who thus spake aloud Sir I thank God for the Goods he hath bestowed upon me but more that he hath given me this present opportunity to make it known that I prize the lives of my Countrymen and Fellow-Burgesses above mine own At the hearing of which speech and sight of his forwardness one Iohn Daire and four others after him made the like offers not without a great abundance of prayers and tears from the common people who saw them so freely and readily sacrifice all their particular respects for the Weal of the publick And instantly without more ado they address themselves to the King of England with the Keys of the Town with none other hope but of death to which though they held themselves assured thereof they went as chearfully as if they had been going to a Wedding yet it pleasing God to turn the heart of the English King at the instance of the Queen and some of the Lords they were all sent back again safe and sound 2. When the Grecians of Doris a Region between Phocis and the Mountain Oeta sought counsel from the Oracle for their success in the Wars against the Athenians it was answered that then undoubtedly they should prevail and become Lords of that State when they could obtain any victory against them and yet preserve the Athenian King living Codrus the then King of Athens by some intelligence being inform'd of this answer withdrew himself from his own Forces and putting on the habit of a common Soldier entred the Camp of the Dorians and killing the first he encountred was himself forthwith cut in pieces falling a willing sacrifice to preserve the liberty of his Country 3. Cleomenes King of Sparta being distress'd by his Enemy Antigonus King of Macedon sent unto Ptolomey King of Aegypt for help who promised it upon condition to have his Mother and Child in pledge Cleomenes was a long time ashamed to make his Mother acquainted with these conditions went oftentimes on purpose to let her understand it but when he came he had not the heart to break it to her she suspecting asked his Friends if her Son had not something to say to her whereupon he brake the matter with her when she heard it she laughing said How comes it to pass thou hast concealed it so long Come come put me straight into a Ship and send me whether thou wilt that this body of mine may do some good unto my Country before crooked age consume it without profit Cratesiclea for so was her name being ready to depart took Cleomenes into the Temple of Neptune embracing and kissing him and perceiving that his heart yearn'd for sorrow of her departure O King of Sparta said she let no man see for shame when we come out of the Temple that we have wept and dishonoured Sparta Whilest she was with Ptolomey the Achaians sought to make peace with Cleomenes but he durst not because of his pledges which were with King Ptolomey which she hearing of wrote to him that he should not spare to do any thing that might conduce to the honour or safety of his Country though without the consent of King Ptolomey for fear of an old woman and a young boy 4. Sylla having overcome Marius in Battle commanded all the Citizens of Praeneste to be slain excepting one only that was his intimate Friend but he hearing the bloody sentence pronounced against the rest stepped forth and said That he scorn'd to live by his favour who was the destroyer of his Country and so went amongst the rest who were to be slain 5. Theomistocles the Athenian General after his many famous Exploits was banished the Country and sought after to be slain he chose therefore to put himself rather into the power of the Persian King his Enemy than to expose himself to the malice of his Fellow Citizens He was by him received with great joy insomuch that the King in the midst of his sleep was heard to cry out thrice aloud I have with me Themistocles the Athâ—nian He also did him great honour for he allotted him three Cities â—or his Table provisions and two others for the Furniture of his Wardrobe and Bed While he remain'd in that Court with such Splendour and Dignity the Aegyptians rebelled encouraged and also assisted by the Athenians The Grecian Navy was come as far Cyprus and Cilicia and Cimon the Athenian Admiral rode Master at Sea This caused the Persian King to levy Soldiers and appoint Commanders to repress them He also sent Letters to Themistocles then at Magnesia importing that he had given him the supreme command in that affair that he should now be mindful of his promise to him and undertake this War against Greece But Themistocles was no way mov'd with anger against his ungrateful Country-men nor incited to the War with them by the gift of all this honour and power for having sacrificed he called then about him his Friends and having embraced them he drank Bulls blood or as others say a strong poison and so chose rather to shut up his own life than to be an instrument of evil to that Country of his which yet had deserved so ill at his hands Thus died Themistocles in the sixty fiâ—th year of his age most of which time he had spent in the management of the Republick at home or as the chief Commander abroad 6. The Norvegians going out of their own Country upon any account whatsoever as soon as they return and set their first foot upon that earth they fall prostrate upon the ground and signing themselves with the Cross they kiss the earth And O thou more Christian Land cry they than all the rest of the world so highly do they admire their own Country and its worship with a contempt of all others 7. In the year three hundred ninety three from the Building of Rome whether by Earthquake or other mâ—ans is uncertain but the Forum at Rome open'd and almost half of it was fallen in to a very strange depth great quantities of earth was thrown into it but in vain for it could not be fill'd up The Soothsayers therefore were consulted with who pronounced that the Romans should devote unto that place whatsoever it was wherein they most excelled Then Martius Curtius a person of admirable valour affirming that the Romans had nothing besides Arms and Virtue wherein they excelled he devoted himself for the safety of his Country and so arm'd on Horseback and his Horse well accoutred he rode into the gaping Gulph which soon after closed it self upon him 8. The Tartars in their invasion of China were prosperous on all sides and had set down themselves before the Walls of the renowned and vast City of Hangchen the Metropolis of the Province of Chekiang where the Emperour Lovangus was enclosed Lovangus his Soldiers refused to fight till they had received their arrears which yet at this time he was not able to pay them It
with Arrows Those of his Company having almost reached the top of the Wall were slain with Stones or wounded and carried into the Camp 27. The Romans having won the Tower Antonia the Jews â—led into the Inner Temple and there maintained sight from the ninth hour of the night to the seventh hour of the day at which time the Romans had the worst of it This was observed by Iulian a Centurion born in Bithinia who at that time stood by Titus in Antonia he therefore presently leaped down thence and all alone pursued the Jews who had the Victory in the Inner Temple And the whole multitude â—led deeming him by his force and tourage not to have been a man in the midst of them he slew all he lighted upon whilst for haste the one overturned the othe This deed seemed admirable to Caesar and terrible to his Enemies Yet did the destiny befal him which no man can escape for having his Shooes full of sharp Nails as other Soldiers have running upon the Pavement he slipped and fell down his Armour in the fall making a great noise whereat his Enemies who before fled now turned again upon him Then the Romans in Antonia fearing his life cryed out but the Jews many at once strook him with Swords and Spears He defended many blows with his Shield and many times attempting to rise they strook him down again yet as he say he wounded many neither was he quickly slain because the nobler parts of his body were all armed and he shrunk in his neck a long time till other parts of his body being cut off and no man helping him his strength failed Caesar sorrowed to see a man of that force and fortitude slain in the sight of such a multitude The Jews took his dead body and did beat back the Romans and shut them in Antonia only the brave Iulian left behind him a renowned memory not only amongst the Romans and Caesar but also amongst his Enemies CHAP. XXXVII Of the fearless Boldness of some Men and their desperateâ— solutions SOme men have within them a Spirit so daring and adventurous that the presence and more than probability of any disaster whatsoever is not able to conjure down To desperate Diseases they apply as desperate Remedies and therein Fortune sometimes so befriends them that they come off as successfully with their Presumptions and Temerities as others who mannage their Counsels with the greatest care and conduct they are able 1. A Dutch Sea man being condemned to death his Punishment was changed and he was ordered to be left at St. Hellen's Island This unhappy person representing to himself the horrour of that Solitude fell upon a resolution to attempt the strangest action that ever was heard of There had that day been interred in the same Island an Officer of the Ship The Sea-man took up the body out of the Coffin and having made a kind of Rudder of the upper board ventured himself to Sea in it It happened fortunately to him to be so great a Calm that the Ship lay immoveable within a League and half of the Island when his Companions seeing so strange a Boat â—loat upon the Waters imagined they saw a Spectre and were not a little startled at the resolution of the man who durst hazard himself upon that Element in three boards slightly nailed together though he had no confidence to find or be received by those who had so lately sentenced him to death Accordingly it was put to the question whether he should be received or not some would have the Sentence put in execution but at last mercy prevailed and he was taken aboard and came afterwards to Holland where he lived in the Town of Horn and related to many how miraculously God had delivered him 2. The French King Charles the Eighth through the weakness of Peter de Medices in his Government had reduced the City of Florence unto such hard terms that he had the Gates of it set open to him he entred it not professing himself friend or foe to the Estate in a triumphant manner himself and his Horse armed with his Lance upon his thigh Many Insolences were committed by the French so that the Citizens were driven to prepare to fight for their Liberty Charles propounds intolerable Conditions demanding