. Perrheaud and his Family by tumbling about the Chairs throwing down his Brass and Pewter drawing the Curtains of his Bed walking about the Chambers whistling singing talking familiarly to them sadling the Horse in the Stable with the Crupper towards the Horses Head sometimes disturbing them at their Devotions answering Questions put to them and telling them things far off with many ludicrous Fits and disputing with a Papist Officer of the City and whirling him oft about and at last cast him on the Ground and sending him home distracted with the Wages of his Curiosity is sufficiently attested by the Honourable Mr. Robert Boyle who prefixt an Epistle to it owning it a an undoubted Truth being acquainted with the Author Mr. â—errheand as was also his Brother the Earl of Orkny and Dr. Peter Durmouling Prebend of Canterbury all which have believed it and attested the truth of it Besides could it be counterfited and never contradicted since the first Publication of it in a City where many of both Religions had leave to croud in at certain Houses where they were certain Witnesses what was spoken and acted by their sporting Devil Historian Discourse of Apparitions and Witches p. 16. 3. The Story of the haunting of Mr. Mompesson's House in Wiltshire is famons and Printed in part by Mr. Joseph Glanvil Mr. Mompesson is yet living no melancholy nor conceited Man the truth not doubted of by his Neighbours within this Month I spake with one of them an Attorney who said that the Noises heard the visible moving about of the Boards before their Faces and such like were all undoubtedly true and the thing unquestioned by Mr. Mompesson who to his great Cost and Trouble was long molested by it and his Neighbours and those that purposely went thither to see it Notwithstanding that when some unbelievers went from London to be satisfied nothing was done when they were there for as God oweth not such Remedies to Unbelievers so Satan hath no desire to cure them Ibid. p. 41. 4. In May 1679. Sir William York being from home there was a great Noise made by the lifting up of the Latch of the outmost Door which continued with great Quickness and Noise for the space of two or three Hours 'till betwixt ten and eleven it Clock in the Night his Lady then being at home with few Servants apprehended it to be Thieves and thereupon they went to the Door and spake to them and afterwards winded a Horn and raised the Town and upon the coming in of the Town the Noise ceased and they heard no more of it 'till May following And then Sir William being at London the same Noise was made at the Door as before for two or three Nights together and then they began to believe it to be occasioned by some extraordinary means This was heard alike by twenty several Persons then in the Family who looking out at the Windows over the Door heard the Noise but saw nothing About a Month after when Sir William had returned from London he being in Bed and his Lady ready to go in he heard the same Noise again which held about half a quarter of an Hour and then ceased and began again several times that Night the same Persons being then in the House also and taking the same care to discover it At the end of this knocking there was as if it were a thrusting with a Knee only more violent These Noises continued with some variation to the great disturbance of the whole Family 'till such time as they thought of removing from the House and Sir William's Attendance was required at the Parliament in October following But from that time they were never heard more Glanvil's Saducis Triumph p. 509. CHAP. LXXXVIII Satan Hurting by Charms Spells Amulets c. I Do not mean here that the Devil hath always his desired Success upon the Souls of Men in these things but through the Permission of Almighty God he is able and oftentimes doth strange and wonderful Actions upon the Vse or Application of Charms Amulets Spells c. on purpose to amuse the World and tempt Mankind to leave the ordinary natural lawful or scriptural Methods and address to him in a way of superstitious or foolish Devotion And I desire the Reader to consider soberly with himself in cases of this nature what Cause within the Cope of meer Nature or within the Bounds of that which is lawful just and good such Effects as I shall mention hereafter can be attributed to Lei him Read and Pause and tell me seriously whether the Effects following are to be fathered upon the Cause in sight or whether there be not something behind the Curtain latent to our Senses that is the Author and if so Whether a good or evil Spirit at least a Spirit and then let him proceed to draw Inferences accordingly which any Man of Sense and unbiassed in Judgment may easily do 1. Bodinus relates how himself and several others at Paris saw a young Man with a Charm in French move a Sieve up and down More 's Antid against Atheism p. 164. 2. And that ordinary way of Divination which they call Coskinomancy or finding who stole this or spoiled that by the Sieve and Sheers Pictorius Vigillanus professeth he made use of thrice and it was with success Ibid. 3. A Friend of mine saith Mr. H. Moor told me
Love or Good-will towards him Though he stayed long at Brundusium she never went to see him and when his Daughter took that long Journey from Rome to Brundusium to visit him she neither provided Company to conduct her nor gave her Money or other Necessaries for the way yea she so handled the matter that when Cicero came to Rome he found nothing in his House but bare Walls and yet was greatly in Debt by her Plut. in Vita ejus 2. Alboynus King of the Lombards having overcome in War Cunemundus King of the Jepidi and having slain him made a Drinking-Cup of his Skull yet took his Daughter Rosamund to Wife Now it fell out that Alboynus being one day drunk forced his Wife to drink out of her Father's Skull which she so much stomached that she promised one Helmichilâ—â— her self to Wife and Lombardy for a Dowry if he would kill her Husband the King which he assented to and performed But they were afterwards so hated for it that they were forced to fly to the Court of the Exarch of Ravenna who seeing Rosamund's Beauty and the Mass of Money and Jewels which they brought with them perswaded her to kill Helmichilde and to take him for her Husband which accordingly she promised to do And when her Husband Helmichilde coming out of the Bath called for Beer she gave him a strong Poyson but when he had drunk half of it suspecting the Matter he forced her to drink off the rest and so both died together Heil Geog. p. 150. 3. Joan Queen of Naples was insatiable for her Lust which cause her to hang her first Husband which was Andrew Second Son to the King of Hungry at her Window for Insufficiency Her second Husband was Lewis of Tarentum who did with over-straining himself to satisfie her Appetite Her third Husband James of Tarracon a gallant Gentleman she beheaded for lying with another Woman Her fourth Husband was Otho Duke of Brunswick in whose time the King of Hungary drave her out of her Kingdom and having taken her hung her out of the same Window where she had hang'd her first Husband Ibid p. 162. 