were assembled in one and blew with maine force against the saile and yet after he hath left off to holde the shyp she moueth and saileth as before biside in this little fishe is discerned a fatall prognostication wherein she séemeth to giue vs some forewarnyng of the euils that are like to befall vs. For did she not stay the Embassadors ship of Periander and also the barke of Caius Caesar who soone after was killed at Rome séemyng thereby in hir kinde to take pitie of the missehappe wherevnto she sawe hym predestinate the whiche is all in effecte that Adamus Louicerus wryteth of this fyshe I knowe againe that Aristotle Plinie and others doe gyue vnto hir sundry other propreties as to serue in speciall vse in matters of loue to drawe children from the wombes of their mothers wyth other lyke qualities whiche accordyng vnto their small credite I doe passe ouer for thys tyme. Plutarch in Symposiacis .2 problem .7 searcheth the reason why that thys fyshe doth stay shyppes whiche shall also gyue ende vnto the description of hys Wonders And bicause the Reader maye be fully satisfied touchyng the maruelles of the Waters wée wyll nowe enter into the treatie of a chiefe membre thereof the same since the creation of the Worlde vntill this age hauyng muche troubled the Philosophers and other learned men by the curious searche to knowe whether there haue bene in the sea Seamen Tritons Nereides and other lyke Monsters carying the figure of man whyche in tymes paste the Auncientes doe witnesse to haue séene in Flouds Ryuers Fountaines Rockes and Lakes Those whyche haue persuaded them selues that there is none suche iustifie their opinyon by the authoritie of the Scripture whych makyng no mention of such thyngs affirmeth absolutely that the earth is the onely house and tabernacle of man wherein he is to remayne and kéepe hys residence vntill that it please the Lorde to call hym home as the Prince or Capitayne dothe by the Souldiour that he putteth in hys Garryson Those whyche defende the contrary doe preferre the Experience and wytnesse of so many learned persones whose grauitie and wysdome woulde not leaue to a generall posteritie their bookes full of suche vanities and dreames to entertayne the children parentes friendes and vniuersally all suche as shoulde come after them in errour Besides say they it is no lesse impertinent to beléeue that there bée Men monsters in the sea than to giue faith to those that write that there be wooddy Nimphes Satyres and other sauage Monsters approued for trouthe by some of oure Ecclesiasticall writers lyke as also the other is gyuen oute for a matter of faith by sundry menne of credite who haue séene them wyth their eyes Pausanias amongest other of the auncientes dothe affirme that hee hathe séene at Rome a Triton And those which haue recorded the chronicles of Constantinople wherof one parte concerneth the state of Europe write that in the .29 yeare of the Emperour Mauritius the prouost of Delta in Egipt walking amongst other people against the rising of the Sunne was astonished when he sawe vpon the banke of the floud of Nile two creatures bearyng the figure of humanam figuram wherof the one that did most resemble a man séemed of fierce and stoute regarde with a curled haire standing ryght an ende and oftentymes in their presence woulde shewe hym selfe aboue the water to the secrete partes and then sodainly sinke agayne into the water vnto the nauell giuing as it were to knowe vnto the people that for a dutie and reuerence to nature he sought to couer the rest Whiche mouing suche indifferent maruel and feare to the Prouost and rest of his companie that they adiured hym in the name of God that if he were any wicked spirite he shoulde retire to the place ordeined for hym by his creator but of the contrary if he were one of those whiche were created for the glorye of his name that he woulde make some aboade there for the contentment of that poore people so desirous of suche a straunge sight This creature bounde as it were by the vertue of this coniuration remained long amongst them Immediatly after which tyme chaunced a sighte no lesse straunge than this it was an other creature representing the forme and shape of a Woman who began to cutte the waues and approche the banke of the Ryuer hauyng a great bush of haires dispersed a white face and of plesant regard hir fingers and armes wel proporcioned hir dugs somewhat rounde and bigge shewing hir selfe in this order namely vntill the nauell the reste with a lyke reuerence to nature as the other she concealed within the waues And after these two creatures hadde long delited the eyes of the people with their sight they gaue place to the darknesse of