Al. Chap. 106. Divine judgments upon scorners of their Pastors Preachers c. p. 20 3d Al. Chap. 107. Divine judgments upon persecution p. 21 3d Al. Chap. 108. Divine judgments upon uncharitableness covetousness c. p. 23 3d Al. Chap. 109. Divine judgments upon anger revenge c. p. 24 3d Al. Chap. 110. Divine judgments upon murder p. 25 3d Al. Ch. 111. Murder strangely discovered p. 28 3d Al. Chap. 112. Divine judgments upon theft robbery c. p. 33 3d Al. Chap. 113. Remarkable instances of restitution p. 34 3d Al. Chap. 114. Divine judgments upon sacriledge simony p. 35 3d Al. Chap. 115. Divine judgments upon treachery p. 37 3d Al. Chap. 116. Divine judgments upon unfaithful husbands p. 38 3d Al. Chap. 117. Divine judgments upon unfaithful wives p. 39. 3d Al. Chap. 118. Divine judgments upon undutiful children p 40 3d Al. Chap. 119. Divine judgments upon careless Parents p. 41 3d Al. Chap. 120. Divine judgments upon gluttony p. 42. 3d Al. Chap. 121. Divine judgments upon drunkenness p. 43 3d Al. Chap. 122. Divine judgments upon uncleanness inordinate love c. p. 46. 3d Al. Chap. 123. Divine judgments upon voluptuousness and luxury p. 47 3d Al. Chap. 124. Divine judgments upon pride ambition c. p. 49 3d Al. Chap. 115. Divine judgments upon boasting p. 50 3d Al. Chap. 126. Divine judgments upon curiosity p. 51 3d Al. Chap. 127. Divine judgments upon gaming p. 52 3d Al. Chap. 121. Divine judgments upon discontentedness ill nature p. 54 3d Al. Chap. 129. Divine judgments upon idleness and evil company p. 55 3d Al. Chap. 130. Divine judgments upon litigiousness p. 56 3d Al. Chap. 131. Divine judgments upon carnal confidence p. 57 3d Al. Chap. 132. Divine judgment upon bribery and injustice p. 59 3d Al. Chap. 133. Divine judgments upon lying and slandring p. 60 3d Al. Chap. 134. Divine judgments upon couzenage and dissimulation p. 61 3d Al. Chap. 135. Divine judgments upon oppression tyranny p. 62 3d Al. Chap. 136. Divine judgments upon hereticks scismaticks p. 64 3d Al. Chap. 137. Divine judgments upon wizards witches and charmers c. p. 66 3d Al. Chap. 138. Divine judgments upon backsliders and apostates p. 67 3d Al. Chap. 139. Great effects wrought by weak means p. 68 3d Al. Chap. 140. Remarkable passages relating to sickness death and funerals p. 69 3d Al. Chap. 141. The last wills and testaments of dying persons this chap. consists chiefly of modern instances Chap. 142. The last speeches of dying Penitents p. 145. 3d Al. Chap. 143. The last wills of persons remarkable for their oddness and singularity p. 148 3d Al. Chap. 144. Instances of sudden death p. 149. 3d Al. Chap. 145. Epitaphs to which is added the most remarkable in Westminster-Abbey Stepney-churcâ—-yard the new Burying place in Bun-hill-fields and other parts p. 152 3d Al. Chap. 146. Miracles giving Testimony to Christianity Orthodoxy Innocency c. p. 160. 3d Al. Chap. 147. Attestations to the Truth of Christianity from such as were formerly Enemies to it or careless in the Practice of it consisting chiefly of modern Instances p. 164. 3d Al. Chap. 148. Testimonies of ancient and modern Infidels and Heathens to the Truth of Christianity p. 169. concluding the 3d Al. of the double Letter Chap. 149. The sufferings and martyrdoms of the Reformed in the Kingdom of France with the Remarkable Providences that have attended that affair p. 1. 4th Al. Chap. 150. The memorable Speeches and Savings of the Late Queen Mary from her Child-hood down to the time of her death extracted from the best Authorities extant p. 13. 4th Al. PART II. Containing the Wonders of NATURE Chap. 1. Instances of Sympathy p. 1. Chap. 2. Instances of Antipathy p. 2. Chap. 3. Examples of Superfoetation p. 4. Chap. 4. Examples of the fruitfulness of some Women p. 5. Chap. 5. Examples of the numerous Issue of some Persons p. 6. Chap. 6. Children crying in the Womb p. 7. Chap. 7. Monstrous births and conceptions of Mankind p. 8. Chap. 8. Persons of a wonderful strength p. 9. Chap. 9. Wonderful Eaters p. 10. Chap. 10. Persons of wonderful shapes figures members entrails c. p. 11 Chap. 11. Of Pigmies p. 13 Chap. 12. Of Dwarfs c. p. 13 Chap. 13. Persons of a wonderful stature Giants p. 14 Chap. 14. Of such Persons as have changed their Sex p. 15 Chap. 15. Instances of skill in Physiognomy p. 16 Chap. 16. Great Sleepers p. 17 Chap. 17. Instances of such as have used to walk and perform strange things in their sleep p. 18 Chap. 18. Persons remarkable for waking long p. 19 Chap. 19. Abstainers from Drink p. 19 Chap. 20. Immoderate Drinkers p. 19 Chap. 21. Great fasters p. 20 Chap. 22. Children petrified in the Womb p. 22 Chap. 23. Accidents upon Persons Birth-days c. p. 22 Chap. 24. Children marked in the womb p. 23 Chap. 25. Children abiding in the womb beyond their time p. 23 Chap. 26. Children born preternaturally p. 24 Chap. 27. Monstrous Animals p. 25. Chap. 28. Instances of an early or rather ripe wit p. 27 Chap. 29. Instances of an extraordinary Memory p. 28. Chap. 30. Instances of extraordinary Fatness c. p. 29. Chap. 31. Instances of extraordinary Leanness p. 30. Chap. 32. Persons long liv'd p. 30. Chap. 33. Examples of a vegete and healthful old Age p. 31 Chap. 34. Persons reviving after a supposed death p. 31. Chap. 35. Women excellent in the Arts p. 35 Chap. 36. VVonderful distempers p. 37 Chap. 37. Strange Birds p. 40 Chap. 38. Strange Beasts p. 41 Chap. 39. Strange Fish p. 45 Chap. 40. Strange Serpents p. 47 Chap. 41. Strange Insects p 49 Chap. 42. Strange Vegetables Trees Plants c. p. 53 Chap. 43. Strange Minerals p. 59 Chap 44. Mettals Gold Silver Copper c. p. 62 Chap. 45. Precious stones p. 64 Chap. 46. Stones less precious p. 66 Chap. 47. Strange stones and of admirable figures or signatures p. 67 Chap. 48. Strange Hills p. 63 Chap. 49. Vulcanoes p. 69 Chap. 50. Strange VVinds and Hurricanes p. 69 Chap. 51. Damps p. 71 Chap. 52. Rain Haâ—l Snow Frosts c. p. 73 Chap. 53. Concerning Thunder-holts or Thunder-stones p. 53 Chap. 54. Comets Blazing-stars p. 74. Chap. 55. Lightnings and Thunder p. 75 Chap. 56. Earthquakes p. 76 PART III. Containing the Curiosities of ART Chap 1. The English tongue improv'd p. 1. Chap. 2. Blind Persons improved by art and industry p. 2. Chap. 3. Persons deaf and dumb much improved by art p. 2. To which chap. is added other defects of nature supplied by art p. 5. Chap. 4. Improvements in physick and experimental philosophy c. p. 6. Chap. 5. Improvements in musick p. 8 Chap. 6. Improvements in aftronomy p. 9. Chap. 7. Improvements in navigation p. 11. Chap. 8. Improvements in law p. 12. with a scheme of the law extracted out of Sir Matthew Hales's Pleas of the Crown and Sir H. Finches's common Pleas. Chap. 9.
and in Epiphany all those several times heard the Child that was in her Womb who Cry'd with that noise that it was heard by the Neighbours they Throng'd together in great Numbers to hear so unusual a Crying both such as knew the Woman and such as knew her not The Magistrates in the mean time caused the Woman to be carefully watch'd that afterwards the birth of that Cryer might be the more certain Divers spent their Judgments before hand of what shap'd Monster she should be delivered but at last the Woman was safely brought to Bed of a perfect Female Chlid Bartholin took this Relation from the Mothers Mouth Hist Anat. c. 1. p. 4. 3. A Noble Lady in Cheshire sitting after Meat in the Dining-room with her Husband their Domestick Chaplain and divers others She was sensible of an extraordinary stirring in her Belly which so lift up her Cloaths that it was easily discernable to those that were present she was then with Child and it was the seventh Month upon the sudden there was a voice heard but whence it should come they were not able to Conjecture this was uttered a second and third time to the great Amazement of the Persons present the third time it was so manifest that the Cry came from her Womb that they doubted no longer of it The Girl was living at the Relation which was made by the Lady her self to Dr. Walter Needham Disquisit Anat. c. 3 p. 84. 4. Anno 1640. In Belgia a Woman near Vessalia who then had gone 3 years entire big with a Child that Child of hers was heard to Cry by many Persons worthy of Credit Barth Hist Anat. c. 1. Hist 1 p. 3. 5. Bartholin tells of another at Wittenberg Anno 1632. Another at Leyden a third near Argentina all which had Children that Cryed in their Wombs ibid. p. l. 1 2 3. 6. Schenckius tells of another at Rath-stad in the Noric Alpes Wanrichius of one in the City of Brescia Sennertus of one in his own Town Anno 1596 whose Child Cryed once the 42d day before its birth the Mother dying in Travel but the Daughter living The Author of the History of the Netherlands tells of a Child in Holland that Cryed 15 days before its Birth Wanleys Wonders p. 1 2. I Query whether any Males have been observed to Cry thus For all that I can come to the knowledge of have been Female Children CHAP. VII Monstrous Births and Conceptions of Mankind SO long at Nature deviates on the plausible or less dishonourable Side we can bear with some Patience but when the Aberrations are Opprobrious and carry some notable Deformity and Reproach in their Face they are Affrightful and Stupefactive we stand and wonder at the Product and enquire with some Concernedness of Spirit what God means by such an angry and partial or imperfect Concurrence of his Providence and the Exercise of his Divine Attributes And certainly it is every one's Duty in such Cases to make use of his Intellectuals and enquire seriously whether he hath done his part with that Prudence and Piety as he ought since the Almighty hath not co-operated with the same Wisdom and Kindness or Power as he commonly useth 1. Buchanan tells of one having beneath the Navel one Body but above it two distinct ones when hurt beneath the Navel both Bodies felt the Pain if above that Body only felt that was hurt These two would sometimes differ in Opinions and Quarrel the one dying before the other the Surviving pined away by degrees It lived 28 Years could speak divers Languages and was by the King's Command taught Musick Sandys on Ovid. Metam l. 9. p. 173. 2. Anno 1538 there was one born that grew up to the Stature of a Man he was double as to the Head and Shoulders in such a manner as that one Face stood opposite to the other both were of a Likeness and resembled each other in the Beard and Eyes both had the same Appetite and both hungred alike the Voice of both was almost the same and both loved the same Wife Sch. Obs Med. l. 1. obs 1. p. 7. 3. Bartholinus tells of a Genean which he saw then 28 Years of Age who had a little Brother growing out at his Breast who was in that Posture born with him the Bone as he thought called Xyphoides in both of them grew together his lest Foot alone hung downwards he had two Arms only three Fingers upon each Hand Some appearance there was of the Secret Parts he moved his Hands Ears and Lips and had a little beating in the Breast This little Brother voided no Excrements but by the Mouth Nose and Ears and is nourished by that which the greater takes He has distinct Animal and Vital Parts from the greater since he sleeps sweats and moves when the other wakes rests and sweats not Both received their Names at the Font the greater that of Lazarus the lesser Johannes Baptista The Natural Bowels as to Liver Spleen c. are the same in both Johannes hath his Eyes for the most part shut his Breath small so that holding a Feather at his Mouth it scarce moves but holding the Hand there we find a small and warm Breath his Mouth is usually open and always wet with Spittle his Head is bigger than that of Lazarus but deformed his Hair hanging down while his Face is in an upward Posture Lazarus is of a just Stature a decent Body courteous Deportment and gallantly Attired he covers the Body of his Brother with his Cloak Nor could you think a Monster lay within at your first Discourse with him Barth Hist. Anat. Cent. 1. Hist. 66. p. 103. 4. Lemnius tells of a Monster that a certain Woman was delivered of which at the appearing of the Day filled all the Chamber with roaring and crying running all about to find some Hole to creep into but the Women at length stifled and smother'd it with Pillows Lem. de Nat. Mir. l. 1. c. 8. p. 38. 5. A Noble Polonian tells Bartholin That he had seen two little Fishes without Scales which were brought forth by a Woman and as soon as they came out of her Womb did swim in the Water as other Fish Bar. Hist. Anat. Cent. 1. Hist 10. p. 20. 6. There lived a Woman at Elsingorn who prepared all Things for Child-birth her time of Travail being come she was delivered of a Creature very like unto a Dormouse of the greater size which to the amazement of the Women present with marvelous Celerity sought out and found a Hole in the Chamber into which it crept and was never more seen Barth Hist. Anat. Cent. 1. Hist. 10. p. 19. 7. Anno 1639 Norway afforded an unheard-of Example of a Woman who having often before been delivered of Humane Births and again big after strong Labour was delivered of two Eggs one of them was broken the other was sent to Dr. Olaus Wormius in whose Study it is reserved to be seen of as many
vigour and energy to it beyond common Sense 1. Marinus Barlâ—tins reports of Scanderberg That he brought with him into the World a notable mark of Warlike Glory for he had upon his Right Arm a Sword so well set on as if it had been drawn with the Pencil of the most curious and skillful Painter in the World Camer Hor. Subscis l. 1. c. 60. p. 308. 2. Camerarius saith that he always heard it reported That the Counts of Habsburg have each of them from the Womb a Golden Cross upon his Back viz. certain Hairs after a wonderful manner formed into the Figure of a Cross Ibid. l. 3. c. 42. p. 145. 3. M. Venetus in his 45 years Itinerary in Asia reports That the Kings of Corzani boast of a Nobility beyond that of all other Kings of the Earth upon this account that they are Born into the World with the Impress of a Black Eagle upon their Shoulder which continues with them to their Deaths Ibid. 4. Camerarius saith that it was related That King James I. brought with him from his Mother's Womb certain Royal Signatures for at his Birth there was beheld imprinted on his Body a Lion and Crown and some also add a Sword Ibid. 5. Abraham Buckoltzerus saith That John Frederick Elector of Saxony who was Born June 30. Anno 1503. brought with him from his Mother's Womb an Omen of his future State For he was Born with a Cross of a splendid and golden Colour on his Back upon the sight of which a pious and ancient Priest was sent for by the Ladies of the Court who thereupon said This Child shall carry a Cross conspicuous to all the World the Emblem of which is thus apparent in his Birth The Event did declare and confirm the Truth of the Presage Camerur Ibid. p. 146. 6. Gaffarel tells of his Sister born with a Fish on her Leg caused by the desire of his Mother when Pregnant that it was drawn with so much perfection and rarity as if drawn by some excellent Master and the wonder was that when the Girl eat Fish that on her Leg put her to sensible pain Gaff Curiosities c. 5. p. 143. 7. The Hostess of the Inn in the Suburbs of St. Mich. at Bois de Vicenne had a Mulberry growing upon her Nether Lip which was smooth till the time that Mulberries began to ripen at which time hers began to be red and to swell observin the Season and Nature of other Mulberries till it came to their just bigness and redness Ibid. p. 144. 8. A Woman in the seventh Month of her Pregnancy longed to Eat Rosebuds which being difficult to be procured at last a Bough of them was found she greedily devoured the green Buds of two Roses and kept the rest in her Bosom In the ninth Month being delivered of a Boy upon his Ribs there appeared the likeness of three Roses very red upon his Forehead and either Cheek he had also he resemblances of a red Rose He was therefore commonly called the Rose-Boy Zasut Lusit adm l. 2. Obs 133. CHAP. XXV Childen abiding in the Womb beyond their time THere is not one of the Actions of Nature that I can think of which is not subject to Anomaly and Disorder Sometimes our Tongue stammers our Eyes fail us our Memory is deficient our Feet stumble Sometimes there is a fault in Conception sometimes in Parturition One while the Infant comes too soon before its Natural time into the World another while it is detain'd a prisoner too long and cannot be set at liberty for many years and it may be the Soul go into another World before the Body can be admitted into this and sometimes the Womb that bore it must be the Grave to bury it a miserable case and unhappy for Mother and infant both 1. Catherine the Wife of Michael de Menne a poor Conntryman for 12 years together carried a dead Child or rather the Skeleton of one in her Womb. It was manifest to the touch saith Aegidius de Hertoge who with many other both Men and illustrious Women are witnesses hereof Henricus Cornelius Mathisius Domestick Physician to the Emperor Charle V. who having handled the Woman both standing and lying by touch easily distinguished all the Bones of the Dead Infant in a great Amazement cried out nothing is impossible to God and Nature She Conceived of this Child Anno 1549. Schenck Obs l. 4. p. 575. 2. In the Town of Sindelfingen a Woman of 30 years or thereabouts being with Child 6 or 7 weeks before her expected Delivery upon occasion of a fall on the Ice never afterwards felt her Child to stir After which she Conceived twice or thrice and hath been as often Delivered yet still the usual bigness of her Belly continued and the Dead Child was supposed to continue in her Womb. Ibid. p. 577. 3. Anno 1545. Margarita Carlinia Wife of Geo. Volzerus of Vienna in her Travel perceiving somewhat to Crack within her and never after feeling her Child to stir for four years afterwards she lived with much pain till at length Anno 1549. an Ulcer appearing about her Navel and the Bone of the Child's Elbow at the Orifice she was by Incision Delivered of a Male Child half Putrid which was drawn out thence piece-meal and afterwards happily Cured Zuing. Theat vol. 2. l. 4. p. 357. Donat. Hist Med. Mir. l. 2. c. 22. p. 239. 4. Zacutus Lusitanus hath set down the History of a Woman of mean Fortune and 16 years of Age who being with Child and the time of her Travail come could not be delivered by reason of the narrowness of her Womb the Chirurgions advised Section which they said was ordinary in such Cases but she refused it the Dead Child therefore Putrified in her Womb After three years the smaller Bones of it came from her and so by little and little for ten years together there came forth pieces of corrupted Flesh and Fragments of the Skull At last in the twelfth year there issued forth piecemeal the greater Bones and then her Belly fell and after some years she Conceived again and was happily delivered of a living Boy Zacut. Lusit praxis Med. Admir lib. 2. Obs 357. p. 276. 5. Donatus tells of one Paula the Wife of Mr. Naso an Innkeeper in the Street of Pont Merlian in Mantua who voided by way of Siege a Dead Child with a great deal of Pain the Bones coming forth by piecemeal for several months and years together Donat. Hist Med. Mir. l. 2. c. 22. p. 241. For this the Author cites the Testimony of Hippolitus Genifortus a Chirurgeon and Joseph Arancus a Physician CHAP. XXVI Children Born Preternaturally THAT the Births of Children are sometimes attended with strange either precedent or concomitant or consequent Symptoms or Accidents may be attributed to variety of infetiour and natural Causes as in the following Examples But surely there is a Finger of Omnipotence that over-rules Nature in these and all other
Operations which ought to attract our Thoughts to particular Disquisitions and Meditations especially in Cases where we our selves are more nearly concerned 1. Zoroastres Laughed the same day wherein he was Born his Brain also did pant and beat that it would bear up their Hands that laid them on his Head Solinus cap. p. 181. 2. M. Tullius Cicero is said to have been Born without any of those Pangs usual in Child-bearing Plut. par in Cicerone 3. Nero was Born with his Feet forwards Plin. Nat. Hist l. 7. c. 8. p. 160. 4. M. Curius Dentatus and Cnâ— Papyrius Carbo were Born with Teeth in their Mouths Ibid. 5. Scipio Affricanus was cut out of his Mother's Womb So was Julius Caesar Thus saith Schenck was that Manlius Born who entred Cartbage with an Army And so was that Mackduff Earl of Fife who slew Mackbeth the Usurper of Scotland Edward VI. of England is said by Baker to be so but that 's doubtful Also Buchardus Earl of Lintsgow c. Anno 959. Also Gebbardus Son of Otho Earl of Brigentz Anno 1001. Cornelius Gemma saith He hath cut out of the Womb six living Children Schenck Obs Med. p. 580. 6. I saw saith Horatius Augonius a poor Woman of a fleshy and good habit of Body who for nine months had an Exulceration of the Ventricle and for twenty days together Vomited up all she took and so Died a living Boy being taken out of her Womb afterwards Ibid. 7. When Spinola Besieged Bergopsoma a Woman near her Reckoning going forth to draw Water was taken off in the middle by a Cannon Bullet so that the lower part of her fell into the Water those that were by ran to her and saw there a Child moving it self in the Bowels of the Mother which was afterwards Baptized by the Infanta Isabella at Antwerp by the name of Alb. Ambrosius one of her Fathers Captains Barth Hist Anat. Cer. 2. Hist 8. p. 159. 8. Lewis the 9th King of Hungary c. was Born without a Skin Crown'd in his second year Married a Wife at nine took upon him the Government at ten had a Beard before his time was Grey before eighteen and Slain at twenty Anno 1526. Camerar Hor. Subscis Cen. 1. c. 55. p. 241. 9. Anno. 1647. Jacob Egh in the City of Sarda in Belgia had a Bull which he fed tying him in a Close near his House but provoked by the Boys he brake his Bonds and ran to the Cows the Herdsman endeavoured with his Staff to return him to his former place The Bull â—ing incens'd with his blows ran upon him and with his Horns born him to the ground His 〈◊〉 being now in the last month of her Count seeing the danger of her Husband ran into his assistance The Bull with his Horns hoisted her up into the Air the heighth of one Story and tore the Belly of the Woman From the Wound in her Belly forthwith came the Birth with its Secondine and was thrown at some distance upon a soft place was carried home diligently lookt after by a Midwife and was Baptized and lived to be a Man Bartholin Ibid. Cent. 2. Hist 8. p. 157. 9. Gorgias a Gallant Man of Epirus is said to be Born in the Coffin while his Mother was carrying to the Grace Val. Max. l. 1. c. 8. p. 20. 10. Carsias King of Navarre being with Vrracha his Queen at Larumbe was surprized by Moors and Slain they wounded the Queen in the Belly with a Lance who being put to flight The Queen at the wound was delivered of a Son and Died the Child to all Men's wonder was safe and was named Sasias Garsia who succeeded his Father in the Kingdom Anno 918. Zuing. Theat vol. 2. l. 1. p. 270. 11. Schenckius speaks of a Woman that voided a Child a Finger long at her Mouth CHAP. XXVII Monstrous Animals I Do not pretend here to give a new Edition of Aldrovandus nor write a large Voluminous Treatise of of all the Monsters within ken of a well-read Historian but to give a few of the latest Instances of the greatest Errors of Nature in this kind that I could meet with just enough to awaken and put a man's Brains into Fermentation and dispose him to some Gravity and Seriousness and Sublimity of Thought 1. At Rome in the River of Tyber a Monster was found with a Man's Body an Ass's Head one of whole Hands was like a Mans but the other like an Elephants Foot one of his Feet was as the foot of an Eagle the other resembled another Beast He had a Womans Belly trimly set out with Breasts and his Body was covered all over with Scales except his Belly and Breast having in his hinder parts an old Man's Head bearded and another besides spitting out Flames like a Dragon Doom's Warning to Judgment p. 288. This happened Anno 1496. 2. Anno 1530. in January a Monstrous Serpent with seven Crowned Heads like a Dragon was brought out of Turkey to Venice and afterwards given to Francis the French King and for the rareness was valued at 6000 Ducats Batmans Doom p. 312. 3. A Butcher having killed a Cow at Limington in Hampshire found she was big with a Calf which began to be hairy its hind Legs had no joints and its feet were divided like the Claws of a Dog his Tongue was tripple and after the manner that Cerberus's is described one in the middle of its Mouth and two others on the sides Between the fore and hind Feet there was a great Stone upon which it was laid This Stone weighed 20 pound and a half its colour was greyish like to a cut Stone which is commonly called the Grison the Superficies thereof was unequal and full of little Cavilia's When it was broken they perceived small Grains of Stone of an Oval Figure and its colour was mixed with yellow and black Veins which are all over it Dr. Haughton of Salisbury keeps this Stone of which he hath sent a part to Mr. Boyle who communicated it together with a Letter to the Royal Society The Young Students Library p. 210. 4. At Burdham near Chichester in Sussex about 23 years ago there was a Monster found upon the Common having the Form and Figure of a Man in the fore-part having two Arms and Hands and a human visage with only one Eye in the middle of the Forehead the hinder part was like a Lamb. A young Man of the Neighbourhood was supposed to have Generated this Monster by a Bestial Copulation and that the rather because he was afterwards found in the like Beastly Act with a Mare upon discovery whereof he fled out of the Country This young Monster was nailed up in the Church-Porch of the said Parish and exposed to publick view a long time as a Monument of Divine Judgment Attested by Henry Read of Barnham an Eye witness 5. Anno 1511. At Ravena a Monster was Born with a Horn on his Head He had Wings no Arms one Foot as a
had his Familiar Spirit who used to admonish him if at any time he were going to do that which was not like to succeed well he himself saw him not others heard him not 12. Dr. Tate with his Wife and Children being stripped and forced to flee for their Lives by the Irish when they were murdering Thousands in their Rebellion in 1641. They were wandering in unknown places upon Commons covered with Snow and having no Food and she carrying a Sucking Child and having no Milk she went to lay down the Child to die and on the Brow of a Bank she found a Suck-bottle with sweet Milk in it no Footsteps appearing in the Snow of any that should bring it thither and far from any Habitation which preserved the Childs Life who after became a Blessing to the Church Histor Discourse of Apparit c. p. 159. 13. When Prince Rupert marched with his Army through Lancashire to York-Fight where he was overthrown the Town or Bolton made some Resistance in his Passage and he gave them no Quarter but killed Men and Women When he was gone those that escaped came out from the Places where they lucked and an Old Woman found in the streets a Woman killed and a Child by her not Dead The old Woman took up the Child and to still its crying put her own Breast to the Child which had not given Suck as I remember of above twenty years The Child being quieted she presently perceived Milk to come and continued to give the Child sufficient Milk till it was provided for I had the full Assurance of this from my worthy Friend Mrs. Hunt Wife to Mr. Rowland Hunt of Harrow on the Hill who told me that she her self was one that was appointed by the Committee to make Trial of the case and she found it true and the Old Woman's Breasts to give the Child Milk as was reported And she told me in 1665. That the said Child was at that time alive a servant-Servant-woman in London Ibid. 14. The African Bishops or Preachers all spake well when their Tongues were cut out by the Command of the Arrian King And Victor Aenaeas Gazaeus and Procopius said they saw them and heard them speak after But one of them saith that one of the Bishops was after drawn into the Sin of Fornication and his Speech went away again Ibid. 15. It is a very memorable thing which from the Mouth of a very credible Person who saw it George Buchanan relates concerning James the Fourth King of Scotland who intending to make a War with England a certain Old Man of a very venerable Aspect and clad in a long blue Garment came to him at the Church of St. Michaels at Linlithgow while he was at his Devotion and leaning over the Canons Seat where the King Sate said I am sent unto thee O King to give thee warning that thou proceed not in the War thou art about for if thou do it it will be thy Ruine And having so said he withdrew himself back among the Multitude The King after service was ended inquired earnestly for him But he could no where be found neither could any of the standers by feel or perceive how when or where he passed from them having as it were Vanished in their hands but no warning could divert his Destiny his Queen fancying that she had seen him fall from a great precipice that she had lost one of her Eyes c. But he Answering these were but Dreams Marched on and faught with the English and was slain in Flodden Field with a great Number of his Nobility and Souldiers upon Sept. 9. 1513. Bakers Chron. 16. When Melancthon with others was on a time at Spires Faber Preached and spake many shameful things touching Transubstantiation and the Worshipping of Consecrated Bread Which when Grineus had heard he came to him when his Sermon was done and said that for as much as he had heard his Sermon concerning the Sacrament he was desirous to speak with him privately about that matter which when Faber heard he Answered with Courteous Words and Friendly Countenance that this day was most of him desired that he should speak with Grineus especially concerning such a matter and bid him home to his House The next day after Grineus suspecting nothing amiss went his way who returning to them said that to morrow he should dispute with Faber But in the mean time he practising to entrap Grineus went to a Noble Man and opened to him the whole matter and at length he obtained what this Noble Man commanded that the Burgermasters should cast Grineus in Prison When they had scarcely begun Dinner there came an Old Man to the place where they Dined and sent for Melancthon to come and speak with him at the Door asking him for Grineus whether he were within To whom he made Answer that he was he said moreover that he was in danger which if he would avoid he should fly forthwith which when he told Grineus and counselled him to flee he did as he was willed Melancthon Dr. Cruciger and he Arose from the Table went out their Servants followed and Grineus went in the middle they had not passed four or five hours but by and by the Servants were where they Lodged seeking for Grineus and not finding him there they left off searching He asked many if they knew this Man being desirous to give him thanks for his good Turn But none could tell who he was nor could see him afterwards I think Verily this Man was an Angel When they had brought Grineus to the Rhine he took a Boat and passed over in safety Maul loc commun Fol. 17. Doom warning to the Judgm p. 420. 17. Melancthon reported that he knew of a surety by a substantial and credible Person that in a Village near to the City of Cignea a certain Woman commanded her Son to fetch home the Cattel that were feeding by a Woods side and when the Boy had stayed somewhat too long there fell a great Snow that covered all the Hills there abouts Night drew on neither could the Boy pass those Hills The day following the Parents being no more careful for their Cattle but for the Life of their Son looking for his coming neither could they by reason of the depth of the Snow pass those Hills to seek their Son The third day they going forth to seek their Boy they found him sitting in an open place of the Wood where there was no Show who smiled upon his Parents as they came And the Boy being asked why he returned not home Answered that he looked when it should be Night not knowing that a day was already past neither had he felt any Annoy or Tempest of the Snow And when he was further asked whether he had eaten any thing He Answered that there came a Man unto him who gave him Bread and Cheese So doubtless this Man was saved by Angels in the middle of Winter and without doubt that Man was
