nature hir wombe opened and yelded into the handes of the Midwife certaine yron nailes thicke tronchions or endes of knotted staues glasse bone lockes of haire hardes of flaxe hemp stones with other trumperie of lothsom hideous regard wherof the diuel by his coniuration and other hellish arte had made an assembly in that place to abuse the simplicitie of suche as are apte to repose certaintie in suche vaine and deceitfull charmes all which is aduouched by Licostenes Amberlachius Iacob Ruffus a notable phisition of Zurick in his booke de hominis generatione Neither nede it seme either straunge or incredible to such as haue noted the epistles and records of S. Paule where he did onely change his shape into the likenesse of an Angell of light to deceiue the people but also in diuerse places addressed himselfe to our sauior Christ with intente to seduce him But bicause wée haue better occasion to discourse at large of such villanies in an other part of this worke where we meane to moue question whether they haue bodies or no we will ende for this time with this resolution that albeit such wicked sprites may cōmunicat with the lusts and prouocations of the flesh yet are they both voyde of séede and without meane of generation for that as there is no difference nor diuision of kynd betwene them so they can not bée neither man nor woman ¶ Sundry sortes of lightnings with wonderfull thunders and tempestes happening in our time with the peril and harmes proceding of the same and certaine defensible meanes against their furie CHAP. viij WHo goeth about to make particular description of the desolation and destruction of diuers ancient and rich Cities Theatres Castles towres piles pillers churches of sumptuous and of stately regarde ouerthrowne and defaced by the violence of lightenyng thunder and other raging furie and tempests of the aire had néede of the assistance of long time and a large volume to pack vp such great and strange matters which maketh me leaue all antiquities records of ancient date to a long leisure and touch only in this treatise such things as hapnyng amongst our selues are also confirmed by our owne viewe and memorie the same being of familiar experiēce may also stirre vp in vs spéedie remorse of cōscience with a more dutiful regard feare of the maruellous effects of the infallible iustice of god At such time then as the french garison was within Milan which according to the chronicles was anno 1521. the said towne was so assailed with sūdry strange storms of lightning that y e citizens dispairing of longer life yelded to y e mercie of God with expectation to be presently consumed with the flame of that torment which amongst other places of the towne semed to thūder his most force vpon y e castle wherin was kept both y e treasure of the town munitiō other furniture of war with great store of Canon pouder cōmonly called Gunpouder which being of it self rather apt to yeld to y e least spark of fire that is thā able to cōtend with any thing that is hoat was immediatly al in a flame by force of suche flashes as came from the opening of the element so raged vpon the towre wherin it was layd that in one instāt it was razed and made flat with y e earth burning blowing vp sundry lodgings bulwarkes of the Castle in such sort that what with the strength of the pouder and furie of the fire there were forced vp into the aire stones of an vnresonable bignesse wherof certain of them fell redounded vpon the .ij. chief Prouosts whom they brused and burned to ashes other brake in pieces the armes legs and other parts of al such as vnhappily were within their power the same performing such effects of mortalitie vpon the garrison there that of two hundred souldiours were scarcely 〈◊〉 on liue a dosen being also of no lesse maruell to beholde the number of huge corner stones caste out into seuerall places of the citie and fields therabout the space of .v. or .vj. C. passes of such weight and greatnesse that the strength of .xx. Oxen were scarce able to remoue them from the earth and yet is there not such cause of wonder in these terrible messangers and tokens of Gods wrath as we reade fel vpon the late miserable and desolate citie of Malynes ▪ parcell of the dominion of the Spanish King within his Duchie of Brabant the .vij. of August .1521 about .xj. of the clock in the night which was afflicted with such horrible calamitie that way for the tyme that the like hath not ben remembred by any report nor seene in any age afore For the thūder made tremble and shake in such sort this miserable citie that the townsmen looked when the earth should open and swalow them into hir intrailes After which fearful brute and horrible noise in the cloudes began to appere in the bottome of the Element a flame resembling a burning torche casting a stinke or lothesome smell like vnto sulphur and brimstone driuing the people into such indifferent feare amaze that they were neither able to take counsel of the case and much lesse iudge the cause of so tragicall a view vntil at last the crie was thorow the whole town that the fyre of heauen was fallen vpon the strong towre and gate of brasse wherin dyd lie .viij. or .ix. barrels of gunpouder which immediatly grewe to such a mortall confusion of all degrées of people within the walles that the very remembraunce of so monstrous a slaughter may moue terror to any heart with what mettall of hardnesse soeuer it be stamped for y e noise was no sooner begoon but the towre was cōuerted into ashes the gate diuided into 10000. peces with like fury vpon y e walls next adioining who were so thorowly defaced turned vp y t the very fūdation was disclosed their greatest stones conueyed furthest frō the Citie their diches and pondes full of water drained and made dry by the extreme heate of the fire the day after wer foūd according to the authoritie of y e chronicle about the sayd towre gate aboue .400 dead bodies besides .140 mortally wounded and almost torne in peces amongst whiche was founde a bigge bellied woman stricken dead whose wombe being ripped did yelde a childe on liue and after baptised whose picture or figure appeareth in the portraicte Some had their heades taken from their bodies as cuningly as it had ben carued with a sworde or sharpe axe for the nonce other some as they were playing at cardes in a Tauerne or tippling house were all destroyed with the lightning and conuerted into cynders except the hostesse or hir maid that was gone into the cellar for wine Amongst suche as were reserued on liue in this horrible slaughter was one man who hiding himselfe in a stonie vault during the extremitie of the storme durst not come out for any persuasion