the night and vanished away without euer being séene afterwarde Wherof after the Prouost hadde taken witnesse of the assistants he dispatched immediatly a messanger to the Emperour Mauritius with the newes Baptiste Fulgose writeth a like historie of a Sea monster which was séene of a numbre of men in a certaine port or hauen of the sea in the time of Eugenius the fourth This monster sayth he was a man of the sea who hauing left the water made a roade vpon the land and caught a childe as he disported hym selfe vpon the banke which being desirous to cary with hym into the sea hée was so speedily pursued with men and hurte with stones that he was not only forced to leaue his pray but also had muche to doe to recouer the water his figure resembled the fourme of a man sauyng that hys skynne was like the sloughe of an Eele and had two little hornes on his head he hadde on eyther hande but two fyngers and his féete dyd ende like two little tayles and on his armes he had two little winges as a balde Mouse hath Conradus Gesnerus writeth that there was séene at Rome in the great riuer a sea man or monster of the sea Theodorus Gaza a man learned and as well studied as any of our time writeth that on a tyme when he was in Greece vpon a certaine coast of the sea after the rage of a wonderfull tempeste hauyng taken vpon the shoare a good quantitie of fishe he sawe amongest certaine other wonderfull thinges a Mermayde or fyshe hauyng the face of a woman fully perfect in euery thing requisite in Nature vnto the wast from which part dounward she caried the forme of a fishe finishing in the tayle like an Eele euen as we sée them ordinarily drawne by the painter This Mermayd as it is written was vpō the grauell or sande and shewed by hir iestes and countenances to suffer suche passions as the sayde Theodore Gaze moued to pitie considering that she had a desire to returne to the sea tooke hir and conueyed hir into the water Plinie lykewise writeth that in the time of the Emperor Tyberius the inhabitants of Lysbona a towne in Portingal sent
kepte in the mouth represseth hunger and thirst for ten or .xij. dayes Aelyan a Greeke Historian maketh mention of an hearbe whiche discouereth treasures that be hydden And Plinie of an other whiche openeth the conduictes that be closed And nowe as we haue largely dilated vpon the vertues and propreties of many wonderfull herbes and plantes so it is not necessary to omitte the noble and wonderfull dignitie of the roote of Baara so muche celebrated by Iosephus the Hebrue who bycause hée is of more faith than the moste of the rest and of lesse suspition than they all being a recorder of the Ecclesiasticall histories I thynkâ— hym as worthie of this place as any other In tymes past sayth Iosephus there grewe a Roote in Iuda called Baara hauyng a colour and bryghtenesse of a flame â–ª of fyre and gaue lyght in the nyght lyke a Lampe and that in suche a wonderfull and straunge order that who so went about to touche or gather it before that it were sprinkled with either the bloud or vrine of a woman dyed presently and yet was not that a sufficient defence or suretie Wherevpon after suche experience of the poyson of this Hearbe they were constrayned for their owne safetie to tye a Dogge to some parte of the Plante who offeryng to followe hys Mayster plucked it vp by the rootes Suche agayne was the wonderfull propretie of thys Plante that beyng once plucked vp a man myghte handle it wythout peryll And beyng hanged at the necke of suche as were infected wyth the Fallyng syckenesse or possessed wyth an euyll spirite it dyd delyuer them presentely Hieronymus Cardanus a Physition of Millane fyndeth it not straunge that it kylled such as dydde gather it enforcyng hys opinion by reasons of Philosophie but in thys sorte Baaran whereof thys roote of Baara hath taken hys name is a Ualey in Iudea a countrey very hote and haboundyng wyth Pytche of whyche the portion or liquour being very subtile and too muche boyled dyd distill from the Mountaine whereof as it is moste lyke thys Roote was engendred and bycause that it did growe in continuall shadowe and darkenesse the poyson was the more violent beyng of a substaunce exceedyng the fyre in heate the whyche beyng styrred in the pluckyng vp and fumyng vp wyth an ardente and corrupte vapour to the brayne of hym that gathered it smoothered hym presentely But touchyng hys reasons for the vryne and Mylke of a Woman the whyche séemed to haue some power ouer the furie of thys Plante althoughe they bée strong and carrie wyth them a greate lykelyhode of credite and truthe yet I thynke that it is neyther in hym nor in all the Philosophers of the Worlde yf all theyr learnyngs were