Expressions and Fruits of Ingenuity and good Nature no Man that is not quite degenerated into Stupidity but hath some sense of Duty in such cases The Bruit Creatures and Elements themselves have some Property very Analogous to the Vertue of Gratitude the Earth the Air the Seas Storks Elephants Dogs every thing almost insensate and sensible Man should much more excel in Gratitude as being capable of greater Gifts more sensible of them and more able to return them And the deeper the Divine Image is impressed upon any one the more excellent he is in this Quality 1. There was in Florence a Merchant whose Name was Francis Frescobald of a Noble Family and Liberal Mind who through a prosperous Success in his Affairs was grown up to an abundance of Wealth While he was at Florence a young Man presented himself to him asking his Alms for God's sake Frescobald beheld the ragged Stripling and in despight of his Tatters reading in his Countenance some Significations of Vertue was moved with Pity demanded his Country and Name I am said he of England my Name is Thomas Cromwell my Father meaning his Father-in-Law is a poor Man a Cloth-shearer I am strayed from my Country and am now come into Italy with the Camp of French-men that were over-thrown at Gatylion where I was Page to a Foot-man carrying after him his Pike and Burganet Frescobald took him into his House made him his Guest and at his Departure gave him a Horse new Apparel and 16 Ducats of Gold in his Purse Cromwell rendring him hearty Thankâ— returned into his Country where in process of time he became in such favour with King Henry the Eighth that he raised him to the Dignity of being Lord-High-Chancellor of England In the mean time Frescobald by great and successive Losses was become poor but remembring that some English Merchants owed him fifteen thousand Ducats he came to London to seek after it not thinking of what had passed betwixt Cromwell and him But travelling earnestly about his business he accidentally met with the Lord-Chancellor as he was riding to the Court The Chancellor alights embraces him and with a broken Voice cast refraining Tears he demanded if he were not Francis Frescobald the Florentine invites him that day to dinner to his House Frescobald wonders who this Lord should be at last after some pause he remembers him for the same he had relieved at Florence he therefore repairs to his House not a little joyed and walking in the Court attended his return He came soon after and was no sooner dismounted but he again embraced him with so friendly a Countenance as the Lord-Admiral and other Nobles then in his Company much marvelled at He turning back and holding Frescobald by the Hand Do you not wonder my Lord said he that I seem so glad of this Man This is he by whose means I have atchieved this my present degree and therewith recounted to them what had passed between them Then taking him by the Hand he led him to the Chamber where he dined and seated him next himself Afterwards leading him into a Chamber and commanding all to depart he lockt the Door then opening a Coffer he first took out 16 Ducats and delivering that to Frescobald My Friend said he here is your Money that you lent me at my departure from Florence here are other ten you bestowed in my Apparel with 10 more you disbursed for the Horse I rode upon But considering you are a Merchant it seemeth to me not honest to return your Money without some Consideration for the long detaining of it take you therefore these four Bags in every of which is four hundred Ducats to receive and enjoy from the hand of your assured Friend Which the Modesty of Frescobald would have refused the other forced them upon him This done he caused him to give him the Names of all his Debtors and the Sum they owed the Schedule he delivered to one of his Servants with charge to search out the Men if within any part of the Realm and straitly to charge them to make payment within 15 days or else to abidethe hazard of Displeasure The Servant so well performed the Command of his Master that in a very short time the whole Sum was paid in During all this time Frescobald lodged in the Lord-Chancellor's House who gave him the Entertainment he deserved and oftentimes moved him to abide in England offering him the Loan of Sixty thousand Ducats for the space of 4 years if he would continue and make his Bank at London But he desired to return into his own Country which he did with the great Favour of the Lord Cromwell and there richly arrived but he enjoyed his Wealth but a small time for in the first year of his return he died Hackwel 's Apol. l. 4. c. 10. Engl. Worth by W. Winstanley p. 213. Wanley 's Wond l. 3. c. 20. 2. Bishop Andrews's Gratitude to those from whom he had received any Benefits was most conspicuous as Dr. Ward Son to his first School-Master upon whom he bestowed the Living of Waltham in Hampshire Master Mulcaster his other School-Master he always reverendly respected living and being dead caused his Picture having but few other in his House to be set over his Study-door Upon a Kinsman of Dr. Wats which was all he could find of that Generation he bestowed Preferments in Pembroke-hall But should I go about to particularize all his Vertues it were sufficient of its self to make up a Volume Winstanley's Worthies p. 373. CHAP. XLVIII Remarkable Diligence Laboriousness and Studiousness GOD requires of all Men that they should be active and industrious in their places and he that is not so is a Burden to the Creation no Credit to his Creator nor Comfort as he should be to Others The hand of the diligent maketh rich saith Solomon if thou searchest for her as for hid treasures then shalt thou understand c. Whilst we have time let us do good saith our Saviour Neither Wealth nor Wisdom nor Goodness is to be had without Diligence and besides no Crown without a Combat I have fought the good fight saith St. Paul henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of glory 1. Irenaeus laboured exceedingly by Prayer Preaching Disputing Instructing and Reproving with Patience and Wisdom seeking the lost strengthning the weak recalling the wandring binding up the broken-hearted and confirming those that were strong insomuch that Tertullian saith of him He governed the Flock of Christ with such Integrity of Life and Sincerity of Doctrine that he was loved exceedingly by his own and feared by others Clark's Marr. of Eccles Hist 2. Origen was called Adamantinus for his hardiness and lustre say some because not daunted nor affrighted with any Labours or Afflictions whatsoever for he studied the hidden meaning of the Scriptures from a Child tired and sometimes posed his Father with Questions prompted him and others to Martyrdom could hardly be restrained from it himself
