strange news from ireland, or, a true and perfect relation of a famous fish taken at kingsale the manner of its taking, and description of its horrible shapes / as it was certified in a letter from one mr. robinson, living in kingsale, (an eye-witness) to mr. john davie a relation of his, living in westminster. robinson, mr. approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing s a estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) strange news from ireland, or, a true and perfect relation of a famous fish taken at kingsale the manner of its taking, and description of its horrible shapes / as it was certified in a letter from one mr. robinson, living in kingsale, (an eye-witness) to mr. john davie a relation of his, living in westminster. robinson, mr. davie, john. p. printed for c.n., london : . "with allowance. ro. l'estrange." imperfect: stained. reproduction of original in: british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng monsters -- ireland -- early works to . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion strange news from ireland : or , a true and perfect relation of a famous fish taken at kingsale . the manner of its taking , and description of its horrible shapes ; as it was certified in a letter from one mr. robinson , living in kingsale , ( an eye-witness ) to mr. john davis a relation of his , living in westminster . with allowance . ro. l'estrange . london : printed for c. n. . strange news from ireland : or , a true and perfect relation of a famous fish taken at kingsale . on the th of july last , one thomas davis and andrew simpson being at four a clock in the morning about their honest vocation of fishing , in which they laboured an hour to no purpose ; but at length they perceived afar off somewhat move in the water , of an unusual shape and bigness ; upon which they made unto it , but as soon as it saw them it dived down into the water : so that after a tedious and vain search , they returned back to the town and informed one mr. rocke , a responsible inhabitant there , of what they had seen ; who with three of his servants came forth with muskets charged , one standing on the shore , and the other two in the boat with the fisher-men , with whom also was mr. rocke . they had not long rowed about the river , but they again perceived its head popping up and down , at which they discharged their pieces , but to little effect : for it dived again out of their view , and did not appear in an hours time after ; but upon its rising again they shot it into the back ; whereupon it made with all possible speed towards land , where ( though with great difficulty ) it was taken . the description of its parts is as follows . on the head of this wonderful creature ( which can be no nearer resembled to any thing , than the head of a man ) was long black hair : its face had the exact shape of a lion ; so terrible and grim , that it struck terrour on all that beheld it . it had two fore-feet like those of a bull , cloven ; it s hinder feet being like unto an eagles talons , with very long and sharp nails ; so that where nature commonly orders fins , there were perfect feet of other creatures of a clean contrary element . his mouth was guarded with three long sharp horns , with which when he was on land he so dangerously wounded one of the foresaid mr. rock's servants in the thigh , that he remains very ill of the same , insomuch that his recovery is much doubted by all , notwithstanding the advice and assistance of the most skilful chirurgeons in those parts . on its back was the perfect resemblance of an hour-glass , and the appearance ( as some fancied ) of a spade and deaths head , to the amazement of all its spectators . it is in length twelve foot , and five in bredth . on each side its brest are two paps , like unto those of women . it s belly is smooth , being bespeckled with spots of divers colours . when this letter came away it was not quite dead , though it had been much wounded ; but is with much ado brought into the aforesaid town of kinsale , where it now remains the wonderment of all its numerous beholders . finis . a description of a strange (and miraculous) fish cast upon the sands in the meads, in the hundred of worwell, in the county palatine of chester, (or chesshiere. the certainty whereof is here related concerning the said most monstrous fish. to the tune of bragandary. m. p. (martin parker), d. ? approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a stc estc s this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a description of a strange (and miraculous) fish cast upon the sands in the meads, in the hundred of worwell, in the county palatine of chester, (or chesshiere. the certainty whereof is here related concerning the said most monstrous fish. to the tune of bragandary. m. p. (martin parker), d. ? sheet ([ ] p.) : ill. for thomas lambert, at the signe of the hors-shoo in smithfield, printed at london : [ ?] signed: m. p., i.e. martin parker. a ballad. in two parts. suggested publication date from stc. verse - "of many maruels in my time". also erroneously listed as wing d . reproduction of the original in the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng ballads, english -- th century. monsters -- england -- early works to . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a description of a strange ( and miraculous ) fish , cast upon the sands in the meads , in the hundred of worwell , in the county palatine of chester , ( or chesshiere . the certainty whereof is here related concerning the said most monstrous fish. to the tune of bragandary . of many maruels in my time i'us heretofore , but here 's a stranger now in prime that 's lately come on shore , inuites my pen to specifie what some ( i doubt ) will think a lie . o rare beyond compare , in england nere the like . it is a fish , a monstrous fish , a fish that many dreads , but now it is as we would wish , cast vp o' th sands i' th meads , in chesshire ; and t is certaine true , describ'd by those who did it view . o rare beyond compare , in england nere the like . full twenty one yards and one foot this fish extend in length , with all things correspondent too 't , for amplitude and strength : good people what i shall report , doe not account a fained sport . o rare beyond compare , in england nere the like . it is almost fiue yards in height , which is a wondrous thing , o mark what maruels to our sight our potent lord can bring . these secrets neptune closely kéeps within the bosome of the déeps . o rare beyond compare , in england nere the like . his lower jaw-bone's fiue yards long , the vpper thrice so much , twelue yoak of oxen stout and strong , ( the weight of it is such ) could not ones stir it out o' th sands thus works the all-creating hands . o rare beyond compare , in england nere the like . some haue a project now in hand , ( which is a tedious taske ) when the sea turnes , to bring to land the same with empty cask : but how i cannot well conceiue , to each mans judgement that i leaue . o rare beyond compare , in england nere the like . the lower jaw-bone nam'd of late ▪ had téeth in 't thirty foure , whereof some of them are in weight two pounds , or rather more : there , were no teeth i' th vpper jaw , but holes , which many people saw , o rare beyond compare , in england nere the like . the second part , to the same tune . his pistle is in length foure yards , big as a man i' th wast , this monster he who well regards , from th' first vnto the last , by euery part may motiues find , to wonder at this wondrous kind . o rare beyond compare , in england nere the like . his cods are like two hogsheads great , this séemeth past beléefe , but men of credit can relate what i describe in briefe : then let 's with charity confesse gods works are more then man can guesse . o rare , &c. the tongue on 't is so mighty large , i will it not expresse , lest i your credit ouer-charge , but you may easlly guesse , that sith his shape so far excels , the tongue doth answer all parts else . o rare , &c. a man on horseback as t is try'd may stand within his mouth , let none that hears it this deride , for t is confirm'd for truth : by those who dare auouch the same , then let the writer beare no blame . o rare , &c. his nerues or sinewes like bulls pissles , for riding rods some vse : of spermaceti there 's some vessels : if this be the worst newes , that of this monster we shall heare , all will be well i doe not feare . o rare , &c. already sixtéene tuns of oyle is from this fish extracted and yet continually they 〈◊〉 no season is protracted : it cannot be imagin'd how much 't will yéeld , the vastnesse on 't is such . o rare , &c. when he vpon the sands was cast aliue , which was awhile : he yell'd so loud , that many ( agast ) heard him aboue sixe mile : t is said the female fish likewise was heard to mourne with horrid cryes : o rare , &c. the mariners of chester say a herring-hag t is nam'd : what ere it be , for certaine they that are for knowledge fam'd , affirme , the like in ages past vpon our coast was neuer cast . o rare beyond compare , in england nere the like . m. p. printed at london for thomas lambert , at the sign of the hors-shoo in smithfield . there is a book to satisfie such as desire a larger description hereof . a monstrous shape. or a shapelesse monster a description of a female creature borne in holland, compleat in every p[arte] save only a head like a swine, who hath travailed into many parts, and is now to be seene in london, ... to the tune of the spanish pavin. l.p. (lawrence price), fl. - ?. approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a stc estc s this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a monstrous shape. or a shapelesse monster a description of a female creature borne in holland, compleat in every p[arte] save only a head like a swine, who hath travailed into many parts, and is now to be seene in london, ... to the tune of the spanish pavin. l.p. (lawrence price), fl. - ?. sheet ([ ] p.) : ill. printed by m. f[lesher] for tho: lambert, and are to be sold at the signe of the horse shooe in smithfield, [london?] : [ ] printer's name and publication date from stc. both parts have woodcut illustrations at head. signed: l.p. [i.e. lawrence price]. reproduction of the original in the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng monsters -- netherlands -- early works to . ballads, english -- th century. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a monstrous shape . or a shapelesse monster . a description of a female creature borne in holland , compleat in every part , save only a head like a swine , who hath travailed into many parts , and is now to be seene in london , shee s loving , courteous , and effeminate , and nere as yet could find a loving mate . to the tune of the spanish pavin . of horned uulcan i haue heard , his téeth were longer thē his beard , whose monstrous looks made all afeard which did that night behold him : and of transformed acteon , which like a hart in forest ran , and how faire lidia like a swan transformed . of robin goodfellow also , which was a seruant long agoe , the quéen of fairies doth it know , and hindered him in fashion : she knew not what she did her selfe , she chang'd him like a fairie elfe , for all his money , goods , and pelfe , she gull'd him . but yet be brisk you yonkers bold , and list to what i shall vnfold , such newes afore was neuer told , as i will now relate : my subiect is of such a girle , that hath both siluer , gold , and pearle , yet neuer will be for an earle right fitted . this urokin as i vnderstand , is now arriued from dutchland , and hath as much gold at command that she would wish or craue : her portion thréescore thousand pound , both corn and cattell on her ground , as good as any may be found in holland . besides , a dainty lasse is she , a boores daughter in the low-country , her mother is in her degrée a very proper