an Angel that gave the Boy Bread and Cheese Manlius Folio 17. Batman's Doom p. 421. 18. Mr. Patrick Simpson's Wife Martha Barson in her last Sickness was sorely Assaulted by Satan who suggested to her that she should be given over into his hands And it ended in a Visible Distraction which for a time grew upon her So that most unlike to her former practice she would break forth into dreadful and horrid Expressions and it was most violent on a Sabbath Morning when Mr. Simpson was going to Preach whereupon with an heavy Countenance he stood silent for a time and at last kneeled down and Prayed which she no whit regarded After which he turned to the Company that were present and said that he was sure that they who were now Witnesses of that sad hour should yet see a Gracious change and that the Devil's Malice against that poor Woman should have a shameful toil Her Distraction still continued untill Tuesday August the Ninth which Morning at the very dawning of it he went into his Garden and shut the Door where for many hours he was alone But a Godly VVoman one Mrs. Helen Garner VVife to one of the Bayliffs of Sterling who had been with his VVife all Night apprehending that Mr. Simpson might much wrong himself by much grief and fasting by some help she did climb over into the Garden But as she came near to the place where Mr. Simpson was she was terrified with an Extraordinary Noise which made her fall to the Ground It seemed to her like a mighty Rushing of Multitudes running together and withal she heard such a Melodious sound as made her Judge that it was more then humane VVhereupon she prayed to God to pardon her Rashness which her Affections to that Good Man of God had carried her to Yet afterwards going forwards she found him lying upon the ground she earnestly intreated him to tell her what he had from God He whom she had promised not to reveal it so long as he lived said O what am I being but Dust and Ashes that the Holy ministring Spirit should be sent by the Lord to deliver a message to me Adding that he had seen a Vision of Angels who did with an audible Voice give him an Answer from the Lord concerning his Wife's condition And returning into his House he said to all that were present Be of good cheer for e're ten hours be past I am sure that this Brand shall be plucked out of the Fire After praying by his VVife's Bed-side and making mention of Jacob's wrestling in Prayer she sate upright in the Bed and drawing aside the Curtain said Thou art this day Jacob who hast wrestled and also prevailed And now God hath made good his words which he spake this Morning to you for I am plucked out of the hands of Satan and he shall have no more Power over me This Interruption made him silent a while as I remember my self was in the Case of my Maid Mary Holland mentioned before But afterwards with great melting of heart he proceeded in Prayer and Magnified the Riches of Gods Love towards her And from that hour she spake most Comfortably and Christianly even to her Death which was Friday following Aug. 13. A. C. 1601. Her last words were with a loud Voice Come Lord Into thy hands I commend my Spirit Clark's Lives last Vol. p. 217 218. 19. In the Year 1539 not far from Sitta in Germany in the time of a great Dearth and Famine a certain Godly Matron having two Sons and destitute of all manner of Sustenance went with her Children to a certain Fountain hard by praying unto Almighty God that he would there relieve their Hunger by his infinite goodness As she was going a certain Man met her by the way and saluted her kindly and asked her whither she was going who confessed that she was going to that Fountain there hoping to be relieved by God to whom all things are possible for if he nourished the Children of Israel in the Desart 40 years how is it hard for him to nourish me and my Children with a Draught of Water And when she had spoken these Words the Man which was doubtless an Angel of God told her that seeing her Faith was so constant she should return Home and there should find Six Bushels of Meal for her and her Children The Woman returning found that true which was promised Beard 's Theat p. 442. 20. Under the Emperor Mauritius the City of Antioch was shaken with a terrible Earthquake after this manner There was a certain Citizen so given to bountifulness to the Poor that he would never Sup nor Dine unless he had one poor Man to be with him at his Table Upon a certain Evening seeking for such a Guest and finding none a Grave Old Man met him in the Market-place cloathed in white with Two Companions with him whom he entreated to sup with him But the Old Man answered him That he had more need to pray against the destruction of the City and presently shook his Handkerchief against One part of the City and then against another and being hardly entreated forbore the rest Which he had no sooner done but those Two parts of the City terribly shaken with an Earthquake were thrown to the Ground and Thousands of Men slain Which this good Citizen seeng trembled exceedingly To whom the Old Man in white answered and said by reason of Charity to the Poor his House and Family were preserved And presently these three Men which to question were Angels vanished out of sight This Story Sigisbert in his Chronicle reporteth Anno 583. 21. Hottinger tells a strange Story out of Nauclerus and Evagr. to this purpose it was an ancient custom at Constantinople at Communion to call for the Young Children that went to School and give them the Parcels of Bread and Wine that were left at doing of which the child of a certain Nobleman a Jew was with the Children who took of the Bread and Eat with them his angry Father who was a Glass-Maker put him into an Oven burning hot with Coals his Mother after Three Days finding him alive in the Furnace he told her a Woman in Purple habit came often to him and brought VVater to quench the Coals and Meat to allay his Hunger The Mother and the Child were afterwards Converted and Baptized and the Father Crucified by command of Justinian the Emperor Mr. Beard relates the same out of Nicephorus Lib. 17. Chap. 35. See more in The Chapters of Miraculous Cures of Diseases and Earnests of a Future Retribution and the last Example in the Ch. of Prediction of Prophets c. 22. Oh! said Mrs. Katharine Stubs upon her Death-bed if you saw such glorious Sight as I see you would rejoyce with me for I see a Vision of the Joys of Heaven and of the Glory that I shall go unto and I see infinite Millions of Angels attendant upon me and watching to carry
Condemned and Executed but I could never hear that they confessed the Fact There were some that reported that the Apparition did appear to the Judge or the foreman of the Jury who was alive in Chester in the street about ten years ago as I have been credibly informed but of that I know no certainty There are many Persons yet alive that can remember this strange Murder and the discovery of it for it was and sometimes yet is as much discoursed of in the North Countrey as any thing that almost hath ever been heard of and the Relation Printed tho now not to be gotten I relate this with the greater confidence tho I may fail in some of the Circumstances because I saw and read the Letter that was sent to Serjeant Hutton who then lived at Goldsborugh in Yorkshire from the Judge before whom Walker and Mark Sharp were tried and by whom they were condemned and had a Copy of it until about the Year 1658 when I had it and many other Books and Papers taken from me And this I confess to be one of the most convincing Stories being of undoubted verity that ever I read heard or knew of and carrieth with it the most evident Force to make the most incredulous Spirit to be satisfied that there are really sometimes such things as Apparitions Thus far he This Story is so considerable that I make mention of it in my Scholia on my Immortality of the Soul in my Volâ—men Philosophicum Tom. 2. which I acquainted a Friend of mine with a Prudent Intelligent Person Dr. J. D. he of his own accord offered me it being a thing of such consequence to send a Friend of his in the North for greater assurance of the truth of the Narration which Motion I willingly embracing he did accordingly The Answer to his Letter from his Friend Mr. Shepherdson is this I have done what I can to inform my self of the Passages of Sharp and Walker There are very few Men that I could meet that were then Men or at the Tryal saving these Two in the inclosed Paper both Men at that time and both at the Tryal And for Mr. Lumley he lived next Door to Walker and what he hath given under his Hand can depose if there were occasion The other Gentleman writ his Attestation with his own Hand but I being not there got not his Name to it I could have sent you Twenty Hands that could have said thus much and more by hear-say but I thought these most proper that could speak from their own Eyes and Ears Thus far Mr. Shepherdson the Doctor 's Discreet and Faithful Intelligencer Dr. H. Moor's Letter to Mr. Joseph Glanvil Sadducism Triumphat p. 17 18 c. 8. This Story Dr. More has transcribed out of Mr. Webster's Display of supposed VVitchcraft which he himself though otherwise an affected Caviller against all Stories of Witchcraft and Apparition is constrained to assent to as we may see from his own Confession On Sunday the 15th of November 1657 about Three of the Clock in the Afternoon Richard Jones then a Sprightly Youth about Twelve Years old Son of Henry Jones of Shepton Mallet in the County of Somerset being in his Father's House alone and perceiving one looking in at the windows went to the door where one Jane Brooks of the same Town but then by Name unknown to this Boy came to him She desired him to give her a piece of close Bread and gave him an Apple After which she also stroked him down on the Right Side shook him by the Hand and so bid him good night The Youth returned into the House where he had been left well when his Father and one Gibson went from him but at their Return which was within an Hour or thereabout they found him ill and complaining of his Right Side in which the Pain continued the most part of that Night And on Monday following in the Evening the Boy roasted the Apple he had of Jane Brooks and having eaten about half of it was extreamly ill and sometimes speechless but being recovered he told his Father that a woman of the Town on Sunday before had given him that Apple and that she stroked him on the Side He said he knew not her Name but should her Person if he saw her Upon this Jones was advised to invite the women of Shipton to come to his House upon the occasion of his Son's Illness and the Child told him that in case the woman should come in when he was in his Fit if he were not able to speak he would give him an intimation by a Jogg and desired that his Father would then lead him through the Room for he said he would put his Hand upon her if she were there After this he continuing very ill many women came daily to see him and Jane Brooks the Sunday after came in with Two of her Sisters and several other women of the Neighbourhood were there Upon her coming in the Boy was taken so ill that for some time he could not see nor speak but having recovered his sight he gave his Father the item and he led him about the Room The Boy drew towards Jane Brooks who was behind her Two Sisters among the other VVomen and put his Hand upon her which his Father perceiving immediately scratched her Face and drew Blood from her The Youth then presently cried out that he was well and so he continued Seven or Eight Days But then meeting with Alice Coward Sister to Jane Brooks who passing by said to him How do you my Honey he presently fell ill again And after that the said Coward and Brooks often appeared to him The Boy would describe the Cloths and Habit they were in at the time exactly as the Constable and others have found upon repairing to them though Brooks's House was at a good distance from Jones's This they often tried and always found the Boy right in his Descriptions On a certain Sunday about Noon the Child being in a Room with his Father and one Gibson and in his Fit he on the sudden called out that he saw Jane Brooks on the Wall and pointed to the place where immediately Gibson struck with a Knife Upon which the Boy cried out O Father Cuz Gibson hath cut Jane Brooks's Hand and 't is bloody The Father and Gibson immediately repaired to the Constable a discreet Person and acquainting him with what had passed desired him to go with them to Jane Brooks's House which he did They found her sitting in a Room on a Stool with one Hand over the other The Constable askt her how she did She answered not well He ask'd again why she sat with one Hand over the other She replied she was wont to do so He enquired if any thing were amiss with her Hand Her Answer was it was well enough The Constable desired he might see the Hand that was under which she being unwilling to shew him he drew it out and
Bodys swollen with bruises This was attested by Colonel Rogers the Governour of Hereford by a Letter to Mr. Baxter Dated August 23. 1656. As likewise by Mr. Sam. Jones's of Cocdreken Mr. Maur. Bedwell's of Swansy Mr. Daniel Higs and Captain Samuel Foley's both of Clonmell 16. In the year of our Lord 1652. Mary the Daughter of Edward Ellins of the Burrough of Evesham in the County of Worcester Gardiner then about nine or ten years old went in the Fields on a Saturday with some other children to gather Cowslips and finding in a Ditch by the way side at the said Town 's End one Catherine Huxley a single Woman Aged then about Forty years as is supposed easing Nature the children called her Witch and took up Stones to throw at her the said Mary also called her Witch and took up a Stone but was so affrighted that she could not throw it at her then they all run away from her and the said Mary being hindmost this Huxley said to her Ellins you shall have Stones enough in your Whereupon Mary fell that day very ill and continued so Weak and Languishing that her Friends feared she would not recover but a Month after she began to void Stones by the urinary Passages and some little Urine came away from her also when she voided any Stone the Stone she voided was heard by those that were by her to drop into the Pot or Bason and she had most grievous Pains in her Back and Reins like the pricking of Pins the Number of the Stones she voided was about eighty some plain Pebbles some plain Flints some very small and some about an Ounce Weight this she did for some space a Month or two or thereabouts until upon some strong Suspicions of Witchcraft the forenamed Huxley was apprehended examined and searched at whose Beds-head there was found several Stones such as the said Mary voided and was sent to Worcester where at the Summer Assizes in the said Year 1652. then at hand she was upon the Prosecution of the Friends of the said Mary Condemned and Executed Hist Disc of Apparitions and Witches p. 44. 17. Mr. Samuel Clark hath published the Apparition to Mr. White of Dorchester assessor to the Westminister assembly at Lambeth that the Devil in a light Night stood by his Bed-side She looked a while whether he would say or do any thing and then said If thou hast nothing else to do I have and turned himself to sleep Many say it from Mr. White himself Hist Disc of Apparitions and Witches p. 63. 18. Conveyances through the Air c. by Invisible Powers Extracted from the Miscellanies of John Aubery Esq In a Letter from the Reverend Mr. Paschal Rector of Chedzay in Somersetshire to Mr. Aurbery are these words Viz. The most Remarkable of all happen'd in that Day that I passed by the Door in my return hither which was Easter-Eve when Fry returning from Work that little he can do he was caught by the Woman Spectre by the Skirts of his Doublet and carried into the Air he was quickly mist by his Master and the Workmen and great enquiry was made for Fran. Fry but no hearing of him but about half an Hour after Fry was heard Whistling and Singing in a kind of a Quagmire He was now affected as he was wont to be in his Fits so that none regarded what he said but coming to Himself an Hour after he solemnly protested That the Daemon carried him so high that he saw his Master's House underneath him no bigger than an Hay-cock that he was in perfect Sense and prayed God not to suffer the Devil to destroy him That he was suddenly set down in that Quagmire The Workmen found one Shooe on one side of the House and the other Shooe on the other side his Periwig was espied next Morning hanging on the Top of a tall Tree It was soon observ'd that Fry's part of his Body that had laid in the Mud was much benum'd and therefore the next Saturday which was the Eve of Low-Sunday they carried him to Crediton to be let Blood which being done and the Company having left him for a little while returning they found him in a Fit with his Fore-head all bruised and swoln to a great bigness none being able to guess how it came till he recover'd himself and then he told them That a Bird flew in at the Window with a great force and with a Stone in its Mouth flew directly against his Fore-head The People looked for it and found on the Ground just under where he sate not a Stone but a weight of Brass or Copper which the People were breaking and parting it among themselves He was so very ill that he could not ride but one Mile or little more that Nighr since which time I have not heard of him save that he was ill handled the next Day being Sunday Indeed Sir you may wonder that I have not Visited that House and the poor afflicted People especially since I was so near and passed by the very Door I am very well assured of the Truth of what I have Written and as more appears you shall hear from me again 19. A Copy of a Letter from a Learned Friend of mine in Scotland Dated March 25. 1695. Honoured Sir I received yours Dated May 24 1694. In which you desire me to send you some Instances and Examples of Transportation by an Invisible Power The true cause of my delaying so long to reply to that Letter was not want of Kindness but of sit Materials for such a Reply As soon as I read your Letter of May 24. I called to mind a Story which I heard long ago concerning one of the Lord Duffus in the Shire of Murray his Predecessors of whom it is reported That upon a time when he was walking abroad in the Fields near to his own House he was suddenly carried away and â—ound the next day at Paris in the French King's Cellar with a Silver Cup in his Hand that being brought into the King's Presence and Question'd by him Who he was And how he came thither He told his Name his Countrey and the place of his Residence and that on such a Day of the Month which proved to be the Day immediately preceeding being in the Fields he heard the noise of a Whirl-wind and of Voices crying Horse and Hattock this is the World which the Fairies are said to use when they remove from any place whereupon he cried Horse and Hattock also and was immediately caught up and Transported through the Air by the Fairies to that place where after he had Drunk heartily he fell asleep and before he awoke the rest of the Company were gone and had left him in the posture wherein he was found It 's said the King gave him the Cup which was found in his Hand and dismiss'd him This Story if it could be sufficiently attested would be a Neble Instance for your purpose for which cause I
that time as he told his Son a very wicked Boy 21. John Evelyn shewed us at the Royal Society a Note under Mr. Smyth's Hand the Curate of Deptford that in November 1679 as he was in Bed sick of an Ague came to him the vision of a Master of Arts with a white Wand in his Hand and told him That if he did lie on his back three Hours viz. from ten to one that he should be rid of his Ague He lay a good while on his Back but at last being weary he turned and immediately the Ague attacked him afterwards he strictly followed the Direction and was perfectly cured He was awake and it was in the Day-time 22. A Dutch Prisoner at Woodbridge in Suffolk in the Reign of Charles II. could discern Spirits but others that stood by could not The Bell tolled for a Man newly deceased The Prisoner saw his Phantome and did describe him to the Parson of the Parish who was with him exactly agreeing with the Man for whom the Bell tolled Says the Prisoner now he is coming near to you and now he is between you and the Wall the Parson was resolved to try it and went to take the Wall of him and was thrown down but could see nothing This Story is credibly told by several Persons of Belief Dr. Hooke the Parson of the Parish has often told this Story of which I know many more particulars 23. Vavasor Powell saw several Apparitions See page 8. of his Life As concerning Apparitions of a Man 's own self there are sundry Instances some whereof I shall here set down 24. The Beautiful Lady Diana Rich Daughter of the Earl of Holland as she was walking in her Father's Garden at Kensington to take the fresh Air before Dinner about Eleven a Clock being then very well met with her own Apparition Habit and every thing as in a Looking-Glass About a Month after she died of the Small-pox And 't is said that her Sister the Lady Isabelta Thinne saw the like of her self also before she died This Account I had from a Person of Honour 25. Mrs. E. W. Daughter of Sir W. W. affirms that Mrs. J. her Father's Sister saw her self i. e. her Phantome half a Year before she died or a quarter of an Hour together She said further that her Aunt was sickly Fourteen Years before she died and that she walked Living i. e. her Apparition and that she was seen by several at the same time The like is reported of others 26. Mr. Trehern B. D. Chaplain to Sir Orlando Bridgman Lord Keeper a Learned and sober Person was the Son of a Shoe-maker in Hereford One Night as he lay in Bed the Moon shining very bright he saw the Phantome of one of the Apprentices sitting in a Chair in his red Wastcoat and Head-band about his head and Strap upon his Knee which Apprentice was really a Bed and asleep with another Fellow-Apprentice in the same Chamber and saw him 27. When Sir Richard Nepier M. D. of London was upon the Road coming from Bedfordshire the Chamberlain of the Inn shewed him his Chamber the Doctor saw a dead Man lying upon the Bed He look'd more wistly and saw it was himself He was then well enough in Health He goes forward in his Journey to Mr. Steward's in Berkshire and there died This Account I have in a Letter from Elias Ashmole Esquire They were intimate Friends Thus far Mr. Aubery CHAP. V. Revelation of secret or future Things by express Voice BY this Title I do not mean any Declarations Discoveries Confessions or Predictions made by any Person living but only such as are uttered either with only an audible Voice alone or with a Voice proceeding from some Phantasm or Apparition either in the likeness of some deceased Person Friend or Relation or of some Ghost dressed up in the Figure of some Animal that we are generally acquainted with as the Serpent to Eve the Ass to Balaan c. Histories are full of Testimonies and Instances of this kind to enquire after all would be a wild Chase and nauseous to the Reader as well as laborious to the Writer We will call a few out of many for a Specimen which will give such a lustre to the Theme we are upon that will certainly run us up in our Meditations and Searches to Digitus Dei the Finger of God as having a signal stroke in all such Voices and Occurrences as cannot with any shew of Reason be imputed or ascribed to any Inarticulate Inorganical Irrational Being which yet appears to be the only Immediate Instrument they proceed fro◠1. In Jerusalem before the Destruction of it by Titus Vespasian at the Feast of Pentecost the High-Priest entering into the Temple to offer the usual Sacrifices which at that time God regarded no more there was a sudden Noise heard and a Voice immediately following it which said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us depart hence Gaffarella's unheard of Curios Part 2. Ch. 3. out of Josephus Besides we know that our blessed Saviour had by express Words Predicted the same dismal Calamity to that place and People with a particulat notation of the Time when it should happen viz. before the then present Generation should be passed away 2. An Inhabitant of the Town of Guilford in Surrey who was possest of some Copy-hold Land which was to descend to his Children or in default of such Issue to his Brother dies having no Child born And his Wife apprehending her self not to be with Child which her Husbands Brother asked her immediately after his Brother's death she told him she believed she was not but afterward proved to be Which when she knew she went by the instigation of Neighbours to her Brother and told him how it was with her He railed at her called her Whore and told her That she had procured some Body to g et her with Child knowing that such a Field must be Inherited by the Posterity of her Husband but her whoring should not fool him out of the Estate The poor Woman went home troubled that not only her Child should lose the Land but which was worse that she should be thought a Whore However she quieted her self and resolved to sit down with the loss When her times came she was delivered of a Son he grew up and one Summer's Night as she was undressing him in her Yard her Husband appeared and bid her go to his Brother and demand the Field which she did but was treated very ill by him He told her That neither she nor her Devil for she had told him her Husband appeared and bid her speak to him should make him forego his Land Whereupon she went home again But some time after as her Brother was going out of this Field home-ward the dead Man appears to him at the Stile and bids him give up the Land to the Child for it was his Right The Brother being greatly frighted at this runs away and not long
with her at Ten a Clock that Night to whom she expressed good hopes in the Mercies of God and a Willingness to dye But said she It is my misery that I cannot see my Children Between one and two a Clock in the Morning she fell into a Trance One Widow Tanner who watched with her that Night says that her Eyes were open and fixed and her law fallen She put her hand upon her Mouth and Nostrils but could perceive no Breath she thought her to be in a Fit and doubted whether she were alive or dead The next day this dying Woman told her Mother that she had been at home with her Children That is impossible said the Mother for you have been here in Bed all the while Yes replyed the other but I was with them last Night when I was asleep The Nurse at Rochester Widow Alexander by Name affirms and says she will take her Oath on 't before a Magistrate and receive the Sacrament upon it that a little before two a Clock that Morning she saw the likeness of the said Mary Goffe come out of the next Chamber where the elder child lay in a Bed by it self the Door being left open and stood by her Bed-side for about a quarter of an hour the younger child was there lying by her her Eyes moved and her Mouth went but she said nothing the Nurse moreover says that she was perfectly awake it was then day light being one of the longest Days in the Year She sate up in her Bed and looked stedfastly upon the Apparition In that time she heard the Bridge Clock strike two and a while after said In the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost what art thou Thereupon the Apparition removed and went away she slipped on her Cloaths and followed but what became on 't she cannot tell Then and not before she began to be grievously affrighted and went out of the Doors and walked upon the Wharf the house is just by the River side for some hours only going in now and then to look to the Children At five a Clock she went to aâ— Neighbours house and knocked at the Door but they would not rise At six she went again then they arose and let her in She related to them all that had passed They would perswade her she was mistaken or Dreamt But she confidently affirmed If ever I saw her in all my Life I saw her this Night One of those to whom she made the Revelation Mary the Wife of John Sweet had a Messenger came from Mâ—lling that Forenoon to let her know her Neighbour Goffe was a Dying and desired to speak with her she went over the same day and found her just departing The Mother amongst other discourse related to her how much her Daughter had longed to see the Children and said she had seen them This brought to Mrs. Sweet's mind what the Nurse had told her that Morning for till then she had not thought to mention it but disguised it rather as the Womans disturbed Imagination The substance of this I had related to me by John Corpenter the Father of the Deceased next day after her Burial July 2. I fully discoursed the matter with the Nurse and two Neighbours to whose â—e use she went that Morning Two days after I had it from the Mother the Minister that was with her in the Evening and the Woman who sat up with her that last Night They all agree in the same Story and every one helps to strengthen the others Testimony They appear to be Sober Intelligent Persons far enough off from designing to impose a Cheat upon the World or to manage a lye and what Temptation they should lye under for so doing I cannot conceive Sir That God would Bless your Pious Endeavours for the Conviction of Atheists and Sadduces and the promoting of true Religion and Goodness and that this Narrative may conduce somewhat towards the farthering of that great work is the hearty desire and Prayer of Your most faithful Friend and Humble Servant Tho. Tilson Minister of Aylesford nigh Maidstone in Kent Aylesford July 6. 1691. 37. One Mr. Samuel Lawrence a Minister at Namptwick in Cheshire informs me at the Writing hereof of a Treasure of Gold found by occasion of a Dream for the further confirmation whereof he refers me to one Mr. Chorlton of Manchester but supposing I shall get no part of the Treasure of it I have saved my self the Trouble of sending so far to enquire any further after it 38. A Gentleman being disquieted with the Thundering of Pieces which his Imagination told him was in the Air and not upon Earth looking towards the Heavens he did conceive that he saw a great Army ready to encounter with another and observing the Leaders he perceived one to be a tall black Man ran with his Rapier against the same and Transported thus with fury he stumbled and fell and as he fell Divers Arrows were shot some out of the North some out of the South some out of the West some out of the East as if all the four quarters had blown no other Blasts after this appeared divers like Ghosts walking with Crosier Staffs who seemed to harden and Encourage the Souldiers yet their Arguments could not win them to give Battle these in the twinkling of an Eye lost their pure whiteness and shewed themselves in black with Miters falling from their Heads next to these followed a Troop of Shavelings some carrying Crosses others praying with Beads but on the sudden a Pillar of fire appeared and they Vanished and all the Heavens seemed to be disturbed looking downward he saw a grave Old Man sitting in a Chair of State upon the Top of a Mountain having a Scepter in his hand with a Tripple Crown on his Head having with him divers habited in long Robes and Red Hats that seemed to hold the Chair whilst his Eyes were busied in the view of them a Thunderbolt fell and cleft the Mountain which swallowed them up then he seemed to pass through Pleasant Fields and the first he met with was a young Cavalier and the next he met withal was a poor Souldier now thought the young Gallant that he should Learn what was the varience between these Troops but before the Gentleman could speak to him the Souldier made towards him and like a bold Ruffian demanded his Purse who was a little unwilling yet having no remedy to prevent the taking thereof did deliver it and in requital the Souldier said I come to tell you News In brief it is thus our General being Dead our Armies were Disbanded and having uttered the words Vanished and in his Room entred a poor Countrey Man who was very desirous to Learn whether he met with any Souldiers that had driven away his Cattel he pitied this poor Man but could give him no comfort in regard his Money was taken away from him The Gentleman passing on came to a great House that was fortified with
his Son who was then scarce ten Years of age that he should always propound and set before him the Thirty-sixth year of his Life as the utmost he should ever attain unto which neither he nor his Father had gone beyond and his Son never reach'd unto for Robert Devereux his Son and also Earl of Essex was beheaded in the Thirty-fourth year of his age So that his dying Father seemed not in vain to have Admonished him as he did but to speak by Divine Inspiration and Suggestion Cambd. Annal. rer Angl. Part 2. p. 277. 5. Philip de Mornay L. du Plessis was in Paris upon black St. Bartholomew's-Day when News was brought him that the Admiral was slain he leaped out of his Bed and whilst he was putting on his Cloaths he felt an extraordinary Motion in himself which caused him to say God will deliver me out of this danger and I shall live to see it revenged On the contrary Monsieur Rameny his Tutor presently answer'd And I shall die in it both which came to pass Clark's Examples Vol. 2. p. 552. 6. Mr. John Carter sometimes Minister of Belstead in Suffolk having long studied the Book of the Revelations some of his Friends ask'd him what he thought of the Future Estate of our Church here in England You shall not said he need to fear Fire and Faggot any more but such dreadful Divisions will be amongst God's People and Professors as will equalize the greatest Persecution Herein we have found him a true Prophet Ibid. 7. It may seem happily incredible to some to relate how many Years agon Dr. Vsher L. Primate of Ireland confidently foretold the Changes which since are come to pass both in Ireland and in England both in Church and State and of the Poverty which himself should fall into which he oft spoke of in his greatest Prosperity Some took much notice of the Text on which he preached in St. Maries in Cambridge Anno Christi 1625. Upon the late Coronation-Day out of 1 Sam. 12.25 If you still do wickedly you shall be consumed both you and your King Others of the last Text he preached on at Court immediately before his Return into Ireland on 1 Cor. 14.33 God is not the Author of Confusion but of Peace as in all the Churches of the Saints IN his application he spake of the Confusions and Divisions which he was confident were then at the Doors Ibid. 8. A. C. 1624. He spake before many Witnesses and oft repeated it afterwards that he was perswaded that the greatest stroke to the Reformed Churches was yet to come And that the time of the utter Ruin of the Roman Antichrist should be when he thought himself most secure according to that Text Rev. 18.7 When she shall say I sit as a Queen and shall see no Sorrow c. Ibid. 9. When in the Reign of Queen Mary Dr. Sands was forced to fly out of England he was oonvey'd to the House of one Mower a Master of a Ship at Milton-Shoarâ— and and when the Wind served he took his leave of his Landlord and Landlady who had been married eight Years and had no Child and when he took his Leave of the Woman he thank'd her kindly for his Entertainment and gave her his Handkercheif with an old Royal of Gold in it saying Be of good Comfort e're an Year be past God will give you a Son and it came to pass according For when there lacked but one day of a Twelvemonth she was brought to Bed of a fair Son Ibid. 10. A. C. 1601. Popery much increasing in Ireland and there being too much connivance at them Dr. Vsher preaching before the State at Christ-Church in Dublin gave them his Sence about that Toleration boldly applying that Passage in the Vision of Ezek. ch 4.6 Where the Prophet by lying on his Side was to bear the Iniquity of Judah Forty Days each Day being appointed for a Year signifying the time of Forty Years to the Destruction of Jerusalem whereupon he added From this Year will I reckon the Sin of Ireland that those whom you now embrace shall be your Ruin and you shall bear this Iniquity which accordingly came to pass at the end of the Forty Years viz. A. C. 1641. in the late Rebellion and Massacre in Ireland affected by those Papists that were then connived at See his Life in Dr. Bernard 11. About the Year 1544. There was in Scotland one Mr. George Wiseheart a Man of Admirable Graces and singularly Learned who first Preached in Ross then in Dundee where to the great Admiration of his hearers he went over the Epistle to the Romans till at the Instigation of the Cardinal one Robert Misle a chief Man in that Town inhibited him from Preaching and required that he should trouble their Town no more for he would not suffer it And this was spoken in the Publick Congregation Whereupon Mr. Whiseheart musing a space with his Eyes lift up to Heaven after a while looking sorrowfully upon the Speaker and People he said God is my Witness that I minded never your trouble but your comsort Yea your trouble is to me more dolorous than it is to your selves But I am assured that to refuse Gods word and to chase from you his Messenger shall not preserve you from trouble but shall bring you into it For God shall send unto you Ministers that shall neither fear Burning nor Banishment I have offered you the Word of Salvation with the hazard of my Life And now ye your selves refuse me and I must leave mine innocency to be declared by my God If it be long prosperous with you I am not led by the Spirit of Truth but if unlooked for troubles come upon you acknowledge the cause and turn to God who is Gracious and Merciful and if you turn not at the first warning he will visit you with Fire and Sword And so he came down from the Pulpit and went out of the Town And whilst he was Preaching up and down in the Countreys News was brought him that the Plague was broken out in Dundee which begun in four days after he was prohibited Preaching there and raged so extreamly that it 's almost beyond credit how many dyed in twenty four hours space c. The Cardinal very eagerly sought Mr. Wisehearts Death and for that end caused a Letter to be sent unto him as if it had been from his familiar Friend the Laird of Kinnur desiring him with all possible speed to come unto him for that he was taken with a sudden Sickness In the mean time he had provided Sixty Men Armed to lye in wait by the way to Murther him The Letter being brought unto him by a Boy who also brought him an Horse to ride on Accompanied with some honest Men his Friends he set forwards on his Journey But as he was riding stopping on a sudden and musing a while he turned back and said to his Friends I will not go I am forbidden of