particular Instances of these kind of Meteors the Scripture tells us at the Birth of our Saviour a Star appeared which perhaps was the Comet spoken of by Heathen Authors in the Days of Augustus of a stupendious Greatness upon which the Tibertine Sibyl shewed the Emperour the Divinity of our Saviour in these words Hic Puer Major te est Ipsum adora Our last great Comet I doubt not was of extraordinary signification not to us only but to whole Europe and farther so far as it was conspicuous What a gracious God have we that never scarce goes about any great Commotions or Changes in the World but he gives Warning before-hand As if not willing to take us tardy He shews his Signs in the Heavens above when he is about to do any great Work in the Earth beneath And therefore as Darius in the Case of Daniel Chap. 6.26 27. Let Men tremble and fear before this God for he is the Living God and steadfast for ever his Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed and his Dominion shall be even unto the end he delivereth and rescueth and worketh Signs and Wonders in Heaven and Earth 2. Thunder and Lightning Called by the Psalmist the Voice of God and by some supposed to be that Trumpet that shall sound at the Last Day to raise the Dead and to call to Judgment I will not trouble you with declaring the strange and divers Effects of this kind of Meteor its hurting of things inward when the outward are safe shattering the Bones when the Flesh is left sound melting the Blade of the Sword when the Scabbard is free breaking the Vessel when the Wine slows not away exempting poisonous Creatures from their Venom and infusing it into those who are not so striking Men dead and leaving them in the same posture it found them as if still alive c. It is enough to say that 't is a stupendious Meteor and may well be called the Voice of the Divine Excellency Job 37.2 3 4 c. Job 26 6-14 It is said of Nero that a Thunder-bolt fell upon his Table and struck the Cup out of the Emperor's Hand And we have known in our Age some strong Towers and high Buildings demolished to the very Ground with Lightning Some Men struck dead some lamed some blinded Trees clove asunder A Learned Divine of our Nation tells of a profane Person walking abroad with another upon the Lord's-Day when it thundred his Companion telling him of it made Answer 'T is nothing but a Knave Cooper beating of his Tubs But he had not gone much farther but himself was struck dead This may teach us to put on a Reverential Awe of the Divine Majesty at such Seasons That Emperor Caligula who used to brave it out as if he meant to vie with the Almighty and cry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was an Instance of the Divine Patience but no safe Example for Imitation The Psalmist is more ingenuous Psal 29. c. Give unto the Lord O ye mighty give unto the Lord Glory and Strength And Psal 97.1 2 3 4. To see all the lower World cover'd with thick Clouds and the Cracks of Thunder shake the very Pillars of the Earth and terrible Flashes and Corruscations of Lightning with a speedy pace fly from one end of the Heavens to the other is so like the Voice of God and a Type or Shadow of that black gloomy Day which shall put a Period to the World that it may well be a Memento of our Duty and Reverence we owe to the Divine Majesty and may well put that Question into our Mouths Who shall be able to stand when God appears When this great and terrible God shall by the Sound of this Trumpet or the Voice of an Arch-Angel Summon the World to Judgment who shall dare to appear before him If the Giving of the Law and the Enacting or rather Promulgation of our Religion upon Mount Sinai was so dreadful as Exod. 19.16 Chap. 20.18 19. What will the Great Assizes be when all the Men that ever lived in the World shall be called to give up their last Account and receive their Final Doom Then Oh! Come ye Mountains and fall upon us and ye Rocks cover us and hide us from the Wrath of the Lamb Then Oh! where will the Heart and Stoutness of the presumptuous Sinner shew itself How will he that brav'd it here with the Almighty be able then to stand his Ground and maintain his Cause Psal 50.1 2 3 4. 3. Air and Winds Which what to make of we know not 't is such an invisible and yet real Meteor that it will puzzle the Natural Reason of the most subtile Philosopher to tell the Nature of it The Air is so like the Nature of the Souls in our Bodies or a Spirit in general that we know little more of either one or other than what we know by the sensible Effects John 3.8 The Wind bloweth where it listeth c. If Man be so dim in Naturals with what Face can he boast his Knowledge of Spiritual Objects We neither know the Air that surrounds us every-where nor the Wind that whistles in our Ears nor the Souls that lodge in our own Bodies We are so blind so near home And 't is enough to make us blush at our own Weakness and such Ignorance should make us Humble and such Humility should make us Learn And 'till we are thus qualified we are not fit to learn What a proud Lump of Clay is foolish Man that cannot comprehend Things so near him Things meerly natural Things so common and ordinary and yet will call every Point of his Religion even the sublimest Mysteries to the Tribunal of meer Reason and determine in particular Branches and Puâ—ctilio's as peremptorily and decisively as if be had been Privy Counsellour to the Almighty and judge others censoriously unkindly for differing from him but in the lesser doubtful difficult Points of Religion and prosecute severely for not knowing and believing with equal clearness as himself But besides We are often wondring at the Nature of God himself and cannot tell how to frame a Notion of a Being every-where present Is not the Air and Wind a fit Emblem to shadow forth this Attribute of the Divinity to us Is not the Air in every Creviss of our Houses in our Nostrils in our very Bowels Doth it not fill the World and enter into the smallest Pores of our Bodies And yet 't is but a Creature and we see it not Why should we think it such an impossible thing for the God of Heaven to fill all Places with his Presence and yet be limited to no Bounds nor visible to any Eyes The same word that we use to signifie Air is used also to express the Spirit of God by in almost all the Languages viz. Spiritus Latin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amp c. And we find the Spirit of God choosing sometimes to come down and shew
and out of the Town and heard a mighty noise like the Discharging of Canons Two years after which General Wallestein Assaulted this Town with Souldiers and great Guns but was so stoutly entertained by those within that after the loss of a great many of the Imperialists he was forced tho he had besieged it above Twenty Months to break up his siege and depart Surprizing Mirac of Nature p. 108. 2. In King Henry the VIII's Days there was one Mr. Gresham a Merchant of London setting Sail homewards from Palermo where dwelt at that time one Antonio called the Rich who had at one time two Kingdoms Mortgaged to him by the King of Spain and being Crossed by contrary Winds Mr. Gresham was constrained to Anchor under the Lee of the Island off from Bulo where was a Burning Mountain Now about the Midday when for a certain space the Mountain forbore to send forth Flames Mr. Gresham with eight of the Sailors ascended the Mountain approaching as near the Vent as they durst where amengst other Noises they heard a Voice cry aloud Dispatch dispatch the Rich Autonio is a coming Terrified herewith they hasted their return and the Mountain presently broke out in a Flame But from so dismal a place they made all the haste they could and desiring to know more of this matter the Winds still thwarting their course they returned to Palermo and forthwith enquiring for Antonio they found that he was Dead about the very Instant so near as they could guess when that Voice was heard by them Mr. Gresham at his return to London reported this to the King and the Mariners being called before him confirmed the same upon Mr. Gresham this wrought so deep an Impression that he gave over all his Merchandizing distributed his Estate partly to his Kinsfolk and partly to good uses retaining only a Competency for himself and so spent the rest of his days in Solitary Devotion Sands Relat. 