Countrey desolate and laid wast the houses and temples overthrown the people lamenting at the sight of their houses being blown down and under them their Goods their Cattel and their Parents slain which occasioned wonderful compassion in the beholders and hearers thereof by this means it pleased God rather to threaten than punish Tuscany for if so great a Tempest had fallen upon any City full of Houses as it fell upon these Oaks and Trees and small Houses one far from another without all doubt the destruction would have been greater then the mind of man could have conceived But it pleased God by that small example to revive in mens minds the memory of his power The same year there perished about Pivel and Naples forty thousand People by an Earthquake Mahomet the Great Turk is beaten from the siege of Belgrade by Hunniades who soon after dyes Ladislaus King of Pâ—land and Alphonsus King of Naples both dye Matchiavil Hist Florence Lib. 6. XXVII In 1460. a most terrible Comet appeared to fight This year King Henry VI. of England is made Prisoner at Northampton The Civil Wars in France begin Charles VII King of France and Adolphus Duke of Holsatia both dye Craâ—ovia a great City in Poland is destroyed â—â—ith Fire and Sword Mahomet II. Emperor of the Tarks after many victories cruelly kills David the Emperor of Trapezund and his two sons the Duke of York is slain at the battle of Wakefield in Yorkshire In 1477 a Blazing Star of the colour of the Star Saturn appeared there ensued a most terrible Plague The Helvetians kill'd seventeen thousand French and Charles Duke of Burgundy The Turks wast Carinthia and the Tartaâ—â— Podâ—lia In 1484 happened a wonderful deep Snow in Germany and fiery darts were seen in the Sky the Sun was likewise much Eclipsed In England three Suns appeared about this time and in Poland there was seen saith my Author an Image of Christ Crucified with a Sword in his hand passing along the Air from West to South for two hours together The English invade Scotland but are repulsed The Venetians make war against the Turks The quarrel continueth in Germany about the Archbishoprick of Mentz A Rebellion was raised in France against the Queen for the Princes death In 1470 Hail of wonderful greatness fell at Rome the stones whereof weighed eight ounces in Germany Hail-stones fell as big as Goose eggs Soon after the Turks take Sabotz in Hungary and wast Germany The King of Sicily with the Venetians fight against them and spovl Leshos and Pergamus XXVIII In the Year 1478 the Sun is darkened without an Eclipse swarms of Grashoppers are seen in Italy A Glorious Star is seen to run along the Firmament Armies are observed fighting in the Air in Switzerland After this the Hungarians defeat the Turks and take Thirty Thousand Captives from them The Spanish Inquisition is first instituted in Castile against the Moâ—s and Jews The Transilvanians overcome the Turks About this time King Charles VIII of France marched into Italy with an Army for the Conquest of the Kingdom of Naples a little before which were many strange Prodigies whereby divers Persons foresaw and foretold that there would be greater changes and more horrible accidents than in many years before had happened in any part of the world For there were seen in the night at Poville in Italy three Suns in the midst of the Firmament and many Clouds about them which sent forth most dreadful Thunders and Lightnings In the Territory of Aretzo were manifestly seen in the Air infinite numbers of armed men upon mighty Horses with a terrible noise of drums and Trumpets The Images of the Saints saith my Author did plainly sweat in many parts of Italy In several places divers Monsters were brought forth both of women and other Creatures with many other things against the order of nature which happened almost all at one time in divers places And whilst the French Army was in the City of Millain there happened an accident of no less wonder than fear which extreamly astonished the Souldiers as if the Heavens by manifest signs had forewarned them of their future calamities For upon St. Peters day the Sun being set and the Air and Firmament clear there fell down from Heaven a Light and a Fire just before the Gate of the Castle where at that time stood many barrels of Powder which were brought out of the Castle to be sent to other Places This Flash of fire seized upon the Powder with an horrible noise by the violence whereof the fair Tower of Marble which was over the Gate on the top of which stood a stately Clock was thrown down and rased from the very Foundation to the top thereof In which fury the Walls and Chambers of the Castle with other buildings adjoyning to the Tower had the same fate Yea in one instant the whole body of the Castle and the whole City of Milain trembled and