4. An ancient Gentleman of good Account marrying a beautiful young Gentlewoman but having no Issue he took into his House a young Gentleman a Neighbour's Son and compleatly qualified purposing to make him a Sharer in his Estate This Gentleman grows familiar with his Wife which gave so much occasion of Suspicion and caus'd such a Rumour in the Country that his Father requires him to return home again He doth so but at parting promiseth Marriage to the Gentlewoman in case of her old Husband's Decease and she to him both with Oaths The old Gentleman's Maid meeting with this young Gallant over a Glass of Wine tells him in private how much his Company was missed at her Master's House and his Return desired But withal tho' she knew the Familiarities between him and her Mistress yet it was all feigned for another enjoyed both her Heart and Body naming the Person The Gentleman is startled but Incredulous After some time the old Gentleman sends for him again He goes in the Night but very privily having before by Letter desired that the Garden Door might be left open for him and tells the old Gentleman the Reason of his Absence But before he went back he goes softly to the Gentlewoman's Bed-Chamber Door who often lay by her self and hears the Whispers of two distinct Voices Upon which in a sudden Passion he resolves to break in upon them and run them through with a Sword but relenting with Tenderness he departs softly to his own home grows Melancholy and Distemper'd but recovering he resolved to Travel The old Man sends for him to take an unwilling Farewel At the Importunity of his Father he goes After Dinner the Wife singles him for a Farewel weeping in his Bosom and beseeching him to have a care of his Safety but especially of his Vow and Promise Instead of Reply he gave her a Letter which he desired her to peruse in his Absence She opens the Letter and reads there all the Story of her Lust laid open particularly and pathetically This struck her to the Heart she fell presently into Frensie and Despairing soon after died Which News came to the Gentleman before he reach'd Gravesend The old Man afterwards inriched him with a great part of his Land which he enjoys saith my Author to this Day Wonders of the Female World p. 125. out of Heywood CHAP. CXX Divine Judgments upon Undutiful Children A Wife Son maketh a glad Father but a foolish Son is the heaviness of his Mother saith Solomon Prov. 10.1 And in another Place the disobedient Child is threatned with a Punishment to be inflicted on him by the Ravens of the Valley and the young Eagles Prov. 30.17 as it were to signifie that such a one is in a fair way to an untimely and disgraceful Death like to perish and lie unburied in the open Air for Birds of Prey to feed upon and 't is certain many such Instances there are of Children who forsake the Counsels of their Parents and never return to the Paths of Vertue but go on till their Sin brings them to some miserable End 1. Freeman Sondes Esq Son of Sir George Sondes of Lees-Court in Shelwich in Kent being commanded by his Father to comply with the Will of his elder Brother in a small Matter relating to their Cloaths and in an obstinate manner disobeying so that his Father was provoked to use some threatning Expressions as that he should for the future depend much upon his Brother Freeman hereupon in great discontent when his elder Brother was fast asleep gave him a deadly Blow on the right side of his Head with the back of a Cleaver taken out of the Kitchen the Sunday Night before he did the Fact He after the Blow said he would have given all the World to recall it and made a stop of the rest to see how deep he had wounded him and finding it to be a mortal Wound having broken the Skull his Brother stretching himself on his Bed and struggling for Life and he gathering from thence that he was in great torment discovered then even in that Storm of Temptation so much of a relenting Spirit that to put him out of his pain he did reiterate his Blows with a Dagger which he had about him When he had thus imbrued his Hands in his Brother's Blood he threw the Cleaver out of a Window into the Garden and came with great confusion and disturbance in his Face into his Father's Bed-Chamber adjoyning to his Brother's with the Dagger in his Pocket and undrawing the Curtains shook his Father by the Shoulder who being thus awaken'd out of his Sleep received from his Mouth this Heart-breaking Message Father I have killed my Brother He being asTonished at it made this Reply with much horror What sayest thou Hast thou Wretch killed thy Brother Then you had
the Earls of Worcester Pembrook and Montgomery with a numerous Train of the Nobility and Gentry where at the Entry they were accosted with a Gratualtory Speech and Musick and afterwards the Feast served up by the choicest Citizens and after Supper with a Wassail two pleasant Masques a Play and Dancing And after all the Bride and Bridegroom invited to a noble Banquet with all the noble Train and at Three in the Morning returned to White-hall And before this Surfeit of Pleasure was well digested the Gentlemen of Grey's Inn invited them to a Masque But before the end of the Year who would think it for this was in the Christmas-Holidays and lasted till a few Days after all this Joy was turned into Sharp and Sowre For afterward the Murder of Sir Thomas Overbury was discovered some of the chief Instruments employed to Poyson him were hanged the Earl of Somerset and his Countess imprisoned their Persons convicted and Estate seized except only four Thousand Pound per Annum allowed him for Life only by the King's Favour after some time he was set at Liberty but never more returned into Favour at Court Detection of the Court and State of England during the Four last Reigns p. 39 40 c. 6. In the Reign of Charles the V. a young Gentleman of noble Parentage in the Court of that Emperor for deflowering a young Gentlewoman whom he greatly loved was committed to Prison where expecting nothing but the Rigour of the Law he took on with such Grief of Mind that the next Morning his Face appeared very wan his Beard drivelled his Hair turned perfectly gray and all his fresh and youthful Vigour was quite vanished which coming to the Emperor's Ears he sent for him and for the strangeness of the thing pardon'd him accounting the great Fear he had undergone and the Effects of it a sufficient Punishment Doom warning to the Judgment p. 346. out of Levin Lemn 7. In Germany a Gentleman of note finding his Wife in Bed with another Man slew first the Adulterer and then his own Wife Luth. Coll. 8. A nobleman of Thuringia being taken in Adultery the Husband of the Adultress bound him Hand and Foot cast him into Prison kept him fasting only causing daily hot Dishes of Meat to be set before him to tantalize him with the Smell In this Torture the Letcher continued till he gnawed off the Flesh from his own Shoulders and on the 11th Day he died Clark out of Luther 9. Mary of Arragon Wife to the Emperor Otho the III. carry'd a young Fornicator along with her in Woman's Habit but he being discovered was burnt to Death Afterwards solliciting the Count of Mutina and not able to draw him to her Lure she accused him to the Emperor of attempting a Rape upon her for which he was beheaded But the Emperor at last finding out his Wife's Wickedness caused her to be burnt at a Stake Clark's Examp. Vol. I. chap. 2. 10. Luther tells us of a Great Man in his Country so besotted with the Sin of Whoredome that he was not ashamed to say That if he might live for ever here and be carried from one Whore-house to another there to satisfie his Lusts he would never desire any other Heaven This vile Fellow afterwards breathed out his wretched Soul betwixt two notorious Harlots Ibid. 11. Venery was the Destruction of Alexander the Great Of Otho the Emperor called for his good Parts otherwise Miraculum Mundi Of Pope Sixtus the IV. who died of a wicked Wast Of Peope Paul the IV. of whom it passed for a Proverb Eum per eandem partem animam profudisse per quam acceperat Ibid. So true it is which Solomon saith many strong Men have been slain by her 12. 