vpon him tearing the fleshe of his hand with hir téeth and deuoured the same sodainly Al which the infant abode in respect to satisfie hir longing And as she returned to play the like parte againe the childe grieuing at hir crueltie withstode hir Wherof being ashamed and full of despite after she had liued certain days in coÌ„tinual melancolie she broughte forth two twinnes the one aliue and the other dead Wherupon the physitions called together to argue vpon the cause of this childe bearing founde that the deniall of the seconde morsel of the boyes flesh was the occasion therof Behold in effect the causes moste frequented touching y e bringing forth of monsters gathered according to the opinion of the best lerned authors both Greekes and Latins Resting yet ouer aboue al those kind of artificial monsters who be most familiar to these vacabunds vncerten people traueling through al prouinces with diuers abuses and deceiptful legerdemains wherwith they abuse the simplicity of the people in getting their money These masked pilgrims or rather absolute hypocrites studying nothing but the philosophie of Sathan as soone as their children be borne whilest their sinewes bones be tender flexible with smal force wil not stick to breke their arms crush their legs puffe vp their belly with some artificial pouder defacing their noses with other parts of the face somtime pecking out their eyes al to make them appere monstrous wherof besides the familiar examples of oure miserable time there was great experience in Asia in the time of Hippocrates as apereth in his booke de aere locis ¶ The generall causes of the generation of MoÌ„sters with many notable Histories touching the same CHAP. vj. THe Auncients of olde time had these monstrous creatures in so greate horrour that if they fortuned to méete any of them by chauÌ„ce in their way they iudged it to be a foreknowledge of their misfortune and to belâ—eue it y e more the Emperor Adryan chancing to sée a Moore at vnwares assured himself to die immediatly The souldiers of Brutus being readie to ioyne battaile with the armie of Octauus Caesar hauing encouÌ„tred an Ethiopian in their way prognosticated that they shold lose the battaile which hapned according to their imagination In like maner the auncient Romains had these deformed creatures in suche disdaine that they straightly charged that the mis-shapen or hauing any other vice vpon their body shoulde not be receyued amongst the virgins Vestales as Fenestellus teacheth in his boke of the Magistrates and worthie men of Rome But that which is most to be maruelled at is that God forbad Moyses not to receiue them to do sacrifice amongest his people as you may reade more at large in the first chapter of Malachy the .xxj. of Leuit. Wherin S. Hierom hauing fully considered these abuses in an Epistle written to a virgin called Demetriade complaines of those Christians whiche offer vnto God those children or put them into religious houses being crooked lame deformed hauing yet a matter more straunge which Iulius Obsequius and other authors haue written of among the Romaine wonders wherin they credibly reporte that the auncient Romaines had these litle monstrous creatures in such abhomination that as soone as they were borne they were immediatly committed to the ryuer of Tyber there to be norished But we being better broughte vp and fostred in a schole of more humanitie knowyng them to be the creatures of GOD suffer them to be brought to the church there to receiue the holy sacrament of Baptisme as may be séene in the figure of these two Maides embracing eche other ioyned together by a straunge infirmitie of nature who wer séene to liue in our age of many thousande persons in forme or shape such as you see them portraicted And to the end the historie of their natiuitie might be the better vnderstanded I will declare that which Sebastian Munster writeth who saw them and behelde their vnnaturall order at large in the yeare as he sayde a thousand foure hundred fourescore .xv. and in the moneth of September A womaÌ„ brought forth a monster nigh to the citie of Worms vpon the right syde of the riuer of Rhine in a village called Bristante which was two maides hauyng their bodies entier and knitte together by the forheade so that there was not any artificial or humaine policie to deuide them asunder as myne author saw them at Magence in the yeare .1501 and being six yeres of age were constrained to go togither whiche was pitifull to beholde for as the one marched forwards the other of force reculed backwards they rose togither and slept togither their noses touching so nigh that they coulde not turne their eyes but one way their forheades ioyning togethers hanged ouer their eyes letting therby the iust course of their sight and liuing till they were ten yeares of age the one of them died who being separated and taken from the other the hurt she receyued in the separation from hir dead sister was the onely cause she died immediately Beholde here sayth he the cause of this monstrous birth two women talking togither the one of them being great with childe there came a thirde woman not knowyng that eyther of them were with childe and sodainly thrust their heads togithers as they talked wherewith she with childe was astonished whereupon grew this monstrous child bearing And to confirme the same to be of more trouth Cardan affirmeth in his bookes de Subtilitate saying That the astoonishment was some help to tie these .ij. infants togithers albeit he alleaged further cause of this vnnatural birth ¶ A wonderful and horrible monster of our tyme vpon the discourse of whom the question is asked whether Diuels can engender and vse the workes of Nature CHAP. vij THis hideous moÌ„ster whose portraict is here set out was born in base Pologne in the noble city of Cracouie in y e month of Februarie and yeare of grace .1543 or as some write 1547. and vpon the euen of the conuersion of S. Paule who although he were begotten of honorable parents yet was he most horrible deformed and fearefull hauing his eyes of the colour of fire his mouthe and nose like to the snoute of an Oxe wyth an horne annexed thereunto like the trumpe of an Elephant all hys backe shagge hairde like a dogge and in place where other men be accustomed to haue brests he had two heads of an Ape hauing aboue his nauell marked the eies of a cat and ioyned to his knee and armes foure heades of a dog with a grenning and fierce countenance the palmes of his féete and handes were like to those of an ape and amongst the rest he had a taile turning vp so hie that the height therof was half an elle who after he had liued foure houres died saying only Watch the Lorde commeth And although this creature were monstrous yet haue not sundry lerned authors failed to
pricke with the point of my knife and lapt vp his wound with a band or shread of my sheart And hauing performed this worke of charitie vpon the poore beast he lay with an extreme pacience by me all that day next nght til the morning folowing when I vnfolded eftsoones the sore and pressed out the corpuption with no lesse suffraÌ„ce in him thaÌ„ before who after .ij. or .iij. houres in the morning seeming to be pinched with hunger he left me and the caue went to the desert When I seing the honest departure of my guest preueÌ„ted y e like peril saued my self by flight wherin sir I coulde not be so precise as to escape the haÌ„ds of such as pursued me by whom I was presented to my maister froÌ„ him amoÌ„gst others no lesse infortunate than my self I was passed prisoner to Rome where if my good fortune haue brought me into the danger of this Lyon and he to returne the benefit of my good turn with a compassion safetie of my life I humbly beséech thy maiestie royal to coÌ„sent to the same and suffer not thy decrées giuen out by thine own mouth to be violated with any respect of crueltie Which moued such indifferent pitie coÌ„mpassion to y e assistants y t there was not 〈◊〉 amongst them al which with great intercession were not suters to y e Emperor for his libertie safetie of the Lyon Wherunto he did not onely agrée but also enioyned from that houre that Andronique and the Lion should vse their libertie to passe at all tymes thorow the stréetes of Rome whom the people beheld not without a singular pleasure the rather to see the Lion contented to carie great wallets full of bread and other reliefe giuen them in almes And somtime to get money