sette in iudgement of the matter to gyue other reason than wyth the Prophete saying The Lorde is maruellous in all hys woorkes who hathe knowne hys secretes or who hathe bene hys Counseller The portraict of this Plante is in the begynnyng of thys Chapiter where the Dogge is tyed to the Herbe ¶ Wonderfull Banketteâ— CHAP. xxv IF I haue not sufficiently treated in my first booke of the Theatre of the worlde of the infirmities and maledictioÌ„s thundred vpon vs wretches by that wicked and infortunate vice of glutonie I haue nowe a larger fielde to walke in and a matter more ample to dilate vpon to the fulnesse of my pen but without singing so often one soÌ„g it shal suffise me for the present to describe in this place not onely the prodigalities but also the wondrous monstrous féeding of the throte wherof the Auncients and gluttons of late time haue vsed in their feasts and bankets The Persians and Greekes as Herodotus witnesseth haue ben so dissolute in their feasts that they caused them to be proclaimed in publike by the crie of an Harolde and reserued a speciall price to such as could inuent newe delites or drinke or eate with moste excesse bisides they forbad one an other by the way of mockerie and brauerie that they should not depart at any tyme from theyr feastes hungrie And their reason was for that that they should so well stuffe their bodies of all kindes of meates and drinkes that they were constrained to render accoÌ„pt to nature and make an inuentorie of that which they had receiued afore they parted from the table and so hauyng discharged their stomacks became hungrie againe Atheneus makyng mention of the excessiue prodigalitie of Xerxes kyng of the Persians assureth that after he had remained one day in a Citie and that he had dined and supped the common poore people smelte therof a yeare or two after As if that they had had a certain famine or barennesse of goodes in their prouinces And after continuing his purpose he made mention of the superfluitie and sumptuous expences of Darius king of the Persians who sayth he had many times to accompanie him at supper fiftene thousand men of whome if you will make diuision you shall fynde euery one of those guests spent at his supper .xvj. crounes Wherin that great cormorant Alexander was nothing at all inferiour to Darius or Xerxes in banketting or excessiue â—hargeâ— for after he had pierced the Indes â–ª he beganne to giue himselfe in praie to delites and proclaimed open battaile to good drinke with rewarde to hym that got the price or victorie of that combat the same amounting many times to the value of thirtie Mines being three hundreth crownes or of one talent the which is six hundreth crounes And although the danger of that bataile consisted moste in the blowes of cuppes or glasses â–ª yet he founde it in the ende so tragicall and bloudie that for that tyme there died to the number of thirtie sixe who ended their liues moste miserably by the excessiue drinking and gurling in of wine as Charles Mitileneus writeth in the gestes of Alexander Althoughe Esope was not equall to thesâ— before rehearsed neither in goodes nor in dignitie yet Plinie reciteth in the tenth of his bookes that amongeste the moste renoumed delicacies and prodigalitie the dishe of Esope hath bene in greatest admiration That dishe was of a straunge and wonderfull inuention for he searched with greate curiositie for the furnishing of one banquet whiche he made in Rome all the little birdes enclosed in cages whiche were to be founde in all the Citie as Linettes Larkes Estourneaux Merles Calendres and other like who were solde more dearer than golde bycause of their pleasaunt and armonious singing together with the pleasure whiche men receiued in the hearing of them who knowe very well how to imitate the voice of man whiche byrdes if we will beleue Plinie did coste sixe thousande Sesterces the piece which were prised acccording to Budee at fyftene thousandâ— crounes Whiche maye séeme straunge or not true to them whiche haue readde those authours that not onely that tragicall Esope was so riche but also after so greatâ— expences and charges he lefte his sonne so welthiâ— â–ª that he