'T is notoriously known how far this Sin prevailed in England amongst the Lazy Monks and Nuns what Skulls of Infants were found near their Religious Houses before the Dissolution of them in Henry the VIII's Days And much about the same time viz. at the beginning of the Reformation as I have read in a Letter writ by the Pope's Notary to a Gentleman in Germany there was a Nunnery visited in the outer Skirts of Italy and Thirteen of the Nuns found with Child at the same time all by the Confessor for which Cause by order of the Pope it was put down 13. Thomas Savage frequenting the House of Hannah Blay a noted Bawdy-house spending upon her such Money as he could get to satisfie his own Lust and her craving Appetite is tempted first to stealing and purloining from his Master and at last to the murdering of a Maid his Fellow-Servant For which he was afterwards brought to the Gallows See the Printed Narrative 14. Mr. Robert Foulks of Stanton-Lacy first an Adulterer and then a Murderer of his Bastard Child ended his Days very ignominiously at Tiburn tho' penitently See the Narrative or the Abbreviation in the Compleat History of Dying Penitents 15. John Allerton Bishop of Waterford in Ireland for unnatural Concupiscence came to a very disgraceful End being Arraigned and Executed at Dublin It were endless to enumerate all the sad Examples of Divine Judgment that might be brought under this Head CHAP. CXXV Divine Judgments upon Voluptuousness and Luxury THE Love of sensual Pleasure is to this Day a Blot upon the Memory of Epicurus tho' he were but a Heathen Philosopher How much more Disgraceful is it for Christians whose Profession it is to deny themselves and take up the Cross and be mortified to the World and crucifie the Flesh which the Affections and Lusts And the Reason why God hath laid such a Restrain upon our Appetites is because Voluptuousness is a Thief of our Time and Affections It steals the Heart from God and so debaucheth the Mind of Man that it cannot relish spiritual Delights and the Sweets of a Holy and Devout Life and therefore no wonder if God Almighly doth so resent this Alienation of the Mind from him that he punish it often with some Remarkable Judgments to shew his Detestation of it and to Detert others from it 1. Charles the II. King of Spain having wasted his Spirits with Voluptuousness and Luxury in his old Age fell into a Lethargy and therefore to comfort his benummed Joints he was by the Advice of his Physicians sowed up in a Sheet steeped in Aqua-vitae The Chirurgeon having made an end of sowing the Sheet wanted a Knife to cut off the Thread whereupon he took the Wax-Tapor that stood by to burn it off But the Flame running by the Thread caught hold of the Sheet in an instant which according to the nature of Aqua-vitae burned so violently that the old King ended his Days in the Flame Clark's Mirr Vol. I. p. 492. 2. Petrus Crinitus a great Clerk in the Days of our Grandfathers thought it fit forsooth when he was old to do as Socrates did under colour of Free Teaching to converse with Youths in the Streets in the Tennis-Courts in the Taverns
to the uttermost I humbly beseech thee give me now in this great Instant full Patience proportionable Comfort and a Heart ready to die for thy Honour the King's Happiness and this Church's Preservation and my Zeal to these far from Arrogancy be it spoken is all the Sin Humane Frailty excepted and all Incidents thereto which is yet known to me in this Particular for which I now come to suffer I say in this particular of Treason but otherwise my Sins are very many and great Lord pardon them all and those especially whatever they are which have drawn down this special Judgment upon me And when thou hast given me Strength to bear it do with me as seems best in thine own Eyes and carry me through Death that I may look upon it in what Visage soever it appear unto me Amen And that there may be a Stop of this Issue of Blood in this more than miserable Kingdom I shall desire That I may pray for the People too as well as for my self O Lord I beseech thee give Grace of Repentance to all Blood-thirsty People but if they will not Repent O Lord confound all their Devices defeat and frustrate all their Designs and Endeavours upon them which shall be contrary to the Glory of thy Great Name the Truth and Sincerity of Religion the Establishment of the King and his Posterity after him in their just Rights and Privileges the Honour and Conservation of Parliaments in their just Power the Preservation of this poor Church in her Truth Peace and Patrimony and the Settlement of this distracted and distressed People under their ancient Laws and in their native Liberties And when thou hast done all this in Mercy for them O Lord fill their Hearts with Thankfulness and with Religious Dutiful Obedience to thee and thy Commandments all their Days So Amen Lord Jesus Amen And receive my Soul into thy Bosom Amen Our Father c. Again kneeling by the Block he prayed thus Lord I am coming as fast as I can I know I must pass through the Shadow of Death before I can come to see thee But it is but umbra mortis a meer Shadow of Death a little Darkness upon Nature but thou thro' thy Merits and Passion hast broke through the Jaws of Death So Lord receive my Soul and have Mercy upon me and bless this Kingdom with Peace and Plenty and with Brotherly Love and Charity that there may not be this Effusion of Christian Blood amongst them for Jesus Christ's sake if it be thy Will Then laying his Head upon the Block and praying silently to himself he said aloud Lord receive my Soul Which was the Signal given to the Executioner Thus he died Aged 71. Jan. 10. 1644. A brief Relat. of his Death and Sufferings printed at Oxon c. 1644. 114. King Charles the First made this his last Speech upon the Scaffold I Shall be very little heard by any body here I shall therefore speak a Word unto you here Indeed I could hold my Peace very well if I did not think that holding my Peace would make some Men think that I did submit to the Guilt as well as to the Punishment but I think it is my Duty to God first and to my Country for to clear my self both as an honest Man and a good Christian I shall begin first with my Innocency In troth I think it not very needful for me to insist long upon this for all the World knows I never did begin a War with the two Houses of Parliament and I call God to witness to whom I must shortly make an Account that I never did intend to encroach upon their Privileges They began upon me it was the Militia they began upon They confess'd that the Militia was mine but they thought it fit to have it from me And to be short if any Body will look to the Dates of Commissions both theirs and mine and likewise to the Declarations will see clearly that they began these unhappy Troubles not I So that for the Guilt of these enormous Crimes that are laid against me I hope in God that God will clear me of it I will not I am in Charity God forbid that I should lay it upon the two Houses of Parliament there is no necessity of either I hope they are free of this Guilt For I do believe that ill Instruments between them and me have been the Cause of all this Bloodshed so that by way of speaking I find my self clear of this I hope and pray God that they may be so too Yet for all this God forbid that I should be so ill a Christian as not to say That God's Judgments are just upon me Many times he doth pay Justice by an unjust Sentence that is ordinary I will only say this That an unjust Sentence that I suffered to take effect is punished now by an unjust Sentence upon me That is so far I have said to shew you that I am an innocent Man Now for to shew you that I am a good Christian I hope there is a good Man pointing to Dr. Juxon that will bear me witness that I have forgiven all the World and those in particular that have been the chief Causers of my Death who they are God knows I do not desire to