Lord Thomas Seymour Admiral of England the other was the Dutchess of Sommerset Wife to the Lord Protector of England Brother to the Admiral These two Ladies falling at variance for precedence which either of them challenged the one as Queen Dowager the other as Wife to the Protector who then governed the King and all the Realme drew their Husbands into the quarrel and so incensed the one of them against the other that the Protector procured the death of the Admiral his Brother Whereupon also followed his own destruction shortly after For being deprived of the assistance and support of his Brother he was easily overthrown by the Duke of Northumberland who caused him to be convicted of Felony and beheaded 9. A famous and pernicious faction in Italy began by the occasion of a quarrel betwixt two Boys whereof the one gave the other a box on the Ear in revenge whereof the Father of the Boy that was stricken cut off the hand of the other that gave the blow whose Father making thereupon the quarrel his own sought the revenge of the injury done to his Son and began the Faction of the Neri and Bianchi that is to say Black and White which presently spread it self through Italy and was the occasion of spilling much Christian blood 10. A poor distressed wretch upon some business bestowed a long and tedious Pilgrimage from Cabul in India to Asharaff in Hircania where e're he knew how the success would be he rested his weary limbs upon a Field Carpet choosing to refresh himself rather upon the cool Grass than be tormented by those merciless vermine of Gnats and Muskettos within the Town but poor man he fell à malo in pejus from ill to worse for lying asleep upon the way at such time as Sha Abbas the Persian Monarch set forth to hunt and many Nobles with him his pampered Jade winded and startled at him the King examines not the cause but sent an eternal Arrow of sleep into the poor mans heart jesting as Iphicrates did when he slew his sleepy Sentinel I did the man no wrong I found him sleeping and asleep I left him The Courtiers also to applaud his Justice made the poor man their common mark killing him an hundred times over if so many lives could have been forfeiâ—ed 11. Anno 1568. the King of Sian had a white Elephant which when the King of Pegu understood he had an opinion of I know not what holiness that was in the Elephant and accordingly prayed unto it He sent his Ambassadors to the King of Sian offering him whatsoever he would desire if he would send the Elephant unto him but the King of Sian would not part with him either for love mony or any other consideration Whereupon he of Pegu was so moved to wrath that with all the power he could make he invaded the other of Sian Many hundred thousand men were brought into the field and a bloody Battle was fought wherein the King of Sian was overthrown his white Elephant taken and he himself made tributary to the Monarch of Pegu. 12. A needy Souldier under Abbas King of Persia draws up a Catalogue of his good services and closing it in his pressing wants humbly intreats the favour and some stipend from his god of war for such and such his exploits The poor man for his sawciness with many terrible bastinadoes on the soles of his feet was almost drubbed to death Besides Abbas enquires who it was that wrote it the Clerk made his apology but the King quarrelled at his scurvy writing and that he should never write worse makes his hand to be cut off CHAP. XLIII Of such as have been too fearful of death and over desirous of Life A Weak mind complains before it is overtaken with evil and as Birds are affrighted with the noise of the Sling so the infirm soul anticipates its troubles by its own fearful apprehensions and falls under them before they are yet arrived But what greater madness is there than to be tormented with futurities and not so much to reserve our selves to miseries against they come as to invite and hasten them towards us of our own accord The best remedy against this tottering state of the soul is a good and clear Conscience which if a man want he will tremble in the midst of all his armed guards 1. 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 on this manner Removing his Friends he gave the custody of his body to some strangers and Barbarians and being in fear of Barbers he taught his Daughters to shave him and 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 filmes of Wallnut kernels Whereas he had two Wives Aristomache and Doris he came not to them in the night before the place was throughly searched and though he had drawn a large and deep Moat about the Room and had made a passage by a wooden Bridge himself drew it up after him when he went in Not daring to speak to the people out of the common Rostrum or Pulpit 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 that the Boy smiled he commanded them both to be slain one for shewing the way how he might be killed and the other for approving it with a smile At last overcome in Battle by the Carthaginians he perished by the treason of his own Subjects 2. Heraclides Ponticus 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 always two of his men by him that 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 carryed in a Litter hanging near to the ground for fear of falling 3. The Cardinal of Winchester Henry Beaufort commonly called the Rich Cardinal who procured the death of the good Duke of Gloucester in the reign of King Henry the sixth was soon after struck with an incurable disease and understanding by his Physicians that he could not live murmuring and repining thereat as Doctor Iohn Baker his Chaplain and Privy-councellor writes he fell into such speeches as these Fye will not death be hired Will mony do nothing Must I dye that have so great Riches If the whole Realm of England would save my life I am able either
in the judgment of himself and all his Citizens He made a solemn Feast upon his Birth-day and having invited all his friends setteth himself to the displaying of all his prosperity which himself magnifieth admireth and extolleth above the clouds and at last comes to this he asks one of his inward friends if there wanted any thing to make up his felicity compleat who considering what little stay there is in worldly matters and how they roll and flye away in a moment or rather inspired from above made this answer Certainly the wrath of God cannot be long from this thy so great prosperity Well the Forces of the Guelphs beginning to decay the Gibbellines run to Arms beset the house of this prosperous Hugolin break down the Gates kill one of his Sons and a Grandchild that opposed their entrance lay hold on Hugolin himself imprison him with two other of his Sons and three Granchildren in a Tower shut all the Gates upon them and throw the keys into the River of Arne that ran hard by Here Hugolin saw those goodly Youths of his dying between his arms himself also at deaths door He cryed and besought his enemies to be content that he might endure some humane punishment and to grant that he might be confessed and communicate e're he dyed But their hearts were all flint and all he requested with tears they denied with derision so he dyed pitifully together with his Sons and Grandchildren that were inclosed with him So sudden and oftentimes so tragical are the revolutions of that life which seems most to promise a continuance of prosperity 15. Amongst all those that have been advanced by the favour of mighty Princes there was never so great a Minion nor a more happy man in his life until his death than was Ibraim Bassa chief Vizier to Solyman the Great Turk This Bassa finding himself thus highly caressed by his Lord and Master he besought him on a day as he talked with him with great familiarity that he would forbear to make so much of him lest being elevated too high and flourishing beyond measure it should occasion his Lord to look a scance upon him and plucking him from the top of Fortunes wheel to