the presence and commands of his Father And as he of his own accord gave them many things so did he receive the like from them again nor did he only see what ever they kept in their studies and precious treasuries but he was present at their Experiments of all kinds almost intimating to them his earnest desires that way Hence it was that he grew exceeding familiar with both of them and they afterward maintained mutuall friendship by divers Letters which past between them and sundry kindnesse they did one for another He visited moreover the studie of Ferrans Ineperatus which was likewise very well furnished with Ratities of nature also that of Adrian Williams Mars Gurgushlola and of Mathaeus Capuanus Princeof the Conchans although he was fain to go out of the Citty to him Moreover he diligently sought out of all Monument of Antiquity and certain Columnes above the rest he would needs have drawn out being of Corinthian work also Apollo with his Tripes and some such live Figures Also he enquired and learnt as much as he could possible touching such Families as had been translated from Naples to Provence and of such Provencian Families as had been translated from thence to Naples And knowing that in the Church dedicated to Saint Clare there were many Sepulchers of Kings and Princes of the Royall blood of kin to Charles the First who as we said before was Brother to St. Lewis King of France therefore he viewed them very lilizently drew out the chief of them and writ out the Epitaphs Moreover he carefully enquired after the Sepulcher of Simon Portius a famous Philosopher not long since deceased for indeed Pinellus had desired him to enquire if there were any Sepulcher of his to be seen especially with an Inscription There dwelt then at Naples a certain Woman which was famous for her holinesse and the course of life which she led Shee being called to Rome in the dayes of Pope Gregory the thirteenth and examined and approved of by the good Bellarmin was said to be rapt into an extasie as soon as she received the Eucharist so that just in the posture wherein she received it upon her knees so she remained immoveable and stiffe as a stake her eyes being open and she not seeing nor feeling at all over her whole body And therefore Peireskâ—us would not leave that City before he had seen and tryed so wonderfull a matter And indeed he could not obtain his desire without much ado but he as one that could breake thorough all that stood in his way obtained his will at last and carried with him Johannes Porcelletus Malliancus who was afterwards Bishop of Toul He saw her therefore and tried her and when he related it he was wont to admire whether any such thing could happen by the Art of Man nor was he easie to believe Cardan who reports that he could cast himself into such a kind of extasie as often as he pleased After he had sufficiently viewed the Cirty and admired the Elegancie and Pleasantnesse thereof he desired nothing more then that he might go to the mount Vesuvius and contemplate that place where the great Pliny died That being accomplished he was exceedingly desirous to see Sicilia and to passe as far as to Malta Now there were three things which he chiefly desired to see the Straights of Scylla the Burning of Aetna and the Antiquities of Syracuse but Fonvivius would not consent nor would he ever go to any place without his Tutors consent Wherefore it sufficed him to go round about all that Country and likewise to return again to certain places as towards the Puteoli and Baiae that he might see with his eyes two buildings under ground which were termed Piscina mirabilis and Labyrinthus that is the wonderfull Fishpond and the Labyrnith And I know not whether I should add how when he considered the shoar near the Puetoli and towards Baiae and asked to see that kind of dust which would in the Sea-water turn to stone how there was likewise discovered unto him among the Sands a certain lead-coloured dust wherewith Sculptures especially such as are made on the Onyx stone may be preserved And whereas on that shoare Coines were sound almost eaten asunder he conceived the cause thereof to be sulphur which is thought not discernable by sense in all those Coasts a blackish Vapour arising withall from the Sea with a corrosive facultie in it A month after he went again to Rome that he might take leave of his friends bestowing divers gifts amongst them and sending some to other parts For he had resolved with himself to return to Padua before the Solstice and great heat should come and therefore after a few daies he left Rome mourning for his Absence He bent his course to Perusia both for the Universities sake and that he might behold the Lake of Thrasumen From thence he turned ande to Eugubium by reason of a Brasen Table which was lately there