shook with the fury of the blow which carryed into the Air from several places many great and huge stones which in their fall hurt and slew divers Persons And as in a common calamity a multitude have a share so it fell out here for many who had escaped the fall of the stones were overwhelmed by the ruines of the Walls under which they were smothered and pressed to death with these ruins the Castle green was so overspread and covered that it was very dreadful to behold such a sudden alteration but it was mighty surprizing even to the most couragious to see stones of such an incredible bigness to be thrown with the fury of the fire above five hundred paces from the place This happened at that very hour wherein people of all sorts were walking for their Recreation upon the Castle Green whereby there were slain above five hundred men who belonged to the Castle Guichardines Hist Italy Pag. 785. XXIX In the year 1492 a great Comet is visible in the Heavens Three Suns are seen in Poland another Comet appeared for two Months In Rome the Sky was seen to be on fire for many nights together These were succeeded by great Inundations and Floods in England The English go against the French the Jews are expelled Spain A Rebellion at Gaunt in Flanders The Hungarians enter Mysia and return back with much booty A rot of great Potentates Pope Innocent VIII dyes Alphonsus King of Portugal dyes by a fall from his Horse Frederick Emperor of Germany and Casimer King of Poland both dye A great part of Cracovia is burnt In 1500 a great fiery Dragon and of a monstrous shape is seen in Savoy A Comet of wonderful Magnitude appears for 18 days in Poland an Inundation in Germany Soon after the King of Sweden and the Queen of Bohemia dye The State of Millain rebel and are suddenly subdued again Next year Prince Arthur Son to Henry VIII dyeth and the Wife of King Henry VII of England The Turks take Modone and many other places
such a destruction as is impossible to bedâ—scribed and at present 't is not throughly known what damage it hath done upon the eighth of this Moneth it pleased God not by any extraordinary rains from Heaven to our thinking to open the Mountains like Fountains and to cause the Seaso to swell that in less than four hours it overflowed the Town throughout sixteen foot high which prevented us not only from saving our Goods but also with great hazard of our lives have we escaped yet many lost their Lives with great destruction both of the Houses and Walls For my own part I feared my life for my house trembled under me extreamly so that not only my self but my whole Family had been destroyed had it continued but a small time longer though the Water ebbed not for Twenty four hours Many Iron Mills were destroyed many Thousand Loads of Charcoal were carryed away many bags of Wool spoiled All their Shops with their Goods were much damaged God knows the trouble we underwent and still I am every day in the mud half my height looking after my Goods and am fain to keep many men digging to find them and am looking out for bread to maintain my Family a little Chicken costs us two shillings in Spanish Plate In brief neither Horse Mule Hog nor any other Living Creature that goes upon the ground hath escaped drowning but only such as fled to the tops of the Mountains The destruction and losses of â—his Town are unspeakable the very pavement and ground being carryed away at least Ten Foot deep and the River hath altered its Chanel The first work that we now set upon by command of Authority is to throw away the Fish which the water brought with it which being tainted smells so abominably that we fear it will bring the Plague amongst us but we hope by to morrow night to throw it all into the River and thereby be rid of this stink and our next work must be to cleanse the River LXXII In 1652 There was a great Eclipse of the Sun and Two Eclipses of the Moon A Two handed Sword was seen in the Air in Cheshire and Armies of men encountring each other appeared in the North a Comet was visible in the Signs Gemini and Taurus from December 11 to the 30. This year the English subdued Scotland and beat the Dutch at Sea They beat the French at Sea this year also The English Parliament firnamed the Long are turned out of Doors by their own Army In 1653 Oliver Cromwell a private Gentleman by Birth but then General of the Army assumes the Government of Great Britain by the Title of Lord Protector of England Scotland and Ireland The King of the Romans and the Pope in two years after dye strange and unheard of Alterations in Law and Government here in England new Courts of Justice Council of State Major Generals In 1654 was another Eclipse of the Sun and an Earthquake in the West of England Apparitions are visible in the Air in the North of England A very great Rain