hurl him into the lowest of misery Solyman then swore unto him that while he lived he would never take a way his life But afterwards moved against him by the ill success of the Persian War by him perswaded and some suspicion of Treachery yet feeling himself tyed by his oath he forbore to put him to death till being perswaded and informed by a Talisman or Turkish Priest that a man asleep cannot be counted amongst the living in regard the whole life of man is a perpetual watch Solyman sent one night an Eunuch who with a sharp razor cut his throat as he was quietly sâ—eeping upon a Pallet in the Court. And thus this great Favourite had not so much as the favour to be acquainted with his Masters displeasure but was sent out of the world at unawares his dead body was reviled and curst by Solyman after which a weight was tyed to it and it cast into the Sea 16. George Villiers was the third Son of Sir George Villiers Knight was first sworn Servant to King Iames then his Cupâ—bearer at large the Summer following admitted in ordinary the next St. Georges day he was Knighted and made Gentleman of the Kings Bedâ—chamber and the same day had an annual pension of a thousand pound given him out of the Court of Wards At New-years tide following the King chose him Master of the Horse After this he was installed of the most noble Order of the Garter In the next August he created him Baron of Whaddon and Viscount Villiers In Ianuary of the same year he was advanced Earl of Buckingham and sworn of his Majesties Privy Council The March ensuing he attended the King into Scotland and was likewise â—worn a Councellor in that Kingdom At New-years Tide after he was created Marquess of Buckingham and made Lord Admiral of England Chief Justice in Eyre of all the Parks and Forests on the South-side of Trent Master of the Kings Bench Office head Steward of Westminster and Constable of Windsor Castle chosen by the King the chief Concomitant of the Heir apparent in his Journey into Spain then made Duke of Buckingham and his Patent sent him thither After his return from whence he was made Lord Warden of the Cinque-ports and Steward of the Mannor of Hampton-Court But in the midst of all these Honours of the Duke upon Saturday the 23. of August at Portsmouth when after break-fast he came out of the room into a kind of Lobby somewhat darker and which led to another Chamber where divers waited with Sir Thomas Fryer close at his ear in the moment as the said Knight withdrew himself from the Duke one Iohn Felton a younger Brother of mean fortunes in Suffolk gave him with a back blow a deep wound into his left side leaving the knife in his body which the Duke himself pulling out on a sudden effusion of spirits he sunk down under the table in the next room and immediately expired One thing in this enormous accident is I must confess to me beyond all wonder as I received it from a Gentleman of judicious and diligent observation and one whom the Duke well favoured that within the space of not many minutes after the fall of the body and removal thereof into the first room there was not a living creature in either of the Chambers with the body no more than if it had lain in the Sands of Ethiopia whereas commonly in such cases you shall note every where a great and sudden conâ—lux of people unto the place to hearken and see but it seems the horrour of the Fact stupisied all curiosity Thus dyed this great Peer in the thirty sixth year of his age compleat and three days over in a time of great recourse unto him and dependence upon him The House and Town full of Servants and Suitors his Dutchess in an upper room scarce yet out of her bed and the Court at this time not above six or nine miles from him which had been the Stage of his Greatness 17. Charles the Gross the twenty ninth King of France and Emperour of the West began to reign in the year 885. the eyes of the French were fixed upon him as the man that should restore their Estate after many disorders and confusions He went into Italy and expelled the Saracens that threatned Rome being returned he found the Normans dispersed in divers Coasts of his Realm Charles marches with his Army against them but at the first encounter was overthrown this check though the loss was small struck a great terrour and at last caused an apparent impossibility to succour Neustria and recover it from so great Forces He was therefore advised to treat with them to make them of enemies friends and to leave them that which
Sword and with force enough let drive at the place the Virgin had design'd him the sword entred so far into her throat that with one and the same blow he cut off his hopes of enjoying the Virgin and her fears of loosing her Virginty 19. Timoclea was a Lady of Thebes and at the sack of it was forcibly ravish'd by a Thracian Prince and she revenged the injury in this manner dissembling the extream hatred which she bare to her ravisher she told him she knew a place wherein much Treasure and store of Gold was conceal'd she led him to an out-place belonging to the house where there was a deep well while the over covetous Thracian lean'd over to look into it She tripp'd up his heels and sent him headlong to the bottom of it with a quantity of stones after him to hinder his resurrection from thence for ever to the world being afterwards brought before Alexander and charged with the death of this Captain of his she confessed the fact and when he asked who she was I am said she the Sister of that Theagenes who died sighting valiantly against thy Father in the Fields of Cheronaea the generous Prince freely dismiss'd her 20. There was a Maid called Lucia who lived a Virgin amongst many others and whose exquisite beauty was sought unto with vehement solicitation by a powerful Lord who having Command and Authority in his hands sent messengers to seise on this innocent Lamb and whilst they were at the gate menacing to kill her and set all on fire if this poor creature was not delivered into their hands the Maid came forth what is it said she you demand I beseech you tell me whether there be any thing in my power to purchase your Lord and Masters Love yea answered they in a flouting manner your eyes have gained him nor ever can he have rest tell he enjoy them Well go then said she only suffer me to go to my Chamber and I will give satisfaction in this point The poor maid seeing her self betwixt the Hammer and the Anvil she spake to her eyes and said how my eyes are you then guilty I know the reservedness and simplicity of your glances nor have I in that kind any remorse of conscience But howsoever it be you appear to me not innocent enough since you have kindled fire in the heart of a man whose hatred I have ever more esteemed than his love Quench with your blood the flames you have raised Whereupon with a hand piously cruel She digged out her eyes and sent the torn reliques embrewed in her blood to him who sought her adding Behold what you love He seized with horror hastned to hide himself in a Monastery where he remained the rest of his days 21. The Consul Manlius having overthrown the Army of Gallogrecians in Mount Olympus part were slain and part made prisoners amongst others was the Wife of Prince Orgiagon a woman of surpassing beauty who was committed to the custody of a Centurion and by him forcibly ravished Her ransome was afterwards agreed upon and the place appointed to receive it from the hands of her friends when they came thither and that the Centurion was intent both with his eyes and mind upon the weighing of the Gold she in her Language gave command to them that were present that they should kill him When his head was cut off she took it up in her hands went with it to her husband and having thrown it at his feet she related the manner of the injury she had received and the revenge she had taken who will say that any thing besides the body of this woman was in the power of her enemies for neither could her mind be