sound with an In cription upon it in the Old Hetruscan Language Then having at Assisium saluted the Monument of St. Francis he visited Natalitius Benedictus at Fullinium who most earnestly expected him Then he saw at the Mount Falco among the Reliques of St. Clare three remarkeable found Balls which had heen found in her Gall-bladder being of an exceecing light substance Then having done his devotions at the so famous Chappell of our Lady of Loretto he went to Ancona and from thence to Urbin that he might get a Licence to peruse the Dukes Libraries departing thence to Pisaurum and Ariminum he came to Ravenna where Hieronymus Rubens that same famous Physitian and scearcher out of the Antiquities of his Country longed to embrace him and to shew him in the very seat of the secret treasury I know not what Reliques of Gothish Barbarisme and the Ornaments of the Emperors and contemporary Kings with these names ATHALARICUS RIX WITIGES RIX THEOD OHA TUS and such like Also to shew him certain Ornaments of Gallia placidia in I know not what Church which Vellius conceived were not ancient finally that he might give him with his own hand a Coppy of the History of Ravenna From thence he came to Venice where having saluted his friends to their great Contentment he was desirous to be thoroughly acquainted with Axtonlus Possevinus an excellent Man of the society of Jesus to whom when he desired Letters commendatory Sirmondus writ Back unto him in these words Why do you seek a Broker seeing you are able to make your self known and beloved of all you shall come to Finally not many daies after that is to say about the middle of June he came to Padua where he was received with so much joy that a Man would have thought that some god of Students was come to Town But his return did most of all rejoyce the good Pinellus who sound himself drawing towards death by reason of certain Lingring Diseases which had a long time troubled him and
When he had put the matter out of Hazard he carefully procured a second Edition both of all the Acts and likewise of that Genealogie which without adding or taking away so much as a fyllable he reduced into an evident Scheme or Table From which it soon appeared that Wernerus Erle of Habsburg who died in the year 1096. had a Daughter named ITA de Tierstein or Homberg that is in the Language of the Genealogist who was married to Rudolphus of Tierstein or Homberg who bare Wernerus the Father of Albertus the Grandfather of Rudolphus the great Grandsire of another Albertus and the great Great-Grand-sire of another Rudolphus who was the first Emperor of that name and of the House of Austria And truly the sleight is wonderfull whereby both Franciscus Guillimanuus and Piespordius himself do in such manner dissemble that Wernerus was the Son of ITA as if he had been not Ita's but her Brothers Son of whose progeny neverthelesse there is no mention any where made as neither of Adelbert another Brother from whom the Habsburgian Succession did passe over to the family of Tierstein or Homberg But they were not ashamed to go contrary to the manifest truth of story and so to confound things that Guillimannus made Ita the Sister of Otto his Niece and Piespordius his Sister Wife Daughter in Law and Niece by the Sisters side from Wernerus of Tierstein And thus Peireskius rejoyced that he brake the neck of the designe of these flattering Genealogists and so much the more because Guillimannus said he gave great credit to those Acts of Muren aforesaid and Gaspar Scioppius two years after chose this same Guillimannus as his Author whom he would follow in that part of the Genealogie of the House of Autria I do not well remember whether it were for this or some other cause that he visited the Records of the Chapter at Rhemes the Canons being commanded by an order from the King to let him view all their Acts and Records and to shew him two peciall Instruments containing things of great moment I remember very well he was accounted most knowing in the French Histories of greatest Antiquity and that he gave a proof of his skill which I have heard both from himself and others For whereas in the moneth of March there happened a memorable fire in the Kings Court to the sight whereof he ran at midnight in the company of Jacobus Gillotus a most excellent Senatour he carried thither afterwards all the learned men well nigh in the City to contemplate the statues of the Kings the stumps whereof onely remained the rest being turned into ashes And when no body could tell whose statue that was which stood with a mangled face even before the fire happened he because of one place supernumerary argued that it was the statue of King Henry of England which Charles the seventh did onely mangle and not remove as unwilling that his own Statue should stand