pass by an Instance I have from a very honest Man in the next Parish who told me it himself That his Wife being big with Child near her Delivery he buys half a Dozen of Boards to make her a Bed against the time she lay in The Boards lying at the Door of his House there comes an old fisher-Fisher-woman yet alive and asked him whose were those Boards He told her they were his own She asked him again For what use he had them He replied For a Bed She again said Intend them for what you please she saw a dead Corps lying on them and that they would be a Coffin which struck the honest Man to the Heart fearing the death of his Wife But when the old Woman went off he calls presently for a Carpenter to make the Bed which was accordingly done but shortly after the honest Man had a Child died whose Coffin was made of the ends of those Boards 27. I shall tell you what I have had from one of the Masters of our College here a North-Country-man both by Birth and Education in his younger Years who made a Journey in the Harvest-time into the Shire of Ross and at my Desire made some Enquiry there concerning the Second-sight He reports That there they told him many Instances of this Knowledge which he had forgotten except two The first one of his Sisters a young Gentlewoman staying with a Friend at some 30 Miles distance from her Father's House and the ordinary place of her Residence One who had the Second-sight in the Family where she was saw a young Man attending her as she went up and down the House and this was about Three Months before her Marriage The second is a Woman in that Country who is reputed to have the Second-sight and declared that eight Days before the Death of a Gentleman there she saw a Bier or Coffin cover'd with a Cloth she knew carried as it were to the place of Burial and attended with a great Company one of which told her it was the Corps of such a Person naming that Gentleman who died Eight Days after Those that have this Faculty of the Second-sight see only things to come which are to happen shortly thereafter and sometimes foretel things which fall out Three or Four Years after For instance 28. One told his Master that he saw an Arrow in such a Man thorough his Body and yet no Blood came out His Master told him that it was impossible an Arrow should stick in a Man's body and no blood come out and if that came to pass he would be deem'd an Impostor But about five or six Years after the Man died and being brought to his Burial-place there arose a Debate anent his Grave and it came to such a height that they drew Arms and bended their Bows and one letting off an Arrow shot thro' the dead Body upon the Bier-trees and so no Blood could issue out at a dead Man's Wound Part of a Letter written to Mr. Aubrey by a Gentleman's Son in Straths-pey being a Student in Divinity Sir I am more willing than able to satisfie your Desire As for Instances I could furnish many I shall only insert some few attested by several of good Credit yet alive 29. And first Andrew Mackpherson of Clunie in Badenoch being in sute of the Laird of Gareloch's Daughter as he was upon a day going to Garloch the Lady Garloch was going somewhere from her House within kenning to the Road which Clunie was coming the Lady perceiving him said to her Attendants that yonder was Clunie going to see his Mistress One in her Company replied and said If you be he unless he marry within six Months he 'll never marry The Lady asked how did he know that He said very well for I see him saith he all inclosed in his Winding-Sheet except his Nostrils and his Mouth which will also close up within Six Months which happened even as he foretold within the said space he died and his Brother Duncan Mackpherson this present Clunic succeeded I have heard of a Gentleman whose Son had gone abroad and being Anxious to know how he was he went to consult one who told him that that same day 5 a Clock in the Afternoon his Son had married a Woman in France with whom he had got so many Thousand Crowns and within Two Years he should come to see Eather and Friends leaving his Wife with Child of a Daughter and a Son of six Months of Age behind him which accordingly was true About the same time two Years he came home and verified all that was soretold 30. One Archibald Mackeanyers alias Mackdonald living in Ardinmurch within 10 or 20 Miles or thereby of Glencoe and I was present my self where he foretold something which accordingly fell out In 1683 this Man being in Strathspey in John Mackdonald of Glencoe his Company told in Balachastell before the Laird of Grant his Lady and several others and also in my Father's House that Argyle few or none knew then where he was or at least there was no word of him then here should within two Twelvemonths thereafter come to the West-Highlands and raie a Rebellious Faction wh ich would be divided among themselves and disperse and he unfortunately be taken and Beheaded at Edinburgh and his Head set upon the Talbooth where his Father's Head was before him Which proved as true as he foretold it in 1685. thereafter 31. There as a young Lady of great Birth whom a Rich Knight fancied and came in sute of the Lady but she could not endure to fancy him being a harsh and unpleasant Man But her Friends importuning her daily she turned melancholy and lean Fasting and Weeping continually A common Fellow about the House meeting her one Day in the Fields asked her saying Mrs. Kate What is that that troubles you and makes you look so ill She replied That the Cause is known to many for my Friends would have me marry such a Man by Name but I cannot fancy him Nay says the Fellow give over these Niceties for he will be your first Husband and will not live long and besure he will leave you a rich Dowry which will procure you a great Match for I see a Lord upon each Shoulder of you All which came to pass in every Circumstance as Eye and Ear can witness 32. Near 40 Years ago Macklend and his Lady Sister to my Lord Seaforth were walking about their own House and in their Return both came into the Nurses Chamber where their young Child as on the Breast At their coming in the Nurse falls a weeping they asked the cause dreading the Child was sick or that she was scarce of Milk The Nurse replied the Child was well and she had abundance of Milk yet she still wept and being pressed to tell what ailed her she at last said Macklend would die and the Lady would shortly marry another Man Being enquired how she knew that Event she told
or more some big some small together then so many and such Corpses together If two Candles come from divers places and be seen to meet the Corpses will the like if any of these Candles are seen to turn sometimes a little out of the way or path that leadeth to the Church the following Corps will be forced to turn in that very place for the avoiding some dirty Lane or plash c. Now let us fall to evidence Being about the Age of Fifteen dwelling at Lanylar late at Night some Neighbours saw one of these Candles hovering up and down along the River-Bank until they were weary in beholding it at last they left it so and went to Bed A few Weeks after came a proper Damsel from Montgomery-shire to see her Friends who dwelt on the other side of that River Istwith and thought to Ford the River at that very place where the Light was seen being dissuaded by some Lookers on some it is most likely of those that saw the Light to adventure on the Water which was high by reason of a Flood She walked up and down along the River-Bank even where and even as the aforesaid Candle did waiting for the falling of the Water which at last she took but too soon for her for she was drowned therein Of late my Sexton's Wife an aged understanding Woman saw from her Bed a little bluish Candle on her Tables end within two or three Days after came a Fellow enquiring for her Husband and taking something from under his Cloak clap'd it down upon the Tables-end it was a dead-born Child Another time the same Woman saw such another Candle upon the end of the self-same Table within a few Days after a weak Child newly Christend by me was brought to the Sexton's House where presently it died ' And when the Sexton's Wife who was then abroad came home she found the Child on the other end of the Table where she had seen the Candle Some thirty or forty Years since my Wife's Sister being Nurse to Baronet Rudd's three eldest Children and the Lady Mistress being dead the Lady Comptroller of the House going late into the Chamber where the Maid-Servants lay saw no less than Five of those Lights together It happen'd a while after that the Chamber being newly Plaister'd and a Grate of Coal-fire therein kindled to hasten the drying of the Praister that five of the Maid-servants went to Bed as they were wont but as it fell out too soon for in the Morning they were all dead being Soffocated in their Sleep with the steem of the new-temper'd Lime and Coal This was at Langathen in Carmarthenshire Jo. Davis See more Generglyn March 1656. To this Account of Mr. Davis I will subjoyn what my worthy Friend and Neighbour Randal Caldicot D. D. hath affirmed to me many Years since viz When any Christian is drowned in the River Dee there will appear over the Water where the Corps is a Light by which means they do find the Body Thus far Mr. Aubrey Ominous Presages taken notice of as relating to the Troubles and Death of King Charles I. in a Printed Relation 1655. 68. When he was in Spain treating and prosecuting the Match with the Infanta Jun. 30. 1623. a great Clap of Thunder struck away the Flag and Flag-staff from the Main-top-mast-head of a Ship then riding at Black-wall and bound for Spain with Provision of fresh Victuals to fetch the Prince home it also split the Main-top-mast and threw one part on one side and the other part on the other side of the Ship and raized the Main-mast down to the Ship it killed two Men and one Woman at Croydon This was two Days after the Prince wrote to the Pope Thursday next there were many great Claps of Thunder abundance of Rain and so great a Pillar of Fire from Heaven out of the South that it reach'd from the Heavens to the Farth not as a Flash of Lightning gone in the very sight but a very firm Pillar of Fire The Crown and Vane from the top of the Gate-House of St. James whereon the Clock stood was struck down a piece of the Bell where the Priuce kept his Court melted a Gardiner near Westminster kill'd and his Wife hurt another at Croyden kill'd c. Old Tho. Earl of Arundel having sent for the King's Statue out of Italy viewing it at Greenwich where it was landed and commending the Workmanship whilst they were discoursing of it there fell three drops of Blood on the top of it no Man knowing how they should come there A. 1623. A Buckinghamshire Taylor came from Alisbury aged 41 and a sober Man went along London Streets pronouncing Woe to Rome Woe to the Pope Woe to all Papists and all that did adhere to Popery Dukes Marquesses Earls c. This three or four Days in the Week praying earnestly at White-Hall-Gate for the Continuance of the Gospel in England till he was sent to the New-Bridewell near Clerken-well where he continued three Weeks After which he proceeded again to the same Execrations One of the Crowns and Vanes of the Tower was turned over the Top of the Spindle with a very small Gale of Wind and so hung for three quarters of a Year or more the Crown and Vane weigh'd 100 weight His Hand and Scepter broke off from his Statue at the Exchange and fell down to the Ground even at Change-time to the admiration of all Beholders and the next day it was set up again One Mrs. Cary of Bristol a Woollen-Draper's Widow on the Back of the Town having seen many strange Apparitions of the late King at several times as his Crown all bloody himself in Black and his Head off by means of the Earl of Dorset was admitted to the King who dismissed her with only this Reflection Take her away she is a merry Woman The VVoman returns home to Bristol where the like Visions appear'd to her again she could not contain but away she makes for London a second time and the King gone to York by the help of a Lady at Court she follows in a Coach thither and with much Importunity of Speech beseecheth him to consider what she had seen and said but was not credited At Caussam near Reading the King playing at Chess with White Men the Head of the VVhite King fell off VVhen the Lord Fairfax was at St. Albans and the General Council of the Army drawing up the grand Rdmonstrance against the King the Sign of the Kings-Head beneath the Hill from the Cross that part of the Board between the Head and Shoulders was broken out of the Sign so that the Head and Shoulders seem'd parted VVhen the King was at the High Court of Justice as it was then called on his Tryal the Head of his Cane fell off he stooped to take it up himself looked upon it as an ominous Presage 69. William Writtle condemn'd at Maidston Assizes for a double Murder mention'd hereafter told a Minister
his Judgment and Piety that notwithstanding the Opposition made by some great ones without his own seeking he was made Bishop of Meath in Ireland which just then fell void while he was in England and the King often boasted That he was a Bishop of his own making Clark in his Life 12. The Papists very rashly and hastily had Publish'd a Libel against Luther supposing he was deâ—d because he was constrained for his own safety to use caution in appearing abroad by râ—â—on of his many Enemies that laid wait for him signifying How the Devils had carried away his Body c. Which Libel came to Luther's hands two Years before he died and he reading of it thank'd God that the Devil and his Instruments were such Tools that they could not stay till his Death Pref. to Luther 's Sermons I pass over the Story of Queen Emma Mother to King Edward the Confessor who is said by our Historians to be causlesly suspected of too much Familiarity with Alwinus Bishop of Winchester of which Suspicion she purged herself and him by the Fire-Ordeal walking bare foot over nine red-hot Plough-shares without any hurt in thankfulness for which 't is said they gave each of them nine Manours to the Church of Winchester Dugdale Monast. Angl. Vol. 1. inter Addenda p. 980. 13. A. C. 1650. Anne Green a Servant-Maid to Sir Tho. Read of Duns-Tew in Oxfordshire being with Child by some one of the Family through over-working her self in turning of Malt fell in Travail about the fourth Month of her time but being but a young Wench and not knowing how it might be repairs to the House of Easement where after some Straining the Child scarce above a Span long and of what Sex not to be distinguished fell from her unawares She was three Days after conveyed to the Castle of Oxford and there Sentenc'd to be Hang'd She hung half an Hour was pulled by the Legs and struck on the Breast by divers of her Friends and after all had several Stroaks given her on the Stomach with the But-end of a Soldier 's Musket Afterwards being cut down and put in a Cossin and brought away to a House to be dissected though the Rope still remained strait about her Neck they perceived her Breast to rise whereupon one Mason a Taylor in Charity to her set his Foot upon her Breast and Belly and as some say one Orum a Soldier struck her again with the But-end of his Musket After a while they perceived a small Rattling in her Throat and then they used means for her Recovery by opening a Vein laying her in a warm Bed and causing another to go into Bed to her and using other Remedies with respect to her Senselesness Head Throat and Breast insomuch that within 14 Hours she began to speak and the next Day Talk'd and Prayed very heartily In the mean time her Pardon was sued out from the Powers then in being and Thousands of People came to see her magnifying the just Providence of God in thus asserting her Innocency of Murder She affirmed that she neither remembred how the Fetters were knock'd off how she went out of the Prison when she was turn'd off the Ladder whether any Psalm was sung or not nor was she sensible of any Pains that she could remember but which is most observable she came to her self as if she had awakened out of her Sleep not recovering the use of her Speech by slow degrees but in a manner altogether beginning to speak just where she left off on the Gallows She lived afterwards and was Married and had three Children not dying till 1659. Dionysius Petavius takes notice of it in his Continuation of the Hist of the World so doth Mr. Heath and Dr. Plot in his Natural Hist of Oxfordsh p. 193. 14. I shall only take notice further of an awful Example mentioned by A. B. Spotswood in his History of Scotland p. 449. His Words are these This Summer viz. Anno 1597. there was a great Business for the Tryal of Witches amongst others one Margaret Atkin being apprehended on Suspicion and threatned with Torture did confess her self Guilty being Examined touching her Associates in that Trade she named a few and perceiving her Delations find Credit made offer to detect all of that sort and to purge the Country of them so she might have her Life granted For the reason of her Knowledge she said That they had a secret mark all of that sort in their Eyes whereby she could surely tell how soon she looked upon any whether they were Witches or not And in this she was so readily believed that for the space of three or four Months she was carried from Town to Town to make Discoveries in that kind many were brought in question by her Delations especially at Glasgow where divers Innocent Women through the Credulity of the Minister Mr. John Cowper were condemned and put to Death In the end she was found to be a meer Deceiver and sent back to Fife where she was first Apprehended At her Tryal she affirmed all to be false that she had Confessed of her self or others and persisted in this to her Death which made many fore-think their to great forwardness that way and moved the King to re-call his Commission given out against such Persons discharging all Proceedings against them 15. There was in the Year 1649. in a Town called Lauder in Scotland a certain Woman accused and imprisoned on Suspicion of Witchcraft when others in the same Prison with her were Convicted and their Execution ordered to be on the Monday following she desired to speak with a Minister to whom she declared freely that she was guilty of Witchcraft acknowledging also many other Crimes committed by her desiring that she might die with the rest She said particularly that she had Covenanted with the Devil and was become his Servant about Twenty Years before and that he kissed her and gave her a Name but that since he had never owned her Several Ministers who were jeasous that she accused her self untruly charged it on her Conscience telling her That they doubted she was under a Temptation of the Devil to destroy her own Body and Soul and adjuring her in the Name of God to declare the Truth Notwithstanding all this she stiffly adhered to what she had said and was on Monday Morning Condemned and ordered to be Executed that Day When she came to the place of Execution she was silent until the Prayers were ended then going to the Stake where she was to be burnt she thus expressed her self All you that see me this Day know ye that I am to die as a Witch by my own Confession and I free all Men especially the Ministers and Magistrates from the guilt of my Blood I take it wholly on my self and as I must make answer to the God of Heaven I declare I am as free from Witchcraft as any Child but being accused by a Malicious Woman and
means he should be delivered from such unrighteous Governours and be sooner sent home to his Heavenly Father Justin M. 4. John Picus Mirandula was of a chearful Countenance and of so composed a Mind That he was scarce ever seen angry Clark in his Life 5. By reason of our strange and wonderful Courage and Strength saith Lactantius new Additions are made to us for when the People see Men with infinite variety of Torments torn in pieces and yet maintain a Patience unconquerable and able to live out its Tormentors they are convinced what the Truth is that the Consent of so many and the Perseverance of dying Persons cannot be in vain nor that Patience it self were it not from God could hold out under such Racks and Tortures Thieves and Men of a robust Body are not able to bear such tearing in pieces they groan and cry out and are overcome with Pain because not endued with Divine Patience but our very Children and Women to say nothing of our Men do with Silence conquer their Torments nor can the hottest Fire force the least groan from them Dr. Cave out of Lactant. 6. Justin Martyr by the force of such Arguments turned from being a Platonic Philosopher to be a Christian I thought saith he it was impossible for such Persons to live in Vice and Luxury c. Apoâ— 1. c. 50. 7. Liâ—sâ—â—â— to 〈◊〉 of his Friends who minded him on his Death-bed of his Stoical Philosophy whose Principle of Patience was Fate and Necessity made Answer De mihi Christianem Patientiam Give me the Christian Patience 8. Reproaches said Luther are my Meat and Feeding I am afraid of Praises glad of Slanders and Reproaches 9. Socrates was observed Semper eodem incedere vuleu to go Abroad and return Home with the same composed Countenance he bore the outragious peevishness of his Wife with great Patience calling her his School Mistress c. 10. Dr. Sandes his Stable being Robb'd and an Inventory taken of all his Goods and he set on a lame Jade and carried through London in scorn at Bishopsgate a Woman throwing a Stone at him hit him so full on the Breast that he was near falling from his Horse to whom he mildly said Woman I pray God forgive thee See his Life by Mr. Clark Page 8. 11. Cassianus tells of a Devout Gentlewoman desirous to exercise the Vertue of Patience that came to Athanasus upon that score to advise with him who at her Request placed a poor Widow with her so VVayward Cholerick Peevish and Insolent that she gave sufficient occasion for the practice of Patience S. Franc. Sales Introd 12. Bishop Bonner gave this Testimony of Cuthert Sympson's Patience I say unto you That if he were not an Heretick he is a Man of the greatest Patience that ever came before me for I tell you he hath been thrice Rack'd in one Day in the Tower and in my House he hath felt some Sorrow yet I never saw his Patience broken Fox Martyrol 13. 'T is said of Calvin and Vrsin that they were both Cholerick by Nature yet had so learned the Meekness of Christ as not to utter one Word under the greatest Provocation unbeseeming Religion Joh. Flavel 14. Greenham that Saint of ours can lye spread quietly upon the Form looking for the Chyrurgeons Knife binding himself as fast with a resolved Patience as others with strongest Cords abiding his Flesh carved and his Bowels rifled and not stirring more than if he felt not while others tremble to expect and shrink to feel the pricking of a Vein Bish Jos Hall Medit. c. 15. I never heard saith Dr. Walker speaking of the late Countess of Warwick That she was blamed for more than two Faults by the most curious Observers of her Disposition and Behaviour viz. Excess of Charity and Defect of Anger For as to the latter though I confess saith he she could not rage and storm and discover her Anger as some Persons do who verisie the Saying Anger is a kind of Madness for her sedate compos'd serene Mind and sweet and amicable Disposition was scarce forcible to what was so conttary to her Nature yet would she make deeper Impressions of her Displeasure for great Faults than those who appeared most furious like a still soaking Shower which will wet more than a driving Storm and therefore it was observed that if any Servant had been faulty they had rather have passed the Gantlet of their Lords most furious Expressions than have once been sent for to their Lady's Closet whose Treatment was soft Words but hard Arguments against their Faults and like that silent Lightning which without the Noise of Thunder melts the Blade and singeth not the Scabbard her Reproofs were neither the frightful hissing nor the venom'd Sting but the penetrating Oil of Scorpions Dr. Walker in her Life Page 114. 16. Bishop Cowper's Wife being a froward Woman she lest her Husband should prejudice his Health by his over much Study when he was Compiling his famous Dictionary one Day in his Absence got into his Study and took all the Notes he had been for Eight Years a gathering and burned them whereof when she had acquainted him he only said Woman thou hast put me to eight Years Study more See the Treatise call'd Mankind Displayed CHAP. XXX Remarkable Prudence THough the Simplicity of the Dove be an excellent Grace in Christians yet we are required to joyn with it the Wisdom of the Serpent the one removes away our Gall and Sting and makes us inoffensive to others the other gives us Brain and Prudence to save our selves and this is the more necessary because of the Enemies and Dangers we have to encounter with And in Truth though the Divine Providence is sufficient to Guide and Protect and Provide for us yet we are no where commanded to lay a side the Man to illustrate the Christian Piety makes us shifty for the Honour of God Charity for the good of our Neighbours but Prudence tells us We must not be quite careless at home nay the very Substanâ—e of our Religiou requires us to love our Neighbours as our selves and therefore presupposeth a Care of our own Preservation before our Care for the welfare of others But yet so that Self alone must give place to a Society of Men which is made up of many particular Selves and the Glory of God is not to truckle to our Temporal Felicity See some Instances 1. Mr. Tindal living with one Mr. Welch in Gloucestershire as Tutor to his Children Discoursing about Matters of Religion sometimes in the House and being answered by Mrs. Welch Such a Doctor is worth 100 l. per Annum and such a one 200 and such a one 300. And is it Reason think you that we should believe you before them He replied nothing at that time because he saw it was in vain to make a personal Answer where the Authority of his own Person was of so little value and therefore fell upon
Zealand where living in a great deal of Ease he fell in Love with a Woman of a Beautiful Body and a mind and manners no whit inferior He passed and repassed by her Door soon after grew bolder entered into Conference with her discovers his Flame and beseeches a Compassionate Resentment of it he makes large Promises and uses all the ways by which he hoped to gain her but all in vain Her Chastity was proof against all the Batteries he could raise against it falling therefore into Dispair he converts himself unto Villany He was as I said a Governour and Duke Charles was busied in War he causes the Husband of his Mistriss to be Accused of Treachery and forth with Commits him to Prison to the end that by Fear or Threats he might draw her to his pleasure or at least quit himself of her Husband the only Rival with him in his Loves The Woman as one that loves her Husband goes to the Goal and thence to the Governour to entreat for him and if she was able to obtain his Liberty Dost thou come O my Dear to entreat me said the Governour You are certainly ignorant of the Empire you have over me Render me only a mutual Affection and I am ready to restore you your Husband for we are both under a Restraint he is in my Prison and I am in yours Ah how easily may you give Liberty to us both Why do you refuse As a Lover I beseech you and as you tender my Life as the Governour I ask you and as you tender the Life of your Husband both are at stake and if I must perish I will not fall alone The Woman blush'd at what she heard and withal being in Fear for her Husband trembled and turned pale He perceiving she was mov'd and supposing that some Force should be used to her Modesty they were alone throws her upon the Bed and enjoys the Fruit which will shortly prove bitter to them both The Woman departed Confounded and all in Tears thinking of nothing more but Revenge which was also the more enflamed by a Barbarous Act of the Governour for he having obtained his desire and hoping hereafter freely to enjoy her took care that her Husband and his Rival should be Beheaded in the Goal and there was the Body put into a Coffin ready for Burial This done he sent for her and in an Affable manner What said he do you seek for your Husband You shall have him and pointing to the Prison you shall find him there take him along with you The Woman suspecting nothing went her way when there she sees and is astonished she falls upon the dead Corps and having long lamented over it she returns to the Governour with a fierce Countenance and Tone It is true said she you have restored me my Husband I owe you Thanks for the Favour and will pay you He endeavours to retain and appease her but in vain but hasting home she calls about her most faithful Friends recounts to them all that had passed All agree that she should make her Case known to the Duke who amongst other of his excellent Virtues was a singular Lover of Justice To whom she went and was heard but scarce believed The Duke is angry and grieved that any of his and in his Dominions should presume so far He commands her to withdraw into the next Room till he sent for the Governour who by chance was then at Court being come do you know said the Duke this Woman The Man changed colour do you know too added he the Complaints she makes of you They are sad ones and such as I would not they should be true He shakes faulters in his Speech says and unsays being urged home he confesses all frees the Woman from any fault and casting himself at the Duke's Feet said he placed all his Refuge and Comfort in the good Grace and Mercy of his Prince and that he might the better obtain it he offered to make amends for his unlawful Lust by a Lawful Marriage of the Person whom he had injured The Duke as one that had inclined to what he said and now somewhat milder You Woman said he since it is gone thus far are you willing to have this Man for your Husband She refuses but fearing the Duke's Displeasure and prompted by the Courtiers that he was Noble Rich and in Favour with his Prince was overcome at last she yields The Duke causes both to joyn Hands and the Marriage to be lawfully made which done You Mr. Bridegroom said he You must grant me this that if you die first without Children of your Body that then this Wife of yours shall be the Heir of all that you have he willingly granted it it is writ down by a Notary and witness is to it Thus done the Duke turning to the Woman Tell me said he is there enough done for your satisfaction There is said she But there is not to mine said he And sending the Woman away he commanded the Governour to be led away to that very Prison in which the Husband was slain and dead to be laid in a Coffin headless as he was This done he sent the Woman thither ignorant of what had passed who frighted with that unthought of Misfortune of two Husbands almost at once and the same time lost by one and the same Punishment fell sick speedily and in a short time died having gain'd this only by her last Marriage that she left her Children by her former Husband very rich by the Accession of this new and great Inheritance Lips Monit Lib. 2. Chap. 9. P. 240 241. 3. Sir John Fitz-James was so fearful of the very Shadow and Appearance of Corruption that it cost his chief Clerk his place but for taking a Tankard after a signal Cause of 1500 l. a Year wherein he had been serviceable tho not as a Bribe but as a Civility Caesar would have his Wife without Suspition of Lewdness and Fitz-James his Servants without the appearance of Corruption What way Law always was then a Resolution neither to deny nor defer nor sell Justice When our Judge came upon the Bench he knew no more than Melchisedeck or Levi Father or Mother neither Friend nor Interest For when his Cousin urged for a kindness Come to my House saith the Judge I will deny you nothing come to the King's Court and I must do you Justice And when the Attorney-General bespake his Favour in a publick Cause Troble not your self said he I will do the King Right The King is cast the Attorney expostulates the Judge satisfieth him That he could not do his Majesty Right if he had not done Justice Lloyd 's State Worthies p. 115. 4. Sir Matthew Hale would never receive private Addresses or Recommendations from the greatest Persons in any matter in which Justice was concern'd One of the first Peers of England went once to his Chamber and told him that having a Sute at Law to be try'd before