know I pray God forgive them But this is not all my Charity must go further I wish that they may repent for indeed they have committed a great Sin in that Particular I pray God with St. Stephen that this be not laid to their Charge nay not only so but that they may take the right way to the Peace of the Kingdom So Sirs I do wish with all my Soul and I hope there is some here will carry it further that they may endeavour the Peace of the Kingdom Now Sirs I must shew you how you are out of the way and will put you in a way First You are out of the way for certainly all the way you ever had yet as I could find by any thing is in the way of Conquest Certainly this is an ill way for Conquest Sirs in my Opinion is never Just except there be a good just Cause either for Matter of Wrong or a just Title and then if you go beyond it that makes it Unjust in the end that was Just at first But if it be only Matter of Conquest then it is a great Robbery as a Pirate said to Alexander That he was the great Robber he was but a petty Robber And so Sirs I do think the way you are in is much out of the way Now Sirs for to put you in the way believe it you will never do right nor God will never prosper you until you give God his due the King his due that is my Successors and the People their due I am as much for them as any of you You must give God his due by regulating rightly his Church according to his Scriptures which is now out
of order For to set you in a way particularly now I cannot but only this A National Synod freely called freely debating among themselves must settle this when that every Opinion is freely and clearly heard For the King indeed I will not the Laws of the Land will clearly instruct you for that Therefore because it concerns my own particular I only give you a touch of it For the People and truly I desire their Liberty and Freedom as much as any body whomsoever but I must tell you That their Liberty and Freedom consist in having 〈◊〉 Government those Laws by which their Lives and Goods may be most their own It is not for having a share in Government Sirs that is nothing pertaining to them a Subject and a Soveraign are clean different things and therefore until they do that I mean until you do put the People in that Liberty as I say certainly they will never enjoy themselves Sirs it was for this that now I am come here If I would have given way to an Arbitrary way for to have all Laws chang'd according to the Power of the Sword I needed not to have come here and therefore I tell you and I pray God it be not laid to their Charge That I am the Martyr of the People In troth Sirs I shall not trouble you much longer for I will only say this to you That in truth I could have desired some little time longer because that I would have put this that I have said in a little more order and a little better digested than I have done and therefore I hope you will excuse me I have delivered my Conscience I pray God that you may take those Courses that are best for the Good of the Kingdom and your own Salvation The Bishop of London minding him to say something concerning his Religion he answered I thank you very heartily my Lord for that I had almost forgotten it In troth Sirs my Conscience in Religion I think is very well known to all the World and therefore I declare before you all That I die a Christian according to the Profession of the Church of England as I found it left by my Father and this honest Man I think can witness it Then turning to the Officers he said Sirs Excuse me for this same I have a good Cause and a Gracious God I will say no more Then turning to Colonel Hacker he said Take heed that they do not put me to pain and Sir this and it please you But then a Gentleman coming near the Ax the King said Take heed of the Ax Pray take heed of the Ax. Then to the Executioner I shall have but very short Prayers and when I thrust out my Hand Then the King called to Dr. Juxon for his Night-cap and having put it on he said to the Executioner Doth my Hair trouble you Who desired him to put it all under his Cap which he did accordingly Then to Dr. Juxon I have a good Cause and a Gracious God on my side Dr. Juxon There is but one Stage more This Stage is turbulent and troublesome it is a short one but you may consider it will soon carry you a very great way from Earth to Heaven and there you shall find a great deal of Cordial Joy and Comfort King I go from a Corruptible to an Incorruptible Crown where no Disturbance can be Doctor You are exchanged from a Temporal to an Eternal Crown a good Exchange Then the King took off his Cloak and his George giving his George to Dr. Juxon saying Remember And so humbly submitted to the Block Jan. 30. 1648. through the Indignity and unjust Dealing of ill Men. A brief Review of the most material Parl. Transact began Nov. 3. 1640. 115. Duke Hamilton Earl of Cambridge made this his last Speech on the Scaffold in the Palace-yard march 9. 1649. I Think it is truly not very necessary for me to speak much there are many Gentlemen and Soldiers there that see me but my Voice truly is so weak so low that they cannot hear me neither truly was I ever at any time so much in love with speaking or with any thing that I had to express that I took delight in it yet this being the last time that I am to do so by a Divine Providence of Almighty God who hath brought me to this End justly for my Sins I shall to you Sir Mr. Sheriff declare thus much as to the Matter I am now to suffer for which is as being a Traytor to the Kingdom of England Truly Sir it was a Country I equally loved with my own I made no difference I never intended either the Generality of its Prejudice or any particular Man 's in it what I did was by the Command of the Parliament of the Country where I was born whose Command I could not disobey without running into the same hazard there of that condition that I am now in It pleased God so to dispose that Army under my Command as it was ruined and I as their General cloathed with a Commission stand here now ready to die I shall not trouble you with repeating of my Plea what I said in my own Defence at the Court of Justice my self being well satisfied with the Command laid upon me and they satisfied with the Justice of their proceedure according to the Laws of this Land God is Just howsoever I shall not say any thing as to the matter of the Sentence but that I do willingly submit to his Divine Providence and acknowledge that very many ways I deserve even a Worldly Punishment as well as hereafter For we are all sinners Sir I am a great one yet for my Comfort I know there is a God in Heaven that is exceeding merciful I know my Redeemer sits at his Right-hand and am confident clapping his hand on his Breast is Mediating for me at this instant I am hopeful through his Free Grace and All-sufficient Merits to be pardoned of my sins and to be received into his Mercy upon that I rely trusting to nothing but the Free Grace of God through Jesus Christ I have not been tainted in my Religion I thank God for it since my Infancy it hath been such as hath been profess'd in the Land and established and now it is not this Religion or that Religion nor this or that Fancy of Men that is to be built upon it is but one that 's right one that 's sure and that comes from God Sir and in the Free Grace of our Saviour Sir there is truly somewhat that he then observing the Writers had I thought my Speech would have been thus takeâ—â—â— would have digested it into some better Method than now I can and shall desire these Gentlemen that do write it that they will not wrong me in it and that it may not in this manner be published to my disadvantage for truly I did not intend to have spoken thus when I came here c.