in the place of the Usurpers Nor was he content to undertake onely that particular labour against Piespordius and others but out of his love to the Kings Majesty and the glory of the French Nation he began from that time forwards to think of an Edition of all Authours especially those of that age who had written the Antiquities and History of France And because he knew that in divers Churches Monasteries and private Libraries many Books of that Argument were kept up unprinted he took care to search them out and because he himself was not then at leisure he acquainted Andreas Duchesnius a most diligent Historiographer with his designe who was at that time set upon the same undertaking He was then preparing an Edition of the Historians of Normandy wherefore Peireskius to testifie his sagacity and industry he sought and obtained of Sir Robert Cotton of England both a namelesse writer of the Acts of Emma Queen of England and likewise Wilhelmus Pictavinus whom he soon after annexed to his History and testified that by the mediation of Cambden They were sent to the Illustrious those are his words Nicolaus Fabricius de Petrisco Senatour in the Parliament at Aix one that is an advancer of learning and my most dearly beloved friend And because Fronto Ducaeus was at that time setting out a Greek Manuscript written with great letters containing a great part of the Bible and of so great antiquity that it was said to have been corrected by Origens own hand who averreo that it had been compared with the most ancient Tetraplus therefore Peireskius well remembering that the foresaid Cotton had a most precious Greek Manuscript written in the dayes of Theodosius in great letters likewise which cost King James a thousand Crowns therefore I say that this Edition might be more compleat he wrote and sent into England and passing his word and giving securitie that the Book should be forth coming he obtained the same and let Fronto Ducaeus have the use of it Moreover in Autumn the same year he was nominated by the King Abbot of Sancta Mariae Aquistriensis And the businesse which he had in that respect to transact at Rome was freely performed by divers Cardinals as Cobellutius Ursinius and he that was afterward Marquemontius but by none more carefully than by Maffaeus Barberinus who was afterward created and is yet living Pope For from that time forward they became acquainted and their acquaintance was strenghthened by letters frequently sent to and fro The occasion of their first acquaintance was a very elegant Ode composed by the Cardinall upon Mary Magdalex the beginning whereof was Innixa pennis versicoloribus For Peireskius having received a copy thereof from Aleander and being wonderfully delighted with it and all the learned men to whom he shewed it applauding the same he got leave by mediation of the said Aleander that it might be yet further published by printing The copies being all vended he was pleased to print the Poem again but in a larger form that it might be hung up at Sancta Balma a Rock and Hermitage famous for the penance of Saint Maudlen and other Churches and Chappels of Provence Yea and he thought good to print it the third time after he had won the said Cardinall to frame an Ode in favour of Saint Lewis King of France the beginning whereof is Objectu gemini maris and after he had made some other Odes that he could get by the stealth as it were of Aleander About the end of this year there appeared a famous Comet to the observation whereof he exhorted all the industrious men he was acquainted with Himself being destitute of fitting Instruments and not daring to trust himself in the air because of his sicklinesse made no other observation save that by the Perspective-Glasse he discerned the form of its head and hov it differed from the tail which he compared to the Sun-beams shining through a window But he was glad when he heard afterwards that such as dwelt not in
of a King And because among other things Bagarrius shewed him an exceeding neat Amethyst wherein was ingraven the Countenance of Solon by the Hand of that famous Graver Dioscorides who wrought for Augustus hereupon he took occasion to teach him what was meant by those little holes in the Inscription which he shewed him in the Seale standing in this order For he said they were holes wherein little Nâ—iles had been fastened to hold Greek Letters made of mettals which did expresse the name of the Graver or ΔΙΟСΚΟΥΡΙΔΟΥ but they must be read backwards as the manner is in all Ingrossements and Seales This he made manifest when having drawn in a white paper those holes as above he drew lines between the said holes which expressed those Letters in this manner Thus he said he interpreted certain holes which were seen at Assisium in I know not what old Church For when as