their proper Offices to attend upon the Soul 's or at the least were not able to perform them when the Soul was determined to be throughly employed Sabell Ex. L. 2. T. 7. p. 91. 18. Joseph Scaliger then at Paris when the horrible Butchery and Massacre was there was so intent upon his Study of the Hebrew Tongue that he did not so much as hear the Clashing of Arms the Cries of Children the Lamentations of Women nor the Clamours and Groans of Men. Heinsii Orat. 1. p. 4. Wanley's Wonders c. L. 3. C. 41. 19. Justin Martyr would not be satisfied in his Mind 'till he had got Instructers singularly seen in all the kinds of Philosophy Stoic Peripatetick Pythagorean and Platonist Clark's Marr. of Eccles History 20. Tertullian was In omni genere Doctrine paritus Lactant. inter Latinos omnes facilè princeps judicandus Vincent Lirin Excellently versed in Physicks Mathematicks History and Civil Law Clark's Marr. of Eccles History 21. Ephrem Syrus without the help of an Instructer attain'd to an excellent Skill in the Syrian Tongue and was also a great Philosopher and a very good Orator mightily admir'd by Basil for his Learning and for Three hundred thousand Verses which he wrote much esteem'd in which Abbas Zenobias Abraham Meras and Simeon endeavour'd much to imitate him Ibid. 22. Hierom distributed his time into two parts one for Study the other for Meditation and Prayer wherein also he spent a good part of the Night he allow'd himself the least part for Sleep less for Food none for Idleness when weary of Study he prayed or sung a Psalm and then to his Study again He read over all his Library and then rubbed up his old Readings he learned most of the Scriptures by Heart and read over Commentaries upon them not pretermitting the Works of Heathens and Hereticks and collected out of the Egyptian Writers but especially he read the Works of Origen whom he called Suum His own With great Charge he learned the Hebrew Chaldee and Syriac yet in this Course he took much pleasure Ibid. 23. Gregory the Great was very exact in spending his time saying That he was to give an Account of it unto God Ibid. p. 96. 24. Bernard living privately in his Cell spent his time in Study Meditation and Prayer often saying to himself Bernard Bernard remember for what end thou camest hither He allow'd himself very little time for Sleep often complaining that all that time was lost and so sparing was he in his Diet that less Sleep was necessary he never eat nor slept to satiety yea by his rigid Abstinence he so weakned his Stomach that he was scarce able to retain Food when he had eaten it and that little he did retain served rather to retard Death than prolong Life Yet all this while he remitted nothing of his Studies and Labours but equalled the other Monks in digging the Ground carrying Wood upon his Shoulders and busying himself about meaner Services and in the Intervals of these Labours he prayed and meditated Ibid. p. 104. 25. Zuinglius used to study standing and tied himself to certain Hours which he would not omit unless necessity compelled him from his first Rising 'till Ten a Clock he employed himself in Reading Writing Interpreting the Scripture and making his Sermons after Dinner 'till about Two a Clock he conferred with his Friends or gave Counsel to such as sought it and so to his Study 'till Supper after which having walk'd a-while he busied himself in Writing Letters which sometimes held him 'till Midnight Ibid. p. 153. 26. John Picus Mirandula read over whole Libraries both of Latin and Greek Authors with a wonderful celeâ—ity and yet culled out the most useful things s he went through them he was so versed in the Ancient Fathers as if he had made them his only Study all his Life long he was so well acquainted with Modern Writers that if any Difficulty were proposed to him out of them he could presently resolve it Concerning his Study of the Scriptures see under its proper Head Clark in his Life 27. Sir John Jeffery was born in Sussex and so profited in the Study of our Municipal Laws that he was preferred Secondary Judge of the Common Pleas and thence advanced by Queen Elizabeth in Michaelmas-Term the Nineteenth of her Reign to be Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer which place he Discharged for the time of Two Years to his great Commendation This was he who was called the Plodding Student whose Industry perfected Nature and was perfected by Experience It is said of him Nullus illi per otium dies exit partem noctium studiis vindicat non vacat somno sed succumbet oculos vigiliâ fatigatos candenetsque in opere detinet He spent no Day idly but part of the Nights he devoted to Study he had no leisure to Sleep but when surprized by it for wnat of it his weary Eyes when closing and falling by reason of his over-watching he still held to their work and compelled to wait upon him Floyd's State-Worthies p. 223. 28. Aristotle to hinder his being overtaken with Sleep he used sometimes to apply a Vessel of hot Oyl to his Stomach and when he slept he would hold a Brasen Ball in his Hand over a Basin that so when the Ball should fall down into it he might again be awaked by the Noise of it Laert. L. 5. p. 117 118. 29. Callistus the Third at Fourscore Years of AGe remitted nothing of his usual Industry and Constancy in his Studies but both read much himself and had others who read to him when he had any time to spare from the great Weight of his Affairs Plat. de Vitis Pontif. p. 320 321. 30. Jacobus Milichius a German Physician when Old Age began to grow upon him was so careful and sparing afterward of his time that no Man could find him at his own House but he was either Reading or Writing of something or else which was very rare with him he was Playing at Tables a Sport which he much delighted in after Dinner After Supper and in the Night he was at Studies and Succubrations which was the reason that he slept but little and also the cause of that Disease which took away his Life for the over-constant and the unseasonable Intentions of his Mind in his Studies was doubtless the occasion of the Apoplexy of which he died 1559. Melch. Adam in Vit. Germ. Med. p. 96. 31. Jacobus Schegkius when Aged Blind and Apoplectical had one to read to him and even then put forth most Learned Commentaries upon the Topicks of Aristotle Ibid. p. 295. 32. The Worshipful William Garaway Esq my Honoured Friend and Neighbour of Ford in Sussex now living and in the 81st Year of his Age in competent Health and great Vigour of Mind thô of excellent Natural Endowments and great Reading yet is still very inquisitive after more Knowledge careful to purchase all Books of worth as they come from
Chin were all covered over with Scabs Wheals and Scales so as no Barber could nor would shave him she with her little Scissars played the Barber and made him a deft Beard From this Sickness he fell into another which lasted seven years During which time with incredible Diligence she made ready his Meat put in his Tents laid on his Plaisters dressed and bound up his Thighs all rotten with Scabs and Ulcers his Breath was such that none durst come near by ten paces and abide by it which yet she protested was sweet to her This long Sickness and the Nourishing and Medicining of a Body oppressed by so many Diseases was a great matter in a House that had no Rents or Profits coming in and where Trade had ceased of a long time and consequently the Gain She therefore to furnish Expences sold her Precious Jewels her Gold Chains her rich Carcanets her Garments of great value a Cupboard of Pâ—ate not caring for any thing so her Husband was relieved and contenting her self with little so he wanted nothing Thus Valdaura lingred on a Life by the help of his Wife within a rotten Body or rather within a Grave for Twenty years together in which time she had eight Children by him yet neither she not they had so much as a Scab Wheal or Pimple in any part of their Bodies Valdaura died an old Man for whose Death his Wife Clara made so much Mourning as they who knew her well say never Woman did for any Husband When some instead of comforting her told her God had done much in taking him away and that they therefore came to congratulate with her She detested their Speeches wishing for her Husband again in exchange of five Children and though she was yet both young and lusty and sought to by many she resolved not to marry saying She should never meet with any whom she could like so well as her Dear Bernard Valdaura Lud. viv de Christian Faemina l. 2. p. 360. Camerar Oper. subciscent 1. c. 51. p. 226. 8. The Lord of Harlem in the Low-Countries having by his Exactions and Cruelty made himself odious to all his People was together with his Wife besieged in his Castle by them and so prest for want of Victuals that he was compelled to enter into Treaty His Wife a true Mirrour of Piety and Love towards her Husband amongst other Articles Capitulated That she might have so much of her most precious Movables as she could carry out at one time the which being granted the with the help of her Chamber-Maids carried her Husband lockt in a Chest out of the Castle leaving all her Rings and Jewels behind her Belg. Com. Wealth p. 55. 9. In the Bohemian Persecution we read of the Major of Litomeritia who apprehended Twenty four Godly Citizens of whom his own Son-in-Law was one and after he had almost pined there in Prison he adjudged them to be drowned in the River Albis whereupon his Daughter wringing her Hands and falling at her Father's Feet besought him to spare her Husband but he harder than a Rock bid her hold her Peace saying What can you not have a worthier Husband than this To which she answered You shall never more espouse me to any And so beating her Breast and tearing her Hair she followed her Husband to the River and when he was cast into the midst of the River bound she leaped in and caught him about the middle but being unable to draw him forth they were both drowned together and the next Day were found embracing one another Clark's Mar. V. 1. p. 289. 10. Philip Sir-named the Good Duke of Burgundy married the Sister of Charles the Dauphin and not long after this Charles basely and perfidiously slew Philip's Father whereupon Philip being full of Anger and Grief went to his wife saying O my Wife thy Brother hath murthered my Father Upon this his Wife that loved him dearly burst forth into Tears and Lamentations fearing least this Act of her Brother's would make a Breach betwixt her Husband and her which her Husband taking Notice of comforted her saying Be of good cheer tho' it was thy Brother's yet it is not thy Fault neither will I esteem or love thee the less for it c. Which accordingly he made good so long as they lived together Lip Exem Pol. p. 200. 11. Budaeus that learned French-man had a great help of his Wife in Points of Learning she used to be as busie in his Study as about her Huswifery Clark's Mar. V. 1. C. 65. p. 291. 12. Mrs. Katherine Clark was singular and very exemplary in that Reverence and Obedience which she yielded to her Husband both in Words and Deeds She never rose from the Table even when they were alone but she made Courtesie She never drank to him without bowing his Word was a Law unto her she often denied herself to gratifie him and when in her Sickness and Weakness he mentioned her Case in particular unto God in his Prayer the Duty being ended she would make him Courtesie and Thank him In case of his absence she would pray with her Family Morning and Evening the like she would do in his Presence in case of his Sickness and Inability to perform the Duty himself Her Modesty and Chastity were rare and remarkable but fitter to be conceived by those which know what belongs to them than to be expressed in Words for there is a Conjugal as well as a Virginal and Vidual Chastity In case of her Husband's Sickness she was a tender diligent and painful Nurse about him skilful and careful in making him Broaths and what else was needful for him If at any time she saw him in Passion with sweet and gentle Words she would mollifie and moderate it She was often a Spur but never a Bridle to him in those things which were good She was always well pleased with such Habitations as in their many Removes he provided for her and with such Apparel and Diet as his Means which was sometimes short would allow She never grutched nor grumbled at any of those Dispensations which God's All-wise Providence carved out unto them Clark's Lives last Vol. p. 154. 13. Madam de Saint Blanker Wife to the late magnanimous Mareschal de Biron was Visited by a Lady of great Birth who brought with her very goodly Works of Silk which she and her Daughters had wrought in Samplers She brought with her also one of her Children that danced delicately and played sweetly on the Gittern whom she shewed to the Lady Mareschal that she and her Children should learn to spend their time in the like delightful Exercises Madam Mareschal made her Answer That she could not devise any better Works Exercises wherein to instruct her Sons and Daughters that in the Fear of God and good Means whereby their Hearts would become magnanimous to do Service for their King according as their Father had formerly done And indeed all the Male-Children issuing of her
that had any Children whom they were willing to have taught English and to Read and Write and to learn the Catechism and where he met with a competent Number he enquired for fit Persons to instruct them a Man for the Boys and a Woman for the Girls and agreed with them as afore for a Penny or Two-pence a Week which he undertook to pay It was a great Work incumbent upon Mr. Gouge not only to have poor Children taught to Read and Write and to be carefully instructed in the Principles of Religion but the Persons of grown Age the Poor especially should be furnished with necessary Helps and Means of Knowledge as the Bible and other good Books in their own Language among which were The Practice of Piety The Church Catechism The Duty of Man with some other pious and useful Treatises of which he caused a great Number to be Translated and Printed and to be sent down to all the chief Towns in Wales to be sold at easie Rates to those that were able to buy them and to be freely given to such Poor as were not able In both these Designs through the Blessing of God upon his unwearied Endeavours he found very great and good Success for by the large and bountiful Contributions which chiefly by his Industry and prudent Application were obtained from charitable Persons of all Ranks and Conditions from some of the Nobility and Gentry of Wales and of the Neighbouring Counties and of several of that Quality in and about London as also from some of the Reverend Bishops and Clergy and from the Inexhausted Fountain of Charity the City of London led on and encouraged by the most bountiful Example of the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen to all which he constantly added Two Thirds of his Estate which was very considerable I say by all these together there were every Year Eight hundred and sometimes a Thousand poor Children Educated as afore is expressed And by his Example and Perswasions with the Magistrates in all the chief Towns in Wales he prevailed with them to maintain and bring up at their own Charges the like Number of poor Children and under his Inspection and Care He also gave a very great Number of Books afore spoken of both in the Welch and in the English Tongues to such of the poorer sort as were unable to buy and willing to read and make use of them But that which was the greatest Work of all and amounted indeed to a mighty Charge was this He procured a new and very fair Impression of the Bible and Liturgy of the Church of England in the Welch Tongue to the Number of Eight thousand One thousand whereof were freely given to the Poor and the rest were sent to the Cities and principal Towns in Wales to be sold to the Rich at very reasonable and low Prizes viz. at Four Shillings a piece well bound and Clasped which was much cheaper than any English Bible that was of so fair a Print and Paper was ever sold for See the Narrative of his Life 2. For the Highlands in Scotland The Honourable Robert Boyle Esq commiserating the Ignorance of the poor Highlanders agreed with one Mr. W. Hewsdon M. A. formerly of Edinburgh for 10 l. and the Defraying of all his Charges to make a Journey into those Parts and procure a fit Person to Translate for him the New Testament Psalter and Church Catechism into Irish who accordingly went and procured one Mr. Kirk for the purpose The Translation being finished and Printed at Mr. Boyle's Charge he with Mr. Kirk made a Journey into those Highlands dispersed the Books according to Discretion Mr. Kirk stayed there many Years 'till about a Year or two ago he died there but not 'till he had seen the great Success of the Translation and his own Pains amongst them Insomuch that tho' before they had not any Books of Religion in their own Language yet in a short time many Schools were set up and so greedy were the People to learn the Contents of these new Books that in the Schools near Port O Kirk Seventeen of the Scholars turned Masters and so bred Seventeen Scholars more for the East West and North Highlands old People redeeming their time from their ordinary Labour to get Knowledge and in two Years and a half they came ordinarily to Church with their Psalters in their Hand viz. to South-End in Kentaire to the North of Sunderland in Kaithness Backham c. where there hath been a Sermon every Lord's-Day since 1684 and a Lecture on a Week-Day There are Schools Erected for the Teaching of Latin Greek and Hebrew People very industrious to learn a great Emendation of Manners the People extreamly thankful to God Almighty for raising up such a one as Mr. Boyle to distribute his Charity among them I am informed there is a Printed Relation of this Great Work and the Success of it but not being able to procure it I am satisfied with this Account of it signed with the aforesaid Mr. Hewsdon's own Hand and attested by Sir Peter Pett 3. For the East-Indians in the Isle Formosa near China Mr. Robert Junius late of Delpht in Holland was Nominated by the Honoured and Pious Senate of the famous Expedition of the Vnited Provinces for the Conversion of the Eastern Indians and particularly in Formosa who accordingly undertook the Charge went over to the Place bestowed much Pains in laying the Ground-work and Principles of Religion amongst them so that of Persons grown up Adult in that Isle of Formosa 5900 of both Sexes gave up their Names to Christ and professing their Faith and giving fit Answers to Questions propounded out of the Word of God were baptized by him He set up School-masters to instruct others and gained Six hundred Scholars to Read and Write collected the chief Heads of Religion and composed several Prayers and translated certain Psalms into the Formosan Language this in the Northern Parts mostly but in the Southern also he planted Churches in Three and twenty Towns and promoted the Worship of the True God At last having set divers Pastors over them being grown weak and unserviceable in Body and desirous to see his Aged Mother and Native Country he returned home again This Narration is Published in Latin by Casp Sabellius and prefixed to his Book called Antidotum Ambitionâ—â— and Printed at the Charge of J. Jansonius Amsterdam and attested by several others See the Narrative published at London 1650. 4. Foro the Indians in New-England Mr. Winslow in several Relations gives this following Account First Time Octob. 28. 1646. Four of us saith he having sought God went according to Appointment to the Wigwam or Tent made of Boughs and Mats of Waaubon an Indian Governour who had given up his Eldest Son before to be Educated by the English in the Knowledge of GOD where we found many Indians gathered together from all Quarters to learn of us the Knowledge of GOD.
undutiful and irregular in his Conversation and therefore his Father being grieved at it left with one Mrs. Wilson a Sails-man in London 40 l. per Annum upon this Condition That if his Son did forsake his evil Courses and become an honest Man he should then give him the Estate if not he should never let him have it After the Father's Decease Mr. Baines reformed mightily and became eminently pious and devout Mr. Wilson falling sick sends for him and desires him to pray with him which Mr. Baines did every savourily upon which the good Gentleman told him of the 40 l. per Annum which his Father had left with him and so faithfully delivered up those Writings of the Agreement which had passed betwixt his Father and him And being like to leave behind him a Wife and two Children he intreated Mr. Baines to be a Friend to them And accordingly after Mr. Wilson's Death to Discharge his Trust and approve himself grateful he married his Widow Mr. Clark in his Life Here was a Son that indeed was not dutiful to his Father in his first Years that would not go when his Father bid him go but afterwards repented and went and accordingly he fared for tho' the Estate came not to him presently yet afterwards it came CHAP. LXXVI Present Retribution to the Peaceable and Quiet BLessed saith our Saviour are the meek for they shall inherit the Earth and again Blessed are the Peace-makers for they shall be called the Children of God And 't is certain a Meekness and Quietness of Spirit doth mightily contribute to the Health of our Bodies the Comfort of our Minds and a peaceable and sweet Enjoyment of the good things of this Life The Christian Religion says a learned Man Dr. Stillingfleet now Bishop of Worcester in his Sermon upon Phil. 3. v. 16. doth lay the greatest Obligations on Mankind to Peace and Unity by the strictest Commands the highest Examples and the most prevailing Arguments yet so much have the Passions and Interests of Men overlay'd the Sense of their Duty that as nothing ought to be more in our Wishes so nothing seems more remote from our Hopes then the universal Peace of the Christian World Not that there is any impossibility in the thing or any considerable difficulty if all Men were such Christians as they ought to be but as long as Men pursue their several Factions and Designs under the colour and pretence of Zeal for Religion if they did not find Names and Parties ready framed that were suitable to their Ends the difference of their Designs would make them So that 'till mens Corruptions are mortified and their Passions subdued to a greater degree then the World hath yet found them it is vain to expect a state of Peace and Tranquility in the Church We need not go far from home for a sufficient Evidence of this for although our differences are such as the wiser Protestants abroad not only condemn but wonder at them yet it hath hitherto puzzled the wisest Persons among us to find out ways to compose them not so much from the distance of mens Opinions and Practices as the strength of their Prejudices and Inclinations Thus far Dr. Stillingfleet I now proceed to Instances of Present Retribution to the Peaceable and Quiet 1. Bazil the Great after a difference had happened between him and Eusebius Bishop of Caesaria upon danger of a Persecution from Valens the Arrian Emperour went to him and was reconciled and afterwards upon Eusebius's Death was chosen Bishop in his room Clark's Marr. of Eccl. Hist 2. Ambrose Lieutenant and Consul of Millain upon the Death of Auxentius Bishop of that See going to appease an Uproar that was then risen about the Election of another Bishop with his excellent Arguments so appeased the Rage of the heady Multitude they with one Voice cried up Ambrose for their Bishop upon which without any further deliberation he was by the Bishops there present installed into the Office tho' at that time he was but a Catechumenist and unbaptized Ibid. Another time Justina the Empress going about to banish Ambrose the People bore such a singular love to him that they withstood her Act and hindred it and besides just at the same time a Rebellion was raised in Britain by Maximus which cooled her Spleen and broke her Purpose concerning it Ibid. 3. There is among the Advertisements of the late News-Letters a Book mentioned with this Title The happiness of a quiet Mind both in Youth and Old Age with the way to attain it In a Discourse occasioned by the Death of Mrs. Martha Hasselborn who died March 13. 1695 in the Ninety fifth Year of her Age. By Tim. Rogers M. A. c. I suppose by the Title for I have not yet seen the Book that the Author doth ascribe the healthful Crasis of the Gentlewoman's Body and the Longevity of her Life in great measure to the quietness of her Mind but for further satisfaction I leave my Reader to consult the Book it self 4. John of Times who lived a Nestors Age and more till he was three Hundred Sixty one Years old was a Man of a contented Spirit in all Conditions of Life Wanley's Wonders l. 1. c. 31. 5. Mr. Phil. Henry of whom I have made mention before was a Man of a very sedate even Temper a calm Spirit a great Peace-maker in his Neighbourhood and accordingly he lived loved and died with the universal Lamentation of People of all sorts And which perhaps ought not to be omited in the consideration after the enjoyment of a kind and loving Wife who brought him a good and plentiful Estate and seeing his Children all disposed of with his consent and to content of all Persons concerned and they walking in the Truth and mutual Love one with another and his Chhildrens Children to his great Joy and Comfort I say after all these Blessings poured plentifully upon his Head with great assurance and satisfaction about his spiritual and eternal Estate he quietly with a short Sickness of about twelve Hours continuance or not much more resign'd up his Spirit into the Hands of the God of Peace 6. Mrs. Katherine Stubs obeyed the Commandment of the Apostle who biddeth Women to be silent and learn of their Husbands at home she would never suffer any Disorder or Abuse in her House to be unreproved or unreformed and so gentle was she and courteous of Nature that she was never heard to give the Lie to any in all her Life nor so much as Thou to any in Anger She was never heard to fall out with any of her Neighbours nor with the least Child that lived much less to scold or brawl And for true Love and Loyalty to her Husband and his Friends was she the rearest Paragon in the World she lived very contentedly there was never any Man or Woman that ever opened their Mouths against her And accordingly as she lived so she died peaceably and comfortable out-braving
the Temptations of Satan with great Courage praying absolutely for Death and expressing her self in such sweet Words as these Come sweet Christ Come my Lord Jesus O send thy pursuivant sweet Jesus to fetch me O sweet Jesus strengthen thy Servant and keep thy Promise Then singing a Psalm most sweetly and with a chearful Voice she desired her Husband that the 133th Psalm might be sung before her to Church See her Life CHAP. LXXVII Present Retribution to the Merciful BLessed are the Merciful for they shall obtain Mercy He that considers the poor and needy the Lord will consider him in time of trouble The Righteous is ever merciful and lendeth therefore shall his Seed be blessed If we give credit to the Doctrine of our Religion and Experience is ready to give Suffrage to the Truth of it Tho' Human Nature be much degenerate yet is not altogether without Bowels and Compassion and if it were divine Providence is not so fast asleep as to suffer ordinarily the merciful Man to be utterly forsaken 1. After what manner Compassion and Mercy doth sometimes meet with unexspected Rewards methinks is pritily represented by Vrsinus Velius in his Verses thus Englished 'A Fisher angling in a Brook ' With a strong Line and baited Hook ' When he found his wished Prey did pull ' It hapned he brought up a Skull ' Of one before drowned which imprest 'A pious Motion in his Breast ' Thinks he since I such leisure have ' Upon it I 'll bestow a Grave ' For what did unto it befal ' May chance to any of us all ' He takes it wraps it in his Coat ' And bears it to a place remote 'To bury it and then digs deep ' Because the Earth it safe should keep ' And lo in digging he espies ' Where a great heap of Treasures lies ' The Gods do never prove ingrate 'To such as others commiserate 2. Whilst Dr. Edwin Sandes remained at Shaftsburgh he was chsefly maintained by one Mr. Isaac an English Gentleman of Kent and one that suffered Exile for the same Cause of Christ who so intirely loved him that he was always more ready to give then Dr. Sandes was ready to receive so that he gave him above an hundred Marks which in those days would go further then two hundred Pounds now And Dr. Sandes afterwards returning to England and being preferred here to the Archbishoprick of York very gratefully afterwards repayed it again Mr. Clark in his Life 3. One Mr. John Lane of Horsley-down-lane Southwark in a Letter directed to us on occasion of this Undertaking desires this Passage may not go without our Remark tho' it be of an inferious Nature One Widow Wilkinson late of St. Olives Southwark being a good serious Christian and of a compassionate Soul tho' very poor herself coming one Evening from a Week-days Lecture found several People beginning and amongst the rest a Woman with several Children professing that she had not one Farthing to buy a Candle with to light her Children to Bed The poor Widow observing the concernedness of the Woman and that most of the People were passed by without bestowing any Charity upon her was so touched in her Bowels with the consideration of her case that she had but one Half-penny in the World nor any Candle at home to light her self to Bed with yet she gave her that and going home she found a Candle lying on some Stall in St. Tooley's street 4. I knew a Minister about twenty Years ago or less That being sent for to visit a sick Woman of his Parish found her complain more of her temporal then spiritual Wants and insist more upon her Poverty then either her disease of Body or distemperature of Soul the Minister was pinched with the consideration and moved in his Bowels but being withal so straitned in Purse at that time that he had not above six Pence in all the World after some debate with his own Thoughts he gave her that little all which he had rather chusing to put himself upon the divine Providence than give the poor Woman occasion of thinking hardly of him or the Gospel for his sake Afterwards he return'd home and tells the Family where he was a Boarder in a free and jesting manner what a poor Parson they had for such was the natural temper of the Man At going to Bed one of the Family comes privately to him and offers him three or four Shillings to keep his Pocket with and the next Morning coming from Church being Nov. 5. a Stranger of another Parish famed for his Covetousness came to him and as a Free-will-Offering gave him half a Crown and this being taken notice of and communicated from one Neighbour to another as the Sign and Token of a compassionate Man the Parishoners were so affected with it that they loaded him with extraordinary Kindnesses afterward as a People resolved that he should never want whilst he lived amongst them his Income at that time being not above twenty Pounds a Year This I can assure my Reader to be true of my own personal Knowledge See more in the Chapter of Present Retribution to the Charitable 5. Androdus a Dacian standing ready in the Arena and having a Lyon let our upon him received no hurt for the Lyon came sawning upon him and caressed him and he likewise stroaked the Lyon and made much of him and after the loud Shouts of the People being ask'd How this came to pass he let them know That being with his Master in Africa to get rid of his hard Service he had fled into a Cave whither this Lyon came with a Splinter in his Foot and held up his wounded Paw to him to cure which having performed and healed his Foot the Lyon kept him and provided Meat for him Three Years and when he came away the Lyon followed him so far that he was taken and brought to Rome and that by the further Cruelty of his Master he was now accused and condemned to the Beasts where they found him Whereupon his Liberty was granted him and the Lyon given him for his Pains with which he afterwards got his Living every one being desirous to see the Lyon that was the Man's Host and the Man that was the Lyon'd Surgeon Dr. Brown's Travels p. 211. This Story I heard a worthy Bishop of our Church not long ago relate at Table for credible Somewhat like this is to be found in the Life of St. Hierome of a Lyon that came one Morning into his School with a Thorn in his Foot which when St. Hierome had pulled out the Lyon waited upon him went to Posture with some Asses that brought Fuel to the School every Morning with many other Circumstances which I forbear to relate because I look upon it as fabulous CHAP. LXXVIII Earnest of a Future Retribution GRotius indeed saith That Austin and other Fathers teach that we are certain of the Reward if we persevere and this is the Faith which cannot