falls in Bohemia At this time the English take Jamaica and make War with Spain The English and Swedes unite In 1655. Castles Cities and Towns appear in the Air in England and seem to be besieged the different Actions and Gestures of Men both Commanders and Souldiers being plainly visible This year Cardinal Guisi is made Pope by the Title of Innocent the 10. The Polanders are routed by the Swedes In 1656 An Earthquake happened in Cheshire doing much harm sinking the Ground and rending up many Trees by the Roots to the great damage of the Countrey In November a fiery Dragon was seen in the Air in Scotland This year the English land in Flanders and take Mardike from the Spaniards they become angry thereat and Wars between them grow high The King of Denmark was twice invaded by the King of Sweden There fell such abundance of Rain at Vienna in Germany that the River Danubius swelling above its banks the violence of the Waters broke down all the Bridges and most of their Mills Yea the Water came into their Suburbs called The Jews Suburbs drowning many Persons and carrying away a very great number of Cattel and did so great mischief to the Countrey that the loss was thought inestimable there being sixteen Towns and Villages swept away by the Flood Gadbury de Comet LXXIII In 1658 A great Whale came up to Greenwich near London a thing seldom known before This year Dunkirk was taken by the English Sir Henry Slingsby and Dr. Heuit being condemned by an High Court of Justice as they called it were beheaded at Towerhill and Sept. 3. following which used to be a great day of Triumph in Olivers Court for two great Victories at Dunbar and Worcester was turned into a day of Mourning by the Death of their Protector who dyed about 4 or 5 a Clock that day and Richard Cromwel confidently succeeds him in the Government as if it had been his just due Nay some People in England send such sugred Addresses to him that he believed himself to be what they flatteringly stiled him The King of Sweden loses much this year and dyes In 1659 there was a very great Inundation in Holland which overflowed Thirty Six Thousand Acres of Ground Also a great Eclipse of the Sun in Scorpio November 4. Lofty and strange unwonted Winds In May 1659 the Long Parliament returned and turned out Richard Cromwell but were soon after turned out themselves by Lambert and the Army A Committee of safety is set up The L. General Monk being troubled to behold the Confusions of the English Proceedings marched out of Scotland and after the Committee of Safety was fallen brings in the secluded Members of the Long Parliament who soon after dissolve themselves and call another Parliament who restore His Royal Majesty King Charles 2. to His just Rights and Priviledges whom God preserve with a Long and Happy Reign over us Gadbury of Prodigies LXXIV In 16â—0 Feb. 20. At Dantzick in Poland when the Sun was going down there were seen seven Suns together very distinctly in the Heavens three of them coloured and three white besides the True Sun it self about which was a Circle much like a Rainbow In 1661. Jan. 28. There is a Relation that near Worsup in Nottinghamshire there was an appearance of a gallant Troop of Horse marching which a Justice of Peace having notice of related to a Person of Honour thinking them to be real Men and Horses but upon a strict inquiry it was concluded to be only an Apparition The same Relation says about that time there happened a strange and dreadful storm of Hail at Northampton and fire mingled with the hail in some places and that it did run upon the ground in great sheets of Fire for a considerable way together It fell upon some part of Wellinborough Town in Northamptonshire Upon February 18. this year very early in the morning began a
Clock in the morning the Sea was observed to ebb and flow 7 times of which the greater notice was taken because the weather at that time was fair and calm and the Tydes very low the like accident having never been observed there but once before about three years since Upon June 20. this year at Jnspurg in Germany a little after noon there was a very violent Tempest with extraordinary hail rain Thunder and Lightning accompanied with an Earthquake which had such terrible Effects at Schnatz a Town about 3 miles distant from Jnspurg where the Emperor of Germany had some Silver mines that the River which runs through it overflowing drowned all the adjacent Fields driving down and destroying above Thirty Houses endamaging many more and drowning above Two Hundred People In July 1669 came Intelligence from Holstein in Denmark of Prodigious Tempests accompanied with such dreadful Thunder and Lightnings as affrighted the Cattel out of the Fields and drove some Hundreds of them into the Sea wherein they were all drowned From Mecklenburg