no man could tell what they signified he divined that it was an Inscription or Dedication made JOVI OPT. MAX. Which he demonstrated by certain lines completing the Holes after this manner So he hoped he should interpret a certain Set of Holes in the Cathedrall Church at Nismes called Domus quadrata when he had got a pattern thereof But to return to Paris there was hardly any publick monument which he did not examine of which he did not passe his Judgment For the second moneth after he came thither he sent Letters to Flayosceus in which he wrote that he had not indeed as yet seen the Monuments of the ancient Kings at Saint Denis but he had already convinced of falshood those tombes built for Clodovaus at Saint Genoveses and for Chilpericus at Saint Germins And a few daies after he said when he came to judge of those at Saint Denis I could find nothing quoth he elder then the times of St. Lewis that gave me satisfaction and I am of opinion that all those most ancient Tombes were built at one and the same time and that not long before St. Lewis And that which pleased me most is the Tombe of our Country-woman Margaret the eldest Daughter of Beatrice wife to Saint Lewis Finally commending the ancient Seales which he saw bringing their Representations away with him in the Treasuries of St. Denis St. German St. Maurus and others as wherein were contained the true Effigies of Charles the great Hludovicus pius the Emperour Hlotarius Pipin King of Aquitania Charles the bald Charles the Simple and other Kings of the second Stock or family these quoth he do sufficiently refute those tombs and Statues of these Princes made four or five hundred years ago I must likewise speake of his Study of all other things worth enquiry after for there was no wonder of art nor rare worke of nature which he heard of which he did not carefully view as Aedifices Rare works Engins Plants Animals Metals and other things dug out of the Earth In a word all things which were worthy of observation And in the mean while he kept correspondence with his friends far and near by Letters and when he had very carefully enquired of Paul Servita of Scaliger of Casaubon and of other Learned men if they knew what was become of Juvencus Caelius Callanus the Dalmatian whose Manuscript Book of the Life of Attilas he had brought with him from Venice he intended to cause it to be printed In the beginning of the Spring the year following 1606. Varius being shortly to return into Provence he obtained with small labour leave to go see England especiall being to accompany the Illustrious Antonius Boderius who was sent thither as the Kings Embassadour Nor did Varius only suffer that but praising his intention wherein Thuanus Memmius Mericus Vicus and other friends did agree with him he took upon him to procure that his Father and Uncle should approve of the Fact When he departed Peireskius would bring him on his way as far as Orleance and before he returned from thence he viewed more attently then formerly the ancient remaines of Holy-Crosse-Church which he accounted to be at least a thousand years old and likewise besides other Statues and Images both of Charles the Seventh and his little Daughter Joane he would see those which were kept as was said in the Guild-Hall and particularly he perceived that the Picture wherein the King is represented with a beard and St. Michaells Collar is not perfectly in all respects true Moreover it was now the beginning of May and Boderius departing he was cast some daies behind being forced to ride post that he might overtake him at Callis When they were at Sea there were very few in the whole Company that were not Sea-sick by reason of the Tossing of the ship and the Steam of the Sea Peireskius to prevent the same in himself left the rest of the Company and sate by the Main-mast where he was not so sick as they were The reason being asked he said there was least Agitation in that part of the ship and that therefore he withdrevv himself thither that he might not be Stomach-sick as the rest were who being in the Head or Sterne were much more rossed Being arrived in England and having after the Embassadour saluted King James he was tenderly respected by him who sent for him divers times as when he was to relate the Story of a famous drinking Match For it fell out that in a certain feast of Learned Men Doctor Torie dranke a huge Cup to Peireskius himself Whereupon he excused himself because of the largeness of the Cup because he was not wont to drink pure wine because of the weaknesse of his stomack and because he was not accustomed to drink But when no excuse would serve his turn he required at least that he might be allowed after he had pledged Dr. Torie to begin to him again as he pleased All the company consented Whereupon taking Courage as