a Staff only And now he is greatly increased in Strength feeds moderately sleeps well and his Intellects and Faculties are become exceeding clear and strong His Wife behaved herself toward him all the while he lay under this great Affliction with great Care and Affection and by an honest and industrious course of Life supported him and his Children Attested by Rich. Parr D. D. of Camerwel Tho. Gale D. D. Will. Perry M. A. N. Paget M. D. Elias Ashmole And. Needham Curate of Lambeth c. 6. In the Year 1676 about the thirteenth or fourteenth of this Month October in the Night between one and two of the Clock Jesch Claes being a Dutch Woman of Amsterdam who for fourteen Years had been Lame of both legs one of them being dead and without feeling so that she could not go but creep upon the Ground or was carried in peoples Arms as a Child being in Bed with her Husband who was a Boatman she was three times pulled by her Arm with which she awaked and cryed out O Lord What may this be Hereupon she heard an Answer in plain Words Be not afraid I come in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Your Malady which hath for many Years been upon you shall cease and it shall be given you from God Almighty to walk again But keep this to your self till further Answer Whereupon she cryed aloud O Lord that I had a Light that I might know what this is Then had she this Answer There needs no Light the Light shall be given you from God Then came Light all over the Room and she saw a beautiful Youth about ten Years of Age with curled yellow Hair Clothed in White to the Feet who went from the Beds-head to the Chimney with a Light which a little after vanished Hereupon did there shoot something or gush from her Hip or diffuse it self through her Leg as a Water into her great Toe where she did find Life rising up felt it with her Hand crying out Lord give me my Feeling now which I have not had in so many Years And further she continued crying and praying to the Lord according to her weak Measure Yet she continued that Day Wednesday and the next Day Thursday as before till Evening at six a Clock at which time she sate at the Fire dressing the Food Then came as like a rushing Noise in both her Ears with which it was said to her Stand your going is given you again Then did she immediately stand up that had so many Years crept and went to the Door Her Husband meeting her being exceedingly afraid drew back In the mean while she cryed out My dear Husband I can go again The Man thinking it was a Spirit drew back saying You are not my Wife His Wife taking hold of him said My dear Husband I am the self-same that hath been Married these thirty Years to you The Almighty God hath given me my Going again But her Husband being amazed drew back to the side of the Room till at last she claspt her Hand about his Neck and yet he doubted and said to his Daughter Is this your Mother She answered Yes Father this we plainly see I had seen her go also before you came in This Person dwells upon Princes Island in Amsterdam This Account was sent from a Dutch Merchant procured by a Friend for Dr. R. Cudworth and contains the main Particulars that occur in the Dutch Printed Narrative which Monsieur Van Helmont brought over with him to my Lady Conway at Ragley who having enquired upon the spot when he was there at Amsterdam though of a genious not at all credulous of such Relations found the thing to be really true As also â—hilippus Lambergius in a Letter to Dr. Henry Moor sent this Testimony touching the Party cured That she was always reputed a very honest good Woman and that he believed there was no Fraud at all in that Business Glanvile's Saducism Triumph p. 427. 7. In this place may be accounted the strange way of curing the Struma or Scrophula commonly called the Evil which took its Derivation first of all from King Edward the Confessor and hath in after Ages been effected by the Kings of England and of France Concerning which take only this Story discoursing upon a time with Mr. Philip Caryll of Shipley in Sussex a Roman Catholick concerning Miracles done in this last Age in this Nation he produced this for an Instance That his Son being affected with that Distemper he having no Faith in the case was earnestly perswaded to address himself to King Charles the Second for a Touch of his Hand which having procured his Son was restored to perfect Health which he declared to me calling his Son into company and shewing him perfectly healed 8. Galen had a Man in Cure that had an Artery in his Ankle-bone half cut in sunder whereby he lost all his Blood before any Remedy could be applyed to him He writeth That he was advertised in his Sleep by some God or Angel that he should cut the Artery quite in sunder and the Ends would retire to each side and so lock together again When he awaked he executed what his Dream had represented to him and by that means cured the Man Treas of Ancient and Modern Times l. 5. p. 475. 9. A young Woman Married but without Children had a Disease about her Jaws and under her Cheek like unto Kernels and the Disease so corrupted her Face with Stench that she could scarce without great shame speak unto any Man This Woman was admonished in her Sleep to go to King Edward and get him to wash her Face with Water brought unto him and she should be whole To the Court she came and the King hearing of the matter disdained not to undertake it but having a Basin of Water brought unto him he dipped his Hand therein and washed the Womans Face and touched the diseased Part oftentimes sometimes also signing it with the Sign of the Cross When he had thus washed it the hard Crust or Skin was softned the Tumors dissolved and drawing his Hand by divers of the Holes out thence came divers little Worms whereof and of corrupt Matter and Blood they were full The Kings still pressed it with his Hand to bring forth the Corruption and endured the Stench of it until by such pressing he had brought forth all the Corruption This done he commanded her a sufficient Allowance every day for all things necessary until she had received perfect Health which was within a Week after and whereas she was ever before Barren within one Year she had a Child by her Husband This Disease hath since been called the Kings Evil and is frequently cured by the Touch of the Kings of England Stew's Annals p. 98. 10. Sir John Cheeke was once one of the Tutors to King Edward the Sixth afterwards Secretary of State much did the Kingdom value him but more the King for being once desperately
living in the same Family with David Wright we were Eye and Ear-witnesses of the Truth of the foregoing Particulars concerning him and in confirmation of the Verity thereof we have hereto put our Hands both Sons to Wright 's Mistress Slape Drever Thomas Drever Thomas Child Joseph Morgan Ibid. See more in the Chapters of The Existence of Good Angels and Present Retribution to the Devout and Praying c. 13. We have this Account from a credible Hand viz. That about two Years ago the Apprentice of Mr. Welby in East-Smithfield was taken Dumb but recovered by the help of a neighbouring Doctor After a few days he lost his Speech again but by the direction of a second Doctor recovered it once more but falling into a third Relapse the Physicians could give him no help About two Months the young Man had a Vision in his Dream of a Man that advised him to take the Fat of a Lamb and anoint himself therewith and apply the Heart hot to his Throat he had the same Apparition a second time upon which Physicians and Divines were consulted who thought it a Delusion of the Devil and disswaded him from it The Apparition coming the third time told him 'T was no Delusion and as a Token that it was not he should lose the Vse of his left Arm which fell out accordingly and he advised him to use the Remedy upon the â—4th of August and to take the Air for a Month or it would be worse for him Upon which he went to High-Gate and applying the Remedy recovered his Speech next day and had the Use of his Arm restored Postscript to the Flying-Post Aug. 22. 1696. 14. Sozomen tells us That the Queen of Iberia being taken with an incurable Disease was miraculously restored to perfect Health by a Christian Woman at the Invocation of the Name of Christ I shall give my Reader the Story at length out of Socrates Scholasticus There was saith he a certain Godly and Devout Woman taken Captive of the Iberians a People dwelling nigh the Euxine Sea this Woman being a Captive and having her Conversation with Barbarians gave herself wholly to Godliness for she exercised very much the Discipline of Continency using a severe kind of Abstinence and applying herself wholly to fervent Prayer which when the Barbarians perceived they wondered at the strangeness of the Act. It fell out that the King's Son of very tender Years fell into a dangerous Disease the Queen after that Countrey-manner sent the Child to other Women for Physick to try if Experience had taught them any Medicine that might Cure that Malady But when the Nurse had carried the Child about to every Woman I suppose he means every neighbouring Woman that made any Profession of Skill that way and could procure Remedy of none at length he is brought to this Captive Woman who in the presence of many more Women who without the Application of any other Salve or Medicine took the Child laid her Sack-cloth upon him and said only these Words Christ which healed many will also heal this Infant When she had uttered these Words and prayed unto God for his Aid and Assistance the Child forthwith recovered and from that time enjoyed perfect Health The fame of this Act was bruted abroad among all the Barbarian Wives and at length came to the Queen's Ear so that the Captive Woman was much talked of A while after the Queen herself fell sick and this simple Woman was sent for she refused to go lest peradventure some Violence contrary to the Modesty of her Nature should be offered to her the Queen then was conveyed to her she practised the like as she had done before unto the Child the Queen is rid of her Disease thanks the Woman for the Cure but the Woman answered 'T is not my doing but Christ's the Son of God and Maker of Heaven and Earth She exhorts the Queen to call upon him and acknowledge him for the True God The King marveling at this strange Cure commanded that the Woman should be bountifully rewarded Who made Answer That she wanted no Riches but esteemed Godliness a great Treasure and that the King should receive a precious Jewel if he would acknowledge that God whom she professed with these Words she returned back the Rewards The King laid up all these sayings in his Breast the next day as the King went a Hunting the Hills and Forest where his Game lay were over-cast with dark Clouds and a thick Mist the Game was uncertain and doubtful the way stop'd and intricate the King being at his Wits end not knowing what was best to do calls upon the Gods whom he accustomed to serve but they stood him in no stead it came to his mind to think upon the God of the Captive Woman unto him he turns and cries for Help as soon as he had Prayed unto him the Cloud was dissolved and the Mist scattered and the King wondring returns home to his Wife and told what had happened Immediately he fends for the Captive Woman and after some Instructions from her turns Christian erects a House of Prayer and makes a Proclamation to his People to receive the same Faith Sozom. l. 2. c. 6. Socrat. Schol. l. 5. c. 16. Ruffin l. 1. c. 10. Theodorat l. 1. c. 23. Centur. Magd. cent 4. c. 13. Ruffinus saith The King of the Iberian 's Name was Bacurius In the Preface of a French Treatise Entituled Harmonie des Propheties anciennes avec les Modernes which was Printed at Cologn in the Year 1687 I find this very wonderful Passage which I choose to mention in this place as contributing to the Explication of them that are to follow Madam Mingot the Widow of a Chyrurgion of the City of Caen in Normandy had several unaccountable Revelations made unto her that she kept wholly secret but there was one which by a Miracle that accompanied it was put beyond the possibility of Secrecy She was afflicted with a Palsey eight or ten Years together in her Limbs which rendred her altogether Impotent and her Impotency was not the less for her being fourscore Years of Age. But one Day when she was at Prayer before the God of Heaven for the Deliverance of his Church from the Confusions then upon it in the heat and heighth of the French Persecution it was audibly said unto her Thy Prayers are heard the afflicted Church shall be speedily and gloriously delivered but it has yet something more to suffer She was commanded herewithal to make this Revelation known unto her Brethren and that they might give credit unto her Words it was added The Lord has restored thy Health and Strength unto thee She was immediately and miraculously Healed of her Malady and she walked her self and carried unto her Pastors the Account of this Revelation They wondered at the Miracle and would fain have concealed the Prophecy but the Prophecy could not possibly be hid because of the famous Miracle that attended it
he hath threatned Diseases and Shortness of Life to them that are careless of his Laws and told us That the Wicked shall not live out half their Days And in order hereunto he permits Satan oftentimes to pour out his Malice and Venom upon Mankind partly by Witchcraft and preternatural Strokes as in the case of Job who was afflicted with Boyls and Botches vexations and noisome to a Proverb and in the Instances of the Demoniackâ— in the Gospel who were sorely tormented with Diseases and strange Fits and Convulsions so that they were rent and tore and tertured at upon a Wrack or Gibbet and partly by malicious Injections and Temptations provoked either to Presumption or Despair and all the ill Effects and Consequences of those grand Precipicies of Human Nature And in truth the end of all sinful Courses is Death 1. Langius tells a memorable and true Story of one Vlricus Neusesser who being grievously tormented with a Pain in his side suddenly felt under his Skin which yet was whole an Iron Nail as he thought and so it proved when the Chyrurgion had cut it out But nevertheless his great Torments continued which enraged him so that he cut his own Throat The third Day when he was carried out to be Buried Eucharius Rosenbader and Johannes ab Actenstet a great company of People standing about them dissected the Corps and ripping up the Ventricle found a round piece of Wood of a good length four Knives some even and sharp others indented like a Saw with other two rough pieces of Iron a span long there was also a Ball of Hear This hapned at Fugenstal 1539. Antid against Atheism l. 3. c. 5. 2. Wierus tells also of one that was possessed of which himself was an Eye-witness thâ—â— vomited up pieces of Cloth with Pins stuck in them Nails Needles and such like stuff which he contends doth not come from the Stomach but by a prestigious Slight of the Devil is only ingested into the Mouth Ibid. 3. Cardan relates the like of a good simple country Fellow and a Friend of his that had been a long time troubled with vomiting up Glass Iron Nails and Hair and that at that time he â—old Cardan of it he was not so perfectly restored but that something yet crashed in his Belly as if there were a Bag of Glass in it Ibid. 4. There were thirty Children strangely handled at Amsterdam 1566. of the Truth whereof Wierus professeth himself very well assured They were Tortured very much and cast very violent upon the Ground but when they arose out of their Fit knew nothing but thought they had been only asleep For the remedying of this Mischief they got the help of Physicians Wizards and Exorcists but without success only while the Exorcists were reading the Children vomited up Needles Thimbles shreds of Cloth pieces of Pots Glass Hair and other things of the like nature Ibid. 5. Now the Advantage I would make of those Relations is this That these Effects Extraordinary and Supernatural being so palpable and permanent they are not at all liable to such subtersuges as Atheists usually betake themselves to as of Melancholy and disturbance of Phansie in those that profess they see such strange things or any Fraud or Imposture in those that act Ibid. 6. This following Relation of a strange Witchcraft discovered in the Village Mehra in Sweedland was taken out of the publick Register of the Lords Commissioners appointed by his Majesty the King of Sweeden to examine the whole Business in the Years of our Lord 1669 and 1670. The News of this Witchcraft coming to the King's Ear his Majesty was pleased to appoint Commissioners some of the Clergy and some of the Laity to make a Journey to the Town afore-said and to examine the whole Business and accordingly the Examination was ordered to be on the 13th of August and the Commissioners met on the 12th Instant in the said Village at the Persons House to whom both the Minister and several People of Fashion complained with Tears in their Eyes of the miserable Condition they were in and therefore begged of them to think of some way whereby they might be delivered from that Calamity They gave the Commissioners very strange Instances of the Devils Tyranny among them how by the help of Witches he had drawn some hundreds of Children to him and made them subject to his Power how he hath been seen to go in a visible Shape through the Country and appeared daily to the People how he had wrought upon the poorer sort by presenting them with Meat and Drink and this way allured them to himself with other Circumstances to be mentioned hereafter The Inhabitants of the Village added with very great Lamentations That though their Children had told all and themselves saught God very earnestly by Prayer yet they were carried away by him And therefore begged of the Lords Commissioners to root out this hellish Crew that they might regain their former Rest and Quietness and the rather because the Children which used to be carried away in the Countrey or District of Elfdale since some Witches had been Burnt there remained unmolested That Day i. e. the 13th of August being the last Humiliation-day instituted by Authority for removing of this Judgment the Commissioners went to Church where there appeared a considerable Assembly both of Young and Old The Children could read most of them and sing Psalms and so could the Women though not with any great Zeal or Fervor There were Preached two Sermons that Day in which the miserable Case of those People that suffered themselves to be deluded by the Devil was laid open and these Sermons were at last concluded with very fervent Prayer The publick Worship being over all the People of the Town were called together to the Persons House near three Thousand of them Silence being commanded the King's Commission was read Publickly in the Hearing of them all and they were charged under very great Penalties to conceal nothing of what they knew and to say nothing but the Truth those especially who were guilty that the Children might be delivered from the Clutches of the Devil They all promised Obedience the guilty feignedly but the guiltless weeping and crying bitterly On the 14th of August the Commissioners met again consulting how they might withstand this dangerous Flood after long deliberation an Order also coming from his Majesty they did resolve to execute such as the Matter of Fact could be proved upon Examination being made there were discovered no less than three Score and Ten in the Village afore-said three and Twenty of which freely confessing their Crimes were condemned to die the rest one pretending she was with Child and the other denying and pleading not guilty were sent to Fahluna where most of them were afterwards Executed Fifteen Children which likewise confessed that they were engaged in this Witchery died as the rest Six and Thirty of them between nine and sixteen Years of Age
Second Son the Lord Francis was likewise miserably tortured by their wicked Contrivances and his Daughter the Lady Catherine was oft in great danger of her Life by their barbarous Dealings with strange Fits c. The Honourable Parents bore all these Afflictions with Christian Magnanimity little suspecting they proceeded from Witchcraft 'till it pleased God to discover the Villanous Practices of these Women whom the Devil now left to fall into the Hands of Justice for Murdering the Innocent and to remain notorious Examples of God's Judgment to future Ages They were apprehended about Christmas in 1618. and after Examination before divers Justices of Peace who wondred at their audacious Wickedness were all Three ordered to be carried to Lincoln-Jail Joan Flower the Mother it is said called for Bread and Butter by the way and wished it might never go through her if she were guilty of that which was charged upon her and so mumbling it in her Mouth she never spake a word more but fell down and died with horrible Torture both of Soul and Body before she got to the Jail The two Daughters were Examined before Sir William Pelbam and Mr. Butler Justices of Peace Feb. 4. 1618 where Philip the youngest made the following Confession That her Mother and Sister were very malicious against the Earl of Rutland his Countess and their Children because Margaret was turned out of the Lady's Service whereupon her Sister by her Mother's Order brought from the Castle the Right-hand Glove of the Lord Henry Ross who presently rubbed it on the Back of her Spirit called Rutterkin and then put it into boyling Water after which she prickt it very often and then buried it in the Yard wishing the Lord Ross might never thrive And so her Sister Margaret continued with her Mother and she often saw her Imp Rutterkin leap on her Shoulder and suck her Neck She confest also That she often heard her Mother curse the Earl and his Lady and would thereupon boyl Blood and Feathers together using many Devilish Speeches and strange Gestures She likewise acknowledg'd That she herself had a Spirit sucking her Left-breast in the form of a White Rat which it had done for three or four Years past and that when it came first to her she gave her Soul to it who promised to do her good and to force Tho. Symson to love her if she would suffer it to suck her which she agreed to and that it had suckt her two Nights before Margaret her Sister being Examined agreed in the Confession that Philip had made of their Malice to the Earl and about the young Lord's Glove which for other Circumstances for brevity's sake I here omit 12. About the same time Joan Wilmot of Goadby a Witch was Examined by Sir Henry Hastings and Dr. Fleming Justices in Leicester-shire about the Murther of Henry Lord Ross who declared That Joan Flower told her the Earl of Rutland had dealt badly by her and had put away her Daughter and though she could not have her Will of my Lord himself yet she had sped my Lord's Son and had stricken him to the Heart c. 13. Another Witch called Ellen Green of Stathorn in Leicester-shire was Examined about that time by the same Justices who confessed That Joan Wilmot above-named came to her about six Years since and perswaded her to forsake God and betake herself to the Devil to which she consented who then called two Spirits one like a young Cat which she named Puss and the other in the shape of a Mole which she called Hiff Hiff who instantly came and Wilmot going away left them with her after which they leapt on her Shoulder the Kitling sucking her Neck under her Right-ear and the Mole under her Left in the same place after which she sent the Kitling to a Baker in the Town who had called her Witch and struck her bidding it go and Bewitch him to Death And the Mole she sent to Anne Daws of the same Town upon the same Errand because she had called her Witch Whore and Jade and within a Fortnight after they both died After which she sent them to destroy two Husbandmen named Willison and Williman who died both in ten Days these four she murâ—hered while she dwelt at Waltham When she removed to Stathorn where she now dwelt upon a Difference between her and one Patchet's Wife a Yeoman there Joan Wilmot called her to go and touch Patchet's Wife and Child which she did touching the Woman in Bed and the Child in the Midwife's Arms and then sent her Spirits to Bewitch them to Death the Woman languished a Month before she died but the Child lived only 'till next Day after she had touched it adding that Joan Wilmot had a Spirit sucking on her like a little White Dog which she saw and that she gave her Soul to the Devil to have these Spirits at Command for any mischievous purpose and suffered them to suck her constantly about the Change and Full-Moon 14. One Anne Baker a Witch was likewise Apprehâ—â—◠〈◊〉 and Examined about the same time who confessed before Sir George Mannors and Dr. Fleming 〈◊〉 of Peace That she had a Spirit like a White Dog which she called a good Spirit and that one Peak and one Dennis's Wife of Belvoir told her That the young Lord Henry was dead and that his Glove was buried in the Ground which as it wasted and rotted in like manner did the Lord's Liver rot and waste likewise 15. Margaret and Philip Flower were arraigned at the Assizes at Lincoln before Sir Henry Hobart and Sir Edward Bromley Judges whereupon their confessing themselves Actors in the Destruction of Henry Lord Ross with other damnable Practices they were Condemned and Executed at Lincoln March 11. And the rest questionless suffered according to their Deserts History of Daemons p. 140 141 c. Discov of Witchcraft c. 16. Anno Dom. 1645. There was a notable Discovery of several Witches in Essex and among others one Elizabeth Clark was accused of this horrid Crime and Informations taken against her before Sir Harbottle Grimstone and Sir Thomas Bowes Justices of Peace for that Country John Rivet of Mannintree deposed That about Christmass his Wife was taken sick and lame with such violent Fits that he verily believed her Distemper was more than natural who thereupon went to one Hovey at Hadly in Suffolk who was reckoned a cunning Woman she told him That his Wife was Cursed or Bewitcht by two Women who were her near Neighbours and that she believed she was Bewitcht by Elizabeth Clark alias Bedingfield who lived near their House and that her Mother and some of her Kindred had formerly suffered as Witches and Murtherers At the same time Matthew Hopkins of Mannintree declared upon Oath That this suspected Witch being ordered by the Justices to be watched several Nights for Discovering her wicked Practices he coming into the Room where she was with one Mr. Sterne intending not to
for Bewitching Elizabeth Durent Anne Durent Jane Booking Susan Chandler William Durent Elizabeth and Deborah Pacy and the Evidences whereon they were convicted stood upon divers particular Circumstances II. Anne Durent Susan Chandler and Elizabeth Pacy when they came into the Hall to give Instructions for the drawing the Bills of Indictment they fell into strange and violent Fits so that they were unable to give in their Depositions not only then but also during the whole Assizes William Durent being an Infant his Mother swore That Amy Duny looking after her Child one Day in her absence did at her return confess That she had given Suck to the Child tho' she were an Old Woman Whereat when Durent expressed her Displeasure Duny went away with Discontents and Menaces The Night after the Child fell into strange and sad Fits wherein it continued for divers Weeks One Dr. Jacob advised her to hang up the Child's Blanket in the Chimney-corner all Day and at Night when she went to put the Child into it if the found any thing in it then to through it without fear into the Fire Accordingly at Night there fell a great Toad out of the Blanker which ran up and down the Hearth A Boy catch'd it and held it in the Fire with the Tongs where it made an horrible Noise and flash'd like to Gunpowder with a Report like that of a Pistol whereupon the Toad was no more to be seen The next Day a Kinswoman of Duny's told the Deponent That her Aunt was all grievously scorch'd with the Fire and the Deponent going to her House found her in such a Condition Duny told her She might thank her for it but she should live to see some of her Children dead and herself upon Crutches But after the burning of the Toad this Child recovered This Deponent further testified That her Daughter Elizabeth being about the Age of ten Years was taken in like manner as her first Child was and in her Fits complained much of Amy Duny and said That she did appear to her and afflict her in such manner as the former One Day she found Amy Duny in her House and thrusting her out of Doors Duny said You need not be so angry your Child won't live long and within three Days the Child died The Deponent added That she herself not long after was taken with such a Lameness in both her Legs that she was forced to go upon Crutches and she was now in Court upon them It was remarkable that immediately upon the Jury's bringing in Duny Guilty Durent was restored unto the Use of her Limbs and went home without her Crutches III. As for Elizabeth and Deborah Pacy and aged Eleven Years the other Nine the Elder being in Court was made utterly sensless during all the time of the Trial or at least speechless by the Direction of the Judge Duny was privately brought to Elizabeth Pacy and she touched her Hand whereupon the Child without so much as seeing her suddenly leap'd up and flew upon the Prisoner the Younger was too ill to be brought into the Assizes But Samuel Pacy their Father testified That his Daughter Deborah was taken with a sudden Lameness and upon the Grumbling of Amy Duny for being denied something where this Child was then sitting the Child was taken with an extream Pain in her Stomach like the pricking of Pins and shrieking at a dreadful manner like a Whelp rather than a Rational Creature The Physitians could not conjecture the Cause of the Distemper but Amy Duny being a Woman of ill Fame and the Child in Fits crying out of Amy Duny as affrighting her with the Apparition of her Person the Deponent suspected her and procured her to be set in the Stocks While she was there she said in the hearing of two Witnesses Mr. Pacy keeps a great stir about his Child but let him stay 'till he has done as much by his Children as I have done by mine And being asked what she had done to her Children she answered She had been fain to open her Childs Mouth with a Tap to give it Victuals The Deponent added That within two Days the Fits of his Daughters were such that they could not preserve either Life or Breath without the help of Tap and that the Children cry'd out of Amy Duny and of Rose Cullender as afflicting them with her Apparition IV. The Fits of the Children were various They would sometimes be lame on one side sometimes on â—other Sometimes very sore sometimes restored unto their Limbs and then Deaf or Blind or Dumb for a long while together Upon the Recovery of their Speech they would Cough extreamly and with much Flegm they would bring up crooked Pins and at one time a Two-penny Nail with a very broad Head Commonly at the end of every Fit they would cast up a Pin. When the Children read they could not pronouce the Name of Lord or Jesus or Christ but would fall into Fits and say Amy Duny says I must not use that Name When they came to the Name of Satan or Devil they would clap their Fingers upon the Book crying out This bites but it makes me speak right well The Children in their Fits would often cry out There stands Amy Duny or Rose Cullender And they would afterwards relate That these Witches appearing before them threatned them that if they told of what they saw or heard they would torment them more than ever they did before V. Margaret Arnold the Sister to Mr. Pacy testifi'd unto the like Sufferings being upon the Children at her House whether her Brother had removed them And that sometimes the Children only would see things like Mice run about the House and one of them suddenly snap'd one with the Tongs and threw it into the Fire where it screeched out like a Rat. At another time a thing like a Bee flew at the Face of the younger Child the Child fell into a Fit and at last Vomited up a Two-penny Nail with a broad Head affirming That the Bee brought this Nail and forced it into her Mouth The Child would in like manner be assauted with Flies which brought crooked Pins unto her and made her first swallow them and then vomit them She one Day caught an invisible Mouse and throwing it into the Fire it flash'd like to Gunpowder None besides the Child saw the Mouse but every one saw the Flash She also declared out of her Fits That in them Amy Duny much tempted her to destroy herself VI. As for Anne Durent her Father testified That upon a Discontent of Rose Cullender his Daughter was taken with much Illness in her Stomach and great and sore Pains like the pricking of Pins and then Swooning Fits from which recovering she declared She had seen the Apparition of Rose Cullender threatning to torment her She likewise Vomited up divers Pins The Maid was present at Court but when Cullender looked upon her she fell into such Fits as made her