to his keepers he would suffer children to leape vpon his back The same mouing such cause of maruel to the strangers y t came to Rome that there was question touching the meaning Wherupon to satisfie theÌ„ and al men was written a little bille and fastened to the brest of the Lion with this inscription Hic Leo est hospes huius hominis And vpon the brest of the man were written these words Hic est medicus huius leonis wherof the one signifieth This Lion is the guest of the man and the other This man is the physition of the Lion This is sure a woÌ„derful exaÌ„ple of charitie in a beast without vnderstanding wherin is also approued the opinion of an Indian Philosopher named Dephilus who was wont to say That y e great workman dame nature had graued certaine lawes in beastes which might be applied to men as exaÌ„ples to direct y e estate of their life for if we consider and view with discretion the order of doing of diuerse beasts we shal find them to excéede men in many things and haue as it were a natural vertue in euery affection of corage wisedome force cowardise clemencie discipline erudition They knowe one an other are able to decerne amoÌ„gst theÌ„selues desire things that be profitable and eschue such as be hurtful forsee what will fall and make prouision of such things as be necessarie for their relief Al which being considered by the auncient Philosophers they haue not ben ashamed to dispute and make a doubte whether brute beasts did participate with reason or not which made Salomon sende some of them to the schooles of the Philosophers Lyke as also Esay reprochyng the vnthankefulnesse of the Israelites towardes GOD layeth afore them an example of the Oxe and Asse which acknowledge their maister but Israel hath mystaken and not knowen hir Lorde ¶ A wonderfull historie of certaine women which haue brought forth a great number of children And an other whiche â—are hir fâ—â—te fiue yeares deade within hir belly CHAP. xxx LIke as that greate Philosopher Aristotle doth moste firmely assure in hys writings that a woman can not bring forth at one tyme aboue fiue chyldren and that very rare Euen so sayth he that happened on a time to a seruante of Augustus Cesar who at one burden brought forth fiue children who besides the mother liued but a short time after In remembrance wherof the Emperor Augustus caused to be made and erected a monumeÌ„t writing on the out side therof the numbre of the children which she had born Wherfore though Aristotle did beleue that a woman could not bring forth at one time aboue the numbre of fiue children notwithstaÌ„ding the contrary hath bene proued in many as is witnessed by many graue authors Amongst whom that notable learned Prince Picus Mirandulanus in his coÌ„mentaries vpon the second hymne assureth y t one Allemande called Dorothee brought forth in Italy at two seuerall times twentie children that is to say at one time .xij. at an other .viij. who during the time y t she was with childe hir belly was so great that she was constrained to payse y e weight thereof with a towel bound about the same for the succoryng of hir charge There is none of those which haue read the chronicles and histories of Lombardie which knoweth not that in the time of the raign of Algemont first kyng of the Lombards there was a certain common Woman brought forth .vij. boyes at one tyme who for the horrour of hir sinne cast them into the water But God by his almightie power and wonderfull prouidence not willyng to blot out of memorie this wicked and detestable act brought the same to light who permitting the king Algemont to walke by fortune nigh the water where she had cast them espied one of the children in the water on liue who with the crooke of a staffe which he helde in his hande he plucked out causing the chylde to be nourished and brought vp in learning and vertue who as he grew in yeares so he in like maner perseuered in al perfectious and good gifts and as the historiaÌ„s make mention succéeded Algemond and was named Lanytius second kyng of the Lombards And if thou wouldest reade the Historie of Martinus Cromerus in his sixt boke of the worthy actes of Poloigne thou shalt fynde an historie of a woman of the countie of Virboslaus which surpasseth all the precedents before recited for the multitude of children wherin like as all these histories be wonderfull for the great nuÌ„bres of children borne at one instant euen so I haue not red amongst al the Historians which haue written therof that for the great nuÌ„bres of children which they haue had they haue had cause to open bruse and anatomize or put an iron into their bellies to plucke forth their frute as it was strange and maruellous to behold that a woman for one onely childe hath ben opened for that she by the space of .v. yeres caried hir frute in hir body dead as thou mayst vnderstand by the discourse of this historie folowing worthy of remembrance the which Mathias Cornax a learned and excellent
decke him with their pennes as Gasparus Pucerus in his bookes of Teratoscopia of Hieronymus Cardanus of Munsterus and amongst all the rest very excellently written of in the Latin tongue by Gasparus Bruchius But albeit Egidius Facius hauyng made mention of this monster in his booke de Cometa sayth that he can not be persuaded that a creature so horrible and monstrous shoulde be begotten of a humaine creature but rather of some wicked spirite Me séemes that in searching and canuasing this matter the most excellent and learned Philosophers sithens the creation of the worlde till oure tyme haue greatly molested and troubled them selues in deciding the doubtes of this question whiche is Whether deuils can engender conceyue and vse the works of nature as other creatures doe Some thoughte they coulde and for a more testimonie therein doe assure vs by their writings that Plato was begot of a maide by one in the likenesse of Apollo wherin the auncient Annatists and Chroniclers which haue committed to memorie the sundry acts of Almayne haue thereby shewed that the women of the Goathes as they were wandring by the desertes of Scythie were got with childe of Diuels whereupon one of them brought forth a monster And others as Pisellus were not content only to say that diuels coulde engender and that the most parte of the beastes of the earth were by them brought forth and engendred Wherefore Lactantius Firmian a graue author whom S. Hierom before exalteth beleueth y t these deuils were capable of generation and that they haue engendred as he sheweth in the .x. chapter of the second booke of his diuine institutions Agrippus in euery of his bookes and Hieronymus Cardanus in his treatise De rebus contra naturam seames to haue followed this opinion and the more to confirme his saying he reciteth one historie of a yong damsell of Scotland which was got with child of an enchaunting deuill thinking that he had ben a faire yong man which had lyen with hir whereupon she brought forth so horrible a monster that he feared all those which assisted hir in hir trauail in such sorte that the midwife and all the rest of the sage and graue women were cōstrained incōtinēt to cast him in the fire the said Cardanus reciteth yet an other like example rehearsed by Thomas Liermont of an other woman which was got with childe of a wicked sprite and for confirmation of the matters heretofore rehearsed all the writers of the Cronicles of Englande maruell not so much at any thing as at the strange natiuitie of the prophet Marlin who persuade absolutlie that he was begotten of a diuell which with many other