overcome nor the chastity of it violated 22. I will shut up this Chapter with the illustrious Example of Thomas Aquinas this great person had determined with himself to consecrate the flower of his age to God and the desirable vertue of Chastity his Parents opposed this Noble resolution of his by flatteries and threats and such other Arts as they supposed might be of use to them upon this occasion but without any success their Son remained constant to his purpose in despite of all their endeavors Whereupon they took this other course When Thomas was one day in his Chamber all alone they sent in to him a young Damosel of an admirable beauty who with a countenance composed to lasciviousness began with various allurements and feminine flatteries to invite him to wickedness All things seemed to speak in her her voice and form her eyes and clothes her gestures and perfumes the youth perceived the delightful poison began to slide into his heart and therefore turning himself Lord Jesus said he suffer me not to commit this filthy wickedness in thy sight or for the sake of carnal lust to loose the joys of Eternal Life this said he catch'd up a burning brand out of the fire with which he drave out this Syren before him and shut his Chamber door upon her happily by this means escaping the snare that was spread before him and by which he was so near to have been entangled CHAP. XXXI Of Patience and what power some men have had over their Passion EVery man knows how to row in a calm and an indifferet Pilot will serve to direct the course of a Ship when the season is quiet and serene but the conduct of that Governor is most praise worthy who knows how to steer his vessel aright when the winds are enraged and some furious tempest has put the tumultuous waves into a vehement commotion In like manner it is a small commendation to appear mild when nothing is said or done to displease us but to repress our rising passions and to keep down our resentments in the midst of injurious provocations so noble a victory deserves an Elogy which perhaps the greatest of Conquerors never merited 1. King Robert was one of the greatest Kings that ever wore Crown of France on a time he surpriz'd a Rogue who had cut away half of his Cloak Furred with Ermins to whom yet so taken and in an act of that insufferable presumption he did no further evil but only said mildly to him save thy self and leave the rest for another who may have need of it 2. King Henry the sixth of England was of that admirable patience that to one who struck him when he was taken Prisoner he only said forsooth you wrong your self more then me to strike the Lords Anointed 3. It s said that Philip the second King of Spain having written a letter with his own hand with much study and labor to be sent to the Pope when he asked for sand to be cast upon it his Secretary half a sleep powred the Ink in the Standish upon it in stead of the former this would have put most into a fury yet behold a person of this eminency bare it without speaking one angry word to
to be men of a turbulent and contentious nature it was brought before King Philip that he might determine thereof according to his pleasure who is said to have passed this Sentence You said he to one of them I command immediately to run out of Macedon and you said he to the other see that you make all imaginable haste after him A good riddance of such Salamanders as delight to live in the fire of contention who commence quarrels upon trivial accounts and withall know no time wherein to end them 1. Gloucestershire did breed a Plaintiff and Defendant which betwixt them with many alternations traversed the longest suit that ever I read of in England For a suit was commenced betwixt the Heirs of Sir Thomas Talbot Viscount Lisâ—e on the one part and the Heirs of Lord Barkely on the other about certain possessions lying in this County not far from Woton Vnder-edge which suit began in the end of the reign of King Edward the fourth was depending untill the beginning of King Iames when and was it not high time it was finally compounded 2. There was in Padua an ancient House called de Limino two Brothers of this Family being in the Country on a Summers day went abroad after Supper talking of divers things together As they were standing and gazing upon the Stars that twinkled in the Firmament being then very clear one of them began in merriment to say to the other Would I had as many Oxen as I see Stars in that Skie The other presently returns And would I had a Pasture as wide as the Firmament and therewith turning towards his Brother where then said he wouldst thou feed thine Oxen marry in thy Pasture said his Brother But how if I would not suffer thee said the other I would said he whether thou wouldst or not What said he in despight of my teeth yea said the other whatsoever thou couldst do to the contrary Hereupon their sport turned to outragious words and at last to fuâ—y in the end they drew their Swords and sell to it so hotly that in the turn of a hand they ran one the other through the body so that one fell one and the other the other way both weltring in their blood The people in the House hearing the bustle ran in to them but came too late they carried them into the House where both soon after gave up the Ghost 3. An extraordinary accident hath of late happened saith Iustinianus in the Confines of Tuscany Iohn Cardinal de Medices Son to Cosmo Duke of Florence a young Prince of Great estimation got on Horseback to ride on hunting accompanied with two of his Brethren Fernand and Cartia attended with some others their Dogs having followed a Hare a long time in the Plains at last killed her The Brothers thereupon began to debate about the first hold each of them attributing the honour thereof to his Dog one speech drew on another and from bare words they fell at last to taunts the Cardinal not enduring to be set light by and being of a haughty nature gave his Brother Cartia who expostulated with him a box on the Ear Cartia carried away with his choler drew his Sword and gave such a thrust into his brother Cardinals thigh that he presently dyed A Servant of the Cardinals in revenge of his Master gave Cartia a sore wound so that with the Venison they carried home to Duke Cosmo one of his Sons dead and for Cartia his wound was also such as within a while after he dyed of it thus for a matter of nothing the Father lost two of his Sons in a deplorable sort 4. Sigebert was King of Essex and the restorer of Religion in his Kingdom which had formerly apostatized after the departure of Mellitus a Valiant and Pious Prince but murdered by two Villains who being demanded the cause of their cruelty why they killed so harmless and innocent a Prince had nothing to say for themselves but they did it because his goodness had done the Kingdom hurt that such was his proneness to pardon offenders on their though but seeming submission that his meekness made many Malefactors The great quarrel they had with him it seems was only his being too good 5. The Chancellour of Theodoricus Arch-bishop of Magdeburg was attending upon the Duke of Saxony and was sate down with him at his Table in the City of Berlin when the Citizens brake in upon them drew out the Chancellour by a multitude of Lictors into the Market place of the City and there sever his head from his Shoulders with the Sword of the publick Executioner and all this for no other cause but that a few dayes before going to the Bath he met a Matron courteously saluted her and jesting asked her if she would go into the Bath with him which when she had refused he laughing dismissed her but this was ground sufficient for the mad multitude to proceed to such extremities upon 6. In the reign of Claudius Caesar Cumanus being then President in Iewry the Jews came up from all parts to Ierusalem for the celebration of the Passover there were then certain Cohorts of the Roman Souldiers that lay about the Temple as a guard