248. 3. Knocking 's Extracted from the Miscellanies of John Aubrey Esq Mr. Baxter's Certainty of the Worlds of Spirits A Gentleman formerly seeming Pious of late Years hath fallen into the Sin of Drunkenness and when he has been Drunk and slept himself Sober something Knocks at his Beds-head as if one knock'd on a Wainscot when they remove the Bed it follows him besides loud Noises on other parts where he is that all the House heareth It poseth me to think what Kind of Spirit this is that hath such a care of this Man's Soul which makes me hope he will recover Do good Spirits dwell so near us Or are they sent on such Messages Or is it his Guardian Angel Or is it the Soul of some Dead Friend that suffereth and yet retaining Love to him as Dives did to his Brethren would have him Saved God keepeth yet such things from us in the Dark Three or four Days before my Father died as I was in my Bed about Nine a Clock in the Morning perfectly awake I did hear three distinct Knocks on the Beds-head as if it had been with a Ruler or Ferula Mr. Hierome Banks as he lay on his Death Bed in Bell-yard said Three Days before he died that Mr. Jennings of the Inner-Temple his great Acquaintance Dead a Year or two before gave Three Knocks looked in and said Come away He was as far from believing such things as any man 4. Mr. Brograve near Puckridge in Hertford-shire when he was a young man riding in a Lane in that Contrey had a Blow given him on his Cheek or Head He look'd back and saw that no body was near behind him anon he had such another Blow I have forgot if a Third He turn'd back and fell to the Study of the Law and was afterwards a Judge This Account I had from Sir John Penrudock of Compton-Chamberlain our Neighbour whose Lady was Judge Brograve's Neice 5. Newark has Knocking 's before Death And there is a House near Covent-Garden that has Warnings 6. At Berlin when one shall Die out of the Electoral House of Brandenburgh a Woman Drest in white Linnen appears always to several without speaking or doing any harm for several Weeks before This from Jasper Belshazer Cranmer a Saxon Gentleman Thus far I am beholding to Mr. Aubrey's Collect. CHAP. VII Discovery of Things Secret or Future by Prodigies Comets Lights Stars c. HERE I propound only to shew how God Almighty when he is doing or going to do any thing extraordinary in the World to put Nature out of its usual Course and make some greater and more remarkable Steps in his Providence He often hangs out some Flag makes some Flame of Fire his messenger or so Ruffles the Elements of the Visible World in such an unusual manner as is enough to startle Men not out of but into their Wits and make them serious and inquisitive into the Counsels of Heaven and their own Merits and Behaviour towards God and so to Humble them into Sorrow and Penitence when they see the Hand of God thus lifted up or concern'd for them 1. Before the Destruction of Jerusalem there was often seen in the Air Armies of men in Battle-array seeming to be ready to charge each other the Brazen Gate open'd of it self without being touched by any Body Joseph de Bell. Jud. l. 7. Gaffarella Part 2. c. 3. 2. A little before the time that Xerxes cover'd the Earth with his million of men there appear'd horrible and dreadful Meteors as Presages of the Evils that afterwards happened as there did likewise in the time of Attila who was call'd Flagellum Dei God's Scourge Gaffarrel unheard of Curios Part 2. Ch 3. 3. When Ambrose was a Child a Swarm of Bees settled on his Face in the Cradle and flew away without hurting of him whereupon his Father said Si vixerit infantulus ille aliquid magni erit viz. If this Child live he will be some great man Clark's Mart. of Eccl. Hist 4. In the time of Gregory the Great A. C. 600 c. The River Tsber swell'd to such an unmeasurable height that it ran over the Walls of Rome and drowned a great part of the City and brake into many great Houses overthrew divers antient monuments and Gravaries belonging to the Church carrying away many thousand measures of Wheat Presently after which Innundation came down the River an innumerable Company of Serpents with one monstrous great one as big as a Beam which when they had swam into the Sea were there choaked and their Carcasses being all cast upon the Shoar there rotted which caused such an Infection of the Air that presently a great Plague followed at Rome so that many thousands died of it Yea Arrows were visibly seen to be shot from Heaven and whosoever was stricken with them presently died amongst whom Pelagius was one then Bishop of Rome Ibid. p. 97. What the consequences of those Prodigies were I leave to the Consideration of the ingenious Reader who may easily find in Church-History
〈◊〉 King James 3. A certain Drunkard whom I knew very well saith mine Author a Godly Minister when he was in Drink quarrelled with his Fellow-Servant and after a few words knock d him down with his Flail and killed him at one blow Yet when he came to his Tryal by the help of Friends he made a shift to escape the Halter and came home again and there he used to Swear and Curse and Drink at as high a rate as ever But at last when he was in the same Yard where he committed the aforesaid Murther he fell down dead in a moment And I was saith he one of the first that saw him 4. In the Year 940. Hatto Archbishop of Mentz assembled certain poor Beggars together into a great Barn not to relieve their wants as he might and ought but to rid them of their Lives as he ought not but did For he set on Fire the Barn wherein they were and consumed them all alive comparing them to Rats and Mice that devoured good Corn but served to no other good Use But God that had regard and respect unto those poor wretches took their Cause into his Hand to quit this proud Prelate with just Revenge for his Outrage committed against them sending towards him an Army of Rats and Mice to lay Siege against him with the Engines of their Teeth on all sides which when this cursed Wretch perceived he removed into a Tower that standeth in the midst of the Rhine not far from Bing whither he presumed this Host of Rats could not pursue him but he was deceived For they swam over the Rhine thick and three-fold and got into his Tower with such strange Fury that in a very short space they had consumed him to nothing in Memorial whereof this Tower was ever after called The Tower of Rats And this was the Tragedy of that Bloody Arch-Butcher that compared poor Christian Souls to brutish and base Creatures and therefore became himself a Prey unto them as Popiel King of Poland did after him in whose strange Examples the Beams of God's Justice shine forth after an extraordinary and wonderful manner to the Terror and Fear of all Men when by the means of small Creatures they made room for his Vengeance to make entrance upon these execrable Creature-Murtherers notwithstanding all Man's Devices and Impediments of Nature For the Native Operation of the Elements was restrained from hindring the passage of them armed and inspired with an invincible and supernatural Courage to fear neither Fire Water nor Weapon till they had finished his Command that sent them And thus in old time did Frogs Flies Grashoppers and Lice make War with Pharaoh at the Command of him