fro , and all the tribe from whence she came call her faire pigs nye by her name , you 'l say they haue reason for the same hereafter . to describe her from top to toe , i purpose now for to doe so , and shew how neatly she doth goe when young men come a wooing : she shews her pretty heele and foot , a dainty leg adioyning to 't , her stockins stik , if that will do 't she cares not . the second part , to the same tune . her person it is straight and tall , a lilly white hand , her fingers small makes her the handsomest wench of all that euer her father got : in handsomnesse she doth excell both bouncing kate , and bonny nell , in dancing she doth beare the bell of many . so choice of fare she is indéed , as oft as she doth stand in néed , a siluer trough she hath to féed , when euer she wants victuall : the siluer trough is straight brought out wherein she puts her dainty snout , and swéetly sucks till all is out of action . and to speak further for her grace , she hath a dainty white swines face , which shews that she came of a race that loued fat porke and bacon : yet would i not her kindred wrong , her nose i think is two foot long , also her breath is very strong and fulsome . yet let no party her despise , she is furnished with two pigs nies , though something of the largest size ▪ they doe become her neatly , her ears hang lolling toward the ground more fairer then a mastie hound , thus are her fortunes still renown'd by hearesay . great store of suters euery day , resort vnto her as they say , but who shall get this girle away , as yet i doe not know : but thus much i dare vndertake , if any doe a wife her make , it is onely for her moneyes sake he loues her . if any young man long to sée this creature wheresoere she be , i would haue him be rul'd by me , and not to be too forward , lest ye at last should fare the worse , although she haue a golden purse , she is not fit to be a nurse in england . l. p. finis . printed by m. f. for the : lambert , and are to be sold at the signe of the horse shooe in smithfield . strange and wonderful news of the birth of a monstrous child with two heads, and three arms which was lately born at attenree, in the county of meath, in ireland. e. b. approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing b estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) strange and wonderful news of the birth of a monstrous child with two heads, and three arms which was lately born at attenree, in the county of meath, in ireland. e. b. sheet ([ ]) p. printed for john smith, london : caption title. signed at end: e.b. imprint from colophon. "dublin, january the th. / ." reproduction of original in the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng abnormalities, human -- england -- early works to . monsters -- england -- early works to . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - jonathan blaney sampled and proofread - jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion strange and wonderful news of the birth of a monstrous child with two heads , and three arms , which was lately born at attenree , in the county of meath , in ireland . dublin , ianuary the th . / . sir , you may remember i made you a promise , that as soon as i had a sight of that monstrous birth mentioned in a former letter , i would send you a particular relation of it : and yesterday it being exposed next door to me , i accordingly took time to view every part of it , and made my particular observations on every point needful to be remembred . it hath two heads upon two well-proportion'd necks : the heads of the bigness of any child of a quarter or half a year old ; fair and large , well-proportion'd and comly faces , with hair upon each of the heads ; not the least defect ( as i could perceive ) either in eyes , noses , ears , or mouths . the shoulders are as large as a child of two or three years of age , proportion'd to bear two heads . i had a long pipe that i was smoaking in , which i laid across between the shoulders , and found it to be seven inches by measure and better in breadth on the back , from one shoulder to the other . between the two necks ( which stand at a proportionable distance ) there grows out an arm , with an hand , with all its fingers and nails , ascending upright between the two heads , and is a full hands breadth ( if not more ) higher than the heads . the upper-part of the body is very thick , but downwards is much smaller , and it hath two arms and two legs as in other bodies , duly plac'd , but they are but slender , and somewhat longer ( in my apprehension ) than the usual length . they have all the fingers and toes as others have , with nails upon them . it hath the privy-parts of a male-child , but by the relation they appear to have been two distinct conceptions ; for there was two hearts found in that single trunk , and so of other inwards ; and i perceived there was a difference in the size of the heads , and the two faces did seem to me , the one to be male , and the other female . and thus i have given you as exact an account as i could bear away of this prodigious birth . it was born about ten days since at a place called attenree , in the barony of kelly , in the county of meath ; the parents but poor people , the father a holder of the plough , and the mother a young woman , this being her first child . when i saw the bigness of the heads and breadth of the shoulders , i could not but stand and admire how it was possible for a woman to bring it forth , and live ; for the mother is still living , though very weak , but the child was still-born . a gentlewoman told me , that a friend of hers , a surgeon , not long since was employed to open a child that was born with two heads . but of a different nature to this . we are all in peace at home and abroad , and our weather very open , having had some rain , but not very cold . this is all at present , but that i am your affectionate servant , e. b. london : printed for iohn smith , .