being constrained by necessity he setcht off the Lusty Bowle of wine and causing it to be replenished with water he began to Dr. Torie and as if he meant to temper the wine he drank immediately before drank it quite of again He as if he had been thunderstuck or newly dropt out of the Clouds had much ado to come to himself and because it was a bargain from which he could not go back he puft and blowed he put the cup to his mouth and took it away again so often powring out in the mean while so many Verses out of all the Greek and Latin poets that he spent the day well near ere he could get the water down his unaccustomed throat And this was the story which the King having heard from others would needs have it from his own mouth Also he was admitted into the Chamber where there was a solemne Convention or Assemby of his Majesty and the Peers and sate among the chief of the Lords As for the Learned men which he met with either at London or Oxford or
navel or thick Cake as it were These and such things as these he spent his thoughts about when he enjoyed any rest from the frequent pains of the Hemorrhoids and Strangury And whereas in the moneth of September to recreate himself he went to Beaugensier he returned time enough on the last day of the moneth to be present at a Town-meeting and to give beginning thereto by an excellent Oration at which meeting the Consuls of Aix who were also Proctors of Provence were wont to be chosen Not long after he was informed of the death of Malherbius his very good friend which he took very sadly And though he conceived that not only himself but all the French Muses were called upon to mourn yet was he comforted because he saw one to succeed him who was both his loving friend and umpire of the French language and Poetry the excellent Johannes Capellanius in whom he alwaies admired to see learning joyned with the study of Wisdom and gentlenesse of manners with candour of mind Afterwards he received a Copy of the Genealogical History of the Royal Family of France which the San-Marthani had set forth and wherein they had mentioned him with praise by reason of a Manuscript of Matthaeus Giovanazzius touching the Kings of Sicily of the house of Anjou which he had furnished them with And whereas at the same time a good and learned man Dominicus à Jesu Maria a Carmelite Friar being about to write of the Saints which had been of the Royal Family did desire some Monuments of him there was nothing of which he was more desirous to inform him then of Charles the second King of Sicilie and Earl of Provence For being dead he is had in veneration his whole Body being kept even to this day at Aix and in his life time he was so happy as to see his son Lewis designed Bishop of Tolouse and dying before him in repute for holinesse he saw him put into the Catalogue of Saints and consequently made prayers to him and left money in his will to build the Minories Church at Marseilles to his honour Afterwards he laboured not a little that a Channel might be made through Druentia or the river Verdun which runs through Druentia to Aix For he conceived that the City would then flourish and grow rich when by help of such a Channel it might traffick for all necessary Commodities both with the upper part of Provence and with the Sea Seventy years agoe Adamus Craponus Salonensis had brought a Channel from Druentia into the stony Feilds so called or whole Crautia and designed this to Aix and because there was now need of another Architect or designer of the Works therefore he wrote into the Low-Countries to get one of those men that designed the Channels which were made in that Countrey and that were newly endeavouring to unite the Scaldis and Mosa waters so called And it seemed that what he had generously propounded might be happily effected but that the Plague which hapned the year following 1629. and the disturbance thereby occasioned with his diversion to Beaugensier did quite frustrate his intentions But before we speak of these matters we must touch upon some things that he endeavoured in the mean season In the first place therefore by occasion of the aforesaid Edition of the Bible newly begun he was not content to have given notice of and procured from Rome to be sent to Paris a Samaritan Bible 1629. which was in the custody of that learned man and advancer of all good literature Petrus Valleus a Senator of Rome but he sent himself into the East a sagacious person Theophilus Minutius of the Order of Minims to search for further helps having first obtained for him a License both from the Pope and from the General of his Order and providing that he should neither want money to bear his charges nor to purchase such Books as were necessary for the design in hand And truly he failed not of his Exspectation for he by very