confess Matter of Fact too plainly because it would certainly have brought him within the Guilt of Misprision and so he thought it better to say little than by departing from the Ingenuity he had always practised by using little Tricks and Evasions to make the last and solemnest part of his Life so notably different from the preceding course of it as such a Conduct would have made it He farther subjoyns that he never pretended great Readiness in Speaking and advises those Gentlemen of the Law that have it to use it more conscientiously and not to run Men down and impose on Easie and Willing Juries by Strains and Fetches c. the Killing unjustly by Law being the worst of Murthers He then as in several other places repeating his wishes that the Rage and Revenge of some Men and the Partiality of Juries may be stopped with his Blood and so after a small hint how by the Importunity of his Dearest and most Vertuous Lady and some other Dear Friends he had been prevail'd upon against his Inclinations to Address tho' ineffectualy for his Life he concludes with a fresh Protestation of his Innocency and a Devout Prayer to God suitable to that sad Occasion 5. Captain WALCOT CAptain Walcot and his Fellow-sufferers in order of time should have gone first he being convicted before my Lord Russel and executed the Friday as he on Saturday But my Lord Russel's Fate having so immediate a dependance on the Earl of Essex's and all the Plot hanging on him especially they two making the greatest Figure of any who suffer'd on this occasion it look'd more proper and natural to begin with them and reserve the other to this place Captain Walcot was a Gentleman of a considerable Estate in Ireland but more remarkable for the rare Happiness of having Eight Children all at once living and most of all for his Love to his Country which cost him his Life An Abstract of Captain Walcot's Speech CAptain Walcot denied any Design of killing the King or of engaging the Guards whilst others killed him And said That the Witnesses invited him to Meetings where some thing were discoursed of in order to the asserting our Liberties and Properties which we look'd upon to be violated and invaded That They importuned and perpetually solicited him and then deliver'd him up to be hang'd That They combined together to swear him out of his Life to save their own and that they might do it effectually They contrived an Vntruth That he forgave them though guilty of his Blood But withal earnestly begg'd That they might be observed that Remarks might be set upon them whether their End be Peace And he concluded with what made Sir Roger L'Estrange a great deal of Sport but yet Heaven has made it good That when God hath a Work to do he will not want Instruments With him was try'd Rouse who was charged with such a parcel of mad Romance as was scarce ever heard of and one would wonder how Perjury and Malice which use to be sober sins could even be so extravagant as to hit on 't He was to seize the Tower pay the Rabble uncaese the Aldermen to be Pay-Master and Flea-Master General and a great deal more to the same Tune In his Defence he says no great Matter but yet what looks a Thousand times more like Truth than his Accusation That the Tower Business was only Discourse of the feasibleness of the thing as Russel's about the Guards but without the least intent of bringing it to Action That all he was concern'd in any real Design he had from Lee and was getting more out of him with an intention to make a Discovery But it seems Lee got the whip-hand of him they were both at a kind of Halter-Combat Rouse's foot slipt and Lee turn'd him over and saved his own Neck His Dying Words Mr. Rouse declared That he was told that They did not intend to spill one drop of Blood and affirmed that Lee the Witness against him did by his Evidence make him the Author of the very Words that came out of his the said Lee 's own Mouth A Brief Extract of Captain Walcot's Prayer O Lord our God Thou art a God of present help in time of Trouble a God that hast promised to be with thy People in the Fire and in the Water O Lord we pray Thee that thou wilt afford thy Presence to thy poor Suffering Servants at this time O Lord thy Servant that speaketh doth confess that the Iniquties at his heels have justly overtaken him O do thou bathe each of our Souls in that Fountain set open for sin and Uncleanness O do thou enable every one of us from the inward Evidence of thy Spirit to say with thy Servant Job That we know and are assured that our Redeemer lives O give us some inward Tasts of those Heavenly Joys that we hope through the Mercy of Jesus Christ in a little time to have a more full Fruition of O Lord do thou speak Peace to every one of our Consciences though we lie under a Sentence of Death from Man we beg that we may have a Sentence of Life Eternal from our God and though we meet Thee O Lord in a Field of Blood we beg that Thou wilt come to meet us in a Field of Mercy O Lord though we have been Prodigals we desire to return unto our Father's House where there is Bread enough O enable us to come unto Thee as Children to their Parents Lord put to thy helping Hand Lord teach us truly to leave no Sin unrepented of in any one of our Hearts And O Lord we beg that with us thou wilt give us leave to recommend unto thy Care our Poor Wives and Children Thou hast promised to be the Father of the Fatherless and the Husband of the Widow and thou hast commanded us to cast the Care of them upon Thee O do thou make Provision for them an enable them to bear this severe stroke with Patience O Lord we also beseech thee in the behalf of these Poor Kingdoms wherein we are that Thou wilt be merciful to them prevent Divisions among them heal all their Breaches compose their Differences make all that are thine of one Heart and Mind in the things of Thee our God Lord favour us with the Mercy assure us of thy Love stand by us in the difficult Hour take us into thine own Care cause thy Angels to attend us to convey our Souls as soon as they are divided from our Bodies into Abraham's Bosoâ— All which we beg for the sake of thy Son Jesus Christ in whom O Lord this little time do thou give us Hearts to give Thee all Glory Honour and Praise now and for evermore Amen Sweet Jesus Amen 6. Mr. HONE Hone was accused and owns himself Guilty of a Design to Kill the King and the Duke of York or one or neither for 't is impossible to make any Sense of him When they came to suffer Walcot