likewise in Germany they write that there were several Fires kindled by Lightning in divers parts of the Countrey LXXXII In 1672 His Majesty proclaimed War against the States of the Vnited Provinces and May 28. His Royal Highness engaged the whole Dutch Fleet in Southwold Bay and after a sharp dispute of 8 hours the Hollanders retreated in which fight the Noble Earl of Sandwich was unfortunately slain About this time there happened a violent Fire at St. Katherines without the Iron-Gate near the Tower of London which consumed above an Hundred Houses this year the French overrun great part of Holland taking as it is said Thirty Cities and Towns in Thirty days In 1678 an horrid Popish Plot was discovered against His Majesties Person and Government and soon after Sir Edmondbury Godfrey who took the first Examination of Dr. Oats upon the Discovery thereof was murdered by the Papists for which three of them were executed Several Popish Lords were committed to the Tower and December 1679 the Lord Stafford was beheaded at Tower-Hill for High Treason In 1680 May 18. about 2 a Clock in the morning there began a furious storm of Thunder and Lightning in London so extream that the Heavens seemed to be in a flame which was accompanied with very large Hail and extraordinary violent and hasty Showrs of rain which continued for several hours but about 10 a Clock in the morning a strange and unusual darkness overspread the face of Heaven and immediately after there fell such a terrible storm of Hail as the like was hardly ever seen in England before the storm a great murmuring or ratling noise was heard in the Air the Hailstones were so very large that some of them being measured were found to be four Inches others five others six in compass nay it was confidently reported that some were seven eight and nine Inches about it continued not above a quarter of an hour otherwise it might have done much more damage than it did yet abundance of Glass-Windows were shattered to pieces especially of those called Sky-Lights The stones were of different Shapes and Sizes and the Fancies of People likened them to several things they fell with such violence that they cut the Faces of some and the heads and hands of others who were abroad some others ran into the ground in the Fields above an Inch and being taken out were found to be as big as Pullets Eggs and some larger several of them were round others square and flat with very sharp Edges LXXXIII Not long before this in the same year 1680 there fell a mighty tempest of Rain Hail Lightning and Thunder at a Town in Oxfordshire It began about eleven a Clock in the morning the Sky being for a considerable time black and dark when on a sudden there happened a great storm of Hail which by the assistance of an East-wind fell with such violence that the Hail-stones rebounded 3 Foot high from the ground after which followed a fierce showr of Rain which seemed rather to come down in pail-fuls than in the common way and so affrighted the Inhabitants that they ran immediately into the Fields to save their Sheep Lambs and other small Cattel but had much ado to return with their Lives during this dreadful storm the Heavens sent forth such huge and frequent flashes of Fire that notwithstanding that deluge of water which at that instant fell from the Skyes the Lightning took hold of some Houses but was happily quenched without any considerable damage yet several Barns were burnt down with all within them in one of which a man that was thrashing hardly made his escape Among others a youth being overtaken in the storm endeavoured to shelter himself in a Windmil but the ill-natured Miller began to swear and curse at him asking him if he was such a Fool and changling to be afraid of a little Lightning and Thunder the boy had scarce time to answer before he was struck off the stairs and the Miller was forced to go down and take him up half dead but this unkind Miller had hardly recovered the Youth ere he himself was struck down with the Thunder and taken up without any appearance of Life for the present though it is said he afterward recovered LXXXIV There is likewise a Relation of a strange Accident which happened this year 1680 at a Town called Blois in France That about one a Clock in the morning an amazing Tempest of Wind arose with such violence as soon affrighted the most sleepy from their repose and in a short time by its fury beat or blew down all the Body of the Church of St. Soulucas except the Belfry also half the Jesuits Church and two fair houses into the Highstreet the People whereof were glad to run into the arched Cellars to save themselves which they happily did for the ruins fell upon and round about the Arch but the Rubbish being removed they were afterward drawn out alive This Tempest was likewise