stretching out her Fingers to the full length used to swear by these Ten Bloody Bones This Woman had a Son called Stephen Maurice who was born with two Thumbs upon a Hand and he likewise marrying had several Children born in like manner with two Thumbs a-piece upon each Hand all which supernumerary Thumbs she in a bloody manner with her own Hand cut off This Woman assisted my Mother as Midwife when she brought me into the World W. T. 6. Sir Roger Mosson of Mosson in Flint-shire had a Coal-pit sunk pretty deep by some Workmen who discovered a good Mine of Coal but meeting with a Fire-damp were so affrighted that they deserted the Work At last a bold Fellow that was a notorious Swearer came and undertook to go on with it He with two or three more Men goes down into the Pit leaving the other Men near the Eye thereof whilst himself with a Candle lighted goes forward but presently was so attacked with the Fire-damp that the other Men were struck down with it in great amazement and had much adoe to recover themselves and an Engine of a vast bulk and weight that stood near the Eye of the Pit was carried up into the Air as high as the tops of some Trees that grew upon a Hill near adjoyning and the Man himself that went foremost with the Candle miserably and irrecoverably perished This I had out of the Philosophical Transactions printed some Years ago but in what Year particularly I remember not having not the Pamphlet by me at present 7. Anno Christi 1649. about the end of June there was a Soldier at Ware going with some others to wash himself in the River but finding the Water shallow he asked if there was no deeper a Place for him to swim in Some told him that there was not far off a deep Pit but that it was very dangerous and therefore advised him to take heed how he went into it To whom he answered God damn me if it be as deep as Hell I will go into it which accordingly he did but immediately sunk to the bottom never rising again but was there drowned Attested by good Witnesses Clark's Mirr c. 129. 8. One Mr. Barrington a great Swearer going forth a Hunting or Hawking on a Lord's-Day or a Festival and not speeding to his Mind came to an Ale-house at Puckrych Five Miles from Ware in the way to Cambridge and called for Drink beginning to swear after his unhappy Custom saying By God's Blood this is an unlucky Day and presently after he bled at the Nose which so vexed him that he began to rail and blaspheme the Name of God swearing Passion Wounds Flesh Nails Blood and Body c. till at last he proceeded farther to bleed at the Ears Eyes Wrists joynts of his Hands and of all his Body at the Navil and Fundament in a wonderful great Quantity and Streams of Blood blaring out his Tongue in a fearful manner as black as Pitch so that no Person durst come near him This continued faith my Author till the Devil and Death made an end of him Next day the Body was laid on a Cart carried to Stondâ—n and buried in the High-way Mr. Batman in his Doom warning to the Judgment p. 418. Who saith he had it from Mr. Barrington's wife afterward married to Mr. Carington in Cambridge CHAP. CVII Divine Judgments upon Sabbath-breakers AS God requires us to Remember the Sabbath-Day so as to keep it Holy so himself Remembers them that dare to Profane it The Child that gathered Sticks on that Day among the Israelites in the early Times of the Mosaick Oeconomy was by the Order of God himself stoned to Death And as he began to shew his Severity betimes in the Punishing of this Sin so he hath continued to the present Age to shew his great Displeasure against it insomuch that I think King James was much in the right when he caused his Declaration for Sports upon that Day to be torn out of his printed Volume of Writings where it is not now to be seen 1. A certain Nobleman profaning the Sabbath usually in Hunting had a Child by his Wife with a Head like a Dog and with Ears and Chaps crying like a Hound 2. Stratford upon Avon was twice on the same Day Twelve month being the Lord's-Day almost consumed with Fire chiefly for Profaning the Lord's-Day and Contemning his Word in the Mouth of his Faithful Minister 3. Feverton in Devonshire whose Remembrance makes my Heart bleed was oftentimes admonished by her Godly Preachers that God would bring some heavy Judgment on the Town for their horrible Profanation of the Lord's-Day occasioned chiefly by the Market on the Day following Not long after his Death on the 3d. of April Anno Dom. 1598. God in less than half an Hour consumed with a sudden and fearful Fire the whole Town except only the Church the Court-House and the Alms-Houses or a few poor Peoples Dwellings where a Man might have seen Four Hundred Dwelling-Houses all at once on fire and above Fifty Persons consumed by the Flame Not many Years after this a Misfortune of the like nature befell the Town again for on the Fifth Day of August 1612. Fourteen Years since the former Fire it was again fired and all consumed except some Thirty Houses of poor People with the School-House and Alms-Houses They are blind which see not in this the Finger of God God grant them Grace when it is next built to change their Market-Day and to remove all Occasions of Profaning the Lord s-Day Let other Towns remember the Tower of Siloe Luke 13.4 and take Warning by their Neighbours Chastisements Fear God's Threatnings Jerem. 17.27 And believe God's Prophets if they will prosper 1 Chron. 20.20 Thus far Dr. Bread in his Theatre of God s Judgments p. 419 420. 4. Mr. Smythyes Curate of St. Giles's Cripplegate in the Confession and Discovery of a Condemned Prisoner executed May the 25th 1687 for Theft saith that it was his Earnest Desire That all young Men especially should take care not to mispend the Lord's-day And I do now know saith he that ever I observed any Repentance in a Condemned Malefactor who did not bitterly lament his Neglect of his Duty to God on that Day 5. Edmund Kirk Vintner executed at Tyburn July 11. 1684. for murdering his Wife in his Confession acknowledged himself frequently guilty of Profaning the Lord's-Day Vpon which Holy Day saith he I committed the hainous Sin of murdering my poor Wife Thus Sin was punished with Sin a Less with a Greater and the Greater with the Gallows and that Greater committed near the same Gallows And himself confessed That he had to his Wife asking whilst she passed by what Place that was told it was Tyburn where John Gower was lately hanged for killing his Wife O Lord how dear to me thy Counsels are but how just and terrible are thy Judgments 6. Famous and memorable also is that Example which happened at
They brought to me the Man himself and when we ask'd him how he dared to sin again after such a Warning he had no Excuse But being a Person of Quality for some special Reason of Worldly Interest I must not name him Hist Disc of Apparitions and Witches p. 60. 27. Mr. William Rogers an Apothecary of Crancbrook in Kent exceeding much given to Drinking and Sabbath-breaking though a Young Man of a sweet and pleasing Temper was often admonished and perswaded by Mr. Robert Abbot Minister of the Place to come to Church but had often promised and failed But one Lord's-day in the Morning when he said he was ready to come he was taken sick and betook him to his Bed but it proving only an Ague next Morning he betook him to his old course again Next Week the Messenger of Death came in earnest Mr. Abbot addressed himself to him in his Chamber with these words Oh! how often have you deceived God your own Soul and me and what is now to be done I fear you will die and then what will become of you His Sickness prevailed and there was too great a Fire kindled in his Breast to be smothered it burned in his own Soul and it lightened from his Heart and Lips into the Ears and Hearts of those about him One while he cries out of his sins saying I have been a fearful Drunkard pouring in one Draught after another till one Draught could not keep down another I now would be glad if I could take the least of God's Creatures which I have abused I have neglected my Patients which have put their Lives in my hands and how many Souls have I thus murdered I have wilfully neglected God's House Service and Worship and tho' I purposed to go God strikes me thus before the day of my Promise comes because I am unworthy to come among God's People again Another while he falls to wishing Oh! that I might burn a long time in that Fire pointing to the Fire before him so I might not burn in Hell Oh! that God would grant me but one Year or a Month that the World might see with what an heart I have promised to God my Amendment Oh! that God would try me a little but I am unworthy Another while to his Companions Be warned by me to forsake your wicked ways lest you go to Hell as I must do Calls his young Servant tells him that he had been a wicked Master to him But be warned by me saith he you have a Friend that hath an Iron Furnace which burns hot a long time but if you give your self to my sins you shall be burned in the Furnace of Hell an hotter Furnace Millions of Millions of Ages The Minister propounding to him the Gospel-Promises of the largest size he cried It is too late I must be burned in Hell He pressed him with Tears not to cast away that Soul for which Christ died c. He answered He had cast off Christ and therefore must go to Hell In short at last in idleness of Thoughts and Talk he ended his miserable Life See the Narrative published by Mr. Abbot the Minister Or A Pamphlet called A Warning-piece to Drunkards p. 31 32. 28. Nathanael Butler was first addicted to Drunkenness Gaming Purloining and Fornication before he committed that Murder upon his Friend John Knight in Milk-street London 1657. for which he was afterwards condemned to the Gallows and executed 29. Tho. Savage used to spend the Sabbath at an Ale-House or a Base House and was that very Morning made Drunk by his Harlot with burnt Brandy when perswaded to Murder his Fellow-Servant for which he was executed at Ratcliff 1668. CHAP. CXXIV Divine Judgments upon Uncleanness Inordinate Love c. BIshop Latimer is said to have presented King Henry the VIII a new Testament wrapp'd up in a Napkin for a New Year's Gift with this Poesie about it Fornicators and Adulterers God will judge 'T was boldly done and the Admonition tho' very biting and pungent yet had the Word of God for its Basis and Foundation For to touch a little upon the History of this Sin 1. Eli's Sons 1 Sam. 2. David 2 Sam. 11. The two Women 1 King 3.16 may go for Scriptural Examples all faulty this way and all punished yea Solomon himself no doubt paid dear for his Polygamy and Concubinage not to except Jacob among the Patriarch's who was most crossed in his Children of any as I have noted before in this Book 2. Henry the VIII and our late King Charles the II. may be worthy of the Reader 's Remark 3. A. C. 1544. Henry Duke of Brunswick had for his Wife the Sister of Vlrick Duke of Wirtemberg who had for one of her Wairing-Maids one Eve Trottin with whose Beauty the Duke was so desperately smitten that after some Sollicitations he had several Children by her But after some time unknown to his Wife and her Friends he shut her up in his Castle of Stauffeburg and appoints two Women to lay a wooden Image representing her in her Bed giving out that Eve was sick at last this Image was laid up in a Coffin and it was pretended that Eve was dead The Counterfeit Corps was carried forth to be buried with all the usual Pomp and Ceremonies of a Funeral Prayers and Sacrifices The Dutchess and her Maids and other Companies of Virgins were present at the Solemnity all in mourning Apparel In the mean time Eve was kept in the Castle and the Duke had seven Children by her afterwards But at last the Imposture was brought to light to the perpetual Shame and Ignominy of the Duke with what ill Consequences more I cannot inform my self Sleidan's Commentar l. 15. 4. Childeric King of France was so odious for his Adulteries that his Nobles conspired against him and drove him out of the Kingdom Clark's Exampl Vol. I. c. 2. 5. Sir Robert Carr made afterwards Viscount Rochester a Minion of King James the I. and one of the Privy-Council falling in Love with the Countess of Essex who being married with Robert Earl of Essex both at Twelve Years of Age had lived above Ten Years without any carnal Knowledge one of another to make way for a Marriage with the same Countess procures the Commitment of Sir Tho. Overbury to the Tower because he discouraged Rochester from the said Match and at last his Death Upon which followed a Divorce between the Countess and the Earl her Husband a Creation of Rochester Earl of Somerset a Consummation of the Marriage between Rochester and the Countess of Essex a Celebration of the Wedding with the presence of the King Queen Prince and a great Confluence of Bishops and Nobles a gallant Masque of Lords and afterwards another Masque of the Princes Gentlemen which out-did this a Treat afterwards at Merchant's-Hall where the Mayor and Aldermen in their Gowns entertained the Bride and Bridegroom with the Attendance of the Duke of Lenox the Lord Privy-Seal the Lord-Chamberlain
again and again that they would not fail to remember him in their Publick Assemblies and Private Duties At last he tells us that before this Desertion he had prayed very earnestly and vehemently that God would deliver him from the World being froward and dissatisfied with his Condition troubled in his Thoughts and weary of the World whereas he should have prayed for Submission and Patience See the Narrative Printed by himself at London 1676. 2. Mary Cook executed for the Murder of her own only Child 1670. declared that the occasion was a great Discontent which she had conceived in her Mind grounded upon an apprehension of exceeding unkindnesses of Relations to her tho' she had never been undutiful to them alledging her Relations slighted her she was weary of Life and afraid the Child should come to want when she was gone See the Narrative 3. One Tho. Holt of Coventry a Musician having Nineteen Children and a Competent Estate but not a contented Mind fearing Poverty made a Contract with the Devil and on Feb. 16th 1641. after a very Tempestuous day and mighty Wind which blew down several Houses and Reeks of Corn and Hay was himself by one in Humane shape at Night after he had called to his Wife for Pen Ink and Paper to make his last Will killed in his Bed whilst his Wife almost at her Wits end was calling her Neighbours and there found by them in a wretched manner with his Neck broken to their great astonishment after his Death they opened a Chest which he would never suffer his Wife or any Child to look in whilst living wherein they found Gold up to the top as they thought but upon touching of it it fell at to dust This was attested and published by one Lawrence Southern of Coventry Anno 1642. And tho' it may seem incredible to a Reader of ordinary size yet compared with many other Relations as that of Young Sandie mentioned before who received Money from the Devil and lost it again before Morning c. it is not so very strange CHAP. CXXXI Divine Judgments upon Idleness and Evil Company I Put Idleness and ill Society together because they are near a-kin one to the other and both of them give an occasion to vitiousness The one betrays us more immediately to the Snare of the Devil and the other by the Mediation of his Agents exposeth us with a greater violence and a stronger Torrent than the Corruption of our own single Natures In Idleness our own Hearts are in danger of being too hard for us but in ill Company they meet with their Seconds to abet them And when several vitiated Natures meet together like so many dry sticks they are easily enkindled with a little Fire and blown up into a great Flame and therefore seldom do any good Effects or Consequences follow upon such precedent Causes 1. The Egytians made a Law that he that could not shew by what means he maintained himself should be put to Death Plut. Laert. in vita Periandri 2. St. Augustine tells us of Alipius his dear Friend who went to Rome to study the Law where there were usually those Gladiatory Pastimes wherein Men kill'd one another in sport Alipius could not be perswaded by his Companions to see those Sports They oft desired him but by no means would he go At last saith St. Augustine by a famillar Violence they drew him to go Well saith he I will go but I will be absent whilst I am there I will not look on it He went but when he came there amongst others he shut his Eyes and would not see any of those Sports till at length there was a Man wounded at which the People shouted He heard the shout and would see what was the matter he looked about and seeing the wounded Man he desired to see a little more Thus saith St. Augustine he grew at last not to be the same Man as he was when he came thither For after that time he desired to see it a second and third time and at last he came to be not only a Companion of those that went thither but would be a Guide to them and one of the forwardest till it pleased God by a mighty hand to deliver him from this Vanity Let those amongst us that adventure to go to the Meetings of Hereticks out of Curiosity to see and hear learn Wisdom by these Examples Vid. August Confess and Clark's Examples c. 3. Mat. Hunniades King of Hungary when one brought him a Wooden Coat of Mail wherein was not one Ring wanting a Work of Fifteen Years commanded him to Prison for Fifteen Years more to expiate for so much Time and Parts mispent Author of Education of Young Gentlemen 4. Few or no Beggars are found in China for a young Beggar hath the Whip The whole Country is well Husbanded and though the People are generally great spenders yet they first get it by their hard Labour Idle Persons are much abhorred in this Country and such as will not Labour must not eat amongst them for there are none that will give Alms to the Poor If any be Blind they are put to Grind in Horse-Mills If Lame Impotent Bed-rid c. the next of their Kin is forced to maintain them if they be not able the King hath Hospitals in every City wherein they are sufficiently provided for Sir Tho. Herb. Travels P. Pil. 15.3 5. The Lacedaemonians brought up their Children in Labour from their Infancy whereby it grew into a Proverb That only the Lacedaemonian Women brought forth Men. Alex. 6. The Cretans brought up also their Sons from their Childhood in daily and difficult Labours lest when they grew Old they should think it was not unseemly to waste themselves in Idleness Idem 7. The Gymnosophists to reclaim their Scholars from Idleness Enacted a Law that Young Men should neither eat nor drink any day before they had given an Account to the Elder what Work they had done that Morning Idem 8. Amasis made a Law that the Egyptian Youth should no day eat and Food till they had run One Hundred and Eighty Furlongs Judging them unfit either to eat or drink till by honest Labour they had deserved it Diod. Sic. 9. The Aethiopians anciently accustomed their Youth daily to fling great Stones or Darts that thereby they might understand that Man was born to Labour not to Idleness Alex. ab Alex. 10. In the City of Casan in Parthia an Idle Person is not suffered to live amongst them 11. Sir Philip Sidney as one writes in the extream Agony of his Wounds so terrible the sense of Death is adds my Author requested the dearest Friend he had living to burn his Arcadia Will. Winstanley's Worthies p. 219. 12. I have read formerly that Mr. Abraham Cowley on his Death-bed made it his Request that this Poems called The Mistress might undergo the same Fate be burnt Mr. Herbert on his Death-bed commended his Poems to the Press 13. And I
5. The Egyptians ordained Death it self for a Punishment to perjured Persons and to such as declared not the very Truth in their Declaration which they were obliged to make Yearly both touching their Names and the Means they had to nourish their Family Ibid. Though Mr. Clark saith they had no Punishment for Lying 6. Certain Arians suborned a Harlot to accuse Eustathius a good Bishop of Antioch before 2500 Bishops of Adultery which she did by fathering a Child which she had then in her Arms upon him But afterwards she fell sick and confessed that she was hired to it by the Arians adding that one Eustathius a Tradesman had gotten that Child Niceph. l. 8. c. 46. Athanasius was served in the same manner so was Mr. Hooker Author of the Politicks and one Mr. Sparks a Flintshire Minister was suspended on the like occasion the Woman afterwards growing distracted 7. In the Reign of King Canutus the King in Parliament asked the Lords Whether in the Agreement made between King Edmund and him there was any mention made of Dividing any part of the Land to Edmund's Children or Brethren They answering in Flattery No and swearing it too were ever after Mistrusted and Disdained by the King especially such of them as had before sworn Fealty to King Edmund some of them he banished many he beheaded and divers of them by God's just Judgment died suddenly Clark's Exampl Vol. I. p. 194. Speed 8. In Queen Mary's Reign one William Fenning accused an honest Man called John Cooper because he would not sell him two Bullocks as if he had spoken traiterous Words against the Queen and suborned two false Witnesses to depose it Cooper was hanged and quartered and all his Goods taken from his Wife and Nine Children But after a short time one of these false Witnesses being well and at Harvest Work was stricken by God so that his Bowels fell out and he died miserably Ibid. p. 195. 9. Thespis an Athenian Poet being check'd by Solon for acting in a Play because thereby he did lye openly in the Face of all the City excused himself because it was but in jest To whom Solon replied If we commend or allow Lying in sport we shall soon find it used in good earnest in all our Bargains and Dealings Plutarch 10. Artaxerxes having found one of his Soldiers in a Lye caused his Tongue to be thrust through with three Needles Idem 11. The Papists have been so often found guilty of Lying as in the Case of John Husse whom they caused to be burnt after Letters of safe Conduct granted him in the Case of Luther whose Life and Death they wrote whilst as yet the Man himself was alive in the Case of Calvin and Beza whose Lives were writ by Bolsecus a Runagate Friar stuffed with most abominable Lyes in the Case of the House in Black-friars falling upon the Papists at Mass which they publickly reported to be upon an Assembly of Puritans in the Case of the Powder-Plot which they endeavoured in print to throw upon the Puritans likewise c. have obtained this Benefit to themselves That now at long-run no Protestant of any good Brains will believe them any further than he seeth them They have the Fortune of the Shepherd's Boy in the Fable 12. The old Scythians and Garamantes ordained Death for the Punishment of Lyars and false Prognosticators Sir Mart. Coguet's Pol. Disc c. 28. 13. The Persians and Indians deprived the Lyar of all Honour and Liberty of Speech Ibid. 14. The Gymnosophists and Chaldaeans deprived him of all Dignities and condemned him to remain in perpetual Darkness without speaking Ibid. CHAP. CXXXVI Divine Judgments upon Cozenage and Dissimulation OVR God is so far a Lover of Truth that all false ways he utterly abhors and doth so abhor them that he hath forbid them expresly frequently vehemently and ostentimes detects them to the Shame and Disgrace of the Persons guilty And I dare be bold to assert this for a true Proposition That all Lyes and Frauds and Dissimulation stand but upon one Leg and are very easily kicked down with one Spurn of the Divine Providence when Truth and Sincerity have two firm Legs to support them their own Excellence and the Favour of Heaven God will never connive long tho' he may wink a while nor contribute to the Maintenance and Support of false Colours how specious and artificial soever especially where the Cause is grosly bad and the Person faulty is obstinately impenitent Observe but these Stories following 1. The Story of Magdalena Crucia an Abbess in Corduba reverenced for a very devout Saint and Prophetess and afterwards shamefully discovered to be a Witch and for 30 Years together in familiarity with the Devil is related at large before in the Chapter of Revelation of Things secret or future by Divination c. 2. Pope Joan otherwise called John of England was a Woman born at Mentz brought up at Athens in Man's Apparel where she so profited in the Arts that coming to Rome she read the Liberal Sciences and was held so sufficient a Reader that many of the better sort became her ordinary Hearers afterwards with one Consent chosen Pope she lived in the See of Rome two Years and upwards But betaking her self more than before to Idleness and Pleasure she could not live continently as in her poor Estate when she plied her Book diligently whereupon one Day as she went with the Clergy in solemn Procession and in Papal manner she was delivered of her first-begotten Son begot by one of her Chamber-waiters near the Temple of Peace which stands in the City as is evident by an old Marble Image which stands there to this Day to denote so much in a Figure And hereupon it is that when the Popes go from the Vatican to St. John Lateran's and back again they go not the direct way thither but by other Streets further about and so make their Journey longer Thus much saith Theodorus de Niem Bishop of Ferden who lived Anno 1455. Vid. Theodoric libr. de privil jurib Imperii N. B. Pope Pius the V. removed the Image spoken of before This is attested by Luitprandus Bishop of Cremona Vid. Trithem in vit Luitprandi By Marian. Scot. in Chron. ad an 854. l. 3. Sigeb in Chron. ad an 854. By Otho Frizing l. 7. By Gothfrid in Chron. par 20. in Catal. Rom. Pontif. By Hoveden in Hist Angl. With a matter of 30 more Authors mentioned by Dr. James Library-Keeper of Oxford in his Introd to Divin And the Author of a Pamphlet intituled Pope Joan and printed at London A. C. 1689. 3. M. Anton. de Dominis Archbishop of Spalato came over into England wrote here against the Church of Rome afterwards pretended Penitence and was Reconciled and Re-admitted into the Bosom of that Church But his Conscience would not be so served it recoiled back upon him and in his familiar Discourses he broke out as formerly into an Assertion of his
former Tenets And so after his Death upon a solemn Citation and Process against him Sentence was given viz. That he was unworthy of the Favour of the Holy Apostolick See that he should be deprived of all his Honour Benefit or Dignity his Goods Confiscate and himself given over to the Secular Powers which was de facto done He and his Picture and Books which he had written to be burned Which was done accordingly in Campo di Fiori See the Relation of the Process sent from Rome Published at London 1624. 4. The pretended Possession of the London Nuns and the possessed Woman at Antwerp is detected and discovered by the Duke of Lauderdale in Letter to Mr. Baxter Hist Disc of Appar and Witches c. c. 4. of the Staffordshire Body discovered by Bishop Moreton who pissed through an Ink-horn 5. The lying Wonders and false Miracles wrought all over the World and laugh'd at by all wise People in the World would fill a Volume to Discourse of them in particular 6. The Supposititious Heirs Perkin Warbeck and Great Bellies made out with little Pillows c. would be tedious to insist upon 7. Hither may be referred those two Arch-Female Cheats Marcy Clay alias Jinny Fox and the German Princess famed lately for their Art of Lifting alias Cheating who at last were deservedly preferred to Tyburn CHAP. CXXXVII Divine Judgments upon Oppression Tyranny 'T IS said of Tyrants and Oppressive Persons That they shall not live out half their days Psal 55.25 and common Experience gives attestation to the Truth of it Ad Generum Cereris sine caede sanguine pauci Descendunt Reges siccà morte Tyranni Juv. Satyr 1. Adonizedeck pharaoh Abimelech Athaliah Jezabel Herod Pilate c. may go for Scripture-Examples Others follow 1. Alexander the Great after his Victories over Persia Asia India Hircania Babylon Scythia Syria Phoenicia Judaea Egypt c. grew Pound and Tyrannical witness his Murdering of Philotas one of his brave Captains who had assisted him in all his Conquests and his Father his Rewarding a Mariner that had leaped into a Lake near Babylon and swam to fetch off his Hat with his Crown fastened to it whither a Tempest had carried it off his Head as he was Rowing over it in his Galley with a Talent but causing his Head to be cut off for putting the Crown upon it to keep it dry In the midst of his Career and the very height of his Vigour and Jollity was cut off himself by Death in the Thirty Second Year of his Age and but the Twelfth of his Reign Qu. Curt. in vità Plutarch Alsted Eucyclop p. 2977. 2. Dionysius the Sicilian Tyrant who would not suffer a Barber to trim him nor Lodge with his Wives without first searching the Chambers nor speak to his People but out of a High Tower who giving his Cloak and Sword to a Boy that waited on him caused a Man to be slain for saying Sir now you have put your Life into his hands and the Boy for only smiling at it That set Damocles to a Feast with a Company of Beautiful Boys to wait on him together with Crowns and Musick c. and a sharp glittering Sword hanging over his Head tied with a Horse-hair only for saying Dionysius was a Happy Man lived with so little Security that himself took little pleasure in Life and his Subjects generally desired his Death except the Old Woman that went daily to the Temple to Pray for him lest the Devil himself should come in his room in short he was so tortured with his own Suspicions that he would not suffer any Man no come into his Chamber with a Gown on his back no not his own Son or Brother nay put a Soldier to Death for only giving his Brother a Halbert to describe a Plot of Ground to him with the Situation of it and slew Marsyas because he dreamed one Night that he had killed him Plut. in vit Dionys Invidiâ Siculi non invenere Tyranni Tormentum majus 3. Nero. that Monster of Mankind that used to go by Night about the Streets of Rome beating and abusing and sometimes throwing into Privies People that stood in his way and resisted him breaking open Shops and robbing them caused the Genitals of a Boy that he loved called Sporus to be cut off in order to the making of him a Woman killed his Wife Poppea Sabina when great with Child murder'd his Wife Octavia and his Mother Agrippina after he had committed Incest with her causing her Womb to be ript up to see where he had lain poison'd Claudius from whom he received the Empire murdered his Aunt Domitia and Antonia Claudius his Daughter because she refused to Marry him hired Conjurers to lay the Ghost of his Mother Agrippina with whom he was haunted caused Crispinus his Son-in-law by Poppea to be drowned as he was Fishing with many others of his Relations murdered Aulus Plancus after he had committed Sodomy with him Enforced his Master Seneca to Murder himself sent Poison to his other Master Burrhus Poison'd several Rich Free-men and Old Men who had been formerly helpful to him caused the City of Rome to set on Fire whilst himself goes up to the top of Moecenas his Tower tuning his Harp and singing to feed his Eyes with the Pleasantness of the Sight and afterwards put it on the Christians to give an occasion of Persecuting them causing some of them to be cloathed in the Skins of Wild Beasts and torn in pieces by Dogs others to be crucified others to be made Bonefires of to light him in his Night-sports Wishing the World might be destroyed whilst he lived that he might be a Spectator of it At last the Senate judging him to be an Enemy to Mankind condemned him to be whipt to Death through the streets of Rome upon which he ran and hid himself among Briars and Thorns and crying out I have neither a Friend nor an Enemy miserable Man that I am threw himself into a Pit four Foot deep and there desperately slew himself Sueton. in vit 4. Caligula another Roman Emperor who disinherited and slew Tiberius who was Co-heir with him compelled his Father-in-Law to Murder himself caused his Grandmother to kill her self for Reproving of him banished his two Sisters after he had committed Incest with them used all sorts of Magistrates scornfully murdered privately several of the Senators stigmatized many Persons of Quality or dismembred them and then condemned them either to the Mines or to mend High-ways or to Wild Beasts or to be sawn asunder compelled Parents to be present at the Torment of their Sons and one excusing himself he sent his Litter for him another Father he caused to be slain because he desired to shut his Eyes while his Children were tormented a third he brought home with him from seeing his Son 's miserable Death and would force him to laugh jest and be merry cast a Roman Knight to the Beasts and because he