withoute nailes or teeth to the ende that when they awaked they myght die for feare to sée them within the danger of suche rauenous beastes some others he woulde make drinke tyll they burst and of some againe when they had wel dronke he woulde tie their legs and their hands and al the conduits of their vrine and so let them die And being reprehended of these folies and warned to auoyde such extraordinarie expense least hereafter it were reuenged vpon him with pouertie His answere was that he was not subiect to any thing he had neither woulde he haue other heire than himselfe and his wife not caryng for children least they should conspire against him These were the charities and deedes of deuotion wherin this reuerend Emperor consumed the reuenue of his state whiche by reason of their monstrous order if they séeme incredible to any lette hym reade Aelyus Lampridius Sextus Aurelius Victor Eutropius Iulius Capitolinus and Spartian in the lyfe of Septimus Seuerus by whome albeit the matter is plentyfully aduouched yet haue they not broughte to memorie the moytie or one halfe There resteth nowe to discouer the ende of these delites and what bytter gall attended the pleasant taste of such sugred vanities What other ende had Darius and Xerxes whereof we haue first spoken than after so many duties and gluttonous delites done to their filthy bellies they were miserebly confounded the like happening rightly to Alexander whome one droppe of poyson made digest in one cup that which he had excessiuely deuoured all the days of his life And did it happen better to that prodigall Marcus Antonius or his liccorishe Cleopatra What mirrour what spectacle what example to such as liue in this worlde as in an eternall Paradyse of delites but what more shamefull punishmente and iust hire coulde he receiue of his Epicures life than to be the bloudy butcher of himselfe the like ende attending his Companion in wantonnesse whiche according to hir dissolute lyfe was at last deuoured of an Aspick the moste venomous of all other creatures And that sinke or gulfe of gluttonie Heliogabalus did he escape the furie or iustice of God no no for as he had deuoured an infinite numbre of sundry sortes of creatures he was in the endâ— torne in pieces of them seing his owne people after many hard experiences of his tyrannies conspired against him and killed him and trailyng him as a dead dog along the stretes THe figure and portraict of Denis Heracleot who becam so grosse that he was costrained to haue his bloud drawen from him by Horsleaches as appeareth further in the leafe 82. Galene reporteth the like historie of Nicomachus Smyrneus who was so grosse and monstrous that he could not remoue of Rome threw him at last into Tyber where his body was a praie to fishes wherof his throate whilest he liued had murdered an infinite number The Emperor Iouian and Septimus Seuerus as Baptista Ignatius witnesseth died of the disease of dronkennesse There be also other kindes of banketters which albeit haue not died vpon any surfete of eating or drinking yet they became so monstrous fat that they were little better in efâ—ect amongest whom the Emperoure Maximyn may chalenge first place as their chief patriarch whome they affirme to haue suche store of grease kitchen stuffe within his paunche that the breath that came from hym séemed of force to turne aboute a Windmill hauyng continually two men to beare vp hys belly his hands and other membres by succession of time being so greate and charged with fatnesse that his wiues bracelettes scarcely serued his fyngers for Ryngs as the Histories affirme In lyke maner Denys Heracleot gaue hym selfe so ouer to the desire of meate and drinke and other fleshly delites that he became so monstrous huge and fat that he durst not shewe himself to the people for feare of contempt By which meanes and continuall kéepyng in his close house he became so grosse and swelled thorow all the parts of his body that he was forced to applie continually to certaine partes of his body bothe day and night a great quantitie of Horsleaches to drawe the humour that fedde hys fatnesse for otherwyse he hadde died as may appeare in this Portraict adioynyng ¶ Certaine wonderfull discourses worthy of memorie touching Visions Figures and illusions appearing as well in the day as in the night and sleping as waking CHAP. xxvj I Accompt it to small purpose to argue in this place whether the shadowes of deade men do returne or if the spirits hauing passed the wracke of this mortall life doe visite vs sometimes or no Wherin notwithstanding as it is most credible that the two most famous pillers of the churche Saint Augustine and Sainte Hierome and almost the whole route of the Ecclesiasticall writers haue stande vpon the dissolution of the doubt of Samuel I meane whether it were the true spirite of the Prophete that appeareth by the inuocation of the enchauntresse or some sleightes of Sathan to abuse their iudgementes For my part I meane to giue out myne opinion touching such doubtes in order and termes of a philosopher and with the authoritie of the most auncient and learned writers now a dayes who for the first haue made of great estimation by their Histories the discourse