whereof one discovered his privy parts perhaps for no other reason than to ease himself of his Urine but the Jews supposing that the uncircumcised Idolater had done this in abuse of the Iewish Nation and Religion were so incensed against the Souldiers that they immediately fell upon them with Clubs and Stones the Souldiers on the other side defended themselves with their arms till at last the Jews oppressed with their own multitudes and the wounds they received were enforced to give over the conflict but not before there were twenty thousand persons of them slain upon the place 7. Fabius Ambustus had two Daughters the elder he married to Servius Sulpitius then Consul the younger to Licinius Stolo a gallant man but of the Plebeian order It fell out that the younger Fabia sitting at her Sisters House upon a visit to her in the interim came the Lictors and smote upon the door of the Consul as the manner was when the Consul came home The younger Fabia was affrighted at the noise as being ignorant of the custom for which reason she was mocked at and derided by her Sister as one ignorant of the City affairs This contempt of her was afterwards an occasion of great troubles in Rome For the Father vehemently importuned by his young Daughter ceased not though contrary to the Law and the mind of the greater part of the Senate till he had made his Son Stolo Consul though a Plebeian and extorted a Decree through his practise with the people that from thenceforth Plebeians might be Consuls 8. In the reign of King Edward the sixth there were two Sisters in Law the one was Queen Katharine Parre late Wife to King Henry the eighth and then marryed to the
at Brindis wherein he had inclosed birds of all kinds and by his example we began to keep birds and fowl within narrow 〈◊〉 and Cages as prisoners to which Nature had allowed the wide Air to flye in at Liberty 16. The Scarus was a fish that bore the price and praise of all others in Rome the first that brought these out of the Carpathian Sea and stored our Seas betwixt Ostia and Campania with them was Optatus first the Slave and then the Freed-man lastly the Admiral of a Fleet under Claudius the Emperour 17. Caius Hirtius was the man by himself that before all others devised a Pond to keep Lampreys in he it was that in the Triumph of Iulius Caesar lent him six hundred Lampreys to furnish out his Feasts which he kept at that time but on this condition to have the same weight and tale repaid him 18. The best way of making Oyls and also of making Honey was first found out and practised by one Aristaeus 19. The first that built a house in Athens is said to be Doxius the Son of Caelius who taking his pattern from the Nests of the Swallows began the way of making houses with clay whereas before men dwelt in Caves and Caverns of the Earth and I know not what kind of miserable Huts 20. Semiramis was the first that caused the castration of young Males and howsoever by this her unworthy act she has possibly lost as much reputation as she hath praise for the building of Babylon yet she is followed in this corrupted example of hers by most of the Eastern Monarchs who delight to be attended by Eunuchs 21. About Syrene in the Province of Thebais there is a Marble thereupon called Syrenites which was also called Pyrrhopoecilos of this stone in times past the Kings of Egypt made certain Radii or Obelisks and consecrated them to the Sun whom they honoured as a God They were inchased or had engraven upon them certain Characters and Figures which were the Egyptian Hieroglyphicks and therein a great part of their best Learning was contained These Obelisks were stones cut out of the solid Rock framed of one entire stone and of that mighty bigness that some of them have been on every side four cubits square and in length an hundred foot as was that of Ramises once King of Egypt The first that ever began to erect these Obelisks was Mitres King of Egypt who held his Court in the Royal City of Heliopolis the City of the Sun and it is said he was admonished in a Vision or Dream so to do 22. Edward the Third our most renowned King to his eternal memory brought cloathing first into this Island transporting some Families of Artificers from Gaunt hither 23. Cneius Manlius as Livy relates Anno ab Vrb. condit 567. was the first brought out of Asia to Rome singing Wenches Players Jesters Mimicks and all kind of Musick to their Feasts 24. Solon as writeth Philemon was the first who brought up Whores for the young men of Athens that the fervour of their lust being exonerated that way they might desist from the enterprize and thoughts of any thing that is worse 25. Antigonus King of Iudaea was beheaded by the command of M. Antonius the Triumvir and this was the first King that ever was put to death in this manner 26. A Cardinal named Os Porci or Swine-snout in the days of Ludovicus Pius the Emperour was chosen Pope and because it was a very unseemly name for so high a Dignity by a general consent it was changed and he was called Sergius the Second This was the first and from thence arose the custom of the Popes altering their names after their Election to the Popedom 27. Honorius the Fifth Archbishop of Canterbury was the first that divided his Province into Parishes that so he might appoint particular Ministers to particular Congregations he dyed Anno Dom. 653. 28. Cuthbert the Eleventh Archbishop of Canterbury was the first that got liberty from the Pope of making Cemeteries or Burial places within Towns and Cities for before within the Walls none were buried 29. Ralph Lane was the first that brought Tabaco into England in the twenty eight of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and in the year of our Lord 1585. 30. Servius Tullius King of the Romans caused Brass money to be coined and was the first that stamped it for before his days they used it at Rome rude in the mass or lump The mark he imprinted on his Coin was a Sheep which in Latine they call Pecus and from thence came the word Pecunia which signifies money CHAP. XLIII Of the witty Speeches or Replys suddenly made by some persons THE vein of wit doth not always answer a mans desire but at some times while we are writing or speaking something doth casually offer it self unto our thoughts which perhaps hath more of worth in it than we are able to compass with the utmost vehemence of our meditation and study Facetious men have many such fortunate hits lighting on the sudden upon that which is more graceful and pleasant to the hearer than their more elâ—borate endeavours would be 1. Poggius the Florentine tells a merry story condemning the folly and impertinent business of such especially mean persons as spend their time in hunting and hawking c. A Physician of Millain saith he that cured mad men had a pit of water in his house in which he kept his Patients some up to the knees some to the girdle some to the chin pro modo insaniae as they were more or less affected One of them by chance that was well recovered stood in the door and seeing a Gallant ride by with a Hawk on his fist well mounted with his Spaniels aâ—ter him would needs know to what use all this preparation served he made answer To kill certain Fowl the Patient demanded again What his Fowl might be worth which he killed in a year he replied five or ten Crowns and when he urged him further what his Dogs Horse and Hawks stood him in he told him four hundred Crowns with that the Patient bade him be gone as he loved his life and welfare For said he if our Master come and find thee here he will put thee into the pit amongst mad-men up to the very chin 2. Mr. Bradford said of Popish Prelates magnifying the Church and contemning Christ That they could not mean honestly that make so much of the Wife and so little of the Husband 3. One asked a noble Sea-Captain Why having means sufficient to live upon the Land he would yet endanger his person upon the Ocean He told him That he had a natural inclination to it and therefore nothing could divert him I pray said the other where dyed your Father At Sea said the Captain And where your Grandfather At Sea also said he And said the other Are you not for that