that hath all the World at his beck Beard 's Theater p. 196. Munster's Cosmogr c. 5. Anno 1346. Popiel King of Poland amongst many of his particular kinds of Cursings and Swearings whereof he was no niggard used ordinarily this Oath If it be not true would Rats might devour me Prophesying thereby his own Destruction for he was devoured by the same means which he often wished for as the Sequal of his History will declare The Father of this Popiel feeling himself near Death resigned the Government of his Kingdom to two of his Brethren Men exceedingly reverenced of all Men for the Valour and Vertue which appeared in them He being deceased and Popiel being grown up to Ripe and Lawful Years when he saw himself at full Liberty without all Bridle of Government to do what he listed he began to give the full swinge to his lawless and unruly desires in such sort that within few days he became so shameless that there was no Vice which appeared not in his Behaviour even to the working of the Death of his own Uncles for all their Faithful dealing towards him which he by Poison brought to pass Which being done he caused himself forthwith to be crowned with Garlands of Flowers and to be perfumed with Precious Oyntments And to the end the better to Solemnize his Entry to the Crown commanded a Sumptuous and Pompous Banquet to be prepared whereunto all the Princes and Lords of his Kingdom were invited Now as they were about to give the Onset upon the delicate Chear behold an Army of Rats sallying out of the dead and putrefied Bodies of his Uncles set upon him his Wife and Children amidst their Dainties to gnaw them with their sharp Teeth insomuch that his Guard with all their Weapons and Strength were not able to chase them away but being weary with Resisting their daily and mighty Assaults gave over the Battle Wherefore Counsel was given to make great Coal Fires about them that the Rats by that means might be kept off not knowing that no Policy or Power of Man was able to withstand the unchangeable Decree of God for for all their huge Fires they ceased not to run through the midst of them and to Assault with their Teeth this cruel Murtherer Then they gave him Counsel to put himself his Wife and Children into a Boat and thrust it into the midst of a Lake thinking that by reason of the Waters the Rats would not approach unto them But alas in vain for they swam thropugh the Water a main and gnawing the Boat made such chinks in the sides thereof that the Water began to run in which being perceived of the Boat-men amazed them sore and made them make Post-hast to Shoar where he was no sooner arrived but a fresh Muster of Rats uniting their Forces with the former encountred him so sore that they did him more mischief than all the rest Whereupon all his Guard and others that were there present for his Defence perceiving it to be a Judgment of God's Vengeance upon him abandoned and forsook him at once Who seeing himself destitute of Succour and forsaken on all sides flew into a high Tower in Chouzitze whither also they pursued him and climbing even up to the highest Room where he was first eat up his Wife and Children she being guilty of his Uncles Death and lastly gnawed and devoured him to the very Bones Ibid. 6. Anno 1056. a certain Nobleman abounding with Wealth not far from Augusta of the Vindilicians brought up in his HOuse a Young Black-a-more which Villain when his Master was from home rose up in the Night and slew not only his Lady but the whole Family excepting one little Daughter of the Nobleman's The Nobleman returning home after two days and finding his Gate shut rode nearer to the Walls of the House wondring Where the Black-a-more upon the top of the House with a fearful Countenance spake unto him these words O thou cruel Man thou rememberest how unworthily thou beat'st me not long since for no fault the memory whereof I still retain in my mind and have revenged this wrong upon thine behold here part of the Carcass of thy Wife whom I have slain with thy whole Family except this little Child which I have reserved
his right Wits and Senses conclude that all these brave and curious Beings made themselves or that they happen'd casually by a fortuitous Concourse of Atoms and little Particles of Matter accidentally jumbled together Men have lived now by Succession of Generations several Thousands of Years in the World and yet we never read or heard of any of them that ever saw a House built or a Fly made in this manner We cannot bring the Herbs in our Garden into the due Form and Mixture of a Sallad nor prevail with our Labouring Cattel to come into their Harness and draw in the Yoke nor range Soldiers into their due Order without the Exercise of Care and the Discipline of a Superiour And shall the whole Vniverse be filled with such Plenty and Variety of admirable Creatures and those Creatures made with admirable Wisdom and able to produce admirable Effects and nothing but what is common and visible and which occurs to our outward Senses contribute and concur to the making of them Fie upon such Stupidity and Bruitishness of Thought I do here present the Reader not with a Scheme of what is very common and obvious Things that we may see and hear of every Day every Way we go but the Rarities of Nature the most remarkable Particulars of the visible Creation the Archives and Treasury of this lower World the Repository of Things more strange and wonderful than ordinary And this I do on purpose to rouze and awaken the Reason of Men asleep into a Thinking and Philosophical Temper that if possible when they will wink and sleep and scorn to spend a serious Thought upon the Common Scheme of the World they may startle at Extraordinaries and wind up their Reasons a little higher upon the sight of Wonders But this is not all I aim at the Footsteps of the Divinity are so conspicuous in the Creation that methinks 't is very easie and natural for Human Reason to climb the Porphyry-Tree and ascend as it were by a Scala Coeli from Earth to Heaven from the Individuals here below to the Supreme Creator and Architect above And that Man that doth not improve his Faculties in this Case is unworthy of that Rational Soul he is endowed with And therefore I humbly request my Reader to shake himself and rub his Eyes and look about him first of all to see what Impressions of the Divine Attributes and Excellencies he can meet with upon the several Beings in the World and then fall down upon his Knees in an humble and modest Address and Adoration to the Great Wise and Gracious Creator The greatest Adversaries we have to deal with in this Case are the Wits of the Age some of Epicurus's Litter who deny all Revelation and Scripture-Evidence and take upon them to Philosophize upon the World and so professing themselves to be Wise they become Fools For I am sure the Apostle was no Fool when he tells us The invisible Things of the Godhead may be visibly seen by the Creation of the Things which are made No no themselves in the Judgment not only of St. Paul but even of the Heathen Poet will be found faulty through their Poverty of Wit and their Beggarliness of Reason Tentat enim dubiam mentem Rationis Egestas Ecquaenam fuerit mundi genitalis Origo Lucret. p. 227. And truly as Bishop Fotherby saith concerning his Athaeomastix how the Reader will be affected in the Reading of this Book I cannot tell but myself in Writing of it was no less affected than Tully in Writing his De Senectute