of the two Arcadians wherunto they giue no lesse faith than if it were an Oracle of truth As also Pope Pius the seconde of that name auoucheth the same with probable argumeÌ„ts and reasons Amongst the auncients Valerius and many other that recorded the affaires of Grece and Rome affirme that there were two Arcadians which loued so dearely one an other with such an affinitie of actions and humoures that it seemed they had but one heart diuided betwéene them both They came one day to Megare a citie in Grece to performe certaine businesse there where they repaired to seuerall places of abode the one to a friends house of his the other according to his custome toke harbor in an Inne he that went to the place of his acquaintance after supper féeling a vehement motion or desire of sléepe the same moued by the wearinesse of the way went to bedde where he fell forthwith into a profounde sléepe of two houres continuance which notwithstanding was not so quiet as it escaped without a terrible and feareful dreame for he séemed to sée standing afore hym his Companion pale and of a hideous regard crying with teares to giue him aide against the distresse and daunger of his hoast wherewith he awaked and gyuing faith to the vision and solicited bisides with the vehemencie of mutual loue betwene them arose and put him on the way to sée his companion albeit arguing wythin himselfe the vanitie in dreames he chaunged his purpose and went to bed again where he had not long lien ere he was assailed with a seconde remembraunce of his first apprehension but in a more straunge order for he séemed to cary
all together within a castell and himselfe also he gat to fauor and further his coÌ„spiracy some .iiij. or .v. men whom according to the truste he put in them he made to be hidden in certaine secret corners of the chambers appointed for the noble men hauing firste attired them in horrible order with skinnes of seawolues whereof is greate stoare in that countrey by reason of the Sea with euery one a staffe in his ryghte hand of a kinde of olde and dry wood which shyneth in the night and in their left hand a great horne of an Ore pierced hollow these according to their commaundemente kept very close secrete vntill the Princes were in theyr first and fast sléepe when they began to appeare and discouer w t their staues glimering like the glaunces or flames of torches braying out of their hollowe hornes a hydeous voyce conteining that they were sent of God to sommon them to the warre of the Pictes against whom the sentence of victory was already pronounced and agréed by the heauens And so these artificiall sprites assisted with the benefite of the night which is the mother nurse to all illusions vsed so fine a conuey in the dispatch of their businesse that they escaped without being disclosed leauing the poore Princes so passioned with feare that they passed the rest of the night in prayers vntill the morning when euerye of them with great solemnitie imparted his vision to y e king who also for his parte to aggrauate the matter with further credite notwithstanding he was the first founder and forger of the mistery approued their sayings with the like appearing to himself albeit he was curious to reueale the secretes of God vntill he had more sure aduertisement thereof wherewith some other persuasions on his parte to enforce their forwardnes they became as eger and earnest to begin the warre as if Christ himself had bene their captaine and so assailed their enimies that they did not only ouerthrow them in battell but also made suche mortall extermination that the memory of the day euer since hath bene vtterly extinct There be some now a dayes that put lighted candels within the heades of dead men to feare the people and others that haue tied little waxe candels lighted vpon cockles tortures snailes which they put in that order within the church yards by night to the end that the simple people séeing these beastes moue a far of with their flames might beleue that it were some dead sprite returned for some speciall cause into the world by which villanous meanes as they haue gotten money of the common and ignoraÌ„t sort so let them be assured to render accompt of their doings to the soueraign iudge for abuâ—â—ng the pore flocke of his deare sonne vnder y e coloure of visions There hath bene yet of late time in Italy an other practise of Diabolical visions performed by certaine candels made of the grease or tallow of a man which so loÌ„g as they were light and did burne in the night the pore people seemed so ouerwhelmed with enchauntments and charmes that a man might haue taken any thing out of their house w tout that they were able to stirre out of