like matters although many notable persons haue assured to be things of truth yet truly they be altogether false deceitfull and not only repugnant to nature but also to our religion by the which we are taught to beleue that there was neuer any man begotten without humaine séede sauing y e sonne of God But as Cassianus saith what an absurditie repugnancie and confusion would it be to nature if it were lawfull for deuils incube and succube to conceiue men or men to be conceiued and brought forth of them and although that sithens the creation of the worlde euen till our time deuils haue begotten monsters through out al mākynd casting therin the intrailles of beasts beleuing that by the perturbations of their séede they haue brought forth a great nomber of monsters and wonders confessing very well such as S. Augustine hath not denied that these diuels transforming them selues verie often into the shapes of men and women maye vse the works of nature and haue to do with women men for to entice stirre them to the filthie lust of the flesh the rather by that meanes to beguile and deceiue them as the auncients heretofore haue not only proued but it is also experimented at this daie in diuers prouinces and places that diuels by transforming them into the shapes as afore is rehearsed haue to do with diuers persons whereof Iames Ruffus in his bookes De conceptu generatione hominis testifieth that in his time there was a wicked sprite had to do by nighte with a cōmon woman being transformed into the likenesse of a man wherupon she becam immediatly with child which when she perceiued she fell into so strange a kinde of disease that hir intrailes fell from hir bellie which could not be holpe or made sounde by any deuice of phisicke He writes an other like vnto this of the seruaunt of a butcher who being extremelie plunged in the vaine cogitations of filthie and wicked luste and therby astonnished he sawe incontinent before his eyes a diuell in the shape or figure of a faire womā with whom he had to do immediatly his priuie part mēbers were in such sorte inflamed that he iudged there was burning within his body a cōtinual fier whereof as I haue brought forth these two examples so could I iustifie the same with diuers others written not only by Philosophers but also by the Ecclesiasticall writers who confesse that diuels by the permission of God or rather for a punishment of our sinnes myghte so abuse both men and women but to saie that any such coniunction coulde engendre any such matter as we haue aforesaid that is not onely false but altogether repugnant and contrarie to our lawe And as concerning the Prophet Marlin and manye other like examples whose natiuitie hath abused very manie stedfastly beleuing that he was begotten of a diuell we confesse therein as we haue done before that his mother mighte haue the companie of a diuel but that she could engendre is no lesse vnlikely than impossible albeit it maye be presumed and beleued that she was with child considering the authorities of diuerse histories approuing therein chieflie the legerdemaine and subtiltie of the diuell to whom they allowe a certain possibilitie with the assistance of his Charmes to make the bellie swell troubling and corrupting the humors of the bodie which women taste in the time of childe bearing and at the instant of deliuerie he maye so enchaunte the eyes of the wyues and company assistant hauing also a strange childe stollen from some other place to exchaunge for the creature newe borne that the simple mother may also be persuaded that such conception and generation procéeded of the diuell whereof besides the confirmation of antiquities we haue a familiar example remaining yet within memorie and viewe in a yong Damsell of Constance called Magdaleine in seruice with one of the richest magistrates of the towne who reporting to all men in common that the diuell one night had lyen with hir and gotten hir with childe was by and by put in prison by the officers to sée an effecte and ende of hir bigge bellie the painefull houre whereof being come after she was pinched with euerye pang which doe happen to women in that torment and the women in expectation to receiue the frutes of
Phrygia and Halderich were in one moment so couered with water and the sea so peopled with men and beastes crying with pitifull vehemencie that it séemed by them that God had forgotten his vowe made to Noe wherein he promised neuer to destroy mankinde by water againe Albeit the rage was so cruell that men were forced to climbe trées like birdes others ramped vpon the mountaines the mothers caste their children vpon the grounde to the ende they myghte with more spéede flée and shunne the furie of the element And to be short the desolation was suche that there was not only an infinite multitude of men women children and beasts drowned but that whiche was more to be lamented the corruption which sprang of the putrified bodies after the waters were retired to their olde chanel so infected the aire with a sodain plague that the rest which were saued from drownyng were destroyed by the miserable infection therof in suche sort that the Prouince remayned almoste deserte and inhabitable Wherein who list to beholde Flouds more freshe in memorie wherwith other Cities haue bene tormented let hym reade Carion in the Abridgement of his Chronicles and all those of Gasparde Contarenus in his learned boke of Philosophie whiche he made of the foure Elements ¶ The wonderful death of Plinie with a briefe description of the causes of fire whiche come of certaine openyngs of the earth LIke as it is straunge that the fyre falling from heauen should burne those places which it toucheth Euen so it is more monstrous to see the same issue from the earth without knowing where it firste tooke hir nouriture beginning and birth as this whereof Titus Liuius and Orseus make mention which sprang of the intrailes of the earth in the territorie of Calene which ceassed not burning by the space of thrée dayes thrée nights vntill it had committed to cinders about fyue acres of groūd drying so muche the moisture and humour of the grounde that not only the Corne and other frutes but also the trees with all their rootes were burnte and consumed Diuers Historians write that in the olde time the moste parte of the Realme of Scotland was by the like violente irruption of fire springing from an vnknowen opening and caue of the earth quite consumed and burned The cause whereof the Philosophers haue searched with great diligence and in the ende founde that Sulphur Allom Pitche and Water be the cause of the entertaining of that fire together with the very fatnesse of the ground and that fire after it hath founde a vente can not long continue without issuing with a wonderfull violent force And for the most part these flames haue bene diuers times séene of the people with great wonder terrour to them cōmonly about the Sepulchers and Churchyardes and other fat moyste places which was engendred of the fertilitie and moistnesse of the deade bodies who were there buried for men amongest all other creatures be of a very subtile and fat substance as is plainly shewed by that which is discouered in our time of the Sepulcher of Alexander Duke of Florence which although it were made of white Marble both massie heauie yet notwithstanding the fatnesse of y e bodie pierced distilled through the said Sepulcher piercing the bottome of the pillours thereof In like maner the moisture of the bodie of Alphonsus Aualus albeit the Phisitions had dried the same with