being oftentimes so lively touched that I never found in myself a more quick Apprehension both of God's incomprehensible Majesty and Goodness and of Man's most contemptible Littleness and Baseness than by this Contemplation of God in his Creatures finding in myself the Truth of that in Tully Est Animorum ingeniorumque pabulum consideratio contemplatioque Naturae Erigimur latiores fieri videmur humana despicimus cogitantesque supera atque coelestia baec nostra ut exigna minima contemnimus Cic L 4. Acad. p. 38. The Contemplation of Nature is the Food and Nutriment of the Mind it lifts up the Soul and doth so brisk the Spirit that our Minds seem to be more dilated and spread as it were into a Paraphrase 'till at last we scorn Earth and our own Studies here as too little and narrow and fall presenly upon the Consideration of Things more Divine and Heavenly This Reader is the Design of the following Collections to glut and satiate the Mind with a Prospect of meer Nature and to administer a fair Occasion for the raising of the Soul to Higher and more Lofty and Noble Speculations the Study of Divinity and the Glories of the Vpper World which will please and make us happy without any Nauseousness for ever and ever Wonders of Nature PART II. NAture says Dr. Barrow offereth her self and her inexhaustible Store of Appearances to our Contemplation we may without any Harm and with much Delight survey her rich Varieties examine her Proceedings pierce into her Secrets every kind of Animals of Plants of Minerals of Meteors presenteth Matter wherewith innocently pleasantly and profitably to entertain our Minds There are many Noble Sciences by applying our Minds to the Study whereof we may not only Divert them but Improve and Cultivate them c. To do this we have an Unquestionable Right and by it we shall obtain vast Benefit Thus far Dr. Barrow in his Sermons against Evil Speaking We shall therefore here for Method-sake first relate the Wonders of Nature and then proceed to the Wonders of Art In relating the Wonders of Nature we shall first begin with Instances of Sympathy CHAP. I Instances of Sympathy THE Sympathy of the Simple Qualities and the Elements wherein they are found say the Virtuosi of France are the Causes of the Temperament of mix'd Bodies as Antipathy of their Dissolution 'T is they who unite and disunite those Compounds and by approximating or removing them one from another cause all their Motions When these Causes are apparent we take upon us to impute them to certain Qualities and discourse upon them with some Skill and Confidence but where we cannot by searching find out the Cause we fly to Occult Qualities that is Sympathy or Antipathy for a Refuge and Honourable Sanctuary for our Ignorance of which sort may be these that follow 1. Coral stays Bleeding Amber draws Straws the Loadstone Iron Garlick is a Friend to the Rose and Lilly increasing one the others Odour a Man's Fasting-Spittle kills the Viper Eels drown'd in Wine make the Drinker thenceforward hate it Betony strengthens the Brain Succory is proper to the Liver Bezoar a Friend to the Heart The Lungs of a Fox are useful to such as are Phthisical the Intestines of the Wolf is good for the Colick Eyebright for the Eye Solomon's-Seal for the Rupture the Black Decoction of Sena for Melancholy Yellow Rhubarb for Choler White
1. p. 52. Camerar Hor. Subcis cent 2. c. 66. CHAP. V. Examples of the Numerous Issue of some Persons BE Fruitful and Multiply was a Blessing bestowed not only upon the rest of the Animal World at the Creation but upon Mankind especially and afterwards upon the Jewish Church more then others and 't is certain the more excellent any Being is the more desirable is its Increase and the Multiplication of its Species We are pleased with profitable Cattle and love to see our Orchards and Fields of Corn Fruitful Is it the glory of Man and Woman only to be barren Or should we not have some Zeal to fill up the vacant spaces in the Church of God Militant first and Triumphant afterwards And then happy they who produce most Fruit for Heaven 1. In the History of the Acts of Augustus Caesar it is Recorded that in his 12th Consulship upon the 11th day of April C. Crispinus Hilarius a Gentleman of Fesule came with a solemn Pomp into the Capitol attended upon with his 9 Children 7 Sons and two Daughters with 27 Grand-Children that were the Sons of his Children and 39 more who were his great Grand-Children the Sons of his Sons Sons and besides these with 12 Females that were his Childrens Daughters and with all these he solemnly Sacrificed Plin. l. 7. p. 162. 2. There was a Noble Lady of the Family of the Dalburges who saw of her own Race even to the sixth degree whereof the Germans have made this Distict Mater ait Natae dic Natae Filia Natam Vt moneat Natae plangere Filiolam Thus Englished by Hakwell Apolog. l. 3. c. 5. p. 224. The Aged Mother to her Daughter spake Daughter said she arise Thy Daughter to thy Daughter take Whose Daughter 's Daughter Cries 3. Vives speaks of a Village in Spain that had above a Hundred Houses whereof all the Inhabitants were issu'd from one certain Old Man who then liv'd when as that Village was so Peopled The Name of Propinquity how the youngest should call him could not be given for the Spanish affords not a Name above the great Grand-Fathers Father Vives in comment Sup. lib. de Civit. Dei l. 1. 8. c. 15. 4. In the Burrough of Leicester in the Church of St. Martins is a very remarkable Epitaph viz. Here lyeth the Body of John Heyrick of this Parish who departed this Life the second of April 1589 being about the Age of 76 years he did Marry Mary the Daughter of John Bond of Wardend in the County of Warwick Esq he lived with the said Mary in one House full 52 years and in all that time never buried Man Woman nor Child though they were sometimes 20 in Houshold He had Issue by the said Mary 5 Sons and 7 Daughters the said John was Mayor of the Town 1559. and again Anno 1572 the said Mary lived to 97 years and departed the 8th of December 1611. She did see before her departure of her Children and Childrens Children and their Children to the number of One Hundred Forty and two ibid. 5. In St. Innocents Church-yard in the City of Paris is to be seen the Epitaph of Yeoland Baily which doth shew that she had lived 84 years and might have seen 288 Verstegan saith 295 of her Children and Childrens Children she died on the 17th of April 1514. Hakewel ibid. p. 234. Versteg Restit decay'd Int. 1. p. 3. 6. In Markshal-Church in Essex on Mrs. Honywoods Tomb is this Inscription Here lieth the body of Mary Waters the Daughter and Co-heir of Robert Waters of Lenham in Kent Esq Wife of Robert Honywood of Charing in Kent Esq her only Husband who had at her decease lawfully descended from her 367 16 of her own body 114 Grand-Children 228 in the third Generation and 9 in the fourth She liv'd a most Pious Life and in a most Christian manner died here at Markshall in the 93 year of her Age and in the 44th of her Widowhood May 11th 1620. Wanly Hist of Man p. 41. 