high summs of money and the absolute Rule of the State as by right of Conquest he having entred armed into it But Peter Caponi a principal Citizen catching these Articles from the King's Secretary and tearing them before his face bad him sound his Trumpets and they would ring their Bells Which bold and resolute words made the French better to bethink themselves and came readily to this Agreement that for forty thousand pounds and not half that money to be paid in hand Charles should not only depart in peace but restore whatever he had of their Dominion and continue their assured friend 3. Henry Earl of Holsatia sirnamed Iron because of his strength being gotten into great favour with Edward the Third King of England by reason of his Valour was envied by the Courtiers who one day in the absence of the King counselled the Queen that for as much as the Earl was preferred before all the English Nobility she would make tryal whether he was so nobly born as he gave out by causing a Lyon to be let loose upon him saying that the Lyon would not so much as touch Henry if he was Noble indeed They got leave of the Queen to make this Tryal upon the Earl He was used to rise before day and to walk in the base Court of the Castle to take the fresh Air of the morning The Lyon was let loose in the night and the Earl having a night Gown cast over his Shirt with his Girdle and Sword and so coming down the Stairs into the Court met there with the Lyon bristling his hair and roaring he nothing astonished said with a stout voice Stand stand you Dog At these words the Lyon couched at his feet to the great amazement of the Courtiers who looked out of their holes to behold the issue of this business The Earl laid hold of the Lyon and shut him within his Cage he left his Night-cap upon the Lyon's back and so came forth without so much as looking behind him Now said the Earl calling to them that looked out at the Windows let him amongst you all that standeth most upon his Pedigree go and fetch my Night-cap but they ashamed withdrew themselves 4. In the Court of Matthias King of Hungary there was a Polonian Soldier in the King's Pay who boasted much of his valour and who in a bravado would often challenge the Hungarians to wrastle or skirmish with the Sword or Pike wherein he had always the better One day as he stood by a great Iron Cage in which a Lyon was kept the greatest and fiercest that had been seen of a long time he began
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
Arch-bishop of Beneventum Printed a Book in defence of Sodomy England reconciled to the Mother Church in Queen Maries daies 230. Marcellus the second an Hetruscan he esteemed the Lutherans worse than Turks and perswaded Charles the fifth and Ferdinand rather to turn their Forces against them he was Pope but twenty three daies 231. Paulus the fourth the Neapolitane a great Patron of the Jesuites and Inquisition in which had been made away one hundred and fifty thousand persons for Religion being hated for his cruelty after his death his Statue was cast into Tyber 232. Pius the fourth continued the Council at Trent and brought it to an end and thereby setled and confirmed the interest of the Church of Rome caused it to be received as Oecumenical his Legates forbid footing in England by Queen Elizabeth Venery and Luxury shortned this Popes daies and then succeeded 233. Pius the fifth a Lombard commanded the Whores in Rome to be married or whipt He had a hand in the death of Prince Charles of Spain and of our King Iames his Father and in most of the Treasons against Queen Elizabeth whom he Excommunicated by Bull he left his Seat to 234. Gregorius the thirteenth a Bononian the Massacre at Paris was by this mans procurement He altered the Kalender to his New Stile which anticipates ten daies the old account he Excommunicated and outed the Archbishop of Collen because he married would have disposed of the Kingdom of Portugal but was prevented 235. Sixtus the fifth of Marca Anconae Excommunicates and praises the Murder of Henry the third of France by Iaquez Clement blesseth the Banner of Spain against England in 88. quarrels with Spain for Naples and wiped the Jesuites of a great mass of money The Cardinal Bellarmine Dedicates his Controversies to him yet being asked his judgement of him when dead said He thought he was damned 236. Vrbanus the seventh a Genoway ascended the Chair aâ—ter him oâ— whom there is the less to be said in that he enjoyed his Popedom but a fourteenth night and then he left it to who should come after dying before his inauguration The Seat not long empty was supplied by 237. Gregorius the fourteenth of Millaine he held a Jubilee and exhausted the Treasury of the Church which Sixtus before had sealed by an Oath to be employed in the recovery of the Holy Land he cursed King Henry of Navarre as a relapsed Heretick his Bulls were burnt by the hands of the Hangman he died of the Stone before he had sat one year out 238. Innocentius the ninth a Bononian for the two months he was in he expressed an hatred against the King of Navarre and a good liking of the Jesuites one year four months and three daies made an end of four Popes and then came 239. Clemens the eighth made Henry of France turn Papist to be quiet much troubled with the Gout but eased as he saith when the Arch-duke Maximilian had kissed his gouty Toes 240. Leo the eleventh came in with this Motto over his Arch-triumphal Pageant Dignus est Leo in virtute Agni accipere librum solvere septem signacula ejus but a Fevor ended him before he had sat twenty eight daies 241. Paulus the fifth an Italian promoted the Powder-plot interdicted the State of Venice whereupon the Jesuites were banished the Oath of Allegiance to King Iames forbidden by Breves from this Pope 242. Gregorius the fifteenth a Bononian Elected by way of Adoration he instigates the French against the Protestants Saints Ignat-Loyola and quarrels with the Venetians after two years was chosen 243. Vrbanus the eighth a Florentine he advances his Kindred in his time the Arch-bishop of Spalato turned from Papist to Protestant and thence to Papist again he was a politer Scholar than most of them 244. Innocentius the tenth 245. Alexander the seventh CHAP. IV. Of such men as have been the Framers and Composers of Bodies of Laws for divers Nations and Countries IT was the saying of Plato That there was a necessity that Laws should be made for men and that they should be obliged to live according to them or otherwise men would differ but very little from the Beasts themselves The reason of this is That no man is naturally so well composed as rightly to understand what things do best conduce to the publick good of humane life or if he do yet he either cannot or will not alwaies act according to that which in his judgement is the best Hence it is that so many Nations have submitted to the wisdom of some one that hath been eminent amongst them and contended to live by the rules they have prescribed 1. Lycurgus was the Law-giver to the Lacedemonians and when by his Institutions he had brought Sparta to that form of a Republick which he had desired He then Assembled them all where he told them that in most parts the Common-wealth was so framed as it might rightly serve to the improvement both of their vertue and felicity But that there was now behind the chiefest and most important head of all which he should not take upon him to impart unto them till such time as he had consulted the Oracle That they should therefore firmly cleave to the present Laws nor should deviate from nor change any thing therein till such time as he should return from Delphos They all promised him and having taken an Oath of the Kings Senate and People to that purpose he went to Delphos where when he came he enquired of Apollo if the frame and model of his Laws were such as that his Citizens might in the observation of them be made vertuous and prosperous Apollo made answer that all was well done and that so long as they lived thereby they should be most famous This answer he sent back to Sparta which done he resolved that the Spartans should never be freed from their Oath they had given him and to that purpose he underwent a voluntary banishment and death in Crcet saith Aristocrates having before-hand besought his Host and entertainer That as soon as he was dead he should cause his body to be burnt and the ashes thereof cast into the Sea that so no remainder of him might be brought to Sparta lest they thereby pretending he was returned should disengage themselves from their Oath and attempt any change in the Common-wealth 2. Solon was the Law-giver to the Athenians and when Anacharsis did deride his endeavours in this kind that went about to repress the injuries and extravagancies of his Citizens with a few written words Which said he are no better than Spiders Webs and which the stronger will break at their pleasure Solon return'd that men will be sure to stand to those Covenants which will bring manifest disadvantages to the infringers of them Adding that he had so framed and tempered his Laws for Athens that it should manifestly appear to all of them That it was more for their concern strictly to observe than