their beds to reskue it but our God who according to his iustice doeth leaue nothyng vnpunished hath suffred that the authors and executors of such vanities haue bene taken as the thefe wyth the manner and being condemned haue yelded tribute to suche offences with the price of their life And lastly there is an other sort of artificial visions which are made with an oyle or licoure which cometh of certaine wormes we sée shine in the night which bicause they be things not worthie to be handled in argument amoÌ„gst no christians â–ª I will make silence of them for this time maruelling notwithstanding that sundry learned men heretofore haue vsed so large a libertye in discouering suche vanities the rather for that our natures for the most part are more credulous of such shadowed things than apt to beleue a truthe ¶ A wonderfull history of a monster seene by Celius Rhodiginus CHAP. xxvij TO the ende we shoulde taste of these wonderfell visions which may be thought very strange to the Reader me séemes good to shew here the pourtrait of twoo maruellous monsters the one a man the other a woman séen in diuers prouinces by twoo as excelleÌ„t Philosophers as haue raigned in our age The first being the man was séen by Ludouicus Celius Rhodiginus as he writeth in the iij. chapter of his .xxiiij. booke of auncient lessons folowing in this maner There was sayth he broughte forth a monster at Zarzara in Italy in the yeare of grace 1540. and the .xix. day of Marche worthie to be considered off for many causes One for that it was brought into the worlde at such time as Italy was afflicted wyth the plague and scourge of ciuile warres And that thys monstrous childe was a certaine forerunner or messanger which shewed vnto them the miseries of those domesticall quarels the other causes for the which it deserued to be diligently noted were for the straunge and maruellous effectes that nature exhibited in this little subiect for in the first place the mother of this infant broughte it forth within .iij. moneths wel formed which is a thing monstrous in nature Secondarily he had two faire heades well proportioned and two faces ioyned one to an other and tyed vpon the top of the neck with a proportion maruellous in euery of those partes he had his haire a little long and blacke and betwene these two heades he had a thirde heade whiche excéeded not the length of an eare And for the rest of his body it was so wel made and proporcioned in all thyngs requisite that it séemed that Nature delited to frame and make him so faire Who after he had soiorned a certaine tyme in this miserable worlde died wherein as he was made a present to one of the kyng of Spaynes lieutenants gouerning in that countrey so he thoughte it good to haue him ripped and his bellie opened and intrailes séen which being done he represented vnto the sightes of the lookers on things no lesse maruellous than the presidents written of before that is to say he had two liuers two milts and but one heart Wherwith endeth the description that Celius hath made of that monster The second monster is a woman hauing two heads whose figure is before to be séene with the other and more to be wondered at than the fyrst in one thing for that she liued many yeres whiche is contrary to the nature of monsters who ordinarily lyue not long for the abundance of melancolike humor which abundeth in them to see them selues so opprobrious to the worlde are therby so dried and consumed that their liues be shorte Whiche happened not to this maide which thou seest here portraicted for at suche tyme as Conradus Licostenes came into the Duchie of Bauiere whiche was in the yere
.28 of the same month there appeared in the Element ouer the same place at .x. of the clock in the night a shining Crosse wyth a starre in the toppe and a Moone at the lower ende retiring immediatly after it began to be day without being séene any more at y e time but touching these sights and visions in the aire with their causes which moue in dede by natural meanes as we beholde the figure of our selues in a glasse or the Rainbow in the Element I shal not néede to vse large description of them héere bicause they are auouched by the Astronomers Philosophers and others of like profession beside for mine owne selfe I forbeare to wade farre therin vntil a time cause more conuenient for such purpose THe monsters which are this yeare come to knowledge be two the one was in Prouence at Arles and wandred besides thorow Fraunce It was a childe rough or hairy on all the body hauing the nauell in the place where the nose should stand and the eyes where naturally should staÌ„d the mouthe betwéene the which was a certaine opening hys eares stode on