7. Dame Ester Temple Daughter to Miles Sands Esq was born at Latmos in Buckinghamshire and was marryed to Sir Thomas Temple of Stow Baronet she had 4 Sons and 9 Daughters which liv'd to be marry'd and so exceedingly multiplied that this Lady saw 700 extracted from her Body Doctor Fuller saith he bought the Truth hereof by a Wager he lost besides there was a new Generation of Marriageable Females just at her Death Had the Off-spring of this Lady been contracted into one place they were enough to have peopled a City of a competent proportion The Lady Temple died Anno 1656. Fullers Worthies p. 138. Buckinghamshire 8. We read saith Mr. Ricaut that the Eastern Parts of the World have abounded with Children of diver Mothers and but one Father and that ordinarily as great Personage in Egypt hath been attended with 100 lusty Sons in the Field proceeding from his own Loins well Armed and daring in all Attempts of Was. Paul Ricaut Esq present State of the Ottoman Empire p. 292. A Woman in Delph three several days voided three Worms out of her Navel and not long after was delivered of a Boy and then seven days after that of another Forest 17. Obs. 35. 10. I have heard the Reverend dr Annesley has had 25 Children for Dr. Manton baptizing one of them was asked how many children the Doctor had to whom he return'd this Answer That he was not certain how many but believ'd 't was Two Dozen or a Quarter of an Hundred CHAP. VI. Children crying in the Womb. 'T IS common for Infants at their first Exit out of their Mothers Womb to give some Significations of their resentment of the Change but to do it before they come into the common Air of this World is more rare and strange one would think it time enough for them to Cry when they are born and arrived at the brink of Troubles but some whether through the Strength of Nature or some premature Eruption of the Amnion or other Accident in the Womb or an extraordinary Sagacity in provident Nature and foresight of the Evils to come Anticipate their time and are heard to Cry before either the Mother or Midwife go about to disturb them in their little Mansions 1. At Heyford Purcel there was a Child that Cyred very Audibly in its Mothers Womb sometime before the Birth The People being frighted with it and expecting some Calamity should soon attend such a Prodigy pernicious forsooth not only to the place where heard but to the state it self whereas the Learned Bartholin more rightly Notes that the Ruin of Kingdoms depends rather upon the Wickedness of People than any such Vagitus Dr. Plot. Nat. Hist Oxf. p. 192. 2. Anno 1648. There was a Woman the Wife of a Seaman near to the Church of Holmiana who had been big for 8 Months she was of a good habit of body and nor Old this Woman upon the Eve of Christmas-day upon the Calends in the year following
little Conversant in and therefore cannot be supposed to say much of it This is certain that they have found out several ways of dissolving Natural Bodies and separating their various Substances by Menstruum Amalgamation Liquation Calcination c. Of Extracting Juices Oils and Spirits out of them of Fermenting Fixing Subliming and Transforming one Metal or Mineral into another as Transforming Tin into Silver or Lead changing Lead again into Tin Antimony into Lead making Lead heavier extracting Quicksilver out of it and again converting Lead into Quicksilver Transforming Brass or Iron into a more worthy Metal drawing Water out of Quicksilver making Quicksilver grow to be a Tree giving a golden Tincture to Silver and Extracting Gold out of it Counterfeiting and Colouring precious Stones polishing of Metals Extracting Salts Tinctures Essences Gums c. Tempering Hardening and Softening Iron c. 4. Sir Christopher Wren contrived how to make Diaries of Wind and Weather and of the various Qualifications of the Air as to Heats Colds Droughts Moisture and Weight through the whole Year and this in order to the History of Seasons with observations which are the most Healthful or Contagious to Men or Beasts which the Harbingers of Blights Mildews Smut c. To this end he contrived a Thermometer to be its own Register and a Clock to be annexed to a Weather-Cock which moves a Rundle covered with white Paper upon which the Clock moving a black Lead Pensil the Observer by the Traces of the Pensil on the Paper may know what Winds have blown during his Sleep or Absence for 12 Hours together he hath discovered also many subtle ways for easier finding the degrees of Drought and Moisture and the Gravity of the Atmosphere and amongst other Instruments hath Ballances that shew the Pressure of the Air by their very easie Inclinations He hath made Instruments also to shew the Mechanical Reason of Sailing to all Winds and others of Resiration for straining the Breath from thick Vapours to try whether the same Breath thus purified will serve again Dr. Plot 's Nat. Hist of Oxfordshire c. 9. par 30. c. 5. The Honourable Mr. Boyle invented a Pneumatic Engine with the help of Mr. Hook called the Air Pump far above that of Magdeburgh by the Assistance whereof he hath accurately Examined the Elastical Power Pressure Weight Expansion and weakness of this Element and has found out so many new things relating to the height and gravity of the Atmosphere nature of a Vacuum Flame and excandefcence of Coals Match Firing of Gun-Powder propagation of Sounds Fluidity Light Freezing Respiration c. that to give an Account of all according to their Merits would be to Transcribe the Author himself Ibid. 6. The same Noble Person invented the Barometer or Weather-Glass whereby the gravity of the Atmosphere hath been daily observed by Dr. Wallis for many Years together and the Quicksilver in the Tube found never to ascend much above 30 Inches and never to descend much below 28 which is supposed to be the whole Latitude of its Variation Ibid. 7. The same Ingenious Dr. Wallis hath observed many Years together the Temper of the Air by a the Air by a Thermometer whereof he kept the Notes still by him very particular for every Day Ibid. Which latter Instrument though graphically delineated by Robert de Fluctibus in a M. S. of 500 Years standing at least yet hath still received other useful Advancements from Sir Chr. Wren who finding the usual Thermometers not to give so exact a measure of the Airs extension by reason the Gravity of the Liquor as it stands higher or lower in the Glass weighs unequally on the Air and gives it a Contraction and Extension besides what is produced by Heat and Cold he thereofre invented a circular Thermometer in which the Liquor can occasion no such fallacy it remains continually of one height and moving the whole Instrument like a Wheel on its Axel Ibid. 8. Mr. J. Jones of Jesus Coll. Oxon contrived a Clock which moved by the Air equally expressed out of Bellows of a Cylindrical Form falling into Folds in its descent much after the manner of Paper Lanthorns these instead of drawing up the weights of other Clocks are only fill'd with Air admitted into them at a large Orifice at the top which is stopt up again as soon as they are full with a hollow Skrew in the head whereof there is set a small brass Plate about the bigness of a silver Half-penny with a Hole perforated scarce so big as the smallest Pins head through this Hole the Air is equally expressed by Weights laid on the top of the Bellows which descending very slowly draw a Clock-line having a counterpoise at the other end that turns a Pully-wheel fastened to the Arbor or Axis of the Hand that points to the Hour which devise though not brought to the intended Perfection of the Inventor that perhaps it may be by the help of a Tumbrel or Fusee yet highly deserves mentioning Ibid. 9. Mr. John Young M. A. of Magdalene Hall hath improved the Hygroscope 'T is made of two Deal or rather Poplar Boards who rationally concluding that the Teeth of