that stood near him This young man will be the occasion that no man hereafter will resign a Dictatorship 7. When Sir Henry Wotton returned from his last Embassie into England at all those houses where he rested or lodged he left his Coat of Arms with this Inscription under them Henricus Wottonius Anglo-cantianus Thomae optimi viri filius natu minimus à Serenissimo Iacobo Primo Mag. Brit. Rege in Equestrem titulum adscitus ejusdemque ter ad Rempubâ—icam Venetam Legatus Ordinarius semel ad Confoederatorum Provinciarum Ordines in Iuliacensi Negotio bis ad Carolum Emanuel Subaudiae Ducem semel ad Vnitos Superiorie Germaniae Principes in Conventu Heilbrunensi postremò ad Archiducem Leopoldum Ducem Wittembergensem Civitates Imperiales Argentinam Vlmamque ipsum Romanorum Imperatorem Ferdinandum Secundum Legatus Extraordinarius tandem hoc didicit Animas fieri sapientiores quiescendo 8. Ramirus lived a Monk in a Monastery from whence upon the death of his Brother he was called by the Nobles and people of Arragon to succeed his Brother in the Kingdom the Pope also dispensed with his Vow and he had his allowance to accept of the Kingdom Ramirus therefore left the Monastery married a Wife of whom he had Daughter called Vrraca after which neither conjugal affection nor the desire of a Kingdom two of the strongest bonds amongst men were able to retain him but that he would return unto that Ecclesiastical humility which he had experienced in the Convent where he formerly had lived 9. The Parthians by civil discords had ejected Artabanus their King who endeavoured his Restauration to his Kingdom by the Arms of Iazates King of the Adiabeni The Parthians not only upon the account of an imminent War but moved also with other reasons repented that they had expelled Artabanus They sent therefore Ambassadors both to him and to Iazates giving them to understand that they would most willingly do what they did require them but that upon the expulsion of Artabanus they had set up Cynamus in his stead and having sworn Allegiance unto him as their King they durst not recede from their Oath Which when Cynamus understood he wrote to Artabanus and Iazates that they should come for he would resign up the Kingdom of Parthia to Artabanus When they were come Cynamus went forth to meet them adorned in Royal Robes and the Diadem upon his head assoon as he drew near to Artabanus dismounting from his Horse he thus spake When the Parthians had driven thee Artabanus from the Kingdom and were resolved to confer it on another at their intreaty I received it but so soon as I knew it was their desire to restore it to thee their true and lawful King and that the only hindrance of it was that they should do it without my consent I not only forbare to oppose them but as thou seest of mine own accord and without any other respect I restore it to thee And having so said he took the Diadem from his own head with his own hands he fitted it to that of Artabanus and freely returned to his former privacy 10. Albertus was a Dominick Fryer and for his great Learning sirnamed Magnus he was made Bishop of Ratisbone by Pope Alexander the Fourth but he freely left his Bishoprick and returned home again to Colen that he might retire himself and enjoy the greater quiet for reading and writing 11. In the year of our Lord 1179. and the Reign of King Henry the Second Richard de Lucy Lord Chief Justice of England resigned his Office and became a Canon in the Abbey of Westwood And in the Reign of King Henry III. upon the 29. of Iune An. 1276. Walter Maleclarke Bishop of Carlisle renounced the Pomp of the World and took upon him the Habit of a preaching Fryer 12. In a preliminary Discourse before the Monasticon Anglicanum we have an account of divers Kings in this our Island who for devotions sake left their Crowns and took upon them the Habit and Profession of Monks Such were Pertocus King of Cambria Constantinus King of Cornwal Sebby King of the East Saxons Offa King of the East Saxons Sigebert King of the East Angles Etheldredus King of the Mercians Kynred King of the Mercians Ceolwulphus King of the North Humbers and Edbricthus King of the North Humbers Whereupon one hath wrote these metrical Verses Nomina Sanctorum rutilant cum laude piorum Stemmate regali cum vestitu Monachali Qui Reges facti spreverunt culmina regni Electi Monachi sunt coeli munere digni 13. Prince Lewis the eldest Son of Charles King of Naples at the age of twenty one years and just when he should have been married to the youthful Princess of Majorica did suddenly at Barcellona put on the rough and severe Habit of the Franciscans The Queens and Princesses there met to solemnize the Marriage of his Sister Blanch with Iames King of Arragon employed their Rhetorick to disswade him from it but to no purpose he loved his Sackcloth more than their Silks and as Monsieur Mathieu alluding to the young Princess speaks of him lâ—â—t Roses to make a Conserve of Thorns 14. King Agrippa took the High Priesthood from Simon Canthara and gave it again to Ionathan the Son of Anani whom he esteemed more worthy than the other But Ionathan declared that he was not worthy of this Dignity and refused it saying O King I most willingly acknowledge the honour you are pleased to bestow upon me and know you offer me this Dignity of your fâ—ee will notwithstanding which God judgeth me unworthy It sufficeth that I have once been invested with the sacred Habit for at that time I wore it with more holiness than I can now receive it at this present yet notwithstanding if it please you to know one that is more worthy of this honour than my self I â—ave a Brother who towards God and you is pure and innocent whom I dare recommend to you for a most fit man for that Dignity The King took great pleasure in these words and leaving Ionathan he bestowed the Priesthood on Mathias his Brother as Ionathan had desired and advised 15. Constantine the Third King of Scotland being wearied with the troubles of a publick life renounced his temporal Dignities and Kingdom and betook himself to a private life amongst the Culdees in St. Andrews with whom he spent his five last years and there dyed about the year 904. 16. Celestine the Fifth an Italian and foâ—merly an Anchorite was chosen Pope was a man of pious simplicity though unskilful in the managâ—mâ—nâ— of Affairs this man was easily perswaded by his Cardinals that the employment he had was too great for his capacity so that he had thoughts of resigning and was furthered therein by the crafty device of Boniface who succeeded him For this man feigning himself to be an Angel spake through a Trunk
of Gerhardus Bacoldianus his Physician with whom he joyned a Gentleman of his Bed-chamber and at the end of twelve days finding by their relation that there could be no juggling in the business he gave her leave to return to her friends not without great admiration and princely gifts 3. The like Narration we have of Katherine Binder born in the Palatinate whom Iohn Casimir An. Dom. 1585. committed to the search of a Divine Statesman and two Doctors of Physick She is said to have fed only upon Air for the space of nine years and more the discourse whereof the above named Lentulus received from Fabritius and therewith the account of another Maid born in the Dukedom of Iuliers who being about the age of fourteen years was brought to Cullen and is certainly reported to have taken no kind of meat or drink by the space of at least three years 4. But saith Dr. Hakewel the strangest that I have met with in this kind is the History of Eve Fleigen out of Dutch translated into English and printed at London An. 1611. who being born at Meurs is said to have taken no kind of sustenance by the space of fourteen years together that is from the year of her age twenty two to thirty six and from the year of our Lord 1597. to 1611. and this we have confirmed by the testimony of the Magistrates of the Town of Meurs as also by the Minister who made tryal of her in his house thirteen days together by all the means he could devise but could detect no imposture Over the Picture of this Maid set in the Front of the Dutch Copy stand these Latine Verses Meursae haec quam cernis decies ter sexque peregit Annos bis septem prorsus non vescitur annis Nec potat sic sola sedit sic pallida vitam ' Ducit exigui se oblectat floribus horti Thus rendred in the English Copy This Maid of Meurs thirty and six years spent Fourteen of which she took no nourishment Thus pale and wan she sits sad and alone A Garden 's all she oves to look upon Vide Fabritium in cent 5. obs 34. p. 422. 5. Philip Melancthon wondred at Luther who being of a large bulk of body and so strong withal that yet he could live with so very little food For saith he I have seen him in the state of good health continue four days together without eating or drinking any thing at all and many days together to content himself with a little bread and one single Herring 6. I knew saith Poggius a man who lived for two years together without any food and he wrote this in the sixth year of the Popedom of Nicholas the Fifth he professes also to have read of a Girl who lived in the same manner for the space of twelve years in the Reign of the Emperour Lotharius An. Dom. 1322. 7. An. Dom. 1539. there lived in Scotland one Iohn Scot no way commended for his learning for he had none nor for his good qualities which were as few This man being overthrown in a Suit of Law and knowing himself unable to pay that wherein he was adjudged took Sanctuary in the Abbey of Halyrood house where out of discontent he abstained from all meat and drink by the space of 30 or 40 days together Fame having spread this abroad the King would have it put to tryal and to that effect shut him up in a private room within the Castle of Edenburgh whereunto no man had access He caused a little water and bread to be set by him which he was found not to have diminished in the end of thirty days and two Upon this he was dismissed and after a short time he went to Rome where he gave the like proof of his fasting to Pope Clement the Seventh from whence he went to Venice carrying with him a testimony of his long fasting under the Popes Seal and there also he gave the like proof thereof After long time returning into England he went up into the Pulpit in Pauls Church-yard where he gave forth many speeches against the Divorce of King Henry the Eighth from his Queen Katherine inveighing bitterly against him for his defection from the See of Rome whereupon he was thrust into prison where he continued fasting for the space of fifty days what his end was I read not 8. Hermolaus Barbarus saith there was a man at Rome that lived forty years only by sucking in of the Air he was a Priest and was all that time in health saith Iohnstons nat hist. cl 10. c. 2. p. 316. 9. Rondeletius saith he saw a Girl that to the tenth year of her age lived only upon Air and that she was afterwards married and had children Vid. Iohnst nat hist. clas 10. c. 2. p. 316. 10. Franciscus Citesius Physician to the King of France and the Cardinal Richelieu in his Opuscula hath a particular Treatise concerning Ione Balaam she was the Daughter of Iohn Balaam a Smith her Mothers name was Laurentia Chambela she was born in the City of Conflance lying upon the Borders of Limosin near the River Vien of a just stature according to her age somewhat rude of behaviour About the eleventh year of her age which was the thirteenth of the Calends of March An. 1599. she was seised with a continual Feaver accompanied with very bad Symptoms amongst the rest a continual Vomiting for twenty days together her Feaver somewhat remitting she grew speechless and so continued for the space of twenty four days After which her speech returned but full of raving and impertinence all motion and sense of the parts below the head began to grow dull and languish so that the Oesophagus it self the passage for meat and drink was resolved nor from thenceforth could the Girl be perswaded to take any food Yet almost six months after she recovered the use of her limbs only one Hip of which she is somewhat lame to this day only the inability to swallow remains whence she hath an extreme hatred to all sorts of meats and drink the parts of the belly are all contracted and clung together other parts of the body remaining in good plight her breasts large her paps indifferently swelling her arms and thighs fleshly her face somewhat round but swarthy her lips reddish her tongue somewhat contracted but her speech ready her hair long for her hair and nails and whole body grows No excrement proceeds from any part of her body and saving a small spittle and a few tears she has no purgation at her ears nostrils or by sweat the skin of her whole body to the touch is cold and dry nor is she made hot by any work except in the arm-pits and some places adjoyning to the heart though she is wholly employed in running to buy provisions sweeping of the house spinning and such like This Maid continued thus fasting for the space of almost