Others laid themselves backwards on their running Horses and taking their tails put them in their mouths and yet forgot not their aim in shooting Some after every shot drew out their Swords and flourished them about their heads and again sheathed them Others sitting betwixt three Swords on their right and as many on the left thinly cloathed that without geart care every motion would make way for death yet before and behind them touched the Mark. One stood upon two Horses running very swiftly his feet loose and shot also at once three Arrows before and again three behind him Another sitting on a Horse neither bridled nor sadled as he came at every Mark arose and stood upon his feet and on both hands hitting the Mark sat down again three times A third sitting on the bare Horse when he came to the Mark lay upon his back and lifted up his leg and yet missed not his shoot One of them was kill'd with a fall and two sore wounded in these their feats of activity All this is from Baumgustens relation who was an eye-witness thereof 10. Bemoine in an accident of Civil Wars in Gia laff came ro the King of Portugal for aid with his followers amongst whom some were of such admirable dexterity and nimbleness of body that they would leap upon a Horse as he gallopped and would stand upright in the Saddle when he ran fastest and turn themselves about and suddenly sit down and in the same race would take up stones laid in order upon the ground and leap down and up at pleasure CHAP. XXVII Of the extraordinary swiftness and footmanship of some Men. THe news of the overthrow of King Perseus by L. Paulus Aemylius is said to be brought from Macedonia to Rome in a day but then it is suspected to be performed by the ministration of Spirits who free from the burden of a body may well be the quicker in their intelligence We here have an account of some such who may seem to have divested themselves of flesh and almost to contend with Spirits themselves in the quickness of their conveyance of themselves from place to place 1. Philippides being sent by the Athenians to Sparta to implore their assistance in the Persian War in the space of two days ran one thousand two hundred and sixty furlongs that is one hundred fifty seven Roman miles and a half 2. Euchidas was sent by the same Athenians to Delphos to desire some of the holy Fire from thence he went and return'd in one and the same day having measured 1000 furlongs that is 125 Roman miles 3. When Fonteius and Vipsanus were Consuls there was a Boy of but nine years of age Martial calls him Addas who within the compass of one day ran 75 miles outright 4. But that amazes me saith Lipsius which Pliny sets down of Philonides the Courier or furlongs that he dispatch'd in nine hours of the day 1200 furlongs even as far as Scycione to Elis and returned from thence by the third hour of the night And the same Pliny speaks of it as a known thing We know those now a-days saith he who will dispatch 160 miles in the Cirque upon a wager 5. There was one Philippus a young man a Soldier and one of the Guard to Alexander the Great who on foot and arm'd and with his weapons in his hand did attend the King for 500 furlongs as he rode in his Charriot Lysimachus often profer'd him his Horse but he would not accept him I wonder not at the space he measured as that he perform'd it under such a weight of arms 6. King the Henry Fifth of England was so swift in running that he with two of his Lords without Bow or other Engine would take a wild Buck or Doe in a large Park 7. Harold The Son of Canutus the Second succeeded his Father in the Kingdom of England he was sirnamed Harefoot because he ran as swift as a Hare 7. Ethus King of the Scots was of that swiftness that he almost reached that of Stags and Grey-hounds he was therefore vulgarly call'd Alipes wing'd-foot though otherwise unâ— it for Government cowardly and a slave of pleasure 9. Starchaterus the Suecian was a valiant Giant excelling in strength of body and of incredible swiftness of foot so that in the compass of one day he ran out of the upper Suecia into Denmark a journey which other men could hardly perform in the compass of twelve days though on horseback 10. The Piechi are a sort of Footmen who attend upon the Turkish Emperour and when there is occasion are dispatch'd hither and thither with his Orders or other Messages They run with such admirable swiftness that with a little Polaxe and a Viol of sweet Waters in their hands they will run from Constantinople to Hadrianople in a day and a night that is about 160 Roman miles 11. Luponus a Spaniard was of that strength and swiftness that with a Ram laid on his shoulder he equall'd any other in the Race that was to be found in his time 12. Under the Emperour Leo who succeeded Marcian there was a Greek named Indacus a valiant man and of a wonderful footmanship he would run faster than any other of the Athenian or Spartan Footmen before mentioned One might see him at parting but he vanished presently like lightning seeming as if he flew over Mountains and steep places rather than run he could ride more way in one day without being weary than the best Post could have done with so many Horses of release as he could take without staying in any place when he had made in a day much more way than a Post could do with all his speed the next day he return'd to the place from whence he departed the day before and went again from thence the next day for some other place and never left running nor could stay long in any place 13. Iustin tells how the Daughter of Gargoris King of the Curetes having suffer'd her self to be defil'd was delivered of a Son call'd Habides whom the Grand-father desirous to hide his Daughters shame caus'd to be expos'd and in a solitary place left to the mercy of the wild Beasts but an Hind brought him up tenderly as if he had been a Fawn of her own so that being grown somewhat great he would run swiftly like the Stags with which he leap'd and skip'd in the Mountains Finally he was taken in a snare presented to Gargoris and by peculiar marks upon his body known and owned by him to be the Son of his Daughter who admiring the strange way of preservation left the Crown to him as his Successor 12. Polymnestor a Boy of Milesia was set out by his Mother to keep Goats under a Master who was the owner of them while he was in this imployment he pursu'd a Hare in sport overtook and catch'd her which known he was by his Master
Frescobald would have refused but the other forced them upon him This done he caused him to give him the names of all his debtors and the sums they owed The Schedule he delivered to one of his Servants with charge to search out the men if within any part of the Realm and straitly to charge them to make payment within fifteen days or else to abide the hazard of his displeasure The Servant so well performed the command of his Master that in very short time the whole Sum was paid in During all this time Frescobald lodged in the Lord Chancellors house who gave him the entertainment he deserved and oftentimes moved him to abide in England offering him the Loan of sixty thousand Ducats for the space oâ— four years if he would continue and make his bank at London But he desiâ—ed to return into his own Country which he did with the great favour oâ— the Lord Cromwel and there richly arrived but he enjoyed his wealth but a small time for in the first year of his return he dyed 13. Franciscus Dandalus was sent Embassador from the Venetians to Pope Clement into France wheâ—e he then was to deprecate his anger and to take off the publick ignominy which he was resolved to â—xpose them to long did he lye in Chains prostrate at the Popes Table in mourning and great humility beâ—ore he could any way