accompanied with a most prodigious Hail many Thousand stones being found as big as a mans First which without sufficient Authority would seem incredible This unusual Artillery of Heaven broke all the Slates wherewith the Houses are covered and the Glass Windows all over the Town as if they had been beaten in a Mortar without the Town eight whole Parishes with the Fields adjacent were wholly ruined by the Hail in such a terrible manner that it seemed as if no Corn had been sown or Vines planted there There were four other Parishes much indamaged and multitudes of Chimneys beaten down so that the dammages thereby with the breaking of Windows and Tiles was valued to be above Two Hundred Thousand Crowns and the harm in the Vineyards and Cornfeilds invaluable But it pleased God the Protestant Church in that Town was wonderfully preserved though equally exposed to the Weather without a Slate or any glass broken the direful marks of the Tempest
a multitude of Miracles and Prodigies of Nature I shall now proceed to those of Art The Chineses look upon themselves as the wisest People upon the face of the Earth they use therefore to say That they see with both Eyes and all other Nations but with one only and thereupon they boast though I know not with what Truth and Justice that the most famous Inventions which have been so lately known to us in Europe have been no Strangers to them for many Ages past however I shall relate what are most observable both in these and other Nations It is likewise recorded that Augustus Caesar having several ways adorned and fortifyed the City of Rome putting it into a condition of bravery and security for after times he thereupon gloried That he found Rome of brick and left it of Marble and certainly nothing makes more for the just Glory of a Prince than to leave his Dominions in better State than he found them Yet the vast Expences of some Princes and People had been more truly commendable and their mighty works more really glorious had they therein consulted more of the Publick good and less of their own Ostentation However it may not be unpleasant nor unprofitable to describe them and likewise to relate the most curious Inventions and Rarities in all Ages even to these times which have been more favourable to Learning than the former and wherein Arts have been thereby improved to the height 1. But first concerning Buildings the most famous structure we first read of was immediately after the Universal Deluge or Noah's Flood for Nimrod the Son of Chus the Son of Cham perswaded the People to secure themselves from the like after-claps by building some stupendious Edifice which might resist the fury of a second Deluge This Counsel was generally imbraced Heber only and his Family as the Tradition goes contradicting such an unlawful attempt But the major part prevailing the Tower of Babel began to rear its Head of Majesty Five Thousand One Hundred Forty six Paces from the Ground having its Basis and circumference equal to its height The Passage to go up went winding about the outside and was of an exceeding great breadth there being not only room for Horses Carts and the likemeans of Carriage to meet and turn but lodgings also for Man and Beast And as Verslegan reports Grass and Corn-fields for their nourishment and admirable it is to consider what multitudes of men there were in the World in so short a space there being but eight persons that came out of the Ark and now this Building was carried on by Five Hundred Thousand Men the Foundation of it was nine miles compass But God by the Confusion of Tongues hindred the Proceeding of this Building one not being able to understand what his Fellow called for which Du Bartas wittily describes Bring me quoth one a Trowel quickly quick One brings him up a Hammer hew this brick Another bids and then they cleave a Tree Make fast this Rope and then they let it flee One calls for Planks Another Morter lacks They bring the first a Stone the last an Ax One would have Nails and him a Spade they give Another asks a Saw and gets a Sieve Thus crosly crost they prate and rail in vain What one hath made another spoils again This makes them leave their work and like mad Fools Scatter their Stuff and tumble down their Tools II. We read in several Ancient Histories of The seven Marvels or Wonders of the World The first whereof they reckoned to be The Walls of Babylon This City of Babylon was seated on the Banks of the River Euphrates which ran through the midst of it over which Semiramuis built a strong and stately Bridge of a mile long binding each stone together with clips of Iron fastened with melted Lead and is the ancientest City of the World first built by Nimrod in the place appointed for the raising of the Tower of Babel and by him made the Imperial Seat of the