fall down directly upon the Emperors head and brain him at the first blow This mercenary Villain as he would have played his part went so hastily to work that as he thought to have rolled down a great stone from the Roof the stone with its weight drew him on so that first the man and then the stone fell upon the Church-floor where he was killed with the stone that fell upon him The Romans hearing of this Treason ran into the Church tyed a rope about the feet of this wretched Traitor and dragged his carkass three days together throughout all the streets of Rome but the Emperour using his wonted clemency commanded he should be buried 17. As the Emperour Charles the Fourth was sitting in his Court of Audience there came before him a Priest complaining that Zachora a Gentleman and his Patron had put out his eyes because he had reproved him of Heresie and therefore he desired of the Emperour that he might have satisfaction Zachora appearing confessed the fact excusing it by a transport of rage and offering to submit to any mulct of money the Judges should think fit to repair the Complainant with The Emperour considering that the blind mans eyes could not be restored by the Law of Retaliation caused the eyes of Zachora to be put out for those of the Priest 18. Brennus Captain of the Gauls while the Romans were weighing out Gold for their Ransom hung a Sword and Belt upon the beam of the Scales and when he was asked by Sulpitius the Consul what that meant What said he should it mean but wo to the conquered Now when L. Camillus the Dictator had suddenly set upon the Gauls as they were weighing and had slain many of them Brennus complained that this act of Hostility was contrary to the agreement made with him the Dictator only retorted his own words Wo to the conquered 19. Selymus the First Emperour of the Turks lay at Constantinople sick of an Ulcer in the Reins and afterwards was seised upon by a malignant Feaver so that wearied with his disease and being a burden to himself he dyed Septemb. 1520. in the same Village of Chiurle where he had formerly fought with his Father which certainly came to pass not without a manifest token of divine Justice that he should suffer in that very place where he had sinned 20. Aba a Tyrant of Hungary was put to flight by the Emperour Henry the Third in the behalf of Peter the lawful King being forced to flye he passed the Danubius and got to a Village called Scaebe near the River Tibiscus at this place he had slain many of the Nobility and at the same place himself was murdered by the Swords of his own mutinous Souldiers 21. Theudius King of the Visigoths was slain in his Palace An. 587. by one that counterfeited madness while he lay breathing out his last he commanded that his Murderer should not be slain For said he I have no more than I deserved having my self slain my Prince while I was a private man 22. Pericles an Athenian Commander and one of great power in that State ordained by a Law that no man should be admitted to any Government in the Common-wealth unless born of both such Parents as were Citizens This Law of his came afterwards to touch upon himself for those two Sons he had Paralus and Xanthippus both dyed of the pestilence he had others illegitimately born who were supervivors of their Father but by virtue of this Law of his might not be admitted to any place of Government in the Republick 23. Adam Bishop of Cathnes in the year 1222. was barbarously used by some wicked people suborned by the Earl of Cathnesse he was assaulted at his own house his Chamber-boy with a Monk of Melrosse that did ordinarily attend him were killed the Bishop was drawn by force into his Kitchin and when they had scourged him with rods they set the Kitchin on fire and burnt him therein King Alexander the Second was at that time upon his Journey towards England and upon notice of this cruel fact turned back and went in haste to Cathnesse where he put the offendors and their partakers to tryal four hundred by publick sentence were executed and all their male children guelded that no succession should spring from so wicked a seed The place where their stones were cast in a heap together is to this day known by the name of the stony Hill The Earl for withholding his help and because he did not rescue the Bishop had his Estate forfeited and howbeit after some little time he found means to be restored yet did he not escape the judgment of God being murdered by some of his own Servants who conspired to kill him and to conceal the fact set the house on fire and burnt his body therein So was he paid home in the same measure he had used to the Bishop CHAP. XXXI Of such persons as have been extremely beloved by several Creatures as Beasts Birds Fishes Serpents c. THE fittest object of mans love is certainly something that is above or at least something that may pretend to a kind of equality with him but yet this noble passion hath admitted of most unworthy descents Xerxes doted upon a Plane-tree and we read of others that have been enamour'd of Statues thus when the Master hath humbled himself to his Servant it is the less wonder if his slaves rise and tender him an affection that he may be ashamed of 1. There are several relations in Books of the Loves of wild Creatures to men to which yet I could never give any credit till such time as I saw a Lynx which I had from Assyria so affected towards one of my servants known to him but a while that it could no longer be doubted but that he was fallen in love with him As oft as the man was present there were many and notable flatteries and embraces and little less than kisses when he was about to go away he would gently lay hold on his garments with his claws and endeavour to detain him when he departed he followed him with his eyes and seldom took them off from that way he went In the mean time he was sad till he saw him returning and then he entertained him with a wonderful alacrity and congratulation At last the man crossed the Sea with me to go into the Turkish Camp and then the Lynx witnessed the violent desires he had of him by continual sickness and after he had forsaken his meat for some days he languished away till he dyed which I was the more displeased with because I had determined to send him as a Present to Caesar together with an Indian Rat which I had very tame 2. King Porus in a sharp fight with Alexander the Great being sore wounded with many Javelins thrown at him fell from the back of his Elephant upon which he was mounted The Souldiers supposing
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
or Board for this Game was brought to Rome by Pompey amongst his Asiatick Spoils three foot broad and four foot long made up of two precious stones and all the men of several colours of precious stones 13. Divers great Wits have for their recreation chosen the most barren subjects and delighted to shew what they were able to do in matters of greatest improbability or where truth lay on the other side Thus the description of a War betwixt Frogs and Mice is written by Homer the commendation of a Tyrant by Polycrates the praise of Injustice by Phavorinus of Nero by Cardan of an Ass by Apuleius and Agrippa of a Fly and of a Parasitical life by Lucian of Folly by Erasmus of a Gnat by Michael Psellus of Clay by Antonius Majoragius of a Goose by Iulius Scaliger of a Shadow by Iamâ—s Doâ—â—a the Son of a Louse by Daniel Heinsius of an Ox by Libanius and of a Dog by Sextus Empiricus 14. Nicholaus the Third a Roman and Pope of Rome was so extremely delighted with hunting that he inclosed a Warren of Hares on purpose for his Holiness his recreation CHAP. XLV Of such People and Nations as have been scourged and afflicted by small and contemptible things or by Beasts Birds Insects and the like THE Sea called Sargasso though four hundred miles from any Land and so deep as no ground is to be found by sounding 〈◊〉 abounds with an herb called Sargasso like Sampire so thick that a Ship without a strong gale can hardly make her way As this great Sea is impedited by this contemptible weed so there is nothing so small and inconsiderable in our eyes but may be able to afflict us even then when we are in the fulness of our sufficiency 1. Sapores the King of Persia besieged the City of Nisibis but S. Iames the holy Bishop thereof by his prayers to God obtained that such an infinite number of Gnats came into his Army as put it into the greatest disorder these small creatures flew upon the eyes of their Horses and tormented them in such manner that growing furious they shook off their Riders and the whole Army was hereby so scattered and brought into conâ—usion that they were inforced to break up their Siege and to depart 2. About the year of our Lord 872. came into France such an innumerable company of Locusts that the number of them darkned the very light of the Sun they were of an extraordinary bigness had a sixfold order of wings six feet and two teeth the hardness whereof surpassed that of a stone These eat up every green thing in all the fields of France At last by the force of the winds they were carried into the Sea and there drowned after which by the agitation of the waves the dead bodies of them were cast upon the shores and from the stench of them together with the Famine they had made with their former devouring there arose so great a Plague that it is verily thought every third person in France dyed of it 3. Marcus Varro writeth that there was a Town in Spain undermined with Conies another likewise in Thessaly by the Mouldwarps In France the Inhabitants of one City were driven out and forced to leave it by Frogs Also in Africk the people were compelled by Locusts to void their habitations and out of Gyaros an Island one of the Cyclades the Islanders were forced by Rats and Mice to flye away Moreover in Italy the City Amyclae was destroyed by Serpents