appease that indignation which the Pope had conceived against his People at the last he returned well acquit of his chaâ—â—e when such was the gratitude of his fellow Citizens that by a mighty and universal consent they elected him Duke of Venice that he who but laâ—â—ly had been in such despicable state for his Couâ—triâ—s sake might now be beheld as conspicuous on the other side in Gold and Purple 14. Antonius Muâ—a was Physician to Augustus Caesar and being one time delivered by him from a disâ—ase that was believed would prove deadly to him the people of Rome were so joyed with the unexpected recovery of their Prince that to express their gratitude to his Physician they passed a decree that his Statue should be erected and placed next unto that of Aesculapius 15. Hippocrates the Physician perceiving the Plague from Illyricum to begin to grow upon the parts adjacent sent some of his Scholars into divers Cities of Greece to assist and to administer to such as were seised with it upon which in token of their gratitude they decreed to him the same honour which they had had used to give to Hercules 16. Iunius Brutus did notably revenge the Rape done upon Lucretia by one of the Tarquins with the expulsion of them all and delivering Rome from the bondage of their Tyranny when therefore this grand Patron of Feminine Chastity was dead the Roman Matrons lamented the death of him in mourning for a year entire 17. A War was commenced betwixt the Athenians and the Dorians these last consulting the Oracle were told they should carry the victory unless they killed the King of the Athenians they there fore gave charge to their Soldiers concerning the safety of the King Codrus was at that time King of the Athenians who having understood the answer of the Oraâ—le in Love to his Country he disguised himself in mean Apparel and entred the enemies Camp with a sythe upon his Shoulder with this he wounded one of the Soldiers by whom he was immediately slain The body of the King being known the Dorians departed without fighting and the Athenians in gratitude to their Prince who had devoted his life for the common safety would never after suffer themselves to be ruled by a King doing their departed Prince this honour that they declared they thought no man worthy to succeed him CHAP. XXI Of the Meekness Humanity Clemency and Mercy of some Men. THe abundant Trade pleasant Scituation and other considerable advantages did occasion one to say of Ormus a City in Persia. Si Terrarum Orbis quaqua patet annulus esset Illius Ormusium gemma decusque foret If all the World were made into a Ring Ormus the Gemm and grace thereof should bring And were I to set the Crown upon some one particular virtue amongst all those that have been conspicuous in man I know none that I should be more prone to favour than that of mercy and I must confess I was well pleased when I read what followeth 1. Photius the learned Patriarch of Constantinople observeth in his Bibliotheke a wonderful judgment given in the City of Athens He saith the Senate of the Areopagites being assembled together in a Mountain without any Roof but Heaven the Senators perceived a Bird of prey which pursued a little Sparrow that came to save it self in the bosom of one of their Company This man who naturally was harsh threw it from him so roughly that he killed it whereat the Court was offended and a decree was made by which he was condemned and banished from the Senate Where the Judicious observe that this company which was at that time one of the gravest in the world did it not for the care they had to make a law concerning Sparrows but it was to shew that clemency and merciful inclination was a virtue so necessary in a State that a man destitute of it was not worthy to hold any place in Government he having as it were renounced humanity 2. Agesilaus the Spartan was of that humanity and clemency towards those whom he had overcome in Battel that he often gave publick admonitions to his Soldiers that they should not treat their Prisoners with insolence but should consider that those who were thus subdued and reduced to this condition were men and when any of these at the removal of his Camp were left behind by his Soldiers as unable to follow through sickness or age he took care to order some persons to receive and take care of them lest being destitute of all assistance they should perish with hunger or become a prey to the wild Beasts 3. Titus Vespasian the Emperour was deservedly called the Darling of Mankind he professed that he thereupon took upon him the supreme Pontisicate that in so high a Priesthood he might be obliged to keep his hands pure from the blood of all men which he also performed and saith Suetonius from that time forth he never was the Author of or consenting to the death of any man although sometimes there were offered him just causes of revenge but he still used to say he had rather perish himself than be the ruine of another When two Patricians stood convicted of high Treason and affectation of the Empire he thought it sufficient to admonish them in words to desist such designs that Princes were ordained by sate that if they would any other thing of him they might ask it and have it Soon after the Mother of one of them living far off lest she should be aâ—â—righted with some sad news he sent
variously and cruelly tormented by the Tyrant Nicocreon and yet by all his crueltiâ—s could never be restrained from urging of him with opprobrious terms and the most reproachful language At last the Tyrant being highly provok'd threatned that he would cause his tongue to be cut out of his mouth Effeminate yong man said Anaxarchus neither shall that part of my body be at thy disposal And while the Tyrant for very rage stood gaping before him he immediately bit off his Tongue with his Teeth and spat it into his mouth A Tongue that had heretofore bred admiration in the ears of many but especially of Alexander the Great at such time as it had discours'd of the State of the earth the properties of the Seas the motion of the Stars and indeed the Nature of the whole World in a most prudent and eloquent manner 12. William Colingborn Esq being condemned for making this Rhime on King Richard the third The Cat the Rat and Lovel our Dog Rule all England under the Hog was put to a most cruel death for being hang'd and cut down alive his bowels rip 't 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 Iesus yet more trouble and so dy'd to the great sorrow of much people 13. Amongst the Indians the meditation of patience is adhered to with that obstinacy that there are some who pass their whole life in nakedness one while hardning their bodies in the frozen rigours and piercing colds of Mount Caucasus and at others exposing themselves to the â—lames without so much as a sigh or groan Nor is it a small glory that they acquire to themselves by this contempt of pain for they gain thereby the reputation and Title of Wise Men. 14. Such Examples as I have already recited I have furnished my self with either by reading or by the relation of such as have seen them but there now comes into my mind a most eminent one whereof I can affirm that I my self was an eye witness and it was this Hieronymus Olgiatus was a Citizen of Millain and he was one of those four that did Assassinate Galeatius 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 never accustomed to the bearing of Arms by which it is usual for men to acquire vigour and strength yet being fastned to that rope upon which he was tormented he seemed as if he sat upon some Tribunal free from any expression of grief with a clear voyce 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 himself and his Confederates Being at last brought to the place of Execution beholding Carolus and Francion two of his associats to stand as if they were almost dead with 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 bound fast down unto it when others that stood