the thin pieces of Brass placed across the Juncture of the two Boards must needs in its passage from bearing on one side of the Teeth of the Pinion to the other upon change of Weather make a stand as it were in respect of the motion of the Axel of the Hand thinking a pretty stiff Spring cut on the under side after the manner of a File placed flat and not edg-ways and bearing pretty hard upon an Axel of Copper may turn the Hand upon Change of Weather in the punctum of Reversion without any more than a negative Rest which being an Opinion so very rational and unlikely to fail when brought to the Test I thought fit to propound to the Ingenious Ibid. 10. Dr. Willis hath given us the Anatomy of Blood in his Book de Febribus and declared the true Causes and Nature of Fermentations in the Juices and upon them built his most Rational Doctrine of Fevers Intermitent Putrid and Malignant with particular Observations concerning them much different from the ways of the Ancients 11. To these he hath superadded the Spagyrical Anatomy of Vrin 12. His Method of Diffecting the Brain is new and very Natural And although he was not the first that mentioned two Souls in a Man the Sensitive and Rational yet perhaps no Body hath proved it so well 13. Sir Christopher Wren first found out the way of Injecting Liquors into the Veins of Animals and did exhibit it to the Meetings at Oxford about the Year 1656. by which Operation divers Animals immediately purged vomited intoxicated kill'd or revived according to the quality of the Liquor injected 14. Hence arose the Transfussng of Blood out of one Animal into another by Dr. Lower 1665. 15. The same Author was the first that Published the rrue Method of dividing the
Heart into several Muscles and assigning to it a Muscular Motion and thereby showing several ways whereby it may be impeded or disturbed he hath done good Service to the Pathalogical Part of Physick 16. Whether Walaeus Bartholin or any other were the first that found out the Circulation of the Blood I cannot say but Dr. Lower's Computation of the Frequency of the Bloods Circulation through the Heart is very ingenious and the Cause he assigns of the florid Colour of it when emitted seems new and probable 17. Dr. Majo hath lately taught us That the Air is impregnated with a Nitro-acrial Spirit and that it difused almost throughout the whole System of Nature and that Fire it self as to its Form and Effence is nothing else but the same Spirit put into Motion and that all Fermentations whether tending to Generation Perfection or Corruption depend on this Spirit 18. Mr. Tyson hath lately observed that many other strong Scented Animals besides the Hycena Odorifera the Civet-Cat the Castor or Beaver the Gazella Indica or Capra Mosci from whence our Musk and the Fishes Sepia Loligo Purpura have sollicular Repositories or Bags near the Exit of the Intestinum Rectum wherein they keep those Humours or Liquors that are the Vehicles of their Scents This he hath observed in Pole-Cats Foxes Weasels Cats c. Which Vessicles or little Bags are found by pairs one on each side of the Gut proportional to the bigness of the Animals To Instance in all the particular Discoveries and Improvements made in Anatomy Physick c. would be a Task sufficient to make up a large Volume by it self CHAP. IV. Improvements in Musick IN Musick it would be too tedious to determine Whether the Improvement or Alteration hath been greater Certain it is That several old English Instruments are laid aside as the Orpharian the Polyphone an Instrument surely not to be despised considering its rare Structue and the esteem had of it by Learned and therefore most Judiciously Musical Persons of this Age viz. Sir F. Pruscan and Dr. Rugely The Bandore the Ghittern Cittern c. The Treble Viol also is much out of Doors since the Violin came so much in request The Base and Lira Viol in the making whereof Wroth was without dispute the best Workman that ever wrought keep pretty well in repute especially the first because it cannot be wanted well in Consert c. 1. The Lute is not wholly laid aside but within this 20 or 30 Years much neglected to what it was formerly notwithstanding the great Improvement of this Instrument among us within a hundred Years by reason of the diversity of Tunings received from France some of whose best Lute-Masters brought over not only these Harp-Tunings but themselves also and by their active Hands and airy Fancies obliged the Musick-Lovers of our Nation with Transcendant Harmony 2. The Fine easie Ghittar whose Performance is soon gained at least after the brushing way hath at this present over-topt the noble Lute Nor is it to be denied but that after the pinching way the Ghittar makes some good work 3. The Theorbo which is no other than an Arch-Lute keeping to the old Tuning is still generally made use of in Consorts And there are yet some among the Judicious who think it the most agreeable and becoming Associate to Vocal Musick The Organ hath been wonderfully advanced of late Years by the addition of several Melodious Stops 5. The Harpsicon is of late mightily Improved by the Invention of the Pedal which brings it so near to the Organ that it only seems to come short of it in Lungs 6. Here may not be unfitly mentioned that Musical Automaton a kind of Harpsicon which by a Clockwork-motion discharges a certain set number of Tunes according as it is would up to this or that Tune Of this sort of Automata there is to be seen a very neat Piece of Art of Reed-work at a House at St. Mary-Overs-Dock the Artificer thereof Mr. Tho. Hill of Westminster His Pitch-Pipe for the Tuning of Musical Instruments to Consort which is particularly worthy note for exactness variety and curious Work above any thing that is to be seen elsewhere of this Nature 7. The Harp is increased in repute and though the Welsh Gut-string formerly gave place to the Irish Wire-string now the Spanish Gut-string comes up with it 8. The Violin is now arrived to a great Perfection of Performance 9. The Flagiolet within this 20 or 30 Years and since that the Flute have been highly in vogue and frequented in use Present State Eng. Part 3. p. 90. c. 10. In Musick to pass by a Harpsecord that I met with at Sir Tho. Penystons with Cat 's Gut-string it hath been lately observed here at Oxford that though Viol or Lute-strings rightly Tuned do affect one another yet most of them do it not in all places alike as has till now been supposed For if the lesser of two Octaves be touched with the Hand or Bow each half of the Greater will answer it but will stand still in the middle and if the greater of the two Octaves be touched on either of its halves all the lesser will answer it but if touched on the middle the lesser will not stir c. Dr. Plot 's Nat. Hist Oxfordsh c. 9. p. 288. Dr. Marsh hath offered a Solution of this Phaenomenon in all its cases Concerning which vide Ibid. One Hooper of Oxford could so close his Lips as to fing an Octave at the same time And I know saith Dr. Plot two other Persons now living here that can do it though their Lips be set in that posture yet they shut them so close that they can by no means pronounce any thing articulate But he that excells them all and indeed to a miracle is one Mr. Jos Dring a young Gentleman of Har-Hall who sings a Song articulately ore Patulo and all in Octaves so very strongly and yet without much straining that he equals if not excells the loudest Organ He performs it in the lower part of his Throat and it came casually on him at first upon over-straining of his Voice Ibid. CHAP. V. Improvements in Astronomy ONE would think the Heavenly Bodies were out of Man's reach or that the Ancient Inhabitants of Phoenicia Egypt Chaldea Greece c. had in so many Thousand Years made so many Observations upon them that nothing more could be added and yet we have made fresh remarks here and useful Discoveries and Improvements not to speak of the World in the Moon which some have asserted and undertaken to make out for very probable or the Foramina and Cavities in others or the new Star in Cassiopea The Fleet Astronomer can bore And thread the Spheres with his quick-piercing Mind he views their Stations walks from Door to Door Surveys as if he had design'd To make a Purchase there he sees their Dances And knoweth long before Both their full-eyed Aspects and secret glances Herbert 1. The