In Ethiopia on this side the Cynomolgi there is a great Country lyeth waste and desert by reason that it was dispeopled sometimes by Scorpions and a kind of Pismires called Solpugae And if it be true that Theophrastus reporteth the Treriens were chased away by certain Worms called Scolopendres 4. Myas a principal City in Ionia situate on an arm of the Sea assigned by Artaxerxes with Lampsacus and Magnesia to Themistocles when banished his own Country In after-times the water drawing further off the soil brought forth such an innumerable multitude of Fleas that the Inhabitants were â—ain to forsake the City and went with their bag and baggage to retire to Miletus nothing hereof being left but the name and memory in the time of Pausanias 5. Annius writes that an ancient City situate near the Volscian Lake and called Contenebra was in times past overthrown by Pismires and that the place is thereupon vulgarly called to this day The Camp of Ants. 6. The Neuri a people bordering upon the Scythians one Age before the Expedition of Darius into Scythia were forced out of their habitations and Country by reason of Serpents For whereas a multitude of Serpents are bred in the soil it self at that time there came upon them from the desert places above them such an abundance of them and so infested them that they were constrained to quit the place and to dwell amongst the Budini 7. In Media there was such an infinite number of Sparrows that eat up and devoured the seed which was cast into the ground that men were constrained to depart their old habitations and remove to other places 8. The Island of Anaphe heretofore had not a Partridge in it till such time an Astypalaean brought thither a pair that were male and female which couple in a short time did increase in such wonderful manner that oppressed with the number of them the Inhabitants upon the point were enforced to depart from the Island 9. Astypalaea of old had no Hares in it but when one of the Isle of Anaphe had put a brace into it they in a short time so increased that they destroyed almost all that the Inhabitants had sowed whereupon they sent to consult the Oracle concerning this their calamity which advised them to store themselves with Grey-hounds by the help of which they killed 6000 Hares in the space of a year and many more afterwards whereby they were delivered from their grievance 10. The Inhabitants of the Gymnesian Islands are reported to have sent their Ambassadours to Rome to request some other place to be assigned them for their habitations for that they were oppressed by the incredible number of Conies amongst them And the Baleares through an extraordinary increase of the same creatures amongst them did petition the Emperor Augustus that he would send them the assistance of a military force against these enemies of theirs which had already occasioned a famine amongst them 11. In the seventeenth year of the Reign of Alexander the Third King of the Scots such an in credible swarm of Palmer-worms spread themselves over both Scotland and England that they consumed the fruits and leaves of all Trees and Herbs and eat up the Worts and other Plants to the very stalks and stumps of them As also the same year by an unusual increase and swelling of the Sea the Rivers overflowed their banks and there was such an
all the rest of his body so that nothing but his face did appear without it He died in the fifty fifth of his age when he had reigned thirty tree years excelling all the Kings his Predecessours for humanity and easiness of access 4. Sanctius King of Spain Son of Ranimirus carried such a heap of fat that thence he was called Crassus being now grown a burden to himself and having left almost nothing untried to be quit of it At length by the advice of Garsia King of Navarre he made peace with Miramoline King of Corduba went over to him was honourably receiv'd and in his Court was cured by an herb prescribed by the Physicians of that King 5. Gabriel Fallopius tells that he saw a man who being extremely fat his skin was so thickened that he lost all feeling by reason of the over impaction of the Nerves thereby 6. Philetas of Coos was an excellent Critick and a very good Poet in the time of Alexander the Great but withal he had a body of that exceeding leanness and lightness that he commonly wore shooes of Lead and carried Lead about him lest at some time or other he should be blown away with the wind 7. Ptolomaeus Euergetes the seventh King of Aegypt by reason of his sensuality and luxurious life was grown saith Possidonius to a vast bulk his Belly was swollen with fat his waste so thick that scarce could any man compass it with both his arms he never came out of his Palace on foot but he always lean'd upon a staff His Son Alexander who killed his Mother was much fatter than he so that he was not able to walk unless he supported himself with two Crutches 8. Agatharcides tells of Magan who reigned fifty years in Cyrene that living in peace and flowing in luxury he grew to a prodigious corpulency in his latter years insomuch that at last he was suffocated with his own fat which he had gained in part by his idleness and sloth and partly by his Epicurism and excessive gluttony 9. Panaretus the Scholar of Arcecilaus the Philosopher was in great estimation with Ptolomaeus Euergetes and retain'd by him with an annual stipend of twelve Talents It 's said of this man he was exceeding lean and slender notwithstanding which he never had any occasion to consult any Physician but passed his whole life in a most entire and perfect health 10. Cynesias was called by Aristophanes and others Philyrinus because he girt himself round within boards of the wood Philyra and that for this reason lest through his exceeding talness and slenderness he should break in the waste 11 I have seen a young Englishman who was carried throughout all Italy and suffered not himself to be seen without the payment of money he was of that monstrous both fatness and thickness that the Duke of Mantua and Montferat commanded his picture to be drawn to the life and naked as of a thing altogether extraordinary 12. Vitus a Matera was a learned Philosopher and Divine but so fat that he was not able to get up a pair of stairs he breathed with great difficulty nor could he sleep lying along without present danger of suffocation All this is well known to most of the Students in Naples 13. Alphonsus Avalus being dead his body was opened and the carcase taken care of by Physicians and dried as much as might be with salt and sand and other things yet for all this the fat of his body ran through his Chest of Lead whereinto he was put and larded the stones of the Vault upon which it stood 14. Anno 1520. there was a Noble Man born in Diethmarsia but living sometime in the City of Stockholm in Sueden this man was sent to prison by the command of Christierne the Second King of Denmark when he came to the prison door such was his extreme corpulency that they who conducted him were not able to thrust him in at it The Guard that went to convey him thither were to hasten back to assist in the torturing of some other persons so that being extreme angry to be thus delayed they thrust him aside into a corner thereabouts and by this means the man escaped being put into prison as was intended 15. Pope Leo the tenth of that name had so mighty a Belly and was so extremely corpulent that to this very day his fatness is proverbial in Rome so that when they would of a man that is extraordinary well fed they use to say of him that he is as fat as Pope Leo. CHAP. XXX Of the Longaevity and length of life in some persons HE who hath but dipped into Anatomy can easily apprehend that the life of man hangs upon very tender filaments considering this with the great variety of diseases that lie in ambush ready to surprise us and the multitude of accidents that we are otherwise daily liable unto it is not the least of wonders that any man should have his life drawn out but to a moderate space Sunt quos saliva crassior male lapsa per fauces subiâ—â— strangulaverit saith Seneca Their very spittle has ended them so little is sufficient to thrust us out of this earthly tenement the nearer the felicity of them that â—ollow 1. There is a Memorial entred upon the wall of the Cathedral of Peterborough for one who being Sexton thereof interred two Queens therein Katharine Dowager and Mary of Scotland more than fifty years interceding betwixt their several sepultures This vivacious Sexton also buried two Generations or the people in that place twice over The instance of his long life is alledged by such who maintain that the smelling to perfect mould made of mens consumed bodies is a preservative of life 2. Richaâ—d Chamond Esquire receiv'd at God's hand an extraordinary favour of long life in serving in the office of a Justice of Peace almost sixty years he saw above â—ifty several Judges of the Western Circuit was Uncle and great Uncle to three hundred at the least and saw his youngest child above forty years of age 3. Garsias Arâ—tinus lived to a hundred and four years in a continued state of good health and deceased without being seised with any apparent disease only perceiving his strength somewhat weakened Thus writes Petrarch of him to whom Garcias was great Grandâ—ather by the Father's side 4. A while since in Herefordshire at their Maygaâ—â—es saith my Lord of S. Albans there was a Morrice Dance of eight men whose years put together made up eight hundred that which was wanting of an hundred in some superabounding in others 5. I have been credibly inform'd that William Pawlet Marquess of Winchester and Lord Treasurer of England twenty years togâ—ther who died in the tenth year of Queen Elizabeth was born in the last year of Henry the Sixth he lived in all an hundred and six years and three quarters and odd days during the