Chaldeaâ— Kings afterward much beautified and inlarged by Semiramis the Wife of Ninus one of his Successors and finally much increased both in bulk and beauty by Nebuchadnezzar for he added a new City to the old which he compassed about with three Walls and made therein three stately Gates and near his Fathers Palace he built another more stately where he raised Stone Works like mountains which he planted with all manner of Trees He made also Pensile Gardens hanging as it were in the Sky borne upon Arches four-square each square containing four hundred foot filled above with Earth wherein grew all sorts of Trees and Plants The Arches were built one upon another even to fifty Cubits high He likewise made Aquâ—â—iucts for watering these Gardens He erected an Image of Gold in the Plain of Dura sixty Cubits high and six broad These stately Buildings puft him up who therefore arrogated to himself the whole Glory of them saying in his Pride Is not this the great Babel that I have built a City of great Fame and State The compass of the Walls were 365 Furlongs or forty six some say threescore miles according to the number of the days of the year in height two hundred Cubits and fifty Cubits in bredth that six Chariots or Carriages might meet on the top they were finished in one year by the hands of Two Hundred Thousand Workmen The City was foursquare and fifteen miles from one corner to another Insomuch that Aristotle saith It ought rather to be called a Countrey than a City adding withal That when the Town was taken it was three days before the furthest parts of the Town had any Intelligence thereof which taking of the Town must be understood of the surprize thereof by the Medes and Persians in the Reign of Beshazzar when Daniel the Prophet interpreted to that King the words Mene Tekel Peres which were miraculously written by a hand upon the Wall as he was banquetting with his Nobility and foretold the very day before it was taken that God had given his Kingdom to the Medes and Perfians All which was accomplished the might following when Darius King of Media and Persia besieging Babylon took it on a sudden with the help of his Nephew Cyrus the Persian in the time of a great Feast when the King Nobility and People contemning their Enemies being over-confident of their own strength minded only their Sports and Pastimes which we read was surprized after this manner The River Euphrates ran quite through the Town round about whose banks the politick Cyrus cut many and deep Channels into which he in a very short time drained and emptied the River conveying his own Forces into the Town all along the dry and yeilding Channel and in a little 〈◊〉 made himself Master of it the Babylonians being 〈◊〉 in Wine and Debauchery In the Reign of 〈◊〉 Semiramis this City revolted from her and 〈…〉 thereof coming to her as she was ordering 〈…〉 she
give a guess at the Riches and Ornaments of it by this that there was spent only upon its gilding above Twelve Thousand Talents It was all guilded over not the inner roof only but the outward covering which was of brass or Copper and the doors of it were overlay'd with thick Plates of Gold which remained to the Reign of Honorius After the great overthrow of the Romans by the Gauls near the River Allia those that escaped fled to Rome for security filling all the City with trouble and fear but the People not judging themselves safe there got all away out of the Town only a small number of the most resolute put themselves into the Capitol resolving to indure all extremities The rest escaped to the City of Veios where assembling together they chose Furius Camillus whom some time before they had disobliged to be their Dictator but he would not accept of the Dignity unless the Senators in the Capitol gave their Legal consent thereunto This was very difficult because the Gauls had environed it round about with their Troops yet one Pontius undertook this dangerous enterprize and coming to the River Tyber he swom over upon a piece of broad Cork and landing on the other side he went softly that way where he saw no light and therefore supposed there was no watch kept and so climbing up the steep craggy rocks he with much ado got to the top where being espied by the Roman Centinels they assisted him and brought him to the Senators who received his Message and immediately dispatched him with an answer so that he returned back to Camillus the same night Next day one of the Gauls walking about that place chanced to espy the prints and footsteps of a man upon the Rocks and Grass which grew thereon this he discovered to his Fellows who thinking the Romans had now shew'd them the way they took the opportunity of a dark night and ascended the Hill the same way without being discovered either by the Men or the Dogs who both kept