by were terrified with the shew and horror of that death that was prepared for him he with specious words and assured voyce 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 voyce but with a Prayer to God he ended his life 15. Caius Marius the Roman Consul having the chief veins of his legs swelled a Disease of those Times he stretched out one leg to be cut off by the hand of the Chirurgeon and not only did he refuse to be bound as 't is customary with such Patients or to be held by any man but not so much as by any word or sign did he bewray any sence of pain all the time of the operation no more than if the incision had been made in any other body or that he himself had been utterly voyd of all sence But afterwards when his Chirurgeon propounded to him the same method of cure for his other leg in regard the Disease was rather deforming than extreamly dangerous Marius told him that the matter seemed not to him of that importance as that upon the account thereof he should undergo such tormenting pain By which words he discovered that during the time of the incision of his leg he had indured very great pain but that through the strength and tollerance of his mind he had dissembled and supprest what he felt 16. This was also an Example of great patience in this kind which Strabo mentions in his Geography from the Authority of Nicholaus Damascenus viz. that Zarmonochaga the Ambassador from the Indian King having finished his Negotiation with Augustus to his mind and thereof sent account 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 CHAP. XXXVI Of the Fortitude and Personal Valour of some Famous Men. THere is a Precious Stone by the Greeks called Ceraunia as one would say the Thunderstone for it is bred among Thunders and is found in places where Heaven all swollen with anger hath cleft the Master-pieces of the Worlds Magazine saith Caussine such is the valiant man bred up so long in dangers till he hath learned to contemn them And if the Poet be a Prophet you shall hear him say He that smiling can gaze on Styx and black wav'd Acheron That dares brave his ruine he To Kings to Gods shall equal be At least if he fall in a Noble Cause he dies a Martyr and the Brazen Trumpet of Fame shall proclaim this glorious memorial to late Posterity as it hath done for those that follow 1. Sapores the Persian King beseiged Caesaria in Cappadocia a Captive Physician shewed him a weak place of the City where he might enter at which the Persians gaining entrance put all indifferently to the Sword Demosthenes the Governour of the City hearing the Tumult speedily mounted and perceiving all lost sought to get out but in the way fell upon a Squadron of the Enemy that gathered about him to take him alive but he setting Spurs to his Horse and stoutly laying about him with his Sword slew many and opening himself a way through the midst of them escaped 2. When L. Sylla beheld his
in any thing to violate and infringe them 3. Draco was also before him a Law-giver at Athens whose Laws were antiquated by Solon by reason oâ— their severity and rigour for he punished all sorts of faults almost with death He that was convicted of Idleness died for it and he that had stolen an Apple or handful of Herbs was to abide the same sentence as iâ— hâ— had committed Sacriledge So that Demades afterwards said wittily That Draco's Laws were not written with Ink but blood They say that Draco himself being ask'd Why he punished even petty Larcenies with death made this answer That the smallest of them did deserve that and that there was not a greater punishment he could find out for greater Crimes 4. Zâ—molxis was the Law-giver of Thrace a Native of that Country who having been brought up under Pythagoras and returning home prescribed them good and wholsom Laws assuring them That if they did observe the same they should go unto a place when they left this World in which they should enjoy all manner of pleasure and contentment By this means having gotten some opinion of a Divinity amongst them he absented himself and was afterwards worshipped by them as a god 5. Diocles was the Law-giver of the Syracusans he punished offences with inexorable severity and for such as transgressed there was no hope of pardon Amongst others of his Laws this was one That no man should presume to enter armed into the Forum and Assembly of the people in case any should he should suffer death no exception being made in case of imprudence or any kind of necessity One day when the news was That the enemy had broke into their Fields Diocles hasted out against them with his Sword by his side Upon the way as he went it sell out That there was a Sedition and tumult amongst the people in their Assembly whither he imprudently diverts armed as he was when presently a private person that had observed him began to cry out That he had broken the Laws which himself had made Diocles turning towards his Accuser No said he with a loud voice but they shall now have their Sanction which said he drew out his Sword and thrust it through his own throat that he died 6. Zalencus was the Law-giver of the Locrians he made a Law That the Adulterer should be punished with the loss of both his eyes his own son happened to be the first offender in that kind therefore to shew the love of a Father and the sincerity of a Judge he put out one of his sons eyes and one of his own He also provided by his Laws That no woman should be attended in the Street with more than one Maid but when she was drunk That no woman should go abroad at night but when she went to play the Harlot That none should wear Gold or embroidered apparel but when they meant to set themselves to open sale And that men should not wear Rings and Tissues but when they went about some act of uncleanness and many others of this mould By means whereof both men and women were restrained from all extraordinary trains of attendance and excess of apparel the common consequents of a long and prosperous tranquillity 7. Charondas the Law-giver of the Thurians in Greece amongst others of his Laws had made this against civil factions and for prevention of sudden and tumultuary slaughters That it should be Capital for any man to enter the Assembly of the people armed with any weapon about him It fell out that as he returned from abroad he appointed a Convention of the people and like unto the forementioned Diocles appeared therein armed as he was When his opposers told him That he had openly broken the Law of his own making by entring the place in such manner as he did It is very true said he but withal I will make the first sanction of it and thereupon drawing his Sword he fell upon it so that he died in the place 8. Pharamond was the first King of the French and a Law-giver amongst them it is said That he was the Maker of the Law called the Salick Law by which the Crown of France may not descend unto the Females or as their saying is fall from the Lance to the Distaff Whence this Law had its name of Salique is uncertain some say from the words Si aliqua so often used in it others because it was proposed by the Priests called Salii or that it was decreed in the Fields which take their name from the River Sala But Haillan one of their best Writers affirms That it was never heard of in France till the time of Philip the long Anno 1315. Others say it was made by Charles the Great after the Conquest of Germany where the incontinent lives of the women living about the River Salae in the modern Misâ—ia gave both the occasion and the name De terrâ vero Salicâ nullae portio haereditatis mulieri veniat sed ad virilem sexum tota terrâ— haereditas perveniat are the words of the Law This terra Salica the Learned Selden in his Titles of Honour Englishes Knights Fee or Land holden by Knights Service and proves his Interpretation by a Record of the Parliament of Bourdeaux cited by Bodinus 9. King Richard the first of England as Lord paramount of the Seas immediately on his