what I write proceeds not from any fantastick Terror of Mind but from a sober Resolution of what concerns my self and earnest Desire to do you more Good after my Death than mine Example God of his Mercy pardon the badness of it in My Life-time may have done you harm I will not speak ought of the Vanity of this World your own Age and Experience will save the Labour But there is a certain Thing that goes up and down in the World called Religion dress'd and presented fantastically and to purpose bad enough which yet by such evil dealing loseth not its Being The great and good God hath not loft it without a Witness more or less sooner or later in every Man's Bosome to direct us in the pursuit of it and for the avoiding of those inextricable Difficulties and Intanglements our own frail Reason would perplex us withal God in his infinite Mercy has given us his Holy Word in which as there are many things hard to be understood to quiet our Minds and direct us concerning our future Being I confess to God and you I have been a great Neglecter and I fear Despiser of it God of his infinite Mercy pardon me that dreadful Fault but when I retired my self from the Noise and deceitful Vanities of the World I found no true Comfort in any other Resolution than what I had from thence I commend the same from the bottom of my Heart to your I hope happy use Dear Sir Hugh let us be more generous than to believe we die like Beasts that perish but with a Christian manly brave Ambition let us look to what is Eternal I will not trouble you farther The Only Great and Holy God Father Son and Holy Ghost direct you to an happy End of your Life and send us a joyful Resurrection So prays Your Dear Friend MARLBOROUGH Old James near the Coast of Holland the 24th of April 1665. I beseech you commend my Love to all my Acquaintance particularly I pray you that my Cousin Glascock may have a sight of this Letter and as many of my friends besides as you will or any else that desire it I pray grant this my Request To William Glascock Esq Dear Cousin May 23. 1665. IN case I be called away by God in this present Employment I have recommended these few Lines to you first earnestly begging God Almighty his most merciful Pardon and yours for the very bad Example and many Provocations to Sin I have given Next I do most heartily desire you to make use of your remaining Time in bestowing it upon his Service who only can be your Comfort at your Latter End when all the former Pleasures of your Life shall only leave Anguish and Remorse If God had spared me Life instead of this Paper I would through his Grace have endeavoured to have been as Assistful to you in minding you of true Piety as the care of mine own Life could have enabled me Do not think that melancholy Vapours cause this It is God's great Mercy that by this Employment hath made me know my self for which his Name be for ever praised Lastly I pray shew these few Lines to my Lord of Portland by which I in like manner and for the sarne cause crave his Pardon wishing you both the blessed Peace and Content of a good Conscience towards God and a happy End of your Lives Your truly Loving Cousin MARLBOROUGH The Gentleman who hath communicated to us these Letters sent by the Earl of Marlborough to Sir Hugh Pollard and Mr. Glascock is a Person of Quality now living in London and if any one hath the Curiosity to be satisfied from his own Mouth about the perfect certainty of the Matters therein related if he repairs to Mr. Darker in Bull-head Court near Cripplegate he will be always ready to bring any Gentleman to speak with him for further Confirmation 3. Mr. Hobbs who was so much noted in the World for his Atheistical Writings insomuch that his Book intituled The Leviathan was condemned by the Parliament in their Bill against Atheism and Profaneness Octob. 1666. and both that and his Book de Cive by the Convocation July 21. 1683. Yet the Earl of Devon's Chaplain hath left it on Record concerning him That he received the Communion from his Hands with much seeming Devotion about two Years before his Death than which there cannot be a more express Acknowledgment of the Truth of Christianity And this methinks should daunt the Confidence of his Followers the HObbists who because he was born on Good-friday are not ashamed blasphemously to say That as our Saviour Christ went out of the World on that Day to save Men of the World so another Saviour came into the World on that Day to save them Ath. Oxon. Part II. P. 483. 4. But the next Instance of the Earl of Rochester is still more convincing who as it appears by his Funeral Sermon did with very much abhorrence exclaim against that absurd and foolish Philosophy which the World so much admired and was propagated by the late Mr. Hobbs and others which had undone him and many more of the best Parts of the Nation My Lord Rochester being awak'd from his Spiritual Slumber by a pungent Sickness as appears by his Funeral Sermon preached by Mr. Parsons August 9. 1680. Upon the Preacher's first Visit to him May 26. my Lord thank'd God who had in Mercy and good Providence sent him to him who so much needed his Prayers and Counsels acknowledging how unworthily heretofore he had treated that Order of Men reproaching them that they were Proud and Prophesied only for Rewards but now he had learn'd how to value them that he esteem'd them the Servants of the most High God who were to shew to him the way to everlasting Life At the same time continues our Author I found him labouring under strange Trouble and Conflicts of Mind his Spirit wounded and his Conscience full of Terrours Upon his Journey he told me that he had been arguing with greater vigour against God and Religion than ever he had done in his Life-time before and that he was resolv'd to run them down with all the Arguments and Spite in the World but like the great Convert St. Paul he found it hard to â—ick against the Pricks for God at that time had so struck his Heart by his immediate Hand that presently he argued as strongly for God and Vertue as before he had done against it that God strangely opened his Heart creating in his Mind most awful and tremendous Thoughts and Idea's of the Divine Majesty with a delightful Contemplation of the Divine Nature and Attributes and of the Loveliness of Religion and Vertue I never said he was advanc'd thus far towards Happiness in my Life before tho' upon the commissions of some Sins extraordinary I have had some Checks and Warnings considerable from within but still struggl'd with them and so wore them off again The most observable that I remember