his Breast but by the sudden coming in of his Servants he was prevented from finishing his Design and his Wound was bound up by them nevertheless as soon as he found Opportunity he tore off his Plaisters (h) (h) Val. Max. l. 4. c. 6. p. 114. and let forth a Soul that was unwilling to stay in the Body after that his Wife had forsaken hers And as the Widows among the Primitive Christians as I hinted before counted Second Marriages a sort of Adultery so the Men too in that (i) (i) Dr. Horneck's Lives of the Primitive Christians purer Age were so Chast and Holy that not a Man came near his Wife after he perceived or had notice that she was with Child till she was delivered and even then when they came together there Thoughts were so Innocent that they proposed no other End but Procuration of Children to be brought up in the Fear and Nature of the Lord and wou'd not hear of a Second Match Neither is the present Age without Instances of Loving Husbands I shall begin with Ant. Wallaeus who lived with his Wife so very lovingly that they never Quarrel'd their mutual Care was to please each other and by Deeds to prevent each others Desires Neither did Wallaeus fear any thing more than that his dear Wife should die before him for he used her not only for the Government of his Family but for his constant Companion I shall further instance in Mr. Ratcliff whose Grief for the Death of his Wife ††See her Epitaph in Westminster Abbey was so very great and constant that it indispos'd him both in Body and Mind and in few Days ended his Life I admire these noble Instances of conjugal Affection but in nothing so much as their Aversion to new Bedfellows The Truth is Second Marriages are a sort of who bids most For my own share I am such an Enemy to 'em and naturally of a Temper so averse to Confinement that shou'd I survive thee as is very unlikely I doubt whether I shou'd ever be brought to draw again in the Conjugal Yoke 'T is said by one of the Rabbins concerning Methuselah's Wife that she had Nine Husbands in One for Age and Years so I may say of thee that I have Nine Wifes in thee alone for Matrimonial Sweetness and Love and so have no need to marry a Tenth or if I marry again 't will be to a single Life that I might imitate those Primitive Virgins Dr. Horneck speaks of who so freely and voluntarily dedicated themselves to God that they 'd be marry'd to none but him and tho' many times they were tempted by Rich Fortunes yet nothing cou'd alter their Resolution of continuing Virgins 'T is true the World is a Desart without the Society of Women and my self no Enemy to 'em but for all that they are dangerous things to meddle with especially for better for worse Whatsoever Gold one bestows upon Fetters and how glorious soever Servitude may be yet I perswade my self for all the glittering shew that Shackles and Slavery are but a couple of bad Masters and therefore will dance no more to the Musick of Fetters except Phoenix-like from thy Ashes another Daphne could arise and then I can't say what I might do for I love to look on thy Image tho' but in a Friend or Picture and shall ever receive thy Kindred with Honourable mention of thy Name Then wonder not when e'er you die if I live and pine like the constant Turtle Thy Love deserves a great deal more I know 't is a common Saying There 's but one good Wife in the World and every Man enjoys her But I never found this true in any Case but my own For there 's my Lord L declares he cou'd love his Wife above all Women in the World if she were not his Wife The Duke of is of the same Mind and the George and Garter little better Sir Charles follows his Example and most have a tang of this Rambling Fancy Where is the Man except my self that 's not a C d or the Woman that so tempers her self in her Behaviour with Men as if Vertue had settled her self in her Looks and Eyes I profess when I have excepted Daphne Chloris and Sapho I know not where to find her We were wont to say It was a wise Child that knew his own Father but now we may say It is a wise Father that knows his own Child Men and Women as familiarly go into a Chamber to damn one another on a Feather bed as into a Tavern to be merry with Wine She that does not dance so lofty that you may see her Silken Garters and learn to forget Shame is no body Who wou'd think to find Hercules the only Worthy of his Time stooping to the Meanness of being a Servant to Omphale and in the quality of a Wench working at the Rock and Spindle Or to see Mark Anthony lose the World for a Cleopatra a Woman a thing in Petticoats But wou'd Flesh and Blood listen to Prov. 22.14 and remember that the Child often proves the Pisture of the Lover and discovers it Bless'd Conclusion of stoln Sweets◠they 'd ne'er invade the Right of another But to see lewd Men seeking new Wives for a fresh Supply for Wenching is no Wonder but to find chast Persons marrying again is what I cou'd ne'er approve of And I find King Charles of my Opinion for in his Last Words to his Queen he tells her That he had never strayed from her either in Thought Word or Deed And I am apt to believe him for I am such a Platenick my self as never to touch the Lip or Hand of a lewd Woman and as much averse to a Second Marriage so that if you shou'd dye I 'll fly the Sex in general There 's Pitch and Birdlime in their Lips and Fingers an Itch of amorousness of Skin all over A Man may as soon hug a Flame without burning as not be fired if he embraces Petricoats Democrates put his Eyes out to avoid the Sight of ' em These Patterns I resolve to imitate for tho' Men in Fashion make no account of their Wives and live at a lewd rate yet I am no Lover of Strolling Mutton No I thank God I have a good Wife a very Non-such and know it too which are two Blessings that seldom go together But Miracles are ceast and I must not expect such another We find the First Man Adam the Righteous Let the Meek Moses the Philosopher Secrates and the Orator Cicero were all either over-reach'd or afflicted with Women and I am not so stupid to think I shou'd merit a better Fate or meet a Second Wife that cou'd match the first who I must say fully answers Solomon's Character in the 30th of Proverbs and has had no Equal since the World began If any come near thee 't is the Witty Chloris but she 's an Angel grown and wont be tied to a
would discover it by the Smell at a distance Sch. l. 7. p. 890. Who tells in the same Page of Jac. Foro-â—viensis that if at any time he eat Garlick he was no less tormented than if he had drank Poison 24. A certain Spaniard who had never tasted any sort of Fish when a Friend of his had invited him to a Supper and had on purpose given him Fish wrapt in Eggs he immediately fell into fainting Pressures of the Heart and Vomitings c. so that little wanted but that he had died upon it Schenck l. 7. p. 890. 25. Germanicus could not endure the Voice or Sight of a Cock and the Persian Magi were possessed with an extream Hatred to Mice Sch. l. 7. p. 889. 26. Another was not able to bear that an old Woman should look upon him and being forced to look upon one intended for Merriment as to him ended in his Death Ibid. 27. Another at the sight of a Dog is not only affrighted but seized with Convulsions Bart. Hist Anat. Cent. 3 Hist 28. p. 65. 28. A young Lady of Namur as often as she heard the sound of a Bell or any loud Voice so often was she cast into a Swound so as that she differed not from one dead Hen. ab H. 61. Obs. 29. p. 253. 29. A Nun in the Monastery of St. Clare would be strangely affrighted at the sight of a Beetle it fell out that some young Girls cast a Beetle into her Bosom betwixt her Breasts which when perceived she presently fell into a Swound to the Earth deprived of all Sense and remained four hours in Cold Sweats when she came to her self yet she recovered not her former strength in many days after Zach. Quest Med. l. 2. tit 2. p. 61. 30. A Noble Man of Mantua would fall in a Syncope and Cold Sweats at the sight of an Hedge-hog Donat. Hist Med. Mir. l. 6. c. 3. p. 306. 30. A German coming in Winter time into an Inn to Sup the Woman of the House knowing his Temper hid her young Cat in a Chest in the same Room where he was to Sup but though he had neither seen nor heard it yet after some time that he had suckt in the Air infected by the Cats breath he Sweat and a sudden paleness came on his Face he cry'd out that in some corner or other of the Room there lay a Cat hid Sch. l. 7. p. 889. 32. A Lady as oft as she tasted any Raisons or Sugar or any other sweet thing was afflicted with intolerable pain in her Teeth nor was she freed from it till she had Eaten something bitter or sharp Henric. ab Heer 's Obs. Med. l. 1. Obs 29. p. 254. 33. Mr. Baker an ancient Minister in London was not able to indure the sight of a Cat. CHAP. III. Examples of Superfoetation THere are some Mysteries in the Anomalies of Nature which we cannot solve and this is one which for the Difficulty of it I do not care to play the Philosopher upon the Recesses of the Operation are so Secret and the Acts themselves so Sublime that 't is impossible for material Eyes to find out by the most accurate Disquisition or meer Reason to give a perfect Rational upon I must manum de Tabulâ and leave it to the Studies of the Schools 1. .... Palmer Esq of West-Angmering in Sussex It happened that his Wife were a full Fortnight inclusively in Labour and was on Whitsunday delivered of ..... her Eldest Son on Sunday following of .... her Second Son and the Sunday next after of .... her Third Son These Three were Knighted for their Valour and Success as in their Nativities by King Henry the Eighth 2. Anno 1584. Died the Noble Lord Philip Lewis of Hirshorn at his Mansion-house in the Palatinate three miles from Heydelberg he left no Heir but his Lady was with Child his Kindred forthwith enters upon the Rents and Royalties and to gain the more full and perfect knowledge of them soon after the death of her Lord they pluckt from her Waste the Keys of all private Places and that not without Violence the better to inable them for the search they intended This Outrage redoubled the Grief of the Lady so that within few days after she fell in Travel and brought forth a Son but dead and wanting the Scull Now were the next Heirs of the Deceased Noble Man exceeding Jocund as having attained to their utmost hopes and therefore now used the Estate as their own but it pleased God to raise up a Son to that desolate and disconsolate Widow for though she was not speedily delivered of him after the first yet she remain'd somewhat Big after her delivery suspecting nothing but that it was some praeternatural Humour or some Disease that was remaining in her Body she therefore consulted the Physicians who all thought any thing rather to be the cause of the Disease then that in the least they suspected a second Birth so long after the first They therefore advised her to go to the Baths by the Rhine she accordingly did as a sad and comfortless Widow attended only with one Maid came thither July 1584 where â—t so fell out she found Augustus the Elector of Saxony together with the Princess his Wife as also many other Princes and their Ladies by which means all Lodgings were so taken up that she could not find Entertainment in any Inn especially being not known of what Quality she was coming thither with so private a Retinue as a Maid At last discovering to the Governor of the place who she was and her last Misfortunes she procured Lodging in his House for that Night when it was the tenth Week from her former delivery it pleased God to send her in her Affliction and amongst Strangers a lovely Boy the Fame of which came to the Ears of the Illustrious Princes who were then in Town The Elector of Mentz made her a Noble Provision for her lying in The Elector of Saxony also sent her by way of present 1000 Dollars also all the Rents and Royalties before seized upon were restored to this Lawful Heir of her Husbands and Child of hers who was then alive saith Caspar Bauhinus Schenck Obs. Med. Obs. 1. p. 542. A Dutch Woman in Southwark having invited divers of her Neighbours to her upsitting found her self not well on a sudden and rising from the Table was forthwith brought to Bed of another This falling on a time into Discourse one then present reported that the like befell a Sister of his who three Months after the Birth of her first Son was delivered of a second Sandys on Ovid Metam l. 11. p. 215. 4. Doctor Plot tells of a Cow of Mrs. Dunches of Newington near Dorchester that whil'st a Calf before she was 11 Months old produced another which Animals carrying their burthen no less then 9 Months we must either admit that she took Bull at about 10 or 11 Months old or that the Cow her self was
first brought forth pregnant of another Nat. Hist Oxfordsh p. 189. 5. An. 1633. David Spilinbergerus Physician of Leutschovia tells us of a Cow in Hungary that brought forth a Calf with a great Belly wherein was found another Calf with all its Limbs perfect ibid. Bartholin tells us of a Female still-born Child pregnant with another Female duly plac'd in the Womb about a span in length ibid. The same Author met with an Egg at Witney containing another imperfect one in it like that Ovum in Ovo of Doctor Harvey's or that kept in the King of Denmarks Repository or the other Bartholin saw 1669 or which Schastin Jungius saw 1671. ibid. CHAP. IV. Examples of the Fruitfulness of some Women HE whose Wife is as a Fruitful Vine by the sides of his House and his Children like Olive Plants round about his Table is by the Psalmist pronounced a happy Man supposing that he be withal one that fears the Lord Let Goodness and Fruitfulness go together and they will Terminate in Blessedness every Vertuous Child being a Crown of Glory and a particular Comfort to his Parents But Ill Fruit is certainly a Curse and the more in number the more Reproachful and Burthensome however they prove when he that carries the Keys of the Womb opens so wide and pours out so plentifully let none Fault the Supreme Governor for his Dispensations but attend diligently his own Office in the Nurture and Education 1. One of the Maid-servants of Augustus the Emperor was delivered of five Children at a Birth the Mother together with her Children were buried in the Laurentine-way with an Inscription upon them by the Order of Augustus relating the same Gell. Noct. Attic. l. 1 c. c. 3. p. 249. 2. Also Serapia a Woman of Alexandria brought forth five Children at one Birth Cael. Rhod. Antiq. lect l. 4. c. 23. p. 180. 3. Doctor Fuller out of Ausonius speaks of a Roman Matron called Callicrate and thus Translateth her Epitaph as speaking in her own Person Twenty Nine Births Callicrate I told And of both Sexes saw none sent to Grave I was an Hundred and Five Summers Old Yet stay from staff my Hands did never crave A rare instance which yet in the former respects you will find surpassed in what follows Fullers Worth p. 138. 4. A Woman of Dunstable who as her Epitaph in the Church testifies bore at three several times three Children at a Birth and five at a Birth two other times Haker Ap. p. 224. 5. Elionera Salviata the Wife of Frescobald a Citizen of Florence was delivered of 52 Children never less then three at a Birth Fullers Worth p. 119. 6. Anno 1553. The Wife of John Gissinger a Tigurine was delivered of Twins and before the Year was out brought at once five more three Sons and two Daughters Schenck Ob. 1 p. 563. 7. Julius Sentinarius of Bononia came into the World with six Births and was himself the seventh Schenck Obs. 1. p. 563. 8. Jane Pancica Wife to Bernard a Sicilian of Agrigentum was so fruitful that in 30 Births she was delivered of 73 Children Camer Hor. Subcis Cent. 2. c. 66. p. 273. 9. The famous Story of the Welfs is this Irmentrudes the Wife of Isenbbard Earl of Altorf had unadvisedly accused of Adultery a Woman that had three Children at a Birth being not able to believe that one Man could at one time get so many Children adding that she deserved to be sowed up in a Sack and thrown into the River and accusing her to her Husband the Earl It happened that the next Year the Countess felt her self with Child and the Earl being from Home she was brought to Bed of 12 Male Children but all of them very little She fearing the reproach of Adultery whereof yet she was not Guilty commanded that 11 of them should be taken and cast into a River not far from the House and one only brought up it so fell out that Isenbard met the Woman that was carrying the little Infants to their Death and asking her whither she went with her Pail she reply'd she was going to drown a few Whelps in the River of Scherk The Earl came to her and in despite of her resistance would see what was there and discovering the Children pressed her in such wise that she told him all the matter He caused them to be secretly Educated and so soon as they were grown great and brought home to him he set them in the Hall by him whom his Wife had brought up Being thus by their Faces all known to be Brethren their Mother mov'd in Conscience confessed the Fact and obtained Pardon for her Fault in remembrance whereof the Honourable Race of Wolfs that is Whelps got their Name Camer ibid. p. 274. 10. John Francis Earl of Mirandula tells of one Dorothy who at two several Births brought forth 20 Sons 9 at the one and 11 at the other while she went with this burthen by reason of the mighty weight she was wont to tie a swathing-band about her Neck and Shoulders and with that to bear up her swolen Belly which fell down to her very Knees Schenck Obs. Med. l. 4. Obs. 1. p. 563. 11. Matthias Golancevius Bishop of Vladislavia in Poland it is said of his Mother that she was delivered of 12 Sons at once and that of all these he only lived the rest dying as soon as they were born ibid. 12. Alexander de Campo Fregosa Bishop of Ventimilium attested upon his Faith that at Lamaia a Noble-woman brought forth 16 Humane Births of the bigness of a Man's Palm all which had motion and that besides these 16 which had Humane likeness she brought forth at the same time a Creature in the likeness of a Horse which had all motion all the 17 were wrap'd in one and the same Secondine which is monstrous ibid. p. 164. 13. Anno 1217. Upon the 20th of January the Lady Margaret Wife to the Earl Virloslaus was in the Country of Cracovia brought to Bed of 30 living bodies all at once ibid. 14. Matilda some say Margaret Wife to Count Herman of Henneberg did see a poor Widow Woman begging her Bread for God's sake having in either Arm a Child which she had at one Birth this poor Woman craving her Alms the Countess rejected her saying That it was against Nature for a Woman that was Honest to conceive by her Husband two Children of one birth the poor Woman prayed to God that in Vindication of her Innocency he would send the Lady at one burden so many Children as there are Days in a Year a while after the Lady was brought to bed on the Friday before Palm-Sunday Anno 1276 and was delivered of 365 Children half Sons and half Daughters the odd one found to be a Hermophradite These were laid in two Basons and Baptized by Guido Suffragan Bishop of Utrict the Sons Named John and the Daughters Elizabeth who presently died Heylins Cosmogr p. 384. Grimstons Hist Nethel l.
as please This Relation is attested by many Religious Persons whose Names follow Ericus Westergard Rotalph Rakestat and Thor. Venes Coadjutors of the Pastor in the Parish of Niaess That Anno 1639 upon the 20th Day of May by Command of the Lord President in Remerigi the Lord Paulus Tranius Pastor in Niaess we went to receive an Account of the monstrous Birth in Sundby brought forth by an honest Woman Anna the Daughter of Amandus the Wife of Gandbrandus Erlandsonius who had already been the Mother of Eleven Children the last of which she was delivered of upon March 4. 1638. This Anna in the Year 1639 upon the 7th of April began to grow ill and being in great Pains in her Belly her Neighbours were called the same Day at Evening in the presence of her Neighbours she brought forth an Egg in all respects like that of an Hen which being broken by the Women then present Anna Grim Elen Rudstad Gyro Rudstad and Catharina Sundby they found that in the Yolk and White it answered directly to a common Egg. Upon the 18th Day of April about Noon in the Presence of the same Persons she was delivered of another Egg which in Figure differed nothing from the former This was the Confession as well of the Mother as of them that were present we do Artest by our Seals in the Presence of the Lord President in the Parish of Niaess the Day and Year abovesaid Bar. Hist Anat. c. 1. n. 4. p. 10. 8. Anne Tromperin was delivered of a Boy and two Serpents upon St. John's Day Anno 1576. She said That in a very hot Day she had drunk of a Spring where she suspected that she had drank of the Sperm of Serpents The Child was so lean as that he was scarce any thing but Bones The Serpents were each of them an Ell in length and thick as the Arm of an Infant both which alive as they were were buried by the Midwife in the Church-yard Sennert Pract. Med. l. 4. par 2. sect 4. cap. 10. p. 327. 9. The Concubine of Pope Nicholas the Third was delivered of a Monster which resembled a Bear Martin the Fourth in the First Year of his Popedom entertained this Lady and fearing lest she should bring forth other Bear-Whelps he caused all the Bears which were painted or carved in the Pope's Palace whilst the Family of Vrsini bore sway in Rome to be blotted out and removed Camer Hor. Subs Cen. 10. At a Procession in Bois le Duc in Brabant some of the Citizens were disguised according to the Custom of the Place some in the Habit of Angels and others in the Shape of Devils as they are painted One of these Devils ran home to his House in that Attire took his Wife and threw her upon a Bed saying He would get a young Devil upon her He was not much deceived for his Wife bore a Child in that Shape which at his coming into the World began to run and skip up and down all over the Chamber Ibid. 11. Anno 1678 upon the 17th Day of January at Eight of the Clock after Noon there was at the Town of Quiro an honest Matron who was then deliver'd of a Child which had upon its Head five Horns opposite each to the other and like unto those of a Ram also from the upper part of his Forehead there hung backward a very long piece of Flesh that covered most part of his Back in Form like a Woman 's Head-Tire about his Neck there was a double Row of Flesh like the Collar of an Horse at the end of his Fingers were Claws like to those Tallons in Birds of Prey his Knees were in the hinder part of his Leg his Right Leg and Foot were of a shining red Colour the rest of his Body all swarthy He is said to come into the World with a great Cry which so frighted the Midwife and the Women present that they ran immediately out of the House Paraeus de Mons l. 24. 12. Lithgow tells of a Monster that below the Middle Part there was but one Body and above the Middle there were two living Souls the one separated from the other with several Members their Heads both of one bigness the belly of the one join'd with the Posterior Part of the other and their Faces looked both one way as if the one had carried the other on his Back Their Eyes were exceeding big and their Hands greater than an Infant of three times their Age. The Excrements of both issued forth at one place and their Thighs and Legs were of a great Growth not agreeable to their Age which was but 36 Days Their Feet like the Foot of a Camel round and cloven in the midst They eat insatiably and continually mourn'd when one slept the other waked Lithg par 2. p. 52. 13. A Woman at Prague having felt a Commotion in her Bowels while the Inwards of a Calf were taking out brought forth a Boy whose Liver Intestines Stomach and Spleen with the greatest part of the Mesentery hung out beyond the Navel Fabrit Obs Chir. Cen. 3. Obs 55. p. 239. 14. At Cracovia was born a Child terrible to behold with flaming and shining Eyes the Mouth and Nostrils were like to those of an Ox it had long Horns and a Back hairy like a Dog's It had the Faces of Apes in the Breast where the Teats should stand it had Cats Eyes under the Navel fasten'd to the Hypogastrium and they looked hideously It had the Heads of Dogs upon both Elbows and at the Whire-Bones of each Knee looking forwards It was Splay-footed and Splay-handed the Feet like Swans Feet and a Tail turn'd upwards that crook'd up backwards about half an Ell long It lived four Hours from its Birth and near its Death it spake thus Watch for the Lord your God comes This was Anno 1543. Lycosten de Prod p. 582. 15. Anno 1573 at St. Lawrence in the West-Indies was a Child born that had two Horns on the Head like those of Kids long Hair on the Body a Fleshy Girdle about his Middle double from whence hung a piece of Flesh like a Purse and a Bell of Flesh in his Left Hand white Boots of Flesh on its Legs doubled down In brief the whole Shape was horrid and diabolical and conceived to proceed from some Fright taken from the Antick Danceâ— of the Indians among whom the Devil sometimes appears Dr. More 's Immortality of the Soul l. 3. c. 7. p. 173. 16. At Boston in New-England Anno 1637 Mrs. Dyer was delivered of a Monster which had no Head the Face on the Breast the Ears like Apes Ears growing on the Shoulders the Eyes and Mouth stood far out the Nose hooking upward the Breast and Back full of Prickles the Navel and Belly where the Hips should have been in stead of Toes it had on each Foot three Claws upon the Back it had two great Holes like Mouths above the Eyes it had four Horns and
a Child well shap'd and as long as a Man's Finger voided by the Mouth and conceived in the Stomach of a young Woman an abominable Taylors Wife Sometimes the Testicles are Treble sometimes the Pains double c. CHAP. XI Of Pigmies PIgmies are a kind of Dwarfs but by Report of Authors there is a whole Nation and Race of them and why Mankind may not be shriveled through the Propriety of the Climate into a Degenerous and Small Dwarfish Stature as well as Horses Kine Trees c. It will not be very casie to assign a Reason That there is such a Nation as Pigmies Authors ancient and modern affirm as Philostratus out of Apollonius Homer Aristotle Sir John Mandevile in his Travels cap. 64. Jovius in Muscovitâ legatione Olaus de Gent. Septent lib. 2. The Portugals have discovered many Dwarfs in Tartary Neiremb in Hist Nat. Odoricus de rebus Indicis says he found among the Indians Pigmies of three Palms high Delrio saith that Anno 1600 in Peruvio there was found a Province of Dwarfs Gemma Frisiu◠writes of a Boat of Pigmies that were seen being driven by a Tempest to the Kingdom of Norway Photius out of Cresias saith there are Negroes in the midst of India whom he calls Pigmies who are at the most but two Cubits high and most of them but one Cubit long few exceeding the Altitude of one Cubit and an half of which the King of that Countrey entertaineth 3000 for his Guard They are very Just and use the same Laws as the Indians do They Hunt Hares and Foxes not with Dogs but with Crows Kites Rooks and Eagles Jonston p. 226. CHAP. XII Of Dwarfs c. ALL Extremes are Wonderful but those of Littleness or Defect do oftentimes dispose to Contempt and Ridicule as if Nature had bestowed her Operations and Favours in too sparing and niggardly a manner yet even in this case the want of Stature is often supplied with a Compensation by inward Endowments which are quicken'd and made more intense by a kind of Antiperistasis like the Sun-beams contracted in a Burning-glass or which comes nearer to purpose like the Animal Faculties in a little Ant or Bee or Wasp or Spider 1. Julia the Neice of Augustus had a Dwarf called Canopas he was not above two Foot and an Hands breadth in height and she had a freed Maid of the same height Plin. l. 7. cap. 16. p. 165. 2. Marcus Varro reporteth that Marius Maximus and Marcus Tullius were both but two Cubits high and yet were both Gentlemen and Knights of Rome and Pliny testifies that he saw their Bodies embalmed Pliny l. 7. p. 165. 3. In the time of Theodosius there was seen in Egypt a Pigmey so small of body that he resembled a Partridge yet did he exercise all the Functions of a Man and could Sing Tuneably he lived to the Age of 25. Niceph. Hist Ecclesiast lib. 12. cap. 37. p. 379. 4. John de Estrix of Mechlen was brought to the Duke of Parma in Flanders Anno 1592. he was Aged 35 he had a long Beard and was no more then 3 Foot high he could not go up Stairs much less could he get up a Form but was always lift up by a Servant he was skilled in three Tongues Ingenious Industrious and play'd well at Tables Plater Obs. l. 3. p. 581. 5. There was a Dwarf at the Court of Wirtemberg at the Nuptials of the Duke of Bavaria the little Gentleman armed Cap-a-pee girt with a short Sword and with the like Spear in his Hand was put into a Pie that he might not be seen and the Pie set upon the Table at last raised the Lid and breaking loose thence he stepped out drew his Sword and after the manner of a Fencer Traversed his Ground upon the Table to the equal Wonder and Laughter of them that were present ibid. 6. Anno 1610. John Ducker an English-man who was about 45 years of Age had a long Beard and was only two Foot and a half high he was of streight and thick Limbs and well proportioned ibid. 582. 7. Augustus exhibited in his Plays one Lucius a young Man he was not full two Foot high he weighed but 17 Pounds yet had he a great and strong Voice Sucton p. 81. in Augusto 8. In the time of Jamblicus lived Alipius of Alexandria a most excellent Logician and a famous Philosopher but of so small and little a body that he little exceeded the Stature of those Pigmeys who are said to be but a Cubit high such as beheld him thought he was scarce any thing but Spirit and Soul so little grew that part of him that was syable to Corruption that it seemed to be consumed into a kind of Divine Nature Zuing. Vol. 2. p. 278. 9. Caracus was a Man of exceeding small Stature yet was he the Wisest Counsellor that was about Saladine that great Conqueror of the East ibid. 10. Anno 1306. Vladislaus Cubitalis that Pigmey King of Poland Reigned and Fought more Battels and obtained more glorious Victories therein then any of his long-shank'd Predecessors Vertue refuseth no Stature but commonly vast Bodies and extraordinary Statures have sottish dull and leaden Spirits Burtons Melan. p. 2. sect 3. p. 290. 11. Cardan says that he saw a Man in Italy not above a Cubit high carried about in a Parrots Cage And a Gentleman of good Reputation told Mr. Sandys that he saw a Man at Siena not exceeding the same Stature he was a French-man of the Countrey of Limosins with a formal Beard who was also shewn in a Cage for Money at the end whereof was a little hutch into which he retired and when the Assembly was full came forth and played on an Instrument Sand. in Ovid. Met. lib. 6. p. 114. 12. Philippa French born at Milcomb in Oxfordshire Aged 36 or 37 years of perfect Symmetry and Parts wanted half an Inch of a yard in height being then married c. Dr. Plot in his Nat. Hist of Oxfordsh p. 195. One of much the same Stature is to be seen by all Travellers that pass that way at the upper end of Guilford in Surrey 13. There was one Hans a Swiss brought over into England but a few years since Aged 38 but two Foot and 7 Inches high 14. A little Woman was here at Chichester in Sussex lately whom I saw my self not above two Cubits in height but her Legs were not very perfect CHAP. XIII Persons of a Wonderful Stature Giants WE are apt in the Ideas and Conceptions we frame to our selves of Natural Bodies to set and prescribe certain bounds to them beyond which they may not exceed not considering that there are many Reasons for which Nature may extend her Dimensions and stretch her Lines in the Structure or Augmentation of Bodies beyond the Reach of our common Apprehensions either in the first Seeds of Generation or the Food and Aliment they are Nourished with or the Climate and present Constitution of the Air or some
back from a Miller Anno 1667 fasted a Twelve Month is no Wonder in comparison with the former Stories nor that of the Shropshire Maid whose Mother I was acquainted with who fasted as â—ong mentioned in the former part of this Book CHAP. XXII Children Petrified in the Womb. THE Story of Niobe turned into a Marble Statue is a Fable Children are often converted into Stones in the Womb and I would to God Men were not so in their ripe Age at least in a Metaphorical Sense but as to the Petrification of Infants it is not much more strange that a Juyce fit for Concretion should be carried to the Womb than to the Reins or Bladder or that a Spiritus Lapidificus should prevail in the one and never in the other 1. Columba Chatry of Sens in Burgundy Wise to Ludovicus Chatry by the report of Mr. John Alibaux an Eminent Physicians and who also was present at the Dissection of her went 28 years with a Dead Child in her Womb When she was dead and her Belly opened there was found a Stone having all the Limbs and exact proportion of a Child of 9 Months old This happened Anno 1582. Sennertus confesses this accident so rare that he never met with the like instance in the whole History of Physick Sennert Prax. Med. l. 4. par 2. Sect. 4. c. 7. p. 311. 2. Horstius tells of a Woman aged 37. at the time of his Writing whose Womb was all turned to Stone to the weight of 7 pound Her Spleen Globular her Bladder Stony and her Peritonaeum so very hard that it could scarce be cut with a Knife and yet this Woman lived without any manifest sign of Sickness all her life time Addit ad Donat. per Greg. Horst l. 7. c. 2. p. 663. 3. Hearnius affirms That he saw at Padua a Woman whose Breast was turn'd into Stone by this means as she lay dead that Breast of hers lay covered in the Water of a certain Spring there Ibid. p. 664. 4. Pompilius Placentinus tells of a Venetian Woman who being Poisoned by an Apple when Dead she grew so stiff and congealed that she seemed to be transformed into a Statute of Stone nor could they cut open her Belly by Knife or Sword Zacch qu. Medico-Legal c. 4. Tit. 1. p. 235. 5. The Body of a Man that was killed and cast into the River Anien having lain some time at the Root of a Tree that grew upon the Bank-side when it was found and taken up it was turn'd into Stone Titus Celsus a Patrician of Rome affirmed that he had seen it Cornman de Mir. Morc par 3. cap. 36. p. 18. 6. I my self saw a Maid born in Ireland exposed to view at Arundel in Sussex a few years ago who besides strange Moles upon her Body had a great Excressence growing between her Legs hard as Stone very bulky and weighty so that was not able to carry it about without a Truss CHAP. XXIII Accidents upon Persons Birth-Days c. I Am not sure that the Matter of Fact in all the Cases hearafter mentioned was in right Judgment so remarkable as is pretended Perhaps Persons may sometimes be too fond in the Observation of such Days out of a peculiar respect to them and at the same time pass over a hundred Accidents more worthy of Note upon other days of their Life See what follows in the end of the Chapter 1. The Poet Antipater Sidonius every year upon his Birth-day was seized with a Fever and when he had liv'd to a great Age he Died upon his Birth-Day Schenck Obs Med. 1.6 Obs 1. p. 721. 2. The like befel Johan Architectus who spent with Age Died upon his Birth-Day Ibid. 3. Elizabeth Wife of King Henry VII Died in Child-Bed the 11th of February the very day of her Birth Bak. Chron. 4. Amatuâ— Lisitanus tells of one who every year on his Birth-Day was seized with a Fit of a Fever Thom. a Veiga of another who every year had a Fever for three days and no longer Schenck Ibid. p. 721. 5. Alexander the Great was Born upon the 6th day of February and Died on the 6th day of February Alex. l. 4. c. 20 fol. 233. 6. Attalus King of Pergamum and Pompeins the Great both Died on their Birth-Days Plut. in Camilo p. 135. 7. Julius Caesar was Born and Slain on the Ides of March. Sabel l. 9. c. 4. Zuin. Thaat p. 561. 8. Antonius Caracalla the Emperor was Slain at Carris on the 6th of the Ides of April being his Birth-Day Zuin. Ibid. 9. Pope Gregory the Great was Born and Died on the 4th of the Ides of March. Zuin. Theat Ibid. 10. Garsias Great Grand-Father to Petrarch having lived 104 years died as also did Plato on his Birth-Day and in the same Chamber where he was Born Zuin. Theat vol. 2. l. 7. p. 561. 11. The Emperor Charles the Great was Buried at Aquisgrane on his Birth-Day Anno 810. Ibid. 12. Ph. Melancthon Died Anno 1560. in the 63th year of his Age and on his Birth-Day being 13 Cal. May. Ibid. 13. The Emperor Charles V. was Born on St. Matthias's Day on which day also in the course of his Life was King Francis taken by him in Battel and the Victory likewise won at Bicâ—â—que he was also Elected and Crowned Emperor on the same day and many other great Fortunes befel him still on that day Treasury of Ancient and Modern times l. 4. c. 12. p. 330. 14. Augustus had certain Anniversary Sicknesses which did return at a stated and certain time He commonly languished at the time of his Birth which was the 9th of the Calends of October a little before Sun-rise Sweton in August p. 55. 105. 15. Timoleon obtained most of his Victories on his Birth-Day which was therefore Celebrated Annually by the Syracusans Alex. ab Alex de Gen. l. 4. c. 20. 16. Philip King of Macedon had a Triplicity of Good Tidings on his Birth-Day That he was Victor in the Olympicks that Parmenio his General had gain'd a Conquest and that his Queen was Delivered of Alexander Ibid. 17. Baudinus an Abbot and Citizen of Florence Died upon his Birth-Day Coman de Mir. Mort. 18. On Wednesday Pope Sixtus V. was Born made Monk General of his Order Cardinal Pope and Inaugurated Heyl. Geogr. 19. On Thursday Henry VIII Died Edward VI. Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth 20. Friday was observed to be fortunate to the Great Captain Gonsalvo and Saturday to Henry VII c. CHAP. XXIV Children mark'd in the Womb. WHEN we read the Story in Genesis of Jacob 's Success in his Pastoral Office by the help of his straked striped hazels and poplars c. we wonder at the effects and are puzzled in quest of the Cause Certainly tho' there was a special Providence concerned in the Fact yet there seems too a concurrence of inferior Nature in the Agency Imagination is strong and operative even in Bruits but much more in Mankind where Reason gives a
