Selected quad for the lemma: water_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A41087
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A trip to Holland being a description of the country, people and manners : as also some select observations on Amsterdam.
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Felltham, Owen, 1602?-1668.; Ward, Edward, 1667-1731.
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1699
(1699)
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Wing F659; ESTC R225871
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18,466
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18
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general Sea Land the Great Bog of Europe and there is not such another Marsh in the World that 's flat They are an Universal Quagmire Epitomized A Green Cheese in Pickle There is in them an Aequilibrium of Mud and Water A strong Earthquake would shake them to a Chaos from which the successive force of the Sun rather than Creation hath a little amended them They are the Ingredients of a Black Pudding and want only stirring together Marry 't is best making on 't in a dry Summer else you will have more Blood than Grist And then have you no way to make it serve for any thing but to tread it under Zâ—na Torrida and so dry it for Turfs Says one it affords the People one Commodity beyond all the other Regions If they die in Perdition they are so low that they have a shorter cut to Hell than the rest of their Neighbours And for this Cause perhaps all strange Religions throng thither as naturally inclining towards their Center Besides their â—â—â—ches shew them to be Pluto's Region and you all know what Part that was which the Poets did of old assign him Here is Styx Acheron Cocytus and the rest of those muddy Streams that have made Matter for the Fablers Almost every one is a Charon here and if you have but a Naulum to give you cannot want a Boat or Pilot. To confirm all let but some of our Separatists be asked and they shall swear That the Elezian Fields are there It is an excellent Country for a Despairing Lover for every Corner affords him a Willow to make a Garland on but if Justice doom him to be hang'd on any other Tree he may in spight of the Sentence live long and confident If he had rather quench his Spirits than suffocate them rather chuse to feed Lobsters than Crows 't is but leaping from his Window and he lights in a River or Sea for most of their dwellings stand like Prives in Moted Houses hanging still over the Water If none of these cure him keep him but a Winter in a House without a Stove and that shall cool him The Soil is all Fat though wanting the Colour to shew it so for indeed it is the Buttock of the World full of Veins and Blood but no Bones in 't Had St. Steven been condemned to suffer here he might have been alive at this day for unless it be in their paved Cities Gold is a great deal more plentiful than Stones except it be living ones and then for their heaviness you may take in almost all the Nation 'T is a singular Place to fat Monkeys in There are Spiders as big as Shrimps and I think as many Their Gardens being moist abound with these No Creatures for sure they were bred not made Were they but as Venomous as Rank to gather Herl were to hazard Martyrdom They are so large that you would almost believe the Hesperides were here and these the Dragons that did Guard them You may travel the Country though you have not a Guide for you cannot baulk your Road without the hazard of Drowning There is not there any use of an Harbinger Wheresoever Men go the Way is made before them Had they Cities large as their Walls Rome would be esteem'd a Bawble 20 Miles in length is nothing for a Wagon to be hurried on one of them where if your Fore-man be sober you may travel in safety otherwise you must have stronger Faith than Peter had else you sink immediately A Startling Horse endangers you to two Deaths at once breaking of your Neck and Drowning If your way be not thus it hangs in the Water and at the approach of your Waggon shall shake as if it were Ague-strucken Duke d' Alva's asking of the Tenth Penny frighted it into a Palsie which all the Mountebanks they have bred since could never tell how to cure 'T is indeed but a Bridge of Swiming Earth on a Flag somewhat thicker than ordinary if the Strings crack your course is shortned you can neither hope for Heaven nor fear Hell you shall be sure to stick fast between them Marry if your Faith flow Purgatory height you may pray if you will for that to cleanse you from the Mud that shall soil you 'T is a green Sod in Water where if the German Eagle dares to Bath himself he 's glad again to perch that he may dry his Wings Some things they do that seem Wonders 'T is ordinary to see them fish for Fire in Water which they catch in Nets and transport to Land in their Boats where they spred it more smoothly than a Mercer doth his Velvet when he would hook in an Heir upon his coming to Age. Thus lying in a Field you would think you saw a Cantle of Green Cheese spread over with Black Butter If Aetna be Hell's Mouth or Fore-gate sure here 's found the Postern 'T is the Port Esquiline of the World where the whole Earth doth vent her crude black Gore whick the inhabitants scrape away for Fuel as Men with Spoons do Excrements from Civet-Cats Their ordinary Pack-Horses are all of Wood who carry their Bridles in their Tails and their Burdens in their Bellies A strong Tide and a stiff Gale are the Spurs that make them speedy When they travel they stand still they drink up too much of their Way Tâ—â—â— is a Province amongst them where every Woman carries a Concy in a Lamb Skin 'T is a Custom and not one that travels ever leaves it behind her Now guess if you can what Beast that is which is clod in a Fur both of Hair and Wool They dress their Meat in Aqua Coelesti for it springs not as ours from the Earth but comes to them as Manna to the Israelites falling from Heaven This they keep under ground till it stinks and then they pump it out again for use So when you wash your Hands with one Hand you need to hold your Nose with the other for tho' it be not Cordial 't is certainly a Strong Water The Elements are here at Variance the subtil overswaying the grosser The Fire consumes the Earth and the Air the Water They Burn Turfs and Drain their Ground with Windmills as if the Cholick were a Remedy for the Stone And they would prove against Philosophy the World's Conflagration to be Natural even shewing thereby that the very Element of Earth is Combustible The Land that the have they keep as neatly as a Courtier does his Beard They have a Method in Mowing 'T is so interven'd with Water and Rivers that it is impossible to make a Common among them Even the Brownists are here at a stand only they hold their Pride in wrangling for that which they never will find Our Justices would be much at ease although our English Poor were still among them for whatsoever they do they can break no Hedges Sure had the Wise Men of Gotham lived here they would have studied some other Death for