either side the chinne and his mouthe at the ende of the same THe other monster of this yeare .1567 was séene in FlauÌ„ders betweene Anwarpe and Macline in a village called Vbalen It was a childe which had .ij. heades and .iiij. armes séeming .ij. maides ioyned together yet had but .ij. legges Of a wonderfull Daunce LIke as I am greatly in dout whether so infer in the number of wonderful Histories that which we now write not for the matter but that it is shorte and yet worthie of no lesse memorie than admiration Euen so for that the Historie may seeme of lesse credite and truthe the same being written in that time wherin men would scarsly suffer it to be imprinted or taken as a witnesse of antiquitie albeit it were ayded and assisted by a truthe or other probable arguments to the like effect hauing withall sufficiente colour to make men beleue that they speake to be suche as they recite notwithstanding for that we be able to iustifie the truth of this present Historie by one who as be assureth to haue seene it so hath he taken paine to write therof hym selfe which is Othopertus of Saxonie and after him Vincentius wytnesseth the same in hys xxvj boke and .x. chap. and besides Antoni in his fourth chap. his .xvj. titles and seconde tome of hys workes where as I neede not feare to recite it as it is or to aggrauate the opinion or beliefe of any further than a truth So neuerthelesse I haue to preferre and make mention of one Historie very straunge and not heard of yet albeit true Wherof Othopertus writeth that the yeare .1012 which was in the tenth yeare of the emperour Henry the second in a certain borough or towne of Saxonie where he himselfe accompanied with .xvij. other of his friends whiche by computation wer .xviij. he accompted dyd sée .xv. men and iij. women dauncing of a rounde in a Churchyarde and singing of Wanton songs not meete for the solace of honest Christians And albeit there passed by at that instant a Priest who cursed them in such sorte that they daunced and song there the space of a whole yeare Yet that which was most maruellous is that as it rained not sayd he vpon them neyther were they hotte or desirous of meate or drinke nor lefte from doing that exercise or labour so their garmentes and shoes in all their dauncing were not worne or consumed albeit in the ende they sonke into the earth first to the knées and lastely to their middles The yeare expired and their daunce ended and they withall come to a perfecte vnderstandyng in what sporte they had spente the yeare paste one of the women and two others of that companie dyeâ— sodainely and all the reste slepte continually three dayes and thrâ—â— nyghtes Wherevpon some of them immediatly vpon their wakyng dyed the others deferred to the ende to tast more their follie remayned in a continuall tremblyng thorough all the partes of theyr bodies during the terme and space of theyr myserable and vnfortunate lyues FINIS Gellius lib. j. cap. 12. Silemander a worme liuing in the fire A Lampe burning without the aide of oile or match A great infection throâ—ghout all Europe by reason the water in their welles was ympoysoned The Adamant smelleth and â—â—eleth The nature of the Emeraud The Emeraud enimie to vncleanesse Volateranus writeth a lyke example in his geography A wonderfull prouidence of God The natures of sundry stoues Damascen writeth that in the time of Maximinian there wer killed and martyred in .xxx. dayes .xvij. thousande christians Cornelius Tacitus lib. 15. A wall of dead mens head The cause of the flames of fyre from heauen The Romains fearfull of the Eclipse of the Moone The cause of the Eclypse of the Moone iij sunnes sene by Cardanus The causes of the shewes of so many suÌ„nes and moones Plato Aristotlâ— Socrates Vâ—serius Max. lib. 4. A drooken combat Two huÌ„dreth and .l. crownes and some value them at .ij. C.xxx and iiij M.iij C.lx. and v. Ducaâ—s A pearle waying halfe an vnce A wonderfull prodigalitie in an Italian Prelate Some writers haue referred this to the Emperour Tyberius Xerxes killed by his prouost And Darius poisoned after by Alexander Mar. Anto. killed him selfe Cleopatra was stong to death Helioga slayn and cast into Tyber A dead man speaketh to his companion in a dreame An other visioÌ„ appearing to a man that was not a slepe Certaine houses at Rome haunted wyth spirites S. Augustin approueth enchaunting by example The effects of the bishops prophecie Act. 11. Cap. 11. Luke 11. In his booke of the Diuination of Diuels Cap. 22. Gen. lib. 1â— cap. 14. 3. Reg. 22. Visions of the imagination Lib. 1. cap. 20. Visions by naturall cause In his boke of maruelous inuentions Of .vij. voyces or soundes Artificiall visions Paris Garden