both in publick Repositories and in private Hands two such as these the one 10 foot long were presented not long ago to the King of Denmark being taken near Nova Zembla and I have seen some full 15 foot long some wreath'd very thick some not so much others almost plain some largest and thickest at the End near the Head others are largest at some distance from the Head some very sharp at the end or point others blunt My Honoured Father Sir Tho. Brown had a very fair piece of one which was formerly among the Duke of Curland's Rarities I have seen a Walking Staff a Scepter a Scabbard for a Sword Boxes and other Curiosities made out of this Horn c. But of these Unicorns the King of Denmark and his Father had so many that he was able to spare a great number of them to build a Magnificent Throne out of Unicorn's Horns Dr. Browns Trav. p. 101. c. CHAP. XXXIX Strange Fish I remember when I was a little Boy and went first a Angling I brought home two or three small Dace and Breams with no little Joy and a secret promise of Applause to my self for my Success in the Game but my Mother with some Indignation refused to give her consent fro the Dressing of them I have not served my Reader so here No the Watry Element is so stored with such abundance of these Animals and the Sea takes up so great a part of this lower World that I have passed by all the common Species and present my Reader with the Huge Leviathan the Loving Dolphin the great Manaty and others strange and admirable for some Property or other that I promise my self my Reader will not serve me now as my Mother did then 1. The Whale is the greatest and chief of all Fishes That Whale taken in the Scheld 10 Miles from Antwerp Anno 1677 was of a blackish blue colour he had a Snout on his Head wherewith he belch'd up Water with great force he was 58 foot long 16 foot high his Tail was 14 foot broad from his Eye to the tip of his Nose 16 foot his lower Chap 6 foot of each side armed with 25 Teeth and there were as many holes in the Upper Chap where Teeth had been the longest of his Teeth 6 Thumbs long A Whale taken at Sceveling near the Hague was 60 foot long Johnston Class 9. cap. 3. p. 290. In the 6th year of Queen Elizabeth in the Month of December at Grimsby in Lincolnshire was driven on shoar a Monstrous Fish in length 19 Yards his Tail 15 foot broad and 6 yards between the Eyes 12 Men stood upright in his Mouth to get out the Oyl In the 17th Year a vast Whale was cast upon Thanet Isle in Kent 20 Ells long and 13 foot broad from the Belly to the Back-bone and 11 foot between the Eyes one of his Eyes being taken out of his Head was more then 2 Cart with 6 Horses could draw the Oyl being boiled out of his Head was Parmacittee Bakers Chron. The ordinary Dimension of the Whale is 36 Cubits in length and 8 in thickness yet Nearchus in Arianus is said to have measured one in the Indian Seas 50 Cubits long and proportionably broad Pliny exceeds all bounds of Credibility when he tells of some 960 foot or 4 Acres long Heylin's Cosmogr p. 876. 2. The Dolphins are so swift that they swim faster then a Shp under Sail before the Wind saith Bellonius when they play on the calm Sea they foreshew which way the Wind will blow and when they cast up Water the Sea being troubled they foreshew a Calm Thomas thinks that Exhalations rising from the bottom of the Sea when a Storm is at hand in Winter is the cause of it and he thinks that the Dolphin feels heat thereby and so breaks forth the oftner but Rondeletius thinks they are affected in the Water with the motion of the Air as those that are Sick are wont to be when the South Wind begins to blow Johnston p. 294. The last Year of King Edward VI. was taken at Quinborough three Dolphins and at Blackwall 6 more the last of which was bigger then a Horse Baker 3. The Manaty is a great Fish taken in the Rivers of Hispaniola his Head is like an Ox-head or bigger his Eyes in respect of his body are small he hath two thick Feet like Wings in the place of Gills with which he swims he hath a thick Skin and no Scales He is so great that there needs a Yoke of Oxen to carry him sometimes he is 14 or 15 foot long and 8 hands thick he hath two stones or rather bones in his Head so great as little hand-balls he wants Ears but in their place he hath small holes by which he hears His Skin is like the Skin of a shrevell'd Ox a Finger thick Ash colour and thin of Hairs the Tail is all Nervous which being boiled or fryed it resolves into fat Johnston p. 296. 4. The Swordfish hath a beck on both Chaps but the lower of them is short and triangular the upper is more bony and harder and far longer sometimes two Cubits long In the Indian Sea they grow so great that they will pierce the sides of the strongest Ship a hand and a half in thickness sometimes Gesner writes that a faithful Friend of his saw a Man when he sailed to Syria thar swam by the Ships side and he was cut in the middle by the beck of this Fish Johnston p. 304. 5. The Torpedo has his name because he benums the Hands and he doth this so effectually that before he is taken he will do it by the Net or the Rod. Johnston p. 303. 6. The â—unies are chiefly caught about Constantinople for when they are past Chalcedon a certain white Rock appears to them and so terrifies them that immediatly they put over to the farthest Bank and being taken by the swift Current of the Waters turns their course to Constantinople so that they are tkane in their Snares in great numbers they are bred in the Lakes of Maeotis 9. The Remora is said to stay Ships Petrus Melaras of Bononia reports That the Ship of Francis Cardinal of Troas when he went by Sea out of France was held frst in the swiftness of its course Many have sought the cause but no Man hath certainly found it Saith Johnston Hist Nat. Class 9. c. 7. p. 331. 8. Tritons or Fishes having the Face Lineaments and shape of Man's body one was seen in the days of Tiberius another in the time of Augustus a third under Nero Aelian Theodor. Gaza Trapezuntius Alex. ab Alex. Scaliger and divers others affirm the Truth of this yet these Tritons or Nereides cannot be called nor are they Men though they have the outward shape for it is not the matter nor outward Lineaments but the form that gives Essence and Denomination Ross Arcana Microcosin l. 2. p. 18. In King John's Reign such a Fish was taken