Reign of nine Kings and Queens of England He saw saith another the children of his children's children to the number of an hundred and three and died 1572. 6. Georgias Leontinus a famous Philosopher liv'd in health till he was an hundred and eight years of age and when it was asked him by what means he attained to such a fulness of days his answer was by not addicting himself to any voluptuous living 7. Most memorable is that of Cornarus the Venetian who being in his youth of a sickly body begaâ— to eat and drink first by measure to a certain weight thereby to recover his health this cure turn'd by use into a diet that diet into an extraordinary long life even of an hundred years and better without any decay of his senses and with a constant enjoyment of his health 8. Hippocrates Coâ—s the famous Physician lived an hundred and four years and approved and credited his own art by so long a life 9. Mr. Carew in his Survey of Cornwal assures us upon his own knowledge that fourscore and ten years of age is ordinary there in every place and in most persons accompanied with an able use of the body and their senses One Polezew saith he lately living reached to one hundred and thirty A Kinsman of his to one hundred and twelve One Beauchamp to one hundred and six And in the Parish where himself dwelt he professed to have remembred the decease of four within fourteen weeks space whose years added together made up the sum of three hundred and forty The same Gentleman made this Epigram or Epitaph upon one Brawne an Irish Man but a Cornish Beggar Here Brawne the quondam Beggar lies Who counted by his tale Some sixscore winters and above Such Vertue is in Ale Ale was his Meat his Drink his Cloth Ale did his death deprive And could he still have drunk his Ale He had been still alive 10. Democritus of Abdera a most studious and learned Philosopher who spent all his life in the contemplation and investigation of things who liv'd in great solitude and poverty yet did arrive to an hundred and nine years 11. Galeria Câ—piola a Player and a Dancer was brought upon the Stage as a Novice in what year of her age is not known but ninety nine years after at the Dedication of the Theatre by Pompey the Great she was shewn upon the Stage again not now for an Actress but a wonder Neither was this all for after that in the Solemnities for the life and health of Augustus she was shewn upon the Stage the third time 12. Simeon the Son of Cleophas called the Brother of our Lord and Bishop of Ierusalem lived an hundred and twenty years though he was cut short by Martyrdom Aquila and Priscilla first S. Paul's Hosts afterwards his fellow-labourers lived together in a happy and famous Wedlock at least to an hundred years a piece for they were both alive under Pope Christus the First 13. William Postel a Frenchman lived to an hundred and well nigh twenty years and yet the top of his beard on the upper lip was black and not gray at all 14. Iohannes Summer-Matterus my great Grandfather by the Mother's side of an ancient and honourable Family after the hundredth year of his age marryed a wife of thirty years by whom he had a Son at whose wedding which was twenty years after the old man was present and lived six years after that so that he completed an hundred and twenty six without complaining of any more grievous accidents than this that he could not prevent escapes by reason of wind Six years before his death my Father his Grandchild discoursing with him he told him that there were in that Diocess ten men yet left who were more aged than himself 15. Arganthonius was the King of the Tartessians and had been so for eighty years when the Phocensians who were the first of all the Greeks who opened the way into the Adriatick Sea and visited Tyrrhenia Iberia and Tartessus came to him He lived to an hundred and twenty years saith Herodotus 16. In the last Taxation Number and Review of the eighth Region of Italy there were found in the Roll saith Pliny four and fifty persons of an hundred years of age seven and fifty of an hundred and ten two of an hundred five and twenty â—our of an hundred and thirty as many that were of an hundred five and thirty or an hundred of seven and thirty years old and last of all three men of an hundred and forty And this search was made in the times of Vespasian the Father and Son 17. Galen the great Physician who flourished about the reign of Antoninus the Emperour is said to have lived one hundred and forty years From the time of his twenty eighth year he was never seised with any sickness save only with the grudge of a Fever for one day only The rules he observed were not to eat nor drink his fill nor to eat any thing raw and to carry always about him some one or other perfume 18. Iames Sands of Horborne in Staffordshire near Birmingham lived an hundred and forty years and his Wife one hundred and twenty and died about ten years past He out-lived five Leases of twenty one years a piece made unto him after he was married 19. I my self saith Sir Walter Rawleigh knew the old Countess of Desmond of Inchequin in Munster who lived in the year 1589 and many years sinâ—e who was marryed in Edward the Fourth's time and held her joynture from all the Earls of Desmond since then and that this is true all the Gentlemen and Noble Men in Munster can witness The Lord Bacon casts up her age to be an hundred â—nd forty at the least adding withal Ter per vices dentisse that she recovered her teeth after the casting them three several times 20. Thomas Parre Son of Iohn Parre born at Alberbury in the Parish of Winnington in Shropshire he was born in the Reign of King Edward the Fourth anno 1483 at eighty years he married his first wife Iane and in the space of thirty two years had but two children by her both of them short lived the one liv'd but a Month the other but a few years Being aged an hundred and twenty he fell in love with Katherine Milton and with remarkable strength got her with child He lived to above one hundred and fifty years Two months before his death he was brought up by Thomas Earl of Arundel to Westminster he slept away most of his time and is thus characterised by an eye-witness of him From head to heel his body had all over A quick set thick set nat'ral hairy cover Change of air and diet better in it self but worse for him with the trouble of many Visitants or Spectators rather are conceived to have accelerated his death which happened Westminster November the fifteenth anno 1634
was living but the other soon recovered his Seat when Sylvester had sat but forty nine daies and had made Casimir a Monk King of Poland 155. Gregorius the sixth received the Keyes so that three Popes were extant at one time but Henry the Emperour expelled Benedict Sylvester and Gregory this last having sat two years and seven months of whom the Historian saith He did many things well 156. Clemens the second caused the Romans to renounce by Oath the right they claimed in chusing Popes but Henry the Emperour gone they poisoned this Pope when he had sat not full nine months 157. Damasus 2. a Bavarian without consent of the Clergy or people seised on the Popedom but he enjoyed it but a short time for he died upon the twenty third day after his Usurpation 158. Leo the ninth a German a man saith Platina of great Piety Innocence and Hospitality to strangers and the poor at Vercellis he held a Council against Berengarius he sat four years two months and six daies 159. Victor the second a Bavarian made Pope by the favour of Henry the Emperour he held a great Council at Florence deprived divers Bishops for Fornication and Simony and died in the third month of his second year 160. Stephanus the ninth brought the Church of Millaine under the obedience of the Popes of Rome which till that time challenged equality with them and died at Florence the eighth day of his seventh month 161. Benedictus the tenth a Campanian made Pope by the Faction of the Nobles but by a Council held at Sutrinum he was deposed and banished having sat eight months and twenty daies 162. Nicholaus the second took from the Roman Clergy the Election of the Popes and gave it to the Colledge of Cardinals caused Berengarius to recant his Opinion against Transubstantiation and died in the sixth month of his third year 163. Alexander the second a Millanois inclining to the Emperours right in choosing the Pope is first boxed then imprisoned and at last poysoned by Hildebrand having sat ten years and six months 164. Gregorius the seventh commonly called Hildebrand a turbulent man Excommunicated the Emperour Henry the fourth but the Emperour made him fly out of Rome and die in Exile in his twelfth year 165. Victor the third an Italian defended all the doings of Gregory but not long after he was poysoned by his Sub-deacon in the Chalice having sat but one year and four months 166. Vrbanus the second an Hetrurian Excommunicates the Emperour and sets all Christendom in Combustion and thence was called Turbanus he died in the twelfth year of his Papacy 167. Paschalis the second caused the Emperour Henry the fourth to submit to him and to attend barefoot at his door also Excommunicated Henry the fifth interdicted Priests marriages and sat seventeen years 168. Gelasius the second a Campanian was vexed with Seditions all his time some say the Knights Templars had their beginning in his Papacy he sat but one year and five daies 169. Calistus the second a Burgundian he appointed the four Fasts Decreed it Adultery for a Bishop to forsake his See interdicted Priests marriages he sat five years ten months and six daies 170. Honorius the second an Italian a lover of Learned men Arnulphus an English man was murdered in his time for taxing the vices of the Clergy he died lamented having sat five years and two months 171. Innocentius the second opposed by an Anti-pope called Anacletus he ordained That none of the Laity should lay hand on any of the Clergy and died in the fourteenth year and seventh month of his Papacy 172. Celestinus the second was the Inventor of that mad manner of Cursing with Bell Book and Candle besides which it is only said of him That he died in the fifth month of his Papacy 173. Lucius the second a Bononian he mightily incited men to the Holy War in his time a Synod was held in France against Petrus Abelardus who thereupon changed his opinion Lucius sat eleven months four daies 174. Eugenius the third a Pisan a Monk with the Abbot St. Bernard he would not permit the Romans to choose their own Senators by which a quarrel grew that composed he died having sat eight years four months 175. Anastasius the fourth a Roman in his time was a Famine all over Europe little is said of him but that he gave a great Chalice to the Church of Laterane and died having sat one year four months 176. Adrianus the fourth an English man he forced Frederick the Emperour to hold his Stirrup and then Excommunicated him for claiming his right and writing his name before the Popes being choaked with a fly at Anagnia he died having sat four years and ten months 177. Alexander the third Excommunicated the Emperour Frederick the first and brought him to that exigent as to prostrate himself at his feet when the Pope trod upon his neck he sat twenty one years and more 178. Lucius the third strove to abolish the Roman Consuls for which he was forced to quit Rome and retire to Verona where he also died having sat four years and two months 179. Vrbanus the third a Millanois in his time Ierusalem was retaken by Saladine with grief whereof the Pope died he sat one year