good luck soon found and obrained a Samaritan Bible with the Hebrew Arabick joyned therewith howbeit in the Samaritan Character and two Syriack Testaments besides and many Arabick Books Nor must it be forgotten That Daniel Dayminius one of those Franciscans whom they call Recollects took great pains that these and other Books with divers Coines might come into the hands of Minutius Also he gave order to search in Cyprus for those Books in the company of which the Collections of Porphyrogenita aforesaid were found but they were so scattered that they could not be found by any search though never so diligent which grieved him exceedingly because he judged by one of the rest as of the Lion by his claw and was in great hopes And therefore that learned Men might at least not be frustrated of the benefit thereof he thought good to send it to Paris that Grotius Salmasius and other learned Men every man in his way might peruse the same and collect there-from what he thought most useful Moreover Hugo Grotius was a prime man that made use thereof who at his request presently set himself to write out and explain the illustrious fragments of Nicolaus Damascenus which he also with an Epistle dedicatory sent to him And while there was another that was doing the like by the rest of the Work he was desirous in the mean while to procure a second Edition of the Pharmacopeia of Antonius Constantinus a Physician of Protence who about thirty years before had endeavoured to shew That there was no need of exotick Plants and outlandish Medicaments since by the benignity of Nature the same Countrey which gives men their Birth does provide both meats sufficient to nourish and Medicaments able to cure them Therefore he sent that Copy which he had of the said Book to Renatus Moreus a great light of the Faculty of Physick in Paris who was very well contented to undergo that charge About this time he received a Golden Book of the learned Selden De Arrundellianis Marmocoribus or Stones with Greek Inscriptions which that most renowned Earl of Arundel had caused to be brought out of Asia into England and placed in his Gardens And it is indeed fit you should know that those Marbles were first discovered by the industry of Peireskius and dug up fifty Crowns being paid therefore by one Samson who was his Factor at Smyrna and when they were to be sent over Samson was by some trick or other of the Sellers cast into Prison and the Marbles in the mean while made away Nor must it be forgotten how exceedingly Peireskius rejoyced when he heard that those rare Monuments of antiquity were fallen into the hands of so eminent an Hero and the rather because he knew his old friend Selden had happily illustrated the same For his utmost end being publick profit he thought it mattered not whether he or some other had the glory provided that what was for the good of
Historians out of which divers deficiencies in noble Authours might be made up It is not to be believed how small a thing he valued two hundred pounds Tours which he gave for this Book were it only that he conjectured it was the Emperours own individual Book which he had for his own use because of the shape of the Letters and their elegancy the neatness of the binding and rare Verses prefixed in prayse thereof Also he obtained that which he had long sought for viz. certain Councels of the Christian Bishops after the recovery of the Holy Land for he had long bin perswaded that there was some Copy or other of them to be had in those parts He had indeed formerly caused some of them to be written out of the Vatican Library About the same time he wrote unto all parts to assist Holstenius who was labouring about the edition of a Noble pack of ancient Geographers He chiefly wanted a Description of Thracian Bosphorus made by Diony sius Byzantius which Petrus Gyllius made use of but only in Latine and imperfect in describing the said Bosphorus And because he thought it likely that the Greek Text might be found among the Books of the Cardinal of Armenia of whose Family Gyllius was therefore Peireskius so wrought that the Bishop of Ruten searcht all the Library over and at last sent him a Catalogue thereof to assure him that there was no such Book there to be found You may be sure he spared not to send Letters to the Popes Nuncio's to the Kings Embassadors to all the learned men he knew amongst whom verily I must not forbear to name that same rare Bishop of Tolouse Carolus Monchalius out of whose wealthy Storehouse so many rare Manuscripts were brought that he might at least be assured there was no such Book to be found And it is doubtless scarce credible that it is any where extant since it has escaped the so great Sagacity of that man For the same Holstenius said not without cause in a Letter to him For it has not yet