salte and sande and inwrapped his bodie in leāde yet the fatnesse thereof spotted and spoiled not onely the stones aboue the Tombe but dropped through euery parte of the leade And there is also a mountaine called Hecla in the Isle of Islande whereof one George Agricola a man amongest others of our time worthie of memorie hath made mention reporting the same to caste such flames and making so great a a noise that it séemes to be made the same casting and darting greate stones withall vomitteth Sulphur smothering as in a gulphe all those which approch to beholde the nature of that fire whereby the common people of that cuntrie be brought in such an errour that they beleue that place to be y e prison of the damned Besides also manie Historiās write that there appeared in that place visions which shewe themselues visible and make their seruice to men they appeare for the moste part in the shape and figure of those which by some violent aduenture haue bene either killed or drowned and when those which they know makes their returne to their houses they aunswere them with maruellous complaint wéepingins willing them to returne to the mounte Hecla so sodainly passe vanishe awaye But for my part I haue alwaies thought that they be certaine disciples of the diuell which haue vowed them obedience in that place to deceiue the people being by nature of a Barbarous grosse capacitie whereof as we haue declared before y t the cause of these hideous and pepetuall flames is naturall so it also commeth of the fertilitie of the grounde together with the plentie of Sulphur wherewith the marchants loade so many shippes carying them into strange countreyes And moreouer the fatnesse of the groūde of this Islande as the Auncients and Historians at these dayes write is such and especially in the lowe countrey that they are constrained to féede their cattel but a smal time leaste they shoulde surfeit of the swéetnesse thereof so die as is dayly proued Neither let vs muse or be to curious in searching the cause of these flames of the mountaines so farre from vs for we haue the mounte Vesuue neare to Naples whereof Martial Strabo and Xiphilnius in the life of Seuerus the Emperour haue verye often in their writing made mention to be in times pastmost fertil is now by the continual embracements of the fire vtterlye ruinous and consumed and in the time of Titus Caesar it caste forth such plentie of fire that it burned twoo Cities and the smoke thereof rose so thick and high that it had welnigh darkened the Sunne making the dayes like to the night and all the fields thereabouts were so full of cinders that they seemed in heighte equall with the trées Wherein Plinie who raigned in the time of Vespasian the Emperour desiring to knowe the cause of the continual burning of this mountaine wente to sée it and approching too neare the same was at the sight thereof so astonished that he was immediatly surprised with the flame and his bodye thereby committed to ashes as you maye beholde in the pourtraite before that which is yet fresh in memorie in the yeare 1538. where it began againe to make so great an irruption that it feared al the people bordering vpō it We can in like maner bring in amongst these wonderful mountayns the mount Aetna otherwise called the mount Gibell in Sicile whereof S. Augustine hath made so often mention in hys workes and whiche Strabo witnesseth as one that hath not feared to mounte to the
1541. she was of the age of .xxvj. yeres That learned Philosopher Licostenes writeth one maruellous thing of that monster for reseruing the duplication of the head nature otherwyse had left nothing in hir vnperfect These two heades as he writeth had desire in like to drinke to eate to slepe and to talke together as also dyd all hir other affections Wherefore thys mayde wente from dore to dore searchyng hir liuyng to whome they gaue more willingly for the noueltie of so strange a creature so newe a spectacle Albeit she was chased thorough the Duchie of Bauiere to the ende she myght marre the frute of women with childe for the apprehension whiche remayneth in the imagination of the figure of this monstrous Woman ¶ A Monster on liue whose intrailes and interiour parts were to be seene naked and vncouered CHAP. xxviij IN the tyme that Seruius Galba and Marcus Scaurus were Consules a noble and famous woman in Nursiue brought forthe a son on liue which had the vppermost part of his bely so open that men might sée hys intrails naked and vncouered and it was so harde and entier in the nethermost part that I beleue if you haue red al the Authors Grekes and Latins which haue written of the wonders of nature you shal scarcely fynde his like And although the Romains were alway superstitious in those things yet was this monster a certain Augure and soothsayer of the victorie whiche they obtained against Iugurth as Iules Obsequent writeth in the hundreth Chapter of his book of the wonders of the Romains Wherfore if the Grekes and Arabes whiche were so fine in serching out the secretes within the shop of mans body that they demaunded of the king the bodies of the condemned to open them aliue had had that litle monster at their cōmaundement they néede not haue exercised such butchery tirānie and crueltie on the behalfe on liuing creatures as they did for casting their eyes only vpon that little monster without makyng further openyng or incision they myght haue séene and discerned the substance the greatnesse number figure situation commoditie and action of all the principall partes of mans bodie the liuely spirites being within the which is not of small consideration in nature seing that by the ignorance of those things if that a sinew or muscle be cut for the most parte the féelyng is lost sometimes the mouing and sometimes bothe the one and the other and very oftentimes death therby foloweth Wherfore the ancient kings and princes as Marcus Anthonius Flauius and Boetius as Galene witnesseth tooke so great pleasure in Anotomies and cuttyng of bodies that they themselues vsed that arte who as they obserued not the same carefully so they made erre the most renoumed Philosophers in the time past as Aristotle in his first and thirde boke of Histories treatyng of Creatures the .vij. chapter where he writeth that the seames of the head by the which the moyst matters of the braine doe euapour be not like but differ in men and women notwithstandyng we sée by common experience the contrary whereby the same author is also deceiued in that he writeth that the heades of Dogs haue no sinews although in anotomysing of them wée fynde they haue seames so well as in the heade of man In lyke maner Cornelius Celsus one of the most excellent which hath written of physike in Latin is beguyled in the same matter of seames in hys eyghte boke and fyrst chapter where he writeth that those heads which haue no seames be the moste sounde and least subiect to sicknesse though the same be vtterly false as wytnesseth Hipocrates in his first boke of men where he writeth that the heads which haue the gretest number of seames be the most healthfull wherin as I haue shewed the mistakyng of the two matters of the cutting of the body Euen so coulde I discouer vnto you a numbre of other errours whiche be founde in Mundinus Carpus and others who in their writyngs haue ben often beguiled in the opening of the shoppe of mans bodie But for that we are to entreate of wonders we will therfore make an ende of that matter without settyng before you the falts gathered in the Haruest of Physike ¶ An historie of a prodigious