is required Nothing makes us more Ingenious than Necessity Rather than Men will suffer all the Inconveniencies consequent upon a Total Eclipse of any of their Senses especially that of Sight and the comfortable use of the Sun they will set their Brains upon the rack and use the greatest intention of Thought to procure a Compensation 1. Esther Elizabeth Van Waldkirk Daughter of a Merchant of Shaffhausen Residing at Geneva aged Nineteen Years having been Blind from two Months old by a Distemper falling on her Eyes nevertheless hath been put on to the Study of Learning by her Father so that she understands perfectly French High-Dutch and Latin she speaks ordinarily Latin with her Father French with her Mother and High-Dutch with the People of that Nation She hath almost the whole Bible by Heart is well skill'd in Philosophy plays on Organs and Violin and which is wonderful in this condition she hath learned to write by an Invention of her Fathers after this manner There was cut for her upon a Board all the Letters of the Alphabet so deep as to feel the Figures with her Fingers and to follow the traces with a Pencil till that she had accustomed her self to make the Characters Afterwards they made for her a Frame which holds fast her Paper when she writes and which guides her Hand to make strait Lines She writes with a Pencil rather than with Ink which might either foul her Paper or by failing might cause her to leave VVords imperfect 'T is after this manner that she writes often in Latin to her Friends as well as in the other two Languages This is an Extract of a Letter written from Lyons by M. Spon M. D. c. From the Journal des Scavans set forth March 25. 1680. 2. John Ferdinand born in Flanders being blind yet overcame that which most learned Men find hard For he was at once a very Learned Poet and Philosopher he was also an excellent Musician and play'd skilfully on divers kinds of Instruments Camer Hor. Subscis p. 171. 3. Vldaricus Schonbergerus a Doctor in Philosophy though blind yet he was Learnedly skill'd in the Latin Greek Hebrew and Syriack Languages an excellent Naturalist an Acute Disputant in Philosophy Skilful in Musick Studious both in Picture and Sculpture he would discharge a Gun with that dexterity that the Builet should oft hit the Mark he died of late Years at Regioment of which unusual Example Simon Dachius hath left to Posterity an Elegant Elegy Barthol Hist Anatom Cent. 3. Hist 44. p. 87 88. 4. James Vsher Lord Primate of Ireland was taught to read by his two Aunts who were Blind from their Cradles yet were they admirably vers'd in the Scriptures being able suddenly to have given a good Account of any part of the Bible Clarks Lives p. 190 191. 5. Count Manifield though Blind yet with the touch alone was able to distinguish white from black Barthol Cent. 3. Hist 44. p. 87. 6. Schenckius tells of one that though Blind yet received visible Species through his Nostrils Zacch quest Med. Legal l. 5. Tit. 3. p. 325. Schen Obs p. 1. 7. Sir Kenelme Digby says he saw one so blind that he could not discern when the Sun shined yet would play well at Cards and Tables Bowls and Shovel-Board discern the Gestures of his Scholars by their Voice walk in a Chamber or long Alley strait and turn exactly at the ends and by an effect of the Light upon his Body but chiefly on his Brain know when the Sun was up and distinguish exactly between a clear and cloudy Day Sir Kehelme Digby's Treatise of Bodies c. 28. p. 253 254. CHAP. III. Persons Deaf and Dumb much Improved by Art ONE would think this Defect of Nature very deplorable and hardly capable of any Alleviation for by it is barr'd and obstructed all Correspondence with the Reasonable Soul no information can be taken in no Communication permitted without The Ears are stopt so that the Person cannot learn from others nor he express the Sense of his own Mind to others So that what remains in such a case where all the Intercourse of Reason is damm'd up but the Expectation of a Bruitality and Sottishness of Nature to follow yet even here the Wit of Man hath found out something like a Remedy to Cure or in some measure to alleviate and assist this great Malady by finding out some uncommon way of conveying Intelligence to the immured Soul and pumping it of its own Sense and Conceptions 1. Mr. Increase Mather of New-England tells us of a Man and of a Woman at Weymouth both of them Deaf and the Woman so from her Infancy and yet that she understands as much concerning the State of the Country and of particular Persons therein and of observable Occurrences as almost any one of her Sex and which is more wonderful tho she is not able to speak a Word she has by Signs made it appear that she is not ignorant of Adam's Fall nor of Man's Misery by Nature nor of Redemption by Christ and the great Concernments of Eternity and of another World and that she her self has had experience of a Work of Conversion in her own Soul I have made Enquiry about this Matter of some that are fully acquainted therewith and have from a good Hand receiv'd this foregoing Account 2. Matthew Prat aged about Fifty-five Years was in his Minority by his godly Parents educated Religiously and taught to read when he was about Twelve Years old he became totally deaf by Sickness and so hath ever since continued after the loss of his hearing he was taught to write his Reading and Writing he retaineth perfectly and makes much good Improvement of both but his Speech is very broken and imperfect not easily intelligible he maketh use of it more seldom only to some few that are wonted to it He discourseth most by Signs and by writing He is studious and judicious in Matters of Religion hath been in Church Fellowship a Partaker of all Ordinances near Thirty Years hath approved himself unto good Satisfaction therein in all ways of Church-Communion both in publick and private and judged to be a well-wrought Convert and real Christian 3. Sarah Prat his Wife being about Forty-three Years old was also quite deprived of Hearing by Sickness when about the third Year of her Age after she could speak and had begun to learn Letters having quite lost her Hearing she lost all Speech doubtless all remembrance and Understanding of Words and Language her Religious Parents being both dead her godly Brother Ephraim Hunt yet surviving took a Fatherly Care of her she also happily fell under the Guardianship and Tuition of the Reveread Mr. Thomas Thatcher who laboured with design to teach her to understand Speech or Language by Writing but it was never observed that any thing was really effected she hath a notable Accuracy and Quickness of understanding by the Eye she discourseth altogether by Signs that they that