bin my hap to see any mortal Man surmounting you in the knowledge of Antiquity or that could match you in the diligence and felicity of your Researches While he was thus busied he received a Book from the above-named Johannes Jacobus Chiffletius Physician in ordinary to the Infanta Isabella touching the Iccian Port from which Julius Caesar set sail for Brittain And he easily dissented from that Opinion which held Callis to be the Port aforesaid however he wished that rare man would make a more diligent search all that Coast over and though he had acutely proved that Mardike was the port yet that he should consider whether that name were applyable to a Port extant in these dayes of ours And the farther Port we read of seems not to be interpreted the inferior Port so as to mean the inferior Coast which is under Audomaropolis and is parceld out by pools of standing water but rather the Western so as to signifie one that is nearer and from whence the passage into Brittain is shorter But nothing was more delightful to him then to read withall that in the Audomaropolitan Lake there are floating Islands which bear both Men and Beasts and whereupon Alder-Trees and Willowes do pleasantly flourish Wherefore he was desirous two years after when I was to travel that way that I should take a curious view thereof and report the business to him which I did and sent him a branch which I pluckt off from a tall Willow which swum about with the ground it grew upon He was also sollicitous about that time touching the observation of that Article by which the Council of Trent condemned clandestine Marriages nor did he cease till he had perswaded certain scrupulous Ecclesiastick Judges that it was not only ratified by the Kings Authority in Parliament but also by special Decrees of the Metropolitan Synods of this Province I forbear to mention with what ardency he did sollicite Aleander that he would seriously set himself to describe that Earth-quake with which Aqulia was shaken from the last day save one of July and with which the Arch Bishoprick of San-severinas was reported to be swallowed up in the Moneth of September Other things I passe over only I must needs relate his rare modesty which made him change the Epistle of a Book dedicated to him That Book contained some spiritual Treatises of Saint Diadochus Nilus and Hesychius which Aleander Fichetus a very learned Jesnite printing at Lewis would needs dedicate to him Now he usurped the Booksellers name and thought he had used no Hyperbole in commending Peireskius whose vertue he sufficiently saw when he professed Phylosophy at Aix and was a publick preacher there But Peireskius himself would not bear it but being to send some Copies to Rome as there was no new thing which he did omit to send he caused that Epistle to be laid aside and another to be printed and prefixed to the Books he sent In the Epistle which he would have omitted were these passages Your Table your House your Study are a Starry firmament of all wits wherein the Heavenly Constellations the Stars of all Learning and learned men do briefly shine so that all things therein are not guilt with Gold or Silver but shine as Stars the Desks are filled with Stars where the Books stand like Constellations and your self sitting in the midst and embracing all give light to all add grace to all bestow life as it were and eternity upon all so that to you all well-writ Books through the world as the sacred fires of good minds do strive to mount as to their Heaven to receive light from you and shine again upon you c. This Epistle brings into my mind how the year following when he had received one of those Books termed Coelum Christianum begun by Joannes Bayerns and finished by Julius Schillerius Peireskius commended indeed their piety in giving to the Planets instead of the usual names those of Adam Moses and the Patriarchs and giving to the twelve signes the names of the Apostles and to other Constellations the names of other Saints or holy things besides figures newly invented and new Verses made of them but he liked not the design of perverting all the knowledge of the Heavenly Bodies which from all Antiquity is sprinkled up and down in all kinds of Books Howbeit he was not seriously afraid lest therefore Astronomers would change all the names of the Stars because they might easily see they should get no advantage but much disturbance thereby He added that those ancient Figurations of the Stars though profane were no hinderance to Christian piety and himself had long agoe observed these Images which had bin painted upon the vaulted roof of the Church at Vercellis a thousand two hundred years agoe Finally he wished the same industrious hand which had engraven these new ones had expressed those at Vertillis commendable for their great