Dogge which engendred of a Beare and a Mastife bitche in England sene by the Author at London with the discourses of the nature of this Beaste CHAP. xxix LIke as mine Author in the beginning of thys Chapter séemeth to preferre in sort of a Frenche flourishe or commendation to hym selfe hys being in Englande wyth sundry honours that were done to hym by the Quéenes Maiestie and certaine nobilitie at what tyme he was brought to the viewe of thys Dogge so for certayne respects I accompt it as necessarie to leaue it oute as to fyll or cloye the Reader with suche vaine follie In Englande then accordyng to mine Authour was bredde thys monstrous Dogge whose figure séemeth to resemble indifferently a Dog and a Beare whiche argueth him to participate bothe of the one and the others nature the same not séemyng very straunge to suche as haue obserued theyr conditions at London where the Dogges and the Beares doe lie in little Cabinets or vaultes of wood one fast by an other and being in theyr heates those that do gouerne them wyll not stycke oftentymes to putte a Beare and a Dogge in one house together when beyng prycked wyth theyr naturall impressyons they conuerte theyr crueltie into loue of whyche coniunctions are engendred oftentymes creatures lyke vnto thys although very seldome amongst which myne Author hath obserued two Whiche as they were gyuen to the Marquesse of Trans so he made a present of the one of them to the Countie of Alphestan the Emperors Embassador and the other he made to be caried wyth hym into Fraunce where myne Author caused thys portraict to be drawen omitting nothing that was necessary to be séene In whom albeit maye appeare some cause of wonder by the strange effecte of Nature yet the attestation of sundry famous authors maketh it neyther rare nor newe Lyke as Aristotle who is of opinyon that diuerse beastes may haue Coitum and ioyne togyther so that theyr natures do not muche differ as doe the Dogge the Woulfe and the Foxe He wryteth in an other place that the Indian dogs be ingendred of a Dogge and a Tyger whiche is also approued by Polux and Plinie Patritius and Senes in theyr thirde boke of theyr common Wealthe haue affirmed that the Indians haue not onely made couer their bitches wyth beastes of an other kynde but also the auncient Frenchemen vsed to haue them engender with Woulues to the ende that the fruite of suche fierce commixture and séede myghte bée of the more strengthe and furie the same being also confirmed by Augustus Nyphus in a Historie assisted with his owne eyes and not gathered by any reporte On a time sayth he that the Lorde Federike of Montforce and I returned
physition of Vienne writ in a Latine worke which he sent for a wonder to Ferdinando Emperor at that day And although he haue dilated on this Historie sufficiently yet notwithstanding I will write thereof more at large in that I shal be able He writeth to the Emperour Ferdinando that in the yeare .1545 there was at Vienne in Austrice a certain woman named Margareta the wife of a Citizen of that towne called George Wolczer who being quicke with childe from S. Bartholomew day to S. Luce and then vpon point to be deliuered she began to féele y e sharpe and dolorous pangs which women accustomably tast and suffer in the bringyng forth of their children caused hir mother and certain other sage women to be called for hir better helpe therin But when they came to the great conflict of Nature and hoped to haue receiued the childe they perceiued such a brute noise as it had ben a thunder clap within the belly of that poore martir y t which made them to thinke that the child was dead with the great striuing and battaile that it had with Nature The noise being at last appaised they coulde not perceiue or iudge any mouing or life in the infant whiche was cause after they had imployed all their labour and arte in vaine thynking to draw the child out of the mothers belly they wer coÌ„strained in the ende to abandon and leaue hir for a time to the helpe and mercy of almightie God Albeit after certaine dayes hir dolor griefe renued that she was not only forced to vse for helpe herein the aduises of the most excelleÌ„t and best experimeÌ„ted physitions in that prouince but also all others elswhere whose fame was most renoumed and celebrated for their excellencie in that arte who with all their physike resolutiue attractiue suppuratiue were not able to deliuer hir from this misery or otherwise comfort hir than with that which the angel sayd to the Prophetâ— Dispone domus tuae quia morieris Whereupon she seing hir self voide of hope to receiue help at mans hands determined to take truce wich nature and perseuer constantly in this hir martirdom the which she continued with extreme dolor the space of foure yerâ—â— carying this dead caryon in hir belly which being exâ—â—ed she resolued in hir self that it was most expedient to expose some ready death rather than to suffer hir selfe continually to pine by the crueltie of that torment Wherfore resting vpon this deliberatioÌ„ she made to be called the Surgions Physitions at whose handes she requested to be opened And in the yeare .1550 the .xij. day of NoueÌ„ber they opened hir belly from which they drewe the childe half rotten which she had caried the space of fiue yeares And after purging and phisiking hir they restored hir by the ayde of God to suche perfect health that she remayneth at this day on liue and so whole that she may yet conceiue and bring forth children As it is more amply declared in the Latine worke sente vnto the Emperour Ferdinando ¶ A wonderfull historie of a Monster hauing the shape of the face of a man who was taken in the forrest of Haueberg in the yere .1531 whose portraict Georgius Fabritius sent to Gesnerus drawen naturally as he is here figured CHAP. xxxj LIke as those which admeasure the greatnesse of the workes of God according to the capacitie of their vnderstandings could scarsly be persuaded that this monster which is here figured shuld be naturall Euen so in my iudgement as I haue oftentimes protested that I wil not fil or pester my wrytings with any fabulous matter or history wherby I shal not be able to verifie the same by the authoritie either of some famous author Greeke or Latin sacred or prophane for as Gesnerus in his History de quadrupedibus viuiparis wryteth that in the Forest of Saxonie in the coast of Dace there was taken certain moÌ„strous beasts hauing y e shape of the face of a man wherof the female in chase by chauÌ„ce was killed of hunters and the male taken by them was brought aliue who afterwardes became domesticall and tame in such sorte as he began to talke a little albeit hys words were imperfect and hoost much like vnto a Goate and touching the rest of his actioÌ„s they were more brutall than humaine For at such time as he was moued by y e ardent heates and motions of nature the women were not in safety with him for he would endeuor himselfe by force to violaâ—e them openly And as an other like to this was taken in the yere .1531 in the Forest de la seigneurie de Salâ—ebourge in Almaine who wold neuer be made tame nor yet endure the loke of a man but liuing in such sorte certaine dayes in the ende died of hunger refusing to be fed of any liuing creature Euen so in the time that Iames the fourth king raigned in Scotland which was in the yere 1409. and y t he sent Iacobus Egilinus in embassage to the French king who by tempest of the seas was cast on land in a certaine Isle of Norway where he saw moÌ„sters like vnto these spoken of before as he witnessed at