return from the Holy Land the Island of Oleron being then in his possession as a member of his Dukedom of Aquitaine did there declare and establish those Maritime Laws which for near five hundred years have generally been received by all the States of the Christian World which frequent the Ocean for the regulating of Sea affairs and deciding of Maritime Controversies From thence they are called the Laws of Oleron Quae quidem leges Statuta per Dominum Richardum quondam Regem Angliae in reditu à terrâ Sanctâ correcta fuerunt interpretata declarata in Insula de Oleron publicata nominata in Gallica Lingua la Loy d' Oleron c. saith an old Record which I â—ind cited in a Manuscript discourse of Sir Iohn Burroughs intituled the Soveraignty of the British Seas 10. Nicodorus was a famous Wrastler and Champion in his younger time but having taken leave of those youthful exercises and grown into years he became the Law-giver of the Mantineans amongst whom he lived and by the prudent composure of his Laws he brought much greater honour to his Country than when he was publickly proclaimed Victor in his former Atchievements It is said That the body of his Laws were framed for him by Diagoras Melius 11. Pittacus made Laws for the Mitylenians and having ten years presided amongst them after he had well setled the affairs of their Republick he voluntarily resigned up his power Amongst other his Laws this was one That he who committed a fault in his Drunkenness should undergo a double
his men to go into the Shallop and to tow off the Ship coming near the Island they saw something which was more like a Ghost than a living person a body stark naked black and hairy a meagre and deformed countenance and hollow and distorted eyes he fell on his knees and joyning his hands together begged relief from them which raised such compassion in them that they took him into the Boat there was in all the Island nor grass nor tree nor ought whence a man could derive either subsistence or shelter besides the ruines of a Boat wherewith he had made a kind of Hut to lye down under The man gave this relation of himself That he was an English man and that a year ago or near it being to pass in the ordinary passage Boat from England to Dublin they were taken by a French Pirate who being forced by a tempest that immediately rose to let go the passage Boat left us to the mercy of the waves which carried us into the main Sea and at last split the Boat upon the Rock where you took me in I escaped with one more into the Island where we endured the greatest extremities Of some of the boards of our Boat we made the Hut you saw we took some Sea-mews which dryed in the wind and Sun we eat raw In the crevices of the Rocks on the Sea-side we found some eggs and thus we had as much as we served to keep us from starving But our thirst was most insupportable for having no fresh water but what fell from the sky and was left in certain pits which time had worn in the Rocks we could not have it at all seasons for the Rock lying low was washed over with the waves of the Sea We lived in this condition six weeks comforting one another in our common misfortune till being left alone it began to grow insupportable to me For one day awaking in the morning and missing my Comrade I fell into such despair that I had thoughts of casting my self head-long into the Sea I know not what became of him whether despair forced him to that extremity or that looking for eggs on the steepy side of the Rock he might fall into the Sea I lost with my Comrade the knife wherewith we killed Sea-dogs and the Mews upon which we lived so that not able to kill any more I was reduced to this extremity to get out of one of the boards of my Hut a great nail which I made shift so to sharpen upon the Rock that it served me for a knife The same necessity put me upon another invention which kept me last winter during which I endured the greatest misery imaginable For finding the Rock and my Hut so covered with snow that it was impossible for me to get any thing abroad I put out a little stick at the crevice of my Hut and baiting it with a little Sea-dogs fat I by that means got some Sea-mews which I took with my hand from under the snow and so I made a shift to keep my self from starving I lived in this condition and solitude above eleven months and was resolved to end my days in it when God sent you hither to deliver me out of the greatest misery that ever man was in The Sea-man having ended his discourse the Master of the Ship treated him so well that within a few days he was quite another creature he set him ashore at Derry in Ireland and saw him afterwards at Dublin where such as had heard what had happened to him gave him wherewithal to return into England 3. Richard Clark of Weymouth in Dorsetshire was a knowing Pilot and Master of the Ship called the Delight which An. 1583. went with Sir Humphrey Gilbert for the discovery of Norembege It happened that without any neglect or default of his the Ship struck on ground and was cast away on Thursday August 29. in the same year Of them that escaped shipwrack sixteen got into a small Boat of a Tun and half which had but one Oar to work withal they were seventy leagues from land and the weather so foul that it was not possible for a Ship to brook half a course of sail The Boat being over-burdened one of them Mr. Hedley made a motion to cast lots that those four which drew the shortest should be cast over board provided if one lot fell on the Master he notwithstanding should be preserved in whom all their safety was concerned The Master disavowed the acceptance of any such priviledge replying they would live or dye together On the fifth day Mr. Hedley who first motioned lot-drawing and another dyed whereby their Boat was somewhat alighted Five days and nights together they saw the Sun and Stars but once so that they only kept up their Boat with their single Oar as the Sea did drive it They continued four days without sustenance save what the weeds which swam in the Sea and salt water did afford On the seventh day about eleven of clock they had sight of and about three they came on the South part of New-found land All the time of their being at Sea the wind kept continually South if it had shifted to any other point they had never come to land but it turned to the North within half an hour of their arrival Being all come to shore they kneeled down and gave God praise for their miraculous deliverance There they remained three days and nights having there plentiful repast upon Berries and wild Pease After five days rowing along the shore they happened on a Spanish Ship of St. Iohn de Luz which courteously brought them home to Biscay Here the Visitors of the inquisition came aboard the Ship put them on examination but by the Masters favour and some general answers they escaped for the present But fearing a second search they shifted for themselves and going twelve miles by night got into France and so safely arrived in England Thus as the Psalmist speaks They which go down into the Sea and occupy in great waters these men see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep 4. It is a story altogether lamentable and a calamity full of astonishment which happened about the Cape de bona Speranza to Manuel de Sousa sirnamed Sepulveda Governour of the Citadel of Diu for the King of Portugal and it is this Having long enjoyed great happiness and honour in the East-Indie he came to Cochin not far from Calecut where he embarked himself in Ianuary 1553. in a great Ship laden with riches and about six hundred persons with him amongst which was his wife his children servants slaves and a great retinue to come into Portugal but the Ship being cast away upon the Coasts of Aethiopia and the Sea having swallowed up well near all that was within it except the persons who saved themselves ashore half naked destitute of all hope to recover their loss again having relyed upon the words