ten months 180. Gregorius the eighth incited the Christian Princes to recovery of Ierusalem in which endeavour he died the fifty seventh day of his Papacy 181. Clemens the third Excommunicated the Danes for maintaining the marriage of their Clergy composed the differences at Rome and died in the third year and fifth month of his Papacy 182. Celestinus the third put the Crown on the Emperours head with his feet and then struck it off again saying Per me Reges regnant he sat six years seven months 183. Innocentius the third brought in the Doctrine of Transubstantiation ordained a Pix to cover the Host and a Bell to be rung before it and first imposed Auricular Confession upon the people 184. Honorius the third confirms the Orders of Dominick and Francis and sets them against the Waldenses exacted two Prebends from every Cathedral in England he sat ten years 7 months 185. Gregorius the ninth thrice Excommunicates the Emperour Frederick in his time began the deadly feud of the Papal Guelphs and the Imperial Gibbelines he sat fourteen years and three months 186. Celestinus the fourth a man of great Learning and Piety saith Platina but being very old and perhaps poysoned at his entrance he kept his Seat but eighteen daies 187. Innocentius the fourth in a Council at Lions deposed the Emperour Frederick terrified with a dream of his being cited to Judgement he died having sat eleven years six months 188. Alexander the fourth condemns the Book of William de Sancto Amore Saints Clara pills England of its Treasure and dies at Viterbium in the seventh year of his Papacy 189. Vrbanus the fourth formerly Patriarch of Ierusalem he instituted the Feast of Corpus Christi day
Clime temperate as scituate under the Aequator Here making advantage of the difference betwixt two Kings contending with each other having strengthned himself but especially by the terrour of his Guns and Horses he overcame Montezuma the most potent of all the Kings made himself Master of the great City Temistitana and took possession of that rich and fertile Country in the Name of his Master But long he did not enjoy it for the same of these great actions drew the envy of the Court upon him so that he was sent for back having as a reward of his virtue received the Town of Vallium from Charles the Emperour to him and his Posterity for ever He afterwards followed Caesar in his African Expedition to Algier where he lost his precious Furniture by Shipwrack Of a mean mans Son of the poor Town of Medelinum Caesar raised him to the degree of a Noble-man some few years after which he dyed at home not as yet aged 5. Sir Francis Drake was born nigh South Tavestock in Devonshire and brought up in Kent being the Son of a Minister who fled into Kent for fear of the six Articles and bound his Son to the Master of a small Bark which traded into France and Zealand his Master dying unmarried bequeathed his Bark to him which he sold and put himself into farther employment at first with Sir Iohn Hawkins afterwards upon his own account Anno 1577. upon the thirteenth of December with a fleet of five Ships and Barks and one hundred seventy four men Gentlemen and Saylers he began that famous Navigation of his wherein he sayled round about the world with great vicissitude of Fortune he finished that Voyage arriving in England November the third 1580. the third year of his setting out having in the whole Voyage though a curious searcher after the time lost one day through the variation of several climates He feasted the Queen in his Ship at Dartford who Knighted him for his service being the first that had accomplished so great a design He is therefore said to have given for his device a Globe with this Motto Tu primus circumdedisti me Thou first didst Sayl round me A Poet then living directed to him this Epigram Drake pererrati novit quem terminus Orbis Quemque simul Mundi vidit uterque Polus Si Taceant homines facient te sydera notum Sol nescit comitis non memor esse sui Drake whom th'encompast Earth so fully knew And whom at once both Poles of Heav'n did view Should Men forget thee Sol could not forbear To Chronicle his fellow Travailer 6. Sebastian Cabot a Venetian rigged up two Ships at the cost of Henry the seventh King of England Anno 1496. intending to the Land of Cathai and from thence to turn towards India to this purpose he aimed at a passage by the Northwest but after certain dayes he found the Land ran towards the North he followed the Continent to the fifty sixth degree under our Pole and there finding the Coast to turn towards the East and the Sea covered with Ice he turned back again sayling down by the Coast of that Land towards the Aequinoctial which he called Baccalaos from the number of fishes found in that Sea like Tunnies which the Inhabitants call Baccalaos Afterwards he sayled along the Coast unto thirty eight degrees and provisions failing he returned into England was made Grand Pilot of England by King Edward the sixth with the allowance of a large pension of one hundred sixty six pounds thirteen shillings and four pence during life 7. Mr. Thomas Candish of Trimley in the County of Suffolk Esquire departed out of Plimouth Thursday the twenty first of Iuly 1586. with the Desire a Ship of one hundred and twenty Tun the Content of sixty Tun and the Hugh-gallant a Bark of forty Tun with one hundred twenty three Persons of all sorts with these he made an admirable and successful Voyage into the South Sea and from thence about the circumference of the whole Earth and the ninth of September 1588. after a terrible Tempest which carried away most part of their Sayls they recovered their long wished for Port of Plimouth in England whence they set forth in the beginning of their Voyage CHAP. VII Of the Eloquence of some men and the wonderful power of perswasion that hath been in their Speeches and Orations AMongst the Heathen Mercury was accounted the God of Eloquence and with the rest of his Furniture they allotted him a Rod or Wand by virtue of which he had the power of conducting some souls to Hell and â—reeing others from thence By which they would signifie that the power of Eloquence is such as it frees from death such as the Hangman waited for and as often exposes innocence to the utmost severity of the Law See something of the force of it in the following Examples 1. Hegesias a Cyrenean Philosopher and Oratour did so lively represent the miseries of humane life in his Orations and fixed the Images of them so deep in the minds and hearts of his Auditors that many of them sought their freedom thence by a voluntary death Insomuch that King Ptolomaeus was enforced to send him a command that he should forbear to make any publick Orations upon that Subject for the future 2. Pericles the Athenian was said to thunder and lighten and to carry a dreadful thunderbolt in his tongue by reason of his Eloquence Thucydides the Milesian one of the Nobles and long his enemy in respect of State matters being asked by Archidamus the Spartan King which was the best Wrastler of Pericles or him As soon saith he as wrastling with him I have cast him to the ground he denies it and perswades that he had not the fall and withall so efficaciously that he makes all the Spectators to believe it Whensoever Pericles was to make an Oration he was very solicitous in the composure of it and whensoever he was to speak in any cause he ever used â—irst to pray to the gods that no single word might fall from his lips which was not agreeable to the present matter in hand 3. Many were famous amongst the Romans for Eloquence but this was never an hereditary priviledge save only in the family of the Curio's in which there were three Oratours in immediate succession to each other 4. Iohn Tiptoft Earl of Worcester was bred in Baliol Colledge he was the â—irst English person of honour that graced Learning with the study thereof in the dayes of King Edward the fourth both at home and in foreign Universities He made so eloquent an Oration in the Vatican in the presence of Pope Pius the second one of the least bad and most learned of his Order that his Holiness was divided betwixt weeping and wondring thereat 5. Demades was the Son of Demaeas a Mariner and from a Porter betook himself to the Commonwealth in the City of Athens all men
recompence their valor he causeth them all to be taken up and given him again for a sign and token of Honour Whereby from that time forwards they are accounted as Knights and they take all those members wherewith the King hath thus honoured them and tie them all upon a string like a Bracelet or Chain and when they marry or go to any Wedding or Feasts the Bride or Wife of such Knights do wear the foresaid Chain about their necks which amongst them is as great an honour as it is with us to wear the golden Fleece or the Garter in England and the Brides of such Knights are therewith as proud as if they were the mightiest Queens in all the World 43. When any of the Indian Noble-men or Bramenes that is Priests dye their friends assemble together and make a hole in the ground wherein they throw much wood sweet Sanders and other Spices with Rice Corn and much Oil because the fire should burn the stronger Which done thâ—y lay the dead Bramene in it then comes his Wife with Musick and many of her nâ—arest friends all singing certain praises in commendation of her Husbands life encouraging her to follow her Husband and to go with him unto another World Then she taketh all her Jewels and parteth them amongst her friends and so with a chearful countenance she leapeth into the fire and is presently covered with wood and oil so she is quickly dead and with her Husbands body is burnt to ashes CHAP. XII Of the several things that several persons and Nations have set apart and worshipped as their Gods AMongst all the Nations under the whole Canopy of Heaven there are none so barbarous and cruel none that are so utterly lost to all the sentiments of Humanity and Civility but that they have embraced and continued amongst them the notion of a Deity or some Being that ought to be adored by them This is a Principle so deeply engraven in the very Nature of Man that no time nor change nor chance hath ever been able to obliterate it so that rather than men would have nothing to worship they were contented to be obliged to their Gardens for their Gods and indeed herein their ignorance and folly is chiefly to be lamented that they still made choice of any thing rather than the true God to pay their constant homage and venerations unto 1. The Eâ—yptians amongst the many Animals which they esteemed as Gods did especially worship an Ox they called Apis he was black remarkable for some spots of white and in his tongue and