his return and enquiring of the people of that couÌ„trey what kinde of creatures they were they answered that they were certaine beastes hauing the shape of the face of men who accustomed very often to come by night to their houses which being not repulsed by dogges would deuoure as wel their men as children And I remember that S. Augustine in his boke of the Citye of God maketh mention of sundrye monsters of straungo formes who were found in deserts or elswhere whereupon grew a question whether they were descended of the first man Adam or that they had a reasonable soule or not or whether they should rise as others shall at the generall day of resurrection But for that this matter is a little to long to entreate vpon by reason of the shortnesse of this Chapiter I will therefore reserue it for a nother place more fit and apte for the dissolution therof ¶ A wonderfull History of sundry straunge famines CHAP. xxxij I Doe remember that I haue treated in my third booke of the Theatre of the world howe famine is one of the moste cruell ministers of the iustice of God as he hymselfe witnesseth very often by his Prophets and Apostels sometymes threatning to gyue them for their wickednesse a heauen of brasse and the earth of yroÌ„ that is to say that it shal bring forth nothing albeit I will not forget in this place to make mention of two notable famines noted in the boke of Ecclesiasticus to the ende that drawing our Histories out of the liuely springs of the scripture the same may moue vs y t rather and touche vs the more with remorse euen vpon the hammer of our conscience It is shewed in the .iiij. boke of the kings and .vj. chapter of a famine which happened in Samarie in
the time of Elizeus which was so harde and extreme that the head of an Asse was solde for .xxiiij. peeces of siluer and the fourth part of a measure of Doues dunge for .v. peces but that which is most farre from all humanitie after that all their victuals were consumed y e mothers eat their children In such sort that a pore woman of the city seâ—ing the King of Israel vpon the wall made hir complaint vnto him that one of hir neighbors wold not performe couenaÌ„t and agreement made betwixt them which was that they should eat together her child and hauing so done that they should also deuoure the childe of hir neighbor which she tolde the king she had already done for we haue boiled and eaten my sonne and now she hides and conceales hirs for feare she should feede or relieue me Which when the King had vnderstand his heart began to die for sorow and he entred into mortal warre with his hair flesh and garments saying God deale so with me and so according to the rest of the text Iosephus an Hebrew writer in his .vij. boke and iij. chapter of the warres of the Iewes declareth a history almost confirmable to this but performed in a more strauÌ„ge and bloudy maner He writeth that there was a noble and riche woman at suche time as Ierusalem was besieged who had pacte togither some remainder of hir goodes which she had in a certaine house of the Citie and liued husbandlyke of that little which remained but the souldiours and men at armes spoiled hir of all within an houre in suche sort that they coÌ„strained hir to begge but that which gaue encrease to hir misery was when she had any thing growing to hir by the almes and charitie of others the souldioures toke it from hir with violence with the extreme oppressioÌ„ of hunger and small hope of meanes to be sustained forced hir to arme hir selfe against the lawes of nature in suche sort as beholding with pitifull regard one of hir little children whome she embraced betwene hir armes cryed out with great compassion in this sort Oh infortunate childe and me most miserable mother who haue vnhappely harbored thée in my flanks What shall henceforth become of thée coÌ„sidering the desolation of our state which so rageth against vs bothe that albeit I had will to saue thy life yet would thy desteny make thée subiecte to a continuall thraldome of the Romains come then my childe serue for foode and nouriture to thy pore mother ouercome with hunger And after she had pronounced this tragicall sentence of the death of hir childe she stretched hir cruel hands ouer his teÌ„der body and killed him put him on the broach rosted him and at one instant eate y e one halfe of him in which meane time came in again the soldiours and tasting in their nose the smell of rosted meate began to threaten hir to death if she did not impart it with theÌ„ but she resolued in hir rage and as one most desirous to accompanye her dead sonne without any astonishment or feare of their threates sayde vnto them be content soldiours saith she for I haue reserued a more faith and loyaltie than you think séeing I haue kept you as great a parte as to my selfe wherewith she brought forth the rest of hir childe and set it on the table afore them which moued such confusion and remorse of conscience in them all that they stoode as men enchanted and had not the heart to aunswere any one word but she on the contrary side as a Tigresse ful of amaze crueltie hauing lost hir yong ones preferring in hir face both fury and fiery lookes sayde eftsones vnto them Now maisters this which you sée is the fruite of my body it is my childe my bloud my flesh yea and my bones it is a creature formed of my substance and a regeneration of my selfe Why are you more scrupulous or delicate than his tender mother y t hath brought him into the world with so many pangs Do you refuse to eate whereof she hath and will make a tast afore you which strake such pitifull terror into all the soldiours that they ranne away leauing hir alone with the one halfe of hir rosted childe which was all in efâ—â—ct which their crueltie had left hir touching hir goods and coÌ„fort And this as it is the proper texte of Iosephus which I haue as neare as I could drawne out according to the contents of y e same so the view of this makes me remember an other Historye which I haue red in Auenzouar a Phisition of Arabia touching an extreme hunger which so afflicted the place of his natiuitie that after that miserable people had stuffed their bodies with diuers sortes of filthy and corrupt meates as dogges horsses rattes mise and such like as they could find by any deuise or trauell and yet not being satisfied nor hauing wherewithall to quench the rage of their hunger did not forbeare to turne vp and open graues and sepulchres and féede of the mortified carions of dead men for assone as any were buried the porest sort most pinched with hunger would rise by night and vnshroud y e ghoastes which made y e magistrates at last to establish a solemn watch to gard the sepulchres from suche vnnaturall violation ¶ A wonderfull Historie of a Birde which hath no feete and liues continually in the aire being neuer found vpon the earth or in the sea but dead LIke as this bird whose figure is here depainted is both moÌ„strous wonderful eueÌ„so she yeldes sufficient matter to trouble al y e Philosophers in the world wherfore who so wil coÌ„sider y e great maruels of nature which be fouÌ„d in this little foule neede not dout to confesse y t the aire wherein she makes hir continual abode norisheth nothing at all more straunge or worthy of admiration For for y e first part ther hath no maÌ„ baÌ„dled hir aliue she liues alwais w t the dew hath no fete which is wholly repugnant against the opinion of Aristotle who wryteth that there is no bird without féete but for that I neuer saw it before this present houre I wil therefore write simply that which I haue red in the Latine authors at this day who haue seene handled written thereof Gesnerus in his Latin historie of Birdes from whence I haue taken this portraicte writeth that which foloweth that Bird wherof thou seest here the portraict is called the Bird of Paradise or Apis Indica whose figure was shewed vnto me by the moste Noble and well learned personage Conradus Pentigerus who affirmeth to haue séene one dead like vnto this It is not long sithens there was a Chart at Noremberg wherin was figured the forme of a Birde like to this which is here depainted the which was sent hither with this inscription the Birde of Paradise otherwise called Apis Indica is of the greatnesse of a Gripe but of suche wonderfull