Bird of Prey an Eye on his Knee and both Kinds Ypsilon amidst his Breast and the form of a Cross This I have read saith my Author in John Multi Vallis and Gasper Hedio in the History Synopsis after Sabellicus I have seen another Portracture of the like Monster but somewhat differing and not answering the first in all Points with the Interpretation set out in Verse Batman's Doom p. 294. 6. Anno 1531. At Ausburg a Woman brought forth three Monsters first a Man's Head wrapt in a Caul secondly a Serpent with two Legs which had a great Head like unto a Pike the Body and Feet of a Frog and the Tail of a Lizard thirdly a Pig whole in all Parts Batman's Doom p. 315. 7. In the same year a horrible Monster very wild having four Feet a Man's Head Bearded and Combed Eagles Feet Hands almost like a Lions Paws a Dogs Tail and his Body of a dark yellow colour somewhat shining was taken in the Lordship of the Bishop of Saltsburg in the Forest of Hanesberg He did fly Men's sight and hid himself in dark Corners and length when he could be neither compelled nor allured to Eat he Died for Hunger Ibid. 316. 8. Anno 1540. At Milan a Cow brought forth a Calf with two perfect Heads with Tongue Teeth Eyes and Ears but the Heads were joined together in the Nap the one a Bull 's Head the other a Cow's Head Idem ex Cardan l. 14. c. 37. 9. Anno 1543. in Flanders upon the day of St. Paul's Conversion others write at Cracovia their was Born a Child of honest and gentile Parents very hideous and horrible to behold with turning and sparkling Eyes having a Mouth and Nostrils standing out with the form of a Horn and a Back rough with Dog's Hair Ape 's Faces appearing on his Breast where his Dugs should stand Cats Eyes under the Navel cruel and currish Dog's Heads at both Elbows and Knees looking forward the form of Toads Feet a Tail bending upward and turning again crooked of an Ell long he is said to have lived four hours after he was Born and at length after he had uttered these words Vigilate Dominus Deu vester advenit that is Watch your Lord is a coming to have Died. Batman ibid. p. 537. Out of Gasper Pucer and Munster's Cosmography 10. Anno 1546. At Bitterfield a Calf was found in the Field with Man's Eyes Nostrils and Ears having his Head shaven and as it were covered with Vermilion in Mouth and Breast like a Calf his fore Legs like a Calf and his hinder like a Man and very short but both were partly Hoved like a Calf and partly Toed and Fingered like a Man which Fingers were under the Hoof and hung out severally This Monster Gasper Pucerus describeth in his Book Teratascopia Ibid. p. 346. 11. The same Author writeth That he saw in the year 1553. a Calf fearful and horrible to behold looking like a Cat having a great swelling hanging from under his Jaw long like a Bladder white and soft his Hair was black like a Dogs his Stones were of no common greatness like unto them of a Ram double Codded Ibid. p. 36. 12. Anno 1534. At Stetin a Monster was Born having this Form In the place of his Head was a deformed lump moveable as the Intrails of a Sheep in the place of one of his Ears stood an Arm in the place of the Face curled Locks like to Cats Hair and sticking thereon like the Spawn of a Pike through which beneath there appeared glassy bright little Eyes his Mouth was a very small hole without Lips his Nose little and without a Neck The other Arm grew out of his side but there was no likeness of Breast nor Back He was of no Kind his Arms and long Feet had Houghs whole Bone through without Joints Elbows and Hams his Hands and Feet tender and hanging down as it were twice broken like unto crooked and bending Claws Batman Ibid. Ex Fincelio 13. Anno 1551. Febr. 18. A Lamb was yeaned at Halberstadt with a round Head and with three Eyes three Mouths two Noses with his Ears hanging to his back ward like to Dogs Ears but which is to be accounted a great Prodigy in his three Mouths he had a great Eye greater than the other and there he put forth a long Tongue He lived one day with continual crying Ibid. Ex Fincelio p. 372. 14. Anno 1554. In Marchia not far from Regemont a Mare brought forth a Monstrous Colt having the Skin gagg'd every where hanging Breeches and Dublet cut like to the fashion of the Lance Knights Batman p. 373. Ex Fincelio 15. Anno 1556. The day before the Nones of January in Germany at a Village belonging to the Bishop of Dilling called Overhassen a Cow brought a Calf that had but two hinder Feet yet of so great swiftness that running with the Body upright he surpassed all other Calves on foot Batman's Doom p. 375. 16. The same year July 24. at Clesdorf 3 miles from Pabenberg a Cow brought forth a Calf with a Man's-head a black Beard two Mens Ears indifferently well haired likewise a Man's Breast with Dugs Idem ex Fincelio 17. The same year a Child was Born of a Woman by Copulation with a Dog having a Man's shape in the upper part but in the lower the full form of a Dog and to purge the Sin he was brought to the Pope Cardan de Varietate Rerum l. 14. c. 64. 18. Anno 1563. A monstrous Fish was cast on shore at Grimsby in Lincolnshire in length 19 yards his Tail 15 Foot long and 6 yards between his two Eyes Batmans Doom p. 391. out of Dr. Coopers Chron. 19. Anno 1577. in June was seen in London a Mare having a Colt brought from the Parish of Emeley in Worcestershire the Mare was 22 years old and Foaled such a Colt as forthwith gave Milk which my Author saith he saw adding that one Mrs. Dawson endeavouring to take away the House of the Poor Man and the Man having spent almost all that he had in defence of his own Right this abundance of Milk continually flowing from the Colt was for the time a great cherishing to him Ibid. p. 403. 20. Anno 1581. Feb. 1. One Annis Fig an Adultress of Chichester in Sussex brought forth a monstrous Child of little shape of Body trussed together the Head very great bigger than the Body the Body in compass 9 Inches the Arm an Inch long and two Inches about the Face on the Cheek and Chin the likeness of a black Beard the Legs wanted Thighs the Toes crooked Idem p. 415. 21. Anno 1680. May 19. in Somersetshire near Taunton Dean a Woman was brought to Bed of two Children They grew together side to side from the Armpits to the Hip Bone they had two Fundaments whereby to avoid their Excrements they had also two passages for their Urine yet had they but one Navel by which both were nourished while
coming in publick remembring the hot Pavement when one plays on the Taber they will lift up their Feet and dance The swiftest kind are called by the Affricans Ragnail Johnston Hist Nat. Class 7. cap. 6. p. 209. 9. The Beaver is a most strong Creature to bite his hinder-feet are like a Gooses and his fore-feet like an Apes his fat Tail is covered with a scaly Skin and he useth it for a Rudder when he pursues Fish he comes forth of his Holes in the Night and biting off boughs of Trees about the Rivers he makes his Houses with an upper loft and when the Water riseth he lies there Johnston p. 211. 10. The Bear when he is Hunted will send forth a Breath that will corrupt the Flesh of of the Hunters and if they come nearer they will cast a Flegm out of their Mouths that kills or blind Dogs and Men. Aristot de Mirab. she brings forth her Young somewhat bigger then a Rat that is both anked and unformed in its parts a rude Mass When he is Fat he creeps into his Den on his back and so takes away his Footsteps that the Hunters may not perceive them In this Den he will grow lean in 40 days and he will keep himself alive lying still and sucking his right Foot 14 days Johnston p. 237. In Brasil is the Ant Bear as big as a g reat Dog the Tail twice as long as the Body and so full of Hair that under it he shelters himself from Rain Heat Cold and Wind his Tongue 3 quarters of a Yard long which he thrusts into Ant hills upon which they run and when full he licks them in Pur. Pilgr Vol. 4. v. 1301. 11. Whether the Vnicorn be Authors are of divers Opinions some affirm it and some deny it Ludovicus Vartomanus saith that he saw two of them sent to the Sultan at Mecha out of Ethiopia they were shut up in Lattises and were not fierce the Horns of this Creature are shewed in many places at the Monastery of St. Dennis there is one also at St. Mark 's Church in Venice and another at Rome Cardan describes it That it is a rare Creature as big as an Horse a Head like a Stag that hath one Horn growing on it 3 Cubits long it stands in the middle of the Forehead it is straight and is broad at the bottom it hath a short Neck a thin Mane with Feet like a Goat A Portuguese affirms that he saw them in the Abyssine Empire as large as a handsome Horse of a dark brown Colour with the Mane and Tail black with a fair beautiful Horn in the Forehead 5 palms long the Colour inclining to white they live in close Woods and Thickets sometimes venture into the Champion not often seen being timerous are not many and those conceal'd in the Woods A Portuguese Captain with 20 Soldiers in Company designing to breastfast while their Horses graz'd a Vnicorn described as before sprang among the Horses the Spectators had sufficient time to see and observe him See the Relation Printed by the Order of the Royal Society Anno 1669. by Sir Peter Wyche 12. The Baboon is a Creature with a Head like a Dog But in shape like a Man he will Fish cunningly for he will dive all day and bring forth Fish abundantly he takes wonderful delight to wear a Garment he hurts no Man he understands the Indians he will gently feed Sheep for their Milks sake Pliny l. 7. c. 7. Strabo l. 15. Two things are most wonderful in him that in the two Equinoctials 12 times a Day he will make Water once every Hour and doth the same at Night hence the Egyptians had the Picture of a Baboon Pissing upon their Dials The second is that when the Moon hath been sometimes in Coniunction with the Sun and loseth her Light the Male will not look not feed but holds down his Face to the Earth nor will the Female move her Eyes any way casting withal her Sperm forth therefore are they held Sacred and fed unto this day that by them the set time of the Moon 's Conjunction with the Sun may be known by them Johnston's Nat. Hist Clas 7. c. 13. 13. The marmaset is a larger kind of Monkey the Tail 5 Cubits long his Hair hanging down from his Forehead by their Legs Face Genitals they look like Countrey Men they are elsewhere all over Hairy they love Children and Women and desire to embrace them saith Cardan When they eat up the Ears of Corn one of them lies perdue in the Field and makes an out cry when he spies a Countrey-man the rest flie They so hate a Crocodile that they can't endure to see his Skin at a g reat distance In the Borders of Cariai there are some will leap from bough to bough as if they flew Ibid. 14. The Cocus is a 4 footed wild Beast in Slythia and Sarmatia for greatness between a Stag and a Ram white and very swift drinking with their Nostrils and bearing it for some days so that they will feed well enough in Pastures where no Water is Strabo l. 7. About About Easter you may see 2000 together upon eating a Venerious Herb in March they lie for a day as half dead Johnston Ibid. out of Gesner 15. The Buff is bigger then an Ox with a bunch on his Back with a very large Forehead curled with Hair that smells like Musk the Flesh fattest in Summer but tasting of Garlick that it feeds on so strong it will take up a Horse and his Rider The Blood redder then Purple so hot that it will soften the Iron of the Hunters Spear and in the greatest Cold it will Corrupt in two hours In the Scotch Woods they will not touch the Shrubs that Men have touched for many days being taken by Art they will die for Grief Camd. in Scotia 16. The Haut or Cercopithecus is a Creature in America mighty Ill-favoured as big as a Monkey his Belly touching the Ground his Head and Face like a Child and when taken he Sighs like a Child Three Claws hang to his hinder-feet like the great prickly Bones of a Carp and by these he creeps up upon Trees when tame he will love a Man and climb upon his Shoulders Thevet lift one in the open Air which yet was never wet Johnston Nat. Hist chap. 7. c. 3. 17. The Elk is a 4 Footed Beast commonly found in Scandinavia in Summer of an Ash colour almost in Winter enclining to black his Horns fit for Footstools each of them 12 pound weight and two Foot long his upper Lip hangs out so long that he cannot eat but going backwards He will run as much Ground in one day as a Horse in three a strong blow with his Foot will kill the Hunter Ibid. ch 1. 18. Bonasus is a kind of Bugle which dungs extream hot when the Hunter follows him Philip King of Macedon kill'd one with a Dart at the foot of Mount Orbclus The Horns
with his Feet begins to cut Bread and Meat which he carried with his Feet to his Mouth and likewise the Cup with as much ease as another would have done with his Hands After Dinner he wrote Copies in Latin and German Letters so fair and so straight that every one of us desired to have some of them to keep as a special Monument Being requested he did with a Pen-Knife make Pens very good to write with which he gave us While he was thus doing I observed the make of his Feet and saw that his Toes were long fit to lay hold of things This sight as it was pleasing to us so it was at another time to the Emperor Maximilian the II. who passing that way desired to see the Man and having observed the strange recompence of Nature dismissed him with a Princely Gift Camir Hor. Subsi Cent. 1. ch 37 p. 169.170 Keckerm in Phys l. 1. c. 4. p. 1370. 3. Of late there was a Man Born without Arms that went about Germany who had learned by Custom turned into Art to handle a Sword and flourish it about his Neck to fling Javlins and do other things so nimbly and withal so surely that he would commonly hit the Mark. All other the Duties of the Hands he performed with his Feet he was after broken upon the Wheel for sundry Robberies and Murthers by him Committed Cam. Hor. Sub. Cent. 1 Cap. 37. p. 170. 4. I have seen a Woman in Basil Spinning Artificially with her Feet Sweeping the House and performing all other the Offices of a good Houswife Plat. Obs 1.3 p. 593. 5. The said Platerus saith He saw a Man who with his Head and Shoulders would take hold of things and use them after various manners with Instruments and Weapons held in that fashion to Cleave Cut off Dig and Strike with a wonderful Force and yet both he and the Woman before mentioned were without Arms. Plat. Ob. Ibid. 6. A Suedish Woman call'd Magdalene Rudolph Thuinby was here of late at Hasnia she was Aged Fourty Two Married to a German Solider she was born without Arms and that there might be no suspicion of Fraud by her Consent I saw that she had nothing but Shoulders yet though she thus was maimed she perform'd all Offices with her Feet with that dexterity and readiness that she is deservedly the wonder of the Spectators and may seem to have no want of her Hands with her Feet she Spins and Threads her Needle she Weaves she Charges and Discharges a Gun with Scissars and a Knife she cuts Paper into divers artifical Figures she plays at Tables and Dice she drinks and Swathes her little Infant she knows how to bring her Feet to her Breast and Head so as to take her Child to her Breast as if she did it with her Hands She Feeds both her self and her Child she combs her Hair to conclude without trouble she doth all that is sufficient for her own necessity and to gratifie others Curiositly Barthol Hist Anat. Cent. 3. Hist 26. p. 61. 7. There is a Woman of Britain who was born with Arms and Legs distorted in so strange and unusual a manner that she might well seem unfit to any Man that saw her to do any thing yet she had acquired from officious Nature such a dexterity that she could Spin with her Tongue with the same she could Thread a Needle of the smallest size with great Expedition with the flexure of her Tongue only she could readily tye that fast Knot which we call the Weavers Knot and with the same Tongue she would Write and that in a fair Character amongst others she so wrote the Name of my Son Petrus Talpius which I yet keep by me Nicho. Talpii Obs. Med. l. 3 cap. 5. p. 273. 8. Pictorius Villinganas gives an Account of a Spaniard born without Arms that with his Feet could Spin and use the Needle with great curiosity He shot from a Bow in such manner that he seldom did miss the Mark and would with an Ax give so strong a Blow as to cut in sunder at one stroak a reasonable piece of Wood. Kecker in Physic Lib. 1. c. 4. p. 1370. 9. Keckerman also speaks of a Scholar that had but one little Finger on each hand and his Feet were triangular without any Toes yet had he more force in one Finger than others had with Five he wrote curiously and swiftly and stood so firm that in very slippery places he would seldom slip Johnst Nat. Hist cl 10. c. 5. p. 335. CHAP. IV. Improvements in Physick and Experimental Philosophy c. HVmane Wit hath arriv'd in this last Age to so high a degree of Daring that without any limits to the Modesty of their Disquisition they have laid open all the Secrets of Nature and so dissected all the Bodies they have met with and separated their parts with so strict and Chymical Anatomy as to unravel the whole Texture and dissolve all natural Bodies into their first Principles and by that means have made such excellent Discoveries as former Ages cannot Parallel and future Times have scarce room left to be imployed in 1. A. C. 1669. Mr. Wills of Trin. Col. Oxon. To know in what measure Herbs might perspire took two Glass Vials with narrow Necks each holding one Pound eight Ounces and two Drams of Water filled these with Water put a Sprig of Mint weighing an Ounce in one and set both the Glasses in the Sun after ten Days he found in the Bottle where the Mint was only five Ounces four Drams of Water remaining so that one Pound two Ounces and six Drams were spent the Mint weighing scarce two Drams more than at first From the other Glass the Sun had exhaled near one Ounce of water so that there was in those ten Days spent by the Mint one Pound one Ounce six Drams of Water that is each Day above an Ounce and an half which is more than the weight of the whole Mint So that he concluded the same of all Plants which Malpighius did of the Silk-worm That those Animals will eat in a Day more than the weight of their Bodies Ibid. 2. There hath been lately found out a curious way of Grafting different Vines one upon the other for Example in the Physick Garden at Oxford the white Frontiniac grafted upon the Parcely Vine grows and bears very well also the early red Cluster or Currant Grape upon that Luxuriant Vine called the Fox Grape Ibid. 3. The Improvements made of late Years in Chymistry are very great though the first Essays made in that Art were hissed at as very ridiculous and contemptible It must be confessed That many unskilful Men have derived much Disgrace upon the Study Notwithstanding many pretty and admirable Effects have been at last found out which hath abundantly satisfied all Judicious Men that there is something more in the Principles of it than the World would a good while believe 'T is an Element I have been
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1. p. 52. Camerar Hor. Subcis cent 2. c. 66. CHAP. V. Examples of the Numerous Issue of some Persons BE Fruitful and Multiply was a Blessing bestowed not only upon the rest of the Animal World at the Creation but upon Mankind especially and afterwards upon the Jewish Church more then others and 't is certain the more excellent any Being is the more desirable is its Increase and the Multiplication of its Species We are pleased with profitable Cattle and love to see our Orchards and Fields of Corn Fruitful Is it the glory of Man and Woman only to be barren Or should we not have some Zeal to fill up the vacant spaces in the Church of God Militant first and Triumphant afterwards And then happy they who produce most Fruit for Heaven 1. In the History of the Acts of Augustus Caesar it is Recorded that in his 12th Consulship upon the 11th day of April C. Crispinus Hilarius a Gentleman of Fesule came with a solemn Pomp into the Capitol attended upon with his 9 Children 7 Sons and two Daughters with 27 Grand-Children that were the Sons of his Children and 39 more who were his great Grand-Children the Sons of his Sons Sons and besides these with 12 Females that were his Childrens Daughters and with all these he solemnly Sacrificed Plin. l. 7. p. 162. 2. There was a Noble Lady of the Family of the Dalburges who saw of her own Race even to the sixth degree whereof the Germans have made this Distict Mater ait Natae dic Natae Filia Natam Vt moneat Natae plangere Filiolam Thus Englished by Hakwell Apolog. l. 3. c. 5. p. 224. The Aged Mother to her Daughter spake Daughter said she arise Thy Daughter to thy Daughter take Whose Daughter 's Daughter Cries 3. Vives speaks of a Village in Spain that had above a Hundred Houses whereof all the Inhabitants were issu'd from one certain Old Man who then liv'd when as that Village was so Peopled The Name of Propinquity how the youngest should call him could not be given for the Spanish affords not a Name above the great Grand-Fathers Father Vives in comment Sup. lib. de Civit. Dei l. 1. 8. c. 15. 4. In the Burrough of Leicester in the Church of St. Martins is a very remarkable Epitaph viz. Here lyeth the Body of John Heyrick of this Parish who departed this Life the second of April 1589 being about the Age of 76 years he did Marry Mary the Daughter of John Bond of Wardend in the County of Warwick Esq he lived with the said Mary in one House full 52 years and in all that time never buried Man Woman nor Child though they were sometimes 20 in Houshold He had Issue by the said Mary 5 Sons and 7 Daughters the said John was Mayor of the Town 1559. and again Anno 1572 the said Mary lived to 97 years and departed the 8th of December 1611. She did see before her departure of her Children and Childrens Children and their Children to the number of One Hundred Forty and two ibid. 5. In St. Innocents Church-yard in the City of Paris is to be seen the Epitaph of Yeoland Baily which doth shew that she had lived 84 years and might have seen 288 Verstegan saith 295 of her Children and Childrens Children she died on the 17th of April 1514. Hakewel ibid. p. 234. Versteg Restit decay'd Int. 1. p. 3. 6. In Markshal-Church in Essex on Mrs. Honywoods Tomb is this Inscription Here lieth the body of Mary Waters the Daughter and Co-heir of Robert Waters of Lenham in Kent Esq Wife of Robert Honywood of Charing in Kent Esq her only Husband who had at her decease lawfully descended from her 367 16 of her own body 114 Grand-Children 228 in the third Generation and 9 in the fourth She liv'd a most Pious Life and in a most Christian manner died here at Markshall in the 93 year of her Age and in the 44th of her Widowhood May 11th 1620. Wanly Hist of Man p. 41. 7. Dame Ester Temple Daughter to Miles Sands Esq was born at Latmos in Buckinghamshire and was marryed to Sir Thomas Temple of Stow Baronet she had 4 Sons and 9 Daughters which liv'd to be marry'd and so exceedingly multiplied that this Lady saw 700 extracted from her Body Doctor Fuller saith he bought the Truth hereof by a Wager he lost besides there was a new Generation of Marriageable Females just at her Death Had the Off-spring of this Lady been contracted into one place they were enough to have peopled a City of a competent proportion The Lady Temple died Anno 1656. Fullers Worthies p. 138. Buckinghamshire 8. We read saith Mr. Ricaut that the Eastern Parts of the World have abounded with Children of diver Mothers and but one Father and that ordinarily as great Personage in Egypt hath been attended with 100 lusty Sons in the Field proceeding from his own Loins well Armed and daring in all Attempts of Was. Paul Ricaut Esq present State of the Ottoman Empire p. 292. A Woman in Delph three several days voided three Worms out of her Navel and not long after was delivered of a Boy and then seven days after that of another Forest 17. Obs. 35. 10. I have heard the Reverend dr Annesley has had 25 Children for Dr. Manton baptizing one of them was asked how many children the Doctor had to whom he return'd this Answer That he was not certain how many but believ'd 't was Two Dozen or a Quarter of an Hundred CHAP. VI. Children crying in the Womb. 'T IS common for Infants at their first Exit out of their Mothers Womb to give some Significations of their resentment of the Change but to do it before they come into the common Air of this World is more rare and strange one would think it time enough for them to Cry when they are born and arrived at the brink of Troubles but some whether through the Strength of Nature or some premature Eruption of the Amnion or other Accident in the Womb or an extraordinary Sagacity in provident Nature and foresight of the Evils to come Anticipate their time and are heard to Cry before either the Mother or Midwife go about to disturb them in their little Mansions 1. At Heyford Purcel there was a Child that Cyred very Audibly in its Mothers Womb sometime before the Birth The People being frighted with it and expecting some Calamity should soon attend such a Prodigy pernicious forsooth not only to the place where heard but to the state it self whereas the Learned Bartholin more rightly Notes that the Ruin of Kingdoms depends rather upon the Wickedness of People than any such Vagitus Dr. Plot. Nat. Hist Oxf. p. 192. 2. Anno 1648. There was a Woman the Wife of a Seaman near to the Church of Holmiana who had been big for 8 Months she was of a good habit of body and nor Old this Woman upon the Eve of Christmas-day upon the Calends in the year following
in the Womb both Suck together or are both equally desirous of Nourishment together They were Christned by the Names of Aquila and Priscilla See the Printed Relation 22. Anno 1691. March 25. There was Calved about 8 miles from Bath in Somersetshire a Calf having the resemblance of a Woman 's Head-dress call'd a Commode near half a yard in height growing on its Head which hath been exposed to publick view in the Tower of London CHAP. XXVIII Instances of an Early or rather Ripe Wit THere is something in earliness of Parts that pleaseth mightily whether it be the preciousness of time much whereof is saved by this means or the hopes it gives of growing apace towards an Excellency and Perfection or the security of a present improvement which future Aâ—cidents of Life cannot endanger Whatever 't is it delighteth and obligeth and allureth both Eye Admiration and Affection And I was the more willing to insert this Chapter and muster up these instances for a spur to Childhood and Youth to provoke tender years to a virtuous Emulation and to make dull Flegmatick Souls that are overtaken with the Noon-Sun before they have done any thing of any value Ashamed and Penitent 1. Salmasius interpreted Pindar very exactly in the 10th year of his Age. L. Ant. Clement de ejus Laud. Vitâ 2. Avicenna born at Bochara at 10 understood human Sciences and the Alchoran and went through all the Encyclopedia before 18 during which time he slept not one whole night and minded nothing but Reading In and difficulty he went to the Temple and Prayed Hottinger 3. Thomas Aquinas is reported when a Child to take his Book always to Bed with him Pontan Attic. Bellar. 4. Cardinal Bellarmine whilst at School Interpreted publickly Cicero's Oration pro Milone at 16 began to Preach and openly Read the Grounds of Divinity Author of the Education of Young Gentlemen 5. Torquato Tasso spoke plain at 6 months old at 3 years went to Schook at 7 he understood Latin and Greek and made Verses before 12 he finished his Course of Rhetorick Poetry Logick and Ethicks At 17 he received his Degrees in Philosophy Laws and Divinity and then printed his Rinaldo Idem 6. Cardinal du Perron Read over all the Almagest of Ptolomy in 13 days before he was 18 years old Ibid. 7. Augustus at 19 contrary to the Advice of his Friends put himself upon the Management of Affairs claimed his Fathers Inheritance and Succession of his Uncle Julius Ibid. 8. Cosmo Medici took upon him the Government of Florence at 17. Ibid. 9. Vesalius when a Child began to cut up Rats and Mice Ibid. 10. Mich. Angelo when a Child began to draw Figures Ibid. 11. Galen when a Child began to compose Medicines Ibid. 12. Joha P.c. Mirandula out-went his Teachers The 900 Conclusions which he proposed to Defend against all Opposers he being but 21 years of Age shew what he was and he never retired till his Death Ibid. 13. Jos Sealiger all the time he lived with his Father in his Youth ever day Declaimed and before 17 he made his Tragedy of Oedipus Ibid. 14. Grotius at 8 years old made Verses and performed his publick Exercises in Philosophy before 15 he put forth his Comment upon Martianus Capella at 16 he pleaded Causes and at 17 he put forth his Comment upon Aratus Idem See his Life 15. Lipsius writ his Books Variarum Lectionum at 18 years old Ingenium habuit Docile omnium capax praeter Musices Ibid. 16. Sir Philip Sidney saith Sir Foulk Grevill though I knew him from a Child yet I never knew him other than a Man with such staidness of Mind and early and familiar Gravity as carried Grace and Reverence above greater years Lanquet and William Prince of Orange kept a Correspondence with him when a Boy 17. Calvin Printed his Iustitutions before he was 25. 18. Tostatus learned all the Liberal Sciences without being Taught and writ in the 40 years he lived as much as most in that time can Read And yet at the same time he was Councellor to the King Refendary Major of Spain and Professor of Philosophy Divinity and Law in Salamanca 19. Chreighton the Scotch-man at 21. understood 12 Languages and had Read over all the Poets and Fathers disputed de omni Scibili and answered ex tempore in Verse 20. Monsieur Pascal observing the Sound of an Earthen Dish at Table enquired the Reason and presently after made a Treatise concerning Sounds about 11 years of Age At 12 he read and comprehended Euclid's Elements with great Facility without and Master At 16 he composed a Treatise of Conics At 19 he invented that Instrument of Arithmetick now in Print At 23 he added a great number of Experiments to those of Torricelli 21. Mr. J. Janeway of Hertfordshire born Anno 1633. at 11 years of Age took a great fancy to Arithmetick and the Hebrew Tongue Before he was 13 he read over Oughtred with understanding whilst a Scholar at Eaton he made an Almanack at 17 was chosen Fellow of King's Colledge Cambridge See his Life 22. King Edward VI. with his Sister Elizabeth in his tender years was committed to the Tuition of Dr. Cox and Sir John Cheek wherein he profited to Admiration having in a short time attained to speak most usual Languages as Greek Latin French Italian Spanish and Dutch and also to know many other Sciences that he seemed rather to be Born than Brought up to them Nor was he ignorant in Logick Natural Philosophy or Musick and as he wanted not Happiness of Wit Dexterity of Nature nor good Instructions so neither was he himself wanting in Diligence to receive their Instructions for in the midst of his Recreations he would always be sure to observe his hours for Study where he was serious and intent during that time and would then return to his Pastime again Bishop Cranmer observing his readiness in the Greek and Latin Tongues declared to Dr. Cox That he could never have thought that to have been in him if he had not seen it himself When he was not above 7 years of Age he wrote two Letters to his Godfather Archbishop Cranmer in Latin Thus Englished Most Reverend Father and my most Dear God-Father I Wish you all Health and Happiness having been a good while from you I should be glad to hear of your good Health however my Prayers are continually for you that you may live long and may go on to promote the Gospel of God Farewell Your Son in Christ Edward Prince Another Letter of King Edward's to Archbishop Cranmer written in Latin which is thus Englished Most Reverend God-Father ALthough I am but a Child yet I am not altogether insensible or unmindful of your great love and kindness towards me and of your daily care for promoting my Good and Benefit Your kind and loving Letters came not to my hands till the Eve of St. Peter and the reason that I did not answer them all this