tail different from all others The day in which he was calved was held a as Festival throughout the whole Nation At Arsinoe they worship the Crocodile at the City of Hercules the Ichucumon a Creature that is enemy to the Crocodile Others of them adore a Cat some a Falcon others the Ibis and with that religious observation that 't is capital to kill any of these and if by accident or disease any of them dye they honourably interre them and lament over them with all solemnity 2. The Inhabitants of Hispaniola worship Goblins which though they see not yet they believe to wander in the night time about their houses The wooden Images of these they religiously adore calling them Zemini the Disposers of good and bad Fortune 3. In the Province of the Acladans amongst the Tartars every Family doth worship its Progenitor 4. In the Island of Iava they worship whatsoever it is that they first meet and chance to see in the morning and pray unto it all the day after although it be a Hog or worse thing 5. They of Calecut worship the Statue of the Devil the Chappel in which he is adored is not above three paces from the ground in the midst of it is a Throne and a brazen Statue that is framed sitting in it with a Diadem about his head like the Pontifical Mitre amongst the Romans He hath four prominent Horns upon his head his mouth stretched out to an unreasonable wideness a crooked nose threatning eyes cruel countenance crooked hands and feet like to those of a Cock which put together render the Devil wickedly deformed 6. Those of the Province of Manta worship an Emerauld a great and beautiful Gem and this they esteem of as the true Deity the sick came in Pilgrimage to visit it and there offered their gifts which the Cacique and Priests turned to their own profit 7. The Romans made a Goddess of their very City whose Temple was situate upon the top of the Mount Palatine as appears by that of Claudian bringing in the Provinces as Suppliants to visit the Goddess Rome Conveniunt ad tecta Deae quae candida lucent Monte Palatino They meet at the Goddess Temple which doth shine So white and glorious on Mount Palatine And Lucan as a Goddess solemnly directs his Prayer to her Summique O Numinis instar Roma fave coeptis And thou as greatest pow're divine Favour O Rome this enterprize of mine A number of Deities the Romans worshipped that they might do them some good but they worshipped the Feaver or Ague that it might do them the less hurt and harm 8. The Inhabitants of Negapatan have a massie Copper gilded Pagod or Idol mounted upon a triumphant Chariot moved by eight mighty Wheels over-laid with pure Gold the ascent is easie spacious and by many steps on which are placeâ— on a solemn day the Priests and many young Maidens who to enrich the Devil proâ—â—itute their bodies to the libidinous flames of wicked men The procession is not unlike the Thensa used by the superstitious Romans happy is that man rich and poor great and base that can fasten a hand to draw the Chariot yea they account them happiest who out of a frantick zeal temerariously throw their naked bodies in the way that by the ponderousness of the Pagod and his Chariot their wretched bodies may be crushed in pieces being for this thought Martyrs and such is the stupid folly of these men that they perswade their Daughters to become Strumpets to please their Pagods insomuch that it is a great wonder to see so many Girls at such immaturity so impudently delighted with the impure conversation of filthy men 9. In the City of Meacco the Metropolis of Iapan besides seventy Temples wherein they number 3333 Manada's or little Idols there is one more notable than the rest like the Rhodian Coloss huge and wonderful It was built by Tyco-zamma and without much pain and cost was not finished It is framed of gilded Copper its posture is sitting in a chair of seventy â—oot high and eighty broad his head is capable to support fifteen men who may stand together upon it without pressing his Thumb is â—orty inches about and his other limbs proportionable 10. At Dabys is another Manada or Idol no less infamous and resorted to this Devil or Moloch is of
cause afraid to go to Sea Before I answer you said the Captain I pray tell me Where dyed your Father In bed said he and where your Grandfather In his bed said he also and said the Captain Are you not afraid for that cause to go to bed 4. A certain Captain that thought he had performed much for his Country in the Fight with Xerxes in an insulting manner was comparing his deeds with those of Themistocles who thus returned There was said he a contention betwixt a Holy-day and the day after the day after boasted of the labours and sweat which it was spent in and that what was gained thereby was expended by those that kept Holy-day True said the Holy-day but unless I had been thou hadst not been and so said he Had I not been where had you all been 5. The Spaniards sided with the Duke of Mayenne and the rest of those Rebels in France which called themselves the holy League and a French Gentleman being asked the causes of their Civil Broils with an excellent allusion he replied They were Spania and Mania seeming by this answer to signifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Penury and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fury which are indeed the causes of all intestine tumults but covertly therein implying the King of Spain and the Duke of Mayenne 6. Sir Robert Cateline Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench in the first of Queen Elizabeth had a prejudice against those who wrote their names with an alias and took exceptions at one in this respect saying That no honest man had a double name or came in with an alias The party asked him What exception his Lordship could take at Jesus Christ alias Jesus of Nazareth 7. The Goldsmiths of London had a custom once a year to weigh Gold in the Star-Chamber in the presence of the Privy Council and the Kings Attorney This solemn weighing by a word of Art they call the Pixe and make use of so exact Scales therein that the Master of the Company affirmed that they would turn with the two hundredth part of a grain I should be loth said Attorney Noy standing by that all my actions should be weighed in those Scales 8. Dr. Andrew Perne Dean of Ely was excellent at blunt sharp Jests and sometimes too tart in true ones he chanced to call a Clergy-man Fool who indeed was little better he replied That he would complain thereof to the Bishop of Ely Do saith the Dean when you please and my Lord Bishop will confirm you 9. Iohn Iegon D. D. Master of Bennet Colledge in Cambridge after made Bishop of Norwich by King Iames a most serious man and grave Governour yet withal of a most facetious disposition Take this instance While Master of the Colledge he chanced to punish all the Undergraduates therein for some general offence and the penalty was put upon their heads in the Buttery and because he disdained to convert the money to any private use it was expended in new whiting the Hall of the Colledge whereupon a Scholar hung up these Verses on the Screen Dr. Jegon Bennet Colledge Master Brake the Scholars head and gave the walls a plaister But the Doctor had not the readiness of his parts any whit impaired by his age for perusing the Paper eâ—â—tempore he subscribed Knew I but the Wag that writ these Verses in a bravery I would commend him for his wit but whip him for his knavery 10. When the Wars in Queen Elizabeths time were hot betwixt England and Spain there were Commissioners on both sides appointed to treat of Peace They met at a Town of the French Kings And first it was debated in what Tongue the Negotiation should be handled A Spaniard thinking to give the English Commissioners a shrewd guird proposed the French Tongue as most fit it being a Language the Spaniards were well skilled in and for these Gentlemen of England I suppose saith he that they cannot be ignorant of the Language of their fellow-Subjects their Queen is Queen of France as well as of England Nay in faith my Masters replied Dr. Dale a civil Lawyer and one of the Masters of Requests the French Tongue is too vulgar for a business of this secrecy and importance especially in a French Town we will therefore rather treat in Hebrew the Language of Ierusalem whereof your Master is King and I suppose you are therein as well skilled as we in the French 11. The Inhabitants of Tarracon as a glad presage of prosperous success brought tydings to Augustus how that upon his Altar a young Palm-tree was suddenly sprung up to whom he made this answer By this it appears how often you burn Incense in our honour 12. Thomas Aquinas came to Pope Innocent the Third in whose presence they were at that time telling a great sum of money Thou seest Thomas said the Pope that the Church need not say as she did at her beginning Silver and gold have I none Thomas without study replied You say true holy Father nor can the Church say now as the ancient Church said to the same Cripple Arise walk and be whole 13. There was in the Kings Wardrobe a rich piece of Arras presenting the Sea-fight in 88. and having the lively Portraictures of the chiefest Commanders wrought on the borders thereof on the same token that a Captain who highly prized his own service missing his Picture therein complained of the injury to his friend professing of himself that he merited a place there as well as some therein seeing he was engaged in the middle of the Fight Be content quoth his friend thou hast been an old Pirate and art reserved for another Hanging 14. A great Lord in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth that carried a white Staff in his hand as the Badge of his Office was spoken to by her Majesty to see that such a man had such a place conferred upon him Madam said that Lord the disposal of that place was given to me by your Majesty at such time as I received this Staff The Queen replied That she had not so bestowed any thing but that she still reserved her self of the Quorum Of the Quarum Madam said the Earl At which the Queen somewhat moved snatched his Staff out of his hand And Sir said she before you have this again you shall understand that I am of the Quorum Quarum Quorum and so kept his Staff for two or three days till upon his submission it was restored to him 15. Alexander Nequam or Bad in English was born at St. Albans an excellent Philosopher Rhetorician Poet and a deep Divine insomuch that he was called Ingenii Miraculum His name gave occasion to the Wits of the Age to be merry with Nequam had a mind to become a Monk in St. Albans the Town of his Nativity and thus Laconically wrote to the Abbot thereof for leave Si vis veniam sin autem tu autem