guard there but were now all fast asleep But it was the good fortune of the Romans that there were certain Geese dedicated to Juno and kept at the Publick Charge near her Temple they being fearful by nature and easily affrighted by the least noise in the night and being also kept very hungry by reason of the scarcity in the Capitol may be supposed to have slept the more lightly so that perceiving the Enemies with their glittering Armour they flew against them and filled the whole place with a fearful and unusual cry which awakened the Romans who suspecting the matter ran presently to the wall and beat back their Enemies throwing them down headlong by which unusual means the Capitol was saved all the Gauls being forced to hasten off or to leave their dead bodies at the foot of the Hill they had newly climbed In remembrance whereof for a great while after upon one day in the year they carried about in Procession a Dog hanged on a Gallows and a Goose sitting in a little chair of state upon a rich and sumptuous Cushion Camerareus Medit. 12. Suctonius thus describes that house of Nero which Nero himself called Domum Auream The Golden House In the Porch was set a Colossus or Image shaped like himself of one hundred and Twenty foot high The spaciousness of the House was such that it had in it three Galleries each of them a mile long a standing Pool like a Sea beset with buildings in manner of a City Feilds in which were arable grounds Pastures Vineyards and Woods with a various multitude of tame and wild Beasts of all kinds In the other part thereof all things were covered with gold and distinguished with precious stones as Mother of Pearl c. The Supping Rooms were roofed with Ivory planks that were moveable for the casting down of Flowers and had Pipes in them for the sprinkling of Ointments The Roof of the Principal Supping Room was round which like the Heavens wheeled about perpetually day and night This House when he had thus finished and dedicated he so mightily approved of that he said He then began to live like a Man Suetonius Hist Lib. 6. XIII The Amphitheatre begun by Vespasian but finished and dedicated by Titus was most famous the height whereof was such that saith Marcellinus the Eye of man could hardly reach it It was built and reared up saith Cassiodore with Rivers of Treasure poured out It contained only upon the Steps and Degrees sufficient and easie Seats for fourscore and seven Thousand Persons so as the vacant Places besides might well contain Ten or Twenty Thousand more And it is admirable to consider saith the L. Montaign in his Essays what mighty magnificence the Roman Emperors used in their Theaters It was wonderful saith he to cause a great quantity of large Trees all full of green branches to be brought from far and planted in Plots yeilding nothing but dry gravel representing a wild shady Forrest divided in due and seemly proportion And the first day to put into the Theatre a Thousand Estriges a Thousand Stags a Thousand Wild Boars and a Thousand Bucks which were hunted and baited by the common people The next day in the presence of all the People an hundred great Lyons an hundred Leopards and three hundred huge Bears were baited and torn to peices The third day three hundred couple of Gladiators or Fencers combated and murdered one another as in the Reign of the Emperor Probus It was also an exlent sight to see those huge wondrous Amphitheatres all inchased with rich Marble and curiously inriched on the outside with carved statues and all the inside glistering with precious and rare Imbellishments All the sides round about were invironed and replenished from the ground to the very top with three or fourscore ranks of steps and seats all of Marble covered with gallant Cushions where might be conveniently placed an hundred thousand men and all sit at ease The plain groundwork of it where Sports were acted were so ordered by Art as to open asunder with holes and gaps like hollow Caves out of which issued wild Beasts appointed for the Plays After which the whole floor of the Theatre was immediately overflown with a very deep Sea wherein were all manner of strange Fishes and Sea Monsters with a great Navy of Ships ready rigged and provided for a Sea-fight In an Instant all was dry and smooth again and the Fencers entred and fought with each other Lastly to compleat the last Act of one day only the whole floor was forthwith cleansed and strowed over with Vermilion and Storax instead of Gravel and a solemn banquet brought forth enough to entertain that almost infinite number of People they have sometimes caused an huge steep Mountain to arise in the midst of the Amphitheatre all overspread with fruitful and flourishing Trees of all sorts on the top whereof gushed out streams of water as from a Fountain Other