Canons or Priests 26 poor Knights who had an Allowance for their Prayers to God and St. George of Cappadocia and a Soveraign Cuardian viz. the Kings a Prelate a Prelate of the Garter and a Chancellor viz. the Bishops of Winchester and Salisbury a Register of late the Dean of Windsor a King at Arms an Usher a College in the Castle of Windsor and the Chapel of St. George Their Garter is Blue deck'd with Gold Pearl and Precious Stones and a Buckle of Gold to be worn daily on the left Leg upon pain of forfeiting 10 Shillings their Habit is a Surcoat a Mantle a high Black Velvet Cap a Gold Collar composed of Roses enamelled Red within a Garter enamelled Blue when they wear not their Robes they are to wear an Escutchion of the Arms of St. George viz. A Cross with a Garter and a Star Eight Emperors have been of this Order 27 Foreign King c. None convict of Heresie Treason or Cowardise can be of this Order 2ly Knights of the Bath for we pass over Knights Baronets as absolute are so called from their Bathing used before they were created The first of this sort were made by Henry IV. A. 1399. They are now commonly made at the Coronation of a King or Queen or Creation of a Prince of Wales They wear a Scarlet Ribbond Belt-wise They are still made with much Ceremony too long here to be described 3ly Knights Batchelors Quasi Bas Chevaliers Equites Aurati from the Gilt Spurs usually put upon them Knights of low degree These were antiently made by Jirding with a Sword and Gilt Spurs and was bestowed only upon Sword Men for their Military Services and was reputed an Excellent and Glorious Degree and a noble Reward for Couragious Persons but of late being made more common and bestowed upon Gown-men contrary to the nature of the thing it is become of less Reputation They are made thus The Person kneels down the King with a drawn Sword toucheth him on the Shoulder saying Sois Chevalier au Nom de Dieu and the Advance Chevalier A Knight being to suffer Death is first ungirt his Sword taken away his Spurs cut off his Gantlet pluckt off and his Coat of Arms reversed 4ly Esquires in French Escuyers Scutigeri Armigeri so called because either they boâ—â— a Shield before the King or some of the Nobles in War or else because they bear a Coat of Arms or both and they are 1. All younger Sons of Viscounts and Barons all Sons of Earls Marquesses and Dukes 2. Esquires of the King s Body 3. Eldest Sons of younger Sons of Barons c. 4. Esquiâ—es Created by putting about their Necks a Collar of sses and bestowing on them a pair of Silver Spurs 5. Persons in Superiour Public Office are reputed Esquires viz. Serjeants at Law Justices Mayors Councellors Batchelors of Divinity Law or Physick High Sheriffs c. 5ly Gentlemen are such whose Parents have always carried Coat of Arms c. CHAP. IX Improvements in the Military Art THAT we may not leave any considerable Art untouch'd we shall say a little of the Advancement made in the Art of destroying Peoples Lives not by secret Plots or Villainous Poysons or Devillish Witchcraft the Sciences of Hell and the Phylosophy of Devils but in a Military Open and Hostile manner by the Art of a Public and Lawful War And this likewise seems to have received much Addition and Improvement by the Ingenioso's of the last Ages Tho' perhaps in Fire-darts the Ancients were as ingenious as we as I shall take notice afterwards 1. Frier Bacon is supposed to be the first Inventer of Gunpowder as is gather'd out of his Epistle ad Parisiensen where speaking of the secret Works of Nature and Art he hath these Words In omnem distantiam quam volumus Possumus artificialiter componere Ignem combruentem ex sale Petrae aliis which alia as Dr. Wallis saw it in a Manuscript Copy of the said Roger Bacon in the Hands of Dr. Langbain late Provost of Queen's College were Sulphur and Carbonum Pulvis concerning which after a while he further adds Praeter hac sunt alia stupendia Nature c. that is of Salt-Petre and other Matters viz. Sulphur and the Dust of Coal he could make Fire that should burn at what distance he pleased and further that with the same Matter he could make Sounds like Thunder and Corruscations in the Air more dreadful than those made by Nature For says he a little of this Matter rightly fitted tho not bigger than ones Thumb makes a horrible Noise and shews a violent Corruscation which may be ordered many ways whereby a City or Army may be destroyed the Fire breaking forth with an unspeakable Noise which are wonderful things if a Man knew exactly how to use it in due Quantity and Matter Whence 't is plain he either invented or knew Gunpowder and in all Probability it was invented here at Oxford where he made the rest of his affrighting Experiments And that out of his Works Constantine Ancklitzen of Friburg or Bertholdus Swartz and the rest of the Improvers in all likelihood might have their pretended Inventions Dr. Plot 's Nat. Hist. of Oxfordshire c. 9. Par. 40. c. 2. Thucidides saith that those that besieged the Platenensis when Engines would do no good they fell to Fireworks for casting about the Wall Bundles of Stuff and throwing in Fire Brimstone and Pitch they burnt the Wall whence arose such a Flame that until that time no Man ever saw the like Heron teacheth that in burning of the Walls after you have made a hole thorow you must put Wood of the Pinetree under and anoint them with dry Pitch and powdered Brimstone together with Tar or Oyl and set this on Fire And elsewhere he teacheth to burn with a Pot take an earthen Pitcher and bind it about with Plates of Iron on the outside and let it be full of Small-coal let there be a hole about the bottom to put in the Bellows for when the coals take Fire by sprinkling on ov Vinegar Piss or any other sharp Matter the Walls are broken Vegetius teacheth what combustible Matter must be used and he useth burning Oyl Hards Brimstone Bitumen Burnign Arrows are shot in Cross-bows into the Enemies Ships and these being smear'd over with Wax Pitch and Resin they quickly fire the Decks with so many things that afford Fuel to the Fire 3. Ammianus Marcellinus described Fire-Darts a king of Weapon made after such a fashion It is an Arrow of Cane joyn'd with many Irons between the Shaft and the Head and they are made hollow after the fashion of a Woman's Distaff in the midst of it it hath many small holes and in the very hollow of it is put Fire with some combustible Matter and so it is easily shot forth of a weak Bow for a Bow that is strong puts out the Fire and there is no means to put it out but by casting on