whipped through the streates In like manner the Romains gaue libertie to the husbande of his owne proper aucthoritie to kil the whoremoÌ„ger and his wife if he toke them coÌ„mitting of that abhominable vice Macrin the .xix. Emperour caused al such as were apprehended in adulterie to be broiled quicke who being informed that diuers souldioures had violated their hostesse chamber maide he caused the bellies of two great Beefes to be opened aliue and made the souldioures to be sowed and inclosed therin sauing their heads which appeared out to the end that all men might see them the one talke with the other And Aurelius the .xxix. Emperour being made to vnderstand y t a souldiour of his armie had defloured the wife of his host inuented for him to make him die by a new kind of cruell punishment for he caused two great trees by force to be bowed and plied whereunto the souldioure was tied to y e end that the trées returning to their place might tear and plucke him in pieces Confer these punishmeÌ„ts with those written of before and you shal find no adulterer receiue y e reward of a better hire for in y e sacred historyes â–ª by y e law of Moises they were smoothered murdered and stoned to death S. Paule in his .xiij. to the Hebrues crieth that God wil condemn fornicators and adulterers After in his first boke to the Corinthians and .vj. Chapiter he writeth thus Do not disceiue your selues for neither fornicator Idolatour or adulterour shal not possesse at all the kingdom of God Wherfore amongst the most principall causes that moued God to drowne the world was chiefly this wicked vice of whoredom fiue famous Cities as it is written in the booke of Moyses became ruinous and ouerthrowne for their disordred and wicked liues In the booke of numbers xij kings were hanged and .24000 men killed for comitting of whoredom It is wrytten in Leuiticus xxviij chapiter how the Chananeans were afflicted punished for their whordome wel nigh all the line of Beniamin as you may read in the .xxxix. of the Iudges was afflicted for committing fornication wyth the Leuites wife Diuers greuous punishments were sent vnto Dauid for his whoredom as you may read in the booke of the Kings Salomon for the same cause and committing Idolatrie became reprobate wherefore S. Ieremie the Prophet recompteth very often y e whoremongers and fornicators were the chiefest causers of the destruction of the Citie of Ierusalem Diuers many Realmes by thys detestable vice haue receiued chaunge and alteration become subiect to others Troy the proud became ruinous for the rauishment of Helen In like manner Thebes the populous was afflicted and scourged for y e abusing of Chrisippe and the incest committed by Eclipus The Kings of Rome were extirped banished for the rauishment of Lucrecia Aristotle in the .v â–ª of his politiques sayth that adulterers and fornicatours be the principall and chiefest causers of the ruin and mutation of realmes The King Pausanias so much renoumed in Licaonien who first defiled a maide at Constantinople and after killed hir was aduertised by an Image of his end and destruction A thing very straunge that whoremoÌ„gers should be warned of the paines prepared for them by wicked spirits to their owne confusion which Pausanias proued true for that the Ephores constrained him to die by famine Wherfore if the Histories both sacred and prophane be so fully replenished of grieuous paines cruel punishmeÌ„ts irefull cursings sent by God commonly vpon whoremongers what may then the Sodomites and others loke or hope for who ioyne them selues in the ignominie of God and nature with brute beasts as is most plainly shewed vnto vs by this shameful Historie whose portraict thou mayst beholde in the beginning of this Chapiter of a childe who was conceiued and engendred betwene a woman and a dogge hauing from the nauell vpwards the forme and shape of the mother so well accomplished that nature had not forgotteÌ„ any thing vnperformed and from the nauell downwards it had the forme and figure of the beast who was the father who as Volateranus wryteth was sent to the Pope which raigned at that time there to the end it might be purified and purged Conradus Licostenes writeth a like Historie in hys wonders of a woman which brought forthe in the time of the Emperor Lothairus a childe and a dogge ioyned knit together by the nether partes that is to say from y e rains or tippe of the backe to the haÌ„ches And Celius Rhodiginus in his .xxv. boke and .xxxij. chapiter of his auncient lessons wryteth that there was a Priest called Crathin in Cibaâ—e hauing had the companie of a Goate with whom he vsed this brutal desire and afterwards within a certaine time brought forth a Goat who had the head and shape of a maÌ„ resembling the Priest which was the father but the rest of the body was like the Goat Whereupon S. Paule sayth in the fourth Chapiter to the Ephesians that the plague ordained for whoremongers is that they become blinde and madde after that they be once forsaken of God and will not be reconciled by good and wholesome councel but perseuer still in their wickednesse prouoking therby Gods wrath and indignatioÌ„ against them ¶ A notable complaynt made by a Monstrous man to the Senate of Rome against the tyrannies of a Censour whiche oppressed the poore people of the ryuer of Danube by rigorous exactions CHAP. xxxviij THat great Monarch Marcus Aurelius who was as well a philosopher as an Emperor retiring himselfe into the fields with a great nuÌ„ber of wise men as wel to deceiue certain enuious times of the yeare as to moderate the heate burning of a feuer whiche had vext and troubled hym many dayes with intente not to be idle they began to talke of diuers matters amongest themselues as of the corruption of princes the alteration of common weales and generally of the vniuersall disorder whiche was founde amongest all the states of the worlde wherein after euery man had touched particularly that which seemed good vnto hym it pleased the Emperour to become therein a partie and continuyng the talâ—e he sayd vnto them My frâ—end although eche of you haue very learnedly spoken of the question propouned touchyng the corruption of Princes and publike weales so it is notwithstanding as me seemeth that the originall of that contagious euil procedeth of others as of flatterers which serue rather to feede the affections of Princes and contente their delites than to make them bolde to vtter vnto them the truthe They fill their heads with good words they are ready to claw afore they do itche they lull them a slepe with the harmonie of their false praises and fade them fatte with their owne faults in such sort that I know them at this day whose legs and feete can carie no more neither the force of their bodies hable to sustayne them vprighte neyther their handes sufficiente to write